K-based Petrofac and Italy’s Bonatti are on course to complete a $650m project to construct new separation & booster compression facilities at Algeria’s Alrar Field before the end of this year, according to industry sources.

The client on the project is Algeria’s state-owned national oil company Sonatrach.

When complete it is expected that the facilities will allow Sonatrach to increase production at the Alrar field, which is located in the Illizi basin in the eastern part of the Algerian Sahara.

The joint venture of Petrofac and Bonatti, led by Petrofac, won the contract in October 2013.

Arar is one of Algeria’s biggest gas fields and has been operation since 1987.

Algeria expects its gas exports to reach 57 billion cubic metres (bcm) this year, up from 54 bcm in 2016. Its output rose to 132.2 bcm in 2016 from 128.3 bcm the previous year.