Message from Andrew Gould: Performed by Schlumberger Chairman's Award and Third Quarter Results Announced
On Saturday evening I had the pleasure of presenting the 2006 Performed by Schlumberger Chairman's Award to the WesternGeco E-Dog project team at the JFK Museum in Boston. Performed by Schlumberger is a program that recognizes excellence in terms of teamwork, innovation and positive business impact for our customers and for Schlumberger. The E-Dog Project demonstrated each of these qualities superbly.
I am delighted that this particular project has achieved the highest award in Schlumberger for two reasons. First, because E-Dog began as something of a maverick project - a small reprocessing effort for a single client. But it quite quickly grew into the largest seismic depth-imaging program ever undertaken by the seismic industry, as well as a profitable multiclient success. This project demonstrates one of our core philosophies - a commitment to R&D in spite of the industry cycles.
The second reason is that this represents a wonderful achievement for WesternGeco. Combined with ever improving results to which the E-Dog survey has greatly contributed this quarter, I think most of us would agree that WesternGeco has been a star performer this year. I would like to congratulate all WesternGeco employees for their contribution to this performance.
The occasion of the Chairman's Award marks the culmination of an excellent week for Schlumberger with the exceptional third quarter results announced on Friday.
Third Quarter ResultsOur total revenue was $4.95 billion versus $4.69 billion in the second quarter of 2006 and $3.70 billion in the third quarter of 2005. Income from continuing operations, before charges and credits, reached $1.00 billion—-an increase of 11% sequedi Arabia and Caspian GeoMarkets, and from a Segment standpoint there was strong demand for Drilling & Measurements, Well Services, Completion Systems and Data & Consulting Services technologies. Pretax operating income increased 8% sequentially and 68% year-on-year, reaching $1.21 billion.
As I mentioned previously, WesternGeco continued to blaze a trail through this period. Third-quarter revenue of $659 million was 17% higher sequentially and 51% higher compared to the same period last year. Pretax operating income of $242 million improved 35% sequentially and 183% year-on-year. Strong marine revenue, high vessel utilization, additional land crews and further growth in Q-Technology sales all contributed to this performance.
Whilst there was a decrease in the number of fatalities sequentially, the number of Industry Recognized fatalities and those directly related to processes on the job have increased compared to 2005. I must reiterate that adherence to our standards on the job is imperative. I would like to take this opportunity to reflect back a year ago, when the ADC bus accident in Saudi Arabia caused the deaths of 12 employees. Following an investigation of the accident, an aggressive action plan was implemented to replace unfit buses, and face=Arial>Congratulations to the recruiting organization for staying on track to meet the aggressive recruiting targets that were set at the start of the year. As of September 30, we had reached 94% of our field engineer target, 87% of the field specialist target, and 87% of our Research/Development/ Manufacturing personnel recruiting plan.
In my opinion, the training of new people is now our biggest priority, as this is the only long-term solution to lifestyle improvements in the field. This year we made significant progress on our training capacity that enabled us to move our new recruits through the system more efficiently and get them to the field faster. With the opening of the training centers in Abu Dhabi and Tyumen in the first part of 2007, we will further expand our capacity by an additional 150,000 training days. To fully benefit from our recruiting and training efforts, we must all help our trainees get up to speed and do our best to make them feel welcome.
Overall, attrition rates declined in Oilfield Services and WesternGeco. While this is encouraging, percentage rates and numbers do not convey the quality and experience of the people we are losing. In addition, while our field engineer and trainee attrition rates have declined significantly, certain populations remain vulnerable. I know that many of you are concerned. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely, and to introduce new measures. Retention will continue to be a high priority for management.
OutlookWe are beginning to see the impact of high levels of natural gas storage in North America, with consequent price weakness in the areas of higher-cost coal bed methane and shallow gas production.
Outside North America, growth for oil and gas will remain strong as our customers continue to fight decline curves and bring in new fields. Beyond the fourth quarter we see continued growth through 2007, albeit at a slower pace than the explosion we have experienced this year. It remains an excellent time to be part of the industry and Schlumberger.
We have had yet another wonderful quarter and are in an exceptionally strong position as we enter the final stage of 2006. Reaching the top is easier than staying on top. The latter will be our challenge in 2007. Thank you once again for your hard work and please accept my personal congratulations on another outstanding quarter.
Andrew Gould
To read our third quarter results visit: http://newsroom.slb.com/press/newsroom/index.cfm?prid=20264
hOhOhO...tempting huh???giv us ur hands ;D..juz coming back from being HIATUS for d'whole last week. How cud i update dis blog when i wasnt in a HARI RAYA mood when my papa wasnt 'round..d'WORST part was we didnt take even a single day to go to our own house at JOHOR other than spent our tyme at d'boring citY of malacca...i dun understand y n y mymom reluctant to live off her parents at malacca...*big sigh*...and my sist made a big surprise when she suddenly askd me to fecth her at SKUDAI airport...OMG...she rather spend her EID events spirit in mesia instead of spending it in Mesir.....straight to d'point,i think i hav to buy a new card reader for my new memorycards(both digicam and handset),so for now i cant transfer even a single pic to upload it in here*deep sigh* ...for dis raya i had a beautiful&unforgettable memories dat im gonna share it wif u guys...ill make d'longest blog for those past hari raya...uhuh,whutt d heck plak pasal news above ni???hohoho...it was spoken by our CEO(of Schlumberger) bout our achievements and our targets along dis year (which will reach dec soon)...im from WESTERNGECO btw...cheers
