OTC15: GE Oil & Gas expands software portfolio

GE Oil & Gas is expanding its oil and gas business, according to a group of GE executives speaking at this week's Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston. The company is focusing more closely on its clients’ needs and is expanding both facilities and products – especially software capabilities.

Image from OE Staff.

“We recently opened a new research center in Brazil,” said Eric Gebhardt, chief technology officer and vice president of engineering for GE. “We will also open a new facility in Oklahoma City that will be solely dedicated to oil and gas business,” he said. Gebhardt noted that these offices will support its efforts to create new technology to reduce oil and gas facility footprints by reducing the size and weight of equipment while improving operational efficiencies. For example, the company’s SeaSmart offshore turbine package has a 24% smaller footprint and 22% less weight than other offshore rig power systems. 

Also, the company plans to leverage knowledge it has acquired through its years of engineering railway and aviation technologies, said Tim Schweikert, vice president for GE Marine. “We can apply this knowledge into naval and merchant marine applications,” he said. “We’ve learned from locomotive engines how to reduce emissions from V250 marine diesel engine by up to 50%, while GE’s diesel-electric propulsion system allows 5% to 10% better fuel efficiencies.”

Schweikert noted that the marine business unit has adopted a philosophy of “GE Vertical,” whereby the company has realigned its GE Marine business sector according to vessel types, which more closely resembles the alignment of its customers’ business needs.

Meanwhile, GE is focusing on its “Industrial Internet” technologies, which represents a significant investment by GE in the software service sector. According to Ashley Haynes-Gaspar, software and services general manager for GE Measurement & Control, the company has rolled out a suite of software solutions, including: 

• Predix: a software platform for building and managing industrial internet applications
• LNG Reliability Max: a software that uses advanced sensors, large data analytics and diagnostic services to significantly increase equipment reliability
• Response Max: a predictivity system that increases maintenance efficiencies while reducing time and cost
• Unified Operations: a software platform used to connect data from globally located equipment operations into a single stream of data for visualization and interaction capabilities
• Smart Facilities: a suite of software applications that can optimize production and asset performance in a subsea field

GE’s new products and business initiatives are aimed at helping its customers maximize value amidst continued low oil prices, said Gebhardt.