Just a few miles down the road from Facebook’s headquarters, Schlumberger’s Software Technology Innovation Center in leafy Menlo Park feels like just another Silicon Valley business with dreams of changing the world.

Walls are covered with Post-it notes with ideas for product features and design principles, and the canteen has bowls of fruit and a shared pizza delivery every Friday lunchtime. Some of the engineers use standing desks and balance boards to exercise while they work. They are drawn from a diverse range of countries and industry backgrounds: one was at Nasa before coming here, another worked for HBO.

Like many successful engineers in northern California, Ashok Belani, Schlumberger’s executive vice-president for technology and the force behind the centre, drives a Tesla to work.