Petrofac notes Sonatrach's Statement re Algerian LNG Plant

Petrofac, the international oil & gas facilities service provider, announced on 14 July 2008 that it, together with Indonesia’s IKPT, was confirmed at a public opening of bids as the lowest bidder for the contract to build the Gassi Touil liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the industrial area in Arzew, Algeria.

Petrofac notes that Sonatrach yesterday announced that it considered that conditions set at the time of the public opening had not been satisfied by the Petrofac/IKPT consortium and that, as a consequence, discussions had been commenced with the consortium ranked second.

Petrofac further notes that the prescribed bidding process called for contractors to submit a price for a minimum 4.0 million Metric Tonnes Per Annum LNG plant and that bidders were to be evaluated on the basis of a price per tonne of guaranteed LNG in the storage tank. Petrofac believes it submitted a fully compliant bid and was the lowest bidder on the prescribed cost per tonne basis.

Petrofac is seeking further clarification of the position with Sonatrach.