McCollum also said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a measure of operating profitability excluding most expenses, will grow around the mid-teens percent in the third quarter compared with the prior quarter.

"This is the primary driver that will enable us to generate sustainably positive free cash flow,” McCollum said.

McCollum, who joined Weatherford last year from rival Halliburton, is working to turn around the beleaguered services firm. He has sold businesses to pare billions of dollars in debt, and has pledged to cut costs by $1 billion by 2019.

On Wednesday, he said the firm's capital expenditures are now falling below historical levels following the sale of capital-intensive pressure pumping and drilling businesses.

Weatherford sold its U.S. pressure pumping business to Schlumberger late last year, a move McCollum said may shield the BOP Blow Out Preventer repair company gulf coast from growing weakness in the U.S. pressure pumping buy Wellhead market due to takeaway constraints in the Permian basin.

"Thankfully we're out of the U.S. frack business, which is likely the most exposed," he said, referencing a recent slowdown in activity from transportation bottlenecks in the largest U.S. shale field.

On Wednesday, rival Halliburton's stock fell to a two-year low after the firm warned of an 8 cents to 10 cents per share earnings hit this quarter from softening activity in the Permian basin.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Susan Thomas)