GE Oil & Gas Announces New Projects and Products

GE Oil & Gas today announced new global projects and product launches as part of its ongoing commitment to key growth regions, technology development and helping customers optimize their efficiency. The investments and projects span a range of sectors including subsea, gas compression and enhanced oil recovery.

“These announcements underscore GE Oil & Gas’ commitment to unlock value for our customers, whether it is providing advanced technology to help them improve performance, solving complex challenges in harsh environments or making oil fields more productive,” said GE Oil & Gas CEO Dan Heintzelman at the opening of the GE Oil & Gas 2013 Annual Meeting in Florence, Italy. More than 1,000 energy leaders are expected to attend the two-day conference, now in its 14th year, to share ideas on how advanced technology is helping to meet the world’s growing demand for oil and gas.

“Global energy megatrends such as the acceleration of subsea exploration, the growth of unconventional fuels, the evolution and expansion of LNG and the impact of monitoring and diagnostics are fundamentally changing our industry,” Heintzelman added. “These megatrends, in turn, are driven by a rapid evolution of technology and capabilities that are unleashing enormous opportunities to find and deliver more fuel to those who need it and to help those who extract it do so in more efficient, cost-effective and environmentally responsible ways. Our Annual Meeting is a chance to bring the world’s energy experts together to discuss these developments and to show how GE is a partner in shaping this growth.”

Technology Solutions in Key Sectors and Regions

As GE Oil & Gas continues to drive a localization strategy that focuses on developing projects in key growth regions and locating resources close to GE customers, today’s announcements range from Angola to the Middle East to the North Sea.

– Joint Venture Expands GE’s Commitment to Angola’s Subsea Sector: GE Oil & Gas and the Angolan group GLS Holding S.A. are forming a new joint venture, GE-GLS Oil & Gas Angola Limited, to better support Angola’s rapidly growing oil and gas sector. As part of the agreement, the companies are planning an initial investment of $175 million to build a manufacturing facility in Soyo, province of Zaire, which will supply subsea equipment to the oil and gas industry in Angola, which is one of the largest producers of crude oil in Africa.

– Helping to Rebuild Iraq’s Energy Infrastructure: GE Oil & Gas also announced the establishment of a new technology and service center near Basra City. The facility brings the latest GE technology and services expertise to local customers and will help boost production in the Rumaila oil field, which is one of the largest in the world with more than 200 production wells producing about 40 percent of Iraq’s total oil output. In addition to being a base for the supply of pressure control equipment to Iraq’s drilling and production sector, the new center provides a wide range of services including installation and maintenance, testing, inspections, repair and storage. Future services will include complete non-destructive testing capabilities, machine, welding and heat treatment, blasting and painting and API certification and recertification.

– Debut of GE Technology in India to Access New Oil Discoveries: Marking its entry into India’s high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) drilling sector, GE’s pressure control business has received contracts to supply its field-proven technology for a new well to be drilled in Cairn India’s Ravva block off the east coast of India. This milestone project demonstrates how GE technology can be deployed to help meet India’s growing energy requirements. GE has previously supplied similar HPHT solutions for drilling projects offshore Vietnam and Malaysia and was able to offer a field-proven, technologically advanced system for the Ravva project.

New Technologies Introduced

Spanning a wide range of applications, today’s announcements also include the introduction of new technologies, portfolio expansions and key milestones:

– Simplifying and Optimizing Gas Compression: Expanding its innovative Integrated Compressor Line (ICL), GE Oil & Gas has launched its first single-shaft ICL, designed for applications such as pipelines, where gas must maintain pressure over long distances. Combining GE Oil & Gas compressor technology and GE Power Conversion motors and drive systems, the technology delivers energy savings, reduces emissions and offers easy remote control monitoring. Featuring up to 20 percent more operating range flexibility and greater efficiency, the new ICL costs about the same as conventional compressors.

– New Technologies to Help Boost Oilfield Production: Building on its leadership in developing innovative technologies to help increase the flow from oil wells, GE Oil & Gas’ Artificial Lift business is launching its first Motor Cooling System, designed to meet the challenges of today’s drilling industry, such as wells that are deeper and environments that are hotter. The system provides lower motor temperatures and it employs a unique design that helps remove certain pressure and size constraints, making it easier to install. GE also launched a new, higher efficiency electric submersible motor that simplifies installation. Currently in final field trials in North America, the new motor is designed to deliver more power and higher efficiencies than existing motors. With its overall length reduced, it also simplifies installation requirements.

– A Technology Collaboration to Help See Further and Better when Mapping Deep Wells: GE Oil & Gas is expanding its drilling technology portfolio through a new agreement with Sharewell Energy Services, a Houston-based supplier of directional drilling solutions. The two companies have signed an agreement that gives GE exclusive worldwide rights to sell Sharewell’s proprietary electromagnetic telemetry technology as part of GE’s Measurement While Drilling (MWD) portfolio. MWD technology improves efficiency and accuracy because measurements are sent to the surface continuously during drilling. The technology from Sharewell improves operating efficiencies further by offering telemetry rates six times greater than conventional mud pulse based MWD systems.

– First Application of GE’s High-Speed Direct Drive Motor-Compressor Package Offshore: Reinforcing its role as a major technology supplier for the North Sea offshore sector, GE has received a contract to supply four complete, variable frequency drive high speed electric motor and centrifugal compressor packages for Total E&P Norge’s new offshore production platform on the Martin Linge oil and gas field. The area is located 150 kilometers off the coast of Norway in the North Sea, and production is scheduled to start in 2016. The packages combine GE Oil & Gas’s advanced centrifugal compressor technology on Active Magnetic Bearings (AMBs) with GE Power Conversion high-frequency variable speed drive and high speed motor technology. In addition, one of the packages has a unique configuration with a central high-speed electrical motor driving one centrifugal compressor from one end and a two-section compressor form the other end.

– Key Technology Milestone for the Future of Subsea Compression: GE’s Blue-C™ compressor, which is the first technology to take gas compression below the surface of the ocean, is currently in the finalizing phase of the qualification tests and has accumulated more than 2,300 running hours while installed in a pool. The technology has the potential to change the industry as the single most prohibitive production factor for offshore oil and gas development is locating equipment on offshore platforms. But alternatives such as Blue-C can help replace these massive floating factories. The key is reliable subsea compression, which requires the unit to be capable of continuous, maintenance-free operation for years. Leveraging GE’s rich heritage in compression technology for the harshest environments, Blue-C was built in a fully marinized version for the Ormen Lange Subsea Compression Station Project, executed by Aker Subsea for Statoil and Norske Shell, for deployment of the natural gas field. It’s designed for unattended operation at over 2,950 feet below sea level with power up to 12.5 MW. Installation on the seabed is expected in 2019.

– Supporting World’s Longest Gas Pipeline: The China National Petroleum Corp. announced the last section of the West-to-East Pipeline that stretches more than 5,400 miles was completed and started operating at the end of 2012. GE Oil & Gas is a primary supplier of compression equipment for this massive project, winning orders totaling more than $700 million over the past several years.

– A Million Kilometers of Pipeline Inspections: GE Oil & Gas announced that its PII Pipeline Inspection business recently hit a major milestone: the inspection of 1 million kilometers of oil and gas pipelines worldwide.

GE Oil & Gas, now a standalone segment within GE, reported fourth quarter 2012 revenue of $4.5 billion and full-year 2012 revenue of $15.2 billion on January 18. The company announced a $500 million turbomachinery and services deal with Petrobras on January 15.

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Press Release, January 28, 2013