Schlumberger reported a $545 million profit in the third quarter with growing revenues of more than $7.9 billion
Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield service company, warned that Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter earnings may be too high, with customer investments in North American production moderating due to investor pressure for improved shareholder returns.
The oil market is rebalancing and we could witness an uptake in international drilling activity from 2018 which will be a major growth driver for Schlumberger.
U.S. oil producers are under pressure to boost shareholder returns after ramping up spending earlier this year while oil prices remained flat, knocking share prices back after a sharp run up in 2016.
The competition?
“Baker Hughes, a GE Company” or “BHGE” after it merged its oilfield services businesses with General Electric’s in July, a deal that made it the largest oilfield services company after Schlumberger.
BHGE is clearly looking to get bigger in this area, if a recent report about its interest in buying Subsea 7 is true (talks broke down over price, according to the Wall Street Journal).
October expected to be a slow month for fracking?
Texas – no
Colorado – yes
North Dakota – a mixed bag.