Merger Update: Schlumberger / ChampionX

"CMA to consider undertakings offered"

Schlumberger/ChampionX

On 27 March 2025, the CMA decided, on the information currently available to it, that it is or may be the case that this Merger may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the United Kingdom (UK).

On 3 April 2025, the Parties offered undertakings in lieu of a reference to the CMA, which involve (i) the divestment of the production chemical technologies business of Schlumberger Limited (SLB) in the UK, (ii) the divestment of US Synthetic Corporation, a subsidiary of ChampionX Corporation (ChampionX) which supplies market-leading polycrystalline diamond bearings used in certain directional drilling services by SLB's rivals in the UK, and (iii) a licence covering relevant intellectual property and know-how to a CMA-approved alternative developer of quartz sensors and transducers supporting the growth of a strong alternative supplier in this segment, together with agreements to provide SLB's rival suppliers of permanent downhole gauges in the UK access to ChampionX's market-leading quartz sensors and transducers for an interim period. The CMA considers that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the undertakings offered by the Parties, or a modified version of them, might be accepted by the CMA to remedy the substantial lessening of competition identified by the CMA.

The CMA now has until 11 June 2025 to decide whether to accept the undertakings, with the possibility to extend this timeframe to 8 August 2025 if it considers there are special reasons for doing so.

The text of this decision will be placed on the dedicated case page as soon as is reasonably practical.

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