Schlumberger, the world’s largest oil services provider, has acquired Saltel Industries, a French engineering, manufacturing, and service company supporting oil and gas industry, both offshore and onshore.

Schlumberger said on Wednesday that the newly acquired, Bruz-based company, a specialist offering expandable patches and steel packers technology for the oil and gas industry, will continue to operate under the leadership of its current management team and CEO, Jean-Louis Saltel.

Olivier Le Peuch, president of Schlumberger Completions, said: ”Saltel Industries has an impressive track record in providing expandable steel patch technology to the remedial services market and has developed an innovative portfolio of openhole steel packer technology.”

He added that the acquisition will further add to Schlumberger’s technology portfolio in the services market.

The company said that Saltel has developed expertise in both inflatable packers and expandable tubulars for steel patches or packer technology applications. According to Schlumberger, use of Saltel’s open steel packer technology for external casing packers can result in ‘lowering operational risk and cost compared to traditional inflatable packers’ while its expandable steel patches have ‘effective’ water shut-off applications to restore production in wells.

Jean-Louis Saltel, managing director of Saltel Industries, said: “I am very excited with this transaction, which is an important milestone for Saltel Industries as it will leverage Schlumberger’s footprint to maximize market access for our products and, in particular, expandable steel patch technology.”