SLB continues to benefit from elevated activity in the Middle East & Asia, particularly in gas. (Image source: Adobe Stock)
SLB has recorded a strong performance in the Middle East & Asia in its second quarter results, with year-on-year revenue from the region increasing by 24%, compared with the 13% growth in total revenue
Revenue in the Middle East & Asia of US$3.27bn increased 6% sequentially due to increased sales of production systems and increased intervention and evaluation activity in Saudi Arabia. Higher digital revenue across the area and increased drilling in Iraq, United Arab Emirates, China, and East Asia also contributed to the sequential growth. The year on year 24% increase in revenue was due to higher drilling, intervention, and evaluation activity as well as increased sales of production systems in Saudi Arabia. Higher drilling in United Arab Emirates, Egypt, East Asia, Indonesia, and China, as well as the acquired Aker subsea business in Australia, also contributed to the year-on-year growth.
The company’s total revenue of US$9.14bn increased 5% sequentially and 13% year on year, with digital & integration and reservoir performance divisions both seeing 11% year-on-year growth, well construction 1% year-on-year growth, and production systems 31% year-on-year growth.
SLB CEO Olivier Le Peuch commented, “We achieved solid second-quarter results, with broad-based international revenue growth and margin expansion across all divisions. Our Core business continued to build on its positive momentum and our digital business accelerated, resulting in our highest quarterly international revenue since 2014. These results demonstrate SLB’s strong position in key, resilient markets, as we continue to benefit from elevated activity in the Middle East & Asia, particularly in gas, and our clients’ increased investments in deepwater basins, exploration, and digital.
“Sequentially, revenue grew 5%, led by the Middle East & Asia, which increased 6%. The increase in this area was driven by capacity expansions, gas development projects, and production and recovery, with a majority of GeoUnits in the area achieving record revenue. We also continued to benefit from our enhanced offshore exposure, particularly in deepwater basins across Latin America, Europe & Africa, and in the US Gulf of Mexico.”
Middle East contracts
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco awarded SLB a long-term contract for unconventional gas directional drilling services and drilling bits, in support of Aramco’s strategic goal to increase gas production by more than 60% by 2030, compared to 2021 levels. SLB will provide innovative fit-for-basin technologies, services, and best-in-class practices developed in collaboration with Aramco.
In Qatar, a customer awarded SLB a five-year contract for directional drilling, measurement-while-drilling, and logging-while-drilling services. The contract will extend the deployment of the GeoSphere HD high-definition reservoir mapping-while-drilling service and the GeoSphere 360 3D reservoir mapping-while-drilling service for proactive steering, waterfront identification, and acquisition of valuable information for subsurface modelling.
In the decarbonisation space, SLB and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Onshore successfully deployed the EcoShield low-carbon geopolymer cement-free system, paving the way to decarbonise cementing operations. This operation achieved an estimated 85% reduction in CO2 emissions compared with conventional conductor casing cement. ADNOC and SLB are looking to expand technology application in surface casing jobs and beyond.
In Oman, ARA Petroleum Exploration and Production (ARA), part of the wider Zubair Corporation, awarded SLB a five-year contract to enhance ARA's reservoir engineering capabilities. Advanced wellbore imaging in the Techlog wellbore software will increase subsurface understanding, Petrel subsurface software machine learning will improve modelling, and Intersect high-resolution reservoir simulator will deliver precise forecasting.
