NEWS RELEASE

GE Power Systems 4200 Wildwood Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30339

GE OIL & GAS TO SUPPLY COMPRESSOR PACKAGE FOR LNG PLANT EXPANSION IN QATAR FLORENCE, ITALY October 17, 2003 RPCO Enterprises Ltd. of Cyprus has awarded GE Oil & Gas a contract of more than $20 million to supply a residue gas compression package for the expansion of the Ras Gas (II) facility of Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Ltd. in Qatar. RPCO Enterprises, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the expansion project, is a consortium that includes Chiyoda Corp. and Mitsui & Co. Limited of Japan and Snamprogetti Limited of Italy. The GE residue gas compression package is comprised of: A centrifugal compressor train driven via a speed-increasing gear-box by a Frame R5/D gas turbine. The turbocompressor will be manufactured at GE Oil & Gas facilities in Florence and Mass, Italy. A gas expander compressor provided by GE Oil & Gas Rotoflow of San Diego, California The turbo-expander will be shipped to the GE Oil & Gas facilities in Massa to be full-load string tested along with the residue gas turbocompressor in a single testing loop suitable for over 25 megawatts of power. After the testing phase, the equipment will be shipped from Italy to the Qatar project site in September of 2004. The expanded plant is scheduled to begin commercial operation by the end of 2005.

Ras Gas (II) was formed in 2001 to produce and sell LNG, condensate and other hydrocarbon products. Today, the company is constructing onshore, offshore and sub-sea pipeline facilities and gas wells. Ras Gas (II) is 70% owned by Qatar Petroleum and 30% by ExxonMobil Ras Gas Inc., a company wholly owned by ExxonMobil Corporation. GE technology is already well established in Qatar. Customers such as RasGas (II), Qatar Electricity & Water Corporation, Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Gas have been operating GE-designed gas turbines, compressors and generators since the 1980s. GE also holds a contractual services agreement with Ras Gas covering 15 GE-technology gas turbines installed at the existing LNG plant in Ras Laffan. GE Oil & Gas is headquartered in Florence, the home of Nuovo Pignone, a long-time leader in gas compression and turbo generation products. GE Power Systems acquired ownership of Nuovo Pignone in 1994 and has continued to expand its oil and gas business by acquiring or developing partnerships with other technology and experience leaders in the industry. Other members of the GE Oil & Gas family include Gemini, GE Packaged Power Odessa, Rotoflow, A-C Compressor and Conmec, all of the U.S.; Thermodyn of France; and PII Pipeline Solutions of the U.K. About GE Power Systems GE Power Systems (www.gepower.com) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation technology, energy services and management systems with 2002 revenues of nearly $23 billion. Based in Atlanta, GA, GE Power Systems provides equipment, service and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, distributed power and energy rental industries. ###

For more information, contact: Dennis Murphy GE Power Systems +1 770 859 6948
dennis.murphy@ps.ge.com

Ken Darling or Howard Masto Masto Public Relations +1 518 786 6488
kenneth.darling@ps.ge.com howard.masto@ps.ge.com