Earnings Call Prepared Remarks (Fiscal 1Q 2026 Helmerich Payne Prepared Remarks)

Welcome everyone to Helmerich & Payne's conference call and webcast for the first fiscal quarter of 2026. On today's call John Lindsay, our CEO, will be joined by Trey Adams, President, Mike Lennox, Executive Vice President of the Western Hemisphere and Kevin Vann our Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin our prepared remarks, I'd like to remind everyone that this call will include forward-looking statements as defined under securities laws.

Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations will prove to be correct.

Please refer to our filings with the SEC for a list of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements made during this call.

Reconciliations of direct margin and certain GAAP to non-GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release.

I also want to highlight that we will have a presentation which will support the prepared remarks from the management team and can be found on the IR website. With that, I'll turn the call over to John.

Thank you, Kris, ……. Hello everyone, thank you for joining us, as always, we appreciate your interest in H&P.

I'll begin with an overview of our first-quarter results and then I'll turn it over to Trey, and he will discuss the broader macro environment, current dynamics in the rig market, and several key commercial developments from the quarter - including an update on our latest technology initiative, FlexRoboticsTM.

Kevin will then walk through our financial results and provide guidance for the second quarter and full fiscal year. To wrap up, Trey will return to summarize the key takeaways before we open the line up for questions.

Turning to slide four of the presentation. I'd like to begin by highlighting some of our key achievements for the fiscal first quarter.

Execution continued to strengthen across our business, driving solid operational and financial performance. Adjusted EBITDA exceeded expectations at $230 million, supported by resilient results in our North American Solutions and Offshore Solutions segments, as well as stronger than anticipated performance in International Solutions. I would note that the first quarter benefited from the timing of certain rig reactivation expenses, which will be more heavily reflected in the second quarter.

Beyond the reactivations in Saudi Arabia, we also saw meaningful margin improvement from our FlexRig® fleet operating in the vast Jafurah gas field. I am encouraged by this progress and optimistic that we will continue to see further margin expansion throughout the remainder of the year.

In North America Solutions, I want to recognize the team for another quarter of strong execution. We averaged 143 rigs working, and our industry-leading technology and talented teams continued to deliver for customers, generating average margins of over $18,000 per day.

Our Offshore Segment also delivered another quarter of robust operational performance. This business typically operates under long-term contracts, which provides a stabilizing counterbalance to the more cyclical land drilling market.

As Trey will discuss during his remarks, FlexRobotics, automated drilling and connections, represent the next step forward in rig safety and capability. I am personally very excited about this development and view it as yet

another example of how H&P continues to lead the industry in rig technology and drilling innovation.

Now, as this is my final earnings call as CEO for H&P. I want to take a step back for a moment and share a few reflections. I started my career at H&P 39 years ago and while I don't have the time to thank everyone that was instrumental in my career, there are many - and I am deeply grateful to all of them.

During my 12 years as CEO, we've navigated volatile cycles, shifting markets, and rapid technological change-and H&P still leads. Our long-term success depends on discipline, the skill and commitment of our people, and the Company's willingness to invest through cycles rather than just react. Durability matters: we don't chase a

perfect quarter; but we build with patience, rigor, and people who do things the right way - we build for decades of performance.

Finally, I want to thank my exceptional leadership team and the many employees I've had the privilege to work with along the way - for their commitment, professionalism and support …for truly living, The H&P Way.

I also want to thank our customers for their partnership over these many years, and our shareholders for their long-term support of the Company. It has been a privilege to lead H&P, and I am excited about the future of the company under Trey's leadership. We have a strong team, a clear strategy and we are well positioned for the future.

Thank you all.

Now it's over to you, Trey.

Thank you, John.

I'd like to express my gratitude, both on behalf of our whole organization and personally, for your outstanding leadership, discipline, and the example you've provided-and especially for the mentorship and friendship.

You've led this company with a long-term mindset, a steady hand through multiple cycles, and a deep respect for the people and values that define H&P. The strength of the company today is a direct reflection of that

leadership.

As I step into this role next month, I do so with a great deal of respect for what's been built-and with real excitement about where we're headed. The foundation is strong: a global footprint, differentiated technology, and the H&P Way, a culture that truly differentiates us.

Building on that foundation, our focus will be on continuing to evolve-leaning into innovation, advancing our capabilities, and positioning the company to compete and create value at a global scale in what is a constantly changing energy landscape.

I'm honored to take on the role of CEO and to lead the next chapter of Helmerich & Payne alongside this team. I look forward to working with our employees, customers, and shareholders as we move forward together.

Turning our attention to the current macro environment on slide six, we firmly believe that in the future, the world will require significantly more energy than it consumes today, driven by expanding populations and growing prosperity in emerging markets, along with rising power needs from AI advancements in many developed nations.

This dynamic supports our view that demand for oil and gas will persist, and grow, for many years to come, which, in turn, bolsters the need for our global drilling solutions.

Looking at this year, the energy landscape appears cautiously positive but uneven, as various macroeconomic and geopolitical factors continue to influence the market. While these developments have eased concerns over an imminent fall in oil prices at the year's outset, the price rebound has not been sustained for long enough to influence a pick-up in industry activity.

Operators remain focused on disciplined capital deployment, conserving inventory, and prioritizing returns over volume expansion. Consequently, we anticipate oil-related investment will remain soft this year, with greater upside potential likely to play out beyond this year.

In contrast, the outlook for gas markets is more robust. Structural growth continues, fueled by demand for LNG, and surging AI-led power demand.

As such, we expect 2026 global upstream investment levels to remain flattish overall, though with notable

variations by region and market segment. North America is likely to remain the most restrained market in the quarter ahead. This is evident in current activity levels and the recent behaviors of both customers and competitors. We do, however, expect activity to gradually improve through the course of the year and

strengthen into 2027.

Internationally, the market demonstrates greater resilience, with a clear uptick in activity in the Middle East. Our recent announcements regarding reactivations in Saudi Arabia highlight this growing momentum, and we are

beginning to observe broader improvements across the region. South America is also on a more positive path.

In this context, our strategic priorities remain unchanged: maintaining our focus on pricing, making selective capital investments, and positioning our business to capitalize when the market cycle strengthens.

Turning to rig market dynamics on slide seven, I want to provide a brief update on the operational front.

Lower-48 rig demand moderated into the end of the year, with operators adjusting activity levels to align with market conditions. North America Solutions exited the first fiscal quarter with 139 rigs, a 4% decline from the prior quarter's exit rate. For the second quarter, we expect to average between 132 and 138 active rigs and

currently have 135 rigs operating as of today.

Although activity has softened, we remain optimistic about the full-year outlook, supported by ongoing discussions with customers. Our expectation is that conditions will gradually improve over the course of the year with a pickup in both oil and gas focused activity.

Moving to our international operations, we continue to expect a phased reactivation of the suspended rigs in Saudi Arabia that we've been notified will return to service. We have now raised the mast on two rigs and anticipate completing reactivations by mid-2026.

Offshore Solutions continues to perform well, reinforcing H&P's leadership in offshore operations and platform maintenance. Currently this segment has 3 active offshore rigs and 31 management contracts backed by long-standing customer relationships, creating a steady and reliable cash-flow base.

Our geographic footprint positions us well for the anticipated offshore investment cycle, and the continued

integration of our land and offshore operating models and safety practices will strengthen our performance over both the near and long term.

Turning to slide eight. On the commercial front we made progress in several areas during the quarter, most notably was the announcement of rig reactivations in Saudi Arabia which commenced in November last year.

This marks a turning point in activity levels in the Kingdom and we remain hopeful that we will see further reactivations as well as the opportunity to further deploy our technology and performance capabilities over

time. Our teams are working hard to re-deploy these rigs in-country with a focus on customer satisfaction, safety, and operational performance.

Elsewhere in our International Solutions business we were pleased to deploy additional rigs in both Australia and Pakistan and continue to see a high level of engagement with host NOC's, IOC's and leading OFS service firms on opportunities to expand our presence in the Middle East and North Africa.

The potential re-opening of Venezuela could offer a meaningful growth opportunity for H&P in the medium term. We have a long and distinguished heritage of operating in the country, and with the right operator, commercial framework and returns profile in place; we could mobilize relatively quicky.

Furthermore, we are excited to note that geothermal rig interest remains high both in Europe and in North

America. During the quarter we received three contract awards for geothermal rigs in Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. In January we added another rig for a geothermal project in North America.

Domestically, while the rig count remains soft, we were pleased to sign multi-year contract extensions for several of our rigs operating for key customers across the Lower 48. This strengthens our term backlog and provides greater visibility regarding activity levels and margin rates.

Offshore Solutions also saw continued commercial momentum during the quarter, with progress on several multi-year offshore contract renewals and extensions under evolving commercial frameworks. These opportunities span multiple regions and reflect ongoing customer demand for H&P's operations, maintenance, and integrated service capabilities. While certain contracts remain subject to customer approvals and customary conditions, the Company is encouraged by its potential to support longer-term revenue visibility in the offshore portfolio.

As I mentioned, our offshore solutions business is differentiated from the more cyclical parts of our portfolio, providing durability and longer-term visibility and is an area we are actively looking to expand over time.