Oil field services giant SLB announced Wednesday it plans to combine its carbon capture business with Norwegian company Aker Carbon Capture in a $380 million deal that aims to help decarbonize the industrial sector.
Texas-based SLB, formerly known as Schlumberger, is expected to own 80 percent of the combined venture, while Aker will retain a 20 percent stake.
While oil majors such as Exxon Mobil have beefed up their carbon capture units through acquisitions in the past few years, it’s rare to hear of an oil field services company moving into the business, said Graham Bain, principal analyst for energy transition research with Enverus Intelligence.
“I would have never thought this would have been something that SLB would have been interested in in the first place,” Bain said. “But I think it makes a lot of sense from where SLB stands — they have a lot of solutions that help these operators with carbon storage primarily.”
