Rosneft agrees to acquire oil field services from Weatherford

July 13, 2014 – Rosneft (Moscow, Russia) has agreed to acquire certain land drilling and workover assets in Russia and Venezuela.

The seller is Weatherford International plc (Geneva, Switzerland). The deal was recently signed by Rosneft President Igor Sechin and Lance Marklinger, vice president of Weatherford International for Russia Lance Marklinger.

Under the agreement, Rosneft will acquire eight companies (part of the Weatherford group) involved in drilling operations in Russia and Venezuela.

“The realization of the deal will allow Rosneft to strengthen its positions on the market of drilling and workover services and will expand the array of service contractors which will enable to boost efficiency of drilling and hydrocarbons production, enhance financial results,” Rosneft said in a statement.

The transaction is subject to, among other things, to corporate and state regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014.

The companies did not disclose the financial details.

Igor Sechin states that the “the deal fully complies with the adopted Rosneft strategy of the development of in-house service business. The acquisition of Weatherford assets will allow to secure under the terms of maximum price transparency the most important regions of operation of the company with service and workover machinery.”

“After the recent divestment of our pipeline business, this sale is the second step in our efforts to divest our non-core businesses. There will be additional steps over the coming quarters. De-levering our balance sheet is a top priority. Although our Russian business will be half its present size, the operations will be much leaner, intensely focused on our core product lines, and therefore more profitable. We will dedicate ourselves to the long-term development of Russia’s reservoir base,” Bernard J. Duroc-Danner, chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Weatherford stated.

“Following this sale, our remaining 114 international land drilling rigs, the majority of which are in the Middle East, are being prepared as planned for issuance in the public market in 2015 as an independent international drilling contractor,” Duroc-Danner added.

231 total views, 1 views today