Petrofac will still be operating in the North Sea for decades to come, the international energy service giant’s chief financial officer said yesterday.
Tim Weller said the firm shared the rest of the oil and gas industry’s confidence in the future of the UK sector after new research predicted production in the region would increase in the coming years.
He said Petrofac’s work as lead contractor for Total’s new £500million gas-processing plant in Shetland was evidence of the company’s commitment to the UK continental shelf.
The terminal is an essential part of a £2.5billion project to unlock the Laggan and Tormore fields west of Shetland.
Mr Weller said the North Sea industry was in rude health, adding: “Moving into the deeper waters west of Shetland and making new discoveries there is going to underpin our activity in the North Sea for some time to come.
“If you look at the Norwegian sector, where they have had some new discoveries in the last couple of years, it highlights that there is still a lot of value left in the North Sea.”
Mr Weller’s comments came after Alex Kemp, Aberdeen University’s professor of petroleum economics, predicted the UK’s oil and gas output would increase thanks to the recent string of tax allowances for producers.
Meanwhile, Petrofac released its interim management statement for the third quarter, which revealed its backlog of work at the end of last month was £5.9billion, against £5.6billion at the end of June. The company said it was confident it would continue to grow its earnings into next year and beyond.
Mr Weller said: “At the start of the year we talked about growing our net profits by 15% this year, and we are on track to do that.
“We are looking to double our 2010 profits by 2015, and this is an important year in terms of achieving that; at the moment, we are on target.”
Petrofac employs more than 4,000 people out of Aberdeen, and earlier this year took on another office in the Granite City to accommodate its expanding workforce. The firm’s offshore projects and operations business moved into Quattro House, at Altens, while Petrofac also has a base at Bridge View, near the harbour.