Oil and gas services group Petrofac has said that its year-to-date performance has been in line with expectations and it still remains on track to grow net profits by at least 15 per cent in 2012."We have started the year well and are making good operational progress across our portfolio of projects. We continue to bid actively in our core markets and believe that our differentiated and competitive offering positions us well to capitalise on the large number of opportunities we see," said Chief Executive Ayman Asfari.Both the Engineering, Construction, Operations & Maintenance (ECOM) and Integrated Energy Services (IES) divisions are making good progress, Petrofac said.The firm's backlog at the end of April stood at $9.6bn, down from $10.8bn at the end of December 2011. Net cash balances fell from $1.5bn to $1.0bn during that same period."We remain confident that we will deliver net profit growth in 2012 of at least 15%, in line with our previous guidance, and remain on course to achieve our medium-term target of more than doubling our recurring 2010 group earnings by 2015," Asfari said.BC