Oilfield services group Schlumberger expects better performance this year after predicting higher demand for technology to access harder-to-reach oil – despite winter whiteouts hitting its operations around the world.
Severe weather in Russia and the USA saw the firm’s revenues drop 11% from the last quarter of 2013, but up more than 20% year on year after a challenging 2013.
But the company said it was anticipating well spend to increase by more than 6% this year, with strong growth both in the boom market of the USA and among international projects, including the North Sea.
Profits for the first three months of 2014 were $1.59billion, up from $1.26billion during the same period last year.
“We remain positive on the year to come, with our broad geographical footprint, balanced technology portfolio and agile organisation providing both protection from potential market disturbances, and the ability to capitalise on market opportunities,” said chief executive Paal Kibsgaard.
Schlumberger, which has landed a five-year deal to provide well services for the giant Ivar Aasen North Sea field, said
The company said its WesternGeco subsidiary had also picked up deals with Statoil and BP to provide data acquisition in the North Sea, including a 1000 square km shoot West of Shetland.
WesternGeco will also provide new scans of Chevron’s Alba field this year.
“Our solid year-on-year growth rates were led by the Middle East & Asia and North America areas although all geographies benefitted from an increasing focus on operational excellence and efficiency,” said Kibsgaard.
“The fundamentals of the global economic recovery remain intact in spite of the unusually harsh winter weather in parts of the northern hemisphere, some signs of a slowdown in China and the unsettled situation in Ukraine.
“These factors, however, are likely temporary in nature and the oil markets continue to be tighter than once anticipated, driven by strong demand trends, lower spare capacity figures and a fall in OECD stocks.”
Meanwhile rivals Baker Hughes saw profits rise to £172million for the first quarter, despite seeing a downturn in European operations.
The company, which suffered losses of £13million through Venezuela’s devaluation in February last year, was boosted by the US shale boom which has driven up activity levels.
Baker Hughes said it expected an increase in rig count for the rest of the year as drilling levels increased following more than year of decline. It was also boosted by operations from East, after a decline in European and African work.
“For the first time, the Middle East/Asia Pacific segment has ended the quarter as our largest international segment,” said chief executive Martin Craighead.
“This reflects the investments we have made over the years to extend our global infrastructure and expand our capabilities to win complex integrated operations work.
“During the quarter, the Gulf of Mexico was impacted by industry-wide delays. However, we are very encouraged by the long-term potential of this deepwater market, as well as for Norway.”
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