Description of business — Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively referred to herein as “Patterson-UTI” or the “Company”), is a Houston, Texas-based oilfield services company that primarily owns and operates in the United States one of the largest fleets of land-based drilling rigs and a large fleet of pressure pumping equipment. The Company’s contract drilling business operates in the continental United States and western Canada, and the Company is pursuing contract drilling opportunities outside of North America. The Company’s pressure pumping business operates primarily in Texas and the Mid-Continent and Appalachian regions. The Company also provides a comprehensive suite of directional drilling services in most major producing onshore oil and gas basins in the United States, and the Company provides services that improve the statistical accuracy of horizontal wellbore placement. The Company has other operations through which the Company provides oilfield rental tools in select markets in the United States. The Company also manufactures and sells pipe handling components and related technology to drilling contractors, and provides electrical controls and automation to the energy, marine and mining industries, in North America and other select markets. In addition, the Company owns and invests, as a non-operating working interest owner, in oil and natural gas assets that are primarily located in Texas and New Mexico.

Basis of presentation — The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Patterson-UTI and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. Except for wholly-owned subsidiaries, the Company has no controlling financial interests in any other entity which would require consolidation. As used in these notes, “the Company” refers collectively to Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. conducts its business operations through its wholly-owned subsidiaries and has no employees or independent operations.

The U.S. dollar is the functional currency for all of the Company’s operations except for its Canadian subsidiaries, which use the Canadian dollar as their functional currency. The effects of exchange rate changes are reflected in accumulated other comprehensive income, which is a separate component of stockholders’ equity.

Management estimates — The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from such estimates.

Revenue recognition — Revenues from the Company’s contract drilling, pressure pumping, directional drilling, oilfield rentals and pipe handling components and related technology activities are recognized as services are performed. All of the wells the Company drilled in 2018, 2017 and 2016 were drilled under daywork contracts. Revenue from sales of products are recognized upon customer acceptance. Revenue is presented net of any sales tax charged to the customer that the Company is required to remit to local or state governmental taxing authorities.

Reimbursements for the purchase of supplies, equipment, personnel services, shipping and other services that are provided at the request of the Company’s customers are recorded as revenue when incurred. The related costs are recorded as operating expenses when incurred.

On January 1, 2018, the Company adopted the new revenue guidance under Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, using the modified retrospective method for contracts that were not complete at December 31, 2017. The adoption of the new accounting standard did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements, and a cumulative adjustment was not recognized. See Note 3 for additional information.

Accounts receivable — Trade accounts receivable are recorded at the invoiced amount. The allowance for doubtful accounts represents the Company’s estimate of the amount of probable credit losses existing in the Company’s accounts receivable. The Company reviews the adequacy of its allowance for doubtful accounts at least quarterly. Significant individual accounts receivable balances and balances which have been outstanding greater than 90 days are reviewed individually for collectability. Account balances, when determined to be uncollectable, are charged against the allowance.

Inventories — Inventories consist primarily of sand and other products to be used in conjunction with the Company’s pressure pumping activities and materials used in its directional drilling and drilling technology business. Such inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market, with cost determined using the average cost method.

Other current assets — Other current assets includes reimbursement from the Company’s workers compensation insurance carrier for claims in excess of the Company’s deductible in the amount of $36 million and $30 million at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Property and equipment — Property and equipment is carried at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided on the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives. The method of depreciation does not change whenever equipment becomes idle. The estimated useful lives, in years, are shown below:

		Useful Lives
Equipment		1.25-15
Buildings		15-20
Other		3-12

Long-lived assets, including property and equipment, are evaluated for impairment when certain triggering events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying values may not be recoverable over their estimated remaining useful life.

Maintenance and repairs — Maintenance and repairs are charged to expense when incurred. Renewals and betterments which extend the life or improve existing property and equipment are capitalized.

Disposals — Upon disposition of property and equipment, the cost and related accumulated depreciation are removed and any resulting gain or loss is reflected in the consolidated statement of operations.

Oil and natural gas properties — Working interests in oil and natural gas properties are accounted for using the successful efforts method of accounting. Under the successful efforts method of accounting, exploration costs which result in the discovery of oil and natural gas reserves and all development costs are capitalized to the appropriate well. Exploration costs which do not result in discovering oil and natural gas reserves are charged to expense when such determination is made. Costs of exploratory wells are initially capitalized to wells-in-progress until the outcome of the drilling is known. The Company reviews wells-in-progress quarterly to determine whether sufficient progress is being made in assessing the reserves and economic viability of the respective projects. If no progress has been made in assessing the reserves and economic viability of a project after one year following the completion of drilling, the Company considers the well costs to be impaired and recognizes the costs as expense. Geological and geophysical costs, including seismic costs, and costs to carry and retain undeveloped properties are charged to expense when incurred. The capitalized costs of both developmental and successful exploratory type wells, consisting of lease and well equipment and intangible development costs, are depreciated, depleted and amortized using the units-of-production method, based on engineering estimates of total proved developed oil and natural gas reserves for each respective field. Oil and natural gas leasehold acquisition costs are depreciated, depleted and amortized using the units-of-production method, based on engineering estimates of total proved oil and natural gas reserves for each respective field.

The Company reviews its proved oil and natural gas properties for impairment whenever a triggering event occurs, such as downward revisions in reserve estimates or decreases in expected future oil and natural gas prices. Proved properties are grouped by field and undiscounted cash flow estimates are prepared based on management’s expectation of future pricing over the lives of the respective fields. These cash flow estimates are reviewed by an independent petroleum engineer. If the net book value of a field exceeds its undiscounted cash flow estimate, impairment expense is measured and recognized as the difference between net book value and fair value. The fair value estimates used in measuring impairment are based on internally developed unobservable inputs including reserve volumes and future production, pricing and operating costs (Level 3 inputs in the fair value hierarchy of fair value accounting). The Company reviews unproved oil and natural gas properties quarterly to assess potential impairment. The Company’s impairment assessment is made on a lease-by-lease basis and considers factors such as management’s intent to drill, lease terms and abandonment of an area. If an unproved property is determined to be impaired, the related property costs are expensed.

Goodwill — Goodwill is considered to have an indefinite useful economic life and is not amortized. The Company assesses impairment of its goodwill at least annually as of December 31, or on an interim basis if events or circumstances indicate that the fair value of goodwill may have decreased below its carrying value.

Income taxes — The asset and liability method is used in accounting for income taxes. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in the results of operations in the period that includes the enactment date. If applicable, a valuation allowance is recorded to reduce the carrying amounts of deferred tax assets unless it is more likely than not that such assets will be realized. The Company’s policy is to account for interest and penalties with respect to income taxes as operating expenses.

Stock-based compensation — The Company recognizes the cost of share-based payments under the fair-value-based method. Under this method, compensation cost related to share-based payments is measured based on the estimated fair value of the awards at the date of grant, net of estimated forfeitures. This expense is recognized over the expected life of the awards (See Note 11).

As share-based compensation expense recognized in the consolidated statements of operations is based on awards ultimately expected to vest, it has been reduced for estimated forfeitures, based on historical experience. Forfeitures are estimated at the time of grant and revised in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates.

Statement of cash flows — For purposes of reporting cash flows, cash and cash equivalents include cash on deposit and money market funds.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards — In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued an accounting standards update to provide guidance on the recognition of revenue from customers. Under this guidance, an entity will recognize revenue when it transfers promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects what it expects in exchange for the goods or services. This guidance also requires more detailed disclosures to enable users of the financial statements to understand the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty, if any, of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. The requirements in this update are effective during interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017. The Company adopted this new revenue guidance effective January 1, 2018, utilizing the modified retrospective method, and expanded its consolidated financial statement disclosures in order to comply with the update. The adoption of this update did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements (See Note 3).

In February 2016, the FASB issued an accounting standards update to provide guidance for the accounting for leasing transactions. The standard requires the lessee to recognize a lease liability along with a right-of-use asset for all leases with a term longer than one year. A lessee is permitted to make an accounting policy election by class of underlying asset to not recognize the lease liability and related right-of-use asset for leases with a term of one year or less. The provisions of this standard also apply to situations where the Company is the lessor. The requirements in this update are effective during interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company adopted this new guidance effective January 1, 2019. ASC 842 requires a modified retrospective approach to each lease that existed at the date of initial application as well as leases entered into after that date. The Company has elected to report all leases at the beginning of the period of adoption and not restate its comparative periods. Based on the Company’s lease portfolio, the Company anticipates recognizing a right-of-use asset and a related lease liability of approximately $35 million on its balance sheet, with an immaterial impact on the Company’s consolidated statement of operations compared to the previous lease accounting guidance.

The Company has elected to adopt the following practical expedients upon the transition date to Topic 842 on January 1, 2019:

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Transitional practical expedients package: An entity may elect to apply the listed practical expedients as a package to all the leases that commenced before the effective date. The practical expedients are:

The entity need not reassess whether any expired or existing contracts are or contains leases;

The entity need not reassess the lease classification for expired or existing contracts;

The entity need not reassess initial direct costs for any existing leases.

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Use of portfolio approach: An entity can apply this guidance to a portfolio of leases with similar characteristics if the entity reasonably expects that the application of the leases model to the portfolio would not differ materially from the application of the leases model to the individual leases in that portfolio. This approach can also be applied to other aspects of the leases guidance for which lessees/lessors need to make judgments and estimates, such as determining the discount rate and determining and reassessing the lease term.

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Lease and non-lease components: As a practical expedient, a lessor may combine lease and non-lease components where the revenue recognition pattern is the same and where the lease component, when accounted for separately, would be considered an operating lease.

In March 2016, the FASB issued an accounting standards update to provide guidance for the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the related income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. This guidance became effective for the Company during the three months ended March 31, 2017. The Company believes this guidance has caused and will continue to cause volatility in its effective tax rates and diluted earnings per share due to the tax effects related to share-based payments being recorded in the statement of operations. The volatility in future periods will depend on the Company’s stock price and the number of shares that vest in the case of restricted stock, restricted stock units and performance stock units, or the number of shares that are exercised in the case of stock options.

In August 2016, the FASB issued an accounting standards update to clarify the presentation of cash receipts and payments in specific situations on the statement of cash flows. The requirements in this update are effective during interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017. The adoption of this update on January 1, 2018 did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In May 2017, the FASB issued an accounting standards update that provided clarity on which changes to the terms or conditions of share-based payment awards require an entity to apply modification accounting provisions. The requirements in this update are effective during interim and annual periods in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017. The adoption of this update on January 1, 2018 did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In March 2018, the FASB issued an accounting standards update to update the income tax accounting in U.S. GAAP to reflect the SEC interpretive guidance released on December 22, 2017, when significant U.S. tax law changes were enacted with the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Reform”). The adoption of this update in March 2018 did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements, as the Company was already following the SEC guidance. See Note 13 for additional information.

In August 2018, the FASB issued an accounting standards update to align the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software. The amendments in the update are effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact this new guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.