General Electric investing billions to improve oil and gas drilling

This post has been corrected. See below for details.

General Electric Co. is investing billions in the oil and gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, buying up companies and opening a new laboratory with an eye toward the world’s future energy needs, a report says.

Mark Little, a GE senior vice president, told the Associated Press that the company went from almost zero investment in oil and gas about a decade ago to pouring in more than $15 billion over the last few years.

“We like the oil and gas base because we see the need for resources for a long time to come,” Little told the AP.

General Electric doesn’t actually do any fracking, a controversial process that involves injecting large volumes of chemical-laced water and sand deep into the ground to break apart rock and release oil or gas.

Fracking has met fierce opposition in several states. Democrats in California’s Assembly have introduced measures to impose a moratorium on fracking. New York has had a similar ban since 2008.

Little said that GE has years of know-how in energy industries as diverse as nuclear, wind and solar power. He added that issues that raise worries over fracking “can be managed” carefully.

[A previous version of the post’s headline said GE was spending billions on inproving oil and gas fracking. A GE spokesman clarified that the company had invested in several areas of the gas and oil industry, including but not limited to fracking.]

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