McDermott International history

McDermott first opened a New Orleans, Louisiana area office in 1937&mdashross the Mississippi River from McDermott's present headquarters.

The Olsen Dredging Company was established in 1939 as a result of this purchase.

In 1946, the company reorganized the multiple McDermott family business operations into one: J. Ray McDermott & Co., Inc. of Delaware.

In August 1947, McDermott set the world's first steel template platform in 20 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico, for the Superior Oil Company.

In 1948, it acquired assets of Harry F. Allsman Company, McDermott’s joint venture partner for several contracting jobs in the Gulf of Mexico, which provided equipment to meet the new demand for offshore construction.

In 1950, to handle numerous customer requests for pipeline construction, J. Ray McDermott & Company established a pipeline department.

By 1953 McDermott had built another derrick barge, with a lifting capacity of 250 tons.

In 1956 Bayou Boeuf Fabricators became McDermott's fourth division, and the world's largest offshore structure fabrication yard.

In 1957 McDermott established a subsidiary, J. Ray McDermott (Venezuela), C.A., to fabricate the world's first aluminum platforms for the highly corrosive waters of Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo.

In 1958 McDermott acquired Associated Pipeline Contractors, to supplement its domestic pipeline business and provide international expansion opportunities.

In 1959 McDermott sold Associated Pipeline to Reading and Bates in exchange for common stock.

In 1962 McDermott installed the first platform placed in Cook Inlet, Alaska.

In 1963 McDermott Overseas, McDermott Far East, McDermott Enterprises France, and Oceanic Contractors were established as subsidiaries of the company.

In the summer of 1967 McDermott first executed what is now the common method of launching large jackets.

In 1968 the oil and natural gas exploration and production operations handled by the oil division of McDermott were transferred to a newly formed company, TransOcean Oil.

Another key acquisition during this period was the purchase in November 1971 of Ingram Corporation's foreign marine construction equipment business.

By the time it was acquired by McDermott in 1978, Babcock & Wilcox was a major supplier of products and services to the electrical power and other industries throughout the world.

To reflect its growth, J. Ray McDermott & Company became McDermott Inc. in 1980.

Robert Howson took over as chairman of the board and CEO in August 1988.

For the fiscal year ending March 31, 1990, McDermott's business overall consisted of about 75 percent power generation work and 25 percent marine construction, compared with about 65 percent and 35 percent, respectively, ten years before.

Losses mounted through the end of the 1996--97 fiscal year, totaling some $192 million in the last quarter alone.

In April 1997, McDermott announced that it was probing serious, yet unspecified allegations of employee misconduct in its international units.

An unusual setback came in December 1998 when a platform deck worth $70 million sank in the Gulf of Mexico as it was being lifted by a JRM barge.

The company put more resources into its information technology (IT) infrastructure, awarding AT & T a contract worth $60 million a year to manage it in March 1999.

Bruce Wilkinson, a specialist in corporate turnarounds, was hired as president and chief operating officer in April 2000 and replaced Roger Tetrault as CEO four months later.

In March 2018, the company announced that it had new business with Baker Hughes and BP, with David Dickson still CEO. CB&I's stock ceased being listed on the NYSE on May 11, 2018.

The company purchased Siluria Technologies, which developed oxidative coupling of methane processes, in 2019.