Helix Energy Solutions Group - Q2 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Greetings and welcome to the second quarter Helix Energy Solutions 2023 earnings conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press the one followed by the four on your telephone. If anytime during the conference you need to reach an operator, please press star 0. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Thursday, July 27th, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference over to Brent Arriaga, CAO of Helix Energy. Please go ahead.

Brent Arriaga (CAO)

Good morning, everyone, thanks for joining us today on our conference call for our second quarter 2023 earnings release. Participating on this call today for Helix are Owen Kratz, our CEO, Scotty Sparks, our COO, Erik Staffeldt, our CFO, Ken Neikirk, our General Counsel, and myself. Hopefully, you've had an opportunity to review our earnings press release and the related slide presentation released last night. If you don't have a copy of these materials, both can be accessed through the For The Investor page on our website at www.helixesg.com. The press release can be accessed under the Press Releases tab, and the slide presentation can be accessed by clicking on today's webcast icon. Before we begin our prepared remarks, Ken Neikirk will make a statement regarding forward-looking information. Ken?

Ken Neikirk (General Counsel)

During this conference call, we anticipate making certain projections and forward-looking statements based on our current expectations and assumptions as of today. Such forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates of future events, business or industry trends, or business or financial results. All statements in this conference call or in the associated presentation, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual future results may differ materially from our projections and forward-looking statements due to a number and variety of risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and factors, including those set forth in Slide 2, in our most recently filed annual report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and in our other filings with the SEC.

You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement. We disclaim any written or oral statements made by any third party regarding the subject matter of this conference call. During this call, certain non-GAAP financial disclosures may be made. In accordance with SEC rules, the final slide of our presentation provides reconciliations of certain non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP financial measures. These reconciliations, along with this presentation, the earnings press release, our annual report, and a replay of this broadcast, are available under the For the Investor section of our website at www.helixesg.com. Please remember that information on this conference call speaks only as of today, July 27, 2023, and therefore you are advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of any replay of this call. Owen?

Owen Kratz (CEO)

Good morning. This morning, we'll review our Q2 highlights and financial performance. We'll provide insight into our operations and the key drivers to our results and outlook for the balance of 2023. Lastly, we'll provide insight into the continued development of the offshore energy market, our focus on the opportunities within our energy transition model, and opportunities beyond 2023. Moving into the presentation, Slides 6 to 9 provide a high-level summary of our results and key highlights for the second quarter of 2023. Helix delivered strong results, assisted in part by the improved weather in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico Shelf. Despite current economic uncertainty and volatility of commodity markets, oil prices remain supportive to the current investment cycle.

In addition, the continued geographic expansion of the offshore renewables markets into the U.S. and Asia Pacific markets has enhanced the current rate environment for our services. Highlights for the quarter include the Q7000 commenced operations in New Zealand, strong well intervention utilization in the North Sea and Brazil. Robotics achieved strong utilization and operating results with high trenching and vessel activity. Helix Alliance improved results with the activation of the EPIC Hedron and continued execution from offshore marine and energy services divisions. The Q4000 was in dry dock for most of the quarter, improved cash generation and positive free cash flow. On the sales front, Helix Alliance was awarded a 39 well, full field decommissioning contract in the Gulf of Mexico. Revenues for the quarter were $309 million, an increase of $59 million from our first quarter results.

We generated net income of $7 million, compared to a net loss of $5 million in the previous quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 more than doubled quarter-over-quarter to $71 million. During the quarter, we generated strong operating cash flow of $32 million, including $24 million of dry dock and recertification costs. We spent $1 million on CapEx, resulting in $30 million in free cash flow during the quarter. Our results were significantly impacted by the regulatory certification and maintenance of the Q4000. The Q7000 spent 55 days mobilizing to the Asia Pacific regions, with revenues and costs deferred until project commencement in late May. Our year-to-date revenues were $559 million, an increase of $246 million from this time in 2022.

We generated net income of $2 million compared to a net loss of $72 million at this time in 2022. Adjusted EBITDA for the year has increased by $87 million-$106 million. For the year, our operating cash flow is $26 million, compared to a negative $23 million in 2022. These results represent significant improvement year-over-year. The high number of regulatory maintenance days in 2023 has tempered our results, but provided an opportunity for even further improvements in 2024. With strong year-to-date results and an outlook that continues to improve, we're increasing our guidance for 2023. I'd like to thank our employees for their efforts and with a strong, solid start to 2023.

Executing safe and efficient operations for our customers has always been our hallmark. Our goal is to remain an established leader in the offshore industry. On to Slide 9, we continue to execute on our share repurchase program. During the second quarter, we repurchased 750,000 shares of our stock for approximately $5 million. As we continue executing the program, we'll balance the need to manage and fund, one, our operations, two, our capital spend, including the Alliance earnout, three, maturing debt, four, strategic investment opportunities, along with number five, the share repurchase program. I'll now turn the call over to Scotty for an in-depth discussion of our operations.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

Thanks, Owen, and good morning. Please come to Slide 11. Firstly, I would like to again thank our teams offshore and onshore for another very well-executed quarter, being our best performing quarter for many years. There continues to be positive momentum in the global offshore markets that we operate in, and all of our businesses are well positioned for the remainder of 2023 and beyond. In the second quarter of 2023, we continued to operate globally with minimal operational disruption, with operations in Europe, Asia, Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, and off the U.S. East Coast. We continue to operate with high standards with strong uptime efficiency. During the second quarter, we generated a gross profit of $55 million and a gross profit margin of 18%, up from a gross loss of $1 million in the second quarter of 2022.

For the first six months of 2023, we generated a gross profit of $71 million and a gross profit margin of 13%, quite an improvement from a gross loss of $20 million for the first six months of 2022. We are expecting an even further improved second half of 2023 compared to the first half of the year, now that most of our larger planned regulatory maintenance periods are complete, and as the market continues to tighten and the demand for our services continues to grow. Slide 12 provides a more detailed review of our Well Intervention business in the Gulf of Mexico. The Q5000 had excellent utilization of 99%. The vessel performed very well, conducting production enhancements and abandonment works on five wells in ultra-deep water, working under a multi-year campaign for Shell.

The Q4000 had utilization of 7% in the second quarter, completing a two-well abandonment campaign for one client in ultra-deep water, and subsequently commenced the scheduled regulatory dry dock for the remainder of the quarter, with completion scheduled for the end of July. Unfortunately, that dry dock has taken longer than originally scheduled, as we undertook additional recertification work. Positively, we expect both vessels to have high utilization for the remainder of 2023, with contracted or awarded work well into Q4, and we already have awarded work in 2024, with good visibility of potential further activity and increased rates compared to the first half of 2023. Both key vessels continue to operate under the integrated Helix SLB Subsea Service Alliance package.

Moving to Slide 13, our North Sea Well Intervention business continues to respond well to the increased demand in the region, having a very strong second quarter, achieving 100% utilization for both vessels in the U.K. The Well Enhancer performed very well on production enhancement works on six wells for four customers, and then completed decommissioning operations on one well for another customer. The Seawell also had a very good quarter, working for three customers, performing decommissioning works on numerous wells and production enhancement work for three wells. Demand for our services continues to improve, and our business is seeing much improved conditions in terms of rates, contracting terms, and utilization.

The Seawell is fully contracted for the remainder of the year and has recently contracted an expected 210-day decommissioning project in the Mediterranean, keeping the vessel contracted well into Q2 of 2024. The Well Enhancer also has contracted work for the remainder of 2023, and has been awarded work in 2024 at further increased rates. On completion of its dry docking in Malaysia, the Q7000 completed paid transit to New Zealand and then commenced decommissioning contracts in the second quarter. On completion of the works in New Zealand, the vessel is scheduled to carry out a paid transit to Australia to undertake several decommissioning scopes for numerous clients in the second half of 2023 and into Q1 of 2024.

The Q7000 is contracted for 12 months plus options to undertake well abandonment work with Shell in Brazil, including the paid transit to Brazil. The work is expected to commence end of Q1, early Q2 of 2024. The Q7000 is now contracted well into 2025, and we have good visibility and work globally following on in 2025. Moving to Slide 14. In Brazil, we had good utilization of 97% in the second quarter. The Siem Helix 1 was 94% utilized in Q2, undertaking work on a two-year decommissioning project for Trident Energy, performing work on five wells in the quarter. The Siem Helix 2 had a strong quarter with 100% utilization, completing production enhancement work on two wells and decommissioning activity on two wells with Petrobras.

Both SH vessels are contracted to the end of 2024. There is increased demand and tender activity for the SH vessels post 2024 globally, including in Brazil. With the Q7000 Shell contract, we are pleased to have three vessels contracted in the Brazil region in 2024. Slide 15 provides detail of our well intervention fleet utilization. Moving on to slide 16 for our robotics review. Robotics continued their good performance and had another strong quarter, being their best performing quarter in terms of revenue and EBITDA since 2015. The business performed at high standards with strong utilization, operating six vessels globally during the quarter, primarily working between trenching, ROV support, and site survey work on oil and gas and renewables related projects. In the APAC region, the Grand Canyon II had 100% utilization in Q2.

The vessel performed well on a long-term decommissioning project in Thailand. The newly acquired T1400-1 trenching system completed mobilization to Taiwan on board the Siem Topaz, a project-chartered vessel, and commenced work undertaking 65 days of trenching utilization in the quarter, performing well on a sizable estimated 200 day-plus options renewable trenching project. In the North Sea, the Grand Canyon Three was utilized 89%, performing two renewable trenching projects for one customer. The Horizon Innovator had 48 days of spot vessel utilization, completing renewables trenching works for two customers and an oil and gas trenching project for another client. Both the trenching vessels in the North Sea have a strong backlog for the remainder of the 2023 trenching season, with a mix of renewable and oil and gas trenching.

In the North Sea, the Glomar Wave completed 68 days of operations, undertaking ordnance removal and site survey operations. In the U.S.A., the Shelia Bordelon, on the Jones Act compliant vessel, was utilized 91% in Q2. The vessel performed works in the Gulf of Mexico to support a seismic node installation project that is expected to continue well into Q3, with options to extend. On the U.S. East Coast, the recently acquired i-Trencher completed 58 days of utilization, working on a client-provided vessel, undertaking site clearance preparation on a renewables wind farm support project, again expanding our services that we offer to the renewables sector. Helix Robotics is performing very well and have a good backlog and visibility globally. We're expecting strong performance in 2023, and should have our best year since 2015.

Our service and geographical expansion in the renewables sector continues, and the robotics group completed work in eight countries, operating from four vessels in the renewables sector this quarter. Slide 17 details our robotics vessels, ROV, and trenching utilization. Slide 18 provides an overview of our shallow water decommissioning business, Helix Alliance. Helix Alliance had a very strong second quarter, producing their best performing quarter to date. The offshore division had nine lift boats operating in Q2, with an increased combined utilization of 88%, performing decommissioning services. Offshore also supplied six OSVs and one crew boat with an increased combined utilization of 76%. The energy services division had an increased operations of 1,250 days, or 92% utilization for the 15 P&A systems deployed conducting decommissioning services.

The division had increased operations of 304 days, or 56% utilization for the six coiled tubing systems. In Q2, the diving and heavy lift division season commenced with increased combined utilization of 53% across the three diving vessels, with one of the vessels, The Patriot, undertaking planned regulatory dried-up maintenance for most of the quarter. The heavy lift barge, The Hedron, had increased utilization of 79%, undertaking platform removal and other decommissioning activities. In the second quarter, Helix Alliance was awarded their most sizable decommissioning contract since the Helix acquisition. The contract is to decommission 39 wells, remove and dispose of 15 pipelines, and remove and dispose of seven platform structures. The work recently commenced and is spread out over the next 12 months, with an estimated value of $30 million-$40 million in each of 2023 and 2024.

The contracts will utilize all services that Helix, Helix Alliance offers, including some of the lift boats, multiple OSVs, P&A spreads, one of the diving vessels, and the heavy lift barge, The Hedron. This contract again highlights that Helix Alliance is the only contracting company that can offer full field shallow water abandonment. Slide 19 provides detail for the Helix Alliance vessel and systems' recent utilization. Before I hand over to Brent, I would like to thank our global Helix employees and partners for producing strong results and a very good quarter, our best quarter in many years. Thank you, stay safe, and keep up the good work. As mentioned earlier, the second half of 2023 is really shaping up well for Helix, we expect a stronger second half of the year than the first half of this year.

For the next few years, we expect to be in a strong position with high demand for our services across all sectors and regions we operate in, with improving rates and generally better terms and conditions. I'll now turn the call over to Brent.

Brent Arriaga (CAO)

Thanks, Scotty. Moving to slide 21, it outlines our debt instruments and maturity profile as of June 30. We had total funded debt of $267 million at quarter end, and remaining maturities in 2023 include $4 million installment of MARAD debt in August, and our 2023 converts, which mature in September and have a remaining principal $30 million. We have long communicated our intention to cash settle those notes using cash on hand. Moving on to slide 22, provides an update on key balance sheet metrics, including cash, long-term debt, liquidity, and net debt levels. With cash of $183 million, our net debt position at quarter end was $78 million.

During the second quarter, we increased the size of our ABL facility from $100 million to $120 million. At quarter end, we had $112 million of gross capacity under our ABL and no borrowings outstanding. After considering LCs, our net remaining availability under the ABL was $103 million, with resulting liquidity of $285 million. I'll now turn the call over to Erik for a discussion on our outlook for 2023 and beyond.

Erik Staffeldt (CFO)

Thanks, Brent. As we've discussed, we've had a solid start to 2023, and the offshore market, traditional oil and gas, and renewables continues to show its strength. We are increasing our guidance for 2023 as follows: revenue, $1.175 billion-$1.25 billion; EBITDA, $240 million-$270 million, a $25 million increase from midpoint; free cash flow, $130 million-$170 million, a $20 million increase from midpoint; and our CapEx in the $65 million-$80 million range. These ranges include some key assumptions and estimates. Any significant variation from these key assumptions and estimates could cause our results to fall outside the ranges provided.

Our quarterly results are likely to continue to be impacted by seasonal weather in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico Shelf, primarily in the fourth quarter and first quarter. In addition, the timing of our vessel maintenance periods and project mobilizations will cause variances between quarters. For instance, the impact of the Q4000 dry dock extension, which has resulted in fewer days available for work in Q3. We nevertheless expect the second half of 2023 to be stronger than the first half, with the third quarter likely being our strongest quarter. Providing key assumptions by segments and regions, starting on Slide 25. First, our well intervention segment. The Gulf of Mexico is expected to continue to be a strong market in 2023, with improving rates and expected strong utilization on the Q4000 and Q5000.

Q4000 is currently expected to complete its docking and be on hire by the end of July. In the U.K. North Sea, both vessels have contracted work through Q4, with the Seawell having work into Q2 of 2024. Activity levels for our well intervention vessels in this market continues to be robust. During the second half of this year, the Seawell is scheduled to undertake a two to three-week transit for a project in the Mediterranean. The Q7000 is currently operating in New Zealand on the TUI project. The vessel has contracted work in the APAC region, expected into Q1 of 2024. In Brazil, the Siem Helix 1 is contracted into mid-December 2024 with Petrobras, and the Siem Helix 1 is contracted, performing well abandonment work for Trident into Q4 of 2024. Moving to our robotics segment on Slide 26.

The robotics segment continues to benefit from from a tight market, where currently both oil and gas market and the renewables market are extremely active, competing for our assets and services. In the APAC region, the Grand Canyon II is contracted to perform decommissioning and ROV support work in Thailand into Q3, with expected good utilization for the balance of 2023 in that region. In addition, one of the recently acquired T1400 trenchers is contracted and working into Q4. In the North Sea, the Grand Canyon III is contracted to perform trenching work with expected strong utilization for 2023. The Horizon Enabler, with its flexible charter, has trenching projects into Q4. The Glomar Wave is forecasted to have good utilization and site clearance and UXO removal during the remainder of the year.

In the U.S., the Shelia Bordelon is working in the Gulf of Mexico, performing ROV operations. With opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico and the US East Coast, the vessel is expected to have strong utilization for 2023. For production facilities, the HP1 is on contract for the balance of 2023 with no expected change. We do have expected variability with production as the Draugen field continues to deplete. Continuing on to Slide 27 for our shallow water abandonment segment, the shelf decommissioning market continues to be very active. For 2023, we expect the marine offshore division to maintain good utilization on eight to nine lift boats, with some variable seasonality on the OSVs and crew boats. The energy services division should have strong utilization for 12-15 P&A spreads and 1-3 coil tubing units during 2023.

There is seasonality in the diving and heavy lift division, where the EPIC Hedron is mobilized, with work expected into late Q3. Moving on to Slide 28. Our CapEx forecast for 2023 is heavily impacted by the dry docks and maintenance periods on our Q vessels. The Q7000, Q5000 completed their maintenance periods, and the Q4000 is scheduled to complete its dry dock in late July. We did undertake additional recertification work on the Q4000, which resulted in additional days in the yard and increased capital spend. With a heavy regulatory year and the inclusion of Helix Alliance, our CapEx range for 2023 is now $65 million-$80 million. Our cash spend in Q2 was approximately $25 million. The majority of our CapEx continues to be maintenance and project-related, which primarily falls into our operating cash flows.

Reviewing our balance sheet, our funded debt of $267 million at June 30th is expected to decrease by $34 million during the balance of 2023, with scheduled principal payments, primarily the maturity of the $30 million remaining on the 2023 converts. I'll skip the remaining slides and leave them for your reference. This time, I'll turn the call back to Owen for a discussion on our outlook and for closing comments.

Owen Kratz (CEO)

Thanks, Erik. Last quarter, we indicated that we thought we were trending towards the upper end of our initial guidance. Things have continued to improve.

In fact, we're exceeding our forecast despite a few anomalies. In Q2, we more than doubled our Q1 EBITDA, and our forecast for the rest of 2023 remains strong. We've raised the lower end of our EBITDA guidance by $30 million and raised the upper end by $20 million, as Erik mentioned. This is a testament not only to a robust offshore service market, but the diversification we've built into our business and operational execution by our people. 2023 has started well, and as strong as our current performance is, there are identifiable opportunities for even further improvement going forward, especially for 2024. First, five of our well intervention vessels, the Q4000, Q7000, Q5000, Well Enhancer, and Seawell, all have planned maintenance or dockings this year.

As you've already heard, the most significant unexpected issue in Q2 occurred with the regulatory required dry dock of the Q4000, which resulted in an unanticipated recertification work and significant additional maintenance CapEx expense. Earlier this year, we experienced a number of delays on the Q7000 as a result of weather and shipyard performance, negatively impacting the Q7000 potential returns. None of these events should recur in 2024. We should have approximately 200 incremental vessel days to sell in 2024 in our well intervention segment, just based on fewer scheduled maintenance days. Using our 2023 rates and costs, the potential benefit in 2024 could be up to $25 million-$30 million from these extra days. In addition, the offshore service market continues to improve, with supply constraints for assets and services leading to higher rates and greater visibility.

The rates are continuing to grow, improve in many regions, but are partially offset by higher labor costs. There are contractual rate increases already on the Q7000, SH2 and SH1 for 2024, with further contract extensions, with rate improvements under discussions on these vessels. We continue to work through legacy rates on work contracted at a weaker point in the market prior to 2023, creating further future upside for the current higher rate environment. Of the three trenchers and two intervention systems recently acquired, one of each are currently working on long-term commitments. So far, the forecasted returns are better than originally expected, meaning the other two systems could bring additional upside. Shallow water abandonment has just begun to see the potential for the demand increases.

Rates have only started to improve in this space and are expected to escalate going forward, somewhat offset by higher labor costs. The outlook for decommissioning demand appears to be strong for years to come. We're well positioned in the transitional segments in the oil and gas markets. Our businesses are poised for long, sustained demand as the energy market transitions. While many contractors have struggled to maintain suitable returns in the offshore wind markets, the Helix approach of providing specialty services is generating satisfactory returns, with an outlook for not only sustainability, but growth as well. The three buckets of our business model, maximizing existing reserves, decommissioning, and renewables support, remains our foundation, and each one shows promise for sustainable growth. We always explore opportunities that prioritize shareholder return, with our current focus being on growth within our existing capabilities.

We believe we're being patient and selective with these opportunities, and our markets continue to be dynamic. We expect to generate double-digit free cash flow yield going forward. We will be paying attention to our capital structure and debt, as well as capital allocation to building cash, share repurchase, and growth in a balanced manner to yield what we believe will represent the greatest return to the shareholders. With that, I'll turn it back to you, Erik.

Erik Staffeldt (CFO)

Thanks, Owen. Operator, at this time, we'll take any questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you'd like to register a question, please press the one followed by the four on your telephone. You will hear a three-tone prompt to acknowledge your request. If your question has been answered and you would like to withdraw your registration, please press the one followed by the three. Our first question is coming from the line of Greg Lewis. Please go ahead.

Greg Lewis (Managing Director and Energy Analyst)

Yeah, thank you, and good morning, everybody, and thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to start off talking about well intervention. Clearly, it seems like that the pendulum has definitely started to swing towards you guys in terms of your ability to kind of push pricing. I'm kind of curious, have customers realizing that, you know, you know, visibility is pretty good in, you know, in, in, you know, in the next 6+ months? If customers started to look to kind of contract these vessels even farther out, i.e., you know, in the rig market, we're seeing customers starting to look for equipment, you know, starting in 25. You know, what are those customer conversations like around your kind of core assets?

Scotty Sparks (COO)

Good morning. Scotty here. I'll take that. Yeah, we are seeing future outlook. You know, down in Brazil, we're seeing clients booking out the vessels to 2025. We're in discussions with Petrobras and others to extend the two SH vessels down there. Shell has taken the Q7000 into 2025, they have options that could take it all the way out to 2026. In the North Sea, we've got a better outlook than we've had in many, many years, probably going all the way back from 2014. We have more booked years, right, more booked days right now going into 2024 than we've had in an awful long time. We're definitely seeing that the clients take a forward look on this.

We've got long-term agreements that have been set up in the Gulf of Mexico recently with the likes of Oxy, Shell, and Hess. These clients are looking out towards the future and providing us with a better backlog than we've had in a while.

Owen Kratz (CEO)

I'll just add a little bit to that. I think if you go back to 2022, there was starting to be a demand for clients looking out multiple years. There was a reluctance on our part because of we were still in the downturn, and therefore, we were providing what we consider now legacy rates, which are well below current market rates. We were reluctant to give pricing out. A dynamic in the market right now, though, is that I think the clients have come around to realizing that for multiyear contracts, there has to be escalators, so we're being more successful in building escalators into our contracts. That gives us a little more confidence in going ahead and starting discussions about booking additional multiyear out into the future.

That's, I think, the clients are sort of pivoting towards being concerned more about availability than achieving the lowest rate possible.

Greg Lewis (Managing Director and Energy Analyst)

Yeah, no, absolutely. I want to, you know, I guess, from, you know, in hindsight, congratulations on Alliance. I mean, just as we think about what is happening in that, you know, abandonment business, you know, it's been impressive. You know, I guess, I think what a lot of people are wondering, was this kind of just some pent-up demand? As we think about, and I'm not asking for multiyear guidance, but as you see certain things in this market, you know, over the next couple of years, is there any reason why we can't at least hold what we've been able to do more recently in that space?

I mean, it's just been like I said, I mean, give us a little color on what, what's happening there? I guess I have to assume that the acquisition of Alliance really has exceeded your guys' expectations, at least to this point.

Owen Kratz (CEO)

I believe we're we've reached a historic inflection point in the marketplace. I mean, for years, decommissioning of these shallow water structures was the hockey stick that just never occurred. There's always, the industry business model was to sell them on to smaller producers, and then just shove the decommissioning work out into the future. The end result of that, though, is that you've seen two major bankruptcies in the last few years. The end result is that the cash from the production has been stripped out of the companies and bankruptcies declared, forcing these properties back onto the market. What's different now, though, is that most of these properties have a net negative asset value, and therefore, there are no.

I think the industry is learning their lesson about selling them on to smaller producers because the, the abandonment's going to come back, and it's come back in a vengeance here. We saw this potential for happening, which is why we bought Helix Alliance. We're just, as I said in my color comments, we're just now starting to see, I mean, there's been a ramp-up in the decommissioning demand. With the recent Cox bankruptcy, I think you're just going to see a tsunami of decommissioning demand on those shallower waters. This time, there's not going to be the optionality of selling them on, so the work is actually going to get done now, and you're starting to see that reflected in our results with Alliance.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

I think also you can add, with Alliance, we are the only company that can do full, you know, shallow water, full field abandonment and decommissioning. The recent award that we've just had of the 39 wells, 15 pipelines, and seven structures to remove, shows that we have all the capabilities to package big decommissioning packages together.

Greg Lewis (Managing Director and Energy Analyst)

Yeah, no, it's been pretty exciting to watch. Hey, thanks for taking my questions. Have a great day.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is coming from the line of James Schumm. Please go ahead.

James Schumm (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, good morning, guys. Congrats on a great quarter.

Owen Kratz (CEO)

Thank you.

James Schumm (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

You have some long-term contracts on some well intervention vessels in at least the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil. How much, if at all, do rates typically move up in this scenario? I'm just trying to get a sense of what 2024 might look like for these longer-term contracts.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

We do have some legacy left over in 2024, especially down in Brazil with the SH1 and SH2. We're discussing with those clients for extensions past 2024, and you know, I think it's fair to say that we will be increasing the rates on those contracts. Some of the legacy contracts we've just put in place, the new longer-term contracts we've just put in place in the Gulf of Mexico are at far better rates than the legacy rates we've had in the past. We've recently contracted up two longer-term, three-year outlook contracts with majors in the Gulf, and they're at far better rates than some of the legacy business we've had in the past.

I think Owen pointed out what the increases in the space can be for next year, just on utilization days as well.

Owen Kratz (CEO)

Yeah, just to expand on that, on the Q7000, we do have a multiyear contract through 2025.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

Yeah

Owen Kratz (CEO)

on that vessel. It does have escalators already built into the contract, so we do have built-in visibility on improvement there. Same with the SH1 going forward. As we mentioned in our presentation, we're also in discussions about extending both of those vessels, along with the SH-2 with Petrobras for multi-years beyond what we already have currently contracted, and all of that would also have escalators built into it. The two vessels in the North Sea are very high in demand right now, and we are booking partial utilization contracts on a multi-year basis. For instance, we already have 300 days of work already contracted in the North Sea with some pretty meaningful rate increases over 2023.

There's, we already have, at this time last year, we gave you about four or five things that we knew were going to happen. Maybe a little early for us to quantify all of this. We have to work through it, but there's, there are a number of positive things that are already contracted. We have visibility on that have built-in, improvement 2024 over 2023.

James Schumm (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, thanks for that. just, sort of wanted to ask, what's driving the strength in robotics? I mean, Is this, anything in particular? Were there any one-time unusual items here, closeouts, high margin mix? If you could just comment on where rates are versus last year.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

I'll take that. Robotics obviously has had very good performance this year and big improvements. A lot of this has been driven by the renewables sector and our build out into the trenching markets. We've had a couple of one-time items this year, where a couple of lumps, some trenching jobs went in our favor and performed very well. Obviously, you've seen the expansion into Taiwan, where we bought some new trenches, and we've put them to work in Taiwan, and the Taiwan market's expanding. We're seeing an expansion in renewables work, not just trenching, but other services on a global basis. You know, we've gone from trenching that was primarily a U.K. based business, it's now in Taiwan. There's talk of Korea. We've been trenching on the U.S. East Coast.

I see that continuing and expanding, and our rates are up, I'd say, 10%-15% year-over-year.

James Schumm (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, great. Then if I could just squeeze one more in. The EPIC Hedron, like, how do we think about that? Is that similar to a well intervention vessel in terms of day rates and OpEx, or, you know, similar to a rig or? Any color there would be great.

Owen Kratz (CEO)

No, the Hedron is a shelf heavy lift asset, so it bears no resemblance to rigs or the other vessels. I think the margins that it can achieve, you have to sort of understand the heavy lift market. The heavy lift market is a seasonal market. It can only safely operate during the more benign summer months. It is seasonality. There's probably discounts or exposure to be taken if you wanted to work in the wintertime. Typically, it's gonna be lower utilization. Also, then you have to realize that in, as this abandonment work comes to fruition, and we're talking about well over 1,000 structures that need to be removed, and there's only eight remaining heavy lift assets in the Gulf of Mexico.

They're all gonna be very busy. The time is coming. In decommissioning a field, you focus first on making the platform safe, flushing it, and then doing all of your well PNA and your pipelines. The very last thing is the platform removal. While you're seeing a lot of activity on wells and platform make safe work right now, the heavy lifting portion is still yet to come. We've just seen the first real increase in utilization for the EPIC Hedron as it went to work this year, and I think you'll see the rates and the utilization for that asset improve going forward.

James Schumm (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Owen, I just wanna make sure I got that correct. Like, I'm just asking about the economics. Is that similar to well intervention, or is that below or above? I know there's some seasonality, which is gonna change that, but in general.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

It is below well intervention rates. It's more in line with a high-end construction vessel. You know, one of our high-end trenching vessels is similar sort of rates that we would obtain for that vessel.

James Schumm (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.

Operator (participant)

As a reminder, to register for a question, please press the one followed by the four. Our next question is coming from the line of David Smith. Please go ahead.

David Smith (Analyst)

Hey, good morning, and congratulations on a solid quarter.

Owen Kratz (CEO)

Thank you.

David Smith (Analyst)

I was hoping to circle back to that big decommissioning contract you announced. If I heard your comments correctly, revenue from that contract expected to be $30 million-$40 million in each of 2023 and 2024. At the midpoint, about $70 million over 12 months, which, you know, that's almost 30% of your trailing fourth quarter revenue in that segment. I'm used to thinking about it.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

Sorry.

David Smith (Analyst)

Mm-hmm.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

You have to remember, it's spread out over 12 months. There'll be certain parts that we can't do for the winter months, like the heavy lifts, so that might be, you know, towards the end of the first quarter of next year. It is spread out, but $30 million-$40 million of each year is a good guidance on it.

David Smith (Analyst)

Perfect. I'm used to thinking about the plug and abandonment market being relatively short term in nature. I would love any color that you can share about the project, you know, if this is an operator taking a more holistic approach than they previously did. I'm curious if you're seeing operators getting nervous at all about the, you know, availability to execute their P&A plans. Maybe they're contracting for a larger program as versus playing the spot market.

Owen Kratz (CEO)

Yeah, the focus right now is on the wells, on all these structures. You've got to understand, there's in excess of 5,000 wells out there to do. I mean, there's far more work than our entire industry right now could get done in the next five to seven years. It's, it's, and what that means is that the producers, since the awareness of wanting to get this work done now is just occurring all at the same time, there's a real concern by the producers on availability.

I think the fact that we own anywhere from, well, anywhere from 25% to 50%, depending on which asset class you're talking about, of all the assets available, and we're the only ones that actually have all of the asset classes required to do the work, I think is garnering a lot of attention from the producers that are a little concerned about getting in the queue and having availability to get their work done. It's all very positive for us.

Scotty Sparks (COO)

Yeah, I think this producer that gave us the, that we're talking about realized that we could provide all of the assets, and they only had to come to one shop to get everything done. They didn't have to manage, you know, in a typical environment, five or seven different contractors and making sure those schedules come together and it all works. They just have to come to us, and we project manage the whole thing for them with all the different assets that we have.

David Smith (Analyst)

Yeah, I appreciate all that color. If I could sneak in a quick follow-up question on that alliance, I'm curious if you see other opportunities out there to maybe add to your shallow water abandonment fleet?

Owen Kratz (CEO)

There are opportunities to buy more equipment. The bottleneck in the industry is going to be people. I think our approach to that is that we would like to remain. I think on the shelf, you have a degradation in the quality of the contractors over the past decades of slow work on the shelf. One thing that Helix brings to it is the quality of our processes, SOPs, and standards. We're gonna be a little reluctant to just go out and buy more equipment and then just look for bodies. We're gonna be a little more cautious in adding quality people, and we'll add assets as we find the people.

David Smith (Analyst)

Great. Appreciate your time today. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

We have no further questions.

Erik Staffeldt (CFO)

Thanks for joining us today. We very much appreciate your interest and participation, and look forward to having you on our third quarter 2023 call in October. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

That concludes the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.