FEI Adds to Oil and Gas Offering
FEI also stated that it plans to expand microCT equipment sales to other markets. Lithicon’s products are utilized to evaluate, characterize, and optimize oil and gas reservoirs, and for performance prediction. On the company’s quarterly conference call, FEI stated that the digital rock and reservoir workflow includes microCT, FEI’s DualBeam scanning electron microscope and software.
Hillsboro, OR 2/5/14—FEI has acquired Lithicon, a provider of digital rock technology services and pore-scale micro–computed tomography (microCT) equipment to oil and gas companies, for $68 million. In addition, through a licensing and development agreement, FEI has acquired the helical scan microCT product and associated software from Australian National University. “The acquisition of Lithicon and the microCT tool completes our digital rock workflow for the oil and gas market,” stated FEI President and CEO Don Kania. “This will significantly accelerate the growth of our served available market. We will integrate both Lithicon and the microCT product with the automated mineralogy capabilities in our Natural Resources business, the advanced 3-D visualization and modeling expertise in our Visualization Sciences Group, and our electron microscopy leadership to provide a unique and powerful workflow solution for both conventional and unconventional oil and gas markets.” The acquisition is expected to add 1%–2% to revenues for the balance of 2014. It is projected to be slightly dilutive to GAAP earnings in 2014 and accretive in 2015.
