When I took over purchasing for our mid-sized oilfield services firm in 2020, Halliburton was just a name on a list. A big name. But as an admin buyer, I'm not evaluating their technology for a deepwater well. I'm asking: can they invoice correctly? Will the order arrive when promised? Is dealing with a giant worth the headache?
After five years of managing this, here are the questions I actually had, and the answers I found.
1. What exactly does Halliburton do, from a 'buyer' perspective?
In my world, they are a supplier of upstream oilfield services and equipment. We order things like cementing services, drilling fluids, wireline logging tools, and even artificial lift equipment. Think of them as a giant hardware store for oil and gas wells, but instead of buying a hammer, you're buying a completion packer or a wellhead. The scale is massive. We process roughly 60-80 orders annually for their stuff alone.
The important distinction: they're not just a 'parts' company. They also provide the people and the expertise to use that equipment onsite. So when you order, you're often ordering a service + the equipment bundled together. That complicates invoicing.
2. Is Halliburton's pricing competitive for smaller orders?
That's the million-dollar question, isn't it? The conventional wisdom is that a company this size will price you out. My experience suggests otherwise—but with a catch.
For standard, off-the-shelf items like basic packers or standard completion tools, their pricing can actually be competitive with mid-sized suppliers. The catch is the total cost of ownership. Their standard payment terms are rigid (often net 30), and any deviation requires a separate agreement. A smaller vendor might be flexible: "Pay us when your client pays." Halliburton won't do that.
Bottom line: the base price can be fine. The hidden costs are in process rigidity.
3. What is the 'zero Halliburton' (ゼロハリバートン) trend and should I care?
Honestly, I thought this was a joke when I first heard it. Popularized partly by a Lego Millennium Falcon video, the term "Zero Halliburton" is a satirical take on minimalism. It means owning nothing—like having zero of something. In the oilfield context, it's sometimes used by workers who have been laid off to say they have zero Halliburton stock or zero loyalty to the company.
Do I care? Not directly. But it reflects a broader industry sentiment. Labor loyalty is lower. If you're relying on their field technicians for a critical job, morale matters. It's a risk factor I now track informally by talking to their crew on site.
"I didn't fully understand the value of vendor-employee morale until we had a rush job and the technician on site said, 'Can't do overtime, boss.' That cost us a day."
4. What happened to Halliburton's 2015 financial statements? (And why does it matter now?)
The 2015 financial statement for Halliburton is infamous in our industry. In 2015, the oil price crashed, and Halliburton's revenue fell by over 25%. Their stock plummeted. It was a bloodbath. I remember our VP of ops saying, "If Halliburton can't make money, nobody can."
Why does it matter now? Because it shows how cyclical the industry is. If you're an admin buyer negotiating a contract today, you need to ask: is the pricing built for a boom or a bust? If they give you a rock-bottom price, can that vendor survive a downturn? A supplier going bankrupt mid-project is a nightmare. I learned this the hard way with a smaller firm in 2016.
The lesson: don't just look at the current price. Look at their balance sheet history. Halliburton's 2015 papers are a perfect case study in why.
5. How does their customer service compare to a local shop?
Painfully different. A local supplier knows your name. They call you when a part is about to ship. Halliburton has a portal. The portal is their customer service.
If you process 60-80 orders a year, the portal is a game-changer—once you learn it. It consolidates everything: orders, invoices, delivery tracking. This, when it works, saves our accounting team about 6 hours a month.
But when it breaks? Good luck calling someone who knows your account. I've spent an hour on hold trying to find a purchase order number. The portal is great. The fallback human process is fragile. In my opinion, this is their biggest weakness for an admin buyer.
6. Is it true you can often get a better deal from a smaller competitor?
Sometimes. People think expensive vendors deliver better quality. Actually, vendors who deliver quality can charge more. The causation runs the other way.
But here's the thing: for a specific, critical tool you need tomorrow, the price is less important. We had a well intervention job that needed a specific packer. Halliburton had it in stock. The smaller competitor offered it for 15% less but had a 4-week lead time. We paid the premium. The upside was getting the job done; the risk was losing a client. I kept asking myself: is $800 worth potentially missing the deadline? The answer was no.
So, no, you can't always get a better deal. Small vendors are price-competitive on commodity items. Halliburton wins on availability for critical-path items.
7. What's one thing about Halliburton that surprised you?
The reliability of their invoicing. I know that sounds boring, but for an admin buyer, it's everything. In our 2024 vendor consolidation project, we flagged Halliburton as having the lowest invoice error rate among our top 5 vendors.
I had a vendor who couldn't provide proper invoicing and cost us $2,400 in rejected expenses. Halliburton, for all its size, has that process nailed. The invoice comes in, the PO number from the portal matches, the prices match. It's boringly consistent.
In my world, boring is a feature.