From my viewpoint, 2023 has shown us more consolidation throughout the drilling industry than we have seen in the last 25 years. The causes of this are multi-faceted:
That last bullet most challenges those without capital availability or an appetite for debt incursion. But, in addition to all of these internal challenges, we continue to see pricing erosion due to expectations of pricing stability year over year. This erosion fails to match the realities of market conditions, administrative requirements pushed down by customers, added credentialing and myriad other barriers.