Inventory turns for the quarter decreased to $1.5 million from $1.7 million last quarter. The increase in inventory this quarter is the combined effect of a slowing U.S. land market, continued building of stock in certain international locations to service some long-term international contracts and some delays in delivery of bulk international sales, as I mentioned earlier. And now the liability side of the balance sheet. Our long-term debt was $181 million at September 30. In considering cash of $16.6 million, net debt was $164.4 million or up $5.6 million from last quarter. We remain focused on reducing debt and improving the leverage ratio of the company. Although, our leverage ratio increased slightly this quarter to 1.92, we have made considerable improvement from the leverage ratio of 2.29 at December 31, 2022.
We will continue applying excess free cash towards the reduction of debt and anticipate the leverage ratio will decrease in future quarters. At the end of the quarter, we retired and fully settled the $75 million of 12-year senior notes that were issued in 2011. As I stated earlier, we use $71 million of the borrowing capacity under our bank revolving credit facility to partially fund the maturity of these notes. Therefore at September 30th, our debt is currently comprised of our senior notes at $110 million and with $71 million outstanding under our bank revolving credit facility. Our credit facility has a borrowing capacity of $135 million of which approximately $56 million was still available as of September 30, 2023. Looking at cash flow for the third quarter of 2023, cash flow used in operating activities was approximately $200,000 and after paying for $3.5 million of CapEx during the quarter, our free cash flow was negative $3.7 million.
Cash from operations for the third quarter of 2023 was negatively affected by a build-in working capital of $14 million. The build-in working capital was primarily due to an increase in inventory and carrying a lower level of accounts payable at September 30th. The change in working capital also includes $11.3 million in cash tax payments during the quarter, which will partially be recovered in the fourth quarter. The company is expecting to receive approximately $7.1 million in tax refunds during the fourth quarter of 2023. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we are forecasting cash from operations to be much improved and positive with working capital remaining flat and additional cash in excess of $7 million associated with the tax refunds.
We will continue to manage investment in working capital during a period of growth, and additionally, we expect CapEx to remain aligned with activity levels, and for the full year of 2023, we expect capital expenditures to be in the range of $11 million to $12 million. Core will continue its strict capital discipline and asset-like business model with capital expenditures primarily targeted at growth opportunities and initiatives. Core Lab’s operational leverage continues to provide the ability to grow revenue and profitability with minimal capital requirements. Capital expenditures have historically ranged from 2% to 4% of revenue, even during periods of significant growth. That same level of laboratory infrastructure, intellectual property, and leverage exists in the business today.
I will now turn it over to Gwen for an update on our guidance and outlook.
Gwen Gresham: Thank you, Chris. Based on ongoing dialogue with our global client base, we maintain our constructive outlook on international upstream activity for 2024 and beyond, as increasing levels of investment will be required to maintain and grow hydrocarbon production. The company anticipates operator spending on long cycle upstream projects in both onshore and offshore environments will continue to expand displaying an added level of sustainability for this upcycle. In the near term, the global crude oil market may remain volatile due to global recession fears, the extent and timing of China’s economic recovery, and the uncertainties related to conflicts in Russia- Ukraine, and the Middle East. Globally, crude oil production growth continues to face constraints due to prolonged underinvestment as well as the loss of production due to natural decline from existing fields.
