NATCO Group was a medium-sized company based in Houston, Texas, officially founded in 1988 but essentially the successor of the National Tank Company which was founded in 1926; it manufactured equipment for separating oil, natural gas and water from one another, which is used in most oil-producing regions of the world. Its turnover in 2008 was $650 million and it had 2400 employees.
In November 2009, the company was acquired by Cameron International in an all-stock transaction valued at $780 million, with the goal of bringing processing and separation products in-house.[1]
In January 2010, NATCO settled a case under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, admitting that it had paid bribes to officials in Kazakhstan to avoid scrutiny of its workers’ immigration status. The company recorded the payments as miscellaneous expenses.[2]
Although most of its revenue was generated in the United States, the company also operated projects in Kazakhstan, Southeast Asia, and the Canadian oil sands.[3]