Schlumberger Ltd, the world's No.1 oilfield services provider, reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit as its cost-cutting efforts helped soften the impact of reduced global drilling activity.

Shares of Schlumberger, which provides drilling technology and equipment to oil and gas companies, rose 1.3% to $85 in extended trading.

Schlumberger under Chief Executive Paal Kibsgaard has cut 20,000 jobs in 2015 and scaled back spending in response to weak crude prices.

"We believe that the North American rig count may now be touching the bottom, and that a slow increase in both land drilling and completion activity could occur in the second half of the year," Kibsgaard said in a statement on Thursday.

The company said it now expects E&P investment in North America to fall by more than 35%. The company in April forecast North American E&P spending to drop more than 30%.

Cost of revenue fell 23% to $7.12 billion in the second quarter ended June 30, from a year earlier.

The company earned 88 cents per share, handily beating the average analyst estimate of 79 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.