EVENDALE, OH - GE Marine & Industrial Engines (M&I) has signed a contract with Dresser-Rand A/S, Kongsberg, Norway, to provide two LM2500+ aeroderivative gas turbines. This marks the first commercial application of the LM2500+, M&I's newest aeroderivative gas turbine. The LM2500+s will be installed on Statoil's Asgard floating production vessel in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, and will be used as drivers for Dresser-Rand gas re-injection compressors. Statoil is Norway's largest oil and gas company, headquartered in Stavanger. The Asgard field is located on Haitenbanken outside mid-Norway. The floating production vessel will produce approximately 200,000 barrels of oil per day, and associated gas will be re-injected. The natural gas-fired LM2500+ gas turbines, which will be nominally rated at 22-25 megawatts for continuous operation, will be equipped with M&I's Dry Low Emissions (DLE) combustion system. The units also will feature M&I's six-stage power turbine, which has been uprated to match the LM2500+ gas turbines for mechanical drive and power generation applications. The Dresser-Rand LM2500+ package will feature a single lift, three-point mounted skid with a gearbox and two compressor bodies. The LM2500+s will drive Dresser-Rand DATUM, high-efficiency centrifugal compressors. The LM2500+ was introduced in June 1994 and is based on M&I's popular LM2500 gas turbine. The LM2500+ is ideal for a variety of compressor drive, power generation and marine propulsion applications. The gas turbine is designed to achieve 39,000 shp, 29 megawatts and 38% thermal efficiency. Its introduction rating is 37,000 shp, 27.6 megawatts and 37% thermal efficiency. This performance represents up to a 25% increase in power output compared to the LM2500. Emissions controls for the LM2500+ include water or steam injection using a standard combustor or M&I's DLE combustion system which is already in service on an LM2500 at Ruhrgas' Gescher Station, Gescher, Germany. The LM2500+ gas turbines for the Asgard floating production vessel will be manufactured at M&I's Evendale, OH facility. M&I also will full load test the units prior to shipment to Dresser-Rand, slated for the end of 1996. Dresser-Rand will deliver the complete packages to Statoil in May 1997, with commercial operation on the Asgard floating production vessel expected in the third quarter of 1998. GE M&I is part of GE Aircraft Engines and is headquartered in Evendale. M&I is the world's largest designer, developer and manufacturer of aeroderivative gas turbines.