Schlumberger shrugged off the impact of an unusually harsh winter in key markets of the northern hemisphere as the world’s leading oil services company by market value predicted continued strong demand for the rest of the year. The company, which last year delivered an 8 per cent growth in revenues and sharp increase in profits, expects to profit further from a predicted increase of 6 per cent or more in spending by operators of oil and gas wells across the world during 2014.
Paal Kibsgaard, Schlumberger’s chief executive, blamed in part the particularly harsh conditions caused in North America by this winter’s polar vortex weather system for steepening the usual quarter-on-quarter decline in revenues experienced in the three months of the year. Schlumberger, which typically generates two-thirds of its turnover outside North America, said severe weather had also hit activity levels in Russia and China as it reported a fall in first-quarter revenue to $11.24bn compared with $11.91bn in the final quarter of 2013.
However, as reported by the Financial Times, first-quarter revenues rose from $10.57bn based on a year-on-year comparison. Net income for the quarter also rose from $1.26bn to $1.6bn resulting in a year-on-year rise in earnings per share from 94c to $1.21. Mr Kibsgaard said he expected strong demand from both independent and national oil companies would result in Schlumberger benefiting from a split of improved spending between North America and its other international markets. "The fundamentals of the global economic recovery remain intact in spite of the unusually harsh winter weather in parts of the northern hemisphere,” he added.
