Borr Drilling - Earnings Call - Q2 2025
August 14, 2025
Transcript
Speaker 0
Good morning, and thank you for participating in the Borr Drilling Patrick Schorn meeting today in Dubai. With me here today in Dubai are Bruno Morand, Chief Commercial Officer, and Magnus Vaaler, Chief Financial Officer. Next slide, please. First, covering the required claims. I would like to remind you that some of the statements we will be forwarding to you matters involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results differ from those projected indices. I therefore refer you to our latest public filing. Now, before we dive into the second quarter results, I'd like to briefly reference the recent announcing both new financing plans and the CEO's succession plan. We will cover the financing plan detailed during our prepared review, as it represents a significant step towards our long-term strategy. I will return to the CEO's succession call towards the end of the call.
Our second quarter results were technical utilization 99.8% and economic utilization 99.89%. As anticipated, activity rebounded in the second quarter: 22 out of 24 rigs active. Revenue increased by $41.1 million this quarter, and EBITDA rose by $37 million, $33.3 million, 39.9% for the first quarter of this year. Under the score profitability of the revenue stream, additionally $100.5 million cash flow was generated in the first six months of the year. During the quarter, we have new awards including a monthly contract in Asia and a new contract in Arabia. Contract for the Arabia is expected to return. We are expected to return 10 more active fleets in September. These contract awards include contract coverage of 84% to 84% day rate, at an average day rate of $145,120 for 2025, 47% coverage at an average day rate of $139,260 for 2026.
Last month, we took a decisive decision to strengthen Borr Drilling's position, financial position, comprehensive financing plan. This initiative, which includes $102.5 million customer rights and amendments to the size and revolving credit facilities, increases our liquidity by $200 million, by $200 million, and strengthens our balance. We acted proactively to secure financing while maintaining a favorable position, reinforcing our ability to build on our long-term strategy, including disciplined growth, disciplined growth, industry consolidation. Looking into the third quarter, we have comparable levels of activity in the second quarter and anticipate a similar performance. Previously indicated in our 2025 EBITDA guidance, we are in a longer consent of approximately $470 million. We are encouraged by the Mexican government to strengthen the credits, restating 1.8 million barrels per day.
These actions show the strength of Borr Drilling's liquidity, enabling us to leverage our proven track record, delivering best-in-class wealth, uniquely positioning Borr Drilling activity, incremental drilling activity, particularly under private investments. Under private investments, we are expected to play an increasingly important role of Mexico's oil and gas production. I'll pass the call now to the next quarter for the second quarter financial commentary.
Speaker 7
Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, Patrick.
Speaker 0
I will now go into some more details for the quarterly results, which were positively impacted by the increase in the number of rigs working and number of rigs working in comparison to the prior quarter. Total operating revenues is $211 million, $417 million, an increase of $1.1 million, $1.1 million, and 24% compared to the first quarter. Included in this include day rate revenues, reflected in $3 million, $6 million, primary million, number of operating day, number of operating days, and the third variable charter revenue, variable charter revenue of $1.7 million, $1.7 million of Arabia II, and the commencement of the gallard reimbursement in the commencement in Mexico. Lastly, management contract revenue, $1.1 million, $1.1 million due to the recommencement of the gallard. Total operating expenses were $102 million, $102 million for the second quarter, $14.3 million, $49.4 million, upper 9% was compared to the first quarter.
This is also due to the ball and the floor, the ball and the floor, and the rig operating expenses around $12.4 million. This in total gives us an operating income of $6.5 million, $36.3 million, $6.3 million, increase from the prior quarter. Further below the operating income line, the operating income line should support this increasing by $6.6 million, $6.6 million to decrease in finance to the Mexico state in the first quarter and the first quarter with no comparable in the second quarter in addition to positive FX movements. Income tax expenses increased by $7.8 million, $1.8 million, one merit due to a one-off asset further cannot after the quarter cannot during the decrease in tax expense in Africa.
All of the above results, all of the above income did not increase by $1.5 million, $1.1 million, of $52 million compared to $2 million compared to the previous quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $133.2 million, $3.2 million, $7.1 million, $7.31 million, or 39%. Now moving into liquidity now moving into free cash position, free cash position at the end of Q2 was $92.4 million. In addition, we had $150 million unwritten facility results in a total available of $242.4 million. Cash decreased by $77.7 million compared to the quarter explained by the following. Net cash provided by operating was $6.3 million. This was highly impacted by $98.3 million, $8.3 million payment cash entry makes semi-annually on our senior security. Additionally, $20.8 million income taxes were paid in the quarter. The cash flow from operating activities impacted by working hours, however, due to several reasons.
First of all, we continue to see delays in collections, however, due to recent development, positive development by the Mexican government. By the Mexican government is to improve in the second quarter in the second part of the year. Additionally, income experience revenue is not a trash result, not a result of new contract or new contract on Arabia II. Services have been performed but not yet billed. In addition, certain new contract rates and new contract rates increased compared to the previous quarter. Net cash used in net used in these investing activities, $13.4 million, $13.4 million. Backup addition primarily as a result, primarily as a result of long-term maintenance costs and activation. We still expect maintenance CapEx levels for the year around $50 million.
In addition to these $50 million, a large portion of the contract preparation and activation costs for the rig Valley, we were able to capitalize and classify as CapEx as opposed to deferring expenses as we normally do for contract startups. This is due to the rig being a new build commencing its first contract. Lastly, net cash used in financing activities were $70.7 million, which relates to the semi-annual debt repayments on our senior secured notes due in 2028 and 2030. It's also worth adding that year to date, our free cash flow generation was $106.5 million. As Patrick summarized, in July, we announced an initiative to significantly strengthen our balance sheet and increase liquidity of approximately $200 million through an equity raise of $102.5 million and increases in revolving credit facilities of $84 million and a reduction in the minimum liquidity covenants.
With these transactions, the Q2 pro forma liquidity increases to approximately $425 million, which consists of $192 million cash and $234 million in available RCF capacity. This strengthened liquidity position provides a solid foundation for pursuing opportunistic transactions and supporting future growth. With this, I will pass the word over to Bruno.
Speaker 1
Thank you, Magnus. Year to date, Borr Drilling has secured 14 new contract commitments, adding $318 million to our backlog. Several of these new commitments include options with the potential to significantly extend their duration and earnings visibility. Since our last report, we've secured high-quality contracts backed by our market-leading operational performance. In Vietnam, we received a multi-rig award from Hong Long for our exploring gunball, totaling approximately 500 days, including priced options. Both contracts are expected to commence in early Q4 in direct continuation of the rig's existing contracts, clearly demonstrating our ability to eliminate idle time and maximize asset utilization. These awards strengthen our market position in Vietnam, where we see near-term demand growth in Southeast Asia. In the Middle East, the rig Arabia II received a 500-day contract expected to commence in early September, enabling the rig to return to the active fleet.
While the standard has been awarded on a competitive basis, the rig's track record of high performance allows us to collaborate with the customer around certain performance incentives, which could result in day rate uplift of up to 10% to 15%. In Mexico, the run had a 100-day option exercised by ENI, keeping the rig contracted into early 2026. As part of this extension, the parties agreed to add another set of options to that contract that, if exercised, would result in full year coverage for 2026. Lastly, in June, the OLDEN received an order for suspension by Pemex. Following this, we secured a letter of intent from an independent oil company in Mexico for an approximately 75-day program expected to commence in late August. In addition to these awards, we have converted the previously announced LOAs for the SCAL in Thailand and the NORVA in West Africa into contracts.
As you note in our fleet status report, the award associated with the NORVA in West Africa has now been assigned to the NAT, which will enable us to optimize scheduling flexibility and maximize revenue days. On the back of the recent contracts, our 2025 fleet coverage has now reached a robust 84% at an average day rate of $145,000. This is in line with our earlier targets of achieving 80% to 85% coverage in the year, and we see potential for further improvements as we have line of sight of additional contracts for the rigs NAT and P1, which still have open capacity this year. Our 2026 coverage, including price options, now stands at 47%, a 12-point improvement since our last report. Mexico remains a significant and strategically important part of our portfolio, representing circa 20% of our available coverage in 2026.
The announcements made by the Mexican government last week provide us with increased confidence in sustained rig demand and contract stability for our rigs in country. I'll cover these in more detail in a few minutes. From a macro perspective, the oil and gas sector continues to contend with a complex global environment recently shaped by regional conflicts, uncertainty over global trade tariffs, and OPEC's accelerated rollback of its 2.2 million barrels per day voluntary cuts. Regional conflicts have continued to underwrite the fragility of the global oil and gas supply chains, with escalations in the Middle East causing Brent prices to reach highs of $75 in June and reviving discussions about the importance of pragmatic government policies, as illustrated by the Dutch government's restated commitment to develop local gas and New Zealand's reversal of its prior ban on new offshore licenses.
Despite this complex environment, Brent crude prices have remained resilient, averaging approximately $68 in Q2, a level that continues to support the development of shallow water projects, which offer some of the lowest breakevens and faster cash flow generation to our customer. Looking specifically at jack-ups, global utilization has remained generally steady, with modern rig market utilization holding above 90%. Day rates have continued to experience downward pressure as the market works to absorb the excess capacity resulting from the Saudi suspensions. While more than half of the modern rig capacity from the suspension has been absorbed, we estimate that less than 10 modern units remain available and competitive in international markets. Positively, visible incremental demand in the Middle East, particularly in Kuwait and the Neutral Zone, points towards a significant part of this oversupply being absorbed in the near future.
While we acknowledge that these projects have experienced delays due to supply chain constraints and complex procurement processes, recent orders of long-lead items provide increased confidence that they remain on track to materialize in 2026 and 2027. Additionally, we are encouraged by recent data points relating to Aramco EPCI tender awards and nearing awards for an estimated total of $8 billion, surpassing 2024 levels. These awards cover key projects such as Zuluth and Marjan and are understood to include several well-headed platforms. With jack-up activity in Saudi already back to 2019 level, we believe further development of these projects is supportive of long-term incremental demand in the kingdom. In Southeast Asia and West Africa, demand has continued to track positively. Since the beginning of the year, contracted jack-up count in these regions has increased by 10 rigs.
While the inflow of rigs from the Middle East to both regions has pressure raised in recent opportunities and more markedly in Southeast Asia, supply and demand in these regions are fundamentally balanced for modern events. In Mexico, we're encouraged by the government's renewed focus on strengthening Pemex liquidity and its restated goal of achieving 1.8 million barrels per day in production. The government has laid out a clear plan, including a $12 billion debt offering to refinance short-term obligations and another $13 billion facility to provide funding for Pemex current and future projects. Given our track records of delivering best-in-class wells, Borr Drilling Limited is uniquely positioned to capture incremental work, especially on private investment projects, which are projected to contribute to one quarter of the country's production by 2033. The bottom line is this: stronger liquidity at Pemex is a clear positive for Borr Drilling Limited.
As supply and demand continue to rebalance, retirement activity has now resumed as owners of old assets face challenges to find suitable and economic redeployment opportunities. So far this year, according to IHS, four units have been retired and several others are being held for sale. We expect the dynamic to accelerate, particularly in the context of ongoing industry consolidation. In short, while near-term volatility may continue, the long-term fundamentals of the jack-up market remain compelling. Demand for oil and gas to support global energy needs is expected to continue to grow and support investment. Shallow water projects represent a sizable portion of global production, characterized by attractive break-even prices, short cash flow cycles, and relatively low emissions. With an aging global fleet and no new builds in sight, the supply of jack-ups should continue to provide, supporting high utilization levels and economics.
We are consistently delivering our commercial strategy, maximizing 2025 backlog and building 2026 coverage while supporting our customers through this dynamic cycle. With that, I'll hand the call back to Patrick.
Speaker 0
Thank you, Bruno. Now I'd like to discuss our CEO's succession plan. Effective September 1, Bruno Morand will succeed me as Chief Executive Officer. At that time, I will transition to the role of Executive Chairman. This is the culmination of a multi-year succession plan developed in close partnership with our Board of Directors. I'm very pleased that the Board has selected Bruno to lead Borr Drilling Limited into its next chapter. While many of you already know him, let me take a moment to highlight his background. Bruno is a 20-year veteran of the offshore drilling industry with a strong track record in operational management, project execution, marketing, and customer relationship development. Prior to joining Borr Drilling Limited in 2017, he held senior roles with international offshore drilling companies, giving him broad exposure to global markets and operational complexity.
Since joining Borr Drilling Limited, he has been deeply involved in managing the relationships with our key clients and strategic partners and has contributed significantly to our operational and commercial progress. His dynamic leadership, customer focus, and strategic insight position him to advance our current priorities and unlock new growth. To our shareholders, I want to underscore that this transition is not just about continuity; it's also about accelerating our momentum. Bruno brings a fresh yet experienced perspective that will be invaluable as we navigate evolving market dynamics and pursue new avenues of growth. Alongside this leadership change, I'm pleased to share updates to our board composition. Firstly, our founder and current Chairman, Mr. Torolf Troim, will remain on the board as a director, ensuring continuity of our founding vision. Mr. Dan Rabin will become our Lead Independent Director, ensuring continuity of objective and independent governance. Mr.
Tiago Modarzvili, founder and Chief Investment Officer of Granula Capital and a long-standing shareholder, will be joining our board. Mr. Modarzvili brings deep financial acumen and a strong shareholder perspective, which will help to further sharpen our focus on long-term value creation. These changes significantly strengthen our board's capabilities and align with our strategic vision for long-term success. The combined experience and diverse expertise of this group will support the leadership team in driving innovation, performance, and shareholder returns. Now, as I reflect on the past seven years, initially as a Director and subsequently as CEO, I'm incredibly proud of what we have built together. During that time, we have assembled a world-class leadership team, expanded our presence in key markets, and established Borr Drilling Limited as the leading international jack-up drilling contractor.
The strong foundation we stand on today is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of our employees, the continued support of our customers, and the confidence of our shareholders. I sincerely thank each one of them for that. Looking ahead to this next chapter, I'm excited about the path ahead for Borr Drilling Limited and am confident in our ability to deliver on our long-term vision and create value for our shareholders. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now ready to go to Q&A.
Speaker 3
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one and then one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please kindly ask one question and possibly a follow-up question at a time to leave room for other participants. If you do not have any further questions, you can please rejoin the queue. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please type it into the question box and submit. One moment for our first question, please. It's coming from the line of Eddie Kim with Barclays. Please proceed.
Speaker 2
Hi, good morning. Just wanted to get an update on where things stand in Mexico. It's certainly great to see the Mexican government raising debt so Pemex can hopefully pay their suppliers like yourselves. From an operational perspective, do you think the worst is sort of behind us in Mexico? You have, I believe, five jack-ups drilling for Pemex currently, most of which are coming off contract in the first half of next year. Just curious, what's your confidence level on extensions for these jack-ups? Looking even further ahead, how do you see maybe your Pemex rig count trending from here over the next, let's say, 12 to 18 months?
Speaker 1
Very good, Eddie. Thanks for the question, Bruno here. Let me tackle that in small chunks here. Indeed, positive, what we know is the government announced this $13 billion facility, which is clearly earmarked to support vendor payments for projects that are current and future in the Pemex portfolio. There has been a hint that in 2026, there will be a similar facility that will come to support Pemex in getting back behind the strategy. That is positive. It's hard to comment more. I think it's going to take a little bit of time for agreements to be put in place. There are obviously banking agreements associated before revenues start to come through. There seems to be a very clear pathway for that. That is very positive, very positive for us.
In terms of activity, what we see in Mexico at the moment is less about Pemex's desire to continue with activity and is more about their ability to continue to pay vendors and sustainably continue operation. I think with the funding, the desire and the work scope has been there and that the payments should enable now some of that activity to return in quite short near term. It is indeed positive. I think it does paint a better picture and a clear environment for us in Mexico going forward. We do have ongoing discussions about new contracts for multi-year work on our rigs, and we are quite optimistic and positive that we'll see those coming to a conclusion in very short term. We'll update you more as we move along, but I think the optimism is certainly there.
Speaker 2
Great, great. Thank you. My follow-up is just on potential M&A. You have a lot more dry powder now than you did three months ago. You mentioned potentially targeting some opportunistic transactions. Could you expand on that a bit for us? Are you looking to target maybe some larger corporate M&A? I know we had a big merger announcement recently in the sector, or more targeting smaller kind of asset purchases. Are you looking to target specific regions? Just curious on your thoughts on the opportunities and what you're looking for.
Speaker 0
Yeah, Eddie, I think part of the answer is probably already what you said in that with the recent announcements that have been done, any bit of color that we give probably immediately identifies exact direction and candidates of where we're thinking and how we're thinking about it. Given the fact that there have been some moves and some signs of consolidation in the market already, I think it's very difficult to comment in further detail. I think that the key maybe takeaway is that we look forward to seeing more consolidation in the space. We believe that the time is right for it, and we believe that that will go hand in hand potentially with actions that we will see happening in the deep water space as well.
Out of all of that, I do think that there is going to be some interesting assets that might follow and that might be interesting for us as well. As you maybe remember from the Paragon acquisition that we did, when we acquire, we also have no problem, provided that the valuation is right, that we cut up, in some cases, a significant amount of rigs that are not off the profile any longer that fit with our fleet. We certainly look as well at parts of the market where we could rationalize further. I think we'll have to leave it at that as additional commentary just because the space where we operate in is relatively small and some others have made moves already. I think we'll just have to keep our eye open here in the months to come and see how this space develops further.
Speaker 2
Understood. Sounds good. Patrick, you navigated the company through some very challenging times, so a job well done and wish you the best in your next chapter.
Speaker 0
Thank you.
Speaker 3
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Doug Becker with Capital One. Please proceed.
Speaker 4
Thank you. Patrick, you mentioned private investment projects are expected to play an increasing role in Mexico. Just wanted some color on the current status of private projects. Historically, it's been difficult to find agreements that are suitable for all the parties. Just a little color on what milestones should we be keeping an eye out for that might show a broader acceleration here.
Speaker 0
Yeah, I'll ask Bruno Morand to give a bit more color on this, Doug.
Speaker 1
Very good. Thanks for the question, Doug. No, the private investment is a reality in Mexico at the moment. If you look at our fleet, one of our rigs in Mexico, as we speak, is operating in a field called the Baca Bloom, which is a private investment project. The way to think about it, these are basically in general fields that are already identified by Pemex and sometimes relatively mature that are then assigned to a private investment group that has a 15-year timeline to develop these fields and get remunerated for the additional production that they can get out of these fields. It seems to be a quite attractive value proposition. It's one that incentivizes performance and at the same time reduces a bit of the strain on Pemex's balance sheet to fund some of these projects.
Equally important is that these projects allow the investment group to actually get paid from production and consequently minimize, as well, some of the exposure to the Pemex payment cycle. That's a quite interesting thing. In terms of scale, the one that we're participating in at the moment is the first one in the country and started very successfully. In the recent plans from Pemex that were released last week, they have now a target and ambition to see those projects represent about a quarter of the total country production by 2033 and about 450,000 barrels a day at that point in time. There's quite a significant growth expected and certainly a type of project that will value or benefit performance-oriented contractors like ourselves.
Speaker 4
No, that definitely sounds encouraging. Maybe a quick one for Magnus. It wasn't clear to me, are you currently having conversations around the Pemex accounts receivable being paid, or is it just that the funding's coming in and obviously that bodes well?
Speaker 6
Yeah, thanks, Doug. I think it is a recent signal that we have received from Mexico through the announcements they have made and the clearest data they have: $13 billion of financing program to pay their suppliers and vendors for work conducted in 2025, which makes us believe that the payments will pick up in Mexico because we have seen that they have actually actioned this financing now. Although they have talked about it for a long time, at least now we see the actions.
Speaker 4
Yeah, that's what I was getting at. No, thank you very much.
Speaker 6
Thanks.
Speaker 2
Thanks, Doug.
Speaker 3
Thank you. One moment for our next question. That comes from Frederic Steen with Clarkson Securities. Please proceed.
Speaker 6
Hey, Patrick and team. Yeah, Patrick and Bruno, I guess it's fair to say, congrats to you both if you view it as a double promotion here. Looking forward to continuing discussions in the years ahead as well, although in slightly different roles for the two of you. With that said, I wanted, I think Mexico has been well covered already, but just maybe to Magnus before I move to my main question, what's the amount of "outstanding" receivables that relate to Pemex on your balance sheet at the moment? Yeah, so currently we have around $60 million, $65 million of outstanding payables payments from Mexico, which follows our comment in the first quarter where we received $120 million of cash receivables, which took down our receivable balance by approximately 75%, and then adding on the payables that we have earned in the meantime. That gets you to mid-$60 million.
Okay, no, that's very helpful. Thanks. With Mexico out of the way, I wanted to talk about the market in general and through that focusing a bit on Saudi. I think you said in the prepared remarks that you feel quite comfortable that there's some incremental demand in the Middle East in other countries than Saudi, but that at some point Saudi will also add incrementally to its rig count. There have been some, I think, market reports over the last week that Saudi has contacted, I think, all their eight rig owners that have supplied offshore rigs for them to inquire about rig availability on suspended rigs. I just wanted to hear if you have any commentary around that because there's not that much that's needed on the demand side to potentially accelerate rates a bit. Anything else on that front?
Speaker 1
Yeah, indeed, indeed, Frederic. You've heard the commentaries and they reflect what we've seen as well. I think at an operational level, we have had previous discussions with Aramco about updating them, the status of the rig that operated with them earlier and what it would take to have them back. I must say that these conversations so far have been very much on an operational level and not on a contractual basis. Obviously, we've said before that we expected Aramco to eventually come back to the market. Aramco is a very strong engineering company. At one point in time, when they decided that they needed another 40 rigs, it certainly wasn't by a mistake in a calculation. They know that demand is there. I think that they encountered some issues with timing, maybe related to capital constraints in the kingdom.
We've said before on several occasions that we expected that demand to eventually come back. It's fair to say that estimating Aramco's actions and timeline is far from an easy thing. I think we're not going to be the ones trying to put a prediction on what happens. Indeed, I think the talks about the status of the rigs, as well as the positive news flows on the EPCI side in terms of award, start to give us a bit of a brighter picture for the kingdom. We are aware of reports talking about Aramco potentially looking to bring rigs in the first quarter next year. That's not something we had particularly heard from Aramco. We'll have to watch. I think the moment seems to be coming closer and closer to the time that Aramco could be needing rigs.
As you said, I think any movements from Aramco at this stage with an oversupply that is not that significant will be very welcome and supportive to the market. We'll have to see what happens in the coming weeks and months.
Speaker 6
Yeah, no, thank you. That's very good color. Just a bit more broadly on your 2026 coverage, including options, now you're close to 50% at rates that you know I would be higher than where the market is today. As you're working, and Mexico is definitely a part of this, of course, but as you're working with your coverage for 2026, how are you prioritizing utilization versus pushing day rates in the environment that you're in at the moment?
Speaker 1
Yeah, nothing changed in terms of our strategy, Freddie. We're still looking at optimizing the utilization of our assets. We know that a rig idle has a significant impact to our economics, and it's important that we optimize the earnings potential of these rigs, and utilization remains king in a current environment. We do have a fair bit of rollovers as we walk into 2026. Irrespective of the improvement sentiment about the market being in an upward trend, I think we're well in a position to capture an upside as it comes. We'll focus at the moment in making sure that we have the best possible utilization for our fleet.
Speaker 6
All right. Just one super quick follow-up on some rig specifics. You said that the NAT will now take the place of the Nordeva for the work starting in late 2026. The Nordeva has options at that point. Should we interpret the rig swap as that there's a high likelihood that those Nordeva options will be executed, or is there some other factors to consider? Thanks.
Speaker 1
I think that the work that we've been doing on the Nordeva has a good potential for the options to be exercised, and we said before that we think quite a few of our options have a potential to be exercised. What equally is important as well is that the customer that has that rig contract on the NAT now hence indicates a desire to potentially move that work earlier, subject to a few constraints and long lead items. Obviously, having that work moved to the NAT allows us to potentially bring that forward if the customer is able to achieve an accelerated schedule. That obviously would be very beneficial for the customer in terms of earlier production, but it would be very beneficial for us in terms of improving our coverage for the year.
Speaker 6
All right. That's very clear. I say thank you to you all and congrats again, Bruno too in particular, on the role, the new role.
Speaker 1
Thanks, Frederic.
Speaker 3
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Dan Cutts with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed.
Speaker 5
Thank you and congrats, Bruno and Patrick. Best of luck in the new roles. I wanted to ask about a couple of, I guess, a bit more emerging opportunities in the shallow water space, or at least areas that, you know, historically haven't been thought of as growth areas. The first is on gas activity. Are there any more rigs that are doing work in gas plays currently? I think, Bruno, you mentioned a couple of positive developments, one of which was the Dutch government looking to develop more local gas. You mentioned New Zealand as well. I'm not sure if that was a gas or oil opportunity or both, but just basically trying to get a sense of any work you're doing now in gas basins and any customer conversations or opportunities you see for gas work moving forward. Thank you.
Speaker 1
Very good, Dan. Indeed, we do have a sizable portion of our fleet that has been working in gas. I think if you think specifically about larger pockets, we have done a significant amount of work with ENI in Congo that is largely focused on LNG and a very interesting project. At some point in time, we had three rigs operating with ENI in that project. We do have other projects around the globe that involve gas, including the North Sea in the Netherlands specifically, as I mentioned, which has a reinstated commitment to support the local gas development. We have been working very closely with ONGC in the North Sea on a very interesting development, one of the largest gas fields to be developed in the North Sea in recent years.
While the news flow is positive, the project has faced some challenges on the permitting timeline, but we do expect that to be back on schedule very soon. Gas is part of what we do around the globe. Our rigs are very capable and suitable for that, and it is a decent chunk of our portfolio.
Speaker 5
Great. That's really helpful. Thank you for that. The next one, probably for Bruno as well, is more on the type of work that the Borr fleet or that the shallow water fleet globally more broadly is doing and any kind of trends that you're seeing there. Basically, as global oil and gas basins mature, you're hearing a lot more service companies talking about mature field work or more greenfield versus brownfield. I was just wondering if you could share any thoughts on what you're seeing in terms of trends and development versus the kind of more mature focused infill and extension type work. Thanks.
Speaker 1
Yeah, fair, Dan. It's fair to say that a large chunk or the largest lion's share of the work that we do is development work, so basically in discovered and somewhat mature fields. I think that that's going to stay. I think that's one of the beauties of the shallow water market, that a lot of these projects have infrastructure in place. Even if you're doing some near-field developments, we can bring barrels to the pipeline relatively quick. We have seen, though, an increase in uptake in investment for exploration projects in some areas more so than others. If you think about Asia, we do see now more and more coming to the pipeline in terms of future exploration work in places such as, for example, Malaysia.
Equally, in West Africa, it has been a quite significant part of our portfolio, whether it is complete greenfield developments or whether it is near-field new exploration programs as we've seen, for instance, with BWE in West Africa. We are participating in both. We do think that in the coming years, more investment in exploration will be required. There has been very subdued investment in exploration in the last couple of years. We are placed to basically develop work both in exploration and development work.
Speaker 5
Great. Really helpful. Congrats again to you both. I'll turn it back.
Speaker 1
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3
Thank you. Our next question comes from Greg Brody with Bank of America. Please proceed.
Speaker 2
Hey, guys. Just a few sort of subtle questions as a lot was covered. You alluded to that the NAT has some opportunity to move up some work, but as the way the contract stands today, there's a decent amount of white space between the conclusion of the current contract. How do you think about the use of that rig and the options there? You mentioned the opportunity to have it go to work early. Curious, how much early and are there other opportunities?
Speaker 1
Very good. We are working on a set of opportunities, not one only, but a set of opportunities, Greg. We have been working on both a project that could have a commencement this year, optimizing our coverage for this year, as well as some projects in the region for the earlier part of 2026. If we're successful on these and we've been inching closer and closer, that would provide a very nice bridge over to the work that we already have assigned for the rig. We'll have to see as things materialize in the coming weeks. I feel optimistic that we'll be able to have most of that white space, if not all of it, contracted for the rig and a nice utilization for that rig in West Africa.
Speaker 2
You mentioned the exploration uptake. One of your peers has alluded to the fact that some of that may be trying to take advantage of short-term availability of rigs to go after some concepts. Do you see those opportunities potentially in lower day rates just to put more rigs to work in the interim, or do you feel like the day rates are holding up for those opportunities?
Speaker 1
Yeah, and indeed, I think that the theme in the industry has been obviously protecting coverage, and that has led, as I mentioned in the early notes, to more aggressive behaviors in different regions, more markedly than others. If I think about the NAT specifically that we were talking about in West Africa, it's important to note that in West Africa, what we have experienced over the quarters is that a lot of the customers are extremely focused on getting rigs that are in the region and particularly have a very strong reputation for operational delivery. We oftentimes are looking at programs that are slightly shorter in nature. I think our customers understand that predictable results, good operational efficiency stacks up higher than costing and the risk that sometimes comes with taking a less known name or maybe a rig outside of the region. We will continue to balance that.
I feel confident that for now, the rate structure that we see in West Africa is pretty well maintained.
Speaker 2
Got it. Just turning to Mexico, I know there are a lot of questions asked there. I appreciate that all these, all the capital raise and the facility they've set up and the goals of Mexico are to encourage oil production and growth. Has the government communicated to you directly on timing around paying, resuming payables or, excuse me, receivables, anything like that, or is this more of you looking at the general policy statements and actions?
Speaker 1
Yeah, no, we have not discussed anything directly with the government. Obviously, keeping in mind that our work in Mexico is not directly through Pemex, it's through a local conglomerate that we have been partners with. Therefore, I wouldn't expect that communication to have come directly to us. What we know is that they have been talking to local banks and institutions to start putting things in place. The government themselves have indicated that they expect payments to be starting now in Q3. We'll have to watch. Obviously, they've been working on a quite comprehensive solution for Mexico. We know that the regulatory and the bureaucratic state of the country sometimes force these things to take a bit more time than what we hope for. Nonetheless, the indications are positive that the flow of money should be sooner rather than later.
Speaker 2
The equity raises create a lot of optionality for you. I'm curious if you think about that capital raise to potentially address some debt opportunistically. Is that a possibility?
Speaker 6
I think we will obviously see how our liquidity will evolve throughout the year, especially with Mexico in mind and no plumber day rates going into 2026 and how we fill up our coverage. It's definitely something that we have as a tool in our capital allocation box and that we will consider. Recently, the debt had been trading below par, and that was obviously very attractive for us to look at buying back bonds. After the capital raise in the recent weeks, the bonds are back at par, which we obviously view as positive. I think it's also good for us to have this strength of good liquidity on the balance sheet, which puts us in a position of strength where we can act on other strategic opportunities that might come up. We've been talking about potential acquisitions or M&A.
I think it's just we see it's valuable to have a strong position with our balance sheet as we have it today.
Speaker 2
Makes sense. Thanks for the time, guys.
Speaker 6
Thank you.
Speaker 3
Thank you. This concludes the Q&A session. I will pass it back to Patrick Schorn for closing remarks.
Speaker 0
Thank you, operator. A few comments in conclusion. We delivered a strong Q2 adjusted EBITDA of $133.2 million and expect similar activity and performance for the third quarter. In July, we have proactively strengthened the balance sheet and are now well-positioned to execute on our long-term strategy. For the full year 2025, we're on track to deliver the consensus estimate of approximately $470 million in adjusted EBITDA. Bruno Morand will be the CEO effective September 1, and I wish him all the best in doing that. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.
Speaker 3
This concludes our conference. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.