Howard Doris
Howard Doris Engineering Ltd, a joint venture between John Howard Ltd and Doris Engineering of Paris
Established an offshore design engineering (ODE) facility at Loch Kishorn, Scotland to build concrete gravity-base structures for oil and gas production in the North Sea.
1978 The Ninian Central Platform was designed and built by Howard Doris Limited; it was towed out and placed on location for Chevron Petroleum (UK) Ltd in May[1].
At the time, DORIS Engineering had an exceptional diving division which, alongside ODE, helped Alex McKee salvage The Mary Rose, King Henry VIII's favourite ship.
1984 A consortium of Trafalgar House and Howard Doris took over the Scott-Lithgow yard for £12M on 28th March, which constructed oil-rigs.
Later DORIS Engineering became the 100% owner of ODE.
1980s Bibby Line, a shipping company with aspirations to move into the oil and gas industry, bought a 50% interest in ODE from DORIS.
ODE's ownership remained stable for several years until Bibby sold its 50% ownership to Bouygues Offshore, which itself was eventually taken over by Saipem.
ODE is now supported by two equal shareholders, DORIS Engineering and Saipem but remains a fully independent and autonomous engineering contractor.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ODE website [2]