Liberty Oilfield Services and Schlumberger have completed the merger of Schlumberger’s North American hydraulic fracturing business into Liberty in exchange for a Schlumberger 37% equity interest in the North American oilfield company. The deal closed on 31 December 2020.
“Our expanded technology portfolio, dedicated team of professionals, and breadth of operations form the foundation for us to achieve greater innovation and efficiency to deliver the best service to our customers and returns to our shareholders," said Chris Wright, Liberty chairman and chief executive officer, in a news release.
According to the announcement of the transaction last September, the all-stock deal will double Liberty’s working pressure-pumping capacity without adding any debt to its balance sheet.
"This transaction positions Schlumberger to benefit from the strong recovery already under way in North American shale activity," said Olivier Le Peuch, chief executive officer of Schlumberger. "Our experience with Liberty over the past few months has confirmed our belief that this is the right combination for the future.”
In its Q3 2020 earnings transcript, Schlumberger said that the Liberty transaction represented a key milestone in its scale-to-fit strategy to accelerate its financial goals for North America by high-grading its portfolio while lowering capital intensity and volatility.
Concurrent with the closing, Liberty added two representatives from Schlumberger to its board of directors—Simon Ayat, senior strategic advisor and former executive vice president and chief financial officer, and James R McDonald, president of Americas Land.