Helmerich and Payne Inc (HP) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to Helmerich & Payne's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Helmerich & Payne 的第四財季財報電話會議。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Please note today's call will be recorded.

請注意，今天的通話將會被錄音。

It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Dave Wilson. Please go ahead.

現在我很高興將電話轉給戴夫威爾森。請繼續。

Thank you, Todd and welcome everyone to Helmerich & Payne's conference call and webcast for the fourth-quarter and full fiscal year of 2024.

謝謝 Todd，並歡迎大家參加 Helmerich & Payne 關於 2024 年第四季和整個財年的電話會議和網路廣播。

With us today are John Lindsay, President and CEO; and Kevin Vann, Senior Vice President and CFO.

今天與我們在一起的有總裁兼執行長約翰·林賽 (John Lindsay)；以及資深副總裁兼財務長 Kevin Vann。

Both John and Kevin will be sharing comments with us after which we'll open the call for questions.

約翰和凱文都將與我們分享評論，之後我們將開始提問。

Before we begin our prepared remarks, I will remind everyone that this call will include forward-looking statements as defined under the securities laws. Such statements are based on current information and management's expectations as of this date and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. As such, our actual outcomes and results could differ materially. You can learn more about these risks in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our other SEC filings. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements.

在我們開始準備好的發言之前，我要提醒大家，本次電話會議將包括證券法定義的前瞻性陳述。此類聲明基於當前資訊和管理層截至目前的預期，並非對未來業績的保證。前瞻性陳述涉及某些難以預測的風險、不確定性和假設。因此，我們的實際結果可能會存在重大差異。您可以在我們的 10-K 表年度報告、10-Q 表季度報告以及其他 SEC 備案文件中了解有關這些風險的更多資訊。您不應過度依賴前瞻性陳述，我們不承擔公開更新這些前瞻性聲明的義務。

We will also make reference to certain non-GAAP financial measures such as segment operating income, direct margin and other operating statistics. You'll find the GAAP reconciliation comments and calculations in yesterday's press release.

我們也會參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標，例如分部營業收入、直接利潤率和其他營運統計資料。您可以在昨天的新聞稿中找到 GAAP 調節評論和計算。

Finally, as you'll hear probably a couple of times on this call, unless expressly identified otherwise, statements made during this call relate to H&P on a standalone basis and do not include any amounts or guidance related to KCA Deutag or on a combined enterprise basis resulting from the pending KCA acquisition.

最後，正如您可能會在本次電話會議中多次聽到的那樣，除非另有明確說明，本次電話會議中所做的聲明與H&P 相關，且不包括與KCA Deutag 或合併企業相關的任何金額或指導懸而未決的 KCA 收購所產生的基礎。

With that said, I'll turn the call over to John Lindsay.

話雖如此，我會將電話轉給約翰林賽。

Thank you, Dave. Good morning, everyone and we appreciate you joining us today.

謝謝你，戴夫。大家早安，我們感謝您今天加入我們。

The company delivered another strong year in fiscal 2024. I'm extremely pleased we continue to lead the industry in safety, customer satisfaction and margin generation. Looking back on our expectations and how we executed on our strategies in a challenging market, three elements stand out in my mind as being noteworthy and will continue to be pivotal for the company going forward. First, our focus on achieving the best customer outcomes by executing strategies that deliver safety, operational expertise and technology solutions, continue to generate superior contract economics and industry-leading rig performance and margin generation.

該公司在 2024 財年又取得了強勁的業績。我非常高興我們在安全、客戶滿意度和利潤創造方面繼續引領業界。回顧我們的期望以及我們如何在充滿挑戰的市場中執行我們的策略，我認為有三個要素值得注意，並將繼續對公司的未來至關重要。首先，我們致力於透過執行提供安全、營運專業知識和技術解決方案的策略來實現最佳的客戶成果，繼續產生卓越的合約經濟效益和業界領先的鑽機性能和利潤。

Second, our team swiftly adapted to a market where customer consolidation and commodity price volatility was driving a lot of rig churn in the US. In tandem, these two factors drove the US industry rig count down about 5% year over year while the H&P North America Solutions rig count experienced a slight increase. Under those conditions, our teams delivered solid performance, generated healthy margins and grew market share to approximately 28%.

其次，我們的團隊迅速適應了客戶整合和大宗商品價格波動導緻美國大量鑽孔機流失的市場。這兩個因素共同推動美國工業鑽機數量較去年同期下降約 5%，而 H&P 北美解決方案的鑽機數量則略有增加。在這些條件下，我們的團隊取得了穩健的業績，創造了可觀的利潤率，並將市佔率成長至約 28%。

The third element is the progress we've made in our International Solutions growth strategy. We've delivered five of eight FlexRigs in Saudi Arabia, and the first rig has commenced operations for Aramco. Additionally, we're executing on the transformational acquisition of KCA Deutag which will position us as a global drilling leader, and we expect to close that transaction in December or January depending upon regulatory approvals.

第三個要素是我們在國際解決方案成長策略上的進展。我們已在沙烏地阿拉伯交付了八台 FlexRig 中的五台，第一台鑽機已開始為阿美公司營運。此外，我們正在對 KCA Deutag 進行轉型收購，這將使我們成為全球鑽井領導者，我們預計將在 12 月或 1 月完成該交易，具體取決於監管部門的批准。

Looking at the fourth fiscal quarter results, our North America Solutions rig activity trended as we expected, up a handful of rigs from the previous quarter and exiting at 151 rigs. Along with the increased rig count, the North America Solutions segment was also able to sustain healthy direct margins, which again is a testament to our ability to deliver value to our customers through our growing solutions approach.

縱觀第四財季業績，我們的北美解決方案鑽機活動趨勢符合我們的預期，比上一季增加了一些鑽機，退出鑽機數量為 151 台。隨著鑽機數量的增加，北美解決方案部門也能夠維持健康的直接利潤，這再次證明了我們有能力透過不斷增長的解決方案方法為客戶提供價值。

Heading into the first fiscal quarter of 2025, we expect our rig count to remain relatively flat as incremental demand for rigs is matched with rigs rolling off of existing commitments. Similarly, we expect North America Solutions direct margins to remain relatively flat during the quarter. From a big picture perspective, the rig count in the US has been choppy over the past year. Between customer consolidation, low natural gas prices and overall performance improvements, the industry's super-spec rig count is down approximately 30 rigs from the high in 2024. Given that H&P increased activity in '24, we've demonstrated that safety, efficiency and value creation delivered with leading technology and performance-based contracts lead to profitable growth.

進入 2025 年第一財季，我們預計我們的鑽機數量將保持相對平穩，因為鑽機的增量需求與現有承諾的鑽機數量減少相匹配。同樣，我們預計北美解決方案的直接利潤率在本季將保持相對穩定。從大局來看，過去一年美國的鑽孔機數量一直不穩定。由於客戶整合、天然氣價格低廉和整體性能提高，該行業的超規格鑽機數量比 2024 年的最高水準減少了約 30 台。鑑於 H&P 在 24 年增加了活動，我們已經證明，透過領先的技術和基於績效的合約提供的安全、效率和價值創造可帶來盈利增長。

During the year, we have seen -- we have also seen private E&Ps activity increase for the FlexRig fleet, and our teams continue to work closely with a broad array of customers across our industry. Our increase in market share and margins throughout the year were directly in line with our delivery of more value as we assist customers by drilling longer laterals, reducing cycle times and well costs and improving overall well performance. We strive to deliver the best outcomes to our customers in a safe and predictable manner. The customer-centric approach allows us to align and execute in a manner that has all parties working together toward a common goal.

在這一年中，我們還看到 FlexRig 船隊的私人勘探與生產活動增加，我們的團隊繼續與整個行業的廣泛客戶密切合作。我們全年市場份額和利潤的成長與我們提供更多價值直接相關，因為我們透過鑽更長的支管、減少週期時間和井成本以及提高整體井性能來幫助客戶。我們努力以安全且可預測的方式為客戶提供最佳結果。以客戶為中心的方法使我們能夠以一種讓所有各方共同努力實現共同目標的方式協調和執行。

Our performance contracts continue to drive alignment on operations and utilize our cutting-edge performance technologies. The industry super-spec rig count continues to grow market share in the US unconventional market and makes up approximately 76% of the active fleet. We believe that longer laterals, more complex well designs and greater focus on well placement and reliability will remain the key factors that drive higher utilization and the adoption of digital technology and automation on the FlexRig fleet.

我們的績效合約繼續推動營運協調並利用我們的尖端績效技術。產業超規格鑽機數量在美國非常規市場的市佔率持續成長，約佔活躍船隊的 76%。我們相信，更長的支管、更複雜的井設計以及對井位和可靠性的更多關注仍將是推動 FlexRig 船隊提高利用率以及採用數位技術和自動化的關鍵因素。

Looking ahead for 2025, we believe the rig count will tend to be flat to slightly up during the first half of '25 and will trend down through the year, similar to 2024. That of course could change if commodity prices move either up or down dramatically. Our rig count has been range bound between 144 and 156 rigs for 18 months in North America. And all indications with current commodity pricing is that is going to be the outlook. In our International Solutions segment, a milestone event for H&P occurred in Saudi Arabia. Our first FlexRig sputtered in a Saudi unconventional field and the next four FlexRigs are in various stages of moving and rigging out. These results are a culmination of over five years of hard work by the H&P team.

展望 2025 年，我們認為 25 年上半年鑽機數量將趨於持平或略有上升，全年將呈下降趨勢，與 2024 年類似。如果大宗商品價格大幅上漲或下跌，情況當然可能會改變。18 個月以來，我們在北美的鑽孔機數量一直在 144 至 156 台之間。當前大宗商品定價的所有跡像都表明前景將如此。在我們的國際解決方案領域，H&P 的一個里程碑事件發生在沙烏地阿拉伯。我們的第一台 FlexRig 在沙烏地阿拉伯非常規油田中出現故障，接下來的四台 FlexRig 正處於不同的移動和裝備階段。這些成果是 H&P 團隊五年多辛勤工作的結晶。

I'm pleased with the current progress and excited about delivering returns on our investments and our team's focus on safety and reliability. Another significant achievement during fiscal 2024 was the announcement of the acquisition of KCA Deutag. This acquisition is a transformative event for the company and establishes H&P as not only the leader in the US land industry, but also a global leader in onshore drilling and significantly accelerates our Middle East expansion. I'm especially pleased that as we've been able to spend more time with the KCA Deutag team since the acquisition announcement as we plan for integration, it's been confirming that this transaction will be a great fit from a cultural perspective.

我對目前的進展感到滿意，並對我們的投資回報以及我們團隊對安全性和可靠性的關注感到興奮。2024 財年的另一項重大成就是宣布收購 KCA Deutag。這項收購對公司來說是一次變革性事件，使 H&P 不僅成為美國陸地產業的領導者，而且成為陸上鑽井領域的全球領導者，並顯著加速了我們在中東的擴張。我特別高興的是，自宣布收購以來我們計劃整合，我們能夠花更多時間與 KCA Deutag 團隊合作，這已經證實，從文化角度來看，這筆交易將是一次完美的契合。

We share our customer-centric approach, a safety-first mentality and a commitment to providing exceptional performance and value for customers. There are many reasons to remain excited about the KCA Deutag acquisition but since our announcement in July, there have been several notifications in Saudi of multiple rigs being suspended both onshore and offshore and some of the KCA Deutag rigs were included in those suspensions. As a provider of rigs in Saudi Arabia, KCA announced in September, they had received eight contract suspensions of their rigs for a period of up to 12 months.

我們秉持以客戶為中心的理念、安全第一的理念，並致力於為客戶提供卓越的性能和價值。有很多理由讓我們對KCA Deutag 的收購感到興奮，但自從我們在7 月宣布這一消息以來，沙烏地阿拉伯已經收到多份關於多個陸上和海上鑽井平台被暫停的通知，其中一些KCA Deutag 鑽井平台也被暫停。作為沙烏地阿拉伯的鑽井平台供應商，KCA 在 9 月宣布，他們已收到 8 個鑽井平台的合約暫停，期限長達 12 個月。

Having rigs suspended is not without precedent in this cyclical industry. Despite these near-term headwinds, the strategic rationale and reasoning for this acquisition remain firmly in place. First, it accelerates our international growth strategy. Secondly, it enhances our presence in the Middle East conventional rig market specifically in Saudi, Oman and Kuwait. Third, it increases the company's global scale and revenue diversification, not just geographically but also by adding a sizable asset light offshore management business. Fourth, in addition of a world -- the addition of a world class manufacturing and energy services capability and finally strengthening and diversifying the company's long-term return on capital and cash flow profile.

在這個週期性產業中，鑽井平台暫停並非沒有先例。儘管存在這些近期不利因素，但此次收購的策略理由和理由仍然堅定。首先，它加速了我們的國際成長策略。其次，它增強了我們在中東常規鑽機市場的影響力，特別是在沙烏地阿拉伯、阿曼和科威特。第三，它增加了公司的全球規模和收入多元化，不僅在地域上，而且還透過增加規模較大的輕資產離岸管理業務。第四，增加一個世界－增加世界一流的製造和能源服務能力，最終加強和多樣化公司的長期資本回報和現金流狀況。

Kevin will provide some additional facts during his remarks regarding the acquisition and will also provide some additional clarity regarding our cash position, our strategy and ability to delever the balance sheet.

凱文將在有關收購的演講中提供一些額外的事實，並將進一步澄清我們的現金狀況、我們的策略和去槓桿化資產負債表的能力。

We have every confidence that the KCA Deutag acquisition will strengthen H&P's overall cash flow profile with a more diversified and durable revenue stream in the long term. Going forward, we will continue to execute on our growing portfolio of strategic objectives. First, we will build on and increase the durability of our free cash flow and continued success in our North America Solutions business. Along with that, we will be focused on successfully integrating H&P and KCA Deutag, delevering our balance sheet and seeking opportunities to export the FlexRig's unconventional successes we're achieving in the US to a now larger footprint of international unconventional markets.

我們堅信，從長遠來看，收購 KCA Deutag 將增強 H&P 的整體現金流狀況，帶來更多元化和持久的收入來源。展望未來，我們將繼續執行不斷成長的策略目標組合。首先，我們將鞏固並提高自由現金流的持久性以及北美解決方案業務的持續成功。除此之外，我們將專注於成功整合 H&P 和 KCA Deutag，降低資產負債表槓桿，並尋求機會將我們在美國取得的 FlexRig 非常規成功推廣到目前更廣泛的國際非常規市場。

We'll also maintain our focus on delivering superior returns for our shareholders as we expect to maintain our peer leading base dividend and to maintain our strong focus on disciplined capital allocation.

我們也將繼續致力於為股東提供卓越的回報，因為我們期望保持同業領先的基本股息，並繼續高度重視嚴格的資本配置。

In closing, during fiscal 2024, our teams remained steadfast and are operating a robust business aimed at achieving the best outcomes for our customers, employees and shareholders. We successfully improved our sustainability profile by reducing potential safety incidents by approximately 17% year over year and decreasing normalized GHG emissions over 10%. By having a customer-centric approach, we improved our cost per lateral foot drilled and enhanced well consistency.

最後，在 2024 財年，我們的團隊保持堅定，經營穩健的業務，旨在為我們的客戶、員工和股東實現最佳成果。我們成功地改善了我們的永續發展狀況，潛在安全事故比去年同期減少了約 17%，標準化溫室氣體排放量減少了 10% 以上。透過採用以客戶為中心的方法，我們提高了每側鑽英尺的成本並提高了井的一致性。

We've also strategically deployed our technology and adjusted our commercial approach to help customers achieve their objectives. Another key element in our 2024 success was a focus on our people. We prioritized improving quality of life on the rig and invested in career development, creating a strong foundation for growth across the company. Our world class employees known for their adaptability and drive have always been at the heart of our achievements.

我們也策略性地部署了我們的技術並調整了我們的商業方法，以幫助客戶實現他們的目標。我們 2024 年成功的另一個關鍵因素是對員工的關注。我們優先考慮提高鑽機上的生活質量，並投資於職業發展，為整個公司的發展奠定了堅實的基礎。我們世界級的員工以其適應能力和幹勁而聞名，一直是我們成就的核心。

Looking ahead, the H&P team is committed to delivering even greater results for our shareholders in 2025 by leveraging our distinctive capabilities.

展望未來，H&P 團隊致力於利用我們獨特的能力，在 2025 年為股東帶來更大的績效。

And now, I'll turn the call over to Kevin.

現在，我將把電話轉給凱文。

Thanks, John.

謝謝，約翰。

Today, I will review our fiscal fourth quarter and full year 2024 operating results and provide operational guidance for the first fiscal quarter of 2025. Additionally, I also want to spend some time to address our annual fiscal 2025 projections, our financial position and provide an update on our strategic and transformative acquisition of KCA Deutag and our focused efforts to lower our leverage position resulting from it.

今天，我將回顧我們第四財季和 2024 年全年的營運業績，並為 2025 年第一財季提供營運指導。此外，我還想花一些時間來討論我們的2025 財年年度預測、我們的財務狀況，並提供有關我們對KCA Deutag 的戰略性和變革性收購的最新信息，以及我們為降低由此產生的槓桿狀況所做的集中努力。

Let me start with highlights for the recently completed fourth quarter and fiscal year ended September 30, 2024. In general, the fourth quarter looks very similar to the third quarter of this year. I'm pleased to say that we did not miss the fairway on any of our guided metrics. We were right down the middle. The company generated quarterly revenues of $694 million versus $698 million in the previous quarter. Correspondingly, total direct operating costs incurred were $409 million for the fourth quarter versus $418 million for the previous quarter. General and administrative expenses totaled $67 million for the fourth quarter and $245 million for fiscal 2024 which is in line with our expectations.

讓我先介紹最近完成的第四季和截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日的財年的亮點。總的來說，第四季看起來與今年第三季非常相似。我很高興地說，我們的任何指導指標都沒有錯過球道。我們就在中間。該公司季度營收為 6.94 億美元，上一季營收為 6.98 億美元。相應地，第四季產生的總直接營運成本為 4.09 億美元，而上一季為 4.18 億美元。第四季的一般和管理費用總計 6,700 萬美元，2024 財年的一般和管理費用總計 2.45 億美元，符合我們的預期。

The fiscal '24 effective tax rate was approximately 28.5% which is at the high end of the previously guided range due to some acquisition costs that could not be expensed for tax purposes. To summarize fourth quarter's results, we are reporting net income of $0.76 per diluted share versus $0.88 in the previous quarter. Earnings per share for the full year of $3.43 per share was negatively impacted by some unusual non-cash items and absent those items would have been $3.50 per share. Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter were $106 million with full year 2024 totaling $495 million, which was in line with our expectations from the July earnings call. H&P generated $169 million in operating cash flow in the fourth quarter and a total of $685 million during the full year.

24 財年的有效稅率約為 28.5%，處於先前指導範圍的高端，因為一些購置成本無法用於稅收目的。總結第四季度的業績，我們報告稀釋後每股淨利潤為 0.76 美元，而上一季為 0.88 美元。全年每股收益為 3.43 美元，受到一些不尋常的非現金項目的負面影響，如果沒有這些項目，每股收益將為 3.50 美元。第四季的資本支出為 1.06 億美元，2024 年全年資本支出總額為 4.95 億美元，符合我們在 7 月財報電話會議上的預期。H&P 第四季營運現金流為 1.69 億美元，全年營運現金流總額為 6.85 億美元。

Our cash flow generation helps fund $495 million in CapEx, $168 million in base and supplemental dividends and $51 million in share repurchases.

我們產生的現金流有助於為 4.95 億美元的資本支出、1.68 億美元的基本和補充股息以及 5,100 萬美元的股票回購提供資金。

Now turning to our three segments beginning with the North American Solutions, we averaged 151 contracted rigs during the fourth quarter which was almost flat with the third and we exited the fourth quarter with the same number we averaged during the quarter of 151 rigs, which was consistent again with our expectations going into the quarter. Segment direct margin for North American Solutions was $275 million which was above the midpoint of our July guidance range. Total segment per day revenues decreased slightly to $39,100 during the fourth quarter from $39,840 per day in the third quarter. Direct margins for the quarter were $19,800 per day versus $20,300 per day during the third quarter.

現在轉向我們的三個部分，從北美解決方案開始，我們在第四季度平均擁有151 台合約鑽機，幾乎與第三季度持平，第四季度結束時，我們的平均數量與本季度151 台鑽機的平均數量相同，即再次符合我們對本季的預期。北美解決方案部門的直接利潤率為 2.75 億美元，高於我們 7 月指引範圍的中點。第四季該部門每日總收入從第三季的每日 39,840 美元小幅下降至 39,100 美元。本季的直接利潤為每天 19,800 美元，而第三季為每天 20,300 美元。

Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2025 for North American Solutions as of today's call, we have 149 contracted rigs working. As we have stated, we expect our rig count to remain relatively flat as all market sentiment continues to point to such. That said, we expect to end our first fiscal quarter with between 147 and 153 rigs working. And our current revenue backlog from our North American Solutions fleet is roughly $700 million for rigs under term contract, down from $800 million in the previous quarter. As of today, approximately 57% of the US active fleet is on a term contract. Additionally, as our performance contracts continue to drive alignment with our customers, we currently have roughly 50% of our rigs on them.

展望 North American Solutions 2025 財年第一季度，截至今天的電話會議，我們有 149 台合約鑽井平台正在運作。正如我們所說，我們預計我們的鑽機數量將保持相對平穩，因為所有市場情緒都繼續表明這一點。也就是說，我們預計第一財季結束時將有 147 至 153 台鑽機投入運作。目前，我們的北美解決方案船隊的定期合約鑽機積壓收入約為 7 億美元，低於上一季的 8 億美元。截至目前，大約 57% 的美國現役機隊簽訂了定期合約。此外，隨著我們的績效合約繼續推動與客戶的協調，目前我們大約 50% 的鑽機都在這些合約上。

In the North American Solutions segment, we expect direct margins in our first quarter to range between $260 million to $280 million as we don't see a material change in the expected margins based on our current contractual structure. Expectations around operating cost and rig count expected to be roughly flat compared to the fiscal year fourth quarter. Regarding our International Solutions segment, we had approximately 16 rigs at September 30 which is a little higher than the third quarter as rigs under contract have been delivered to Saudi and are being prepped for startup.

在北美解決方案部門，我們預計第一季的直接利潤將在 2.6 億至 2.8 億美元之間，因為根據我們目前的合約結構，我們認為預期利潤不會發生重大變化。與本財年第四季相比，營運成本和鑽機數量的預期大致持平。關於我們的國際解決方案部門，截至 9 月 30 日，我們擁有約 16 座鑽井平台，略高於第三季度，因為合約下的鑽井平台已交付給沙烏地阿拉伯並正在準備啟動。

Note these rigs will not generate revenue until they spud. Hence, there is not the corresponding change in expected direct margin in the first fiscal quarter of 2025. Accordingly, aside from any foreign exchange impacts, we expect our direct margins to be roughly flat for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 when compared to our fourth quarter.

請注意，這些鑽孔機在發芽之前不會產生收入。因此，2025 年第一財季的預期直接利潤率並沒有相應變化。因此，除了外匯影響外，我們預計 2025 財年第一季的直接利潤率將與第四季大致持平。

Turning to our offshore Gulf of Mexico segment, we generated a direct margin of approximately $7 million during the quarter, which was within our guided range. As we look toward the first quarter of fiscal 2025 for this segment, we expect that it will generate again between $7 million to $9 million of direct margin.

談到我們的墨西哥灣近海業務，我們在本季度產生了約 700 萬美元的直接利潤，這在我們的指導範圍內。當我們展望該細分市場 2025 財年第一季時，我們預計它將再次產生 700 萬至 900 萬美元的直接利潤。

Now, I'd like to transition to the first quarter and full year 2025 for certain consolidated and corporate items. First, I want to be very clear that any guidance that I have given up to this point and for the remainder of this call is for standalone H&P and does not include the impact of combining KCA Deutag into our expected results. In 2025, our strategy to maintain our strong balance sheet together with investment-grade credit metrics will not change. We continue to invest in maintaining our market leading North American Solutions fleet and to deploy capital prudently to international growth opportunities.

現在，我想將某些合併項目和公司項目過渡到 2025 年第一季和全年。首先，我想非常清楚地表明，到目前為止我放棄的任何指導以及本次電話會議的其餘部分都是針對獨立的 H&P，並且不包括將 KCA Deutag 合併到我們的預期結果中的影響。到 2025 年，我們維持強勁資產負債表和投資等級信用指標的策略不會改變。我們繼續投資以維持市場領先的北美解決方案機隊，並謹慎地部署資本以抓住國際成長機會。

Fiscal 2025 gross capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $290 million to $325 million with around 85% of it expected for North American solutions including maintenance per active rig of approximately $1 million, which is more in line with historical levels, planned rig-related equipment upgrades and six planned walking conversions. The international bucket represents the balance of CapEx and is primarily for rig maintenance and the remaining spend on the 6-rig tender award with Saudi Aramco. Our fiscal 2025 budget CapEx represents a $190 million or 40% decrease to our 2024 actuals. As such, this frees up a substantial amount of cash that will be allocated towards debt reduction in the future.

2025 財年總資本支出預計約為2.9 億至3.25 億美元，其中約85% 預計用於北美解決方案，包括每個活躍鑽機的維護費用約為100 萬美元，這更符合歷史水平，計劃的鑽機相關設備升級和六項計劃的步行轉換。國際部分代表資本支出的餘額，主要用於鑽機維護以及沙烏地阿美公司 6 台鑽機招標合約的剩餘支出。我們 2025 財政年度的預算資本支出比 2024 年的實際值減少了 1.9 億美元，即減少了 40%。因此，這可以釋放大量現金，用於未來減少債務。

Depreciation for fiscal 2025 is expected to be approximately $400 million. Our sales, general and administrative expenses for full fiscal '25 year are expected to be approximately $235 million which is slightly down from 2024 actuals. Our investment in research and development remains largely focused on solutions for our customers such as drilling, automation, wellbore quality and power management. We anticipate R&D expenditures to be roughly $32 million in 2025. Based upon estimated fiscal '25 operating results in CapEx, we are projecting a consolidated cash tax range of $140 million to $190 million.

2025 財年的折舊預計約為 4 億美元。我們整個 25 財年的銷售、一般和管理費用預計約為 2.35 億美元，略低於 2024 年的實際情況。我們在研發方面的投資仍主要集中在為客戶提供的解決方案上，例如鑽井、自動化、井孔品質和電力管理。我們預計 2025 年研發支出約為 3,200 萬美元。根據預計 25 財年資本支出的營運業績，我們預計綜合現金稅範圍為 1.4 億美元至 1.9 億美元。

Now looking at our financial position, we had cash and short-term investments of approximately $510 million on September 30, 2024. Including availability under our revolving credit facility, our total liquidity is approximately $1.5 billion. Included in the short-term investments balance are the shares of ADNOC Drilling for which we sold after September 30 through a private placement that yielded proceeds of $197 million. This amount was substantially more than what we had originally anticipated when we announced our debt reduction plans associated with the KCA Deutag acquisition.

現在看看我們的財務狀況，截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日，我們擁有約 5.1 億美元的現金和短期投資。包括我們的循環信貸額度下的可用資金，我們的總流動資金約為 15 億美元。短期投資餘額中包括 ADNOC Drilling 的股票，我們在 9 月 30 日後透過私募配售出售了該股票，收益為 1.97 億美元。這一金額大大超出了我們在宣布與 KCA Deutag 收購相關的債務削減計劃時的最初預期。

We also have $1.2 billion in restricted cash as a result of the bond deal we did in September. These funds along with an unfunded $400 million term loan are earmarked for the financing of the KCA Deutag acquisition. The bonds have staggered maturities of 3, 5 and 10 years with an average interest rate of roughly 5%. As John indicated, we continue to work through the customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals for the acquisition and are expected to close it around -- sorry, expected to close prior to December [34] or roughly right thereafter.

由於 9 月的債券交易，我們還擁有 12 億美元的限制性現金。這些資金以及無資金支持的 4 億美元定期貸款指定用於 KCA Deutag 收購的融資。這些債券的期限分別為 3 年、5 年和 10 年，平均利率約為 5%。正如 John 所指出的，我們將繼續研究收購的慣例成交條件和監管部門的批准，預計將在 12 月左右完成——抱歉，預計將在 12 月之前完成 [34] 或大約在其後完成。

Regarding cash returns to shareholders and as a reminder, we plan to maintain our longstanding base dividend of approximately $100 million in 2025. Also as part of our deleveraging efforts, we have suspended the supplemental dividend which again was roughly $68 million in fiscal 2024. That amount along with share repurchases of $51 million last year and the reduction in planned CapEx of $190 million result in over $300 million of available free cash to reduce debt. Inclusive of the funds raised by the ADNOC Drilling equity sale together with the rates achieved on bond financing, our outlook to reduce our debt level during 2025 and 2026 is still right on track.

關於股東現金回報，謹此提醒，我們計劃在 2025 年維持約 1 億美元的長期基本股利。此外，作為我們去槓桿化努力的一部分，我們暫停了 2024 財年的補充股息，該股息再次約為 6,800 萬美元。這筆金額加上去年 5,100 萬美元的股票回購以及 1.9 億美元的計畫資本支出減少，產生了超過 3 億美元的可用自由現金來減少債務。考慮到 ADNOC Drilling 股權出售籌集的資金以及債券融資所取得的利率，我們在 2025 年和 2026 年降低債務水準的前景仍然正確。

With that, that concludes our prepared comments for the quarter, and we'll now turn it back over to Todd for questions.

至此，我們準備好的本季評論就結束了，現在我們將其轉回托德詢問問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Arun Jayaram, JPMorgan.

阿倫‧賈亞拉姆，摩根大通。

I wanted to get your thoughts on what you view as the potential run rate for KCA Deutag. John, you mentioned some of the one-year rig suspensions. I know at the time of the acquisition, you'd highlighted around $340 million of run rate EBITDA plus $25 million of synergies but if we're going to incorporate some of the suspensions, what would you give us in terms of a range of EBITDA on a run rate basis for KCA thinking about 2025?

我想了解您對 KCA Deutag 潛在運行率的看法。約翰，你提到了一些為期一年的鑽孔機暫停。我知道在收購時，您強調了約 3.4 億美元的運行率 EBITDA 加上 2500 萬美元的協同效應，但如果我們要納入一些暫停，您會給我們哪些 EBITDA 範圍KCA 考慮 2025 年的運行率？

What -- have we given any --

我們給了什麼？--

We haven't.

我們沒有。

We haven't really given any other additional guidance.

我們還沒有真正給出任何其他額外的指導。

Yeah, Arun. We can't -- you can't really quantify right now what because they say it for up to 12 months and that's -- that, it could be 6 months, it could be 12 months, 2 months. So it's too much of a big of a range there to really give you anything with clarity.

是的，阿倫。我們不能——你現在不能真正量化什麼，因為他們說最多 12 個月，也就是說，可能是 6 個月，可能是 12 個月、2 個月。因此，範圍太大，無法真正為您提供清晰的資訊。

Fair enough. I wanted to talk about your outlook, John, that you highlighted for North American solutions. You mentioned that you expected maybe the rig count to be flat to up in the first half of the year and maybe have a similar profile as this year maybe with some seasonality, as maybe the back half trends down a little bit. How would you expect HP to your activity to kind of trend in this kind of outlook if I characterize that correctly?

很公平。約翰，我想談談您對北美解決方案的看法。您提到，您預計今年上半年的鑽機數量可能會持平或上升，並且可能與今年相似，可能會有一些季節性，因為下半年可能會略有下降。如果我的描述正確的話，您對惠普的活動有何期望？

No, you did, Arun and I think we'll perform well as I had mentioned in my prepared remarks. We have focused really hard in delivering value to customers and maintaining pricing, really trying to generate that 50% gross margin target that we've been talking about now for several years. But during that process, even in a declining market, we've been able to pick up a little bit of share that really hasn't been our focus.

不，你做到了，阿倫和我認為我們會表現得很好，正如我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣。我們非常努力地致力於為客戶提供價值並維持定價，真正努力實現我們多年來一直在談論的 50% 毛利率目標。但在這個過程中，即使在市場下滑的情況下，我們也能夠獲得一些實際上並不是我們關注的份額。

But I think when you look at the wells that are being drilled, the complexity of the wells, you hear more and more about 3-mile laterals, 4-mile laterals, there's various complexities related to the wells that we're drilling. And so super-spec capacity rigs, technology, having a good digital technology platform is really helping us deliver greater value for customers. And so I think it's a great opportunity for us to continue to pick up share while defending pricing again just based on this 50% gross margin target that we have.

但我認為，當你觀察正在鑽探的井、井的複雜性時，你會越來越多地聽到有關 3 英里支管、4 英里支管的說法，我們正在鑽探的井存在各種複雜性。因此，超規格的產能鑽孔機、技術以及良好的數位技術平台確實可以幫助我們為客戶提供更大的價值。因此，我認為這對我們來說是一個很好的機會，可以繼續提升市場份額，同時基於我們設定的 50% 毛利率目標再次捍衛定價。

Of course, there's a lot that we don't know in terms of net gas prices. I think if natural gas prices were to improve, then I think there's an opportunity to put some additional rigs back to work. But based on what we're seeing right now, I think it's a very similar trend to what we saw in in 2024 and I think in that environment, we'll perform pretty well.

當然，就天然氣淨價格而言，我們還有很多不了解的地方。我認為如果天然氣價格上漲，那麼我認為就有機會讓一些額外的鑽孔機重新投入使用。但根據我們現在所看到的情況，我認為這與我們在 2024 年看到的趨勢非常相似，我認為在那種環境下，我們會表現得很好。

And just to circle back on to your question about projections in relationship to the rig suspensions, the -- obviously, as Dave said, it's almost impossible to really model that out and we're limited in terms of what we can and can't do and what we can and can't talk about just because of the fact that the deal has not closed. But if you look at it through my lens and you look at the things that I do have clarity on versus the way we had originally modeled them whenever we signed the deal back in July, some things have definitely come in positive in our favor. Number one, if you look at just the amount of CapEx reduction that we've got on our side going to help us to reach the kind of the leverage goals that we had stated by the end of 2025 and 2026 coupled with the original purchase or our sales price associated with the ADNOC Drilling shares, that was -- that's $60 million or $70 million higher than what we had originally modeled whenever we were thinking about our deleveraging plans.

回到你關於與鑽機懸吊相關的預測的問題，顯然，正如戴夫所說，幾乎不可能真正對其進行建模，而且我們在能做什麼和不能做什麼方面受到限制僅僅因為交易尚未完成，我們就可以做什麼、不能談論什麼。但如果你從我的角度來看，你會看到我確實清楚的事情與我們在七月簽署協議時最初建模的方式相比，有些事情肯定對我們有利。第一，如果你只看一下我們這邊的資本支出削減量，這將幫助我們實現我們在 2025 年底和 2026 年底以及最初購買或我們與ADNOC Drilling 股票相關的銷售價格，比我們在考慮去槓桿化計劃時最初建模的價格高出6000 萬美元或7000 萬美元。

In addition to that, the interest rates that we achieved on the bonds, that came in significantly lower than they originally planned upon financing. So the items for which we've got clarity on puts us really on track to what we had originally anticipated, which was being below a turn of leverage by the end of 2026. So actually halfway between '25 and '26, we look based upon the projections that we had at the time in which we did the deal, we're still right on track to get back to that level.

除此之外，我們在債券上獲得的利率遠低於最初計劃的融資利率。因此，我們已經明確的項目使我們真正步入了最初預期的軌道，即到 2026 年底槓桿率將低於槓桿率。因此，實際上在 25 年和 26 年之間，我們根據當時進行交易時的預測來看，我們仍然有望回到那個水平。

Eddie Kim, Barclays.

埃迪金，巴克萊銀行。

I just wanted to circle back on the commentary on the forecast for the US [Lynn] rig count next year. So if it's flat to slightly up in the first half before trending down in the second half, does that second half trajectory of trending, does that reflect just normal seasonality or is there something more to it than that? I think there was an expectation in the market that potentially some gas rigs or gas activity could increase in the second half of the year. Should we read into your commentary that you don't believe that that is going to take place that might get pushed out sometime into 2026? How should we kind of read into the commentary about the trending down in the second half?

我只是想回顧一下對明年美國[林恩]鑽機數量預測的評論。因此，如果上半年價格持平或略有上升，然後下半年呈現下降趨勢，那麼下半年的趨勢軌跡是否反映了正常的季節性，還是還有其他原因？我認為市場預期下半年一些天然氣鑽機或天然氣活動可能會增加。我們是否應該閱讀您的評論，您認為這不會發生，而且可能會被推遲到 2026 年的某個時候？我們該如何解讀下半年趨勢下滑的評論？

Yeah. That's a good point. And it's -- we've actually seen this over the last couple of years and again, I think we had mentioned we've been in this range of rig activity of 144 to 156 rigs over the last 18 months or more. And that trending down in the second half of the year is not anticipating an improvement in gas prices. Obviously, we're hopeful that there will be an improvement in gas prices but that isn't what we're expecting right now. I think the downward trend is historically related to budgets, related to performance. In our case, we've been successful in being able to high grade, what the additional share that we have picked up has really been a function of high grading. And so that that's been beneficial for us, but how hard it is to predict these rig counts.

是的。這是一個很好的觀點。事實上，我們在過去幾年裡已經看到了這一點，我想我們已經提到過，在過去 18 個月或更長時間裡，我們的鑽機活動範圍為 144 到 156 台。下半年的下降趨勢並不意味著天然氣價格會有所改善。顯然，我們希望天然氣價格會有所改善，但這不是我們現在所期望的。我認為下降趨勢歷來與預算、績效有關。就我們而言，我們已經成功地獲得了高評級，我們獲得的額外份額實際上是高評級的函數。這對我們來說是有益的，但預測這些鑽孔機數量是多麼困難。

It seemed to us logical that without anything changing in terms of the commodity deck that we would see, this same trend that we saw last year where we're seeing a little bit of increase in Q4 -- calendar Q4 and then calendar Q1 and then it peaks and then starts declining slightly again. It's about a 30-rig differentiation from the peak of activity in that March, April time frame to where we are today.

在我們看來，合乎邏輯的是，我們將看到的商品甲板沒有任何變化，我們去年看到的趨勢相同，我們看到第四季度有一點增長——日曆第四季度，然後是日曆第一季度，然後是它達到頂峰，然後再次開始略有下降。從 3 月、4 月時間範圍內的活動高峰期到今天的情況，大約有 30 台鑽機的差異。

My follow up is just on your free cash flow expectations for next year for standalone HP excluding KCA Deutag. You did about $190 million of free cash flow this fiscal year. For next year, you guided CapEx to decline by almost $200 million year over year. Just doing simple math, I mean is there any reason we shouldn't expect free cash flow to potentially be up close to that $200 million level for next year or what if any off that should we be thinking about as it relates to your free cash flow expectations?

我的後續行動只是關於您對明年獨立惠普（不包括 KCA Deutag）自由現金流的預期。本財年您的自由現金流約為 1.9 億美元。明年，您指導資本支出較去年同期下降近 2 億美元。只是做簡單的數學計算，我的意思是，我們是否有任何理由不應該期望明年的自由現金流可能會接近 2 億美元的水平，或者我們應該考慮什麼，因為它與您的自由現金有關流量預期？

No, you're exactly right. I think you should -- the math is pretty simple when you're cutting $200 million of CapEx out of 2025 projections just because of you should see some of the capital efficiency start to come into play as a result of this, the expected earnings and free cash flow to be generated in '25. But again, margins being consistently -- what we're anticipating with margins being consistent in 2025 versus 2024, you can -- your simple math is right on.

不，你說得完全正確。我認為你應該——當你從 2025 年的預測中削減 2 億美元的資本支出時，數學非常簡單，因為你應該看到一些資本效率開始發揮作用，因此，預期收益和25 年將產生自由現金流。但同樣，利潤率保持一致——我們預計 2025 年與 2024 年的利潤率保持一致——你的簡單數學是正確的。

Doug Becker, Capital One.

道格貝克爾，《第一資本》。

Just to start off on the US guidance for margins to be flat heading into the fiscal first quarter. Is there any shift in terms of that revenue per day and/or costs? Just trying to think about if pricing is stable and we're still in that $19,000 to $19,500 day on the cost side going forward.

首先是美國第一財季利潤率持平的指引。每天的收入和/或成本是否有任何變化？只是想考慮定價是否穩定，並且我們在未來的成本方面仍處於 19,000 至 19,500 美元的水平。

I think that's what we're modeling, it's a similar, both revenue and cost side of the equation.

我認為這就是我們正在建模的，它的收入和成本方面都是相似的。

I think what you've seen over the last couple of quarters is kind of consistent with our expectations going into 2025 which around that $19,000 to $20,000 per day.

我認為過去幾個季度的情況與我們對 2025 年的預期是一致的，即每天大約 19,000 美元到 20,000 美元。

That's really encouraging in the current environment. And then shifting to international, continue to hear rumblings about potential for additional suspensions in Saudi Arabia. Just from your market intelligence, do you have any context? Is it something you think is likely or we shouldn't read too much into that?

在當前環境下，這確實令人鼓舞。然後轉向國際，繼續聽到有關沙烏地阿拉伯可能進一步停賽的傳言。僅從您的市場情報來看，您有任何背景嗎？您認為這是可能的嗎？

I think we all see the same rumors and commentary and it's obviously we're not in a position to comment on it. There was a question earlier about the suspensions and there was an announcement by KCA back earlier, a month or so ago, about a suspension of the eight rigs, as we've stressed, we're still two separate companies until closing. So it really isn't appropriate for us to comment. They actually had a public announcement on this. So there hasn't been any additional updates on that. We have seen in the various publications that there's around 50 rigs overall in the industry that have been suspended, some onshore, some offshore. But that's really about all that we can speak to. It's really the same thing that everybody else sees at this point.

我認為我們都看到了同樣的謠言和評論，顯然我們無法對此發表評論。早些時候有一個關於暫停的問題，大約一個月前，KCA 曾宣布暫停八個鑽井平台，正如我們所強調的那樣，在關閉之前我們仍然是兩家獨立的公司。所以我們確實不適合發表評論。他們實際上對此進行了公開聲明。所以還沒有任何額外的更新。我們在各種出版物中看到，該行業總共約有 50 座鑽井平台已被暫停，其中一些是陸上的，一些是海上的。但這確實是我們能談論的一切。此時其他人所看到的情況確實是一樣的。

And fair, and I appreciate you can't speak to KCA Deutag, but certainly, it doesn't sound like your conversations for the rigs that you're bringing in, those conversations, there's been nothing that suggests.

公平地說，我很高興你不能與 KCA Deutag 交談，但當然，這聽起來不像是你關於你引進的鑽機的對話，那些對話，沒有任何暗示。

Correct. We have the five rigs in country, the one has spud, and the others are in various positions in terms of getting ready to spud. And so, no, we have not had any notifications of suspensions of the FlexRigs.

正確的。我們在該國擁有五台鑽機，其中一台已經開鑽，其他鑽機處於不同位置，準備開鑽。因此，我們還沒有收到任何有關 FlexRigs 暫停的通知。

Scott Gruber, Citigroup.

史考特‧格魯伯，花旗集團。

The resiliency of your domestic margins has been really impressive, and it looks to continue here. So I'm curious, in light of the performance-based contract model that you guys pushed over the last two years, as we decompose the stable margins, are you seeing basically kind of flat base day rates on the rig and a relatively flattish bonus contribution or has the size, and the breadth of the bonus contribution increased offsetting some modest erosion in base rates? And how would you kind of describe the impact of the bonuses on the stability of your domestic margins?

你們國內利潤率的彈性確實令人印象深刻，而且看起來還會繼續下去。所以我很好奇，鑑於你們過去兩年推行的基於績效的合約模式，當我們分解穩定的利潤時，你們是否看到了基本上持平的基礎日費率和相對平坦的獎金貢獻或獎金貢獻的規模和廣度增加，抵銷了基本費率的一些小幅侵蝕？您如何描述獎金對國內利潤穩定性的影響？

Yeah. Scott, on that, with regards to the performance contracts, historically, we see an uplift of $1,000 to $2,000 a day on the margins relative to what they would get under a straight day rate contract. These last couple of quarters, that's trended to the higher side. And that's something that we've worked really hard to do and hopefully, in the future, we -- that -- I could change that range to something even higher. But right now, we're still not kind of $1,000 to $2000 a day, but for the last couple quarters, it's been towards the top end of that range.

是的。斯科特，就此而言，就績效合同而言，從歷史上看，相對於直接日費率合同，我們每天的利潤將增加 1,000 至 2,000 美元。最近幾個季度，這一數字呈上升趨勢。這是我們非常努力去做的事情，希望在未來，我們可以將該範圍更改為更高。但現在，我們仍然沒有達到每天 1,000 到 2000 美元的水平，但在過去的幾個季度裡，它已經接近這個範圍的上限。

I think the other thing to stress here, Scott, is that in this performance contract, it's a win-win. And so when we're doing better or if we're doing better, our customer is also doing better because they're getting wells delivered at a faster pace and at lower cost. So that's the beauty of the performance-based contract when constructed properly is that both parties win and as Dave said, we had a great quarter last quarter and that also means that our customers are doing better as well.

史考特，我認為這裡要強調的另一件事是，在這份績效合約中，這是雙贏的。因此，當我們做得更好時，或者如果我們做得更好，我們的客戶也會做得更好，因為他們能夠以更快的速度和更低的成本交付油井。因此，如果建構得當，基於績效的合約的美妙之處在於雙方都會獲勝，正如戴夫所說，我們上個季度的表現非常出色，這也意味著我們的客戶也做得更好。

No, it's great to hear, great to see the model really providing benefit in capturing some of the efficiency gains that you guys are helping to deliver. And as you think about 2025, are you able to push the model any further in terms of the penetration rate across the customer base? Are you having success say pushing it into private and generally, with these efficiency gains that the industry is achieving, how has the benchmarks changed in terms of capturing the next round of bonus awards?

不，很高興聽到這個消息，很高興看到該模型確實在捕捉你們正在幫助實現的一些效率提升方面提供了好處。當您考慮 2025 年時，您是否能夠在客戶群的滲透率方面進一步推動該模型？您是否成功將其私有化？

Well, I think performance-based contracts are like anything; there's an adoption period and we've had some great adoption. We've also had some churn with rigs, but I do think we'll have some additional customers adopt performance base. If you look at it today, it's really across the board. I mean we have both super majors, large independents and we have private companies that also are investing in the performance-based contracts as well.

嗯，我認為基於績效的合約就像任何東西一樣；有一個採用期，我們已經有了一些很好的採用。我們也有一些鑽孔機流失，但我確實認為我們會有一些額外的客戶採用性能基礎。如果今天再看的話，確實是一刀切。我的意思是，我們既有超級專業公司、大型獨立公司，也有也在投資以績效為基礎的合約的私人公司。

So I think there's a lot of upside opportunity there. I -- it's a great opportunity for us to deploy our technologies, our digital technologies. There's a lot of advantages associated with that. The adoption curve in general on technology is increasing both on performance-based and non-performance-based contracts. We see both of those as being very positive for the organization and quite frankly, really, really positive for the industry because it drives greater reliability, and it also had -- there's also a safety aspect to it. That's very important. So I again, I feel good about the direction that it's trending and I feel like we'll continue to have adoption in the coming year.

所以我認為那裡有很多上升的機會。我——這對我們來說是一個部署我們的技術、我們的數位技術的絕佳機會。與此相關的優點很多。無論是基於績效的合約還是非基於績效的合同，技術的採用曲線總體上都在增加。我們認為這兩者對於組織來說都是非常積極的，而且坦白說，對於整個行業來說，真的非常積極，因為它提高了可靠性，而且它還有一個安全方面。這非常重要。所以我再次對它的趨勢方向感到滿意，我覺得我們將在未來一年繼續採用它。

Jeff LeBlanc, TPH.

傑夫·勒布朗，TPH。

I wanted to ask is, certain companies continue to highlight drilling efficiency gains. How should we think about the stickiness of HP share of their fleet as these gains get incorporated into the forward outlook and then additionally, how should we think about the opportunity for M&A really at high grades as it appears that operators have been slower than we initially thought to migrate legacy programs with their preferred drilling contractor?

我想問的是，某些公司繼續強調鑽井效率的提升。當這些收益被納入前瞻性展望時，我們應該如何考慮惠普在其機隊中所佔份額的黏性，此外，我們應該如何考慮真正高水平的併購機會，因為運營商似乎比我們最初的速度要慢考慮將遺留項目遷移到他們首選的鑽井承包商嗎？

Yeah. I think I don't know of anyone in the industry that isn't interested in higher levels of performance and number one, and I think even greater than that is the reliability. We continue to get that feedback from customers. Drilling a record well; that's great but what they really want is reliably drilling wells at whatever level of performance that they're targeting. And doing that consistently day in and day out. I don't see -- in most cases, I don't see well complexity being less going forward; I think well complexity continues to increase.

是的。我認為業內沒有人對更高水準的性能不感興趣，而且我認為比這更重要的是可靠性。我們繼續從客戶那裡得到回饋。鑽探一口創紀錄的井；這很好，但他們真正想要的是以他們目標的任何性能水平可靠地鑽井。並且日復一日地堅持這樣做。我不認為——在大多數情況下，我不認為未來複雜性會降低；我認為複雜性繼續增加。

We see more 3-mile laterals going to 4-mile laterals. You've seen the -- some of the U-turn configurations. It seems like there's going to be more of that sort of drilling. And so when you consider that, that means that companies like H&P with the best rigs, the best people and the best technology are going to grow share. So I think there's a great opportunity there. And then the other, and maybe you asked this, but I just think about it logically, Tier-1 and then shifting more to Tier-2 acreage and I know I don't have a real clear definition for myself, Tier-1, Tier-2 but what I do know is that typically speaking, customers are going to drill their best wells first and then they're just going to have additional acreage that, so we call it Tier-2.

我們看到更多的 3 英里側向比賽轉向 4 英里側向比賽。您已經看到了一些掉頭配置。似乎將會有更多此類鑽探。因此，當你考慮到這一點時，這意味著像 H&P 這樣擁有最好的設備、最好的人才和最好的技術的公司將會增加份額。所以我認為那裡有一個很好的機會。然後是另一個，也許你問這個，但我只是從邏輯上考慮，一級，然後更多地轉移到二級面積，我知道我自己沒有一個真正明確的定義，一級， Tier-2，但我所知道的是，通常來說，客戶將首先鑽探他們最好的油井，然後他們將擁有額外的面積，所以我們稱之為Tier-2。

That's going to again, I think, drive a push towards greater efficiencies. I'd mentioned in my prepared remarks that the super-spec fleet today makes up 76% of the working fleet. I don't remember the exact numbers, but probably five years ago, it was 50% or maybe even less. So super-spec capability requirements, better rigs are going to be what customers are going to want. And again, so that puts H&P in a great place here in the unconventional place here in the US and really, I think globally as well.

我認為，這將再次推動提高效率。我在準備好的發言中提到，目前超規格機隊佔工作機隊的 76%。具體數字我不記得了，但大概五年前，這個比例是 50%，甚至更少。因此，超規格的能力要求、更好的鑽孔機將成為客戶想要的。再說一次，這使得 H&P 在美國這個非傳統的地方處於一個很好的位置，實際上，我認為在全球也是如此。

Kurt Hallead, Benchmark.

庫爾特‧哈勒德，《基準》。

I'm really curious, right, John, that there's been a significant improvement in drilling efficiency, well efficiency. You've talked about it quite a bit, not just on this call, but over the past few and how it's benefited HP, right? So I'm kind of thinking along lines of what you're seeing right now, what do you think this means in terms of the potential for rig attrition in the US, right? So the 76% of the total rig fleet going to 100% and these other rigs essentially just kind of either dying off the vine. And then in conjunction to that, right, just high-level thought process for HP, right? Does it mean that there's a possibility that you can cannibalize some existing assets, and the breakout basically remains flat and just high-level thoughts from you.

我真的很好奇，約翰，鑽井效率、油井效率有了顯著的提升。您已經談論了很多，不僅是在這次電話會議上，而且在過去的幾次電話會議上以及它如何使惠普受益，對嗎？因此，我正在按照您現在所看到的情況進行思考，您認為這對美國鑽機消耗的可能性意味著什麼，對吧？因此，總鑽機數量的 76% 將達到 100%，而這些其他鑽孔機基本上要么即將停產。然後結合起來，對吧，只是惠普的高層思考過程，對吧？這是否意味著你有可能蠶食一些現有資產，而突破基本上保持平穩，只是你的高層想法。

Well, I don't think there's any doubt that well efficiencies are going to continue to improve for a lot of reasons. The rig and the downhill technology, the technologies that we're bringing to bear, all those things are going to drive greater efficiencies. And I think as what ends up driving additional rigs is a stronger commodity price environment. I do think I mean, again, just look at how many rigs have been retired over the last 10, 15 years in the US.

嗯，我認為毫無疑問，由於多種原因，油井效率將繼續提高。鑽孔機和下坡技術，我們正在採用的技術，所有這些都將提高效率。我認為最終推動鑽孔機增加的是更強勁的大宗商品價格環境。我確實認為我的意思是，再看看美國過去 10、15 年中有多少台鑽井平台退役了。

And so I think that's there'll be much less of that going forward now I think, but I do think that that's something that the industry will continue to watch very closely. I feel good about where we are in terms of positioning and the fleet that we have most recently, the most -- we had 100, what, 190, 191 rigs in our fleet.

所以我認為現在這種情況會少得多，但我確實認為這是業界將繼續密切關注的事情。我對我們目前的定位以及我們最近擁有的最多的船隊感到滿意——我們的船隊中有 100 台、什麼、190 台、191 台鑽機。

Yeah.

是的。

Yeah. And then we have another 10, 15 rigs past that, that we could put to work. So feel good about our positioning there. Anything you guys would add?

是的。除此之外，我們還有另外 10、15 個鑽孔機可以投入使用。所以對我們在那裡的定位感到滿意。你們還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Just Kurt, the only thing I'd add, you talked about rig efficiency, yes around that, you look at our rig count in West Texas two years ago, we're within one or two rigs of that count today. So obviously, there's been efficiencies gained in the markets in the past two years but yet the H&P rig count in West Texas has remained pretty resilient. So I think that as John said, that speaks to the value proposition that we bring, the performance that we bring to customers and when they see that, they want more of it, not less.

庫爾特，我唯一要補充的一點是，您談到了鑽機效率，是的，圍繞這一點，您看看兩年前我們在西德克薩斯州的鑽機數量，我們今天的鑽機數量只有一到兩個。顯然，過去兩年市場效率有所提高，但西德州的 H&P 鑽機數量仍然相當有彈性。所以我認為，正如約翰所說，這說明了我們帶來的價值主張，我們為客戶帶來的性能，當他們看到這一點時，他們想要更多，而不是更少。

Maybe just to follow up then, in the context of your opportunity set in the Middle East as it relates to not only your existing contract that you have and then KCA Deutag, I guess my question is along those lines, right? So you got -- you have a bit of a mix shift taking place in Saudi and they've kind of shifted their spend a little bit off of the oil front and ultimately, the unconventional natural gas front, which after they placed your spec rigs. But do you ultimately see that there is the prospect for absolute displacement of unconventional rigs in Saudi going forward?

也許只是為了跟進，在你在中東設定的機會的背景下，因為它不僅關係到你現有的合同，然後關係到 KCA Deutag，我想我的問題就是沿著這些思路，對吧？所以，沙烏地阿拉伯正在發生一些混合轉變，他們將支出從石油領域轉移了一點，最終轉移到了非常規天然氣領域，在他們放置了規格鑽機之後。但您最終是否認為沙烏地非常規鑽井平台未來有可能被絕對取代？

I think when you think about -- I think it's early times, of course, on the unconventional side in Saudi and I'm not an expert on the types of rigs that are drilling in the unconventional place. But my sense is, is that there's rigs that are doing both conventional and unconventional work that are of the same rig category if that makes sense. And the FlexRig is going into Saudi to do nothing but conventional or -- pardon me, unconventional drilling, which is what we're doing in Argentina, which is what we're doing in Australia.

我認為，當你想到時，我認為，當然，在沙烏地阿拉伯的非常規方面，現在還處於早期階段，而且我不是在非常規地點鑽探的鑽機類型的專家。但我的感覺是，如果有意義的話，有些鑽孔機既可以進行常規工作，也可以進行非常規工作，這些鑽機屬於同一鑽機類別。FlexRig 將進入沙特，除了進行常規鑽探或——請原諒，非常規鑽探，這就是我們在阿根廷和澳大利亞所做的事情。

I think we even have -- I think we may be doing some unconventional work in another country too. Probably hesitate to mention at this stage. But in general, we think that there are opportunities to do that. And I think just logically, the more the conventional rig fleet will continue to drill conventional oil and conventional gas. I don't know if that answers your question or not.

我認為我們甚至可能在另一個國家也在做一些非常規的工作。可能在這個階段不願意提及。但總的來說，我們認為有機會這樣做。我認為從邏輯上講，傳統鑽機隊將繼續鑽探常規石油和常規天然氣。我不知道這是否回答了你的問題。

Yeah. Generally, and again, I'm just looking back at what's transpired here in the US, right? And we've gone from mechanical to 82 rigs and maybe in some ways, we've gone from conventional well drilling to unconventional, right? So I was just curious if there's a similar trend we should be looking at starting to evolve in the Middle East. So yeah, it's all incremental I think, John.

是的。總的來說，我只是回顧一下美國這裡發生的事情，對吧？我們已經從機械鑽機發展到 82 台鑽機，也許在某些方面，我們已經從傳統鑽井轉向非常規鑽探，對嗎？所以我只是好奇我們是否應該關注中東是否開始出現類似的趨勢。所以，是的，我認為這都是漸進的，約翰。

Yeah, I think there's a dramatic difference in the types of wells, conventional wells that we drill or that are being drilled in the Middle East compared to the conventional work that oil wells that are drilled in the US. There's just -- there's a night and day difference in the types of wells and the complexity with those conventional wells, the depth, the casing, size, the pressure, 10,015 K pressure rating. So there's a lot to be said. It's an entirely different market at least the way I look at it in the Middle East than what we have in the US or than we've ever had in the US quite frankly.

是的，我認為與在美國鑽探的傳統油井相比，我們在中東鑽探或正在鑽探的傳統井的類型存在巨大差異。只是——井的類型和複雜性與那些傳統井、深度、套管、尺寸、壓力、10,015 K 壓力等級有著天壤之別。所以有很多話要說。至少在我看來，中東市場與我們在美國的市場完全不同，或者坦白說，與我們在美國的市場完全不同。

Thomas Curran, Seaport Research Partners.

湯瑪斯‧柯蘭，海港研究夥伴。

So I wanted to shift gears to technology and return specifically to the data point you shared in your opening remarks about having reduced GHG emissions by 10%. Could you expound upon what contributed to that, what the main drivers were and then update us on your strategy for powering the fleet? Sort of over the long term, what kind of fuel mix would you like to move towards for the US land drilling rig fleet?

因此，我想將主題轉向技術，並特別回到您在開場白中分享的有關溫室氣體排放量減少 10% 的數據點。您能否詳細說明造成這種情況的原因、主要驅動因素是什麼，然後向我們介紹您為車隊提供動力的最新策略？從長遠來看，您希望美國陸地鑽機隊採用哪種燃料組合？

Tom -- do you want me to go ahead?

湯姆——你想讓我繼續嗎？

Go ahead.

前進。

Tom, part of that is just the efficiency of our fleet getting better, drilling more feet per day in less time. Another part of that is having more rigs on highline power. And really, it's a collaborative effort with the customer. So going forward, we want to be able to provide the power solutions that they want and they need. And so that's really kind of working hand in hand with our customers and providing that whatever technology they choose whether that's all diesel, highline, natural gas or a combination of that or using battery, we've explored all kinds and we're willing to work with customers on whatever makes sense for them.

湯姆，部分原因是我們的船隊效率越來越高，每天在更短的時間內鑽探更多英尺。另一部分是擁有更多的高線電力鑽孔機。事實上，這是與客戶的共同努力。因此，展望未來，我們希望能夠提供他們想要和需要的電源解決方案。因此，這確實是與我們的客戶攜手合作，無論他們選擇什麼技術，無論是柴油、高壓電線、天然氣還是它們的組合或使用電池，我們已經探索了各種技術，並且我們願意與客戶合作，做任何對他們有意義的事。

The other thing I would add is that we do have automation associated with our on/off powering of our engines. And so the beauty there is that the engine load is going to be adjusted based upon the amount of load that we're actually undergoing depending on whether you're drilling ahead or whether you're running casing as an example. And so with a higher load, you're going to have three or four engines running; with a lesser load, you're going to have one or two engines running.

我要補充的另一件事是，我們確實擁有與引擎的開/關動力相關的自動化。因此，美妙之處在於，引擎負載將根據我們實際承受的負載量進行調整，這取決於您是否正在提前鑽孔或是否正在運行套管作為範例。因此，在負載較高的情況下，您將需要三到四個引擎運行；負載較小時，您將運行一兩個引擎。

The beauty is, is you don't have to send a person down to turn off or turn on an engine. It does it autonomously. It does it automatically. So that's one of the advantages. I think what Dave said, at the end of the day, we're not paying for the energy on the location. So whether it's diesel or whether it's highline power, natural gas, we're going to do and support what our customer wants to do. But we're definitely trending in the right direction and continuing to lower our emissions as we move forward.

美妙之處在於，您不必派人來關閉或打開引擎。它自主地做這件事。它會自動完成。這是優點之一。我認為戴夫說過，歸根結底，我們不會為該地點的能源付費。因此，無論是柴油或高線電力、天然氣，我們都會做並支持客戶想做的事情。但我們肯定正在朝著正確的方向發展，並在前進的過程中繼續降低排放量。

Could you give us an idea of how many rigs within the current active fleet are on highline power or being fueled by natural gas?

您能否告訴我們目前活躍船隊中有多少鑽機採用高壓電力或天然氣燃料？

I think the highline power number last time I saw was between 15 and 20.

我認為上次我看到的高線功率數字在 15 到 20 之間。

Exactly.

確切地。

Rigs. Natural gas, I don't remember what our count is, but it's a -- for us, it's a relatively small number of natural gas engines. Again, it's the -- it's just shifting from a diesel power to a natural gas is quite expensive, but there are some fuel mix. There is some hybrid ways that, that we're going to be looking at that. We'll be talking more about that next year.

鑽機。天然氣，我不記得我們的數量是多少，但對我們來說，天然氣引擎的數量相對較少。再說一次，從柴油動力轉向天然氣是相當昂貴的，但有一些燃料組合。我們將研究一些混合的方法。明年我們會多討論這個問題。

We'll stay tuned for that. Last one for me, as you guys have shifted the focus of your strategy, solving for your international growth goals via the pending acquisition of KCAD, are you seeing any of your peers who own the remainder of the idle super-spec inventory in the US? Maybe step it up and either start to market some of their available inventory into foreign markets, start to bid on tenders or if they're already doing that, become more aggressive because they think of the big dog with the lion's share of that inventory who had been taking that approach is now pivoting and therefore creating a bit of an opportunity. I'm just wondering if you're seeing any of your competitors change their behavior when it comes to exploring and pursuing international opportunities for their idle super-spec rigs.

我們將對此保持關注。我的最後一個問題是，你們已經轉移了戰略重點，透過即將收購 KCAD 來解決你們的國際成長目標，你們是否看到你們的同行擁有美國剩餘的閒置超級規格庫存？也許會加大力度，要么開始將一些可用庫存推銷到國外市場，開始招標，要么如果他們已經這樣做了，就變得更加積極主動，因為他們認為擁有最大份額庫存的大狗誰一直採取的這種做法現在正在轉變，因此創造了一些機會。我只是想知道您是否看到您的競爭對手在為其閒置的超規格鑽機探索和尋求國際機會時改變了他們的行為。

There have been a few examples where some of our peers in the US are moving some of their assets. I think some assets that were idle, some assets that over time had been active, but they weren't as successful in a particular basin and decided to send them to international markets. I do think that, that is possible. With our larger footprint, with the KCA Deutag, we definitely feel like we've got exposure to countries that we didn't have exposure to before with FlexRig fleet. So our ability like we did in Saudi, the ability to mobilize additional FlexRigs out of the US to international markets, I think present a great opportunity. And so I'm sure others are looking at that as well.

有一些美國同業正在轉移部分資產的例子。我認為有些資產是閒置的，有些資產隨著時間的推移一直很活躍，但它們在特定盆地並不那麼成功，因此決定將它們發送到國際市場。我確實認為，這是可能的。憑藉 KCA Deutag 的更大足跡，我們確實感覺我們已經接觸到了以前使用 FlexRig 機隊從未接觸過的國家。因此，我們有能力像在沙烏地阿拉伯一樣，將更多的 FlexRigs 從美國調動到國際市場，我認為這提供了一個很好的機會。所以我確信其他人也在關注這一點。

Thank you. At this time, I'd like to turn the call back over to John for any additional or closing remarks.

謝謝。此時，我想將電話轉回給約翰，讓他發表補充或結束語。

All right. Thank you, Todd.

好的。謝謝你，托德。

In closing today, the company is going to continue to strive to execute with a customer-centric approach and a safety focus. That's really ingrained in our company culture. As we've said, we look forward to closing the acquisition with KCA Deutag and taking advantage of the additional opportunities that that acquisition will provide us and the opportunities that will come up in the coming quarters.

在今天結束時，該公司將繼續努力以客戶為中心的方法和安全為重點來執行。這在我們的公司文化中根深蒂固。正如我們所說，我們期待完成與 KCA Deutag 的收購，並利用該收購將為我們提供的額外機會以及未來幾季將出現的機會。

I really appreciate the -- our people's efforts and on the integration front, we have a lot going on. At the same time, we've got a pre-close integration ongoing, continuing to focus on delivering value for our customers and doing it the H&P way and as always, keeping safety at the forefront of everything we do.

我真的很感謝我們人民的努力，在整合方面，我們還有很多工作要做。同時，我們正在進行預先關閉整合，繼續專注於為我們的客戶提供價值，並以 H&P 的方式做到這一點，並一如既往地將安全放在我們所做的一切的最前沿。

So thank you again for joining us and we'll talk to you later. Thank you.

再次感謝您加入我們，我們稍後再與您聯繫。謝謝。

This concludes the Helmerich & Payne's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time.

Helmerich & Payne 的第四財季財報電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以隨時斷開連線。