PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

NOTE 4 PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

Property, plant and equipment as of September 30, 2021 and 2020 consisted of the following:


(in thousands)	Estimated Useful Lives	September 30, 2021		September 30, 2020
Drilling services equipment	4 - 15 years	$	6,229,011	7,313,234
Tubulars	4 years	573,900		615,281
Real estate properties	10 - 45 years	43,302		43,389
Other	2 - 23 years	459,741		464,704
Construction in progress1		47,587		49,592
		7,353,541		8,486,200
Accumulated depreciation		(4,226,254)		(4,839,859)
Property, plant and equipment, net		$	3,127,287	$	3,646,341

Assets held-for-sale		$	71,453	$	—

(1)Included in construction in progress are costs for projects in progress to upgrade or refurbish certain rigs in our existing fleet. Additionally, we include other capital maintenance purchase-orders that are open/in process. As these various projects are completed, the costs are then classified to their appropriate useful life category.

Impairments - Fiscal Year 2020

Consistent with our policy, we evaluate our drilling rigs and related equipment for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value of these assets may exceed the estimated undiscounted future net cash flows. Our evaluation, among other things, includes a review of external market factors and an assessment on the future marketability of specific rigs’ asset group.

During the second quarter of fiscal year 2020, several significant economic events took place that severely impacted the current demand on drilling services, including the significant drop in crude oil prices caused by OPEC+'s price war coupled with the decrease in the demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To maintain a competitive edge in a challenging market, the Company’s management introduced a new strategy focused on operating various types of highly capable upgraded rigs and phasing out the older, less capable fleet. This resulted in grouping the super-spec rigs of our legacy Domestic FlexRig® 3 asset group and our FlexRig® 5 asset group creating a new "Domestic super-spec FlexRig®" asset group, while combining the legacy Domestic conventional asset group, FlexRig® 4 asset group and FlexRig® 3 non-super-spec rigs into one asset group (Domestic non-super-spec asset group). Given the current and projected low utilization for our Domestic non-super-spec asset group and all International asset groups, we considered these economic factors to be indicators that these asset groups may be impaired.

As a result of these indicators, we performed impairment testing at March 31, 2020 on each of our Domestic non super-spec and International conventional, FlexRig® 3, and FlexRig® 4 asset groups, which had an aggregate net book value of $605.8 million. We concluded that the net book value of each asset group is not recoverable through estimated undiscounted cash flows and recorded a non-cash impairment charge of $441.4 million in the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020. Of the $441.4 million total impairment charge recorded, $292.4 million and $149.0 million was recorded in the North America Solutions and International Solutions segments, respectively. No further impairments were recognized in fiscal year 2020. Impairment was measured as the amount by which the net book value of each asset group exceeds its fair value.

The most significant assumptions used in our undiscounted cash flow model include timing on awards of future drilling contracts, drilling rig utilization, estimated remaining useful life, and net proceeds received upon future sale/disposition. These assumptions are classified as Level 3 inputs by ASC Topic 820 Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures as they are based upon unobservable inputs and primarily rely on management assumptions and forecasts.

In determining the fair value of each asset group, we utilized a combination of income and market approaches. The significant assumptions in the valuation are based on those of a market participant and are classified as Level 2 and Level 3 inputs by ASC Topic 820 Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures.

As of March 31, 2020, the Company also recorded an additional non-cash impairment charge related to in-progress drilling equipment and rotational inventory of $44.9 million and $38.6 million, respectively, which had aggregate book values of $68.4 million and $38.6 million, respectively, in the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020. Of the $83.5 million total impairment charge recorded for in-progress drilling equipment and rotational inventory, $75.8 million and $7.7 million was recorded in the North America Solutions and International Solutions segments, respectively.

Impairment - Fiscal Year 2019

During the third quarter of fiscal year 2019, the Company's management performed a detailed assessment, considering a number of approaches, to maximize the utilization and enhance the margins of the domestic and international FlexRig® 4 asset groups. In June 2019, this assessment concluded that marketing a smaller fleet of these two asset groups would provide the best economic outcome. As such, the decision was made to downsize the number of domestic and international FlexRig® 4 drilling rigs, to be marketed to our customers, from 71 rigs to 20 domestic rigs and from 10 rigs to 8 international rigs and utilize the major interchangeable components of the decommissioned drilling rigs within these asset groups as capital spares for all of our remaining rig fleet. This reduced the aggregate net book values of the FlexRig®4 asset groups as of June 30, 2019 from $317.8 million to $107.5 million for domestic rigs and from $55.7 million to $47.8 million for international rigs. Following the downsizing process, we performed a detailed study to optimize the quantities of capital spares and drilling support equipment required to support the future operations of our rig fleet going forward. These decisions and analysis resulted in a write down of excess capital spares and drilling support equipment, which had an aggregate net book value of $235.3 million, to their estimated proceeds to ultimately be received on sale or disposal based on our historical experience with sales and disposals of similar assets, resulting in an impairment of $224.3 million, which was recorded in our Consolidated Statement of Operations for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019. Of the $224.3 million total impairment charge recorded, $216.9 million and $7.4 million was recorded in our North America Solutions and International Solutions segments, respectively. The significant assumptions in the valuation are classified as Level 2 inputs by ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures.

Due to the downsizing of our domestic and international FlexRig® 4 asset groups, at June 30, 2019, we performed impairment testing on these two asset groups. We concluded that the net book values of the asset groups were recoverable through estimated undiscounted cash flows with a surplus. The most significant assumptions used in our undiscounted cash flow model include timing on awards of future drilling contracts, operating dayrates, operating costs, rig reactivation costs, drilling rig utilization, estimated remaining useful life, and net proceeds received upon future sale/disposition. The assumptions are consistent with the Company's internal forecasts for future years.

Depreciation

Depreciation in the Consolidated Statements of Operations of $412.5 million, $474.7 million and $556.9 million includes abandonments of $2.0 million, $4.0 million and $11.4 million for the fiscal years 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Assets Held-for-Sale

The following table summarizes the balance (in thousands) of our assets held-for-sale at the dates indicated below:


Balance at September 30, 2020	$	—
Plus:
Asset additions	77,929
Less:
Sale of assets held-for-sale	(6,476)
Balance at September 30, 2021	$	71,453

In March 2021, the Company's leadership continued the execution of the current strategy, which was initially introduced in 2019, focusing on operating various types of highly capable upgraded rigs and phasing out the older, less capable fleet. As a result, the Company has undertaken a plan to sell 71 Domestic non-super-spec rigs, all within our North America Solutions segment, the majority of which were previously decommissioned, written down and/or held as capital spares. The book values of those assets were written down to $13.5 million, which represents their fair value less estimated cost to sell, and were reclassified as held-for-sale in the second and third quarters of fiscal year 2021. As a result, we recognized a non-cash impairment charge of $56.4 million during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021 in the Consolidated Statement of Operations. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021, we completed the sale of a portion of the assets with a net book value of $6.5 million that were originally classified as held-for-sale during the second and third quarters of fiscal year 2021.

During September 2021, the Company agreed to sell eight FlexRig land rigs with an aggregate net book value of $55.6 million to ADNOC Drilling Company P.J.S.C. ("ADNOC Drilling") for $86.5 million. Two of the eight rigs were already located in the U.A.E where ADNOC Drilling is domiciled with the remaining six rigs to be shipped from the United States. We received the $86.5 million in cash consideration in advance of delivering the rigs. As part of the sales agreement, the rigs will be delivered and commissioned in stages over a twelve-month period subject to acceptance upon successful completion of final inspection on customary terms and conditions. No rigs have been delivered to ADNOC Drilling as of September 30, 2021 and, therefore, the total cash proceeds of $86.5 million is recorded in Accrued Liabilities within our Consolidated Balance Sheets as of September 30, 2021. As a result, these rigs are classified as held-for-sale in the Consolidated Balance Sheets until each rig is delivered, at which time any related gain/loss on the sale will be recognized in the Consolidated Statement of Operations. The rigs' fair value less estimated cost to sell of $29.0 million, including approximately $24.0 million of cash costs to be incurred, approximated their net book values at September 30, 2021.

During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021, we formalized a plan to sell assets related to two of our lower margin service offerings, trucking and casing running services, which contributed approximately 2.8 percent to our consolidated revenue during fiscal year 2021, all within our North America Solutions segment. The combined net book values of these assets of $23.2 million were written down to their combined fair value less estimated cost to sell of $8.8 million, and were reclassified as held-for-sale in the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of September 30. 2021. As a result, we recognized a non-cash impairment charge of $14.4 million in the Consolidated Statement of Operations during the year ended September 30, 2021.

Subsequent to September 30, 2021, we closed on the sale of these assets in two separate transactions. The sale of our trucking services was completed on November 3, 2021 while the sale of our casing running services was completed on November 15, 2021 for combined cash consideration less costs to sell of $5.8 million, in addition to the possibility of future earnout revenue.

The significant assumptions utilized in the held-for-sale valuations were based on our intended method of disposal, historical sales of similar assets, and market quotes and are classified as Level 2 and Level 3 inputs by ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures. Although we believe the assumptions used in our analysis are reasonable and appropriate, different assumptions and estimates could materially impact the analysis and our resulting conclusion.

Gain on Sale of Assets

We had an aggregate gain on sale of assets of $1.0 million, $46.8 million and $39.7 million in fiscal years 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively, which are included within Gain on Sale of Assets on the Consolidated Statement of Operations.

During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021, we closed on the sale of an offshore platform rig within our Offshore Gulf of Mexico operating segment for total consideration of $12.0 million with an aggregate net book value of $2.8 million, resulting in a gain of $9.2 million. Additionally during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021, we sold excess drilling equipment and spares, which resulted in a loss of $31.2 million and we also sold assets previously classified as held-for-sale, which resulted in a $3.1 million gain. Furthermore, we recognized a $14.4 million gain on asset sales related to customer reimbursement for the replacement value of drill pipe damaged or lost in drilling operations during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021.

During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020, we closed on the sale of a portion of our real estate investment portfolio, including six industrial sites, for total consideration, net of selling related expenses, of $40.7 million and an aggregate net book value of $13.5 million, resulting in a gain of $27.2 million. Additionally, we recorded a gain of $27.0 million related to the customer reimbursement for replacement value of lost or damaged drill pipe. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2019, our $39.7 million gain on sale of assets was primarily related to customer reimbursement for the replacement value of lost or damaged drill pipe.