HomeAboutHistory

History

Price Gregory (PGI) is the leading provider of energy transmission services with focus on pipeline and facility construction.

PGI was formed during 2008 by merging H.C. Price Co., (Delaware) and Gregory & Cook Construction, Inc. During 2009, PGI was purchased by Quanta Services (PWR), a NYSE publicly traded company. PGI’s corporate offices are located in Katy, Texas with a division office located in Anchorage, Alaska. PGI’s sister company, OJ Pipeline is based in Nisku, Alberta, Canada.

HC Price Company

Price’s corporate history began when H.C. (Charles) Price III formed H.C. Price Pipeline Construction Co., in 1980. Charles’ entry into pipeline construction drew from a rich family history in the pipeline business.

PRICE FAMILY HISTORY

In 1929, Charles’ grandfather, Harold “Hal” Price, Sr., founded an electric welding business in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, then took his ingenuity and know-how to California, where he worked with Industrial Engineering Co., a company Hal Sr, would eventually come to own. Hal Sr.’s company specialized in field welding of oil storage tanks and he was responsible for many innovations in electric welding, including the first practical application of electric welding in pipeline construction. Over the years, Hal Sr.’s business grew from a welding subcontracting business into a major cross-country pipeline construction contractor. In 1952, Hal Sr., changed the name of his company to H.C. Price Co., and continued the business as a California corporation.

During the 1960’s, H.C. Price, Co., (California) entered the international pipeline construction market and completed many major projects in Mexico, the Middle East, Africa, and Iran. Hal Sr., passed away in 1963, and his son, Harold Charles Price, Jr., began running the business.

Under Hal Jr.’s leadership, H.C. Price, Co., (California) built large cross-country pipeline projects in Canada and, during the 1970’s, built Segment 3 of the Trans Alaskan Pipeline Project. H.C. Price Co. (California) also developed a pipe coating business, which grew from a small domestic operation in the United States and evolved into a business with plants located throughout the world.

By 1977, H.C. Price Co., (California) focused on the pipe coating business and was no longer pursing pipeline construction projects. It was at this time that Hal Jr., began contemplating retirement. In conjunction with its wind-down and eventual dissolution, H.C. Price Co., (California) sold the pipe coating operations, including its pipe coating facilities and its intellectual property created by the Price family’s innovation, to Bredero Price, which operates to this day under ownership unrelated to PGI.

 

 

CORPORATE HISTORY

In 1980, inspired by the hard work of his grandfather and father and drawing from his years working in the family business, H.C. “Charles” Price, III, along with J.T. “Tom” White and their partners, formed H.C. Price Pipeline Construction Co., a new pipeline construction business. This marked a fresh start for Charles and a new chapter in the Price family’s storied history in the pipeline business.

H.C. Price Pipeline Construction Co. hit the ground running in the early 1980’s, with the construction of the Northern Border 42” Pipeline system and numerous large expansions of the Alaska North Slope oil fields. The company continued to prosper with the expansion of

the gas pipeline industry throughout the United States. In 1992, Charles and Tom White purchased controlling interests in the company and through various corporate changes, the business decided to change its name to H.C. Price, Co., (Delaware) to honor the Price family legacy.

In 1998, H.C. Price Co., (Delaware) expanded its operations, with its purchase of a major Canadian pipeline construction firm, OJ Pipelines, based in Nisku, Alberta. A mechanized welding process for pipeline construction, used and marketed by OJ Pipelines as RMS Welding Systems, was included in the purchase of the company. Price utilized RMS Welding Systems (RMS) to weld 165 miles of 36”, X-70 pipe in North Dakota for Alliance in 1999/2000, for the 2002 Guardian Pipeline Project, a 143-mile 36”-inch diameter pipeline project running from near Chicago, IL north into southern Wisconsin, and several spreads of Keystone and Rockies Express.

Back to Top