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| About SOFEC |
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| Marine Terminals |  |
| Mooring Systems | | |
| New Technology | | |
| Riser Systems | | |
| Swivel Systems | | |
| System Solutions | | | | |
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| Mooring Systems Specialists
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System Solutions
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| SOFEC History |
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In the late 1960's, Exxon, utilizing a New York based engineering company (Van Houten Associates), developed a Single Point Mooring concept known as a Single Anchor Leg Mooring (SALM) and installed two systems in Libya and Okinawa.
In 1972, Exxon offered to licensee the technology to interested contractors. A gentleman named Ben Gross (longtime experience in the valve business) enlisted the support of Van Houten Associates as an outside engineering company, negotiated a License Agreement with Exxon and established SOFEC (Specialized Offshore Facilities and Engineered Components) and began active operations.
Formed to serve the requirements of the Offshore Oil Industry by providing facilities for mooring and loading/offloading tankers, SOFEC performed its first contract in 1973-74 designing, fabricating and installing the world's deepest (at the time) tanker loading facility for Esso Malaysia in the South China Sea.
In 1983, Vickers PLC bought SOFEC. On January 19, 1988, a management group headed by SOFEC's president, Bill Kiely purchased the company from Vickers PLC. Kiely and five other management personnel completed the buy-out with financial support from PacifiCorp. Credit Inc. of Portland, Oregon.
Since that time, SOFEC has completed projects in most areas of the world and has developed a sophisticated technology base which has expanded SOFEC's market place from import/export terminals, to include advanced permanent mooring stations for floating production and storage facilities and a significant presence in the U.S. Military market.
The Key Personnel who were involved during SOFEC's initial years, and those who have joined the company in the intervening period are still and continue to be associated with SOFEC. The first class team has allowed the company to develop through the years to the point where SOFEC has earned a reputation as a leader in providing turnkey state-of-the-art Single Point Mooring systems to customers worldwide.
SOFEC's technology, while largely developed around the requirements for tanker mooring facilities, includes excellent capabilities for the prediction of loads and motions on floating structures and the ability to successfully design and construct specialty equipment to meet an increasing variety of applications.
SOFEC's engineers are expert in the development of environmental forces, hydrodynamic analysis, structural dynamics, geotechnical analysis and the design of structural, mechanical and hydraulic systems. In addition to these classical engineering capabilities, SOFEC's staff is skilled in the practical requirements imposed by the fabrication and assembly of large structural components and heavy, precision machined welments, and the transportation, installation, testing and maintenance of these systems in the ocean environment.
In June of 1993, FMC Corporation, a large U.S. multinational based in Chicago, acquired SOFEC to complement its oil and gas related businesses. FMC's oil industry products include wellhead equipment, gate valves, subsea drilling and production equipment, and marine loading arms. FMC can now provide customers worldwide with an enhanced, integrated package of offshore products, services, and technology, including Single Point Mooring (SPM) systems and Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) systems.
In December 2006, MODEC (U.S.A.) Inc. acquired SOFEC to allow MODEC to strengthen its competitiveness in the FPSO industry by fully incorporating SOFEC's patented turret and mooring technologies into MODEC's FPSO and FSO construction business.
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