Beaumont, Texas, Chemical Engineering Firm Enjoys Success

Aug. 8–Engineering firm ENGlobal Corp. has hit its stride.

The company is adding to its staff, breaking revenue records and eyeing some major jobs, said Mike Burrow, president and chief executive of the firm that provides services to the petrochemical industry.

“Right now, the market is substantially into a boom,” Burrow said.

Working in favor of the firm is a demand for its services in addressing new environmental regulations, according to a review by an analyst for independent research firm Dutton and Associates.

The petroleum industry has recovered and is spending more.

ENGlobal, which has its largest office in Beaumont, has found a niche in providing upstream, midstream and downstream services, said Natalie Hairston, company spokeswoman.

The company announced last week it is negotiating a $19 million contract with a West Coast refinery building a sulfur recover facility.

Quarterly earnings reported this month increased to $59.4 million, up by $25.1 million during the same period last year.

The company is looking to increase its staff.

“We are hiring more people, but our backlog is staying pretty constant, which means work keeps coming in faster than we are working it off,” Burrow said.

ENGlobal was born from the 2001 merger of Beaumont’s Petrocon Engineering and IDS Engineering, a small publicly traded company in Houston.

Since 2003, ENGlobal has made seven acquisitions.

The next step will be more acquisitions in the oil and gas area, and then it will enter new fields, Burrow said.

“When we think we’ve achieved the right size in oil and gas, we will diversify into other engineering industries,” he said. “Companies that will do things like roads and bridges, for example.”

Burrow, 58, also is looking toward retirement, possibly in four years, he said.

ENGlobal is preparing for that departure by building a succession team, he said.

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