The CEO of the Sonatrach group paid a visit on Saturday to the site of the “Alrar” gas processing complex in the Stah production region, wilaya of Illizi, following the outbreak of fire on November 27 at the train level – 1- from the factory which has four.
The incident did not impact Sonatrach's overall gas production volume. “Similarly, shipments to national and international customers have not experienced any disruptions,” the group indicated a few days ago. During his visit to the field, Rachid Hachichi instructed “the team of experts responsible for the investigation to carry out an in-depth investigation to identify the causes leading to the fire,” according to a Sonatrach press release.
The CEO also held, during his visit, a meeting with the managers of the complex and the technical teams in charge of the production site. The meeting focused on “evaluating the effectiveness of the measures taken as well as the action plan adopted to relaunch the three other production trains of the complex,” according to the press release.
During this meeting, Mr. Hachichi stressed the importance of “strict compliance” with safety standards at all stages of operations, adds the same source. Rachid Hachichi was able to learn about the measures taken on the ground after the incident, according to the Sonatrach press release which specifies that the CEO was informed “of the measures implemented to completely isolate this train from the three other trains of the processing complex. Alrar gas, while ensuring the stability of operations on the site. The CEO of Sonatrach praised the speed and efficiency of the teams on the ground in managing the incident, recalling that “the safety of workers and installations remains an absolute priority for the company”. Furthermore, Hachichi met with employees of the Stah production region.
He “encouraged them to take up the challenge by finalizing the inspection of the installations common to the four production lines, in order to successfully restart the three intact lines in the coming days”, indicates the press release from the public group. The CEO also insisted on “strengthening crisis management training programs and mobilizing all the necessary resources to guarantee the security of operations”.
Sonatrach had underlined, in a press release published as soon as the incident occurred, that “the mutual aid plan, an inter-unit aid system of the company for the management of Sonatrach emergencies and crises, was immediately deployed efficiently, quickly dispatching reinforcement resources to the Alrar site from production sites in the In Amenas cluster.
A team of experts was also immediately sent to the site to develop a plan to return to normal and determine the causes of the fire, which caused no casualties.
