The contract comprises engineering, procurement, and construction management of the concrete gravity based structure, LNG storage tanks and topside regasification facilities.  The contract will be booked as order intake in the 2nd quarter 2005.

"It is a stepping stone for our company to be awarded the contract for the execution of the Isola di Porto Levante offshore LNG terminal", said president and CEO Inge K. Hansen in Aker Kvaerner.  "There is a future market for offshore LNG-terminals and Aker Kvaerner is well positioned with proven competence and technology in concrete substructures and excellent execution skills."

The terminal will be located about 15 kilometers from the Veneto coast and positioned in approximately 30 meters of water.  The terminal, with a total storage capacity of 250,000 cubic meters, will be equipped with a berthing/mooring system for offloading LNG, designed to accommodate ships delivering up to 150,000 cubic meters of LNG.  Delivery frequency is anticipated to be an average of two ships a week.  The gas for the project will be sourced from Qatar's giant North Field, which has recoverable resources of more than 900 trillion cubic feet of gas.

The terminal will be a state-of-the-art facility with a capacity of 8 billion cubic meters a year, and will provide dependable supplies of natural gas to the Italian energy sector to meet the country's growing demand.

Executive Vice President Simen Lieungh in Aker Kvaerner, said, "This project utilises the joint competence in Aker Kvaerner, such as our regasification expertise in Houston and our concrete expertise in Oslo, as well as the group's proven project execution model."

The partners in the Isola di Porto Levante LNG Terminal project are Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Edison, a major Italian energy company.  The contract is signed by Aker Kværner Contracting AS, a company within the Aker Kvaerner group.

ENDS

 

Media:
Torbjørn Andersen, SVP Group Communications, Aker Kvaerner. Tel: +47 67 51 30 36, Mob: +47 928 85 542

Stein Inge Liasjø, VP Group Communications, Aker Kvaerner. Tel: +47 67 51 30 94, Mob: +47 464 02 353

Investor relations:
Lasse Torkildsen, VP Investor Relations, Aker Kvaerner. Tel: +47 67 51 30 39

 

AKER KVÆRNER ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Aker Kvaerner"), is a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products and integrated solutions. The business within Aker Kvaerner comprises several industries, including Oil & Gas, Refining & Chemicals, Mining & Metals, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Power Generation and Pulp & Paper. The Aker Kvaerner group consists of a number of separate legal entities. Aker Kvaerner is used as the common brand/trademark for most of these entities. The parent company in the group is Aker Kværner ASA. Aker Kvaerner has aggregated annual revenues of approximately NOK 35.6 billion and employs approximately 22,000 people in more than 30 countries.

 

Field Development Europe is a multidisciplinary and technology based organisation covering all technical and management functions for carrying out development of oil and gas fields world-wide, from wellheads to receiving terminal.

 

Aker Kvaerner Contracting is a contracting entity, tailormade to execute EPCM (Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management) and EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contracts worldwide. Aker Kvaerner Contracting's business idea is to capitalise on Aker Kvaerner technology and know-how. Hence Aker Kvaerner Contracting provides Project Management, Concept development, Engineering and Procurement, by utilising the combined Aker Kvaerner Field Development competence. External specialist partners and partners being local to the Project Country or Region perform detail engineering and construction work.

This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to our disclaimer, see our web-pages www.akerkvaerner.com