SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Pioneer Energy Services (NYSE: PES) today reported financial and operating results for the three months ended September 30, 2012. Financial and operational highlights include: 

• Five wireline units, four well servicing rigs and one coiled tubing unit have been added since the end of the second quarter.
• Production Services margin⁽²⁾ represented 51% of the Company's total margin for the third quarter.
• Five new-build drilling rigs are currently working with the sixth new-build rig rigging up at its first location, all under long-term contracts. 
• 79% of working drilling rigs are operating under term drilling contracts.

Consolidated Financial Results

Revenues for the third quarter of 2012 were $229.8 million, flat with revenue in the second quarter of 2012 ("the prior quarter"), but a 22% increase over $187.7 million for the third quarter of 2011 ("the year-earlier quarter").  The increase from the year-earlier quarter was primarily due to fleet additions as well as higher utilization and pricing for both the Drilling Services Segment and the Production Services Segment and due to the contribution from our new coiled tubing business. 

Net income for the third quarter was $2.6 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, compared with $9.7 million, or $0.15 per diluted share in the prior quarter and $6.7 million, or $0.11 per diluted share in the year-earlier quarter.

Third quarter Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ was $55.6 million, a 12% decrease from $63.3 million in the prior quarter and an 8% increase over Adjusted EBITDA of $51.6 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Operating Results

Drilling Services Segment

Revenue for the Drilling Services Segment was $125.7 million in the third quarter, a 6% increase from the prior quarter and a 16% increase from the year-earlier quarter. Third quarter utilization was 86%, down from 89% in the prior quarter, but up from 71% in the year-earlier quarter.

Our current fleet count is 68 drilling rigs, which includes six new-build drilling rigs that are now operating under long-term contracts. Our drilling rig fleet count has fluctuated due to the addition of new-build rigs during 2012, offset by the retirement of seven rigs effective September 30, 2011 and two more rigs effective March 31, 2012. 

Average drilling revenues increased to $24,101 per day as compared to $23,658 in the prior quarter and $23,340 in the year-earlier quarter.  The increase in the third quarter when compared to the prior quarter was primarily due to the contribution of the new-build drilling rigs, higher revenue for our Colombian operations and higher turnkey revenue.  Drilling Services margin⁽²⁾ per day was $7,187 in the third quarter as compared to $8,032 in the prior quarter and $7,797 in the year-earlier quarter. Drilling Services margin per day was lower than both of the prior periods due to moderate pricing and utilization pressure and due to increased mobilization and labor costs incurred as rigs stacked out.  Also, the earnings benefit of deploying our new-build rigs was partially offset by higher operating costs during the initial start-up phase.

Production Services Segment

Revenue for the Production Services Segment was $104.1 million in the third quarter, down 6% from the prior quarter and up 32% from the year-earlier quarter. Production Services margin⁽²⁾ as a percentage of revenue was 37%, compared to 41% in the prior quarter and 44% in the year-earlier quarter. The Production Services margin in the third quarter was negatively impacted by Hurricane Isaac with a reduction in revenues of approximately $2 million for operations in Louisiana, in particular, coiled tubing operations.  Also, the wireline operations had pricing and utilization pressure that was greater than anticipated.  Well servicing rig utilization declined to 91% from 97% in the prior quarter and 92% in the year-earlier quarter, while pricing increased to $606 per hour from $592 in the prior quarter and $555 in the year-earlier quarter. 

"Revenue growth in our Drilling Services segment was primarily driven by our continued roll-out of our new-build drilling rigs," said Wm. Stacy Locke, President and CEO of Pioneer Energy Services. 

"We now have five of our ten new-build drilling rigs deployed, with the sixth new-build rig currently rigging up at its first location. We expect to deploy another new-build drilling rig by year-end and the remaining three new-build rigs during the first quarter of 2013.  Due to construction delays, the term contract for one of the remaining new-build rigs was terminated during the third quarter and we are actively marketing the rig.  As a result, the remaining nine new-build drilling rigs are secured by multi-year term contracts. In Colombia, we had six of our eight drilling rigs operating under contract during the third quarter with our seventh rig returning to work in mid-November. 

"While market conditions continue to be challenging, we believe that our focus on service and safety position us to compete well in all our markets.  In the fourth quarter of 2012, we anticipate drilling rig utilization to average between 83% and 85% and Drilling Services Segment margin to be approximately $7,000 to $7,300 per day.

"Operating results for our Production Services Segment were impacted by disruptions from Hurricane Isaac in Louisiana as well as pricing and utilization pressure on our wireline operations that was more than expected.  We continue our focus on improving the performance of our coiled tubing business and expect some modest improvement in the fourth quarter.  Revenue in the third quarter from our well servicing rigs held steady with slightly higher hourly rates, offset by lower utilization at 91%, which is still very good. 

"We are continuing to add equipment in certain markets and have added five wireline units, four well servicing rigs and one coiled tubing unit since the end of the second quarter. We plan to add another three well servicing rigs and two coiled tubing units by year end.

"We anticipate some continued market pressures in the fourth quarter along with the normal reduction in activity due to seasonality. Production Services revenues are expected to be down 5% to 10%, and margin as a percentage of revenues is expected be flat to slightly down in the fourth quarter," Locke said.

Liquidity

Working capital was $70.5 million at September 30, 2012, compared to $129.9 million at December 31, 2011. Our cash and cash equivalents at the end of the third quarter were $6.3 million, down from $86.2 million at year-end 2011. 

The change in cash and cash equivalents during the first nine months of 2012 is primarily due to $291.1 million used for purchases of property and equipment, partially offset by cash provided by operations of $129.3 million and $79.1 million provided by net proceeds from the issuance of debt.

As of October 19, 2012, we had $100 million outstanding and $9.0 million in committed letters of credit under our $250 million Revolving Credit Facility, resulting in borrowing availability of $141 million.

Capital Expenditures

Cash capital expenditures in the third quarter were $97.2 million. Currently, we expect to spend a total of approximately $335 million to $355 million in 2012, which includes a portion of the construction costs for new-build drilling rigs, upgrades to certain drilling rigs, additional well servicing rigs, wireline units, coiled tubing units and routine capital expenditures. We expect to fund the remaining capital expenditures from operating cash flow in excess of our working capital requirements and from borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility.

Following the delivery of the final three new-build drilling rigs in the first quarter of 2013, the Company plans to reduce capital spending and use operating cash flows in excess of working capital requirements to reduce debt levels.

Conference Call

Pioneer Energy Services' management team will hold a conference call today at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (10:00 a.m. Central Time), to discuss these results. To participate in the call, dial (480) 629-9692 ten minutes early and ask for the Pioneer Energy Services' conference call. A replay will be available after the call and will be accessible until November 8. To access the replay, dial (303) 590-3030 and enter the pass code 4567839#.  The conference call will also be webcast on the Internet and accessible from Pioneer Energy Services' Web site at www.pioneeres.com. To listen to the live call, visit Pioneer Energy Services' Web site at least 10 minutes early to register and download any necessary audio software.  An archive will be available shortly after the call. For more information, please contact Donna Washburn at DRG&L at (713) 529-6600 or e-mail dmw@drg-l.com.

About Pioneer

Pioneer Energy Services provides contract land drilling services to independent and major oil and gas operators in Texas, Louisiana, the Mid-Continent, Rocky Mountain and Appalachian regions and internationally in Colombia through its Drilling Services Segment. Pioneer also provides well, wireline, coiled tubing and fishing and rental services to producers in the U.S. Gulf Coast, offshore Gulf of Mexico, Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions through its Production Services Segment.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,
Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Reconciliations

Statements we make in this news release that express a belief, expectation or intention, as well as those that are not historical fact, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, could differ materially from those we express in this news release as a result of a variety of factors, including general economic and business conditions and industry trends; levels and volatility of oil and gas prices; decisions about onshore exploration and development projects to be made by oil and gas exploration and production companies; risks associated with economic cycles and their impact on capital markets and liquidity; the continued demand for the drilling services or production services in the geographic areas where we operate; the highly competitive nature of our business; our future financial performance, including availability, terms and deployment of capital; future compliance with covenants under our senior secured revolving credit facility and our senior notes; the supply of marketable drilling rigs, well servicing rigs, coiled tubing and wireline units within the industry; the continued availability of drilling rig, well servicing rig, coiled tubing and wireline unit components; the continued availability of qualified personnel; the success or failure of our acquisition strategy, including our ability to finance acquisitions, manage growth and effectively integrate acquisitions; and changes in, or our failure or inability to comply with, governmental regulations, including those relating to the environment. We have discussed many of these factors in more detail in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. These factors are not necessarily all the important factors that could affect us. Unpredictable or unknown factors we have not discussed in this news release, or in our annual report on Form 10-K, could also have material adverse effects on actual results of matters that are the subject of our forward-looking statements.  All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.  We advise our shareholders that they should (1) be aware that important factors not referred to above could affect the accuracy of our forward-looking statements and (2) use caution and common sense when considering our forward-looking statements.

This news release contains non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G.  A reconciliation of each such measure to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, together with an explanation of why management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors, is provided in the following tables.

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   - Financial Statements and Operating Information Follow -

SOURCE Pioneer Energy Services