Independence Contract Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:ICD) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

But they are €“ just going to kind of move sideways here for the next couple of quarters. And you look at where we are today in terms of margin generation, that the guidance that Philip provided as well. This is still going to be a pretty good year for ICD. It’s going to be good from an EBITDA perspective, but more importantly, from a free cash flow generating perspective. And the fact that we have made the decision and we have announced to you guys now that the 22nd rig is not going to happen this year, tells you that things that Philip mentioned a second ago about enhancing our working capital, making sure that we have cash to redeem these notes when the opportunity presents itself to bring the leverage down in the company, all that is actually being accelerated as this year is playing out.

Jeff Robertson: When you move rigs to the Permian, the remaining three, I am sorry, put to the Permian, the remaining three rigs that you have in Haynesville that you would like to move. Are you €“ you are waiting on contracts to move those so they go to work immediately, is that correct?

Anthony Gallegos: Well, they are all working today, Jeff. We don’t have any idle rigs. So, we have got to finish off the commitment that we have today in the Haynesville and that’s going to happen here in the second quarter. And as the €“ so our goal would be as we finish the one contract in the Haynesville, we want to have a contract in the Permian, that hopefully we are able to move pad-to-pad. And that’s what we did with the first one. That’s what we are about to do with the second one. Hopefully, we will do that with all them.

Jeff Robertson: And then lastly, is there much of a margin difference between operating rigs in the Permian versus the Haynesville?

Anthony Gallegos: We think there is a little bit of a margin improvement when we work in the Haynesville. It’s a function of longer wells in terms of duration, you are on pads longer, some things like that, but it’s not significant.

Jeff Robertson: Okay. Thank you.

Anthony Gallegos: Yes. Thank you, Jeff.

Operator: The next question comes from Dick Ryan with Oak Ridge Financial. Please go ahead.

Dick Ryan: Thank you and congratulations on a good quarter. So, most of my questions have been asked, but I was looking at your Pac Man chart, Philip and Anthony. What motivates the operator to pay a higher day rate when you are bringing those things into the Permian? And does that allow you any flexibility on discussing terms for these new contracts?

Anthony Gallegos: Yes. On the first point, you got to remember that there were several operators last year, that would have liked to contract a rig, like we are talking about, something that’s super spec and pad-optimal, all the bells and whistles, before configuration the whole. But because of the market tightness, they weren’t able to. So, that’s a very logical and obvious target for the rigs that we are bringing over, because they meet the €“ what I just described to know we