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## Message from the Executive Team 

## 2013 – A RECORD YEAR 

Core Laboratories’ 5,000 worldwide employees produced another record year as oil companies utilized Core’s newest technologies to maximize their daily production of crude oil and natural gas while optimizing estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) of hydrocarbons from their aging fields. Core’s continued focus on our three long-term growth strategies, underpinned by operational excellence, enabled Core to outpace almost all other oilfield service companies in earnings growth, rate of free cash generation, and return on invested capital. 

The Company’s laser focus on crude-oil developments, especially those in the deepwater and unconventional tight-oil plays that are primarily in shale reservoirs, continue to serve our shareholders well, as over 80% of Core’s revenue is now derived from oil-related projects. This percentage is likely to continue to grow as development of unconventional tight-oil shale reservoirs gains traction, not only in North America, but in the United Kingdom, Russia, North Africa, the Middle East, China, and Australia, among other places. 

In North America, an energy industry renaissance is underway, spearheaded by the emergence of technologies applied to horizontal wells. Currently, approximately two of every three wells drilled in the United States — some 24,000 wells in 2013 alone — were drilled horizontally through the reservoir. Typically, a vertical well is drilled down to the reservoir, and then rotary steering technology allows the well- bore to penetrate thousands of feet of reservoir rock horizontally. The horizontal 

section, or lateral, can be as long as 10,000 feet in length, through primarily shale rock. Shales are typically non- porous and non-permeable rocks, unlike the porous and permeable sandstones and carbonates in conventional reser- voirs. To initiate hydrocarbon flow from shales, extensive hydraulic fracturing operations are conducted in up to 30 zones, or stages, in the lateral. 

The leading unconventional tight-oil plays in the United States include the Bakken, Eagle Ford, and several zones in the Permian Basin. U.S. production of crude oil, condensates, and natural 

