Halliburton, the oilfield services behemoth based in Houston, saw revenues drop by 36% over the last year, joining the list of industry giants suffering from the worldwide drop in crude oil prices.
Total revenues for the company for the third quarter of 2015 were $5.58 billion, down from $8.7 billion in the same period last year. Halliburton took a $257 million write-down as a result of the downturn in the energy market, the company said in a statement. Halliburton also reported a loss of $54 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of $1.2 billion.
However, Halliburton did manage to beat analyst expectations on their earnings per share number after excluding several items, with an adjusted figure of $0.31 per share exceeding a consensus estimate of $0.27, as compiled by Bloomberg. The company also painted an optimistic outlook of their North American operations, which despite reporting revenues that have almost halved to $2.49 billion, sees its acquisition of rival Baker Hughes as a boost to future activity.
“Ultimately, when this market recovers we believe North America will respond the quickest and offer the greatest upside, and that Halliburton will be positioned to outperform,” said Dave Lesar, Chairman and CEO.
This news comes after rival Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services provider, announced it had seen total revenues drop by 33%, and would cut costs in the view that any rebound in drilling activity would take longer than expected.
Add this to the slew of news from oil majors that are restructuring their business to compete in a cheap oil environment. France’s Total SA and Spain’s Repsol were the latest to release plans that will include the halting of oil exploration projects, divestments and workforce reductions.