WorleyParsons Wins Work on Gas Project, Buys Intec

Last Updated (Tuesday, 01 April 2008 02:29) Written by Administrator Thursday, 06 March 2008 11:36

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- WorleyParsons Ltd., Australia's biggest engineering company, said a venture in which it has a 50 percent stake won a A$190 million ($174 million) contract for work on a North West Shelf venture natural gas project.

Eos, half-owned by KBR Inc., will carry out engineering and procurement management for the A$5 billion North Rankin 2 project off Australia's northwest, Sydney-based WorleyParsons said today in a statement. WorleyParsons separately acquired Intec Engineering, a deep-water offshore oil and gas engineering services company, from Heerema Group for $108.5 million, it said.

WorleyParsons in February reported a 62 percent jump in first-half profit, buoyed by the purchase of a Canadian oil sands construction services company, and said it was ``out there looking'' for further acquisitions. The Intec transaction, to be funded by debt, should add to earnings, the company said today.

``The acquisition of Intec completes the missing link in our hydrocarbons business which we have been seeking to fill for several years,'' WorleyParsons Chief Executive Officer John Grill said in the second statement, also sent to the Australian Stock Exchange. It enables WorleyParsons to provide services to clients operating in deep water locations, he said.

The North Rankin 2 project was approved by all the partners in the A$20 billion North West Shelf venture, operator Woodside Petroleum Ltd. said yesterday. It will start production in 2013, Perth-based Woodside said.