Thursday, Jul 29, 2010
(Rewrites, adds background and analyst comments.)
By Iain Packham
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Petrofac Limited (PFC.LN) said Thursday it won a $400 million contract from Kuwait Oil Company to design and install pipelines from the Mina Al Ahmadi port to power stations in the country.
The almost two-year contract adds to Petrofac's estimated order backlog of about $6.9 billion as of June 30.
"This contract underscores why we like Petrofac because at a time when projects in other regions are being delayed or postponed, projects in the Middle East continue to be booked," said Todd Scholl, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
Scholl said the "medium-sized" contract would strengthen the company's order backlog. RBC has a buy recommendation and 1,400 pence price target on Petrofac.
Kamel Al Harami, a Kuwait-based oil analyst said the new contract isn't big when you consider refineries go for $10 billion in Saudi Arabia and the region.
Still, Petrofac's group chief operating officer, Maroun Semaan, said the Kuwait market is strategically important to the business.
The new contract calls for a fuel oil pumping station, metering systems, utilities systems and associated electrical, instrumentation and telecommunication works for the pipelines from Mina Al Ahmadi to the Azzour and Shuaiba power stations.
Shares at 0853 GMT up 3.0 pence, or 0.2% at 1290.0 pence outperforming a slightly higher FTSE 100 Market--up 0.3%
-By Iain Packham, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9269; iain.packham@dowjones.com (Tahani Karrar-Lewsley in Dubai contributed to this story.)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
29-07-10 0943GMT
