Oilfield Service Companies: National Oilwell Varco

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) is an American multinational corporationbased in Houston, Texas, which manufactures land-based and offshoreoil drilling rigs as well as all the major mechanical components for such rigs. The company also performs a number of services for the oil industry such as well and pipeline inspections and is one of the market leaders in supply chain management through their distribution network of over 700 locations. They are a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of equipment and components used in oil and gas drilling and production operations, the provision of oilfield services, and supply chain integration services to the upstream oil and gas industry.

Products include all the heavy hardware for oil well drilling as well as drilling instrumentation and controls and drilling power generation and control. Partial list of heavy hardware includes topdrives, rotarys, drawworks, derricks, BOP's (blowout preventers), mud pumps, riser equipment, and complete drilling rigs. Products also include instruments and controls required on the rig floor for the drilling operation. This includes sophisticated electronics for precise control. Cyberbase is a such sophisticated control system. Further, NOV produces control electronics for power generation and control of drilling motors, and MCC's (motor control centers) for AC motor control.

In 2008, the Houston Chronicle ranked National Oilwell Varco as the best company in Greater Houston, in 2007 the newspaper ranked National Oilwell Varco number 15.

History

National Oilwell's two main predecessors, Oilwell Supply and National Supply, were founded in 1862 and 1893, respectively. These two companies manufactured and distributed a number of components for the oil drilling industry including drawworks, mud pumps and derricks.

Varco was founded as Abegg and Reinhold Company by Walter Abegg and Baldwin Reinhold in 1908, renaming to Vuilleumiere, Abegg and Reinhold Company, Varco in 1915 due to invovement of Edgar Vuilleumiere and then renaming toVarco International in 1973.

In 1930, United States Steel acquired Oilwell Supply. In 1958, Armco Steelmerged with National Supply.

In 1987, National Supply merged with USS Oilwell to become National Oilwell.

In 2005, National Oilwell and Varco merged to become National Oilwell Varco.

The company now employs over 42,000 people and has over 700 facilities worldwide.