Eurasia Drilling’s top shareholders and management have proposed taking the oil services company private, after Schlumberger walked away from making a $1.7bn investment following resistance from Russian regulators.

Eurasia Drilling Co., the Russian oil driller whose planned acquisition by Schlumberger Ltd. collapsed last month, said it received a buyout offer from management and shareholders.

The Asian market is one of the key priorities for Gazprom and Sakhalin’s energy plays a significant role in the company’s strategy. This year the Sakhalin II project is celebrating its 10th anniversary. It is one of the world’s largest integrated, export-oriented gas and oil projects that became possible after the first ever Russian production sharing agreement in 1994. Sakhalin II is managed and operated by Sakhalin Energy Company and its shareholders: Gazprom (50% and 1 share), Shell (27.5% minus 1 share), Mitsui (12,5%), Mitsubishi (10%). It includes the only Russian LNG plant with 13.2 bcm annual capacity.

Schlumberger Limited announced that it does not intend to extend the pending agreement to acquire a minority equity interest in Eurasia Drilling Company Limited, once the current extension expires on September 30, 2015. The Company will instead focus on other M&A opportunities.

Issues have emerged in Russia that could delay or prevent Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) from closing a deal with Eurasia. Earlier this year, Schlumberger made a $1.7 billion offer to take a stake in Eurasia, also expressing willingness to acquire the rest of the company. Eurasia is Russia’s largest oil-services company. However, as it turns out, Russia’s Federal Security Service, also known as FSB, is expressing some reservations over the deal.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, is holding up Schlumberger Ltd.’s acquisition of a 46 percent stake in Eurasia Drilling Co., according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Prices have also risen with internationally traded Brent recovering from a six-year low near $45 a barrel in January to $64.90 on Wednesday.

Natural gas international markets are constantly growing. Despite the ongoing crisis, Europe is increasing its dependence on imports, while emerging economies in Asia face the daunting task of fuelling their economic growth.

Russia's gas supplies to the Asia-Pacific Region by 2035 can rise ninefold from 14 to 130 billion cubic meters, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the Krasnoyarsk economic forum.

European shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are set to fall from record levels as the lowest Asian prices since 2010 remove the incentive to re-export the fuel.