Algeria - Sonatrach Ventures - Helios.

This is a JV between Sonatrach (51%), L'Air Liquide of France and Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (APCI) of the US. It has a 16 MCM/year liquid helium plant within the GL2Z LNG complex at Bethioua, near Arzew (see Gas Market Trends), as well as units to produce up to 33,000 t/y of liquid and gaseous nitrogen. A second helium and nitrogen plant is planned to be built by Helios at Skikda. In late 1996, Helios did studies to evaluate the feasibility of supplying potential clients in the US and Japan. The unit was to be built only if sales contracts were concluded in advance.

Helios, costing $96m, came on stream in the autumn of 1994. It uses APCI's process, recovering and retreating residual gases from the LNG trains which until 1996 used to be flared. (The gas supplied to GL2Z and other LNG plants contains about 10% helium and 45% nitrogen). In late 1994, Helios accounted for about 20% of the world's helium capacity. The helium is sold to Europe, which until 1994 relied almost entirely on the US. The plant was financed by US banks and the World Bank's private financing unit IFC. The JV agreement, valid till 2015, provides for the foreign partners to lift up to 80% of the helium output "if necessary", a stipulation backed by a take-or-pay clause. The nitrogen products are sold locally and to neighbouring countries by a unit created in October 1990 by Sonatrach and Entreprise Nationale des Gaz Industriels (ENGI).