Baker Hughes Beats Expectations With Q4 Results

Baker Hughes reported better-than-expected financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024 on the back of a stronger natural gas technology business.

Fourth-quarter profit was up by a sizable 54% on the previous quarter, while the full-year net result booked a whopping 168% increase, from $439 million to $1.179 billion, the company said.

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Baker Hughes also reported a solid rise in cash flow from operating activities, at $1.189 billion as of end-2024 versus $932 million at end-2023, and free cash flow of $894 million at end-2024 versus $633 million at end-2023.

Baker Hughes attributed its result mostly to a stellar performance from its natural gas-related business, including both gas production and liquefaction. A new contract for a gas field expansion in Saudi Arabia contributed to the results as did significant demand for Baker Hughes expertise from the LNG sector in the United States, notably from Venture Global for its Plaquemines facility and from NextDecade for its Rio Grande LNG project.

The industrial and energy technology business unit, of which gas equipment and construction is part, accumulated an order book of $3.8 billion during the final quarter of 2024, booking a 42% year-on-year increase in revenues and a 23% increase in revenue from the third quarter.

Oilfield services revenue, however, dipped both at home and abroad – just like it did for larger rivals Schlumberger (recently rebranded as SLB) and Halliburton. Business appears to have been stronger abroad than at home for all the oilfield services majors, with SLB posting a 1% dip in local revenues and a 12% increase in foreign revenues. Baker Hughes booked a 5% decline in its home OFS business and a 1% dip in the foreign OFS business. Halliburton reported a 7% decline in North American revenues for the fourth quarter while international business grew 3%.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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