HOUSTON (Dow Jones)-Despite uncertainties hanging over the
global economy, Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) doesn't see a significant
drop in global oil prices, unless a major dip occurs, top company
executives said Friday.
"Absent a global recession, we do not expect (oil) prices to
weaken significantly," Chief Executive Paal Kibsgaard said in a
conference call.
An oversupply of natural gas in North America is likely to keep
prices low there, and the company has already seen some weakness in
prices for the pressure pumping services hired by producers in
natural gas basins, Kibsgaard said. But strong Asian economies are
keeping demand for liquefied natural gas high. Overall,
"exploration spending will continue to increase," the executive
said.
In North America, the land rig count is expected to remain flat,
as a decrease in natural gas-directed drilling rigs is likely to be
offset by oil-directed rigs, Kibsgaard said. In the deepwater U.S.
Gulf of Mexico, Kibsgaard said that Schlumberger expects the rig
count to reach pre-deepwater Horizon levels in the later part of
2012.
Schlumberger recognized a $60 million charge for Libyan assets
lost due to civil unrest in the country, said Simon Ayat, the
company's Chief Financial Officer. However, activity there has
resumed and the company is fully operational there, Kibsgaard
said.
Kibsgaard added that he expects strong growth in West Africa due
to recent successes in exploring pre-salt fields offshore Angola.
These oil and gas fields, buried under layers of salt, have yielded
rich results in Brazil, which geologists says shares the same
geology as West Africa.
-By Angel Gonzalez, Dow Jones Newswires;
713-547-9214;angel.gonzalez@dowjones.com