The wheels are slowly turning for deal making in the oilfield services industry.
For months, analysts have predicted a surge in A&D activity for oilfield service companies once the misery from low commodity prices made them hit bottom. For the most part only giants like Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) have had the wherewithal to execute deals, but that might soon be changing.
Houston-based service company, MRC Global Inc. (NYSE: MRC), entered into an agreement Feb. 10 to sell its U.S. oil country tubular goods (OCTG) for $48 million. The company said it foresees no changes to its midstream services.
The deal follows Trican Well Service Ltd., Canada’s largest pressure pumper, agreeing in late January to sell its U.S. assets to Keane Group.
MRC Global said it will sell to Sooner Pipe LLC, a subsidiary of Marubeni-Itochu Tubulars America Inc., in hopes to reduce its exposure to upstream drilling volatility.
MRC Global is the largest global distributor, based on sales, of pipe, valves and fittings and related products and services to the energy industry, according to the release. Its U.S. OCTG sales were about $305 million in 2015.
"We remain committed to our line pipe business as it has applications across each of the upstream, midstream and downstream end markets," said Andrew R. Lane, MRC Global's chairman, president and CEO. "This transaction benefits our U.S. OCTG customers, suppliers and employees by placing the business with the leading OCTG distributor and service provider."
As a result of the expected sale, MRC Global expects a pretax charge of about $5 million to be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. Lane said the company will work with Sooner to ensure a smooth transition of the business.
On Jan. 26, Houston’s Keane Group, a private well completion services company, agreed to acquire Trican’s U.S. assets in a deal worth $247 million. The agreement pays Trican $200 million cash and gives Trican a 10% stake and two seats on Keane’s board.
Keane Group will be the eighth largest pressure pumper in the U.S. after the deal closes.
Additionally, Trican's stock has recently been grabbed by Wilks Brothers LLC, a private Cisco, Texas-based company.
Wilks Brother said Feb. 10 it acquired an additional stake of about 3 million common shares in the capital of Trican. Earlier in January, the company had acquired about 2.7 million shares of the Canadian company. The values of the transactions weren’t disclosed.
With its most recent purchase, Wilks Brothers owns 20.7 million common shares, or about 14%, of Trican.
Wilks Brothers was formed by Farris Wilks and his brother Dan Wilks in 2011. One of the brothers, Farris Wilks, is on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires.
According to Forbes, Farris and Dan Wilks also founded a fracking and oilfield services company named Frac Tech. The brothers sold their stakes in the fracking company in 2011 for $3.5 billion.
Contact the author, Emily Moser, at emoser@hartenergy.com.
Related:
Oilfield Service Companies Buy Now To Live Another Day
Keane Group’s Oilfield Deal Triples Frack Horsepower
Squeezed Plays: E&Ps Plan Deep Cuts To Drilling, Completions Spending
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