Algeria’s state petroleum firm Sonatrach has provisionally awarded Italy’s Tecnimont a $248mn EPC contract for a fourth LPG train at Zcina, near the country’s oil hub of Hassi Messaoud. The train will have capacity to process 8mn m³/d (280mn cfd) of gas. Algeria’s overall gas output is set to fall this year with production at ageing fields in decline and the key expansion project, Touat, delayed to 2019 (MEES, 7 September). But Sonatrach last year said that it was to cut the reinjection of associated gas at Rhourde El Baguel (REB) oil field, 100km east of Hassi Messaoud, freeing up 10-15mn m³/d (350-530mn cfd) of gas for processing (MEES, 15 September 2017). Tecnimont expects the contract to be formally signed this month, after which project completion should take 30 months.