Dubai, Asharq Al-Awsat – GE has announced that its Oil & Gas business unit, following a strategic agreement signed in December 2004 with Qatar Petroleum Group for the supply of equipment and services, recently received orders to build five additional GE-designed liquefied natural gas (LNG) “super-trains”. These projects highlight GE”s increasing presence in the State of Qatar and confirm its commitment to developing advanced technology to enhance the LNG industry.

This agreement follows the announcement made in February of 2004 on GE supplying the first &#34super-train&#34 (the first compressor train to be driven by GE Frame 9E gas turbines) for the Qatargas II LNG project located in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar.

Under these major new orders, GE’s Oil & Gas business unit will provide three Frame 9E gas turbines and six centrifugal compressors for each super-train.

&#34We are excited about establishing such a solid partnership with Qatar Petroleum and its partners, and for the opportunity to showcase our latest advanced LNG technology,” said Claudi Santiago, President and CEO of GE”s Oil & Gas business. “We look forward to working together and we are proud to be contributing to the development of the State of Qatar as one of the world’s leading LNG producers.”

He added: &#34We are very pleased that our super-train technology with GE-designed turbines and compressors has been chosen for this challenging LNG application. This technology enhances the economies of scale of the process by enabling production of up to eight million tons/year of LNG per train. This is almost twice the current industry production level per train.&#34

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The gas turbines will be manufactured at GE”s facility in Belfort, France, while the production of the centrifugal compressors as well as the complete train packaging will occur at GE’s plant in Florence, Italy. The scope of the orders also includes final full-load string testing that will be performed at GE’s plant in Massa, Italy.

GE Frame 9E-driven compressor technology that delivers eight million tons per year of LNG production per super-train is considered to be the breakthrough technology needed for the next-generation of more competitive LNG plants.

In addition to the supply of new LNG super-trains, a long-term contractual service agreement (CSA) was renewed for the three LNG trains of the Qatargas I plant, already in operation, and a new long-term CSA for the Qatargas II LNG super-train was signed. Both contracts cover a period of 18 years and include: 24 gas turbines (6 MS5002C, 9 MS5002D, 6 MS6001 and 3 MS9001) and 21 centrifugal compressors.

The CSAs include scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, a level of performance and availability guarantee, a remote monitoring and diagnostic system and a localized team of GE specialists.

In total, the orders represent the largest award to GE”s Oil & Gas business for LNG and confirm GE’s committed to providing the technology needed to continue to advance the frontiers of the LNG industry. These five new super-trains will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity by approximately 40 million tons per year over the next few years, while the long-term maintenance contracts will provide cost predictability, operational flexibility and best-in-class turbine reliability over the life of the equipment.