Paris, 15 September 2010

Axens and Orbeo have signed an agreement to form an alliance and offer their clients a single-source solution for improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The resources of each company will be combined to offer the oil refining and petrochemical industries with a comprehensive expertise in audit and consulting, to identify and implement energy efficiency and GHG emission reduction projects, and monetize the carbon credits generated by these projects.

Orbeo and Axens have already collaborated in the energy efficiency improvement program at the S.I.R. Abidjan refinery in Côte d’Ivoire. The outcome of this program led to a road map which could reduce the energy consumption of the refinery by a factor equivalent to 56 EIITM (*) points and lower the potential CO2 emissions by 270,000 tons per year.

(*)EIITM stands for Energy Intensity Index as defined by Solomon Associates. It is a key performance indicator which compares the real energy consumption of a refinery with respect to the expected energy consumption of a standard refinery having the same configuration and processing the same feedstock.

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Axens, www.axens.net is an international provider of advanced technologies, catalysts, adsorbents and services, with a global reputation for basic engineering design excellence. The main scope of Axens' business is focused on the conversion of oil, coal, natural gas and biomass to clean fuels as well as production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates. Axens’ global offer is based on: highly trained human resources, modern production facilities and extensive commercial feedback from plants using our processes and catalysts all around the world.

www.orbeo.com