The acquisition of ChampionX helped the world’s biggest oilfield services provider, SLB (NYSE: SLB), raise its North America revenue by 15% in the fourth quarter versus Q3 despite the softer market in the U.S. shale industry.
SLB, which completed the acquisition of chemicals and engineering oilfield services provider ChampionX in the third quarter, saw its North America revenue surge by 26% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, the company said in its Q4 results release on Friday.
SLB reported $0.78 earnings per share for the fourth quarter, up by 13% sequentially, but down 15% year on year. The EPS beat the analyst consensus estimate of $0.74.
North America revenues at SLB jumped to $2.212 billion for the fourth quarter, up by 15% sequentially and 26% annually.
Excluding the impact of this acquisition, North America fourth-quarter 2025 revenue increased 6% sequentially and declined 7% year on year, SLB said.
In total, the acquired ChampionX businesses contributed $879 million of overall SLB revenue and $206 million of adjusted EBITDA.
“Fourth-quarter revenue increased sequentially across all four geographies for the first time since the second quarter of 2024, reflecting stabilized global upstream activity,” SLB chief executive Olivier Le Peuch said.
“We saw revenue growth both in North America and international markets, further supported by an additional month of ChampionX revenue.”
Looking forward, SLB’s top executive said “we believe that the headwinds we experienced in key regions in 2025 are behind us,” noting expectations of strong Middle East rig activity this year.
“As economics remain challenged, production and recovery activity is becoming a strategic priority for our customers in order to unlock incremental barrels at the lowest cost,” Le Peuch added.
For investors, SLB said it’s committed to returning more than $4 billion to shareholders in 2026 through dividends and share repurchases, and raised its quarterly dividend by 3.5%.
Earlier this week, Halliburton also reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations, as international activity continued to offset weak conditions in North America.
Halliburton and SLB will be closely watched by investors in the coming months amid expectations they would return to Venezuela operations.
Halliburton CEO Jeff Miller told analysts on the Q4 earnings call that he is “confident that we could move fairly quickly in Venezuela.”
“We’re working through the mechanics around license and things that we’re certain will get in place,” Miller said.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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