Weatherford is said to plan sale of laboratories business

Weatherford, which provides equipment, technology and a variety of services for the drilling and production of oil and gas, has reached out to potential private equity and corporate buyers for the business, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

A representative for Weatherford, which is based in Switzerland with much of its operations in Houston, declined to comment.

The decision to sell the lab unit coincides with CEO Mark A. McCollum’s plan to decrease debt and sell non-core businesses. Weatherford is in the process of selling its onshore rig business, with two potential buyers interested.

The company said in its first-quarter earnings call in April that it had started two divestiture projects, according to a transcript. The planned transactions, separate from its drilling rigs divestiture process, were expected to generate about $500 million by the end of the year, it said.

Weatherford’s laboratories business, which was boosted by its 2006 acquisition of OMNI Laboratories, evaluates reservoir rock and fluids for clients. Its services include routine and special core analysis and geochemical analysis of rock and fluid samples, according to the company’s website.