ALGERIA - The Logistics.

Sonatrach's export logistics have been improved and include more than 15,000 km of internal and export pipelines for crude oil, oil products and gas liquids. (For gas pipelines see Gas Market Trends). It has a network of oil and gas storage facilities to service the domestic market.

Sonatrach's overseas marketing and trading units have storage facilities abroad, mostly leased.

Important volumes of Sonatrach's oil, gas liquids and LNG exports are carried by the tankers of Societe Nationale des Transports Maritimes des Hydrocarbures et Produits Carbones (SNTM-Hyproc). This is a state firm set up in 1963 - shortly after Sonatrach was created.

SNTM-Hyproc has tankers carrying crudes, oil products, LPG, condensate and LNG (see background in Vol. 56, OMT 7).

Arzew-Bethioua terminal handles over 40% of Algeria's oil and LPG exports, 100% of condensate exports and the bulk of LNG sales. It was built in the 1960s and expanded in the late 1970s with a big terminal and LNG loading facilities. It was expanded in late 1999 to handle crude oil ships of up to 250,000 dwt.

The terminal is linked by a 28-inch pipeline running 800 km from Haoud el-Hamra, the main gathering centre in Algeria, whose capacity has been expanded from 480,000 to 600,000 b/d to take in more crude oil from Hassi Berkine. This and the other ports are protected from Islamic militants.

FMC Technologies has built five offshore loading stations under a contract revised in February 2004 from $240m to $224m, which doubled Algeria's oil export capacity to about 220m t/y by May 2005. Two of the SPMs were installed off Arzew. Another two are off Skikda terminal. The fifth is near Bejaia.

The Bejaia marine terminal is the first oil port built by the French and has been in operation since November 1959. It handles exports of crude oil, oil products and gas liquids. Bejaia is linked to Haoud el-Hamra by a 24-inch, 660 km pipeline with a capacity of 17.5m t/y.

La Skhirra, in Tunisia, handles about 18% of Algeria's oil exports (down from 22% in early 2003), including Zarzaitine crude, and is linked to Algeria's Illizi Basin oilfields by a 24-inch, 770 km pipeline running from In Amenas near the Libyan border. The line has a 13.5m t/y capacity.

Since the outbreak of Algeria's civil strife in January 1992, the Tunisian government has taken extra security precautions at La Skhirra terminal.

The Skikda terminal handles exports of crude, products, gas liquids, and LNG. It is linked by pipelines from Mesdar and Haoud el-Hamra which have a 36m t/y capacity.

The crude oil pipelines go to the export refinery at Skikda, near the port. Capacity of the Mesdar terminal has been doubled by Sofresid of France and can handle 50,000 b/d.

The other three terminals are in Oran, Annaba and Algiers.