We entered the new year, with 94 rigs running in U.S. land that's double the number we had in August, and the upward trend continues.
Around this time last year VTI prices were trading in the low-50s there were approximately 800 rigs operating in the U.S. land market and H&P was operating in a 194 of those rigs.
Contrast that with today, where oil prices are up over 10%, up into the upper 50s and the industry rig count is approximately 415 rigs and H&P is running 103 FlexRigs.
However, if market expectations for U.S. production levels continue to drop that should have a positive impact on oil prices, which further supports consensus of expectations for approximately 500 active rigs in the U.S. at year-end.
Taking this a step further, by our count, there are approximately 630 super-spec rigs available in the U.S. market.
Looking forward, we believe the vast majority of all working rigs drilling horizontal wells will continue to trend toward the super-spec classification and if activity does reach 500 rigs, the industry rig count would begin to approach utilization levels that have historically provided pricing power.
We also expect private E&Ps to add rigs, however, we don't expect an outsized increase in fiscal '21 rig count, even if oil prices reach $60 per barrel.
To-date our autonomous AutoSlide technology is deployed on 25% to 30% of our FlexRig fleet and we currently have similar percentages for performance-based contracts.
I'm very pleased with our people's service attitude and the ability to quickly respond to customer demand and improve activity by roughly 35% during the first fiscal quarter.
We believe there is an opportunity to grow our market share above 25%.
If you look at previous downturns we have faced since the 2008 Financial Crisis, we have emerged stronger with greater capability as we differentiated our offerings and grew market share in the premium part of the market.
Relative to the 800 rig drilling a year ago, many idle SCR and less-capable AC rigs may be permanently sidelined.
In the super-spec classification segment, we have approximately 37% of the U.S. capacity with 234 super-spec FlexRigs that are unique with their digital technology capability across our uniform fleet.
The company generated quarterly revenues of $246 million versus $208 million in the previous quarter.
Total direct operating costs incurred were $200 million for the first quarter versus $164 million for the previous quarter.
General and administrative expenses totaled $39 million for the first quarter, higher than our previous quarter due to the resumption of short-term incentive accruals for fiscal 2021, but within our guidance for full fiscal year '21.
The sale closed for consideration of $12 million paid out over two years.
The rig had an aggregate net book value of $2.8 million and the resulting gain of $9.2 million as reported as a part of the sale of assets on our consolidated statement of operations.
Our Q1 effective tax rate was approximately 19%, which is on the lower end of our guided range due to a discrete tax expense.
To summarize this quarter's results, H&P incurred a loss of $0.66 per diluted share versus a loss of $0.55 in the previous quarter.
Absent these select items, adjusted diluted loss per share was $0.82 in the first fiscal quarter versus an adjusted $0.74 loss during the fourth fiscal quarter.
Capital expenditures for the first quarter of fiscal '21 were $14 million below our previous implied guidance.
We averaged 81 contracted rigs during the first quarter, up from an average of 65 rigs in fiscal Q4.
I will note here that at the end of fiscal Q1, all idle but contracted rigs, which I will refer to as IBC rigs thereafter have returned to work compared to an average of approximately 15 IBC rigs in the previous quarter.
During the first quarter, we doubled our rig activity from the prior quarter low of 47 active rigs.
We exited the first fiscal quarter with 94 contracted rigs, which was slightly above our guidance expectations as demand for rigs continue to expand from the low, reached midway through the end of the previous quarter.
Revenues were sequentially higher by $53 million due to the previously mentioned activity increase included in this quarter's revenues were roughly $4 million of unexpected early termination revenue from the cancellation of one rig contract.
North America Solutions operating expenses increased $47 million sequentially in the first quarter, primarily due to adding 25 rigs, a 35% increase in North America activity as well as reactivating 10 idle but contracted rigs, both of which resulting in one-time reactivation expenses of approximately $10.6 million.
The activity level has continued to grow, albeit at a more moderate pace than the prior quarter as operators add rigs to maintain production levels with oil above $50 per barrel.
As of today's call, we have 103 rigs contracted with no IBC rigs remaining.
We expect to end the second fiscal quarter of '21 with between 105 and 110 contracted rigs.
As John discussed, our performance contracts are gaining customer acceptance and of the approximately 34 rigs that we have added to the active H&P rig count after September 30th through today, more than a quarter, are working under such performance contracts.
In the North America Solutions segment, we expect gross margins to range between $60 million to $70 million with new early termination revenue expected.
As we continue to add rigs, we will also incur related one-time reactivation expenses, such expenses are expected to be approximately $6 million in the second quarter.
Historical experience indicates that rig stacked for nine months or longer will incur cost of $400,000 to $500,000 to reactivate.
Our current revenue backlog from our North America Solutions fleet is roughly $448 million for rigs under term contract, but importantly this figure does not include additional margin that H&P can earn is performance contract criteria are met.
In the second quarter, we expect to have a loss of between $1 million to $3 million, apart from any foreign exchange impacts, as the legacy structural cost in Argentina continue to hamper International margins.
Offshore generated a gross margin of $6 million during the quarter, which was at the lower end of our estimates.
We expect that Offshore will generate between $6 million to $9 million of operating gross margin.
Capital expenditures for the full fiscal of '21 year are still expected to range between $85 million to 180 -- a 105 -- $85 million to $105 million, with remaining's been distributed over the last three fiscal quarters.
Our expectations for general and administrative expenses for the full fiscal 2021 year, have not changed and remain at approximately $160 million.
We also remain comfortable with the 19% to 24% range for estimated annual effective tax rate and do not anticipate incurring any significant cash tax in fiscal 2021.
Helmerich & Payne had cash and short-term investments of approximately $524 million at December 31, 2020 versus $577 million at September 30.
Including our revolving credit facility availability, our liquidity was approximately $1.3 billion, not included in the previously mentioned the cash balance is approximately $35 million of income taxes receivable and related interest that we collected after the end of the first fiscal quarter.
Our debt-to-capital at quarter end was about 13% and our net cash position exceeds our outstanding bond.
Our trade accounts receivable at fiscal year-end of $150 million grew by $38 million to approximately $188 million, due to the added rig activity, as previously mentioned.
The preponderance of our AR continues to be less than 60 days outstanding from billing day.
Also included in AR, there is another approximately $10 million of tax refund receivables.
Our inventory balances have declined approximately $5 million sequentially from June -- from September 30th to $99 million and we continue to leverage consumables across the entirety of U.S. basins to use and reduce inventory on hand.
As mentioned earlier in my comments we arrived at a 100 rig count level, during this second quarter.
Based on our updated forecast, we expect to end fiscal 2021 with cash and short-term investments at or above the $500 million.

Summary:
To summarize this quarter's results, H&P incurred a loss of $0.66 per diluted share versus a loss of $0.55 in the previous quarter.
Absent these select items, adjusted diluted loss per share was $0.82 in the first fiscal quarter versus an adjusted $0.74 loss during the fourth fiscal quarter.
In the North America Solutions segment, we expect gross margins to range between $60 million to $70 million with new early termination revenue expected.
Capital expenditures for the full fiscal of '21 year are still expected to range between $85 million to 180 -- a 105 -- $85 million to $105 million, with remaining's been distributed over the last three fiscal quarters.
Helmerich & Payne had cash and short-term investments of approximately $524 million at December 31, 2020 versus $577 million at September 30.