OCI Awarded USD 280m Construction Work for El Merk

OCI Awarded Contracts Valued at USD 280 million for Construction Work on the El Merk Central Processing Facility in Algeria.

• Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) announced today that its construction group has been awarded contracts for construction work on the El Merk Central Processing Facility (CPF) in the Berkine Basin of Algeria. The facility will be located in Block 208, 250 km south east of Hassi Messaoud in the Algerian Sahara Desert.

• The El Merk central processing facility will serve as a production hub for the region, processing hydrocarbons initially from Block 208, operated by Groupement Berkine, an Algerian entity that is co-managed by Sonatrach and Anadarko, and from the unitised EMK field located on a portion of both Block 208 and the Sonatrach/ConocoPhillips operated Block 405a.

  OCI, in a 50/50 joint venture with Bentini of Italy, signed a USD 230 million contract directly with Groupement Berkine for the CPF’s ‘Base de Vie’ and Industrial Base facility. The package, let on a design-and-build basis, includes all necessary infrastructure and buildings for the CPF. In addition, OCI signed a USD 170 million contract with Petrofac International LLC, who were awarded the principal EPC contract for the El Merk CPF last month, for civil and structural steel works on the facility. The required steel structures, and platforms will be supplied by National Steel Fabrication (NSF), a subsidiary of OCI, from their production plants in both Egypt and Algeria. OCI’s total share of the contracts is approximately USD 280
  million.

  The contracts will take approximately 30 months to complete and are scheduled for completion during Q4 2011.

  
  The OCI Construction Group ranks among the top global contractors and operates under three distinct and separate brands. Orascom Construction targets large industrial and infrastructure projects principally in Egypt, North Africa and the Middle East. The BESIX Group undertakes major commercial, industrial and infrastructure projects throughout Europe and the Middle East. Contrack International pursues institutional projects in the Middle East and Central Asia.

  To complement the construction business, OCI also owns and operates National Steel Fabrication, the largest manufacturer of fabricated steel products in the Middle East, and has investments in manufacturers of glass curtain walling, paints and concrete pipes.