John W. Lindsay
Analyst · Citigroup
Thank you, Juan Pablo, and good morning. The following comments will cover the operational results for our second fiscal quarter of 2012 for our 3 operating segments: U.S. land, offshore and international land, as well as the outlook for the third fiscal quarter of 2012. And I'll begin with our U.S. land segment second fiscal quarter results where revenue days increased 2% to 21,444 days, representing 236 average active rigs in the second quarter. As U.S. land segment took delivery of 12 new build FlexRigs during the quarter. An average of 154 rigs were active under term contracts, an average of 82 rigs were active in the spot market. Average rig revenue per day increased by $764 to $27,625 per day. Average rig revenue per day for rigs working on term contract during the first fiscal quarter was approximately 6% higher than average rig revenue per day for rigs working in the spot market. Most of this difference was driven by the mix of rig types in each category as current pricing is similar for comparable rigs under term and in the spot market. Hans touched upon many factors to consider that can influence variability of expenses from quarter to quarter. In addition, as mentioned during the previous quarter's call as well as in our Investor Conference Presentation filed on March 23, we expected average rig expense to increase by at least $900 per day, given extraordinarily low levels of expense during the first quarter, combined with wage and other increases to be passed on to customers. The remainder of the sequential increase in daily expenses was attributable, one, to higher-than-usual expenses related to high investment rig equipment like top drives and pipe-handling equipment; two, higher-than-expected labor and maintenance expenses associated with rigs that became at least temporarily idle during the ongoing transition in the U.S.; three, higher-than-expected expenses that were passed on to customers; and 4, other expenses that are indirectly associated with rig operations. As a result of the average rigging expense per day increasing by $1,534 sequentially to $13,826, average rig margin per day decreased by $770 to $13,799 per day from the first fiscal quarter. Consequently, U.S. land operating income decreased 7% sequentially to $210 million as compared to the record operating income recorded in the first fiscal quarter. And this quarter is the second highest operating income on record for H&P U.S. land. Today, even with natural gas oversupply and weak prices, we remain positive about the long-term outlook for U.S. lands, as well as the third fiscal quarter. H&P continues to be the most active U.S. land contractor currently with 239 rigs, 239 contracted rigs and 29 idle rigs. Of these 239 rigs, 159 are under term contracts and 80 are in the spot market, including 77 FlexRigs. Not included in the 239 rigs are 2 recently completed new build FlexRig3s and one existing FlexRig3 that are scheduled to transfer out of the U.S. land inventory to international. And I will share more details on that later. In the third fiscal quarter of 2012, we expect revenue days to increase by approximately 2%. Based on current contractual commitments, an average of 160 rigs are under term contracts for the third fiscal quarter of 2012, an average of 157 rigs for the last 2 quarters of fiscal '12 and an average of 129 rigs for fiscal 2013. Excluding costs that are contractually passed on to customers, we expect average rig revenue per day for our rigs that are already on term contracts to increase by approximately $250 in average for the last 2 fiscal quarters of 2012 and by approximately $550 in average for fiscal 2013. Both of these increases are compared to the second fiscal quarter average rig revenue per day for rigs on term contracts. Average rig revenue per day in the third quarter may be flat to up slightly by as much as $200 per day. Third quarter spot market pricing has come under some pressure, but thus far, has been flat compared to the second fiscal quarter. And as we think about forecasting expenses for the third fiscal quarter, we believe a reasonable rough estimate of expenses should be in a range of $13,500 to $13,800 per day. Our FlexRig new build program continues to lead the industry in delivering advanced technology AC drive rigs on time and on budget. Including the 6 new builds announced on March 23, 34 rigs remain under construction and are currently being completed at the rate of approximately 4 FlexRigs per month. Since 2006, H&P has built a total of 209 AC drive new build FlexRig3s, Flex 4s and FlexRig5s, all sponsored with a firm term contract. Now a review of our offshore segment second fiscal quarter results as 2 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were in transition between projects and our rig in Trinidad completed its contract toward the end of the second fiscal quarter and has been shipped back to the U.S. Primarily as a result of these factors, our offshore operating income decreased approximately $2.4 million to $9.8 million. Revenue days decreased by 10% to 627 days and average rig margin per day decreased by $1,610 to $20,561. Outlook for offshore as of today, the company's offshore segment has 6 rigs active and 3 rigs stacked, 2 of which are contracted. Of the stacked rigs, one of the stacked rigs is expected to go back to work in May and the second is expected to go back to work in the September quarter. In third fiscal quarter of 2012, we expect offshore revenue days to be flat to down 5% and margins to be down 10% to 15%, as one-way rig transitions between projects and one rig begins a new project. The international land segment results from the first fiscal quarter to the second fiscal quarter decreased by approximately $9 million, resulting in a $1 million loss for the quarter. The primary factors driving the decrease were as follows: regular and expected expenses related to mobilizing 3 rigs between countries, all 3 of those rigs now have contract commitments; the absence of a $1.6 million retroactive day rate adjustment in Argentina that was a positive one-off that took place during the first fiscal quarter; a $1 million currency exchange loss and miscellaneous expenses and just other expense items in general during the quarter. Revenue days increased 2% to 1,761 days. Average rig margin per day decreased $4,131 to $4,884 per day. The outlook for international as of April 26, the international land segment has 20 rigs working and 2 additional rigs contracted, one of which is still in transit from Argentina to Colombia. 6 rigs were active and were contracted in Colombia, 5 in Ecuador, 5 in Argentina, 4 in Bahrain and 2 in Tunisia. Of the 4 stacked rigs, 3 are located in Argentina and 1 is located in Colombia. As discussed earlier, 2 recently completed new build FlexRigs3s originally contracted for the U.S. land segment will instead be sent to the Middle East at the customer's request. The first of these rigs is readying for transport and should contribute to the fourth fiscal quarter. The second rig will move in approximately 30 days and should contribute in the first fiscal quarter of 2013. The existing FlexRig3 sourced from the U.S. land segment has signed a letter of intent to work in the Neuquen Basin shale play in Argentina and will be working for a major oil company. The rig should contribute toward the end of the fourth fiscal quarter of 2012. The total number of rigs for international land segment will increase to 29 rigs once the transfers are complete. Of the 29 total rigs, 16 will be FlexRigs. In the third fiscal quarter, we expect international land revenue days to increase by approximately 5% and margins to increase by approximately 10% to 20%. As we move beyond the disruptive effect of starting up the new rig contracts, we are optimistic that the margins and days for the international land segment will continue to increase beyond what we expect in the third fiscal quarter. We believe these most recent international opportunities reflect an improving market for FlexRigs in South America and the Middle East. In each of these regions over the past 2 years, FlexRigs have cut well cycle times by half and are delivering well counts in excess of twice of the competitor conventional rig previously was able to provide. In closing, we continue to witness the ongoing shift to unconventional oil and liquid-rich plays that require drilling of more complex, horizontal directional wells. And we believe that trend is advantageous to H&P. This drilling complexity factor presents operational challenges for many old, conventional rigs and lower-end technology product offerings. These market trends, along with H&P safety, people and performance advantages, provide us with confidence that more opportunities for new FlexRigs will continue. And now I'll turn the call back to Juan Pablo.