Shares in Saipem (Other OTC: SAPMY - news) rise more than 5 percent to touch 40-day highs as the market turns positive on the Italian oil service group's orders outlook.
"The orders momentum is picking up and the market is starting to regain some of the confidence it lost in January," an oil analyst says.
Saipem, 43 percent owned by oil major Eni (NYSE: E - news) , shocked investors at the end of January when it slashed guidance on weaker-than-expected margins, sending its shares crashing more than 30 percent.
On Monday, Saipem said it had won contracts worth a total $1.1 billion in Africa, the second contract award in the first quarter.
"That was a good order and there could be more. The group is a potential bidder in the big Yamal LNG project in Russia and refineries of Kuwait National Petroleum," the analyst says.
Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni has signaled he could be open to a sale of Saipem (Milan: SPM.MI - news) long-term after a widening corruption probe in Algeria left mud sticking to the oil major.
Reuters messaging rm://stephen.jewkes.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net
