The holidays are coming early for US oil-field service providers,and that’s not a good thing.The sector’s big bellwether companies broadly agree on one point: the fourth quarter is going to be ugly.But the question that no one seems able to answer is just how long the slowdown will last.Oil-field activity in the US traditionally hits a lull as the Christmas decorations come out.This year,Halliburton and Schlumberger both expect some of their key customers to start laying down hydraulic fracturing fleets by the middle of November-weeks before the holiday season formally kicks into gear around Thanksgiving Day.Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard said he doesn’t expect those fleets to go back to work until at least mid-January.Halliburton,meanwhile,lowered its earnings guidance for the third time since July based on low expectations for the fourth quarter and gave no assurances it would be the last.CEO Jeff Miller did suggest that the year’s final quarter would represent the”bottom”of the downturn in tracking activity.But given the lack of clarity about near-term demand from the two biggest players in the US pressure-pumping market,investors may view that projection with some skepticism.
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