Aker Solutions CEO: More Activity in 2018

Oil services firm Aker Solutions CEO Luis Araujo says he sees 2017 as a transition year towards more activity in 2018.

Araujo gave the following comments to Reuters at a yearly Statoil conference on Tuesday:

* What we saw is some projects moving to the pipeline, we also saw in especially Norway more tie-backs or brownfield projects so we do see some positive signs

* But I think there is a long way to go back to the activity that we had two years ago and I don't think we will go back to that level very quickly

* In terms of revenues in 2017 it would probably be lower, we said that earlier

* I believe that next year will be a transition year towards more activity in 2018

* The oil firms are very concerned because of the volatility and they don't know what is going to happen the next five years, so they are very reluctant to sanction new greenfield projects

* I think on a global basis we see a lot of opportunities for gas in places like West Africa, India. We see opportunities for tie-backs in Norway. I think it's global.

Reporting by Stine Jacobsen