A. Lee Graham
Reporter
lgraham@bizpress.net
Basic Energy Services Inc. of Fort Worth has reported a slight spurt in well-servicing rig hours, rising from 73,700 in April to 75,000 in May. Despite the rise, the oil and gas well-services company saw a slight dip in rig utilization, dropping from 72 percent in both April 2013 and May 2012 to 70 percent in May, according to its newly released report on May activity. Rig utilization rates determine what percentage of a company’s rigs is in use. “Demand for our services remained level through May with storm-related interruptions in activity in the Mid-Continent markets and the prolonged Memorial Day holiday reducing utilization compared to April,” said president and CEO Ken Huseman, commenting in a news release. “Despite aggressive competition in each of our segments, we have been able to maintain utilization with stable pricing. The much awaited pick-up in activity seems to have begun following the Memorial Day holiday,” Huseman said. Also in the new report, the company reported its well-servicing rig count and fluid service truck counts remaining unchanged at 425 and 974, respectively. Meanwhile, the company’s fluid service truck count remained unchanged at 974. Fluid service truck hours for the month totaled 194,300 compared to 188,800 and 189,100 in April 2013 and May 2012, respectively. Drilling rig days for the month totaled 292, yielding a rig utilization of 78 percent, compared to 75 percent and 96 percent in April 2013 and May 2012, respectively. “We have seen a noteworthy increase in well servicing utilization since the beginning of June along with stronger demand for our other services as well. Despite the lower than expected utilization in May, we currently believe that we will achieve our previous guidance of 5 percent-7 percent sequential revenue increase in the second quarter,” Huseman said. Basic Energy Services, which provides oil and gas well-site services, employs more than 5,600 workers in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Kansas and the Rocky Mountain and Appalachian regions. More information is available at www.basicenergyservices.com.