Energy transition takes spotlight in Aker Solutions’ record orderbook

Aker Solutions reported an order intake of NOK 12.2 billion in the second quarter of 2021, said to be the strongest in several years, of which about 60% is related to energy transition work.

Aker Solutions

Aker Solutions saw its orderbook go up almost 30% in Q2 2021 compared to the same period last year, equaling 1.8 times book-to-bill.

The company stated that the increase was mostly impacted by the contract secured with Chevron, worth more than NOK 7 billion, to provide the subsea gas compression system for the Jansz-Io field offshore Western Australia.

“Our revenue for the quarter increased versus the same period last year and we maintained our solid financial position. We secured several important contracts in the quarter, including the major subsea gas compression award Jansz-Io from Chevron in Australia,” said Kjetel Digre, Aker Solutions CEO.

“This resulted in our strongest quarterly order intake in several years, of NOK 12.2 billion, increasing our secured order backlog by close to 30 percent from the same period last year.”

For the first half of 2021, Aker Solutions reported a revenue of NOK 13.5 billion and EBITDA increased to NOK 820 million excluding special items. This was equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 6.1%.

In the second quarter, the company reported revenue of NOK 7 billion and EBITDA of NOK 392 million excluding special items, which was equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 5.6%.

In terms of offshore wind, Aker Solutions signed an EPCI contract with ScottishPower Renewables to deliver the HVDC platform for the East Anglia Three project.

In the oil and gas business, the company secured a subsea lifecycle services frame agreement by Petrobras in Brazil, a maintenance and modifications frame agreement by Shell in Norway, and an extension of an existing maintenance and modifications frame agreement with Equinor on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

The Norwegians also secured a topside modifications contract with OKEA for the Hasselmus gas field development in Norway, and signed a five-year frame agreement with TotalEnergies to provide subsea lifecycle services for its operated fields globally, on a call-off basis, starting out in West Africa.

Additionally, at the beginning of July, Aker Solutions and AF Gruppen signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to merge their existing offshore decommissioning operations into a 50/50 owned company with the goal of creating a global player for environmentally friendly recycling of offshore assets.

This is said to have increased the secured order backlog by close to 30% from the same period last year to a solid NOK 45.8 billion.

Aker Solutions expects the temporary tax incentives on the NCS to trigger sanctioning of more than 30 new projects by end of 2022. Several ongoing early-phase studies are anticipated to lead to FEED work during the second half of 2021.

The company concludes that tendering activity is record high, and it is currently bidding for contracts totaling some NOK 90 billion, about 25% related to energy transition work.

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