National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (“NOV” or the “Company”), a Delaware corporation incorporated in 1995, is a leading worldwide provider of equipment and components used in oil and gas drilling and production operations, oilfield services, and supply chain integration services to the upstream oil and gas industry. The Company conducts operations in over 825 locations across six continents.
On April 21, 2008 we acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of Grant Prideco, Inc. (“Grant Prideco”) for a total purchase price of $7.2 billion of cash and NOV common stock. We have included the financial results of Grant Prideco in our Consolidated Financial Statements beginning on April 21, 2008, the date Grant Prideco common shares were exchanged for National Oilwell Varco common shares and cash. The Grant Prideco operations are included in the Petroleum Services & Supplies segment.
The Company’s principal executive offices are located at 7909 Parkwood Circle Drive, Houston, Texas 77036, its telephone number is (713) 346-7500, and its Internet website address is http://www.nov.com. The Company’s annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments thereto, are available free of charge on its Internet website. These reports are posted on its website as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The Company’s Code of Ethics is also posted on its website.
The Company has a long tradition of pioneering innovations which improve the cost-effectiveness, efficiency, safety and environmental impact of oil and gas operations. The Company’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NOV”. The Company operates through three business segments: Rig Technology, Petroleum Services & Supplies, and Distribution Services.
Rig Technology
Our Rig Technology segment designs, manufactures, sells and services complete systems for the drilling, completion, and servicing of oil and gas wells. The segment offers a comprehensive line of highly-engineered equipment that automates complex well construction and management operations, such as offshore and onshore drilling rigs; derricks; pipe lifting, racking, rotating and assembly systems; rig instrumentation systems; coiled tubing equipment and pressure pumping units; well workover rigs; wireline winches; wireline trucks; and cranes. Demand for Rig Technology products is primarily dependent on capital spending plans by drilling contractors, oilfield service companies, and oil and gas companies; and secondarily on the overall level of oilfield drilling activity, which drives demand for spare parts for the segment’s large installed base of equipment. We have made strategic acquisitions and other investments during the past several years in an effort to expand our product offering and our global manufacturing capabilities, including adding additional operations in the United States, Canada, Norway, the United Kingdom, China, Belarus, India, Turkey, the Netherlands, Singapore, Brazil, and South Korea.
Petroleum Services & Supplies
Our Petroleum Services & Supplies segment provides a variety of consumable goods and services used to drill, complete, remediate and workover oil and gas wells and service pipelines, flowlines and other oilfield tubular goods. The segment manufactures, rents and sells a variety of products and equipment used to perform drilling operations, including drill pipe, wired drill pipe, transfer pumps, solids control systems, drilling motors, drilling fluids, drill bits, reamers and other downhole tools, and mud pump consumables. Demand for these services and supplies is determined principally by the level of oilfield drilling and workover activity by drilling contractors, major and independent oil and gas companies, and national oil companies. Oilfield tubular services include the provision of inspection and internal coating services and equipment for drill pipe, line pipe, tubing, casing and pipelines; and the design, manufacture and sale of coiled tubing pipe and advanced composite pipe for application in highly corrosive environments. The segment sells its tubular goods and services to oil and gas companies; drilling contractors; pipe distributors, processors and manufacturers; and pipeline operators. This segment has benefited from several strategic acquisitions and other investments completed during the past few years, including additional operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, China, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, India, Bolivia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates.
Distribution Services
Our Distribution Services segment provides maintenance, repair and operating supplies (“MRO”) and spare parts to drill site and production locations worldwide. In addition to its comprehensive network of field locations supporting land drilling operations throughout North America, the segment supports major offshore drilling contractors through locations in Mexico, the Middle East, Europe, Southeast Asia and South America. Distribution Services employs advanced information technologies to provide complete procurement, inventory management and logistics services to its customers around the globe. Demand for the segment’s services is determined primarily by the level of drilling, servicing, and oil and gas production activities.
Influence of Oil and Gas Activity Levels on the Company’s Business
The oil and gas industry in which the Company participates has historically experienced significant volatility. Demand for the Company’s services and products depends primarily upon the general level of activity in the oil and gas industry worldwide, including the number of drilling rigs in operation, the number of oil and gas wells being drilled, the depth and drilling conditions of these wells, the volume of production, the number of well completions and the level of well remediation activity. Oil and gas activity is in turn heavily influenced by, among other factors, oil and gas prices worldwide. High levels of drilling and well-remediation activity generally spurs demand for the Company’s products and services used to drill and remediate oil and gas wells. Additionally, high levels of oil and gas activity increase cash flows available for drilling contractors, oilfield service companies, and manufacturers of oil country tubular goods to invest in capital equipment that the Company sells.
Beginning in early 2004, increasing oil and gas prices led to steadily rising levels of drilling activity throughout the world. Concerns about the long-term availability of oil and gas supply also began to build. Consequently, the worldwide rig count increased 11% in 2006, 2% in 2007, and 7% in 2008. As a result of higher cash flows realized by many drilling contractors and other oilfield service companies, as well as the long-term concerns about supply-demand imbalance and the need to replace aging equipment, market conditions for capital equipment purchases have improved significantly since 2006 and 2007, resulting in higher backlogs for the Company at the end of 2008 compared to the end of 2006 and 2007. However, as a result of the financial crisis and significantly lower commodity prices, the worldwide drilling rig count declined 31% in 2009 and customers were far less willing to commit to major capital equipment purchases in 2009. As a result, our order rates were substantially lower in 2009. Backlog for the Company was approximately $6.4 billion at December 31, 2009 compared to approximately $11.1 billion and $9.0 billion for December 31, 2008 and 2007, respectively.
In 2008 and 2009, most of the Company’s Rig Technology revenue resulted from major capital expenditures of drilling contractors, well servicing companies, and oil companies on rig construction and refurbishment, and well servicing equipment. These capital expenditures are influenced by the amount of cash flow that contractors and service companies generate from drilling, completion, and remediation activity; as well as by the availability of financing, the outlook for future drilling and well servicing activity, and other factors. Generally, the Company believes the demand for capital equipment lags increases in the level of drilling activity. Most of the remainder of the Rig Technology segment’s revenue are related to the sale of spare parts and consumables, the provision of equipment-repair services, and the rental of equipment, which the Company believes are generally determined directly by the level of drilling and well servicing activity.
The majority of the Company’s Petroleum Services & Supplies revenue is closely tied to drilling activity, although a portion is related to the sale of capital equipment to drilling contractors, which may somewhat lag the level of drilling activity. Portions of the segment’s revenue that are not tied to drilling activity include (i) the sale of progressive cavity pumps and solids control equipment for use in industrial applications, and (ii) the sale of fiberglass and composite tubing to industrial customers, which is generally unrelated to drilling or well remediation activity but may be tied somewhat to oil and gas prices.
Rig Technology
The Company has a long tradition of pioneering innovations in drilling and well servicing equipment which improve the efficiency, safety, and cost of drilling and well servicing operations. The Rig Technology segment designs, manufactures and sells a wide variety of top drives, automated pipe handling systems, motion compensation systems, rig controls, BOPs, handling tools, drawworks, risers, rotary tables, mud pumps, cranes, drilling motors and other drilling equipment for both the onshore and offshore markets. The Rig Technology segment also manufactures entire rig packages, both drilling and workover, in addition to well servicing equipment such as coiled tubing units, pressure pumping equipment, and wireline winches. The Rig Technology group sells directly to drilling contractors, shipyards and other rig fabricators, well servicing companies, national oil companies, major and independent oil and gas companies, supply stores, and pipe-running service providers. The Rig Technology segment rents and sells proprietary drilling rig instrumentation packages and control systems which monitor various processes throughout the drilling operation, under the name MD ® /Totco ® (“Instrumentation”). Demand for its products, several of which are described below, is strongly dependent upon capital spending plans by oil and gas companies and drilling contractors, and the level of oil and gas well drilling activity.
Land Rig Packages. NOV designs, manufactures, assembles, upgrades, and supplies equipment sets to a variety of land drilling rigs, including those specifically designed to operate in harsh environments such as the Arctic Circle and the desert. Our key land rig product names include the Drake Rig, Ideal Rig™ and Rapid Rig ®. NOV’s recent rig packages are designed to be safer and fast moving, to utilize AC technology, and to reduce manpower required to operate a rig
Petroleum Services & Supplies
The Company provides a broad range of support equipment, spare parts, consumables and services through the Petroleum Services & Supplies segment. The Petroleum Services & Supplies group sells directly and provides a variety of tubular services, composite tubing, and coiled tubing to oil and gas producers, national oil companies, drilling contractors, well servicing companies, and tubular processors, manufacturers and distributors. These include inspection and reclamation services for drill pipe, casing, production tubing, sucker rods and line pipe at drilling and workover rig locations, at yards owned by its customers, at steel mills and processing facilities that manufacture tubular goods, and at facilities which it owns. The group also provides internal coating of tubular goods at several coating plants worldwide and through licensees in certain locations. Additionally, the Company designs, manufactures and sells high pressure fiberglass and composite tubulars for use in corrosive applications and coiled tubing for use in well servicing applications and connections for large diameter conductor pipe.
Employees
At December 31, 2009, the Company had a total of 36,802 employees, of which 4,379 were temporary employees. Approximately 104 employees in the Company’s fiberglass tubulars plant in Little Rock, Arkansas, and 110 employees of the Company’s downhole tools product line in Houston and Conroe, Texas, are subject to collective bargaining agreements. Additionally, certain of the Company’s employees in various foreign locations are subject to collective bargaining agreements.