Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) said Thursday it has won orders for 13 power generation turbines in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The value of the deals are estimated at nearly 70 billion yen ($655 million). Mitsubishi Heavy will supply in 2010 a gas turbine to a gas refinery to be ran by Saudi Arabian Oil Co. Mitsubishi Heavy intends to increase sales of its turbines with the construction of many energy-related facilities under way in the Middle East. It will also supply eight gas turbines and four steam turbines for a large power and desalination plant in Qatar's Ras Laffan industrial zone. The plant is expected to come online in April 2011 and will be constructed by Mitsui & Co., an alliance of state-owned Qatar Petroleum, and others. MHI has boosted its cumulative orders for gas turbines from the Middle East to 80 units with the receipt of two new orders. The orders are one for eight units for a large-scale power generation and desalination project by the Ras Laffan C independent water and power producer (IWPP) in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, and one unit for a electricity and steam cogeneration project at the Karan Gas Facilities of Saudi Aramco. On the back of robust economic growth, numerous social infrastructure improvement projects are under way or being planned in the countries of the Middle East. Investment into Ras Laffan power generation and desalination plant is a keystone among such projects. Investments into 2,000 MW (megawatt) class large-scale IWPP are expected to continue at a rate of two to three projects every year. Ras Laffan C IWPP's project is Ras Girtas Power Company (RGPC), which is formed by companies in Japan, Europe and Qatar, to supply electricity and water to Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) for 25 years. The companies invested in RGPC include Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Suez-Tractebel S.A. of Belgium, Qatar Petroleum (QP), a state-owned oil company, and Qatar Electricity & Water Company (QEWC). The plant to be built in Ras Laffan, which is one of the world's largest of this kind, consists of a natural-gas-fired GTCC power generation facility with a total generation capacity of 2,730 MW and a desalination plant with capacity to produce 63 million gallons of water per day from seawater. MHI will provide eight M701F gas turbines and four 260 MW steam turbines, which will collectively serve as the power generation and desalination plant's core components, to Mitsui & Co., the contractor of the plant construction. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation will be responsible for 12 generators. The desalination facility will be supplied by SIDEM of France. Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. of Korea will play a coordinating role for the overall plant facility, which is slated to go on-stream in April 2011. The order for the Saudi Aramco project calls for a package consisting of a 150 MW natural-gas-fired M701F gas turbine and a generator, with delivery slated for 2010. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation will supply the generator, and Mitsubishi Corporation will handle the trade particulars. Of the 80 units ordered from the Middle East to date, 29 have been for Saudi Arabia, including 25 units for Saudi Aramco. Saudi Arabia has developed a program to increase energy resource production and the gas turbine for Karan Gas Facilities to be used for the gas refinery is expected to contribute to stable global energy supply, following gas turbines delivered by MHI in recent years to Berri and Khursaniyah plants of Saudi Aramco. MHI has delivered numerous large-scale thermal power generation plants and desalination plants to the Middle East region since the 1980s. In August 2005 the company received a full-turnkey order for large-scale power generation and desalination plants from a consortium composed of Marubeni Corporation, JGC Corporation, Itochu Corporation and ACWA Power, and in March 2007 a corresponding order from an SPC backed by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and other investors. On the strength of the latest orders from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, MHI now plans to further boost its local marketing activities in a quest to attract orders for various infrastructure improvement projects in the region. - With input from agencies __
