The US Government is set to take legal action this week to block a proposed merger of the world’s second and third largest oilfield services firms Halliburton and Baker Hughes, according to Bloomberg and Reuters.
This deal has been in the works for some time, having first emerged in late 2014.
Department of Justice lawyers would be challenging the merger of the two Houston-based companies on anti-trust grounds. Regulators as far afield as Europe and Australia have also expressed concern about the proposed merger.
If the merger proceeds it would create the largest oilfield services company in the world, overtaking the current market leader Schlumberger.
It was originally valued as a $35bn merger but market conditions and falling share prices have seen that valuation drop to $25bn.
