Business
Western Energy Services Corp. Releases First Quarter 2014 Financial and Operating Results and Declares Quarterly Dividend
CALGARY , May 1, 2014 /CNW/ - Western Energy Services Corp. ("Western" or the "Company")...
About this update from Western Energy Services Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\nCALGARY, May 1, 2014 /CNW/ - Western Energy Services Corp. (\"Western\" or\n the \"Company\") (TSX: WRG) is pleased to release its first quarter 2014\n financial and operating results.  Additional information relating to\n the Company, including the Company's financial statements and\n management's discussion and analysis as at and for the three months\n ended March 31, 2014 and 2013 will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.  All amounts are denominated in Canadian dollars (CDN$) unless\n otherwise identified.\n\n\nHighlights:\n\n\n\nOperating Revenue totalled $149.6 million, a $59.5 million increase (or\n 66%) over the prior year due to the increased size and scale of\n Western's production services segment following the acquisition of IROC\n Energy Services Corp. (\"IROC\") on April 22, 2013, as well as higher\n utilization in the contract drilling segment in both Canada and the\n United States, coupled with a larger average drilling rig fleet in\n Canada;\n\n\nUtilization in the Canadian contract drilling segment improved to 81% as\n compared to 71% in the first quarter of 2013 and the CAODC industry\n average of 61%.  In the United States, contract drilling utilization\n improved to 77% as compared to 48% in the prior year mainly due to\n fleet upgrades and strong operational performance.  With the exception\n of downtime on one rig for the installation of a 1,500 hp AC pad\n conversion, the United States fleet was fully utilized in the quarter;\n\n\nTotal well servicing hours in Western's production services segment\n increased significantly following the acquisition of IROC in the second\n quarter of 2013, increasing to 36,810 hours as compared to 2,430 hours\n in the first quarter of 2013.  Likewise, well servicing utilization\n improved to 63% as compared to 28% in the first quarter of 2013;\n\n\nEBITDA totalled $59.5 million (40% of Operating Revenue) in the first\n quarter of 2014 as compared to $34.4 million (38% of Operating Revenue)\n in the same period of the prior year.  The increase in EBITDA is mainly\n due to the increased activity in the contract drilling segment coupled\n with the increased contribution from production services;\n\n\nDuring the first quarter of 2014, capital expenditures totalled $20.1\n million and include $16.6 million of expansion capital, $1.9 millio...