Kentz secures fresh work on Qatari projects
KENTZ has won a $190m (£117.7m) contract with Qatar Petroleum to install equipment on 775 wells in the Dukhan oil field.
The firm, which spurned a pair of takeover offers over the summer, said yesterday it will work with Qatar Petroleum for three years on the sites.
“Kentz was awarded its first project with QP in 1997 and since then has continued to execute numerous… projects, engineering and enhancing QP’s assets. We take great pride in this significant award,” said Tush Doshi, head of engineering, procurement and installation at Kentz, in a statement yesterday.
The deal is the fourth Middle Eastern agreement signed by Kentz this month, and follows a three-year contract in October with Qatar Shell GTL for work on its Pearl gas-to-liquids plant.
It also follows an upbeat trading update earlier in the week, when Kentz said it had secured 60 per cent of its expected workload for next year.
“The recent spate of awards suggests that its focus on self-help is having an impact,” said UBS analysts in a note to clients yesterday, adding that Kentz also has enough cash for takeover activity or a capital return for shareholders.
Kentz’s shares closed up 2.4 per cent at 555p yesterday. The stock reached 591p in August when the FTSE 250 firm received takeover offers from Amec and German company M+W Group.