Sofresid, wholly-owned by French construction giant Bouygues, was awarded the $36 million turnkey contract in April, beating off competition from the US' ABB Lummus Global, France's Entreposeand Spain's Grupo Masa(MEED 20:4:01).

The Mesdar terminal, located 180 kilometres southeast of Hassi Messaoud, pumps crude oil along a 108-kilometre pipeline to Haoud el-Hamra. The 18-month project to expand the pumping station involves the installation of two high pressure 4-MW turbo pumps, three 170-KW pressure pump boosters, two 2-MW turbo generators and a new flow regulation and counting system. The expansion is being financed by a 12-year loan facility from the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank worth $30 million (MEED 4:2:00).