The income and revenue of the world's largest oilfield services company, Schlumberger, decreased in the third quarter of 2016, the company announced Thursday.
Net income fell by 82 percent to $176 million in the third quarter, from $989 million for the same period last year.
Revenue decreased by 17 percent to $7.02 billion, from $8.47 billion, over the same period.
Schlumberger Chairman and CEO Paal Kibsgaard said in a statement that the company's business "stabilized" in the third quarter, after "calling the bottom of the cycle in the second quarter of this year."
Kibsgaard referred to the current environment of the oil industry as having a "fragile financial state", but he remained hopeful of a recovery next year.
"... We do see activity upside in 2017 in North America, the Middle East and in Russia's markets. We are therefore ensuring that we are optimally positioned to capture a large share of this upside that we can subsequently turn it into positive earnings contributions," he explained.
Schlumberger's revenue from North America's operations fell to $1.7 billion in the third quarter of 2016, from $2.27 billion in the same period of 2015 -- a 25 percent decline.
Revenue from outside North America in the third quarter this year decreased by 13.5 percent to $5.25 billion, from $6.07 billion for the same time a year ago.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
ovunc.kutlu@aa.com.tr