Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB), the world’s largest oilfield-services provider, climbed the most in more than four months after reporting first-quarter profit rose 38 percent as customers increased higher margin deep-water drilling around the globe in response to climbing crude prices. Net income rose to $1.3 billion, or 97 cents a share, from $944 million, or 69 cents, a year earlier, Houston- and Paris- based Schlumberger said in a statement today. Shares rose 2.7 percent to $71.70 at the close in New York. The average number of active oil and natural-gas rigs outside the U.S. and Canada during the quarter climbed 1.2 percent to 1,189, according to Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) Oil drilling increased as the average prices for Brent crude climbed 12 percent to $118.45 a barrel from $105.52 a year earlier. “Their international margins held steady, which I view as a positive,� Stephen Gengaro, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. in New York, who rates the shares a buy and owns none, said today in a telephone interview. “They were flat in a weaker seasonal quarter.� Excluding a normal seasonal drop in sales, the increase in high-margin exploration and deepwater activities helped sustain “robust� international margins, Schlumberger said in the statement. Sales climbed 22 percent to $10.6 billion. Schlumberger helps companies drill for oil and gas, including using a pressure-pumping technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to free the fuel from shale formations. International Markets The company, which generated about two-thirds of its revenue from outside the U.S. and Canada, has a positive view on the international markets, with rig counts expected to climb more than 10 percent this year. “Pricing sentiments are starting to move upwards as the majority of the large international contracts have now been re- bid and service capacity is tightening further,� Chief Executive Officer Paal Kibsgaard said today in the statement. “Oil demand in 2012 appears to have stabilized.� The company has the chance to boost international margins through the rest of this year, Kibsgaard told analysts today on a conference call. Halliburton Co. (HAL), the world’s second-largest oilfield services provider, reported April 18 an adjusted profit that beat by 4 cents a share the expectation by analysts. To contact the reporter on this story: David Wethe in Houston at dwethe@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net

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