During a meeting in Paris, France on 20-21 June 1966, the then leaders of the international pipeline construction industry established the International Division of the Pipe Line Contractors Association as a division of the Pipe Line Contractors Association (PLCA) of the United States.

Attending were 26 representatives of 13 contracting firms from France, Italy, Great Britain, West Germany and The Netherlands.By-laws adopted made membership in the international division the same as for those in the PLCA, with the additional requirement that its members must have headquarters outside the United States. Members needed to have been engaged in mainline cross-country pipeline construction for at least two years and to have attained a reputation for skill, integrity and responsibility.

Provision was also made for Associate Members, to consist of manufacturers and distributors of equipment and services. A list of the founding Regular Members and Associate Members can be downloaded here. Headquarters for the international division were established at 75-77 rue de Tocqueville, Paris 17e, France.

The Board of Directors held a meeting in September 1966 and made arrangements for the 1st Annual Convention, which was held on 12-13 October 1967 in Naples, Italy.

First elected Board of Directors in 1966

Info Letter – IRCC Secure Network – 23IPLO

President Jean Guyot Société Entrepose Paris, France
1st Vice President Alfredo Manfredini Techint Milan, Italy
2nd Vice President Stanley A. Wright Constructors John Brown London, UK
Treasurer Rolf Koehler Preussag Hannover, Germany

Directors: Jacques Lesage, SOCEA, Paris, France; R. Mirone, MONTUBI, Milan, Italy; R.E. Todd, M.K. River Constructie Maatschappij, The Hague, Netherlands; P.D. Campbell, Willbros (Overseas) Ltd., London, UK

Providing assistance from the U.S.A: Arthur E. Poole, President of PLCA; Richard D. Cagney, Director of PLCA; Richard A. Gump, Managing Director of PLCA

Independent Association

The association became fully independent in 1976 after a significant increase in membership. In 1988 it was extended to include those companies working offshore in the oil and gas industry and on 5 May 1989, the International Pipe Line and Offshore Contractors Association (IPLOCA) was officially established.

The association’s headquarters were later moved to Brussels, and then in 1992 to Ghent, in Belgium. The Ghent office was closed in June 2005, and the office was re-established in Geneva, Switzerland, where it remains today.

Introduction of Awards

To fulfil its commitment to the promotion of health and safety, IPLOCA publishes annual aggregated health & safety and environmental statistics submitted by its members and in 2001 presented the first annual IPLOCA Safety Award, re-named the IPLOCA Health and Safety Award, sponsored by Chevron, in 2007. The biennial IPLOCA Environmental and Corporate Social Responsibility Awards were introduced in 2004 and in 2011 and are sponsored by Shell and Total, respectively.

Incorporation of new technologies to improve the process and competitiveness of the industry is an important part of the work of the Innovation Committee and its Novel Construction Initiative. To give recognition to a significant achievement in the development of new pipeline technologies, the biennial IPLOCA New Technologies Award, sponsored by BP, was first presented in 2001.

IPLOCA logo 1976 - 2022

This was the IPLOCA logo that served the Association from 1976 to 2022.