Schlumberger pulls out of deal to buy stake in Eurasia Drilling

Moscow

Schlumberger Ltd will not pursue a US$1.7 billion agreement to buy a minority stake in Russia's largest driller Eurasia Drilling Co beyond Sept 30 after a lack of regulatory approvals stalled the deal.

The world's largest oilfield services provider will instead focus on other merger and acquisition opportunities, it said in a statement last Thursday.

Relations between Russia and the US are the worst since the Cold War over the Kremlin's support for separatists in Ukraine. Russia's Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, wa…