(Bloomberg – Demand for Baker Hughes The co. energy production gear rose 28% in response to the recovery of global economic conditions that drive up crude oil consumption.

“We believe the broader macro recovery should translate into rising energy demand for 2022 and relatively tight supplies for oil and ,” Chief Executive Officer Lorenzo Simonelli said Thursday in the Houston-based company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. The world’s No. 2 oilfield contractor beat analysts’ expectations with fourth-quarter orders of $6.7 billion, up from $5.2 billion from a year earlier, according to the statement.

After the historic drop in crude oil demand, the hired workers of the oil industry are making a comeback. Baker Hughes (NYSE 🙂 along with Schlumberger NYSE : and Halliburton NYSE : Co. have had to endure years of cost cutting and tried to move away from the boom-and bust shale sector. But with the global economy rebounding, the world’s three biggest oilfield servicers are expected to deliver strong results for the final three months of 2021.

“The economic recovery coupled with several years of oilfield underspending has given rise to a new energy cycle,” Charles Minervino, an analyst at Susquehanna International Group, wrote in a note to investors last week. “The diversified services companies should exit 2021 on a high note.”

Baker Hughes on Thursday was the first of the big three oil-services companies to release financial results for the final three months of the year, posting sales of $5.5 billion that also beat analysts’ expectations. Fourth-quarter earnings, excluding certain items, were 25 cents a share, missing analysts’ estimates by 2 cents. 

According to Bloomberg data, Baker Hughes’ latest order, led by its turbomachinery company, exceeded $1 billion more than what analysts had expected.

After rig count records fell in 2020, global oil drilling has been booming. Evercore ISI predicts that explorers will almost triple their global spending growth this year, compared with 2021. International regions are should be responsible for a record 81% of explorers’ global spending this year, Evercore analyst James West said by phone. 

That’s a promising sign for the big three service companies, which now generate most of their sales outside the U.S. and Canada. 

“Companies are all very well positioned heading into 2022,” J. David Anderson, an analyst at Barclays Plc, wrote in an email before the results were released. “The question is where the growth comes first and fastest.”

Schlumberger, the world’s biggest oil-services provider, is expected to report results Friday, and Halliburton, the top provider of frack work, will release earnings Jan.  24.

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