HMH was established in October 2021, through the merger of Baker Hughes’ Subsea and Surface Drilling Systems business and Akastor ASA’s wholly owned subsidiary MHWirth AS. Although our HMH name is new, we have been manufacturing industry-leading drilling equipment for over 125 years.

We build on the legacy of our historical brands Maritime Hydraulics (MH), Wirth, and Hydril Pressure Control among others, giving us a unique opportunity to innovate in different segments and expand.

In 2020, we celebrated the 125th anniversary of the first HMH legacy company Wirth, founded in 1895. In 1904 we built our first mud pump, and since then more than 1500 mud pumps in different designs have followed.​ In 1933 Hydril Company was formed – named derives from “Hydraulic Drilling Equipment”. During that decade, the company produced the first hydraulically operated blowout preventer. In 1950 another milestone was reached when we started to deliver drawworks and Pyramid masts and substructures for land rigs.

In the following decades we have added a variety of products and services, including piston diaphragm pumps to our portfolio serving the mining industry as well as pile top drill rigs with Reversed Circulation Drilling (RCD) technology for the construction of foundation structures. That technology also laid the foundation for our later involvement in subsea mining.

In the early 1970’s, supporting the oil industry in Norway, Bjarne Skeie pioneered the drilling industry in Kristiansand. He constructed his first crane in 1968 before he established Maritime Hydraulics.​ And in the 1980s we built our first top drives, of which we have delivered close to 400 units. In addition to our drawworks portfolio, we launched the award-winning RamRig™ in 1996, a highly efficient compensating system for semi-submersible and drillship operations.​