Borr Drilling Limited (NYSE:BORR) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Patrick Schorn: No. I think it is certainly a market where there is upside going forward and it’s also a market that is close to our heart. So I’ll let Bruno give a little bit more color on that, but there’s certainly opportunity. Bruno?

Bruno Morand: Thanks, Patrick. Thanks for the question, Greg. And listen, we remain constructive in relation to West Africa. I think when you think about long-term programs in West Africa, we’ve been fortunate to have secured previously some of those contracts, including some of the contracts that we have in Congo. What we see at the moment is an increasing number of requirements, including a variety of new exploration programs in places such as EG for instance, or Morocco, for example. It’s a tight market already, there’s limited capacity out there. With these programs, these exploration programs now taking some of the capacity, things should stay tight. And we hope that in the near future, a few of these programs that are under exploration phase are hoped to be fast tracked by the customers and they could be very quickly turning into a longer, longer prospects as well.

So we maintain a positive view. Obviously, in terms of size, as you pointed out, West Africa is nowhere near the same size as Middle East. So the impact that it can have is not as significant, but we do have a constructive view on that market.

Gregory Lewis: Okay. Super helpful. Thanks for the color, Bruno.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Fredrik Stene with Clarksons Securities AS. Your line is now open.

Fredrik Stene: Hey, Patrick, Magnus, Bruno. I hope you’re having a nice day so far and thanks for the color and the prepared remarks. I guess my — the question I really want an answer to, is how you optimally envision a global refi, but I totally understand that, that is a sensitive matter, but feel free to comment on that if you’d like. But while you think about that, I actually wanted to touch on the new builds — while that you have at Gerd and that you’re now considering to take early delivery on. I was wondering, are you able to — or I think you’ve discussed it or mentioned it before, maybe it was the previous call that this, having discussion featuring for something like this, it’s something that you’ve considered for some time, but now you’ve given relatively specific dates.

So I was wondering kind of what has triggered these discussions to come to this at this point? Have you had a counterpoint where there are firm opportunities for these two particular rigs that you’re chasing? And also how are you thinking about financing these rigs, are earlier commitments still in place or is it — do you have to think about something new? Any color on that would be helpful. Thanks.

Patrick Schorn: All right. So there’s obviously quite a few things around the two new builds, but let’s start with the overall opportunity that we see. Clearly, the market is so strong at this moment that for us to have more rigs to put the work at current and improving rates is incredibly beneficial, much more beneficial than having the rigs sit at the shipyard and being delivered a year later. I mean, these rigs will generate $35 million, $40 million of EBITDA per year a piece. So this is a large amount of earnings that we could put our hands on. And I would say that the only reason to pull it forward is because we see some real opportunities for these earnings and we have customers that are interested to the tune that, Bruno, maybe you want to comment a little bit on the latest engagement you had regarding this?