General Electric (GE 0.68%) announced today its selection of an Oklahoma City site for its first-ever Global Research Center dedicated to oil and gas technology. The center will create 130 high-tech jobs and generate $13 million annually in economic impact for state and local economies, according to the company. It also further strengthens General Electric's hand in its oil and gas business, which is building on $14 billion in recent investments.
Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2014 and the 95,000-square-foot facility is to be operational in 2015. According to General Electric, the center will focus on accelerating mid- to later-stage oil and gas technologies developed in its Global Research Labs, including well construction, water-use optimization, CO2 solutions, and energy systems.
The opening of its research center in Oklahoma City emphasizes General Electric's commitment to building broad technical capabilities that will help the company achieve better operating efficiency, productivity gains, and a sharper focus on innovation -- all music to investors' ears.
Michael Ming, general manager of GE's new center, had this to say in a company press release. "New technological breakthroughs in Oil & Gas are transforming the world's energy landscape in ways unimagined just a decade ago. The new Center's close proximity to many of our customers and the State's great university network and engineering talent will allow us to accelerate the development of new technologies."
