Vallourec CMD: What to look for Vallourec will present at its Capital Markets Day in London on Tuesday 12th, with the shares'' performance essentially flat YTD despite progress on deleveraging and its major industrial footprint reorganisation. Falling US rig counts and normalising OCTG pricing have weighed, offsetting better news on US OCTG imports and a gradual uptick in rig activity ex-US. To win over investors, we think VK needs to outline its view on the normalised EBITDA of the business and what investors need to believe to get there. With management targeting zero net debt by the end of 2025 at the latest (from EUR868m in June), capital allocation priorities leading up to the middle of the decade will be key, not least given the 50% discount to the long-term multiple on which the shares currently trade. Project news round-up This week sees progress on field developments in Saudi Arabia, where bids for c$10bn of offshore EPCI packages have been submitted to Aramco for the Safaniyah incremental oil project after multiple delays, and at Jafurah where Middle East news sources report that the NOC has selected Tecnicas, LandT and Hyundai Engineering for major EPC contracts. In Norway, Equinor is reportedly making progress on a new field development concept at Wisting, with Aker Solutions and Technip Energies carrying out FPSO and CCS studies respectively, while in Nigeria ExxonMobil has recommenced work on the mothballed Owowo tieback project with full tendering set for 2024. Awards and FIDs Adnoc announced this week a final investment decision (FID) to develop a 1.5mtpa CO2 recovery project at Habshan, with Petrofac reportedly the frontrunner for the main $500m+ EPC contract according to Upstream. In the US, Commonwealth LNG announced a 1mtpa heads of agreement, targeting 1Q24 FID supported by Technip Energies, while Tellurian and Baker Hughes signed an equipment supply agreement covering Phase 1 of the Driftwood LNG project. Elsewhere,...