Pacific Drilling Announces Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2018 Results

PACIFIC DRILLING S.A. (NYSE: PACD) ("Pacific Drilling” or the "Company”) today reported results for the fourth quarter of 2018.

Pacific Drilling CEO Bernie Wolford commented, "Although market conditions continue to be challenging, we delivered exceptional operational performance with 99.8% revenue efficiency for the quarter. The Pacific Drilling team continues to be recognized by world-class clients for our ability to deliver industry-leading operational performance. Pacific Bora’s work in Nigeria was extended by Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited, a subsidiary of Eni, Pacific Sharav’s work in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico was extended by Chevron and Pacific Santa Ana secured new work with Total E&P Senegal in Senegal. Although current dayrates remain challenging, we see an increase in contracting activity compared to 2018. We remain focused on securing additional backlog for our currently operating fleet of three rigs and believe we will have several opportunities to contract one of our smart-stacked rigs before year-end.”

Mr. Wolford continued, "Following our emergence from Chapter 11 on November 19, our leadership team placed heightened emphasis on cost control and G&A process optimization while ensuring that we continue to deliver the level of high-quality drilling services for which Pacific Drilling has become recognized in our industry. Cost reductions as a result of the organizational and process changes made will extend the benefits of our recapitalization and result in better margins as the market for deepwater drilling services improves.”

Fourth-Quarter 2018 Operational and Financial Commentary

Fourth-quarter 2018 contract drilling revenue was $59.6 million, which included $2.9 million of deferred revenue amortization. This compared to third-quarter 2018 contract drilling revenue of $56.7 million, which included $5.3 million of deferred revenue amortization. The increase in revenue resulted primarily from the Pacific Bora commencing its contract with Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited, a subsidiary of Eni.

Operating expenses for the fourth-quarter 2018 were $44.8 million compared to $44.2 million in the third-quarter 2018.

General and administrative expenses for the fourth quarter were $13.8 million, as compared to $10.9 million for the third-quarter 2018. The increase in general and administrative expenses was partially due to severance costs for two former members of executive management.

Upon emergence from bankruptcy on November 19, 2018 ("Plan Effective Date”), we adopted and applied the relevant guidance with respect to the accounting and financial reporting for entities that have emerged from bankruptcy proceedings, or "Fresh Start Accounting.” Under Fresh Start Accounting, our balance sheet on the Plan Effective Date reflects all of our assets and liabilities at fair value. We refer to the Company as the "Successor” for periods subsequent to November 19, 2018 and as the "Predecessor” for periods on or prior to November 19, 2018.

Net loss for the fourth-quarter 2018 was $1.8 billion, including $1,744.9 million of reorganization items of the Predecessor, of which ($2,514.1) million related to Fresh Start Accounting adjustments and $794.2 million resulted from gains on settlement of liabilities subject to compromise.

Adjusted EBITDA^(a) for the fourth-quarter 2018 was $3.3 million, compared to $1.6 million in the third-quarter 2018.

Footnotes

2019 Guidance

A schedule of Pacific Drilling’s 2019 guidance as of March 11, 2019 is available in the "Quarterly and Annual Results” subsection of the "Investor Relations” section of our website, www.pacificdrilling.com.

Conference Call

Pacific Drilling will conduct a conference call at 10 a.m. Central time on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 to discuss fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 results. To participate in the March 12 call, please dial 1-800-479-1004 or +1 720-543-0206 and refer to confirmation code 1768290 five to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. A replay of the call will be available on the company’s website or by dialing +1-888-203-1112 within North America or +1-719-457-0820 outside of North America and providing confirmation code 1768290.

About Pacific Drilling

With its best-in-class drillships and highly experienced team, Pacific Drilling is committed to becoming the industry’s preferred high-specification, deepwater drilling contractor. Pacific Drilling’s fleet of seven drillships represents one of the youngest and most technologically advanced fleets in the world. Pacific Drilling has principal offices in Luxembourg and Houston. For more information about Pacific Drilling, including our current Fleet Status, please visit our website at www.pacificdrilling.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements and information contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and are generally identifiable by their use of words such as "anticipate,” "believe,” "could,” "estimate,” "expect,” "forecast,” "intend,” "our ability to,” "may,” "plan,” "potential,” "predict,” "project,” "projected,” "should,” "will,” "would”, or other similar words which are not generally historical in nature. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Our forward-looking statements express our current expectations or forecasts of possible future results or events, including future financial and operational performance and cash balances; revenue efficiency levels; market outlook; forecasts of trends; future client contract opportunities; future contract dayrates; our business strategies and plans or objectives of management; estimated duration of client contracts; backlog; expected capital expenditures; projected costs and savings; and the potential impact of our completed Chapter 11 proceedings on our future operations and ability to finance our business.

Although we believe that the assumptions and expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable and made in good faith, these statements are not guarantees, and actual future results may differ materially due to a variety of factors. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and are based on a number of judgments and assumptions as of the date such statements are made about future events, many of which are beyond our control. Actual events and results may differ materially from those anticipated, estimated, projected or implied by us in such statements due to a variety of factors, including if one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove incorrect.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include: the global oil and gas market and its impact on demand for our services; the offshore drilling market, including reduced capital expenditures by our clients; changes in worldwide oil and gas supply and demand; rig availability and supply and demand for high-specification drillships and other drilling rigs competing with our fleet; costs related to stacking of rigs; our ability to enter into and negotiate favorable terms for new drilling contracts or extensions; our ability to successfully negotiate and consummate definitive contracts and satisfy other customary conditions with respect to letters of intent and letters of award that we receive for our drillships; possible cancellation, renegotiation, termination or suspension of drilling contracts as a result of mechanical difficulties, performance, market changes or other reasons; our ability to execute our business plans; the effects of our completed Chapter 11 proceedings on our future operations; and the other risk factors described in our Registration Statement on Form F-1 filed with the SEC on December 18, 2018 and our Current Reports on Form 6-K. These documents are available through our website at www.pacificdrilling.com or through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation

EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest expense, taxes, depreciation, amortization, other-than-temporary impairment of available-for-sale securities, write-off of deferred financing costs, gain on debt extinguishment, equity earnings in unconsolidated subsidiaries, expenses to unconsolidated subsidiaries, net and reorganization items. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not represent and should not be considered an alternative to net income, operating income, cash flow from operations or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP”) and our calculation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to that reported by other companies. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are included herein because they are used by management to measure the Company’s operations. Management believes that EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA present useful information to investors regarding the Company’s operating performance.

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