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Fresh from the merger with Baker Hughes, GE Oil & Gas boss tells Petroleum Economist about his firm's plans for digital analysis, cost-cutting and recovery

Lorenzo Simonelli, head of GE Oil & Gas, can point to glimmers of hope, if not signs of a rampant recovery. The oil and gas division recorded organic growth in orders of 2% in the fourth quarter of 2016, stemming the declines of the previous two years. "Having orders flat in the fourth quarter is a good sign," he told Petroleum Economist in an interview at the company's annual meeting in Florence. "We are starting to see projects starting to come back and we are focused on making sure we can capture that recovery." There's still a long way to go. GE Oil & Gas's Q4 2016 revenues were $12.9bn, almost a quarter below year-earlier levels. So the firm was no more immune to income losses d