Halliburton Sees Bakken Recovery Signs Amid Iran War Uncertainty

Halliburton Co., the world's largest provider of fracking services, sees early signs of a recovery in North American oilfields, according to its first-quarter earnings statement released Tuesday. The company has a nearly-full second-quarter schedule in North America as demand heats up from small and mid-sized oil firms, Halliburton Chief Operating Officer Shannon Slocum said during an analyst call.

“In North America, I see clear signs that we are in the early innings of a recovery,” Halliburton Chief Executive Officer Jeff Miller said in the statement. The comments are the latest indication that shale drillers are responding to rising prices, which have teetered above $90 a barrel amid Middle East disruptions, according to the Rigzone report.

This potential rebound comes as upstream employment in Texas, a key shale region, continues to decline. According to the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), Texas upstream sector employment declined by 900 jobs between January and February 2026, Rigzone reported. The loss reflected 300 jobs in oil and natural gas extraction and 600 jobs in support activities.

Despite the employment drop, TIPRO data indicates strong job postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry in February, with 8,554 unique industry job postings. Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations led the ranking with 2,100 postings. The top three cities for job postings were Houston (2,207), Midland (583), and Odessa (355).

The nascent recovery signal from Halliburton is set against heightened geopolitical uncertainty. A ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is due to expire late Wednesday U.S. time, and talks have hit an impasse, according to a separate Rigzone report. The U.S. is awaiting a green light from Iran for peace talks, with sides deadlocked on issues including access to the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump told CNBC the U.S. is "ready to go" with fresh bombing raids if a breakthrough isn’t reached. Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed to most commercial traffic for now. The waterway had flowed about a fifth of the world's oil and LNG exports before the war began on Feb. 28.

The Iran war has disrupted Halliburton's operations, reducing net income by about 2 to 3 cents per diluted share in the first quarter, with impacts potentially ranging from 7 to 9 cents per share for the second quarter, Chief Financial Officer Eric Carre said. However, the company's first-quarter results beat analyst expectations as sales growth in Latin America outpaced Middle East disruptions.

For Bakken operators, the juxtaposition of a service giant anticipating increased activity, ongoing regional employment pressures, and a precarious geopolitical situation that continues to support high oil prices defines the current market landscape.