SLB Schlumberger Ltd

By Benoit Faucon 

TEHRAN--The managing director of Well Services of Iran on Friday denied that he told The Wall Street Journal about talks involving a sale of his company to Schlumberger Ltd.

Siamik Javid, the chief of Well Services of Iran, an oil-field services company, told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that his company's shareholders "are in negotiations with Schlumberger" in response to a question about whether Schlumberger would buy Well Services.

After the Journal published a story about the talks on Friday, Mr. Javid denied knowing that any sale discussions were under way. "I am not aware of any discussion between [the] shareholders of [Well Services of Iran] and Schlumberger and I never said [there was any] talk between WSI shareholders and Schlumberger," he said in an email.

Schlumberger owned Well Services until 2010 when it sold the Iranian firm to a Hong Kong-based holding company called Nima Energy to comply with tightening Western sanctions.

Responding to the article, Hamza Qarooni, an executive director of Nima Energy, said there had been no "formal discussion" between Schlumberger and Nima about Well Services.

Schlumberger Ltd. is the world's largest oil-field services company and worked in Iran before much of the Western world imposed crippling sanctions on the country over its nuclear program. Those sanctions were lifted Saturday, allowing Western businesses to consider investing in Iran again, including its vast energy resources.

A Schlumberger spokesman said: "Schlumberger is currently reviewing the recent changes to the law. We will evaluate our options based on this review as well as the business environment and other relevant factors."

Write to Benoît Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 22, 2016 16:34 ET (21:34 GMT)

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