Yokohama, Japan - JGC Corporation has been awarded a contract from National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company(NIOEC), a subsidiary of Iran's Ministry of Petroleum, for the Front-End Engineering and Design(FEED) services of its Arak Refinery Expansion and Products Upgrading Project, with the cooperation of Tomen Corporation. The presently designed 150,000 bpd is to be expanded to 250,000 bpd. The contract is worth approximately US$25 million and completion is scheduled for the second quarter of 2005.

Arak city is located in the southwest of Iran, about 300 km from Tehran, at 1,880m above sea level. The existing refining facilities at the Shazand Arak Oil Refinery were constructed by JGC and TPL SPA, and have been in operation since 1994. This achievement was highly regarded by the owner and JGC's collaboration continued through a study performed on the expansion project, with the result that JGC was awarded this FEED contract on the basis of negotiations.

With abundant oil reserves ranking No.5 in the world, Iran still depends partly on the importation of oil products because of a sharp rise in domestic gasoline demand in recent years. This project can contribute not only to offset such importation by the increased gasoline production of the RFCC unit, but will also improve the environment by means of a value-added lighter oil product.

JGC's sincere intention is to complete this FEED phase smoothly, helping the main project to be implemented on time by NIOEC. Iran has a series of other important projects to be launched in the future, including LNG and gas processing plants. JGC wishes to continuously contribute to further projects in Iran - a country of sharp growth and great prospects for the future.

JGC Corporation is an international engineering and construction company based in Yokohama, Japan, having multiple operating centers and executing large-scale projects worldwide. Established in 1928, JGC has a strong background in lump-sum turnkey operations of both hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon related projects, with annual sales turnover of approximately $3 billion.