Teekay was founded in 1973 by Torben Karlshoej, then a 31 year old Danishship broker who had emigrated to the United States at the age of 20 and mostly worked on farms. The company was named "TK" for Karlshoej's initials. It commenced operations by purchasing small second and third handoil tankers, a lucrative trade due to the high oil prices during the 1973–1974 oil crisis. It maintained a head office in the Bahamas, thus taking advantage of low corporate taxes. Most of its ships were registered in Liberia, thus taking advantage of the comparatively low taxes and the ability to recruit seafarers from across the world. The company grew in the 1980s by operating in the risky waters off Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq War. Under Karlshoej's leadership, the company grew further from a tanker operator to an operational ship owner in the conventional shipping market. It has since expanded across new segments including gas and offshore. It operates under four companies that are publicly traded on the New York and Oslo stock exchanges.
Offshore operations
In 1998, Teekay commenced operations under what is now called Petrojarl. It commenced offshore oil exploration as Golar Nor Offshore, a part of Petroleum Geo-Services and Golar-Nor. In 2005 the company purchased the shuttle tanker Rita Knutsen. This was followed in 2007, with the Russian tanker Che Guevara which was subsequently converted into the FPSO Petrojarl Cidade de Rio das Ostras. In 2006, Petrojarl ASA was demerged from Petroleum Geo-Services and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Teekay acquired majority ownership in the company in December 2006 and Petrojarl ASA became Teekay Petrojarl ASA subsequently.
Current operations
Teekay currently operates a fleet that is evaluated at $12 billion, including gas and oil tankers and offshore structures, under head offices in Canada, London, Bahamas, Bermuda and Singapore. As of 2017, it owned and operated a total 65 LNG, LPG and oil tankers and 2 chartered vessels, a further 18 new buildings under order. As of November 2017, the company's leadership consisted of Kenneth Hvid, Ingvild Sæther, Kevin Mackay, Mark Kremin, Art Bensler and William Hung.
