Scaling LNG, Accelerating Innovation: Inside Technip Energies’ Transformation with Christophe Armengol
Technip Energies is a global technology and engineering powerhouse. With leadership positions in LNG, hydrogen, ethylene, sustainable chemistry, and CO2 management, they are contributing to the development of critical markets such as energy, energy derivatives, decarbonization, and circularity. Through collaboration and excellence in execution, their 17,000+ employees across 34 countries are fully committed to bridging prosperity with sustainability for a world designed to last. Technip Energies generated revenues of €6.9 billion in 2024 and is listed on Euronext Paris.
Q: Technip Energies was recently awarded a major contract for the Commonwealth LNG Export project, one of the most strategic LNG developments in the United States. Could you tell us more about this project and what it represents for the company, especially in the current energy landscape?
A: We have been awarded, in August, a major EPC contract by Commonwealth LNG for its 9.5 Mtpa liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, USA. This contract covers the delivery of six identical liquefaction trains using Technip Energies’ SnapLNG by T.ENTM modular and scalable solution which enables schedule acceleration and cost optimization, while offering greater predictability and certainty at scale. This project represents the first SnapLNG reference and the first LNG project reference in the USA for Technip Energies. We first received a Limited Notice to proceed to start engineering works, pending a Final Investment decision from Commonwealth LNG. This project is a breakthrough for Technip Energies in the USA market and an interesting opportunity to rebalance Technip Energies backlog from a geographical point of view. In addition, Technip Energies also received an award in 2024, in a joint venture with KBR, for an EPC contract by Energy Transfer for its 16 Mtpa LNG facility in Lake Charles. pending a Final Investment decision from Energy Transfer. With these 2 awards, Technip Energies further strengthens its position as a global leader in LNG, having delivered over 20% of the world’s operating LNG capacity and pioneering modular and innovative project delivery models across the sector.
Q: You also announced the acquisition of Ecovyst’s Advanced Materials and Catalysts business. How does this deal strengthen Technip Energies’ positioning and long-term growth strategy?
The acquisition of Ecovyst’s Advanced Materials & Catalysts (AM&C) business supports Technip Energies’ strategy of disciplined growth of our Technology, Products & Services – TPS – segment and drives long-term value creation. AM&C complementary technologies will enhance Technip Energies’ development of integrated technology and catalyst solutions, both in established and fast-growth markets. For Technip Energies, the benefits are multiple: it expands our capabilities in the catalyst value chain, establishing a scalable catalysts platform built on high-value silicas and zeolites, supporting the development of Technip Energies’ process technologies; It secures leading positions in markets with long-term visibility, including polyethylene and hydrocracking, while unlocking promising growth avenues in emerging end uses including sustainable aviation fuel, biocatalysis and advanced recycling; It enhances our R&D capabilities, bringing world leading expertise in catalyst design and materials science that is complementary to Technip Energies’ process technology labs, while reinforcing our collaboration with Shell Catalysts & Technologies, where we have a global exclusive alliance for the CanSolv carbon capture technology. It broadens our customer offering and value proposition, providing integrated solutions across the full asset lifecycle to drive measurable improvements in process efficiency, reliability and emissions performance for a wider range of clients; and lastly, it is accretive toTechnip Energies’ financial profile with identified value creation levers, providing immediate earnings and cash flow accretion, improved quality of earnings and clear synergy opportunities.
Q: The energy landscape is changing fast, from volatility in commodity prices to the acceleration of the energy transition. What is Technip Energies ambition and view on the energy transition?
In addition to leadership in our traditional markets where we hold strong position particularly in the LNG and ethylene markets, we have successfully, in the recent years, positioned Technip Energies as a leader in markets that offer much faster growth potential: carbon capture, blue hydrogen and ammonia, green hydrogen and ammonia, sustainable avitions fuels, circularity. Not all these markets will grow and take off at the same pace, but our objective is to be a key player in these markets regardless of the transition scenario, thanks to the strength of R&D, our ability to build and scale up, and our proven capability to scale up new technologies. Last year we have been selected by bp to develop the world’s first gas-fired power station with carbon capture and storage (the Net Zero Teesside Power project) with up to 2 million tonnes of CO2 per year which will be captured. Our leadership is also showcased in our involvement and success in what is the world’s second largest green ammonia project with Greenko in India. This project led by Rely, our joint-venture with John Cockerill, will produce around 1 million tons per annum of green ammonia .. . More recently Technip Energies was awarded, by CF Industries, the world’s largest low-carbon ammonia plant with a capacity of approximately 1.4 million metric tons per year. Whatever the energy transition scenario, Technip Energy will lead the way, and we will thrive in any of those scenarios.
Q: With such large-scale projects and acquisitions, how do you ensure that financial discipline and risk management remain at the core of your strategy?
Our success is mainly due to key drivers, such as selectivity, project management, and collaboration. On selectivity, Technip Energies always adopts a very disciplined approach to assess projects. From our execution, we have a huge and accurate database of projects to make the best assessment of projects, and this is why we have two golden rules at Technip Energies. The first one, we won’t take on any EPC opportunities unless we have been able to perform comprehensive and paid FEED beforehand, and this represents millions of engineering hours per year. The second golden rule is that we must be cash flow positive at every step of a project. In short, within Technip Energies, this is how we maximize certainty, and we make sure to cover our cash exposure at every step of projects. On project management: we are leveraging on our worldwide recognized project management team, led by more than 70 senior project directors who apply robust and proven processes with a deep understanding of the supply chain constraints. When it comes to collaboration; when required, we team up with partners. This is how collaboration is part of our DNA. We are extremely agile and engage frequently into consortia to venture subcontracting schemes depending on the complexity of a project.
Q: Over the past few years, Technip Energies has experienced unprecedented growth, becoming one of the leading players in the energy industry. What have been the key drivers of this success, and what lessons stand out from this journey?
Early engagement with clients, best in class project execution capabilities and a strong balance sheet supporting our R&D and M&A activities, are the main drivers for the continuous sustainable and profitable growth of the company.
Q: With such large-scale projects and acquisitions, how do you ensure that financial discipline and risk management remain at the core of your strategy?
Our success is mainly due to key drivers, such as selectivity, project management, and collaboration. On selectivity, Technip Energies always adopts a very disciplined approach to assess projects. From our execution, we have a huge and accurate database of projects to make the best assessment of projects, and this is why we have two golden rules at Technip Energies. The first one, we won’t take on any EPC opportunities unless we have been able to perform comprehensive and paid FEED beforehand, and this represents millions of engineering hours per year. The second golden rule is that we must be cash flow positive at every step of a project. In short, within Technip Energies, this is how we maximize certainty, and we make sure to cover our cash exposure at every step of projects. On project management: we are leveraging on our worldwide recognized project management team, led by more than 70 senior project directors who apply robust and proven processes with a deep understanding of the supply chain constraints. When it comes to collaboration; when required, we team up with partners. This is how collaboration is part of our DNA. We are extremely agile and engage frequently into consortia to venture subcontracting schemes depending on the complexity of a project.
Q: Over the past few years, Technip Energies has experienced unprecedented growth, becoming one of the leading players in the energy industry. What have been the key drivers of this success, and what lessons stand out from this journey?
Early engagement with clients, best in class project execution capabilities and a strong balance sheet supporting our R&D and M&A activities, are the main drivers for the continuous sustainable and profitable growth of the company.
Q: Digitalization and data-driven decision-making are transforming corporate finance. How is your team using analytics and artificial intelligence to enhance forecasting, reporting, or scenario planning?
We have within Technip Energies two large programs related to digitalization. The first one is about the implementation of one ERP solution, based on Oracle Cloud solution. An important transformation project allowing us to move from 3 ERPs landscape with heavy local customization to 1 ERP with global processes. This new set-up supported by BI teams and later on with AI, will increase significantly data analytics capabilities. Second initiative, our digital acceleration plan. It’s a 4-year program launched in 2024, which consists in accelerating the digitalization of our operating model by leveraging on our extensive project data sets, using new technologies with AI available on the market and our own technology that we are developing. With this program, we have the objective to improve certainty, efficiency and profitability, and generate €100 million in annualized cost savings beyond 2028.
Q: The energy sector is evolving quickly, requiring companies to constantly innovate. How does Technip Energies maintain its agility and financial strength amid such transformation?
Our technology approach aims to reduce time to market, increase the probability of success, and enable us to reinvest in future technologies. It is focused because we know exactly which technological building blocks are needed to shape the future across our four markets: energy, energy derivatives, decarbonization, and circularity. It is practical because we start from proven concepts rather than from pure scientific discoveries. It is also open, as we continuously scan the horizon for new ideas and early-stage technologies that are viable in a practical way. We achieve this by leveraging our people, global laboratories, and partners within our innovation ecosystem. Finally, it is scalable because we possess unique capabilities that allow us to develop technology from the lab to pilot scale, and ultimately to full industrial implementation.
Q: Looking ahead, how do you envision Technip Energies’ next chapter, and what are the company’s ambitions for the future?
We can see three major trends shaping the world today: population growth, urbanization growth and economic growth. As a result, we are witnessing an unstoppable increase in demand for energy, and energy derivatives such as fertilizers and plastics. But it’s also about more energy with less emissions and waste, which imposes a critical need for decarbonization and circularity. The ambition of Technip Energies is to be a key contributor in resolving the conflict between the need for more energy and more chemicals, with less emissions and less waste. And at Technip Energies, we have many of those solutions to those challenges.