Schlumberger Reports Year-on-Year Income Increase (USA)

Schlumberger Limited today reported first-quarter 2013 revenue of $10.67 billion versus $11.17 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, and $9.92 billion in the first quarter of 2012.

Income from continuing operations attributable to Schlumberger, excluding charges and credits, was $1.35 billion—a decrease of 6% sequentially but an increase of 4% year-on-year. Diluted earnings-per-share from continuing operations, excluding charges and credits, was $1.01 versus $1.08 in the previous quarter, and $0.96 in the first quarter of 2012.

Schlumberger recorded charges of $0.07 per share in the first quarter of 2013 versus $0.06 per share in the previous quarter, and $0.01 per share in the first quarter of 2012.

Oilfield Services revenue of $10.67 billion decreased 5% sequentially but increased 8% year-on-year. Oilfield Services pretax operating income of $2.0 billion decreased 6% sequentially but increased 4% year-on-year.

Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard commented, “International strength, in combination with resilience to challenging market conditions in North America, led to solid performance in the first quarter. While our sequential results displayed the effects of the normal seasonal slowdown in the Northern Hemisphere and the Far East, as well as lower product sales compared to the fourth quarter, our year-on-year figures demonstrated the potential of the international market, the strength of our execution, and the importance of our integration capabilities.

Year-on-year international growth outpaced rig count, led by the Middle East & Asia Area with strong activity in key markets such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Australia and China. In Europe/CIS/Africa, strength in the Sub-Saharan region, and growth in Russia and the Caspian as well as in the North Sea drove performance. Latin America was boosted by production management activity in Ecuador, strength in the Mexico & Central America and growth in the Argentina, Bolivia & Chile GeoMarkets. In North America, strong activity in Canada and solid results from the US Gulf of Mexico partially offset further pricing and activity weakness on land in the US.

First-quarter international pricing trends remained unchanged, with a continuation of the slow but steady progress in revenue per rig that has now been observed for the last six quarters. This was driven not only by activity, but also by technology mix where we continue to introduce high-end services supported by strong execution and operational performance. In North America, pricing for land services weakened in general and further pressure on pressure pumping contracts was observed.

The world macroeconomic environment saw mixed news in the first quarter from the main economies including China, the US and the Eurozone. Still, the overall outlook for 2013 remains largely unchanged from our earlier projections, both in terms of GDP growth as well as the fundamentals for the global oil and gas markets. We still expect that oil supply will continue to grow in North America while other non-OPEC production will likely continue to face challenges, and we expect global spare capacity to remain around current levels—absent any unexpected macroeconomic change or geopolitical event.

As a result, we continue to see strong and consistent growth in line with our expectations in key regions that include Sub-Sahara Africa, Russia, the Middle East, China and Australia. The outlook for North America remains uncertain, with lower-than-expected rig activity and continuing pricing weakness. And while cold weather and flattening natural gas production has resulted in significant storage withdrawals, this has yet to result in any change in dry gas drilling activity.

In this environment, we remain focused on operational and financial outperformance in every market that we participate in. And with the commitment and drive displayed by our entire organization, I am confident that we will continue to provide superior returns to our investors going forward.”

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Press Release, April 19, 2013