Petrofac pleads guilty in bribery case

London-listed oil services firm Petrofac has reached a deal with the UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), agreeing to plead guilty to bribery charges involving several major oil and gas engineering projects across the Mideast Gulf.

Petrofac entered guilty pleas to seven counts of "failing to prevent former Petrofac group employees from offering or making payments to agents in relation to projects awarded" in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the company said today.

A sentencing hearing, to determine a financial penalty, is scheduled to take place at Southwark Crown Court on 27 September.

The company is seeking to draw a line under the bribery incidents which took place between 2012 and 2015, and a four-year probe by the SFO.

"This was a deeply regrettable period of Petrofac's history," Chairman René Medori said. "We are committed to ensuring it will never happen again. We have fundamentally overhauled our compliance regime, as well as the people, and the culture that supports it."

The company's former head of sales David Lufkin is also due to be sentenced on Monday, relating to 14 counts of bribery covering contracts wroth around $7.5bn.

Petrofac has already faced consequences in the projects market. In March, Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc banned Petrofac from competing for new contracts. Adnoc has said it will periodically review its exclusion order.

This included the termination of Petrofac's $1.5bn contract for facilities at the offshore Dalma sour gas field which would have added 340mn f3/d ((9.62mn m3/d) of gas for domestic consumption. Due for completion in 2022, the project was a key part the UAE's goal of gas self-sufficiency by 2030.

Abu Dhabi's ban has left Petrofac with a $15bn hole in its bidding pipeline, adding to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which disrupted project schedules, increased costs and delayed new contract awards, the company said in its 2020 annual report published in April.

By Adal Mirza