Baku, Azerbaijan, March 30
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
General Electric Oil & Gas and the US service companies Halliburton and Baker Hughes have again suspended negotiations on a deal on the oil and gas assets in Azerbaijan, a source on the oil and gas market of the country told Trend.
This is due to the prolonged falling prices on global oil markets, according to the source.
"The oil and gas division of General Electric decided to temporarily reduce costs due to the situation on energy markets," the source said. "It is possible that negotiations be resumed in future, as it already used to happen, but one can't say anything certain right now."
Following the merger of Halliburton and Baker Hughes, it was decided to sell a part of services and equipment, including the ones in Azerbaijan.
The oil and gas division of General Electric [GE Oil & Gas] got interested in the acquisition of these assets in Azerbaijan, in particular, such equipment as liner hangers and service work. Negotiations between the parties were already suspended, but then were resumed.
The second and third largest global oilfield services giants, Halliburton and Baker Hughes, agreed to an asset swap in November 2014. The transaction worth $34.6 billion became the largest one in the oil and gas sector. Earlier, the European Commission suspended the consideration of the merger deal of the Halliburton and Baker Hughes US oilfield services companies due to the fact that they didn't provide sufficient information.
GE Oil & Gas has more than 12,000 employees worldwide and provides services to customers in more than 100 countries of the world.
