STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Petrofac shares up on Oman contract, rival results

Shares in Petrofac (Frankfurt: A0HF9Y - news) rise 3 percent as the British oil services firm is awarded a $1.2 billion contact by BP (LSE: BP.L - news) and French rival Technip (Paris: FR0000131708 - news) reports strong fourth quarter results, dampening fears of a slowdown in the sector.

The company is the top FTSE 100 riser, beating the wider index which is down 0.6 percent at 0912 GMT.

The company says the BP project will involve engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) at the Khazzan gas field in Oman. The project should be completed by 2017. It is Petrofac's eighth EPC project in the Sultanate of Oman.

Analysts at Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) describe the contract as "decent sized" and "very much Petrofac's bread-and-butter". "It should underpin, rather than increase, 2015 consensus for Petrofac," the broker says in a note to clients.

Petrofac's shares are also lifted by a strong order book at French rival Technip as the firm posted fourth quarter results, easing concerns about spending cuts by oil company clients.

"It's probably a bit of both (lifting the stock). Petrofac are looking to get into the subsea market and there was a bit of concern about whether that was the right thing to do, but if Technip is doing well that's a positive for Petrofac," Sanjeev Bahl at Numis said.

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Reuters messaging rm://stephen.eisenhammer.reuters.com@reuters.net