Neptune Energy and Sonatrach announced that as part of the commissioning of the project, the first natural gas has entered its Touat project in Algeria. The project will produce approximately 75,0001 barrels of oil equivalent per day (450 million standard cubic feet) on a single platform, but it is expected to begin natural gas export production in the first half of 2019.
Tuat consists of eight gas fields and a natural gas processing plant, located 1,500 kilometers southwest of Algiers near the Sbara Basin in Adrar. Development work included drilling 18 new development wells, as well as building roads, airstrips, living areas and collection networks, and gas processing facilities. The development also involved the installation of a connection to the main GR5 pipeline built by Sonatrach, collecting natural gas from southwestern Algeria and transporting it to Hassi R'Mel (about 800 km north).
Neptune CEO JimHouse said: “The first natural gas of Tuart marks an important milestone for this important project. Our current focus is on achieving full commercial export production by the end of the first half of this year. ".
In March 2010, the Algerian joint venture TouatGaz was established as an operator of the development and production business. Neptune Energy holds an indirect shareholding in GTG. Its partners are Engie and Sonatrach.