Milano, 3 December 2010 – The Adriatic LNG Terminal has been named as the Best Infrastructure Project of the Year in the 12th edition of the Platts Global Energy Awards, which annually recognizes energy players for their excellence in leadership, innovation and performance.

The Adriatic LNG Terminal – located about 15 kilometres off the Veneto coastline, North Adriatic sea, Italy - is a state-of-the-art facility created to provide the Italian gas market with a major diversified, reliable and cleaner burning source of energy. Built with cutting edge technologies and boasting a highly innovative design, the Adriatic LNG Terminal adds to Italy’s LNG import capacity and energy diversity. The infrastructure has a nominal regasification capacity of 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year (775 million cubic feet per day), approximately 10% of the country’s natural gas consumption.

Inaugurated in October 2009, the Adriatic LNG Terminal opened up the Italian market to new supplies of gas from different regions through the successful delivery of more than 90 cargoes to date, coming mainly from Qatar but also from Egypt, Trinidad & Tobago and, most recently, from Equatorial Guinea and Norway. The Terminal is a strategic gateway for LNG global imports to Italy and, in this way, is contributing to improve the country’s energy security of supply.

The Award was announced during the ceremony held on December 2nd, in New York, by Platts, widely renowned as a global provider of energy information. The Adriatic LNG Terminal, winner of the “Best Infrastructure Project” of the “Platts Global Energy Awards”, was selected among five finalists.

“The selection of the Adriatic LNG Terminal for this prestigious award is a testament, not only for its technologically innovative design and construction, but also to the strategic role it is playing in Italy’s and Europe’s energy security and diversification. This is one of the strategic objectives of the State of Qatar, being the world no.1 supplier and transporter of LNG, which very soon will be celebrating “77 mta of LNG Production“. - H.E. Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry, Chairman and Managing Director of Qatar Petroleum, commented on this occasion.

“I would like to recognize the significant contributions of the shareholders, Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Edison, who gave birth to this ambitious project. I wish to share the award with our Managment team, employees, contractors and suppliers, and to thank the authorities and the local community in Italy, that cooperated with us in turning the Adriatic LNG Terminal from an innovative concept to a strategic reality.” - Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Director Oil & Gas Ventures for Qatar Petroleum and Chairman of Adriatic LNG, said – “With this infrastructure, now in full operation, Italy has opened a new supply route from Qatar which is at the forefront of the world’s LNG industry.”

“We are honoured by this award which recognizes the high value of our Terminal and its strategic role for Italy” - Alistair Routledge, Adriatic LNG’s Managing Director, says. “We are proud to operate this unique offshore LNG receiving facility that provides Italy with a reliable, diversified energy supply.“

About the Adriatic LNG Terminal The Adriatic LNG Terminal is the first ever offshore Gravity Based Structure (GBS) for unloading, storing and regasifying Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Located in the North Adriatic sea, about 15 kilometres off the Veneto coastline, Italy, this new energy infrastructure is a major strategic breakthrough.

It was designed, built and now is operated by Terminale GNL Adriatico Srl, commonly known as Adriatic LNG®, an Italian joint Venture between Qatar Terminal Limited (45%) – a subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil Italiana Gas (45%) – a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, and Edison (10%).

The Adriatic LNG Terminal is designed around a large concrete base structure, which houses two cryogenic LNG tanks, and supports facilities for mooring and unloading LNG vessels, regasification equipments and a pipeline to transport the gas onshore. The Terminal is overall 375 mt. long, 115 mt. wide and the main deck is 18 mt. above the sea level.

The design and construction of the offshore Adriatic LNG Terminal was an international multi-year project, engineered and implemented in various countries around the world, including South Korea, USA, Canada, Norway, Spain and Italy.

The concrete base structure was built in a large casting basin at the Campamento site in Algeciras, Spain near to Gibraltar. Once the tanks and topsides equipment were integrated in the concrete structure, the casting basin was flooded and the bund wall removed thereby enabling the terminal to be floated out and towed to the final installation site, in Italy, approximately 1,700 nautical miles away. Then, berthing facilities and the pipeline were connected to the terminal allowing commercial activities start up in November 2009.