Cameron International Corporation
Encyclopedia
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
company and a global provider of pressure control, processing, flow control and compression systems as well as project management and aftermarket services for the oil and gas and process industries. It employs approximately 20,000 people and is headquartered in Park Towers South
Park Towers (Houston)
Park Towers is a complex of two office buildings along the 610 Loop in Houston, Texas, USA. It consists of two 18 story office towers, Park Towers North and Park Towers South, which each have of rentable space, and one six story parking garage. The building, in proximity to Uptown Houston, is...
, Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. In 2006 Cooper Cameron was officially renamed "Cameron."
Organization
Cameron is organized into the following divisions:- Drilling & Production Systems manufactures pressure control equipment and provides aftermarket services for worldwide onshore, offshore and subsea oil & gas drilling and production operations. Also provides system design and project management services for worldwide offshore oil and gas completion operations.
- Valves & Measurement manufactures flow control equipment and provides aftermarket services for worldwide onshore, offshore and subsea oil & gas production, pipeline and process operations.
- Measurement SystemsMeasurement Systems divisionMeasurement Systems , a division of Cameron, designs, manufactures and distributes measurement, quality, and control instrumentation for the global oil & gas and process control industries.- History :...
designs, manufactures and distributes measurement, quality, and control instrumentation for the global oil & gas and process control industries. - Petreco Process Systems provides processing equipment and aftermarket services for worldwide onshore and offshore oil & gas production and refining operations.
- Compression SystemsCompression SystemsCompression Systems , one of three organizational groups within Cameron International Corporation, is a provider of reciprocating and centrifugal compression equipment and aftermarket parts and services...
manufactures compression equipment and provides aftermarket services for worldwide onshore and offshore gas production and transmission and for global process operations.
History
Cooper Industries began in 1833 when Charles and Elias Cooper established a foundry in Mt. VernonMount Vernon, Ohio
Mount Vernon is a city in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 16,990 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is named after Mount Vernon, the plantation owned by George Washington.-History:...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. "Cooper" was licensed to produce the Corliss steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
in 1869 and entered the production of natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
s in 1900. In 1929, Cooper became the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation when it merged with Bessemer Gas Engine Company, which was founded in Grove City
Grove City, Pennsylvania
Grove City is a borough in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, approximately north of Pittsburgh. It is the home of Grove City College, a private conservative Christian liberal arts college; General Electric; Instron; USIS; George G. Howe Co.; and a number of small businesses. It is also the home to...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in 1899. In 1958, Cooper diversified into the controls industry with the establishment of the En-Tronic Controls Group. Five years later, the company acquired the Ajax Engines
Ajax Engines
Ajax is a brand of integral engine / compressor manufactured by the Compression Systems group of Cameron corporation. Ajax is the oldest continuous engine product line manufactured in the United States and has been utilized in the oil and gas industry for 130 years.Ajax integral engine-compressors...
Company, founded in 1877, and the Pennsylvania Process, founded to manufacture compressors in 1920.
In 1965, the growing Cooper Industries branched out into electrical, automotive and tools and hardware industries. Two years later, it moved its headquarters to Houston and in 1968 began the Cooper Rolls joint venture with Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
to market gas turbine
Gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
s.
1987 marked the acquisition of Joy Industrial Compressor Group, founded in 1955 in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, which was renamed Cooper Turbocompressor as part of Cooper Compression. W-K-M valves company, established in 1905 in Houston, and Demco Valve Company, established in 1947, were both acquired by Cooper Flow Control Division in the same year. One year later, Cooper acquired Enterprise Engine aftermarket services business.
1989 marked perhaps Cooper's most important acquisition, Cameron Iron Works, which was renamed Cooper Oil Tool. Cameron Iron Works was incorporated in Houston in 1920 and had branched out to Canada in Edmonton in 1951. It purchased the British Oil Field Equipment Company of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
in 1954 and acquired McEvoy valve and wellhead manufacturer, founded in 1905, and Willis oilfield choke manufacturer, formed in 1939, in 1987.
In 1994, Cooper Industries spun off its Petroleum and Industrial Equipment Group to focus on the electrical products, automotive products and tools & hardware businesses. One year later, Cooper Cameron Corporation was spun off as a publicly traded company with a separate management group and Cameron and Cooper Cameron Valves divisions were formed from Cooper Oil Tool. Wheeling Machine Products Company's oilfield coupling business was also sold.
The growing company acquired many different companies into various divisions from 1996 to 1998. Ingram Cactus Corporation, Tundra Valve & Wellhead Corporation, Wellhead Services and Marta Company were combined into Cameron. Ajax Repair & Supply, General Turbine Systems, PDQ Machine, and certain asset
Asset
In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset...
s of Enox Technologies were acquired and combined into Cooper Energy Services. Daniel Ball Valve and Orbit Valve International were acquired into Cooper Cameron Valves.
In 1999, the rotating compressor business was sold to Rolls-Royce and Cooper Energy Services merged with Nickles Industrial Manufacturing and purchased Elliot Turbocharger Group, Inc. Three years later, Cooper Cameron Valves acquired Nutron Industries and in 2003, Cooper Energy Services and Cooper Turbocompressor combined to form Cooper Compression.
In the 21st century, Petreco International was acquired and began operation as a separate division and PCC Flow Technologies, NuFlo Technologies and Dresser Flow Control were acquired and combined into Cooper Cameron Valves and Cameron.
In 2006, Cooper Cameron Corporation officially changed its name to Cameron International Corporation.
Role in 2010 Gulf Oil spill
The blowout preventerBlowout preventer
A blowout preventer is a large, specialized valve used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells. Blowout preventers were developed to cope with extreme erratic pressures and uncontrolled flow emanating from a well reservoir during drilling. Kicks can lead to a potentially catastrophic...
(BOP) that failed to close the well head and stop the flow of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil well
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...
in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
was manufactured and sold to Transocean
Transocean
Transocean Ltd. is one of the world's largest offshore drilling contractors. The company rents floating mobile drill rigs, along with the equipment and personnel for operations, to oil and gas companies at an average daily rate of US$282,700...
in 2001 by Cameron. However, news reports state the equipment was not properly maintained by its operators which may have lead to failure of the BOP system
See also
- Oil industry
- List of oilfield service companies
- WellheadWellheadA wellhead is a general term used to describe the component at the surface of an oil or gas well that provides the structural and pressure-containing interface for the drilling and production equipment....
- Blowout preventerBlowout preventerA blowout preventer is a large, specialized valve used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells. Blowout preventers were developed to cope with extreme erratic pressures and uncontrolled flow emanating from a well reservoir during drilling. Kicks can lead to a potentially catastrophic...