Nabors to buy Superior Well Services for $735.6 mln
Tue, Aug 10 12:00 AM
Nabors Industries Ltd , the world's largest land-rig contractor, agreed to buy oilfield services company Superior Well Services Inc for about $735.6 million to boost its pressure pumping operations, a key requirement for shale drilling.
Oil services firms with the technological expertise in the drilling methods, including rock fracturing, required in shale hotspots like the Marcellus, Eagle Ford and the oil-rich Bakken in the U.S., offer larger firms the technology to tap the abundant resources in such unconventional plays.
Superior Well is the top independent player in the pressure pumping business, and gives Nabors control of over 430,000 hydraulic fracturing horsepower -- crucial for horizontal drilling in shale plays. Pressure pumping deals with pumping a fluid down a well to improve production.