RPC Inc (RES) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for RPC, Inc.'s Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2022 Financial Earnings Conference Call. Today's call will be hosted by Ben Palmer, President and CEO; and Mike Schmit, Chief Financial Officer. Also hosting is Jim Landers, Vice President of Corporate Services. (Operator Instructions)

早上好，感謝您參加 RPC, Inc. 的 2022 年第四季度和年終財務收益電話會議。今天的電話會議將由總裁兼首席執行官 Ben Palmer 主持；和首席財務官 Mike Schmit。主持會議的還有企業服務副總裁 Jim Landers。 （操作員說明）

I would like to advise everyone that this conference call is being recorded. Jim will get us started by reading the forward-looking disclaimer.

我想通知大家，這個電話會議正在錄製中。吉姆將通過閱讀前瞻性免責聲明讓我們開始。

Thank you, and good morning. Before we begin our call today, I want to remind you that in order to talk about our company, we're going to mention a few things that are not historical facts. Some of the statements that will be made on this call could be forward-looking in nature and reflect a number of known and unknown risks. I'd like to refer you to our press release issued today along with our 2021 10-K and other public filings that outline those risks, all of which can be fetch from RPC's website at www.rpc.net.

謝謝，早上好。在我們開始今天的電話會議之前，我想提醒您，為了談論我們的公司，我們將提及一些非歷史事實的事情。將在此次電話會議上發表的一些聲明可能具有前瞻性，並反映了一些已知和未知的風險。我想向您推薦我們今天發布的新聞稿以及我們的 2021 年 10-K 和其他概述這些風險的公開文件，所有這些都可以從 RPC 的網站 www.rpc.net 上獲取。

In today's earnings release and conference call, we'll be referring to EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP measure of operating performance. RPC uses EBITDA as a measure of operating performance because it allows us to compare performance consistently over various periods without regard to changes in our capital structure. We're also required to use EBITDA to report compliance with financial covenants under our revolving credit facility. Our press release today and our website provide a reconciliation of EBITDA to net income, which is the nearest GAAP financial measure. Please review that disclosure if you're interested in seeing how it's calculated. If you've not received our press release for any reason, please visit our website at rpc.net for a copy.

在今天的收益發布和電話會議中，我們將提到 EBITDA，這是一種非 GAAP 經營業績衡量標準。 RPC 使用 EBITDA 作為經營業績的衡量標準，因為它使我們能夠在不考慮資本結構變化的情況下，對不同時期的業績進行一致的比較。我們還需要使用 EBITDA 來報告循環信貸額度下財務契約的遵守情況。我們今天的新聞稿和我們的網站提供了 EBITDA 與淨收入的對賬，這是最接近的 GAAP 財務指標。如果您有興趣了解它是如何計算的，請查看該披露。如果您出於任何原因沒有收到我們的新聞稿，請訪問我們的網站 rpc.net 獲取副本。

I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Ben Palmer.

我現在將把電話轉給我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Ben Palmer。

Thanks, Jim, and thank you for joining our call this morning. 2022 was an exceptional year, and we finished the year with very strong results in the fourth quarter. I would like to start by thanking our employees for an outstanding 2022. Their hard work and dedication in overcoming many challenges made our success possible. We look forward to building on our achievements and expect continued success in 2023. RPC's fourth quarter financial results showed very little impact from weather-related or holiday downtime. Furthermore, our customers continue to work throughout the fourth quarter with no evidence of budget exhaustion. Although oil prices have recently moderated from their highs, they remain above levels sufficient to motivate our customers to drill and complete new wells. While pressure pumping is certainly a core business for RPC, we are much more than just a pure play pressure pumper. In fact, we are one of the very few companies that can provide nearly all the services required to complete oil or gas wells. This diversification represents a competitive advantage for RPC and adds value as a leading provider of completion services for our customers.

謝謝，吉姆，感謝你今天早上加入我們的電話會議。 2022 年是不平凡的一年，我們在第四季度以非常強勁的業績結束了這一年。首先，我要感謝我們的員工在 2022 年表現出色。他們的辛勤工作和奉獻精神克服了許多挑戰，使我們的成功成為可能。我們期待在我們的成就的基礎上再接再厲，並期待在 2023 年繼續取得成功。RPC 第四季度的財務業績顯示，天氣相關或假期停機的影響很小。此外，我們的客戶在整個第四季度繼續工作，沒有預算用盡的跡象。儘管油價最近從高位回落，但仍高於足以激勵我們的客戶鑽探和完成新油井的水平。雖然壓力泵肯定是 RPC 的核心業務，但我們不僅僅是純粹的壓力泵。事實上，我們是能夠提供完成油氣井所需的幾乎所有服務的極少數公司之一。這種多元化代表了 RPC 的競爭優勢，並為我們的客戶增加了作為領先的完井服務提供商的價值。

Our CFO, Mike Schmit, will discuss this and other financial results in more detail, after which I will provide some closing comments.

我們的首席財務官 Mike Schmit 將更詳細地討論這個和其他財務結果，之後我將提供一些結束評論。

Thanks, Ben. I'll start with the fourth quarter 2022 sequential financial overview. Fourth quarter revenues increased by 4.9% to $482 million from $459.6 million in the prior quarter due to improved pricing in most of our service lines and higher equipment utilization, supported by a full quarter of operation for our most recently reactivated pressure pumping fleet. Cost of revenues during the fourth quarter decreased slightly to $308.6 million from $309.8 million in the prior quarter. As a percentage of revenues, cost of revenues improved to 64% from 67.4% in the prior quarter, due to improved job mix and continued strong pricing for our services. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $38.2 million in both the fourth and third quarters of 2022. During the fourth quarter of 2022, RPC also recorded a $2.9 million defined benefit pension plan charge related to a lump sum settlement offered to plan participants. During Q1 2023, we expect to record a settlement charge of approximately $22.5 million associated with the final termination of this plan. Also in connection with the transfer of the planned liability to a third party, RPC expects to make an approximately $10 million cash contribution also in the first quarter of '23.

謝謝，本。我將從 2022 年第四季度連續財務概覽開始。第四季度收入從上一季度的 4.596 億美元增長 4.9% 至 4.82 億美元，這是由於我們大多數服務線的定價提高和設備利用率提高，這得益於我們最近重新啟動的壓力泵機隊的整個季度運營。第四季度的收入成本從上一季度的 3.098 億美元小幅下降至 3.086 億美元。由於工作組合的改善和我們服務的持續強勁定價，收入成本佔收入的百分比從上一季度的 67.4% 提高到 64%。 2022 年第四季度和第三季度的銷售、一般和管理費用均為 3820 萬美元。在 2022 年第四季度，RPC 還記錄了與向計劃參與者提供的一次性結算相關的 290 萬美元固定收益養老金計劃費用。在 2023 年第一季度，我們預計將記錄與該計劃的最終終止相關的約 2250 萬美元的結算費用。此外，在將計劃的負債轉移給第三方方面，RPC 預計在 2023 年第一季度也將提供約 1000 萬美元的現金捐助。

Operating profit during the fourth quarter increased by 21.9% to $112.3 million from $92.2 million in the prior quarter. EBITDA increased by 19.8% to $135.5 million from $113 million in the prior quarter. Our Technical Services segment revenues increased by 5.1% to $458.1 million. This segment generated $110.5 million of operating profit compared to $89.5 million in the prior quarter. The improvements in operating results were driven by higher customer activity levels, improved pricing and a larger active fleet of revenue-producing equipment. Support Services revenues were unchanged during the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the prior quarter. Operating profit though was $6.7 million compared to $5.3 million in the prior quarter.

第四季度營業利潤從上一季度的 9220 萬美元增長 21.9% 至 1.123 億美元。 EBITDA 從上一季度的 1.13 億美元增長 19.8% 至 1.355 億美元。我們的技術服務部門收入增長 5.1% 至 4.581 億美元。該部門產生了 1.105 億美元的營業利潤，而上一季度為 8950 萬美元。經營業績的改善是由更高的客戶活動水平、更高的定價和更大的活躍創收設備車隊推動的。與上一季度相比，2022 年第四季度的支持服務收入沒有變化。營業利潤為 670 萬美元，而上一季度為 530 萬美元。

Now I'll discuss our current year -- sorry, our current quarter results compared to the same quarter in the prior year. Revenues increased to $482 million from $268.3 million. Operating profit increased to $112.3 million from $20.1 million. 0EBITDA increased to $135.5 million from $39.4 million. These increases were driven by higher customer activity levels, improved pricing, resulting in our diluted earnings per share improving to $0.40 compared to $0.06 in the same quarter of the prior year. Our Technical Services segment revenues increased 80.1% to $458.1 million and segment operating profit increased $110.5 million -- to $110.5 million from $20.5 million in the same quarter of the prior year. Our Support Services segment revenues increased 73.1% to $23.9 million, and segment operating profit increased to $6.7 million from an operating loss of $373,000 in the same quarter of the prior year.

現在我將討論我們今年的情況——抱歉，我們當前季度的業績與去年同期相比。收入從 2.683 億美元增至 4.82 億美元。營業利潤從 2010 萬美元增至 1.123 億美元。 0EBITDA 從 3940 萬美元增加到 1.355 億美元。這些增長是由更高的客戶活動水平、更高的定價推動的，導致我們的攤薄後每股收益從去年同期的 0.06 美元提高到 0.40 美元。我們的技術服務部門收入增長 80.1% 至 4.581 億美元，部門營業利潤增長 1.105 億美元，從去年同期的 2050 萬美元增至 1.105 億美元。我們的支持服務部門收入增長 73.1% 至 2390 萬美元，部門營業利潤從去年同期的 373,000 美元營業虧損增加至 670 萬美元。

Now I'll briefly discuss our capital expenditures and horizontal pressure pumping fleet count. Capital expenditures were $49.3 million in the fourth quarter. We currently estimate full year 2023 capital expenditures to be approximately $250 million to $300 million, including a new Tier 4 dual-fuel fleet we plan to place into service during the second quarter, at which time we expect to take down an existing fleet for refurbishment. During the fourth quarter, we operated 10 highly utilized horizontal pressure pumping fleets. We expect to continue operating 10 horizontal fleets throughout 2023.

現在我將簡要討論我們的資本支出和水平壓力泵機隊數量。第四季度的資本支出為 4930 萬美元。我們目前估計 2023 年全年的資本支出約為 2.5 億美元至 3 億美元，其中包括我們計劃在第二季度投入使用的新 Tier 4 雙燃料車隊，屆時我們預計將拆除現有車隊進行翻新.在第四季度，我們運營了 10 個高利用率的臥式壓力泵機隊。我們預計在整個 2023 年繼續運營 10 個水平機隊。

I will now turn it back over to Ben for some closing remarks.

我現在將把它轉回給 Ben 做一些結束語。

Thank you, Mike. Our confidence in the current industry outlook along with our view of how that should translate to our financials has encouraged us to make investments in our completion-oriented businesses. Previous up cycles have resulted in our industry, adding significant capacity inevitably outpacing demand. In contrast, our current focus is on long-term investments to maintain and selectively improve our current productive capacity also to generate leading industry-leading returns on invested capital and leverage technology to perform our services in an environmentally friendly manner. Through a combination of dividends and open market share repurchases, RPC has returned over $536 million to shareholders over the last decade. As evidence of our confidence in the strength of the current cycle and commitment to our shareholders, we announced this morning an increase in our regular quarterly cash dividend from $0.02 to $0.04 per share.

謝謝你，邁克。我們對當前行業前景的信心以及我們對如何將其轉化為我們的財務狀況的看法鼓勵我們對以完成為導向的業務進行投資。之前的上升週期導致我們的行業增加了大量產能，不可避免地超過了需求。相比之下，我們目前的重點是長期投資，以維持和有選擇地提高我們目前的生產能力，同時產生行業領先的投資資本回報率，並利用技術以環保的方式提供我們的服務。通過股息和公開市場股票回購相結合，RPC 在過去十年中已向股東返還超過 5.36 億美元。為了證明我們對當前週期的實力和對股東的承諾的信心，我們今天早上宣布將定期季度現金股息從每股 0.02 美元增加到 0.04 美元。

Thank you for joining us this morning. And at this time, we're happy to address any questions you may have.

感謝您今天早上加入我們。目前，我們很樂意解答您的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And we'll take our first question from Stephen Gengaro at Stifel.

我們將從 Stifel 的 Stephen Gengaro 那裡回答我們的第一個問題。

So a few things for me, if you don't mind. I guess the first is, when you look at the current pressure pumping market and what you see in the industry dynamics? We think -- and I think there's a lot of people out there who are sort of sensing a much different approach by operators as far as adding assets, et cetera. In the field, what do you see? Like is your experience similar to that? And maybe talk a little bit about how you think about new build economics right now.

如果你不介意的話，對我來說有幾件事。我想首先是，當您查看當前的壓力泵市場以及您在行業動態中看到了什麼？我們認為——我認為有很多人感覺到運營商在增加資產等方面採用了一種截然不同的方法。在田野裡，你看到了什麼？你的經歷是否與此相似？也許談談你現在如何看待新建築經濟學。

Stephen, you talked about operators adding assets. Stephen, I think you mean us, not our customers.

斯蒂芬，你談到運營商增加資產。斯蒂芬，我認為你指的是我們，而不是我們的客戶。

Yes. I mean, I mean -- sorry, pressure pumpers in general, yes.

是的。我的意思是，我的意思是——抱歉，一般來說，壓力泵，是的。

Well, Stephen, this is Ben. I think that there is investment that's taking place, I think, more than whether there's investment taking place is ultimately what the overall capacity equation is going to look like. We're working really hard to -- or we're committed to a plan to, as I indicated in my comments, we're trying to more or less maintain our existing capacity, but we're upgrading that. We're making investments where we need to, to make sure that we can continue to provide a quality service, but we want to utilize our existing equipment, and get as much out of it as we can if it can generate adequate returns and provide a quality service, so we don't want to take it out of service too quickly. But then we have the long lead times for new equipment. So getting the timing right between when existing fleet will be ready to retire or lay down. That's tricky and that's not something we're trying to necessarily say those are going to happen on precisely the same date. But we're really looking at -- we're committed to trying to generate free cash flow during this particular cycle. As I indicated, we've returned a lot of cash to shareholders over time. Our history shows that we've done that, and we continue to be committed to that.

好吧，斯蒂芬，這是本。我認為正在發生的投資，我認為，比是否發生投資更重要的是整體容量方程式最終會是什麼樣子。正如我在評論中指出的那樣，我們正在非常努力地工作，或者我們致力於製定一項計劃，我們正試圖或多或少地維持我們現有的能力，但我們正在升級它。我們在需要的地方進行投資，以確保我們能夠繼續提供優質服務，但我們希望利用我們現有的設備，並儘可能多地利用它，如果它能產生足夠的回報並提供優質的服務，所以我們不想過快地停止服務。但是我們有很長的新設備交貨期。因此，要把握好現有艦隊準備退役或停工的時間點。這很棘手，這並不是我們要說的一定會在同一天發生的事情。但我們真的在看——我們致力於在這個特定的周期內努力產生自由現金流。正如我所指出的，隨著時間的推移，我們已經向股東返還了大量現金。我們的歷史表明我們已經做到了這一點，並且我們將繼續致力於此。

So our -- in return, you asked about our returns and the way we think about that. The return profile or what one would reasonably expect 12 or 14 months ago versus where we are today, obviously, it's completely different. So we don't all of a sudden wake up and say, well, today or last month or last quarter, the return indications are unbelievable so we should ramp our spend or our investment. We're trying to -- we expect to remain disciplined. We want to go on an appropriate pace, having a longer-term plan and try to execute against that plan and allow us to take advantage of the opportunities, be there and provide services to our customers, maintain our existing capacity -- more or less selectively grow, but maintain our capacity and focus on that continuing to return excess cash to shareholders. So hopefully, that's responsive, and if anybody else has any other additional comments on that.

所以我們 - 作為回報，您詢問了我們的回報以及我們對此的看法。回報情況或人們在 12 或 14 個月前的合理預期與我們今天的情況相比，顯然，這是完全不同的。所以我們不會突然醒來說，好吧，今天或上個月或上個季度，回報跡象令人難以置信，所以我們應該增加支出或投資。我們正在努力——我們希望保持紀律。我們希望以適當的速度前進，制定長期計劃並嘗試執行該計劃，讓我們能夠利用機會，在那里為我們的客戶提供服務，維持我們現有的能力——或多或少有選擇地增長，但保持我們的能力，並專注於繼續向股東返還多餘現金。所以希望這是有響應的，如果其他人對此有任何其他補充意見。

Yes. This is Mike. I'll just add one thing to think about, too. When you order new equipment and pressure pumping right now, there could be up to a year lead time, you're making a huge financial commitment and betting on what the market is going to be a year from now. So that's the other kind of consideration as we're thinking about capital allocation.

是的。這是邁克。我也想補充一件事。當您現在訂購新設備和壓力泵時，可能有長達一年的交貨時間，您正在做出巨大的財務承諾並押註一年後的市場情況。所以這是我們考慮資本配置時的另一種考慮。

And Stephen, one last thing. We have been in a period of underinvestment for a very long time, probably since 2015. At this time, the market for -- the drilling rigs and the completion demand has pretty much soaked up the available frac spreads, and back to Mike's comment, it's going to take a while to catch up with that. And people do seem to be being disciplined at this point. That's always subject to change in our industry, but there is a level of discipline that we haven't seen before. Nobody stood up in the [canoe] yet. So we're -- we believe that we've got a good runway here.

斯蒂芬，最後一件事。很長一段時間以來，我們一直處於投資不足的時期，可能是從 2015 年開始。此時，鑽井平台和完井需求的市場幾乎吸收了可用的壓裂價差，回到 Mike 的評論，需要一段時間才能趕上。在這一點上，人們似乎確實受到了紀律處分。這在我們的行業中總是會發生變化，但是有一種我們以前從未見過的紀律。 [獨木舟] 上還沒有人站起來。所以我們 - 我們相信我們在這裡有一條很好的跑道。

Great. No, that's very helpful. The other two quick ones. You mentioned the delivery of the new Tier 4 DGB, and then their -- I think you said, you're going to take an existing fleet and refurbish it. Is that fair? Will that go back to work? Or is it just depend on timing and demand? And has there been any trouble getting the necessary parts to refurb the asset?

偉大的。不，這非常有幫助。其他兩個快速的。你提到了新的 Tier 4 DGB 的交付，然後他們 - 我想你說過，你將採用現有艦隊並對其進行翻新。這公平嗎？那會回去工作嗎？還是僅取決於時間和需求？獲得必要的零件來翻新資產是否有任何困難？

The refurb -- yes, I mean, we'll refurb it so that it can come back to work, right? Well, when the new -- brand-new fleet comes in around the same time, we'll take down one of our older fleets that we'll spend some money and upgrade it. And once it's upgraded, we expect there'll be -- there are other fleets that need to be either refurbed or otherwise dealt with. So as we indicated, we're expecting still to have 10 horizontal fleets working -- more or less 10 horizontal fleets working throughout 2023. So with the gives and the takes of ones going down for refurb and that sort of thing. Supply chain, still we've been managing through that. We have some good vendor relationships, and it's always a challenge, but we think we're in pretty good shape with that. We won't know, obviously, until it's completed, we are concerned, but we'll stay on top of it and make sure that it gets turned around in the time frame that we're planning on, but we're working through that. And we're confident that our schedule and our plan will allow us, as I said, to continue to operate around 10 horizontal fleets throughout the year.

翻新——是的，我的意思是，我們會翻新它，讓它恢復工作，對吧？好吧，當新的 - 全新的艦隊大約在同一時間出現時，我們將拆除我們的一個舊艦隊，我們將花一些錢並對其進行升級。一旦升級，我們預計會有——還有其他機隊需要翻新或以其他方式處理。因此，正如我們所指出的那樣，我們預計在整個 2023 年仍有 10 個水平機隊在工作——或多或少有 10 個水平機隊在工作。因此，考慮到進行翻新和諸如此類的事情。供應鏈，我們仍然通過它進行管理。我們有一些良好的供應商關係，這始終是一個挑戰，但我們認為我們在這方面處於良好狀態。顯然，在它完成之前我們不會知道，我們很擔心，但我們會保持領先並確保它在我們計劃的時間範圍內得到扭轉，但我們正在努力那。正如我所說，我們相信我們的時間表和計劃將使我們能夠在全年繼續運營大約 10 個水平機隊。

And then just one other quick one. Jim, do you mind just running through the segment breakdown by the revenue by product line?

然後只是另一個快速的。吉姆，你介意按產品線的收入瀏覽一下細分市場嗎？

Absolutely. Thanks for the question. So I didn't have to do it in closing comment. So for the fourth quarter, the percentages I'm about to give are percentages of each of our largest service lines as a percentage of total or consolidated RPC revenue. So the largest service line, the largest revenue for the fourth quarter was pressure pumping at 56.9%. The second largest was downhole tools at 20.8%. Number three was coiled tubing at 8.4% of consolidated revenues. Our nitrogen service line was 2.3% of consolidated revenues -- I'm sorry, I got out of order there. Our rental tools, which is in our Support Services segment, was 3.6% of consolidated revenues. I see I mentioned nitrogen. Snubbing was 1.6% of consolidated revenues for the fourth quarter.

絕對地。謝謝你的問題。所以我不必在結束評論時這樣做。因此，對於第四季度，我要給出的百分比是我們每條最大的服務線佔總收入或綜合 RPC 收入的百分比。因此，最大的服務線，第四季度最大的收入是壓力泵，佔 56.9%。第二大是井下工具，佔 20.8%。第三是連續油管，佔綜合收入的 8.4%。我們的氮氣服務線佔綜合收入的 2.3%——對不起，我在那裡出了問題。我們的支持服務部門的租賃工具佔合併收入的 3.6%。我看到我提到了氮氣。受冷落的收入佔第四季度綜合收入的 1.6%。

We'll go next to Don Crist at Johnson Rice.

我們將去 Johnson Rice 的 Don Crist 旁邊。

We've seen a little bit of moderation in the gas rig count. I just wondered if that is affecting pressure pumping at all? And to take that a step further, we've heard that there's a little bit of weakness in the gas plays, but the assets are finding home in the oil plays. Can you broadly just talk about your pressure pumping calendar, and kind of is there any shifting between the plays as of late?

我們已經看到天然氣鑽井平台數量有所減少。我只是想知道這是否會影響壓力泵？更進一步，我們聽說天然氣領域存在一些弱點，但資產正在石油領域找到歸宿。您能否大致談談您的壓力抽水日曆，以及最近的戲劇之間是否有任何轉變？

Don, this is Jim. Your point is a good one. I would say not yet because there's still so much -- demand is still greater than supply. I would say, if there's anything regarding the natural gas market weakness, it's more an opportunity cost than anything else. I mean when you have no -- we have no white space in the calendar, something that could have -- might have happened in the future, but isn't going to, doesn't impact near-term results.

唐，這是吉姆。你的觀點很好。我會說還沒有，因為仍然有很多——需求仍然大於供應。我想說的是，如果天然氣市場疲軟有任何問題，那更多的是機會成本。我的意思是，當你沒有 - 我們在日曆中沒有空白，一些可能會發生的事情 - 可能會在未來發生，但不會發生，不會影響近期結果。

And I'll add. This is Ben. And a very large percentage of our activity is directed towards oil wells, and it's just been that way. We've not consciously made the shift. We've been talking about it, but have not made a conscious shift to try to move assets or focus on the primarily gas basins as of the...

我會補充。這是本。我們的活動中有很大一部分是針對油井的，而且一直都是這樣。我們並沒有有意識地做出轉變。我們一直在談論它，但並沒有做出有意識的轉變，試圖轉移資產或專注於主要的天然氣盆地……

Yes. I think, right now, we're about 80% oil, a little more.

是的。我想，現在，我們大約有 80% 的石油，多一點。

Okay. I appreciate that color, and one more for me. You called out pricing in the fourth quarter is one of the reasons why you outperformed kind of consensus expectations. How broad-based was that? And was it more skewed to pressure pumping or coil? And can you just kind of run down how pricing has been across two or three of your segments?

好的。我很欣賞這種顏色，對我來說還有一種。您在第四季度提出定價是您表現超出共識預期的原因之一。那基礎有多廣泛？它更偏向於壓力泵還是線圈？您能否簡單地了解一下您的兩個或三個細分市場的定價情況？

Relative to the -- you're talking about the fourth quarter results. I don't know that there was -- I think the increases in pricing has been sort of a steady process over the last quarter or two. There wasn't -- we had some nice wins, especially with the new fleet that we put into service in the fourth quarter. It went to work with a -- at a nice -- it was a good piece of work for us. So there was not a tremendous increase in the fourth quarter. I think the fourth quarter was driven as much by efficiency. The fact, as we indicated, there was no -- there was very little fourth quarter normal slowdown, number one; and number two though, it was just a good job mix that we weren't quite as hard on our equipment, and we were able to be really efficient. There was minimal white space as there has been in earlier quarters, but -- so I think it was just a combination of a good job mix, good efficiency on those jobs that we were working on. Just overall, good execution. The guys have done a tremendous job taking advantage of the opportunities that have been presented.

相對於 - 你在談論第四季度的結果。我不知道有——我認為在過去一兩個季度中，價格上漲是一個穩定的過程。沒有——我們取得了一些不錯的勝利，尤其是我們在第四季度投入使用的新艦隊。它開始工作 - 很好 - 這對我們來說是一項很好的工作。因此，第四季度並沒有大幅增長。我認為第四季度同樣受到效率的推動。事實上，正如我們指出的那樣，第四季度的正常放緩很少，第一；第二，這只是一個很好的工作組合，我們對我們的設備沒有那麼苛刻，而且我們能夠非常高效。與前幾個季度一樣，空白空間很少，但是 - 所以我認為這只是良好的工作組合，我們正在從事的工作的高效率的結合。總體而言，執行良好。這些傢伙利用所提供的機會做了出色的工作。

Okay. And one final one for me. Do you have any major contract roles as we kind of move into the first quarter? I don't know if you had quarterly openers or whatnot on your contracts, but any significant pricing uplift and contract roll expected in the first quarter?

好的。最後一張給我。隨著我們進入第一季度，您是否有任何主要合同角色？我不知道您的合同中是否有季度開瓶器或諸如此類的東西，但預計第一季度會有任何顯著的價格提升和合同滾動嗎？

By the nature of kind of our portfolio, no, but we are continuing to work on pricing, but there's no specific whatever event or contract rolling that would have an individually significant impact. But we do see some additional improvement opportunity as we move forward.

根據我們投資組合的性質，不，但我們將繼續致力於定價，但沒有任何具體的事件或合同滾動會產生單獨的重大影響。但隨著我們的前進，我們確實看到了一些額外的改進機會。

We'll go next to John Daniel of Daniel Energy Partners.

接下來我們將請 Daniel Energy Partners 的 John Daniel 發言。

I have a quick question on the CapEx budget. I think you said, $250 million to $300 million is the guide for this year, and my monkey math is correct, you're around $140-ish million for '22. I'm curious within that CapEx budget and aside from the one fleet that you have on order, is there any additional new equipment orders that are anticipated in that budget? Or is that all maintenance?

我有一個關於資本支出預算的快速問題。我想你說過，今年的指導價是 2.5 億到 3 億美元，我的猴子數學是正確的，22 年你的收入大約是 1.4 億美元。我很好奇在資本支出預算內，除了您訂購的一個機隊之外，該預算中是否還有其他新設備訂單？或者這就是所有的維護？

There's plenty of refurbishment in there, John.

約翰，那裡有很多翻新工程。

And certainly, maintenance CapEx. There's not any other significant bills. And part of the makeup for a lot of things that go into how much you're spending CapEx, not only the commitments you make with the timing of when the equipment is ready and delivered and all that sort of thing. So some of the number that we're talking about in '23 or some delays from '22. So I think our CapEx came in a little bit lower than we had "indicated" earlier, but we're comfortable with the level of spend. And no, there's not any other significant certainly capacity increases that are there, and that fleet we're taking here in the current quarter too, it's not a capacity increase. That's -- as we talked about, we're staying around that 10% operating fleet.

當然，維護資本支出。沒有任何其他重要的賬單。很多事情的一部分構成了你花費多少資本支出，而不僅僅是你對設備準備好和交付的時間做出的承諾，以及諸如此類的事情。所以我們在 23 年談論的一些數字或 22 年的一些延遲。所以我認為我們的資本支出比我們之前“指出”的要低一點，但我們對支出水平感到滿意。不，沒有任何其他明顯的產能增加，而且我們在本季度也在這裡使用的機隊，這不是產能增加。那就是——正如我們所談到的，我們將保持在 10% 左右的運營機隊。

Fair enough. And I know on the new fleet, you said, dual fuel Tier 4. I'm curious, as you look at the other parts of your business because you said it in your opening remarks, you're more than just frac. Are you -- is there any efforts of fuel electrification whether it be on wireline or coil or anything to the other segments?

很公平。我知道在新艦隊上，你說，雙燃料第 4 層。我很好奇，當你看你業務的其他部分時，因為你在開場白中說過，你不僅僅是壓裂。你 - 是否有任何燃料電氣化的努力，無論是在電纜上還是在線圈上或其他部分的任何東西上？

Not to any significant degree, the -- that technology is something that we're certainly trying to watch and monitor. We do have a opportunity coming up to take -- to utilize an electric pump within the hydraulic fracturing service line, but it's more of a win than put in all the chips at this point.

在任何重要的程度上，技術是我們當然要觀察和監控的東西。我們確實有機會採取 - 在水力壓裂服務線內使用電動泵，但這比在這一點上投入所有籌碼更重要。

Fair enough. Last one for me and not to be the nervous Nellie, but we have had a few guys E&P contacts tell us that they've started to ask for relief in light of the gas price coming back, et cetera. And I'm curious, they're not widespread (inaudible), by the way, but what's your message to your guys when that first request comes into RPC about granting relief at detail you guys tell the customer to pound sand? Or just what's your message going to be to them as those progress are coming on?

很公平。最後一個對我來說，不要讓內莉緊張，但我們有幾個 E&P 聯繫人告訴我們，鑑於天然氣價格回升等，他們已經開始要求減免。順便說一下，我很好奇，它們並不普遍（聽不清），但是當第一個請求進入 RPC 時，關於在你們告訴客戶搗碎沙子的細節上給予救濟，你們有什麼信息要告訴你們？或者隨著這些進展的到來，您將向他們傳達什麼信息？

I'm saying that's a mix better for us.

我是說這對我們來說更好。

Well, our guys in the field don't need to be told what to do, they understand. But there are other opportunities, and I think that too helped the customer opportunities. So I think there's confidence that at this point in time that we do have some alternative choices. Now it's not that can take some time and that can be disruptive, but I think their response at this point in time would be, we're always -- our customers are important to us, and there may be other ways to maybe you give some relief, but it might be -- maybe you increase your activity or whatever, right? But we would look to try to find a way that we would not step backwards, we need to continue to move forward with respect to our net pricing that we're getting pricing and utilization.

好吧，我們在現場的人不需要被告知該怎麼做，他們明白。但還有其他機會，我認為這也有助於客戶機會。所以我認為我們有信心在這個時間點我們確實有一些替代選擇。現在這不是需要一些時間，也可能是破壞性的，但我認為他們在這個時間點的反應是，我們一直 - 我們的客戶對我們很重要，可能還有其他方式可能你給有些鬆了一口氣，但它可能是——也許你增加了你的活動或其他什麼，對吧？但我們希望找到一種我們不會倒退的方法，我們需要繼續在我們獲得定價和利用率的淨定價方面向前邁進。

And I'll add, our costs have gone up significantly as well and continue to -- with all the capital investments and maintenance, it's -- we're not really getting any relief on those fronts either. So we -- a lot of demand.

我要補充一點，我們的成本也顯著上升，並且繼續——通過所有的資本投資和維護——我們在這些方面也沒有真正得到任何緩解。所以我們 - 很多需求。

Yes. And demand is still greater than supply. So the market has to -- can sort this out.

是的。而且需求仍然大於供應。所以市場必須——可以解決這個問題。

Yes. No, I agree. I'm just asking the question to see what you got.

是的。不，我同意。我只是問這個問題，看看你得到了什麼。

Sure. That's fair.

當然。這還算公平。

You always ask good questions.

你總是問很好的問題。

We'll move next to Derek Podhaizer at Barclays.

我們將搬到巴克萊銀行的 Derek Podhaizer 旁邊。

I just wanted to get your thoughts on attrition. I mean I don't think we've really seen attrition in an up cycle, if we look over the past couple of decades. You're obviously bringing in a new fleet. You're going to take one off the sidelines and refurb, I think that's a form of attrition pump staying on the sideline longer because maintenance swings have extended out due to supply chains. Maybe beefing up your current fleet going from 50,000 horsepower to maybe 60,000 plus. Just love your take on what attrition is today, all the different parts of it because I think that's one thing that's being underestimated by the broader market and why frac supply is going to stay tight through 2023.

我只是想听聽你對減員的看法。我的意思是，如果我們回顧過去幾十年，我認為我們並沒有真正看到上升週期中的人員流失。你顯然是在引進一支新艦隊。你要從場邊拿走一個並進行翻新，我認為這是一種消耗泵在場邊停留更長時間的形式，因為由於供應鏈的原因，維護波動已經延長。也許將您當前的機隊從 50,000 馬力增加到 60,000 多馬力。只是喜歡你對今天的損耗的看法，它的所有不同部分，因為我認為這是被大盤低估的一件事，也是壓裂供應將在 2023 年保持緊張的原因。

Well, this is Ben. We obviously don't have direct visibility into our competitors. We can only speak to kind of what we see, and yes, I mean the activity levels are very high. Much of the work is -- a lot of the work can be very whatever damaging difficult on the equipment. As I indicated in the fourth quarter, we had some nice work that wasn't quite as difficult to some previous quarters. So that can vary some from quarter-to-quarter. So we're -- our guys are doing great work trying to forecast out if this amount of (inaudible) key operating personnel at the attrition may be being underestimated that maybe it's going to be difficult. Now there is -- as I indicated earlier, there is a lot of spending going on. There is a lot of new equipment orders amongst our peers, but there's a lot of discussion about the fact that they, too, are not going to -- they're not striving for net additions to their fleet. So that's implying that they plan to take some of that equipment out of service, but it certainly could happen. What you're saying, it could be that it's being underestimated. I think everybody -- most everybody recognizes that it is real, and I think supply will remain tight. I guess the question being how tight might it be. If the attrition ends up being even higher, yes, I mean it will -- it'll be great for those of us that are still working.

嗯，這是本。我們顯然無法直接了解我們的競爭對手。我們只能談論我們所看到的，是的，我的意思是活動水平非常高。大部分工作是 - 很多工作可能對設備造成任何破壞性困難。正如我在第四季度指出的那樣，我們有一些不錯的工作，不像前幾個季度那麼困難。因此，這可能會因季度而異。所以我們 - 我們的人正在做很好的工作，試圖預測減員的這一數量（聽不清）關鍵運營人員是否被低估了，這可能會很困難。現在 - 正如我之前指出的那樣，有很多支出正在進行中。我們的同行中有很多新設備訂單，但有很多關於他們也不會這樣做的事實的討論 - 他們不會努力增加他們的機隊。所以這意味著他們計劃停止使用其中一些設備，但這肯定會發生。你所說的，可能是它被低估了。我認為每個人 - 大多數人都認識到這是真實的，而且我認為供應將保持緊張。我想問題是它有多緊。如果人員流失最終變得更高，是的，我的意思是它會——這對我們這些仍在工作的人來說是件好事。

Got it. That's helpful color. Do you guys -- just a question on maybe some of your private peers. Are you seeing any new entrants coming in, just given where economics are? Or are you seeing some of your privates maybe leaving? I know there's been a few acquisitions. Just a sense on the private market because I also feel like there's this narrative around private pumpers coming into the market and overbuilding like we saw in past cycles, but we'd love to hear your view on this.

知道了。這是有用的顏色。伙計們 - 只是一個關於你的一些私人同行的問題。鑑於經濟學的位置，您是否看到有新進入者進入？或者你看到你的一些私人可能會離開嗎？我知道有一些收購。只是對私人市場的一種感覺，因為我也覺得像我們在過去的周期中看到的那樣，圍繞著私人泵進入市場和過度建設的敘述，但我們很想听聽你對此的看法。

We've heard some examples of some privates coming on, not into any large degree. What we tend to hear when we ask the question is that private equity is not coming in, in a big way. So that's great. That's kind of, to my recollection, has been the issue in the prior two or three strong cycles we had when private equity comes in big. And so if they more or less stay on the sidelines or don't come in, in a big way, hopefully, we'll be able to try to keep supply and demand appropriately balanced.

我們聽說過一些列兵上陣的例子，但幅度不大。當我們問這個問題時，我們往往聽到的是私募股權並沒有大量進入。那太好了。據我回憶，這在過去兩三個強勁週期中一直是私募股權大行其道的問題。因此，如果他們或多或少地保持觀望或不參與進來，希望我們能夠在很大程度上保持供需的適當平衡。

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then just one more for me, if I could. I know you're not going into the e-frac markets yet, but I just wanted to get your updated thoughts on that. Are you waiting for that technology to be derisked -- derisk from the other day, the biggest pumper out there is talk about how there's obviously an adoption curve that everyone is trying to get up on. Would just love your take on what e-frac is, how are you looking at it? How you've been looking at the different examples of it? Your view on coming up the learning curve and maybe some of the challenges that some of your peers might face as they look to scale electric frac.

知道了。好的。這很有幫助。如果可以的話，再給我一個。我知道您還沒有進入電子壓裂市場，但我只是想了解您對此的最新想法。您是否正在等待該技術被取消風險 - 從前幾天開始，最大的抽油機正在談論如何顯然有一條每個人都在努力提高的採用曲線。只是喜歡你對什麼是 e-frac 的看法，你如何看待它？你是如何看待它的不同例子的？您對學習曲線的看法，以及您的一些同行在尋求擴展電動壓裂時可能面臨的一些挑戰。

We've heard examples of companies or situations where it's been a struggle. We've watched it. We've studied it some. It's not a tremendous focus for us, but we do have an opportunity to take some -- a pump that we're going to be able to partner with a vendor to be able to use that and do some testing for both them and for us, and that will help us along the learning curve and them as well. So we still, at this point, and obviously, the new fleet that we have coming in early this year is dual fuel. I think the transition just like other transitions of technology like this will take a period of time. So there's going to continue to be, I think, plenty of demand and strong demand for traditional diesel equipment, more so the DGB, and so we're moving in that direction. So I foresee for the foreseeable future that the majority of our spending will be on the traditional equipment. I don't see a shift in the near term for us to go to e-frac, but we are experimenting with it. We do want to learn about it. There may be some other applications on ancillary equipment that may benefit us, but in terms of a full fleet for us, that's a little bit down the road, I think, at this point.

我們聽說過一些公司或情況陷入困境的例子。我們看過了。我們已經研究了一些。這對我們來說不是一個非常重要的重點，但我們確實有機會採取一些 - 我們將能夠與供應商合作的泵，以便能夠使用它並為他們和我們做一些測試，這將幫助我們沿著學習曲線前進，他們也一樣。所以我們仍然，在這一點上，顯然，我們今年年初推出的新機隊是雙燃料的。我認為這種轉變就像其他技術轉變一樣需要一段時間。因此，我認為，對傳統柴油設備的大量需求和強勁需求將繼續存在，DGB 更是如此，因此我們正朝著這個方向前進。因此，我預見在可預見的未來，我們的大部分支出將用於傳統設備。我認為短期內我們不會轉向電子壓裂，但我們正在試驗它。我們確實想了解它。輔助設備上可能還有一些其他應用程序可能會使我們受益，但就我們的完整機隊而言，我認為在這一點上還有一點路要走。

Yes. And Derek, since we don't have first-hand experience, what I'm about to say may be wrong, but based on everything we've heard, the economics don't yet work. So something else to think about.

是的。德里克，由於我們沒有第一手經驗，所以我要說的可能是錯誤的，但根據我們所聽到的一切，經濟學還行不通。所以還有其他事情要考慮。

Got it. And one more, if I can just squeeze it in, could you give us a refresh on how many Tier 4 DGBs you have now or dual fuels, the breakdown of those 10 fleets in different categories?

知道了。還有一個，如果我能把它擠進去，你能給我們更新一下你現在有多少個 Tier 4 DGB 或雙燃料，這 10 個機隊在不同類別中的細分嗎？

Sure. Let's see. So our active horizontal fleet has 5 ESG-friendly fleets, and that's Tier 4 DGB, Tier 4 -- Tier 2 DGB, plus five Tier 2 diesels. By the second quarter of 2024, we expect our DGB -- or I'm sorry, our ESG-friendly composition to be closer to 75%.

當然。讓我們來看看。所以我們活躍的水平機隊有 5 個 ESG 友好機隊，那就是 Tier 4 DGB，Tier 4 - Tier 2 DGB，加上五個 Tier 2 柴油機。到 2024 年第二季度，我們預計我們的 DGB——或者對不起，我們的 ESG 友好成分將接近 75%。

Because we have Tier 4 diesel, they're not DGB, but they're Tier 4. So it's kind of a confidant. So about half today of our horizontal fleets are very much ESG friendly, and we expect that, that will move closer to 70% sometime in the next 18-plus months.

因為我們有 Tier 4 柴油，它們不是 DGB，但它們是 Tier 4。所以它有點像知己。因此，我們今天大約有一半的水平機隊對 ESG 非常友好，我們預計在未來 18 個多月的某個時候，這一比例將接近 70%。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And at this time, we have no further questions. I'll turn the conference back over to Jim for any closing remarks.

目前，我們沒有其他問題了。我會將會議轉回給吉姆，聽取任何閉幕詞。

Thank you. We appreciate everybody who called in to listen today. We appreciate the questions and enjoy the conversation. Hope everybody has a good day, and we will talk to you soon.

謝謝。我們感謝今天來聽的每一個人。我們感謝您提出問題並享受對話。希望每個人都有美好的一天，我們會盡快與您交談。

And this concludes today's conference call. You may access the replay of today's conference on www.rpc.net within two hours following the completion of the call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以在電話會議結束後兩小時內在 www.rpc.net 上觀看今天會議的重播。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。