(RTTNews) - Oil and gas services company RPC Inc. (RES: News ) Wednesday posted a loss for the third quarter, as revenues fell 44.3% reflecting "dramatically" lower pricing for services and lower utilization of equipment and personnel.

Atlanta, Georgia-based RPC posted a net loss of $10.39 million or $0.11 per share for the third quarter, compared to net income of $25.78 million or $0.26 per share in the same period last year. On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report loss of $0.11 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

RPC'S quarterly revenues fell 44.3% to $132.16 million for the quarter from $237.22 million a year ago. Analysts estimated revenues of $123.05 million.

Richard Hubbell, president and chief executive officer, commented, "Although we believe that the steep decline in domestic drilling activity over the past year bottomed in the second quarter of 2009, this was still a difficult quarter for our activity levels and pricing."

Hubbell noted that the low rig count and depressed commodity prices, coupled with high equipment capacity in the domestic oilfield, continued to depress pricing for the company's services and utilization of its equipment, which led to lower revenues and continued operating losses during the quarter.

Segment wise, Technical Services revenues declined 42.8%, while Support Services revenues decreased by 53.1% year-on-year.
Year-to-date, RPC posted a net loss of $17.54 million or $0.18 per share, compared to net income of $63.0 million or $0.64 per share in the corresponding period a year ago.

RPC's nine-month period revenue was $435.45 million, down 32.9% from $649.13 million in the same period last year.

However, Hubbell said, "During the third quarter we began to see signs of increasing customer activity levels and some improvement in our own personnel and equipment utilization consistent with the sequential increases in the domestic rig count and the price of oil. This was reflected in a 3.9 percent sequential increase in the rig count, and a 4.0 increase in RPC's revenues, all due to higher activity levels."

RES is trading at $10.01, down $0.23 or 2.24%, on a volume of about 63 thousand shares.

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by RTT Staff Writer

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