Willbros Group, Inc. was a global engineering and contractor company based in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, United States. It is listed on the

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. The company operates in the field of energy infrastructure services. Willbros provides engineering, procurement and construction, such as refinery turnarounds, pipeline construction, pipeline integrity management, GIS consulting, and other specialty services. Willbros was founded by Williams Brothers Company, founded by Miller & David Williams, in 1908. It is organized under the laws of

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. It was reorganized as a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

in 1996. Originally headquartered in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

, the company moved to Houston, Texas, in 2000. In 2006, Willbros discontinued its operations in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, although in 2004, Nigeria accounted about 25% of company's global revenue. This decision was due to political instability and the militant attacks in Nigeria. Before making this decision, nine Willbros' workers were taken hostage by Nigerian militants. On 28 February 2005, Willbros Group Inc., said that it was restating financial reports from 2002 on and forecast 2005 earnings far below Wall Street estimates. The adjustments would lower 2002 profit by $900,000, widen the 2003 loss by $2.6 million. On 14 May 2008, the

United States Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its ...

filed a suit against Willbros Group and its former managers due to multiple violations of the

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from Bribery, bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. The FCPA is applic ...

in Nigeria,

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and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

in 2003–2005. Willbros agreed to pay US$32.3 million in penalties while two of its former managers were sentenced to more than a year in prison. In 2010, Willbros expanded its activities from the oil and gas industry services to the electric transmission and distribution market by the acquisition of InfrastruX Group for about $480 million. In September 2011,

Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is co ...

lowered Willbros Group's credit ratings to B+ with a negative outlook. In November 2015, it was announced Michael Fournier was named chief executive officer. Fournier was the Chief Operating Officer before being appointed to this post. In March 2018,

Primoris Services Corporation Primoris Services Corporation is a publicly traded specialty construction and infrastructure company based in the United States, with a particular focus on pipelines for natural gas, wastewater and water. As of 2014 it was a Fortune 1000 company. ...

announced that it will acquire Willbros Group, with the transaction expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2018.

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* {{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2018 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Houston Energy engineering and contractor companies Defunct engineering companies of the United States Companies of Panama

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