Adair International and Calpine to develop power facility in Southern California

Houston-based Adair International Oil & Gas will participate with Calpine in the development of a 600-MW gas-fired electricity generating facility on the Torres Martinez Indian Reservation in Southern California. In making the announcement, Adair Chairman John W. Adair noted that Calpine will be making a capital investment of $ 275 mm in the project. "This is an important milestone for the Torres Martinez Reservation," Adair noted. "The project is a stepping stone toward future economic development for the tribe."
Named the Teayawa Energy Centre (TEC), the project, as proposed, will supply enough electricity to service approximately 600,000 households in Southern California's rapidly growing Coachella Valley. "Teayawa" is a Native American word used by medicine men to denote the "power" derived from the spirit.
Adair, who is of Native American heritage, said the TEC will "enhance tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and economic development for the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians." "I am personally proud to be associated with Calpine, the leading US independent power company," Adair added. "Calpine has demonstrated its corporate commitment to the environment and the Native American through its dedication to this project." "This type of project is consistent with Adair's goal to participate in the natural gas-fired industry with companies such as Calpine," Adair explained, "and will have a tremendous impact on the growth of Adair International." The company is currently investigating five additional sites throughout the United States, focusing its efforts to develop opportunities utilising strategies similar to the Teayawa project.
As the project is located on Native American land, the lead permitting agency under the National Environmental Policy Act is the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The Bureau insures that such projects meet the cultural, environmental and economic considerations of the Torres Martinez Tribe.

Based in San Jose, California, Calpine is dedicated to providing customers with reliable and competitively priced electricity. Calpine is focused on clean, efficient, combined-cycle, natural gas-fired generation and is the nation's largest producer of renewable geothermal energy. The firm has launched the largest power development program in the US Currently, Calpine has a combined interest in approximately 27,900 MW of electric generation capacity either in operation, under construction, or announced in development, with activities in 25 states and Alberta, Canada. The company was founded in 1984.

While Adair is focused on participating in the development of environmentally friendly gas-fired power plants and co-generation facilities, both foreign and domestic, it also is active in the exploration for oil and gas. Along with its partners, Occidental Petroleum and Saba Oil and Gas Company, have recently signed a Production Sharing Agreement with the Yemen Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources to explore a 600,000 acre block in the prolific Marib Jawf Basin of Yemen. The block is adjacent to fields that have produced over 700 mm barrels of light sweet crude oil since 1984.
Due in large part to the experience of their wholly owned subsidiary, Adair Exploration, Adair Yemen Exploration has been named operator during the exploration phase and expects to begin 3D seismic operations in the third quarter of 2000. On the domestic front, Adair has mapped several prospects based on the evaluation of 130 square geophysical analysis of the 3D seismic, which is currently underway, and exploratory drilling could commence as early as the first quarter of 2001.
Adair International Oil and Gas is headquartered in Houston and has offices in Dallas; Bogota, Colombia; and Sana'a, Yemen.