Baker Hughes posts USD 417-million Q4 loss

US oilfield-services giant Baker Hughes announced on Thursday that it had booked a 2016 net loss of USD 2.7 billion.

While the company’s losses in Q4 of 2016 – USD 417 million – were considerably smaller than the USD 1-billion loss it booked during the same period a year earlier, Baker Hughes’ full-year loss was larger than that in 2015, which stood at USD 2 billion.

At USD 2.4 billion, revenue for the quarter was up some 2% from Q3, but down some USD 1 billion, or about 29%, year-on-year. For the entire year, the company, which is in the process of merging with GE’s oil and gas business, recorded a revenue of USD 9.8 billion, down from USD 15.7 billion in 2015.

Nevertheless, company executives sounded an optimistic note, stressing that cost-reduction strategies over the past year have been a success.

“In the second half of 2016, we reduced annualized costs by nearly USD 700 million, exceeding our initial goal by almost 40%, paid down USD 1 billion in debt, repurchased more than USD 750 million in shares, accelerated innovation with nearly 70 new product introductions, and built new sales channels for our products and technology,” CEO Martin Craighead said in a statement.

He noted that while onshore drilling activity and revenue in North America is expected to pick up in 2017, the company foresees that most of its international business, particularly offshore, will continue to decline.

“As such, we remain focused on managing our costs and aggressively identifying revenue opportunities for our products and technology that can help our customers achieve their business objectives,” Craighead added.