Drilling giant Baker Hughes warns the pain from oil crash is far from over

The oilfield services company reported second quarter results on Tuesday morning, with an adjusted earnings per share loss of US$0.14, in line with expectations, according to Bloomberg. Revenues came in at US$4 billion, down 33% year-over-year, and ahead of the consensus of US$3.78 billion.

The oil driller’s outlook for the rest of the year, however, does not look good.

The oil crash that began about a year ago dragged down its revenues, and prompted it to cut costs and eliminate 10,500 jobs, or 17% of its workforce.

And for the remainder of the year, the company expects it to stay ugly “across all segments.”

Here’s CEO Martin Craighead in the earnings release (emphasis added):

“Looking ahead to the second half of 2015, we expect these unfavorable market dynamics to persist. In North America, we don’t anticipate activity to increase while commodity prices remain depressed as the seasonal activity rebound in Canada will likely be offset by a decline in the U.S. Internationally, rig counts are projected to continue to decline led by many onshore and shallow water markets.”

Revenues fell 47% to US$1.5 billion year-over-year in North America.

Baker Hughes, which supplies the weekly rig count data, forecasts that the tally of North American rigs will “remain relatively unchanged” for the rest of the year. The oil rig count tumbled for 25 straight weeks this year, rose for two, and turned negative again last week.

The recent rebound in oil prices was dampened by news of the Iranian nuclear deal, which could bring new exports to the flooded market. The strengthening dollar also weighed on oil prices.

On Tuesday morning, West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose nearly 2% to as high as US$51.28 per barrel in New York. However, oil is down about 21% from the year-to-date peak of about US$62 per barrel, and just US$7 from the lows touched mid-March.

On Monday, oil fell below US$50 per barrel for the first time since April 6.

And so, while it looked like oil may have been making a rebound from the crash, Baker Hughes does not think that the worst is over just yet.

Shares of Baker Hughes rose nearly 3% in early trading on Tuesday. The stock is up 3% year-to-date, and down 18% over the past 12 months. – Business Insider