In a half year trading update, John Wood Group has announced that financial performance in the first half of 2015 will be down on the first half of 2014 – reflecting ‘challenging conditions’ in oil and gas markets.
To help offset the impact of lower activity and pricing pressure, the company is making savings ‘significantly in excess’ of original targets.
The company said that full year profits are still expected to come in at just under $470 million.
Meanwhile, Wood Group has secured a $250million deal with Antin Infrastructure Partners to provide operating services for the Central Area Transmission System (also known as CATS) in the North Sea for up to 10 years.
Antin took over BP’s share of CATS last month, taking its holding to 99%..
Wood Group PSN will act as the duty holder of the CATS terminal and pipeline and will have day-to-day responsibility for operations. A dedicated Wood Group Kenny (WGK) team based in Glasgow will be integrated into the operating services team to provide pipeline management expertise.
CATS transports gas through 300 miles of pipeline from the Central North Sea to its terminal in Teesside where it is then processed on behalf of major North Sea gas producers.
The system currently serves 34 producing fields with a high portion of contracted revenues. In 2013, CATS accounted for the transportation of 13% of UK domestic gas production.
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