Off-hire rig to drag down Pacific Drilling’s 2Q drilling revenue

Offshore driller Pacific Drilling expects to report a drop in contract drilling revenue for the second quarter of the year, compared to the first quarter, when it releases its results in August.

The company on Wednesday said that contract drilling revenue for the second quarter 2017 is expected to be in the range of $66.0 million to $68.0 million, compared to first quarter 2017 contract drilling revenue of $105.5 million.

The driller said the decrease in revenues resulted primarily from the Pacific Santa Ana rig being off-hire throughout the second quarter 2017, compared to the first quarter 2017, in which it earned revenue until completing its contract on January 31, 2017.

The company expects a net loss for the second quarter 2017 in the range of $130.0 million to $140.0 million, compared to a net loss for the first quarter 2017 of $99.8 million and net income of $8.2 million for the second quarter 2016.

Pacific Drilling’s cash balance, including $8.5 million in restricted cash, totaled $416.6 million as of June 30, 2017, and its aggregate outstanding principal amount of indebtedness was $3.0 billion (after accounting for the impact of group consolidation).

The company expects to release its second quarter 2017 results in the first half of August and will not be holding an earnings conference call this quarter.

Separately on Wednesday, the company  announced that its  subsidiary Pacific Drilling V Limited had started a consent solicitation in respect of its 7.25% Senior Secured Notes due December 1, 2017, soliciting the consent of the holders of Notes to an extension of the maturity date of the Notes to June 1, 2018 in order to give the company more time to negotiate a refinancing transaction “or undertake a holistic restructuring with all of its creditors.”