Petrofac Ltd on Friday said its loss widened as revenue decreased in 2023, although the year was also ‘one of [its] strongest’ for new contract awards.

The energy infrastructure company reported a $526 million pretax loss for 2023, following a $345 million loss in 2022.

Revenue fell 2.8% to $2.50 billion from $2.57 billion, as reduced activity in Engineering & Construction contracts was offset by growth in the Asset Solutions division.

Loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation widened to $340 million from $162 million.

‘2023 was a challenging year for Petrofac,’ explained Chief Executive Tareq Kawash. ‘Our financial results reflect additional losses on the legacy contract portfolio, in particular the Thai Oil Clean Fuels contract where we are in negotiations to seek reimbursement of a proportion of the additional costs.

‘In addition, the challenges in obtaining guarantees for our new [energy performance] contracts, and the impact on liquidity, resulted in the business seeking to deliver a critical financial restructure, which is ongoing and has the full focus of the board.’

On the other hand, Kawash said, 2023 was ‘one of the strongest years in the group’s recent history with respect to new contract awards, demonstrating Petrofac’s capability, strong customer relationships, differentiated delivery model, and competitiveness’.

Petrofac also said it entered 2024 with a $8.1 billion order backlog as of December 31, more than doubled from $3.4 million at the end of 2022. It further noted a $60 billion group pipeline of contract awards over the next 18 months.

‘We are focused on the restructuring with the aim of materially strengthening the group’s financial position and enabling Petrofac to deliver on its future opportunities,’ said CEO Kawash.

Petrofac shares have been suspended from trading in London since May 1 due to delays in releasing their accounts. They last closed at 10.50 pence, down 85% over the prior 12 months.

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