North American fracking leader Halliburton saw its revenues jump nearly 30 percent from a year ago as it reported a small overall profit for the second quarter.
As the US onshore oil and gas business booms again in West Texas, Halliburton is taking advantage by growing its hydraulic fracturing and drilling businesses. Halliburton’s $4.96 billion in second-quarter revenues are up 29 percent from the same time last year and 16 percent from the first quarter of 2017.
Halliburton executive chairman Dave Lesar, who recently retired from his longtime CEO role, said: “Our performance this quarter demonstrates that Halliburton is the execution company, and we are the leader in North America.
“More broadly, we outperformed our major peer in every geo-market, demonstrating that we continue to grow our global market share.”
Halliburton posted a small $28 million net profit for the second quarter, which is up from a tiny $32 million loss in the first quarter. Halliburton suffered a huge $3.2 billion loss during the second quarter a year ago because of the $3.5 billion termination penalty from its failed takeover of Houston rival Baker Hughes.
The small net gain this quarter comes in spite of more than $300 million in one-time impairment charges, including corporate settlements and from Venezuela’s inability to pay its debts.
Early this year, Halliburton has valued growth and gaining market share even over net profits in order to boost its long-term strengths in North American shale. Halliburton’s North American revenues jumped 24 percent over the first quarter of 2017.
In March, Halliburton said it was adding 2,000 jobs to North American oil fields, especially in the Permian Basin. Halliburton now counts more than 50,000 employees after cutting 35,000 positions over a two-year oil bust. Now, jobs are beginning to return and idled equipment reactivated. Larger profits will follow later, Lesar has said.
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more click here.
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