Gaztransport Technigaz

In the 1950s, European companies were looking for solutions to transport Algerian gas from the Sahara to Europe. The idea of a North African pipeline was scrapped due to regional instability at the time and this led to the first boom in the shipping of gas by sea in the form of a cryogenic liquid in LNG carriers.

After the Evian Accords in 1962, France purchased its first LNG carrier - the Jules Verne - for operation on the route between Oran and France. Great Britain already had two of these vessels at this time.Both Gaztransport and Technigaz emerged as a result of the innovations taking place in this historical context. In 1963 Gazocean, a company jointly owned by Gaz de France and NYK Line, created a subsidiary called Technigaz responsible for developing new LNG transportation technology. In 1964 Technigaz filed for a patent for "wallpanels for so-called membrane tanks" which was granted in 1968 and which led to the development of the Mark I containment system. Between 1968 and 1979, twelve LNG carriers were built using Technigaz Mark technology. In 1983 Technigaz was sold to the Amrep Group which subsequently went bankrupt in 1984 and was itself taken over by the Bouygues Group. In 1994 Technigaz was merged with Gaztransport to create Gaztransport & Technigaz.Gaztransport was founded on the 10 January 1966. In 1967 Phillips Petroleum and Marathon Oil, which held contracts to import gas into Japan, placed an order for two LNG carriers, Polar Alaska and Arctic Tokyo, that were built in the Swedish shipyard of Kockums. These ships remained in operation for 45 years. In 1969 the Polar Alaska was launched, and between 1969 and 1978, ten LNG carriers used the NO systems developed by Gaztransport. In 1994 Gaztransport was merged with Technigaz and Technigaz Shipping to create Gaztransport & Technigaz.After Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine in 2022, under the pretext of an anti-Nazi special operation, the company continued to provide services to Russian clients, even as many major companies were pulling out of Russia.