The world’s biggest oil field contractors are showing that slower growth in the US shale patch isn’t the albatross it once might have been — thanks to the booming cash machine in international and offshore markets.

Halliburton Co., the top frack-work provider, reported fourth-quarter free cash flow of $1.1 billion, the highest in more than two decades. Its larger rival, SLB, more than doubled that amount, beating analysts’ expectations by 73% during the same period.

Both companies also raised their quarterly dividends by more than 5% to the highest level since the onset of the global pandemic.

Production in US shale fields is coming off a record year, but now growth is expected to cool as companies deploy fewer rigs amid sagging crude prices. It’s a sign of shale’s maturity.

A few years back, the sector was a rabble of wildcatters eager to expand at any cost. Now investors are demanding restraint. And thanks in part to recent megadeals, shale is starting to consolidate into a handful of major players.

None of that bodes well for service companies that work in the US. Still, global oil demand continues to rise, and there is money to be made elsewhere.

SLB said last week its overseas growth is increasing and should last for a number of years, led by the Middle East, offshore fields and natural gas basins.

Halliburton Chief Executive Officer Jeff Miller largely echoed that view.

“It’s a really good setup for the rest of this decade,” he told analysts and investors Tuesday. “We know there’s demand.”

Another factor is that service companies have borrowed a page from shale’s new conservative playbook. They’re no longer flooding the market with fresh gear to cash in on ephemeral oil booms.

Spending less on new rigs and fracking equipment allows them to charge more by keeping supply tight.

Even if you backed out Halliburton’s $59 million in asset sales during the final three months of the year, it’s still the company’s best free cash flow quarter in more than a decade.

And there’s more to come: the firm forecasts at least a 10% bump in that metric this year compared to 2023.

—David Wethe, Bloomberg News

Chart of the day

After hitting its lowest point in almost a decade last year, the US onshore-wind sector is slowly spinning back to life. Prospects are improving thanks to new tax credits and stronger demand — and as developers work to overcome inflation, higher borrowing costs and supply-chain kinks. In 2023, those obstacles limited US onshore installations to just 7 gigawatts, according to BloombergNEF.