Update: Statoil says situation in Algeria ‘calm’ after gas plant attack

(Updated with statements by Statoil, BP, 18.03. 2016)

Norwegian energy giant Statoil said Friday that the Salah Gas asset in Krechba, Algeria was hit by “explosive munitions” fired from a distance.

Statoil operates the In Salah dry gas fields together with BP and the Algerian state oil and gas company Sonatrach.

“After the attack on the In Salah Gas asset in Krechba in Algeria at 06.00 this morning, the situation at the plant is now calm. There are no reports of any injuries resulting from the attack,” Statoil said in its statement.

According to Statoil, the attack was carried out by “use of a vehicle and a mobile weapon firing explosives at the plant“. Three strikes were identified at the plant.

The attackers then left the area that is now reportedly controlled by the Algerian military, Statoil said.

There were a total of just above 600 employees at the gas plant. No evacuation from this plant or any other plants in Algeria had been planned, Statoil added.

In a separate statement, BP said it had been informed of a “rocket attack” on the Krechba site at the In Salah Gas Joint Venture in Algeria from outside the site perimeter.

“There are no reports of any injuries to personnel at the site and the Central Processing Facility (CPF) has been shutdown as a safety precaution,” BP said.

The In Salah Gas joint venture is one of the largest dry gas joint venture projects in the country and involves the development of seven gas fields in the southern Sahara, 1,200km south of Algiers, according to BP’s website.

Algeria became world’s first LNG producer in 1964. The country has four liquefaction units located along the Mediterranean Sea at Arzew and Skikda, with a total design capacity to process 44 Bcm per year of natural gas.

In 2014, Algeria was the world’s seventh-largest exporter of LNG, exporting about 5% of the world’s total exports, according to the U.S. EIA.

LNG World News Staff