Borr Drilling Limited (NYSE:BORR) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Patrick Schorn: So I think that at this moment, the way you need to see the options, first, there is a blend in the options, right? And we have options that are allowing the customer to continue on the existing contract rate, which clearly at the moment, makes a lot sense for most of these customers, we would expect them to continue. Some of the options that we have and that our customers have are at mutual agreement on market price. So some of them will be renegotiated even though they are seen as an option. So it is really a blend in that. And I think that it is clear that the more unpriced options that we have, the better it is to have a discussion with the customers today. But I think that, that goes similarly for any long-term contract that you have out of the bed.

These rates are likely to be lower than what you see in the market today. Also a reason for us that we are clearly very careful with the two remaining rigs that we have, we absolutely want to make sure that they are having market representative rates when fixed and not that we are fixing them for the sake of fixing them at a rate that is not optimal for the investments that we have made so far. So I think that, that is the best way to look at it. But speaking specifically about the options, there is a blend of price and unpriced options in that.

Gregory Lewis: Okay. And then just €“ I can appreciate the two rigs that are in the market being marketed. Pricing has clearly inflected higher pretty rapidly. As we think about demand for these rigs, just given the €“ if I were to say we went from a spot market to a one to two year term market, maybe three, depending on €“ let’s just think outside maybe the Middle East where contracts are longer, are we seeing durations or contract durations be ramped higher interest from customers, just given the fact that pricing really continues to go up, it seems like almost weekly, i.e., do we think we could see the rigs on three-plus year contracts or something?

Patrick Schorn: Absolutely. I think that, that is the problem at the moment. I think that from a rig contractor perspective today, the longer contracts carry a significant risk of being priced too low regardless of what leading-edge price you put on today. So you’re absolutely right, that today the customers are looking very aggressively at longer-term contracts. The long was now being five plus two years. But we see it in many regions where contracts are fixed for much longer than we had seen before, clearly with the sentiment that asset availability in combination with better to lock in a price today that you know. And then one that you don’t know in the future is driving that. That also is coupled with the fact that we see that the prices that people are looking at for newbuild seem to be increasing as fast as you’ve seen some of the shipping newbuild prices go up.

So clearly, those increases then drive the requirement for a much higher day rate before any of these maybe investment ideas carry any fruit. So I think that it is clearly the fact that we €“ in the discussions that we have with customers are having discussions about longer commitments and larger commitments than what we have seen in the past.

Gregory Lewis: Okay. Great. Good luck everybody.

Patrick Schorn: Thank you. We can go for the next question, if there is one.

Operator: We don’t have any further phone questions, but we have one online. What do you think is the leading edge day rate in the market today for a five-year contract and for a short-term contract?