Two Merger Announcements Could Be Good News For Tulsa

Tulsa is making headlines after two companies announced multi-billion dollar mergers.

General Electric plans to merge its Oil and Gas division with oil service company Baker Hughes; and Telecom company CenturyLink announced plans to merge with Level 3 Communications.

The merger announcements could actually mean good news for the two companies; industry analysts say jobs shouldn't be affected by the mergers.

Financial analysts call it "Merger Monday."

"The two biggest merger headlines in the world involved Tulsa, Oklahoma," said Jake Dollarhide with Longbow Asset Management.

General Electric announced plans to merge with oil field services company Baker Hughes and CenturyLink, a telecom company, announced plans to merge with Level 3 Communications.

Dollarhide said CenturyLink wants to become a major player with more broadband internet service.

"CenturyLink wants on that train, a broadband, and where we're going with entertainment and TV, really looking to compete one-on-one with AT&T and Verizon, and I say not only is Broomfield (Colorado) where Level 3 is based keeps those jobs, but I say we have a good shot of keeping our jobs here," he said.

Analysts say GE's merger with Baker Hughes is big.

TU energy professor, Tom Seng said, "Whereas GE Oil and Gas division has been compressors and pumps and things, they're an equipment supplier, and Baker Hughes is a service company, so it's a complementary merger."

GE's Oil and Gas division is already sinking its heels into OKC with a new technology center.

Seng said, on top of the merger announcements, the oil industry is showing prosperity.

"I think things are a whole lot better than they have been even 60 days ago, at least I think there's a lot of optimism in the industry because we're seeing $50 oil and we hadn't really seen that, and we're seeing that somewhat consistently, so we'll still get these fluctuations but I think there's general optimism," he said.

It's still too early to tell how many or if any jobs will be affected by the mergers.

Analysts say the transactions could take up to a year to finalize.