Oilfield giants have new sales pitch

Houston

BUSINESS is so tough for oilfield giants Schlumberger NV and Halliburton Co that they have come up with a new sales pitch for crude producers halting work in the worst downturn in years. It amounts to this: "frack now and pay later."

The moves by the world's No 1 and No 2 oil services companies show how they are scrambling to book sales of new technologies to customers short of cash after a 60 per cent slide in crude to US$45 a barrel.

In some cases, they are willing to take on the role of traditional lenders, like banks, which have grown reluctant to lend since the price drop that began last summer, or act like pr…