Baker Hughes Profits Soar On High Sales

US oilfield services giant Baker Hughes has seen quarterly profits soar on rising demand for services, with management pointing to increased LNG market activity as a key bright spot moving forward.

Revenues for the three months ending June 30 were up 7.9% yr/yr at $5.99bn, with growth driven by a 14% climb in earnings from Baker’s core oilfield services division to $3.26bn.

Operating profit came to $271mn – well ahead of the $78mn year-earlier figure – while adjusted net income more than doubled yr/yr, rising from $41mn to $104mn.

Fresh orders in the second quarter were valued at $6.55bn, rising 8.4% yr/yr. Orders for turbomachinery and process solutions – including LNG equipment – were up 32% at $1.98bn.

“We delivered a solid second quarter 2019 both commercially and operationally,” CEO Lorenzo Simonelli commented. “The trends for our longer-cycle businesses remain intact. The liquefied natural gas new-build cycle is a strong positive for our company and our international oilfield services business continues to be very successful.”

“We remain well positioned across multiple market segments, most importantly LNG, as more projects move toward positive FID (final investment decision) this year”, he continued. It announced July 30 it had won a contract for the umbilicals, risers and flowlines for the Australian Ichthys LNG project. Baker Hughes is a division of US-based General Electric (GE).