Petrom to build a new gas processing unit at Midia

November 1, 2006

• The new processing unit will treat all gas produced offshore and increase efficiency in gasoline recovery of up to 97%
• More than EUR 70 mn to be invested in the new project
• Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract awarded to Linde Group

Petrom, the largest oil and gas producer in South Eastern Europe, signed yesterday a contract with the Linde Group for the construction of a new gas processing plant at Midia, next to existing facilities. „This is one of the company’s major projects in Romania with a budget of more than EUR 70 mn, part of the 1.5 bn exploration and production investment program for 2010. Due to the increased recovery rate of the new plant and its increased processing capacity, the production of gasoline will be more than tripled from 100 to 350 tones per day”, stated Werner Ladwein, member of the Managing Committee of Petrom, responsible for exploration and production.

The Linde Group will build the new gas processing unit next to existing facilities, namely Midia Terminal. This existing installation extracts gasoline from offshore gas and delivers it to PETROM’s refineries.
The current gas processing capacity will be increased from 1.5 mn m3/day to 3.8 mn m3/day so that all the gas produced offshore be treated by the new unit. The extracted quantity of gasoline will reach 350 tons/day.
The new plant will have a cogeneration plant allowing it to be independent from external electric power supply.

The completion and start-up of the new unit is scheduled for the end of second quarter of 2008.