Halliburton Company said Monday that first-quarter profit rose 6 percent, meeting Wall Street expectations, as customers in markets including the Middle East and Asia spent more on oil and natural-gas exploration and production. Halliburton, which opened a headquarters in Dubai last year in an effort to win more international business, said first-quarter profit increased to $584 million from $552 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 18 percent to $4 billion. The company said revenue outside North America jumped 24 percent to $2.16 billion, while operating income rose 21 percent to $422 million. In North America, Halliburton's revenue rose 11 percent to $1.86 billion while operating income was flat at $491 million. Halliburton and rivals Schlumberger and Weatherford International have seen faster growth in overseas markets, while North America has slowed. Record high crude-oil prices and a two-year high in natural-gas futures have prompted exploration companies to increase spending, leading to a more optimistic outlook for the oilfield-services companies. “The fundamentals of the world oil and gas market are projecting that the next [improvement] in this extended cycle is near,” Halliburton chief executive Dave Lesar said in a statement, adding that even the North American market “is much stronger than may have been anticipated just a few months ago.” Also on Monday, Halliburton confirmed it won a large three-year contract for work in Saudi Aramco's Manifa oilfield, which has a production target of 900,000 barrels per day.
