Reference Document

Information on the Company and the Group
5.1. History and Development 5
Technip’s young petrochemicals business was awarded two major
contracts: one for China’s massive Liao Yang complex and one for
the number two steam cracker in Feyzin, France.
1971 saw the birth of Coflexip, a company specialized in the
design and manufacture of the flexible pipes used in subsea
hydrocarbon extraction.
Over the course of this decade, Technip also created Technip-
Geoproduction, a hydrocarbon field equipment specialist, and
merged with COCEI, an engineering company specialized in
various non-oil industrial sectors such as bottling factory and
cement, fuelling the Company’s sector diversification.
Building on its earlier success in the ex-USSR, Technip entered
into contracts worth FRF2.5 billion (around €381 million) for
aromatic complexes in Ufa and Omsk, as well as a contract to
improve 2,000 oil wells in Western Siberia using gas lift technology.
Technip was awarded its first projects in Brazil and the
Middle East, to build steam crackers in Triunfo, Brazil and Umm
Said, Qatar.
1980s
The early 1980s brought significant progress for the Company’s
business in the Middle East and in Asia, with contracts to build a
gas processing plant in Zubair, Iraq and the refinery in Umm Said,
Qatar, as well as with the creation of TPG Malaysia in Kuala
Lumpur and Technip Abu Dhabi. Technip entered into a contract to
build a refinery in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia with an annual capacity
of 12 million tons, and launched the first phase of the Astrakhan
gas complex in the ex-USSR. It also purchased Creusot Loire
Entreprise (CLE), gaining a foothold in the cement industry.
In the mid 1980s, while undergoing a financial restructuring,
Technip was awarded two major gas processing contracts:
Astrakhan 2 in the ex-USSR and North Field in Qatar. Adding
to Technip’s reputation as a pioneer, Technip-Geoproduction
achieved a technological breakthrough with the raising of the
Ekofisk platforms in the North Sea. In cooperation with SGN, the
Company also assisted in expanding the nuclear fuel reprocessing
plant in La Hague. To help service its growing South American
presence, Coflexip built a flexible pipe plant in Brazil in 1986.
At the turn of the decade, the Group founded Technip Seri
Construction and acquired a stake in Portuguese engineering
company, Lusotecna.
1990s
In 1990, Coflexip founded an umbilical manufacturing plant,
Duco Ltd.
Turnkey business became a major part of Technip’s work in the
early 1990s, with gas processing installations such as Accro 1 in
Venezuela and Bab Habshan (OGD 1) in Abu Dhabi. Continuing
its expansion, Technip acquired Spie-Batignolles’ industrial
engineering operations (Speichim and EGI) and took over Saint
Petersburg-based company Lentep, which it renamed Technip CIS.
Coflexip also acquired Perry Tritech Inc., a radio-guided subsea
robot manufacturer.
Coflexip was listed on the NASDAQ in 1993, and Technip was
listed on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1994.
Turnkey construction of the Leuna refinery in Germany and the
Bonny natural gas plant in Nigeria began in the 1990s. Technip
also delivered breakthroughs in the worldwide upstream oil sector
with the world’s largest floating production unit in the N’Kossa,
Congo field and the first TGP 500 platform in the Harding field in
the North Sea.
The mid 1990s saw another flurry of expansion. The Company
founded Technip Tianchen in China, acquired a majority stake
in Houston’s upstream oil specialist, CBS Engineering, and, with
SGN, created Krebs-Speichim, a chemical engineering company.
The Group rounded out the decade with the acquisition of KTI/
MDEU and the creation of Technip Germany, Technip USA and
Technip Benelux, increasing its workforce by more than one-third
in just a few short years to 10,000. It was at this point that Technip
became the industry’s European leader.
Meanwhile, Coflexip acquired the Stena Offshore Group, a subsea
works business in the crude oil-related industry, specializing in
the installation of “reeled” pipes, and built a steel umbilicals
manufacturing unit, Duco Inc., in Houston, Texas.
2000s
In April 2000, Technip took an important step by becoming
Coflexip’s largest shareholder. Separately, Coflexip acquired
Slingsby Engineering Systems Ltd, a subsea robotic systems
maker.
2001 was a year of major organizational changes: Krebs-Speichim
merged with Technip, creating Technip LCI from the Life Science,
Chemical and Industry segments. In 2001, Technip also acquired
Brazilian engineering company UTC.
Coflexip acquired Aker Maritime’s Deep Sea division. Technip
launched a takeover bid for Coflexip in 2001. The two companies
were merged into Technip-Coflexip, Europe’s leading operator in
the engineering, technology and oil and gas services sectors, and
the fifth-largest worldwide. Technip was listed on the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2001.
By the mid-2000s, Technip was generating annual revenues
of nearly €5.4 billion and boasted a workforce of nearly
21,000 employees representing 60 nationalities and working in
more than 50 countries.
Once the integration of its acquisitions was complete, Technip
underwent a structural reorganization, and adapted its asset base
to changes in its markets:
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Technip UK Limited concluded a memorandum of understanding
with Mermaid Offshore Services Limited, for the sale of
Marianos, a diving support vessel;
Technip USA Holdings Inc sold the assets and business of Gulf
Marine Fabricators, a Technip subsidiary located near Corpus
Christi, Texas, USA, to a subsidiary of Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc.
(NASDAQ: GIFI). They also signed a cooperation agreement for
engineering, construction and procurement (ECP) projects, which
gave Technip the continued benefit of access to manufacturing
capacities in the Gulf of Mexico;
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