NEWS

February 18, 2008

E3 Consulting shares honors in 4 of 11 categories
In Project Finance's Deal of the Year competition

DENVER–E3 Consulting® LLC, a leading strategic business advisor to the energy industry, has joined its clients in taking top honors in four of the 11 categories in Project Finance Magazine's Deal of the Year competition for North America.

"Being an advisor on these award winning projects is clear evidence of the industry-leading professional expertise we apply in all projects for all of our clients on a consistent basis," declared Don Hurd, President & CEO of E3 Consulting. "Sharing honors in four of the 11 North American categories places us at the top of our industry in terms of excellence in service."

Competition was fierce, with entries coming in from leading energy and finance industry consulting firms throughout the U.S. E3 deal team members will be in attendance at the Ninth Annual Project Finance Awards Dinner March 6 on Wall Street in New York City.

Here are the projects on which E3 worked that received Deal of the Year Awards:

• North American Project Bond of the Year–E3 Consulting served as an independent engineer to support financing for the Hobbs Generating Station, a 550 MW combined cycle generating facility in Lea County, New Mexico. The project was sponsored by ArcLight's Energy Partners Fund III and will sell power to an affiliate of Xcel Energy, Southwestern Public Service Company, under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
• North American Infrastructure Deal of the Year–E3 Consulting served as the independent engineer to support financing for the Trans Bay Cable Project, a 53-mile long high-voltage submarine transmission line running under the San Francisco Bay to provide 400 MW of new transmission capacity. The Trans Bay project, the largest private transmission project of 2007, will connect the electric grid near the City of Pittsburg to San Francisco, providing the Bay area with more reliable transmission in order to meet its increasing energy demands.
• North American Portfolio Power Deal of the Year–E3 Consulting served as the independent engineer for the EIF Calypso project, performing a due diligence review of 14 power assets as part of a portfolio acquisition and subsequent debt financing. The $850 million debt financing was structured primarily through EIF's US Power Fund III.
• North American Oil & Gas Deal of the Year &ndashE3 Consulting served as the independent engineer for Nortex Gas Storage, providing due diligence services in support of the potential sale of assets. E3 addressed the engineering, commercial and environmental aspects of the operating Hill-Lake Gas Storage Facility and the proposed expansion of the Worsham-Steed Gas Storage Facility.

With offices in Denver, Houston, Pennsylvania and the New York area, E3 offers an experienced team of experts with backgrounds in electric power, mining, oil and gas, the environment, science and finance. E3's consultants provide objective oversight, critical analysis and solutions for providers of capital and businesses building, optimizing, selling, acquiring or restructuring energy projects. For more information, please visit www.e3co.com.