SLB Seals ChampionX Takeover | Rigzone

Schlumberger Ltd./NV (SLB) said Wednesday it had completed the acquisition of ChampionX Corp., after the oilfield tech companies resolved competition concerns raised by a few countries.

ChampionX shareholders received 0.735 SLB shares per share they held at ChampionX. “With the closing of the transaction, former ChampionX shareholders now own approximately 9 percent of SLB’s outstanding shares of common stock”, SLB confirmed in a statement online.

“This strategic acquisition strengthens SLB’s leadership in the production and recovery space”, SLB said. “The integration of ChampionX production chemicals and its complementary artificial lift, digital, and emissions technologies enhances the SLB portfolio, helping to drive performance and extend asset life along the production lifecycle.

“The combination of ChampionX’s leading production-focused solutions and customer relationships throughout North America and beyond, with SLB’s strong international presence and history of innovation, will drive significant value for customers and stakeholders globally.

“The acquisition also brings together two distinct sets of experts with domain knowledge and customer insights across the entire production and recovery space”.

The statement added, “SLB remains on track to return $4 billion to shareholders in 2025 and expects to realize annual pretax synergies from the ChampionX acquisition of approximately $400 million within the first three years post-closing through revenue growth and cost savings”.

SLB chief executive Olivier Le Peuch commented, “This acquisition comes at a pivotal time in the industry as our customers increasingly prioritize advancements in production to maximize recovery of oil and gas”.

“It extends our capability to provide integrated production solutions and provides another platform for accelerating digital adoption, optimizing production and reducing total cost of ownership for our customers”, Le Peuch added.

Regulators in the United States, Canada, Norway and the United Kingdom had held off the merger on risks to market competition.

To clear the regulatory hurdles, SLB and ChampionX agreed to make certain divestments and licensing arrangements.

In the U.S., SLB said February 25 it had agreed to sell ChampionX’s equity stake in US Synthetic Corp. (USS) to a third party. SLB later said it would make the divestment to LongRange Capital.

To satisfy a remedial decision in Norway, in addition to the USS sale, SLB and ChampionX have entered into agreements with other third parties and committed to offering products and services to other customers on non-discriminatory terms.

“The parties also commit to entering into a global license agreement to facilitate entry of a new supplier of quartz transducers for use in permanent well monitoring and directional drilling on the Norwegian continental shelf”, the Norwegian Competition Authority said in a statement May 26.

On Monday, the Authority said as it announced clearance for the merger to proceed, “ChampionX has signed long-term supply agreements ensuring oil service providers Baker Hughes and Weatherford continued access to products and services from ChampionX’s Quartzdyne business”.

“These agreements come in addition to the general supply obligations in the Authority’s 26 May decision”, the Authority said. “The supply obligations will remain in effect for five years.

“Finally, ChampionX has entered into a global license agreement with the sensor manufacturer Précis. This agreement is meant to facilitate Précis’ entry into the market for quartz transducers, that are used in permanent well monitoring and directional drilling on the Norwegian Continental Shelf”.

In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Tuesday it had opted not to proceed with a phase 2 investigation in exchange for several concessions that include the USS sale, the agreements with Baker Hughes and Weatherford and the divestment of SLB’s UK PCT (production chemical technologies) business. SLB should give the buyer of its UK PCT business an intellectual property license for the PCT products for 10 years.

The CMA also agreed to the companies’ offer “to enter into a global licensing arrangement with a third party for a commercially reasonable royalty, covering all essential intellectual property and know-how required to develop the quartz sensors and transducers supplied by ChampionX’s Quartzdyne business, to accelerate the development of rival quartz products”, the CMA decision stated.

In Canada, the Competition Bureau said Wednesday it had decided to clear the merger on the grounds of SLB selling USS and licensing “intellectual property relating to quartz transducers owned by Quartzdyne”.

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