Algeria’s El Merk oil and gas project is on course for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2012. The El Merk central processing facility will serve as a production hub for the region, processing hydrocarbons initially from Block 208, operated by the Sonatrach/Anadarko Association, and from the unitised EMK field located on a portion of both
Block 208 and the Sonatrach/ConocoPhillips operated Block 405a.
The project will be operated by Sonatrach and Anadarko on behalf of the El Merk partners: Sonatrach, Anadarko, Maersk Oil, Eni, ConocoPhillips and Talisman. Block 208 is located 90 km south of the Sonatrach/Anadarko-operated Hassi Berkine South (HBNS) facility.
The combined nominal capacity of the initially installed processing facilities will be 98,000 barrels of oil per day, 29,000 barrels of condensate per day, and 31,000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) per day together with an NGL train with a nominal capacity of 600 million standard cubic feet per day. The CPFwill also include 500million standard cubic feet of residue and re-injection gas compression and approximately 80,000 barrels per day of produced water treatment and re-injection facilities.