Petrofac to Manage Thames Decomm Work

UK contractor Petrofac said February 6 it has been appointed to provide outsourced Well Operator Services on the next phase of Tullow’s Thames gasfield decommissioning project in the UK southern North Sea.

Petrofac, which described the work as a multi-million dollar contract, said it will provide well engineering project management services and fully execute plug and abandonment operations on seven of Tullow Oil’s subsea wells. This will include detailed planning, direct procurement and management of all sub-contracted services, including provision of a jack-up rig.

In 2016 Petrofac permanently abandoned two wells for Tullow Oil on its Horne & Wren asset, delivering cost savings of US$2.5mn through its approach.

Petrofac meanwhile said February 5 it continues to be the subject of an investigation by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) which it says “has involved and is expected to continue to involve the interview of directors of the company, including the chairman, executive directors and non-executive directors, as well as employees.” The SFO investigation was launched in May 2017 into Petrofac’s links to Monaco-based agent Unaoil.

Petrofac also said it would announce its 2017 and 4Q results on March 1.