Our history

The now familiar international Expro brand started out with the far reaching vision of competing successfully, on a global basis, with the major international service companies.

It has come a long way since John Trewhella, Jim Ross and Humphrey Green formed Exploration and Production Services (North Sea) Ltd in Great Yarmouth in 1973. Expro now employs 5,000 people and operates in more than 50 countries worldwide, delivering a broad service and product portfolio.

In 1974, Expro was up and running when a well testing business and a PVT laboratory were established. It was Expro production operators who then produced the first UK oil on June 11, 1975, from the Argyll Field. With this success still fresh in the mind, Expro opened its first base in Aberdeen. The first contracts were awarded by Hamilton Brothers (Production on Argyll) and BP (Wireline on Forties).

With the strong Southern North Sea gas market, Expro opened its Holland base in 1978. Then in 1979, New Court Natural Resources sold their Expro shareholdings to London Trust, Flextech and ICFC (now 3i). That same year, the impact of a US oil embargo created opportunities for Expro to work offshore in Yemen, Indonesia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Ivory Coast.

The start of the 1980s delivered further growth and, in 1983, Expro gained work in China, Tunisia, Pakistan, Thailand, Libya, Kuwait and Malaysia.

In 1986, the oil price crash saw Flextech becoming an 84 per cent shareholder.

Expro made its first acquisition in 1987, buying Exal, a data acquisition and sampling company. Exal services included mercury free bottom hole sampling and, latterly, gauges permanently installed downhole (PIGs).

In the late 1980s, Expro continued to develop the group structure and service portfolio while opening a new base in Brunei.

With Expro going from strength to strength and Flextech seeking to focus on its core business of electronics, Flextech put Expro up for sale in 1991. That same year, a new range of electronic bottom hole gauges (Exal Sure) was launched. In 1992 a £52.3 million management buy-out (MBO) was completed, with the support of CIN Ventures, and a clear 4-point strategy was endorsed for further growth:

• Geographic expansion
• Service portfolio development
• Acquisition
• Business Improvement

The first step was the formation of EGIS (Expro Group Integrated Services). This team was formed to support the outsourcing strategies being adopted by the major international oil companies. EGIS allowed Expro to compete effectively with the international service providers despite its much narrower service portfolio. Indeed rapid market share growth was achieved in a number of markets.

In 1993, the US welcomed Expro to its shores, with an office being opened in Houston, Texas. Expro was also awarded the Offshore Achievement Award for Technology from Scottish Enterprise.

Expro was floated on the London Stock Exchange on March 27, 1995, with a £103 million market capitalisation. That same year, Expro Americas was established to service the US Gulf and Central and South American countries. The company also established a base in Beijing.

Expro re-organised its regional structure in 1996 with five Region teams being supported by the central Marketing and Technology development team. The Extreme and Exal Hot range of Downhole Monitoring instruments was introduced in 1997 and the first office was also opened in South Africa.

In 1998, Expro acquired Tronic Ltd, Oilserv Australia Ltd and Saltus Sub Surface Services Ltd. New production logging technology was also introduced.

The company pushed forward with its 4-point growth strategy and expanded across the globe with the opening of new offices in Norway, Kazakhstan, Russia, Brazil and US. At the same time much effort was being made to develop large bore subsea landing strings for the prospective subsea market.

In 1998, in order to support the expanding business, three business streams (Cased Hole Services, Subsurface Systems and Surface and Environmental Systems) were formed to sponsor and promote the technology and geographic growth of Expro’s expanding product portfolio.

The new millennium started with several acquisitions, including Tripoint Inc, Kinley Corporation and Surface Production Solutions Inc. In May 2000, Expro acquired certain contracts and assets from Production Testers International Ltd (Expro did not acquire Production Testers International Ltd itself).

The millennium also brought a number of new products such as the Exothermal sampling system. The official opening of the new Bergen subsea facility took place in August 2000, and a new base in Singapore was also established that year.

By now, all three product groupings were flourishing. Cased Hole Services and Surface and Environmental were going from strength to strength and in the subsurface portfolio of subsea landing strings and Tronic connectors, Expro established itself as the market leader. A new Group headquarters and global Subsea facility was opened in Aberdeen.

Expro acquired Multiline Combination Services Inc (Canada) and Production Wireline Services (US) and embarked on Expro Swire Ltd, a joint venture with Swire Production Testers. This JV won the contract for a jack-up, early production system for Shell on the Soroosh project and this 80,000 BOPD system was designed and installed within a year of contract award.

2002 saw Expro establishing operating bases in Adelaide, Moomba and Baleera, South Australia, Queensland and Alaska.

In 2003, Expro Americas set up a substantial new operations support base at Broussard.

Offices were opened in Equatorial Guinea, Dubai and Oman.

Also in 2003, Expro acquired a wireless technology product (including intellectual property) from Flight Refuelling Ltd. The business had an industry leading Cableless Telemetry System (CATS) capable of transmitting data electromagnetically from downhole depth in excess of 10,000ft.

Expro also acquired the well tractoring assets and technology of Houston-based Smarttrac Inc.

In 2003, Graeme Coutts was appointed CEO and a new management team was established. A detailed review of strategy was completed and a new 4-point strategy for growth was adopted based on:

• Establishing areas of critical mass
• Enhanced customer care
• Best in class technology
• Strategic acquisitions

In 2005, Expro acquired Read Matre Instruments AS and DHV Inc. Expro opened a new technology centre in Aberdeen on September 6, and opened offices in Sakhalin (Russia) and Calgary (Canada).

Also in 2005, Expro were recognised as leaders in safety being awarded the prestigious Royal Society for the Prevention of Accident (RoSPA) Gold Award for occupational health and safety, covering all Expro’s operations and support activities. This recognised a highly successful 5-year improvement programme. Furthermore in 2006, Expro achieved the ultimate accolade by winning RoSPA’s Oil and Gas Industry Sector Award.

In late 2005, Expro produced the first oil for Exxonmobil in Russia with start-up of the Chayvo early production system on Sahkalin Island. Expro also pushed on with the development of the 3rd generation of subsea landing strings with tools designed for large-bore, high temperature-high pressure, deepwater applications. Expro were now embracing major projects and technology developments to support the IOC’s in their challenge for increasingly remote hydrocarbon development.

In 2006, Expro took its most significant step forward with the acquisition of PowerWell Services, a leading supplier of well and other flow management products and services to the global oil and gas industry. This acquisition was an ideal fit with Expro’s growth strategy.

In order to deliver the ongoing business and also to support further sustained growth, Expro successfully re-shaped its organisation. The business was divided into hemispheres – East and West.

The Eastern Hemisphere included the Regional businesses of:

• Europe CIS
• West Africa
• North Africa / Middle East
• Asia

The Western Hemisphere included the Regional businesses of:

• North America – Land
• North America – Offshore
• Latin America

In addition to the Regional businesses, Expro continued to deliver a number of Global businesses that rely on the Regional infrastructure for operations support. The Subsea Business Unit provided subsea intervention equipment used to access subsea wells for completion, testing and maintenance. The Production Solutions Business Unit supplied and operates fast track production facilities to establish early production from proven fields. The Tronic-Matre Business Unit provided a specialist range of subsea electrical connectors and instrumentation.

This enhanced global footprint allowed Expro to effectively deliver a wide range of services to the major International Oil Companies, the Independents and to the increasingly important National Oil Companies.

In April 2007, Expro identified and defined the concept of Well Flow Management, reinforcing the company’s strength in providing products, services and technology that measure, improve, control and process flow from oil and gas wells. The business also reviewed its marketing focus in line with customers’ buying habits, with new marketing areas of: Well Testing & Commissioning, Production Systems, Wireline Intervention, Connectors & Measurements, Drilling Chokes.

At the same time, the company delivered a new brand identity, with a focus on delivering world-class performance in HSE, service quality and customer care under the banner of 'Excellence in Operations'.

The year 2007/08 saw Expro record its most successful year in its history. Expro has achieved world-first operations with its deepwater technology, received industry awards for safety and innovation and reaffirmed its position as a leading international oilfield service company.

Expro won the coveted Subsea Company of the Year award at the Subsea UK Business Awards 2008. The award recognises excellence and achievement in the subsea industry.

The company is also proud to have won three major health and safety awards in a row from RoSPA in recognition of its industry-leading HSE performance.

In June 2008, Expro was acquired by the private equity consortium Umbrellastream Ltd, made up of Candover, Goldman Sachs and Alpinvest. This consortium has an outstanding track record of creating value in the services industry and remains fully supportive of current Expro strategies and its management. The takeover has paved the way for Expro to further progress its successful strategy for growth and to continue in the delivery of operational excellence to its customers worldwide.

In 2008/2009, Expro was proud to win the coveted Oil & Gas sector award from RoSPA for the fourth year in succession, in recognition of its outstanding international safety standards and performance.

In 2010, Expro appointed Charles Woodburn as Chief Executive Officer. Charles joined Expro following a highly successful career in the Oil & Gas services industry with Schlumberger.

In 2011, Expro once again received an award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in recognition of its safety record. Expro was commended in the Oil & Gas Industry sector of the annual 2011 RoSPA safety awards, making it the seventh year in a row Expro has been successful.

A major new investment programme was announced that reinforced the company’s leading position as a supplier of innovative technology and specialist services to the upstream Oil & Gas sector. The programme included expanding Expro’s established fleet of subsea safety systems and well test packages, as well as globalisation of Expro’s strong drill stem testing (DST) heritage and emerging, innovative telemetry capability.

Investments were also made to fuel specific customer growth initiatives in the wireine and production systems product lines as well as new product developments in productions surveillance (multi-phase metering) and fluid analysis.

After more than 21 years of working at Expro, chairman Graeme Coutts retired in July. During his distinguished career within the company he held several prominent senior executive roles including President Western Hemisphere and Chief Executive Officer, before taking over as Executive Chairman in 2008.

Expro refined the company vision in the summer of 2011. Expro is the leader in well flow management, providing a complete package of services and products to assist customers across the lifecycle of a well.

In 2012, Expro hired Sir George Buckley as its new Chairman. In March, Expro sold its Connectors & Measurements (C&M) business, including the Tronic and Matre brands, to Siemens AG at a valuation of US$630 million.

Expro Chief Executive Officer, Charles Woodburn, said: “We received several unsolicited indications of interest for our C&M business last year, allowing us to explore strategic alternatives that led to the optimal outcome for our shareholders, customers and employees. We are very pleased with the result of the sale process. We will look to use the net proceeds from the sale of the C&M business to repay existing borrowings and support our strong position within the industry by further investing in the growth strategy of our core business. We wish Siemens and everyone at C&M every success in the future.”

Today, Expro operates in all the major hydrocarbon producing areas of the world, employing more than 5,000 people in 50 countries. With our head office in the UK, Expro has regional headquarters in Aberdeen, Accra, Dubai, Houston, Kuala Lumpur and Rio. We have grown rapidly in recent years to become a market leader in the offshore and subsea arena, with a strengthened presence in gas wells and land markets.

Expro’s global product line teams are supported by our network of multi-discipline experts, ensuring consistency of service and underpinning our commitment to deliver service excellence to our customers worldwide.

Expro offers services and products through three marketing segments:

• Well Testing & Commissioning
• Production Systems
• Wireline Intervention

The range of well flow management services that we offer across our portfolio allows us to provide integrated solutions to our customers worldwide.

Expro’s expertise extends across the lifecycle of a well, reinforcing our ability to assist our customers to achieve their goals – from Exploration & Appraisal through to Abandonment.