OREANDA-NEWS. BAUER Maschinen GmbH, an affiliated company of BAUER AG and Schlumberger, today announced the signing of a joint venture agreement to manufacture land drilling rigs and associated products.

Bauer and Schlumberger have 51/49 ownership of the joint venture, respectively. Bauer is an industry leader in specialist foundation drilling equipment manufacturing and provides access to global rig manufacturing capabilities with facilities in Germany, US, China, Far East and Russia. Schlumberger is the world's leading provider of drilling technology, integrated project management and information solutions for customers in the oil and gas industry.

Through the joint venture, land drilling rigs and associated rig equipment for use in the oil, gas and geothermal sectors will be developed and manufactured for Schlumberger and other third parties.

Bauer Chairman, Prof. Thomas Bauer, said, “This is an exciting time for Bauer as we now have the opportunity to further expand our manufacturing business through the joint venture in the oil and gas industry. Our near term focus is on the execution of plans that have been agreed in recent months while continuing to deliver the highest quality and cost competitive products to the market.”

Schlumberger Land Rigs President, Arindam Bhattacharya, commented, “We are extremely pleased with the joint venture agreement with Bauer. This is a key step in the execution of our strategy to provide an advanced end-to-end offering in land rigs that will be a platform to further integrate our overall drilling technology portfolio and help our customers significantly improve drilling performance and reduce well cost.”

The BAUER Group is an international construction and machinery manufacturing concern based in Schrobenhausen, Bavaria. Bauer is a leader in the execution of complex excavation pits, foundations and vertical seals, as well as in the development and manufacture of related machinery. In 2014 the companies of the BAUER Group employed about 10,400 people in some 70 countries and achieved total Group revenues of EUR 1.56 billion.