The O.G. in OFE and its name is NOV

There are very few companies still in existence that can trace their roots back to the beginning of the U.S. oil industry in Pennsylvania and even fewer that are in the oilfield equipment (OFE) sector.

In fact I can only think of two equipment companies.

Dresser - now a unit of Siemens.

And National Oilwell Varco or NOV 0.00%↑.

To be more specific, the “O” traces back to the Oilwell Supply Company.

Oilwell Supply Co was founded in 1862 and was then acquired by US Steel in the 1930s where it remained until a JV was formed in the 1980s with Armco’s National Supply.

The Company manufactured drilling equipment, production and fluid control systems, and hydraulic, rod, and centrifugal pumps.

The roots of “N” or National Supply date back to the 1890s but during the post WW2 drilling boom, the company was purchased by ARMCO before being JV’ed with Oilwell Supply as described above.

In 1995, National Supply and US Steel sold the oilfield equipment business to a group of investors led by the management team at the time before becoming a public company the same year

Below is a decent depiction of NOV’s revenue cycles since 1937 using as much info as available from the publicly traded companies.