INTERQUISA and SGF to Form a Joint Venture for Construction of a PTA Plant in Montreal

MONTREAL (PROTEXT) - INTERQUISA (100% CEPSA) and Societegenerale de financement du Quebec (SGF) have begun the basicengineering work for construction of a Purified TherephthalicAcid (PTA) plant in the Montreal-East industrial park. Theproject will create more than 150 new jobs. The two parties wouldform a joint venture in which INTERQUISA would own 51% of theshares and SGF 49%. According to the work schedule, the companyshould launch operations in the first half of 2002. This multi-million dollars project will use leading-edgetechnology developed by INTERQUISA. The new plant will primarilyserve the growing demand for PTA in the North American market.Forecasted capacity for the plant is 500,000 tonnes annually. "This project is an important step within the globalisationstrategy of the petrochemical operations of CEPSA," said CarlosPerez de Bricio, Chairman and CEO of CEPSA. "The growing PTA industry will be well-served by the proximityof raw materials, qualified manpower and quality of existinginfrastructures," said Claude Blanchet, Chairman of the Board,President and CEO of SGF. INTERQUISA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Compania Espagnolade Petroleos (CEPSA) which is the second largest oil company inSpain with 25% of the Spanish oil market and an installedrefining capacity of 20,5 million tonnes. INTERQUISA has been avery active player in the PTA market for more than 20 years andat present produces its site of San Roque (Spain) PurifiedTherephthalic Acid (PTA), Purified Isophthalic Acid (PIPA) andDimenthyl Terephthalate (DMT). This new project will be the firstproduction facility of INTERQUISA outside Europe and will enhanceits position in the market. CEPSA has been present in Quebec (Canada) since 1993 alsothrough a joint venture with SGF, set up to manufacture andmarket Linear Alkybenzene (LAB) used as a tensioactive rawmaterial in the production of biodegradable detergents. Theoutput of the B_ cancour plant, with a yearly capacity productionof 120,000 tonnes, is directed mostly towards North Americanmarkets. The mission of SGF is to carry out economic developmentprojects, in cooperation with partners and in accordance withaccepted requirements of profitability, particularly in theindustrial sector. Since 1985, SGF has generated approximately$6.7 billion in investments, resulting in the creation of 22,000direct and indirect jobs. At December 31, 1998, SGF'sconsolidated assets totaled $1.8 billion. Moreover, theconsolidated assets of companies in which SGF holds intereststotal $10 billion. SGF is associated with 34 internationalpartners conducting business operations in Quebec. ots OriginalText Service: Societe generale de financement du Quebec Internet:http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Sylvie Brousseau,Communications and Public Relations of Societe generale definancement du Quebec, 514-876-9290

Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug"PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to bepublished under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial serviceproviding distribution of press releases from clients, who areidentified in the text of Protext reports and who bear fullresponsibility for their contents.

PROTEXT