Good as Gould

Andrew Gould is the chairman and former chief executive officer of Schlumberger. He retired from his CEO post on Aug. 1, 2011, but will continue to serve as chairman until April 2012, when the shareholders will hold their next meeting.

According to Forbes, Gould stepped away from a lucrative annual salary of $2.5 million in 2010. Add to that additional compensations worth $214,375, option awards of $8.9 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $2.8 million and a change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earning of $1.1 million, which equated to $15.5 million total compensation in 2010 alone.

After earning his degree in economic history from the University of Wales, Cardiff, Gould went to work for Ernst & Young. He started his career at Schlumberger in 1975 in the oil service company's Internal Audit Department based in Paris. Through the years, he was promoted to:

• treasurer of Schlumberger
• president of Sedco Forex, Wireline & Testing, and Oil-field Services Products
• executive vice president of Schlumberger Oilfield Services
• corporate president
• chief operating officer

From 1999 to 2002, Gould served as executive vice president of Schlumberger's Oilfield Services. He then served as the CEO of Schlumberger from February 2003 to August 2011, succeeding Euan Baird.

"A robust cash flow has allowed us to finance acquisitions, execute a large capex program and return considerable funds to shareholders.

In 2003, when Gould started his CEO role, he was tasked with reviving the company. Baird made Schlumberger a global company servicing many different industries. But when Gould took the helm, he thought it best to focus on its core business – energy. Thus, Gould sold off many of the non-core businesses such as Sema, Smart Cards and Electricity Metering, which brought in over $2 billion.

In the 2003 Annual Report, Gould wrote, "The year 2003 marked a watershed for Schlumberger as we took the decision to focus on our core businesses in oilfield services. Our reasoning was simple. World energy needs for much of the next half-century will be met mostly by carbon-based fuels produced from an aging reserves base."

Gould's plan to realign the strategic direction of Schlumberger was a success. According to the 2003 Annual Report, return on capital was 13 percent, compared to 7 percent in 2002. Net debt was $2 billion in 2004, compared to $4.1 billion in 2003. Oil field revenue increased by 9 percent in 2003 and EPS increased by 28 percent under Gould's leadership.

"Schlumberger revenue fell by 16 percent to $22.7 billion as world economic conditions worsened and customer spending dropped with lower commodity prices."

Growth peaked in 2006 with revenues of $29.23 billion, which was a 34 percent increase over 2005 and set a new record for Schlumberger. In the 2006 annual report, Gould said, "A robust cash flow has allowed us to finance acquisitions, execute a large capex program and return considerable funds to shareholders. These results, together with strong business fundamentals, have led us to extend our view and we now consider that high growth will be seen through the end of this decade and well into the next."

However, Gould would not see the breakneck pace of early 2006 again. Though growth continued through 2008, in 2009, Gould reported that "Schlumberger revenue fell by 16 percent to $22.7 billion as world economic conditions worsened and customer spending dropped with lower commodity prices."

Prior to Gould's retirement, the company released earnings for 2Q 2011. Now the world's largest oil services company, Schlumberger posted revenue of $9.62 billion versus $8.72 billion in 1Q 2011 and $5.94 billion in 2Q 2010. Net profits for 2Q 2011 was $1.34 billion, compared to $816 million 2Q 2010.

In the release, Schlumberger attributed the 2Q 2011 growth to strong deepwater and unconventional drilling in North America as well as the Libyan crisis. There was a surge in development and workover activity as producers moved to compensate for reduced Libya barrels and profit from higher prices.

Gould said in the earnings release, "Internationally, the trend toward higher deepwater rig count and higher exploration spending continued. As a result, all groups had standout product lines in the quarter and technology sales showed good progress."

Gould will remain as chairman until April 2012.He has been replaced by Paal Kibsgaard, the former chief operating officer who reported the company's 3Q earinings on October 21.

According to a release, 3Q 2011 earnings hit $10.23 billion versus $9.62 billion in 2Q 2011 and $6.85 billion in 3Q 2010.

Kibsgaard commented in the release, "Schlumberger third-quarter results continued to show solid progress with revenue increasing sequentially across all Schlumberger Product Groups."