Investing.com -- Shares in Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB) inched down on Thursday, one day after the world's largest oilfield services company reached a $232.7 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for violating U.S. sanctions by conducting business transactions with customers in Iran and Sudan.
During a seven-year period from early 2004 until about June 2010, Schlumberger's Drilling & Measurements segment provided oilfield services to customers in the two nations that were under sanction from the U.S. government, according to court documents. At the time, the company engaged in an illegal scheme with a capital expenditure process that was used to predict the equipment needed for its oilfields throughout the world, according to the Department of Justice. In company emails, the unit concealed the identity of locations in Iran by referring to them as oilfields in the "Northern Gulf," and areas in Sudan by inaccurately describing them as "Southern or South Egypt," the Justice Department said in a statement.
The actions by Schlumberger's Drilling & Measurement segment were in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
“The International Emergency Economic Powers Act is an essential tool that the United States uses to address foreign threats to national security through the regulation of commerce," U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said in a statement. "Knowingly circumventing sanctions undermines their efficacy and has the potential to harm both U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives. The guilty plea and significant financial penalty in this case underscore that skirting sanctions for financial gain is a risk corporations ought not take.”
Schlumberger informed the U.S. State Department in 2009 that it would stop pursuing new oilfield contracts in Iran. By 2011, the company ended its pursuit of new contracts in Sudan.
Shares in Schlumberger fell 0.16% or 0.13 to 83.16 on Thursday.
“This is a landmark case that puts global corporations on notice that they must respect our trade laws when on American soil,” said U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen.