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Information regarding risk factors appears in Item 1A to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007. The risk factor described below updates, and should be read in conjunction with, the risk factors identified in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2007.
The ability to provide many of our drilling fluid systems could be negatively impacted if we experience interruptions in deliveries of raw materials.
We currently secure the majority of our barite ore, which is a principal component of many drilling fluid systems, from foreign sources, primarily China and India. We rely upon the ability of our suppliers to mine the crude ore, provide the quality control function required to produce ore meeting market specifications and to manage the internal transportation and storage required to move the crude ore to designated ports for loading onto ocean vessels contracted by us. The internal logistics and supply chain infrastructure in China has struggled in keeping pace with the rapid expansion of Chinas economy, resulting in periodic constraints in the supply of all raw materials. In addition, the supply of our barite ore is also vulnerable to other factors beyond our control including power shortages, political priorities (for example, the Olympic Games), and pending government imposed export fees in China as well as natural disasters such as the recent earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. Depending upon the extent of the damage and disruption caused by this earthquake to our suppliers and the transportation infrastructure, as well as the other factors listed above, our fluids systems and engineering segment as well as our operating results may be adversely affected.
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