Canada's SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is reducing its risk in the Middle East and other regions as the engineering and construction firm faces headwinds such as the COVID-19 pandemic and fluctuating oil prices, CEO Ian Edwards said on Oct. 8.
While the company is not exiting the Asia Pacific and Middle East markets, it has "been careful to de-risk" exposure to "fluctuating workloads," in those regions, Edwards told a virtual event organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.
"As COVID has hit the Middle East, and also you know, the fluctuation in oil prices, we've seen workloads kind of fluctuate there," he said.
Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin is instead focusing on its core geographies of Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., he said.
According to its 2019 annual report, the company generated 18% of its revenues from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, that year, down from 20% a year earlier, on a decline in its resources business.
SNC-Lavalin is restructuring its resource business in a bid to make the unit profitable in 2021.
The company has also said it would exit money-losing lump sum, turnkey contracts to allow it to focus on higher-performing growth areas, like engineering services.
Recommended Reading
Could UpCurve Be an M&A Target in Delaware Inventory Scramble?
2024-08-28 - On a shrinking list of private equity-backed Delaware Basin operators, UpCurve Energy’s CEO told Hart Energy there’s a “reasonable chance” the company’s Reeves County, Texas, assets will be sold off.
Building a Better Non-op? Control the Purse Strings, Executives Say
2024-08-27 - As they trail E&Ps in the public markets, some non-operated oil and gas companies are taking firmer control of drilling decisions as executives look to reinvent their business model.
Franklin Mountain Pulls Trigger on Gunbarrel’s 18-well Delaware Project
2024-08-26 - In August, Franklin Mountain Energy brought online its 18-well Gunbarrel project, targeting the Delaware Basin’s Third Bone Spring and Wolfcamp A, among other intervals.
Verdun Oil: Quietly Leading the Eagle Ford’s Refrac Rally
2024-08-23 - Verdun is among the largest private producers left in South Texas, with more than 285,000 net leasehold acres and 90,000 net boe/d across the Eagle Ford Shale trend and the Giddings Field.