GE to Invest $150 Million in Partnership with ATP for Domestic Oil and Gas Production Unit in Gulf of Mexico

Business Wire, Feb 27, 2009

HOUSTON & STAMFORD, Conn. -- GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of GE (NYSE: GE), has agreed to invest $150 million in a partnership with Houston-based ATP Oil & Gas Corporation (NASDAQ: ATPG) which will own and operate a floating oil and gas production unit in deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Subject to completion of customary closing conditions, GE Energy Financial Services will invest $150 million for a 49 percent limited partnership stake, its first investment in a floating oil and gas production facility. ATP Oil & Gas Corporation will hold the remaining 51 percent stake and will serve as managing partner.

Covering an area the size of a football field 80 miles south of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico, the unit, ATP Innovator, processes up to 20,000 barrels of oil per day and 100 million cubic feet per day of natural gas for supply via pipeline to the US market. The unit has been in operation since March 2006 and produces ATP reserves. The partnership plans to process additional reserves from a third party producer by 2010.

“Our partnership with GE Energy Financial Services, especially in today’s troubled economic times, will ensure continued production of much-needed domestic oil and natural gas, and will allow ATP to maintain our development program,” said T. Paul Bulmahn, Chairman and CEO of ATP. “We depend on investors like GE, which has the financial strength, energy expertise and long-term vision necessary for an investment of this magnitude.”

ATP purchased and converted the unit from a drilling semi-submersible rig into a floating production facility in 2005. As a converted unit with existing platform infrastructure and pipeline access, the ATP Innovator offers the most cost-effective way to process reserves in this area of the Gulf. As a deepwater unit, the ATP Innovator is able to process increasingly abundant oil and gas from deepwater sources and can be moved to process oil and gas from new fields. Since ATP’s inception in 1991, the company has turned 98 percent of its undeveloped, non-producing properties into producing oil and gas reserves.

“The combination of ATP’s demonstrated operational capabilities, GE Energy Financial Services’ energy expertise and capital, and the production unit’s strategic location makes this a strong partnership, well positioned for growth,” said James F. Burgoyne, Managing Director of Natural Resources at GE Energy Financial Services.

GE Energy Financial Services has invested in 30,000 miles of natural gas pipelines in North America as well as in gas storage, gathering and processing systems, floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, offshore drilling assets, and oil and gas reserves.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. and SMH Capital Inc. acted as financial advisors to ATP in connection with the transaction.

About ATP Oil & Gas Corporation

ATP Oil & Gas is an international offshore oil and gas development and production company with operations in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. The company trades publicly as ATPG on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. For more information about ATP Oil & Gas Corporation, visit www.atpog.com.

About GE Energy Financial Services

GE Energy Financial Services’ experts invest globally with a long-term view, backed by the best of GE’s technical know-how and financial strength, across the capital spectrum in one of the world’s most capital-intensive industries, energy, to help their customers and GE grow. With $19 billion in assets, GE Energy Financial Services is based in Stamford, Connecticut. For more information, visit www.geenergyfinancialservices.com.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. GE is Imagination at Work. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ge.com.

Editor’s Note: Caption for accompanying photo: GE Energy Financial Services and Houston-based ATP Oil & Gas Corporation have joined forces to own and operate the ATP Innovator, shown here, a floating oil and gas production unit in deepwater Gulf of Mexico that processes much-needed domestic oil and natural gas for supply via pipeline to the US market.