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French company given US$1B contract by ExxonM was fined several times in US and UK for bribing Govt. officials
French-US firm Technip FMC recently secured a contract for subsea works in Guyana’s 6th oil project Whiptail, worth approximately $US1B
6th oil project…
Kaieteur News – French-US firm Technip FMC recently secured a contract for subsea works in Guyana’s 6th oil project Whiptail, worth approximately $US1B, however over the last few years the company has faced multiple lawsuits and fines for corruption and bribery of government officials, in the United Stated and the United Kingdom.
In June 2019 the Office of Public Affairs, US Department of Justice released a statement saying that TechnipFMC plc (TFMC) a publicly traded company in the United States and a global provider of oil and gas services, and its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, Technip USA, Inc. (Technip USA), had agreed to pay a combined total criminal fine of more than US$296 million to resolve foreign bribery charges with authorities in the United States and Brazil. TFMC is the product of a 2017 merger between two predecessor companies, Technip S.A. (Technip) and FMC Technologies, Inc. (FMC).
The charges arose out of two independent bribery schemes: a scheme by Technip to pay bribes to Brazilian officials and a scheme by FMC to pay bribes to officials in Iraq. Technip USA and Technip’s former consultant pleaded guilty in connection with the resolution. In 2010, Technip entered into a US$240 million resolution with the Department over bribes paid in Nigeria.
Pursuant to its agreement with the Department, TechnipFMC had to pay a total criminal fine of over US$296 million, including a US$500,000 criminal fine paid by Technip USA. As part of the deferred prosecution agreement, TechnipFMC committed to implementing rigorous internal controls and to cooperate fully with the Department’s ongoing investigation.
In connection with the scheme to bribe Brazilian officials, Technip’s former consultant also had pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to a one-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to violate the FCPA. A few months later in September, 2023 The Wall Street Journal reported that TechnipFMC PLC, a U.K.-based oil-and-gas services company, agreed to pay US$5.1 million to settle foreign bribery charges and improve its compliance procedures under a deal with the U.S. securities regulator.
Those charges stemmed from US$794,000 in payments made between 2008 and 2013 by FMC Technologies Inc., a predecessor company to TechnipFMC, to an unnamed third-party consultant, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday in a filing. The consultant used the funds to bribe Iraqi government officials with the goal of winning contracts to provide oil-and-gas metering services, the SEC said.
London-based TechnipFMC was formed in 2017 through a merger between Technip SA and FMC Technologies.
In June 2023 SPLASH247.com reported that Subsidiaries of TechnipFMC and Technip Energies had to pay fines of nearly €210m ($230m) to avoid lawsuits regarding subsea projects undertaken between 2008 and 2012. Technip UK Limited, a subsidiary of TechnipFMC, and Technip Energies France SAS, a subsidiary of Technip Energies settled matters with France’s national financial prosecutor or Parquet National Financier (PNF).
PNF said that the resolution encompassed the corruption of foreign public officials between 2008 and 2012 related to subsea projects undertaken by the former Technip S.A. group, mainly in Africa. This settlement took the form of a convention judiciaire d’interet public, or CJIP. The CJIP settlement was not an admission of liability or guilt, nor was it a conviction of Technip FMC or Technip Energies but it did result in avoiding prosecution. Under the terms of the CJIP, Technip UK and Technip Energies France paid a fine of €154.8m and €54.1m, respectively, for a total of €208.9m.
Kaieteur News reported last week TechnipFMC had been awarded a contract in Guyana’s Stabroek Block by US supermajor ExxonMobil to supply subsea production systems for the Whiptail project. TechnipFMC will be responsible for providing project management, engineering, and manufacturing to deliver 48 subsea trees and associated tooling, as well as 12 manifolds and associated controls and tie-in equipment. Exact financial details for the deal were not revealed but TechnipFMC did say that it was a “large” contract which means that it is worth between US$500M and $1B. According to the company, the award will be included in inbound orders in the second quarter of 2024.
TechnipFMC currently employs nearly 140 Guyanese workers and will continue hiring and training additional local staff in support of this award. The contract was awarded a few days after Exxon announced the final investment decision for the project. The US$12.7B Whiptail is the sixth project on the Stabroek block and is expected to add approximately 250,000 barrels of daily capacity by the end of 2027.
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