Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes (NASDAQ: BKR) reported on Wednesday second-quarter earnings beat analyst expectations as strong global upstream activities and the return of offshore drilling more than offset a recent market softness in North America.
Baker Hughes, one of the three biggest energy service providers in the world, reported adjusted diluted earnings of $0.39 per share for the second quarter. The earnings beat the analyst consensus estimate of $0.33 per share compiled by The Wall Street Journal.
Orders and revenues both jumped by double digits compared to the same period of last year. Baker Hughes’s orders surged by 28% year-over-year to $7.5 billion, while revenue jumped by 25% year-over-year to $6.3 billion for the second quarter.
Despite lower oil prices in the first half of 2023, Baker Hughes remains optimistic on the outlook for this year and maintains a constructive outlook for global upstream spending in 2023, Baker Hughes chairman and CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said.
Subsea and surface pressure systems orders boomed in the second quarter, as offshore activities and exploration are accelerating.
The world’s top oilfield services provider, SLB, said last month that offshore is the fastest-growing market globally.
“Offshore is experiencing a renaissance, with significant breadth and anticipated durability,” SLB’s chief executive Olivier Le Peuch said at the J.P. Morgan Energy, Power & Renewables Conference 2023.
Baker Hughes is optimistic about offshore drilling and exploration, too, but it flagged today “market softness in North America,” which it expects to be “more than offset by strength in international and offshore markets.”
Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), the world’s top fracking services provider, also signaled a weaker North American market despite its earnings beating analyst estimates. Total revenues at Halliburton increased by 14% year-on-year to $5.8 billion in the second quarter. However, revenues from North American operations dropped by 2% compared to the first quarter, to $2.7 billion.
