By James Marson

MOSCOW--Schlumberger Ltd.'s (SLB)collapsed $1.7 billion deal for a stake in Russia's largest onshore drilling company had a good chance of approval if the Western oil-services company had been more patient, the head of Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service said Friday.

Schlumberger Wednesday backed out of the deal to buy a 45% stake of Eurasia Drilling Co., with an option to buy the rest of the company at a later date. The transaction, proposed in January and accepted by EDC, was expected to close in March.

But Schlumberger set a Sept. 30 deadline for approval of the deal by Russian officials, which never came.

"I think that if they had shown more patience, then there were good chances," Igor Artemyev, the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

Write to James Marson at james.marson@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 02, 2015 04:48 ET (08:48 GMT)

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