American oil-services firm, one of the industry's leading trio alongside Baker Hughes and Halliburton. The Middle East is a big market for SLB; the Iran war disrupted regional revenues as clients scaled back operations. SLB expects a "broad-based recovery" in upstream markets driven by post-war reconstruction and diversification of oil production away from the Gulf.
When there are two conflicting versions of the story, the wise course is to believe the one in which people appear at their worst.