Schlumberger announces $10.61 billion Q3 revenue

The regional growth was primarily due to improved land seismic productivity but global growth was stumped as North American revenue decreased 2% following an oversupply of hydraulic fracturing capacity, a falling US land rig count and activity shut-down associated with Hurricane Isaac in the US Gulf of Mexico.

The company’s Reservoir Characterization Group grew by $422 million or 17% year-on-year to $2.91 billion following solid workover, development and exploration operations in the Saudi Arabia & Bahrain GeoMarkets.

In Oman the company’s Wireline FMI-HD formation microimager was run through a water-based mud in a mineralogically complex carbonate reservoir, by combining the tool with other Schlumberger technologies, it became possible to acquire fluid composition, gas-oil ratio, density and viscosity data in real time.

Schlumberger’s Wireline Dielectric Scanner was also used in Iraq to evaluate an unconventional reservoir through direct determination of hydrocarbon saturation to discover three additional reservoir columns that would otherwise have been missed with conventional evaluation methods.

In the UAE, the company delivered and installed 21 PhaseWatcher meter sets as part of the Umm Sheif and Zakum Phase 1 development plan for the Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company. The meters, equipped with enabled production reconciliation factors above 90%. An additional 27 PhaseWatcher meters have been ordered for the second phase of the project and for new field developments.

The company’s Drilling Group also saw revenue increase to $4 billion, a $473 million or 13% growth year-on-year and $47 million or 1% from the previous quarter. The growth was bolstered by international and offshore demand for Drilling & Measurements services particularly in the Middle East & Asia region.

In Iraq, Drilling & Measurements Scope technologies were deployed in the Rumaila field by the Rumaila Operating Organization to drill and log the 6-in section. MicroScope resistivity and imaging-while-drilling and SonicScope multipole drilling services were used to overcome the tight spots and washouts that would have hindered conventional logging tools from reaching total depth. The Rumalia operation also used the company’s 6-in SDi513UPX polycrystalline diamond compact bit in combination with a PowerDrive 475 rotary steerable system to drill the 1,158-m horizontal section at an average rate of 12.7m/hr, the fastest recorded rate of penetration of a well drilled in the Rumaila field.

Revenue for the company’s Production Group declined 2% sequentially, but grew $202 million or 6% year-on-year. In Egypt, Well Services HiWAY flow-channel hydraulic fracture technology was deployed for Qarun Petroleum Company which led to a fivefold increase in total fluid production at a reduced water cut.

In Algeria, the company’s multistage fracturing and completion technology was used on a 950m-horizontal section in a well for Storm Ventures International. The nine-stage operation was the largest multistage job executed on the African continent, additional wells are now being studied for implementation of this technique.

The company has also been collaborating with Saudi Aramco on technologies to increase stimulation performance in challenging reservoir conditions. Well Services ThermaFRAC fracturing fluid has been introduced to increase gas production in a deep, high-temperature, high pressure gas bearing sandstone reservoir in the Kingdom.

Despite the positive results, the company highlighted its concern about the outlook over the global economy; citing central bank interventions in the US and Europe, the Chinese economic slowdown and the tight balance of the oil supply and demand, as reasons for prices to remain stable but potentially subject to volatility.