Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE) is an American industrial service company, it is one of the world's largest oil field services companies. As of July 2017 Baker Hughes is now 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.
History
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 40Â ft (12Â m).
After Walter Sharp died in 1912, Hughes purchased Sharp's half of the business. The company was renamed Hughes Tool Company in 1915, and Hughes, Jr. inherited it after his father's death in 1924. Through the 1950s and 1960s, Hughes Tool Company remained a private enterprise, owned by Hughes. While Hughes was engaged in his Hollywood and aviation enterprises, managers in Houston, such as Fred Ayers and Maynard Montrose, kept the tool company growing through technical innovation and international expansion. In 1958, the Engineering and Research Laboratory was enlarged to accommodate six laboratory sections that housed specialized instruments, such as a direct reading spectrometer and x-ray diffractometer. In 1959, Hughes introduced self-lubricating, sealed bearing rock bits. After collecting data from thousands of bit runs, Hughes introduced the first comprehensive guides to efficient drilling practices in 1960; 1964 saw the introduction of the X-Line rock bits, combining new cutting structure designs and hydraulic jets.
Baker International was formed by Reuben C. Baker, who developed a Casing shoe, that revolutionized cable tool drilling. In July 1907, R.C. Baker, a 34-year-old inventor and entrepreneur in Coalinga, California, was granted a U.S. patent for a casing shoe that enabled drillers to efficiently run casing and cement it in oil wells. This innovation launched the business that would become Baker Oil Tools and Baker Hughes Incorporated. Mr. Baker had arrived in the California oilfield in 1895 with 95 cents in his pocket and dreams of making his fortune in the Los Angeles oil boom. Subsequently, he hauled oil for drillers with a team of horses and became a drilling contractor and an oil wildcatter before achieving success as an innovator in oilfield equipment. In 1928, Baker Casing Shoe Company changed its name to Baker Oil Tools, Inc., to reflect its product line of completion, cementing and fishing equipment.
In early 1956, during one of the most successful periods in the company's history, Reuben C. Baker retired as President of Baker Oil Tools. A few weeks later, he died after a brief illness at the age of 85 and was succeeded by his long-time associate Ted Sutter. Although he only had three years of formal education, Mr. Baker had been granted 150 patents. In 1965, Mr. Sutter was succeeded by E.H. "Hubie" Clark, who would become the first Baker Hughes chairman of the board in 1987; during its 80-year history before the Baker Hughes merger, Baker had only three chief executives.
INTEQ also originally incorporated the drilling fluids division of Baker Hughes which consisted of Milpark and others. This division was called 'INTEQ drilling fluids' which provided the premier brands in oil and gas well drilling muds and wellbore cleaning fluids. In 2003, these product lines were spun off to form the separate entity of Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids (BHDF), with INTEQ continuing as the Drilling and Evaluation (D&E) company. INTEQ provides directional Drilling, MWD/LWD, surface logging (Mudlogging) and coring services.
The company's flagship brand has been the AutoTrak rotary steerable drilling system which was a pioneering directional drilling tool and has been responsible for the company's relatively strong market share in the past few years. Introduced in 1997 with Agip S.p.A., the tool is fundamentally different compared to contemporary rivals such as the PowerDrive and the GeoPilot employing the hybrid technique of "pushing and pointing (vectoring) the bit" rather than only "pointing the bit" or only "pushing the bit".
In 1987, Baker International acquired and merged with Hughes Tool Company to form Baker Hughes Incorporated. Shortly after in 1992 Baker Hughes acquired Christensen Diamond Products and merged it with Hughes Tool Company to form the drilling and evaluation division, Hughes Christensen.
After the merger, Hughes Christensen introduced the AR Series, the newest antiwhirl technology capable of penetrating a much wider variety of tough formations without the catastrophic cutter fracture experienced by conventional PDC bits. AR Series bits were designed to resist bit whirl by directing load forces through low-friction gauge pads. By 1995, Hughes Christensen's Gold Series PDC line increased drilling efficiency by reducing the frictional forces that can accumulate in front of the cutting edge, reducing the energy required to remove the rock. A year later patented ChipMaster PDCs, known for their efficiency and durability, were built on the success of the Eggbeater product line. Hughes Christensen next introduced the Genesis HCM bits for steerable motors with patented EZSteer depth-of-cut control technology. This same technology was adapted to Genesis HCR bits for rotary steerable systems, such as the Baker Hughes AutoTrak rotary closed loop system. Genesis ZX PDCs followed with new Zenith cutters.
Joint venture with Schlumberger
In 2000, Baker Hughes Incorporated and Schlumberger formed a joint venture called WesternGeco. The Joint venture was signed for a period of five years, and merged Baker's Western Geophysical and Schlumberger's Geco-Prakla, the two leading seismic interpretation companies of the time. Due to diminishing exploration markets, new marginal oil fields, and low barrel prices the worldwide business of seismic exploration was surviving on just the corporate strength of the two big service companies. The only new technology that was being introduced at the time was the 4-dimensional seismic survey monitoring. In 2006, Baker Hughes announced it was selling its 30% share of the WesternGeco joint venture to Schlumberger for $2.4 billion in cash.
PetroSkills Alliance
In 2008, Baker Hughes Incorporated joined the PetroSkills Alliance. Member companies came together to create detailed skill and Competency Maps, which act as a guide for the 200+ short courses, taught to industry professionals in over 40 locations worldwide. Competency Maps are an analysis tool and software application that allows users to assess their skills base to identify gaps in their training, areas needing improvement or mastered skill areas within upstream, downstream, and HSE petroleum subject disciplines.
Criminal charges
In 2007, Baker Hughes Incorporated pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), including bribing oil-related industry officials in Russia, Uzbekistan, Angola, Indonesia, and Nigeria., Under the settlement, a unit of the Houston-based company pleaded guilty to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for payments made between 2001 and 2003 to a commercial agent retained in 2000 in connection with a project in Kazakhstan. After bribes were paid, Baker Hughes was awarded an oil-services contract in a Karachaganak, Kazakhstan field that generated $219 million in revenues from 2001 to 2006.
Labor action
During the annual period of negotiations between trade unions and their employer counterparts in Norway 114 Baker Hughes employees were called to strike action in June 2012. Due to their key positions in the oil industry this strike by SAFE-organized Baker Hughes Incorporated employees would affect more than a dozen offshore oil installations.
Proposed Acquisition by Halliburton
In November 2014, it was announced that Baker Hughes Incorporated had entered talks with Halliburton over a merger deal valued at $34.6 Billion. If carried out, it would have been the largest merger in the history of the industry. Halliburton proposed the acquisition of Baker Hughes, which would unite two of the largest U.S. providers of oil field services. Under the terms of the transaction, Baker Hughes shareholders would have received 1.12 shares of Halliburton common stock and $19.00 in cash for each share of Baker Hughes stock they own. The merger was approved by both Companies Stockholders and was waiting on approval from several jurisdictions, such as the US Department of justice, on concerns on how it will affect the level of competition, prices and consumer welfare for the global oilfield service providing industry. Undoubtedly, the merger would have led to increased consolidation in the oil services market. Also, officials believed that the asset sale would not help the combined company retain competitiveness, as smaller buyers would not utilize their larger rivals’ assets efficiently. The merger had a deadline of the end of April 2016 after which, if a decision had not been made, both companies could walk away from the deal if they chose. At the beginning of May 2016, the day after the deadline expired, Baker Hughes and Halliburton announced the termination of the merger agreement.
Merger with General Electric
At the end of October 2016, it was announced that General Electric was under negotiations for a deal valued at about $30 billion to combine GE Oil and Gas with Baker Hughes Incorporated. The transaction would create a publicly-traded entity controlled by GE. The deal was cleared by the EU in May 2017, and by the DOJ in June 2017. In December 2016, it was announced that Baker Hughes Incorporated would be dividing off its North America Land Pressure Pumping division to form a new BJ Services as part of its divestment agreement with GE. The new BJ Services company will also be formed by a merger with ALLIED Services and ALTCEM. The merger agreement was approved by shareholders at the end of June 2017. On July 3, 2017, the transaction was completed and Baker Hughes became a GE company.
Divisions
BHGE has acquired various different companies, allowing for a wider range of services to customers. These legacy companies were divided into specialised divisions, each responsible for a specific area of oilfield service expertise.
Drilling and Evaluation Group
- Hughes Christensen - Hughes Christensen provides Tricone, PDC, Hybrid PDC/Tricone bits, Natural Diamond Drill Bits, Impregnated Diamond drill bits, ream-while-drilling tools and drilling optimization services.
- Baker Atlas - Baker Atlas provides wireline-conveyed well logging, data analysis and perforating services for formation evaluation, production and reservoir management.
- Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids - Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids provides fluids systems and services. It is also involved in remediation of the well. Making Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids, somewhat, a part of completion and production.
- Baker Hughes INTEQ - INTEQ provides directional drilling, measurement-while-drilling (MWD), logging-while-drilling (LWD) and wellsite information services.
Completion and Production Group
- Baker Oil Tools (BOT).
- Baker Petrolite - Baker Petrolite provides chemical technology solutions for hydrocarbon production, transportation and processing, and also delivers pipeline integrity services.
- Centrilift - Centrilift provides artificial lift systems, including electric submersible pumps (ESP) and progressive cavity pump systems, as well as specific engineering, project management and well monitoring services.
- BJ Services Company - BJ Services provides pressure pumping services used in the completion and cementing of new oil and natural gas wells and in remedial work on existing wells, as well as oilfield services including completion tools, completion fluids, casing and tubular services, and production chemical services.
Business units
In 2009 Baker Hughes adopted a new business model that divides the company to the following business segments:
- Drilling, Evaluation & Fluids - This segment covers Directional Drilling,Drill Bit Systems, MWD & LWD, Wireline operations, Surface Logging Systems, and Drilling Fluids.
- Completion, Production and Chemicals - The Segment covers Completion, Sand Control, Wellbore Construction, Wellbore Intervention, Upstream Chemicals, Intelligent Production Systems, Artificial Lift, and Packers Systems.
- Pressure Pumping - Provides Coiled Tubing Services, Tubular Services, and Pressure Pumping, created after the acquisition of BJ Services Company.
- Reservoir Development Services - Provides reservoir management consultancy, created after acquisition of GeoMechanics International and Gaffney-Cline & Associates and a series of smaller reservoir focused companies.
Legacy companies
Completions
- Brown Oil Tools
- EDECO Petroleum Services Ltd formerly English Drilling Equipment Company Ltd
- Elder Oil Tools
- BJ Services Company
In 1929, Cicero C. Brown organized Brown Oil Tools in Houston, and patented the first liner hanger in 1937. Liner hangers enable drillers to lengthen their casing strings without having the liner pipe extend all the way to the surface. This saves capital cost and reduces weight borne by offshore platforms. Hughes Tool Company acquired Brown Oil Tools in 1978. In 1970, Baker Oil Tools acquired Lynes, Inc., which produced liner hangers and other completion equipment. In 1978, Baker Oil Tools introduced the Bakerline casing liner hanger. In 1985, the FlexLock Liner Hanger was introduced, extending the performance range and functionality of liner hanger systems. In 1987, the Brown liner hanger technology was merged into Baker Oil Tools. In 1992, BOT introduced the ZXP Liner Hanger Packer, with expandable metal seals, which set the stage for development of expandable screens, casing systems and liner hangers.
In 1994, Baker Oil Tools introduced multilateral completion systems, which enabled operators to install completion tools and perform selective intervention work in multiple horizontal sections from a common main wellbore.
On August 31, 2009, the company announced an intention to purchase BJ Services Company in a $5.5 billion stock and cash deal. Greenhill & Co. advised on the transaction. On April 28, 2010, it was announced that Baker Hughes' acquisition of BJ Services had been finalized with some conditions.
Drilling fluids
- Milchem
- Newpark
- Aquaness
In 1931, Max B. Miller devised a drilling mud using a white clay as a weighting material. To market the new mud, he formed The Milwhite Company in Texas. In the mid-1930s, the company mined barites in conjunction with the Magnet Cove Barium Corporation (later called Magcobar). After a hiatus during World War II, the company resumed grinding operations using barite from a mine in Missouri and conducted mud sales through independent distributors. After 1956 Milwhite Mud Sales Company built its own sales network. In 1963 the company acquired the Aquaness chemical company, and in 1964 the combination became Milchem Incorporated. In 1971, Baker Oil Tools acquired Milchem. In 1985, Baker International acquired the drilling fluids division of Newpark Resources and merged it with Milchem's mud division to form Milpark. Meanwhile, in 1942, Oil Base Drilling Company was founded by George Miller, and made its first application of oil base mud. The company was acquired by Hughes Tool Company in 1979, and renamed Hughes Drilling Fluids in 1982. In 1987, when Baker Hughes was formed, Hughes Drilling Fluids was merged into Milpark, and in 1993, Milpark became a product line within Baker Hughes INTEQ. Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids was established as a stand-alone division in 2004.
Mud logging and Well monitoring
- EXLOG
- Production Quest
In 1952, in Sacramento, California a group of Stanford University engineering and geology graduates founded Exploration Logging Company (EXLOG) to provide geologic mud logging services from mobile logging units using technical innovations in hot-wire gas detection. Vern Jones was the company's first president. EXLOG would become a world leader in surface logging, rig instrumentation and data acquisition. Baker International acquired EXLOG in 1972, and invested in its expansion. By 1982, the company had more than 200 logging units and 1,000 geologists on staff. Its broad expertise in geological services would eventually become the Surface Logging Service product line of Baker Hughes INTEQ.
Directional drilling and diamond drill bits
- Eastman Christensen
- Drilex
In 1929, H. John Eastman introduced "controlled directional drilling" in Huntington Beach, California, using whipstocks and magnetic survey instruments to deflect the drill pipe from shore-based rigs to reach oil deposits offshore. In 1934, Mr. Eastman gained notoriety, and respect for directional drilling techniques, when he drilled the world's first relief well to control a blowout in Conroe, Texas, that had been on fire for more than a year.
In 1957, Christensen Diamond Products opened its manufacturing plant in Celle, Germany. The facility built diamond core heads and drilling bits and soon began producing stabilizers, drilling jars and other equipment. In 1977, the Celle engineering and manufacturing team introduced the Navi-Drill line of downhole drilling motors, which has led the drilling industry in performance and reliability for three decades. Other innovations developed in Celle include the industry's first steerable motor system, and the AutoTrak Rotary Closed Loop System. In 2007, the Celle Technology Center became Baker Hughes' leading research and engineering facility in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Measurement while drilling
- Teleco
Teleco Oilfield Services Inc was founded in 1972 and introduced the world's first MWD tool in 1978. Schlumberger introduced the LWD service in 1980. The legacy MWD company Teleco Oilfield Services Inc. was integrated into a new division, to be known as Eastman Teleco in 1992. The division then merged the directional drilling products and services once marketed by the Eastman Christensen division with Teleco's measurement-while-drilling (MWD) services. In January 1992, Baker Hughes agreed to purchase Teleco from Sonat Inc. for $200 million cash, preferred stock and royalty from future sales of Teleco's "triple combo" sensors.
Before the acquisition, Teleco was recognized as the world's leader in MWD, with an estimated $140 million in revenues, of which about $120 million were from MWD alone. Eastman Teleco was then combined with others to form INTEQ in 1993.
Fishing tools and services
- Tri-State
- Wilson
Tri-State and Wilson companies were acquired by Baker Oil Tools and merged to the company's Wellbore Intervention division. Tri-State was a multi-national technology leader on products like milling operation, spears, and packer retrieving.
Specialty chemicals
- Petrolite - 1997
William Barnickel's Tret-O-Lite business in 1920 had outgrown his initial manufacturing plant, so he built a new one in Webster Groves, Missouri. The ingenious new facility had six times the capacity of the old plant and was built on a hillside so that raw materials were unloaded from a railroad line on the top of the hill, and the chemicals flowed through the plant using the force of gravity. Finished product was loaded on rail cars at the bottom of the hill. In 1922, the company sold 10,815 drums of Tret-O-Lite demulsifier, representing a recovery of 50 million barrels (7,900,000Â m3) of oil from produced oil/water emulsion. In 1923, Mr. Barnickel died at age of 45, of a perforated ulcer, and John S. Lehmann succeeded him as Tret-O-Lite president.
Meanwhile, Frederick Cottrell and James Speed were developing electrostatic methods for separating oil from water. In 1911, Allen C. Wright formed the Petroleum Rectifying Company of California (PETRECO), which built electric dehydrating plantsâ€"based on Contrell's and Speed's inventionsâ€"to serve California oilfields. By 1922, Petreco had 417 treaters in operation, but was running into competition from Barnickel and his chemical process. In 1930, as the worldwide Depression began, the two competing companiesâ€"PETRECO and Tret-O-Liteâ€"merged to form Petrolite
Wireline logging and perforating, and geophysical exploration
- Acutec
- Birdwell
- Canadian Perforator
- Dialog - a Wedge Division
- Dresser Atlas
- Du-Al Well Services
- Elgen Corporation
- Heartland Kingfisher
- Lane Wells
- NL McCullogh (formerly owned by NL Industries(fka National Lead Co.))
- Pacific Oil Tool, Ltd.
- PetroTech (former name of the wireline operations of Lane Wells in Venezuela)
- PGAC - Pan Geo Atlas Corporation
- PML (Petroleum Mud Logging Inc.)
- RIS
- SIE (Southeast Industrial Equipment Inc.)
- Sunburst Perforating Services
- Western Atlas - 1998 (previously formed by the merger of Dresser Atlas & Western Geophysical)
- WSI (Well Surveys Inc.)
- Z&S Geoscience, Ltd. founded by Jonathan Zangwill and Craig Shields
In 1932, Bill Lane and Walt Wells invented bullet gun perforating and formed the Lane-Wells Company in Vernon, California. They performed their first job on Union Oil's La Merced #17 well in Los Angeles. The company that would become Western Atlas (later Baker Atlas) grew quickly and added other wireline services, including the gamma ray log in 1939 and the neutron log in 1941, which were developed by Well Surveys Inc., an affiliated company. In 1948, a Lane-Wells crew performed the company's 100,000th job on La Merced #17, the site of the first perforating run.
In 1963, Baker Atlas predecessor Lane-Wells introduced the Neutron Lifetime Log service, providing the ability to detect oil through well casing, and initiating the line of Baker Atlas pulsed-neutron logging tools for cased hole logging and reservoir monitoring. It took another five years for competitors to introduce a comparable service. Beginning in 1948, Well Surveys Inc. physicist Arthur Youmans led the team of engineers and scientists to develop this technology. The highly complex instrument included a miniaturized particle generator and sensors to detect and analyze sub-atomic particles. Mr. Youmans went on to become Vice President of Research and Engineering for Dresser Atlas.
In 1968, Lane-Wells and the Pan Geo Atlas Corporation (PGAC) merged to form Dresser Atlas, a name chosen to “position†the company as more than a perforating provider and as part parent company of Dresser Industries. A competitor with Lane-Wells but possessing deeper expertise and an international reputation in open hole logging, PGAC was the perfect merger partner to form an integrated wireline services company. Since its inception, Lane-Wells had generated most of its income from perforating services, but log interpretation had narrowed down producing zones, resulting in fewer perforations and less revenue. During the oil slump of the 1999, Western Atlas was acquired by Baker Hughes Incorporated and the wireline division was created within the company rebranded as Baker Atlas. Western Geophysical was meanwhile allied with GecoPrakla of Schlumberger and later combined into a separate business entity called WesternGeco.
See also
- List of oilfield service companies
- Bird Machine Company, acquired by Baker Hughes Incorporated in 1989
References
External links
- Baker Hughes, a GE company