Who Owns Schlumberger?

Brothers Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger founded the company in Paris in 1926, building on Conrad's physics research at the École des Mines. In 1927 they ran the world's first electric resistivity well log in Alsace, France, creating the wireline logging industry that remains the company's technical foundation.

The firm moved into the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, where oilfield demand drove explosive growth. Schlumberger Limited listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1962 and spent the following decades expanding globally into every producing basin.

Acquisitions built the full-service portfolio. The company bought Dowell's pumping business, formed Sedco Forex Drilling (merged into Transocean in 1999 and spun off), and acquired WesternGeco for seismic services. The 2010 purchase of Smith International for $11 billion added M-I SWACO drilling fluids and drill bits, and the 2015 acquisition of Cameron International for $14.8 billion brought pressure control and production equipment.

The October 2022 rebrand to SLB marked a deliberate break with the pure oilfield services label. The company reorganized into four divisions: Digital and Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems, and began building a new energy business in carbon capture, geothermal, and hydrogen.

In July 2025 SLB completed its acquisition of ChampionX, an all-stock deal valued at approximately $7.8 billion that added production chemicals and artificial lift systems. Fiscal 2025 revenue was $35.7 billion, down 2 percent as lower upstream spending offset the acquired revenue.