The UK’s Carillion will focus on winning new work with the support of UK Export Finance (UKEF) as the trading environment continues to be difficult for construction companies operating in the region due to low oil prices.

UKEF funding support is attractive for contractors because it guarantees that payments are made once work is completed. This certainty has become increasingly important over the past two years as payments have been delayed as government revenues fall due to low oil process.

“To mitigate the effects of the current trading environment, notably the impact of the prolonged low oil price on the pace of customer investment programmes, we have remained very selective and focused on winning contracts with the support of UK Export Finance (UKEF),” the company said in a statement. “In 2017, we expect to focus increasingly on markets where demand from customers for this form of project finance remains high, notably in the UAE and Oman, using our experience and success in working with UKEF to help differentiate our offering and support our objective of returning to modest growth in 2017.”

Al-Futtaim Carillion has secured several contracts in the UAE with UKEF support in recent years, including work at the Dubai World Trade Centre development.

Another area of focus for Carillion is public-private partnerships. In June this year, the Health Ministry and state-owned Oman Investment Fund (OIF) selected Carillion Alawi as a strategic partner to carry out the project Oman’s Medical City, which will be developed on a PPP.

Carillion says its order book plus probable orders is expected to be about £500m ($630m) at the year-end compared to £800m at the end of 2015. It says the pipeline of contract opportunities is stable at about £16bn and supports the ambition for growth in 2017.