Offshore staff

(Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia) -- Scomi Group Bhd. and National Tank Co. agreed to a joint venture in separation of naturally occuring carbon dioxide from natural gas and enhanced oil recovery from mature fields using Natco's proprietary production equipment technology.

Under a license agreement, the joint venture also will have access to other NATCO proprietary technologies including gas processing, oil treating, and water injection.

The joint venture will offer the services in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, East Timor, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Pakistan and Myanmar.

"The South East Asia market is large and expanding. It offers two significant, near-term strategic opportunities which will serve as the initial focus of the joint venture," says John U. Clarke, chairman and CEO of Natco.

"The first uses NATCO's membrane technology and related production systems expertise to separate high concentrations of naturally occurring CO2 to be produced from prolific natural gas fields currently under, or planned for future, development.

"The second opportunity is to use our membrane technology in enhanced oil recovery from mature fields offshore Malaysia and in other countries in the region."

7/18/06