BG Group plc welcomes the decision of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to approve construction of a fourth Atlantic Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) train at Point Fortin, Trinidad.

Train 4, at an estimated cost of US$1.2 billion, is expected to be the largest LNG train ever constructed. The Train will require about 800 million standard cubic feet of gas per day and produce 5.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG. Together with its sister trains overall LNG production from Atlantic LNG should increase to over 15 mtpa.

All shareholders of Atlantic LNG including BG, BP, Repsol, National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC) and Tractebel have an option to participate in the ownership of Train 4. BG's shareholding will be no less than 26 per cent. Significant progress has been made on all the associated agreements required for the project and these are expected to be finalised in the near future.

Peter Dranfield, President BG Trinidad and Tobago, said: “BG Group fully endorses this decision to build a fourth liquefied natural gas train. This decision enables the participating shareholders to continue in the success of Atlantic LNG's world-class facility and in the expansion of Trinidad & Tobago's LNG business. BG Group looks forward to working with the Government and partners to bring this project to fruition.”

BG intends to supply its share of liquefaction capacity in Train 4 from its operated fields in the North Coast and East Coast Marine Areas. A development plan to use gas from NCMA and ECMA is awaiting approval from the Government. LNG produced from BG-gas supplied to Train 4 will be sold to BG LNG Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of BG Group, for onward sale into the US market via the Lake Charles terminal in Louisiana.

A Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study for Train 4 was completed in January 2002. The construction programme will enable the plant to be operational by the first quarter of 2006.

The new train is planned to be situated south of and adjacent to Train 3, which was commissioned on 30 April 2003. A second jetty will be required and a fourth 160,000 cubic metre storage tank will be constructed and located west of Train 1.

Notes to Editors

BG Group is a 26 per cent shareholder in the US$1 billion Atlantic LNG Train 1 which began operations in April 1999. Train 1 exports LNG to markets in the USA, Puerto Rico and Spain. The other shareholders are BP (34 per cent), Repsol (20 per cent), Tractebel (10 per cent) and NGC (10 per cent).

A US$1.1 billion two-train expansion project was approved by the Government in February 2000. Train 2 started operations in August 2002 and Train 3 came on-stream in April 2003. Each of these trains has a production capacity of 3.4 mtpa. Shareholders in Atlantic LNG Trains 2 and 3 are BG (32.5 percent), BP (42.5 per cent) and Repsol (25 per cent).

Gas supplied to Trains 2 and 3 by BG has been sold under a long-term contract to El Paso Corporation for import into the Elba Island LNG receiving terminal in Georgia, USA. Until the long-term contract becomes effective, all BG-equity production is supplied to the Lake Charles terminal in Louisiana, in which BG LNG Services, a wholly owned BG-subsidiary, has 80 per cent of capacity rights.