Dubai, UAE, July 2, 2002 ---- GE Power Systems, the energy services business of General Electric, has today signed two Contractual Service Agreements with Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Ltd. (RLLNG) and Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Ltd. II (RLLNGII) in Qatar.
In the deal, worth over US$100 million, GE Power Systems has agreed to provide planned maintenance services for a period of up to 18 years for the Gas Turbines Power Generation and Mechanical Drive equipment at RLLNG and RLLNG II, companies primarily owned by Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil.
GE Power Systems will ensure availability and output of the GE Frame 6B Power Drive and GE Frame 7E Mechanical Drive machines and will also provide a Contract Performance Manager - a fully dedicated resident engineer to supervise maintenance projects for the machines.
On the signing of the Contractual Service Agreement (CSA) Jean-Claude Nasr, Region Leader of Contractual Services Sales, GE Power Systems-Africa, India and Middle East said, "These are long term relationships with RLLNG and RLLNGII where we will share common goals with our customers to optimise plant availability, overall plant performance and output, ensuring maximum efficiency of the machines and increasing profitability."
He also added, "Throughout the term of the contract we will provide an economical way of performing planned maintenance with predictable budgeted costs making it the ideal win-win situation."
The service agreement minimizes maintenance cost risks and provides a customized maintenance programme which is tailor-made to suit individual needs and includes all service, labour, parts, and repairs for planned and unplanned maintenance, along with performance guarantees tailored to the plant.
Khalid Al Hajri, Operations Manager, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Ltd. said, "We opted for this deal because, with it, we minimise the risk for availability, efficiency and output of the equipment guaranteed by GE under the terms of the contract."
The service agreements will enable RLLNG and RLLNG II to take advantage of GE's innovative technology and vast experience in turbine technology and highly sophisticated maintenance procedures. RLLNG and RLLNGII will also enjoy the benefits of GE's worldwide service network, which gives CSA customers who require emergency service or parts priority over other service requests.
"Our CSAs drive us to invest in technology to not only meet but to surpass expected maintenance levels. Because we routinely maintain hundreds of turbines, our service teams can adopt procedures that have been successful elsewhere while our advanced monitoring and diagnostics tools identify trends and reduce the risk of unplanned maintenance," continued Nasr.
GE Power Systems will have installed 11 GE turbines at the natural gas plant in Qatar over the past 5 years. Now, with the new service agreement, General Electric will be able to provide to RLLNG a comprehensive service that includes product installation through after-sales service.
"We are proud to have signed these agreements today. We look forward to providing our best service and will always strive to contribute to RLLNG's success, added Bill Wakileh, Regional General Manager of GE Energy Services.
GE has been active in the Gulf since 1933. Its activities in the region are conducted through direct presence, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and a wide network of distributors. GE has completed strategic projects in various hi-tech industrial sectors, defence-related contracts and major infrastructure developments.
GE is a diversified technology, manufacturing and services company based on more than a century of achievement and innovation. Today, it is the only company listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Index that was also included in the original listing of 1896. GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs nearly 300,000 people worldwide.
GE Power Systems ( http://www.gepower.com) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation technology, energy services and energy management. The business has the largest installed base of power generation equipment in the global energy industry. GE Power Systems provides turnkey equipment, service and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, distributed power and energy rental industries.
Anja Pegger
GE
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