Baker Hughes to Buy BJ Services for $5.5 Billion

(Bloomberg) — Baker Hughes Inc. agreed to buy BJ Services Co. for $5.5 billion, the largest oilfield-services company takeover since 1998, in a bet on U.S. natural-gas shale formations.

…BJ Services is the third-biggest provider of so-called pressure-pumping services, whereby slurry, often sand and water, is injected into a well to stimulate production. Pressure pumping is used in unconventional gas plays such as shale formations to break up rock. The method is expected to account for about 20 percent of the combined company