After Baker Hughes Warns of Tariff Impact, SLB Thrives (Kind of)

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Oilfield services firm SLB (Houston, Texas) said revenue improved during the third quarter despite a weakened market, with its North American performance alone up 17% sequentially, though there were caveats.

"SLB improved revenue despite the backdrop of a fully supplied oil market, an uncertain geopolitical environment and subdued commodity prices," said Chief Executive Officer Olivier Le Peuch in an earnings-related conference call Friday.

By percent, SLB was lifted primarily by operations in North America, where third-quarter revenue of $1.9 billion marked a 17% increase sequentially and 14% year-on-year, despite tariff pressures in the U.S. market.

Le Peuch made little reference to North American markets, however. Earlier this week, Lorenzo Simonelli, the head of Baker Hughes (Houston), said he expected tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. to cut $100 million from its profits. Both companies reported performance issues during the prior 2025 quarters.

U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a flurry of tariffs during his first weeks in office, largely sparing foreign energy, but enacting a hefty import tax on aluminum and steel. That creates headaches for upstream services firms, because U.S. manufacturers make few of the tubular products necessary for oil and gas pipelines.

The devil may be in the details for SLB, however. The company in July closed on its acquisition of rival upstream company ChampionX, which added to SLB's revenue stream during the third quarter. Without ChampionX, SLB would've posted a loss.

Excluding the impact of this acquisition, according to SLB:

• SLB's third-quarter 2025 global revenue decreased 2% sequentially and 9% year-over-year
• International third-quarter 2025 revenue decreased 1% sequentially and 9% year-over-year
• North America third-quarter 2025 revenue decreased 7% sequentially and 9% year-over-year

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can read detailed profiles of SLB and ChampionX.

Meanwhile, SLB, formerly Schlumberger, posted few, if any, new contracts for North America during the period, instead helping Equinor S.A. (Stavanger, Norway) with its North Sea developments and carbon capture and storage in the U.K.

Much of the North American energy sector, particularly in the U.S. market, is on its backfoot. On Thursday, the U.S. Federal Reserve published its Beige Book, a summary of economic conditions across various districts, which found the mood has soured.

"Manufacturing activity varied by district, and most reports noted challenging conditions due to higher tariffs and waning overall demand," the report read. "Activity in agriculture, energy and transportation was generally down among reporting districts."

Internationally, SLB posted revenue of $6.9 billion, counting the contribution from ChampionX. That's some $5 billion more than in North America.

"In this context, international markets--while facing challenges in some regions--are demonstrating resilience, with several countries across the Middle East and Asia continuing to show robust growth," Le Puech said.

Economists at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reported in their monthly market report for October that the U.S. economy was expected to expand by 1.8% this year, compared to 4.8% for China.

For members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), comprised of mostly Western economies, oil demand is expected to post an annual increase of 100,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) this year, while non-OECD countries are expected to post demand growth of 1.2 million BBL/d in 2025. Those forecasts hold for 2026.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).