Halliburton Bids for Britain's Expro

Updated from 9:54 a.m. EDT

Oil services giant Halliburton(HAL Quote - Cramer on HAL - Stock Picks) has bid 1.71 billion British pounds for London-based rival Expro.

The all-cash bid is higher than a 1.61 billion British pound offer made in April by a consortium comprising funds managed or advised by Candover Partners.

"The proposal does not amount to a firm intention to make an offer and is subject to certain pre-conditions," Expro said in a company statement.

The offer comes amid soaring prices for crude oil this week. Crude futures reached over the $135 mark, a new intraday record, Thursday, before finishing lower for the first time in five days.

The U.S. Oil Fund ETF(USO Quote - Cramer on USO - Stock Picks) has surged as much as 5.9% this week.

Meanwhile, a number of companies have reported expected hits to their bottom lines due to soaring crude prices. American Airlines parent AMR Corp.(AMR Quote - Cramer on AMR - Stock Picks) on Wednesday said it was slashing capacity and charging new baggage fees to deal with rising oil costs. And on Thursday, Ford(F Quote - Cramer on F - Stock Picks) said it was shifting production away from gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks to more fuel efficient cars to meet consumer tastes, which will hamper the company's prior expectation of returning to profitability in 2009.

Halliburton shares were up fractionally to $48.38 in recent trading after Friday's opening bell.

Rival Schlumberger(SLB Quote - Cramer on SLB - Stock Picks) was down 1% to $101.49 and National Oilwell Varco(NOV Quote - Cramer on NOV - Stock Picks) was up fractionally to $82.47.