A consortium led by Spain’s Técnicas Reunidas, Samsung Engineering and the National Petroleum Corporation of Algeria (Sonatrach) have signed a $3.7bn deal to build the country’s sixth oil refinery. The Agreement will involve engineering, procurement and construction of the plant located in Haoud El Hamra, in central Algeria.
Almost 55% of the contract will be executed by Técnicas Reunidas, a Madrid based company specialising in industrial plant projects with a record of designing and installing 421 refining units worldwide over the past 60 years. In this project it will cover environmental work and auxiliary infrastructure. Samsung has been active in Algeria for long. In 2014, it won a $1.4bn order to build two power plants in Algeria.
The refinery which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024, will be able to process 5 million tonnes of crude oil a year, or 100,000 barrels a day making it the second largest in the country after the Skikda Refinery on the Mediterranean coast. The plant will produce petrol, propane, butane, kerosene and bitumen.
Kamel Eddine Chikhi, the chief executive of Sonatrach, said that Sonatrach is committed to further develop refined products in hydrocarbon resources to meet the domestic demand, and also, to contribute to the economic and social development of Algeria through the strengthening of its industrial infrastructure.
