Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V.), known commonly as CB&I, is a large multinational conglomerate engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company. CB&I specializes in projects for customers that produce, process, store and distribute the world's natural resources. CB&I operates from more than 80 locations around the world, and as of August 1, 2008, CB&I has a total of approximately 18,000 employees. Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CBI”.

Corporate Headquarters and Leadership

The company's corporate headquarters are located at Oostduinlaan 75, 2596JJ The Hague, The Netherlands.

The company's worldwide administrative office is located near Houston, Texas, at One CB&I Plaza, 2103 Research Forest Drive in the The Woodlands, an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Texas, United States; the area has a ZIP code of 77380.

The current Corporate Officers are:

Non-executive Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Jerry H. Ballengee

President and Chief Executive Officer: Philip K. Asherman

Executive Vice-President, Operations: John W. Redmon

Business Activity

CB&I is a fully integrated EPC service provider, offering a complete package of conceptual design, engineering, procurement, fabrication, field construction, mechanical installation and commissioning. CB&I serves customers in the following industries: oil and gas; petrochemical and chemical; power; water and wastewater; and metals and mining. CB&I's projects include hydrocarbon processing plants, LNG terminals and peak shaving plants, offshore structures, bulk liquid terminals, water storage and treatment facilities, and other steel structures and their associated systems. CB&I also provides a broad range of maintenance and repair services, including complete turnarounds for petroleum refining and petrochemical plants.

History

CB&I was founded in 1889 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, as Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, when Horace E. Horton, a bridge designer, agreed to merge business with George and William Wheelock of the Kansas City Bridge and Iron Company.

Early Years

While initially involved in bridge design and construction, CB&I turned its focus to bulk liquid storage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, coinciding with the western expansion of railroads across the United States and the discovery of oil in the U.S. Southwest. CB&I quickly became known for design engineering and field construction of elevated water storage tanks, aboveground tanks for storage of petroleum and refined products, refinery process vessels and other steel plate structures.

CB&I supported the expansion of oil exploration outside the U.S., starting operations in South America in 1924, in Asia two years later, and in the Middle East in 1939.

Innovations and Milestones

Over the course of the company's history, CB&I developed many innovative technologies and achieved a number of industry milestones, including the first floating-roof tank for the oil industry (1923), the first spherical pressure vessel (1923), the first double-wall LNG storage tank (1958), the first site-assembled thick wall steel nuclear reactor vessel (1966), the first marine LNG storage and distribution terminal in the U.S. (1971), the world's largest steel water reservoir (1986) and the world's largest vacuum distillation tower (1999), to name just a few.

CB&I Today

In late 2000, CB&I embarked on a series of acquisitions that have dramatically expanded its services to encompass the entire hydrocarbon value chain, from wellhead through processing and distribution. The new CB&I is a fully-integrated, full-service EPC company that can manage the entire scope of large-scale process plant design and installation projects, as well as turnkey storage facilities.

Examples of recent major projects around the world include:

• two liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals in the UK (South Hook LNG in Milford Haven, Wales which will be the largest LNG terminal in Europe; and the Grain LNG import terminal near London)
• an LNG liquefaction plant in Pampa Melchorita, Peru
• a natural gas processing and treating complex in Cabinda Province, Angola
• a crude vacuum and DE-Coking unit expansion project for a refinery in Kansas, USA
• the Golden Pass LNG import terminal near Sabine Pass, Texas, USA
• a large tankage facility at Shell Pearl GTL (Qatar)
• hydrotreating and sulfur removal/recovery facilities for several major U.S. refiners
• a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal at Quintero Bay, Chile. Worth approximately $775 million.
• a Cat Gas Hydrotreater (CGHT) in El Paso, Texas, USA
• a Hydrogen Generation Plant in Beneica, Ca, USA
• The world's largest Propylene De-hydration unit in Houston, TX, USA
• A grass roots nuclear contract in the USA
• Multiple middle east storage facilities
• Oil sands storage tanks in Alberta, Canada

CB&I was recently awarded a contract by one of the world's largest suppliers of wind turbines to fabricate 150 tubular steel support towers for wind turbines that will be installed in wind farms in the western United States. The towers will support 1.5-megawatt wind turbines, which are the largest wind turbines assembled in the United States and the most widely sold and tested megawatt class wind turbines in the world.

CB&I completed its largest single acquisition to date with the purchase of Lummus Global from ABB on November 19, 2007, adding approximately 3,000 employees to the CB&I family of companies.

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