Two of the world’s largest oilfield services providers, Baker Hughes and Halliburton, reported on Wednesday profits beating expectations and expressed optimism that oil demand and oil drilling activity will grow through the rest of the year and into 2022. Baker Hughes ( NYSE: BKR ) booked adjusted earnings per share of $0.12 for the first quarter of 2021, up from $0.11 for Q1 2020 and from a loss of $0.07 for the fourth quarter of 2020, and beating the analyst estimate of $0.11 per share earnings. Free cash flow at Baker Hughes nearly doubled to $498 million for Q1 from $250 million for the previous quarter as international and North American activity both rose at the start of this year with the increase in oil prices. “As we look ahead to the rest of 2021, we remain cautiously optimistic that the global economy and oil demand will recover from […]