Schlumberger pins hopes on increased oil prices

Oil services company hopes for improvement next year after bad Q2 results

The world’s largest oil services company Schlumberger, announced on 17 July second-quarter results that were dismal but it is eyeing an improvement next year. Revenues of $9bn were down by a quarter from the same period in 2014, before the oil price crashed, with North America now accounting for the bulk of its problems as companies suspend drilling programs. Significant cuts in customers’ budgets are expected to ease though as it sees a tightening of the oil supply-demand balance in the coming quarters, which will feed through into higher upstream spending next year. The results were well received by analysts, who thought the company was at least in a stronger position than its peers to wea