John W. Lindsay
Analyst · Credit Suisse
Thank you, Juan Pablo, and good morning, everyone. While many industry observers are uncertain regarding a meaningful improvement in the U.S. land rig count for the coming months, the industry's AC drive rig count has continued to march higher. In fact, over the past 12 months, the AC rig count is up approximately 120 rigs, while the combined SCR and mechanical rig count is down over 130 rigs. The reason for this replacement cycle is well known. E&P companies are drilling a larger percentage of unconventional horizontal wells, and the complexity factor of unconventional wells is much higher than a vertical well. In addition to greater well complexity, E&Ps are also expecting enhanced efficiencies from contractors. And that is the reason why advanced technology AC drive rigs, and specifically, the industry leader, FlexRig, should continue to grow market share. Customers continue to be results-oriented, and there is a differentiation in performance across all rig types. We believe our results demonstrate that H&P is the best positioned to lead this replacement cycle. We are convinced we have the best personnel, technology and systems that provide the reliability and efficiencies customers are looking for. Now I will make a few comments regarding each of our operating segments, and I'll begin with our U.S. land activity. The quarter was better than expected, with approximately 245 average active rigs as a result of improving market conditions. An average of approximately 156 rigs were active under term contracts, while an average of approximately 89 rigs were active in the spot market. Average rig revenue per day also exceeded expectations during the quarter and increased to $29,058 a day. Early termination revenue accounted for approximately $740 (sic) [$730] per day in the fourth fiscal quarter. Average rig expense per day was higher than expected and increased to $13,638 per day, primarily as a result of maintenance and supply expenses associated with multiple rig start-ups, in addition to expenses associated with increased revenues. Average rig margin per day remained relatively flat at $15,420 for the fourth quarter. We are pleased with the improvement in the U.S. land market and customer demand for new FlexRigs. You may have read in our press release, we entered into agreements with 3 exploration and production companies to build and operate 6 additional FlexRigs in the U.S. Including the 7 new builds announced in October 1, we have a total of 13 new FlexRigs contracted under multi-year term contracts so far in the first fiscal quarter. These rigs are expected to generate attractive economic returns for the company. A few more details on the 13 new builds contracted this quarter that wasn't included in the press release. We contracted the 13 rigs to 5 customers, a mix of long-term and new customers. The FlexRigs models contracted included 7 FlexRig3s, 5 Flex 5s and 1 FlexRig4. By geographic basin, 8 of the rigs are contracted to the Permian, 2 each for the Bakken and the Eagle Ford and 1 for the Niobrara. Ten of the FlexRigs are equipped with hydraulic skid systems designed for efficient pad drilling. Currently, our active AC FlexRig fleet has approximately 1/2 of the rigs drilling on pads. Since 2006, we've drilled over 6,500 wells from over 1,500 pad locations with our hydraulic skid systems. Four of the 13 contracted new builds have already started operations. Four more will begin operations in the first fiscal quarter, and the remaining 5 in the second quarter. A few comments about how we see the U.S. land new build market going forward. You may recall, we didn't have any new build contracts to announce on our July call. This was mostly attributable to the fact that market day rates and term contracts this summer wouldn't deliver the rates of returns we have historically achieved. So we were patient waiting for the market to improve. Our ability to build FlexRigs at a reliable cadence and cost has allowed us to respond very quickly to the new build demand we witnessed over the past 45 to 60 days. We've demonstrated the flexibility to build long-lead capital spares and convert those into new FlexRigs as needed, to respond to customer demand and an improving outlook. Today, we have 255 active rigs, including 156 rigs under term contracts and 99 operating in the spot market. All active rigs are AC drive FlexRigs. Our U.S. land fleet utilization today is 84% with 48 idle rigs. However, our AC utilization has improved to 94%, with only 15 idle AC drive rigs today. The 3 most active basins of activity for us are the Eagle Ford with 79 rigs, the Permian with 54 rigs and the Bakken with 34 rigs. As evidenced by our new build announcements, our Permian activity has improved the most during 2013, up over 80% during the past 12 months. With the new build commitments we have today, we could have over 60 rigs running in the Permian in the second quarter of 2014 and there appears to be additional upside from there. Looking at our U.S. land outlook for the first fiscal quarter of 2014, we expect revenue days to increase by approximately 3% as compared to the fourth fiscal quarter of '13. We expect the average rig revenue per day to be flat to slightly down, and average rig expense per day at roughly $13,000 per day, plus or minus a few percentage points, as compared with the fourth quarter. We are pleased with the direction of the U.S. land market today, as day rates have strengthened in both the spot market and term contracts. In addition to experiencing an uptick in new build demand, our idle AC rig count is at the lowest level since the third fiscal quarter of 2012. You will recall, that was just ahead of the industry activity pullback in the fall of last year. Another indication we are seeing of market strength today, of our 15 idle AC rigs, 9 are already committed for upcoming work. Now a few comments regarding the offshore segment results for the fourth fiscal quarter. Revenue days were in line with our expectations. However, our operating income had a shortfall as a result of a $6.4 million charge related to events the company discovered in 2010. Excluding that charge, margin per day would have increased by $1,569 sequentially, to $26,677 a day. Now looking at the outlook for our offshore segment. As of today, the segment has 8 rigs active and 1 rig stacked. We expect 8 rigs to remain active throughout the first fiscal quarter of 2014. As compared to the prior quarter, we expect offshore revenue days to be flat and margin to be approximately $25,000 per day. Turning to our international land segment, where operating income of $13.9 million exceeded expectations as a result of better-than-expected margins and higher revenue days. Today, the international land segment has 23 rigs working, of which 13 are AC drive FlexRigs. Of the active rigs today, 8 are in Argentina, 5 each in Colombia and Ecuador, 2 each in Bahrain and the UAE, and 1 in Tunisia. A total of 6 rigs are idle in the following countries: 2 in Colombia and 1 in Argentina, Bahrain, Tunisia and Ecuador. As a result of these activity levels, we expect international land revenue days to decline by approximately 10%, and margin should be flat quarter-to-quarter. So while the quarterly rig activity is softer than expected, we remain bullish, long term, on international growth opportunities. We believe the driver of that growth will occur when unconventional resource plays gain more traction globally. With H&P's 50-plus years of international experience, coupled with FlexRig efficiency and expertise, we believe larger-scale customer adoption of our service offering in international markets is likely. Now in closing, even in the face of a challenging rig market like we've experienced over the past year, we've been able to grow our market share and deliver the highest levels of rig efficiencies and safety performance in the industry. I would like to thank all of our field personnel, office staff and management teams for an outstanding 2013 fiscal year. All of these achievements that have been accomplished are possible because of our people's commitment to the company's vision of providing safe, efficient and cost-effective performance for our customers. That completes my operating segment remarks, and now I'll turn the call back to Juan Pablo.