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Valaris Limited (VAL)

Q1 2016 Earnings Call· Fri, Apr 29, 2016

$102.23

+0.25%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Ensco Plc's First Quarter 2016 Financial Results Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Sean O'Neill, Vice President of Investor Relations, who will moderate the call. Please go ahead, sir. Sean Patrick O'Neill - Vice President-Investor Relations & Communications: Welcome, everyone, to Ensco's first quarter 2016 conference call. With me today are Carl Trowell, CEO; Carey Lowe, our Chief Operating Officer; Jon Baksht, CFO; as well as other members of our executive management team. We issued our earnings release which is available on our website at enscoplc.com. Any comments we make about expectations are forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our earnings release and SEC filings on our website that define forward-looking statements and list risk factors and other events that could impact future results. Also please note that the company undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements. As a reminder, we issued our most recent fleet status report on April 11. A current investor presentation is also on our website that includes updates related to our recent capital management actions. Now, let me turn the call over to Carl Trowell, CEO and President. Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Sean, and good morning, everyone. As I mentioned on our last earnings call, we are facing extremely challenging market conditions with customers announcing further reductions in capital expenditures, which is extending the duration of the down cycle for the offshore drilling sector. Given this situation, we took further steps since our last earnings call to substantially…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. At this time, we'll pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Ian Macpherson of Simmons. Please go ahead. Ian Macpherson - Simmons & Company International: Hi there. Well done on the nimble capital markets maneuvering. I have a question the DS-4 and DS-5, if you could share with us more about the stacking process, where those cost go to, and what sort of analysis you provide in terms of the back-end? If they were to be reactivated, what that might entail since this is, I guess, terra nova for Ensco in terms of cold stacking high-end drillships? Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hi there, Ian. So, it's Carl here. Well, the first thing to say is that we're not fully cold stacking these rigs. We're relocating them from the Gulf of Mexico where they have basically been at anchor and using the thrusters and burning fuel to a new cluster stack approach, which we're going to do in Tenerife. And we're going to do that because it's a lower-cost environment to do it. We can put the rigs dockside there, and they are better-positioned for any future work that might come because of that location, be it East Africa, be it Latin America, be it the GOM. So, that's the reason we've done that, and the upfront charges we'll take in doing that, we think will pay off in a relatively short while from the reduction in cost that we might – we'll be able to get from it. We are still in the process of doing the final plan for that, so we'll give closer guidance on what the average running cost for those rigs are once we've got them in place.…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from David Smith, Heikkinen Energy Advisors. Please go ahead.

David C. Smith - Heikkinen Energy Advisors

Management

Hi. Thank you. And congratulations on the quarter and the proactive equity raise. I wanted to ask, just going back to those relocated drillships in Tenerife, can you give us a broad range of the cost to put those rigs back in service, if they sit for a couple of years? More than $10 million, less than $50 million? Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: David, we're not going to do that at the moment, and it's not that we just try to dance and avoid the subject, it's just that the range varies drastically depending on how long they have been in stack, and what maintenance gets deferred and how many of, say, the SBS (33:05) or big surveys get deferred. So there's quite a range there. But, needless to say that we think the economics work well for moving them over because of the cost reduction we can get in the near term, and that we can bring them back economically to market them. And, as with some of the other rigs that we've done, we won't necessarily wait for a firm contract to bring some of them back. We will – as we begin to see the market improve, we will phase back in some of the stacked rig that we've got back into service, and proactively do some of the, if you like, the remobilization costs. But just to be clear, we'll continue to market those rigs.

David C. Smith - Heikkinen Energy Advisors

Management

Appreciate it. I ask this because the cost to return rigs to service, the six and seven gen rigs to service, seems like the most important driver of the eventual deepwater day rate recovery. So, maybe not asking the question about your ships, but more generally, do you think the smart stacked concept, and not just for PACD, but for others, do you think those idle drill ships can remain the relatively low cost of marginal supply for an extended period of time, where they can be stored for a couple of years and brought back for less than $10 million, $20 million? Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I mean, it very much depends on what state the rig is in, as to how it can be brought back. But I think that the stacking of some of these floaters in general will improve the market dynamics, because people – once you have done this, you're not going to bring that rig back for a short-duration, low-priced contract.

David C. Smith - Heikkinen Energy Advisors

Management

Right. Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: So, in that case, it will remove rigs from the supply in the near term for that type of contract. You're much more likely, and I'm talking generically now, to only bring those rigs back when you feel that you're going to have a sufficiently long contract that's worth that cost, and the day rate supports it.

David C. Smith - Heikkinen Energy Advisors

Management

Appreciate it. And just the follow-up was, I think of Ensco as the driller which has been the most proactive to protect the shareholders against potential prolonged downturn between the dividend cut, the debt tender, the equity raise, but you also have a pretty good history of opportunistic growth. So, I'm really curious to get your view on what signals you need to see before M&A becomes compelling or attractive to you? Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: That's a good segue for me to make a couple of points, because I think it's important to just point out that the equity raise that we did is very much as you described it. It was not driven by one specific catalyst, but it was driven by the strategy, that we have had to basically do a series of actions to strengthen liquidity and make sure that we are in control of our own destiny. And as you say, protect our shareholders against any further deterioration or an extended downturn. At the same time, it gives us flexibility and the ability to be more forward-leaning at a time when a lot of our competitors are very internally focused. They're either still trying to drive through additional liquidity measures within the company to meet short-term liability or they're in the middle of renegotiations or even restructuring. And so whilst they're very much internally focused, we have the ability to look outward and now – and one of the reasons we did it at this time, and as we said in the pre-prepared statements, going to the market at this time under these price levels and mindful of the dilution for shareholders, it wasn't an easy decision and it wasn't one that was lightly taken. But we – one of…

David C. Smith - Heikkinen Energy Advisors

Management

That's great color. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Praveen Narra of Raymond James. Please go ahead. Praveen Narra - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Hi. Good morning, guys, and congrats on the balance sheet measures as well. If we could stay on that kind of line of thinking, in terms of what you're saying, presumably the rigs that are still being held at the shipyard and newbuilds are in pretty good shape, but can you give us a sense for what you think of in terms of the shape of the more distressed assets? Obviously, we saw the sales, the $65 million sale, the ocean rig. But in those types of situations, from what you've looked at, can you give us a sense of how those stand on an operations go-forward basis? Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. Maybe I'll answer the question, I think you asked it, and if I didn't, come back. So, we've been looking at – and we've been to see nearly all of the assets that are available and have been marketed for sale at the moment. But consistent with things that we've said before, we didn't look, we didn't proactively bid on that, on the Cerrado rig that's just been sold. And the reason for that is, as we've indicated before, we're going to sit on the sidelines a little bit for the first sales, want to see what the pricing clears at. The other is that – a one-off deal like that doesn't move the needle for us, and potentially becomes a liability in the near-term, not an asset. And the third is that the actual competitiveness of that particular rig was not something that we felt comfortable with. So, as I've said a few times, with the liquidity cushion that we…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the Gregory Lewis of Credit Suisse. Please go ahead. Gregory Lewis - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Yes. Thank you and good morning. So, as we look at some of the recent contracts that have been happening I guess for the last few quarters now, it generally seems like whether it's a floater or a jackup, and this is across industry, that there's been the ability for the customers to have contracts of – termination convenience. Is that sort of the market that we're in right now, where generally if you're looking to put a rig to work that there's going to be that clause in it that allows customers to exit those contracts? P. Carey Lowe - Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President: Hey, Greg. This is Carey. Are you finished, Greg. Gregory Lewis - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): I was just going to say, at least is that what you're seeing in the tenders that you – the few tenders that are coming across your desk that you've been bidding on? Is that sort of the market we're in right now? P. Carey Lowe - Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President: Yeah, I think that is the market we're in right now and it's not much different than any other point in the cycle in the past. The newer contracts have more favorable early termination provisions for the operator. So, I agree with you, that's where we are. As you know, the older contracts had much stronger early termination provisions and we have some of those still. Gregory Lewis - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Broker): Okay. And then just as, clearly, you guys have been successful on winning some P&A on a small scale. As we look…

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Vaibhav Vaishnav of Cowen. Please go ahead. Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: Hi. Thanks for taking my question. So, one of your peers fleet status report reflected operators are asking for lower crewing levels. I just wanted to see if you are seeing the same, what kind of clues, any color you can provide around that? Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I wouldn't say that that was a general approach. A lot of – certain minimum crewing levels are also governed by jurisdictions of the countries you work in. Particularly with floaters, you need to maintain certain marine crewing levels for safety standards. So, there – anything that is happening around this at the moment is a little bit on the periphery. What we are seeing is that, as we're in discussions for new contracts or any kind of concessions on existing contracts, where clients have, in some cases, specified additional crew that is not really adding value, we have seen the willingness of the operators to strip that back. But you're talking about a few crew. And what we have done is also seeing some examples where we have looked at multi-crewing and multi-skilling across some of the jobs, but it's a little bit on the periphery. Where we have been able to look at some of the crewing is, when we've had rigs work on, say, intervention and P&A that require a different level of crewing, because you're not running the BOP or the stacks or anything like that. Vaibhav Vaishnav - Cowen & Co. LLC: Okay. Okay. And, on a different subject, one of the oilfield services companies said they're expecting Saudi to cut 10% rigs. Unclear if they were talking onshore or offshore, but just…

Operator

Operator

our next question comes from Jacob Ng of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Jacob Ng - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Thank you. Carl, could you kindly elaborate on your earlier comment of competitors considering strategic alliances? Are you referring to fleet pooling arrangements, similar to that of the tanker market? Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: No. I think more, rather than just looking at that, I think read in to my comments the fact that people are considering strategic options that they just didn't six months ago. But I wasn't, in any way, specifically referring to sort of pool sharing type of approach that you sometimes seen in the bulk or the tanker market. That hasn't raised its head yet. Jacob Ng - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC: Got it. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is from Mark Brown of Seaport Global Securities. Please go ahead.

Mark Brown - Seaport Global Securities LLC

Management

Hi. I was wondering on the last fleet status, you referenced that the ENSCO 6001 would – allegedly reached the downtime limit and led you to renegotiate with Petrobras across the rigs on contract. I guess just two questions, one is did you agree that you in fact reached that downtime limit or is that just what Petrobras is asserting? And two, of the four rigs, which ones do you expect would have the duration of the contract reduced as a result of the negotiations? Carl Trowell - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: So, I can't really add more than we've already disclosed because we don't have a definitive agreement in place other than just reiterating very clearly what we've already disclosed. So, as a consequence of that situation where we had allegedly reached the downtime limit, we ended up in a negotiation with Petrobras where we believe – and we're in pretty advanced stage of negotiations. Where we believe this is going to close is that we will – one or two of the rigs will be terminated, early terminated. There will be a reduction in day rates, offset by an extension of term and the resetting of the downtime on ENSCO 6001. And the consequence of that is $140 million reduction on our backlog from what we have currently reported. And there's nothing more I can add at this point without kind of potentially misleading or without prejudging what we're going to finally land on. But the one important aspect which we've made clear is that if this goes ahead as we believe then we could reach conclusion within the next week or so, and the impact of these changes will be almost immediate. They would happen within the next few weeks.

Mark Brown - Seaport Global Securities LLC

Management

Okay. Well, that helps. I appreciate the explanation. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks. Sean Patrick O'Neill - Vice President-Investor Relations & Communications: I just want to thank everyone for participating on our call today. We greatly appreciate your interest in Ensco. Have a great day.

Operator

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines. Have a great day.