Schlumberger’s bid would give it a 45% stake in EDC, with an option to buy the rest of the company at a later date, an unusually large investment by a U.S.-listed company in Russia’s oil industry at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over Ukraine. It would help strengthen the presence of the world’s largest oil-services company in Russia and give it a base from which to grow in the region. EDC operates the largest fleet of onshore drilling rigs in Russia and is vital to operations at the country’s oil fields, where companies are ramping up output to compensate for the recent decline in oil prices. Russia’s economy is highly dependent on oil and gas, the sales of which account for around half its federal budget revenue. The transaction was proposed in January , accepted by EDC and originally expected to close by the […]