Stolt Offshore forms Paragon-Litwin to enhance epic capability worldwide
"The acquisition of Ingerop Litwin advances our strategy to grow the Paragon group of companies to enhance their ability to supply engineering services to oil companies and to support Stolt Offshore in winning and executing major subsea EPIC contracts worldwide," said Bernard Vossier, chief executive officer of Stolt Offshore.
Ingerop Litwin, which has a yearly turnover of $50 million, will merge with the newly formed affiliate of Stolt Offshore, Paragon Europe, which will be renamed Paragon-Litwin.
The merger also enables the companies to participate in the downstream EPIC marketplace, particularly in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The new company will be based at Litwin's current offices in Rueil-Malmaison, outside of Paris, with capabilities including project management, platform topsides design and engineering and project services. The current structural and pipeline groups within Paragon Europe will remain in Nanterre, also nearby Paris. Paragon-Litwin will have some 300 employees, with about 200 people at Rueil and 100 at Nanterre. With more than 400 employees in Paragon's Houston office, the Paragon group of companies now has a total staff in excess of 700 people worldwide.
Ingerop Litwin has historically dedicated 80 percent of its business to EPIC projects in upstream offshore and onshore engineering and in gas plant, petrochemical, refinery and power plant projects in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The remaining 20 percent of the company's business has been focused on engineering and project management services.
Ken Arnold, chief executive officer of Paragon-Litwin and Paragon Engineering Services, Inc. in Houston, says he looks forward to making the maximum use of Litwin's project management and planning tools as an EPC company to extend Paragon's growing capabilities for providing project support services both in Houston and Europe.
"The integration of the Paris and Houston offices will allow us to provide our customers worldwide with the highest quality of services. We're off to a good start, and with increased resources internationally, I'm confident of taking on the challenges ahead," said Arnold, who founded Paragon in 1980 to provide engineering and related services to the oil and gas industry.
"Through the years, Paragon has remained flexible, continually expanding to meet the international oil and gas industry's evolving and broadening needs. We now offer European customers the same level of service in detailed design and engineering for topsides and process expertise as is available in the Houston office," said Arnold.
He adds that Litwin has excellent procurement capabilities, with critical knowledge of European costs and fabrication capabilities.
"We have the strategic advantage of drawing on the capabilities of both Paris and Houston to source materials from Europe in addition to the United States," said Arnold.
Arnold stresses that Paragon-Litwin will continue to serve its downstream customers, with capabilities for grassroots gas plants, compressor stations and cogeneration plants and refinery retrofits.
"Paragon-Litwin's downstream capability helps to diversify our portfolio while providing avenues for expansion into new markets," said Arnold.
Pier Rampola, the current head of Litwin, will become president of Paragon-Litwin and will report to Arnold. Michel Mugnier-Pollet, the acting head of Paragon Europe, will become Rampola's chief deputy, responsible for engineering.
Stolt Offshore is a leading offshore contractor to the oil and gas industry, specializing in technologically sophisticated offshore and subsea engineering, flowline and pipeline lay, construction, inspection and maintenance services. The company operates in Europe, the Middle East, West Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas.
Paragon Engineering Services, Inc. provides project management, engineering, design/drafting, procurement, construction management, inspection and training services to the oil and gas and pipeline industries. Paragon's expertise encompasses oil and gas production and treating, gas compression, onshore and offshore pipelines, onshore facilities, offshore platforms, floating production/storage and offloading facilities, subsea systems and safety and environmental management programs. Paragon employs about 700 people worldwide and is active in the United States, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Source: Paragon Engineering Services