The company's non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $0.70, surpassing analyst expectations by a penny. However, its revenue of $5.6 billion fell short of forecasts by $30 million, representing a 2.4% year-over-year (y-o-y) decline.
Region-wise in Q4, North America saw a 7% sequential and 9% y-o-y decrease in revenue to $2.2 billion, highlighting reduced hydraulic fracturing activity. On the international front, revenue was up 2% y-o-y at $3.4 billion, driven by strategic regional investments. The Middle East/Asia region witnessed a 9% y-o-y revenue increase, spurred by enhanced pressure pumping operations in Saudi Arabia, whereas Europe/Africa saw a revenue increase of 4% y-o-y.
Note: Halliburton FY'24 ended on December 31, 2024.
Below are the key drivers of Halliburton's value that present opportunities for upside or downside to the current Trefis price estimate for Halliburton Company's stock:
For additional details, select a driver above or select a division from the interactive Trefis split for Halliburton at the top of the page.
Halliburton provides upstream drilling and exploration services to oil and gas production activities required by firms such as Exxon Mobil and National Oil Companies (NOCs) like Saudi Aramco to explore, develop, and service their oil resources. The company has extensive geographical coverage, conducts business in approximately 80 countries, and provides products and services for oil and gas exploration, drilling, and post-drilling services.
We believe the North American division of Halliburton is more valuable than the other geographical divisions primarily because of:
North America accounts for approximately 50% of the total rig count published by Baker Hughes. While the Revenue per Rig is the lowest in this region, the size of the market in terms of the number of rigs exceeds the combined size of the other three geographic divisions of Latin America, Europe / CIS / Africa, and the Middle East / Asia. Production growth in North America has been strong over the past few years.
The strong push toward exploiting unconventional sources of hydrocarbons such as shale gas, tar sands, and heavy oil in North America increases the potential for additional revenues to Halliburton as exploration for these sources requires complex technology and more intensive processes. The shift has also increased the service intensity of the rigs in North America, which should result in higher Revenue per Rig in the region. Tight oil plays accounted for 60% of all U.S. crude oil production and shale gas accounted for more than half of the proven reserves of U.S. natural gas.
A large portion of the Gulf of Mexico remains under-tapped. It could hold a total of around 48 billion barrels of oil compared to the 13 billion barrels of reserves estimated for onshore, as well as coastal oilfields. Since many of these untapped resources are located in deep and ultra-deep waters, they will call for a high level of technical expertise as well as a higher service intensity translating into more activity for oilfield services companies.
Oil prices started plummeting in mid-2014 due to the demand-supply mismatch in the global oil markets. This resulted in weaker oilfield service activity throughout 2015 and 2016, as oil and gas companies curtailed upstream spending due to falling cash flows. This severely hit the business of oilfield services companies till 2019. Then, The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic hammered the oil industry in 2020, as governments closed businesses and restricted travel. However, oil prices saw a rebound on the news of the planned rollout of multiple COVID-19 vaccines by the beginning of 2021.
Oil prices rose early in 2022 as a surprising economic rebound drove demand for oil after several months of lockdowns. Secondly, the supply was not able to respond to increased demand as OPEC was probably cautious not to oversupply the market again, and the fact that oil production has long investment cycles. Lastly, the oil prices also increased sharply due to the conflict in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.
To limit the excess supplies and stabilize prices, the OPEC+ group in April 2023 decided to cut production and has since continued to extend these cuts. Despite the OPEC+ group’s decision to extend their production cut, weakness continued in global oil markets on faltering demand from China and swelling American supplies in 2024. Escalating geopolitical tension also added pressure on the demand outlook of the commodity. Oil has been trading in a tight range since the last year. It was broadly congested inside $90-$67 per barrel on worries that supplies will exceed demand.
Halliburton is largely at the mercy of market conditions, and the tepid oil price growth is not helping either. Several key factors are poised to shape the global oil market in 2025. A significant rebound in China's oil demand is anticipated, potentially boosting global oil trade, while the new U.S. administration's stance on key oil-producing nations, including China, Russia, and Iran, will be closely monitored. The uncertain geopolitical landscape could lead to tighter supplies and higher prices. However, rising output from the U.S. and other non-OPEC countries, such as Canada and Brazil, has been balancing the market, limiting price increases. As all these factors intersect, the global oil market will likely experience a complex and dynamic year, with multiple influences shaping its direction.
Increasingly over the past few years, significant oil and gas finds have been in deepwater and other remote locations such as the CIS and Iraq. Exploiting these sources adds tremendous logistical and technical complexity to the exploration projects that translate into revenues for upstream products and services firms such as Halliburton.
The IEA estimates that non-OPEC oil production peaked in 2010. This means that future oil and gas finds will get increasingly rarer, and the size of the discoveries will decline, leading to higher exploration and drilling costs to maintain historical outputs of oil.
Natural gas prices remain suppressed because of the perceived high storage levels and the oversupply of gas in the market. The lagging demand will translate into lower investments in natural gas exploration in the short term.
Exploration for unconventional sources such as shale and tight gas are expected to pick up in Argentina, Mexico, Poland, China, and Saudi Arabia over the next 1-5 years resulting in higher revenues and operating profits for Halliburton in these regions.
Oil firms are investing in technology to help them reduce the decline rates seen in major fields over their lifetime. Pemex has been engaged in efforts to arrest the decline in its Canterall fields, while Saudi Aramco has also made it a priority to reduce the decline in its fields at 2-3% per annum.
Halliburton has been veering toward offering more fully integrated offerings, which include an entire suite of services for integrated well construction and intervention. Only SLB has a comparable offering among its competitors, giving Halliburton an edge in this area.
