Schlumberger NV has agreed to buy a 51% stake in Russian peer Eurasia Drilling Co (EDC) in a deal likely to test Russia-US ties. MOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) – U.S. oilfield services giant Schlumberger NV has agreed to buy a 51 percent stake in Russian peer Eurasia Drilling Co (EDC) in a deal likely to test Russia-U.S. ties. The deal marks Schlumberger’s second attempt to buy into EDC and the first U.S. stake in Russia’s oil and gas sector since sanctions were imposed on Moscow after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. “I warmly welcome Schlumberger as our majority shareholder. It builds on our strategic alliance with Schlumberger since 2011 and our mutually beneficial business relationship since 2007,” EDC Chief Executive Alexander Djaparidze said in a statement late on Thursday. In 2015, Schlumberger agreed to buy 45.65 percent of EDC for $1.7 billion but the deal fell through after Russia’s […]