HOUSTON -- Halliburton said today its second-quarter profit tumbled 48 percent as sluggish exploration and production activity, particularly in North America, crimped results. Its earnings beat Wall Street forecasts, though the company offered little hope for an uptick in drilling before year's end.

The oilfield services company, which has corporate headquarters in Houston and Dubai, said net income for the April-June period fell to $262 million, or 29 cents per share. That compared with $504 million, or 55 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue slipped 22 percent to $3.5 billion.

One-time items aside, Halliburton said earnings amounted to $274 million, or 30 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings of 27 cents a share and revenue of $3.43 billion.

Company shares rose 37 cents to $21.75 in premarket trading.

Halliburton kicked off the earnings period for the oil and gas sector. Most forecasts predict significantly lower year-over-year results for producers and service companies.

In a statement, Halliburton chairman and CEO Dave Lesar cited natural gas in particular as a drag on earnings and the industry in general. Prices have fallen from double-digit levels a year ago to around $4 per 1,000 cubic feet of late.

"Due to continued weakness in natural gas demand ... we believe it us unlikely that there will be a meaningful recovery in natural gas prices and, consequently, drilling activity for the remainder of the year," Lesar said.

Oil and natural-gas producers began scaling back exploration and drilling operations last year as crude and gas prices tumbled. A year ago this month oil reached an all-time high near $150 a barrel.

The pullback has meant less work for Halliburton and other service companies, which help producers with drilling, reservoir management and other oilfield jobs.

The number of rigs at work in the U.S. oil patch -- a good barometer of activity -- is off roughly 55 percent from last summer. The American Petroleum Institute noted last week that U.S. drilling activity in the second quarter was the lowest in about five years.

Lesar said revenue for most of its product lines fell in the quarter as the company had to lower prices. He said the downturn hasn't been as bad overseas in part from strengthening commodity prices and "stabilizing financial markets which are improving our customers' overall project economics."

Halliburton's most-recent results followed a bleak first quarter, when its net income fell 35 percent and the company cut more than 2,000 jobs in North America. The company said it most-recent results included one-time employee-separation costs of $12 million, or 1 cent a share.

For the first six months of the year, Halliburton said its net income amounted to $640 million, or 71 cents a share, down from $1.08 billion, or $1.18 a share, in the first half of 2008. Revenue fell to $7.4 billion from $8.5 billion.

Halliburton shares rose 33 cents to $21.71 in premarket trading.