Public companies offered investors optimism about projects in global energy and petrochemical markets moving forward in the next 12 to 18 months, particularly in North America.However, executives at a Credit Suisse-sponsored industry-sector conference in Manhattan on June 6 voiced caution about how tighter labor availability could affect pay rates, margins and contract preferences.
"We expect steady improvement in awards in 2013, building momentum into 2014," said Jamie Cook, Credit Suisse's E&C sector leader. Firms said contract awards on two liquefied-natural-gas projects in Texas and British Columbia would move forward this year, with two more in unspecified North American locations in 2014. Peter Oosterveer, president of Fluor Corp.'s energy-and-chemicals group, said the contractor has partnered with Japan-based JGC Corp. for Canada's Kitimat LNG project and others, which he would not disclose, in the U.S.