“Schlumberger, the world’s biggest oil-services company, last month reported a near halving of its third-quarter profit as revenue fell 33% from a year earlier. Halliburton, whose tie-up with Baker Hughes could be completed in December, swung to loss in the third quarter, reports Selina Williams for the Wall Street Journal.
Schlumberger “CEO Paal Kibsgaard expressed serious concerns about the near-term future when the company released its third quarter financial results on October 15. Schlumberger works in every market in the world in which it is permitted to operate. Therefore, “Big Blue” enjoyed some continuation of activity in various markets compared to North America where, when oil prices declined, operators demonstrated their ability to begin closing the spending taps almost immediately,” reports OilPrice.com.
“Next year could be even worse. With oil producers pulling back more than $200 billion in spending this year and next, Scotland-based energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie expects only 10 new projects globally to garner investment commitments. This would compound problems for the oil-field services sector, which has the capacity to support an average of 40 to 50 new energy projects a year,” according to the Journal.
Market Vectors Oil Services ETF
