Noram Drilling AS

OSE:NORAM

Q3-2025 Earnings Call

[Marius Furuly, executive]

All right. Hello, everyone, and welcome to NorAm Drilling's Third Quarter 2025 Results Presentation. My name is Marius Furuly, and I'm the Director of Strategy and Investor Relations here at the company. With me today, I have the company's CEO and CFO, Martin Jimmerson in Houston.

We will go through a presentation of the quarterly results and recent market developments before we open up for a questions-and-answer session at the end of the presentation. As usual, before we begin the presentation, I would like to note that this conference call will contain forward-looking statements. Words such as expects, anticipates, intends, estimates or similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and these statements are based on our current plans and expectations and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause future activities and results of operations to be materially different from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

You should, therefore, not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. So with that said, Marty, please begin.

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

Thank you, Marius, and hello to everyone joining us today. I am pleased to report that NorAm continued to deliver operational excellence despite Permian rig counts declining 6% during the quarter. Permian rig counts finished the quarter at 253, down 17 from the end of the second quarter.

WTI began the quarter at approximately $65 a barrel and finished the quarter at $62 a barrel. Revenue was $23.9 million, down $1 million from the previous quarter as a result of lower utilization. NorAm's fleet utilization decreased to 80.2% from 86% in the prior quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA, defined as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization plus non-cash stock option expense was $4.3 million, down $1 million from the previous quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was impacted during the quarter by lower utilization and a modest increase in repair expenses, offset by slightly lower payroll cost.

Profit after tax was $4 million in Q3 versus $3.7 million in Q2. 9 of our 11 rigs were under contract and working at the end of the third quarter. We are pleased to report that 1 of the 2 stacked rigs has been contracted and is expected to commence operations in December with a major E&P.

Our backlog was $25.8 million as of yesterday. Flipping to Page 4 for recent events and outlook. During the third quarter, we paid dividends of $4.1 million or NOK 0.96 per share. Subsequent to the third quarter, we have announced 2 additional monthly dividends, and our latest distribution represents our 36th consecutive distribution since our listing.

As mentioned on the previous slide, our current backlog is $25.8 million. 7 of our rigs are currently operating under contracts of at least 6-month terms. Three of our rigs are on pad-to-pad contracts with major E&Ps. Permian rig counts started to stabilize towards the end of the third quarter and has continued into the fourth quarter as well.

As of last Friday, Permian rig counts were steady at 253. Near-term WTI prices suggest flat activity levels in the Permian as E&Ps finalize their 2026 CapEx plans. We believe U.S. shale production has likely peaked at the current rig count levels and creates longer-term optimism for Super Spec rigs.

Interestingly, if natural gas prices continue to increase, we also believe there will be incremental demand for Super Spec rigs. Flipping to Page 5, taking a look at Permian tight oil production. Permian rig counts and completions have stabilized, as you can see on the chart on the left, at a level where oil production is starting to decline.

Oil production efficiency gains are no longer able to compensate for the lower activity level in the Permian. Super Spec rigs continue to be E&P's rig of choice, and NorAm should be first in line to benefit from any increased activity. Permian rig counts are now down 51 rigs year-to-date. Well completions continue to decline, and that started in early 2024.

Oil production growth has continued to slow. We are firm believers that we would need to see increased rig counts to accommodate material production growth in the Permian going forward. E&Ps in the Permian continue to high-grade underperforming rigs and our discussions with customers indicate that 2026 CapEx and drilling plans could result in modest but not significant increases in rig counts at current WTI prices.

As I said earlier, 7 of our contracted 10 rigs are working for major E&Ps. In closing my opening remarks, I would like to thank all of our employees for their hard work and dedication.

Our entire team from operating, supervising, supporting and maintaining our rigs deserve the credit for our operational performance, which has contributed to the significant concentration of major E&Ps utilizing our rigs.

And now let me turn it back over to you, Marius, for our key operational figures for the quarter. You may be on mute, Marius.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

Thank you for that. So in the third quarter, we achieved a rig utilization of 80.2%, down from 86% in the previous quarter. We had 2 stacked rigs during the whole of Q3. And as mentioned earlier, one of these units will be reactivated for a new contract mid-December.

Revenues came in at $23.9 million, slightly down from $24.9 million in the second quarter with 1 less rig working. Our adjusted EBITDA was $4.3 million, down from $5.3 million in Q2 due to lower revenue and utilization. On the cost side, our repair and maintenance expenses increased from Q2, making our overall cost base quite similar to that of the second quarter.

Our all-in breakeven was around $18,600 per day for the working rigs. On the income statement for the quarter, we had an operating profit of about $2.8 million compared to an operating profit of about $3.8 million in the second quarter. And looking at the financial income for the third quarter, we had a fairly stable interest income as we have a debt-free balance sheet and a fairly stable cash position.

Third quarter net profit after tax was $4 million versus a net profit of $3.7 million in the previous quarter due to tax collections. And then turning over to our balance sheet and cash flow statement. NorAm has a debt-free balance sheet and minimal investment requirements.

We ended the quarter with a cash balance of $9.4 million as a result of working capital reductions during the quarter. We also have available an RCF of up to $4.5 million, where we had no amounts drawn during the quarter. Also note that we had exceptionally low CapEx in the third quarter, and we would expect a normalization of this metric in the next quarter.

Yes, the company paid out $4.1 million or NOK 0.96 per share in monthly dividends during the quarter. And subsequent to quarter end, we have declared 2 more monthly dividends. We will continue to pay dividends subject to continued positive net cash flow from operations.

So by concluding this presentation, NorAm has a fleet of 11 super-spec rigs fully upgraded with a track record of drilling the longest wells in Permian and are among the very top performers in terms of drilling efficiency measured by feet drilled per rig per day. We retain a top quality customer portfolio of 5 E&Ps ranging from super majors to smaller private companies, all in Permian.

The company has an industry low cash breakeven and minimal investment requirements in the rigs to keep them at the very top of the market. We have a clear dividend policy of returning all excess cash to our shareholders. And since the listing about 3 years ago, we have returned $86 million to our shareholders, roughly equal to NOK 21 per share.

Our latest monthly cash distribution implies an annual yield of approximately 12.2% as of closing price yesterday. And with that, I would like to open up for questions from the audience

[Marius Furuly, executive]

[Operator Instructions] . Our first question comes from Nicolas -- he's asking, good afternoon. I'm an individual investor based in France. Could you inform me whether any maintenance shutdowns are planned for certain drilling rigs in the coming months?

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

Nicolas, thank you for your interest in NorAm and being a shareholder. How I describe the maintenance and our expectations is generally, it's pretty much in line. We have -- during the third quarter, we did incur some repairs on engines and mud pumps. That's just normal course of business.

Additionally, we also incurred recertification costs on a couple of our rigs for 5- and 10-year recertification requirements, 5 years on the BOPs, 10 years on the rigs. We're nearing completion of all but 2 of our rigs on 10-year requirements, and we're through most of the BOP recertifications. So that's more of a timing issue.

We typically expense those items and unlike kind of other people who may be capitalize them. So we just take the cost upfront. We do -- again, I'll point out we're working our rigs hard to achieve the efficiencies that our operators demand. And so it puts wear and tear on the rigs compared to what we did 10 years ago. But I think for the most part, the significant expenses, we're starting to get through those.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

Thank you, Marty. Yes, fair to say we've had a few recertifications, especially at the 10-year mark. But how many of those do we have left, Marty?

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

I believe it's 2. And what I would like to point out is the 10-year recertification, you're inspecting the -- what I'm going to describe as the bones of the rig, the derrick, the substructure, you're looking for cracks. And I think that's one thing we do extremely well, which is we maintain and really inspect our rigs when we move the rigs from pad to pad.

And what I'm very pleased to report is we have not had any major repairs on any of our rigs on the 10-year recertifications. And again, that's just a complement to our operations. Indeed.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

[ Markus Molsen of Pareto ] has sent in a question. Cash breakeven of USD 18.6 per day. Do you see that level flat going forward?

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

Yes, Markus, a great question. I think we're going to stay in line with that. That $18.6 is all inclusive of overhead and CapEx. We do see -- we don't see any pressure on wages. We're actually starting to see some decline in rig insurance renewals. I think that's kind of been increasing over the time.

And so if we -- as long as our repairs and maintenance kind of stay in check, I think we're at a very comfortable all-in fully burdened breakeven level of $18.6.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

That's good. We have another question there. Repair and maintenance expenses increased during the third quarter. Could you provide any additional color on why those expenses were up?

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

Yes. So if you go back to -- you look at our trailing 3 quarters, the first quarter was actually down from our normal run rate. The second quarter was more consistent with the trailing 4 or 5 quarters. And the third quarter was higher, as I mentioned, as a result of engine and mud pump repairs.

It wasn't super material, but it was a factor. Plus we have the 5-year and 10-year recertification requirements. What I would point out is on the 10-year recertification requirements, the biggest expense associated with that is the downtime because we have to bring the derrick and the substructure into our operations yard and do the inspections.

And typically, that can last anywhere from minimum 4 days to a maximum maybe 6 or 7 days total. So it's more of the lost day rate and utilization associated with that.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

Thanks for the color. We also have a question from [indiscernible] He asks, how does NorAm Drilling assess the current availability of well-qualified personnel for drilling and maintenance operations? And what measures do you consider most effective to secure competence in the years ahead?

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

Yes. This is a great question and a challenge for our industry. Continue to be just very pleased with how we go about sourcing new employees. We get both interest from experienced hands, either more typically hands that have left the industry and are looking to get back into the industry -- they typically have a lot of experience for us to evaluate.

But our secret sauce that we like to say is we rely upon our operations team to review and vet and recommend either people who send in resumes or referral from the buddies at home. If our teams aren't willing to support and recommend an employee, that's hard to have a consistent success factor.

I was just out on a rig 2 weeks ago. And it was -- this was a young man that was recognized for his -- by IADC as kind of super impressive. He received an award. He's been with us 2 months. He was essentially working in a department store. And when I met him, I was just like super impressed. He just wants to learn and do things right. Had oil-based mud all over his hat and his clothes. And so it's those kind of employees that want to get their fingers dirty and their clothes dirty and learn that are successful.

I'll wrap up by saying we have roughly 300 employees in our company we have over almost 50 employees who've been with us more than 10 years. And so I think that just talks to the family business that we have and complements our hiring practices.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

Compared to the industry average, what's our turnover compared to that?

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

Yes. It's actually come down a little bit. Obviously, with the rig count declining like it has over the last 2 years, I would say the traditional turnover is somewhere in the 30% range.

And those -- the majority of those are young, inexperienced hands that only work a hitch or 2, and they figure out that this is tough work and maybe they don't want to be around away from home.

So our turnover actually has come down or below that industry average, but we do think the turnover is in the 30% range. Interestingly, our rig managers, look, we've not had to move any of our rig managers around for them either leaving to get out of the industry or go work for an E&P.

And so our leaders also are consistently employed and the fact that you don't have turnover at the rig manager level also bodes well and keeps the entire operations team together.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

Yes. Thank you for the color, Marty. Another one on the chat here. Philippe asks, do you have any -- I assume he's asking, do you have any leads for renting out the 11th drilling rig?

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

We do have leads. What I'll tell you is through the end of the year, the leads are 1 rig here, 1 rig there. Most of the operators are monitoring current WTI prices to try and finalize their 2026 CapEx plans. So while I'm cautiously optimistic that one of the handful of leads that we have for our stacked rig may come to fruition, if it does, I probably would not expect the rig to be contracted until kind of early in the first quarter of 2026.

But the fact is we are -- we do have leads and the opportunities for leads, you're competing with kind of 2 or 3 or 4 other rigs of competitors that are also in the marketplace as well.

So we'll continue to monitor it, cautiously optimistic.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

And Marcus also had -- Marcus [indiscernible] had the same question. But yes, what's your expectations for 2026?

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

Yes. And let me follow up on the last question. And so again, I was in Midland 2 weeks ago, and I couldn't have been more impressed with rig 23, which is our only current available rig. It looks great. We've been through all of the equipment, and we do not anticipate any break-in issues associated with -- we've been running all the equipment.

It's ready to go. And that bodes well. As we move into 2026, it certainly feels like near term, it's probably going to be flat and steady. If WTI were to decline below $60 for a sustainable period, you may see some privates and/or maybe some majors that cut back on their CapEx.

I wouldn't think it's going to be super material, barring the prices not going below $60 for a long period of time. But we do hear of customers looking to add an additional rig. What I think is going to happen more near term is underperforming rigs are going to be displaced with rigs with great operational reputation. And so I think we're in a steady environment near term, subject to WTI.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

Thank you. Another question here on the chat is from [indiscernible] He asks, how long are the contracts for the contracted rigs?

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

Yes. And I covered that a little bit. I think we have 7 of our rigs that are on contract terms of 6 months or more. I think the longest one is a 1-year contract, which is very long in the U.S. land business. Three of the rigs that are on pad to pad. One of the rigs has been working for the same customer for 6 years on a pad-to-pad arrangement, and we're on their schedule.

The other 2 rigs are very much the same. There's some unique circumstances on those 2 rigs because they have a JV partner that has some constraints on being able to sign rigs up. But what I've been pleased about is we just kind of refreshed our backlog from the previous quarter, as you may recall.

And what I'm pleased with is we were able to renew all of our rigs, whether they be pad to pad or 6-month to 1-year contracts at the same average fleet rate. And so I think that kind of bodes well. And I wouldn't expect any changes as we come up on the next round of renewals.

[Marius Furuly, executive]

Thank you, Marty. There are currently no more questions in the chat here. So yes, I think we can finish here. Thank you so much for the attendance and so many questions from the audience. I wish you all, in the meantime, a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year before we meet again in February.

And yes, thank you to all the NorAm families of workers and all our stakeholders for their efforts put in the third quarter. Hope to see you again next quarter.

Thank you

[Martin Jimmerson, executive]

Thank you.