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    Technip To Pay $300mn Over Bribery

Summary

The oil and gas services group has admitted corrupt payments in Brazil and Iraq.

by: Tim Gosling

Posted in:

Natural Gas & LNG News, World, Corporate, Corporate governance, News By Country, Brazil, France, Iraq, Mozambique, Nigeria, United States

Technip To Pay $300mn Over Bribery

UK-based oil and gas services group TechnipFMC said June 25 that it will pay over $300mn in fines to settle bribery cases brought by the US.

The New York-listed company released the statement shortly after the US Justice Department announced TechnipFMC had admitted violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing energy officials in Brazil and Iraq.

“TechnipFMC has agreed to resolutions with the US Department of Justice, the US Securities and Exchange Commission Staff and the Brazilian authorities … to resolve anti-corruption investigations in Brazil and relating to the intermediary, Unaoil,” the statement reads. “The company has agreed to pay a total of $301.3mn to these authorities to resolve investigations into conduct dating back over a decade ago.”

US authorities said that in 2003-2013 Technip had paid over $70mn in bribes to officials from Brazilian state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras. Iraqi officials were bribed from 2008 to 2013, according to US prosecutors.

Technip said in its statement that it remains under investigation by French authorities related to historical projects in Equatorial Guinea and Ghana, and maintains a $70mn provision related to the case.

The corrupt practices continued despite Technip agreeing in 2010 to pay a $240mn settlement over bribes paid in Nigeria.

The Brazilian bribery scheme was linked to a case against Singaporean shipyard operator Keppel Offshore & Marine, which agreed with US, Brazilian and Singaporean authorities in 2017 to pay a $422mn settlement. 

CEO Doug Pferdehirt stated that the “conduct dating back over a decade ago, taken by former employees, does not reflect the core values of our company today,” and said that Technip plans to enhance its anti-corruption programme.

Technip announced earlier this month that it has been awarded a contract worth more than $1bn to carry out subsea engineering work by Anadarko Petroleum for its Golfinho/Atum development offshore Mozambique.

Anadarko, which is set to be taken over by fellow US independent Occidental Petroleum, announced a final investment decision on the $20bn project on June 18 at an event attended by Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi. Partners on the project include Mozambique’s state energy company ENH, as well as Japan’s Mitsui, Thailand’s PTT and India’s ONGC, Bharat Petroleum Resources and Oil India.

When Occidental buys Anadarko, the latter's African assets, including the operatorship of Mozambique LNG, will be sold to French major Total.