Page 27 - Industrial Plant 2020

significant concern for the entire country. On the other
hand, the opportunity cost of a conventional plant shut
down for the duration of a refurbishment made a
traditional refurbishment program unworkable.

To work around this dilemma, Sonatrach executives
issued a tender in 2016 for proposals to replace the
200 train in 42.5 months while keeping the 100 and
300 trains running, despite frequently extreme and
uncertain weather conditions in the spring and autumn.

The request surprised Arkad executives. “Usually when
you do such a rehabilitation, the client will try to stop the
operation in order to get the contractor to do the job,”
recalled Domenico Esposito, past Arkad’s Project
Manager of the Rhourde Nouss project and Regional
Manager for North Africa.

Despite the unconventional nature of the request,
Arkad, then a unit of ABB, submitted a bid, which
Sonatrach accepted. The two firms signed the $100
million contract in January 2016.

S onatrach, Algeria’s national oil and

gas company, had a problem.
Following an accidental fire to its
central train in 2009, production at
one of its most important liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) plants had
fallen by more than 30%.

The Rhourde Nouss field held more than 13 trillion
cubic feet of proven hydrocarbon reserves. Sonatrach
had tapped to produce natural gas, LPG, and
condensates, but since the 2009 fire, the second of
Sonatrach’s three trains had been knocked out of
commission, and LPG production at the Rhourde
Nouss plant had fallen to less than 70% of its full
operating potential.

This was not only a problem for Sonatrach, but
because the company generates over 30% of Algeria’s
GDP and 95% of the country’s cash exports, a

IndustrIal Plants - May 2020
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