ContourGlobal Signs Agreement With Republic of Rwanda to Develop Lake Kivu Methane...

ContourGlobal Signs Agreement With Republic of Rwanda to Develop Lake Kivu
Methane Gas Project

$325 Million Investment is Largest in Rwanda's History And Will Add 100 MW of
Electricity

NEW YORK, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- ContourGlobal announced today that its
subsidiary ContourGlobal Kivuwatt Ltd signed an agreement with the Republic of
Rwanda to develop an integrated gas extraction and electricity generation
facility which will provide 100 MW of natural gas fired electricity to Rwanda
and the East African Region.

ContourGlobal's $325 million Kivuwatt project will be the first large scale
facility to extract methane from the depths of Lake Kivu, a deep water lake
located on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lake
Kivu possesses a unique source of energy, methane gas held in solution deep
within the lake water. This gas can be harvested for power generation.
Extracting the gas also greatly mitigates the environmental hazards associated
with a natural release of the lake gasses and provides an environmentally
friendly and sustainable source of power generation.

ContourGlobal will develop, construct and operate a platform based gas
extraction system that will be moored off the Rwandan coast and will extract
methane gas from a depth of 350 meters. The gas will be processed and
transported by pipeline to ContourGlobal's power plant being developed in
Kibuye, Rwanda. The power plant is the first Independent Power Project
developed in Rwanda and will more than double the amount of electricity
currently generated inside the country. In addition, electricity generated by
the project also will be available to serve the surrounding East African
countries of Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

ContourGlobal has been designing and developing the project for two years and
has conducted extensive seabed surveys and methane gas sampling in the lower
depths of the Lake. The project will be constructed in two phases with the
first phase of 25 MW becoming operational in 2010 and the second phase of 75
MW going into operation in 2012.

The electricity generated by the project will help the East African nation
overcome a severe electricity shortage which has inhibited its economic growth
and led to deforestation in the Lake Kivu region as inhabitants have had no
alternative to using wood for fuel. The project is located within a region
that is desperate for less expensive and more reliable sources of power.

The electric generation component of the project will be powered by Wartsila
natural gas burning engines. ContourGlobal Kivuwatt Ltd has entered into a
25-year concession and power purchase agreement under which it will sell
electricity generated by the power plant to the Rwandan electric distribution
company, Electrogaz.

Joseph Brandt, President and Chief Executive Officer of ContourGlobal, stated,
"We are honored that the Government of Rwanda has chosen to entrust us with
the development of this unique resource. Lake Kivu's gas will provide a clean
source of power generation for a region suffering from extreme shortages of
reliable and affordable electricity. Utilization of the Lake's gas resource
will also serve to reduce the risk of an uncontrolled release of the Lake's
gas. Our Kivuwatt project will generate low cost electricity for use in Rwanda
and the wider region and permit the Government of Rwanda to bring affordable
electricity to millions of its citizens."

Craig Huff, Co-Chief Executive of Reservoir Capital Group and Chairman of
ContourGlobal, said, "The next decade will see rapid development of Africa's
electricity generating potential and we are excited to lead that effort with
this innovative project. ContourGlobal has a significant pipeline of
promising new generation businesses in Africa and we continue to find the
region to be an attractive place for investment. The Government of Rwanda has
been an excellent development partner and we thank them for their support.
The Government's policies have created a very attractive climate for
international investors."

The Minister of State in charge of Energy and Water in the Ministry of
Infrastructure of the Republic of Rwanda, Dr. Albert Butare expressed: "The
negotiations with ContourGlobal over the past 17 months have proven to bear
very fruitful results. The Government of Rwanda has been able to inaugurate
the first 4 MW Methane Gas pilot plant successfully in November 2008, that is
now feeding electricity into the national grid. But signing the agreements
with ContourGlobal on the 100 MW methane-gas-to-power project represents a
very big and important new step towards reliable future power supply to
Rwanda. Sufficient power supply will be the underlying requirement for meeting
the Government's objective to massively increase access to electricity to its
population and its industries and so this project is extremely important for
us. It is the first of its kind in terms of the magnitude of cooperation with
private investors in the energy sector and we are very much looking forward to
its implementation."

ContourGlobal develops and operates electric and combined heat and power
businesses around the world for both governments and multinational companies.
The Company focuses both upon high-growth, under-served markets and innovative
niches within developed markets -- such as renewable energy and Combined Heat
and Power (CHP). The Company consists of eleven businesses in operation and
construction on four continents with approximately 1,000 MW of generating
capacity and an active pipeline of new development business totaling 10,000
MW.

In Africa, ContourGlobal is currently constructing electricity generating
projects in three countries: Togo, Nigeria and Rwanda. The company is also
actively developing additional projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Reservoir Capital Group is a privately held investment firm with approximately
$4 billion under management and is ContourGlobal's controlling shareholder.

In addition to ContourGlobal and the Government of Rwanda, project
participants and advisors for the Kivuwatt Project are: Wartsila (electricity
generating station provider), Antares Offshore (gas extraction advisor),
Norton Rose (counsel for ContourGlobal Kivuwatt Ltd), and the Government of
Rwanda's counsel, Hogan & Hartson and Kelley, Drye and Warren.

Visit ContourGlobal on the web at www.contourglobal.com

SOURCE ContourGlobal

Kathleen Valadez, +1-212-610-9148, for ContourGlobal