USA: Halliburton Profit Rises

Halliburton announced today that income from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2012 was $826 million, or $0.89 per diluted share, excluding $300 million, for an estimated loss contingency related to the Macondo well incident.

Income from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2011 was $558 million, or $0.61 per diluted share, excluding a charge of $46 million, after-tax, or $0.05 per diluted share, related primarily to reserving certain assets as a result of political sanctions in Libya.

Reported income from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2012 was $635 million, or $0.69 per diluted share, compared to $512 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2011. Reported net income attributable to company for the first quarter of 2012 was $627 million, or $0.68 per diluted share, compared to $511 million, or $0.56 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2011.

Halliburton’s consolidated revenue in the first quarter of 2012 was $6.9 billion, compared to $5.3 billion in the first quarter of 2011. Total operating income was $1.0 billion in the first quarter of 2012, compared to $814 million in the first quarter of 2011. All regions and nearly all product service lines experienced double-digit percentage revenue and operating income growth from the first quarter of 2011.

The $300 million Macondo-related charge represents the amount of probable losses related to the incident that can reasonably be estimated at this time, and may be adjusted in the future as new information and developments become known.

“I am very pleased with our first quarter results, with revenue growth of 30% compared to the first quarter of 2011,” commented Dave Lesar, chairman, president and chief executive officer.

“Despite the 17% decline in the United States natural gas rig count and a modest decline in overall United States rig count, our North America revenue increased from the prior quarter to a new record with only a modest decline in operating margins. Our international operations continue to show good progress, with major markets that negatively affected our results in 2011 all showing signs of improvement. We continue to pursue our goals of superior growth, margins, and returns and our first quarter results are evidence of our success.

“In North America, revenue and operating income grew by 40% and 45%, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2011. This impressive growth was made possible by our strategic investments over the last several years combined with our world-class supply chain organization.

“The steady increase in unconventional oil-directed activity continued in the first quarter, with a 12% increase in the United States oil-directed rig count nearly offsetting the 17% decline in natural gas-directed rig count. Oil rigs represented 64% of the total United States rig count in the first quarter of 2012, up from 56% in the fourth quarter of 2011, and this represents the highest level in nearly 25 years.

“While the strength in the oil and liquids-rich basins has been supportive, the decline in natural gas prices and related natural gas-directed activity in the first quarter caused significant disruptions to our supply chain and our overall efficiency. In addition, increasing cost inflation on certain scarce materials and pricing pressure due to excess service equipment capacity in certain basins negatively affected our margins. We expect the transient impact of some additional natural gas rig dislocation, further cost inflation, continued pricing pressure, and the impact of spring breakup in Canada to negatively impact our North America margins by 200 to 250 basis points in the second quarter of 2012.

“In Latin America, first quarter revenue increased by 27% and operating income increased by 61% compared to the same period in the prior year. Brazil was the largest contributor to this increase, exhibiting clear proof of our success in executing our deepwater strategy. Growth in the Andean countries was another driver of our improved results.

“Eastern Hemisphere revenue was up 14% and margins increased from the first quarter of 2011 driven by improvements in markets that negatively impacted our results in 2011. Our operating margin in Iraq improved substantially from the prior quarter and the first quarter of 2011. In addition, our margins in the United Kingdom and East Africa were above our international operating margin for the first quarter of 2012. As the international pricing environment has remained competitive, we continue to address our cost structure and introduce new technologies to improve our financial results.

“The global demand for energy remains robust as does the portfolio of technically complex projects underway to meet this need. We expect to continue to utilize our broad technology portfolio and growing global footprint to meet our customer requirements. While we have made great progress in executing our strategies in recent years, we plan to continue investing in our technology, our people, and our expanding global footprint to help our customers meet their goals,” concluded Lesar.

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LNG World News Staff, April 18, 2012; Image: Halliburton