Saipem celebrates $3.1 billion Qatar contract on the stock exchange

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Purchased on Saipem which ranks at the top of the FTSE MIB . The Alessandro Puliti-led company, in partnership with Offshore Oil Engineering Co., was awarded an offshore Epci contract by QatarEnergy Lng for the COMP5 package of the North Field Production Sustainability (Nfps) Offshore Compression Complexes project. The total value of the contract is approximately $4 billion and Saipem's share amounts to approximately $3.1 billion. The Nfps project is part of QatarEnergy Lng's strategy to maintain and increase the production capacity of the North Field, the world's largest 'non-associated' natural gas field off the northeastern coast of Qatar. The contract awarded to Saipem, with a total duration of approximately five years, includes the design, procurement, fabrication and installation of two offshore compression facilities, with installations scheduled for 2029 and 2030. This contract is in addition to the Comp2 and Comp3 packages previously awarded to Saipem.

Equita analysts point out that the assignment has positive implications for the stock as it 'represents a significant portion of the estimated order intake for 2025 (EUR 12.5bn; in the 9 months of 2025 at EUR 7.5bn), reducing the remaining gap (around EUR 2bn) that could be filled in early 2026. We estimate margins in line with shallow water activities'. Furthermore, the brokers recall, "according to MLex Saipem and Subsea7 have integrated the documentation submitted to the Basilian Antitrust Authority for the merger, following findings of incomplete information in the original filing. The supplementation resulted in the reactivation of the legal review deadline, which now expires in August 2026, and the regulatory approval process continues to represent a short-term overhang on the stock, although the merger remains value-creating for Saipem, in our view. Positive ratings also for Intermonte. "In the nine months of 2025, Saipem's order intake reached 7.5 billion; in the fourth quarter, with this new contract, order intake should have reached around 4 billion, for a total since the start of the year of 11.5 billion, compared to our current intake of 13.2 billion (18.8 billion in 2024). This new contract confirms that the commercial outlook for Saipem in the Offshore segment continues to be very solid," the analysts explained.