Baker Hughes Inc, the world’s No.3 oilfield services provider, reported a lower-than-expected profit for the first time in five quarters as political tensions in Libya and Iraq, and a sharp fall in drilling activity in the Gulf of Mexico weighed on margins. The company’s shares fell nearly 6.7 percent to $50.06 in premarket trading on Thursday. Baker Hughes said pretax profit margins in its operations in Europe, Africa and the Russia Caspian region slumped to 8 percent in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from 17 percent a year earlier. North America, which accounted for more than half of total revenue, was a brightest spot in the company’s operations. Increased demand for pressure pumping, used in hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas from shale rock, and a seasonal rebound in activity in Canada helped the company report a 10 percent rise in third-quarter profit. Revenue […]