Hello all, and a warm welcome to the Archer Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Release call. My name is Lydia, and I'll be your operator today. If you'd like to ask a question after the prepared remarks, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. It's my pleasure to now hand you over to Dag Skindlo, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead when you're ready.
Thank you, Lydia. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining this conference call for the second quarter of 2022. I will be joined by Archer's Chief Financial Officer, Espen Joranger, in the call today. In today's call, I will cover some strategic and market highlights, and Espen will thereafter walk us through the operation and financial section. Towards the end of the call, we will open the line for questions. Moving to slide 2, I would like to note that the information provided in today's call includes forward-looking statements as well as non-GAAP financial measures. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance and involve risk and uncertainty. Actual results may differ materially from projections. Further information about these risks and uncertainties are set forth in our most recent annual report for the year ending December 31, 2021. Next slide, please.
I would like to spend just a few minutes describing Archer for new and old investors. Archer have a long and diverse history with origins back to Norway in the 1970s. Today, Archer is composed of three operational divisions: Platform Drilling, Well Services, and Land Drilling. The Platform Drilling includes platform drilling, modular rigs, and engineering, primarily supporting platform operations in the North Sea and Brazil. Except for the modular rigs, the operations are asset-light, manpower intense, and generates healthy and stable cash flow with stable margin. The majority of the 2,000 employees in this segment are involved in offshore drilling and workover operations. Platform Drilling account for roughly 50% of our consolidated revenues. Well Services includes our Oiltools and Wireline divisions, which provides differentiated technology offerings as well as support services to a wide range of customer and geography.
Oiltools has delivered growth on growth and delivers healthy margins. Wireline is primarily North Sea-focused and has expanded the operation considerably following the contract award from Equinor and ConocoPhillips in 2021. Our Land Drilling business operate land drilling rigs, work over units, and pulling units, primarily in Argentina. Today, we are the second largest land driller in Argentina and have a long history of performance in this market. We are recognized as the best land driller in the country, and we have gained important market share on the back of safety, service quality, and drilling performance. While Land Drilling in Latin America constitutes less than 25% of Archer's revenue, it is well positioned for an upside as market conditions improve. Slide four, please. Revenue in the quarter of $247 million represents an increase of $28 million compared to the first quarter.
Compared to Q2 2021, revenue increased by $18.7 million. Given a fairly stable activity level compared to Q1, our adjusted EBITDA came in at $20.9 million, broadly in line with our expectations. Excluding cost of acquisitions, the NIBD was also flat in the quarter. Excluding acquisitions, our net interest-bearing debt is down $16 million year-over-year, demonstrating that we deliver on our commitment to be cash positive. We have from time to time provided details around our backlog, but then more on contract status overview and not consolidated. In order to provide some visibility for our investors, we have outlined the current backlog for the years to come. The total backlog is estimated to exceed $2.5 billion, with roughly $900 million added to the firm backlog so far in 2022.
I will, in the following slide, share some further details on both the Iceland Drilling acquisitions, as well as the world record winning well intervention. Slide five, please. As announced earlier this week, we have signed an agreement to acquire 50% of the shares in Iceland Drilling for just over $8 million. Iceland Drilling is an international geothermal drilling and integrated Well Services company with seven decades of experience with drilling high and low temperature wells. They have drilled more than 500 deep geothermal wells since 1970, and owns a fleet of five hydraulic drilling rigs, as well as seven smaller units fitted for district heating projects. With the recent focus on renewable energy and the energy transition, we have taken our time to identify a compatible company to Archer's competency, which also provides synergies to both parties.
Geothermal drilling provides many growth opportunities with our existing asset base, experience, and core competencies. Furthermore, Iceland Drilling already has annual revenue of about $40 million, is profitable and generate positive cash flow. With spare capacity at current activity levels, we do not foresee a funding requirement for entity unless we ramp up the activity considerably. With this investment, we anchor our commitment to the ongoing energy transition. Slide 16. Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source that offers a stable base load, suitable to complement other renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar energy. The geothermal power market is part of the future energy mix, and will be able to replace some of the fossil energy.
According to IEA and industry experts, the geothermal power generation is set to grow substantially over the next decade, and the annual geothermal deep well count is expected to increase from 200 to 700 wells annually by 2030. We also believe the increased focus on deep heat in Europe will drive increased growth and technology advances in the segment. Given the multiple direct overlaps and synergies with Archer's core services, the geothermal drilling and service market is an extremely good fit to Archer. Slide 17. Further to my comment on the backlog on the introductory slide, we have visualized our backlogs split by contracts and assets. In total, we estimate our current backlog to exceed $2.5 billion, which gives good visibility in our activity for the coming years.
For Land Drilling, we see the main backlog is linked to our long-standing relationship with Pan American Energy and YPF. The main portion of our backlog in our Platform Drilling division is linked to the multi-year Platform Drilling contract. In our Well Services division, our Wireline divisions contribute most of the backlog, following the two large contracts awarded by ConocoPhillips and Equinor last year. Oiltools typically have frame agreements and less committed scope. We believe the backlog and a strong market position will position us well for additional work. Slide eight, please. We are thrilled that Archer has recently set a world record by successfully performing well intervention at 12.4 km. The Archer team successfully conveyed production logging sensors, utilizing ComTrac technology from a major customer in the Middle East.
This goes well beyond any alternative intervention solutions, and will enable us to develop a high-value, market-leading position as this technology matures. Apart from being able to intervene in many existing extended reach wells, normally unachievable, we are providing the ability to perform conveyed-based intervention at this depth, and also past these depths, hence enabling new well design for longer reach drilling than that has been done in the past. Slide 9, please. Brazil has, since 2009, been an important market for Archer, initially through the establishment of our Platform Drilling operations for Equinor on the Peregrino field. The Brazil offshore market has regained traction and new investments, which is illustrated by the substantial increase in production and operating expenses forecasted by Rystad for the next decade. Both Oiltools and Wireline has recently established operations in Brazil.
A milestone has been reached through the cooperation with Welltec for the provision of mechanical wireline for the Petrobras, which is starting up this quarter. Furthermore, Oiltools have recently signed contracts with Equinor and Petrobras. Clearly, Petrobras is the key operator for the Brazilian offshore production. Having gained sufficient momentum and volume, Brazil is a key growth area for Archer, with multiple prospects for business scope for both Platform Drilling and Well Services. With that, I hand over to Espen, who will take us through the operational slides for each division, as well as the finances in greater detail.
Thank you, Dag. Moving to slide 10. Revenue in the quarter increased by $6.1 million compared to previous quarter, whereas the corresponding increase compared to second quarter last year amounted to $12.3 million. Adjusting for the substantial reimbursable revenue, we note that the operational revenue is slightly exceeding the previous quarter and corresponding quarter last year. EBITDA increased meaningfully compared to previous quarter, with an increase of $1.9 million. On a general note, we experienced quite a bit of our activity being postponed into second half of 2022 and into next year. The current backlog for our well service division is largely driven by long-term wireline contracts with Equinor and ConocoPhillips. Oiltools typically have frame agreements with less visibility on future activity levels.
In addition to the firm backlog added during 2022 relates to Equinor contract extension awarded during first quarter, the frame agreement with OKEA in Norway, with Woodside and Santos in Australia, as well as Petrobras contract in Brazil for Oil tools. Moving to Slide 11, revenue from platform drilling, engineering, and our modular rigs increased by $12 million compared to previous quarter, of which $18.2 million is related to increased reimbursable revenue. When adjusting for increase in our reimbursable revenue, which has limited margins, the reduction in operating revenue over the quarter was $6.5 million, reflecting 1 additional platform being in maintenance mode compared to first quarter, and the strengthening of U.S. dollars compared to Norwegian kroner. In addition, the contribution from modular rigs is lower in the quarter due to standby rates.
As Dag presented in our backlog slide, Emerald will recommence operation during third quarter, and Topaz is scheduled for operation during fourth quarter. On the current backlog, we have firmed up substantial backlog through Equinor extensions of the platform drilling contract on 12 of their assets in Norway until end of 2024. Slide 12, please. Our revenue for land drilling increased by $9.2 million in second quarter, and by $17.2 million compared to corresponding quarter in 2021. We will look a bit on the market fundamentals in Argentina on the next slide, but we are very pleased with the positive trend in activity for our Argentine operations over the last quarters.
Despite the increase in activity, adjusted EBITDA came in at $4.6 million, or $1.1 million lower than previous quarter, related to higher adjustments for exceptional charges in first quarter related to COVID-19. We incurred a total of $1.2 million of exceptional charges in the quarter, a reduction of $1.3 million compared to previous quarter, resulting in a reported EBITDA of $3.4 million in the quarter, up 6% from first quarter. The exceptional charges relate to severance payments and cost of idle personnel. The current backlog additions during 2022 is primarily relating to contract extensions awarded by Pan American during the first quarter. In general, the market for drilling services in Argentina is improving, as we will discuss in greater details on the next slide. Moving to slide 13.
We have been muted on our statements regarding our operations in Argentina for quite a while, driven by the risks associated with doing business in Argentina in general. Following the agreement between Argentina and IMF on their debt, the focus on energy security, high oil prices, and on the back of that, the approval of the construction of new gas pipeline that will transport gas from Neuquén to Buenos Aires, we expect increased drilling activity in Argentina. Our view is supported by Rystad's outlook for the increase in rigs, which is expected to more than double towards 2025 compared to 2021 in Vaca Muerta Basin, where there is a need for high-spec rigs for the unconventional oil and gas production.
Given limited possibility to add new rigs to this basin in the short run, we expect to reap some growing profitability from the tightening of the rig market in the coming years. The production in Vaca Muerta shale formation in Neuquén recorded further production records, as shown in the upper right graph. While activity is at an all-time high, persistent supply chain bottlenecks suggest there is not a lot of room for incremental increase in activity in the next few quarters. Yet, oil output is still set for significant growth in coming years. Rystad Energy's research shows that region's production could exceed 300,000 barrels per day early next year, expanding further to 400,000 barrels per day in 2024. This will help the country's oil production to rebound to levels not seen in nearly 20 years.
Nationwide oil production is approaching 580,000 barrels per day, with Vaca Muerta accounting for virtually all of the growth and offsetting declines in the conventional reservoirs. Looking at slide 14, we see that our total revenue for second quarter amounted to $246.6 million, compared to $228 million last year, an increase of $18.7 million. When netting off reimbursable revenue, we see that operating revenue decreased by $3 million compared to second quarter 2021. For the quarter, the adjusted EBITDA was $20.9 million, $1.4 million lower than corresponding quarter in 2021. We incurred exceptional charges for the quarter amounting to $1.4 million. The majority of these costs are related to severance payments and idle personnel in Argentina.
In our other financial items, we include a non-cash foreign exchange loss on intercompany loan balances of roughly $20 million in the quarter, which was to some extent offset by positive mark-to-market value adjustment of our interest rate caps of $7 million in the quarter. We report a net loss of $17.8 million in the quarter, largely driven by other financial item just mentioned. Slide 15, please. Total assets increased by $5.2 million compared to year-end 2021. The increase is mainly explained by increase in cash from the drawdown of our loan facility during first quarter, offset by a reduction in carrying value of our goodwill and property, plants, and equipment, following the strengthening of U.S. dollar.
Net Interest-Bearing Debt came out at $508.9 million, which is a modest increase compared to year-end, largely explained by the final installment related to the DeepWell acquisition in 2021, as well as settlement for the Ziebel acquisition, which totaled roughly $7 million. The reduction in equity is a result of loss year-to-date, as well as foreign exchange effect on goodwill. The book value of our equity is $66.3 million at the end of June. We continue to preserve our liquidity and have more than $97 million in available liquidity, which includes undrawn and committed credit lines after paying roughly $5 million in installment at the end of second quarter. Slide 16, please. Before rounding up the call with our financial outlook, we want to shed some light on the market outlook.
For the three key metrics for our operations, operator OpEx, global service demand, and investment in wells, we are expected to grow in volume compared to 2020 and 2021. These are global trends according to Rystad market data. The oil and gas market has changed considerably following the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. This has resulted in an enhanced focus on energy security and supply diversification. We believe that the focus on energy security and diversification will have positive implications for commodity prices, environment, for energy investment over the next few years in general. The industry is responding to the high commodity price environment by undertaking short-cycle investments. We believe the current market conditions will support strong activity within our core markets, with continued high oil price in the medium term.
More than 90% of Archer revenue is within late life brownfield operations, which is less impacted by changes to the oil price. The outlook for oil services market is unpredictable at the moment, with high pressure on the energy mix, risk of need for replacing Russian barrels, and the overall macro environment with high inflation and increasing interest rates, which might impact demand going forward. Despite the volatile market, we believe current market conditions will support strong activity within our core markets, with continued high oil price in the short-term future. The investment in Iceland Drilling represents another step for us towards our global goal of having 35% of our revenues coming from energy transition activities by 2040.
We have vast expertise in the well service and drilling sector, and geothermal and carbon storage represents the two markets in the energy transitions that are closest to our core markets. Slide 17, please. First half of 2022 is turning out to be a transition period for Archer, where our main clients in the North Sea are drilling fewer wells due to maintenance of platforms, and our clients in Argentina are initially holding back drilling activity, pending the agreement with IMF and the construction of the recently approved gas pipeline from Vaca Muerta to Buenos Aires. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a wake-up call for the energy security within our core markets. This, in combination with under investment in new oil and gas developments, puts pressure on oil and gas prices, which incentivize investments going forward.
Looking beyond 2022, we remain optimistic on the market fundamentals for Archer's activity and operations. As we see it today, we reiterate our 2022 guidance for both revenue and EBITDA to be moderately higher in 2022 than in 2021. The modest increase in EBITDA for the full year 2022 compared to 2021 implies a substantial ramp-up in second half of 2022 compared to first half. We continue to guide our CapEx of approximately 3% of revenues and continue to expect we will generate positive cash and reduce our NIBD year over year when adjusting for the acquisitions during the year. Looking into 2023, we believe the activity for Archer operations will expand.
We believe operators' plans for increased drilling in the North Sea, the positive development in Argentina, as well as general increase in oil and gas activity, will positively impact Archer's revenue and EBITDA into 2023. With that, I will hand the call over to the operator for any questions. Thank you. Lydia, will you please open the line for questions?
Absolutely. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad now. To withdraw your question, it's star followed by two, and when preparing to speak, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. That's star followed by one to ask a question today. We have no questions on the line at the moment, but if you do want to, it's star followed by one. There are no questions on the line, so I'll turn the call back to Espen Joranger for closing remarks.
We appreciate everyone joining us for this quarterly call, and we look forward to speaking to you next quarter. Thank you, and have a good day.