Microsoft and Schlumberger Launch Strategic Initiative to Accelerate the Delivery of the Integrated Oil and Gas Analysis and Enterprise Desktop

HOUSTON — May 25, 2005— Microsoft Corp. and Schlumberger today announced a strategic initiative to better align oil and gas analysis and enterprise desktop software capabilities and to accelerate the delivery of exploration and production (E&P) desktop solutions on the Windows® and Microsoft® .NET platforms.

The new initiative reinforces the long-standing working relationship between Schlumberger and Microsoft, and strengthens the commitment of the two companies to work closely together to help bring greater productivity to the working environments of petroprofessionals around the world.

“Schlumberger is a leader in delivering advanced solutions to the oil and gas industry,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “We’re collaborating on the next generation of its software that is being designed to give better and more predictive information to geoscientists and engineers. Combining our talents in this extremely important work will have a tremendous impact on the industry.”

“The oil and gas industry faces critical challenges to meet growing global demand, replace reserves, increase recovery rates and manage the shortage of skilled professionals. Every company will need to harness innovative technologies to succeed,” said Olivier Le Peuch, president of Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS). “We are excited to work closely with Microsoft to deliver innovation that bridges the technical and business-decision processes to better meet these challenges.”

With its leadership in supplying E&P software including interpretation, reservoir simulation and high-end visualization, Schlumberger will assist Microsoft in bringing high-performance computing to the E&P desktop in two key areas: seismic to simulation petrotechnical workflows, and integrated asset modeling from the reservoir to production facilities. Microsoft will work closely with Schlumberger to optimize and accelerate development of SIS applications on .NET and to help ensure long-term development alignment and early deployment of new Microsoft technology. Microsoft .NET is a set of software technologies that connect information, people, systems and devices via comprehensive support for IT industry-standard Extensible Markup Language (XML).

“With Microsoft providing architectural guidance, consulting and best practices, we will be able to leverage the full potential of .NET in Ocean,* our open development framework, to speed the deployment of the next generation of software tools, including Petrel* seismic to simulation and Avocet* production solutions to the benefit of our customers,” said Justin Rounce, vice president, Software, SIS.

The Microsoft-SIS collaboration will provide additional benefits to E&P customers, including the opportunity to move to a single IT environment, thus helping reduce cost and complexity, with all the workflow advantages of integrating the petrotechnical desktop with the enterprise desktop.

“Microsoft is committed to deepening our understanding of the oil and gas industry so we can continue to provide technology solutions that deliver real business advantage and a maximum return on investment,” said Marisé Mikulis, worldwide oil and gas industry manager at Microsoft. “Our relationship with Schlumberger will enable us to be very good at providing important innovations that are transformational in what they do for oil- and gas-related companies worldwide.”

About Schlumberger

Schlumberger is the world’s leading oilfield services company supplying technology, project management and information solutions that optimize performance for customers working in the oil and gas industry. The company employs more than 52,000 people of over 140 nationalities working in 80 countries. Schlumberger supplies a wide range of products and services from formation evaluation through directional drilling, well cementing and stimulation, well completions and productivity to consulting, software, information management and IT infrastructure services that support core industry operational processes. In 2004, Schlumberger operating revenue was $11.48 billion. For more information, visit slb.com.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

* Mark of Schlumberger

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