Halliburton profits slump on weak drilling demand in North America and the Middle East

Halliburton announced a 33% drop in profits for the second quarter Tuesday due to weak demand in North America, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

The company warned of a negative impact on earnings in the second quarter due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and lower oilfield activities in North America. This was because producers analyzed drilling and completions with low oil prices.

Halliburton CEO Jeff Miller stated in a press release that the oilfield services market would be weaker than he had anticipated over the short-to-medium term.

North America's quarterly revenue dropped 9%, to $2.26 Billion. Its Middle East/Asia Segment was down sequentially because of lower activity in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait across a variety of product service lines.

Baker Hughes reported that despite the increase of rigs in North America last week, the total number was still 42 or 7% lower than this time last year.

Last week, SLB, a bigger rival to SLB, reported a drop in quarterly earnings due to a slowdown of drilling activities in Saudi Arabia.

SLB warned that global upstream expenditures are likely to decline by 2025.

Halliburton’s quarterly revenue dropped 5.5% from a previous year to $5.51 Billion, but was still ahead of Wall Street’s estimates of $5.41 Billion, according to LSEG.

The company posted a profit of 472 million dollars for the quarter ending June 30 compared to $709 million a year ago.

Halliburton reported a profit per share of 55 cents. (Reporting from Tanay Dhumal, Bengaluru. Editing by Sriraj Kulluvila.)

(source: Reuters)