Chicago Bridge & Iron Company

CB&I was a large engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company with its administrative headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. CB&I specializes in projects for oil and gas companies.[4] CB&I employs more than 32,000 people worldwide.[5] In May 2018 the company merged into McDermott International.[6][7] McDermott struggled to integrate its acquisition of Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.[8] On January 21, 2020, McDermott announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to asbestos litigation. A $22.5 million trust fund was made to handle asbestos claims.[9]

CB&I
ISINUS1672501095 Edit this on Wikidata
Industry
Founded1889
FounderHorace E. Horton
DefunctMay 10, 2018 (2018-05-10)
FateMerged with McDermott International, Ltd
HeadquartersThe Hague, Netherlands
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Michael L. Underwood
(Chairman of the Audit Committee)
L. Richard Flury
(Non Executive Chairman of the Board of Supervisory Directors)
Patrick K. Mullen
(President & CEO)
RevenueDecrease $ 6.7 billion (2017)[1][2]
Decrease $ -425.1 million (2015)[2]
Decrease $ -504.4 million (2015)[2]
Total assetsDecrease $ 5.97 billion (2017)[1][2]
Number of employees
>40,000 (June 2017)[3]
Websitewww.cbi.com
CB&I administrative headquarters
Chicago Bridge & Iron Works, 1912 catalog

History

CB&I was founded in 1889 by Horace E. Horton in Chicago, Illinois, USA. While initially involved in bridge design and construction, CB&I turned its focus to bulk liquid storage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, coinciding with the western expansion of railroads across the United States and the discovery of oil in the Southwest. CB&I quickly became known for design engineering and field construction of elevated water storage tanks, above-ground tanks for storage of petroleum and refined products, refinery process vessels and other steel plate structures.[10] As such, CB&I supported the expansion of oil exploration outside the US, starting operations in South America in 1924, in Asia two years later and in the Middle East in 1939.[10]

According to one of the founder's heirs, "The old joke is that Chicago Bridge & Iron isn't in Chicago, doesn't build bridges and doesn't use iron."[4]

During World War II, CB&I was selected to build Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs), which carried troops and supplies to American and Allied troops fighting in Europe and the Pacific theater. CB&I was chosen because of their reputation and skills, particularly welding. Since the coastal shipyards were busy building large vessels for the war effort, such as aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers, there was no alternative but to use the inland waterways and shipyards for the production of smaller ships.[11] As a result of these and other wartime production activities, CB&I ranked 92nd among US corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.[12]

CB&I was acquired by Praxair in 1996; Praxair kept a chemical subsidiary and spun off CB&I as a Dutch-incorporated company the next year.[4] CB&I headquarters moved from Chicago to Houston, Texas in 2001 and then to the Hague, Netherlands when Texas enacted a franchise tax.

2000-present

In 2003 it bought John Brown Hydrocarbons, renaming it at first CB&I John Brown, and later CB&I UK Limited.[13]

The firm acquired Lummus Global from ABB on November 19, 2007, adding approximately 3,000 employees.[14][15] In 2012, CB&I Technology (formerly Lummus) was awarded a contract by Indian petrochemicals major, Reliance Industries,[16] to provide paraxylene (P-Xylene) (PX) technology for an aromatics complex in India. The complex was started up in April 2017,[17] making Reliance the world's second largest producer of paraxylene.[17]

In 2012, CB&I agreed to buy The Shaw Group for about US$3 billion,[18][19][20] completing the acquisition in February 2013.[21] The subsidiary that was formed as a result, CB&I Stone Webster—a result of The Shaw Group's earlier acquisition of Stone & Webster during its bankruptcy—was again sold, in January 2016, to Westinghouse Electric Co., for US$229M.[22][23]

For 2017, revenue for CBI was $6.7 billion, down from the year before.[1]

In May 2018 the company was acquired by McDermott International for US$6 billion.[24][25] After being acquired by McDermott, CB&I's stock ceased being listed on the NYSE on May 11, 2018. Gary P. Luquette was the chairman of the combined company.[26] McDermott struggled to integrate its acquisition of Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, and in January 2020 was facing bankruptcy.[8] On January 21, 2020, McDermott announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[9]

Operations

In July 2017, CB&I's global business groups were:

  • Technology: licensed process technologies, catalysts, specialized equipment and engineered products for use in petrochemical facilities, oil refineries and gas processing plants;
  • Engineering & Construction: engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction of major energy infrastructure facilities;
  • Fabrication Services: fabrication capabilities for piping, structural steel, module prefabrication and assembly, as well as storage tanks and vessels for the oil and gas, water and wastewater, mining and power generation industries

Corporate headquarters were located in The Hague, Netherlands. The administrative headquarters were located in The Woodlands, Texas.[27] In 2018 McDermott announced that it would sell the headquarters facility in The Woodlands to Howard Hughes Corporation.[28]

Major projects

Historic structures

The company built bridges and other works of historic importance, including some listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.[29] These works include (with varying attribution):

World War II
ABSD-5 at Manicani Island, Philippines repairing the USS Mississippi in July 1945

There was a great demand for ships and U.S. Navy vessels during World War II. For the war Chicago Bridge built in its Eureka, California shipyard Medium Auxiliary Floating Dry Docks ( or AFDM). These could repair ships in remote locations and could be move to more needed actions during the war.[47][48] Chicago Bridge also had shipyards in: Seneca, Illinois, Newburgh, New York and Morgan City, Louisiana.

  • AFDB-5 (A-G), scrapped in 1997[49]
  • USS Los Alamos (AFDB-7) (A-G), sold to private shipyard in 1995
  • USS Richland (AFDM-8), later called YFD 64, scrapped in 2016[50]
  • USS AFDM-9, also called YFD 65, sold to private use in 1989
  • USS Resolute (AFDM-10), also called YFD 67, destroyed in 1947[51]
  • USS AFDM-11, also called YFD 68, sold to private use in 2004
  • Six floating crane barges
  • USS AFDM-1 YFD 3, was floated through the Panama Canal on its side, and scrapped in 1986
  • USS AFDM-3 through the Panama Canal on its side, YFD 6, sold to private use [52]
  • USS AFDM-4 YFD 10 sold to private use in 1948
    USS Adept (AFD-23)
  • USS Endeavor AFD-1 – AFDL-1
  • USS AFD-2 [53]
  • USS AFD-3 – AFDL-3 [54]
  • USS AFD-4 – AFDL-4 [55]
  • USS AFD-5 – AFDL-5 [56]
  • USS Dynamic (AFD-6) – AFDL-6 [57]
  • USS Ability (AFD-7)[58]
  • USS AFD-8 – AFDL-8 [59]
  • USS AFD-9 – AFDL-9 [60]
  • USS AFD-10 – AFDL-10 [61]
  • USS AFD-11 – AFDL-11 [62]
A LST unloading
  • LST

Built: LST-197 to LST-136; LST-511 to LST-522; LST-600 to LST-652; LST-777 to LST-774; and LST-1115 to LST-1152.[63] Examples: USS Bamberg County, USS LST-230, USS LST-231 / USS Atlas, USS Caddo Parish, USS Calaveras County, USS LST-511, USS Burnett County, USS LST-517, USS Calhoun County, USS Cape May County, USS Clarke County, USS Clearwater County, USS Coconino County, USS LST-607, USS LST-1115 / USS Pentheus, and USS LST-1116 / USS Proserpine.

  • Barges: YFN-611, YFN-612, and YFN-613
  • Floating derrick cranes: YD-120 and YD-121[64]
  • Tank barge: DPC-408 to DPC-419, to transport liquids.

Other projects

Other major projects include:

  • Natural gas processing and treating complex in Cabinda Province, Angola;
  • Crude vacuum and decoking unit expansion project for a refinery in Kansas, US;
  • Golden Pass LNG import terminal near Sabine Pass, Texas, US;
  • Large tankage facility at Shell Pearl GTL, Qatar;
  • Hydrotreating and sulfur removal/recovery facilities for several major US refiners;
  • A $775 million LNG re-gasification terminal at Quintero Bay, Chile;
  • Cat gas hydrotreater (CGHT) in El Paso, Texas, US;
  • Hydrogen generation plant in Benicia, California, US;
  • Propane dehydrogenation unit in Houston, Texas, US;
  • Multiple Middle East storage facilities; and
  • Oil sands storage tanks in Alberta, Canada.
  • 150 wind turbine towers for wind farms in the western United States (2004).
  • Petrochemicals expansion project in Geismar, Louisiana, including the license and basic engineering for ethylene technology (2012).[66]

Controversy

CB&I was revealed as a subscriber to the UK's Consulting Association, exposed in 2009 for operating an illegal construction industry blacklist; CB&I was one of 14 companies issued with enforcement notices by the UK Information Commissioner's Office.[67] A CB&I employee consulted the blacklist more than 900 times in 2007 alone, a 2010 employment tribunal was told.[68]

Chicago Bridge & Iron Beaumont
Main article: Chicago Bridge & Iron Beaumont

Chicago Bridge & Iron Beaumont was a yard owned by Chicago Bridge & Iron Company from 1982 to 2017 in Beaumont, Texas. Chicago Bridge & Iron Company Beaumont closed the Beaumont work yard, called Beaumont Island Park Fabrication Services, in 2017 after the site was flooded due to Hurricane Harvey in September 2017. In 2008 Chicago Bridge & Iron Company sold the site to Port of Beaumont. Port of Beaumont entered into a partnership with Allegiant Industrial Island Park to rebuild the 75 acres site.[69][70] Allegiant Industrial opened the Allegiant Industrial Island Park Campus on the site in October 2018. The site has 500,000 square feet of welding and fabrication space.[71]

References
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  2. "Chicago Bridge Iron, Form 10-K, Annual Report". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  3. "Chicago Bridge Iron, Who We Are". Archived from the original on June 8, 2017. Retrieved Jun 7, 2017.
  4. Young, David (6 March 1997). "Chicago Bridge & Iron Set For Spinoff". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  5. "Veritas Capital Acquires Capital Services Business from CB&I for $755 Million". businesswire.com. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  6. "McDermott Inks $6B Merger Deal With Chicago Bridge & Iron". December 19, 2017.
  7. "McDermott and CB&I Stockholders Approve Proposed Combination". McDermott International. 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  8. "McDermott Is Said to Prepare for Bankruptcy as Soon as Next Week". bloomberg.com. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  9. Chapa, Sergio (January 21, 2020). "Houston-based McDermott confirms oilfield service company will file for bankruptcy". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  10. "Chicago Bridge & Iron". Companies History - The biggest companies in the world. 2013-06-29. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  11. Forgy-Schock, Babara (30 August 2007). "The Prairie Shipyard". Galesburg, Illinois: The Zephyr. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  12. Peck, Merton J.; Scherer, Frederic M. (1962). The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis. Cambridge, MA: Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University. p. 619, of 736 pp. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  13. "CB&I acquires John Brown Hydrocarbons". Businesswire. 2 June 2003. Archived from the original on 17 January 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  14. CB&I Staff (30 August 2007). "Current Report, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V., The Netherlands (Form 8-K)". Washington, D.C.: United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 25 March 2013 – via secdatabase.com.
  15. CB&I Staff (21 November 2007). "Current Report, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V., The Netherlands (Form 8-K)" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 25 March 2013 – via secdatabase.com.
  17. "RIL commissions final phase of Jamnagar paraxylene project". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 2017-04-20. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  18. Polson, Jim; Black, Thomas (30 July 2012). "CB&I to Buy Shaw Group for $3 Billion to Add Nuclear Unit". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 30 July 2012 – via SFGate.com.
  19. CB&I Staff (30 July 2012). "Current Report, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V., The Netherlands (Form 8-K)". Washington, D.C.: United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 15 February 2017 – via secdatabase.com.
  20. Chaudhuri, Saabira (30 July 2012). "Shaw Group Agrees to CB&I's $3.04B Takeover Bid". MarketWatch.
  21. Zacks (14 February 2013). "CBI Completes Shaw Acquisition". Yahoo Finance. Chicago: Zacks Equity Research. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  22. Downey, John (January 6, 2016). "CB&I Completes Sale of Nuclear Subsidiary". Charlotte Business Journal. Charlotte, N.C.: American City Business Journals. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  23. Smith, Rebecca (2015-10-29). "Westinghouse Buys CB&I Division to Beef Up Its Nuclear Business". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
  24. "McDermott and CB&I Stockholders Approve Proposed Combination". McDermott International. 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  25. "McDermott adds onshore services with its Chicago Bridge and Iron deal". CNBC. 2017-12-19. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  26. "McDermott Completes Combination with CB&I".
  27. CB&I Staff (15 February 2017). "Where We Work—Corporate Offices". CBI.com. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  28. Mann, Joshua (2018-09-06). "McDermott to sell former CB&I HQ in The Woodlands to Howard Hughes". Houston Business Journal. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  29. "Search for Chicago Bridge & Iron Company". National Park Service. Retrieved 2017-05-19.
  30. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  31. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 2019-02-04. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  32. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 1993-02-09. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  33. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 1998-05-20. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
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  35. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 2008-01-24. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  36. "NRHP nomination for Hughes Water Tower". Arkansas Preservation. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
  37. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 2001-09-16. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  38. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 1997-11-24. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  39. Eich, Allan; Rogers, Leah D. "Manning Water Tower" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
  40. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 2007-09-20. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  41. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 1998-06-25. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  42. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 2008-01-24. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  43. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 1998-05-15. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
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  45. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 1985-03-21. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  46. "Asset Detail". Npgallery.nps.gov. 2003-02-05. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  47. ship history Medium Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock
  48. Chicago Bridge, Eureka
  49. USS AFDB-5
  50. navsource, USS Richland (AFDM-8)
  51. navsource, USS AFDM-9
  52. navsource, USS AFDM-3
  53. navsource, USS AFD-2
  54. navsource, USS AFD-3
  55. navsource, USS AFD-4
  56. navsource, USS AFD-5
  57. navsource, USS Dynamic (AFD-6)
  58. navsource, USS Ability (AFD-7)
  59. navsource, USS AFD-8
  60. navsource, USS AFD-9
  61. navsource, USS AFD-10
  62. navsource, USS AFD-11
  63. Chicago Bridge
  64. YD-120 navsourse
  65. "Peru LNG Inaugurates $3.8B Liquefaction Plant". Peru LNG. Downstream Today. 2010-06-10. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  66. "CB&I announces Petrochemicals Expansion Project in the U.S." industrial-newsroom.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  67. "Construction blacklist". ICO.org. ICO. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  68. Boffey, Daniel (2 December 2012). "Crossrail Project Dragged Into Blacklist Scandal". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  69. kfdm.com, news, Port of Bmt enters partnership to develop former CB&I property, July 5, 2018
  70. Port of Beaumont
  71. Allegiant Industrial opens Island Park Campus in Beaumont, Texas, October 24, 2018
  • Official website
  • Business data for Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I):
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