His remarks came as Schlumberger said it expects to squeeze more efficiencies out of last year’s $11 billion acquisition of Smith International and is now targeting $300 million in revenue and cost “synergies” for 2011.

The increase, from a previous figure of $160 million, was a positive message for Paal Kibsgaard, chief executive-in-waiting at the world’s largest oilfield services company, to deliver in his first high-profile presentation to analysts.

Kibsgaard also said that with the growing “momentum” of the Smith integration, the efficiencies should increase even further in 2012, though he declined to give a figure.

The chief operating officer, who is set to take over from CEO Andrew Gould this year, echoed Gould’s typical answer when asked about future acquisitions by saying the company would continue targeting “small” deals that add specific technologies.

Asked by analyst about what made him paranoid, Kibsgaard said it was complacency within the company.

“If you are the leader in anything, and you think that staying the leader is easy and you can relax, that is a recipe for disaster,” said the Norwegian executive, who began his career with Exxon Mobil in 1992 before joining Schlumberger in 1997 as a reservoir engineer in Saudi Arabia.