Schlumberger Angles for Growth with Bid for Cameron

Business Growth

Changes in the outlook for the upstream oil and gas industry have led Schlumberger to launch a convincing bid for Houston-based oilfield equipment supplier and current joint-venture partner Cameron Int’l. The richly valued deal implies a price for Cameron’s stock of just over $66 per share, a 56% premium over its pre-announcement close.  With the assumption of $1.1 billion of Cameron debt, the deal’s total price approaches $15 billion.

This is not the first time in recent memory Schlumberger has sought to acquire an existing partner.  In 2010, it purchased Smith Int’l to gain needed Continue reading “Schlumberger Angles for Growth with Bid for Cameron”

FMC Technologies An Oil Equipment Company To Watch

telescope

FMC Technologies, a leading oil equipment company, consistently outranks its peer-group average in EnergyPoint Research’s customer satisfaction surveys. The company has grown into a dominant player over the years partly on the strength of a vigorous research and development program that began bearing fruit in time for today’s exuberant revival of subsea drilling and development.

Not a pure customer satisfaction winner, though, FMC’s ratings fall more in line with its oil equipment company cohorts in the subsea segment. Like many of its peers, the company draws lower ratings from some customers for both organizational and equipment performance. And in what might come as a surprise to some, the company rates lower in shelf and deepwater wells, which account for about two-thirds of its business, than for onshore applications. Continue reading “FMC Technologies An Oil Equipment Company To Watch”

NOV Closes the One-stop Shop

Separate Directions

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) operates just about everywhere oil and gas is extracted, enjoying a hearty share of the market for integrated oilfield equipment. Yet global reach and a wide-ranging portfolio of products do not necessarily translate to a better customer experience—for NOV or its competitors.

EnergyPoint’s most recent survey data suggest NOV’s customer satisfaction ratings, while certainly competitive within its peer group, have slowly trended down as the company logged lower scores in various segments. To be fair, ratings for manufacturers of capital drilling equipment remain below average industry-wide. However, NOV has been sliding from its previous perch. Continue reading “NOV Closes the One-stop Shop”

Cameron Int’l Making Its Way To New Depths

New Depths

Conceptualizing, fabricating and installing the labyrinth of integrated systems and equipment required for today’s massive subsea projects are some of the most complex tasks in the oil and gas industry. Without question, the daunting challenges at these depths contribute to the historically low customer satisfaction ratings for subsea products we have observed in our surveys over the years.

Although not the market-share leader in the space, Cameron International has recently been dynamic in its efforts related to increasing the profile of its subsea offerings, most notably advancing the depth and breadth of its capabilities via its OneSubsea joint venture with Schlumberger.

Continue reading “Cameron Int’l Making Its Way To New Depths”

Cameron – Schlumberger JV Shifts Subsea Currents

Subsea Systems

Cameron and Schlumberger announced this morning the formation of OneSubsea, a 60/40 joint venture partnership that will focus on manufacturing and developing subsea products and services worldwide.

Cameron will contribute its existing subsea division and receive $600 million from Schlumberger. It will also act as operator. For its part, Schlumberger will contribute its Framo, Surveillance, Flow Assurance and Power and Controls businesses. Continue reading “Cameron – Schlumberger JV Shifts Subsea Currents”

Gardner Denver’s Dance Card to Fill Up Fast

Dance Card

Late last week, Gardner Denver acknowledged it has engaged investment bankers at Goldman Sachs to help evaluate potential strategic alternatives, including sale of the company.

The company’s stock price jumped with the news. However, there’s reason to believe an eventual sale of Gardner Denver could be done at a price materially above current stock-price levels, especially since its shares seem to have been trading at a discount prior to the run-up. Continue reading “Gardner Denver’s Dance Card to Fill Up Fast”

What Does NOV Get in Robbins & Myers?

Secret Box

In retrospect, the recent announcement by National Oilwell Varco that it will acquire Robbins & Myers really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The surprise, rather, might be that the deal didn’t come any sooner than it did. Maybe NOV decided it would have been poor form to have moved earlier given that R&M only completed its transformational acquisition of T3 Energy Services a little more than 18 months ago.

Regardless of the factors behind the deal’s timing, NOV picks up in R&M a number of products and services that fit well with NOV’s already expansive set of offerings. But it’s R&M’s BOPs (and related pressure control products and services), along its artificial-lift/tubulars line up, that seem to us at the heart of the deal. Continue reading “What Does NOV Get in Robbins & Myers?”

Suppliers’ Lockstep Strategies Not the Answer

Marching

Within the upstream oil and gas industry, there’s a limited number of oilfield suppliers possessing the size and scope to be considered fully integrated and/or global in nature. On the services side, the roll (listed alphabetically) includes Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Schlumberger and Weatherford International. For capital equipment, it’s Aker Solutions, Cameron International, FMC Technologies, GE Oil & Gas and National Oilwell Varco.

On a combined basis, these nine super suppliers (did we just coin a new term?) currently represent about a quarter of all supplier-segment sales to the global upstream. Yet, none of these companies currently enjoy above-average ratings in EnergyPoint Research’s independent customer satisfaction surveys. And the latest trends don’t suggest the situation will significantly change anytime soon.

Continue reading “Suppliers’ Lockstep Strategies Not the Answer”

A Sea of Discontent

A Sea of Discontent

The wisdom of the masses is a concept that contends information gathered from a group is generally more reliable than information gathered from any single individual within that group.  If so, what is the industry saying en masse about the products used to develop offshore wells—particularly those at greater depths—in light of the Deepwater Horizon incident?

In short, EnergyPoint’s data suggest customers are significantly less satisfied with the equipment and materials available for subsea and deepwater projects than for land- and surface-based applications.  In fact, since 2005, subsea products received the lowest overall customer ratings of all product segments tracked in our surveys. Continue reading “A Sea of Discontent”

The Rig Equipment Blues

Dark image of a drilling rig
Today’s wells cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a day to drill. Thus, few things rankle operators like slowed activity.
 

To limit downtime, the equipment on rigs receives close attention. However, EnergyPoint Research surveys show many equipment providers are missing the mark. There’s room to improve in post-sale support, availability and delivery, and pricing. Without improvements, the status quo will only entice new entrants.

Continue reading “The Rig Equipment Blues”