Yokohama, Japan and Houston, Texas - JGC Corporation (through JGC Middle East FZE, a JGC subsidiary in UAE) and KBR, the engineering, construction and services subsidiary of Halliburton, announced today that Qatar Shell GTL Limited, a Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary, has executed a letter of intent to award a project management contract for the Pearl Gas to Liquids (GTL) project in Ras Laffan, Qatar, to a joint venture between JGC and KBR.

In addition to the development of offshore upstream gas production facilities, Shell’s Pearl GTL project comprises the development of an onshore GTL plant that will produce 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) of GTL products and around 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) of Natural Gas Liquids.

“JGC built Shell’s first commercial GTL plant in Bintulu, Malaysia, in 1993 and later performed the debottlenecking work of the plant,” said Kazuo Yamaga, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, JGC. “Since that time, JGC has cooperated extensively with Shell on its development of GTL technologies, and we are proud to have been selected by Shell to manage this historic project.”

“GTL is at the forefront of gas processing technology and is key to satisfying the world’s energy needs in the future,” said Lou Pucher, senior vice president, KBR Energy and Chemicals. “KBR’s unique expertise as the world leader in providing design, engineering, procurement, construction, start-up and commissioning solutions to the gas monetization industry, coupled with our Natural Gas Alliance with JGC, makes our team well-positioned to manage this work for Shell.”

This latest contract comes on the heels of the successful completion of the basis of design (BOD)/basis design package (BDP) and the subsequent front-end engineering design (FEED) provided by the joint venture. The JGC/KBR team’s role will include project management and start-up support of the overall onshore Pearl GTL complex, along with engineering, procurement and construction management of the GTL synthesis, utilities and infrastructure sections of the complex. When complete, this facility will be the largest GTL plant in the world.

Importantly, the Pearl GTL project will accelerate Qatar’s strategy of diversifying natural gas usage and will serve to promote Qatar’s ambition of being the “GTL Capital of the World.” Virtually free of sulfur, nitrogen and aromatics, both in production and usage, the extremely clean GTL products offer significant improvements in air quality without contributing any further to global warming than existing alternatives.

In August JGC and KBR renewed their Natural Gas Alliance that began in 1999, thereby enabling the two companies to build upon their respective strengths and work together to pursue and execute the engineering and construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and GTL projects around the world. The alliance is composed of three global operating hubs: JGC in Yokohama, KBR in Houston and MWKL (a JGC/KBR subsidiary) in London, covering the world’s GTL/LNG market.

JGC Corporation is an international engineering and construction company based in Yokohama, Japan, having multiple operating centers and executing large scale projects world-wide. JGC is currently executing projects in Nigeria, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and other countries. 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 in excess of $3 billion.

KBR is a global engineering, construction, technology and services company. Whether designing an LNG facility, serving as a defense industry contractor, or providing small capital construction, KBR delivers world-class service and performance. KBR employs more than 60,000 people in 43 countries around the world.

Halliburton, founded in 1919, is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the petroleum and energy industries. The company serves its customers with a broad range of products and services through its Energy Services Group and KBR. The company’s World Wide Web site can be accessed at www.halliburton.com.