General Electric Starts Engineering Phase of 860-Megawatt Combined-Cycle Plant in Romania

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Petrom S.A. (BSE:SNP) (Bucharest), one of Romania's largest oil and gas companies, has begun the engineering phase of an 860-megawatt (MW) gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Bucharest. Petrom, a subsidiary of OMV Aktiengesellschaft (WBAG:OMV) (Vienna, Austria), is extending its business into electricity generation with General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut) and Metka-Metal Construction of Greece S.A. (ATH:METKK) (Neo Iraklio, Greece).

The plant will be in Brazi, Romania, next to the Petrobrazi refinery. It will have two GE Frame 9FB gas turbines and one GE 209D steam turbine. About 80% of the electricity produced will be sold to the local grid, and the remaining 20% will be used for Petrom's operations.

GE, the leader of the 50:50 consortium, will supply the equipment and provide project-management services until the plant is commissioned in the third quarter of 2011. Petrom also signed a long-term service agreement with GE for the provision of equipment maintenance.

The turnkey project, valued at approximately $365 million, represents a major step for GE. It is the company's largest investment in Romanian electricity generation since the 720-MW Unit 2 of the Cernavoda Nuclear Plant was commissioned in 2007.

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