Administrators to Petrofac, the collapsed oilfield services company, are racing to secure a sale of its North Sea operations by Christmas – a move which could save thousands of British jobs.
Sky News understands that Teneo, which is handling Petrofac’s insolvency, received a handful of bids for its profitable UK business late last week.
City sources said the administrators wanted to sign a deal with a purchaser before the end of the year.
Petrofac, which was at one stage a FTSE-100 company, fell into administration in October after a leading European customer cancelled a major contract with the company.
The identity of the leading contenders to buy the UK arm of the business was unclear on Thursday, although insiders said the process had been whittled down from a field of dozens to roughly five shortlisted bidders.
Petrofac designs, constructs and operates offshore equipment for energy companies.
Its shares were suspended in April as it sought to secure a solvent financial restructuring.
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Once valued at more than £6bn, it has been drowning in a sea of debt, and faced a Serious Fraud Office investigation which resulted in a 2021 conviction for failing to prevent bribery, and the payment of more than $100m in penalties.
Sale processes for its other business, including in the Middle East, are expected to commence in the new year.
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A spokesman for the administrators declined to comment.
