The British construction and support services company Interserve is targeting about £2.8 billion (Dh16.3bn) worth of ontracts serving the GCC’s oil and gas markets over the next three years.
Andrew Beaney, the managing director of the company’s engineering and construction division, said £85bn worth of opportunities were likely to emerge in the sector over the next three years. “We have tracked £2.8bn worth of prospects that we have marked as a strategic target,” he said. He added that his division already has £800m worth of work that it is in talks about, has pre-qualified for, or is tendering.
Interserve has a range of interests across the Arabian Gulf, including stakes in the UAE-based contractor Khansaheb Civil Engineering, Oman’s Douglas OHI and Qatar’s Gulf Contracting Company. Interserve earned 23 per cent of its £2.9bn revenue last year from the region.
It has also been building its oil and gas capability through acquisitions – including the UAE’s Adyard and Oman’s Toco in 2013. As a result, its turnover has grown to £200m and its order book to £280m last year from £60m and £50m, respectively, in 2012. It employs 6,500 staff.
Mr Beaney said the company had experienced “little or no impact” on its business as a result of lower oil prices – mainly because it had focused on operation and maintenance services and was targeting brownfield engineering, procurement and construction contracts of US$30m or less that are often ignored by competitors.
It is also seeking to expand into Saudi Arabia – where Interserve’s facilities management arm launched a joint venture with Rezayat Group last year – and Kuwait.
Mr Beaney said, “There are some very large projects in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco’s chief executive announced in January this year that the company planned to invest $30bn to 50bn a year to maintain its crude oil production at a level that makes it the world’s largest refinery.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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