Venezuela was unable to pay its biggest oilfield suppliers in cash in the second quarter, and top service companies Halliburton and Schlumberger accepted promissory notes that they immediately wrote down by hundreds of millions of dollars, their second-quarter reports showed. Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield service firm by revenue, took a $510 million impairment charge on promissory notes received from Petroleos de Venezuela SA [PDVSAC.UL] in lieu of $700 million in outstanding fees. Halliburton similarly recorded a pre-tax charge of $262 million on promissory notes from its main customer in Venezuela in exchange for $375 million in fees, according to its financial filing. Neither company identified PDVSA by name, and both described the oil company as their “primary customer” in Venezuela. A PDVSA source confirmed it issued the notes. Foreign oil companies […]