AI interpretation based on checked source excerpts. Issuer assertions and evidence limitations remain explicit.
Policy quality-scores-2: six equally weighted categories. The overall score requires full coverage. Missing inputs are not zero. Qualitative grades are sourced interpretations, not probabilities. 4/6 · 19/10/2026
Moat56
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
structural advantage · 3/4 · A material proprietary technology portfolio, specialized modeling applications, premium-technology uptake and growing digital recurring revenue demonstrate commercially relevant differentiation. They support a narrow intangible-assets advantage without establishing network effects, superior unit costs or market-wide dominance.
durability · 2/4 · Portfolio breadth reduces reliance on an individual patent, and recurring digital demand supports continuity. However, similar technology can be independently developed and products can become obsolete. The supplied evidence does not establish an exceptional competitive life.
customer dependency · 2/4 · Applications support consequential reservoir and operating decisions, while growing recurring revenue indicates continuing demand. Dependency is assessed indirectly: the passages do not demonstrate costly migrations, exclusive relationships or inability to substitute competing services.
erosion resilience · 2/4 · Digital adoption and geographic diversification provide some resilience, including second-quarter growth despite regional disruptions. Actual pricing headwinds and core margin contraction show incomplete protection. Conflict-related activity losses are not treated as proof of technological displacement.
Pricing power56
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
realized pricing · 2/4 · Conversion of improved-price backlog benefited 2024 Production Systems results, demonstrating favorable realized pricing in part of the portfolio. First-half 2026 Well Construction faced pricing headwinds in selected markets, and historical downturns brought downward price pressure. The record supports selective, cyclical pricing power.
retention · 2/4 · Digital recurring revenue exceeding $1 billion with 15% growth and backlog increasing from $5.6 billion to $6.4 billion support continuing demand indirectly. Neither metric distinguishes retained customers from new wins or establishes renewal rates and switching friction.
margin resilience · 2/4 · Digital profitability improved sequentially with favorable license sales and operating performance, while Well Construction and Production Systems margins contracted year on year. Results show mixed resilience across the portfolio; activity disruptions and sales mix prevent attributing margin changes solely to pricing.
contractual freedom · 3/4 · Posted drilling-business terms demonstrate strong contractual freedom: SLB may revise prices for market conditions or increased costs despite prior quotes or orders, and charge specified fees and adjustable fuel surcharges. These default rights can be superseded by an Order or written agreement. Evidence covers the named drilling businesses, not all SLB contracts; company-wide applicability and exceptional durability are unestablished.
Predictability91
Five consecutive annual periods. Equal weights: nondeclining revenue frequency; revenue-growth volatility (5–40pp); positive FCF frequency; FCF-margin volatility (3–20pp). Stability indicator, not a growth forecast.
- Nondeclining revenue years (%)
- 75.00
- Revenue growth volatility (pp)
- 9.18
- Positive FCF years (%)
- 100.00
- FCF margin volatility (pp)
- 2.71
Financial strength—
Missing required inputs: debtFcfGrade, netDebtEbitGrade. Equal-weight grades: debt/FCF (1–8x), net debt/earnings before interest and tax (0–5x), interest service (1–12x), current ratio (0.75–2x). Earnings use reported operating income, or reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense when operating income is unavailable. Interest service uses earnings/interest expense; if unavailable, it uses reported operating cash flow/cash interest paid, without relabeling cash paid as accrued expense. Nonpositive cash flow/earnings score 0 for their service component; reported zero interest with a positive numerator scores 100. Net cash scores 100 for net leverage. Missing disclosures remain unavailable. General nonfinancial-company rubric, not a credit rating; exceptional and nonoperating gains are not normalized out. IFRS finance-cost and cash-flow classifications retain their reported scope.
- interestCoverageGrade
- 69.91
- currentRatioGrade
- 46.04
- Current ratio (x)
- 1.33
Capital allocation—
Missing required inputs: operatingReturn. Three-year equal-weight indicators: pretax return on average invested capital (0–25%; equity + debt − cash, each year and its prior year), share-count growth (0–5%, lower better), share-based cost/revenue (2–20%, lower better), consolidated FCF/net income (0–1x). Return uses reported operating income or, if unavailable, EBIT calculated from reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense; exceptional/nonoperating gains are not normalized out. Share-based cost uses the reported cash-flow add-back or, if absent, separately reported recognized compensation expense; the latter never becomes an FCF adjustment. Nonpositive net income scores 0 for cash conversion; absent income/FCF stays unavailable. Nonpositive invested capital has no defined return and remains unavailable. Does not establish acquisition quality or buyback timing.
- 3-year average dilution (%)
- 0.12
- 3-year average SBC / revenue (%)
- 0.89
- cashConversionGrade
- 100.00
Management63
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
capital discipline · 2/4 · Three consecutive years of at least $4 billion in free cash flow and 2025 distributions broadly covered by that cash generation support discipline. First-half 2026 distributions exceeded free cash flow and net debt increased; the ChampionX acquisition also involved substantial share issuance. Its disclosed operating contribution is positive, but acquisition returns and full-cycle outcomes remain unestablished.
incentive alignment · 3/4 · Existing long-term grants predominantly use performance units measured over three years, and actual 2025 cash incentives averaged below target. Ownership requirements, mandatory retention and clawbacks provide additional alignment. Actual holdings and long-term realized payout sensitivity are not established; proposed plan amendments are excluded.
execution · 2/4 · Digital adoption, recurring-revenue growth and the acquired ChampionX operating contribution demonstrate delivery. A significant Capturi project loss and weaker organic Production Systems results make execution mixed. This assessment uses operating outcomes indirectly and recognizes that Middle East disruptions explain part of the weakness; acquired Digital revenue is not counted as organic adoption.
governance · 3/4 · Separate CEO and chair roles since 2019, an independent chair with defined responsibilities, independent key committees and disclosed clawbacks provide strong evidence of governance safeguards. These arrangements do not establish exceptional oversight effectiveness or eliminate discretion and execution risk.
Evidence
Intellectual Property SLB owns or controls one of the industry’s leading portfolios of intellectual property, including but not limited to patents, proprietary information, trade secrets, and software tools and applications that, in the aggregate, are material to SLB’s business.
Business—Intellectual Property · Filed 23/01/2026
• Platforms & Applications: Includes SLB’s cloud technologies such as the Delfi™ and Lumi™ platforms, along with a suite of specialized, domain-focused applications such as Petrel™ and Techlog™ offered as SaaS subscription or perpetual licenses.
Business—Digital—Platforms & Applications · Filed 23/01/2026
These platforms and applications automate complex models to simulate the impact of reservoir development plans and aid in the planning of key operations such as drilling, completion, and production designs.
Business—Digital customer workflows · Filed 23/01/2026
Reservoir Performance pretax operating margin of 20% increased 105 basis points sequentially, reflecting improved profitability in evaluation and intervention services due to the higher uptake of premium technologies.
MD&A—Reservoir Performance—sequential premium-technology uptake · Filed 23/01/2026
Digital annual recurring revenue exceeded $ 1 billion and increased 15% year on year.
2025 performance—Digital annual recurring revenue · Filed 26/02/2026
While SLB seeks and holds a significant number of patents covering various products and processes, no particular patent or group of patents is material to SLB’s business.
Business—Intellectual Property—patent materiality · Filed 23/01/2026
Our competitors may also be able to develop technology independently that is similar to ours without infringing on our patents or gaining access to our trade secrets.
Risk Factors—independent development of competing technology · Filed 23/01/2026
Furthermore, competing or new technologies may accelerate the obsolescence of our products or services and reduce the value of our intellectual property.
Risk Factors—technology obsolescence · Filed 23/01/2026
Well Construction pretax operating margin of 15% contracted 401 bps year on year primarily due to lower profitability as a result of the Middle East conflict compounded by pricing headwinds in select markets.
MD&A—first-half 2026 Well Construction profitability and pricing headwinds · Filed 29/07/2026
The oil and gas industry has historically experienced periodic downturns, which have been characterized by diminished demand for our products and services and downward pressure on the prices that we are able to charge.
Risk Factors—historical industry downturns and realized pricing pressure · Filed 23/01/2026
6 Competition The principal methods of competition within the energy services industry are technological innovation, quality of service, and price differentiation.
Business—Competition—innovation, service quality and price · Filed 23/01/2026
SLB has numerous competitors, both large and small.
Business—Competition—numerous competitors · Filed 23/01/2026
Production Systems pretax operating margin of 16% expanded 325 bps year on year driven by a favorable activity mix, execution efficiency, and conversion of improved-price backlog.
MD&A—2024 Production Systems improved-price backlog conversion · Filed 23/01/2026
Total backlog was $6.4 billion at June 30, 2026, of which approximately 70% is expected to be recognized as revenue over the next 12 months.
Notes—backlog at June 30, 2026 · Filed 29/07/2026
Total backlog was $5.6 billion at December 31, 2025, of which approximately 65% is expected to be recognized as revenue during 2026.
Notes—backlog at December 31, 2025 · Filed 23/01/2026
Production Systems pretax operating margin of 15% contracted 178 bps year on year due to lower profitability in surface production systems, SLB OneSubsea and completions.
MD&A—first-half 2026 Production Systems margin contraction · Filed 29/07/2026
Digital pretax operating margin of 28%, expanded 683 basis points (“bps”) sequentially, primarily due to higher sales of exploration data licenses and transfer fees, as well as improved profitability in Digital Operations and Platforms & Applications.
MD&A—second-quarter 2026 Digital margin and sales mix · Filed 29/07/2026
In 2025, we generated $4.11 billion in free cash flow and returned $4.02 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, a 23% increase over the prior year.
Board letter—2025 free cash flow and shareholder distributions · Filed 26/02/2026
This marked our third consecutive year of free cash flow at or above $4 billion, providing the liquidity to return $4.02 billion to shareholders, a 23% increase year-over-year.
2025 performance—three-year free cash flow record · Filed 26/02/2026
30, Changes in Liquidity: 2026 2025 Net income $ 1,576 $ 1,877 Depreciation and amortization (2) 1,397 1,273 Gain on sale of Palliser APS project - (149 ) Impairment of equity method investment - 69 Earnings of equity method investments, less dividends received (21 ) (47 ) Deferred taxes (5 ) (60 ) Stock-based compensation expense 179 168 Increase in working capital (1,344 ) (1,401 ) Other 64 72 Cash flow from operations 1,846 1,802 Capital expenditures (802 ) (769 ) APS investments (226 ) (225 ) Exploration data costs capitalized (125 ) (83 ) Free cash flow (3) 693 725 Stock repurchase program (1,099 ) (2,300 ) Dividends paid (866 ) (773 ) Proceeds from employee stock purchase plan 105 105 Proceeds from exercise of stock options 106 8 Business acquisitions and investments, net of cash acquired and debt assumed (249 ) (47 ) Proceeds from the sale of Palliser APS project - 316 Taxes paid on net settled stock-based compensation awards (63 ) (55 ) Other (42 ) (30 ) Increase in net debt before impact of changes in foreign exchange rates (1,415 ) (2,051 ) Impact of changes in foreign exchange rates on net debt 112 (495 ) Increase in net debt (1,303 ) (2,546 ) Net debt, beginning of period (7,424 ) (7,405 ) Net debt, end of period $ (8,727 ) $ (9,951 ) (1) “Net debt” represents gross debt less cash and short-term investments.
MD&A—first-half liquidity, investments, distributions and net debt · Filed 29/07/2026
SLB issued 141 million shares of its common stock valued at $4.9 billion in connection with this transaction.
Business—ChampionX acquisition share issuance · Filed 23/01/2026
Production Systems Production Systems revenue of $7.3 billion increased 26% year on year from the acquired ChampionX production chemicals and artificial lift businesses, which contributed $1.7 billion of revenue and $307 million in pretax operating income during the first six months of 2026.
MD&A—first-half 2026 acquired ChampionX operating contribution · Filed 29/07/2026
Pretax operating income declined $11 million sequentially as improved profitability from the higher revenue in APS in Ecuador was more than offset by a significant loss on one particular project in SLB Capturi.
MD&A—SLB Capturi project loss · Filed 23/01/2026
Since 2021, our Compensation Committee has awarded to our NEOs and other executives a diversified mix of LTI grants, with 75% of their target LTI opportunity awarded in the form of PSUs—with payout contingent on achieving absolute and relative performance goals over three-year periods—and 25% awarded in the form of three-year, time-based RSUs.
Compensation Discussion and Analysis—existing long-term incentive grants · Filed 26/02/2026
Average STI Payout — 83%— Our current NEOs earned an average 2025 cash incentive payout of 83% of target.
Compensation Discussion and Analysis—actual 2025 short-term incentive payout · Filed 26/02/2026
Robust Stock Holding Requirements— Our CEO is required to own an amount of SLB shares valued at six times (6x) his annual base salary; our EVPs must own at least three times (3x) their annual base salaries; and all other Executive and Corporate Officers must own at least two times (2x) their annual base salaries.
Executive compensation governance—stock ownership requirements · Filed 26/02/2026
Mandatory Retention of Shares — Executives must retain 50% of the net shares they acquire upon the exercise of stock options and the vesting of PSUs and RSUs, until they achieve the required ownership level under our stock ownership guidelines.
Executive compensation governance—mandatory share retention · Filed 26/02/2026
Both cash incentive and performance-based equity compensation are subject to our clawback policy and in 2025, the Board added an additional clawback for executive misconduct.
Executive compensation governance—clawback policies · Filed 26/02/2026
Since 2019, our Board has separated the roles of CEO and Board Chair, to allow our CEO to focus on leading SLB’s complex international business operations, while the Chair provides the Board with experienced and independent leadership.
Corporate Governance—separate CEO and Board Chair roles since 2019 · Filed 26/02/2026
Mr. Hackett currently serves as independent Board Chair, and in that role, sets the agenda for and leads all Board meetings and all executive sessions of the non-executive directors.
Corporate Governance—independent Board Chair responsibilities · Filed 26/02/2026
Each member of the Audit, Compensation, and Nominating and Governance committees meets the independence and other requirements of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)listing standards and SEC rules (including the heightened requirements that apply to audit or compensation committee members, as applicable).
Corporate Governance—committee independence · Filed 26/02/2026
Excluding the impact of the acquisition, Production Systems revenue for the first six months of 2026 decreased 3% year on year primarily due to the disruptions from the Middle East conflict.
MD&A—first-half 2026 Production Systems revenue excluding acquisition · Filed 29/07/2026
Digital: Digital revenue grew 9% in 2025 driven by significant uptake in Digital Operations as well as steady growth in Platforms & Applications as customers continued to invest in AI and automated solutions to improve performance and efficiency.
2025 performance—Digital growth and customer adoption · Filed 26/02/2026
Second-quarter 2026 revenue of $9.0 billion increased 3% compared to the first quarter of 2026 as broad-based growth across international markets—led by offshore activity in Latin America, Europe & Africa, and Asia—more than offset the impact of continued disruptions in the Middle East.
MD&A—second-quarter 2026 geographic growth offsetting Middle East disruptions · Filed 29/07/2026
This growth was supported by increased digital services adoption and new technology introduction as well as the acquisition of ChampionX, which contributed $32 million of digital revenue during the first quarter of 2026.
MD&A—first-quarter 2026 Digital adoption and acquired revenue contribution · Filed 29/04/2026
d. Pricing Changes: SLB has the right to revise pricing applicable to the Work at any time, including without limitation (i) whenever SLB determines that market conditions support such revision; and (ii) whenever SLB determines it has been impacted by an increase in the cost of providing products and/or services, including commodities, trucking, labor, materials and/or ancillary products, materials or services related thereto (as well as associated taxes and tariffs), regardless of variation from any pre-job quotes, orders, estimates or the like that may have been submitted by SLB.
General Commercial Conditions, clause d: Pricing Changes · Retrieved 19/10/2026
e. Pricing Exclusions: Quoted prices do not include any of the following items, which may be charged as determined by SLB for a given scope of work, and shall not be considered an exhaustive list: (i) mobilization and demobilization fees; (ii) stand-by (or crew and equipment) fees and demurrage (incurred by SLB Group), which shall apply in any and all circumstances other than when due to the sole fault of SLB; (iii) third party reimbursable fee of 20% (or as may otherwise be specified in SLB's applicable price list); (iv) fuel surcharges (as may be specified in SLB's applicable price list and subject to further adjustment based on the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) for US Retail On-Highway Diesel) and transportation/mileage fees; and (v) cancellation fees, return/restocking fees and buy-back fees.
General Commercial Conditions, clause e: Pricing Exclusions · Retrieved 19/10/2026
Unless otherwise set forth in the relevant Order or otherwise agreed to in writing by SLB, the following commercial conditions shall apply:
General Commercial Conditions: exceptions for relevant Orders or written agreements · Retrieved 19/10/2026
