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Valaris Limited (VAL)

Q2 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, Jul 30, 2013

$102.23

+0.25%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Ensco plc Second Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] 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 P. O'Neill

Analyst · Global Hunter Securities

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to Ensco's Second Quarter 2013 Conference Call. With me today are Dan Rabun, CEO; Mark Burns, our Chief Operating Officer; Jay Swent, CFO; Kevin Robert, our Senior Vice President of Marketing; as well as other members of our senior management team. We issued our earnings release, which is available on our website at enscoplc.com. As usual, we will keep our call to 1 hour. 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 the company undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements. As a reminder, our most recent Fleet Status Report was issued on July 15. Now let me turn the call over to Dan Rabun, Chairman and CEO.

Daniel W. Rabun

Analyst · Citi

Thanks, Sean, and good morning, everyone. I will start by covering highlights from the second quarter. Kevin will then comment on the state of our markets, and Jay will review our financial results and provide a detailed outlook for the third quarter. We had a strong second quarter. We achieved record revenues, grew our operating income by 12%, hosted our naming ceremony for ENSCO DS-7 that will commence its initial 3-year contract later this year and continued to invest in our fleet with new orders for 2 more rigs. ENSCO 8506 and ENSCO DS-6, which commenced operations during the first quarter, drove a 17% increase in revenues year-to-year. Both rigs had a very good uptime performance during the second quarter. ENSCO DS-6 drilling offshore Angola for BP, a repeat customer with 3 of our Samsung DP3 drillships, had 98% utilization. I should add that BP was very pleased with the acceptance testing process for this rig before it began drilling its first wells. ENSCO 8506 had 95% utilization during the second quarter. This rig is one of 3 8500 Series working for Anadarko in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. These are vivid examples that show the advantages of standardization. Both of these rigs benefited from the lessons learned that were passed down by rig managers and others who worked on the first rigs in each series. These advantages of standardization will continue with the orders we placed for 2 additional rigs during the second quarter. We ordered ENSCO DS-10, an ultra-deepwater drillship, which is scheduled for delivery in third quarter 2015. It will be our eighth Samsung DP3 drillship and will have the improved drilling capabilities and fuel efficiency that the GF12000 design provides. This new drillship order reflects our conviction that demand for ultra-deepwater rigs will remain strong as…

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · ISI Group

Thanks, Dan. This morning I will recap activity levels, highlight some of our contract signings that occurred during the quarter and present our outlook for the floater and jackup markets. Before I do though, let me make a few macro comments about our industry. Numerous organizations have recently published their midyear assessments of global economic growth, energy supply and demand trends and associated spending levels. The conclusions reached in these studies forecast continued energy growth for decades, driven by expanding prosperity across a rising global population. Growing transportation requirements, rising electricity needs for homes and increasing energy needs to power industry will require exploration and development of oil and gas reserves at a faster pace. Oil will remain the #1 global fuel, but natural gas will overtake coal for the #2 spot. Safely delivering new technology and innovation to develop hard-to-produce energy resources is a key requirement of the drilling industry. A recent IHS study examined the source of oil and gas discoveries from 2007 to 2012 and found that almost 80% of reserve additions were from new deepwater basins. These basins are common on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean but have also been found in East Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Cyprus, India, Eastern Canada, Eastern South America and the Arctic. Production from shallow water wells continues to supply more than 1/3 of worldwide production, and improved technology is critical to our clients as they seek to produce more from existing shallow water basins. Regarding sector activity, we experienced a large increase in combined tender and inquiry activity, rising from 55 to 60 per quarter to a new high of 80 in the second quarter. Floating rig formal bid activity was steady, but we saw a significant increase in the number of floater inquiries. We believe the jump…

James W. Swent

Analyst · ISI Group

Thanks, Kevin. Today, I'll cover highlights of the second quarter results, our outlook for the third quarter 2013 and our financial position. So let's start with second quarter results versus prior year. As noted in our press release, second quarter earnings per diluted share were $1.55 compared to $1.47 last year. This growth was driven by record revenues and record net income of $361 million in the second quarter as we grew our fleet and benefited from higher average day rates. Total revenue for the quarter was $1.25 billion compared to $1.07 billion a year ago, a 17% increase year-over-year. Floater revenues increased to $823 million, growing 22% from the prior year due to the addition of ENSCO 8506 and DS-6 to the active fleet and a full quarter of operations for ENSCO 8505. These additions to the fleet, as well as rate increases for several existing rigs, drove a 13% increase in the average day rate to nearly $400,000 per day. Jackup segment revenues increased 7% due to a 16% increase in the average day rate to $122,000. Utilization for the jackup fleet in the second quarter was 83% compared to 90% a year ago. As I mentioned on our first quarter call, we had more planned shipyard days during second quarter 2013 versus last year as we prepared several rigs for long-term contracts. Adjusted for the planned shipyard days in the second quarter related to upgrades and scheduled survey work, as well as cold stacked rigs that are not being marketed, utilization was 98%. At this point, we have completed the majority of our planned jackup shipyard days for 2013, and we expect the jackup segment reported utilization to significantly increase in the second half of 2013. Total second quarter contract drilling expense for all segments was $607…

Sean P. O'Neill

Analyst · Global Hunter Securities

Thanks, Jay. And now operator, please open up the line for questions.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Jud Bailey of ISI Group.

Judson E. Bailey - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · ISI Group

I appreciate the market color you guys gave. I had a couple of follow-ups, if I may. First on Mexico. Kevin, could you give us the timing of the mid-water tender that Pemex has? And on the ultra-deepwater requirement you mentioned, is that a tender that's upcoming or something you -- or something that's currently out and what would be the timing of adding another ultra-deepwater rig to Mexico?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · ISI Group

The mid-water tender, the bids were turned in last Friday. It should be awarded mid-August. And the deepwater work is something Pemex is planning, so they haven't published a time line for it yet.

Judson E. Bailey - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · ISI Group

Got it. And then on the jackup side, you mentioned wanting to add another 5 to 10 rigs to the existing fleet. How do you -- what's your updated thoughts on how you see that market playing out? There's obviously a lot of newbuilds being built that are going to be dedicated to Mexico. Is Pemex looking to add additional newbuilds? Or are they trying to contract some existing rigs into Mexico as well?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · ISI Group

No, I don't think they care where they get them. They're drilling demand is going up so much, they need to up 10 more rigs. So they'll look at all sources.

Judson E. Bailey - ISI Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · ISI Group

Got it. And then just another kind of broader question, just on your labor costs. Industries absorbed a lot of newbuilds this year. They got a lot more to go next year. You all have done a very good job at kind of keeping cost in check. Could you just give us an update on how you see the cost and kind of labor environment as you continue to add rigs? Are you seeing any more inflationary pressure than you have in the last couple of years? Or is it kind of a status quo?

James W. Swent

Analyst · ISI Group

Well, I think -- Jud, this is Jay. Obviously, there's been pressure all year long. We signaled last quarter, we thought we're going to be in the 8% range. I think we're looking at probably 9% inflation this year. And we have to watch the market very carefully. There's been a lot of movement in all markets, I think, over the last several months. So I think it's -- you have to watch it every quarter. But right now, we feel pretty comfortable it's in the 9% range. We're -- obviously, there's a lot of people required to build or to crew up all of these rigs, and we're very actively engaged in making sure that we've got people when we need them to crew the rigs up. It's a challenge. But so far, we've been able to meet the demand. And we've really picked up resources in our HR organization to make sure we're doing all the strategic recruiting that we need to do.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Robin Shoemaker of Citi.

Robin E. Shoemaker - Citigroup Inc, Research Division

Analyst · Citi

Kevin Robert, I wanted to ask you, of those deepwater tenders you're talking about where there's been an increase, curious as to how many of those specify a dual-BOP capability, which then leads to my broader question of, how are you guys feeling about that now and is there any possible change in direction for you?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Citi

The only place we're seeing the 2 BOPs mentioned in tenders is the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and that's in direct response to changes in the regulatory environment that are affected between well maintenance. So operators are making that evaluation.

Robin E. Shoemaker - Citigroup Inc, Research Division

Analyst · Citi

Okay. So no change in your view on the value or investment economics of dual BOPs on new rigs?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Citi

No. No, the operator -- we look to the operator to run that exercise.

James W. Swent

Analyst · Citi

And as you know, Robin, the DS-7 through the DS-10 can accommodate the second BOP, so that flexibility is built into those drillships.

Robin E. Shoemaker - Citigroup Inc, Research Division

Analyst · Citi

Right, okay. And I wanted to ask on the -- as you mentioned the DS-2 contract in your initial remarks, you mentioned a number of other variables around that contract, which influenced the day rate. And wasn't sure I quite understood all those factors, but could you just -- since there was a lot of focus on this DS-2 contract, if you could explain that a little more?

Daniel W. Rabun

Analyst · Citi

Yes, Robin, this is Dan. DS-2, this was shortly after the acquisition needed to go into the shipyard. And quite frankly, with long lead items, with OEM manufacturers, quite frankly, when we needed to go in the shipyard, it didn't coincide -- it didn't mesh with the end of the contract terms. So we went to the customer and said we need to extend the contract, so that we can accommodate this shipyard project, and they accommodated us. Otherwise, we would have ended the contract to go to the shipyard and not have our long lead items in. So it was really interrelated to the shipyard project that just had really long lead items, and it's really, quite frankly, that simple.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Gregory Lewis of Credit Suisse. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: I guess over the last couple of weeks, there has been a couple of well incident -- natural gas well incidents in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with -- and I guess what would say our smaller or private-type entities on the shelf. As we think about this going forward over the next couple of years, do we think we're going to see more increased regulation and maybe a little bit of -- will it become more difficult for smaller private entities to do exploration and development on the shelf? How should we think about that?

Steven Joseph Brady

Analyst · Credit Suisse

This is Steve Brady, Senior VP of the Western Hemisphere, so with responsibility for Gulf of Mexico. I can't comment on the specific situations recently on the Gulf, but I can say that Ensco treats its shallow water operations with the same safety focus that we give our deepwater operations. And also, I think you'll note that Ensco thrives in environments with strict regulations. We know how to operate there. Our systems are generally in compliance or exceed the standards that are set, and that's true in the Gulf of Mexico. As demonstration, we recently had an audit by the BSEE, that's the regulator there. And they complimented us on the work that we had done to comply with the latest regulations and are holding us up as a potential standard for other contractors. So I can't predict what's going to happen with the regulations in the Gulf. But quite honestly, we're prepared for whatever comes that way, and we will do a good job of it.

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Credit Suisse

I think, Greg, for the smaller players, obviously, it's not going to get any easier. I can't speak to whether it's going to get any harder. But certainly, it's not going to get any easier with time. Gregory Lewis - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Okay, great. And then just real quick follow-up on the mid-water tender in Mexico. Just to sort of try to gauge what -- how Pemex is thinking about it. You mentioned that it was 1,000 feet of water. But in terms of -- were there any minimum requirements beyond that in terms of -- or maybe they're looking for a little bit newer generation type mid-water rig even though they sort of scaled down to the 1,000-feet minimum requirement?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Credit Suisse

No, there wasn't. That's a fairly straightforward program for a typical 1,000-foot moored rig.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Ian Macpherson of Simmons. Ian Macpherson - Simmons & Company International, Research Division: I'm looking at the mid-water rigs in Brazil that are the 5000 and the 5002 and the 5004, that maybe a couple of those are going to be relocating. Could you provide us some sort of expectation for how much transit or downtime we might want to contemplate over the next -- the back half of this year and into next year as those rigs get resituated?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Simmons

Well, the 5000 will go South Africa for its scheduled shipyard and recertification, and we'll look at market opportunities from that standpoint from that location. The 5004, when it finishes its contract, will in direct continuation mobilize out into the Med for a multiyear contract, and the 5002 has opportunities in Brazil. We already talked about the opportunity in Mexico, and we have opportunities in other parts of the world, like West Africa and the Med. 5005, we decided to focus on the Asia-Pacific market with that because there's half a dozen good-quality opportunities for that rig. So I think everything in our fleet, at least, has a place to go and a purpose. Ian Macpherson - Simmons & Company International, Research Division: Okay, good. Kevin, and the 5004 in the Med, is that going to start Q1 or Q2 of next year?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Simmons

We'll make an announcement on that as soon as we finish the contract. Ian Macpherson - Simmons & Company International, Research Division: Fair enough, okay. Quick follow-up, Jay, I think you said that as of now, you've authorized upward of $380 million for upgrade CapEx next year, $125 million of which is to be reimbursed by the contracts for some of these rigs. And then should we think of your sustaining CapEx of $250 million this year as being similar or materially different next year?

James W. Swent

Analyst · Simmons

I think you should think of it being in the same range.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Mike Urban of Deutsche Bank.

Michael W. Urban - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

You guys expressed a positive view on the jackup market, I think, globally, really, which I certainly tend to agree with here in the near term but also a longer-term positive view as well as signified by your continued orders of jackups. And just given the backdrop that we all know about in terms of deepwater discoveries being far in excess of shallow, is the positive long-term outlook more a function of just the increased bifurcation we're seeing? Do you think we've finally reached the tipping point from an attrition standpoint? We'd just love to hear your thoughts on kind of the longer-term view on the jackup market.

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

I think you start with the fact that we still have a huge reserve base in shallow water. Even though a lot of those resources are mature, they take a lot of drilling activity. And if you look at the total rig years of demand in the jackup market compared to what it was a couple of years ago, you were up by 60 or 70 rigs. So we're at an all-time high in demand. And I think as long as the commodity price environment stays the way it is, the geologists with improved seismic are trying to squeeze more out of every reservoir, and it's a really bright outlook for the shallow water market. So I think that's the major driver. It's just fundamental demand and good drilling economics. The deepwater side has had the larger reserves additions because it's a less mature play, and it's very interesting. There's been a number of studies out lately, looking at the different theories on what zones and what structures to drill. And the exciting thing there is our wildcat exploration success is up more than double what it was 15 years ago, and the development work is again squeezing more and more out of every well. So also on the deepwater side, it's very positive, and our clients continue to discover new basins and new trends. So that's really the driver. You overlay all of that with the need for energy, and that's why we have a bright outlook.

Michael W. Urban - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

Got you. And then specific to the attrition story on the jackup side. I mean, it's been talked about for quite a while. You have seen a pickup in rigs dropping out of the market. Do you feel like that is something that will continue? I mean, have we finally reached this tipping point that we've been talking about here for maybe 10 years or so?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

That's a tougher one. If you look at the historical attrition, it has ticked up quite a bit. Some of that certainly is age-related. At the same time, with the really strong jackup market, we've seen a lot of the rigs that were on the beach, so to speak, come back into the market. So I think we'll continue to see rigs that are not well maintained struggle to economically compete. If you noticed, again, we talked about this, our fleet is all working. We've kept up with our rigs year in and year out, and it pays off. If you haven't done that, it's very expensive to keep an older rig working.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Rob MacKenzie of Iberia Capital Partners.

Rob MacKenzie

Analyst · Iberia Capital Partners

Kevin, I wanted to explore a topic for you related to your comments on the DS-2, but more specifically, kind of the emerging tender requirements, at least there in West Africa, but also around the world. And recognizing that this is 1-rig-specific contract, but how do you see kind of the trend towards rigs with more capable BOPs from pressure rating 5 rams, 0 discharge, all of the things you listed, affecting the market for, call it, modern rigs versus those that need some upgrading?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Iberia Capital Partners

We've seen a bifurcation in the jackup market that's pretty well documented. The same thing happens in the floater market. And you see it maybe spurred also by going deeper, bigger hydraulics, the desire of our clients to get more out of each well, especially as day rates go up and cost go up. So that's the reason for bigger trees. I think the 5 ram minimum BOP on a DP rig is a little bit of extra safety issue, and that's with us to stay. And certainly, environmental requirements around the world, they've always been present in a lot of markets. And I think where you see it coming in places like West Africa, they're frankly catching up with the rest of the world. So none of this is a surprise. Again, I think that's why you've seen us invest in our fleet, try to keep it modern. That renewal strategy is in response to specifications always changing.

Rob MacKenzie

Analyst · Iberia Capital Partners

Right. And would you say West Africa is kind of the lagger there? Are there more regions, say, the Far East, to come with stricter specs coming up?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Iberia Capital Partners

West Africa and the Far East, from a deepwater standpoint, are strong markets, but they are also less mature than the Gulf of Mexico or the Brazil markets. So certainly, as you have more discoveries and look at all the new countries, where you have new deepwater basins, so they've got to get their arms around what kind of specifications they need. And it's not to be ignored that our clients are all multinational clients. So what they're doing in one market, they're certainly going to consider doing it in other market. So you're right, that the trend is a global trend, and it's something that we have to keep up with.

Rob MacKenzie

Analyst · Iberia Capital Partners

And I guess, a final follow-up along those questions. One of the headlines in the wake of the recent U.S. Gulf blowout was, in essence, another BOP failure. With the government currently working on new BOP regs for the deepwater, have you heard anything or any talk that there might -- those might be stricter rather than more lenient and what would that look like, if anything?

Daniel W. Rabun

Analyst · Iberia Capital Partners

Yes, this is Dan. I don't think anybody really -- we need to sit tight and let the appropriate authorities do and conduct a thorough investigation to determine what the cause of the accident is. One thing that we know from many, many years of experience with speculation about what caused incidents often times has nothing to do with what the incident in the end. So I think we need to just sit and wait and let the appropriate authorities conduct their investigation.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from JB Lowe of Cowen and Company.

John Booth Lowe - Cowen Securities LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Cowen and Company

I just had a kind of similar question in regards to Brazil on the rig specifications that Petrobras is going to be asking for or you also said that a lot of the customers were going to be independents. What type of rigs are they looking for to do this, this -- needed to lease awards from this recent post salt sale?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Cowen and Company

The post- salt specs could be anything from moored semis. The water depths went from shallow water to deepwater, so they could be anything from a moored semi to a high-spec floater. All the pre-salt blocks are basically looking for the same spec rigs as we have in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

John Booth Lowe - Cowen Securities LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Cowen and Company

Right, okay. And turning to the Gulf, you said that the DS-9 and DS-10 were looking to be rigs that you could put in there for some requirements that are coming up. You didn't mention the DS-8 though. Where are you in terms of negotiations for that rig and where are you looking to put that?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Cowen and Company

We don't comment on ongoing negotiations, so I can't comment on DS-8.

Operator

Operator

The last question for today will come from Ryan Fitzgibbon of Global Hunter Securities.

Ryan Fitzgibbon - Global Hunter Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Global Hunter Securities

Dan and Kevin, I believe in your prepared remarks, you outlined some planned downtime for next year. And Jay, it looks like upgrade CapEx for next year is shaping up where it is this year. As you look out at this juncture, would you expect your 2014 planned downtime to be at a similar level to 2013?

Daniel W. Rabun

Analyst · Global Hunter Securities

We haven't given that level of guidance for 2014. Well, obviously, typically, what we do is after we finish our budgeting process, we would give you that level of detail.

Ryan Fitzgibbon - Global Hunter Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Global Hunter Securities

Okay, fair enough. And then, Kevin, in terms of Gulf of Mexico jackup day rates, you mentioned some of those contracts you signed there recently. How do you view pricing power in the back half of this year? You're already pretty close, if not above last cycle's high. Just curious how much momentum you think is left in that market for jackup?

Kevin C. Robert

Analyst · Global Hunter Securities

Well, we have a continued undersupply of rigs given demand, and we see demand still growing. So our expectation is for us to continue to see a favorable market. It's hard to predict how far you can push it, given the economics, but at least the conditions are favorable.

Ryan Fitzgibbon - Global Hunter Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Global Hunter Securities

Okay. And then one last one for Jay. Appreciate the Q3 cost guidance. Would you still expect full year cost to come in up 19% year-over-year, so $2.4 billion?

James W. Swent

Analyst · Global Hunter Securities

We just provided you an update in terms of our outlook for a third quarter contract drilling expense, but we haven't provided it for 4Q or the full year. We'll give you the fourth quarter when we have our third quarter earnings call.

Sean P. O'Neill

Analyst · Global Hunter Securities

Okay. If there are no more questions, thank you, everybody, for your interest. We greatly appreciate it. And we'll talk to you on our next earnings call. Thanks very much.

Operator

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.