GE Opens New Oil & Gas Manufacturing Facility in the United Kingdom
FARNBOROUGH, UNITED KINGDOM—May 9, 2011—Demonstrating its commitment to expanding its state of the art U.K. manufacturing presence, GE’s Oil & Gas (NYSE: GE) business has officially opened a new wireline manufacturing and headquarters facility in Farnborough, Hampshire, United Kingdom.
The facility brings the GE Oil & Gas—Downhole Technology platforms’ design engineering, manufacturing, testing and headquarters operations under a single, 56,000 sq ft facility. More than 180 highly skilled operations, engineering, sales and office support personnel are employed at the site, which is located within QinetiQ’s Cody Technology Park.
GE Oil & Gas—Downhole Technology provides oilfield services companies with advanced technology solutions designed to measure and understand the condition of the asset (formation or completion) and the flow of hydrocarbons from a well, and therefore help optimize oil and gas production in the $320 billion global oilfield services segment.
Performing the official ribbon-cutting ceremony, Gerald Howarth MP, member of Parliament for Aldershot and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defense as Minister for International Security Strategy, said: “I am delighted officially to open this impressive new GE Oil & Gas facility which supports oil and gas production around the world with high-tech equipment and services, generating high-skilled jobs in the U.K. I also am pleased that GE has decided to locate this operation in Hampshire, within the world-class Cody Technology Park. This is good news for Farnborough and for U.K. manufacturing.”
Mark Elborne, GE’s U.K. national executive said: “With 19,000 employees and 60 major locations in the U.K., GE is a major contributor to the U.K.’s manufacturing base, to U.K. jobs and to the local communities where we operate. We have invested $13 billion in British businesses since 2002, and we continue to expand our presence, drawing on the wealth of engineering expertise the U.K. must continue to nurture. This new GE Oil & Gas facility will enable us to improve our wireline supply-chain capabilities to benefit the oil and gas customers we supply around the world.”
The new facility adds to GE Oil & Gas’ considerable presence in the United Kingdom, which includes more than 2,400 employees based at manufacturing, service and test facilities in Aberdeen and Montrose in Scotland and Cramlington, Newcastle, Nailsea and Farnborough in England.
About GE Oil & Gas
GE Oil & Gas (www.ge.com/oilandgas) is a world leader in advanced technology equipment and services for all segments of the oil and gas industry, from drilling and production, LNG, pipelines and storage to industrial power generation, refining and petrochemicals. GE Oil & Gas also provides pipeline integrity solutions, including inspection and data management, and designs and manufactures wire-line and drilling measurement solutions for the oilfield services segment. GE Oil & Gas exploits technological innovation from other GE businesses, such as aviation and healthcare, to continuously improve oil and gas industry performance and productivity. GE Oil & Gas employs more than 20,000 people worldwide and operates in over 100 countries.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is an advanced technology, services and finance company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. Dedicated to innovation in energy, health, transportation and infrastructure, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com.