Eco (atlantic) Regulatory News (ECO)

31 May 2007 17:43

EcoSecurities, one of the world's leading companies in thebusiness of sourcing, developing and trading carbon offsets fromgreenhouse gas emission reduction projects, announces that QatarPetroleum's Oil Field Gas Recovery and Utilisation project at theAl-Shaheen oil field has been registered with the United Nations,under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. £ EcoSecurities acted as carbon advisor for the project indeveloping key components of the Project Design Document (PDD). £ The project, the first of its kind in the region, captures andprocesses associated gas from the Al-Shaheen oil field, located 90 kmoff the coast of Qatar, which was previously flared and utilizes itfor domestic use. Overall, the project reduces flaring byapproximately 80%, thereby contributing substantially to the reductionof greenhouse gas emissions in the State of Qatar. £ The project comprises three main components: recovery ofassociated gas; transmission of the associated gas along a pipeline;and utilisation of the associated gas at the Messaieed gas processingplant. £ The project activity is estimated to reduce Qatar Petroleum'sgreenhouse gas emissions by over two million tonnes of CO(2) per yearmaking it Qatar's largest CDM project for reducing CO(2) emissions todate. £ Pedro Moura Costa, President and COO of EcoSecurities commentedthat, "EcoSecurities is glad to have been involved in this excitingdevelopment. Avoided flaring has great potential for emissionreductions worldwide and in the Middle East in particular, and thisinitiative of Qatar Petroleum will hopefully mark the beginning of anew trend." £ Souheil Abboud, EcoSecurities' Middle East Regional Director,added that, "This is an important development with relation to thepotential for CDM participation of Middle East countries, who shouldfeel encouraged to develop similar projects based on the success seenin Qatar." £ Alongside a large volume of emission reductions, the project willalso deliver a variety of socio-economic, environmental andtechnological benefits. The project increases the national energy andelectricity supply in Qatar without adding to existing levels offossil fuel consumption; provides employment - in the constructionphase alone, several hundred jobs were created - and transferstechnical knowledge to local industry. £ As the first registered CDM project in Qatar and in the GCC, theproject will act as a clean technology demonstration project,encouraging development of similar projects throughout both Qatar andthe Middle East. £ Editor's Notes: £ About EcoSecurities: £ EcoSecurities is one of the world's leading companies in thebusiness of originating, developing and trading carbon credits.EcoSecurities structures and guides greenhouse gas emission reductionprojects through the Kyoto Protocol, working with both projectdevelopers and buyers of carbon credits. £ EcoSecurities works with companies in developing andindustrialising countries to create carbon credits from projects thatreduce emissions of greenhouse gases. EcoSecurities has experiencewith projects in the areas of renewable energy, agriculture and urbanwaste management, industrial efficiency, and forestry. With a networkof offices and representatives in over 20 countries on fivecontinents, EcoSecurities has amassed one of the industry's largestand most diversified portfolios of carbon projects. Today, the companyis working on 426 projects in 36 countries using 18 differenttechnologies, with the potential to generate more than 178 millioncarbon credits. £ EcoSecurities also works with companies in the developed world toassist them in meeting their greenhouse gas emission compliancetargets. Utilising its highly diversified carbon credit portfolio,EcoSecurities is able to structure carbon credit transactions to fitcompliance buyer's needs, and has executed transactions with bothprivate and public sector buyers in Europe, North America and Japan. £ Working at the forefront of carbon market development,EcoSecurities has been involved in the development of many of theglobal carbon market's most important milestones, including developingthe world's first CDM project to be registered under the KyotoProtocol. In 2006, EcoSecurities won the Point Carbon Award for 'BestCDM/JI Project Developer'. EcoSecurities' Global Consulting Serviceshas been at the forefront of all the significant policy and scientificdevelopments in this field, and has been voted the world's 'LeadingGreenhouse Gas Advisory Firm' every year since 2001 by reader surveysconducted by Environmental Finance magazine. £ EcoSecurities Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM(ticker ECO.L). Additional information is available atwww.ecosecurities.com. Copyright Business Wire 2007