The 70s and 80s

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.

The 90s

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.

2000-2003

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).