Our History
1962
Fired heater company set up in Brighton, UK serving the town’s gas reforming plants in the vicinity
1969
First overseas order of 16 heaters including platformer units to Cyprus
1972
Delivers 15 Horizontal tube heaters for ‘Come by Chance’ Refinery, Canada
1973
Supplies 7 stabilizer reboilers to Seal Sands Teeside UK
1975
Wins order for vertical tube reforming furnace for ammonia plant in Basrah, Iraq
1977
Secures biggest order to date -25 furnaces for Cochabamba and Santa Cruz Refineries, Bolivia. Consisting of a range of heater types including Crude, Hot oil, Catalytic Reformers and reboilers
1977
Local MP Tim Sainsbury visits the offices to recognise the export achievements
1980
Designs and fabricates steam heaters for Train 3 Petrochemical unit at Valuepark Chemical Plant in The Netherlands. Then leverages its knowledge and customer satisfaction to later deliver train 4 unit
1983
Awarded contracts for a total of 17 heaters for the Pertamina /Balikpapan projects in Indonesia including: Crude, Reactor, Charge, Stripper Reboiler, Platformer Charge, Superheater, Debutaniser Reboiler, and Vacuum Charge Heaters
1985
Delivered 10 heaters to Reliance in India- Xylene rerun boiler with Airpreheat system, Stripper reboilers, Charge and Interheaters
1986
Opens new offices in Southwick, UK
1987
Installs heater to an area of outstanding natural beauty in the UK with high spec environmental requirements
1988
Transported on a barge a fully modularised CCR unit across the River Thames
1989
Order for equipment on a project utilising government available financing to North Africa
1991
Engineers, designs, fabricates and installs 2 reforming furnaces for Ulsan Refinery, Korea
1992
The Queen opens refinery with equipment supplied by company, senior management in attendance
1993
Delivers 2 crude oil furnaces for Grangemouth / Kinneil Refinery in Scotland
1991-94
Contract for 3 heaters and reforming furnace for a new plant in Singapore
1994
Selected as heater vendor to politically strategic project in Norway
1995
Attends House of Commons Dinner hosted by local MP with key clients
1996
In an effort to overcome the engineering skills shortage, BIH starts its own programme for school leavers and promising employees, which includes a university education for one of its apprentices
1996
BIH build up modularised furnace adjacent to the Conoco Immingham Combined Heat & Power Plant, move it to the foundations and have the furnace in-service within a 30-day shutdown
1996
Delivers 6 heaters to Saudi Arabia
1997
Boustead International Heaters (BIH) established with the backing of Boustead Singapore Limited
1999
BIH wins a significant contract for delivery of multiple fired heaters to South America, its first to the region
2001
BIH supplies fired heaters for a complex PDH project in southern Europe, its largest contract to date
2002
BIH successfully diversifies into WHRU supply with an initial order of 2 units to Algeria’s, In Salah Gas Project. Building on its capability and track record in Fired Heaters
2003
BIH executes order for 100+ tube hydrogen reformer utilising leading licensor technology for European delivery
2004
BIH receives its first order supplying fired heaters to an LNG project in Africa
2006
BIH opens its first office in Asia, with the creation of the Malaysia Business entity which has capabilities in all project execution disciplines
2006
BIH opens office in Calgary, Canada
2008
BIH expands its operations in Asia, opening an office in Singapore
2009
BIH moves its UK headquarters to larger wholly-owned premises
2010
BIH establishes joint venture and office in Saudi Arabia
2011
BIH supplies novel equipment on a Coal-to-Liquids project in Australia
2011-2014
BIH secures Supplier of Choice Agreement to provide engineering and supply of multiple fired heaters to Canada
2012
BIH supply critical equipment for a significant PDH project in USA utilising leading process licensor technology
2013
BIH enters a consortium agreement with a leading global gas turbine supplier to deliver an ORC process upgrade for a power station in Asia
2019
BIH awarded a c. $75m contract for the supply of 20 WHRU for operation in extreme conditions
2020
BIH delivers multiple heaters for an iBDH project in USA which once in service is said to become “the most efficient and reliable Olefins process in the world”
2020
BIH secures contract to supply novel OTSGs to a market leading turbine vendor for offshore combined cycle operation
2022
BIH acquire Birwelco USA. Based in Texas, Birwelco is a leading supplier of specialised services and support for fired heaters from design to turnkey implementation.
2022
BIH celebrates 25 years of successful operation and consistent growth
2023
Leveraging its multi-time zone footprint, BIH Group delivers plant critical equipment within a matter of days of enquiry to a client in the UK during a TAR event
2023
BIH enters into contract to co-develop and supply core equipment for a novel plastics recycling process designed to tackle previously unrecyclable plastics, contributing to the circular economy
2023
BIH supplies the first Hydrogen-firing ready heater to the UK, which is also the largest ever single item to be moved on British roads
2024
BIH secures significant furnace contract from global chemicals major for delivery to the USA through collaborative development of innovative modularisation and construction philosophy
2025
BIH installs over 160 solar panels on all UK buildings generating ~75KWh of clean renewable energy per year, continuing on our commitment to sustainability
