Petrofac says it expects a stronger second half of 2013 after seeing profits fall by more than a quarter for the first six months of the year.
First half profits at the oil service group were down to $243million, from $326million the year before, with revenue falling by $0.4billion to $2.8billion for the period.
However, the company said it expected a stronger second six months for the year, with a $14.3billion order backlog for the first half of the year, up 21% year on year.
“As previously signalled in our trading update, net profit for 2013 is expected to be significantly weighted towards the second half of the year, reflecting the phasing of Onshore Engineering & Construction and Integrated Energy Services project deliver,” said chief executive Ayman Asfari.
“We look ahead with confidence in our ability to deliver a strong second half performance and achieve our guidance of modest growth in net profit for 2013.
Our high quality portfolio of existing projects reflects our disciplined approach to bidding and managing risk, which, together with a strong pipeline of bidding opportunities and our competitive positioning, means that we remain on track to achieve our 2015 earnings target.”
Among those deals to boost the second half of the year is a newly announced $95million contract with Gazprom to provide maintenance engineering and execution services for the Badra field in Iraq.
The three contract, which follows on Petrofac’s previous engineering, procurement and construction deal, will see them providing services and infrastructure on the field, 160km southeast of Baghdad.
Petrofac said it expected to grow its onshore engineering and construction backlog further over the rest of the year, with bidding opportunities for 2014 remaining strong.
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