Halliburton posts surprise profit as expenses fall

[October 19, 2016]  By Anet Josline Pinto

(Reuters) - Halliburton Co, the world's No.2 oilfield services provider, posted a surprise quarterly profit, helped by higher cost cuts, and said it expected a rise in oil prices to boost rig count.

U.S. shale oil companies have started putting rigs back to work as crude prices nearly doubled since their February lows.

The number of active rigs in the United States rose for the seventh straight week through Oct. 14, according to the closely watched report from Baker Hughes Inc.

"North America results improved as we took advantage of the rig count growth by increasing utilization, working our surface efficiency model and relentlessly managing costs," Chief Executive Dave Lesar said.

Halliburton's revenue from North America, which accounts for more than 40 percent of its total business, rose 9 percent.

However, Halliburton said it expected pricing pressure to continue globally and that its fourth-quarter results from its international business are likely to be flat, compared with the latest quarter.

The company also said activity in the current quarter is expected to be weak due to holiday and seasonal weather-related down-times.

Halliburton, like bigger rival Schlumberger, has been slashing costs. The company said in July it would reduce "structural costs" by about 25 percent, or $1 billion, on an annual run-rate basis by the end of 2016.

Profit attributable to Halliburton was $6 million, or 1 cent per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $54 million, or 6 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 31.3 percent to $3.83 billion.

Analysts on average had estimated a loss of 6 cents per share and revenue of $3.90 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Market leader Schlumberger is scheduled to report on Thursday and Baker Hughes Inc, the world's third-largest oilfield service firm, is scheduled to report on Tuesday.

Shares of the company, the market leader in fracturing, cementing and completion services, rose marginally to $47.50 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Anet Josline Pinto and Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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