Schlumberger's 2Q Profit More Than Triples

Friday, July 23rd 2004, 1:09 pm

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Schlumberger Ltd., an oilfield-services company, said Friday its second-quarter profit more than tripled, boosted by higher revenue and North American pricing.

The New York-based company reported net income of $355.6 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with the prior year's $112.1 million, or 19 cents a share.

Income from continuing operations before charges improved to 48 cents a share from 39 cents a share.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had forecast, on average, second-quarter earnings excluding items of 49 cents a share.

Total revenue climbed 12 percent to $2.88 billion from $2.58 billion, despite a 5 percent decrease in WesternGeco revenue to $292 million. WesternGeco is a joint venture with oilfield-services company Baker Hughes that provides seismic surveys and advanced acquisition and data processing services.

Schlumberger's second-quarter oilfield-services revenue increased 15 percent from the prior year to $2.54 billion.

The company said activity remained strong across a wide range of markets and technologies. Schlumberger reported continued growth in Russia and the Caspian, as well as strong performance across Asia and the Middle East.

For the first six months of the year, net income jumped to $575.9 million, or 96 cents a share, from the previous year's $261.3 million, or 45 cents a share. Revenue increased 12 percent to $5.6 billion from $5 billion.