The joint award of a $2 billion contract to work on building a refinery in Oman appeared to reassure investors yesterday that a Serious Fraud Office investigation into alleged bribery, corruption and money laundering at Petrofac will not stop the company from winning new business.
Petrofac said that its 50-50 joint venture with Samsung Engineering had been told it would be awarded the 47-month contract with Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries to work on a refinery with a capacity of 230,000 barrels of oil per day. Shares in the oil services company, which had collapsed after the SFO inquiry was announced in May, jumped more than 8 per cent, or 38¾p, yesterday to 483p.
There had been fears over the scale of any potential fine, which analysts said could be up to $800 million.
The scope of the companies’ work at Duqm includes engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, training and start-up operations for all the utilities and offsites, Petrofac said.
It won another contract in Oman in June to provide engineering and construction management services to Petroleum Development Oman, an oil exploration company.
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The SFO’s investigation into Petrofac relates to its dealings with Unaoil, a Morocco-based consultancy accused of paying bribes to officials in the Middle East to secure work for clients. Petrofac had to suspend its chief operating officer and restrict its chief executive’s role after the SFO accused it of failing to co-operate with its inquiry.
Victoria McCulloch, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said that the contract win gave “a strong indication” that the inquiry had not hit the company’s ability to win Middle East work.
