Patterson-UTI Energy - Q4 2023
February 15, 2024
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Thank you for standing by. At this time, I'd like to welcome you to the Patterson-UTI Energy Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, press star one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, just press star one again. Thank you. I'll now hand the floor over to Mike Drickamer, VP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Mike Drickamer (VP of Investor Relations)
Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to Patterson-UTI's earnings conference call to discuss our fourth quarter 2023 results. With me today are Andy Hendricks, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Andy Smith, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, statements that are made in this conference call that refer to the company's or management's intentions, targets, beliefs, expectations, or predictions for the future are considered forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties as disclosed in the company's SEC filings, which could cause the company's actual results to differ materially. The company takes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Statements made in this conference call include non-GAAP financial measures. The required reconciliations to GAAP financial measures are included on our website at patenergy.com and in the company's press release issued prior to this conference call.
I will now turn the call over to Andy Hendricks, Patterson-UTI's Chief Executive Officer.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Thank you, Mike, and welcome to Patterson-UTI's fourth quarter conference call. In the first full quarter following our combination with NexTier and Ulterra, we showcased the earnings power of the new company and delivered a quarter of strong results for our investors. Our leadership position in both U.S. onshore drilling and completions is allowing us to strengthen partnerships with the leading U.S. shale operators that place a high value on our technology and on our top-tier assets, which in turn is allowing us to outperform the industry. We are very pleased with our results, and the fourth quarter profitability and free cash flow highlights the benefit of the combined company. As we reflect on this past year, we take great pride in our achievements. In U.S. contract drilling, we outperformed our peer group, both in activity and adjusted gross profit per operating day.
In completions, we maintained a focus on returns while actively contributing to the advancement of lower cost and emission-reducing assets. We delivered extremely strong results, while at the same time successfully closing and integrating two transactions. Our team performed at a very high level in what was a challenging year for the industry, which reflects our ability to successfully manage our business through the cycle and consistently create value for our shareholders. All that is to say, our business is performing very well, and we have high conviction that we have the right strategy in place. We anticipate 2024 will be another year of strong results and considerable free cash flow, and we remain committed to our policy of returning at least half of our free cash flow to our shareholders on an annual basis.
As our customers look to maximize their own returns, they are consolidating their drilling and completions budgets to fewer, higher quality service providers, and the divergence in financial results in our sector last year highlights the widening differential in service quality across the industry. This high-grading process positions Patterson-UTI favorably and aligns us with our customers as the industry transitions to manufacturing mode. The acquisitions of NexTier and Ulterra will significantly strengthen Patterson-UTI's competitive position over the long term, as we realize the benefits of our combined expertise and continue to advance our technology lead over much of the oil field. This should offer a tailwind for our company as the entire industry looks to grow returns in a capital-constrained environment. We played a critical role in enhancing the efficiency of our customers.
For Patterson-UTI, the benefit from this, these efficiency gains can largely be seen through our own improved capital efficiency, and we have worked to reduce our capital intensity, even as we have improved operationally. We expect total CapEx for Patterson-UTI to decline in 2024 relative to what the combined company spent in 2023. This reflects our commitment to optimize long-term financial performance as we navigate the evolving energy sector landscape. Over the near term, the outlook for U.S. shale activity continues to reflect the expected reduced cyclicality in our sector. This steady outlook presents us with opportunities to enhance our returns and grow our profits in the most capital-efficient manner.
While we do not see a benefit to adding drilling or completion capacity into the U.S. shale market, we do have several levers that we will focus on this year that should help us improve our returns as the year progresses. Our rig technology offerings have momentum, with growing demand for our process and equipment automation packages, alternative Power Solutions that use natural gas and high-line electricity to power our rigs, and numerous other applications that improve efficiencies, minimize the environmental footprint, and add value to the drilling process. Our customers value the uplift provided by these technology offerings, and given the value that can be unlocked, we expect our rig count will continue to outperform the industry. In frac, we are investing to convert more of our fleet to electric and other natural gas-powered technologies at a measured pace over the next several years.
These new technologies consistently earn a higher return over the diesel equipment that they are replacing, which should allow us to grow profits even at a steady activity levels. By mid-2024, we expect to be operating around 140,000 electric horsepower, with nearly 80% of our active fleets capable of using natural gas by then. We are making this transition to electric and other natural gas-powered assets, even as CapEx for the combined completions company is expected to be down significantly from 2023. Also, on the frac side, we still have considerable upside relative to where we are today as we capture synergies from the NexTier transaction.
At the start of the year, we were roughly halfway to our $200 million annualized target, and we are confident we should be able to fully realize those synergies by the first quarter of 2025. Internationally, Ulterra offers long-term growth potential to expand our footprint. Ulterra is expected to grow revenue and EBITDA in 2024 compared to 2023, with potential for record free cash flow generation that surpasses any period in the company's history prior to our acquisition. Ulterra's drill bits were used to drill over 82 million feet in 2023 for more than 625 different operators across 25 countries. The presence in these global markets will be a long-term opportunity for our company and should offer our investors growth for the next several years or more.
Non-U.S. revenue has accounted for roughly 30% of Ulterra's revenue since we closed the acquisition in August and for 2024. Ulterra's international revenue is expected to grow in the high teens % year-over-year, highlighting strong prospects in various global markets across the world. By 2024, Ulterra's revenue from the Middle East is likely to have doubled over the past 3 years, with additional upside potential over the next several years. In addition to the international opportunities for Ulterra, in the U.S., revenue per industry rig was up more than 5% sequentially, a function of steady pricing and strong market share gains and reflecting our strong performance in the U.S., complementing the international opportunities. Aside from these operational growth opportunities, our capital allocation strategy should offer our investors an added benefit to earnings per share and return on capital.
We are committed to returning at least 50% of our free cash flow to investors, including through stock buybacks, which should help grow earnings per share in the coming years as we reduce the share count. We have committed to return at least 50% of our free cash flow to shareholders on an annual basis, and given our current share price, we are likely to exceed that commitment in 2024, as we believe investing in our own shares at this price is one of the most attractive opportunities available. We expect to return at least $400 million to shareholders in 2024 through the combination of dividends and share repurchases, which would considerably lower our share count by the end of the year. Our board of directors just increased our stock repurchase authorization to a total of $1 billion.
As we said previously, the macro outlook appears to be relatively stable through 2024. Current oil prices should support current oil basin activity, although we do see some potential downside in the natural gas basins. On the oil front, according to various data sources, including the EIA, U.S. shale oil production appears to have stabilized, a function of the decline in activity over the past year. We do not believe current commodity prices will prompt a reduction in activity to levels that result in production declines. Therefore, a steady activity outlook in the oil basins seems reasonable. Given that 80% of the U.S. rigs are targeting oil, this should contribute to a relatively stable outlook for the entire industry in the coming year.
In the near term, the outlook for natural gas is less certain, but we do not think the downside potential will have a material impact on our business over the long term. We are working for some of the best and steadiest operators in the natural gas basins, which should help limit the downside if activity slows. It is also worth noting that the Patterson-UTI rig count in the Northeast and the Haynesville combined is down just five rigs total over the past year, even as the industry has reduced activity in those basins by more than 30 rigs over that same time. Our resilience demonstrates our ability to navigate challenges in those basins, even in the face of declining industry activity.
Further, even as our natural gas customers are slightly reducing activity in the near term, we are already having conversations with those same customers about the potential to add rigs, possibly later this year, but also into next year as LNG demand comes closer into focus. Over the long term, we do not anticipate a material impact to our business from the near term softness in natural gas prices. In drilling, if natural gas activity does fall slightly, we would anticipate only a slight decline to our own activity levels. Although we are halfway through this first quarter, and we haven't seen much change from our customers. In the U.S., we started the year operating 121 rigs, and we are currently operating 122 rigs.
In 2023, our rig count significantly outperformed the industry, and we achieved this while still improving our margins. The industry rig count exited 2023 over 20% lower than it started. But in contrast, Patterson-UTI's rig count was down just 8%, while our average daily margins in the most recent quarter were up more than 20% compared to the fourth quarter last year. We are constantly aligning ourselves with partners that offer stable drilling programs and exhibit less sensitivity to commodity prices compared to smaller operators. Our customers benefit greatly from our Tier One drilling rigs, which can deliver 35% more lateral footage on average per year compared to a standard Super Spec rig. More than 90% of our active rigs are Tier One, with nearly 90% utilization for this category of rig.
Given the high demand and the significant value that this class of rig and technology add-ons create, average pricing on recent term contracts has been steady at close to the mid-$30,000 per day, and we do not anticipate our rates changing in a flat activity market. We believe the trend towards Tier One rigs should continue through 2024. On the completions front, the business is performing well through the ongoing integration. In the fourth quarter, completion services revenues exceeded $1 billion and meaningfully outperformed the completions industry average. We aligned ourselves with the right customers, which helped activity remain steady through the holidays and into the year-end. Our natural gas dual-fuel assets continue to have success in the market, and we are confident that these assets will maintain competitiveness over the long term, even with the increasing market share of natural gas-powered electric equipment.
Notably, on several recent occasions, we have displaced a third-party, 100% natural gas-powered electric fleet with one of our natural gas dual-fuel fleets. We believe there are multiple technology winners, including natural gas dual-fuel, as the completions industry transitions. The market for horsepower remains relatively tight, and any equipment that can be powered by natural gas is effectively sold out. This should help limit potential downside from current natural gas prices. We are confident in our ability to achieve our goals for 2024 with a significantly reduced CapEx budget. We expect total company CapEx of $740 million for 2024. This represents a significant reduction compared to the combined CapEx budgets of Patterson-UTI, NexTier, and Ulterra that we all had in 2023.
We believe we can achieve this while still maintaining our activity throughout 2024 and building on the strong technological advantage that we have over many other players in our industry. This positions us to generate strong free cash flow for the year and return significant cash to shareholders while still building on our competitive advantage over the long term. I'll now turn it over to Andy Smith, who will review the financial results for the fourth quarter.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Thanks, Andy. Total reported revenue for the quarter was $1.584 billion. The reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $62 million, or $0.15 per share in the fourth quarter. This included $20 million in merger and integration expenses. Our adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders, excluding the merger and integration expenses, was $78 million, or $0.19 per share. This adjustment excludes the previously mentioned merger and integration expense and assumes a 21% federal statutory tax rate on those charges. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter totaled $409 million, which also excludes the previously mentioned merger and integration expenses. Our weighted average share count was 416 million shares during Q4, and we exited the quarter with 411 million shares outstanding.
Our free cash flow for the fourth quarter was $247 million. During the fourth quarter, we returned $110 million to shareholders, including an $0.08 per share dividend and $76 million to repurchase 7 million shares. Annualized, this shareholder return amounted to almost 10% of the market cap at the end of the fourth quarter. For the full year, we returned $301 million to shareholders, which was approximately 77% of our free cash flow. Our board has approved an $0.08 per share dividend for Q1 and approved an increase in our stock repurchase authorization up to $1 billion. We expect to return over $100 million to shareholders again in the first quarter, including approximately $75 million to repurchase shares.
For 2024, we expect to use at least $400 million to pay dividends and repurchase shares, which represents more than our commitment to return 50% of free cash flow to shareholders. In our drilling services segment, fourth quarter revenue was $464 million. Drilling services adjusted gross profit totaled $187 million during the quarter. In US contract drilling, operating days totaled 10,841 days. Average rig revenue per day was $36,280. The sequential decline of $1,830 per day was primarily attributable to the absence of the benefit of $2,630 per day from the recognition of previously deferred revenue in the prior quarter.
Excluding the impact of this previously deferred revenue last quarter, average revenue per day would have increased $800 sequentially. Average rig operating costs per day were $19,940, which increased $70 sequentially, although the prior quarter included $790 per day in insurance reserve adjustments and inventory write-down. The average adjusted rig gross profit per day was $16,330, a $1,910 dollar per day decrease from the prior quarter. Excluding the previously mentioned revenue and costs in the prior quarter, adjusted rig gross profit per day would have declined just $70 from the prior quarter. At December 31, we had term contracts for drilling rigs in the U.S., providing for approximately $700 million of future day rate drilling revenue.
Based on contracts currently in place, we expect an average of 79 rigs operating under term contracts during the first quarter of 2024, and an average of 52 rigs operating under term contracts over the four quarters ending December 31, 2024. In our other drilling services businesses besides U.S. contract drilling, which is mostly international contract drilling and directional drilling, fourth quarter revenue was $70 million, with an adjusted gross profit of $10 million. For the first quarter in U.S. contract drilling, we expect to average 120 active rigs compared to 118 active rigs in the fourth quarter. We expect drilling services adjusted gross profit to be relatively flat compared to the fourth quarter, with relatively flat adjusted gross profit in U.S. contract drilling.
Reported revenue for the fourth quarter in our completions services segment totaled $1.014 billion, with an adjusted gross profit of $232 million. We saw improved returns in the quarter, even on slightly lower revenue, a function of the ongoing merger synergies as well as strong operations. Segment revenue was just 2% lower than the pro forma results for the segment in the third quarter and noticeably outperformed the industry. Completion activity was relatively steady throughout the fourth quarter, with strong fundamentals for natural gas-powered equipment, as well as strong demand for our wellsite integration services, with good customer alignment that kept us working through more of the holidays than we anticipated. So far in the first quarter, activity has been mostly steady, although we are seeing some white space as we strategically reposition our fleets in response to natural gas prices.
After finishing a stronger than expected fourth quarter, for the first quarter, we expect completion services revenue of $940 million-$950 million, with an adjusted gross profit of $190 million-$200 million. For fourth quarter, drilling products revenue totaled $88 million, which was up 1% compared to the third quarter for that business. Adjusted gross profit was $39 million. In the U.S., drilling product revenue outperformed the rig count as the company continued to deliver strong results domestically. Internationally, revenue was relatively steady sequentially. Direct operating costs included a non-cash charge of $5 million associated with the step up in asset value of the drill bits that were on the books at the time the Ulterra transaction closed.
The same purchase price accounting adjustment increased reported segment depreciation and amortization by $10 million during the quarter. We expect these non-cash charges will continue through 2024. We continue to see growth potential for Ulterra, even in a flattish U.S. onshore market, with opportunities to expand internationally. For the first quarter, we expect drilling products revenue of $90 million, with an adjusted gross profit of $40 million. We expect $5 million in non-cash direct operating costs associated with a step up in drill bit value at Ulterra, without which the segment adjusted gross profit expectation would be $45 million. Other revenue totaled $18 million for the quarter, with $8 million in adjusted gross profit. We expect other first quarter revenue and adjusted gross profit to be flat with the fourth quarter.
Reported selling, general and administrative expenses in the fourth quarter were $61 million. For Q1, we expect SG&A expenses of $65 million. On a consolidated basis for the fourth quarter, total depreciation, depletion, amortization, and impairment expense totaled $279 million. For the first quarter, we expect total depreciation, depletion, amortization, and impairment expense of approximately $280 million. For 2024, we expect an effective tax rate of 24%, with annual cash taxes expected to be $35 million-$45 million after utilizing tax attributes to offset a portion of our taxable income. During Q4, total CapEx was $205 million, including $74 million in drilling services, $107 million in completion services, $17 million in drilling products, and $8 million in other and corporate.
Our CapEx in 2024 is expected to be $740 million, comprised of $285 million for drilling services, $360 million for completion services, $55 million for drilling products, and $40 million for other and corporate. On the drilling side, we expect to fund limited rig upgrade programs, which are for specific customers. On the completion side, we will continue to invest at a measured pace to expand our fleet of electric and natural gas-powered assets, with fleet additions serving as replacements for retired diesel assets.
Of the $360 million in completion services CapEx, we expect CapEx of roughly $220 million in the first half of the year as we fund investments in next generation frac equipment, as well as growth in our Power Solutions natural gas fueling business. We expect completions CapEx will largely focus on maintenance in the second half of the year. NexTier and our legacy Universal Pressure Pumping business have now been consolidated into one legal entity and are operating as one completions business, which is a big step as we continue to move through the integration process. We entered 2024, having achieved approximately half of the anticipated $200 million in annualized synergies. We remain highly confident that we will achieve at least $200 million in synergies by the first quarter of 2025.
We closed Q4 with nothing drawn on our $600 million revolving credit facility, as well as $193 million in cash on hand. We do not have any senior debt maturities until 2028. We expect to generate another quarter of strong free cash flow in the first quarter, although not quite at the same level we saw in the fourth quarter, mostly as we need to fund seasonal working capital adjustments and cash merger and integration costs. I'll now turn the call back to Andy Hendricks for closing remarks.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Thanks, Andy. I wanna close the call by quickly reiterating how we see 2024 unfolding. Macro conditions give us confidence for relatively stable near-term industry activity, considering both the oil and natural gas markets. U.S. oil production is expected to have stabilized, according to the EIA and others, which should be a positive for global oil markets. At current oil prices, we do not anticipate much change in the oil rig count, with oil-focused activity about 80% of the industry activity. On the natural gas side, yes, there could be some decline in industry activity in the near term, but we do not expect it will be material to our business over the long term. The outlook for natural gas activity could improve later this year and into next year as LNG demand comes closer into focus.
For Patterson-UTI, this relatively steady industry environment in 2024 should give us opportunities to focus on high return, capital-efficient ways to grow our profitability. We expect to enhance our technology offerings in both drilling and completions. We still have runway to benefit from the synergies associated with the NexTier merger, and Ulterra's long-term growth prospects in the Middle East are very promising. And our current expectation is that we will return at least $400 million to shareholders this year through dividends and share repurchases, which should improve our earnings per share and return on capital through a steady reduction in share count. We believe these profitability growth initiatives are achievable even in a steady rig count environment. We're excited about the year ahead and expect to deliver another year of strong results for our investors.
Before we go to Q&A, I'd like to thank the women and men of Patterson-UTI for all of your hard work and all of your accomplishments. You had a record year of performance in 2023. You transformed the company, and you knocked it out of the park, so thank you. With that, I'll turn it over to Adam for questions.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. At this time, I'd like to remind everyone to ask a question, press *, then the number 1 on your telephone keypad. Our first question comes from the line of Arun Jayaram with J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.
Arun Jayaram (Equity Research Analyst)
Good morning, Andy. I wanted to maybe focus on the completion services segment. Your outlook is for $195 million of gross profit in Q1. I was wondering if, as you think about the full year, do you think that as a good baseline, you know, for the full year with and you're adding some E capacity, you know, by midyear, how should we think about kind of a baseline for that segment in a relatively steady state in environment in U.S. shale?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah, we're really excited about how the completions business has been performing. I mean, you see it in the Q4 results. The teams who have had to integrate and come together are just doing a fantastic job, and it is one company today. It is NexTier, and they're just doing a great job. I can't say enough for the teams that are performing every day. When you look at Q1, you know, what we're projecting on Q1 in terms of revenue and profitability is relatively steady activity, but also some white space in there as we move some fleets around. So, I think, you know, as I look out across 2024 for completions, and it holds for drilling as well, we're seeing relatively steady.
And I realize that, you know, natural gas is trading at a low level, and you know, there's probably some concerns over that market. But I think we've shown that even last year, whether it's drilling or completions, that we're working for the right customers in these basins and that we can keep things relatively steady. So when it comes to the profitability on completions, you know, I think as we continue to roll out some new technology, even in steady activity, you know, there's some potential to improve the profitability as we work towards the end of the year. So you know, we've got...
As I mentioned earlier, we've got various levers that we can pull through both technologies, through integration, through performance, and I still think, you know, that we can still work to some higher profitability, even in a steady environment.
Arun Jayaram (Equity Research Analyst)
Great. Andy, my follow-up is just kind of an industry question. One of your peers in earnings season highlighted how they expect to get, call it, 40% of their frac fleets to be E-fleets by the end of this year. Another of your peers mentioned that, call it, 25% of their fleets would be next generation E-fleets and dual fuel by the end of the year. How does that influence your strategy? And talk to us maybe about the types of returns on capital you're seeing on some of the E-fleet horsepower you're expected to deploy by midyear.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
So, you know, as we mentioned, we are deploying the E-fleets this year, and, you know, we're gonna start to grow our presence in that, but our strategy is more of a measured pace because our focus is returning cash to shareholders. We do see the opportunity to, you know, improve the profitability in the completions business by rolling out the E-fleets. But, you know, we also have other things we're doing in 2024 to improve profitability, including, you know, integrating some of the vertical services that NexTier has been offering for years onto some of the fleets that aren't currently operating those. When you look at specifically at the, at the E-fleets, there's also some other technologies that we're gonna be looking at rolling out later this year, too, that are 100% natural gas.
And there's just gonna be a variety of solutions. So there's—it's not a one-size-fits-all. We don't think the entire industry converts over to electric. We think there's still solid markets for, you know, high-performing, dual-fuel, natural gas-powered systems. But we will continue to push technology. We will continue to invest in both electric and other new technologies. But for us, it's gonna be more of a measured pace as we focus on returns to shareholders.
Arun Jayaram (Equity Research Analyst)
Great. Thanks, Andy.
Operator (participant)
Your next question comes from the line of Scott Gruber with Citigroup. Your line is open.
Scott Gruber (Managing Director, Oilfield Services and Equipment Research)
Yes, good morning.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Morning, Scott.
Scott Gruber (Managing Director, Oilfield Services and Equipment Research)
I wanna come back to the completion outlook, if you don't mind. It's just a focal point today for folks. But did the white space start to emerge, you know, early in the first quarter, or is that more of a second half of the quarter impact? And then, as you reposition fleets, you know, are those getting picked up in the oil basins? You know, I'm really trying to think about the trend into the second quarter, assuming gas activity stays weak. You know, does the second quarter activity end up looking better than the first quarter? Can you get some more oil activity, or is it potentially down versus the first, 'cause gas stays weak, and it's a full quarter impact? Are you able to provide some more color there?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
I think, you know, there's you know, given that, natural gas has only recently dropped below $2, we don't know the full impact of that yet. But we are working for some good customers in these gas basins, and we are repositioning, you know, some of our horsepower into more liquids, more oil. So, you know, you know, we're gonna have some exposure to gas, but we had exposure to gas last year, and we still had a strong performance. So we still think that, you know, we're gonna have some relatively steady activity. You know, if I had to make a guess right now on Q2, I'd say just consider it relatively steady to what we're seeing with Q1, including the white space. I think, you know, there still is some uncertainty out there.
But also, I think we have the potential to improve some profitability as we roll out some new technology and enhance some of the integration.
Scott Gruber (Managing Director, Oilfield Services and Equipment Research)
That's great. And just on that point, you know, one of the debating points post-deal was your ability to secure revenue synergies and do so in a timely fashion. Can you just speak to, you know, what you're seeing on that front? You know, what type of revenue synergies you've already achieved, and what do you think, you know, occurs in 2024?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah. So if you go back to, you know, pre-closing, which, you know, go back to the summer of 2023, you know, Patterson-UTI, our Universal division, was operating 12 frac fleets. And, those frac fleets were performing well, but the market softened. But, look at what NexTier was doing with vertical integration and all the other services they provide. You know, they provide the wireline services. They're providing Power Solutions, CNG, you know, transport. You know, creating CNG, transporting it to the well site, blending it with, you know, the natural gas that's available in the field gas. And, you know, look at the trucking and logistics operation that NexTier has, with well over 600 people in that business alone.
And so there's a lot of verticals that, you know, we didn't have at Patterson-UTI. So one of the first things that we did as part of the synergies was start to reach out to customers to say: "Look, we believe we can improve your service, you know, if we have control of some of these other services that are affecting logistics and efficiencies and performance at the well site." And so we have added wireline, we have added trucking and logistics, we have added some Power Solutions onto some of those fleets that didn't have that pre-close, and so that's been progressing. And we had some quick early wins, but we think we'll have continued wins on that from a revenue and profitability standpoint throughout 2024.
You know, that's really how it's playing out, and our teams are doing a great job working together to make this happen.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah. I would also point out on that one, that, again, and Andy maybe mentioned it, but I would just highlight it, that really, the productivity gains that we're getting, you know, again, kind of pushing the fully integrated well site offering onto the legacy UPP fleets, is really an improvement as well in overall profitability.
Scott Gruber (Managing Director, Oilfield Services and Equipment Research)
I appreciate the color. I'll turn it back.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from the line of Derek Podhaizer with Barclays. Your line is open.
Derek Podhaizer (VPt in Equity Research)
Hey, good morning, guys. I wanna talk about your shareholder returns and maybe just how you're thinking about the remaining free cash flow over that 50%. Can you talk about maybe some of your M&A, whether it be tuck-ins or bolt-ons, or what can we expect out of that? Debt, I know the maturities are far as to 2028, but any servicing of debt that you're looking at? And really just trying to get at what the upside to that return number could look like.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah. So, so look, on the returns number that we've given, the $400 million that we expect for the year, that's above our 50% commitment. I would say that right now, M&A is not a high priority. Again, it's hard to predict when it comes, and we'll certainly, we look at a lot of things, but it's not the highest priority for us right now. Neither is, in this market just yet, I think, any kind of significant debt reduction. From time to time, we may nibble with debt. If we think there's a good buy to buy some back, kind of on the open market, we'll do that. But, but I don't see anything right now that, that warrants us making, you know, any kind of a large debt reduction.
Derek Podhaizer (VPt in Equity Research)
... Got it. Okay, that's helpful. Switching over to the, to the drilling side, can you just walk us through the, the daily margin trajectory that you're thinking about for first quarter and for the rest of the year? The cost per day had a big step up there. Could that come back a little bit? Just curious what's going on there. And then how should we think about the revenue per day as you have some, you know, contract churn, and you just talked about leading price in that mid-thirties. But just a little help, to break apart those two, the revenue per day and the cost per day.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah. So really pleased with this team on the drilling side. You know what they did year over year, you know, 2023 over 2022 was huge in terms of, you know, improving our performance in the field to sustain the activity levels that we had and outperform the others, but also to raise the profitability per rig at the same time. So that was just amazing what that team accomplished. You know, as we worked through this year, there was some softening in leading edge in rigs, you know, towards the end of last year in the second half, and we acknowledged that on some previous calls. So we will have some leading edge come down, but, you know, we're still running around the mid-30s for, you know, all the performance and ancillary technology options that we're offering on the rigs.
I think that, you know, while the costs went up and, you know, costs I think are gonna be relatively steady then. You know, but I think margins will be relatively steady as well. And so, you know, our teams have done a great job. We're, you know, I don't think we're gonna see this profitability increase that we saw, you know, in 2023 versus 2022, but at the same time, you know, I think it's steady and this business is gonna throw off a lot of free cash.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, I-
Derek Podhaizer (VPt in Equity Research)
Got it.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
I would reiterate that. I would just say that from this point forward through the year, as we view it today, we kinda look at both revenue and costs being relatively steady.
Derek Podhaizer (VPt in Equity Research)
Got it. Maybe just a quick follow. The cost per day, what was the lead driver of that step up?
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, we have. There's just a lot of things going on at the end of the year. You know, truing up some cost estimates and things like that. Nothing in particular that was significant. I mean, again, from quarter to quarter, you can have a bunch of things bumping around in there, whether it's working capital or insurance reserves and all those types of things.
Derek Podhaizer (VPt in Equity Research)
Got it.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Capital, sorry, workers' comp. So you've got those items that come through in the fourth quarter sometimes, and it just causes a little bit of a change. But I would say nothing that I would point to that I would say is hugely significant.
Derek Podhaizer (VPt in Equity Research)
Great. Thanks for all the color. Turn it back.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Thanks.
Operator (participant)
Your next question comes from the line of Jim Rollyson with Raymond James. Your line is open.
Jim Rollyson (Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Hey, good morning, guys, and great job on the quarter in free cash flow and returning free cash flow. Andy, just a couple questions around the rig side. So you're at 122 in January, you're at 122 today, and we're halfway through the quarter, and obviously guidance is for 120, so implying things come down. Is that... Just kinda curious what you're seeing on the rig side, around the gassy basins and, you know, similar to what you're doing on completions, are you looking at moving any rigs around out of gassy basins into oily basins? Just maybe a little color around that.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Sure. I think for now, you know, our view is that the oil basins are gonna stay relatively steady. So, you know, the rigs that we have working in those basins, which is really about 70% of our rigs are in oil basins. But even though 30% of our rigs are operating in gas basins, some of those rigs are on gas liquids and not dry gas. So it's not, you know, it's not full 30%, it's probably closer to 20%-25% are drilling dry gas. So I think, you know, you're gonna see it relatively steady in those oil and gas liquids basins for us. In natural gas, sure, we're anticipating some softness.
We could be down maybe 3 rigs over the next few months, maybe 5 rigs, based on where natural gas is trading today, but again, that's off a base of 122 rigs. And, you know, then you've got a longer-term outlook as we get closer to LNG takeaway needs. So could there be some softening in natural gas? Sure. Is it gonna be a big impact for the company? No. Is it gonna change margin profitability? No. You know, we're performing really well. We don't have a need to reduce rates. We're not likely to necessarily move those rigs out of the gas basins, because if you look at the longer term, we're gonna probably need them there in 2025. So I think it's still...
You know, I still call that relatively steady, even with some potential softening in the gas basin.
Jim Rollyson (Director and Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. That's helpful. And you mentioned rig upgrades. You know, normally, when we're in an upward trajectory market, you guys are, you know, reactivating rigs, upgrading rigs, and getting a lot of that covered, or all of that covered on term contracts. Can you talk about what specific rig upgrades you're doing for specific customers and kinda how you see capturing, you know, that capital back and the return on that capital in this kind of market where we're more steady instead of upward moving?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah. One of the upgrades I'm really excited about is some of the upgrades related to technology in terms of, you know, our process automation packages that we're putting on the rig. This is really a capital light upgrade that has to do with electrical systems and software. And when we layer that onto a rig, we add automation capabilities to improve performance and consistency of the drilling operations. And so we're gonna go through a steady pace of doing rigs and transforming that. And our customers are excited about that. They want this. You know, this is something that they're asking for and in demand. But again, you know, it's a capital light type upgrade.
Jim Rollyson (Director and Equity Research Analyst)
... Got it. Thanks. I'll turn it back.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from the line of Stephen Gengaro with Stifel. Your line is open.
Stephen Gengaro (Equity Research Analyst)
Thanks. Good morning, gentlemen. A couple of things from me, and it's probably a long question, so I apologize. But when we think about the well site integration on the frac side, I have kind of like two or three questions around that. And one is: Can you give us a sense for sort of the percentage of assets that are kind of at the high end of integrated services versus the low end? And I'm not sure if there's a way to kind of give us any color around the profitability gap. I know NexTier had—said, Legacy NexTier had provided some color on that. And then just the final part of that long question is any impact on your ability to do that with the M&A of your customers?
Are the larger customers more or less willing, and how should we think about that?
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, I'll answer the first part of that, and then I'll let Andy talk to the customers and the harder question. Yeah, right now, in terms of the integrated well site offering and sort of how that works across our fleet, where you think about sort of a heavy concentration versus less, it's about 50/50 on the fleet. You know, we still have a lot of opportunity to push more of that integrated offering across our work in the pressure pumping space.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah, in terms of, you know, customers and M&A, you know, we all can see that there's been a huge wave of consolidation, you know, from the E&P customers. When that happens, you're gonna get a pause in activity. For some customers that we're working for, that might be a pause for us. For some other customers, it might be kind of a net neutral for us in the near term. But you're gonna get a pause until, you know, they decide what resources they want to use and what, you know, what they want to do going forward from an operations standpoint.
But when they evaluate that, I think we are well positioned with our ability to, you know, integrate the necessary services to enhance performance on the completion side, and even on the drilling side with the new technologies that, you know, that we're rolling out. So I think we're in great shape for this wave of consolidation that's happening on the E&P side.
Stephen Gengaro (Equity Research Analyst)
Great. Thank you. And then just a quick follow-up to that. When we think about underlying price, not sort of the mix issue from increased offerings, but underlying frac prices, are if we modeled something that was kind of flattish from current levels for 2024, is that something you're comfortable with, or how do you think about that?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah, we, you know, we acknowledge that there was softening in, you know, completions pricing and rig pricing in H2 of last year. But I think from where we are this year, it's gonna be relatively steady for us. And I want to qualify that for us because, you know, we are seeing some white space, as we discussed earlier, and we are moving some assets, but part of that is just because we don't feel like we want to take lower rates. And so, you know, we're gonna work to protect pricing in the markets and protect our margins in the markets. And so for us, I think it's relatively steady.
Stephen Gengaro (Equity Research Analyst)
Great. I appreciate all the color. Thank you.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Thanks.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from the line of Saurabh Pant with Bank of America. Your line is open.
Saurabh Pant (Equity Research Analyst)
Hi. Good morning, Andy and Andy.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Good morning.
Saurabh Pant (Equity Research Analyst)
Good morning. If you can spend, Andy, a little time on your e-fleet strategy. I'm thinking from the perspective of leasing versus buying, and then also from a perspective of when you're buying something, how important it is in your mind to own that technology versus just buy it off the shelf from a vendor? And then related to that, how should we think about Power Solutions in the context that 80% of your fleet is gonna be natural gas-fired by the middle of 2024? How much of that do you think is being supported by Power Solutions at that point?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
So I'm gonna start, and then I'll let Andy Smith talk about this as well from a, you know, business growth, profitability standpoint. But, you know, when you think about the e-fleets, you know, we certainly realize there's customer demand out there. We want to have those technology offerings as well. There is improved profitability to be able to do that. And so, you know, we are investing in E, but also some other technologies as well, not just E. And so, yes, we are working with a couple of different suppliers of electric frac equipment to look and see how the performance is on different types of equipment, and we've tested other equipment in the past. You know, we do request some changes when we get some of this equipment delivered, so what we offer-
... may be slightly different from others using similar equipment. But, you know, we have some experience, and we're excited about this offering. We'll continue to evaluate, you know, who our suppliers should be and who we want to work with going forward. But, suffice it to say that, you know, we are moving in that direction. And, you know, I'll add that, you know, we also have a drilling company that has a great history of operating over a thousand AC induction motors. We also have an electrical engineering company that has experience building high-voltage control systems for AC induction electric motors, including for electric frac. And so stay tuned, and we'll keep you posted on how this is gonna evolve from a technology standpoint, but we're in it. That's for sure.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, right now, in terms of Power Solutions supporting our own work, right, about 40% of our work out there is being supported by Power Solutions, and we've got opportunities to grow that in the current year.
Saurabh Pant (Equity Research Analyst)
... Okay, fantastic. No, Andy, and, thanks for teasing us on the technology side. So we'll stay tuned on that. And a quick, unrelated follow-up for me on the synergy side, by the way, really good progress. I don't know if Kenny is on the call or not, but a shout-out to him, definitely doing a fantastic job. And I think Andy, Andy Smith, I think you said on the call, in your prepared remarks that you expect at least $200 million. So I just want to emphasize the at least.
See, now that it's been five months, a little more than five months, since you closed the merger, how do you look at any potential upside to that $200 million or maybe accelerating that from 18 months to maybe you realize that sooner than 18 months?
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, look, we, we've got—as you can imagine, there's a whole range of items included in the bucket that, that we're tracking-
... in terms of synergies. And, you know, as we've kind of gone through the market since we've closed, and the market's been sideways to even potentially down a little bit. You know, probably when we first started talking, we said, "You know, look, there's a lot of synergies that we're going to get out of this business." Some of it can be a little obscured by the market, the pricing. We are not-- that's not how we're looking at it internally. Internally, we are-- we're-- there's a lot of rigor around making sure that we prove out that each one of these is actually hitting our income statement. So we feel very good about that 200. I think in an improving market, that number only goes up.
But, you know, I don't want to guide to a higher number than that right now, but I think as the market improves, the benefit of those synergies only increases over and above that $200 million.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah. So Rob, as you mentioned, Kenny and the team are doing a great job. You know, there's a number of different teams that are looking at different aspects. We've talked about the different buckets in the past, you know, whether it's, you know, increasing revenue, supply chain, or some cost savings, and we still have levers to pull on all those, and we'll continue to work at it.
Saurabh Pant (Equity Research Analyst)
No, that's fantastic. Okay, Andy and Andy, thank you. Thanks for those answers. I'll turn it back.
Operator (participant)
Your next question comes from the line of Ati Modak with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.
Aditya Modak (VP and Equity Research Analyst)
Hi, good morning, team. You mentioned steady outlook, but as we think about the cadence through the rest of the year, maybe sounds like fleet count is steady in 2Q and 3Q. But do you anticipate risk of larger white spaces on the calendar as customers manage activity, particularly around gas prices? How, how should we think about that, and do you have anything that would offset that?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
I think, you know, as we mentioned before, we're already transitioning some horsepower, you know, from gas to liquids, and so that's already in our Q1 projections. Maybe we could see some more softness in Q2, you know, if the commodity prices hang in there for longer. I think we'll just have to wait and see how that plays out. But then, you know, if you think about the end of this year going into 25, it's... You know, we've actually been in some discussions with some operators about increasing activity at the end of this year and in 2025. So, you know, I take a longer-term view, and I recognize there's going to be some softness, but it's relatively steady longer term.
Aditya Modak (VP and Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. Appreciate that. And then, on the repurchases, how should we think about the cadence? Is this sounds like it's going to be a little bit more opportunistic, but, any thoughts around that, whether it's opportunistic or steady, and how, how should we think about it?
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, I mean, we've always kind of been opportunistic, and I don't want to be too prescriptive about how we're going to be in the market. Again, we're doing all this through open market purchases, so, you know, we're comfortable giving kind of that guidance for the full year, but I don't want to be too prescriptive about quarter to quarter.
Aditya Modak (VP and Equity Research Analyst)
Sounds good. Thank you. Appreciate you taking the questions.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah. Thanks.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from the line of Keith Mackey with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Keith Mackey (Head of Global Commodity Strategy and MENA Research)
Hi, good morning. Just wanted to start out on that 40% free cash flow conversion number that, that we saw in the press release. Can you talk about maybe the main drivers behind impacting where you've sort of set that target, assuming e-frac build-out is certainly one of them? And then a follow-up to that would be: Do you see the 40+% as a good approximate longer-term target for the business, or should we be thinking about that as a, you know, 35, 40, 45, or 50 kind of number?
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, look, I think 40 is a pretty good target for the business. And as we look, you know, as we set our capital budget, we look at the opportunity set in front of us. We think about how can we balance, you know, all the competing priorities and competing calls on our capital, and that includes return to shareholders. So, as you think about our CapEx number, you know, it's probably roughly, you know, two-thirds or so of maintenance capital with some additional, what we would call either conversion capital, you know, likely not really growth, not really incremental horsepower coming into our fleet. It would displace older stuff. But that's kinda how we approach it. And we kinda look at that 40% as a pretty good target, at least in the intermediate term.
You know, as our fleet changes shape over the years, we'll sort of look at it and reevaluate. But right now, we feel pretty comfortable with that as a pretty good target going forward.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
I'd like to commend the team on completion side for their efficient use of the capital. You know, they've got a good plan in place this year to move us away from having to invest maintenance CapEx in diesel-only type engines and pumps... as we transition, you know, into newer technologies, whether it's electric or other. And so, you know, yes, we're investing in the newer technologies, we're also moving away from having to maintain the older technology at the same time.
Keith Mackey (Head of Global Commodity Strategy and MENA Research)
Got it. That's, that's helpful. And just an unrelated follow-up, you know, certainly there are quite a large number of rigs working in the U.S. now that are subject to E&P consolidation on one side or the other. And, Andy, you mentioned you're fairly comfortable with your positioning, given the spec of your rigs. But can you talk about, just generally how you see the market unfolding, given the large amount of pending consolidation? Do you think there will be a significant number of rigs that, that get reduced as part of this? Or do you think there-- do you see any notable potential impacts on pricing as, as potentially some of those displaced rigs have to, have to re-compete for work? Or just, just any thoughts on how you see that unfolding would be helpful.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Well, I'll start by saying there's a lot of different rigs in the market. And, you know, what we operate are the Tier One Super Spec rigs, you know, the highest performing type rigs that are on the market. And you saw how we performed last year in a market where the overall Baker Hughes count went down, and yet, you know, while we went down as well, not near as much as the overall Baker Hughes count. But there's still a large number of SCRs and mechanicals in that overall rig count. I think you're gonna see a similar trend this year. You know, we're gonna have some softening in the overall market.
You're gonna see the overall industry rig count go down, but I think you're gonna see us and one or two other, you know, drilling contractors gain share because of the technologies that we operate. You know, we're not immune to the softening, but at the same time, we're running the highest performing rigs that are out there. So, you know, it's gonna be more about overall supply and demand, but you know, I think that, you know, overall, you know, you're gonna see relatively steady, you know, activity from us, even if the market softens. And I do think you're gonna see the overall rig count have some, you know, downside swings with, you know, either based on commodity prices or based on some of these mergers and acquisitions and consolidation on the E&P side.
I think you're gonna see high grading at the same time, like we've seen over the last few years.
Keith Mackey (Head of Global Commodity Strategy and MENA Research)
Okay, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
The next question comes from the line of Waqar Syed with ATB Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Waqar Syed (Equity Research Analyst)
Thanks for taking my question. Andy, you mentioned the synergies, the $100 million of synergies come from different buckets. I just wanted to drill a little deeper into that. Could you maybe quantify which of these buckets are contributing more, or maybe just, you know, give some numbers to what has been achieved from the different buckets, and what's still remaining?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah. Since I called it out earlier, I'll answer the question. Hey, good morning, Waqar. So,
Waqar Syed (Equity Research Analyst)
Yeah. Good morning.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
You know, we talked about three different buckets, one being revenue, one being supply chain, one being costs. I think that, you know, the, the ones that went the fastest were probably related to supply chain. Some savings that we picked up last year as the market softened as well, and we were able to accelerate some of those. You also had some quick wins on the revenue, but the revenue one will still continue kind of a steady pace over the next four quarters. We saw some cost improvements last year, but we'll see some further cost improvements this year. But the early one that moved probably the fastest was on supply chain, so hats off to, to the teams that pulled that off.
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, and I would even say on the G&A side, so there's, you know, the obvious things around, you know, again, two larger corporate companies coming together. So you've got, you know, kind of a lot of savings in terms of overall kind of top-level management. Those have been achieved, obviously. But then as you go through, there are still a lot of consolidation savings to come. A lot of that, some of that's from third-party services, whether it's, you know, insurance, outside advisors, things like that. And then some of it is just over time, as you continue to sort of rationalize, you know, systems and processes and things like that, you'll continue to achieve those savings.
Waqar Syed (Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, great. And then just one unrelated follow-up. In terms of your pressure pumping fleet, you mentioned that, you know, it could be at 80% natural gas power, the dual fuel. Could you maybe further break down, like, what proportion would be, like, Tier 4 DGB versus Tier 2 natural gas or dual fuel?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
You know, because we're just now stepping into more electric than we've been running in the past, you know, the Tier 4 dual fuel is still gonna make up the majority of that. But we also do some things to enhance that, especially through our power systems, where, you know, with our power system, CNG systems, and being able to blend CNG and fuel gas, that, you know, we can enhance that. But the largest portion is still gonna be Tier 4 DGB this year, but you'll see a continued, you know, transition as we move to more electric and other new 100% natural gas technologies, you know, going forward after this year.
Waqar Syed (Equity Research Analyst)
And from a Tier 4 DGB, what kind of fuel switching percentage switching are you seeing from diesel to natural gas in DGB engines?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
... I'm sorry, what, what kind of what?
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Fuel switching.
Waqar Syed (Equity Research Analyst)
The fuel switching percentage, are you closer to 60, 65% or higher than that from switching from diesel to gas in the Tier 4 DGBs?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah, it depends, you know, what we can offer, because we can offer the combination of CNG and fuel gas blending through our Power Solutions business. You know, we can get, you know, anywhere from 65%-80% displacement on Tier 4 dual fuel, and that's a very popular solution. And so we also do some other things to enhance that, I think we'll explain at future dates. But, you know, as I mentioned earlier today, we have also replaced 100% natural gas electric offerings with Tier 4 dual fuel because, you know, there are just some places that, you know, an operator can't operate 100% natural gas. It doesn't. It's not the right fit.
Tier 4 DGB will still be a large portion of the market, but we are moving towards more electric and more new technology at a measured pace.
Waqar Syed (Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you very much.
Operator (participant)
The next question comes from the line of Doug Becker with Capital One. Your line is open.
Douglas Becker (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you. Just wanted to quickly circle back on completion services. Is the reposition expected to be fully completed during the first quarter, or is there a chance it spills into the second quarter? And then what's allowing you, whether it's the market or the technology that you bring to the table, to really move this equipment without conceding price in an uncertain market?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Well, first off, the oil markets are still relatively steady. Second, gets into performance and, you know, how we operate with not just providing, you know, pressure pumping, but also wireline, trucking and logistics, moving sand, Power Solutions with, you know, natural gas for the customers that are, you know, wanting dual fuel or full electric. And so, you know, when we offer all those together, you know, we can enhance the performance of the operation, and so that provides efficiency and savings at the end. We also have very strong customer relationships at Patterson-UTI, and we've talked about that for years. It does matter, and, you know, we work to protect those relationships too. But we're really excited about how well this completion team has performed, especially coming together through a merger, and you saw that in the Q4 numbers.
You know, we do recognize-
Douglas Becker (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Yeah, sure
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
...that, you know, with the natural gas, that things are a little bit softer, but we expect, you know, the transition of the horsepower really just to happen in Q1. So those, those numbers are in our, our Q1 projections. But, you know, the performance is definitely there, and, the oil basins are steady.
Douglas Becker (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Fair point. And then just quickly, just all the commentary suggests that, shareholder purchases are gonna be the primary... Well, maybe more explicitly, a dividend bump this year doesn't seem likely based on all the commentary you said, you said. Is that so?
Andrew Smith (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, I think that's fair as we stand today.
Douglas Becker (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you very much.
Operator (participant)
Your next question comes from the line of Don Crist with Johnson Rice. Your line is open.
Donald Crist (Equity Research Analyst)
Morning, gentlemen.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Good morning.
Donald Crist (Equity Research Analyst)
We've covered a lot of ground here today, but I just wanted to ask one about the international markets. You know, Ulterra gives you an entry point into the Middle East in particular. Do you have aspirations to move either rigs and/or pressure pumping or other service lines into the area? And what kind of opportunities are there for y'all?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah. Well, first, we're really excited about Ulterra and their ability to grow internationally. You know, we, it's got the potential for, you know, double-digit growth in these markets, not just with the activity level in these markets, but increasing share in these markets. And so that is our focus on the international. When you ask about moving rigs from the U.S. to other markets, typically it takes a fairly significant capital upgrade to move a rig to a different market outside of the U.S. because we've become very specific about what we do here in the U.S. And right now, our focus is on returning cash to shareholders. So, our international focus is growing Ulterra, and then, you know, overall, that's part of, you know, what we're trying to do to return cash to shareholders.
You know, you know, there could be an opportunity longer term, but this year, our focus is returning cash to shareholders.
Donald Crist (Equity Research Analyst)
Just to follow up to that, is there a pressure pumping opportunity over there? I know NexTier does a little bit, but is there an opportunity given the gas shale drilling that they're commencing upon?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
I would say that market's still very competitive. You've still got the big guys doing pressure pumping over in those markets, even the ones that no longer do it here in North America. So, you know, we're only gonna move large assets to markets like that if we think it makes sense for us and we think it's positive for shareholders. But again, right now, our focus is on returning cash to shareholders.
Donald Crist (Equity Research Analyst)
I got it. I appreciate all the color. Good quarter, guys.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from the line of Kurt Hallead with Benchmark Company. Your line is open.
Kurt Hallead (Senior Analysts)
Hey, good morning, everybody.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Morning, Kurt.
Kurt Hallead (Senior Analysts)
Hey, thanks for, thanks for sliding me in here. So Andy Hendricks, you have me definitely intrigued on the context of what's going on with the evolution of the land drilling fleet. And it seems like there's a new category, super-duper spec rigs versus just plain super spec rigs. So just kind of curious as to, you know, what the dynamics here are differentiating, you know, even the higher-end assets, technologies. You know, you talked about automation, but kind of curious, like, what makes up this, you know, new class of rig that everybody wants versus what they thought they wanted a year ago?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
... You know, I don't know how much time we have on this call, but it's not one single thing. You know, there's a number of different things that are happening and initiatives that our teams have been working on to improve overall performance. You know, there are various components that we upgrade on rigs, whether it's, you know, adding a pump for better hydraulics, for longer laterals, which also includes adding a genset, transitioning to, you know, lithium battery hybrids for more fuel efficiency and savings on the rigs. You know, which is something that we manufacture and something that we charge for. And, or, you know, producing transformer stations for highline power, you know, on the energy side.
On the performance side, it's, you know, how we run our real-time data centers and how we share data across the rigs and throughout the field, and the teams that we have that are looking at data analytics and performance, and following up with the rigs to make sure that we're maximizing that performance. Or, you know, new software and automation technology that we're layering in, where we're gonna upgrade some of the electrics on some of these rigs and, you know, in an asset-type, light-type upgrade, and add new software for automation. And, you know, we're doing it on a number of rigs today, but we're gonna work at a steady pace to continue to roll that out, and it's got great traction in the market, and really excited about how that's performing as well.
It's certainly not any one thing that you can point to. Our teams do a fantastic job, you know, whether it's, you know, in operations, engineering, technology, you know, real-time performance, data analytics, you just go down the list and, you know, it's, that's what's, you know, showing up in, in our numbers.
Operator (participant)
Thank you.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Thanks.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from the line of Dan Kutz with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.
Daniel Kutz (Equity Research Analyst)
Hey, thanks. Good morning. Thanks for squeezing me in. So I just wanted to ask one more on the international space, and I think you guys had mentioned that the Ulterra outlook is for high teens growth this year. That kind of compares to what seems like the industry bogey for international growth being kind of high single digits, low double digits. I assume there's market share gains and pricing factored into your outlook, but I wanted to ask whether kind of Patterson or the Ulterra team would be more or less constructive on kind of the total addressable market growth in the international space versus that kind of 10% growth consensus view? Thanks.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Well, you know, we're excited about the, you know, the double-digit growth we're gonna see. I think that, you know, there are some projections on double-digit growth in the internationals. We'll see how that plays out in terms of activity. But I think whatever that is on activity, we'll outperform that in terms of, growth on the Ulterra side, in terms of product sales. You know, we've got a big focus on the Middle East right now. We're still working on transitioning from just doing drill bit remanufacturing in Saudi to full manufacturing in Saudi, and that's gonna increase our ability, not only to support, Aramco in Saudi Arabia, but also be able to export from Saudi into some of the, GCC countries nearby. So, you know, we're excited about that.
But what drives this growth relative to others is performance. And we've talked about this before, you know, Ulterra has a unique ability in the industry to turn around designs and make the improvements that the operators ask for, you know, based on the type of formation and rock that they're drilling, and that team does a great job at that. And so as we start to do more and more work, you know, in countries outside of North America, then those countries are gonna experience those performance improvements as well. And so that's why we're really confident about our ability to grow.
Daniel Kutz (Equity Research Analyst)
Great, thank you. And then just a quick one on the completion services, upgrades, and investments. Are there any Tier two to Tier four upgrades contemplated, or it's mainly just kind of the dual fuel upgrades and the electric frac investments? Thanks.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah. So we're not doing any Tier 2 to Tier 4 upgrades. Tier 2 is gonna fade away. You know, we're gonna start to wind down maintenance investment on those older assets. You know, we've got Tier 4 DGB in place. We still think there's a very strong market, and that's gonna go for years in Tier 4 DGB. But as some of the older technology rolls out, we're gonna see more electric, but also other types of new technology come in that burn 100% natural gas. And so, you know, that's how we're making that transition. We're doing it at a measured pace that we think fits the capital allocation and, you know, meets the needs of our shareholders who are looking for returns right now. But we're still excited about these investments in technologies that we're making.
Daniel Kutz (Equity Research Analyst)
Great. Thanks a lot. I'll turn it back.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from the line of Sean Mitchell with Daniel Energy Partners. Your line is open.
Sean Mitchell (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thanks, guys, for squeezing me in. Andy, just one question on the electric equipment, the 140,000 horsepower by mid-year. Is that gonna come in the form of numerous... You know, a couple of spreads, full spreads, or will that be horsepower that gets sprinkled in across your other fleets?
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Some of it's already out there working in the field, and has been for a while, and this is just a continued addition to, you know, what we have out there. And, you're gonna see more of it come in, really kind of Q2, Q3, and so that's where, you know, we'll get some improved profitability from, from that horsepower that's working in the field, you know, second and third quarters moving forward. And so it's gonna add roughly a couple more fleets to what we're already working in the field today.
Sean Mitchell (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, that's helpful. Then, Andy Smith, maybe, I know you gave a lot of color around CapEx, $740 million in 2024. Can you remind us what the combined company CapEx was for all the companies in 2023? Just a total number.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
You know, it's funny, I can't.
Sean Mitchell (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
No worry, we can do it offline.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Yeah, no, I, I think we, we've got those numbers, and we can get them to you. I believe it was in excess of $900 million, though. I just don't-
Sean Mitchell (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Yeah, no, I know your number's lower. You mentioned that. I was just trying to get magnitude, but we can-
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
I don't have it in front of me. I apologize.
Sean Mitchell (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
No worries. All right, guys, thanks. Great quarter.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Thanks.
Kenneth Pucheu (SVP, Finance, Investor Relations and Chief Integration Officer)
Thanks.
Operator (participant)
I will now turn the call back over to Andy Hendricks for closing remarks.
Andy Hendricks (President and CEO)
Listen, I wanna thank everybody for dialing in today for the call. 2023 was a great year for us. I wanna thank our team at Patterson-UTI for everything they did in 2023. It was a great year, and we're looking forward to another good year in 2024, especially free cash flow and returning cash to shareholders, so thanks for that.
Operator (participant)
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.