September 26, 2021
Petrofac Limited (the ‘Company’ or ‘Petrofac’) announces that it has reached a plea agreement with the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in relation to its investigation into the Company’s historical use of agents.
Pursuant to this plea agreement, the Company has today indicated guilty pleas to seven counts of failing to prevent former Petrofac group employees from offering or making payments to agents in relation to projects awarded between 2012 and 2015 in Iraq, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, contrary to Section 7 of the UK Bribery Act 2010. These offers or payments were made between 2011 and 2017. All employees involved in the charges have left the business.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place at Southwark Crown Court commencing on Monday 27 September 2021. The Company will make a further announcement following sentencing or any adjournment.
The penalty will be determined at the sole discretion of the Court. It may take into account submissions by the Company as to its ability to pay, along with the SFO’s recognition that Petrofac is a changed company with transformed leadership, personnel, compliance and assurance processes.
Chairman René Medori said: “This was a deeply regrettable period of Petrofac’s history. We are committed to ensuring it will never happen again. We have fundamentally overhauled our compliance regime, as well as the people, and the culture that supports it. Our comprehensive programme of corporate renewal has been acknowledged by the SFO. Petrofac has been living under the shadow of the past, but today it is a profoundly different business, in which stakeholders can be assured of our commitment to the highest standards of business ethics, wherever we operate.”
Group Chief Executive Sami Iskander said: “With my new management team we are rebuilding the company into a new Petrofac that’s relevant for the future, across both traditional and new energies, built on a foundation of the highest ethical standards.”
Petrofac, today, has a well-developed, comprehensive compliance and governance regime. This is supported by a dedicated compliance and investigations team, new systems and technologies, mandatory training and a company culture based on ethical business conduct and transparency.
Its compliance regime is championed, supported, and overseen at local, divisional and Board level, and supplemented by regular independent verification. Agents are no longer used other than where required by law and are subject to enhanced audit and additional controls.
About Petrofac:
Petrofac is a leading international service provider to the energy industry, with a diverse client portfolio including many of the world’s leading energy companies.
Petrofac designs, builds, manages and maintains oil, gas, refining, petrochemicals and renewable energy infrastructure. Our purpose is to enable our clients to meet the world’s evolving energy needs. Our four values – driven, agile, respectful and open – are at the heart of everything we do.
Petrofac’s core markets are in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the UK North Sea, where we have built a long and successful track record of safe, reliable and innovative execution, underpinned by a cost effective and local delivery model with a strong focus on in-country value. We operate in several other significant markets, including India, South East Asia and the United States. We have 9,400 employees based across 31 offices globally.
Petrofac is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: PFC).
