Houston-based Halliburton International yesterday reported a drop of some 7.6% in profits in the second quarter, owing to the slowdown in the Permian shale and other parts of the United States. The fracing-service provider had a consistent performance since 2015, but the 2Q2018 saw a $789m operating profit for the company. Halliburton’s oil-service peer, Patterson-UTI Energy also suffered a 7.4% drop, on the disappointing outlook.