Awwal 08, 1432, April 12, 2011, SPA -- Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach and partners BP and Statoil have signed a $1.185 billion contract with Petrofac to develop the second phase of the In Salah natural gas field. The contract includes the setting up of a plant to process 17 million cubic meter per day of natural gas, and the drilling of 33 wells in the In Salah contract area. "The objective is to maintain the output at 9 billion cubic meter per year for the coming years," BP Algeria's general manager Mohamed Kedam told reporters who attended the signing ceremony. He said the project would come on-stream in the fourth quarter of 2013. Algeria is the world's fourth-largest exporter of natural gas and the eighth biggest exporter of crude. Sonatrach, BP, and Statoil jointly operate the In Salah field, according to a report of Reuters.
