INTERNATIONAL energy service giant Schlumberger said yesterday it would emerge from the economic downturn a stronger company, better positioned to participate in the anticipated upturn.
The upbeat tone came as the Houston-based group revealed a sharp fall in quarterly profits.
Schlumberger revealed earlier this month that it was looking at the most effective ways of managing resources throughout its operations.
It said it was planning to shed 5% of its North American workforce, or 1,000 jobs, and was also looking at reductions elsewhere.
A UK spokeswoman said at the time it was too early to say if jobs would go in the Aberdeen area, where the firm employs more than 2,000 people.
Schlumberger has more than 84,000 workers in about 80 countries, with around 4,000 of them in the UK.
Net profits for the last three months of 2008 came in at £842.4million, against £1.10billion a year earlier.
The slump meant the group ended last year on annual net profits of £3.98billion, against £3.79billion in 2007. Fourth-quarter 2008 revenue of £5.02billion, versus £4.57billion a year earlier, took last year’s total to £19.82billion, up from £16.99billion in 2007.
Schlumberger chief executive Andrew Gould said low oil prices and other factors made trading conditions difficult.
He added: “The sharp drop in oil and gas prices due to lower demand, higher inventories and the belief that demand will erode further in 2009 as a result of reduced economic activity is leading to rapid and substantial reductions in exploration and production expenditure.
“At current prices, most of the new categories of hydrocarbon resources are not economic to develop.”
Mr Gould said it would take time for inflation to be removed from the system and to bring exploration and development costs more into line with commodity prices.
He added: “We expect 2009 activity to weaken across the board, with the most significant declines occurring in North American gas drilling, Russian oil production enhancement and in mature offshore basins. Exploration offshore will be somewhat curtailed but commitments already planned are likely to be honoured.”
