Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes | Energy Services | GE Oil & Gas | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Trump DOJ Blesses GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Merging Soon
June 13, 2017June 13, 2017

During the Obama reign of terror, the world’s #2 largest oilfield services company, Halliburton, tried to buy the world’s #3 largest oilfield services company, Baker Hughes. The Obama Dept. of Justice (DOJ) killed that deal (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). It was a costly mistake for Halliburton–they had to pay Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion breakup fee. Baker Hughes was on a mission to sell itself to someone, and eventually found a new suitor last October: GE Oil & Gas (see Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G). Since then the two have worked hard to ensure there will not be a repeat of the Halliburton disaster. Earlier this month we told you that Europe has blessed the deal (see Europe Approves GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Co Gets a New Name). Now the Trump DOJ has blessed the deal too. GE had to agree to sell its Water & Process Technologies business (called GE Water). Small price to pay. The two maintain that the merger will take place “mid-year”. Since it’s already mid-year, we expect that translates to July or August…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services

Baker Hughes May Rig Count – Steady & Holding Both US and M-U
June 8, 2017June 8, 2017

The International (non-U.S.) Baker Hughes rig count for May 2017 was 957, up 1 from the 956 counted in May 2017, and up 2 from the 955 counted in May 2016. However, the U.S. rig count for May 2017 was 893, up 40 from the 853 counted in May 2017, and up 485 from the 408 counted in May 2016. Like last month, the U.S. rig count continues to be more than double year-ago levels. Canada’s rig count continued further into the abyss in May, falling another 23 after falling 145 last month–down to 85. However, Canada’s May rig count was 43 higher than May 2016. So perhaps it’s not yet an apocalypse for our Canadian cousins. What about rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica? Although 1 net rig changed location–from WV to OH, overall the combined PA/OH/WV rig count remained the same as last month: 68 active rigs drilling…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | GE Oil & Gas | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Baker Hughes, GE Release Roster of Coming Management Changes
June 6, 2017June 6, 2017

Yesterday MDN provided an update about the fast-approaching merger/buyout of Baker Hughes by GE Oil & Gas (see Europe Approves GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Co Gets a New Name). We noted that it appears the new company, when launched, will have a new name: Bear Newco. However, would GE (and Baker Hughes) throw away the brand they’ve created over the past 100+ years in the Baker Hughes name? No, very doubtful. Which was more-or-less confirmed yesterday when Baker Hughes (and GE Oil & Gas) released the official leadership roster for the new company. We had already mentioned a few of the top names. This new list fleshes it all out–who will do what in the newly merged company, a company that will be bigger than current #2 in the world, Halliburton. The infographic (we call it a roster) of who will do what contains this name emblazoned across the top: “Baker Hughes, a GE Company.” The press release headline includes it too. So that’s what the new company name will be for branding/public purposes. Even though Bear Newco will be the company name filing paperwork with the government, the public-facing name will be Baker Hughes, a GE Company. Here’s the leadership roster for the new Baker Hughes (which doesn’t contain very much Baker Hughes)…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | GE Oil & Gas | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Europe Approves GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Co Gets a New Name
June 5, 2017June 5, 2017

Last October, MDN brought you the news that Baker Hughes, the world’s third largest oilfield services company, had struck a deal to combine/merge with/sell itself to GE’s oil and gas business (see Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G). The deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, will result in a new company that will be 65.5% owned by GE and 37.5% owned by Baker Hughes shareholders. The deal, IF it gets approved by the Dept. of Justice, will create a company with $32 billion in revenues. Make no mistake, aside from all of the “partnership” talk, this is GE buying out Baker Hughes. The CEO of the new company will be Lorenzo Simonelli, chief executive of GE Oil & Gas. The board of directors for the new company will have 5 members appointed by GE and 4 members appointed by Baker Hughes. The deal, if it happens, would catapult the new Baker Hughes, which will have the name Bear Newco, past Halliburton to become the world’s second largest oilfield services company. Get this: The deal may even catapult the new company to become the world’s number one oilfield services company–eclipsing Schlumberger! As we said at the time: The question now is, will the Dept. of Justice approve the deal? Last year the Obama DOJ killed the proposed Baker Hughes merger with Halliburton (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). Perhaps in an early sign that the DOJ will approve this merger, the European Commission has given its blessing on the deal…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services

Baker Hughes April Rig Count – M-U Highest in 12 Months
May 8, 2017May 8, 2017

The International (non-U.S.) Baker Hughes rig count for April 2017 was 956, up 13 from the 943 counted in March 2017, and up 10 from the 946 counted in April 2016. However, the U.S. rig count for April 2017 was 853, up 64 from the 789 counted in March 2017, and up 416 from the 437 counted in April 2016. Did you catch that? The U.S. over the past year doubled its rig count. Of particular note is that Canada’s rig count went over a cliff in April, falling by 145 active rigs in one month. Not sure what that’s all about. What about rig counts in our neck of the woods–in the Marcellus/Utica? It was good news for our region. Pennsylvania’s average rig count was up by 2 (to 34), Ohio up 1 (to 22), and West Virginia up by 2 (to 12). Total rig count for the Marcellus/Utica was 68 active rigs in April–the highest in the past 12 months…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Baker Hughes March Rig Counts: Rocket Ride Continues, U.S. Up 45
April 10, 2017April 10, 2017

The Baker Hughes rig count in the U.S. continued to rocket skyward in March. In January the average number of U.S. rigs was 683. In February, the count zoomed to 744, up 61 rigs in just a month. And in March, the U.S. rig count zoomed to 789, up another 45 rigs in a month. Each active rig translates into hundreds of jobs, both directly working at the rig and indirectly in services delivered to the rig and its workers. It also means more landowners will soon have royalty payments heading in their direction. When rigs are active, life is good. What about rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica? Disappointingly our region’s rig count lost a rig in March. PA lost two rigs, OH gained a rig, and WV stayed even. What does it all mean? It means that this zooming up in rig counts is happening in other locations–primarily in the Permian Basin in Texas. That is, oil rigs rushing to take advantage of an increase crude prices to a sustained $50+/barrel. While we’re happy the rig count is up, we’re not happy more it is not happening in the northeast. But honestly, without pipelines to take away an increase in production, can you blame our drillers? Once there is more takeaway capacity, you’ll see rig counts begin to climb again in our neck of the woods…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services

Baker Hughes Introduces New “Adaptive” Drill Bit
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

TerrAdapt™ adaptive drill bit

Baker Hughes has just officially released a new drill bit that they hope will become the new standard in drill bits–the TerrAdapt “adaptive” drill bit. Baker Hughes says they’ve made “dumb” drill bits “smart” by packing intelligence into them. This drill bit can respond to conditions in real time, automatically, to prevent “stick-slip” issues which cause bits to rapidly speed up or slow down. The bit self-adjusts its depth-of-cut (DOC) control elements to automatically adapt its aggressiveness to changing rock types. Pretty cool stuff. The long and the short of it is that this bit means less problems and more uptime spent drilling/chewing away, meaning it will take less time to get the hole drilled…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Baker Hughes Feb Rig Counts Rockets Skyward, Recovery Continues
March 8, 2017March 8, 2017

The Baker Hughes rig count in the U.S. continued to be on fire in February. Whoops! Poor choice of words. The rig count continued its rocket ride. In January the average number of U.S. rigs was 683. In February, the count zoomed to 744, up 61 rigs in just a month. Each active rig translates into hundreds of jobs, both directly working at the rig and indirectly in services delivered to the rig and its workers. It also means more landowners will soon have royalty payments heading in their direction. When rigs are active, life is good. What about rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica? Total rig count went up another 3 rigs. Two of the rigs were added in WV (now 10), and one in PA (now 34). OH’s rig count remained the same (20 rigs) in February as January. Just 3 added rigs out of 61 means other shale plays (primarily the Permian and other oil plays) are where most of the rig action is happening. Here’s the full set of numbers, along with a pretty MDN chart showing the last 12 months of rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Research

Baker Hughes Rig Count for January Heads Higher Again
February 8, 2017February 8, 2017

The Baker Hughes rig count continued its rocket ride in January. The international rig count (worldwide) was 933, up 4 from the 929 counted in December. However, in the U.S., the January rig count was 683, up a huge 49 rigs from the 634 in December. The Marcellus/Utica displayed equally good news. The combined rig counts for PA-OH-WV was 61, up by 3 rigs from December’s 58. Both PA and OH gained 2 rigs while WV lost 1 rig in January. Here’s the full set of numbers (and a pretty chart)…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services

Baker Hughes 4Q & Full Year 2016 – Ink Runs Red, but Slowing
January 30, 2017January 30, 2017

Oilfield services company Baker Hughes, with major operations in the Marcellus/Utica, posted its fourth quarter and annual 2016 results last week. Financially speaking the numbers were a river of red. BH lost $2.7 billion in 2016 vs. losing $1.9 billion in 2015. However, when you look at the later half of the year, and the fourth quarter in particular, the numbers started to improve. BH lost $417 million in 4Q16 vs. losing $1 billion in 4Q15. The bleeding slowed. BH CEO Martin Craighead, in responding to a question about the company’s North American shale business, said, “So equipment goes where it’s loved the most, and not every basin in North America is created equal right now in terms of pricing.” Hmmm. We wonder if the Marcellus/Utica is loved? Below is the update…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Research

Baker Hughes Rig Counts Continued to Rocket Higher in December
January 10, 2017January 10, 2017

The Baker Hughes rig count continued to rocket skyward in December–on all levels. The international rig count (worldwide) was 929, up 4 from the 925 counted in November. However, in the U.S., the December rig count was 634, up a whopping 54 rigs from the 580 counted in November. And the Marcellus/Utica had equally good news. The combined rig counts for PA-OH-WV was 58, up by 5 rigs from November’s 53. Cool! The biggest gainer was PA, with a count of 31 (up 4 from 27 in November). OH gained 2 and now stands at 18 active rigs. WV, on the other hand, lost a single rig and the count stood at an average of 9 rigs. Something else to note, December’s M-U rig count of 58 is the highest average monthly rig count in 2016. On the chart below you will see we hit our low point in June/July when the count was 36. Since that time we have gained rigs every single month…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

3 Parents Give Birth to New Fracking Co: BJ Services
January 3, 2017July 22, 2020

Update: MDN’s headline and opening graf below are a tad confusing. As we pointed out in our previous story (here) BJ Services used to exist as a standalone company before it was purchased by, and merged into, Baker Hughes in 2009–for $5.5 billion. Now BH is spinning what is left of the company–an internal division–back into a standalone company once again. So perhaps our tongue-in-cheek analogy of a new company being “born” with “3 parents” is confusing. Our apologies! And our thanks to a sharp MDN reader for pointing out the confusion.

A quick post to note the birth of a new fracking company. As we noted in November, Baker Hughes, Goldman Sachs, and CSL Capital Management pledged to combine investments and assets to form BJ Services, a “pressure pumping” (i.e. fracking) company (see Baker Hughes, CSL & GS Form New US Fracking Co: BJ Services). Baby BJ has officially arrived and is now open for business. Yes, baby BJ has three parents. Hey, if three parents worked for Bridget Jones’s Baby, it can work for a fracker…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Cool Tool Shows Where Working Rigs are Located in M-U
December 21, 2016December 21, 2016

The GoMarcellusShale Forum where landowners and others interested in shale drilling hang out and swap messages back and forth was recently updated to become ShaleForum.com. It’s an excellent site with lots of great chatter going on for those with an interest in shale-related matters, including a very active Marcellus/Utica discussion. One of those discussions recently caught our eye. A poster on ShaleForum provided a link to an interactive map application hosted by Baker Hughes. We had not previously seen the app and found it to be very useful. The app shows where all of the active rigs currently drilling are located–across the entire country. You can filter the app to show only states or regions you are interested in. We played with it a bit to show you maps for PA, WV and OH where shale rigs are currently located…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Baker Hughes Nov US Rig Count Up by 36; M-U Count Up 4
December 8, 2016December 7, 2016

The worldwide Baker Hughes rig count was up by 5 in November, from 920 in October to 925 in November. That reverses a brief slide back in October when rigs worldwide slide back by 14. However, the rig count in the U.S. went up for the fifth month in a row. The average U.S. rig count for November was 580, up 36 from the 544 counted in October. That’s a two month increase of 71! The Marcellus/Utica rig count was up for the fourth month running. In November the M/U rig count went up by 4 (second month in a row it’s gone up 4) with 2 additions in PA (now 27 rigs) and 2 in OH (now 16 rigs). WV stayed even running with an average of 10 rigs…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Baker Hughes, CSL & GS Form New US Fracking Co: BJ Services
November 30, 2016November 30, 2016

The world’s third largest oilfield services company, Baker Hughes, has struggled to stay afloat given the radical reduction in revenue they get for the services they offer. BH’s recent third quarter update showed the company lost $430 million, which is down from losing $912 million in 3Q15, a positive sign we suppose (see Baker Hughes 3Q16: Bleeding Slows, but Hefty Loss of $430M). Halliburton tried to buy BH last year, but earlier this year the Obama DOJ killed the proposed merger (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). Last month GE Oil & Gas launched its own takeover/merger with BH (see Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G). In the midst of all that, BH is not sitting on its hands. Yesterday the company announced it will spin off its North American shale fracking business into a new company, BJ Services. The deal involves investments and assets contributed from both Goldman Sachs and CSL Capital Management. Here’s the lowdown on BH’s new “pressure pumping” (i.e. fracking) deal, and the real reason BH is doing it…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Baker Hughes Oct US Rig Count Up by 35, M-U Count Up 4
November 8, 2016November 8, 2016

While the worldwide Baker Hughes rig count slide back a bit in October, from 934 in September to 920 in October, the rig count in the U.S. once again, for the fourth month in a row, went up. The average U.S. rig count for October was 544, up 35 from the 509 counted in September. However, the rig count was down 247 from the 791 counted in October 2015–so we still have a long ways to go. The Marcellus/Utica rig count was up for the third month running. In October the M/U rig count went up by 4 with 3 additions in PA (now 25 rigs) and 1 in WV (now 10 rigs). OH stayed even running with an average of 14 rigs…
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