Independence Contract Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:ICD) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Anthony Gallegos: On the SG&A side, some of it in the second quarter clearly was we weren’t in hiring mode. We will go back to that. And so when you think about the sequential guide up from the second quarter to third quarter, that’s what we are really talking about there. There is probably about $1 million in SG&A that I would consider permanent, which is really some headcount type of things that we have done and some other efficiency things that we have put in. And then on the operating side, that’s really temporary from the standpoint of operating costs. Those are going to go up and down as the rig count gets up and down. We will have some choppy – when you talk to the earlier question on margins, part of the guide down is not all day rates. Some of it’s – we are going to be – it’s going to be a choppier third quarter as we put rigs back to work and things like that. There is going to be some churn and that does affect your cost per day statistics.

Steve Ferazani: Understood. Perfect. Thanks Anthony. Thanks Philip.

Operator: And our next question today comes from Dave Storms with Stonegate Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Dave Storms: Good morning.

Anthony Gallegos: Good morning.

Dave Storms: Just hoping you could touch on some of the banking issues that you mentioned that we are seeing in the quarter. And it looks like most of them have kind of cleared up. Do you see any potential for any of that to kind of rear its head again, either in the next quarter or further on down the line?

Philip Choyce: Yes. So, what I was referring to was really access to credit on the part of our customers. And you think – and you guys know better than I do. You think back to what was playing out in the second quarter, especially around the regional banking crisis, redeterminations around credit lines and stuff like that, just we think those issues – while they may not be completely resolved, we think they are better today than they were in early second quarter. One anecdote I would give you guys is we were awarded, verbally awarded, a program back in March. It’s a big program out in the Permian, but as a private E&P operator. And March for a May start, well, May slipped to June, slipped to July. Well, now, we are in the process of papering that up.

And what’s changed is the financing side of the project for the customer. And that’s an anecdote that I would share with you guys. But it’s just my understanding and view that I think our customers will have more access to capital, which when we talked about the reasons why commodity prices other things like that, that are going to help drive that.

Dave Storms: That’s very helpful. Thank you. And then the other thing you mentioned just around rig counts finding a bottom with the increase expected in the coming months. Can you just help us get a sense of when that demand does come back the break out between the demand for 300 Series rigs versus 200 Series rigs?

Anthony Gallegos: Yes. We are bottomed out in the, I think, 660s where we are right now, maybe it goes to 650. When you look at where the rigs are working in rig count, about half of the rigs are working out in the Permian. We would expect that percentage to continue and even grow. Out in the Permian, there is the Midland Basin work, there is the Delaware Basin work. I think you would expect to see some adds in the Delaware Basin just because of the productivity that you are hearing E&Ps talk about out there. So, what’s important for us is that – and we are not making a call in saying the entire market is going to move to 300 Series specification, but what’s important for us and our stockholders is if that’s where it were to go, we have a very clear pathway towards being able to meet those opportunities or that incremental demand.