Technip

History

Technip was established in 1958 by IFP, Institut français du pétrole, as Compagnie française d'études et de construction Technip.

In the 1960s, the company completed its first international projects in Africa and Asia. In the 1970s Technip became an international group with the acquisition of an office in Rome and the creation of Technip Geoproduction, a subsidiary specialized in hydrocarbon field equipment. During this period, Coflexip – a firm specialized in the design, manufacture, and supply of flexible subsea flowlines – was created by the IFP (French Petroleum Institute) and opened a flexible flowline manufacturing plant in Le Trait, France, as well as offices in Houston, Aberdeen and Rio de Janeiro.

In the 1980s Technip opened operating centers in Kuala Lumpur and Abu Dhabi. Coflexip opened a second flowline manufacturing plant in Brazil and branched out into the manufacture of umbilicals with the establishment of the Duco plant in Newcastle, UK.

Coflexip acquired Stena Offshore while Technip acquired several companies with strong technological expertise: Speichim, Krebs and KTI. Already established in the United States, KTI enabled Technip to set up in North America. Coflexip established a presence in Australia and acquired the Norwegian company Stena Offshore.

In the 2000s, Technip merged with Coflexip, which had just acquired Aker Maritime's Deepwater Division. The unified group is now one of the top five companies worldwide in engineering, technology, and services for the energy industry. Many major contracts are signed, notably in the Middle East in the liquefied natural gas (LNG), ethylene, and refining sectors.

In 2010 three major assets came into operation: the Technip fleet expanded to 17 vessels with the addition of the Apache II, one of the most advanced pipelay vessels in the industry, and the Skandi Vitoria, a Brazilian-flagged vessel dedicated to the pre-salt market. Asiaflex Products, the Group’s third flexible pipe production plant, located in Tanjung Langsat, Malaysia was inaugurated.

In 2011, Technip acquired Global Industries, substantially expanding its addressable market in subsea.

In 2012 Technip acquired Stone & Webster Process Technologies and associated oil and gas engineering capabilities from The Shaw Group.

In 2017, FMC Technologies Inc. and Technip agreed to merge, forming a significant new player in an energy industry racked by a nearly two-year slump in crude prices.

The all-share deal would result in a new company named TechnipFMC with a market value of about $13 billion.

TechnipFMC has three headquarters in Houston, Paris, and London under new Houston-based CEO Doug Pferdehirt, who worked as FMC’s chief operating officer. Former Technip chairman and CEO Thierry Pilenko is the new executive chairman.

In August 2019, Doug Pferdehirt announces that TechnipFMC will be split into two independent engineering companies. The separation is expected to be completed by the end of the first semester of 2020. The former Technip entity, without the subsea business, was renamed Technip Energies.

Controversies

In June 2010 Technip S.A. agreed to pay a $338 million criminal penalty to resolve charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for its participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts.

In 2011, the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit in the federal Southern District of New York alleging insider trading.