Oilfield services behemoth Schlumberger Limited SLB has proposed to divest its management consultancy division to global information technology giant Accenture plc ACN.

Neither party has disclosed the selling price of Schlumberger Business Consultancy (SBC). It is assumed that the majority or all of the current SBC employees will be transferred to Accenture. This is because the company intends to enhance its services to its oil and gas clients.

Established in 2004, SBC has over 250 consultants engaged in nine offices located globally. Per Schlumberger’s website, SCB is the world’s leading management consultancy in the upstream oil and gas industry. It is also one of the foremost firms in the broader energy sector.

The acquisition complements Accenture’s technology-driven business strategies and digital knowledge with Schlumberger’s core consulting strengths.

With the upstream oil and gas sector undergoing a major transformation owing to oil price volatility as well as increased regulations and technology advances, energy companies need to boost their internal performance by delivering large capital projects. The attempts are being made to lower project costs and spread into new areas.

Schlumberger is a leading oilfield services company, providing technology, project management and information services to the global oil and gas industry.

We expect Schlumberger's combination of a strong balance sheet, technological leadership and efficient management to prove beneficial in the long term. Moreover, the company’s efforts to increase its capacity in pressure pumping and strengthening deepwater activity in the GoM are likely to add to the revenues, going forward. While hydraulic fracturing pricing and land drilling activity remained depressed throughout North America, this was more than offset by the company’s superior technology, internal efficiency gains and size.

Schlumberger carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks from the same space are Seadrill Partners, LLC SDLP and Deep Down, Inc. DPDW. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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