Service & Supply | Quarterly / Earnings Reports | Oilfield Services
Schlumberger Touts Largest Ever Microseismic Monitoring Operation in the Bakken
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Schlumberger Limited has reported full-year 2013 revenue from continuing operations of $45.27 billion versus $41.73 billion in 2012.
Full-year 2013 income from continuing operations attributable to Schlumberger, excluding charges and credits, was $6.33 billion, representing diluted earnings-per-share of $4.75 versus $4.01 in 2012.
Bakken Downhole Microseismic Monitoring
One of the highlights for Schlumberger in the fourth quarter occurred in the Bakken Shale play. A combination of Schlumberger technologies was specifically designed for use by Continental Resources to execute the largest ever downhole microseismic monitoring operation in the history of the industry. The hydraulic fracture growth and optimum well spacing were tested in the Bakken and Three Forks formations using three Wireline VSI* versatile seismic imager receiver arrays simultaneously conveyed in three wells using TuffTRAC* cased hole services technology. The VSI technology acquired high quality data over 3,000 ft from the location of the microseismic events. The operation was successfully completed in 63 days and included 293 fracturing stages with the Wireline monitoring services efficiently conveyed in excess of 300,000 lateral ft.
Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard commented, "We ended 2013 with revenue of more than $45 billion, up 8%, and growing for the fourth consecutive year. International Area revenue grew by $3.2 billion, or 11%, from higher exploration and development activity--both offshore and in key land markets. In North America, we demonstrated continued resilience to the challenges of the land markets by growing the business by close to $400 million, or 3%, aided by our strong position in the offshore market, particularly in the US Gulf of Mexico. Full-year pretax operating income grew 15%, with International delivering a 24% increase and International margin expanding by more than 200 basis points for the second consecutive year to reach 22.2% while still posting a margin of 19.7% in North America.
"Our fourth-quarter results were driven by solid activity in key international markets and strong year-end product, software and multiclient seismic sales in almost all areas. Growth was strongest internationally, where revenue set a new record high, but all Areas recorded sequential growth underpinned by the quality and efficiency of our execution. Overall results were, however, impacted by the temporary shutdown of activity in South Iraq and seasonal slowdowns in North America, the North Sea, Russia and China.
"Geographical results were led by the Middle East & Asia, with continuing strength in the key markets of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as in exploration activity in Malaysia and Australia. Deepwater exploration work and strong project management activity in Argentina and Ecuador led Latin America higher, while Europe/CIS/Africa made progress through significant activity in Angola, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. In North America, deepwater activity in the Gulf of Mexico continued to be strong, while on land increased service intensity, improved efficiency, market share gains, and new technology uptake was again offset by further pricing weakness in most product lines.
"The overall global economic outlook continues largely unchanged, with fundamentals continuing to improve in the U.S., and Europe seemingly set for stronger growth. These positive effects should overcome lower growth in some developing economies and support a continuing rebound in the world economy. Largely as a result, forecasts for oil demand in 2014 have been revised upwards to reach the highest demand growth in several years. Supply is expected to keep pace with demand, with the market, therefore, remaining well balanced. Natural gas prices internationally should be supported by demand in Asia and Europe. In the U.S., we see no change in fundamentals, with any meaningful recovery in dry gas drilling activity some way out in the future.
"The quality of our results in 2013 was driven by strong new technology sales and an unwavering focus on execution and resource management. With E&P spending expected to grow further in 2014, led by international activity and continuing strength in deepwater US Gulf of Mexico, we remain positive about the year ahead on the back of a well-balanced business portfolio, wide geographical footprint and strong operational, organizational, and executional capability."
