Halliburton profit jumps but ban to hurt results

NEW YORK (Reuters) - HALLIBURTON (HAL.NY)Co reported a better-than-expected 83 percent jump in quarterly profit on Monday, helped by strong U.S. onshore drilling, but a ban on deepwater activity in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to hurt full-year results.

Shares of the world's second-largest oilfield services company rose 4.6 percent in premarket trading.

Revenue jumped across all regions, with market share gains internationally and North American operations getting a boost from increased natural gas drilling.

Halliburton's operating margin jumped to 17 percent.

Simmons Co analyst Bill Herbert said it was an "incandescent" quarter for the company, especially given the strength overseas in the face of tepid rig count growth.

Halliburton, based in Houston and Dubai, expects a ban on deepwater drilling in the United States to trim 2010 earnings by 5 cents to 8 cents per share.

Analysts expect the company to earn $1.44 per share this year. In 2009 the company earned $1.27 per share.

"The tragic incident that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent suspension of deepwater drilling, we believe, will usher in a new regulatory climate and will have a profound impact on how deepwater drilling is performed," the company said in a statement.

BY THE NUMBERS

Second-quarter net income rose to $480 million, or 53 cents per share, compared with $262 million, or 29 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

Excluding a gain from discontinued operations, the company earned 52 cents per share. By that measure, analysts expected earnings of 37 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 15.8 percent to $4.4 billion. Analysts expected $4.1 billion.

The company, which did cementing work on the blown-out BP Plc well that spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico for three months, says it is indemnified under its contract withBP.

Even prior to the blowout and moratorium, Halliburton and its rivals had been generally planning for better growth outside North America over the next few years.

Shares of Halliburton are down 17 percent since the April 20 blowout that badly shook much of the oil and gas industry. Shares of larger rival Schlumberger Ltd , which reports results on Friday, are down 16 percent in that time.

Halliburton also competes globally with Switzerland-based Weatherford Ltd , which will post quarterly results on Tuesday, and Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc , reporting on August 3.

Noble Corp , the third-largest offshore rig contractor, will report after the bell on Monday.

Halliburton's first-quarter results were hurt by a devaluation in the Venezuelan bolivar, causing a $31 million currency loss and $10 million of additional income tax expenses.

Shares of Halliburton rose $1.48, or 4.6 percent, to $28.80 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in New York and Braden Reddall in San Francisco; Editing by Derek Caney)

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