Kvaerner Sells Fabrication Yard, Changes North Sea Strategy

Kvaerner is selling its U.K. Teesside fabrication yard and reducing its reliance on North Sea offshore business, a company official said. The decision to sell the 36-acre facility was a result of the company's shifting strategy, as U.K. and European construction yards faced bleak prospects from dwindling North Sea orders, the official said.

A handful of workers remain at the yard, which once employed 3,000, to help in the clear-up operations. The sale is expected to take at least three months. Kvaerner, which was badly burned last year after posting a record pre-tax loss, will be looking at subsea technology activities while expanding its business in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Africa. It is seeking to shift a recent 80 percent dominance of North Sea offshore fabrication modules and a 20 percent involvement in subsea technology projects to an equal 50-50 split between the two.