Schlumberger lands another merger

Following a string of recent deals, oil field services company Schlumberger announced it agreed to acquire a Calgary-based drilling and services company.

For an undisclosed sum, Schlumberger said it entered into an agreement to acquire drilling services units controlled by Canadian company Xtreme Drilling and Coil Services Corp., which owns a fleet of 11 units in Saudi Arabia and the United States.

"We continue our pursuit of advancing overall drilling and well intervention efficiency through technology integration to help our customers improve production at a lower cost per barrel," Sherif Foda, president of the production group within Schlumberger, said in a statement.

Schlumberger said the agreement will help build a portfolio of specialized services catering to "challenging land-based environments."

Schlumberger, the world's largest oil field services company, closed on its merger with its smaller industry counterpart Cameron International Corp. in early April.

With crude oil prices down about 25 percent from last year, Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard said last month industry performance can only be improved by leaving the market downturn behind and adopting a new approach "based on collaboration and commercial alignment between the operators and the largest service companies."

Schlumberger already outlined details of three separate mergers during the first quarter, including the $1.24 billion deal with Cameron.

Schlumberger's counterparts Halliburton and Baker Hughes have been working on plans to join forces against anti-trust concerns. Halliburton last week said it rescheduled its first quarter earnings report to May 3 because of the pending deadline for the merger agreement.