Petrofac launches new partnership with First Reserve

26th Jun 2014 13:30

Oil and gas group Petrofac has signed a framework agreement with infrastructure investment firm First Reserve to create PetroFirst Infrastructure Partners, which will acquire a number of existing assets from Petrofac's Integrated Energy Services (IES) division, in addition to several new energy infrastructure projects.As part of the venture's first transaction, First Reserve will buy 80% of Petrofac's deployed and contracted floating production facilities for a total initial consideration of around $450m. It comes after the group recently refocused the IES business's development plans to enable to it focus on its core strengths. The transaction positions IES as an enabler to the wider group, Petrofac explained. IES Chief Operating Officer Rob Jewkes said: "In addition to releasing capital from our currently deployed assets, the agreement opens up future opportunities to create value for our customers that require access to capital alongside Petrofac's proven execution capability. "We are seeing a clear shift in the industry to contracted and shared infrastructure models and this initiative will facilitate our ability to support our clients with this offering."Shares had risen 2.34% to 1,227p by 12:32.NR