GE Oil and Gas

Formation

GE entered the oil and gas industry in 1994 with the acquisition of Italian company Nuovo Pignone, and has since gone on to expand its global presence in the industry. GE’s expansion in oil and gas was amplified as a result of the great recession of 2009. The recession significantly affected GE’s revenue and led to the company’s decision to divest itself of a number of financial service companies in order to ‘revisit its roots’ as an industrial company.

2000-2010

In 2002 GE Energy acquired Bently Nevada Corp., a condition monitoring instrumentation company that provides services for sensors, systems and monitoring machinery vibration. Products include plant asset management systems related to vibration monitoring, machinery protection, software and engineering services. Today, Bently Nevada products sit under the GE Measurement & Control section.

In 2007 GE announced expansion of its presence in the oil and gas sector, with the $1.9 billion acquisition of VetcoGray. VetcoGray operated in around 30 countries and was one of the world’s leading suppliers of drilling, completion and production equipment for on- and offshore oil and gas fields, including subsea applications.

Also in 2007, GE purchased UK-based oilfield services technology company, Sondex Plc. which specialized in the engineering and manufacturing of directional drilling and formation evaluation systems and wireline tools for the production of oil and gas.

In 2008 GE acquired Hydril Pressure Control, a supplier of pressure control equipment used in the oil and gas drilling industry, with focus on deep and ultra-deepwater applications. Its product lines included Blowout Preventer (BOP) systems, parts, repair, and field services.

2011

In 2011 GE completed the acquisition of John Wood Group PLC’s Well Support Division, which allowed for it to expand into the drilling and surface manufacturing and services portfolio. Its products include electric submersible pumps (ESP), surface wellheads, trees and logging services.

Also in 2011, GE acquired Wellstream PLC., a British company which designs and manufactures flexible risers and flowline products for oil and gas transportation in the subsea production industry.

In 2011, GE also acquired Dresser Inc., which delivers compression, flow technology, measurement and distribution infrastructure and services. Its portfolio includes valves, actuators, meters, switches, regulators, piping products and natural gas-fueled engines for compression.

2012

In 2012, GE acquired PRESENS, a Norwegian company which develop and supply pressure, temperature and flow measurement sensor solutions. These products sit within the company’s Digital Solutions business.

Also In 2012, GE acquired Naxys, a provider of subsea leak detection and condition monitoring sensors based on passive acoustic technology. These products allow operators to monitor the integrity of their subsea installations, and form part of the company’s Digital Solutions business.

2013

In 2013 GE Oil & Gas completed a $3.3 billion acquisition of Lufkin Industries Inc., a manufacturing company that produces artificial lift technologies that help bring oil and gas to the surface, such as oilfield pumping units and power transmission gear boxes.

In 2013 GE Oil & Gas also acquired Salof Companies, who design and manufacture small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) technologies.

Also in 2013, GE Oil & Gas acquired Allen Gearing Solutions, a privately held designer, manufacturer and service provider of gears for industrial and marine applications. The company produces high-power gearing solutions, specializing in epicyclic gears that typically have a higher power density than parallel shaft gear systems.

2014

In 2014 GE completed its acquisition of Cameron’s Reciprocating Compression Division in 2014 for $550 million. The division provides reciprocating compression equipment and aftermarket parts and services for oil and gas production, gas processing, gas distribution and independent power industries.

2015

In 2015, GE Oil & Gas announced they had agreed to acquire Advantec, a provider of subsea intervention equipment and services, as part of the company’s strategy to expand its position as a provider of subsea production equipment and services solutions.

2016

On October 31, 2016 GE announced that the GE Oil & Gas unit will merge with Baker Hughes to become the second largest oilfield services company, following Schlumberger.

Subsidiary Status

In 2012 GE Oil & Gas became a subsidiary of General Electric. It was one of three new GE businesses created by the split of GE Energy.

Organizational Structure

As reported in General Electric’s 2015 Annual Review, GE Oil & Gas organizes itself across five core business units.

Turbomachinery Solutions (TMS)

Provides equipment and related services for mechanical-drive, compression and power-generation applications across the oil and gas industry. This product portfolio includes drivers (aero-derivative gas turbines, heavy-duty gas turbines and synchronous and induction electric motors), compressors (centrifugal and axial, direct drive high speed, integrated, subsea compressors and turbo expanders) and turn-key solutions (industrial modules and waste heat recovery).

Subsea Systems & Drilling (SS&D)

Provides a broad portfolio of subsea products and services required to facilitate the safe and reliable flow of hydrocarbons from the subsea wellhead to the surface. Products in this segment also include onshore and offshore drilling and production systems and equipment for floating production platforms. GE also provide a full range of services related to onshore and offshore drilling activities.

Surface

Provides products and services for onshore oil and gas wells and manufactures artificial lift equipment for extracting crude oil and other fluids from wells. Products include downhole tools for well integrity, dry tees and surface wellheads, electric submersible pumps, wireline logging, artificial lift technologies and drilling pressure control equipment.

Downstream Technology Solutions (DTS)

Provides products and services to serve the downstream segments of the industry including refining, petrochemical, distributed gas, flow and process control and other industrial applications. Products include steam turbines, reciprocating and centrifugal compressors, pumps, valves and compressed natural gas (CNG) and small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) solutions used primarily for shale oil and gas field development.

Digital Solutions (DS)

In January 2016 GE Oil & Gas announced the creation of its new Oil & Gas Digital Solutions business. This business unit will focus on the development of digital capabilities powered by GE’s cloud platform Predix. This is in addition to products that previously were included within the ‘Measurement & Control’ business unit, which provide sensor-based measurement, non-destructive testing and inspection, plant controls, condition monitoring and pipeline integrity solutions.

Partnerships

The Digital Solutions business has also announced a partnership with BP to develop and pilot a new digital solution for Asset Performance Management in BP’s offshore operations.

The business has also partnered with Paradigm, an independent software developer for the oil and gas industry, to deliver reservoir driven production optimization (RDPO) to optimize field level production.

Technology Solutions Centers (TSC)

GE Oil & Gas is one of the GE businesses featured in GE’s network of fifteen Technology Solutions Centers (TSC), which are located in key technology hubs around the world. The purpose of these centers is to foster collaboration and allow customers to better understand how GE products and services fit into their projects. They feature a combination of interactive video content, scale models and live demonstrations.

Global Research Center

In 2013, GE announced they had selected a site in Downtown Oklahoma City for a Global Research Center dedicated to oil and gas technology. The Center will focus on accelerating mid to later stage oil and gas technologies developed in GE’s Global Research labs, including production systems, well construction, water use optimization, CO2 solutions and energy systems. The Center opened in October 2016.

Ichthys LNG Project

In January 2012, GE Oil & Gas announced they had won contracts worth more than US$1 billion to supply equipment and services for the Ichthys LNG project in Australia. GE will provide rotating equipment, including gas turbines and compressors, and associated floating production storage and offloading and a central processing facility. GE will also supply subsea production systems for the offshore portion of the project as well as subsea connectors for a 552-mile pipeline.

GLS Holding S.A.

In January 2013 GE Oil & Gas and the Angolan group GLS Holding S.A. announced the formation of a new joint venture, GE-GLS Oil & Gas Angola Limited, to better support Angola’s growing oil and gas sector. This agreement includes an initial investment of US$175 million to build a new manufacturing facility in Soyo that will supply subsea equipment to the oil and gas industry in Angola.

Statoil

In January 2015, GE Oil & Gas and Statoil announced a strategic collaboration to advance more environmentally friendly and economically sustainable technologies for oil and gas production. The collaboration is focused on technological innovations that will allow the oil and gas industry to reduce emissions and local community impacts while improving productivity.

This collaboration has included two Open Innovation Challenges that invited businesses, institutions and individuals to develop potential solutions to make energy production more sustainable. The first Open Innovation Challenge was issued in January 2015 and required entrants to find ways to reduce the amount of sand needed on oil wells. Over 100 submissions were received from applicants in more than 30 countries. Technical experts and management from Statoil and GE Oil & Gas served as judges. The winners were announced in July 2015 and were awarded an initial cash prize of US$25,000, with the potential to receive additional funding from a discretionary prize pool of US$375,000 for potential development or commercialization upon meeting certain additional conditions.

The second Open Innovation Challenge was issued in July 2015 and asked entrants to find solutions for reducing fresh water usage and improving water treatment in the development of onshore unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. The winners were announced in February 2016 and received the same prize.

In February 2016 GE Oil & Gas signed a Master Service Agreement with Statoil for new subsea projects that will enable GE to continue to support Statoil in a low oil price environment. The global agreement forms the basis for potential new contracts for subsea equipment and services on new projects and field developments and is valid globally until 2025.

PT Donggi Senoro LNG

In November 2015 GE Oil & Gas announced they had signed a Contractual Service Agreement with Asian energy company PT Donggi Senoro LNG. The agreement will see GE Oil & Gas provide full package services and monitor non-GE equipment supplied by other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The long term deal is a milestone for GE Oil & Gas as they will act as a single contractual supplier.