Friday, January 30, 2015

Company Profile : HALLIBURTON

In these segments, we try to bring forth a small pep-talk about each of the companies that come to Cox school of business for recruiting its MBA students. Dallas, located in Texas- which is the heart of the oil sector, not just for the United States but it possesses a global control in the oil sector. Hence, I start with featuring a major company in this sector- we all know the name !
                                 


Brent Crude trading at 49 a barrel and the IMF just announced that the growth forecast will be around 3.4-3.8 and that might mean that the prices of oil can be held around 49-50 mark for some time now. However, Greece still looking in doldrums and Euro zone in a fix. Hopefully, this will get better in days to come, but as a common man, I don't want to see the crude prices going up. If one follows the growth predictions, I will assume that the demand for oil would not rise much. However, Halliburton president Jeff Miller quotes, "Although oil demand growth expectations for 2015 have weakened, it is still growth. Demand is forecast to increase by an estimated 900,000 barrels per day. Keep in mind the steep decline curves are still at work. We estimate the average annual production decline rates for unconventional in North America are in excess of 30%, and much higher in some areas. Depending on the ultimate trajectory of the rig count declines and the backlog of well completions, we believe that North America crude production could begin to respond during the back half of the year. Internationally, decline rates have become more pronounced in several key markets over the last couple of years. In areas like Angola, Norway, and Russia historical growth has given way to net production declines in the last year. While decline rates in markets like Mexico and India have actually accelerated."
To speak in nutshell, underestimating the demand market could probably mean that under investing by the oil companies might irk up some problems in years ahead. 



Halliburton has been in the oil business for a long time.Founded in 1919 in Oklahoma by Erle P.Halliburton and incorporated in Delaware in 1924 with 56 employees as HOWCO, it now houses 68000 employees with two headquarters - Houston and Dubai - to take control of operations in the eastern hemisphere. In 1957, it was $190 million worth. Today, Halliburton stands at the staggering $28 billion total assets and revenues of $24 billions, operating over 80 countries and owing hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches and brands.

Operating in the Oil services and equipment industry, it is second only to Schlumberger and is followed by Weatherford international and Baker Hughes. However, in November 2014, Hali announced it would acquire Baker Hughes in Cash and stocks for $35 billion. 

Energy services has been its cornerstone, providing technical products and services for natural gas and petroleum exploration and production. Its erstwhile partner - KBR is a major construction company in refinery, chemical plants, oil fields and pipelines.Halliburton severed its ties with KBR in 2007, following KBR's assignments with the Department of Homeland securities. Halliburton acquired KBR- Kellog Brown-Root in 1998 and KBR had been its construction, contracting and engineering unit for a long profitable period.

No big thing comes without glitches and Halliburton has had to face some mire of its own. I would end this article with reference to the episode of the "Deepwater horizon explosion". Something that we all have read in our textbooks about the negative impacts of oil companies on the environment !

No comments :