Houston-based energy technology company Baker Hughes is closing one of its Houston facilities, a move that will impact 174 employees.

The head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has asked America's top three oilfield services companies to explain why they continued doing business in Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

Baker Hughes, a major U.S. oil services company, added its name Saturday to the growing list of U.S. companies that are pulling back from Russia in response to Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

HOUSTON – General Electric on Monday received U.S. antitrust approval to combine its oil and gas operations with Baker Hughes, potentially creating an oil services powerhouse with more than $32 billion in revenue. The approval is conditioned on GE selling its Water and Process Technologies business. "Today’s milestone represents significant progress toward creating an oil and gas productivity leader positioned to deliver value for customers, employees and shareholders," Baker Hughes said in a statement. Download the Click2Houston news app in your app store to stay up-to-date with the latest news while you're on the go. Sign up for KPRC 2 newsletters to get breaking news, sports, entertainment, contests and more delivered straight to your email inbox.

This week, the deal's closure was again stalled by European regulators as EU anti-trust officials halted their investigation saying that information is missing from their requests. The EU commission has expressed concerns about competition being reduced by the deal. This week, Bloomberg reported that Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne voiced concerns over the deal. When asked if he voiced his opinion on Halliburton planning to buy Baker Hughes, he said, "I’m doing my job." Other companies that have been vocal in their opposition of the merger include Chevron Brazil and Sonangol.

A rig drilling today is not the same as a rig drilling 100, 50 or even 10 years ago. Leaps in modern drilling rig efficiency and productivity (as well as capital intensity) is something we've written about repeatedly over the past several years. Last week, the total US drilling rig count fell to a record low since Baker Hughes began tracking the data in 1949. Weekly North American Rig Count StatisticsLast week, the total US rig count fell 9 rigs to 480. WTI is in the high-$30s as of this writing, skewing rig count direction lower and below expectations for the rest of 1H16.