Basic Energy Services 8K Other Events | BASWQ 8 May 08

Exhibit 99.1

ITEMS 1. AND 2. BUSINESS AND PROPERTIES

General

We provide a wide range of well site services to oil and gas drilling and producing companies, including well servicing, fluid services, contract drilling, completion and remedial services and well site construction services. These services are fundamental to establishing and maintaining the flow of oil and gas throughout the productive life of a well. Our broad range of services enables us to meet multiple needs of our customers at the well site. Our operations are managed regionally and are concentrated in the major United States onshore oil and gas producing regions in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Louisiana and the Rocky Mountain states. We provide our services to a diverse group of over 2,000 oil and gas companies. We operate the third-largest fleet of well servicing rigs (also commonly referred to as workover rigs) in the United States, representing over 14% of the overall available U.S. fleet, with our two larger competitors controlling approximately 33% and 20%, respectively, according to the Association of Energy Services Companies (“AESC”) and other publicly available data.

Basic revised its business segments beginning in the first quarter of 2008. The new operating segments are Well Servicing, Fluid Services, Completion and Remedial Services and Contract Drilling. These segments were selected based on changes in management’s resource allocation and performance assessment in making decisions regarding the Company. Contract Drilling was previously included in our Well Servicing segment. Well Site Construction Services is consolidated with our Fluid Services segment. These changes reflect Basic’s operating focus in compliance with SFAS No. 131,“Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information.”The following is a description of the segments:

	•		Well Servicing. Our well servicing segment (39% of our revenues in 2007) currently operates our fleet of 387 well servicing rigs and related equipment. This business segment encompasses a full range of services performed with a mobile well servicing rig, including the, installation and removal of downhole equipment, and elimination of obstructions in the well bore to facilitate the flow of oil and gas. These services are performed to establish, maintain and improve production throughout the productive life of an oil and gas well and to plug and abandon a well at the end of its productive life. Our well servicing equipment and capabilities are essential to facilitate most other services performed on a well.

	•		Fluid Services. Our fluid services segment (29% of our revenues in 2007) currently utilizes our fleet of 645 fluid services trucks and related assets, including specialized tank trucks, storage tanks, water wells, disposal facilities and related equipment. These assets provide, transport, store and dispose of a variety of fluids. These services are required in most workover, completion and remedial projects and are routinely used in daily producing well operations.

	•		Completion and Remedial Services. Our completion and remedial services segment (28% of our revenues in 2007) currently operates our fleet of pressure pumping units, an array of specialized rental equipment and fishing tools, air compressor packages specially configured for underbalanced drilling operations, and cased-hole wireline units. The largest portion of this business segment consists of pressure pumping services focused on cementing, acidizing and fracturing services in niche markets. We entered the rental and fishing tool business through an acquisition in the first quarter of 2006.

	•		Contract Drilling. Our contract drilling segment (4% of our revenues in 2007) currently operates ten drilling rigs and related equipment. We use these assets to penetrate the earth to a desired depth and initiate production from a well.. We greatly increased our presence in this line of business through the Sledge Drilling acquisition in the second quarter of 2007.

Financial information about our segments is included in Note 15,Business Segment Information, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8,Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of the previously filed Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our Competitive Strengths

We believe that the following competitive strengths currently position us well within our industry:

Significant Market Position. We maintain a significant market share for our well servicing operations in our core operating areas throughout Texas and a growing market share in the other markets that we serve. Our fleet of 387 well servicing rigs represents the third-largest fleet in the United States, and our goal is to be one of the top two providers of well site services in each of our core operating areas. Our market position allows us to expand the range of services performed on a well throughout its life, such as drilling, maintenance, workover, completion and plugging and abandonment services.

Modern and Active Fleet. We operate a modern and active fleet of well servicing rigs. We believe over 80% of the active U.S. well servicing rig fleet was built prior to 1985. Greater than 50% of our rigs at December 31, 2007 were either 2000 model year or newer, or have undergone major refurbishments during the last five years. As of December 31, 2007, we have taken delivery of 110 newbuild well servicing rigs since October 2004 as part of a 134-rig newbuild commitment, driven by our desire to maintain one of the most efficient, reliable and safest fleets in the industry. The remainder of these newbuilds are scheduled to be delivered to us by the end of December 2008. In addition to our regular maintenance program, we have an established program to routinely monitor and evaluate the condition of our fleet. We selectively refurbish rigs and other assets to maintain the quality of our service and to provide a safe work environment for our personnel and have made major refurbishments on 81 of our rigs since the beginning of 2000. Approximately 98% of our fleet was active or available for work and the remainder was stacked or awaiting refurbishment at December 31, 2007. Since 2003, we have obtained annual independent reviews and evaluations of substantially all of our assets, which confirmed the location and condition of these assets.

Extensive Domestic Footprint in the Most Prolific Basins. Our operations are concentrated in the major United States onshore oil and gas producing regions in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Louisiana and the Rocky Mountain states. We operate in states that accounted for approximately 59% of the approximately 900,000 existing onshore oil and gas wells in the 48 contiguous states and approximately 76% of onshore oil production and 91% of onshore gas production in 2007. We believe that our operations are located in the most active U.S. well services markets, as we currently focus our operations on onshore domestic oil and gas production areas that include both the highest concentration of existing oil and gas production activities and the largest prospective acreage for new drilling activity. This extensive footprint allows us to offer our suite of services to more than 2,000 customers who are active in those areas and allows us to redeploy equipment between markets as activity shifts.

Diversified Service Offering for Further Revenue Growth. We believe our range of well site services provides us a competitive advantage over smaller companies that typically offer fewer services. Our experience, equipment and network of 101 area offices position us to market our full range of well site services to our existing customers. By utilizing a wider range of our services, our customers can use fewer service providers, which enables them to reduce their administrative costs and simplify their logistics. Furthermore, offering a broader range of services allows us to capitalize on our existing customer base and management structure to grow within existing markets, generate more business from existing customers, and increase our operating profits as we spread our overhead costs over a larger revenue base.

Decentralized Management with Strong Corporate Infrastructure. Our corporate group is responsible for maintaining a unified infrastructure to support our diversified operations through standardized financial and accounting, safety, environmental and maintenance processes and controls. Below our corporate level, we operate a decentralized operational organization in which our ten regional or division managers are responsible for their operations, including asset management, cost control, policy compliance and training and other aspects of quality control. With an average of over 25 years of industry experience, each regional manager has extensive knowledge of the customer base, job requirements and working conditions in each local market. Below our ten regional or division managers, our area managers are directly responsible for customer relationships, personnel management, accident prevention and equipment maintenance, the key drivers of our operating profitability. This management structure allows us to monitor operating performance on a daily basis, maintain financial, accounting and asset management controls, integrate acquisitions, prepare timely financial reports and manage contractual risk.

Our Business Strategy

We intend to increase our shareholder value by pursuing the following strategies:

Establish and Maintain Leadership Position in Core Operating Areas. We strive to establish and maintain market leadership positions within our core operating areas. To achieve this goal, we maintain close customer relationships, seek to expand the breadth of our services and offer high quality services and equipment that meet the scope of customer specifications and requirements. In addition, our significant presence in our core operating areas facilitates employee retention and attraction, a key factor for success in our business. Our significant presence in our core operating areas also provides us with brand recognition that we intend to utilize in creating leading positions in new operating areas.

Expand Within Our Regional Markets. We intend to continue strengthening our presence within our existing geographic footprint through internal growth and acquisitions of businesses with strong customer relationships, well-maintained equipment and experienced and skilled personnel. Our larger competitors have only pursued acquisitions of small to mid-size regional businesses or assets in recent years on a limited basis, due to the small relative scale and financial impact of these potential acquisitions. In contrast, we have successfully pursued these types of acquisitions, which remain attractive to us and make a meaningful impact on our overall operations. We typically enter into new markets through the acquisition of businesses with strong management teams that will allow us to expand within these markets. Management of acquired companies often remain with us and retain key positions within our organization, which enhances our attractiveness as an acquisition partner. We have a record of successfully implementing this strategy. During the past three years, our acquisitions have included:

2005

•

Oilwell Fracturing Services, Inc., a pressure pumping services company operating in our Mid-Continent region;

2006

	•		LeBus Oil Field Service Co., a fluid service company operating in our Ark-La-Tex region, and

	•		G&L Tool, Ltd., a rental and fishing tool company included in our completion and remedial line of business;

2007

	•		JetStar Consolidated Holdings, Inc., a pressure pumping company operating in our completion and remedial line of business, and

	•		Sledge Drilling Holding Corp., a contract drilling company operating in our contract drilling line of business.

Develop Additional Service Offerings Within the Well Servicing Market. We intend to continue broadening the portfolio of services we provide to our clients by leveraging our well servicing infrastructure. A customer typically begins a new maintenance or workover project by securing access to a well servicing rig, which generally stays on site for the duration of the project. As a result, our rigs are often the first equipment to arrive at the well site and typically the last to leave, providing us the opportunity to offer our customers other complementary services. We believe the fragmented nature of the well servicing market creates an opportunity to sell more services to our core customers and to expand our total service offering within each of our markets. We have expanded our suite of services available to our customers and increased our opportunities to cross-sell new services to our core well servicing customers through recent acquisitions and internal growth. We expect to continue to develop or selectively acquire capabilities to provide additional services to expand and further strengthen our customer relationships.

Pursue Growth Through Selective Capital Deployment. We intend to continue growing our business through selective acquisitions, continuing a newbuild program and/or upgrading our existing assets. Our capital investment decisions are determined by an analysis of the projected return on capital employed of each of those alternatives. Acquisitions are evaluated for “fit” with our area and regional operations management and are thoroughly reviewed by corporate level financial, equipment, safety and environmental specialists to ensure consideration is given to identified risks. We also evaluate the cost to acquire existing assets from a third party, the capital required to build new equipment and the point in the oil and gas commodity price cycle. Based on these factors, we make capital investment decisions that we believe will support our long-term growth strategy, and these decisions may involve a combination of asset acquisitions and the purchase of new equipment. In 2007, we completed eight separate acquisitions for an aggregate purchase price of $252 million, net of cash acquired, and took delivery of 45 new well servicing rigs.

General Industry Overview

Demand for services offered by our industry is a function of our customers’ willingness to make operating and capital expenditures to explore for, develop and produce hydrocarbons in the U.S., which in turn is affected by current and expected levels of oil and gas prices. As oil and gas prices rebounded beginning in early 1999, oil and gas companies have increased their drilling and workover activities. The increased activity resulted in increased domestic exploration and production spending compared to the prior year of 17% in 2006, according to the Lehman Brothers 2007 E&P Spending Survey. Domestic spending increased 4% in 2007 and is estimated to increase 4% in 2008, according to the Lehman Brothers 2008 E&P Spending Survey.

The table below sets forth average daily closing prices for the Cushing WTI Spot Oil Price and the Energy Information Agency average wellhead price for natural gas since 2003:


	Cushing WTI Spot		Average Wellhead Price
Period	Oil Price ($/bbl)		Natural Gas ($/mcf)
1/1/03 — 12/31/03		31.08		4.98
1/1/04 — 12/31/04		41.51		5.49
1/1/05 — 12/31/05		56.64		7.51
1/1/06 — 12/31/06		66.05		6.42
1/1/07 — 12/31/07		72.34		6.38


Source: U.S. Department of Energy.

Increased expenditures for exploration and production activities generally drives the increased demand for our services. Rising oil and gas prices since early 1999 and the corresponding increase in onshore oil exploration and production spending have led to expanded drilling and well service activity, as the U.S. land-based drilling rig count increased approximately 22% from year-end 2004 to year-end 2005, 17% from year-end 2005 to year-end 2006, and 4% from year-end 2006 to year-end 2007. In addition, the U.S. land-based workover rig count increased approximately 17% from year-end 2004 to year-end 2005, decreased 1% from year-end 2005 to year-end 2006 and increased 3% from year-end 2006 to year-end 2007, according to Baker Hughes.

Exploration and production spending is generally categorized as either an operating expenditure or a capital expenditure. Activities designed to add hydrocarbon reserves are classified as capital expenditures, while those associated with maintaining or accelerating production are categorized as operating expenditures.

Capital expenditures by oil and gas companies tend to be relatively sensitive to volatility in oil or gas prices because project decisions are tied to a return on investment spanning a number of years. As such, capital expenditure economics often require the use of commodity price forecasts which may prove inaccurate in the amount of time required to plan and execute a capital expenditure project (such as the drilling of a deep well). When commodity prices are depressed for even a short period of time, capital expenditure projects are routinely deferred until prices return to an acceptable level.

In contrast, both mandatory and discretionary operating expenditures are substantially more stable than exploration and drilling expenditures. Mandatory operating expenditure projects involve activities that cannot be avoided in the short term, such as regulatory compliance, safety, contractual obligations and projects to maintain the well and related infrastructure in operating condition (for example, repairs to a central tank battery, downhole pump, saltwater disposal system or gathering system). Discretionary operating expenditure projects may not be critical to the short-term viability of a lease or field but these projects are relatively insensitive to commodity price volatility. Discretionary operating expenditure work is evaluated according to a simple short-term payout criterion which is far less dependent on commodity price forecasts.

Our business is influenced substantially by both operating and capital expenditures by oil and gas companies. Because existing oil and gas wells require ongoing spending to maintain production, expenditures by oil and gas companies for the maintenance of existing wells are relatively stable and predictable. In contrast, capital expenditures by oil and gas companies for exploration and drilling are more directly influenced by current and expected oil and gas prices and generally reflect the volatility of commodity prices.

Overview of Our Segments and Services

Well Servicing Segment

Our well servicing segment encompasses a full range of services performed with a mobile well servicing rig, also commonly referred to as a workover rig and ancillary equipment. Our rigs and personnel provide the means for hoisting equipment and tools into and out of the well bore, and our well servicing equipment and capabilities are essential to facilitate most other services performed on a well. Our well servicing segment services, which are performed to maintain and improve production throughout the productive life of an oil and gas well, include:

	•		maintenance work involving removal, repair and replacement of down-hole equipment and returning the well to production after these operations are completed;

	•		hoisting tools and equipment required by the operation into and out of the well, or removing equipment from the well bore, to facilitate specialized production enhancement and well repair operations performed by other oilfield service companies; and

	•		plugging and abandonment services when a well has reached the end of its productive life.

Regardless of the type of work being performed on the well, our personnel and rigs are often the first to arrive at the well site and the last to leave. We generally charge our customers an hourly rate for these services, which rate varies based on a number of considerations including market conditions in each region, the type of rig and ancillary equipment required, and the necessary personnel.

Our fleet included 387 well servicing as of December 31, 2007, including 110 newbuilds since October 2004 and 81 rebuilds since the beginning of 2000. Our well servicing rigs operate from facilities in Texas, Wyoming, Oklahoma, North Dakota, New Mexico, Louisiana, Colorado, Utah and Montana. Our well servicing rigs are mobile units that generally operate within a radius of approximately 75 to 100 miles from their respective bases. Prior to December 2004, our well servicing segment consisted entirely of land-based equipment. During December 2004, we acquired three inland barges, two of which were equipped with rigs, have been refurbished and were placed into service in the second quarter of 2005. In January 2007, we acquired two additional inland barges equipped with rigs from Parker Drilling Offshore USA, LLC. Inland barges are used to service wells in shallow water marine environments, such as coastal marshes and bays.

The following table sets forth the location, characteristics and number of the well servicing that we operated at December 31, 2007. We categorize our rig fleet by the rated capacity of the mast, which indicates the maximum weight that the rig is capable of lifting. This capability is the limiting factor in our ability to provide services.


			Market Area
			Permian		South		Ark-La-		Mid-		Northern		Southern
Rig Type	Rated Capacity		Basin		Texas		Tex		Continent		Rockies		Rockies		Stacked			Total
Swab		N/A		1		1		7		5		0		0		0			14
Light Duty	<90 tons			6		2		0		16		0		0		1			25
Medium Duty	³90-<125 tons			121		37		32		46		23		22		2	��		283
Heavy Duty	³125 tons			30		5		5		6		4		5		1			56
24-Hour	³125 tons			1		3		0		1		0		0		0			5
Inland Barge	³125 tons			0		0		4		0		0		0		0			4

Total				159		48		48		74		27		27		4			387

We operate a total of 387 well servicing rigs, the third largest fleet in the United States. Based on their most recent publicly available information, Key Energy Services is our largest competitor with a total of 925 rigs and Nabors is the second largest with 564 rigs at year end. Our only other competitor operating more than 100 rigs is Complete Production Services with 225 rigs. Excluding the rigs operated by Nabors in California where we do not compete, we have the second largest rig fleet.

The total number of rigs owned by those four largest companies referenced above total 2,101, or 74% of the available fleet owned by member companies of the AESC, the major trade association of well site service providers. The remaining 26% of the well servicing rigs are owned by more than 100 local and regional companies. The most recent monthly activity conducted by the AESC indicated that 73% of the rigs owned were active.

We have suspected for several years that the AESC survey was failing to capture a substantial number of well servicing companies and rigs as oil and gas prices and demand since 2004 have caused numerous small company start-ups and several large E&P companies to purchase their own rigs to ensure availability. In mid-2007, we co-sponsored a comprehensive survey of well servicing rig ownership and manufacturers to provide a more accurate assessment of the size of the competitive well servicing rig fleet.

The results of that survey performed by Energy Sector Analytics, LLC, and made available to the sponsors in December included responses by 145 companies, including six E&P companies. The survey indicated a total competitive fleet of 3,477 rigs with 3,332 of those rigs working at the survey date, a utilization rate of 95%. Based on that survey, we operate approximately 11% of the available fleet and the four largest companies combine to operate 62% of the total.

The Energy Sector Analytics survey also addressed the amount of new rig capacity coming to market in 2008. Survey participants indicated plans to add 162 new rigs in 2008, offset by 77 retirements, for a net increase in the available fleet of 85 rigs, or 2.4%.

Maintenance. Regular maintenance is generally required throughout the life of a well to sustain optimal levels of oil and gas production. We believe regular maintenance comprises the largest portion of our work in this business segment. We provide well service rigs, equipment and crews for these maintenance services. Maintenance services are often performed on a series of wells in proximity to each other. These services consist of routine mechanical repairs necessary to maintain production, such as repairing inoperable pumping equipment in an oil well or replacing defective tubing in a gas well, and removing debris such as sand and paraffin from the well. Other services include pulling the rods, tubing, pumps and other downhole equipment out of the well bore to identify and repair a production problem. These downhole equipment failures are typically caused by the repetitive pumping action of an oil well. Corrosion, water cut, grade of oil, sand production and other factors can also result in frequent failures of downhole equipment.

The need for maintenance activity does not directly depend on the level of drilling activity, although it is somewhat impacted by short-term fluctuations in oil and gas prices. Demand for our maintenance services is affected by changes in the total number of producing oil and gas wells in our geographic service areas. Accordingly, maintenance services generally experience relatively stable demand.

Our regular well maintenance services involve relatively low-cost, short-duration jobs which are part of normal well operating costs. Demand for well maintenance is driven primarily by the production requirements of the local oil or gas fields and, to a lesser degree, the actual prices received for oil and gas. Well operators cannot delay all maintenance work without a significant impact on production. Operators may, however, choose to temporarily shut in producing wells when oil or gas prices are too low to justify additional expenditures, including maintenance.

Workover. In addition to periodic maintenance, producing oil and gas wells occasionally require major repairs or modifications called workovers, which are typically more complex and more time consuming than maintenance operations. Workover services include extensions of existing wells to drain new formations either through perforating the well casing to expose additional productive zones not previously produced, deepening well bores to new zones or the drilling of lateral well bores to improve reservoir drainage patterns. Our workover rigs are also used to convert former producing wells to injection wells through which water or carbon dioxide is then pumped into the formation for enhanced oil recovery operations. Workovers also include major subsurface repairs such as repair or replacement of well casing, recovery or replacement of tubing and removal of foreign objects from the well bore. These extensive workover operations are normally performed by a workover rig with additional specialized auxiliary equipment, which may include rotary drilling equipment, mud pumps, mud tanks and fishing tools, depending upon the particular type of workover operation. Most of our well servicing rigs are designed to perform complex workover operations. A workover may require a few days to several weeks and generally requires additional auxiliary equipment. The demand for workover services is sensitive to oil and gas producers’ intermediate and long-term expectations for oil and gas prices. As oil and gas prices increase, the level of workover activity tends to increase as oil and gas producers seek to increase output by enhancing the efficiency of their wells.

New Well Completion. New well completion services involve the preparation of newly drilled wells for production. The completion process may involve selectively perforating the well casing in the productive zones to allow oil or gas to flow into the well bore, stimulating and testing these zones and installing the production string and other downhole equipment. We provide well service rigs to assist in this completion process. Newly drilled wells are frequently completed by well servicing rigs to minimize the use of higher cost drilling rigs in the completion process. The completion process typically requires a few days to several weeks, depending on the nature and type of the completion, and generally requires additional auxiliary equipment. Accordingly, completion services require less well-to-well mobilization of equipment and generally provide higher operating margins than regular maintenance work. The demand for completion services is directly related to drilling activity levels, which are sensitive to expectations relating to and changes in oil and gas prices.

Plugging and Abandonment. Well servicing rigs are also used in the process of permanently closing oil and gas wells no longer capable of producing in economic quantities. Plugging and abandonment work can be performed with a well servicing rig along with wireline and cementing equipment; however, this service is typically provided by companies that specialize in plugging and abandonment work. Many well operators bid this work on a “turnkey” basis, requiring the service company to perform the entire job, including the sale or disposal of equipment salvaged from the well as part of the compensation received, and complying with state regulatory requirements. Plugging and abandonment work can provide favorable operating margins and is less sensitive to oil and gas pricing than drilling and workover activity since well operators must plug a well in accordance with state regulations when it is no longer productive. We perform plugging and abandonment work throughout our core areas of operation in conjunction with equipment provided by other service companies.

Fluid Services Segment

Our fluid services segment provides oilfield fluid supply, transportation, storage and construction services. These services are required in most workover, completion and remedial projects and are routinely used in daily producing well operations. These services include:

	•		transportation of fluids used in drilling and workover operations and of salt water produced as a by-product of oil and gas production;

	•		sale and transportation of fresh and brine water used in drilling and workover activities;

	•		rental of portable frac tanks and test tanks used to store fluids on well sites;

	•		operation of company-owned fresh water and brine source wells and of non-hazardous wastewater disposal wells; and

	•		preparation, construction and maintenance of access roads, drilling locations, and production facilities.

This segment utilizes our fleet of fluid services trucks and related assets, including specialized tank trucks, portable storage tanks, water wells, disposal facilities and related equipment. The following table sets forth the type, number and location of the fluid services equipment that we operated at December 31, 2007:


	Market Area
	Northern		Permian		Ark-La-		South		Mid-
	Rockies		Basin		Tex		Texas		Continent		Total
Fluid Services Trucks		87		222		186		108		42		645
Salt Water Disposal Wells		0		19		18		9		7		53
Fresh/Brine Water Stations		0		30		0		0		0		30
Fluid Storage Tanks		277		454		644		249		72		1,696

Requirements for minor or incidental fluid services are usually purchased on a “call out” basis and charged according to a published schedule of rates. Larger projects, such as servicing the requirements of a multi-well drilling program or frac program, generally involve a bidding process. We compete for services both on a call out basis and for multi-well contract projects.

We provide a full array of fluid sales, transportation, storage and disposal services required on most workover, completion and remedial projects. Our breadth of capabilities in this business segment allows us to serve as a one-stop source for our customers. Many of our smaller competitors in this segment can provide some, but not all, of the equipment and services required by customers, requiring them to use several companies to meet their requirements and increasing their administrative burden.

As in our well servicing segment, our fluid services segment has a base level of business volume related to the regular maintenance of oil and gas wells. Most oil and gas fields produce residual salt water in conjunction with oil or gas. Fluid service trucks pick up this fluid from tank batteries at the well site and transport it to a salt water disposal well for injection. This regular maintenance work must be performed if a well is to remain active. Transportation and disposal of produced water is considered a low value service by most operators, and it is difficult for us to command a premium over rates charged by our competition. Our ability to out perform competitors in this segment depends on our ability to achieve significant economies relating to logistics — specifically, proximity between areas where salt water is produced and our company owned disposal wells. Ownership of disposal wells eliminates the need to pay third parties a fee for disposal. We operate salt water disposal wells in most of our markets.

Workover, completion and remedial activities also provide the opportunity for higher operating margins from tank rentals and fluid sales. Drilling and workover jobs typically require fresh or brine water for drilling mud or circulating fluid used during the job. Completion and workover procedures often also require large volumes of water for fracturing operations, a process of stimulating a well hydraulically to increase production. Spent mud and flowback fluids are required to be transported from the well site to an approved disposal facility.

Competitors in the fluid services industry are mostly small, regionally focused companies. There are currently no companies that have a dominant position on a nationwide basis. The level of activity in the fluid services industry is comprised of a relatively stable demand for services related to the maintenance of producing wells and a highly variable demand for services used in the drilling and completion of new wells. As a result, the level of onshore drilling activity significantly affects the level of activity in the fluid services industry. While there are no industry- wide statistics, the Baker Hughes Land Drilling Rig Count is an indirect indication of demand for fluid services because it directly reflects the level of onshore drilling activity.

Fluid Services. We currently own and operate 645 fluid services trucks equipped with a fluid hauling capacity of up to 150 barrels. Each fluid service truck is equipped to pump fluids from or into wells, pits, tanks and other storage facilities. The majority of our fluid service trucks are also used to transport water to fill frac tanks on well locations, including frac tanks provided by us and others, to transport produced salt water to disposal wells, including injection wells owned and operated by us, and to transport drilling and completion fluids to and from well locations. In conjunction with the rental of our frac tanks, we generally use our fluid service trucks to transport water for use in fracturing operations. Following completion of fracturing operations, our fluid service trucks are used to transport the flowback produced as a result of the fracturing operations from the well site to disposal wells. Fluid services trucks are generally provided to oilfield operators within a 50-mile radius of our nearest yard.

Salt Water Disposal Well Services. We own disposal wells that are permitted to dispose of salt water and incidental non-hazardous oil and gas wastes. Our transport trucks frequently transport fluids that are disposed of in these salt water disposal wells. The disposal wells have injection capacities ranging up to 3,500 barrels per day. Our salt water disposal wells are strategically located in close proximity to our customers’ producing wells. Most oil and gas wells produce varying amounts of salt water throughout their productive lives. In the states in which we generate oil and gas wastes and salt water produced from oil and gas wells are required by law to be disposed of in authorized facilities, including permitted salt water disposal wells. Injection wells are licensed by state authorities and are completed in permeable formations below the fresh water table. We maintain separators at most of our disposal wells permitting us to salvage residual crude oil, which is later sold for our account.

Fresh and Brine Water Stations. Our network of fresh and brine water stations, particularly, in the Permian Basin, where surface water is generally not available, are used to supply water necessary for the drilling and completion of oil and gas wells. Our strategic locations, in combination with our other fluid handling services, give us a competitive advantage over other service providers in those areas in which these other companies cannot provide these services.

Fluid Storage Tanks. Our fluid storage tanks can store up to 500 barrels of fluid and are used by oilfield operators to store various fluids at the well site, including fresh water, brine and acid for frac jobs, flowback, temporary production and mud storage. We transport the tanks on our trucks to well locations that are usually within a 50-mile radius of our nearest yard. Frac tanks are used during all phases of the life of a producing well. We generally rent fluid services tanks at daily rates for a minimum of three days. A typical fracturing operation can be completed within four days using 5 to 50 frac tanks.

Construction Services.We utilize a fleet of power units, including dozers, trenchers, motor graders, backhoes and other heavy equipment used in road construction. In addition, we own rock pits in some markets in our Rocky Mountain operations to ensure a reliable source of rock to support our construction activities. We also own a substantial quantity of wooden mats in our Gulf Coast operations to support the well site construction requirements in that marshy environment. Contracts for well site construction services are normally awarded by our customers on the basis of competitive bidding and may range in scope from several days to several months in duration.

Completion and Remedial Services Segment

Our completion and remedial services segment provides oil and gas operators with a package of services that include the following:

	•		pressure pumping services, such as cementing, acidizing, fracturing, coiled tubing and pressure testing;

	•		rental and fishing tools;

	•		cased-hole wireline services; and

	•		underbalanced drilling in low pressure and fluid sensitive reservoirs.

This segment currently operates 118 pressure pumping units, with approximately 120,000 of horsepower capacity, to conduct a variety of services designed to stimulate oil and gas production or to enable cement slurry to be placed in or circulated within a well. As of December 31, 2007, we also operated 42 air compressor packages, including foam circulation units, for underbalanced drilling and 12 wireline units for cased-hole measurement and pipe recovery services.

Just as a well servicing rig is required to perform various operations over the life cycle of a well, there is a similar need for equipment capable of pumping fluids into the well under varying degrees of pressure. During the drilling and completion phase, the well bore is lined with large diameter steel pipe called casing. Casing is cemented into place by circulating slurry into the annulus created between the pipe and the rock wall of the well bore. The cement slurry is forced into the well by pressure pumping equipment located on the surface. Cementing services are also utilized over the life of a well to repair leaks in the casing, to close perforations that are no longer productive and ultimately to “plug” the well at the end of its productive life.

A hydrocarbon reservoir is essentially an interval of rock that is saturated with oil and/or gas, usually in combination with water. Three primary factors determine the productivity of a well that intersects a hydrocarbon reservoir: porosity — the percentage of the reservoir volume represented by pore space in which the hydrocarbons reside, permeability — the natural propensity for the flow of hydrocarbons toward the well bore, and “skin” — the degree to which the portion of the reservoir in close proximity to the well bore has experienced reduced permeability as a result of exposure to drilling fluids or other contaminants. Well productivity can be increased by artificially improving either permeability or skin through stimulation methods.

Permeability can be increased through the use of fracturing methods. The reservoir is subjected to fluids pumped into it under high pressure. This pressure creates stress in the reservoir and causes the rock to fracture thereby creating additional channels through which hydrocarbons can flow. In most cases, sand or another form of proppant is pumped with the fluid as a means of holding open the newly created fractures.

The most common means of reducing near-well bore damage, or skin, is the injection of a highly reactive solvent (such as hydrochloric acid) solution into the area where the hydrocarbons enter the well. This solution has the effect of dissolving contaminants which have accumulated and are restricting flow. This process is generically known as acidizing.

As a well is drilled, long intervals of rock are left exposed and unprotected. In order to prevent the exposed rock from caving and to prevent fluids from entering or leaving the exposed sections, steel casing is lowered into the hole and cemented in place. Pressure pumping equipment is utilized to force a cement slurry into the area between the rock face and the casing, thereby securing it. After a well is drilled and completed, the casing may develop leaks as a result of abrasion from production tubing, exposure to corrosive elements or inadequate support from the original attempt to cement it in place. When a leak develops, it is necessary to place specialized equipment into the well and to pump cement in such a way as to seal the leak. Repairing leaks in this manner is known as “squeeze” cementing — a method that utilizes pressure pumping equipment.

The following table sets forth the type, number and location of the completion and remedial services equipment that we operated at December 31, 2007:


	Market Area
					Northern		Southern		Permian
	Ark-La-Tex		Mid-Continent		Rockies		Rockies		Basin		Total
Pressure Pumping Units		22		93		3		0		0		118
Coiled Tubing Units		0		3		0		0		0		3
Air/Foam Packages		0		5		0		34		3		42
Wireline Units		0		12		0		0		0		12
Rental and Fishing Tool Stores		0		9		1		0		8		18

Our pressure pumping business focuses primarily on lower horsepower cementing, acidizing and fracturing services in markets. Currently, there are several pressure pumping companies that provide their services on a national basis. For the most part, these companies have concentrated their assets in markets characterized by complex work with higher horsepower requirements. This has created an opportunity in the markets for pressure

pumping services in mature areas with less complex characteristics and lower horsepower requirements. We, along with a number of smaller, regional companies, have concentrated our efforts on these markets. Two of our major well servicing competitors also participates in the pressure pumping business, but primarily outside our core areas of operations for pumping services.

Like our fluid services business, the level of activity of our pressure pumping business is tied to drilling and workover activity. The bulk of pressure pumping work is associated with cementing casing in place as the well is drilled or pumping fluid that stimulates production from the well during the completion phase. Pressure pumping work is awarded based on a combination of price and expertise.

Our rental and fishing tool business provides a range of specialized services and equipment that are utilized on a non-routine basis for both drilling and well servicing operations. Drilling and well servicing rigs are equipped with a complement of tools to complete routine operations under normal conditions for most projects in the geographic area where they are employed. When downhole problems develop with drilling or servicing operations, or conditions require non-routine equipment, our customers will usually rely on a provider of rental and fishing tools to augment equipment that is provided with a typical drilling or well servicing rig package.

The term “fishing” applies to a wide variety of downhole operations designed to correct a problem that has developed when drilling or servicing a well. Most commonly the problem involves equipment that has become lodged in the well and cannot be removed without special equipment. Our customers employ our technicians and our tools that are specifically suited to retrieve the trapped equipment, or “fish,” in order for operations to resume.

Cased-hole wireline services typically utilize a single truck equipped with a spool of wireline that is used to lower and raise a variety of specialized tools in and out of a cased wellbore. These tools can be used to measure pressures and temperatures as well as the condition of the casing and the cement that holds the casing in place. Other applications for wireline tools include placing equipment in or retrieving equipment from the wellbore, or perforating the casing and cutting off pipe that is stuck in the well so that the free section can be recovered. Electric wireline contains a conduit that allows signals to be transmitted to or from tools located in the well. A simpler form of wireline, slickline, lacks an electrical conduit and is used only to perform mechanical tasks such as setting or retrieving various tools. Wireline trucks are often used in place of a well servicing rig when there is no requirement to remove tubulars from the well in order to make repairs. Wireline trucks, like well servicing rigs, are utilized throughout the life of a well.

Underbalanced drilling services, unlike pressure pumping and wireline services, are not utilized universally throughout oil and gas operations. Underbalanced drilling is a technique that involves maintaining the pressure in a well at or slightly below that of the surrounding formation using air, nitrogen, mist, foam or lightweight drilling fluids instead of conventional drilling fluid. The most common method of reducing the weight of drilling fluid is to mix it with air as the fluid is pumped into the well. By varying the volume of air pumped with the fluid, the net hydrostatic pressure can be adjusted to the desired level. In extreme cases, air alone can be used to circulate rock cuttings from the well.

Contract Drilling Segment

Our contract drilling segment employs drilling rigs and related equipment to penetrate the earth to a desired depth and initiate production.

We own and operate ten land drilling rigs in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. A land drilling rig generally consists of engines, a drawworks, a mast, pumps to circulate the drilling fluid (mud) under various pressures, blowout preventers, drill string, and related equipment. The engines power the different pieces of equipment, including a rotary table or top drives that turns the drill string, causing the drill bit to bore through the subsurface rock layers. These jobs are typically bid by “daywork” contracts, in which an agreed upon rate per day is charged to the customer, or “footage” contracts, in which an agreed upon rate per the number of feet drilled is charged to the customer. The demand for drilling services is highly dependent on the availability of new drilling locations available to well operators, as well as sensitivity to expectations relating to and changes in oil and gas prices.

Our drilling rig services grew significantly in 2007 with the acquisition of Sledge Drilling in April. We acquired six drilling rigs in this acquisition.

Properties

Our principal executive offices are currently located at 500 W. Illinois, Suite 100, Midland, Texas 79701. We currently conduct our business from 101 area offices, 51 of which we own and 50 of which we lease. Each office typically includes a yard, administrative office and maintenance facility. Of our 101 area offices, 63 are located in Texas, nine are in Oklahoma, nine are in New Mexico, five are in Wyoming, four are in Colorado, three are in Louisiana, two are in Montana, two are in North Dakota, two are in Kansas, one is in Arkansas and one is in Utah.

Customers

We serve numerous major and independent oil and gas companies that are active in our core areas of operations. During 2007, no one customer comprised over 4% of our total revenues. The majority of our business is with independent oil and gas companies. While we believe we could redeploy equipment in the current market environment if we lost a single material customer, or a few of them, such loss could have an adverse effect on our business until the equipment is redeployed.

Operating Risks and Insurance

Our operations are subject to hazards inherent in the oil and gas industry, such as accidents, blowouts, explosions, craterings, fires and oil spills, that can cause:

	•		personal injury or loss of life;

	•		damage or destruction of property, equipment and the environment; and

	•		suspension of operations.

In addition, claims for loss of oil and gas production and damage to formations can occur in the well services industry. If a serious accident were to occur at a location where our equipment and services are being used, it could result in our being named as a defendant in lawsuits asserting large claims.

Because our business involves the transportation of heavy equipment and materials, we may also experience traffic accidents which may result in spills, property damage and personal injury.

Despite our efforts to maintain high safety standards, we from time to time have suffered accidents in the past and anticipate that we could experience accidents in the future. In addition to the property and personal losses from these accidents, the frequency and severity of these incidents affect our operating costs and insurability and our relationships with customers, employees and regulatory agencies. Any significant increase in the frequency or severity of these incidents, or the general level of compensation awards, could adversely affect the cost of, or our ability to obtain, workers’ compensation and other forms of insurance, and could have other material adverse effects on our financial condition and results of operations.

Although we maintain insurance coverage of types and amounts that we believe to be customary in the industry, we are not fully insured against all risks, either because insurance is not available or because of the high premium costs. We do maintain employer’s liability, pollution, cargo, umbrella, comprehensive commercial general liability, workers’ compensation and limited physical damage insurance. There can be no assurance, however, that any insurance obtained by us will be adequate to cover any losses or liabilities, or that this insurance will continue to be available or available on terms which are acceptable to us. Liabilities for which we are not insured, or which exceed the policy limits of our applicable insurance, could have a material adverse effect on us.

Competition

Our competition includes small regional contractors as well as larger companies with international operations. Our two largest competitors, Key Energy Services, Inc. and Nabors Well Services Co., combined own approximately 53% of the U.S. marketable well servicing rigs. Both of these competitors are public companies or subsidiaries of public companies that operate in most of the large oil and gas producing regions in the U.S. These competitors have centralized management teams that direct their operations and decision-making primarily from corporate and regional headquarters. In addition, because of their size, these companies market a large portion of their work to the major oil and gas companies.

We differentiate ourselves from our major competition by our operating philosophy. We operate a decentralized organization, where local management teams are largely responsible for sales and operations to develop stronger relationships with our customers at the field level. We target areas that are attractive to independent oil and gas operators who in our opinion tend to be more aggressive in spending, less focused on price and more likely to award work based on performance. With the major oil and gas companies divesting mature U.S. properties, we expect our

target customers’ well population to grow over time through acquisition of properties formerly operated by major oil and gas companies. We concentrate on providing services to a diverse group of large and small independent oil and gas companies. These independents typically are relationship driven, make decisions at the local level and are willing to pay higher rates for services. We have been successful using this business model and believe it will enable us to continue to grow our business and maintain or expand our operating margins.

Safety Program

Our business involves the operation of heavy and powerful equipment which can result in serious injuries to our employees and third parties and substantial damage to property. We have comprehensive safety and training programs designed to minimize accidents in the work place and improve the efficiency of our operations. In addition, many of our larger customers now place greater emphasis on safety and quality management programs of their contractors. We believe that these factors will gain further importance in the future. We have directed substantial resources toward employee safety and quality management training programs as well as our employee review process. While our efforts in these areas are not unique, we believe many competitors, and particularly smaller contractors, have not undertaken similar training programs for their employees.

We believe our approach to safety management is consistent with our decentralized management structure. Company-mandated policies and procedures provide the overall framework to ensure our operations minimize the hazards inherent in our work and are intended to meet regulatory requirements, while allowing our operations to satisfy customer-mandated policies and local needs and practices.

Environmental Regulation

Our operations are subject to stringent federal, state and local laws regulating the discharge of materials into the environment or otherwise relating to health and safety or the protection of the environment. Numerous governmental agencies, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, commonly referred to as the “EPA”, issue regulations to implement and enforce these laws, which often require difficult and costly compliance measures. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in the assessment of substantial administrative, civil and criminal penalties, as well as the issuance of injunctions limiting or prohibiting our activities. In addition, some laws and regulations relating to protection of the environment may, in certain circumstances, impose strict liability for environmental contamination, rendering a person liable for environmental damages and cleanup costs without regard to negligence or fault on the part of that person. Strict adherence with these regulatory requirements increases our cost of doing business and consequently affects our profitability. We believe that we are in substantial compliance with current applicable environmental laws and regulations and that continued compliance with existing requirements will not have a material adverse impact on our operations. However, environmental laws and regulations have been subject to frequent changes over the years, and the imposition of more stringent requirements could have a materially adverse effect upon our capital expenditures, earnings or our competitive position.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, referred to as “CERCLA” or the Superfund law, and comparable state laws impose liability, without regard to fault on certain classes of persons that are considered to be responsible for the release of a hazardous substance into the environment. These persons include the current or former owner or operator of the disposal site or sites where the release occurred and companies that disposed or arranged for the disposal of hazardous substances that have been released at the site. Under CERCLA, these persons may be subject to joint and several liability for the costs of investigating and cleaning up hazardous substances that have been released into the environment, for damages to natural resources and for the costs of some health studies. In addition, companies that incur liability frequently confront additional claims because it is not uncommon for neighboring landowners and other third parties to file claims for personal injury and property damage allegedly caused by hazardous substances or other pollutants released into the environment.

The federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, referred to as “RCRA”, generally does not regulate most wastes generated by the exploration and production of oil and natural gas because that act specifically excludes drilling fluids, produced waters and other wastes associated with the exploration, development or production of oil and gas from regulation as hazardous wastes. However, these wastes may be regulated by the EPA or state agencies as non-hazardous wastes as long as these wastes are not commingled with regulated hazardous wastes. Moreover, in the ordinary course of our operations, industrial wastes

such as paint wastes and waste solvents as well as wastes generated in the course of us providing well services may be regulated as hazardous waste under RCRA or hazardous substances under CERCLA.

We currently own or lease, and have in the past owned or leased, a number of properties that have been used for many years as service yards in support of oil and natural gas exploration and production activities. Although we have utilized operating and disposal practices that were standard in the industry at the time, there is the possibility that repair and maintenance activities on rigs and equipment stored in these service yards, as well as well bore fluids stored at these yards, may have resulted in the disposal or release of hydrocarbons or other wastes on or under these yards or other locations where these wastes have been taken for disposal. In addition, we own or lease properties that in the past were operated by third parties whose operations were not under our control. These properties and the hydrocarbons or wastes disposed thereon may be subject to CERCLA, RCRA and analogous state laws. Under these laws, we could be required to remove or remediate previously disposed wastes or property contamination. We believe that we are in substantial compliance with the requirements of CERCLA and RCRA.

Our operations are also subject to the federal Clean Water Act and analogous state laws. Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency has adopted regulations concerning discharges of storm water runoff. This program requires covered facilities to obtain individual permits, or seek coverage under a general permit. Some of our properties may require permits for discharges of storm water runoff and, as part of our overall evaluation of our current operations, we are applying for stormwater discharge permit coverage and updating stormwater discharge management practices at some of our facilities. We believe that we will be able to obtain, or be included under, these permits, where necessary, and make minor modifications to existing facilities and operations that would not have a material effect on us.

The federal Clean Water Act and the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which contains numerous requirements relating to the prevention of and response to oil spills into waters of the United States, require some owners or operators of facilities that store or otherwise handle oil to prepare and implement spill prevention, control and countermeasure plans, also referred to as “SPCC plans”, relating to the possible discharge of oil into surface waters. In the course of our ongoing operations, we recently updated and implemented SPCC plans for several of our facilities. We believe we are in substantial compliance with these regulations.

Our underground injection operations are subject to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, as well as analogous state and local laws and regulations. Under Part C of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA established the Underground Injection Control program, which established the minimum program requirements for state and local programs regulating underground injection activities. The Underground Injection Control program includes requirements for permitting, testing, monitoring, record keeping and reporting of injection well activities, as well as a prohibition against the migration of fluid containing any contaminant into underground sources of drinking water. The substantial majority of our saltwater disposal wells are located in the State of Texas and regulated by the Texas Railroad Commission, also known as the “RRC”. We also operate salt water disposal wells in Oklahoma and Wyoming and are subject to similar regulatory controls in those states. Regulations in these states require us to obtain a permit from the applicable regulatory agencies to operate each of our underground injection wells. We believe that we have obtained the necessary permits from these agencies for each of our underground injection wells and that we are in substantial compliance with permit conditions and commission rules. Nevertheless, these regulatory agencies have the general authority to suspend or modify one or more of these permits if continued operation of one of our underground injection wells is likely to result in pollution of freshwater, substantial violation of permit conditions or applicable rules, or leaks to the environment. Although we monitor the injection process of our wells, any leakage from the subsurface portions of the injection wells could cause degradation of fresh groundwater resources, potentially resulting in cancellation of operations of a well, issuance of fines and penalties from governmental agencies, incurrence of expenditures for remediation of the affected resource and imposition of liability by third parties for property damages and personal injuries. In addition, our sales of residual crude oil collected as part of the saltwater injection process could impose liability on us in the event that the entity to which the oil was transferred fails to manage the residual crude oil in accordance with applicable environmental health and safety laws.

We maintain insurance against some risks associated with underground contamination that may occur as a result of well service activities. However, this insurance is limited to activities at the wellsite and there can be no assurance that this insurance will continue to be commercially available or that this insurance will be available at premium

levels that justify its purchase by us. The occurrence of a significant event that is not fully insured or indemnified against could have a materially adverse effect on our financial condition and operations.

We are also subject to the requirements of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and comparable state statutes that regulate the protection of the health and safety of workers. In addition, the OSHA hazard communication standard requires that information be maintained about hazardous materials used or produced in operations and that this information be provided to employees, state and local government authorities and the public. We believe that our operations are in substantial compliance with the OSHA requirements, including general industry standards, record keeping requirements, and monitoring of occupational exposure to regulated substances.

Employees

As of December 31, 2007, we employed approximately 4,500 people, with approximately 83% employed on an hourly basis. Our future success will depend partially on our ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel. We are not a party to any collective bargaining agreements, and we consider our relations with our employees to be satisfactory.

Basic Energy Services (BASWQ) 8-KOther Events