OREANDA-NEWS. Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE: BHI) announced today results for the third quarter of 2015.

"In the third quarter, we delivered increased operating profit sequentially, despite deteriorating market conditions and lower revenue," said Martin Craighead, Baker Hughes Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Internationally, despite a 4% decrease in revenue we expanded margins across all of our segments as a result of continued cost reductions. In North America, margins declined further driven by ongoing weakness in the U.S. onshore market, and unfavorable mix in the Gulf of Mexico. Although our Canada business grew sequentially due to seasonal activity, the recovery was less pronounced than prior years. Compared to the third quarter of 2014, revenue in North America declined 57% on sharply lower activity and unfavorable pricing, while actions we have taken to right-size our operational structure resulted in decremental adjusted operating profit margins of 30%.

"As our customers focus increasingly on managing cash, we are experiencing a current shift in spend favoring production optimization projects over exploration and development. As such, we are seeing stronger interest in our production offerings, particularly upstream and refinery chemicals, that provide our customers with optimized production from existing wells and increased ultimate recovery. Consistent with our earlier forecast, we expect further activity reductions and pricing pressures to continue across the globe for well construction for the remainder of the year, as our customers adapt their spending to the lower oil price environment.

"In the fourth quarter, we expect activity in North America to decline as our customers adjust activity for lower commodity prices, exacerbated by an extended holiday impact. Internationally, seasonal year-end product sales are not expected to offset the anticipated decline in activity. We remain focused on proactively managing our cost structure, efficiently reducing our working capital, and strategically targeting revenue opportunities to continue to increase profitability, generate positive cash flow, and maintain a strong balance sheet.

"Regarding the pending merger, I continue to be pleased with the efforts of the teams working on regulatory matters and developing plans for a successful integration. The recently announced plan to divest certain businesses is another important step in the process to complete the transaction. These businesses represent industry leading products and services with extremely proud histories of innovation and value creation for our clients throughout the world.

"Finally, I would like to recognize all of our employees for their hard work, commitment to Baker Hughes, and continued focus on our customers, while working safely in an extremely difficult business environment."