Once the Obama Dept. of Justice burst the dream of merging with Halliburton (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”), Baker Hughes set out to right the ship and deal with the most serious down market in a generation. BH issued their second quarter 2016 update yesterday and held a conference call with analysts. Among the measure BH took in 2Q16 to righ the ship was laying off another 3,000 workers (always a sad thing). BH used $1.5 billion of a $3.5 billion break-up fee they collected from Halliburton to buy back outstanding debt. Perhaps the most ominous news coming from yesterday’s update is that BH believes drilling in North America is unlikely to rebound for the rest of the year. We had hoped the corner has already been turned (see Crack of Light – OH Sand Producer Says Market Turning Around). According to BH, such is not the case…
