OPEC production cuts haven’t slowed the search for more oil in the Middle East. Baker Hughes Inc., which will soon be the world’s second-largest oil services provider, called the Middle East a positive environment for expected work in the first half this year. “There’s a bit of a disconnect between the OPEC cuts that were announced and what we’re forecasting at least for the next 6 months in terms of activity,” Martin Craighead, chief executive officer at Baker Hughes, told analysts and investors Thursday on a conference call. “We see no pullback that would correlate to the announcement on a production cut. We still expect it to be relatively steady. A couple pockets of the more midsize to smaller players in the Middle East are actually going to increase.” The healthy outlook for drilling in the region underscores the temporary nature of the output cuts, and the potential for […]