Cape celebrates £22.5m LNG contract award in North Africa

Cape, which has its UK operations in Wakefield, provides insulation, industrial cleaning and training services to the energy and mineral resources sectors. Work on the contract, awarded by Algerian company Snamprogetti Chiyoda, will start in the first quarter of 2011 with completion scheduled for the first half of 2012.

The award marks the first major LNG project contract win for Cape in North Africa since the Damietta LNG project in Egypt in 2002.

Cape has a long history in the LNG industry in North Africa and its most recent contract in Algeria was at the In Salah Gas project in 2003.

Cape's chief executive Martin May described the contract as another significant award for Cape in the strategically important LNG sector.

"We are delighted to again be working in Algeria which is already the fourth largest LNG exporting country in the world," he said.

"With its continuing growth plans, Algeria represents a key market for Cape, and we look forward to building on this relationship."

Last month Cape said its financial performance will beat its expectations thanks to tight cost control and favourable currency movements.

It said strong activity in the Far East has offset lower activity in the Middle East.

Net debt is expected to fall below 100m by the end of July.

AIM-listed Cape saw a potential buyer walk away at the end of June, sending shares down heavily, but has since been busy winning new international work.