TechnipFMC and Technip Energies have agreed to resolve questions in France related to work in West Africa.
Technip UK, a subsidiary of TechnipFMC, and Technip Energies France, subsidiary of Technip Energies, agreed to pay the French Parquet National Financier (PNF) to resolve the matter. A statement said this was not an admission of liability or guilt.
Technip UK will pay 154.8 million euros ($168.9mn). Technip Energies France will pay 54.1mn euros ($59mn).
Of the amount, TechnipFMC is liable for 179.45mn euros ($195.8mn). It will pay this in instalments over the next 12 months.
Technip Energies is liable for the remaining 29.45mn euros ($32mn). The two companies separated in 2021.
The two companies said they had both co-operated with the PNF and as such would not be required to have an ongoing monitor.
In its first quarter results, the company said it had made a $70mn provision to settle the PNF investigation. TechnipFMC said that, if it was not possible to reach a deal with the French inquiry, “we could be subject to criminal proceedings in France”.
The PNF approved the settlement on June 28. The French agency said the central office against corruption and financial and tax crimes (OCLCIFF) had taken on the case in February 2018.
West Africa
The two companies did not provide much further insight on the offences. Technip Energies reported the problems had taken place from 2008 to 2012, by the former Technip group.
In the period under investigation, Technip won subsea pipeline work in Ghana on the Jubilee project and on the Aseng project for Noble Energy in Equatorial Guinea.
TechnipFMC has previously said the US Department of Justice launched a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigation in 2016. The probe was primarily focused on operations in Brazil, between 2003 and 2007. However, the inquiry also covered projects in Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.
The company then self reported to the French authorities. The PNF investigation focused on the two West African states and then expanded into work in Angola.
In 2019, TechnipFMC reached a global resolution with the US authorities to pay $301.3mn. This resolution focused on illicit payments in Brazil and Iraq, with no mention of West Africa.