GE to add US$10b in new spending

Source: Agencies | February 25, 2014, Tuesday |

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General Electric Co plans to intensify research focusing on complex energy projects such as waterless fracking and gas turbine efficiency by earmarking an additional US$10 billion through 2020 for its “ecoimagination” budget.

The new spending was set to be announced by Chief Executive Jeff Immelt yesterday.

The research budget shows how reliant GE has become on the energy industry, its fastest growth area, as it works to become a dominant supplier of equipment and services to oil, natural gas and alternative power companies at a time when the United States undergoes an unprecedented energy boom.

While GE doesn’t forecast what it plans to spend on its main capital budget in future years, the new commitment gives investors a clue as to what the company’s priorities will be into the next decade.

The “ecoimagination” project, which was formed in 2005 to broadly focus on sustainability and other environmental issues and has cost nearly US$15 billion, had been set to expire next year. Executives are extending it to 2020 with the extra US$10 billion.

While the overall goals of the project will remain, a larger percentage of the funds will go to energy-related projects, an acknowledgment of where Immelt and other executives see the future of the company Thomas Edison founded in 1892.

“We have a very broad, long-standing commitment to energy,” said Mark Little, GE’s chief technology officer and head of global research.

As part of the new focus, GE will study with Norway’s Statoil how to use carbon dioxide (CO2) in hydraulic fracturing, the process commonly known as fracking which mixes more than 2 million gallons of water per well with chemicals and sand to extract oil and natural gas.

The energy industry’s copious use of water has put it into conflict with some residents in Texas, New Mexico and other arid states, and many companies have been trying to find ways to curb fracking’s use of water, looking at using CO2 and even propane.

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