Saipem to sign MoU in Iran next week

(AGI) Milan, Apr 8 - Italian oil and gas industry contractor Saipem is set to "sign another Memorandum of Understanding" in Iran next week, said CEO Stefano Cao. He was speaking on the sidelines of the Italian-Norwegian Energy Forum. "There are contacts that are not definitive but nonetheless important for embarking on a more operational phase of discussion and negotiation," said Mr Cao. He also said he believed there were "opportunities in the oil&service field upstream of exploration, that is, drilling" in Iran, adding that Iran had to "carry out a great deal of maintenance on its facilities, as well as downstream and midstream". In short, "there are lots of opportunities, it is just a matter of working out which we should bring our skills to." However, the trend in oil prices is worrying, and therefore Saipem is "monitoring the situation" with regard to a potential revision of its 2016-2018 industrial plan. "Oil price developments naturally impact on the entire oil service industry, and are therefore a structural concern. That said, however, 50 per cent of our portfolio is not linked to oil prices, and thus we are pursuing a great many opportunities that are not conditioned by that sort of thing." With regard to revising the industrial plan, he replied: "What we said in our prospectus was that we would continue to monitor the situation and then make a decision, therefore we will let you know when that decision has been made." This decision will "not necessarily" be made at the approval of the company's quarterly report, because "we need to carry out assessments and keep on monitoring" in order to "make a decision when we feel the time is right". Mr Cao also said a potential revision of the plan was "not inevitable. As I said, that is what we outlined in the prospectus. We will monitor the situation and make a decision". (AGI) .