Federal Anti-Monopoly Service Delays Schlumberger’s Purchase of Eurasia Drilling

Russia’s Eurasia Drilling said on Friday it was delaying a deal to sell a stake in the company to Schlumberger, pending approval from Russia’s Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS).

Last month, oil services giant Schlumberger said it planned to buy a 45.65 percent stake in Eurasia for about $1.7 billion, potentially paving the way for it to become the sole owner of Russia’s most active oilfield services company.

Eurasia said on Friday it and Schlumberger were continuing to cooperate with the FAS to respond to requests for information regarding the transaction and that the merger, including the delisting of Eurasia’s global depositary receipts, would not occur on dates it had previously announced. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Alexander Winning)