By Tess Stynes 

Nabors Industries Ltd. swung to a fourth-quarter loss as the contract drilling company posted big asset write-downs and other one-time charges that offset year-to-year revenue growth.

Chairman and Chief Executive Anthony G. Petrello said that despite the initial effects of the weakening environment, Nabors' drilling operations posted a quarter-to-quarter improvement in operating income, primarily attributable to new rig deployments and the seasonal ramp-up in Alaska, as well as in Canada. Nabors' international drilling segment also benefited from new rig deployments and recent contract renewals, Mr. Petrello said. However its rig services and completion and production services operations were hurt by lower activity and increased pricing competitiveness compared with the previous quarter, he added.

In recent months major oil-field services companies including Halliburton Co., Schlumberger Ltd., and Weatherford International have announced plans for thousands of layoffs as they try to cope with weakened demand resulting from a sharp downturn in energy prices.

Bermuda-based Nabors, which drills oil and natural-gas wells for clients, previously had streamlined its operations and cut costs, to refocus on its drilling businesses.

On Monday, Mr. Petrello said Nabors is confident in its ability to manage through the downturn and is taking numerous actions aimed at lowering costs "in ways that do not inhibit our core capabilities and flexibility. For example, we have significantly scaled back our pace of new U.S. rig construction and will make further adjustments based on the outcome of ongoing discussions regarding additional rig awards."

Overall, Nabors reported a loss of $891.1 million, or $3.08 a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $150.6 million, or 50 cents a share. Excluding one-time charges and write-downs related to the industry downturn and its pending deal with C&J Energy Services Inc. totaling roughly $1.2 billion, earnings from continuing operations were 33 cents. Revenue increased 11% to $1.78 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of 39 cents and revenue of $1.83 billion.

Last month Nabors and C&J Energy Services Inc. reached an agreement to reduce the price of C&J Energy's nearly $3 billion cash-and-stock deal for one of Nabors' units by $250 million. As a result, the cash portion paid to Nabors in the deal will decline by about 27% to $688 million from $938 million, a move that is expected to reduce the amount of debt used to finance the transaction.

The transaction will combine C&J with Nabors' completion-and-production businesses in the U.S. and Canada, which help companies get their wells ready to pump oil and natural gas.

Shares fell 3.1% to $12.15 in recent after-hours trading.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

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