AMEC awarded £25 million

has been awarded £25 million by

to design and deliver a new gas reception facility at the Bacton natural gas terminal,

, which forms part of a major pipeline project by

(BBL) to transport gas from the

to the

.

Shell is responsible for overall project management and commissioning of the new facility, which will be owned by BBL, an international consortium of gas transmission companies. Shell will maintain and operate the facilities on behalf of BBL.

AMEC, the London, England-based international project management and services company, was involved in feasibility studies and conceptual design and will now carry out the engineering, procurement, installation and pre-commissioning of the facilities and provide commissioning support services to Shell.

The facility will consist of four process trains featuring 5.3 megawatt heaters, filtration, flow control and metering systems, with a central control and safety systems building and a 450 metre long pipeline tie-in to the National Grid Transco transmission network.

On-site construction begins this month, with mechanical completion of the facility scheduled for the third quarter of 2006. First gas is expected on stream by the end of 2006.

Gas will be transported to the reception facility through BBL’s 235km long, 900mm diameter pipeline that runs under the North Sea from Balgzand on the Dutch coast to Bacton.

The pipeline will allow the import of high quality gas from Europe to help secure energy supply to the UK as reliance on imported gas increases. At full capacity it would be able to supply up to 13% of the UK demand for gas.