Douglas Wall
Analyst · Raymond James
Thanks, Mark. I'll start this morning with some commentary on the drilling company before turning things over to Pressure Pumping. As Mark has noted, the second quarter was another very solid quarter for us, highlighted, I think, by a number of things: Improvements in activity, higher margins, long-term contract growth, as well as a newbuild contract signings with existing and new customers. For the quarter ended June 30, 2011, the company had an average of 202 drilling rigs operating, including 199 rigs in the U.S. and 3 rigs in Canada. This was a 7-rig increase over the U.S. -- or in the U.S., over the average activity levels we experienced in the first quarter. The Canadian rig count, as expected, fell from 15 rigs in the first quarter to 3 rigs in the second quarter, causing a revenue drop of some $27 million sequentially in this region. Both the U.S. and the Canadian rig counts reflect the current strong state of demand for our rigs. We expect our July rig count to average approximately 215 rigs operating, comprised of 205 in the U.S. and 10 in Canada. This represents an increase of 50 rigs in the U.S. and 3 rigs in Canada compared to July 2010. We expect that the U.S. rig count will have increased by 4 rigs and the Canadian rig count by 6 rigs for the month of July, as compared to the month of June. For the third quarter, we're now expecting to average approximately 220 total rigs operating. This is based on running 209 rigs in the U.S. and 11 rigs in Canada. Average revenues per operating day for the second quarter were in $21,000, a sequential improvement of $760 per day. Rig pricing continued to improve with significant price increases in certain geographic markets, primarily those driven by oil and high-liquids content. Some of this revenue increase is also attributable to the pass-through of a wage increase implemented during the quarter. Average direct operating costs per day increased by $150 to $11,880 for the quarter. While our daily labor costs increased quarter-to-quarter I am pleased to say that we maintained a tight rein on our other operating expenses, including repairs and maintenance costs, which held the overall increase in costs to approximately 1%. Overall, our operating margins per day increased by $600 to $9,110 per day, certainly better than we had expected. For Q3, we anticipate that our average revenue per day will increase by a further $500 per day and our operating margins will improve by approximately $350 to $400 per day. Overall, we believe we are very well positioned to benefit from any further incremental demand in the liquids-rich and the oily basins of the U.S. We continue to see strong customer interest in our high-quality conventional rigs, and we expect to see additional demand in this area in the coming month. The demand for newbuild rigs also remains very strong. With respect to long-term contracts, I'm pleased to say that we made excellent progress in the second quarter by signing up 28 long-term contracts, including 10 for newbuilds, 6 existing Apex rigs and 12 contracts for conventional rigs. So based on contracts currently in place, we now expect to have an average of 122 rigs working under long-term contracts during the remainder of 2011. Last quarter, we had announced we had 102 rigs working under long-term contracts during the rest of '11, thus we have seen almost a 20% increase in term contracts during the last 3 months. Let me spend a few minutes this morning now, giving you a quick recap of our newbuild program. In terms of the delivery schedule, the 8 rigs that Mark mentioned earlier, that were completed during the quarter, was a new all-time high for us. These 8 new rigs worked approximately 250 days during the quarter. Of the 8 rigs, 4 were Apex Walking Rigs and 4 were Apex 1500. 4 of the 8 were deployed in the Eagle Ford, 2 in the Appalachians and 1 each in the Rockies and West Texas. A particular note, this is the first newbuild rig we have deployed into West Texas in recent history, and I think it's noteworthy that this market is now providing us with the appropriate contract terms. I also want to point out that the newly delivered walking rigs drilled wells in both the Eagle Ford and the Utica shales during the quarter. Our walking-rig technology has now been successfully deployed in 8 of the major resource plays in the U.S. and continues to attract new customers and grow market acceptance. In terms of capital expenditures, the drilling company spent approximately $197 million during the quarter. In addition to the 8 newbuilds I talked about just a minute ago, we also deployed one major refurbished rig to the Bakken on a long-term contract. Other than the drawworks, which was completely overhauled, this rig is now totally new. Although we do not determ [ph] it an Apex rig, for all intents and purposes, it is a brand-new rig. So with our rig up yards now in high gear, we expect to complete a similar number of rigs during Q3 and expect we will be able to meet all of our delivery commitments for 2011 rigs. So in addition to the 25 new rigs expected to be completed in 2011, we also now expect to build 30 new rigs in 2012. We currently have a number of long-term contracts awaiting signature. We are sold out of new rigs through the end of the year, and needless to say, we're delighted with our progress in signing new contracts. We expect this momentum to continue as we progress through the remainder of this year and into next year. So that concludes my remarks this morning on Drilling. So let me now turn to the Pressure Pumping business. Revenues in our Pressure Pumping business totaled $200 million for the quarter, slightly above our expectation. Both the demand for equipment and pricing remains very strong in this segment, as evidenced by the 17% increase in gross profit on an 11% increase in revenue. EBITDA for pressure pumping totaled $66.8 million, up over $10 million from last quarter. Let me make a few comments on each of our operating regions, starting with our Texas operations. We continue to be extremely pleased with the operational and financial performance from this segment of our business. Activity levels remain very strong in both the Eagle Ford and the Permian markets. In terms of pricing, our overall frac discounts during the quarter improved by 3 percentage points. We remain very bullish about both the Eagle Ford and the Permian markets and are currently in negotiations with several customers on providing dedicated equipment on a take-or-pay basis. A couple of operational highlights. I think they're noteworthy, and I'd like to share it with you this morning. We deployed our newest frac crew, some 40,000 horsepower, in South Texas in the early part of June, pretty much on schedule. The crew's first job was for a major customer in the Eagle Ford, where we employed 2 large shale frac crews on one location, and we pumped a simul-frac on a 5-well pad. The 80,000 horsepower deployed on this one location is certainly a new record for Universal, and I think it's a true testament to our technical and operational capabilities. In addition, during the quarter, we redeployed almost 40,000-horsepower out of the Barnett Shale and moved it into both the Permian and the Eagle Ford markets. We are achieving higher rates of utilization and better returns with this redeployment. Although we did lose a few pumping days and we incurred some additional costs related to the move, we feel this positions us in well more active markets moving forward. Turning to our Appalachian business. Our Q2 performance set an all-time record for Universal Well Service. Revenues and EBITDA were the highest in our 30-year history. And I think even more impressive is the fact that we accomplished this growth with only 11,000 more horsepower than we had in Q1. The Marcellus Shale continues to drive our activity in this region, and we're now starting to see the signs -- I think, the first signs of the potential of the Utica. Our newly opened Williamsport base pumped 214 stages this quarter and accounted for almost 1/3 of our overall revenue in this market. The opening of this new northern base has certainly allowed us to reduce both labor costs and sand hauling costs to meet the needs of this growing market. I'm also pleased to announce this morning that during the latter stages of the quarter, we signed a new term contract with a major player in the Marcellus. This contract commits some 35,000 horsepower on a dedicated basis for a term of 2 years. In total, as Mark mentioned earlier, we have an additional 142,000 horsepower still to come this year, approximately half of this additional capacity should be in place by the end of the third quarter with the other half in place by the end of the fourth quarter. We see ongoing demand for incremental pumping services well into 2012 and are currently in discussions with several customers for additional committed crews. We currently have approximately 135,000 horsepower of our frac horsepower working under long-term contracts. The industry continues to face tightness in labor markets, as well as the challenge of sourcing sand and other materials to meet the needs of these ever-more service-intensive jobs. As a company, we are addressing these challenges head-on. So before I turn the call back to Mark, let me just make a comment or 2 on our expectations for Pressure Pumping for the balance of 2011. As I mentioned before, we expect to end the year with approximately 650,000 pressure pumping horsepower. Lead times for most of this equipment are now approximately 12 months or longer. We are increasing our plans for new equipment in 2012 and are now planning approximately 140,000 horsepower of fracturing equipment deliveries in 2012. With respect to the third quarter, we are expecting a sequential increase in revenue of approximately $25 million to $30 million and an increase in gross margins from 35.6% in the second quarter to approximately 37% in the third quarter. So with that, I'll now turn the call back to Mark for some concluding remarks.