Halliburton reports low third quarter results

US company Halliburton reported a 36-percent drop in its quarterly revenue on Monday, with total third-quarter revenue for North America nearly halved to $2.49 billion.

The second-largest oilfield services provider in the world saw its third-quarter worldwide revenues reduced to $5.58 billion, down from about $8.7 billion the previous year. Halliburton’s income from continuing operations stood at $265 million, compared to $380 million in the second quarter of 2014.

The losses are mostly attributed to poor drilling and services performance worldwide as a result of low oil prices. Halliburton is acquiring oilfield services major Baker Hughes. The merged company will see larger market shares as a result, providing some buffer against depressed prices.

In an effort to both weather low global oil prices and gain regulatory approval for the $34.6-billion merger, both companies have been cutting jobs, trimming operational budgets and divesting assets. Recently on the chopping block for Halliburton have been the company’s expandable liner hangers, directional drilling, logging-while-drilling and measurement-while-drilling businesses.

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