Drive-by shooting, so not the best picture, but you get the idea of how cool of a building this is!

12706

Those three column thingies on the north face were lit up in green last night.

One evening I saw them in purple. This building will stand out with its lighting system.

sweet, I was wondering if the lighting would change at all.

What's the expected date for opening?

I've seen office stuff in some of the spaces and they're landscaping and laying sod today. They've got to be close.

Wife works for OK Tourism and said they're moving in folks probably next week, they've heard (got some kind of bulletin about "there's going to be more traffic and people starting in a week or so, be careful driving around").

The finished building looks really impressive from I-235.

http://www.okctalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=12836&d=1470349575

Too bad I-235 isnt a primary thru interstate like 35 or 40, would be great having the GE Global Research logo visible to all just passing through the city.

Very good looking facility! I hope it is successful enough for GE that they expand it and/or look for other opportunities for research in OKC.

Too bad I-235 isnt a primary thru interstate like 35 or 40, would be great having the GE Global Research logo visible to all just passing through the city.

Very good looking facility! I hope it is successful enough for GE that they expand it and/or look for other opportunities for research in OKC.

Yeah, there's some nice buildings and views from 235 but it's not a main through corridor. People passing through Oklahoma would be traveling I-35 which looks industrial except for Frontier City which doesn't look all that impressive either.

Both I-35 and I-40 honestly do give travelers decent views of downtown, but certainly not as impressive as GE's building right on 235.

i think downtown is MUCH more impressive than GE's building,

but I do get what you're saying; that I-235 gives a much better view of the city than do I-35/40 do of JUST downtown by itself.

btw, we visited OKC for the first time (my wife/son; me since 2006) and OMG - OKC has it going on!! my wife is ready to move to OKC, seriously. She is going to buy something very shortly and we will use it as a 2nd house.

You guys often complain about OKC but don't realize the jewel of a city that you've created. We struggled to do even 1/4 of the things to do in downtown alone in 3 days; we spent countless hours at Myriad Gardens - by far the best city park in the USA if not world and NOTHING like it in the Seattle area. ... We're also very impressed by how easy it is to get around and honestly; OKC's shopping options aren't much worse than Seattle's - in fact, we see countless stores and restaurants that are not in Seattle area and are a MUCH EASY and quicker drive to get to in OKC.

Just like the saying goes, the grass is NOT always greener but you don't/can't appreciate OKC until you go elsewhere. I really want/hope my employer (you all know who) would open an office in OKC - we would move in a heartbeat!!!

Ill give a more formal review later, as we will have a return trip to OKC shortly before we head to China for the rest of the season.

^

That's fantastic to hear.

After 25 years in Southern Cal, I am happy to be back. Frankly, the summer has been a real challenge but i knew it would be and by next summer I'll be much better prepared (i.e. putting in a pool I hope and taking an extended vacation to a more temperate place).

The shopping thing is really a non-issue. Virtually everything is available on the internet anyway. The only real exception is the grocery store but now there is Whole Foods, TJ's is coming soon, Sprout's is excellent and WinCo will likely be my go-to when it opens, and there wasn't one near me in Cali anyway. The new Sam's at 39th & May is a more than adequate substitute for Costco. I really am not missing anything from L.A. in terms of shopping, and I'm a shopper. :)

Same with restaurants and bars. Of course there are more in Seattle or L.A. but there are plenty of good ones here. In fact, there are lots of places I really like that I rarely frequent just because there are so many good options now. I go out way more here, because it's easy, friendly and much less expensive.

It's just way easier and cheaper to live here and I think you only appreciate that when you live somewhere for a long time where those things are not easy to come by.

For me, it's really just the weather (well, the heat and humidity) and lack of hills/mountains and beach. Another biggee is lack of sidewalks and bike lanes but strides are being made there and at least there are some decent options now.

Other than the weather, I've been quite happy with my decision. And once I learn to embrace the summers I think even that will not be a big deal.

Good to know you are liking it, Pete.

People in other places don't understand "lake weekends". Once you have lived here, you understand why people drive 3 hours away so many times just to hang out in a muddy lakes to get relief for a couple days.

Good to know you are liking it, Pete.

People in other places don't understand "lake weekends". Once you have lived here, you understand why people drive 3 hours away so many times just to hang out in a muddy lakes to get relief for a couple days.

Yeah, I'm considering that as well and have even looked at some property.

My issue is 3 large dogs and the complete mess involved in taking them back and forth to the lake because a big part of this summer angst is them having a hard time with it too.

I know this is hard to believe but the temps in Cali were rarely above 80, even the summer. Here, it almost never gets *below* 80 in the summertime and there is just never any relief. My poor dogs are pretty miserable and the only solution is to have them inside all the time, which results in them just laying around.

I grew up in OKC with a pool then lifeguarded and always had easy access to swim. I should have been smarter about that issue this summer, but hopefully it will be resolved before I have to go through this again.

I know this is hard to believe but the temps in Cali were rarely above 80, even the summer.

Huh? I've lived, visited, and worked in both northern and southern California off and on for 10 years and there have been plenty of days with temps above 80. Where were you that it rarely got above 80?

Huh? I've lived, visited, and worked in both northern and southern California off and on for 10 years and there have been plenty of days with temps above 80. Where were you that it rarely got above 80?

I know it was in the 90s in LA a couple weeks ago when my wife was visiting. But Pete's general point still holds, especially when considering humidity.

One thing I had been very worried about was the likely sharp increase in utilities cost due to the heat and then the cold.

Utilities get lost in the discussion in cost of living but they can be big numbers *and* you get nothing to show for all that spending. Just money out the window, unlike paying a high mortgage where at least you get the benefit of appreciation on a much bigger amount of investment.

I bought a house by Penn Square and I'm just now getting my full cycle of utility bills, and I've been holding my breath because I run the a/c all the time, every day. Everybody does that here by necessity but I would literally run the a/c once or twice a year in Cali.

Therefore, my electric bill averaged around $50-60, gas was about $40 (heat and clothes dryer) but water was the killer. I would frequently pay over $100 / month. And then garbage and sewer were probably about another $60 / per month.

My first electric bill (all of July, so about as bad as it ever will be) was $150. Not as horrible as feared. OKC combines water, garage and sewer and all that is only about $40 to $50 per month, so that offsets the big summer electric bills. Gas heat is cheap so I doubt my winter gas bills will exceed what I paid in California; my dryer is electric here so that part is already figured in.

I think this is going to work out to where my utilities are about the same and perhaps even cheaper. If I put in a pool, though, that will change things somewhat but not in a huge way.

Huh? I've lived, visited, and worked in both northern and southern California off and on for 10 years and there have been plenty of days with temps above 80. Where were you that it rarely got above 80?

Near the beach for the first 12 years than a coastal plain (where you frequently get fog in the summers) for the last 13.

It's so interesting to hear that side of it because I rarely consider it, having lived here my entire life. In fact, I frequently look at the climates of northern cities that I have considered moving to and think, "How do they deal with it being so chilly all of the time? 3 months of semi warm weather must be the worst."

The amazing thing about the summers here is that I was a lifeguard for all four summers during college. I would sit in the direct sun (we didn't even have an umbrella for shade) for at least 8 hours 5 or 6 times a week.

I also was really active, playing tennis and golf (without a cart) and softball and just about everything else. So, I didn't like the heat but it didn't stop me from doing anything.

But... The first time I traveled to L.A. in the summer and I discovered the beautiful, gentle, warm sunshine during the days then the complete cool-off at night, where you often needed a *jacket*, well, that was it. I never realized how amazingly awesome that is and I was spoiled by it for every bit of those 25 years.

It would cool off so nicely in the summer evenings that I almost never even slept with a window open.

Out there, I was crazy active. Very, very involved in the triathlon community and we'd often start outr workouts at 7AM when it was still chilly, go until late in the afternoon, then I would go home, take a shower, and put on sweats. And get up the next day and do it all over again.

No freaking way to do anything like that here and while I plan to get involved with tri and running clubs, I know our workouts will be very different and I'll like them much less.

i think downtown is MUCH more impressive than GE's building,

but I do get what you're saying; that I-235 gives a much better view of the city than do I-35/40 do of JUST downtown by itself.

I apparently couldn't English properly that day! Yes, that's precisely what I meant - From the highway, the view of GE's building is impressive because of how close to the highway it is, versus on I-40 you're kind of in a canyon and can't see the downtown skyline all that well at it's closest point.

Wusses. This summer hasn't even been that hot. It's been downright spring-ish. You should have been here a few years ago.

Wusses. This summer hasn't even been that hot. It's been downright spring-ish. You should have been here a few years ago.

#truth

Wusses. This summer hasn't even been that hot. It's been downright spring-ish. You should have been here a few years ago.

Just slight variations on the Hellish scale.

Wusses. This summer hasn't even been that hot. It's been downright spring-ish. You should have been here a few years ago.

Very much this.


The hottest day of 2011 was July 9, with a high temperature of 109°F. For reference, on that day the average high temperature is 97°F and the high temperature exceeds 101°F only one day in ten. The hottest month of 2011 was July with an average daily high temperature of 102°F.

Relative to the average, the hottest day was January 28. The high temperature that day was 75°F, compared to the average of 47°F, a difference of 28°F. In relative terms the warmest month was August, with an average high temperature of 101°F, compared to an typical value of 94°F.

The longest warm spell was from June 29 to July 25, constituting 27 consecutive days with warmer than average high temperatures. The month of July had the largest fraction of warmer than average days with 97% days with higher than average high temperatures.

https://weatherspark.com/history/31441/2011/Oklahoma-City-United-States

Just slight variations on the Hellish scale.

Exactly, and temperatures do not tell the whole story. Humidity reflected in dew point can make a 98 degree day feel hotter than a 105 day. I am a believer in the heat index.

Exactly, and temperatures do not tell the whole story. Humidity reflected in dew point can make a 98 degree day feel hotter than a 105 day. I am a believer in the heat index.

And as I posted on the weather thread, the all-time high dew point in OKC is 81.

It's been in the 70's virtually all summer, frequently above 75. That's really about as bad as it gets.

By comparison, it may be 110 in Phoenix but their dew point is almost always down in the 50's.

And as I posted on the weather thread, the all-time high dew point in OKC is 81.

It's been in the 70's virtually all summer, frequently above 75. That's really about as bad as it gets.

By comparison, it may be 110 in Phoenix but their dew point is almost always down in the 50's.

Not only heat index from humidity levels, but altitude really can cook things up.

The other day was 95 with 8% (yes) humidity in Denver, and the heat index was about 89. But the radiation from the sun in the thin air just cooks your skin, it felt like about 115 to me. Just since May, I have gotten much darker than usual. I am near to or darker than my girlfriend in some areas and she is of Puerto Rican decent and is naturally dark. (I have near all white complexion due to Northern European and British-Australian decent, with a very small amount of North American Indian)

I first came out here in 97 on a camping trip and we camped out at the KOA at the I-40 108. We did so for 5 years straight. From that moment on I wanted to move here. When I finally made the jump in 2013 I didn't even recognize the city as we were coming into downtown in 44 and 40. I had last been here in 2010 and didn't really remember it much. But there was Devon Tower and the crosstown bridge was finally gone. I've been here for 3 years now and I've seen so much change (for the better) in such a short amount of time. I can't wait to see what the next 3, 5, and 10 years bring. I come from the rust belt part of Ohio so this is something entirely different from what I'm used to seeing.

July of 2011 in Oklahoma, was the hottest month for any state in American history btw

Had to look this up because it sounds crazy, but you're right: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/201107


Both Oklahoma and Texas had their warmest months on record, with monthly statewide average temperatures of 88.9 degrees F (31.6 degrees C) and 87.1 degrees F (30.6 degrees C), respectively. Oklahoma's statewide average temperature was the warmest monthly statewide average temperature on record for any state during any month. The previous warmest monthly statewide average temperature was also in Oklahoma, during July 1954, at 88.1 degrees F (31.2 degrees C).

Insane. It's not in the article, but I remember hearing we were over 100 for something like 50 straight days?

Had to look this up because it sounds crazy, but you're right: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/201107



Insane. It's not in the article, but I remember hearing we were over 100 for something like 50 straight days?

Not 50 consecutively, but OKC wound up above 100F 63 days that year. Just insanely hot.

Great video by CNBC, talking about the GE Research Facility http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000549988

^

Thanks for sharing that.

Didn't realize that O&G is the 3rd or 4th largest business unit within GE.

Impressed with the video. In October we should know a more about the strength and the magnitude of the G. E. Global Research OKC facility.

We very fortunate to land such a gem.

I'm hearing that GE is set to announce a new building on this campus soon.

Remember, this was setup so they could expand to the south and east.

I'm hearing that GE is set to announce a new building on this campus soon.

Remember, this was setup so they could expand to the south and east.

I understand being conservative, I really do, but when you haven't even really finished a building and you're already announcing an expansion, I can't help but think there's a level of poor planning involved. Perhaps this was always planned and they just never talked about it, or they needed to wrap up deals in other places first, but I dunno. It's another round of going before planning instead of getting it all done at once.

That being said, it's great news and I certainly don't have a complaint about the possibility.

I'm hearing that GE is set to announce a new building on this campus soon.

Remember, this was setup so they could expand to the south and east.

Good news, let's await GE's expansion plans.

I'm hearing that GE is set to announce a new building on this campus soon.

Remember, this was setup so they could expand to the south and east.

That would be incredible. We need this to grow.

The existing building is built around 3 large bays that they need to do their lab work, which is why it is the size and shape it is.

Not sure about the new building but believe it will be more office space with some lab space as well.

Pete - thinking long term here, but do you think we could see GE expand their research interests with this facility outside of oil and gas? With our aviation industry, is there any chance GE could look at bringing some of that research here?

I understand being conservative, I really do, but when you haven't even really finished a building and you're already announcing an expansion, I can't help but think there's a level of poor planning involved. Perhaps this was always planned and they just never talked about it, or they needed to wrap up deals in other places first, but I dunno. It's another round of going before planning instead of getting it all done at once.

That being said, it's great news and I certainly don't have a complaint about the possibility.

Happens in other cities all the time. Good to see it happen in OKC for once instead of getting scaled back. This is getting scaled up.

They are having the official grand opening today.

Great article from USA Today:


How GE might help oil, gas industry amid slump (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2016/10/05/how-ge-might-help-oil-gas-industry-amid-slump/91541544/)
Bill Loveless, for USA TODAY 6:58 a.m. EDT October 5, 2016

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/ge100516.jpg


For General Electric, the timing of its new $125 million oil and natural gas technology center in Oklahoma City couldn’t be better.

The oil and gas industry is suffering one of its worst slumps ever, with recovery slow to take hold and unlikely to deliver any time soon the much higher prices producers enjoyed a few years ago.

That puts a premium on new technologies that can discover and produce oil and gas faster, more efficiently and less expensively.

“When we broke ground in 2014, we had no idea that the market was about to enter into the worst downturn in more than 30 years, forcing companies to evaluate long-standing industry methods and norms,” C. Michael Ming, general manager of the GE Global Research Oil & Gas Technology Center, said in a letter to The Journal Record, an Oklahoma City business newspaper.

“Many of the systems in place for years aren’t sustainable in a downturn, and if this downturn is the new normal, we must find ways to work smarter and more efficiently.”

Ming will join Oklahoma officials, GE executives and customers of the conglomerate in a ceremony Wednesday celebrating the facility, the first GE research center to be focused solely on innovation in a single sector.

The five-story center includes 10,000-square-feet of laboratories and two indoor test wells — one 360-feet deep and the other 43-feet deep — where 120 or so GE engineers, scientists and technicians can simulate conditions in wells and collaborate with customers on new means of probing and producing from oil and gas formations.

The Oklahoma City operation also draws on expertise from other GE technology centers and businesses around the world, what the corporation refers to as the “GE Store.”

“Different businesses inside GE go through cycles. What we’ve learned through these different cycles is that you need to lean into a downturn and not shy away from it,” Brian Cothran, president and CEO of GE Oil & Gas’s North American Operations, said in an interview.

“What our customers are looking for today is how do I make money and drive profit at $40, $50, $60 a barrel. They are looking to get more efficiency, more productivity, longer durations between shutdowns and more optimization around their operations.”

Those considerations are especially important for shale formations in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas and other states. While those regions are responsible for a resurgence in U.S. oil production and record U.S. gas output in recent years, a lot is still left in the ground.

That said, U.S. producers aren’t blind to new technology. In fact, innovations such as drilling techniques that reach multiple locations from one well site have helped keep oil output at higher levels than expected, considering low prices.

But advances in software, sensors and other digital applications, which are the hallmark now for industrial giants such as GE, are considered key to long-term recovery in the oil and gas patch.

Ming, a petroleum engineer who previously worked for Chevron and served as Oklahoma’s energy secretary, said oil and gas know-how needs to catch up with technologies in other sectors that have been incorporating such advances for years, such as gas turbines for jets and electric power generators.

“The oil and gas industry is pretty good at gathering data,” Ming said in an interview. “But they haven’t gotten to the point that they want to be or need to be on how to actually take that data and derive useful information and make even better or automated decisions with the data.”

Put another way, Ming sees GE helping to write a new chapter for the U.S. oil and gas industry.

The first chapter saw operators drill vertical wells in traditional oil fields, followed by another episode in which companies such as Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy, Continental Resources and Devon Energy are targeting unconventional oil and gas wells with horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, he said.

Now, in the latest chapter, the objective is to raise the art of exploration and production to higher levels with data-driven systems, Ming said.

“The timing and the objectives of the center actually fit very well with the pivot in the industry from new production at any cost to increased yield at lower cost.”

This facility is fantastically lit up at night. Especially coming from the South.

Official press release:

GE Opens New Oil & Gas R&D Center in Oklahoma, Showcases Smart Sensing Drone, Advanced Labs and Emerging Digital Technology
New Center to develop future digital industrial technologies for Oil & Gas industry
GE unveils drone prototype to detect emissions at oilfields and improve customer operations
120 jobs located at the Center today, with potential to grow to 230
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. – October 5, 2016 – Providing a present and future glimpse of promising new technologies in the pipeline for the Oil & Gas industry, GE (NYSE:GE) today held the grand opening of its new Oil & Gas Technology Center in Oklahoma City. The new Center will become a central hub for GE scientists and engineers to closely collaborate with the Oil & Gas industry on cutting-edge digital and hardware solutions to advance the industry.

Lorenzo Simonelli, President and CEO, GE Oil & Gas said, “We believe a strong commitment to R&D will help our oil and gas customers find new efficiencies to work through tough market conditions and lead to transformational opportunities for the industry to thrive long-term. The new technology center in Oklahoma City will accelerate innovation; it’s where we can bring the full power of digital solutions and technology from across GE’s industrial businesses to advance the Oil & Gas industry.”

At the Center opening, GE unveiled a prototype drone, nicknamed “Raven,” engineered to detect emissions precisely and cost-effectively, to help customers reduce environmental impact and improve operational efficiency in the Oil & Gas industry. Southwestern Energy Company successfully piloted the technology to detect emissions from oilfield equipment at well sites in Arkansas in July.

Vic Abate, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, GE said, “At our new research center in Oklahoma City, customers benefit from the collective global brain of technologists from our 10 GE global research centers around the world, as well as our 50,000 global GE engineers who span multiple industry sectors. We call it the GE Store, and it allows us to bring innovation from other GE industries such as Aviation, Power, Healthcare and Transportation to transform and strengthen the Oil & Gas sector.”

About GE’s Oil & Gas Technology Center

GE’s new Oil & Gas Technology Center is five stories, with 125,000 sq. ft. of lab and office space that includes:

400-foot and 60-foot deep test wells
Two 30-ton overhead cranes for moving large testing equipment
An entire floor dedicated to customer collaboration with embassy offices
Michael Ming, General Manager of GE’s Global Research Oil and Gas Technology Center, said, “To the greatest extent possible, we are bringing the oilfield and our customers directly into our lab space. When you couple that with the world-leading scientists and engineers based here in Oklahoma City and at GE’s other global research centers around the world, you have a winning formula for driving transformational technologies the industry will need.”

Ming noted the research focus at the new Center will span across all areas of oil & gas from production solutions and well construction systems to oilfield facilities and systems and reservoir performance.

Although the new Center just recently opened, temporary offices were established more than two years ago in the City Place Tower in downtown Oklahoma City. With 120 employees today, the Center can accommodate as many as 230 people.

GE’s new Oil & Gas Technology Center has established several programs and partnerships with industry and academia, including Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma and has R&D agreements in place with many of the leading operators in North America.

so am I right in assuming that GE Oil & Gas is competing with the likes of Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger?

so am I right in assuming that GE Oil & Gas is competing with the likes of Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger?
No not really.

The focus for this GE office is to help oil companies with research and innovation to achieve efficiencies and therefore lower costs.

so am I right in assuming that GE Oil & Gas is competing with the likes of Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger?

Yes those are GE Oil & Gas's primary competitors. GE's O&G business is relatively new compared to the other three, but through aggressive acquisitions GE has quickly grown to be the #4 O&G services company. They provide industrial products and services to Oil and Gas exploration, production, midstream and refining companies. Actual competitors vary from one sub-business to the next but those companies represent the direct competition in the majority of the GEO&G sub-businesses.

Baker Hughes and GE oil and gas to merge.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/ge-to-merge-oil-division-with-baker-hughes-in-bet-on-energy

Baker Hughes and GE oil and gas to merge.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/ge-to-merge-oil-division-with-baker-hughes-in-bet-on-energy

Could this lead to expansion & upgrades to the G.E. Global Research Center in Oklahoma City?

Could this lead to expansion & upgrades to the G.E. Global Research Center in Oklahoma City?

Potentially... BH has that large new facility here too, so maybe we'd end up being a good place to locate the new division HQ? One could hope. One story I read even said this could be a recipe for a spinoff company in the future, of which we could hope OKC would be the HQ.

Potentially... BH has that large new facility here too, so maybe we'd end up being a good place to locate the new division HQ? One could hope. One story I read even said this could be a recipe for a spinoff company in the future, of which we could hope OKC would be the HQ.

Would you mind sharing the link to that story?

Would you mind sharing the link to that story?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/ge-to-merge-oil-division-with-baker-hughes-in-bet-on-energy

Would you mind sharing the link to that story?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2016/10/31/freed-from-finance-ges-jeff-immelt-flexes-deal-muscle-with-baker-hughes-tie-up/#378335f92c14

http://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2016/10/31/freed-from-finance-ges-jeff-immelt-flexes-deal-muscle-with-baker-hughes-tie-up/#378335f92c14

Thanks!

It is way too early to even sorta speculate how this will affect okc. Just something to keep an eye on.

i'd like to think that the proposed combination would result in less job losses/human impacts than an outright acquisition. also, my guess is that this deal doesn't have anywhere close to the same level of redundancies, in terms of service lines and market share, as were observed in the failed HAL-BHI deal.

Thanks!

They were also discussing a potential spin off on Squawk on the Street (CNBC) this morning.

I think GE Oil & Gas is based in Houston, if memory serves.