United Rentals Inc. and Fluor Corp. are teaming up to offer equipment, tools and logistics services for oil-and-gas owners along the Gulf Coast. Executives say the venture may later expand beyond the region.
“We are just getting started,” says Michael Kneeland, CEO of Greenwich, Conn.-based United Rental. With construction markets still down, firms sitting on equipment are looking to put idle assets to work. Both firms have received a lift from Gulf Coast cleanup contracts but want to target the region’s industrial market. If successful, the 50:50 deal between United and Fluor’s captive equipment rental unit, AMECO, would help each grow sales and margins in what Kneeland expects to be a “choppy” recovery.