Petrofac in £750m deal for Algerian gas fields

Petrofac, the energy services firm with significant interests in Scotland, has won a £750 million contract to help develop gas fields in Algeria.

News of the deal helped push shares in the company - which have already risen by 80 per cent in the past year - up to record highs.

Under the engineering and construction contract awarded by In Salah Gas, a venture between Sonatrach, BP and Statoil, Petrofac will build a new central production and gas gathering facility.

The 50-month deal - the latest won by the group in the region - will provide a production capacity of around 17 million cubic metres of gas per day along with 300 kilometres of pipelines for gas collection from in-field wells and export to an existing facility.

Maroun Semaan, Petrofac's group chief operating officer, said: "We have recently completed a similar project in the region for the same customer with success, and believe this new award reflects our dedication to this strategically important market where we maintain excellent relationships with both our customers and local construction partners."

The contract follows two significant deals struck by Petrofac in December including a 182m agreement with Petronas, the Malaysian national oil company, for work on the Sepat offshore production system on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsular.

The company also announced last month that it was paying up to 33m for a stake in an Edinburgh-based firm that is developing a 600m gas storage project in the East Irish Sea.

The FTSE 100 group, which has a large operations base in Aberdeen and a training centre in Montrose, is taking a 20 per cent interest in Gateway Storage, which is planning to build a natural gas storage facility some 15 miles offshore of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

Shares in Petrofac closed up 67p, or 4.14 per cent, at 1,685p.