Financial results for contract drillers

The BP Liberty, a Parker Drilling Co. rig designed and constructed for BP, is offloaded from a barge. The land-based rig will drill ultra-extended-reach wells to offshore targets in the North Slope.

Photo courtesy of Parker Drilling Co.

When it comes to contract drilling companies, Transocean is the 15,000-pound elephant in the room. The Swiss-based company with US headquarters in Houston had triple the revenues ($2.9 billion) of the second-leading company, Diamond Offshore ($946.4 million) in the quarter ending June 30. However, Diamond Offshore and Noble Corporation, the third-ranked contract driller, aren't slouches. Both recorded hefty net incomes – $387.4 million for Diamond and $392 million for Noble. Transocean earned $806 million in net income for the quarter.

As of this writing, Transocean stock was trading at $75.31; Diamond Offshore at $88.24; and Noble Corporation at $53.14.

Nearly all the companies tracked in this report showed declines from the same quarter in 2008, and four of the 14 showed net losses for the quarter.

Fourth-ranked Nabors Industries recorded a net income of $143.9 million on revenues of $868 million, while No. 5 Dallas-based Ensco International earned $268.5 million on revenues of $511.6 million. On Aug. 12, Nabors was trading at about $38 a share as was Ensco.

No. 6 Houston-based Pride International, a major deepwater drilling company, earned $121.8 million on revenues of $500.7 million. The company's stock was trading at $26.13 as of Aug. 12 – up about 2.5 times from its 52-week low but still down a bit from its 52-week high price of $41.22.

Seventh-ranked Rowan Companies Inc. recorded net income of $96.6 million and had total revenues of $482.2 million for the quarter. The company's stock was trading at $20.79 on Aug. 12.

No. 8 Helmerich & Payne Inc., headquartered in Tulsa, reported $53 million net income on $387.8 million in revenues, while No. 9 Parker Drilling Company out of Houston had $4.4 million in net income and $221.8 million in revenues.

Houston-based Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. recorded a net loss of $17.7 million on revenues of $161 million. Its stock was trading at $14.12 on Aug. 12. Atwood Oceanics, which owns and operates eight offshore gas drilling rigs, had $67.7 million in net income and $149.3 million in revenues for the quarter. San Antonio-based Pioneer Drilling Company reported a net loss of $6.3 million on revenues of $69.1 million.

Rounding out the group, Midland, Tex.-based Basic Energy Services recorded a net loss of $21.2 million and revenues of $118.8 million, while GMX Resources Inc. of Oklahoma City reported a net loss of $8.2 million for the quarter on revenues of $22.8 million.