Algeria’s $970m North Reggane gas project is in its very final stages and gas production from the project is likely to come online before the end of the month, according to a source close to the project.

The upstream gas project is operated by a consortium of Algeria’s national oil company Sonatrach (40 per cent), Spain’s Repsol (29.25 per cent), US-based Edison (11.25 per cent), and Germany’s Dea (19.5 per cent).

The joint company is called “Groupement Reggane Nord”. It began drilling work for the first development well in the Algerian Sahara in January 2015.

An engineering, production and construction (EPC) contract for the project worth $970m was awarded to UK-headquartered Petrofac in May 2014.

The project is located in the Algerian portion of the Sahara Desert, within Blocks 351c and 352c in the Reggane Basin.

It covers the development of six gas fields that are estimated to hold 1.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Under the original plans the consortium of companies developing the project intended to drill 104 wells as part of the project and expected a plateau production of 8 million cubic metres a day of natural gas.

The Algerian gas project is expected to have a production lifespan of 25 years.

The gas fields covered by the North Reggane projects are:

• Reggane
• Azrafil Southeast
• Kahlouche
• South Kahlouche
• Sali
• Tiouliline

The project includes the construction of a gas gathering system, a gas treatment plant, a central processing facility (CPF), a 270km export pipeline, and a power generation and distribution system 

Also read: EXCLUSIVE: Algeria to reveal draft hydrocarbon law details in January