New York: Swiss company ABB has been awarded a $574 million contract, with the Petrofac International of the US, to design and build a natural gas processing plant for the Ohanet gas fields in Algeria.

The order for the plant was placed by Australia's BHP Petroleum, head of a consortium developing the Ohanet fields. The plant will process natural gas into liquefied petroleum gas and condensates. Production from the facility is due to begin in late 2003.

A statement from ABB said the plant will have an output of 30,400 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate, 27,700 bpd of LPG and 665,000 mcf/d of gas. The Ohanet fields lie on the northern edge of the Sahara desert, about 1,300 km southeast of Algiers and 100 km west of the Libyan border.