Wood Group announced yesterday that it had secured 11 new contracts in Africa worth around £158million.
The Aberdeen-based international energy service giant, which earlier this month posted a rise in its pre-tax profits of 43% to £240million, said the contracts were awarded during the past year for projects in five African countries.
Its brownfield service division, Wood Group PSN, secured deals to provide operations/maintenance and construction services to projects in Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Algeria.
Local-content rules across many parts of the continent place a large responsibility on oil operators and contractors to train and employ a minimum quota of workers from the region.
The division has invested more than £32million in training in Africa over the past five years, with local nationals making up more than 90% of its workforce in Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.
In Algeria, Wood Group PSN employs a 100% local workforce of 600 staff.
James Crawford, the division’s managing director for Africa, said: “We are committed to building a sustainable business in Africa and very clear about the countries and projects which we target, knowing where and how our expertise can enhance our customer’s operations.”
Houston-based subsidiary Wood Group Mustang (WGM), which employs more than 7,700 people worldwide, landed a deal to provide engineering services to platforms on an offshore project in Angola.
WGM executive vice-president Michele McNichol said: “Our commitment to building relationships and bringing economic value to African countries continues with recent project activity in the region.”
Wood Group’s list of new contracts also included one for its turbine, maintenance, repair and overhaul division, Wood Group GTS, which secured a service agreement covering gas turbines in Ghana.
Africa accounts for about 3,200 employees – spread across 11 countries – among Wood Group’s 43,000-strong global workforce.
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