Schlumberger Limited reported its first quarter 2018 revenue totaled $7.8 billion, a drop of 4 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2017 and a 14 percent decline from a year ago.
The Paris-based company with a major offices in Oklahoma City said its pretax operating income of $974 million took a 29% nose drive compared to one year ago.
“The underlying international businesses started the year well, as business units in the Middle East, the North Sea, and Russia were all in line with our first-quarter activity expectations, while activity upsides in Asia were offset by continued weakness in Latin America and Africa.
While the company also blamed weaker than expected drilling activity in the U.S., it still expects the US land hydraulic fracturing market to improve in the second quarter.
“We remain optimistic about the outlook for sustainable activity growth in our global business over the course of 2018 and into 2019,” said Kibsgaard.
On April 18, 2018, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.50 per share of outstanding common stock, payable on July 13, 2018 to stockholders of record on June 6, 2018.