Nabors Industries Ltd (NYSE: NBR), the world's largest land-rig contractor, is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter financial results after the closing bell on Tuesday, February 15, 2011. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 37 cents per share on revenue of $1.28 billion. In the year ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 18 cents per share on revenue of $841.24 million.
Nabors is a major land drilling contractor and conducts oil, gas and geothermal land drilling operations across the globe. The company owns and operates approximately 554 land drilling and approximately 728 land workover and well-servicing rigs in North America. Nabors' actively marketed offshore fleet consists of 38 platform rigs, 13 jack-up units and 3 barge rigs in the United States and multiple international markets. In addition, Nabors manufactures top drives and drilling instrumentation systems and provides comprehensive oilfield hauling, engineering, civil construction, logistics and facilities maintenance, and project management services. Nabors participates in most of the significant oil, gas and geothermal markets in the world.
In the preceding third-quarter, the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company's net loss was $39.6 million, or 14 cents a share, compared to a profit of $29.5 million, or 10 cents a share, in the comparable quarter. Excluding certain non-cash asset impairments and expenses related to the acquisition of Superior Well Services Inc., earnings from continuing operations was 29 cents per share. Revenue jumped 34% to $1.08 billion from $789.20 million. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 23 cents per share on revenue of $789.20 million.
Nabors has benefited from rising dayrates as oil companies compete for the world's limited number of rigs.
It has also benefited from a rebound in US land-drilling activity from the prior year's slumping levels. The number of rigs actively engaged in exploration and production in the US totaled 1,689 in the week ending January 28, the highest level since December 2008.
Recently, Nabors said that it is no longer expects to sell its natural gas assets in British Columbia this year because of weak natural gas prices. Nabors said the weak natural gas environment made a 2011 sale of 34,000 acres and associated pipeline in Horn River "unlikely," following its already-delayed initial public offering for gas-producing joint venture NFR Energy. Those two sales, along with oil-heavy interests in Colombia that are on track to sell early this year, were part of an asset disposal program expected to raise about $2 billion.
Nabors is well positioned in the industry, given its large, high-quality fleet of drilling and workover rigs. The company also enjoys a good exposure from the oil plays with its strong presence in the Bakken, Permian and Haynesville shale.
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