Kentz wins €20m UAE contract

KENTZ — the Clonmel, Co Tipperary-headquartered construction and engineering services group — has been awarded a $30 million (€22m) construction contract in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract has been awarded to Kentz’s subsidiary operating unit, UTS Kent, by Abu Dhabi Gas Industries (GASCO) and will see the Irish company replace the existing emergency shutdown system and associated field instrumentation at two of GASCO’s plants.

Kentz chief executive, Dr Hugh O’Donnell, said that the company’s board was delighted to have been awarded the new project.

“The nature and criticality of this brownfield project has traditionally been a core competency of Kentz and we look forward to completing another successful project with GASCO,” he added.

The project will take about 30 months to complete, with work due to commence this month. As part of its extensive work in the Middle-East region Kentz has been operating in Abu Dhabi for nearly 30 years and has previously worked with GASCO on a number of projects.

In its trading update published earlier this month Kentz said that the strong performance it reported at the time of its interim results announcement in September, had continued.

The value of Kentz’s work backlog, at the end of 2010, amounted to $1.6bn (€1.17bn) and it has letters of intent — yet to be converted into work backlog — of new business orders totalling a further $25bn.