Tag Archives: Halliburton Co

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Halliburton Posts Q1 Loss Related to Gulf Oil Spill

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By The Associated Press

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Alamy

HOUSTON — Halliburton says it lost $18 million in the first quarter on litigation-related charges related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. But it made money if the unusual items are excluded, and beat Wall Street expectations.

The oil services company’s loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to 2 cents a share. That compares with net income of $627 million, or 68 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, however, Halliburton Co. (HAL) posted adjusted earnings of 67 cents a share. That beat the 57 cents that analysts expected.

Revenue rose slightly to $6.97 billion. Analysts expected $6.88 billion.

The Houston company, which provides a variety of services for the petroleum industry, is benefiting from a boom in U.S. oil production, which is at the highest level in more than two decades. At the same time, its natural gas business has slowed.

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/22/halliburton-earnings-gulf-oil-spill/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — March 19, 2013: Market Closes Mixed Without Solution in Cyprus (JNPR, RIO, CHK, EBAY, EA, FF, SBLK, FDS, WAG, ADBE, CTAS, FTEK, WSM, FDX, GIS, LEN, AFFY, S, HAL, SLB)

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By 24/7 Wall St.

Bull and Bear figures

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U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning but worries about a resolution to the banking crisis in Cyprus soon took over and pushed shares down. In other parts of Europe, Spain’s bad loan ratio rose to 10.78% in January and eurozone economic sentiment came in far below expectations. German 10-year bond yields fell on a rising dollar. In Asia, China’s central bank will drain 39 billion yuan in liquidity with a short-term repurchase agreement after foreign direct investment fell less than expected in the month. In the U.S., the report on housing starts was somewhat better than last month, with an annualized 917,000 new homes being built (more coverage here). The Cypriot parliament rejected a revised tax proposal on bank deposits (more coverage here), so it’s anyone’s guess what tomorrow may bring.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.35% today, now at 82.983. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.3% at 650.30, with commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil closed down 1.7% today, at $92.16 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 1.8% at $107.50 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.1% today at about $3.96 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.4% today at $1,611.30 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 4 points to 14,455.90 (0.03%), the NASDAQ fell more than 8 points (-0.26%) to 3,229.10, and the S&P 500 fell -0.24% or nearly 4 points to 1,548.35.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) cut to ‘underperform’ at Sterne Agee (more coverage here); eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $56 at Cantor Fitzgerald; and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) cut to ‘hold’ at Needham.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: FutureFuel Corp. (NYSE: FF) is down 9.2% at $12.40; Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ: SBLK) is up 5.7% at $6.50; FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE: FDS) is down 5.6% at $92.52; and Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) is up 5.2% at $44.65 (more coverage here).

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS), Fuel Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: FTEK), Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM), FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS), and Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Affymax Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) is down 62.6% at $1.09 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.02 earlier today. The drugmaker fired 75% of its workforce today and will begin exploring “strategic alternatives” including bankruptcy. More coverage here.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is up 2.9% at $6.05 after posting a new 52-week high of $6.09 earlier today. The telecom company had no big news today, but led a sector that was up on a down day.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is down 3.4% at $39.36. The oil field …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

News, Politics, Government

Worker: Rig was bustling before BP well blowout

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A worker who survived the deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon testified Wednesday that a flurry of activity on the drilling rig hindered his ability to monitor BP‘s well for signs of trouble before the April 2010 blowout.

Joseph Keith, the second rig worker to testify in person at a federal trial over the disaster, said he never saw any indications that a blowout was brewing before drilling mud started raining down on the rig floor just before the blast. The blowout triggered an explosion that killed 11 men and led to the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

Keith, a mud logger employed by a unit of Halliburton Co., said rig workers were performing several other tasks — including operating a crane — that made it more difficult for him to monitor the well for signs of a “kick,” or unexpected flow of fluids into the wellbore. He said the rig typically ceased other activities while workers were engaged in the delicate task of displacing drilling mud with seawater.

Keith, however, testified during cross-examination by a lawyer for rig owner Transocean Ltd. that he was still able to perform his job “fully and capably.” He also said he would have alerted supervisors if he saw or heard anything unsafe happening on the rig.

It was Keith’s job to monitor well conditions and report any red flags to a BP rig supervisor and drillers employed by Transocean Ltd. He described himself as a “second pair of eyes” on data that could have showed them that BP PLC’s Macondo well was unstable.

“You missed this kick, did you not?” plaintiffs’ attorney John de Gravelles asked.

“A lot of people missed the kick, sir,” Keith responded.

He said later than he has more than 20 years of experience and caught roughly a dozen such “kicks” before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, without ever missing one.

Keith said BP ultimately was in charge of orchestrating the operations and could have stopped other activities during the displacement process.

Choking back tears, Keith said he doesn’t have any regrets about his actions on the rig on the night of the explosion.

“I’m sorry it happened,” he said. “I wish it would have never happened.”

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News