BusinessWeek: The Stealth Oil Giant

An excellent article in Business Week on Schlumberger (SLB), highly recommended.

While the majors typically want to own rights to oil reserves in the fields they operate—and take a share of the profits—Schlumberger has long been happy to work on a contract basis, getting paid a fixed fee for its services. "Schlumberger is the indispensable company," says J. Robinson West, chairman of PFC Energy, a Washington consulting firm. "They are involved in every major project in every important producing country."

The oil servicing stocks have been strong for a couple of years but so has thir business. i cannot see any big slowdown in the search for oil. Even a big correction in oil prices should still find countries and companies searching for new reserves. Weakness and volatility in stock prices in the face of a US recession may provide a chance to purchase some SLB at a favorable level which is what I am considering.

I am not an analyst and I am not recommending a stock purchase only the article about the stock.