Halliburton readies global buildout amid LatAm demand uptick

Oilfield services provider Halliburton expects robust growth in its international business next year amid surging demand in the Middle East and Latin America, CEO Jeff Miller said on Tuesday. 

The comments came after Halliburton reported third-quarter net income of US$544mn, up from US$236mn a year earlier. 

"We’re extremely well set up for international expansion," Miller told analysts in an earnings call. "We've outgrown many quarters in the past and expect to continue doing so in the future based both on our technology portfolio and our international footprint."

Halliburton's international revenue in the third quarter was US$2.7bn, a 3% increase on the previous quarter. 

Latin America was the region that reported the fastest growth, with revenue rising 11% sequentially to US$841mn.

The Middle East/Asia market saw revenue climb 6% to US$1.2bn while Europe/Africa posted a decline of 11% to US$639mn.

The company's Latin America operations were boosted by increased well construction services and project management business in Mexico, and a combination of higher fluids and project management demand in Suriname. Those gains were partially offset by weaker project management demand in Colombia, Halliburton said. 

"I think we're going to have strong growth as we go into next year," Miller said. "Clearly we're going to be up from where we’re today. North America demand continues to increase and, internationally, we expect to see growth everywhere in the sense that customers are going to be busy."

Halliburton's competitor, Schlumberger, said last week that it expects Latin America to drive near-term growth for subsea services after reporting a 14% quarter-on-quarter revenue increase in the region.