Petrofac profits wiped out by Shetland gas plant

Oilfield services contractor Petrofac today revealed its annual profits had been hit by losses stemming from work on a delayed gas plant on Shetland.

Total's Shetland gas plant can process 500 million cubic feet per day. Picture: Guillaume Perrin

The firm said it delivered a net profit of $440 million (£314.9m) before losses linked to the Laggan-Tormore project, which it had been due to complete for French energy major Total in July of last year. Production at the facility began earlier this month.

However, once the Laggan-Tormore losses were taken into account, net profits for 2015 dropped to $9m, down from $581m the previous year. Overall revenues were up 10 per cent to $6.8 billion.

Petrofac chief executive Ayman Asfari said: “Our results for 2015 were adversely affected by the Laggan-Tormore project on Shetland. However, we faced up to the exceptional challenges we encountered and honoured our commitment to our client. With the plant now successfully operational, these issues are finally behind us.

“We enter 2016 with a renewed focus on our core strengths. The group’s backlog stands at record year-end levels, giving us excellent revenue visibility for 2016 and beyond.”

The group’s order book stands at $20.7bn, up 10 per cent from the end of 2014, and Petrofac said it expects to deliver a net profit for the current year of about $450m, in line with previous guidance.