Oilfield services giant Halliburton is understood to have made a £1.7 billion ($3.36 billion) cash offer for Aberdeen-based oilfield tools expert Expro International, a move that tops a rival bid from an investment group, yet was called a "proposal" by the Expro board and not "a firm intention to make an offer."

A further announcement will be made in due course, Expro said.

Under the offer, Expro would have to keep showing Halliburton its books while shareholders examine a £0.90 hike over the bid made by Candover-lead venture capital consortium, Umbrellastream, which includes Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Alpinvest. That consortium's bid was once agreed by Expro's board, although the offer valued the company at £1.6 billion ($3.17 billion).

In their 146-page recommendation, the Expro board had suggested shareholders accept the Umbrellastream offer. In it, the board’s “irrevocable undertakings” were said to “cease to be binding” should a third party show “firm intention to make an offer”.

Expro shareholders, who saw their share price rise today, are understood to still be called to a meeting set for June 2.

The Aberdeen oil-services outfit has grown rapidly in the last five years with well-flow management tools and services. In the span, revenues have swelled by 138 percent to £520 million a year.

Importantly, Expro has developed a riserless lightwell intervention technique which competes with a rival Norwgian system and allows less-expensive ships to be called in for vital well work instead of vastly more expensive rigs.

In its Offshore Northern Seas 2008 edition, Scandoil.com affiliate Scandinavian Oil-Gas Magazine reveals how well-intervention designs are also helping drive a boom in shipbuilding.

ws@scandoil.com