Houston O&G co. faces off against weak customer budgets

Houston-based National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV), like many other companies in the oil field equipment and services industry, had to contend with plunging customer activity in 2019.

NOV’s customers — upstream exploration and production companies — rely heavily on external sources of capital, said Clay Williams, the company’s president and CEO, on the fourth-quarter NOV conference call with investors.

“Capital is to oil and gas what oxygen is to the rest of us,” Williams said on…