TAQA Awards Bergermeer DPCU Contract to Frames

The scope of supply comprises the design engineering, procurement, manufacturing, prefabrication, inspection, testing, and supplying of the materials for two independent DPCUs. The process installation will include 12 state-of-the-art vertical Silica Gel adsorption towers positioned in two production trains. The DPCUs will also include zero emission electrical heaters, heat exchangers and air-coolers. Frames will design and supply the complete process installation in segments which will be assembled on location in Alkmaar. Delivery of the DPCUs is expected end 2012 / beginning 2013.

The DPCUs are a crucial element of the zero emission gas treatment and compression facility being built in Alkmaar. The units remove the heavier hydrocarbons and dry the natural gas before it is transferred to the Gas Transport Services (GTS) network for delivery to customers.

Jacques Melman, Managing Director Frames, commented: “After two years of international competition, we are extremely pleased with TAQA’s decision to award this major DPCU purchase order contract to Frames. TAQA continues to set stringent environmental requirements for the project and we believe their decision is testimony to our ability to supply technologies and products that minimise environmental impact during the production and operational stages. With an increasing public focus on environmental protection and sustainable technologies, the demand for cleaner and more efficient processing is growing rapidly.”

This contract follows a long-term partnership involving, among other TAQA oil and gas assets, the TAQA-operated Alkmaar Peak Gas Installation (PGI) in the Netherlands. TAQA’s PGI, operational since 1997, is an underground gas reservoir transformed to store and deliver gas to the Dutch national grid to meet additional consumer demand in the winter months.

The Bergermeer Gas Storage project will create Europe’s largest open access gas storage facility. Bergermeer Gas Storage will provide the Northwest European gas market with 46 TWh (4.1 billion cubic metres) of seasonal storage, thereby almost doubling the Netherlands’ total storage capacity. The project is one of the Netherlands’ largest infrastructure projects and will provide a long-term boost for the Dutch economy. The construction of Bergermeer Gas Storage will offer 3,300 man-years of employment of which 2,650 will be performed in the Netherlands.

TAQA received the final statutory approvals and permits to construct and operate the facility in May 2011. Bergermeer Gas Storage operations will start in 2013 with full commercial operations in 2014.

ENDS


Contact:

Frames
Sven Lap
Public Relations employee
Tel.: +31 (0)71 58 118 21
E-mail: s.lap@frames-group.com
www.frames-group.com

TAQA Media Relations
Allan Virtanen
Group Corporate Communications Advisor
Tel.: +31 64 61 47 448
E-mail: allan.virtanen@taqaglobal.com
www.taqaglobal.com


Notes to editors:

About TAQA
Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) is a global energy company majority owned by the Abu Dhabi Government and listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Our main activities include our oil and gas business, power generation and water desalination across four continents.
We are the sixth-largest independent power producer in the world and the majority owner of the facilities that provide 98% of the water and electricity requirements in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Our power plants are located in the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, India, and the United States.
With operations in the UK, the Netherlands, the United States and Canada, our oil and gas business includes exploration and production, gas storage and pipeline transportation.
In the Netherlands our established gas storage business includes operating the Alkmaar Peak Gas Installation (PGI). With our partner EBN, an independent company with the Dutch State as its sole shareholder, we are also developing the Bergermeer Gas Storage facility. This will make a major contribution to the security of gas supply to Northwest Europe, and provide a strong base for the Northwest European Gas Hub.
Our entrepreneurial culture, along with a commitment to people, safety and the environment, has created strong foundations for the long-term sustainable growth of our business.

About Frames
Since 1983, Frames has been designing and building technologically advanced high quality process and control systems for the international upstream oil & gas industry. Specialized in the design, fabrication, supply, installation and commissioning of complete systems for oil & gas treatment, separation, heat exchanging, flow control and safeguarding, we continuously expand our technologies as well as our customer base to include virtually all the major oil & gas (production) companies. Frames is privately owned and headquartered in The Netherlands with offices worldwide to better meet local customer demands. Our company mission is to deliver sustainable, reliable and high quality products, from single systems to complete integrated installations. An upfront and down to earth mentality has been, and will continue to be, a crucial quality of Frames. Combined with extensive project experience, know-how and state-of-the-art technologies we are capable of tackling the increasingly difficult challenges the oil & gas industry faces.

About Bergermeer Gas Storage
The Bergermeer Gas Storage project will create Europe’s largest open access gas storage facility. Bergermeer will provide the Northwest European gas market with 46 TWh (4.1 BCM) of seasonal storage, thereby almost doubling the Netherlands’ total storage capacity and adding an alternative source of flexibility on the TTF.
The depleted Bergermeer reservoir has the ideal geological characteristics for gas storage and is in a strategically excellent location: well connected to the gas transport network, close to major cities and industrial centres and only 20 km from the BBL pipeline transporting gas between the Netherlands and the UK.
TAQA (operator) and EBN hold 60% and 40% stakes in the Bergermeer Gas Storage project respectively. The design and construction of the facility require a total investment of EUR 800 million and involves drilling 14 high capacity storage wells, building a gas treatment plant and laying almost 40 km of pipeline.
As part of the realisation of this project, an agreement with Gazprom Group, one of the world’s largest energy companies, was made in 2009 as a result of an open season procedure. For delivering the required 48.5 TWh of cushion gas to pressurise the reservoir and make commercial operations possible, Gazprom group will receive a minority share of the storage capacity and an interest in the technical operatorship of the facility.
Bergermeer is an open access gas storage. The majority of the storage capacity will be made available to the market via negotiated Third Party Access (TPA). The TPA capacity will be marketed via TAQA Gas Storage BV on both a longer-term basis and via annual auctions.