Following the termination of Petrofac’s scope of work on the 2 GW offshore grid connection programme in the Netherlands by the Dutch TSO TenneT, the UK engineering and consultancy provider has filed for administration.
In an update on 27 October, Petrofac said the Directors of Petrofac Limited, the Group’s ultimate holding company, applied to the High Court of England and Wales to appoint administrators to Petrofac Limited, noting that this was “a targeted administration of the Group’s ultimate holding company only” , while the Group’s operations will continue to trade.
“When appointed, administrators will work alongside Executive Management to preserve value, operational capability and ongoing delivery across the Group’s operating and trading entities” , the company said.
In March 2023, TenneT signed a framework agreement with the consortium comprising Hitachi Energy and Petrofac for six offshore wind grid connection projects , out of a total of 14, that the TSO will realise via the 2 GW programme. The six projects include the Dutch offshore grid connections IJmuiden Ver Alpha , Nederwiek 1 , Nederwiek 3 , Doordewind 1 , Doordewind 2 , and the LanWin5 grid connection in Germany.
TenneT recently announced that it exercised its right to partially terminate the contract covering Petrofac’s scope after the company failed to meet its contractual obligations, and said that a solution has been put in place involving a consortium of Hitachi Energy and a replacement contractor.
After receiving the termination notice, Petrofac said that its planned financial restructuring, which the company started earlier, could no longer proceed as originally intended. The company said it was actively pursuing alternative options and that it was in dialogue with its key creditors and other stakeholders on the matter.
In the restructuring update on 27 October, Petrofac said that together with its key creditors, it continues to actively explore options for alternative restructuring and merger and acquisition (M&A) solutions.