Despite posting second-quarter earnings in line with expectations, Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) warned on Tuesday that the oilfield services market will be softer in the short to medium term than previously expected.
Halliburton reported today a net income of $472 million, or $0.55 per share, for the second quarter of 2025. That’s up from the net income of $204 million, or $0.24 per share, for the first quarter of 2025.
The Q2 per-share earnings met the analyst consensus estimate of $0.55 compiled by The Wall Street Journal.
North America revenues at Halliburton, the oilfield services giant with the highest exposure to the U.S. fracking market, were relatively flat sequentially in the second quarter, but fell by about 9% from a year earlier and stood at $2.26 billion.
International revenue was $3.3 billion in the second quarter of 2025, up by 2% compared to the first quarter of 2025. However, revenues in the Middle East fell on the back of lower activity across multiple product service lines in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Halliburton said.
“What I see tells me the oilfield services market will be softer than I previously expected over the short to medium term,” said Jeff Miller, chairman, president and CEO.
“We will of course take action to address this near term softness, and we remain fully committed to our shareholder returns framework,” Miller added.
Halliburton and the other oilfield services giants such as SLB and Baker Hughes have already flagged there would be lower revenues and profits this year amid a decline in oil prices and increased uncertainties about demand, drilling activity, production and drilling costs.
Last week, SLB, the world’s biggest oilfield services provider, posted solid Q2 earnings, and CEO Olivier Le Peuch noted that the industry has demonstrated resilience in the face of uncertainties and lower prices.
However, at the earnings call, Le Peuch said the total market is in slight decline in 2025 compared to 2024.
“North America, I think there is no secret that the short cycle has been declining in the last couple of months more deeply than everyone will anticipate. So it will represent certainly the highest, I would say, drag on to the total capex for the year,” the executive said.
The number of active drilling oil rigs in the U.S. is now down by 55 compared to this time last year, according to Baker Hughes’ latest weekly rig count data.
Source: By Charles Kennedy from Oilprice.com