Fueling International Growth

In March, oil-field services giant Halliburton announced it was moving its headquarters to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The new digs puts the behemoth right in the middle of its fastest-growing business, providing oil-field technology services and products to develop oil and natural gas reserves in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

New oil projects in these regions are creating opportunities for oil-field service companies.
For instance, Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia, awarded Halliburton the $8 billion Khurais mega project.

“About 20 years ago that would have been doing that,” Analyst David Rewcastle of Argus Research said. “But the top oil-field services companies are edging out the majors for some of the world’s biggest projects.”

Globally, the rig count rose 10% to 1,002, with the strongest activity in Africa and the Middle East, Baker Hughes reported.

Deep-water drilling is keeping the offshore markets afloat in the Gulf of Mexico. The deep waters of the Caspian Sea and the coast of West Africa also are fueling growth.

With oil prices hovering around $70 a barrel, analysts are upbeat about the growth prospects for the oil-field services industry. Short of some major economical or political event, most don’t see demand flattening or going down.

Emerging economies, especially those in the eastern hemisphere, need more energy. This will fuel growth for services companies, who are supplanting the majors in many of these markets.

CNN