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Grant Prideco, Inc.
Formerly
  • Grant Corporations (1975–1986)
  • Grant TFW (1986–1995)
Company typeSubsidiary
NYSE: GRP (2000–2008)
IndustryOilfield services and equipment
PredecessorGrant Supply Company
Founded1975; 49 years ago (1975) in Houston
FounderCharles Grant
Headquarters
Houston, Texas
,
United States
Parent
Subsidiaries
Websitegrantprideco.com

Grant Prideco, Inc. is a supplier of drill pipe and drill stem accessories headquartered in Houston, Texas. Since 2008, it has been a subsidiary of energy services company NOV Inc. Grant Prideco was included on the Fortune magazine top 1000 largest corporations for several years in the mid-2000s[1][2] and through the 1990s and early 2000s was the world's largest oilfield drill pipe supplier.[3]

History

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Background and early history

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The earliest indirect predecessor to Grant Prideco was the Grant Supply Company, founded in 1960 by engineer Charles Grant in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Grant Supply was a distributor of pipe, valves, fittings, and other equipment to oil production companies. Grant then founded the Grant Oil Tubular Corporation in Houston in 1970 and a Canadian subsidiary, Grant Corporations Ltd., in 1971. In 1975, the company founded the direct predecessor to Grant Prideco, Grant Corporations, in Houston as a holding company for Grant Supply, Grant Oil Tubular, and the Canadian Grant Corporations.[4]

The holding company then founded Tubular Finishing Works Inc. (TFW), a finishing and processing plant for pipe and tube products, in Navasota, Texas in 1978.[4] During this period, Grant Supply continued its expansion and by the mid-1980s had six sales offices and was contributing 60% of Grant Corporations revenue. However, Grant Supply overextended itself through expansion and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1986.[5] After the subsidiary's shutdown, Grant Corporation changed its name to Grant TFW.[4]

EVI subsidiary

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In the late 1980s, EVI Inc. (formerly Energy Ventures Inc.)[6] started acquiring a stake in Grant.[4] It bought 32% of the company in 1987 which it increased to a controlling interest of 67% in 1988.[5] EVI then shifted Grant's operations from distribution to manufacturing focused on drill pipe and premium tubulars. In 1990, EVI acquired the remainder of the company making it a wholly owned subsidiary.[4]

Under EVI, Grant grew substantially through a number of acquisitions. These included the assets of Hughes Tool Company's Houston-based Hughes Tool Joints division in 1990 making Grant one of the world's largest manufacturers of drill strings. Around this time it also bought the drill pipe manufacturing operations of Reed Tool Co., also based in Houston.[7] Grant's purchase of Atlas Bradford in 1992 expanded its tubular products offerings. It also opened several sales offices in Europe and Asia.[4]

In 1995, the company's parent, EVI, acquired Houston-based Prideco Inc. from Christiana Companies and merged it with Grant TFW forming Grant Prideco. The combined company was the largest drill pipe manufacturer and supplier worldwide.[8] EVI acquired Weatherford Enterra in 1998 and initially EVI took the name of its new acquisition but, later in the year, changed its name to Weatherford International.[6]

Resumed independence

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Grant Prideco went public in 2000 after being spun off by Weatherford.[9] As an independent company, Grant Prideco continued its strategy of expansion through acquisition. In November 2002, it bought Casper, Wyoming-based Grey-Mak Pipe from Flint Energy Services[10] and, in December, Houston-based drill bit manufacturer Reed-Hycalog from Schlumberger. At US$350 million, the Reed-Hycalog acquisition was the largest in Grant Prideco's history.[11]

By 2004, Grant Prideco and its subsidiaries operated 22 manufacturing facilities across North America, Europe, and Asia. It shut down its Edmonton, Alberta drill pipe manufacturing unit in February 2004 laying off 113 workers at the facility, though it retained over 50 service and manufacturing employees and continued to manufacture specialized pipe and tubing in Edmonton.[3] In June 2004, subsidiary ReedHycalog bought the synthetic diamond cutter manufacturing unit of Novatek Corp. for US$21 million[12] and in August Grant Prideco acquired Houston-based drill bit producer Diamond Products International from NQL Drilling Tools for US$17 million.[13]

In 2005, the company acquired IntelliServ, a drilling string system used to transmit data between measurement equipment located in the bottom hole assembly at the bottom of a drill string and surface operators.[14] IntelliServ had been developed by Grant Prideco in cooperation with Novatek Engineering as part of a Department of Energy project in the early 2000s.[15]

NOV subsidiary

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Grant Prideco was acquired by Houston-based National Oilwell Varco, later renamed NOV Inc., in 2008.[16] for US$7.37 billion.[17] At the time, Grant Prideco operated 25 manufacturing sites worldwide and held 60% of the global drill pipe market.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Grant Prideco, Inc". Fortune. 2007. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  2. ^ "Fortune 500 2008: Grant Prideco – GRP". CNN Money. 2008. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Finlayson, David (February 5, 2004). "Drill-pipe maker Prideco laying off 113". Edmonton Journal. pp. G1, G3. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "From humble beginnings to a world class organization". Oil and Gas Investor. Vol. 22, no. 10. Hart Publications, Inc. October 2002. pp. 2–3. Retrieved March 24, 2022 – via Gale General OneFile.
  5. ^ a b Dinger, Ed. Grant Prideco, Inc. Retrieved March 24, 2022 – via Encyclopedia.com. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. ^ a b "Weatherford celebrates two decades of growth". Oil & Gas Journal. July 1, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  7. ^ De Rouffignac, Ann (June 15, 1997). "Pipe shortage squeezes drillers". Houston Business Journal. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  8. ^ "Energy Ventures Inc. Purchase". Odessa American. May 28, 1995. pp. E1. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b "National Oilwell buys Grant Prideco for $7.4B". Edmonton Journal. Bloomberg. December 18, 2007. p. F2. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Sullivan, John (September 26, 2002). "Grant Prideco acquires Grey-Mak Pipe". Daily Advertiser. pp. 5B. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  11. ^ "Grant Prideco to buy Reed-Hycalog for $350 million". Abilene Reporter-News. October 29, 2002. p. E1. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Leong, Grace (June 22, 2004). "Novatek unit sold for $21 million". Daily Herald. p. D6. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "NQL restructuring complete". Edmonton Journal. August 21, 2004. p. G1. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Hernandez, Maximo; Long, Roy (April 2010). "The Evolution and Potential of Networked Pipe" (PDF). Journal of Petroleum Technology (April 2010 ed.). Society of Petroleum Engineers. pp. 26, 28. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  15. ^ Hsieh, Linda (March 2006). "Grant Prideco's IntelliServ poised to take the drilling industry from dial-up into world of broadband" (PDF). Drilling Contractor (March/April 2006 ed.). Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  16. ^ "NOV completes Grant Prideco acquisition". Offshore. April 28, 2008. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  17. ^ "Two oilfield suppliers joining". Albuquerque Journal. January 3, 2008. p. 8. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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