On last Friday, Halliburton Co. (HAL,Trade), the world's No. 2 oilfield services company, said it expected oil prices to remain strong and remained optimistic about its prospects because of heavy exploration and production spending in the energy sector.

"Oil and gas prices have continued to be very robust (and) recent (exploration and production) spending surveys suggest additional growth in the back half of 2005 and 2006," Andy Lane, Halliburton's chief operating officer, told a conference call.