INDEPENDENCE CONTRACT DRILLING, INC.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(Unaudited)
1.Nature of Operations and Recent Events
Except as expressly stated or the context otherwise requires, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” “ICD,” and the “Company” refer to Independence Contract Drilling, Inc. and its subsidiary.
We provide land-based contract drilling services for oil and natural gas producers targeting unconventional resource plays in the United States. We own and operate a premium fleet comprised of modern, technologically advanced drilling rigs.
We currently focus our operations on unconventional resource plays located in geographic regions that we can efficiently support from our Houston, Texas and Midland, Texas facilities in order to maximize economies of scale. Currently, our rigs are operating in the Permian Basin, the Haynesville Shale and the Eagle Ford Shale; however, our rigs have previously operated in the Mid-Continent and Eaglebine regions as well.
Our business depends on the level of exploration and production activity by oil and natural gas companies operating in the United States, and in particular, the regions where we actively market our contract drilling services. The oil and natural gas exploration and production industry is historically cyclical and characterized by significant changes in the levels of exploration and development activities. Oil and natural gas prices and market expectations of potential changes in those prices significantly affect the levels of those activities. Worldwide political, regulatory, economic and military events, as well as natural disasters have contributed to oil and natural gas price volatility historically, and are likely to continue to do so in the future. Any prolonged reduction in the overall level of exploration and development activities in the United States and the regions where we market our contract drilling services, whether resulting from changes in oil and natural gas prices or otherwise, could materially and adversely affect our business.
Market Conditions and COVID-19 Pandemic Update
During 2020, reduced demand for crude oil related to the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with production increases from OPEC+ early in the year, led to a significant reduction in oil prices and demand for drilling services in the United States. In response to these adverse conditions and uncertainty, our customers reduced planned capital expenditures and drilling activity throughout 2020. During the first quarter of 2020, our operating rig count reached a peak of 22 rigs and temporarily reached a low of 3 rigs during the third quarter of 2020. During the third quarter of 2020, oil and natural gas prices began to stabilize, and demand for our products began to modestly improve from their historic lows, which allowed us to reactivate additional rigs during the back half of 2020 and the first half of 2021.
Oil prices and natural gas prices have improved substantially since falling to historic lows in 2020, with oil prices (WTI-Cushing) reaching a recent high of $75.37 per barrel on July 2, 2021, and natural gas prices (Henry Hub) reaching a recent high of $3.80 per mmcf on July 14, 2021. Although our customers have increased drilling activity in response to these improvements, capital discipline and adherence to 2021 capital budgets, reduced access to capital markets and hedges in place based on lower commodity prices, have caused such increases to be less dramatic compared to prior industry cycles.
As of June 30, 2021, we had 13 rigs operating, with our 14th and 15th rigs reactivating in July 2021. However, due to the lack of visibility towards customer intentions, risk to commodity prices, including any economic declines caused by the uncertainty of the evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, changes to OPEC+ production cuts, or other risks and conditions outside our control, we cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain this operating rig count or that our operating rig count will continue to improve in the future. As such, we will continue to actively monitor their impact on our operations and financial condition.
ATM Distribution Agreement
On June 5, 2020, we entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “ATM Distribution Agreement”) with Piper Sandler & Co. (the “Agent”), through its Simmons Energy division. Pursuant to the ATM Distribution Agreement, we were able to offer and sell through the Agent shares of our common stock, par value $0.01 per share, having an