RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call April 27, 2022 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
James Landers - VP, Corporate Finance
Richard Hubbell - CEO, President & Director
Ben Palmer - VP, CFO & Corporate Secretary
Conference Call Participants
John Daniel - Daniel Energy
Operator
Good morning, and thank you for joining us for RPC, Inc.'s First Quarter 2022 Financial Earnings Conference Call.
Today's call will be hosted by Rick Hubbell, President and CEO; and Ben Palmer, Chief Financial Officer. Also present is Jim Landers, Vice President of Corporate Services. [Operator Instructions]. I would like to advise everyone that this conference call is being recorded.
Jim will get us started by reading the forward-looking disclaimer.
James Landers
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin our call today, I want to remind you that in order to talk about our company, we're going to mention a few things that are not historical facts. Some of the statements that will be made on this call could be forward-looking in nature and reflect a number of known and unknown risks. I'd like to refer you to our press release issued today, along with our 2021 10-K and other public filings that outline those risks, all of which can be found on RPC's website at www.rpc.net.
In today's earnings release and conference call, we'll be referring to EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP measure of operating performance. RPC uses EBITDA as a measure of operating performance because it allows us to compare performance consistently over various periods without regard to changes in our capital structure. We're also required to use EBITDA to report compliance with financial covenants under our credit facility. Our press release today and our website provide a reconciliation of EBITDA to net income, the nearest GAAP financial measure. Please review that disclosure if you're interested in seeing how it's calculated. If you've not received our press release for any reason, please visit our website at rpc.net.
I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Rick Hubbell.
Richard Hubbell
Thank you, Jim. This quarter was marked by unexpected changes in RPC's business. We began the year in a moderately improving market as healthy commodity prices encourage our customers to go back to work after the holidays. In response, the U.S. rig count and well completions improved moderately.
During the quarter, we encountered various operational challenges resulting from many years of oilfield underinvestment in several years of COVID-related supply disruptions. However, our industry's outlook changed tremendously in February when Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused oil and natural gas prices to increase and, more importantly, forced the international community to immediately rethink the strategic importance of reliable hydrocarbon fuel sources.