Petrofac to increase Kazakh production

Petrofac to increase Kazakh production By Darshini Shah | Mon, 1st July 2013 - 09:38 Petrofac (PFC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with KazMunaiGas Exploration Production (KMG EP) of Kazakhstan. The MOU allows the parties to explore opportunities to improve the efficiency of oil production and increase production from KMG EP's mature Emba fields. Under the terms of the MOU, Petrofac intends to evaluate the Emba fields and to submit an offer for the long-term improvement of the management and production in selected Emba fields in order to progress a potential production enhancement contract. "We hope that our partnership with Petrofac will allow us to accomplish optimisation of production and improve oil recovery in EMG mature fields," commented KMG EP chief executive Abat Nurseitov. Andy Inglis, chief executive of Petrofac Integrated Energy Services, added: "We are delighted to be forging what we anticipate will be a long-term relationship with KMG EP, which will allow us to provide capability and performance-enhancing management for their mature fields in what is a strategically important region for us." Analyst view Oil services group Petrofac designs and builds oil and gas infrastructure, trains oil-field staff and maintains facilities. It also invests alongside producers in oil fields and helps national oil companies improve their oil production. At its full-year results at the end of June, management confirmed that it expected modest growth in net profit in 2013, with the majority of this being weighted into the second half. Petrofac also confirmed that it still expected to double 2010 earnings by 2015. Since the start of the year, shares in the company have lost a quarter of their value on the back of the terrorist attack on a gas facility in Algeria and concerns around a lack of Middle East opportunities. However, analysts at Citigroup saw scope for a re-rating over the next year as the current backlog underpins 14% earnings growth in 2014 and award intake continues to accelerate. In a note to investors in the middle of June, they wrote: "Given the potential catalyst afforded by an active second-half pipeline, we add Petrofac as a most preferred stock in our three-month best-ideas database." Tony Shepard, analyst at Charles Stanley, was also optimistic on the stock, explaining: "Given the good long-term prospects and the sector discount rating, we reiterate our 'accumulate' recommendation." Petrofac is trading on a 2013 price/earnings and enterprise value/EBITDA ratio of about 9.4 and 7.5 times respectively, a 15% discount to the peer group. ====================================== (RNS) 2013-07-18 07:00 Petrofac Limited - Petrofac Emirates restructure Previous | Next | All news for this company RNS Number : 5599J Petrofac Limited 18 July 2013  Press Release 18 July 2013 PETROFAC LIMITED Petrofac increases interest in Abu Dhabi joint venture Petrofac announces that it has entered into agreements which will increase its economic interest in Petrofac Emirates, its Abu Dhabi based joint venture with Mubadala Petroleum, to 75%. This follows the sale by Mubadala Petroleum of its shares in Petrofac Emirates to Nama Project Services LLC, an affiliate of Nama Development Enterprises (Nama), a leading local service provider to the energy industry across the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The remaining 25% will be to the benefit of Nama. Completion of the transaction is subject to conditions precedent, including the usual regulatory consents. Formed in 2008, Petrofac Emirates was the first joint venture company in the UAE to provide a full range of engineering, design, procurement and construction services for major onshore oil and gas, refining and petrochemical projects. The joint venture has grown strongly since 2008 and in 2013 has been awarded three strategically important projects in Abu Dhabi: an engineering, procurement, construction, transportation and commissioning contract for the Upper Zakum field in consortium with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd (Petrofac Emirates' share US$2.9 billion); a US$187 million onshore EPC contract for the development of the Bab Habshan-1 project and a US$500 million onshore EPC contract for expansion of gas compression facilities at the Bab field. Maurizio La Noce, CEO of Mubadala Petroleum, said, "Mubadala Petroleum, in partnership with Petrofac International, established Petrofac Emirates five years ago as a major provider of, and centre of excellence for, engineering, procurement and construction services to the oil and gas sector in the UAE and the region. Mubadala Petroleum has contributed local sector knowledge and relationships, and encouraged the recruitment and development of Emirati talent into the business. Having nurtured and matured the business into a stable and profitable venture, Mubadala Petroleum's interest is now being transferred to the UAE's private sector, in line with Mubadala's strategic objectives and mandate. Mubadala Petroleum will concentrate on its core international E&P business, and most important UAE gas supply projects. In this context, we will continue to support the Abu Dhabi based Petrofac Emirates business and will look at opportunities to leverage on our existing and strong relationship with Petrofac International to identify mutually beneficial opportunities aligned with our ambitious growth objectives in our core geographies." Matthew Hollis, Managing Director of Nama, said: "We are very proud to have worked closely with Petrofac over the last 20 years. Their impressive performance has enabled them to grow in to one of the most successful leading EPC contractors in the world today. Their UAE joint venture with our friends in Mubadala Petroleum has further enhanced this success in recent years and so for all of us at Nama it is now a great honour to have been given the opportunity to be partners in bringing Petrofac Emirates into the private sector here in Abu Dhabi." Marwan Chedid, Chief Executive of Petrofac's Engineering, Construction, Operations & Maintenance division, said: "Since its inception in 2008, we have established a first class engineering centre in Abu Dhabi with Petrofac Emirates. The joint venture has created business opportunities and established strong relationships over the last five years, in addition to helping Petrofac to expand our local talent pool by attracting UAE nationals to join our talented team. Looking forward, we want to build on the success we have achieved to date, including the important projects we have secured in Abu Dhabi this year. Nama is a first class local partner and we are optimistic about the future prospects of Petrofac Emirates. Likewise we look forward to maintaining our strong links with Mubadala Petroleum as we explore other opportunities collaboratively outside the region." Financial reporting Under the terms of the restructure, Petrofac will report 100% of the revenue and backlog on all current and future Petrofac Emirates' projects (with Nama's 25% economic interest reported as 'profit for the year attributable to non-controlling interests'). Ends For further information contact: Alison Flynn +44 (0) 207 811 4913 Head of Media Relations Petrofac Tulchan Communications Group Ltd +44 (0) 20 7353 4200 Stephen Malthouse Martin Robinson petrofac@tulchangroup.com Notes to Editors Petrofac Petrofac is a leading international service provider to the oil and gas production and processing industry, with a diverse customer portfolio including many of the world's leading integrated, independent and national oil and gas companies. Petrofac is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: PFC). Petrofac designs and builds oil and gas facilities; operates, maintains and manages facilities and trains personnel; enhances production; and, where it can leverage its service capability, develops and co-invests in upstream and infrastructure projects. Petrofac's range of services meets its customers' needs across the full life cycle of oil and gas assets. With more than 18,000 employees, Petrofac operates out of seven strategically located operational centres, in Aberdeen, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Woking, Chennai, Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur and has a further 24 offices worldwide. For additional information, please refer to the Petrofac website at www.petrofac.com. Nama Nama is dedicated to further developing and maintaining its position as one of the leading, local business groups serving the oil and gas, power and water and industrial sectors of the UAE economy. Their objective is to professionally satisfy the needs of our local customers, while ensuring that we remain one of the first choices for international organisations looking for a reputable local business partner. For additional information, please refer to Nama's website at www.namauae.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange END MSCEDLFFXDFBBBL ======================================= Fish-inspired vessel joins Brazil offshore oil boom Thu, Aug 08 08:25 AM EDT 1 of 4 By Andrew Callus LONDON (Reuters) - A strange-looking vessel inspired by the exotic sucker fish is due to leave Norway for Brazil's giant offshore oilfields this week on a mission to revolutionize deep sea oil loading methods. At 47 meters tall, 28 meters long and with an 11 meter keel, HiLoad DP unit No. 1 looks top-heavy and out of place in the water, more like a partly submerged container-port crane than a ship of any type - or a fish for that matter. But attached to its mother ship, the oil tanker Navion Anglia, the vessel is preparing to head anyway from the Norwegian port of Kirstiansund in southern Norway to the ocean off Rio de Janeiro on a debut 10-year commercial trial contract for Brazilian state oil company Petrobras. Its deployment in the Campos and Espirito Santo pre-salt basins reflects the burgeoning scale and increasing remoteness of offshore projects that supply about one third of the world's crude oil, and the challenges of developing such resources economically. The Norwegian-built craft is designed to load oil from deep sea Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels directly onto a standard tanker with no extra equipment. It offers a cost-saving alternative to specialist shuttle tankers with their own dynamic positioning (DP) systems, and to the use of moored loading buoys with their associated tug boats. There are already about 150 FPSOs - often simply converted tankers but also increasingly sophisticated new-built vessels - working offshore, as oil companies go so deep in the search for oil where traditional platforms and pipelines are impractical. Petrobras and the Brazilian offshore fields it controls are the apex of that boom. Data from industry consultants IHS says 21 of the 48 FPSOs currently under construction are being built for Petrobras. Energy business advisers Douglas-Westwood has forecast that between 2013 and 2017, $91 billion will be spent on FPSOs - double the amount over the past five years. The sheer scale of Brazil's offshore projects, along with relatively calm weather compared with the North Sea and other deep sea locations, makes them an ideal commercial testing ground for the new technology, but there are other factors at play. "One of the drivers is that Brazil will have to export a lot of its oil - so direct loading onto normal tankers instead of reloading from shuttle tankers will create considerable savings," said Yngve Kloster, project manager for the deployment of HiLoad DP unit No. 1 to the Petrobras project. "We also see it as an alternative in (offshore) Africa where they use offloading buoys you can approach with a normal tanker, but where you will need a tug to assist as well." Kloster said there could be environmental benefits too from lower fuel consumption and reduced leakage of polluting vapors during loading. MUTANT DORSAL FIN Kloster works for Teekay Corp, an oil shipping, production and transport specialist company which last year bought the HiLoad DP unit No. 1 along with a half share in the developer, Norway-based Remora AS. It paid $55 million for the HiLoad DP No. 1 - a prototype built in 2010 - and paid $4.4 million for its 49.9 percent stake in the business. Remora is the Latin name for the sucker fish, a species whose crowning glory is a dorsal fin that has mutated into a sucker behind its head. The fish empties water from chambers in the sucker to create a vacuum and grab a ride under something larger - usually a shark - for a feed on leftovers and parasites. The HiLoad DP (Dynamic Positioning) unit works in much the same way - although unlike the fish, it is the feeder rather than the fed, and it takes control of its larger host. A sucker slab grabs the tanker below the water line, and more suckers on the section of the craft above the surface secure a hold higher up on the tanker's hull. Once attached, three powerful DP thruster engines that can rotate 360 degrees keep the host tanker steady and a safe distance from the FPSO. A hose attached to the HiLoad from the FPSO fills the tanker with crude. HiLoad DP No. 1 and its crew of three can travel at four knots and up to three nautical miles from its mother ship or an FPSO to which it can attach itself when not in use. It can handle any tanker up to "Suezmax" size (160,000 deadweight metric tons), grabbing it and loading it with oil in a process that takes 24-30 hours - comparable with a shuttle tanker loading time, Kloster says. The prototype is designed to work with "spread moored" FPSOs, which are fixed in place, but during the Petrobras contract it will also be tested with a "turret moored" FPSO. Turret FPSOs are moored from a section around which the rest of the vessel rotates in the wind and the current - extra movement that requires more powerful dynamic positioning systems for the tanker to match. Kloster said the company will design, and hopefully build, future versions that are more powerful and can more easily cope with turret moored FPSOs and bigger tankers. Teekay said in May it hoped to start operations in early 2014. It also has a contract to provide shuttle tankers from this year for BG Group, the British company and Petrobras' partner offshore Brazil. BG Group declined to comment for this story. Petrobras had no immediate comment. (Reporting by Andrew Callus; editing by David Evans) ================