Good afternoon, eeryone. I'm Madhu Appissa from Al Rajhi Capital, and I welcome all the participants to Arabian Drilling's Q3 2024 earnings conference call. From the management, we have Mr. Ghassan, the CEO. Mr. Hubert, the CFO. As usual, we'll be having a presentation followed by a Q&A session at the end. Without any further delay, I'll hand over the mic to Arabian Drilling's management to start the proceedings. Mr. Hubert, the floor is yours. Please go ahead.
Assalamualaikum. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Arabian Drilling earnings call for the third quarter of 2024. Our thanks to Al Rajhi Capital for hosting this call. We announced our financial results yesterday, and the documents are available on our investor relations website. As usual, we must start with a disclaimer, so I invite you to read at your convenience. Today's presentation will be delivered by our CEO, Mr. Ghassan Mirdad, and our CFO, Hubert Lafeuille. The agenda for today will cover various topics, including highlights, a review of our operation and financial performance, and forward-looking guidance. We will then open the floor for your questions. I would like now to hand over to our CEO.
Thank you for the introduction, Jamal. Assalamualaikum and heartfelt welcome to all participants joining us today. We will begin with a brief overview of this quarter and year to date. This quarter was the first quarter with the full impact of the offshore rig suspension, and I'm happy to report that we have maintained our EBITDA margins levels, showing our resilience and ability to adapt through the cycle. We are also showing continuous success with the deployment of our unconventional land rigs. Eight rigs were deployed at the end of the quarter, and additional two were deployed in the last few weeks. All 10 rigs from the first award have now successfully and safely started. Again, I would like to congratulate the team that is doing a remarkable job in deploying the unconventional rigs. Let us now go over some of the quarterly highlights, starting with operations.
Our overall utilization rate is 86% with eight rigs inactive, which includes four offshore and four land rigs out of 57. We have slightly improved on our non-productive time compared to last quarter, with an NPT of 1.51% in Q3. Rig move performance was in line with the prior quarter. On the HSE and safety front, despite having reached the best total recordable injury frequency rate for the past four quarters, we regretfully suffered a major HSE incident resulting in the passing of one of our colleagues. We are reinforcing safety behaviors and protocols across all operations, and safety will continue to be the number one priority. Our sustainability efforts are accelerating with solar installations and other pilot initiatives, already supporting material savings and emissions with more to come. On the financial highlights, which Hubert will cover later in more detail, both our year-to-date revenue and EBITDA show year-on-year growth.
Our EBITDA profit margins and cash flow generation remain strong in spite of the impact of the offshore rig suspension. On the growth and diversification front, we have some good news to share. As mentioned, the unconventional startup is going very well, and I'll share more details in the next slide. Another good news related to our expansion in the offshore support vessel business. As previously announced, we received a two-year award for our Jack-up support vessel, and we also have received an intention to award another vessel, which will be an addition to our fleet. This opportunity will support our revenue diversification. Now, let's review recent developments, starting with the land activity. As mentioned, the 10 rigs from the first unconventional award are all deployed and delivering financial returns in line with our expectation.
The three rigs from the second unconventional award, which will now be deployed before year-end, resulting in all 13 rigs fully contributing to revenue from January 2025, a quarter ahead of plan. At the end of Q3, we had a total of four idle land rigs, which are being marketed. Let's now have a look at the last contract and rig activity for offshore. As previously communicated, we currently have four idle offshore rigs. Three of those rigs are kept ready to go for their next contract and are currently going through a tendering process internationally. We are still planning to sell the fourth rig and are seeing interest from potential buyers. As announced, we received an intention for additional offshore support service vessel, and we are communicating the details in due course.
From market outlook, we expect the market to remain strong for unconventional but challenging on the conventional side in the short term. For the offshore, we think that the global Jack-up supply will remain stable in the medium term, with very limited new-built and high utilization rates supporting price strength. Let's now discuss our backlog. We closed the quarter with a backlog of SAR 10.3 billion. Other than quarterly revenue depletion of about SAR 750 million, we had two changes in this quarter backlog offsetting each other. Looking at the bottom-left graph, we have one offshore rig and two land rigs rolling off contract in 2024. The offshore rig is a Jack-up service support vessel, which was just awarded another two years, as announced, with a backlog in excess of SAR 100 million. The two land rigs are in the final stage of confirming extension. All three will add significant backlog in Q4.
In 2025, we have four offshore rigs and 22 land rigs rolling off contract. Out of the four offshore rigs, two are currently suspended, and one contract is ending in Q4 with a one-year extension option. The fourth one is contracted with KJO until mid-2025. For the 22 land rigs, 11 are assigned to the Gas Lump Sum Turnkey Program, which is with SLB, has a one-year plus one-year option that we believe will be extended. The remainder of the land rigs rolling off contract are mostly Aramco rigs, which we believe will be extended as well. Moving to the next slide on our operational KPIs. On the left, you can see the utilization rate was 86% at the end of Q4, with three more rigs becoming inactive during the quarter.
One offshore rig was suspended, as previously announced, and two land rigs came off contract, with one being prepared for another contract. Looking at the top-right graph, our rig move performance was very good this quarter compared to prior ones. Although the average of one net day saved per rig move is low, the Q3 performance was impacted by major cyclical maintenance activities, which extended the duration of the move. Without this, we would have saved over two days per move this quarter, beating the past four quarters. On the bottom-right graph, you can see that our quarterly NPT improved quarter on quarter overall for the last 12 months. We have an NPT rolling average of 1.23%, which indicates a very strong operational performance. With that, I will now hand over to Hubert to go through the financial performance. Hubert?
Thank you, Ghassan, and good afternoon, everyone on the call. First, let's have a look at some of the key numbers for the quarters. We closed Q3 with revenue of SAR 863 million, which is showing a contraction of 8% Q on Q, as Q3 was the first quarter with the full impact of the suspended offshore rigs, as Ghassan mentioned. That revenue decrease was, however, partially offset by the addition of four more unconventional land rigs during the quarter. Our Q3 EBITDA was SAR 358 million, which shows a 7% contraction Q on Q, in line with the revenue. However, we have delivered a solid EBITDA profit margin at 41.5%. CapEx activity remained high in Q3, with SAR 548 million spent as we complete the unconventional land rig program. As a result, we had a negative free cash flow of SAR 70 million during the quarter.
We are showing a return on equity of 9.2% based on our last 12 months adjusted net income over an equity position of SAR 5.9 billion as of 30th of September. We closed the quarter with a net debt position of SAR 2.6 billion and a leverage ratio of 1.7 times, which is slightly higher than the 1.5 times of the last quarter. As previously communicated, the leverage ratio continues to increase as available cash is being allocated to complete the CapEx program. Now, let's go a little bit more in detail and have a side-by-side comparison, first year-on-year and then quarter-on-quarter. So let's look first at the year-on-year comparison, which is the upper graph, which is year-to-date September 2024. This is year-to-date September 2023 for the nine-month period.
Looking at revenue first, year-to-date revenue is SAR 2,769 million, showing an increase of SAR 279 million, which is 11% higher, mainly driven by the contribution of three offshore rigs that were added in Q3 of 2023. Looking at EBITDA next, year-to-date EBITDA of SAR 1,150 million is showing an increase year-on-year of SAR 100 million, or plus 9%, in line with the revenue growth. The profit margin was 41.5%. However, this profit margin does include startup costs for the unconventional of approximately SAR 38 million that we have incurred in 2023. If you were to exclude, sorry, in 2024, if you were to exclude those startup costs incurred this year, the normalized EBITDA margin on a year-to-date basis would be 43%. The adjusted net income shows a decrease of SAR 66 million, or minus 16%, mainly due to higher finance expenses and the added depreciation costs.
Net finance expenses increase year-on-year due to the interest charge on the new loans and interest expenses that were capitalized last year in 2023 as part of the CapEx program. As a reminder, let me clarify that adjusted net income excludes a non-cash asset impairment charge of SAR 105 million that was recognized in Q2 of 2024. On the CapEx side, we spend SAR 155 million more year-on-year. The total CapEx year-to-date was close to SAR 1.5 billion, which is slightly more than a billion, or 69% relates to the unconventional land rig program. Now, let's have a look at the trailing quarter comparison, which is on the lower graph.
Now, looking at the revenue first, as mentioned, we see a slight quarter-on-quarter decrease of 8% from SAR 939 million to SAR 863 million, mainly due to the offshore rig suspension amounting to SAR 124 million and partially offset by the contribution of the unconventional land rigs of SAR 65 million that came online during the quarter. Following the slight revenue contraction, EBITDA also decreased by 7% Q on Q from SAR 386 million to SAR 358 million, mainly due to the full impact of the suspended offshore rigs, as mentioned. Despite the rig suspensions, we have delivered a solid EBITDA profitability margin of 41.5%. Actually, Q3 EBITDA was even higher than the prior quarter, with a 40 basis point uptick. This improvement was mainly due to reduced operating costs on the suspended rigs of about SAR 18 million, as well as ongoing adjustments and cost-saving initiatives in the compensation and benefits of about SAR 41 million.
Actually, we have launched an ambitious cost management program with close to 200 initiatives already implemented, which is helping us maintain margin in the low 40s% in H2 2024. For this quarter, net income of SAR 85 million was SAR 40 million lower than the adjusted net income in Q2, mainly due to the shortfall in EBITDA contribution of about SAR 28 million described above, plus the added depreciation costs coming from the unconventional land rigs that were deployed. Depreciation costs are also maintained on the suspended rigs, although no revenue is generated. We are yet to receive the full benefit of the unconventional rigs as the deployment is still ongoing. As mentioned by Ghassan, Q1 2025 will be the first quarter with the full contribution of the 13 rigs. We expect the revenue contribution to be close to SAR 200 million per quarter, with the EBITDA margin in the low to mid-30s%.
On the CapEx side, there is a SAR 65 million or 11% decrease in spending Q on Q, with the unconventional land rigs spent amounting to SAR 364 million. Other main CapEx spending during the quarter relates to offset rig move equipment of about SAR 22 million, ERP and facility upgrades of SAR 30 million, and one land rig upgrade of SAR 17 million. The other SAR 115 million relates to sustaining CapEx for the rest of the fleets. To date, the total spent on the unconventional program is approximately SAR 1.6 billion, and we estimate that the total spending at completion will range between SAR 2 billion to SAR 2.1 billion. We have slightly revised downwards our estimate this quarter in line with the savings initiatives mentioned earlier. Now, moving on to the segments, focusing on the quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year revenue and gross profits.
As a reminder, gross profits include direct operating costs of the rigs, which include depreciation expense, but does not include G&A nor interest or tax. For the offshore segment, the first graph in the top left is a Q on Q comparison. We notice a decrease in both revenue and adjusted gross profits due to Q3 2024 being the first quarter reflecting the full impact of the four idle rig, including three rigs that are suspended. Overall, we have a Q on Q revenue and adjusted gross profits decrease of SAR 119 million and SAR 93 million, respectively. Now, during Q3, the suspended rig carried most of their costs to support mandatory recertification maintenance activities to keep them immediately ready for the next assignments. As soon as those activities were complete towards the end of the quarter, we shifted to a skeleton crew.
Other factors explaining the decrease in adjusted gross profit Q on Q include demobilization cost to the stacking location, as well as the full depreciation and lease cost that we continue to carry with no associated revenue. On the year-on-year basis, still on the offshore segment, we still see growth on the revenue and adjusted gross profits due to the contribution of the three offshore rigs that were added in Q3 2023. The year-on-year increase on the revenue and the adjusted gross profit is plus 15% and plus 7%, respectively. The drop in the profit margin year-on-year from 45% to 42% is mainly explained by staff compensation related to the suspended rigs after they stopped generating revenue.
Now, moving on to the land segments, the main story for this quarter, again, is the continuous deployment of the unconventional land rigs with the benefits of the added contribution that starts to come through. We expect to see our cost base and profits to normalize as we head into Q125 when the full contribution of the 13 unconventional rigs will come through and no more associated startup costs. Starting off with the quarter-on-quarter revenue, we have an increase of SAR 43 million, of which SAR 65 million is coming from the contribution of the unconventional rigs that starts in Q3, and this was, however, partially offset by two land rigs that went out of contract in Q3, one of which is being prepared for another contract, as already mentioned by Ghassan.
On the adjusted gross profits, we see a strong increase quarter-on-quarter of SAR 39 million, of which SAR 21 million is a contribution from the unconventional rigs that were added, and the rest reflects the impact of some cost-saving initiatives. For the year-on-year basis, we have a revenue increase of SAR 127 million, mainly coming from the contribution of unconventional rigs of SAR 93 million. On the adjusted gross profits, we have a year-on-year decrease of SAR 54 million, mainly coming from the startup cost of the unconventional rigs of approximately SAR 38 million, as well as added depreciation cost of about SAR 30 million. As we move into the next quarter, the contribution of the unconventional rigs will strengthen our land segment financials. The next slide will bring you through the cash flow bridge and provide a snapshot of the cash movement for the nine-month periods.
Overall, we started the year with a cash position of SAR 1.4 billion, to which we add net income of SAR 251 million and non-cash item of SAR 840 million, including the impairment charge recognized in Q2. We have a CapEx spending of approximately SAR 1.5 billion, as already mentioned, of which close to 70% relates to the unconventional rigs, that is more or less SAR 1 billion. The remaining SAR 450 million CapEx spent to date mainly includes offset rig move equipment for SAR 49 million, one land rig upgrade for SAR 51 million, and facility and ERP upgrades worth SAR 45 million. The remaining, which is SAR 300 and plus million, corresponds to the sustaining CapEx for the rest of the fleets. Over the nine months, we also made SAR 345 million of dividend payments in two different installments.
Then, on the loan and lease side, we made a bank loan repayment of SAR 75 million and payments of SAR 50 million on the two leased offshore rigs. Then we had net finance cost of SAR 188 million, which was made up of interest cost of SAR 212 million, less SAR 24 million of interest received from short-term deposits. Finally, the last piece of the bridging includes change in the net working capital, as well as other items such as tax, employee benefit paid, mobilization cost paid, mobilization fee collected, as well as proceeds on asset sales for a total cash outflow of SAR 22 million. So, at the end, we are closing Q3 with a cash position of SAR 381 million. Now, moving on into the detail of a debt profile. So, our gross debt position remained roughly the same during the quarter.
We have a total borrowing of close to SAR 3 billion, which is made up of SAR 2 billion in the Sukuk. And then we have two bank loans of SAR 500 million each, plus the accrued portion of the interest, net of SAR 75 million of debt repayment that was made during the nine months. The company net debt position of SAR 2.6 billion has increased by approximately SAR 900 million, or 50%, compared to 31st December 2023, as a result of allocating cash to the ongoing CapEx program. Consequently, our net debt to EBITDA leverage ratio has also increased to 1.7 times. Going forward, we are likely to draw an additional debt to finance the remaining portion of the unconventional programs, and we already have a secured bank facility of SAR 500 million at a very competitive price. As a result, we expect our leverage ratio will continue to increase, peaking over two before normalizing.
My last slide relates to 2024 guidance. We expect to close 2024 with revenue around SAR 3.6 billion, which is the low end of the guidance previously communicated due to the recent business developments. CapEx for the full year will be between SAR 2.1 billion and SAR 2.2 billion, which is the low end of the range previously communicated, supported by the various savings initiatives mentioned earlier, and this now concludes my section. I will now hand it back over to Ghassan for his closing remarks.
Thank you, Hubert. In closing today's presentation, our key metrics and KPIs remain positive year to date. We continue to do more on the HSE front and as well on the sustainability front. The current wave of suspension impacting us is the nature of our sector, and we are adjusting through the cycle.
However, the shift in our segment mix has accelerated with a greater contribution from the unconventional, coming through fully from next year following our investments. As mentioned before, we believe that gas will bring long-term benefit as it continues to grow for us and support our client and Saudi's energy transition. Cost management is also a focus with material efficiencies being achieved. We are also using this transition time to drive our expansion plans and diversification opportunities to add new revenue streams. Thank you very much, and now I will hand it over to Al Rajhi for the question and answer session.
Thank you, Mr. Ghassan and Mr. Hubert, for the insight. We open the floor for the session. A few instructions. Please limit yourself to two questions and to ask a question, you can click on the hand raise button or use the chat box.
First question is from the line of Mr. Prateek. Prateek, please go ahead.
Can you hear me?
Yeah, yeah. Yes, we can hear you.
Oh, thank you so much, and thanks for the opportunity. I just have one question. The 41 land rigs which you have, were they operational the entire Q3 2024, or some of them started in between? Yeah, that's the question. Thank you.
From the 41? Yeah. So from the 41, we have a portion of them that relates to the unconventional. So the unconventional started during Q3. So not all of them were fully operational during the full quarter.
Okay. So they started towards the end of Q3 or towards the beginning of Q3, the unconventional ones?
I mean, some started in Q2, and then we started in Q3. Some came at the beginning, some came at the middle, some came at the end.
And the last two was just the last couple of weeks, the last two from the 10.
Okay. Got it. Thank you so much.
Next question is from the line of Jerry. Jerry, please go ahead.
Give us some color as to how difficult it is to redeploy these suspended rigs or to win contracts for them now, given where the market is. And do you think you could redeploy these rigs within the next year, or could it be pushed out further? Thank you.
So today, I mean, today we are tendering, and we are exploring all opportunities on an international basis, local and international as well. Out of the four, three are tendering, and we'll know more by the end of Q4 or early Q1 next year. But the opportunities are there. So we hope that we're going to have them all working, hopefully, next year.
Okay. Thanks.
And then the second question, just on unconventionals, has there been sort of more tenders in the pipeline, and how do you see that progressing?
So we believe there will be more tenders to come. It's just the timing, when it's going to come. But there is a lot of push on accelerating, and our clients are extremely happy that we are getting the phase two, the three rigs ahead of time by one quarter.
Okay. Thanks. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Just a reminder to the participants, they can use the handraise button or also use the chat box to ask a question. As we wait for our next question, I'll read out the questions posted in the chat box. The questions are mainly related to the market outlook. What is your view on the current demand and on day rates?
If you can share details on day rate, that's the second question.
Okay, and in the offshore, the demand is there. But you just have to realize, looking at what's happening today, we just have a big fleet of offshore that was suspended, so you will see a bit of, I mean, prices will go into the, I know, around 100, but once we see deployment of the rigs that were suspended somewhere else, prices will pick up back again, so there is still demand on the offshore. The only thing is just there is a big number of offshore rigs that came onto suspension, and what was the other question, so the pricing was 100 and the demand.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah, and there is no new build deliveries on the Jack-up, right, so there is no further supply of rigs that is coming to the market. Yes.
So my answer is in the short term, within one year, two years. But in the long term, because there is no new builds, what's going to happen? You're going to see some of the rigs that are available in the market that are very, very old, and they're going to go off-market, which will add more contraction that there will be demand and prices should go up on the long term.
Clear. Next question we take from the line of Akash. Akash, please unmute yourself and go ahead.
So I have two questions on the rigs which are rolling off contracts. So the first question is, you said that out of the four offshore rigs, two are already currently in suspension, and one is with KJO, which is mid-year. Next year, it will be rolling off. I couldn't hear what is the last rig about?
The last rig, is it with Aramco or is it with Baker Hughes? So first question is that, and second question is, out of 22 rigs, can you give us a split how much of them are with Aramco and how much of them are with others? And if you have some visibility on the timeline throughout the year, when will they be rolling off the contracts,
so you're talking about next year's rigs. Can you go to the slide, please? Can you go back to the slide to see the rolling off contract, the backlog slide? Yeah. This one. If you look at the backlog, you have four, right? Four offshore. There was a question on four offshore.
Yes. Right.
Out of the four offshore, two are currently suspended. One is working with KGO, and the contract goes until mid of 2025.
And the last one is one of the leased rigs whose contract ends at the end of Q4 2025. So these are the four offshore rigs, right? So this was your first question.
Yeah. But just let me add too. So the two that are suspended are actually in a tender right now.
Correct.
The one that ends that is on lease basis, that ends end of the year, has a plus one-year extension. Yes. And one with KGO, the contract will end mid-next year, and we believe that's going to be extended as well, as usual.
And then I think there was a second question, which was out of the 22 land rigs, so how many were Aramco? So we have nine rigs out of the 22 that are Aramco. And the question, I think, was, one, do they roll off contract?
It basically comes at various times during the year. So it's not like one block coming at one point in time. It's scattered over the year.
Yeah. So as mentioned by Hubert, so nine are Aramco, and 13 are with the service company, be it SLB 11 and two Baker. And usually, those, they get extended. They actually have for the 11, have the option of another year extension as well.
Okay. Thank you. And if I can just ask one last question. So on the unconventional tendering side, I think 60 rigs are already tendered. Is there any more tenders which are coming soon, or how do you have the visibility on that? So the tender was only 23 rigs, 23 tenders or 23 rigs that were tendered, out of which we won more than 50%. We won 13, and the remaining was won with different suppliers.
We expect there will be more tenders, but we just don't know the timing and the volume. For example, you see the first tender was 13. The second tender was less. So it depends. So we don't know the volume of the tender and how soon it will come.
Okay. Thanks so much, and all the best for the future.
You just have to keep in mind that our clients are doing excellent on the unconventional. So when you have good rates and stuff, so maybe they won't go with push very hard on the tendering and come with more rigs because they're doing extremely well on the production or what's coming out from the existing ones that are being drilled. And that's why we're not sure how big the tender will come and how soon.
Fair enough. Thank you.
Next question we take from the line of Indika.
Indika, please go ahead.
I have two questions. Basically, first question is with regard to the suspension, of course. You see like OPEC has now decided to maybe release the supply cuts, and then probably Saudi Arabia will have almost like a one million barrels a day might be coming gradually. So I just wanted to understand with that additional supply coming in, will there be any impact on either land or the offshore rigs, maybe additional activities? So that's the first part. And the same question, of course, is there any further risk of curtailment or suspension coming from, especially coming from Aramco? That's the first question. And the second question, just wanted to understand quarterly expense from the suspension on a recurring basis. I mean, and also do we expect this cost to become down in the coming quarters?
Okay.
If you look at the offshore, if you recall, Aramco added around 45-50 rigs offshore just because of the one million increment. What I believe, this extension will go back to normal. They will be releasing the offshore, and we're seeing some suspensions to go back to normal, to their normal when they used to have only when they were running at 12 million maximum sustainable capacity. However, on the land, what I think will happen, what we expect to happen, if oil prices continue to go up, stays up, then I think we don't see much of an issue. If oil prices go down, so you should not link it to production. Production, I know Aramco, to increase production, they don't need to drill more wells. They can just increase production.
They have the capability to go up to the maximum selling capacity, which is 12 million. So it's not about drilling. Drilling is on the long term for them or to replace any production that was done. Now, if oil prices go down, so there might be some cost control and we'll see some minor very, very short term. When we say short term, we talk about one year, two years. I'm not talking about one year. I'm talking about quarter, Q1, one quarter, two quarter, that we might see some land suspension for a small period, and it goes back up just to control cost. That's in case of the oil prices go down. That's at least from my view. I think there was a question on managing the cost for the rigs that are suspended. I think it's a good question.
So let me give a bit of a color here. So if you look at the offshore, for instance, so during the quarter, because we had some, as I mentioned, because we had some mandatory cyclical maintenance activity to maintain the rig, its class, we have kept some of the crews for most of the quarter. But as we speak now, for instance, the rigs that are suspended, I mean, we only have a very skeleton crew on those rigs. I mean, you're talking about a headcount of about 40-50 people just looking after all the suspended rigs. When to operate a rig, you would normally have a headcount of about 100 people per rig, right? So we've gone from 100 people per rig to 40-50 people to look after a cluster rig. So that's one thing.
And the same thing is what we did during the COVID. As I recall, we had a number of land rigs that were suspended. I mean, we basically managed very well to shave off a number of those costs related to those rigs. So this is something that we know how to manage. So to answer your question, yes, we will see the cost going down. And the cost will go down. The costs are going down as we speak on the offshore suspended rig.
Yeah. Just to add a bit of flavor to what Hubert said, on the offshore, you can park the rig, but if you want it to be ready to be deployed, you really need to run the engines and stuff. So there is a bit of cost element there, but it's very, very low.
However, if in the land rig, once you park the rig, you can really shave the whole cost that is linked to that rig directly. Because you just park the rig, there is no need. Yeah? Yeah. If I may just ask a small follow-up, I mean, I'm not talking too much time. Yes. Yeah. So you mentioned two rigs, of course, are under the tendering process. So just wanted to remind us how long it will take usually for the tendering process and the deployment, the time lag. Assuming you are winning, of course. Yeah. I mean, this is international, right? So it all depends. But I mean, it's three rigs that are with tendering, and the different rigs start in different times if we win. Some of it will require because when a client wins an offshore rig, it's not only the rig.
You have the accessories that the well needs. So it depends when the client acquires these equipment and accessories that are needed to drill the well. I mean, these are not our equipment. They're client equipment, depending on the availability and if they have them or not. If the equipments are available, literally, you win the tender, you mobilize. If the client is waiting for the equipment, then the rigs will be deployed in. So it's within the full year if we win.
Okay. Thank you so much. You're welcome.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Ahmed. Ahmed, please unmute yourself.
Opportunity to ask questions. Basically, I have one question on the status update of your pre-qualifications in other markets, given that you're saying you're tendering for the offshore assets.
And if you are not pre-qualified in a certain market, would you be thinking about doing that through a third-party, maybe driller or company that has a pre-qualification that you would be basically able to short the rig off of? Yeah. So in today's tender, we're tendering direct. The client accepted our qualifications, our experience, and we're tendering direct with them. However, with other geographies, there are two other ways to penetrate. If we can tender straight, we will. The other option is we partner, and we're evaluating that as well. And the third option is you acquire a company in that geography. So all three are being looked at as we speak. And whatever makes a faster decision to deploy, we will be taking it. I hope I answered your question. Ahmed, do you have a follow-up? Sorry?
Hi. Sorry. I was muted.
I couldn't unmute myself. Yes. Thank you. It was very clear. I have just one small follow-up. Basically, can you identify the market that you're tendering directly in where the client gave you basically authorization? So Southeast Asia.
Okay. So it's a Southeast Asian market that you're tendering two rigs?
Yes. Three rigs are tendering for that.
Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Reminder to the participants, if you have a question, you can use the hand-raise button or the chat box to post your question. Okay. Before we take follow-ups on the line of Jerry, there is a question in the chat box. I'll read that out for you. This is about 2025. What are your expectations for 2025 given, and can we assume that most of the challenges are behind us and we could see strong growth in earnings as well as margin expansion in 2025?
So I'll answer then. Feel free to ask. I mean, it's too early to give any guidance on 2025. There are too many moving parts. Our unconventional is starting. And as well, as we mentioned, there might be tenders that are going to come as well. The offshore, how fast we can deploy. So it's going to be a bit challenging to look into that. Now, on the other aspect as well, we have a new election that was just announced. So we don't know how things will go with that next year with the oil price up and down. So it's quite moving parts to kind of give some guidance over. No, no. I mean, you're right. I mean, I think it's a bit too early to give any guidance at this point in time.
Clear. Now, we take the question from the line of Jerry.
Jerry, please unmute yourself.
Just on your offshore vessel services business, what type of margins can we expect in that business? Is it similar to offshore or where do we stand?
I mean, the offshore were above the 120, right? So if we say we're going to go around the hundreds.
I think the question was on the offshore support vessel.
Sorry, sorry. Which is a bit of a different. So the offshore support vessel, I mean, we have one rig right now, which is basically a rig. It looks like a rig, but it's a smaller size, and it doesn't have a drilling. It doesn't have a drilling package, right? So the offshore are a bit below what you would normally have for a drilling rig, but they're still very reasonably good. So from a revenue perspective, and sorry, I misunderstood your question.
From a revenue perspective, they're lower because it's not a rig with a drilling package. So it doesn't have the drilling package. However, the cost of running it is a lot less because you're not drilling. So most of the crew, you don't need. You're just having a ship. And then what happens is different companies, service companies come to do any maintenance on the wells. So from a profitability point of view, they're good.
Yeah. It would be, I mean, just to give a data point, it would be between the land segment and the offshore segment. So in between.
Okay. Thank you.
Clear. I could see the hands of Indika and Ahmed still being raised. If you have a follow-up question, could you come back again in the queue? Because it's difficult to identify who has the follow-up question. Okay. I still see Indika's hand being raised.
I'm assuming Indika has a follow-up question. Indika, please go ahead.
I hand, of course. There's no follow-up questions. Thank you very much.
Okay. Could you lower your hand, please?
Thank you.
There are no questions at the moment. If a participant has a question, can use the hand-raise button or post it in the chat box. As we wait for our next question, I would like to ask a couple of questions. One is about the land rigs that were suspended during the quarter. A couple of them were suspended. And if I remember, you had mentioned in the last call that these land rigs can be redeployed as gas rigs, unconventional gas rigs with minimal upgradation. So were these two rigs deployed for the unconventional gas contract? And is that the reason that you were able to complete this before the end of the year?
Oh, I think the reason why we managed to have three ahead of time and as well in working on the other 10 is because we really put a good investment ahead of time. As Hubert said, there's a lot of startup cost. Once we were awarded, we really had a full team, be it at our contractor who's building the rigs or in-country, the team who actually worked on the logistics side. Just to give you a magnitude, from the time the rig arrives the port, so the boat arrives the port, from the time you offload the rig till the time you have the rig on site and ready to drill, you're talking about 75-80 days. We shaved that by half. And it just tells you how the synchronization between operation, logistics, the supply chain.
So what we did, I'm just giving you one element of efficiency that we worked on. Now, you multiply this as well during the manufacturing, how we did things. There was huge support from Aramco on the certification, on approving the rig. Most of the rigs were actually they flew to the manufacturing and actually looked at the rigs there when they were set up. So that as well cut a lot of time. And as well, you have the authority in the port authority who helped us. The port of Dammam was really stacked, yet they helped us a lot to kind of get off the queue and make sure that we get the rigs fast. So mainly, I think it was more efficiencies on getting them.
Clear. But were these two rigs redeployed as gas rigs?
No.
So I think you're referring to the two rigs that went out of contract in Q3, correct?
Yeah.
Okay. So at this point in time, the answer is no. Yes. Till now, no.
Okay. Clear. And in the future, what are the other markets that you would be eyeing? Let's say we have a scenario where demand has weakened a bit in Saudi Arabia and other GCC markets. What are the markets that you would be focusing on from a long-term point of view? I know that you're venturing into Southeast Asia. What would be the other markets? Or would you be focusing on Southeast Asia a bit more seriously?
Let's split them into two. In offshore, you have from Southeast Asia to the GCC to West Africa. Okay? And anything in between.
On the land, I mean, we've been looking for opportunities as well. We know for both offshore and land, there is tendering is going to come in Kuwait for both land and offshore, two different tenders. But as well, we're seeing demand on the land. We're looking at different geographies, and we're seeing companies actually asking for land rigs as well. So now the focus is to deploy the offshore, which is the main focus. But we're seeing demand for land rigs as well.
Clear. Clear. We still have 10 minutes. If any participant wants to ask a question, can you see hand-raise button or the chat box? Okay. There is a question in the chat box. I'll read that out. This is about the onshore gas demand. So other than Jafurah, can we see demand coming from any other field for onshore gas?
Today, in the unconventional, they have more than one field, but Jafurah is the main focus. And it's the one that's being developed. But there are other fields as well. But don't forget as well the conventional. The conventional gas as well is growing. There is a service that's called coiled tubing under-balanced drilling, under-balanced drilling, which is actually taking very high momentum with Aramco as well. So it's both conventional and unconventional. We see the growth. Clear. Now, the under-balanced drilling is not affecting us. It's affecting more the service providers because you don't use the rig for.
Okay. There is another question, but this is about the suspension of total rigs since the start of the year. So the participant has joined a bit late.
The question is about how many rigs were suspended since Saudi Arabia decided to stop MSC expansion at the beginning of the year.
Okay. The MSC is mainly the offshore. I think they suspended 31 rigs, around 31 rigs. 31, yeah. That is affecting the MSC. Because the MSC, the one million MSC was mainly all offshore. Clear. The follow-up is, are you expecting more suspension coming in 2025? I think Aramco, yeah, would. Offshore, yes. When you suspend offshore for Aramco, I don't think they're going to come back on the—what do you call it? They will not come back. On the land, if there is any suspension on the land, it will be, as I said, it's one quarter, two quarters, maximum three quarters. It's a very, very short suspension if there is any.
Clear.
We have a follow-up from the line of Indika. Indika, please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for, again, the opportunity. This is actually just for the educational sort of. Do you have numbers on your offshore and onshore rigs, like a daily kind of production of oil? Are they sharing, or you don't have any detail about that?
So this differs from well to well, reservoir to reservoir, the thickness of the formation, if you're drilling vertical or horizontal. So you cannot tell, I mean, a certain well you drill, how much production will come from it. There is huge. So I'll give you an example. Some wells you would drill, there will not be any production. You will need to put a pump to produce because there is no pressure in the reservoir. And luckily in Saudi, thank God, our wells are very strong.
So they have good aquifer pressure that they push the oil up. So just so I understand your question. So the parameters are different depending on the reservoir and how you drill the well.
Okay. So this unconventional, mostly the horizontal drilling, right?
Yes. Yes.
All right. Are there different KPI parameters for those wells compared to onshore vertical rigs?
I mean, the only parameter that is different, that is common in the unconventional, is you have to frack. The rock is very solid, and you have to shatter that rock so the gas can flow in. That is the one common thing in the unconventional, be it in Saudi or outside of Saudi, is the fracking element, which is provided by one of the service companies that they provide. After you drill horizontal, they come and frack different stages. That's the most common.
But now, some reservoirs, you frack 12-stage frack. Some of them are 30. Some of them are 40. Some of them are 50. So the longer you go and the horizontal goes longer, the more fracks that you have. So it all depends how many fracks and depending on the quality of the reservoir. The good thing, as I said, the quality of the reservoir of Jafurah is so strong. It's so strong. It's behaving very, very, very good, and the production is very strong. That's why it affects the tender for more rigs if we're actually getting good production from what we have.
Okay. One small follow-up again. I mean, you mentioned this one, typically, one offshore rig on a full operational level, like 100-plus employees are there. So right now, probably you are managing it, maybe even all three rigs managed by maybe 40 people.
Just, my question is, basically, when you have such level of additional staff, probably, maybe initially, have you used the additional staff in unconventional rigs, or how do you manage this?
So yes. I mean, extra people that were rigs that were suspended, we deployed whoever can add, actually has the same services in the unconventional. This helped us as well on the unconventional because they know Aramco. They know the activities. But for example, someone, his main job is to maneuver the offshore rig. These kind of competency, we don't need, right? So that's why we some type of services or competency that is not needed, we let go. But the people who work on the drilling, on the rig floor, they're the same, be it on offshore or land. Or for example, the chief mechanic, chief electrician is the same. So we deploy them in the unconventional.
Just one clarification. Just one clarification. When we say 100 people headcounts, it doesn't mean 100 people on the rig. It means 50 people on the rig because you have the guys on the rig, and then you have the guys that are home on days off because it's an equal time, right? So headcount is 100 people assigned to the rig, of which 50 people are personnel on board. Just to make this clarification. Yeah. Exactly. So I just wanted to check when you let go people, of course, how easy just recruitment, again, in terms of maybe getting on board. I think these jobs are very, very highly sought-after sort of jobs. So I just want to understand how well you can, again, take them back and then what kind of a salary impact or the manpower cost impact you have. Okay.
It's a very, very good question. After the COVID, the sector lost, and not only Saudi, this is at the global level, lost a lot of experienced people who did not come back. When the activity went up, this is where you saw trying to identify, try to train, and salaries went up. In our case, we had this problem when we added the offshore. That was the problem during offshore because everyone was trying to add. We added, as I said, added around 45-50 rigs. Everyone was calling for talent. Keeping in mind, there is a lot of people who left the sector during COVID. However, in our case, I think we managed it well with the we recruited ahead of time. This is where I say the investment was very good that we did that.
There was a lot of questions why you invest, why you have so much on the comp and ben, because we recruited people ahead of time. Some of them, maybe they're not approved to Aramco, but we had to train them. We had to put them on rigs with Aramco to get up to speed until the rigs come. But as well, most of the offshore rigs were deployed straight to the unconventional. Most of the crew were deployed in the unconventional. So we did not let go of a lot of people. It's just things that are focused on offshore, right, on how to maneuver the rig, for example. These are the ones that we let go. But most of the technical people, offshore land is almost the same when you drill the well.
So we're not having the same problem that was there during the ramp-up of the offshore. That's what I want to say. You need to keep in mind, when the release of 40 rigs, you have a lot of manpower available. Clear. There is a question in the chat box, but that's about the suspension. Were there any land rigs suspended? I assume there were no land rigs suspended related to Aramco. Correct? No. So I think there will be some suspensions, but not the same as the offshore. As I said, the offshore suspension is not going to come back. The land is between one quarter to three quarters. So it's a temporary suspension. And this will all depend on how things go with oil prices and the new election and stuff. So that's why
it's just. Clear. Clear. So that would be a last question.
Back to you for any closing remarks, and after that, we can end the call.
No. Thank you very much for making the time. Hopefully, we'll come with good news. I mean, as mentioned, we're having some extensions that will be announced soon, hopefully. And hopefully, we'll come with good news with winning offshore and placing the offshore very soon, inshallah.
Thank you. Thank you very much for making the time.