Clough buys oil and gas firm in Canada

CLOUGH has acquired privately owned Canadian engineering services company Enercore Projects for a maximum of C$10 million (R103m).

The company is an Australian-based oil and gas engineering and construction company and a wholly owned subsidiary of JSE-listed Murray & Roberts (M&R). The transaction will establish Clough’s Canadian engineering, procurement and construction project delivery arm.

Established in 2006, Enercore specialises in engineering, procurement and construction management services to the Canadian oil and gas sector.

The group employs 70 engineering and technical personnel and operates in the Canadian conventional oil and gas, and oil sands sectors.

Henry Laas, the group chief executive at M&R, said yesterday that the acquisition was built on Clough’s north American presence, which had started in 2014 with an engineering team in Houston, Texas, and the acquisition of liquefied natural gas engineering and consulting specialist CH-IV in Maryland.

“This acquisition further supports M&R’s strategy to grow its engineering capability in the business platforms focused on the natural resources market sectors,” said Laas.

The purchase price is linked to earnings and is capped. It will be paid between three and five years from the effective date of the transaction.

Kevin Gallagher, the chief executive and managing director of Clough, said the acquisition aligned with Clough’s international expansion strategy.

“Enercore is a company that follows a production-focused approach to maximise the value of our clients’ assets across the entire asset life cycle, which fits well with Clough’s strategy to provide a strengthened project service offering to Canadian oil and gas clients,” he said.

Greg Roemer, the president of Clough Enercore, said he was excited about the opportunities the business would bring. He said the company would have access to larger scopes of work in the Canadian oil and gas market while supporting Clough’s engineering projects globally.

M&R said despite subdued oil and gas market conditions globally, the north American oil and gas industry would continue to grow.