Good afternoon, everyone. This is Eyad Ghulam on behalf of SNB Capital. I would like to welcome you to a conference call with Arabian Drilling management regarding the full year 2023 earnings results of the company. We will first listen to the management feedback. Following this, we will open the floor to questions. With no further ado, I will hand over to Mr. Raed Al-Marhoon, Investor Relations Manager.
Thank you, Eyad. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Arabian Drilling's earnings call for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. Our thanks to SNB Capital for hosting this call. We have recently announced our financial results, and the documents are available on our Investor Relations website. As usual, we must start with a disclaimer, so I invite you to read it at your convenience. I would like to take a moment to introduce our speakers for today's call. First, we will hear from our CEO, Mr. Ghassan Mirdad, who will provide an overview of our performance. Then we will have our CFO, Mr. Hubert Lafeuille, who will take us through the company's financial performance. The agenda for today's session will cover various topics, including a look back at 2023, some key milestones achieved, and a review of our operational and financial performance, including forward-looking guidance.
We will then open the floor for your questions. I would like now to hand over to our CEO, Mr. Ghassan Mirdad.
Thank you very much for the introduction, Eyad. Assalamu alaikum, Ramadan Mubarak, and welcome to all participants joining us today. Before we go through the details of the presentation, I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to our team, our business partners. 2023 was a year of hard work, unwavering commitment, and outstanding achievements at all levels of the company. Let me take you through the major milestones achieved in 2023, starting clockwise. In February, we received various awards for the two capital market transactions we did in 2022: our SAR 2 billion Sukuk and the IPO. June marked the completion of our shipyard work as we started the mobilization of our three latest jackups within one month, highlighting the excellent efficiency of our team. In July, we were awarded the 10 new unconventional land rigs. In August, we announced multi-rig, multi-year extension with Aramco.
Two of our rigs received a 10-year extension, resulting in a record high backlog in Q3. In November, we paid our first post-IPO dividends and returned SAR 225 million to our shareholders. We wrapped up the year in December by mobilizing one of our land rigs to drill the first geothermal well with Aramco, representing a new area of growth in line with the sustainability agenda of the country. Now let's take a closer look at our performance for Q4 2023 in slide 8. Overall, we have delivered a strong quarter, both operationally and financially, achieving record high returns. Starting with operations, we have maintained a steady level of rig activity this quarter, with 47 active rigs, the same as last quarter. However, due to the recent retirement of our land rig AD28, our total available fleet has decreased by one unit, going from 50 to 49 rigs.
This adjustment brings our current utilization rate up to 96% within 47 active rigs out of 49. We are seeing a significant improvement in non-productive time this quarter, coming in just under 1%. This translates to a strong rig efficiency index score of 93.5%. Our rig move performance has improved to 1.6 days saved per move this quarter, boosting our operational efficiency as well. On the safety front, our total recordable injury frequency rate was in line with the last quarter and still three times lower than the global industry average. We are also pleased to announce the finalization of our comprehensive corporate sustainability framework. This outlines our commitment to environmental, social, responsibility, and ethical governance to guide our long-term sustainability efforts. Moving on to the financials, which Hubert will cover later in more details.
Our Q4 revenue grew 7% quarter on quarter, and we closed just shy of SAR 1 billion, benefiting from the full impact of the jackups that started in the last quarter. We saw a significant double-digit jump in our EBITDA of 11%. This is nearly double the rate of our revenue growth, translating into a profitable margin of 44%. Our Q4 net income has shown tremendous improvement and is up 31%, with an excellent fall through. Our cash flow from operation reached SAR 441 million, a substantial improvement largely driven by favorable forecasts. On the growth front, we made great progress. We recently announced the award of three additional unconventional rigs, bringing us to a total of 13 rigs out of a total of 23 awarded. Backlog remains very strong, with a book-to-bill ratio of 3.4 x and an average contract term of 2.6 years per rig.
Finally, we have now completed the pre-qualification process with Kuwait Oil Company, which opens the opportunity to start expanding regionally. Moving on to the latest contract and market update on slide 10. We are happy to see that we continue to grow in the unconventional gas space. The three new rigs awarded mean that our firm contract backlog will increase by up to SAR 850 million and will be added to the backlog in Q1 2024. The total CapEx program will be shy of SAR 500 million. In Q4 2023, we have added approximately SAR 100 million of backlog, with the current Khafji Joint Operations as follows. First, we renewed our MPSV AD20 for another year until November 2024. Second, we won a multi-well contract for a land rig AD29 that was not contracted and which just started this month.
As we are about to receive the first of the 10 new unconventional rigs, we will focus on the commissioning and client acceptance in Q2, and we expect the associated revenue to start flowing in Q3 2024. To date, there have been no changes on our offshore fleet activity. We currently have 9 rigs contracted with Aramco, and we are working on mitigating plans to address any potential offshore fleet downsizing, including returning leased rigs if necessary. Our growing land footprint provides resilient and stable stability to our business. As mentioned, we are now qualified by Kuwait Oil Company for the medium and deep drilling segment. As mentioned, in the past, Kuwait is a market that forms part of our regional expansion plans. Looking at the backlog, the position at the end of the year was SAR 11.9 billion.
This represents an SAR 800 million reduction compared to last quarter, coming from SAR 900 million of revenue burn rate during the quarter, partially offset by the SAR 100 million of firm contract backlog addition with Khafji Joint Operations, as discussed earlier. Aramco remains our main customer and holds 85% of our current backlog, with 55% attributed to the growing land segment. In 2024, we have seven rigs rolling off contract. Of these, three are offshore rigs: one with Aramco and two with Khafji Joint Operations, which are all under negotiation. For the four remaining on the land side, one rig has been extended this month. Two are under negotiation for extension, and the last one saw its contract end in January and is being actively marketed. Now, looking at our operational performance, we have delivered a strong quarter with most of our operational KPIs up.
Aramco's 36-month rig efficiency index average was stable at 93.5%, and we have seen more than 80% of our Aramco rigs scoring in the high and superior performance category. Additionally, our non-productive time has also decreased in Q4, and the 12-month rolling average is showing a trend of excellent progression quarter-over-quarter. Finally, we have also performed very well on the rig moves, with an average of 1.6 days saved per rig move during the quarter. For 2023, we have performed 175 rig moves and saved a total of 182 days compared to Aramco KPI. This means one day saved per rig move, and this is equivalent to an additional six months in day-rate revenue. As mentioned before, our utilization rate has gone up to 96%, but this is only a function of reduction of available fleet size by one unit, going from 50 rigs to 49.
Overall, we have the same number of operational rigs: 47 with 12 offshore and 35 onshore. This concludes our operational review, and I will now hand it over to Hubert, who will discuss our financial performance. Hubert?
Thank you, Ghassan. Good afternoon, everyone. Moving on to some highlights on slide 14. As mentioned earlier, our financial performance in Q4 has been particularly good, and we have seen an acceleration in our ability to deliver a strong return. To start with the financial review, let's have a snapshot at some of those highlights. Our revenue grew quarter-over-quarter at 7% and was the highest ever. Our EBITDA was strong at SAR 435 million at a 44% margin level. Our CapEx was SAR 535 million, of which approximately 50% related to the 10 new unconventional rigs program. Our free cash flow was -SAR 93 million due to the high CapEx investment level seen during the quarter. Our return on equity was 10.1%, calculated as net income over total equity. Our net debt was SAR 1.75 billion, with a net debt over EBITDA leverage ratio of 1.2x.
Moving on to our returns profile, I will first address quarterly numbers before talking about full years. So for the quarters, our sequential revenue growth was 7%, with a quarterly revenue of SAR 927 million, our highest ever, as I mentioned. The single-digit growth in our revenue has delivered a double-digit growth in our EBITDA and net income, with a +11% and +31% increase, respectively. This means that more than 60% of the revenue growth has flown through and materialized in EBITDA and net income growth. For Q4 2023, again, the good results are coming from strong revenue, with a favorable impact of three main items. First, we had the benefits for the full quarter of the three new jackups that started in July. Second, we have improved operational performance and NPT, as Ghassan has mentioned. And third, we also have seen additional rig move activity during the quarter.
Overall, our Q4 EBITDA of SAR 435 million came with a strong margin of 44%, and our Q4 net income of SAR 183 million was in excess of 18% profitability. Approximately half of our Q4 CAPEX of SAR 535 million related to the 10 new rigs unconventional program, as I mentioned. To date, we have spent approximately one-third of the total CAPEX program, which is estimated to be around SAR 1.7 billion-SAR 1.8 billion. Now, I'm going to address the full year 2023 numbers. For the full year, we closed with a revenue of SAR 3.5 billion, which represents a 29% year-on-year growth, mainly driven by an increase in activity coming from the offshore. In 2023, we had an average of 44.5 sorry, 45.4 active rigs per month. Our full year 2023 revenue was on the top of the range of our 2023 guidance.
Our full year 2023 EBITDA was SAR 1,485 million, with a 30% year-on-year growth in line with the revenue growth. Our margin level of 42.7% was also in line with our expectation. Our net income for the full year was SAR 605 million, which is a 25% year-on-year growth, equivalent to SAR 6.79 in earnings per share. Overall, our profit level was in excess of 17%, close to that of last year. The net income for full year 2022 of SAR 484 million was adjusted to exclude the impact of a one-time tax effect of SAR 74 million. For the full year 2023, the total CAPEX was close to SAR 1.9 billion, of which SAR 1.2 billion related to the fleet expansion, about SAR 400 million related to the sustaining CAPEX for the existing fleets, and another SAR 300 million related to facilities, spare equipment, and/or rig move company offsets.
The CapEx related to facilities included the acquisition of a building to host our learning academy, as well as various head office and facilities upgrades we have completed during the year. Now, looking at our segmental reporting, let us focus on offshore first, which is on the top half of the slides. For the offshore segments, we reported a quarterly revenue of SAR 448 million, with a revenue quarter-over-quarter increase of 7%, again, due to the full quarter impact of the three new offshore rigs that started in July. Our full year 2023 revenue of SAR 1,467 million has almost doubled compared to that of last year. More than 80% of the incremental revenue year-on-year came from the contribution of the five latest jackups.
The increase in the gross profits, both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, was in line with the increase of the revenue, with a margin level of 43%-44%. Compared to 2022, gross profit was impacted by the startup of three jackups, as well as additional compensation costs to retain our operational rig crews. These gross profits include direct fuel costs, as well as depreciation. It does not include G&A interest, tax, and other income. For this reason, gross profit, as shown on the slide, does not compare with EBITDA. For the land segments, the revenue increase of SAR 30 million quarter-on-quarter is mainly due to an increase in rig moves. For the full year 2023, we closed with a revenue of SAR 2 billion, which is a 6% sequential increase.
The increase is mainly due to higher rig activity, with a net increase of +2 active rigs in 2023 compared to 2022. Full year 2023 gross profit is showing a 23% decrease, mainly due to the combined effect of the startup costs of the 10 unconventional rigs, as well as higher compensation and employee-related costs incurred during the year. Moving on to this slide, we are introducing a cash flow bridge to provide a comprehensive overview of the moving parts. So this bridge shows the cash progression between year-end 2022 and year-end 2023. So overall, the cash position has progressed by SAR 0.6 billion. We have SAR 1.5 billion of EBITDA, offset by a CapEx of SAR 1.9 billion, again, of which SAR 1.2 billion relates to fleet expansion.
On the financing front, we had SAR 1 billion of short-term deposits, with a maturity in excess of three months that was not classified as cash as of 31st of December 2022. This deposit matured in 2023 and were reinvested with maturity less than three months and are, therefore, now showing as cash in 2023. During the quarter, we drew another SAR 500 million in bank loans to complete the ongoing CapEx project. And then we have other disbursements, such as dividend, interest, lease obligation, etc. Overall, we closed 2023 with a cash position in excess of SAR 1.4 billion, of which shy of SAR 1 billion is invested in short-term deposits as an offset to the cost of servicing the debts. Moving on to the detail of our debt profile.
As we mentioned in the past, our net debt is increasing, given that we are in full steam ahead in our CapEx growth cycle. In 2023, again, we spent roughly SAR 1.2 billion on fleet expansion, and we expect to spend another SAR 1.5 billion-SAR 1.7 billion in 2024 only for the fleet expansion. Overall, since we began our fleet expansion program back in 2022, we are talking about a total CapEx plan in excess of SAR 4 billion. So we closed 2023 with a net debt shy of SAR 1.8 billion, which is double what it was a year ago. However, please keep in mind that we remain very moderately leveraged, with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.2 multiple. To put it into perspective, again, we have communicated that we wanted to maintain a long-term leverage ratio below 1.75, which means that we have room for further growth.
Our gross debt, as of 31st of December 2023, was SAR 3 billion and has increased by SAR 500 million in the quarter as we drew another bank loan to complete the 10 new build rigs program. Our gross debt is made of a Sukuk with a principal of SAR 2 billion and two bank loans of SAR 500 million each. In 2024, we have a loan repayment obligation of SAR 100 million related to one of the two bank loans. The other bank loan comes with a grace period of one year, and therefore, there are no repayment obligations in 2024. Moving on to the forward-looking guidance. Full year 2024 revenues expect to be in the range of SAR 3.6 billion-SAR 3.9 billion. This guidance corresponds to an average of 46-51 active rigs per month, taking into account the startup of the 10 new rigs in Q3 2024.
Our full year 2024 guidance for CapEx is expected to be in the range of SAR 2.2 billion to SAR 2 sorry, SAR 2.1 billion-SAR 2.4 billion, fueled by the continuation of the 13 rigs unconventional CapEx program, estimated to be between SAR 1.5 billion-SAR 1.7 billion, as mentioned earlier. Finally, on the dividend, the board has approved a dividend of SAR 2.53 per share, totaling SAR 225 million. This dividend payout does not require the approval of the shareholder general assembly and will be paid early April 2024. Overall, the dividend for period 2023 is SAR 5.06 per share, corresponding to SAR 450 million returns to our shareholders. As we go through the current investment cycle, the board will continue to assess future dividends based on the company's ongoing CapEx program and cash management requirements to support the long-term sustainable growth.
This concludes my section, and I will now hand back it over to Ghassan for his closing remarks.
Thank you, Hubert. In closing today's presentation, we are confident that our business model and footprint will see us deliver continuous top-line growth in the year ahead. 2024 will mark the peak of our current investment cycle, with all upfront OpEx and CapEx costs coming through before we can start to enjoy the benefit of our expanding fleet and incremental revenue. Our team are laser-focused on deploying the 10 unconventional rigs to maintain our reputation with our clients. Of course, we are also being proactive to mitigate any impact from the change in the offshore segment and remain engaged with our clients. We have delivered on the offshore expansion and are now delivering on our land segment.
As a result, our segmental mix is evolving, and the growing land contribution, although at a lower margin, will bring longer-term stability. This is something that we are mentioning at the time of the IPO as well. I will now hand over to Eyad from SNB Capital for the Q&A session.
Thank you, Ghassan. Ladies and gentlemen, now we'll start the Q&A session. If you wish to ask a question, please raise your hand or type in the Q&A box. Thank you for holding until we have our first question. The first question is from the line of Zohaib Perwaiz. Zohaib, your line is now open. Please unmute locally.
This is Zohaib Perwaiz from Al Rayan Investment. I've got two questions. I'll start off with two questions. Firstly, your rig moves were similar from third quarter to fourth quarter. However, your revenue was quite higher for the rig moves.
Could you give us the rationale why that was the case? My second question is regarding, you mentioned that the costs were higher because of employees being compensated more. If I remember, the last quarter, you had mentioned there is a lot of demand for the employees. But now, with the change in Aramco's strategy, do you think this cost structure will continue, or you will see some rationalization of cost for employees? Thank you.
Okay. So for the first question on the rig moves, the way we get compensated in the rig move, it's on distance. So if your rig move has a longer distance, then the cost of the rig move is more, and you get compensated for it. So it was just the distance changes from quarter to quarter. You might have the same rig moves, but the distances are different.
So this is for the first one. On the second one, so what we did is when we, in 2022, realized that our rig crew are being kind of poached because you've seen a huge increase on the offshore fleet, and that was the easiest talent pool to get if you have any problem getting people from outside. So we built a retention plan. And it was a very good retention plan because we've seen people not leaving us. And this retention plan has a window, and then it stops. So it's just a matter. It's not going to continue, of course. So we'll see this stopping with time.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ricardo Rezende. Ricardo, you are now unmuted.
For taking my question.
If I may, following up on something that Ghassan mentioned during his remarks on the outlook for the jackups, Aramco was quite vocal about the potential for gas, and they even mentioned that we should see the number of rigs stable in Saudi. So when we look at your jackups, if you would be willing to bid for some gas contracts, how much do you think you have to spend on the jackups to make them ready to drill for gas? And then the second question is on the regional expansion. You now got the pre-qualification in Kuwait and also with all of the potential for unconventional gas in Saudi. Does it still make sense to look for inorganic opportunities in the region? Thank you.
Okay.
So the first question on the moving from oil to gas, Aramco has very high standards when the requirements on the offshore or on the land rigs. So most of the rigs, not all, but most of the rigs, especially the offshore, you can actually move them with very little CapEx cost because it's actually part of the requirement. So the rigs would drill for oil or for gas. So when the client says, "Okay, Ghassan or AD, please shift to a gas well in the offshore," most probably there is no change in CapEx or equipment upgrades because they're already within that standard. So hopefully, that would cover the first question. The second question, so in the expansion, I think they're both good, to be honest. If you have an expansion on the unconventional and expansion to Kuwait, they both kind of give good returns.
It's just which one comes first. So today, we're approved by KOC. We just have to wait for the cycle of the tendering. And as well, we're looking after we deploy the 10 rigs for the unconventional, we start going back and being active and seeing if there is any M&A within the region as well. But I mean, I think both are lucrative and both are good for our shareholders of debt.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abdullah Al-Hakami. Abdullah, you can go ahead, please, and unmute locally. Yes. Please go ahead, Abdullah.
السلام عليكم ورمضان مبارك عليكم جميعا. السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته. تفضل. I just have a couple of questions.
If you could just give us a color on the offshore day rates of the last contracted rigs in the market, just to get a sense where the last bid landed at and if you expect these day rates to kind of be stable going forward, especially following Aramco's announcement. So that's the first question. The second question is on the onshore. I think you mentioned that there's one rig that has been expired in January and couldn't be marketed. Who was the customer of that rig?
Okay. So the customer is Baker. So Baker reduced one of their rig fleet. Actually, they took another rig and reduced this one. There was a swap. There's a swap. It was kind of a swap. So now we're marketing this rig with other service providers.
Okay.
So on the offshore day rate, I mean, I think we're in the north of $100,000, right? So we cannot give you the exact number, but I mean, it's in the north of $100,000 per day. And it's too early to see what's going on and how Aramco would come across. I mean, all what we know is there will be some shift from oil to gas. There might be some reduction, but it's still nothing communicated to us, so. I mean, the day rate, we have a mixed bag of legacy rates, I mean, rigs that were contracted in the past at a time where the market was in a completely different cycle, and then we have the latest fixtures that came. So it's a mixed bag. So overall, on average, it's about $100,000. But the latest fixtures were all north of $100,000.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Abdullah. We will take a question from the Q&A box. It's coming from Shorouq Salim. He's asking, "You have a high number of rigs going off contract or due to renewal in 2026. Do you plan to renegotiate them earlier or all of them in 2026?"
So you're very right. What happened is some of our customers tried to close some contracts during the pandemic, and we did not. We asked instead of closing a long-term contract during the pandemic with low rates, we asked to delay. So all of them came just after the pandemic, and we renewed a lot of contracts. And that's why you see yeah, you see 2025 is the year that you're going to see a lot of renewals that's going to come.
I think this I mean, the renewal will start maybe starting end of the year, starting looking at it and seeing what we need to renew and starting the negotiation. We do have some, I think, one or two rigs that ends next year are we negotiating right now, actually, for a longer extension.
But I mean. I mean, yeah, we have a big portion of the fleet coming off contract in 2025. But remember, I mean, those rigs have been working for a long time, right? So these are the rigs that we keep rolling and rolling over, right? So they've been here for more than they've been here for more time than for quite a long time. So we expect them to be renewed, and it has always been the case.
But it's just the timing of the extension usually is closer to the time of the end of the contract, like 3-5 months before the contract expires, so.
Okay. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aakarsh Tomar. Aakarsh, please go ahead.
I have a question and a follow-up on your previous answer. So the first question is, "Can you remind us what is your maintenance CapEx currently on an annual basis?" And a follow-up on the previous one, you said that the rig that got expired was from Baker, and it was a swap. So when you say it was a swap, they took the rig from someone else, or one of your rigs was changed to that? How did that go about?
So yeah. I mean, yeah. So I call it musical chairs.
So what happened is one rig from Schlumberger was asked to release because we were doing very well. And then Baker said, "I want to take that rig." They took the rig, but then they had some challenges to keep all of the rigs, so they reduced one rig. So it's just musical chairs now. Now we're having one or two, actually, our service providers ask us, "Okay, can we take the rig?" So this is kind of what happens between the service providers. So on the CapEx side, so as we mentioned, so in 2023, we had roughly SAR 400 million of CapEx for the existing fleets, and we had, on average, about 45 active rigs throughout the year. So you can do the math. But the one thing is that out of the SAR 400 million, there is also a lot of things that are sometimes refurbishment.
So this one needs to be so you would need to take out from the SAR 400 million things that are specific refurbishment and some specific life enhancements. So to be fair, you can say that from a sustaining CapEx, purely sustaining CapEx, excluding any life enhancement, etc., it's about SAR 7 million-SAR 8 million per rig per year on an average. seven- eight.
Okay. Thank you. Did that answer the question? Yeah. I think he underestimates the answer, so I think okay. So the next question is from the Q&A box. A question from Jerry is asking, "Can you provide more color on the offshore rig mitigation plans, and can you remind us of how many offshore rigs are released?"
Yeah. How many offshore rigs are released and what kind of mitigation plans we have in place? Okay. So this question comes quite often.
So look, the way what we see, maybe the offshore market is the one that's going to be kind of having an impact, and we don't know what's the impact. But look, if you look at my fleet, it's 49. I have 13 offshore. Out of the 13, I have 9 with Aramco. And out of the 9, I have 2 under bareboat charter or leased. So I mean, this is what we see. I mean, if there is any rigs that's going to be changed from oil to gas, that's continuation of operation. We don't see any problem there. If there is any need to release, we have 2 rigs on bareboat charter. And as well, we can see if we can divert it to another client because we have as well another client who works offshore that we can try to utilize the rig with as well.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to remind you, if you have any further questions, please raise your hand or type in the Q&A box. We have a question from Hassan Youssef. Hassan, please go ahead. Question.
First, there is some talk about the use of new energy or using of thermo energy.
Yes. Geothermal.
Okay. Is there any more details about this from the?
So alhamdulillah, I think we were one of the companies that was selected to drill for geothermal, just to give the audience a bit on the geothermal. You drill to get heat from the ground, and you can pump water, and it comes back as steam, and you can generate energy. So it becomes clean energy that you get. The challenge here is you drill deep. You drill through tough rocks.
So we were chosen, and now we start drilling the first geothermal well in Saudi Arabia. And there is more wells to be drilled, knowing the vision of the country and Aramco looking at sustainability and addressing geothermal that was actually addressed more than once by Aramco. And I think we are in the forefront of this area that we started right now. And hopefully, future wells to come, we'll be as well trying our best to make sure that we're addressing them in Saudi Arabia. So we're the first, and the experience will be the first to be learning on this experience, which is good for us. So whenever we want to put more rigs into this, hopefully, we'll be the first to gain that market.
Okay. And when is that expected to happen? I mean, how many?
Oh, we started. We started already. So we started. Okay.
We started the first geothermal. We started the first geothermal. So yeah. So what happens in geothermal, first, you drill one well in a certain area, and you assess if this is the right place you want to drill and see if that provides the right heat that you want. And if it's that the area, then you drill more wells in the same area. If not, then you move to another and assess another area. So I think what I know, there is more than one area was addressed. We were the first to be selected, and as well, another competitor was selected as well. From the total competition, there's only two companies who were selected, and we started first.
Okay. How can we see how this will affect our revenue in the future in the short term and the midterm?
So when I drill a geothermal well, normally, it's just like drilling a normal well. But all what we're doing is there is more demand. So in the past, the demand only was to drill in oil or gas. Now there is oil, gas, and geothermal as well. But the rates are the same. Everything is the same. It's still the same as drilling a normal well. It's just more demand. That's what we highlighted.
Yeah. Okay. That's very good. One more question, if you will allow me. Do we have any offshore rigs that will expire the contract within 2024? And is that with Aramco, so that will be affect the new or the coming contracts?
So if you look at the slide. There are three. So offshore, there is three. Out of the three, there is two of them with Khafji Joint Operations and one with Aramco.
Actually, we are in the middle of negotiating this rig with Aramco for an extension. Is it positive negotiation? Is it going to be a positive, productive negotiation? So I mean, if you ask me, I think it's positive. This rig has a special feature that is we call it low draft. Shallow draft. That means the rig can go to very shallow locations where not all of the rigs can go to. So that's why I think it's more on the positive side.
Okay. That's very good. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question from the Q&A box is from Nafez Al-Abbas. He's asking, "Any planned maintenance days for the fleet?"
So you mean in 2024?
Yes.
I mean, we always go through a cycle where there is always planned maintenance, which is planned because if you recall what we're saying is that some of the components of the rigs, which is, for instance, the well control equipment, that needs to be recertified every five years. So at any point in time, we always have a rig or more than one rig in our fleets that has to go through maintenance during the year. But it's a rollover effect. So it's not like there is one particular year saying so. It's true that we have a cycle coming up. We added 16 rigs in 2018, yeah, which are coming up for the cycle.
But all of this is planned, and all of this is already planned in the budget and in the numbers. Okay. Thank you. There's another question in the Q&A box from Ali Al-Saghri. He's asking about the negative free cash flow in the second half and the dividend distribution, which I think it relates to how you're going to see the dividends going forward with your major CapEx plans increasing. So on the negative free cash flow, it's very simple. I mean, we generate cash flow from operation of $400+ million, and we spend CapEx of $500+ million. So the difference between the two so we spend $100 million more in CapEx than we generate cash from operation.
This is why we have a negative free cash flow, and it's something which is completely expected considering where we are in the cycle and in the CapEx growth. As far as the dividends, we declared a dividend of SAR 2.53, which will be paid on the 2nd of April. This is for the period H2 2023. And for future dividends, again, the board, as always, they will actively review and assess the situation, taking into consideration the need for returning value to the shareholder with the need of reinvesting for growth initiatives. It's just an assessment that takes place every time, balancing out where we are on the cycle, what are the cash management requirements, the cash requirement, etc., etc.
So the board will do its work when it comes when the moment is due to assess the H1 2024 dividend.
Thank you. We have a follow-up question from the line of Aakarsh Tomar. Aakarsh, please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you again for giving the opportunity to ask the question. I just want to know how much of the rigs are there in the kingdom apart from Aramco in offshore? So based on my understanding, Aramco has 90 offshore rigs currently, somewhere in that range. How many are the other players rigs with other players?
So Aramco is there 90-plus, and then we schedule that. And we have KJO, who has 3 rigs, all with us. And that's it? Or Schlumberger? The whole fleet of Saudi. In the kingdom, yes. In the kingdom. So roughly 93 offshore rigs. Plus to minus, yeah.
And the ones that you mentioned with Baker Hughes and Schlumberger?
These are all land rigs.
These are all land rigs. Okay.
So all of the lump sum turnkey are land rigs. So we have our client, is Baker and Schlumberger. Schlumberger has been with us for quite some time. We have a lot of rigs with them. Baker started with us with 2 rigs in 2022, starting with 2. And today, we have around 6 now. We have around 6. So this tells you, even though we're not the cheapest, but they see because we can deliver faster than other contractors, we went from 2 to 6. And the third player who's in the market that we don't have a contract with is Halliburton, and we're trying to see how we can have them then if we have Halliburton and Weatherford.
These are the four players in the market that they have lump sum turnkey: Halliburton, Baker, Schlumberger, and Weatherford. We have contract with two of them.
Thank you. All the best for the future. We are waiting for your invitation to the rig that you said you'll be inviting us.
You're more than welcome. More than welcome to the show. Send us some date, and we'll organize that. Not today. All of us.
Thank you. We have two more questions in the Q&A box. I'll read them together. The first one from Shorouq Salim. He's asking, "How many of the 22 land rigs going off contract in 2025 are with Aramco?" And the second question is from Umer Farooq. He's asking about, "What is the payback period/IRR for the 13 unconventional rigs?"
Okay. Let's go one by one.
So the first one is, "How many out of the land rigs in 2025 are with Aramco?" Right? Yes. I mean, there is a big chunk. Most of it, yeah. No. You have 10 with Schlumberger and gas. So you have a big chunk. The big chunk. We have a big chunk with Schlumberger and some with Aramco. And these LSTKs, usually, they just again, it's the same thing. At the end, they serve Aramco. So Aramco just puts a tender. And today, Schlumberger and Arabian Drilling, kind of, they have the full market share in the gas, in LSTK. So the only player in the gas today is Schlumberger, and the rig contractor is Arabian Drilling. And this has been there for quite some time now. So I think 11 of them is with Schlumberger, and the rest with Aramco, if I'm not mistaken.
That's what I recall, if my memory is right. Yeah. No, thank you. It's interesting. So that's the first part of the question. And the second one, what's the second one? Yeah? Well, it's payback on the unconventional. Payback period, yes. One more question. One more question. Right. So the payback is, as we like to say now, we like to have a simple payback, which is basically very close to 100% simple payback by the time we reach the end of the contract, which is primary term plus the option. So for the unconventional, the contract is a 5+1-year contract. And we have 100% of the payback slightly after that period, but most of the payback is there by the end of the contract. So I think I recall it's about between 7 or 8 years out of a 6-year contract. So we find that.
The IRR, one of the things that we look at is IRR that obviously would be higher than the weighted average cost of capital, so that creates value. So we're talking about the IRR in the low teens, low- to mid-low teens to mid-teens.
Okay. Thank you. The next question is from Saleh Al-Rakaf. He's asking, "Gross profit margin for the offshore declined from 44.4% in Q3 to 43.3% in Q4 despite the full impact of the 3 offshore rigs. What was the reason?" He's talking about quarter and quarter, not full year.
Sorry. Yeah. Let's go to the slide. Yeah. I think it has to do with the retention bonus. I believe that it has to do with the retention bonus. So we have a retention plan that we keep that is a 3-year program that has been accrued.
And I think it has to do with the timing of the accrual of the retention program that has affected it actually has affected both the offshore and the land segments. That's the only thing that's the only thing that I can think of. Yeah. Nothing really has changed other than the timing of the accrual of that particular retention plan. And just to, I mean, just to clarify on the retention plan, if we lose a crane operator on a rig, the whole rig stops. If you lose the chief electrician, chief mechanics on the rig, the rig stops. So we build a very strong retention plan to assure that. And our crew have been literally headhunted. I mean, they've been targeted because we have the most experienced Saudis in the market and the crew as well.
So we spend a lot on training, a lot on development. So we need to make sure a very strong retention plan. And this applies across the board. So all of the crane operators in the whole 50 or 49 rigs, the whole chief mechanics, chief electricians, so all of the key positions had a very good three-year retention plan, which worked very, very, very well. But it's a hefty, big one, but it's needed to assure that we don't lose our crew.
Thank you. There's another question from Zohaib Perwaiz. He's asking, "Was there a one-off resulting in the professional expense to increase in 2023?"
So in 2023 was a bit of a I'll start maybe on this.
So 2023 was a bit of a year of reengineering, and I mean, we've been looking at revamping our business operating model, and we have engaged a number of consultants to help us doing so. So yes, it was a particularly high year in terms of professional consulting just because of all the work that has been going on, whether in the HSE, on the HR side, on the strategy side. There was a lot of I mean, just to give you an example, actually, this is something that I'm very proud of. I was invited by our client, Aramco, to present. I mean, on professional fees on the AI, artificial intelligence, and how we can improve. And this is something new to the rig business that kind of the new management brought to the table.
So I presented our ideas with the behavior center and how we can improve safety. This idea took, I mean, I'll tell you, took very, very fast interest by Aramco. We had Aramco R&D working with us to partner with us how we can go to the next level of safety with AI. I was invited in Riyadh, I think the week last week or the week before on LEAP to present the same thing. It just tells you we put some investments that how we can transform the company. And this was one of them that really is showing a big difference. Now, even our competitors, Aramco is telling them, "Can you go and see what Arabian Drilling is doing?" So there is some unique stuff that we're doing that kind of we did some spend last year on different fronts.
This kind of I just wanted to share this because this is really taking a lot of traction by our client, by our competition, by the AI community. We've been asked to go and present that. The peak was really in Q2 and Q3 of last year. I mean, Q4, I mean, it has significantly reduced. Now, as we speak, all the people that used to work with us on different fronts, I mean, they have been disengaged since then.
Okay. The next question is from the line of Hassan Youssef. I think it's a follow-up question. Hassan, please go ahead. Hassan, you can unmute locally.
Okay. Thank you very much. I have actually two questions. First, will the effect of the increase in diesel prices affect our gross profit in the first quarter of 2024 and so on? This is the first one.
Second question, how much you are expecting from the unconventional gas units in the second half? Increase in the gross profit will happen in the margin of profit? Thank you.
Okay. So in the diesel front, there is two. There is direct and indirect. On the direct side, we don't get impacted because, usually, the diesel is provided by our client. So to run the rig operation, we use a lot of diesel, but it's all provided by our clients. So in that aspect, it's very minimal impact. However, whereas the indirect effect is from our supplier. So, for example, catering, who provides foods to the rigs, they get an impact on their diesel transportation, and they're going to increase their prices to get that effect. So it's not as big as most people would think, but there will be a very, very small impact from our contractors.
But I don't think it's material outsourcing, right? Not at company level. Not at company level, yes. So that's the diesel.
On the possibility of the unconventional?
Yeah. So what we've been saying on the unconventional is that in terms of margin, it's slightly accretive to the average of the segments. But, of course, we're only going to see that once the revenue starts flowing in, which is going to be in H2 2023. So yeah, we expect that we'll see some improvement on the margin. And also, I think that there could be a couple of one-time costs. I mean, we've been talking about the startup cost. The land segment, as you look at the numbers today, the land segments are burdened by the startup cost of the unconventional. It started in H2 2023.
It's going to continue in H1 2024. So you're not going to get into you're not going to get until we really fully start all the unconventional into a kind of normalized position. So we should see some we should see some improvements on the land segment profitability by the time we reach H2. So when do you expect this time will be to see the full effect? By 2025? So no, no. I think by end of the year, I think. By the end of the year. By the end of the year. So what will happen is, I mean, what you can assume is a normal profitability of a normal land rig with a bit of because it's higher rate, so it's accretive. The only thing is the rigs, they're coming through an assembly line. So you manufacture one by one.
So one rig is arriving, as we speak, in the next week or 10 days. And then we import. We commission and get the Aramco acceptance. So that's going to be in this Q2, and then it starts. And the second rig is already on the boat coming. And so they come one after the other, right? They're just being shipped as we speak. So every rig that comes, you'll see the effect, but still, not the whole effect until all the rigs are done. I mean, yeah, it will be by the end of the year. By the end of when we close H2, then we'll be able I think to make a meaningful comparison, H1 versus H2, or at least to see the improvements. H1, I mean, H1 is still going to be burdened with the startup cost of the unconventional for the land, yes.
Okay.
One more question. We are expecting not to have any distribution of profit in the coming this year, 2024, I think.
Why not?
First half, at least, I think, according to last statements.
Yeah. What we're saying is yeah, we assess, right? What we're saying is we do have a peak of CapEx and OpEx spend this year. What we'll do is we'll assess with the board. Then if it's approved, then it's approved by the board. We're not saying it's no, but it's just yeah. I mean, 2024 is going to be the peak of the current CapEx cycle. We just need to balance out our financial cash management with returning shareholders' value. We're not saying we're not going to do it. We're not saying we're going to do it.
We're just saying that the board will do its work of assessing and deciding what is the best, both for shareholders and the company, that's it.
Thank you. Thank you. Brilliant job. Thank you. Thanks.
That was the last question. Any final remarks, Arabian Drilling Management?
No. I would say, look, I think the team, our client, our business partners - you don't call them contractors, business partners - did an outstanding effort last year. We came very, very strong. We came on the top of the range, actually, of our guidance, which shows a bit of strong management. And there is a lot going. As you said, the question came. I didn't expect that. Some of the spend that we used and how we transformed the company. And this will come. It will pay a long way with Arabian Drilling. Now, we're all focused on the unconventional.
So, a laser focus on the unconventional starting up. And Saudi Aramco is very supportive to this, trying to accelerate the startup as well. So, focusing on the 10 and as well looking to start the manufacturing, the other rigs for the other three. And hopefully, it will be another strong year growth as well.
Insha'Allah. Thank you, Hassan. SNB Capital would like to thank Arabian Drilling Management for taking the time to conduct this call. We would also like to thank all participants for attending. We wish you a pleasant day. Thank you.
Thank you.