Total abandons plans for ethane cracker at Arzew

Total has given up hope of reaching a successful conclusion to negotiations with the government to build an estimated $7bn ethane cracker, a source close to the project told African Energy on 10 March. A headline agreement for the 1.4m t/yr facility at Arzew was signed in 2007. Press reports in early March claimed that state energy company Sonatrach had issued Total with a ‘fin de non-recevoir’, or categorical refusal, on the project. There has been no such official communication, the source said, but the French company had nevertheless already given up hope of further progress in the talks.