Press Release

Technip has signed a Letter of Intent - effective May 11, 2005 - with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for the construction of a large-scale ethylene and propylene production plant at the Yansab complex in Yanbu Industrial City, on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia.

The plant, with a production capacity of 1.3 million mt/year of ethylene and 400 thousand mt/year of propylene, will play a key role in SABIC’s ambitious plan to significantly increase production of basic petrochemicals, intermediates and polymers by 2008.

The contract, on a lump sum turnkey basis, will be executed by Technip’s Rome-based engineering center. It covers basic and detail engineering, procurement and supply of materials, construction, precommissioning, commissioning and training of owner’s personnel. The construction of the facilities will be handled by Technip Saudi Arabia.

The plant will be based on Technip’s in-house technology and the proprietary SMK^®* cracking furnaces will be provided by Technip Benelux. These world-scale gas cracking furnaces will handle both ethane and propane feedstocks.

The project is scheduled to be completed in April 2008.

This new project joins the remarkable list of Technip references in Saudi Arabia, including several other large projects for SABIC.

Technip is a leader in the field of ethylene production and is one of the few world-class groups capable of assuming complete responsibility for steam crackers, from conceptual design to turnkey design and construction.

* Technip’s SMK^® technology has become the preferred choice of various ethylene producers for cracking gas feeds

With a workforce of about 19,000 persons, Technip ranks among the top five corporations in the field of oil, gas and petrochemical engineering, construction and services. Headquartered in Paris, the Group is listed in New York and Paris. The Group’s main engineering and business centers are located in France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, the United States, Brazil, Abu-Dhabi, China, India, Malaysia and Australia. In support of its activities, the Group manufactures flexible pipes and umbilicals, and builds offshore platforms in its manufacturing plants and fabrication yards in France, Brazil, the UK, the USA, Finland and Angola, and has a fleet of specialized vessels for pipeline installation and sub sea construction.