According to terms of the deal, investment firm First Reserve will invest up to $1bn in the joint venture while oil and gas service provider Petrofac will contribute up to $250m.

The new venture will acquire existing assets from Petrofac’s Integrated Energy Services (IES) division and new energy infrastructure projects.

Petrofac Group Chief Executive, Ayman Asfari, commented: “We have re-focused our IES business development plans and this innovative venture reinforces the positioning of IES as an enabler for the Petrofac group, allowing us to concentrate our resources on our core strengths and underlining our commitment to capital discipline.”

First Reserve Chairman and CEO, Bill Macaulay, commented: “The creation of PetroFirst Infrastructure Partners represents an exciting opportunity to invest in energy infrastructure alongside a partner with a proven track record for project execution. The Fund will benefit from an investment in long-term contracted assets with strong support from Petrofac and its leading energy sector customers. We look forward to working together with Petrofac on what we expect will be a rewarding collaboration.”

The first transaction under the agreement will see First Reserve buy 80% of Petrofac’s deployed and contracted floating production facilities for approximately $450m.

IES chief operating officer, Rob Jewkes, said the joint venture meant customers could get access to capital along with Petrofac’s execution capability. “We are seeing a clear shift in the industry to contracted and shared infrastructure models,” he said, “and this initiative will facilitate our ability to support our clients with this offering.”