Abu Dhabi: Baker Hughes said it is upbeat about its growth in the Middle East and continue to invest despite falling oil prices. The oilfield services company said they are working on a number of projects in drilling and evaluation activity.
“Oil price is a concern. There is volatility out there but our road map is not changing. Investments are solid and continue to be in future,” said Mario Aufiero, managing director of South Arabian Gulf Geomarket of Baker Hughes while speaking to Gulf News.
He said they have big plans in Abu Dhabi including building an operational base in the next two years. “The investment profile is high and we are not going to change that. In 2013, we opened state of the art reservoir centre in Abu Dhabi. We are currently evaluating new infrastructure in Abu Dhabi. We have a very large eastern hemisphere training centre in Jebel Ai, to train engineers for $60 million.”
The company is being bought by Halliburton for about $35 billion in cash and stock, creating an oilfield services giant. Halliburton said integration plans have not yet been developed and it will occur after the transaction is closed in 2015 and during the following few years.
A spokesperson of Baker Hughes said the transaction has compelling benefits for the stockholders and customers.
The transaction combines two highly complementary suites of products and services into a comprehensive offering to oil and natural gas customers. On a pro-forma basis the combined company had 2013 revenues of $51.8 billion, more than 136,000 employees and operations in more than 80 countries around the world.
A market analyst said oil services companies in the Gulf region will not be affected by drop in oil prices as the spending on oil exploration is expected to continue. “Gulf countries have enough cash reserves to spend on the oil sector for the next three to four years,” said Arjuna Mahendran, chief investment officer at Emirates NBD.
“The merger of Halliburton and Baker Hughes might lead to some job losses in North America but not in the Middle East region. Oil services companies will continue to do well here. “
Investments in the oil sector will continue despite the drop in prices, UAE said last month. It produces around 2.8 million barrels per day and intends to increase the production to 3.7 million barrels per day by 2017.
Oil prices have been falling for the past few months. It was hovering around $65 per barrel on Thursday. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries which met last month did not agree to a cut in production to arrest the slide of prices.
