Petrofac closes Delhi office as orders dry up

UK-listed Petrofac is shutting its engineering office in Delhi amid uncertainty about new orders from Indian oil and gas companies.

Petrofac has three engineering centres in India: Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. Of these, Delhi is the smallest, employing around 350 of nearly 3000 staff that work for Petrofac in India.

Last month (August), Petrofac's chief technical and commercial officer Roberto Bertocco, sent a single page 'internal announcement,' seen by this report, to colleagues informing them of the decision to shut the Delhi office by end-2020. "It is with the deepest regret I must inform you these changes will result in the closure of the Delhi engineering office by the end of this year," writes Bertocco.

"This decision is no reflection on the hard work and dedication of our staff in Delhi. It has been forced upon us by external circumstances."

Bertocco explains that Delhi is one of Petrofac's smallest offices and has significantly less ongoing and follow-up project work than its more prominent Mumbai and Chennai centres. "Saving costs whilst preserving most engineering roles where we can was an important factor in our decision making," he writes.

He acknowledges that this news will come as a shock but assures staff that Petrofac will do its best to "balance respect for individuals with the need to deliver a healthy, efficient and sustainable organisation."