In Salah Gas, an Algeria-based joint venture between Sonatrach, BP and Statoil, has announced the start-up of its Southern Fields project, which is estimated to be worth $700m.

In a statement released on 16 February, BP said the Southern Fields project is “evidence of BP’s continued commitment to invest in Algeria”.

The project is the latest stage in the development of seven gas fields in central Algeria.

In Salah Gas started production from three fields in the north of the area in 2004. The three fields are: Krechba, Teguentour and Reg.

The Southern Fields project involves the development of four dry gas fields: Gour Mahmoud, In Salah, Garet el Befinat and Hassi Moumene.

Developing the Southern Fields will maintain planned production at 9 billion cubic metres per annum, according to BP. The main contractor on the project is UK-based engineering company Petrofac.

Drilling of the 26 southern field wells began in 2014 and is planned to continue until 2018.

The project’s scope includes a new dehydration central processing facility close to Hassi Moumene, which will have a capacity of 500 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas.

It also includes:

• Brownfield modifications to existing processing facilities at Reg, Teg and Krechba
• 150km of carbon steel export pipelines
• 160km of 13 per cent chrome corrosion resistant alloy infield flowlines
• Drilling and tying-in the 26 new wells

Over the next two months, production is due to be ramped up to 14.1 million cubic metres a day (500 million cf/d) as wells in the Hassi Moumene and Garet el-Befinat field are brought online.