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For most of history, man has found petroleum only in places where
it seeped naturally from the earth. Then in the 19th Century, man
discovered ways to drill water wells deep into the ground.
Sometimes these wells produced petroleum instead of water, and
soon the same techniques were being used to drill for oil. As the
supply of petroleum grew, ways of refining it into useful products
were developed. As the demand grew, this new technology for drilling
holes could be used to produce far more petroleum than ever before
- if it could be found.
 Initially,
exploring and drilling took place on dry land. People in the petroleum
industry knew that fields in coastal areas probably extended below
the ocean floor, and because most of the earth is covered with water,
they knew that there must be many more fields under the ocean, waiting
to be developed.
In the late 1940’s oil and gas companies began
to realize the potential of fields under the waters of the Gulf
of Mexico. Technology made offshore fields a primary source for
the world’s petroleum. In the early days of offshore production,
facilities were placed in shallow water and within sight of land.
J. Ray McDermott had floating equipment for marshland work, and
as interest in the Gulf picked up, the company formed joint ventures
and made acquisitions that allowed it to pioneer the construction
and installation of platforms and pipelines to support drilling
and development near shore.
By the mid-1970’s, J. Ray McDermott was one of
the world’s leading marine contractors, providing services
in every major offshore oil and gas province. As offshore fields
became a primary source for petroleum, specialized equipment was
developed to allow production in water thousands of feet deep and
many miles from land.
Major Milestones for J. Ray McDermott,
Inc.
1950 - Installed first all-concrete
platform in Gulf of Mexico
1954 - Constructed first offshore platform in 100’
water depth
1956 - Established Morgan City yard, first fabrication
facility dedicated solely for offshore structures
1961 - First jacket installed by "Stacking"
method - precursor of later multi-piece jackets
 1966
- Acquired diving company
1976 - Designed, provided fabrication technology for,
and installed Exxon’s record 850’, two-section
Hondo platform off Santa Barbara, CA
1978 - Fabricated and installed first platform in
water depth greater than 1,000’. Shell Cognac (1040’ water
depth) remains the world’s only three-piece deep water structure
and was recognized with an achievement award by the American Society
of Civil Engineers
1986 - Built Shear Leg Crane - lifting capacity of
5,000 short tons
1988 - Acquired dynamically positioned 4,400 short-ton
capacity DB50, world’s largest self-propelled monohull crane
vessel
1989 - Installed deepest pipeline between Shell’s
Bullwinkle and Boxer platforms. The pipeline depth at Bullwinkle
makes it deepest ever installed in Gulf of Mexico - 1350’ water
depth
1991 - Fabricated and installed world’s largest
offshore sulfur extraction complex for Freeport McMoran Resource
Partners’ Main Pass mine
1993 - First use of J-Lay sets pipe-lay depth record
in 2,860’ water depth for Shell Auger project
1996 - Fabricated topsides and installed hull and
deck for Oryx Neptune, world’s first production spar
1997 - Completed modules for Shell’s Ursa, largest
platform in the Gulf of Mexico and the world’s deepest TLP
in 4,000’ water depth
1998 - Installed the first Sea-Star "Mini-TLP,
British-Borneo's Morpeth, in 1,200 ft. water depth
1999 - Completed British-Borneo's Allegheny Mini-TLP
hull and deck installation with associated design, procurement and
installation of subsea pipelines and SCRs in 3,300 ft. water depth
2000 - Installed Shell Brutus pipelines, 16 miles
of 20", which was the deepest S-Lay pipeline in 3,010 ft. water
depth
2000 - BP awards contract to construct the topsides
for four of it's deepwater projects in Gulf of Mexico
2001 - EPCI award of Murphy's Medusa Truss Spar -
first Spar hull to be built outside of Pori, Finland
2001 - EPCI award of Domion Resources Devil's Tower
Spar
2002 - EPCI award of Murphy's Frontrunner Truss Spar
2002 - Wins subsea development installation contract
for BP Aspen Project
2003 - 12,125 ton Amenam Kpono AMP1 production deck leaves
Dubai headed for the coast of Nigeria
2003 - P.T. McDermott Indonesia successfully completed
fabrication of the world's deepest dry-tree spar hull for the Devil's
tower field in the Gulf of Mexico
2003 - JRM completes deepwater Medusa Spar Project
- the first spar platform in the world delivered on a full scope
engineer-procure-install-construct ("EPIC") basis
2004 - JRM successfully completed Devils Tower and
Front Runner EPCI Spar Projects
2004 - McDermott Caspian Contractors, Inc. (MCCI)
completed fabrication, loadout and sailaway of Central Azeri topsides,
the largest deck ever in the Caspian, consuming 10 million manhours
without a single lost time accident and utilizing 80% local Azerbaijani
workforce
2004 - P.T. McDermott Indonesia successfully completed
fabrication, integration and onshore mechanical completion of the
Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel - Belanak
Natuna
2004 - JRM's Morgan City Yard completed three of four
Deepwater Development projects (Holstein, Mad Dog and Thunder Horse)
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