Public | |
Traded as | |
ISIN | US05722G1004 |
Industry | Oil and Gas |
Founded | 1907 / 1987 / 2017 (merger) |
Headquarters |
Houston, Texas, U.S. London, United Kingdom |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
Lorenzo Simonelli (Chairman & CEO) |
Revenue | US$17.259 billion (2017) |
US$-107 million (2017) | |
US$-73 million (2017) | |
Total assets | US$57.050 billion (2017) |
Total equity | US$14.709 billion (2017) |
Owner | General Electric (62.5%, via its 100% ownership of the company's Class B stock) |
Number of employees
|
~64,000 (December 2017) |
Website | bhge |
Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE) is an international industrial service company and one of the world's largest oil field services companies. As of July 2017 Baker Hughes is 62.5% owned by General Electric Company and 37.5% publicly traded (NYSE:BHGE). It operates in more than 120 countries, providing the oil and gas industry with products and services for oil drilling, formation evaluation, completion, production and reservoir consulting. Baker Hughes, a GE Company has its headquarters split between the legacy BHI headquarters in Houston, Texas and the legacy GE Oil & Gas headquarters in London, United Kingdom.
BHGE is the combination of many companies that have developed and introduced technology to serve the petroleum service industry. Their combined history dates back to the early 1900s. During its history, Baker Hughes has acquired and assimilated numerous oilfield pioneers including: Brown Oil Tools, CTC, EDECO, and Elder Oil Tools (completions); Milchem and Newpark (drilling fluids); EXLOG (mud logging); Eastman Christensen and Drilex (directional drilling and diamond drill bits); Teleco (measurement while drilling); Tri-State and Wilson (fishing tools and services); Aquaness, Chemlink and Petrolite (specialty chemicals), Western Atlas (seismic exploration, well logging), BJ Services Company (pressure pumping).
The Hughes Tool Company was founded in 1908 by business partners Walter Benona Sharp and Howard R. Hughes, Sr., father of Howard R. Hughes, Jr.. That year, Hughes, Sr. and Sharp developed the first two-cone drill bit, designed to enable rotary drilling in harder, deeper formations than was possible with earlier fishtail bits. They conducted two secret tests on a drilling rig in Goose Creek, Texas. Each time, Hughes asked the drilling crew to leave the rig floor, pulled the bit from a locked wooden box, and then his associates ran the bit into the hole. The drill pipe twisted off on the first test, but the second was extremely successful. In 1909, the Sharp & Hughes bit was granted a U.S. patent. In the same year, the partners formed the Sharp-Hughes Tool Company in Houston, Texas to manufacture the bit in a rented space measuring 20 by 40 ft (12 m).