Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) on Tuesday reported first-quarter earnings beating analyst expectations amid strong demand for oilfield services and tight service capacity.
Halliburton, the leading fracking services provider among the industry’s top three firms, followed Baker Hughes and SLB (formerly Schlumberger) in reporting earnings above consensus forecasts for the first quarter of this year despite a decline in oil and gas prices.
Halliburton’s net income for the first quarter rose to $651 million, or $0.72 per diluted share, up from $263 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, for the same period of 2022. The EPS for Q1 2023 beat the analyst consensus of $0.67 compiled by The Wall Street Journal.
Halliburton’s North America revenue jumped by 44% year-over-year to $2.8 billion for the first quarter of 2023, thanks to “improved stimulation activity and pricing gains, in addition to higher well construction services, artificial lift activity, and wireline services in North America land, as well as improved activity in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico across multiple product service lines,” the company said.
International revenues also rose, by 23% annually to $2.9 billion.
“My Halliburton outlook — for both the current year and the long-term — is strong,” said Jeff Miller, chairman, president and CEO.
“We hear it from our customers, and we see it in our first quarter results. Our customers are clearly motivated to produce more oil and gas and service capacity is tight,” Miller added.
Halliburton on Tuesday concluded another quarter of rising earnings and upbeat outlooks from the top oilfield service providers.
Last week, Baker Hughes also beat analyst estimates with the Q1 earnings and reiterated the view in the oilfield services industry that the current oil and gas spending cycle could last for years. SLB beat analyst estimates for Q1 profits but offered a lowered outlook for its North American growth in 2023 due to weak natural gas markets.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com