Schlumberger buys Geoservices for $1 billion

Schlumberger has acquired Geoservices, a privately owned French oilfield services company specialized in mud logging, slickline and production surveillance operations. The total value of the transaction, including net debt, is $1.70 billion.

Geoservices, founded in 1958, employs approximately 5,000 people active in more than 50 countries worldwide. The company is the leading mud-logging company, and has invested heavily in the development of new technology for exploration and appraisal well activities, particularly in the emerging deepwater market.

"The addition of mud logging technology to the Schlumberger portfolio is an important step in the development of higher-performance drilling systems," commented Andrew Gould, Chairman and CEO, Schlumberger Limited. "The combination of Schlumberger real-time downhole formation sampling measurements with Geoservices' drilling mud analysis will help customers better identify and react to drilling hazards, while the combination of mud logging with Schlumberger formation evaluation measurements will bring more complete understanding of rock lithology and fluid content."

Mud logging extracts information from the drilling mud and drilling process while drilling and provides data for both formation evaluation and drilling efficiency. In formation evaluation, mud logging complements wireline logging and logging-while-drilling measurements. In drilling efficiency, mud logging information provides insight into the dynamic state of the well and allows drilling mud weight properties to be optimized.

In addition to Geoservices' mud-logging technology and expertise, Geoservices' footprint, expertise and technologies in well intervention and field surveillance also complement existing Schlumberger activities.