Lubrizol to buy Weatherford's oilfield chemicals & drilling fluid businesses

The Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway company, has signed an agreement to acquire Weatherford International’s oilfield chemicals business, known as Engineered Chemistry and its drilling fluids business, known as Integrity Industries. The addition of these two businesses provide Lubrizol with a more significant footprint in the $20 billion oilfield chemicals business and more importantly, extensive applications experience and end-user relationships.
 
Engineered Chemistry supplies additives and fluids for a range of oilfield activities, including cementing, drilling, flow assurance and fracturing. It offers chemistry expertise to solve problems throughout the oil and gas drilling process. The business consists of a core manufacturing and research organisation which supports a global field distribution network. Engineered Chemistry was built through a series of acquisitions over the past 12 years and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. It operates 10 sites located predominantly in North America.
 
Integrity Industries manufactures drilling fluid systems, including diesel, mineral oil and synthetic oil based fluids. The company supplies these drilling fluid systems to retail drilling fluid companies along with technical support. The business has occupied the same niche for more than 25 years and is recognised as an expert in oil based drilling systems and chemicals serving customers across a large North American footprint. Headquartered in Kingsville, Texas, Integrity Industries operates approximately 14 locations.
 
James Hambrick, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Lubrizol, said, “This proposed acquisition provides us a new growth platform as we build out a multi-billion business in specialty chemicals and drilling fluids for the oilfield space. With the addition of the companies’ technologies, combined with improved fluid formulation and applications knowledge, Lubrizol will be better positioned to innovate more quickly and become a solutions provider for both multinational oilfield service companies as well as more regional customers which have a significant share of the North American market.”
 
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year following receipt of all customary regulatory approvals.