Westcoast Energy is leading an international consortium awardeda $250 million contract by Pemex Exploracion y Produccion (PEP) toconstruct and operate a 250 MMcf/d offshore gas compression andliquids recovery facility. The facility is to be located near theexisting Akal-GR platform in the Cantarell oil field in the Bay ofCampeche, Gulf of Mexico. The project will help to recover gas fordelivery into the Mexican national pipeline system, which is beingexpanded to meet the needs of new gas distribution concessions andpower generation plants.

The consortium consists of Westcoast (45%), Marubeni Corp.(30%), Marubeni America Corp. (15%), and Grupo Consorcio deFabricaciones y Construcciones, S.A de C.V (10%). Westcoast willlead the consortium and operate the facility. Start-up is expectedin late 1999. Under a five-year gas compression services contract,PEP is committed to pay fixed capacity charges in U.S. dollars on atake-or-pay basis and an additional operations and maintenancecharge. In addition, the gas utilized by this project will beprovided by PEP on a pass-through basis up to an agreed dailymaximum.

The facility will include three gas compression units, liquidsrecovery capacity, and the construction of a marine platform andall related support systems including power supply, water treatmentplant, accommodations and related facilities, and interconnectionwith the adjacent PEP production platform. PEP is the explorationand production arm of Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX).

©Copyright 1998 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press,Inc.