Servicing the oil boom as exploration and production surges

Services companies are looking ahead to a bumper year, as exploration and production in the oil sector surges and the slump in North America’s gas industry opens up a wealth of opportunity

This year promises to be a better year for oilfield services companies. And news in April that the US oil rig count hit a new record high, while a few weeks earlier the number of natural gas drilling rigs fell to a 10-year low, shows where that growth is going to come from. The oilfield services industry continued its recovery in 2011 and into 2012 from the depths of 2009, when the slump in industrial demand for oil and gas from the global recession caused a steep decline in drilling, especially in the US onshore. In mid-April, a range of US oilfield service players reported healthy rises in profits for the first quarter of the year. Halliburton said its first-quarter earnings rose by 23% fr