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CB&I administrative headquartersChicago Bridge & Iron Works, 1912 catalog
CB&I, originally known as Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, is a global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm that specializes in providing comprehensive storage solutions for infrastructure and industrial projects. Founded in 1889 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, CB&I has established itself as a leader in the design, fabrication and installation of storage tanks and terminals, along with a range of other industrial structures.
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.[citation needed] 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.[4] 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.[4]
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."[5]
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.[6] 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.[7][verification needed]
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.[5] CB&I headquarters moved from Chicago to Houston, Texas in 2001 and then to the Hague, Netherlands when Texas enacted a franchise tax.[citation needed]
In 2003 it bought John Brown Hydrocarbons, renaming it at first CB&I John Brown, and later CB&I UK Limited.[8]
The firm acquired Lummus Global from ABB on November 19, 2007, adding approximately 3,000 employees.[9][10] In 2012, CB&I Technology (formerly Lummus) was awarded a contract by Indian petrochemicals major, Reliance Industries,[11] to provide paraxylene (P-Xylene) (PX) technology for an aromatics complex in India. The complex was started up in April 2017,[12] making Reliance the world's second largest producer of paraxylene.[12]
In 2012, CB&I agreed to buy The Shaw Group for about US$3 billion,[13][14][15] completing the acquisition in February 2013.[16] 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.[17][18]
For 2017, revenue for CB&I was $6.7 billion, down from the year before.[1]
In May 2018 the company was acquired by McDermott International for US$6 billion.[19][20] 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.[21] McDermott struggled to integrate its acquisition of CB&I, and in January 2020 was facing bankruptcy.[22] On January 21, 2020, McDermott announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[23]
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
The company built bridges and other works of historic importance, including some listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.[26] These works include (with varying attribution):
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.[64] A CB&I employee consulted the blacklist more than 900 times in 2007 alone, a 2010 employment tribunal was told.[65]
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.[66][67] 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.[68]
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