Schlumberger Ltd; oil and gas exploration helped push its shares up 4 percent.

Schlumberger Ltd; oil and gas exploration helped push its shares up 4 percent.

Schlumberger Ltd told the press that a better-than-expected jump in quarterly profit on Friday and the world’s largest oilfield services company gave an upbeat outlook for energy companies’ spending on oil and gas exploration that helped push its shares up 4 percent. Schlumberger Chief Executive, Andrew Gould, Citing customer response to higher prices, he repeated his longer-term view that the global exploration and production spending cycle would stay “stronger for longer.”

Schlumberger and others in the sector have benefited from robust demand for their services as energy producers strive to boost output to take advantage of the prolonged rally in crude oil and natural gas prices.

Looking to 2009, Gould told analysts on a conference call that he expects Schlumberger’s international revenue to climb more than 20 percent in 2009, above analysts’ current estimates. “The market liked what it heard,” Kurt Hallead, oilfield services analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said. “The outlook was very bullish and the Street is going to have to increase their international revenue growth rates.”

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