It's all over but the shouting -- almost. With Baker Hughes
With its recent acquisition of BJ Services and the strength it enjoyed domestically -- along with its peers at Schlumberger
CEO Chad Deaton noted that Baker Hughes' performance in North America was tied to both the seasonal recovery in Canada and the expanding strength in the U.S. land market. The latter occurred despite the industry having been pulled down by the drilling moratorium and permitting delays in the Gulf of Mexico.
Internationally, results were about flat, except in Norway, which was hit by an extended summer rig downtime. As Deaton also said, "During the quarter we implemented the next phase of our plan to reduce costs and improve international margins. We consolidated several geomarkets in our Africa and Latin America regions and have reduced other support costs worldwide."
Also looking at the international picture, President and Chief Operating Officer Martin Craighead pointed to the company's strength in Brazil -- among other areas -- noting that " ...we continue to build on our strong relationship with Petrobras [
Beyond that, Craighead summed up yet another strength at Baker Hughes:
The unconventional reservoirs are demanding our best technology to deliver longer horizontals, complex completions, increasing frack horsepower, and more frack stages. This demand for advanced technology is in turn, driving the business and supporting both higher revenue per rig and associated higher prices.
That trend, particularly given the strong North American market, indicates why I believe Fools should nudge Baker Hughes somewhat higher on their investment radar screens than it might have been previously.