THE Algerian state-owned energy company Sonatrach has awarded a $120-million contract to boost the capacity of the Enrico Mattei (Transmed) gas pipeline connecting Algeria to Italy via Tunisia and Sicily to 27MMcum/yr from 24MMcum/yr, as part of its plan to raise the eventual capacity to 32MMcum/yr. The contract covers the construction of a new 300-km pipeline between the Hassi R’Mel gasfield and the Oued Safsaf terminal on the Tunisian border, expected to take nine months. The winning consortium, known as Groupement Euro–Algerien des Tuberies (GREAT), includes a subsidiary of Algerian state-owned steel company Annaba, 30% of which is owned by Algeria’s Sider and 70% by steel maker LNM Holdings.
The additional gas could go to Italian energy firm Enel, which last year announced a 2MMBcm/yr deal with Sonatrach. Enel is already understood to have agreed to buy 4MMcm/yr by pipeline from Sonatrach’s and BP’s In Salah gas project in Algeria.