Our journey
We often refer to more than four decades of our history as our journey. Albeit simple, the term ‘journey’ is a symbol for everything that Petrofac has been through to become what it is today – a leading international service provider to the energy industry. It signifies change. It personifies success we enjoyed and the turmoil we weathered. It represents what made our company what it is today. Even as our circumstances changed, and our organisation grew and matured, we were and still are on a journey – to make a better future for everyone, together.
1981
The origins
Petrofac Inc comes to life in February 1981 as a producer of modular plant based in Tyler, a city in eastern Texas. The business was built around Petrofac Inc’s fabrication shop and the technical talent and grit of people who worked there. The total number of people working at Petrofac Inc in the early days was around 25.
1991
Petrofac International is born
Ayman Asfari and Maroun Semaan formed AMcorp which merged with Petrofac Inc to form Petrofac International, a business capitalised at US$1 million, with an operational centre in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
1992
The breakthrough
Following smaller contracts in Syria and Azerbaijan, the newly formed company secured the first big project, North Oman Crude Stabilisation.
1997
Innovating for the future
We pioneered and put into action the first-ever Duty Holder model, where we manage an asset’s operations and take responsibility for the Safety Case on behalf of a client.
2000
A mega-project
We reached an agreement with Sonatrach and BHP Billiton to provide Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) capability for the US$1 billion Ohanet project in Algeria. The project was an outstanding success and will become a career highlight for many of the people involved.
2001
Engineering excellence in Woking
We established full field facilities development and front-end engineering design capability through the creation of the engineering business in Woking, where our centre of engineering excellence still operates.
2002
Stronghold of Aberdeen
We enter the UK North Sea market through the acquisition of PGS Production to provide facilities management, operations, and maintenance services. This was a crucial step in building an operational stronghold in Aberdeen, serving clients in the UK North Sea and beyond.
2004
The birth of Petrofac Training Services
We acquired RGIT Montrose and Rubicon Response, leading to the creation of Petrofac Training Services and expanding our service offering to include competence and technical training and emergency response capability.
2005
London Stock Exchange debut
The Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange was successful. For the first time there was an independent validation of the business, along with exposure to a new and wide-ranging set of stakeholders. The Company was admitted into the FTSE 250 index in December the same year.
2006
World-class training in Russia's far East
Petrofac Training expands its capability by acquiring companies which provide operations & maintenance training on Sakhalin Island, Russia. The new world-class training centre in Sakhalin would officially open in 2008.
2008
Sharjah skyline special
Our Sharjah office building was finished. Often dubbed ‘Sharjah towers’ or ‘Petrofac towers’ by employees and clients, the buildings will become a Sharjah skyline classic.
2009
The future is renewable
Together with the American University of Sharjah, we established the Petrofac Research Chair in Renewable Energy. The aim of the programme was to pioneer renewable energy research and develop alternative energy technologies. The Renewable Energy Research Centre (RERC) was then established in 2017 with a particular focus on solar energy, energy efficiency and remote monitoring.
2009
'Jewel' of a project
A US$2.2 billion EPC contract for the El Merk central processing facility (CPF) in the Berkine Basin of Algeria was awarded. The El Merk CPF was dubbed the ‘jewel’ of the Algerian desert.
2014
Making miracles in Oman
bp awards the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract valued at more than US$1 billion for Phase 1 of the field’s CPF at the Khazzan gas field in Oman to us. In 2017 we were awarded the Khazzan Phase 2 (Ghazeer) gas development contract.
2015
A heavy oil blueprint
The first phase of Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC) Lower Fars heavy oil development programme, with a total project value of US$4 billion, was awarded. As the first project of its kind in the region, and one of the biggest upstream projects in the Middle East, LFHO has provided valuable insights and learnings which will play a pivotal role in future heavy oil projects in the region and elsewhere.
2015
Antipodean ambitions
We are awarded a contract to develop an integrity and maintenance programme for INPEX’s Ichthys Project. Ichthys was the largest discovery of hydrocarbon liquids in Australia in 40 years, involving some of the biggest offshore facilities in the industry. This was a significant milestone for our young business in Australia.
2016
Making Salalah a success
EPC contract was secured for the OQ-LPG extraction project in Salalah, southern part of Oman. The scope of work included construction of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) unit and associated facilities, including tie-ins to existing pipeline infrastructure, together with LPG storage and jetty facilities at the Port of Salalah.
2016
The North Sea trailblazer
We became the first outsourced Well Operator to manage a drilling campaign in the UKCS under new regulations set by the Offshore Safety Directive Regulator as drilling commenced on the Lancaster Block for Hurricane Energy.
2017
First-ever project in Turkey
We secured our first-ever project in Turkey – the development of onshore pipelines and a gas receiving terminal near Kıyıköy. The project, which later became widely known as TurkStream, will meet the energy demands of south and southeast Europe for decades to come. It became operational in 2020.
2018
State-of-the art training for Omani workforce
Together with our partner Takatuf Oman, we inaugurated the state-of-the-art institute (TPO) designed to provide training for the Sultanate’s next generation of workforce for the oil and gas and energy industries.
2019
A compelling offer in the US
We acquired W&W Energy Services in the Permian basin (US), marrying W&W’s footprint and strong local brand with Petrofac’s Engineering and Modifications capability and global track record to provide a compelling offer for the US onshore services market.
2019
#InvestedinOman
We celebrated three decades of being #InvestedinOman, one of our longest-serving markets, exemplary both for the work we have done and the impact on the local communities we had. More than US$2.5 billion of in-country value has been generated from working with Omani suppliers and contractors up to 2019, a figure that will only continue to rise.
2020
#NetZero by 2030
We announced ambitious targets to advance our sustainability agenda as we committed to reach Net Zero in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and achieve our target of 30% women in senior roles by the same year.
2020
The largest windfarm in Scotland
We entered into a Preferred Supplier Agreement with SSE Renewables to design, supply and install the HVAC onshore and offshore substations for the Seagreen wind farm project. Once constructed, this will be the largest wind farm in Scotland.
2020
Acorn hydrogen
We are selected to provide Project Management systems and technical support during the Front-End Engineering Design for Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and the Concept Select for Acorn Hydrogen, both part of the exciting developments planned at the St Fergus gas terminal near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
2021
The Petrofac way
We introduced the first Petrofac Operating Model, a living document that codifies who we are, and how we work together as one Petrofac. It combines the best of what has made us successful to date with how we can thrive in an increasingly complex world. The operating model has four elements: Our values (who we are); Perform (how we work together); Organise (how we are structured); and Govern (how we make decisions).
2022
Growing in the wind
We have have entered into a collaboration with Hitachi Energy to provide joint grid integration and associated infrastructure to support the rapidly growing offshore wind market and help accelerate the energy transition. We are expanding our renewable energy portfolio further and building on more than a decade of experience in offshore wind.
2023
A historical agreement
Together with Hitachi Energy, we have secured a landmark offshore wind framework agreement worth approximately 13 billion euros to support our client TenneT in expanding offshore wind capacity in the Dutch-German North Sea. The agreement includes an initial commitment to deploy six record-breaking renewable integration systems.