Petrofac awarded $40m contract by Sharjah National Oil Corporation

Contract follows award of two major deals by Adnoc earlier this week worth $1.65 billion

Oil services firm Petrofac was awarded a new contract by the state-owned Sharjah National Oil Corporation. Petrofac via Bloomberg News

Oil services firm Petrofac secured a new contract by the state-owned Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC) worth $40 million (Dh147m) for the development of a project in the UAE.

The engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract was awarded to Petrofac’s Engineering & Production Services division (EPS), according to a statement from the company on Thursday.

“The award is important strategically as EPS looks to develop its track record in smaller greenfield and brownfield EPC projects,” said Mani Rajapathy, managing director, EPS East.

He said SNOC is a longstanding Petrofac client, which it has worked with for many years.

Petrofac has had a presence in the UAE since 1991 and employs about 3,000 people in the country - many of whom work from its major operational centre in Sharjah. The company, which trades on the London Stock Exchange, also won two major contracts from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company earlier this week to construct offshore facilities for the Dalma gas development project.

The two contacts valued $1.65 billion were given to Petrofac Emirates and a joint venture between Petrofac and Malaysia’s Sapura Energy through its subsidiary’s branch office in Abu Dhabi.

Both contracts are expected to be completed in 2022 and will enable the Dalma gas development project to produce around 340 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of natural gas, Adnoc said on Tuesday.

Sharjah is aiming to increase its gas production and last month announced the discovery of a new well of natural gas and condensate onshore in the emirate, its first in more than three decades.

Sharjah National Oil Corporation and Italy's oil company Eni discovered the "Mahani" exploration well within the first year of their partnership, the companies said last month.

Petrofac swung to a profit in the first half of 2019 on the back of strong revenue and lower finance expenses.

Net profit attributable to shareholders for the six-month period ending June 30 reached $139m, compared to a loss of $17m for the same period last year. Revenue increased 1 per cent in the first half to $2.82bn from the same period a year earlier.

Revenue is expected to decrease in 2020 due to a low order intake than in recent years, it said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange last year.