In it’s pre-close trading update ahead of the announcement of its full year results for 2018, Petrofac has said it is on course to report “good results”.
The company has made solid progress delivering its portfolio of projects. In Kuwait, the Lower Fars Heavy Oil, Manifold Group Trunkline and KNPC Clean Fuels projects are in pre-commissioning or phased hand-over stages. In Abu Dhabi, it recently achieved a major milestone on the Upper Zakum Field Development with the oil facility ready for start up. Elsewhere, the Jazan North and South tank farms, Fadhili sulphur recovery plant and RAPID projects are nearing completion.
Petrofac has been awarded new orders worth $3.8bn in E&C year to date. Of these, $2.2bn were awarded in growth markets, including the Thai Oil refinery project in Thailand, three projects in India and an offshore wind project in The Netherlands.
“We are currently bidding on more than $15bn of tenders scheduled for award in the first half of 2019,” said the statement.
Ayman Asfari, Petrofac’s Group Chief Executive, commented: “We are on course to report good results, which reflect solid operational performance in all our businesses and excellent progress delivering our strategy.
“Healthy new order intake in both our core and growth markets reflects our competitiveness in a market that has seen some delays in contract awards. We have also made excellent progress transitioning back to a capital light business with $0.8bn of divestments of non-core assets, realising $0.5bn of net divestment proceeds to date.
“Looking forward, we remain focused on securing new orders, delivering operational excellence and maintaining a strong balance sheet. We are well-positioned with a differentiated offering, good backlog and revenue visibility, and high levels of tendering for award in 2019.”
Net debt is expected to be around $250m at December 31 (2017: $0.6bn), benefitting from lower capital expenditure, a working capital inflow in the second half of 2018 and approximately $0.5bn of net divestment proceeds.
For more information visit www.petrofac.com
18th December 2018
