France: Tehnip’s First Quarter Results in Line with Expectations, Says CEO

Technip announces that its Board of Directors approved the unaudited first quarter 2012 consolidated accounts on Apr. 24.

Thierry Pilenko, Chairman and CEO, commented: “Our first quarter performance was very much in line with our expectations, which enables us to reiterate our 2012 financial objectives. We saw evidence of the trends highlighted in our February statement, with momentum across nearly all our markets, driven by our customers’ desire to bring new reserves into production and supported by Technip’s strong positions in key regions, technologies and market segments.

The most striking aspect of the quarter was our very strong order intake contributing to a well diversified backlog at a record level. In Subsea, we won several small and medium size contracts, complemented by the large Quad 204 EPIC award in the UK North Sea, reflecting the effectiveness of our integrated business model.

In Onshore/Offshore, the Burgas contract highlights Technip’s leadership in refining technology and our strategy to get involved in our customers’ key projects early in their lifecycle. In Malaysia, our capacity to provide highly skilled local content was essential to win the RAPID petrochemical FEED for Petronas, a landmark project for future activity in the region.

Looking forward, although the timing for individual awards can be difficult to predict, bidding continues to run at high levels. We continue to see a favorable orientation of our industry as operators’ investment plans remain very ambitious. Moreover, some operators have started to share their concerns about resource availability, focusing on near-term shortage of deepwater drilling capacity and possible lack of adequate skilled human resources across the supply chain.

In this promising market, Technip seeks to differentiate through its ability to grow a diversified backlog, whilst keeping a constant focus on profitability and project execution. We are maintaining our investments in technology, assets and notably people in key markets to meet our customers’ growing challenges and requirements.”

Subsea main operations for the quarter were as follows:

• In the North Sea, Technip focused the efforts on the completion of projects delayed in 2011 by weather conditions. The Apache II notably completed pipelay operations for several projects including the installation of Islay electrically trace heated pipe-in-pipe in the UK,

• In the Americas, – In Brazil, deepwater S-lay installation of the Capixaba export pipeline was successfully completed with the support of the Angra logistic base, while BC-10 phase 2 project progressed,

– In the Gulf of Mexico, the Deep Blue completed installation of Caesar Tonga riser and Shenzi water injection line in the USA, while work progressed on L56-57 Mexican projects with the Hercules,

– Work progressed on Mariscal Sucre development in Venezuela,

• In Africa, flexible pipe fabrication progressed and offshore operations started in Congo & Gabon for CoGa,

• In Asia Pacific, umbilical and flexible pipe production ramp-up continued on Asiaflex Products moving to three shifts.

The vessel utilization rate for the first quarter included vessels acquired with Global Industries in December 2011 and was 62% compared with 65% a year ago, including substantial maintenance dry docks for rigid Reel-lay vessels. As previously indicated, the limited backlog of projects involving S-lay and Heavy-lift assets impacted the segment profitability.

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Subsea World News Staff , April 26, 2012;  Image: Technip