Oilfield services companies are an example of a type of firm that is expecting to have a long-lasting stay in the energy market. Of course, it goes without saying that the stock market is never a sure thing. And with the overall stress and anxiety many people are feeling due to the downturn of the housing market, the price of oil continues to rise. Demand is also going up as well and production is lessening, so these higher prices we see aren't likely to go away anytime soon.
Thanks to these uncertain times, even businesses that are doing well in terms of their profit margins are dealing with a hopefully temporary decline in the price of their stocks. These include the oilfield companies, which typically give consumers a huge variety of project management, technology, and working with international oil companies, smaller and independent gas and oil companies, and national companies that specialize in constructing new oil rigs both off-shore and on-shore, and also locating new business and doing reservoir management.
In the past few years, these companies are the ones that are creating new ideas and technology. New developments in technology include reservoir monitoring, imaging, and development complete with data processing centers and seismic crews using what are called seismic libraries. These image services that are used include time-lapsed seismic surveys and 3-D surveys as well as fancier surveys to help find new areas of oil.
Rumor even has it that some of the bigger oil companies have ceased looking for new oil, as there is not much oil left to find. Instead, the companies are spending a lot of money purchasing shares of its own companies, as a way to have control over any oil reserves they still have.
As opposed to the "Big Oil" firms, the oilfield services companies typically do not own a large amount of the oil reservoirs they locate, but instead focus on getting paid for the actual tasks they complete. Because of these reasons, the oilfield services companies are the "go to" businesses for any country that wishes to control both its oil and thus its economy. |