Schlumberger Ltd, the world's largest oilfield services company, on Friday posted a third-quarter profit, reversing a year-earlier loss, as energy companies increased spending, a trend not expected to fade while oil prices stay high.
The New York and Paris-based company posted third-quarter net income of $318 million, or 53 cents per share, versus a net loss of $55 million, or 9 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter when it took charges for a joint venture and the early retirement of debt.
Excluding discontinued operations and charges, it reported earnings of 52 cents a share. On that basis, analysts, on average had forecast earnings of 53 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. Quarterly operating revenue rose 15 percent to $2.93 billion.
Energy companies have been steadily increasing spending on production and exploration because of record high crude oil prices that reached $55 a barrel earlier this month.
Schlumberger said pricing in North America showed "good improvement" during the quarter, with overall activity trends staying positive especially in the Eastern Hemisphere.
"Our activity outlook for the coming quarters remains very positive as the fundamentals of supply and demand remain strongly biased towards high oil prices," said Chairman and Chief Executive Andrew Gould in a statement.
But he added that results in the third quarter were hurt by events such as hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, a slowdown in drilling activity in Mexico and losses on two drilling projects.