Oil gains drive rally of oilfield service stocks; Halliburton, National Oilwell hit new highs

Oilfield service shares rallied Monday as higher crude-oil prices gave investors reason to add to their bets on the sector. Oil prices rose on what the market saw as a modest production increase from Saudi Arabia and concerns that output from Nigeria will decline. Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $1.38 to settle at $136.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. How some oilfield service... 

Tag: mpg oilfield services in tx

Halliburton Shares Jump After Expro Deal Ends

Halliburton Co. shares raced to a new record high as oil prices climbed and the oilfield service provider walked away from an offer to buy Expro International Group PLC. The stock rose more than 5 percent at one point in the session, touching a high of $52.84, before moving back to $52.50, up $2.45 in afternoon trading. The gains came amid a broad-based rally among energy stocks, which drove higher... 

Goldman Upgrades Oilfield Services

Goldman Sachs upgraded the oilfield services sector to “Attractive” from “Neutral,” predicting strong profit growth due to greater drilling activity and high oil prices. Analyst Charles Minervino expects earnings to grow in the double digits through 2011 as high oil prices lead to more rapid rig construction, and both drilling activity and the rates oil companies pay for drilling... 

Tag: oil field upgrades, top oilfield services, oilfield services goldman sachs, goldman oil feild service analyst, top oilfield services stocks

Candover Group Boosts Expro Bid

Private equity consortium Umbrellastream Ltd., led by U.K.-based Candover Group, increased its cash offer for oil and gas services company Expro International Group PLC to $3.5 billion. Expro shareholders already approved Umbrellastream’s earlier offer that valued the company at about $3.4 billion. Halliburton Co., the Houston-based energy company, has been trading bids for the same British oil... 

Halliburton Bids for Expro International

Oilfield services company Halliburton Co. made a conditional bid of $3.36 billion for U.K.-based competitor Expro International Group PLC. The all-cash bid of $30.14 per share tops the $28.36 per share offer made in April from a consortium led by Candover Partners Limited, valuing the company at $3.16 billion. Halliburton said it considers Expro’s subsea and flow management sector to be an area... 

Lehman Raises Oil Services Price Targets

A Lehman Brothers analyst raised his price targets on 37 companies in the oil services and drilling sector, seeing a strong recovery in 2008 and 2009 for North American natural gas drilling along with significant international growth over the next few years. Analyst James Crandell’s top picks in the sector are Weatherford International Ltd., Halliburton Co., Schlumberger Ltd., Tidewater Inc.,... 

Halliburton in Talks to Buy Expro

Halliburton Co. is thinking about buying U.K.-based Expro International Group PLC in an all-cash deal. Halliburton confirmed talks with Expro after a private equity consortium led by London-based Candover Group said it will buy Expro for $3.2 billion. In a statement, Halliburton said its cash offer would top Candover’s but gave no specifics. Expro provides services and products that measure,... 

As work on Alberta’s oil sands booms, the slide in natural gas prices has meant a retreat in the face of high costs

Canada’s oil-soaked sands are hot while natural gas drilling has cooled, illustrating the long-term nature of one business and shorter-term vulnerability to price swings of the other, analysts say. “The economic life associated with these projects is measured in years, if not decades, as opposed to a 45-day gas well in Canada,” said Bill Herbert, co-head of research for Simmons &... 

Halliburton 4Q Profit Falls 40 Percent, but Beats Analysts’ Expectations

Oil industry services provider Halliburton Co. was upbeat Friday despite a 40 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit, citing heavy demand for its oilfield equipment and personnel and predicting more of the same for 2007. Earnings fell to $658 million, or 64 cents per share, compared with $1.1 billion, or $1.04 per share, during the same period a year ago. But the prior-year results included $540... 

Halliburton’s income rises as U.S. drilling increases

Halliburton Co., the world’s second-largest oilfield-services company, said third-quarter profit rose 22 percent on increased U.S. natural-gas drilling. Net income rose to $611 million, or 58 cents a share, from $499 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier, the Houston-based company said in a statement Sunday. Halliburton was expected to earn 54 cents, the average estimate from 23 analysts surveyed...