23 July 2012, Sweetcrude, HOUSTON – US oil services giant Halliburton saw a slight decline in profit as it said its investments and restructuring efforts in Africa last year are paying off.
The company, which maintains operations in Nigeria, saw net profit for the three months to the end of June slide to $739 million as against $741 million a year earlier.
This was despite revenues jumping from $5.94 billion to $7.23 billion with both the completion and production and drilling and evaluation businesses performing well.
All international regions saw a double-digit percentage growth in revenue and operating income but margins were down in North America on rising costs and pricing pressure.
Dave Lesar, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said: “North America operating income decreased 19% from the first quarter, impacted by escalating costs associated with guar gum, a blending additive used in our hydraulic fracturing processes.
“Libya continues to recover, while the investments and restructuring efforts made last year in Africa continue to pay off.”
He added: “Europe/Africa/CIS had a strong recovery from the seasonal weather impact in the first quarter,” Lesar continued.
“The Europe and Eurasia areas as a whole are generating margins higher than our current Eastern Hemisphere average.
“In Middle East/Asia, we recovered well from the seasonal weather experienced by Australia in the previous quarter and sales in China rebounded sharply from seasonally low levels in the first quarter.
“Going forward, we intend to maintain our market leading position in North America, strengthen our international margins, and grow our market share in deepwater and in underserved international markets.”
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