A drilling company with ties to the oilsands posted a net loss of $58 million in the second quarter as its North American customers reigned in spending amid lower commodity prices.
Precision Drilling saw revenue fall by 51 per cent to $164 million when compared to the same quarter last year while drilling activity measured by the number of days that rigs were in use decreased by 48 per cent in Canada.
While the results certainly aren’t inspiring, the company says that activity levels have started to pick up and things look a little brighter heading into the second half of this year.
“As commodity prices have recently improved, our activity levels have also modestly improved, up 27 [per cent] in the US from trough levels to 28 active rigs and seasonally increasing in Canada to 26 active rigs,” said Keven Neveu, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Notably, we have increased our contract backlog by one right in 2016 and added four rigs on average under contract for 2017. Our customers appear to be looking beyond the oil price lows of earlier this year, resetting spending to current commodity price levels, and beginning the early stages of planning for improved longer term fundamentals.”
In Canada drilling rig utilization days were slashed by nearly 50 per cent from 2,372 in the second quarter of last year to 1,202 this year. Total rig operating hours were down over 54 per cent.
Capital spending was down by 52.6 per cent to $52 million dollars from nearly $109.5 million last year while loss the loss per share doubled to 20 cents.
