EU Approves Schlumberger's Cameron Takeover

BRUSSELS—The European Union on Friday waved through oil services giant Schlumberger Ltd.'s $12.7 billion acquisition of smaller rival Cameron International Corp., saying it had no major competition concerns.

The European Commission, the bloc's top antitrust body, said it "concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the very limited overlaps between the companies' activities and the modest increment in market shares brought about by the transaction."

Schlumberger, the world's largest oil-field services company, announced in August it would buy Houston-based Cameron—which makes drilling equipment and supplies maintenance equipment for pipelines, refineries and oil and gas wells.

The EU said the firms' activities presented only limited overlaps in the markets of produced water treatment and on the drilling chokes market.

The sharp decline in oil prices has been a catalyst for energy deals. More are expected as companies scramble to maintain revenue amid a pullback in drilling activity.

The firms have said their combination will create an energy technology powerhouse. Schlumberger's expertise is focused underground, helping companies find new oil and gas reserves and coaxing more fuel from existing discoveries. Cameron creates the equipment that sits on the surface and is perhaps best known as the maker of a piece that malfunctioned and helped trigger the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. It settled with BP PLC, the well's operator, for $250 million.

The EU's approval of the Schlumberger acquisition comes weeks after regulators opened a full-blown antitrust investigation into Halliburton Co.'s $35 billion takeover of rival Baker Hughes Inc., warning that it raised "serious potential competition concerns" because the initial inquiry showed the firms "seem to be close competitors, both in terms of tenders and in innovation."

The commission said at the time it believed that only three companies are able to provide integrated services across many product and service lines in the oil-field services sector, namely Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger. The Halliburton deal would therefore reduce the number of integrated service providers from three to two, the EU said.

Write to Natalia Drozdiak at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 05, 2016 07:15 ET (12:15 GMT)

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