Algeria's Sonatrach allocates 1.5 billion dollars to rehabilitate hydrocarbons pipelines

Algeria's hydrocarbons company Sonatrach devoted about $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of more than 8,000 km of oil and gas pipelines network. Checks found that they are very old and they pose a threat to the pacific, according to experts.

In a seminar in Algiers, Sonatrach’s officials Wednesday said the age of the hydrocarbons pipelines network in Algeria has reached 28 years. That pushed the company to launch a huge project to rehabilitate those pipelines over the next five years.

 The projected network length is over 8,000 kilometres while the national network length is estimated at 16,500 kilometres. It is likely expected to reach 25,000 kilometres in 2012. According to the same source, Sonatrach decided to rely on new techniques in rehabilitation projects of the pipelines with guarantee up to 30 years. The Saudi company Arab Co is a leader in this field. 

As for Algerian and experts participating in seminar, they consider that the rehabilitation of hydrocarbons pipelines in Algeria is urgent because the national network is in disrepair. Because of that, there is no way to wait for more than seven more years to do so. The situation is now a source of danger to environment and pacific in cases of leaks in addition to explosions risks which may be caused by high pressure of pipelines on population as a large part of this network passes through urban areas.      

Many cases of oil and gas pipeline accidents were recorded in Algeria in the 80’s due to rust and oil, according to a former engineer in Sonatrach. Algerian and foreign experts gave presentations on new techniques used in the rehabilitation of hydrocarbons pipelines across the world, present tests as well as huge programs allocated by petroleum states per year to this process. On top, the United States of America which has an annual budget of $108 billion for repackaging pipelines.