SLB’s pending $7.7 billion acquisition of ChampionX  is the latest oil and gas deal to see heightened scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice, albeit in a transaction focused on the services sector.

SLB said it received, “as expected,” a request for additional information related to the deal.

Several recent upstream deals have gone through intensified review by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), including Chesapeake Energy’s $7.4 billion merger with Southwestern Energy; the proposed $53 billion combination of Chevron and Hess Corp.; Diamondback Energy’s $26 billion deal for Endeavor Energy Resources and Exxon Mobil and Pioneer Natural Resources’ $60 billion deal. Exxon is the only deal to have closed so far, although only after the supermajor acceded to FTC demands that Pioneer former CEO Scott Sheffield be barred from serving on Exxon’s board.

Congressional Democrats have seized on allegations that Sheffield was engaged in collusion with OPEC and others to press the FTC for an investigation.

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SLB said in a press release it still expects the transaction to close in fourth-quarter 2024 or first-quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

SLB said in April it would buy ChampionX, a $6.76 billion market-cap oilfield service company, in an all-stock transaction valuing the company at roughly $7.74 billion, or a premium of about 14.6%.

Under the terms of the agreement, ChampionX shareholders will receive 0.735 shares of SLB common stock in exchange for each ChampionX share, SLB said in an April 2 press release.

The transaction received the approval of the ChampionX stockholders at a special meeting held on June 18.

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