Martin S. Craighead
Analyst
Thanks, Trey, and good morning, everyone. Let me start off with a few comments about our results. First, Baker Hughes performed well in North America and across the Eastern Hemisphere this quarter. In fact, the Eastern Hemisphere posted record revenues on strong growth in both Europe/Africa/Russia Caspian and Middle East/Asia Pacific business segments, while North American revenue increased 3% sequentially despite Canadian activity reaching its lowest level in 4 years. Unfortunately, that performance was more than offset by profit erosion in our Latin American business segment. So I want to begin my remarks today by addressing these issues right out of the gate. First, the most meaningful issue we faced in the quarter was timing associated with the ramp-down of our drilling contract in Brazil. As we transitioned to the new contract structure in the second quarter, we made a conscious decision to work with our customer and ensure there were no operational disruptions. This customer-centric approach in Brazil has served us well over the years, and that, coupled with stellar drilling performance, secured us a contract extension last year, which resulted in very high activity levels being reached in the first quarter of this year. As we progressed through the second quarter, we were anticipating a further extension. Unfortunately, that did not occur, and as a result, we forfeited an opportunity for a more orderly demobilization. This left us with stranded costs associated with elevated staffing and underutilized assets. Also during the quarter, we faced the well-publicized shutdown across northern Mexico. Accordingly, late in the quarter, we began the process of reducing our cost structure. We've made adjustments to headcount, began redeploying assets and wrote off some obsolete inventory, and we have more to do. Based on the actions we're taking, we expect an immediate improvement in margin performance and recovery to high-single digits by year-end. Unfortunately, these issues overshadowed growth and improved performance in other regions during the quarter. In Norway, for example, we have ramped up for one of the largest integrated drilling service contracts in the history of our industry. This, coupled with strong activity in Russia, Nigeria and the U.K., grew our Europe/Africa/Russia Caspian segment by more than 13% over the previous quarter, with incremental margins in excess of 50%. Our Gulf of Mexico business recorded its historical best revenue, with strong incremental margins, while our U.S. Pressure Pumping business posted its second consecutive quarter of improved revenue, share and margins, as it executed more stages, with more 24-hour fleets than at any point in our history. Later in the call, I'll provide more details on the balance of our business segments, but first, let me turn it over to Peter for details on the quarter and our guidance. Peter?