SSLBSLB Limited

SLB services oil wells: drilling, logging, fracturing — work performed on other people's fields.

The company owns no reserves and sells no oil. Its revenue is payment by producers for services, so it tracks not the barrel price directly but customers' capital budgets, which are decided a quarter or two after prices move.

Geography is the main difference from American competitors: a substantial share of work is in the Middle East, Latin America and offshore, where cycles are longer and decisions are taken by state companies rather than shale operators. That makes revenue steadier than a US-only contractor's.

The growth line is digital services: seismic processing, reservoir modelling and software sold by subscription. It carries better margins than field work. Risks are politics in host countries, sanctions and the cyclicality of industry capital spending. SLB pays a dividend.