Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. Price & Performance (HLX)

Thanks for joining us today on our conference call where we will be reviewing our fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings release. Participating on this call for Helix today are Owen Kratz, our CEO Scottie Sparks, our COO Eric Stapfeld, our CFO Ken Neikirk, our General Counsel Daniel Stewart, our Vice President, Commercial and myself. Hopefully, you've had an opportunity to review our press release and the related slide presentation released last night. To the Investor Relations page on our website at www.heel.com. The press release and slides can be accessed under the News and Events tab. Before we begin our prepared remarks, Ken Nykerk will make a statement regarding forward looking information. During this conference call, we anticipate making certain projections and forward looking statements based on our current expectations and assumptions as of today. Forward looking statements may include projections and estimates of future events, business or industry trends, or business or financial results. All statements in this conference call are in the associated presentation other than statements of historical fact, are forward looking statements and are made under the Safe Harbor [indiscernible] of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual future results may differ materially from our projections and forward looking due to a number and variety of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and factors including those set forth in Slide two of our presentation, and our most recently filed annual report on Form 10 ks, our quarterly reports on Form 10 Q, and in our other filings with the SEC.

You should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements and we do not undertake any duty to update any forward looking statement. We disclaim any written or oral statements made by any third party regarding the subject matter of this conference call.

Also during this call, certain non GAAP financial disclosures may be made. In accordance with SEC rules, the final slides of our presentation provide reconciliations of certain non GAAP measures to comparable GAAP financial measures. These reconciliations along with this presentation the earnings press release our annual report on Form 10 ks and a replay of this broadcast will be available under the For the Investors section of our website at www.helixesg.com. Please remember that information on this conference call speaks only as 02/25/2025, and therefore, you are advised that any time sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of any replay of this call. Scotty?

Thanks, Ken, and good morning, everyone.

Thank you for joining our call today, and we hope everybody is doing well.

Morning, we will review our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results.

Financial performance and operations We will provide our view of the current market and provide guidance for 2025. Before starting our review, I would like to thank the Helix team for their efforts during 2024. The team's offshore and onshore outperformed again, producing another very well executed quarter closing the year out very well. With our efforts in 2024, Slides five, six and seven provide a high level summary of our results and key highlights for the fourth quarter and full year. Revenues for the quarter were $355,000,000 with a gross profit dollars with results in net income of $20,000,000 Adjusted EBITDA was $72,000,000 for the quarter, we had positive operating cash flows of $78,000,000 resulting in strong free cash flow of $65,000,000 Our cash and liquidity remains strong with cash and cash equivalents $368,000,000 and liquidity of $430,000,000 Highlights for the quarter include commencement of operations on the Kisse4000 in Nigeria, six month contract plus options, continued strong results in robotics with high trenching utilization, completed operations with the Q7000 in Northwest Australia, and commenced paid transit and mobilization to Brazil for a four hundred day contract for The same Helix one transitions to the Trident contract extension at higher rates and the Helix Producer one contract was renewed to June of twenty twenty six.

Slide seven provides detail of our full year 2024 results and highlights. Our full year revenues were 1,360,000,000.00 with a gross profit of $220,000,000 with a result in net income of $56,000,000 Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $3.00 $3,000,000 a greater than 10% improvement over last year, And we had positive operating cash flows of $186,000,000 resulting in positive free cash flow of $163,000,000 Excluding the alliance earn up paid and included in our operating cash flows during the year, our free cash flow would have exceeded $220,000,000 These key financial metrics are all improved over our 2023 results. Recapping some of the key highlights for 2024. Strong results and significant improvement in well intervention year over year, as we safely completed the transits and commenced operations on the Q4 in Nigeria concluded successful operations with the Q7000 in Australia, including the successful initial deployment of the Rome. Had a strong near full year utilization on the Q5000 in The U. S. Gulf. Strong robotics results have increased trenching activity and significant improvements year over year. On the sales front, we complete we entered into a one year extension for the SH1 with Trident that commenced in Q4 of twenty twenty four.

We executed two new three year contracts with Petrobras one that commenced last month for the SH2, the other two commenced in the second half of twenty twenty five for the SH1. We also executed a contract for two years plus options in The U. S. Gulf for the Q5000 minimum commitment of one hundred and seventy five days each year, [indiscernible] Slide nine provides a more detailed review of our segment results and segment utilization. In the fourth quarter, we continued to operate globally with minimal operational disruption with operations in Europe, Asia Pacific, Brazil, Africa, The U. S. Gulf and The U. S. East Coast. Our strong fourth quarter results were driven by our core well intervention markets globally strong results from our Robotics Group. Moving to Slide 10. Slide 10 provides further detail of our Well Intervention segment, In Q4, we achieved strong utilization in Africa, The U. S. Gulf, Brazil and Australia. Performing very well with solid uptime efficiency. As expected, our North Sea vessels Wernan Centre and Seawell were impacted by the winter season slowdown, resulting in lower utilization and both vessels being warm stacked mid quarter. [indiscernible] Q7000 performed extremely well with 99% utilization working in Australia.

The vessel then commenced paid transit to Brazil for the Shell four hundred day plus options decommissioned [indiscernible] We had solid utilization for both U. S.-based two units, with the Q4000 completing the pay transit to Nigeria commencing operations for the SO minimum six month well campaign. And the Q5000 worked the entire quarter for Shell in The U. S. Gulf. Again, we are very pleased with the recently announced long term contract for both the Sea and Helix vessels for Petrobras Q7000 per shell in Brazil the Q5000 for Shell in The U. S. Gulf Coast. As these provide us with strong contract coverage for multiple years. Slide 11 provides further detail for our [indiscernible] Robotics had a very strong quarter. The business performed at high standards operating six vessels during the quarter, working between trenching, ROV support and site survey work and renewables and oil and gas related projects globally. Five of the vessels worked on renewables related projects within the quarter, All vessels had strong utilization with three vessels working on trenching projects. The GC3 and the North Sea Enabler Trenchment In Europe and the Centopas trench in Taiwan prior to being demobilized in Singapore in December.

The Shirela Board along worked on various renewable related projects on The U. S. East Coast. And the GC2 had strong utilization working in oil and gas ROV support in Malaysia. Our renewables and trenching outlook remains very robust with numerous contracted works in 2025, 2026 and 2027. The long term outlook for the global renewables market is very strong. We recently announced one of our largest renewables trenching contracts to date for over three hundred days trenching the Hornsey Free wind farm in The UK. Robotics is performing very well, had a very strong 2024 and we expect them to have a very strong year in 2025. Slide 12 provides detail of our shallow water abandonment business, Q4 activity levels reflect the expected seasonal slowdown in utilization and the overall activity levels were S. Gulf Coast shelf market. In summary, we had another very strong quarter and a very well executed 2024 with one of our best years regarding safety statistics, NPT, year over year improved financial metrics and numerous long term improved contracts secured for a good portion of our assets. We're excited as we enter into twenty twenty twenty five as we're expecting further contract awards high utilization for most of our assets and once again further improved financial performance.

I would like to thank our employees for their efforts securing a strong backlog and delivering us a high level of execution. I'll now turn the call over to Brent. Thanks, Scotty. Moving to Slide 14, it outlines our debt instruments and key balance sheet metrics as of December 31. At year end, we had cash of $368,000,000 dollars and availability under the ABL of $67,000,000 with resulting liquidity of $430,000,000 Our funded debt was $324,000,000 and we had negative net debt of $53,000,000 at year end. Our balance sheet is strong and is expected to strengthen further as we anticipate generating significant free cash and have minimal debt obligations between now and 2029. I'll now turn the call over to Eric for a discussion on our outlook for 2025. Thanks, Brent.

We entered 2025 with several macro headline challenges. Active geopolitical environment, softer rig market in 2025 with white space, and uncertainty in The U. S. Wind farm market with announced moratorium. We are aware of these challenges and the uncertainties they create Despite these challenges, our outlook remains very positive. The offshore market remains constructive and active, Oil and gas spending remains healthy despite being at lower levels. The global renewables market is robust with increasing activity in Europe and Asia Pacific. The long term outlook for both markets remains very positive. Our positive outlook is supported by the term contract signed in 2024 for several of our key well intervention assets. The offshore market has improved significantly over the past three years and although lagging the market, we're now seeing the benefits as our legacy contracts have rolled off. With an improved outlook for 2025, based on the strength of our contracted work and the pipeline of bids and projects, we are providing guidance of certain key financial metrics for our 2025 forecast. Revenue of $1,360,000,000 to $1,500,000,000 dollars revenue increasing slightly over 2024 with expected improved margins.

EBITDA in $320,000,000 to $380,000,000 increases driven by the term contracts at market rates. $70,000,000 to $90,000,000 This includes $30,000,000 approved for 2024 that shifted to the right into 2025. Our 2025 spending plans are primarily a mix regulatory maintenance on our vessels intervention system and fleet renewal of our robotics ROVs. These ranges include some key assumptions and estimates Any significant variation from these key assumptions and estimates could cause our results to fall outside the ranges provided. Our quarterly results will continue to be impacted by seasonal weather in the North Sea and The U. S. Gulf Shelf. Primarily in the first quarter but to some extent the fourth quarter as well. In addition, the timing of our vessel maintenance periods and project mobilizations will cause variances between quarters. Our quarterly financial performance in 2025 is expected to follow the same cadence our results in 'twenty three and 'twenty four, with the second and third quarter being our most active quarters and the first and fourth quarters impacted by winter weather. With seasonal quarterly impacts and capital spending the timing of our free cash flow generation is likely skewed to the latter part of the year. Providing our key assumptions by segments and region, starting on Slide 17, first our Well Intervention segment, The U. S. Gulf Coast continues to be a good market The Q5000 has contracted work in every quarter with limited white space to fill in the schedule.

Q4000 is contracted to work into Q2 in West Africa and then is expected to return to U. S. Gulf in the second half of twenty twenty five. We expect both vessels to have good utilization this year. The U. K. North Sea well in the rental market is is expected to be weaker in 2025 than last year. News releases last quarter both from regulators and customers highlight various challenges in The UK sector. The increased taxes announced late in the year and subsequent announcements by producers had delayed planning for 2025 and created uncertainty in the market. We are therefore forecasting utilization in the North Sea this year to decrease compared to 2024. The well at Handers Seawell should have good utilization in the second and third quarter, but an overall slow start to 2025. The Seawell completed its regulatory docking during Q1 As in 2024, we anticipate a seasonal utilization in the fourth quarter winter months in the North Sea. The Q7000 is currently in Brazil completing its regulatory docking and project mobilization for Shell. The vessel is expected to commence the firm four hundred day project late March. The CM2 commenced its new contract with Petrobras in early January.

This is a three year contract at market rates. The CMP Lix one is contracted performing well abandonment for Trident, with work extending into the second half of 'twenty five followed by a three year contract with Petrobras. The vessel is expected to have an approximate Moving to our Robotics Segment, The Market Continues To Be Very Positive. We Recently Announced A Significant Trenching Contract In The North Sea Vending activity has been and continues to be extremely active. We are benefiting from the high levels of activity in both oil and gas market and the renewables market. In the APAC region, the Grand Canyon II completed its dry dock in Q1 With the completion of its project in the fourth quarter, the Centopaz was demobilized and returned. The T-fourteen oh one trencher is expected to work on client provided vessel and remain in Taiwan through '25. In the North Sea, the Grand Canyon III is expected to have an active trend season with overall strong utilization the Horizon Enabler has contracted trenching projects in Q3 and Q4. The Glomar Wave is forecasted to have good utilization performing site clearance operations. The TRIM site clearance vessel is expected to begin operations in March and have good utilization through Q3.

And the T-fourteen hundred-two trencher is forecasted for first work in the Mediterranean. In The U. S, the Shalea is completing drydock in Q1, after which is expected to have good utilization with the combination of work in The U. S. Gulf Coast and U. S. East Coast. Moving to production facilities. The HP-one is on contract for the balance of 25, recently extended to June 2026 with no currently expected change. We have expected variability with production as Droshky Field continues to deplete and Thunder Hawk Field is still shut in. Continuing to shallow water abandonment, our shallow water abandonment segment will have seasonal variability with greater impacts during Q1 and Q4. We are reducing our cost structure commensurate with the current market are retaining the ability to scale up if the market improves. We expect the market to be marginally better absent any regulatory developments. We expect the marine offshore business to maintain good utilization on five to seven lift boats with some variable seasonality on the OSVs and crew boats. The energy service should have good utilization for six to nine P and A spreads and one to two cold tubing units. There is seasonality in the diving and heavy lift where the Epikedron is currently idle with limited winter opportunities.

We do expect an active season during Q2 and Q3. Moving to Slide 18, our CapEx forecast were 25 is heavily impacted by drydocks and maintenance periods on our vessels and systems, The Seawell completed its drydock in Q1 Q7 is currently undergoing a thirty to forty five day docking period followed by the project mobilization The Q5000 has a thirty plus day docking scheduled in the second quarter. Our CapEx range currently is $70,000,000 to 90,000,000 which includes amounts of approximately $30,000,000 originally forecasted in 2024 that were moved into 2025. Once again, the majority of our CapEx continues to be maintenance and project related. We primarily falls into our operating cash flow. Reviewing our balance sheet, our funded debt of $324,000,000 is expected to decrease by $9,000,000 in 2025 with scheduled principal payments on our Merit debt we expect to continue our share repurchase program with a target repurchase At this time, I'll turn the call back to Owen for a discussion on our capital allocation framework, our outlook for 2025 and beyond, for closing comments. Owen? Thanks, Eric. We feel very good about where we are and confident that we look forward. There's a lot of wind at our back.

We're also aware of our market headline challenge and we believe we can address them mitigate the impact and potentially generate upside. The broader industry is starting to recognize the coming value of the late life market niches for oil and gas and Helix's Helix prominent position. Starting with subsea intervention, which Intervention will be key to extending the life of fields. And there will be more and more abandonment as the fields mature. Intervention is also the lowest cost way to produce incremental barrels. We do expect a slower year for The UK section of the North Sea, but we also recognize opportunity both in extending the life of the fields and we expect abandonment to increase There are approximately 2,250 wells in the North Sea and the industry average for P and A of wells is plus or minus 50 per year. We expect this work to increase for 2026 and beyond. In the rest of the world, we do we don't have the capacity to meet all the demand we're seeing. And there are up and coming regions of the world we've not yet grown into. We currently do not have plans to add plan to take advantage of a tight market to achieve higher margins.

We're well positioned for any potential softening of the market as a majority of our major assets are on multiyear contracts and have strong current demand and global flexibility to penetrate new regions for our services. Turning to Robotics, we see demand continuing to grow, visibility for growth growing trenching demand has us tendering for work as far out as twenty twenty nine. Expect that we'll need an additional trencher and are currently assessing our options for the effective way to add capacity We've been very successful at establishing our credibility in cycling clearance work for the wind farms, both in Boulder clearance and UXO work. We have plans to add an additional site clearance spread for 2025 and are looking to add other adjacent services going forward. Part of our maintenance CapEx spending is on refurbishment of our world class ROV fleet of vehicles have two more years to complete the upgrade of the entire fleet, which should extend the life of the fleet for years to come.

Our Robotics Segment Overall Is Forecasted To Be Relative With Meaningful Growth Expected Thereafter. Shellwater Management In The Gulf Region is expected to experience a soft market again in 2025 as the recipients of boomerang properties from bankruptcies continued to analyze and plan for their abandonment work We erroneously maintained the cost basis for for a larger market that did not materialize in 2024. With our cost structure now rightsized for the current market, we expect to see meaningful improvement in profitability for 2020. While maintaining operational leverage for further growth beyond. Our production facility segment is pretty much status quo. The HP-one contract continues The Drosky field continues to produce beyond its expected life. The Thunder Hawk field remains shut in until we can schedule an intervention We've not included anything for production out of Thunderhawk twenty twenty five, but it remains as upside for 2026. Turning to our capital allocation framework. The markets have been robust the past few years with capital discipline shown by the industry players. This has resulted in asset valuations currently high we expect to generate strong free cash flow and increase our war chest of cash, we have kept our powder dry. We will be watching the markets for attractive opportunities to deploy capital.

Until we see that opportunity, we plan to restrict capital allocation for assets to our current niches where we can see full cycle accretion and bolstering of our market positions. In line with this strategy, we intend to become more active with our approved share repurchase plan. Still have more than $150,000,000 of approval under the plan Starting this year, it's our intention to allocate a minimum of 25% of free cash flow to repurchase of our shares We're confident in the future and at the current share price, we see a great opportunity to return value to our shareholders. Materializes then we expect 25% of the free cash flow And if not, then more than 25%. We're confident in the future for Helix Helix inherent growth and operating capacity to service them going forward. Eric? Thanks, Owen.

Operator, at this time, we'll take any questions.

Your first question comes from the line of Jim Rolison with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everyone.

Owen, you covered this a little bit, but kind of back to the free cash flow, simple math is you spend the $50,000,000 at the midpoint of unrepurchases, you're still going to probably end the year with kind of $500,000,000 or so of cash When you think about M and A, you mentioned inflated asset prices, at least in the oilfield side.

Maybe just a little color around what what are you thinking? Type of assets would be in your target? And is it just today just a valuation issue, relative valuation issue that keeps you from being active. [indiscernible] Well, Jim, I think there's a high probability that you will see us be active in M and A this year.

The areas of opportunity that I see are geographic [indiscernible] and also the wind market has has seen some major pullback of valuations. And I think longer term, substantial long term growth market. So that would be another area Further out in the future, I mean right now vessel prices are way too high. I don't think that we need more floating tonnage or large capital assets like that, but we do charter quite a few vessels And in the wind market and robotics, we always work a core number of vessels.

Right now, the vessel prices, as I've said, are way too high. But there are just recent months, there's a lot of new orders going in for new builds. Which means that the existing tonnage will probably rationalize in value. I don't see that as an immediate allocation of capital, but I think it's something to watch for the future.

Got it. Appreciate that. And then you talked a bit about it seems like every several earnings calls this earnings season well intervention has come up and you mentioned a market being kind of structurally assets there which is obviously beneficial from the pricing perspective At the moment, you guys are pretty well booked up from your contracting last year at higher rates.

How do you think about where how is pricing trending more recently to the extent you've even made contract trying to book any work on the spot side of things And how do you take advantage of that over the next three or four years given your fleet is somewhat locked up in the short run?

I'll take that, Jim. So firstly, a good portion of the assets are on long term contracts, but they're taken off the legacy contracts and put on to good market rates. We're going to see an improvement there. On the spot side, we are still increasing rates, not as rapidly as we have done in the last two years, there's still a slight increase in rates.

And as the market continues to tighten, we'll assess that and adjust as we go forward. So we're still bidding at slightly higher than we did last year, but it's not as advanced and as rapid as it was through the last two years where we almost doubled rates in certain geographical regions. On the robotics side, ROV vessels and trenching rates are certainly increasing We're seeing activity out to 29, thirty and certainly pumping up the rates on the trenching side and the ROV side.

Helpful color. Appreciate it. I'll throw it back.

Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Greg Lewis with BDIG. Please go ahead.

Hey, thank you and thanks and good morning and thanks for taking my I was hoping to get a little bit more color around the guidance around the revenue, I. E, you mentioned throughout the call on the well intervention side about the strong backlog. I guess first on that the well intervention side, that $40,000,000 delta between the the low and the high end, is that largely associated just open days on the Q5, or does it also include maybe some startup time of some some of the assets. And then on the robotics and SWA, I don't think the SW I think I'll let you say like how should we be thinking about of the robotics and the SWA How much of that is already like contracted on a maybe on a percentage basis?

Okay. Greg, I'll start off with the intervention and then pass it off to Scotty to wrap up the robotics in shallow water. On the well intervention side, once again, I think it's a good balance in our guidance range between risk and reward opportunities I think when you look at the opportunities that we have there, it's really on sort of project execution, We have good solid contracts there. And to the extent that we're able to execute at a high level, I think that will be more of a margin driver than a top line driver. I think that you talked about our contract transitions. We have three major transitions this year. One of them is completed already with the SH2 in early January transitioning to its new contract. We have the Q7000, which we're right now, it's estimated to start its contract towards the March. In Brazil. And then the SH1, which in the second half of the year will transition between Trident to Petrobras contract. And right now, we're assuming about a thirty day so I think once again, there's a combination there of risk and that is a little bit softer is that North Sea market.

I think we're seeing right now we're expecting lower utilization in that market Once again, I think as some of the information is digested from what happened there in the fourth quarter over there, there's a potential for more activity. So it would be really driven by utilization [indiscernible] in that North Sea region.

And then I'll pass on to Scotty for the robotics in shallow water.

So a good portion of the robotics vessels is already booked as backlog. We've got good contract activity in Asia Pacific. Over here for the Shield Of Wall along and then for the trenching markets in the North Sea. We also have the T14-one hundred and one going on the client provided vessel the T1402 going on a client providing vessel from June in the Mediterranean. The iFlower is contracted to go on a job in the Baltic Sea. So it's pretty much a flat year for robotics. But that's primarily because the CN Type S came off contract. So there's quite a reduction there. Some of that's replaced by the other trenches going to But you have to remember that 2024 is the second highest EBITDA of the year for robotics since February. So keeping it relatively flat with an upside bias for trenching and robotics as we go forward, it is a good state of play for us already And we are seeing high visibility in the trenching and ROV markets. Shallow water, we still expect that to be quite a soft market this year. It should be an improvement over 2024. It is definitely a spot market.

Clients call up [indiscernible] properties being handed back. These clients that have taken back those properties don't have departments set up for shallow water P and A, so they're starting to get their heads around what they've got going on. So we should see an increase [indiscernible] I don't think it's going to go back to 2023, but it should be better than '24, but definitely still a softer spot market.

Okay. That was super helpful. Thank you. And then I just had a question. Think in your prepared remarks, you mentioned around the opportunity around trenching, hey, maybe we potentially add a new unit, I guess, as we think about well intervention, it's kind of easy for us to kind of not easy, but you can kind of work through margins and what pricing is going to be. [indiscernible] Scotty, I guess you're talking about robotics strengthening. Clearly, last year was pretty tight and it seems like that's going to continue. Just as we think about the ability maybe to push and maybe we'll think about it on a margin progression, As we think about the ability to kind of push margins and add add another unit. What's kind of like a fair way to think about margins trending I don't know whether you want to talk about the next one or two years or any kind of any kind of way we should be thinking about that? And then I kind of following up with wrapping, I guess, a bow on this. What's it cost and how long does it take to add a trenching unit?

Okay. So that's quite a loaded question, but [indiscernible] That's okay. No, no. Rates are definitely improving in trenching. Back in 2023, our baseline rate was about 120,000 a day, We're now bidding sort of 20%, 30% higher than that. And securing work and securing some sizable chunks of work. We're securing work for all of the trenches, which is very pleasing. We purchased the C1401, fourteen oh two in the IFlough for approximately $13,000,000 $14,000,000 We've already had the return back on that and we're seeing good utilization for those assets as we go forward. Will say we're bidding work the renewables market out to twenty nine and thirty and every year there's a step increase for those works. And like I said, we've already secured work into 2027. I expect to secure more work shortly as well.

To obtain a new trench, there's two routes.

There's one or two trenches on the market like what we did with the 1401 and fourteen oh two. That we're going to start negotiations and see if we can pick up one or two assets. If not, we'll have to go down the route of building another asset, which would be $25,000,000 of CapEx outlay and eighteen months to secure building a tranche. We're seeing an increased market. I'll give you an idea for our bidding activity from 2025 to 02/1930. At our high potential awards, clients that come to us that we have good relationships with can already see $650,000,000 of revenue based on trenching work alone and site clearance work alone out to 02/1930. Very healthy position for us.

Wow, super helpful. Thanks for the time guys.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Again, Your next question comes from the line of Josh Josh Jane with Daniel Energy Partners. Please go ahead.

Thanks. Good morning. First one, I wanted to just follow-up on was when we think about the outlook for the Q4 and the Q5, into the end of twenty twenty five.

They're both contracted through the end of this year, but could you speak to the opportunities to contract them further out? Are there significant term opportunities out there to contract those vessels sort of well into 2026 and 2027 or is it too early to think about that?

So the Q5000 is signed up with Shelf for two years with an option of a third year.

Minimum contract days is one hundred and seventy five days each year. And we're also in discussions with another major that would take up the rest of the days on the Q3 So the Q5000 for the next two to three years is in a very tight position Q4000 is currently planned to be in Nigeria to a Q2 Of This Year, And Then Come Back To Service The Rest Of The Gulf market. We have work already lined up for it with a two or three of large sized operators. It's a bit influx because we've got operators in Nigeria to ask if we could hang around and complete some work. So there's discussions ongoing with two other majors outside of the options that Exxon have So we're trying to work out a path of how much work that we take on in Nigeria compared to start to lose some work over here by not having availability. So the Q market, the Q based U. S. Market is very tight, the Q5000 secured and then the upper operators will have access to the Q4000. And we're in discussions with these two other operators to add multiyear contracts as well.

Okay. So it does sound that like that when the Q4 eventually comes back to The Gulf, there are potential opportunities to term vessel out.

Yes, for sure.

We already have wells contracted that would take place in the latter half of the year and we're in discussions with majors for multiyear contracts and some spot well work as well. Okay, thanks. And then I did just want to follow-up one more time about the $50,000,000 or the targeted 25% of free cash flow. It does seem to be a bit of a departure from how you guys have have thought about capital allocation. I know you've had a repurchase program in past, but it does seem a bit more concrete and aggressive, is that more just a function of where you see the equity price today or do you think that the opportunity for Helix going forward is to sort of do both do both things, both return capital to shareholders and execute on M and A. I'm just curious because it just it did seem like a little bit of a step change with respect to how you're thinking about capital allocation.

Well, I'll start later again. The step change for us is just the strength of our balance sheet right now. And the current equity price. So I think it is time We have the financial a price that's working for us, so that we plan to be more aggressive on the share repurchase. We've stated it as a minimum of 25% because as I said earlier, I think there's a high probability that there are M and A opportunities the extent that we need the cash for the M and A That will be where we deploy it. Alternatively, if the M and A doesn't materialize or we don't require that amount of cash, then we'll increase aggressiveness on share repurchase at these current equity prices.

Thanks. I'll turn it back.

Seeing as we do not have any more questions at this time, I will now turn the call back over to the management for closing remarks.

Thanks for joining us today. We very much appreciate your interest and participation and look forward to having you on our first quarter twenty twenty five call in April.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.