CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Annual Report”) contains forward-looking statements that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, regarding our strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans, and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used in this Annual Report, the words “could,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “may,” “continue,” “predict,” “potential,” “project,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words.
All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Annual Report; we disclaim any obligation to update these statements unless required by law, and we caution you not to place undue reliance on them. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, and expectations reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements we make in this Annual Report are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these plans, intentions, or expectations will be achieved.
We disclose important known factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of Part I and in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 of Part II of this Annual Report. Additional risks or uncertainties that are not currently known to us, that we currently deem to be immaterial, or that could apply to any company could also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, or future results.
These cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf.
Overview
Nine Energy Service, Inc. (either individually or together with its subsidiaries, as the context requires, the “Company,” “Nine,” “we,” “us” and “our”) is a Delaware corporation that was formed in February 2013 through a combination of three service companies owned by SCF Partners, L.P. or its affiliates. Nine is a leading completion and production services provider that targets unconventional oil and gas resource development across all North American basins and abroad. We partner with our exploration and production (“E&P”) customers to design and deploy downhole solutions and technology to prepare horizontal, multistage wells for production. We focus on providing our customers with cost-effective and comprehensive completion solutions designed to maximize their production levels and operating efficiencies. We believe our success is a product of our culture, which is driven by our intense focus on performance and wellsite execution as well as our commitment to forward-leaning technologies that aid us in the development of smarter, customized applications that drive efficiencies.
We provide our comprehensive completion solutions across a diverse set of well-types, including on the most complex, technically demanding unconventional wells. Modern, high-intensity completion techniques are a more effective way for our customers to maximize resource extraction from horizontal oil and gas wells. These completion techniques provide improved estimated ultimate recovery per lateral foot and a superior return on investment by decreasing cycle time, which make them attractive to operators despite their associated increased well cost. We compete for the most intricate and demanding projects, which are characterized by extended reach horizontal laterals, increased stage counts per well, multi-well pad development, and increased proppant loading per lateral foot. As stage counts per well and wells per pad increase, so do our operating leverage and returns, as we are able to complete more jobs and stages with the same number of units and crews. Service providers for these demanding projects are selected based on their technical expertise and ability to execute safely and efficiently, rather than only price. As our customers continue to improve operational efficiencies in completions design, increasing its complexity and difficulty, oilfield service selection becomes much more critical and selective.
We offer a variety of completion applications and technologies to match customer needs across the broadest addressable completions market. Our comprehensive well solutions range from cementing the well at the initial stages of the completion, preparing the well for stimulation, isolating all the stages of an extended reach lateral, and drilling out plugs and performing associated remedial work as production comes online. Our completion techniques are specifically tailored to the customer and geology of each well. At the initial stage of a well completion, our lab facilities produce customized cementing slurries used to secure the production casing to ensure well integrity throughout the life of the well. Once the casing is in place, we utilize our proprietary tools at the toe (end) of the well, often called stage one, to prepare for the well stimulation process. We provide customers with plug-and-perf or pinpoint frac sleeve system technology to complete the remaining stages of the well. Through our wireline units, we provide plug-and-perf services that, when combined with our fully-composite or dissolvable frac plugs, create perforations to isolate and divert the fracture to the correct stage. Our pinpoint frac sleeve system involves packers, either hydraulic or swellable, to isolate sections of the wellbore and frac sleeves to provide access to each stage for stimulation and production. Our equipment also includes large-diameter coiled tubing units and workover rigs that are capable of reaching the farthest depths for the removal of plugs and cleaning of the wellbore to prepare for production. Once a well is producing, we are able to offer a range of production enhancement and well workover services through our fleet of well service rigs and ancillary equipment.
In October 2018, we acquired Magnum Oil Tools International, LTD, Magnum Oil Tools GP, LLC, and Magnum Oil Tools Canada Ltd. (collectively, “Magnum” and such acquisition, the “Magnum Acquisition”). Magnum, which is included in our Completion Solutions segment, is a leading oilfield completion tools company that is focused on the development of innovative tools for unconventional oil and gas resource development. Magnum has a broad offering of proprietary downhole completions consumables products, including a comprehensive line of dissolvable and composite frac plugs; disk subs, including intervention-less designs, for wellbore isolation and casing flotation device applications; and dissolvable frac balls.
Our website is located at https://nineenergyservice.com, and our investor relations website is located at https://investor.nineenergyservice.com. The information posted on our website is not incorporated into this Annual Report. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are available free of charge on our investor relations website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). You may also access all of our public filings through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Investors and other interested parties should note that we use our investor relations website to publish important information about us, including information that may be deemed material to
investors. We encourage investors and other interested parties to review the information we may publish through our investor relations website, in addition to our SEC filings, press releases, conference calls, and webcasts.
Business Segments
We operate in two segments: Completion Solutions and Production Solutions. Our Completion Solutions segment provides services integral to the completion of unconventional wells through a full range of tools and methodologies. Our Production Solutions segment provides a range of production enhancement and well workover services that are performed with a well servicing rig and ancillary equipment.
The following is a description of the primary service offerings and deployment methods within the Completion Solutions business segment:
Cementing Services: Our cementing services consist of blending high-grade cement and water with various solid and liquid additives to create a cement slurry that is pumped between the casing and the wellbore of the well. We currently have three high-quality laboratory facilities capable of designing and testing all of the current industry cement designs. The laboratory facilities operate twenty-four hours a day and are fully staffed by qualified technicians with the latest equipment and modeling software. Additionally, our technicians and engineers ensure that all tests are performed to American Petroleum Institute specifications and results are delivered to customers promptly. Our cement slurries are designed to achieve the proper cement thickening time, compressive strength, and fluid loss control. Our slurries can be modified to address a wide range of downhole needs of our E&P customers, including varying well depths, downhole temperatures, pressures, and formation characteristics.
We deploy our slurries by using our customized design twin-pumping units, which are fully redundant, containing two pumps, two hydraulic systems, two mixing pumps, and two electrical systems. This customized design significantly decreases our risk of downtime due to mechanical failure and eliminates the necessity to have an additional cementing unit on standby. We have invested in the highest quality cementing equipment, and since 2012, we have deployed only new equipment for use in the fields. As of December 31, 2018, we operated a total of 31 twin-pumping units.
From January 2014 through December 2018, we completed approximately 15,200 cementing jobs, with an on-time rate of approximately 89%. Punctuality of service has become one of the primary metrics that E&P operators use to evaluate the cementing services they receive. Key contributors to our 89% on-time rate include our lab capabilities, personnel, close proximity to our customers’ acreage, dual-sided bulk loading plants, and our service-driven culture.
Completion Tools: We provide downhole solutions and technology used for multistage completions. Our comprehensive completion service offerings are complemented by our unconventional open hole and cemented completion tool products, such as liner hangers and accessories, fracture isolation packers, frac sleeves, stage one prep tools, fully-composite and dissolvable frac plugs, casing flotation tools, specialty open hole float equipment, disk subs, and centralizers. Our completion tools provide pinpoint frac sleeve system technologies as well as a portfolio of completion technologies used for completing the toe stage of a horizontal well and fully-composite, dissolvable, and extended range frac plugs to isolate stages during plug and perf operations.
Our systems provide completion efficiencies at the wellsite by reducing our customers’ equipment needs and stimulation time and allowing for specific zonal treatment. From March 2011 through December 2018, we deployed approximately 112,200 isolation, stage one, and casing flotation tools and approximately 22,400 frac sleeves.
Wireline Services: Our wireline services involve the use of a wireline unit equipped with a spool of wireline that is unwound and lowered into oil and gas wells to convey specialized tools or equipment for well completion, well intervention, or pipe recovery. We operate a fleet of modern and “fit-for-purpose” cased hole wireline units designed for operating in unconventional completion operations, with 41 wireline units in the U.S. and 14 wireline units in Canada. Our operation is equipped with the latest technology utilized to service long lateral completions, including head tension tools, ballistic release tools, and addressable switches. We currently have wireline units equipped with customized drums to hold up to 40,000 feet of Enviroline, which is a coated wireline that significantly reduces injector oil use. Offering a lower dynamic coefficient of friction, Enviroline requires less pump down fluid to operate and is more conducive for reaching further depths in longer laterals.