NATCO Technologies to be Used in the Manifa Arabian Heavy Crude Programme

2008-05-22 01:06:40 -

- NATCO Group Inc. (NYSE:NTG) today announced that it will provide equipment and technology to Foster Wheeler for the Saudi Aramco Manifa Arabian Heavy Crude Programme, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The development of the Manifa oil field, located in the Persian Gulf, includes construction and expansion of new processing infrastructure to handle an additional 900,000 bpd of Arabian heavy crude. The project is planned for a 2011 completion.

NATCO will supply the world's fifth-largest crude oil field with advanced dehydration & desalting technology including design and fabrication of six trains treating a total of 900,000 barrels per day (bpd). Each train will be comprised of one TriVolt dehydrator and two TriVolt desalter units for a total of 18 vessels.

NATCO has been supplying the TriVolt technology to Saudi Aramco for over thirty years. The equipment design includes flexibility for future capacity increases by up to fifty percent through a retrofit to NATCO's Dual Frequency(R) electrostatic technology.

This contract, which was awarded in first quarter 2008, follows NATCO's recent announcement regarding the joint venture with Al-Rushaid Petroleum Investment Company for the NATCO Jubail Fabrication Facility which is scheduled to be operational by February 2009, and highlights the market opportunity for NATCO technologies in the Saudi Arabian market. All 18 NATCO vessels for this project will be fabricated within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

NATCO Group Inc. is a leading provider of process equipment, systems and services used in the production of oil and gas. NATCO has designed, manufactured and marketed production equipment and services for over 80 years. NATCO production equipment is used onshore and offshore in most major oil and gas producing regions of the world.

Statements made in this press release that are forward-looking in nature are intended to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and may involve risks and uncertainties. Forward looking statements in this press release relate to contract performance, future capacity expansion and fabrication facility plans. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. You should refer to documents filed by NATCO with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual and quarterly reports, which identify significant risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in our forward-looking statements.

NATCO Group Inc., Houston
VP, Marketing & Communications
Cheryl Chartier, 713-849-6275
cchartier@natco-us.com
or:
VP, Finance
Andy Smith, 713-849-7796
asmith2@natco-us.com