TAQA and Fluor reach agreement for gas treatment facility

The gas treatment and compression facility is an integral part of the Bergermeer Gas Storage project. A pipeline will connect the facility with the nearly depleted Bergermeer gas field, in which 4 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas will be injected as of 2013, to serve as a reservoir which secures gas supply in times of high demand. Sustainable development is the basis for the realization of the project and TAQA has set beyond Best-Available-Technology (BAT) as a standard for the project. The gas treatment and compression facility will be built as a Zero Emission plant, which means there will be no emissions to the atmosphere of hydrocarbons or CO2. In addition, the facility will be designed to fit into the natural surroundings.

Jan Willem van Hoogstraten, TAQAs Bergermeer Gas Storage Project Director: "Our choice to work with Fluor is based on two principles: first, the firms tremendous experience and expertise in the field of designing and developing complex and sustainable industrial facilities give us great confidence that our cooperation will be successful and mutually beneficial. Secondly, TAQA has always aimed for the Alkmaar region to economically benefit from the 800 million euros investment that the Bergermeer Gas Storage project entails. In that respect we are very pleased to have found such a high profile firm in Haarlem, the capital of the province of Noord-Holland. Furthermore, a substantial amount of the engineers who will be working on this project lives in the Alkmaar region."

Direct and indirect employment
TAQA currently employs 50 people (full time equivalents, FTES) in the Alkmaar region. During the Bergermeer Gas Storage development phase (2008-2013) this number is expected to increase to approximately 100 FTEs. Suppliers in the region can expect a proportional increase: one TAQA job is expected to equal four supplier jobs.

Outsourcing to local and regional suppliers
At this moment, TAQA annually outsources 8 million euros worth of services. In the development period between 2008 and 2013 hundreds of people will be working on the project, with a maximum of 800 at the peak of the construction process, and TAQA will contract several more suppliers, preferably parties based in the province of Noord-Holland. Apart from Fluor, TAQA has already teamed up with suppliers such as Alliander, DHV, Tennet, Tebodin, Stork and Oranjewoud. TAQA expects to outsource the majority of the total investment of 800 million euros to Dutch companies.