Petrofac sells interest in Mexico's Panuco oil field

The London-listed oil services provider, which is still under investigation by the UK's Serious Fraud Office over allegations of bribery, sold a 50% of its interest in the project, which was held in the Petro-SPM Integrated Services vehicle, making Schlumberger the 100% owner.

The total consideration was in line with the net book value of Petrofac's interest and comprised of cash on completion and deferred consideration, the former of which comprises both a payment on migration from an integrated service contract to a new contract form as well as a further share of post migration cash flows.

As part of the ongoing energy reforms in Mexico, Petrofac has been migrating production enhancement contracts to production-sharing contracts.

Petrofac's chief operating officer Rob Jewkes said the sale was in line with the group's ongoing strategy and simplifies the ownership of the Pánuco field.

"We will continue to focus on the remaining production service contracts in our Mexican portfolio."

Patrick Schorn, the executive vice president of New Ventures at Schlumberger said that the transaction aligned with their portfolio of production management projects and enables the company to move forward with plans to continue to develop the Pánuco field.

Petrofac's shares were up almost 2% to 441.4p not long after midday.