BLBG:Schlumberger Fourth-Quarter Profit Rises to $1.41 Billion on U.S. Oil Boom
Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB), the world’s largest oilfield-services provider, said fourth-quarter profit rose 36 percent as higher crude prices pushed oil companies to boost exploration and production spending around the world.
Net income rose to $1.41 billion, or $1.05 a share, from $1.04 billion, or 76 cents, a year earlier, Houston- and Paris- based Schlumberger said in a statement today. Excluding charges related to a write-off of Libya assets, the company earned $1.11 a share, beating by 2 cents the average of 32 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales climbed 21 percent to $11 billion.
Oil prices climbed 10 percent to average $94.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the quarter, up from $85.24 a year earlier. The average number of active oil and natural-gas rigs around the world rose 15 percent in the final three months of the year, to 3,676 from 3,208 a year earlier, according to Baker Hughes Inc.
“The rig count was pretty solid for the quarter,” John Keller, an analyst at Stephens Inc. in Houston, who rates the shares at “overweight” and owns none, said in an interview before Schlumberger’s release.
“Uncertainty remains over the outlook for 2012 due to the continuing sovereign debt crisis in Europe which places downward pressure on GDP and oil demand forecasts,” Chief Executive Officer Paal Kibsgaard said in the statement. “Against this backdrop, we are planning for growth in 2012, while building the required flexibility into our resource plans.”
U.S. Drilling
Explorers and producers around the world are expected to boost annual spending by 9 percent this year to a record $595 billion, James Crandell and Omar Nokta, managing directors at investment bank Dahlman Rose & Co., wrote in a Jan. 3 note to investors.
Schlumberger helps companies drill for oil and natural gas, including using hydraulic fracturing to free the fuel from shale formations.
In the U.S. onshore market, the largest region in the world for hydraulic fracturing work, Stephens analysts project an 8 percent growth in the number of drilling rigs working this year compared with 2011.
The earnings statement was released before the start of regular trading on U.S. markets. Schlumberger rose 3.2 percent, to $72.86 yesterday in New York. The shares, which have 31 buy ratings from analysts, five holds and one sell, rose 14 percent during the quarter.
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
