SLB posted a lower quarterly profit, with the service company pointing to a drop in Middle East oilfield activity linked to the war involving Iran as the drag on results.

The earnings decline marks a shift for a company that has relied heavily on Middle Eastern national oil companies for revenue in recent years. Activity across the region — a mainstay of SLB's international pressure pumping, drilling and production services franchise — softened as the conflict disrupted operations and customer spending.

The Iran war reduced activity levels in the basin, according to the company's characterization of the quarter. The Middle East has served as the largest single contributor to SLB's international revenue base, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar anchoring the portfolio of drilling, completions and production work.

The profit slip comes as the broader service sector weighs customer budgets for the quarters ahead. Operators across the Middle East have spent the past several years sustaining multi-year capacity expansion programs, and any sustained pullback in regional activity would remove a pillar of demand for the major service companies.

SLB has not quantified in the reported figures how much of the earnings decline stems directly from the conflict versus broader market conditions. The company framed the war's impact on Middle East oilfield activity as the principal factor in the quarterly result.

Watch item: whether Middle East activity rebounds in the current quarter as hostilities ease, and what SLB's next earnings call says about national oil company spending guidance for the remainder of the year.