By Luke Geiver

Texas-based oil and gas drilling contractor Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. has agreed to acquire MS Energy Services, a directional drilling company founded in Conroe, Texas. Through the acquisition, Patterson-UTI will gain a strong group of employees and a suite of in-house technologies developed by MS Energy.

According to Andy Hendricks, CEO of Patterson-UTI, MS Energy has “differentiated themselves within the industry due to a strong focus on technology. The company has created a proprietary mud motor, measurement while drilling unit and survey equipment that was designed and engineered in-house. “Their internally-developed and patented clean communications technology enables high speed electromagnetic MWD telemetry independent of geological formation constraints in pad drilling,” Hendricks said, “which saves E&P companies considerable drilling time and expense.”

After the transaction closes in the fourth quarter, Patterson-UTI will have greater access to the North American unconventional oil and gas market, said Mark Siegel, chairman. “With the increasing proportion of pad drilling and the growing number of horizontal wells per pad, directional drilling is seeing an increase in demand,” Siegel said, “even in the vertical section of the wells, as the well placement is increasingly important to avoid interfering with other nearby wells.”

MS Energy is currently active in nearly every major U.S. shale play. In April, the company merged with Seventy Seven Energy. Siegel called the merger the most important since the merger between Patterson and UTI. For the month of August, Patterson-UTI had 162 drilling rigs operating in North America.