Wood Group gets boost from US shale
BRITISH energy services firm John Wood Group has shrugged off delays to projects and the impact of a tax hike in the North Sea, and said it is on track to meet full-year expectations.
Wood Group said yesterday that it saw good growth in the first four months of the year, boosted by strong demand for its services from the US shale gas industry.
The company, which rejoined the FTSE 100 in March, said the number of projects to design and build facilities to extract oil and gas was rising.
But it added that some projects were still seeing delays.
Project activity in the North Sea to date had been healthy, said Wood Group, adding that contracts could be delayed as companies reassess certain oil and gas fields after the government raised taxes in March.
Wood Group, which also provides maintenance services to oil facilities and power plants, said it had recently suspended work on a $20m (£12.2m) project off the coast of Libya because of ongoing unrest in the country.
Shares in the Group fell 0.7 per cent to close 5p down at 675p, in line with an overall fall in the FTSE 100 Index.