This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.
spk13: Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the fourth quarter 2022 Halliburton Company earnings conference call. At this time, I'll participate in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you'll need to press star one one on your telephone. You will hear an automated message advising you your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, press star one one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, David Coleman, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
spk10: Hello, and thank you for joining the Halliburton Fourth Quarter 2022 Conference Call. We will make the recording of today's webcast available on Halliburton's website after this call. Joining me today are Jeff Miller, Chairman, President, and CEO, and Eric Correa. Executive Vice President and CFO. Some of today's comments may include forward-looking statements reflecting Halliburton's views about future events. These matters involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to materially differ from our forward-looking statements. These risks are discussed in Halliburton's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2021, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30th, 2022, recent current reports on Form 8K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly update any forward-looking statement for any reason. Our comments today also include non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our fourth quarter earnings release and in the quarterly results and presentation section of our website. Now, I'll turn the call over to Jeff.
spk09: Thank you David and good morning everyone. Halliburton finished the year strong with solid financial and operational performance in both divisions and both hemispheres. Halliburton's execution in 2022 demonstrates the earnings power of our strategy and I expect this earnings power to strengthen in 2023 and beyond. Let's jump right into the 2022 highlights. We delivered full-year total company revenue of $20.3 billion and operating income of $2.7 billion. Adjusted operating income grew 70% compared to 2021 with improved margin performance in both divisions. Our full-year international revenue grew 20% over 2021 and our revenue and operating income increased each quarter in 2022. I am pleased with the international growth and margin progression Halliburton demonstrated this year, despite a second quarter exit from our Russian business. Our full-year North America revenue increased 51% over 2021, with improved margins driven by activity and pricing gains. Both our drilling and evaluation and completion and production divisions grew revenue and margins this year. The Drilling and Evaluation Division generated full-year operating margins of 15%, an increase of 320 basis points over 2021. The steady expansion of D&E margins demonstrates the global competitiveness of our D&E business. Our Completion and Production Division posted 18% full-year operating margins, a year-over-year increase of 290 basis points driven by activity and pricing improvements. We generated strong free cash flow of $1.4 billion, retired $1.2 billion of debt, maintained capital spending within 5% to 6% of revenues, and ended the year with $2.3 billion of cash on hand. Finally, our service quality performance excelled in 2022. Nonproductive time improved by 7% over 2021, which drove the highest ever uptime across our business. Execution is at the heart of who we are and our results are a testament to our employees' continued commitment to superior service quality. I'm pleased with the fourth quarter results. Revenue grew 4% and operating income grew 15% sequentially. Margins increased in both CNP and D&E divisions and in both hemispheres. Cash flow from operations in the quarter was $1.2 billion, and free cash flow was $856 million. Building on this strong foundation of execution, today I am pleased to announce the following shareholder return actions. First, our board approved an increase in our quarterly dividend to 16 cents per share in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 33% increase from last year. Second, we have resumed share buybacks under our existing board authorization of approximately $5 billion, and in the fourth quarter of 2022, bought back shares totaling $250 million. Finally, our board approved a capital return framework that we expect going forward to return at least 50% of our annual free cash flow to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. These actions demonstrate Halliburton's confidence in our business, customers, employees, and industry outlook. Before we continue, I want to take a moment and thank the Halliburton employees around the world who made these results possible. Our success this quarter and throughout 2022 was a direct result of your hard work and dedication. I thank you for your relentless focus on safety, operational execution, customer collaboration, and service quality performance. Now let's turn to the macro outlook, where everything I see today points towards continued oil and gas tightness. On the supply side, in the U.S., an increased spend of almost 50% and activity growth of nearly 30% yielded a production increase of about 5%. Given the increased spend required to grow and replace production, I expect activity to remain strong and service intensity to increase through 2023. I see the same supply side challenges in the international markets. One indicator being that despite OPEC's 2022 production quotas, several members did not meet their goals. On the demand side, we saw the resilience of oil and gas demand throughout 2022, even as central banks raised interest rates to combat inflation. I expect oil and gas demand to remain strong. As we start 2023, I also expect China's reopening to further increase demand. It's clear to me that oil and gas is in short supply, and only multiple years of increased investment in both stemming declines and reserve additions will solve short supply. I believe these investments will drive demand for oilfield services for the next several years, The unique feature of this upcycle, as I see it, is the investor-driven return discipline by both operators and service companies, which I expect drives a longer duration cycle and translates into years of increasing demand for Halliburton services. Now, let's turn to Halliburton, starting with our performance in the international markets. We successfully executed our strategy to deliver profitable international growth through competitive technology offerings, improved pricing, and selective contract wins. International revenue grew 20% year-on-year with strong growth and margin expansion from both divisions. This gives me confidence in the earnings power of our international strategy. In 2023, we expect international activity to grow at least mid-teens with most new activity coming from the Middle East and Latin America. As this upcycle continues, I believe that we will see substantial growth in all international markets, both onshore and offshore, led by development activity and increased spend at the wellbore. This is excellent news for Halliburton. About half our revenue comes from international markets. We have leading positions in key well construction product lines and a strong geographic footprint. I'm excited about the growth and profit opportunities that will come with the adoption of our new drilling technology platforms. Our iCruise drilling technology, iStar logging while drilling platform, and Logix automation capabilities. Each of these technologies are in different stages of implementation and we are already seeing benefits. Our I-Cruise directional drilling system represents about half of our rotary steerable fleet while drilling about 70% of our global footage. It is a key contributor to increasing international profitability. Our I-Star logging while drilling platform now delivers high-definition measurements closer to the bit and deeper into the formation. While early in its rollout with only 600,000 feet logged, The I-Star platform directly complements the I-Cruise directional drilling system. Finally, Logix automates drilling with I-Cruise and I-Star. With more than 7 million feet drilled in 20 plus countries, the Logix platform reduces operational risk and delivers wells reliably. Turning to North America, we had a terrific year. Our performance demonstrated our strategy to maximize value in North America. through capital efficiency, improved pricing, differentiated technology, and alignment with high-quality customers. In 2022, our North America revenue grew 51% year over year, while revenue in the fourth quarter was flat sequentially due to weather-related downtime late in the year. Looking ahead, we expect strong activity and anticipate customer spending to grow by at least 15% in 2023. The market for equipment is tight. Lead times for new and replacement equipment remain long, and service companies remain disciplined. Our completions calendar is fully booked, and pricing continues to improve across all product service lines. Against this constructive market backdrop, Halliburton will outperform with our unique strategy to maximize value. We see strong demand for our Zeus E-Fleece. with several repeat customers contracting additional fleets. Zeus is a proven design with a strong operational track record. Our new automated fracturing platform, Octave, fully automates equipment operation, reduces maintenance, and extends component life. We are in the early innings of this rollout having proven it over 15,000 stages and I expect it to drive higher capital efficiency. Finally, Our Smart Fleet Intelligent Fracturing System is gaining significant traction with customers. Smart Fleet data helps customers answer key questions such as the existence of flow barriers, well interference, parent-child performance and depletion, all to improve completion performance. These are a few examples of how technology maximizes value in North America. Each example delivers better margins either by reducing capital cost or increasing capital velocity, and in many cases, both. Halliburton is unique and is the only integrated services company to have a strong presence in both North America and international markets, a strong execution culture, and differentiated technology. We will continue to sharpen our value proposition to collaborate and engineer solutions to maximize asset value for our customers. I am confident in Halliburton's strong long-term outlook. This is the best setup and market outlook for oilfield services and Halliburton that I have seen in a very long time. Our exceptional financial performance this year is a clear result of the execution of our strategic priorities. to maximize value in North America, deliver profitable international growth, and drive capital efficiency. I expect Halliburton to continue to deliver financial outperformance. Now, I will turn the call over to Eric to provide more details on our financial results. Eric?
spk01: Thank you, Jeff, and good morning. Let me begin with a summary of our fourth quarter results. Total company revenue for the quarter was $5.6 billion, a 4% increase over the third quarter, while operating income was $976 million, an increase of 15% over third-quarter operating income. Operating margin for the company was 17.5% in the fourth quarter, a 460 basis point increase over operating margins in the fourth quarter of 2021. These results were primarily driven by increased global activity, pricing, and year end product and software sales. Our fourth quarter reported net income per diluted share was 72 cents, an increase of 12 cents or 20% from the third quarter. Our 2022 full year adjusted net income per diluted share nearly doubled from 2021. Beginning with our completion and production division, revenue in the fourth quarter was $3.2 billion, a 1% increase when compared to the third quarter, while operating income was $659 million, an increase of 13% when compared to the third quarter. Despite weather-related downtime late in the year, C&P delivered an operating income margin of 20.7%. the highest operating income margin since 2012. This was due to improved pricing, service efficiency, and activity mix in North America land, as well as increased activity in international markets. In our drilling and evaluation division, revenue in the fourth quarter was $2.4 billion, an increase of 8% when compared to the third quarter. while operating income was $387 million, an increase of 19% when compared to the third quarter. These results were driven by higher year-end software sales and an uptick in international activity. Operating margin increased 210 basis points above Q4 2021, which demonstrates the global competitiveness of our D&E business. Moving on to geographic results. our international revenue increased 9% sequentially due to solid year-end sales, pricing gains, and activity increases. In North America, revenue in the fourth quarter was $2.6 billion, a 1% decrease when compared to the third quarter. This decrease was primarily driven by weather-related downtime in North America land. Latin America revenue in the fourth quarter was $945 million, a 12% increase sequentially due to higher activity in Mexico and across the region. Europe-Africa revenue in the fourth quarter was $657 million, a 3% increase sequentially driven by higher completion tool sales, drilling activity, and well intervention services across the region. These increases were partially offset by lower activity in Norway. Middle East Asia revenue in the fourth quarter was $1.4 billion, a 10% increase sequentially, primarily resulting from higher software sales and drilling and evaluation services across the region. Now, I'd like to cover some additional financial items. In the fourth quarter, Our corporate and other expenses were $70 million. For the first quarter, we expect our corporate expenses to be slightly lower. Net interest expense for the quarter was $74 million, a slight decrease due to higher yields on cash balances and debt retirement in September. For the first quarter, we expect this expense to remain approximately flat. Other net expense for the quarter was $60 million, primarily related to unfavorable foreign exchange movements. For the first quarter, we expect this expense to be slightly lower. Our normalized effective tax rate for the fourth quarter came in at approximately 21%. Based on our anticipated geographic earnings mix, we expect our first quarter effective tax rate we increased roughly 150 basis points. Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter were $350 million, with our 2022 full-year CapEx totaling approximately $1 billion. Turn into cash flow. For the full year, we generated $2.2 billion of cash from operations and delivered approximately $1.4 billion of free cash flow. As a result, we ended the year with approximately $2.3 billion in cash. Next, I'd like to provide a few more details about our capital return framework. First, an important pillar of our capital framework is to maintain capex between 5% and 6% of revenue. I believe this spending level is appropriate and supports our earnings growth and free cash flow generation over the next several years. Second, we expect to return a minimum of 50% of free cash flow to our shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks. Our board of directors increased our quarterly dividend by 33% to 16 cents per share, effective with the dividend payment in March 2023. Finally, in the fourth quarter, we repurchased $250 million of shares and we have remaining authorization of approximately $5 billion. We were clear about our goals to reduce debt and increase cash returns to shareholders, and I am pleased that we've announced these actions today. I believe Halliburton's capital return framework provides visibility for investors and affords us the flexibility to pursue acquisitions and strengthen the balance sheet. Now, let me provide you with some comments on how we see the first quarter. As is typical, our results will be subject to weather-related seasonality and the roll-off of year-end product sales, which will mostly impact our international business. As a result, in our completion and production division, we anticipate sequential revenue to be essentially flat with the fourth quarter, while margins will drop between 75 and 125 basis points. In our drilling and evaluation division, we expect revenue to decrease in the low to mid-single digits sequentially, while margins are expected to be down 25 to 75 basis points. I will now turn the call back to Jeff.
spk09: Thanks, Eric. Let me summarize our discussion today. Oil and gas is tight, and only multiple years of increased investment will solve short supply, which translates into years of increasing demand for Halliburton services. The announced dividend increase, share buybacks, and Halliburton's new capital return framework provide shareholders with clarity and consistency on how we expect to return cash to shareholders. This exceptional financial performance is a clear result of our execution of Halliburton's strategic priorities. I expect Halliburton to continue to deliver financial outperformance, strong free cash flow, and shareholder returns. And now let's open it up for questions.
spk13: As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from David Anderson with Barclays. Your line is open.
spk05: Hi, good morning, Jeff. Good morning, Dave. So Halliburton's international business is now half of overall revenue. Middle East has been a big part of the growth over the years. It was up 10% this quarter. Just wondering if you could just give us a little bit more insight into kind of your views on that market over the next kind of couple of years. So based on activity, how it's trending and the ramp-ups going on, I guess in the near term, is it reasonable to think the growth should sort of stay at these levels the next several quarters? And also, if you could highlight some of the countries where you see most of this growth coming from over the next several years, including kind of where you think your best position in terms of footprints or product lines in the Middle East. Thank you.
spk09: Yeah, well, thanks, Dave. Look, I'm really excited about international growth. I think I said in my call north of 15%, which clearly I expect it will be north of that, and should continue actually to expand, I think, over the next few years, just because it takes longer to get traction internationally, get things contracted. And so really excited about what we see. The, you know, with our international business being about half of our business today, that indicates or demonstrates that we have strong footprints sort of everywhere where we think it's important and our technology, as I described, rolling out. So clearly it's got strong application in the Middle East and Latin America, which we kind of saw this year. But it's the same technology that's applicable in all corners of the world. And so, you know, I think We're early in the rollout, a lot of this technology, and that's only going to help strengthen our international business. As we see activity grow, I expect our share of that to grow and improve margins as we focus on profitable international growth.
spk05: And if I could shift over on the U.S. side, there's been a lot of recent talk about activity levels slowing down in the U.S. The rate count has drifted down a bit in recent weeks. been some weather, as you highlighted, and there's also some concerns out there in the natural gas market. Also notice how the ENPs have announced any spending budgets for this year. So I was wondering if you could just help us out with a little bit of visibility on the market. What are your customers saying about how activity is going to play out into the spring? And then based on that, how do you see the dynamics of that pressure-bumping market in terms of capacity and the tightness for 2023?
spk09: Yeah, thanks, Dave. Look, North America is going to, in my view, will surprise to the upside. Our outlook is north of 15% growth. Clearly, we outpaced that last year, and that's what I said last year. I don't have any clients that plan to get smaller. They all plan to grow. You know, and I think that, you know, North America has a dynamic of the more you grow, the more the market has to work in order to maintain even the growth given decline curves. And so, you know, I expect we see increased service intensity throughout 23 and likely beyond. The market is, you know, extremely tight for frack equipment and the supply chain still backed up. And so I don't see... I see discipline in the marketplace, and more importantly, I see sort of required discipline based on equipment being unavailable. So the more activity we see, then ultimately the more price we will see. And so I am very positive on 23 North America. So I think the concerns are misplaced, and rig count likely moves up actually as ducks get blown down.
spk03: Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate it.
spk09: Thank you.
spk13: Thank you. Just as a reminder, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Our next question comes from Arun Jayaram from J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.
spk11: Yeah, good morning, Jeff. You know, clearly one of the themes this earnings season has been the inflection in Middle East spending and offshore markets. I was wondering, Jeff, if you could talk about Halliburton's portfolio and competitive position in both the Middle East as well as offshore, and how do you think you're positioned this cycle versus last?
spk09: Thanks, Arun. Look, we're better positioned than we've ever been as Halliburton, both from a technology perspective that I described previously, examples of that but clearly that's not all of the technology we've got in the market today and from a footprint standpoint so a lot of that build out was done prior cycles it's still there and ready to go so feel very good about our geographic footprint our technology uh advancement that we've made and our team i mean we've just got an exceptionally strong team uh today internationally so we're very confident uh certainly from that perspective. When we look at where our business is, offshore is good for us. I think that about 40% of our international business is offshore today. That's a good market for us. I think another nuance as we look out into next year certainly and likely beyond is the sort of emphasis on development activity as opposed to exploration that maybe we've seen in prior cycles. I think that's very consistent with where operators are from a capital discipline standpoint and just producing more barrels sooner, which leads us to development. That is a place where we have leading positions in a number of the service lines that allow that to happen, cementing, drilling fluids. completion tools. And so, yeah, I think this is going to be a great, even better market for Halliburton.
spk11: Great. And maybe a follow-up for Eric. Eric, I wanted to get your thoughts on cash conversion in 2023 and just wanted to think about just working capital needs to support the growth this year and just any broad thoughts on collections, particularly for some of your international and NOC customers.
spk01: Yeah, thanks, Arun. So, I mean, broadly speaking, we're looking at the cash generation profile in 2023 as being fairly similar to 2022, so quite a bit weighted toward the back half of the year. Looking at things overall, I mean, the big buckets obviously will see significantly increased net income driven by growth in our revenue, improvements in our margins. On the capex side of things, we finished 2022 on the low end of our range of 5% to 6%. We were at 5%. When I look at 23, we will be at the higher end of that range, primarily driven by supply chain constraints and extended lead time in our supply chain that we talked about on prior calls. And the third element in terms of working capital, again, our business will continue to grow, so we will continue to see some headwinds in terms of working capital. Essentially, and also the impact of growing internationally, we tend to be more bigger consumers of working capital than when we grow our business in North America. The way all of that is going to land is a little north of 20% growth in terms of free cash flow over our 2022 performance.
spk14: That's super helpful. Thanks. One moment.
spk13: Our next question comes from James West with Evercore ISI. Your line is open.
spk08: Hey, good morning, Jeff. Good morning, Eric.
spk01: Good morning, James. Good morning, James.
spk08: So, Jeff, in North America, I wanted to start there. In North America, your customer base and the majority of the customers really have three options. You can grow, you can shrink, you can go international. Where do you see in your conversations with the bigger shale operators where And you mentioned earlier you think there could be a surprise to the upside of North America. How do you think they're thinking about the North American market, especially given what's going to be inventory constraints at some point here, whether it's three years, five years, seven years, we don't really know, but at some point on wells and what do they plan to do over the next couple of years?
spk09: Well, and I expect that, you know, within sort of expectations, within sort of, you know, capital discipline levels, I expect growth is really the only path for most of these companies. And so, and then commodity price very supportive, it'd be, you know, international growth very, very difficult and shrink not really an option. So, I think that we'll see initially increased service intensity. That's the first step, and that clearly we benefit from increased service intensity. The second, if we want to go out 10 years, that's a bet against technology, and that's not a bet I'm willing to make. I mean, in fact, I'm very confident in what technology will do. There is a lot of oil in North America. Sure, yep. and and and we're already seeing the impact of work harder producing more barrels um and then also that's one of the reasons is halliburton uh you know the smart fleet as an example i talk about it a lot but that's one of the tools that operators can take i expect over time and start to solve how to make more barrels and more productivity and so you know as a you know we invest a lot of r d dollars into north america we're kind of unique in that fashion and we try to put those dollars into what we think are most impactful. So it's not a bigger X or a smaller Y, but more a function of what is the technology that I think and that the company thinks will really unlock productivity over time. And I think those kind of tools in the hands of our operators, I mean, they're incredibly competitive, smart, technically deep, and I think it's more a matter of getting tools in their hands to allow them to unlock what 10 years down the road looks like.
spk08: Okay, that's great perspective there. And then if I could just switch to the international side of the business. At this point, are we in a market that is still price-driven, or have we switched now to a market where it's about availability and service quality?
spk09: Well, I don't think you have one without the other, James, but I would expect service. My view is service quality and availability. having equipment, quality equipment, is more and more important every day. That ultimately drives price as well. We spend a lot of time focused on how we execute and deliver service quality, and our service quality is very good. And so we are a beneficiary of that. As the market gets tighter, the market starts to you know, pull equipment out. But I expect that, you know, sort of where we are, we've got a very good equipment portfolio and technology that we're bringing to the market and all of that. It certainly benefits us.
spk08: Gotcha. Okay, great. Thanks, Jeff.
spk14: Thank you.
spk13: Our next question comes from Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.
spk00: Good morning, team. And thanks, Jeff, for the framework around capital returns. And that's kind of where I want to focus my questions here today. Can you talk about why you thought at least 50% of free cash flow was the right number? And then talk about the definition of that calculation. I think it'll be cash flow from operations inclusive of working capital minus capex before M&A, but just make sure we're on the same page.
spk01: Go ahead, Eric. No, no, I think that your view is correct, yeah. And the 50%, I mean, there's nothing magic in the 50% per se. We think that it's a number that gives some level of certainty in terms of what we're going to return to shareholders while giving us a lot of optionality to continue to invest in our business, to continue to make bolt-on acquisition or to make acquisition that are complementary to our product line business, and also give us optionality over the next few years to continue to work on strengthening our balance sheet.
spk00: Yeah, thank you. And that was my follow-up around capital returns. So as you think about the buyback, how do you think about approaching it? Do you do you want to take a more rateable approach or do you want to be countercyclical in the way that you prosecute it? And when you talk about M&A, are we talking about bolt-on type of transactions that are, or do you see a scenario where we could be looking at larger scale things?
spk01: Yeah, so let me start with M&A maybe. So our philosophy there is extremely focused on adding technology. So it's a bit of a, you know, build versus buy approach to complementing our technology budget. It is a bit opportunistic at times depending on what's available and the opportunities that we have. Over the years, we've also invested in complements like smaller businesses that we can easily add to existing product lines. So that's kind of the general view that we have on technology. From an overall strategy standpoint, and I'll let Jeff jump in, but we are where we need to be in terms of the businesses we want to compete in at this stage. So going to the other part of your question, Neil, around buybacks. So I'm not going to go into a lot of details, but generally speaking, we look at buybacks as being level loaded through 2023, which will obviously top off in terms in order to make sure that we meet our overall target of 50% or more. So we're thinking about buybacks really as a mechanism to return cash to shareholders. We're not really trying to trade in our shares.
spk09: Yeah, let me just add to that as well. I mean, I think the, no surprises from us, our outlook on M&A hasn't changed and it will stay that way. You know, as we look at, you know, The capital allocation, we also want to continue, as Eric mentioned, opportunistically take out debt. We don't want to be floppy about it, but kind of in the current market that we see, we have the opportunities to do things that are, you know, that make returns for the company. But we want to be crystal clear around what our minimum return was. That's clearly, you know, we'll work through that, but, you know, I would expect that, you know, by setting that minimum, I think it gives clarity to the marketplace, though we will, you know, only do things that we believe, you know, add meaningful returns to the company.
spk00: Thanks, Jeff and Eric.
spk14: Thank you.
spk13: And our next question comes from Luke Limone with Piper Sandler. Your line is open.
spk07: Hey, good morning, Jeff, Eric. Jeff, your 4Q EBITDA margins firmly hopped in that kind of low 20% range. You're basically at 14 levels, which was the target for 23. You know, totally get there's some year-end sales there that skewed us higher in 4Q, but you're on the cusp of hitting 14 margins on an annual basis in 23. You and Lance kind of gave us a two-year outlook almost two years ago, and just wanted to see if maybe you could refresh this or expand upon it. and how you see margins evolving over the next couple of years.
spk09: Yeah, thank you. When we did that a couple of years ago, when we looked at published estimates, clearly we thought they were too low. And so, we made some clear commentary in an effort to correct that. Now, as we look at the published street estimates today, they seem about right. I don't want to try to continue to do that over and over. What I am is super excited about our outlook. Margins from here are up. Revenue is up. I'm as confident in our outlook and our business as I have ever been. But I just wanted to be clear, Q2 of 21, we wanted to be clear that we were pointing out what we felt was missing in the future street estimates. And today, as I said, I think published street estimates today are about right for the years ahead, both top line and profitability.
spk07: Okay, got it. Appreciate it.
spk13: Thank you. Just one moment.
spk14: Our next question comes from Chase Mulvihill with Bank of America.
spk13: Your line is open.
spk04: Hey, good morning, everyone. Jeff, I guess a quick follow-up or question. Maybe we can kind of dig in a little more on the international side. We spoke a little bit about this at dinner yesterday. But, you know, we get a lot of questions around, you know, confidence in multi-year growth on the international side. Obviously, we saw strong growth last year and, you know, expectations are for another year of strong growth. You know, I guess, could you speak to, you know, what you see for continued growth on the international side once you get past 23 and kind of what gives you confidence that we will continue to see growth on the international side post this year?
spk09: Well, I would just start with the underinvestment that we've seen for the last roughly eight years and really haven't caught up with that. And so if I just look broadly at kind of reserve replacement and availability, you know, that portends a lot of years of recovery. And, you know, we're in the early stages of that in a lot of ways. It takes time to get international projects up and underway. A lot has to be renegotiated with different partners. And so I think that what we see building is the tender backlog. And these are tender backlogs that go beyond a year, well beyond a year. And that's consistent with sort of the slower recovery and spend that we typically see internationally. But I am confident that that's basically what's required to recover and produce enough oil to meet demand. Beyond that, specifically dialogue with customers, targets set by countries, outlooks that nearly all international countries that produce oil have targets that are certainly above where they are today, less clarity about how they get there, which actually really does indicate more service intensity in terms of how they get there. which is more activity certainly for us.
spk04: Okay, perfect. If I can pivot a little bit and follow up on some of the North America questions. You know, obviously, you know, here you've stated, you talked about, you know, there's probably upside to North America that you don't see, you know, pricing pressure unfolding in pressure pumping. You know, supply chain constraints probably, you know, upside to demand. And, you know, but we do get a lot of questions around, you know, around pressure pumping and the risk of pricing. And really those questions revolve around kind of lower tier fleets and kind of, you know, investors kind of asking about, you know, who has the high end fleets and the lower end fleets. So I don't know if you could take a moment and just talk about, you know, how many, you know, what percentage of your fleets are kind of, you know, tier two diesel. where if you were to see some pricing pressure, that's maybe where you would see it if you would see any.
spk09: Look, I don't see that in our business today at any level of equipment. In fact, all equipment is called for. Clearly, we have a strong environmentally low emissions fleet as well that's probably at the higher end of the price deck. But even at the bottom end of the price deck, our equipment, you know, we've systematically replaced equipment over time. And so we're really pleased with the fleet that we have. And even a tier two dual fuel equipment is in demand, most certainly. But what I'm most impressed with actually is sort of the strong market pull that we see around our E-fleets. You know, we've got strong customer demand, and especially I'm seeing repeat customers, which is terrific, where it's not one but two to the same customer, all fully contracted. I think that's just an indication of the strength of our technology. It's proven, proven technology. I believe it's a better mousetrap. Quite frankly, we have a very strong IP portfolio, and I think that is going to continue to be important.
spk04: Okay, awesome. Appreciate the color. I'll turn it back over. Thanks, Jeff.
spk14: Thank you.
spk13: Our next question will come from Roger Reed with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.
spk12: Hey, thank you. Good morning, and well done on the quarter. I'd like to come back to some of your guidance and expectations for the international market. As we look at 23, you know, you said kind of 15% but buys to the upside of that. I was just curious, what finished the year strong in 22, maybe better than expectations and sort of feeds into that, you know, expectation of, let's say, at least mid-teens to hire as we think about international in 23?
spk09: Yeah, look, I think it's sort of like everything's pointing at busier 23 than 22. That comes in the form of tender pipeline. That comes in form of sort of backlog, increasing product backlog that we've seen strengthened throughout the year. And all of that sort of points, I mean, all of it points at 23, maybe even into 24. Discussions with customers. uh sort of the intensity of customers view of staying busy and you know uh producing more barrels sooner rather than later it's a very favorable market um and so you know it just gives me a lot of confidence in the outlook for 23 and particularly from our standpoint uh you know where we sit with technology in our global footprint
spk12: Thanks. And then on the supply chain side, not just yours, but the one you see for the industry, any areas you think continue to have, let's just call it headwinds broadly as we look at 23, something that would slow project development or acceleration in 23?
spk09: Yeah, I don't see anything that slows things down. You know, are there things that have extended lead times today? We're still working through some of that, but I don't think anything meaningful gets in the way of getting started. You know, I think we still see inflation in the marketplace, so that's one of the ways that we, you know, solve for getting things. But I'd be... I don't think that it's going to be a headwind necessarily. We're starting to see rigs come back. There'll be a lot of work around getting those ready in some places, but clearly motivated customers and there'll be some, as I said, some inflation to get all of that done, but I don't see those as headwinds.
spk14: That's great. Thank you.
spk13: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Scott Gruber from Citi. Your line is open.
spk03: Yes, good morning.
spk01: Good morning, Scott. Good morning, Scott.
spk03: Yes, you mentioned a very full completion calendar here in the U.S. A quick question on that topic. Does that pertain to the fleets that the new EFRAC fleets will be coming into the place? My question relates to is there work already lined up that would keep the legacy fleet fully deployed, or those fleets need to be bid onto new jobs?
spk09: Look, no, that we've got everything is spoken for in 23, whether replacement or not. You know, I think over time, E-fleets replace fleets, but they don't do it initially. And so there'll be some period of time where you know, E-Fleets take the place of legacy fleets, but that's not what we see in 23. We see everything busy in 23.
spk03: Gotcha. That's encouraging. And then turning to D&E margins, there's another nice year of expansion there. And obviously you guys have had an internal initiative to structurally lift those margins. But you also have a number of tailwinds today from pricing to mix. How should we think about D&E incrementals this year, if you're willing to provide some color there? And overall, how should we think about where you could take D&E margins over the medium to longer term? I was looking back at our model, and your D&E margins basically matched where they were last cycle. So think about whether you guys can get to the 20% plus margin that you witnessed back in the late 2000s that this upcycle sustained.
spk09: Look, I think that, you know, I've always said we've invested in technology and DNA in a meaningful way, we expect those margins to continue to move up, as you just mentioned, they have consistently moved up. And that's on the back of technology and footprint and where we are. And I expect that trajectory to continue beyond where we are today or where we were last cycle. And so you know, the outlook would be to continue to stack, you know, year-on-year quarters that are better than the last year. And so, have a lot of confidence in our outlook for D&E and where that could go 23 and beyond.
spk03: Great. I appreciate the call. Thank you.
spk09: Thank you.
spk13: Thank you. And our next question, one moment, is from Steve. Stephan Jengaro from Stiefel. Your line is open.
spk02: Thanks. Good morning, everybody. So two things for me, if you don't mind. Can you talk a little bit on the domestic pressure pumping side? Obviously, I know you guys are pretty much sold out for the year. What are you seeing in the market as far as new builds, supply-demand fundamentals as we look forward? three, four, five quarters out? Because I know you guys are, you know, you got your finger on the pulse there. I'm just curious what your take is on the overall market growth or lack thereof in supply.
spk09: Yeah, look, I think the market's certainly undersupplied today. And I think that attrition is happening every day, even if it doesn't happen necessarily at the fleet level, but it does happen at the unit level. And part of the way that got solved in 2022 was through industry consolidation. So that's one method of dealing with attrition is bringing in more inventory and equipment. And then the other, as I look out throughout the year, all of 23, I mean, half the capacity additions that we've heard about are electric. And I think what's being realized in the field is electric is harder to do than it looks. You know, and from our perspective, we have proven technology. We have technology with a track record, and we have a very strong IP portfolio around frack. And so I think, you know, that combination gives me a lot of confidence, A, in where we are, and also that, you know, the market won't be oversupplied.
spk02: Great. Thank you. And just as a follow-up, We've seen consolidation in the U.S. pressure pumping space, and some of the larger competitors are doing things to kind of make themselves have a higher revenue content at the well site, right, different types of vertical integration or well site integration. Have you seen any change in the competitive landscape at the well site? I mean, obviously now everybody's busy, but just in general, has there been any change in the way your competitors are
spk09: competing with halberd no i don't see any change there um you know when i think about sand uh you're talking about sand and when i think about sand you know we've got very good suppliers in the sand business we work well with them um and then i think about competitive advantage i mean real competitive advantage what are things that we do to create competitive advantage and we want to spend our dollars on things where we do have clear competitive advantage which isn't In this case, pumping technology and then drilling technology, software, things where we clearly have competitive advantage. You know, I view sand clearly as an input. It's an important input. We need access to it. But at the same time, don't want to overinvest in that part of the business.
spk02: Okay, great. Thank you for the details.
spk13: Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference back to management for closing remarks.
spk09: Thank you, Catherine. As we close out today's call, let me just close out with this. In this strong market for oilfield services, I am confident that Halliburton will execute on its strategic priorities and deliver financial outperformance. I look forward to speaking with you next quarter. You can close out the call.
spk13: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. The conference will begin shortly. To raise and lower your hand during Q&A, you can dial star 11.
Disclaimer