The U.S. filed a lawsuit to block a merger between two of the largest oil services companies Halliburton and Baker Hughes on antitrust grounds.
The Department of Justice said Wednesday that the transaction threatens to eliminate competition, raise prices and reduce innovation in the oilfield services industry.
“The proposed deal between Halliburton and Baker Hughes would eliminate vital competition, skew energy markets and harm American consumers,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.
The DOJ filed the civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, where both companies are incorporated.
According to the complaint, the acquisition — which the companies valued at $34 billion when announcing it — would combine two of the three largest oilfield services companies in the world and “eliminate important head-to-head competition in markets for 23 products or services used for on- and off-shore oil exploration and production in the United States.”
Both Halliburton and Baker Hughes say they plan to contest the effort to block the deal. The two companies called the lawsuit “counterproductive, especially in the context of the challenges the U.S. and global energy industry are currently experiencing.”