OREANDA-NEWS. On the occasion of the visit of a high Chinese delegation to France, Gerard Mestrallet, Chairman and CEO of GDF SUEZ, signed a cooperation agreement with Wang Dong, Chairman and CEO of Beijing Enterprise Group, to develop natural gas and energy efficiency projects in China. Chinese and French Presidents Xi Jinping and Francois Hollande were present at the signing.

The agreement follows several cooperative undertakings in China between subsidiaries of the two Groups, including joint ventures in gas engineering and waste incineration.

The current agreement extends the group's cooperation into several new areas:

Development of “utility” type services in the new Technological Business District of Changping near Beijing, involving among others the construction of a tri-generation plant developed jointly by the two groups. The development of the Changping eco-district, a national priority in China, will make it possible to expand the area dedicated to Beijing research centers and universities.

Natural gas storage, including a study of highly advanced storage facilities in order to develop the flexibility of Beijing Gas, a subsidiary of Beijing Enterprise Group, to serve its 7 million customers and extend its offer to a market of 25 million potential customers in Beijing. The switchover from coal to natural gas in Beijing is rapidly improving air quality, but the effort requires increased capacity and flexibility in gas storage.

Training exchanges in the methods and technologies used respectively by French and Chinese teams, beginning with sessions for Beijing Enterprise teams at GDF SUEZ University in April 2014.

Beijing Enterprises SITA Environmental Services Limited, a SUEZ Environnement subsidiary, will operate and maintain the Hunan Hengyang hazardous waste treatment plant and develop pre-commissioning, construction, and supervision projects for the Haidan renewable waste-to-energy conversion plant (which will handle a total of 29,000 metric tons of hazardous and medical waste per year). Furthermore SUEZ Environnement, via Degremont, will contribute thanks to its innovative technologies, equipment, and operational expertise to a project for the desalination of one million metric tons of seawater per day for the city of Beijing.

Gerard Mestrallet, Chairman and CEO of GDF SUEZ stated, “This agreement illustrates the commitment and strengthening involvement of GDF SUEZ in sustainable growth in China. The Group's long-term relationships in China have been marked by the 2011 cooperation agreement signed with China Investment Corporation (CIC), the 2012 partnership with PetroChina to develop six deep underground gas storage tanks, and the 2013 installation of a first floating LNG import terminal. The Group's expertise and know-how in the gas value chain and in energy services enable us to offer custom solutions that satisfy China's ambition to improve the air quality of its major cities.”

GDF SUEZ presence in China

GDF SUEZ has been present in China for over 40 years through the activities of its strategic partner SUEZ Environnement, which serves 15 million customers through 33 joint ventures in approximately twenty cities. Managed revenues generated by SUEZ Environnement reached €1.3 billion in 2012.

In 2008, GDF SUEZ opened a representative office in China and all of its energy business lines developed relationships with Chinese partners for projects in China and other countries.

In electrical power, GDF SUEZ supports joint carbon emissions reduction projects (Clean Development Mechanisms-CDM), while its engineering teams assist in the development of the Taishan EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) and support the development of hydroelectric projects in both China and other countries with Chinese partners.

In natural gas, GDF SUEZ signed a worldwide partnership in 2011 with the Chinese sovereign fund CIC granting the latter a 30% share in GDF SUEZ exploration and production activities. The Group sold 2.3 million metric tons of LNG to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), with deliveries beginning in 2013, and installed the first floating regasification terminal in China. In 2012, GDF SUEZ also began a cooperation agreement with Petrochina to explore the upstream gas potential in Qatar, then extended the agreement to gas storage in China in 2013 (development support for six sites).

In energy services, following the launch in 2009 of a trigeneration project in western China with Chongqing Gas, the Group signed a partnership agreement in 2011 with the TIFI Group in Tianjin to develop an urban cooling network in the heart of the new Yujiapu financial district in the coastal area of Tianjin-Binhai. In late 2013, the Group opened its first energy services company, Cofely-Gient, in Chongqing.