(RTTNews) - Wednesday, Hercules Offshore, Inc. (HERO: News ), reported a swing to loss in the third quarter from a year ago, due to severe declines in U.S. exploration and production capital spending, as well as downtime on two of the its international offshore rigs.

Net loss for the third quarter was $48.26 million or $0.50 per share, compared to a profit of $31.69 million or $0.36 per share in the year-ago period.

Loss from continuing operations was $46.97 million or $0.48 per share, compared with a profit from continuing operations of $31.85 million or $0.36 per share in the similar period a year ago. Non-GAAP loss from continuing operations was $37.17 million or a loss of $0.38 per share for the quarter.

On average, seventeen analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated a loss of $0.35 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Hercules Offshore, a shallow-water drilling and marine services provider to the oil and natural gas production industry, reported revenues for the third quarter that declined to $159.26 million from $315.74 million in the prior year period. Eleven Wall Street analysts estimated a revenue of $158.34 million for the quarter.

Segment-wise, the company's Domestic Offshore revenues were $19.0 million compared with $112.7 million in the third quarter 2008, while International Offshore generated revenues of $90.0 million in the third quarter, compared with $95.3 million year-ago.
Inland revenues declined sharply to $2.4 million from $44.4 million in the year-ago quarter. In the lifeboat segment, Domestic Lifeboats recorded revenues of $19.3 million in the third quarter 2009, a reduction of approximately $6.1 million from the third quarter of 2008, while International Lifeboats generated revenues of $22.3 million, a slight increase from $20.3 million in year-ago quarter.

Operating expenses for the quarter declined to $123.36 million from $180.97 million a year ago. General and administrative expenses declined to $16.81 million from $17.45 million in the prior year period.

John Rynd, chief executive officer and president of Hercules Offshore stated, "Our third quarter operating results reflect the full brunt of one of the most severe declines in U.S. exploration and production capital spending in memory as domestic offshore and inland industry-wide activity levels reached new lows. Our results were also hindered by downtime on two of our international offshore rigs."

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