Halliburton Leads the Way with Shale Plays

Halliburton recently reported fourth-quarter earnings nearly 50% lower from the previous year.  Despite those results, shares of Halliburton continue to ride high, up 35% over the past six months versus a gain of 18% and a loss of 11% for competitors Schlumberger and Weatherford International, respectively.

The likely reason?  The U.S. shale gas boom.

Halliburton is the biggest player in North America, especially in providing drilling and well completion services in the booming shale gas plays in basins like the Haynesville and Marcellus.  Halliburton leads the industry in all these services.  “Halliburton is the one you want to own,” says Paul Coppola, portfolio manager with Arrowhawk Capital Partners in Houston. “There’s a well-completion cycle coming, and that’s right in Halliburton’s wheelhouse.”

Though Halliburton still gets most of its business in North America, it's undoubtedly hoping that it's leadership position in North America will extend to emerging shale gas plays in Europe.  Realm Energy International Corp, which is collaborating with Halliburton Consulting to apply North American shale gas technology in Europe, is evaluating other undeveloped shale plays and intends to make more applications in early 2010.

Realm Energy has said it applied for oil and gas rights in eight undisclosed basins in seven unidentified European countries where it plans to exploit shale gas on more than 1.5 million acres.

Source: Forbes, Realm