EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1693256
Filing Year: 2022
Filename: 1693256_10-K_2022_0001558370-22-001752.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Select Energy Services, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries (collectively referred to as “Select,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a leading provider of sustainable full lifecycle water and chemical solutions to the oil and gas industry in the U.S. We also develop, manufacture and deliver a full suite of chemical solutions for use in oil and gas well completion and production operations. As a leader in the water solutions industry, we place the utmost importance on safe, environmentally responsible management of water throughout the lifecycle of a well. Additionally, we believe that responsibly managing water resources through our operations to help conserve and protect the environment in the communities in which we operate is paramount to our continued success.
With a footprint across every major unconventional basin in the U.S., we operate through three primary segments: Water Services, Water Infrastructure and Oilfield Chemicals.
Our Water Services segment, which contributed approximately 52% of our 2021 revenue and 53% of our 2020 revenue, provides the complex services needed to support new well completions as well as ongoing production over the life of the well, including water transfer, flowback and well testing, water containment, fluids hauling, water monitoring and water network automation, as well as various on-site rental equipment and accommodation offerings. Through our patented WaterONE™ automation services and our proprietary AquaView® software platform, our Water Services segment provides extensive technology solutions that enable 24/7 monitoring and visibility for our customers into all of their water-related operations, including hydrographic mapping, water volume and quality monitoring, remote pit and
tank monitoring, leak detection, asset and fuel tracking and automated-equipment services. We believe these technologies help our customers lower their operating costs, increase safety, reduce the risk of spills and reduce the environmental footprint of their operations.
Our Water Infrastructure segment, which contributed approximately 20% of our 2021 revenue and 21% of our 2020 revenue, develops, builds and operates semi-permanent and permanent infrastructure solutions to support both new oil and gas well development as well as ongoing production activity, including water sourcing, recycling and disposal of water as well as the associated logistics. As our customers transition from appraisal to full-field development, our fixed infrastructure offerings that obviate water hauling by trucks can provide environmental benefits and economies of scale that help reduce their capital expenditures and lease operating expenses over the life of the field. Water Infrastructure operations provide for both the delivery of and the takeaway and reuse of water enabled by a network of water sources, permanent pipeline infrastructure, semi-permanent pipeline infrastructure, fixed and mobile treatment and recycling facilities, earthen pits and saltwater disposal wells (“SWDs”). We are actively building recycling facilities across multiple regions, and will continue to focus on recycling opportunities in all of the areas that we operate. We view produced water as an alternative, sustainable non-potable water source that is naturally generated from sources below the water table in the course of oil and/or gas production, and we strive to reduce the portion of produced water being reinjected into SWDs over time, while also reducing the industry’s need for fresh water.
Our Oilfield Chemicals segment, which contributed approximately 28% of our 2021 revenue and 26% of our 2020 revenue, develops, manufactures and applies a full suite of completion and production chemical products, water treatment solutions and services utilized in well completion, stimulation, cementing and related production processes. Our completion chemicals are sold primarily to leading pressure-pumping service companies and E&P companies in the U.S., to support well stimulation and completion. Our production chemicals are used by E&P companies to enhance well performance and reduce production costs throughout the life of a well. Our well chemical services provide customized water treatment and flow assurance solutions across the completion and production lifecycle. Additionally, through our FluidMatch™ solutions, we provide comprehensive testing and analysis of our customers’ application conditions, product chemistry and key performance requirements for oil and gas well completion fluid-system design. This process may include water profiling, application and fluid assessment, treatment assessment, product selection, optimization and customization.
Industry and Company Overview
Over the past two decades, advancements in horizontal drilling and completions technologies have led to significant and sustained growth in oil and natural gas production in the U.S. Advances in drilling and completion technology have propelled U.S. shale-oil production from about 500,000 barrels per day in 2010 to more than seven million barrels per day currently. While U.S. shale oil production temporarily declined from the peak levels of more than nine million barrels per day seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, it has increased over the course of 2021 and as a percentage of total global oil supply in the past year to approximately 8% of total global oil supply. Additionally, U.S. shale gas production has increased from about 15 billion cubic feet per day in 2010 to about 70 billion cubic feet per day currently, or more than 18% of global supply. This growth has dramatically impacted fundamental global supply and demand dynamics and has resulted in a generally balanced to over-supplied market in recent years. While demand for oil and natural gas has increased over the last ten years, demand is cyclical and subject to many factors. Over the course of 2020, the market was significantly impacted by demand declines driven by the economic disruption resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly abated over the course of 2021. Demand for our services is largely influenced by the level of drilling and completion activity by E&P companies, which in turn depends largely on the current and anticipated profitability of developing oil and natural gas reserves.
Water is essential to the development and completion of unconventional oil and gas wells, where producers rely on hydraulic fracturing to stimulate the production of oil and gas from subsurface rock formations with low permeability. The modern hydraulic fracturing process involves the injection of large volumes of water and proppant (typically sand) together with chemicals, under high pressure, through a cased and cemented wellbore into targeted subsurface formations thousands of feet below ground to fracture the surrounding rock. Modern hydraulic fracturing involves complex, engineered solutions to produce oil and gas from tight geological formations in a cost effective manner.
The volume of water required to economically produce tight oil and gas reserves in the U.S. has grown in recent years and water and water-related services comprise a meaningful portion of our customers’ drilling and completion budgets. For example, in 2010, the completion of a typical horizontal well could require roughly 75,000 barrels of water, but today, current horizontal well completion designs can call for in excess of 500,000 barrels for a single well. Our customers’ current multi-well pad development plans can require in excess of five million barrels to complete all of the wells on the pad. Significant mechanical, logistical, environmental and safety issues related to the sourcing, transfer, storage and treatment of such large volumes of water have increased both the total cost of water and related services and the complexity and importance of the services required. This trend has shifted many of our customers’ operational focus away from traditional small, local water service providers, to larger regional and national players like us, who have the expertise, technology and scale to provide high-quality, reliable, comprehensive and environmentally responsible water-management solutions for the full extent of the water lifecycle.
These logistical challenges are typically met through a combination of temporary and permanent solutions utilizing pipe and hose infrastructure to deliver water across the broad geographic areas in which we operate. These logistical solutions significantly reduce the cost and environmental footprint compared to legacy solutions such as tank truck and frac tank operations. For a single representative multi-well pad that requires five million barrels of water, we can utilize our pipe and hose infrastructure solutions and eliminate the approximate equivalent of 38,500 tank truck loads from the roads. This significantly reduces the capital and operating expenditure costs for our customers while dramatically improving the safety of our operations. Importantly, these solutions also reduce the environmental impact of our customers’ operations by limiting spills and diesel exhaust emissions, as well as reducing the social impact of heavy vehicle traffic in the communities in which we operate.
We also develop and source completion chemicals that are a key part of the U.S. energy industry. Completion chemicals are blended with water to improve the transport and placement of proppant in targeted zones within the producing geological formations. The induced fractures near the wellbore allow hydrocarbons to flow into the wellbore for extraction. Our team of chemists and research and development personnel work directly with our customers to support the optimization of their fracturing fluid systems through our FluidMatch™ solutions. Through laboratory and application experience, we apply our expertise in chemistry to develop, manufacture and supply a wide range of specialized and customizable products to our customers for their well completion fluid systems.
Up to fifty percent of the water pumped into the well during the hydraulic fracturing process returns as “flowback” during the first several weeks following the well completion process, and a large percentage of the remainder, plus naturally occurring water in the producing formation, is recovered as produced water over the life of the well. The total volumes of flowback and produced water are even greater than the volumes used for new well completions-by some estimates, the U.S. oil and gas industry today produces over 20 billion barrels of water per year and this volume is likely to grow. This flowback and produced water must be captured, contained and then either treated and recycled for reuse in subsequent fracturing jobs or disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner. We provide services that support the operator’s management of flowback and produced water for either reuse or disposal. Additionally, our customized chemical treatment programs help improve well productivity and reduce production costs, thereby extending the economic life of our customers’ oil and gas wells.
As produced water volumes have significantly grown in recent years, logistical advancements similar to those seen in the delivery of source water volumes for new well completions have been developed for managing these produced water volumes. Increasingly, the transportation of these produced water volumes has shifted away from traditional tank truck operations and onto gathering pipeline infrastructure for disposal or reuse. This significantly reduces the lease operating costs for our customers over the life of a well, while also reducing the environmental impact of our customers’ operations by limiting spills and diesel exhaust emissions and reducing truck traffic in our local communities.
We believe that sustainable water and chemical solutions are critical to the ongoing energy transition and will lead to a new era of growth for Select. As water is vital to the health, economic, and social well-being of our communities, our goal is to develop sustainable water solutions with a shared commitment to conservation. We have a dedicated team of specialists developing and deploying innovative water treatment and reuse solutions for our customers. We view as sustainable water those opportunities to repurpose produced water for reuse in new well
completions instead of using fresh water. This also includes, over the long-term, the potential for repurposing produced water for new beneficial uses outside of the oil and gas industry instead of disposing of it, ultimately contributing back to the total water cycle.
Ultimately, our customers are required to manage nearly 20 billion barrels of produced water annually, and we are focused on how we can create the most beneficial good out of what has historically been viewed solely as a waste stream. We believe the industry will increasingly turn to specialized water solutions companies like us to help cost-effectively manage produced water in an environmentally responsible manner. Select intends to play an important role in the advancement of water and chemical solutions that are designed to meet the sustainability goals of all stakeholders.
Recent Developments
The recent acquisitions of Complete Energy Services, Inc. (“Complete”), substantially all of the assets of Agua Libre Midstream, LLC (“Agua Libre”) and other water-related assets, operations and assumed liabilities from Basic Energy Services, Inc. (“Basic”), as well as the acquisition of the onshore accommodations and rentals assets and operations of H.B. Rentals, L.C. (“HB Rentals”), strengthened our financial results for the year ended December 31, 2021, as well as our competitive positioning in the water solutions market. These acquisitions expand our geographic footprint, most notably in the Rockies region, provide access to employee expertise, and provide opportunities to expand our growing water recycling business into new areas. The acquisitions also added significant revenue-producing assets and multiple opportunities for future revenue and cost synergies.
On December 12, 2021, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Nuverra Merger Agreement”) with Nuverra Environmental Solutions, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Nuverra”). Nuverra is an energy-focused environmental solutions company, providing comprehensive, full-cycle environmental solutions, including the removal, treatment, recycling, transportation and disposal of restricted solids, fluids and hydrocarbons for exploration and production companies operating across the U.S., including in the Bakken, Haynesville, Marcellus and Utica Shales. With the Nuverra transaction, we will be adding more than 300,000 barrels per day of permitted daily disposal capacity in Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Montana and Ohio. When combined with our existing assets and other recent acquisitions, this brings our company-wide permitted daily disposal capacity to approximately 2.5 million barrels per day. The transaction closed on February 23, 2022. See “Note 19-Subsequent Events” for additional information on the merger.
The ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations have had a material negative impact on our financial results. While we have seen economic recovery and higher oil prices through the year ended December 31, 2021, such negative impact may continue well beyond the containment of the pandemic until global gross domestic product (“GDP”) levels, associated oil demand and resulting oilfield activity all fully rebound. With activity improving considerably since the low point experienced in 2020, global inventories have rapidly normalized with continued demand growth. Even with this recent recovery however, we cannot provide assurance that our assumptions used to estimate our future financial results will be correct given the unpredictable nature of the current market environment after the recent elevated volatility in the demand for oil and demand for our services. As a consequence, our ability to accurately forecast our activity and profitability is uncertain.
The magnitude and ultimate duration of the COVID-19 pandemic is also uncertain. Therefore, we cannot estimate its impact on our business, financial condition or near- or longer-term financial or operational results with certainty. In this environment, the Company has planned for a range of scenarios and has taken a number of actions to decrease operating and capital expenses, and defer other expenses in accordance with the provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”). To protect our workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken steps to support our employees who are affected by the virus, manage work-from-home scheduling as appropriate, limit on-site visitors, and monitor and consistently communicate with those who are required to be at a work location, while also providing these employees with additional personal protective equipment.
Sustainability
Select is committed to developing a corporate strategy that supports the long-term viability of our business model in a manner that focuses on our people, our customers, the environment, and the communities in which we operate. We believe this focus will help both us and our customers achieve their short-term and long-term environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) goals, help us attract and retain top talent, and further our efforts to generate stockholder returns. We believe our commitment to foster a culture of corporate responsibility is an important part of being a company with operations spanning the contiguous U.S. Further, we believe being a good corporate steward is strategic to our growth in the oil and gas industry and will better allow us to develop solutions that both address the needs of our customers and contribute to sustainable business practices. As a service company, we compete with other service providers based on various factors, including safety and operational performance, technological innovation, process efficiencies and reputational awareness. We believe there is a strong link between these corporate responsibility initiatives and our ability to provide value in our industry.
We are one of the few public companies whose primary focus is on the management of water and water logistics in the oil and gas development industry with a focus on driving efficient, environmentally responsible and economic solutions that lower costs throughout the lifecycle of the well. We believe water is a valuable resource and understand that the oil and gas industry as well as other industries and the general public are competing for this resource. As a company, we continue to provide access to water as demanded by our customers and have significantly increased our focus on the recycling and reuse of produced water, as well as industrial water sources, to meet the industry’s water demand and align our operations with the goals of our customers. We have invested significantly in recent quarters in the development of fixed recycling facilities that support the advancement of commercialized produced water reuse solutions. By doing so, we strive to both reduce the amount of produced water being reinjected into SWDs and to reduce our usage of fresh water. We view our rather unique position as an opportunity to transform water management by leveraging our Oilfield Chemicals business to develop produced water management solutions that increase our customers’ ability to reuse this produced water and add value to their operations. By implementing our innovative approach to water solutions, Select has become a leader in recycling produced water to be used in well completions. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Competitive Strengths” and “-Description of Business Segments” for more discussion on our operating capabilities and expertise around advancing sustainable water and chemical solutions.
Our strong company culture includes commitments to all stakeholders, and we aim to create a work environment that fosters a diverse and inclusive company culture. Additionally, we prioritize safety in our operations through rigorous training, structured protocols and ongoing automation of our operations. Our prioritization of safety includes a commitment to safeguarding the communities in which we operate. See Part I, Item 1. “Business-Human Capital” and Part I, Item 1. “Business-Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on our efforts on safety, training, diversity and other stakeholder engagement.
We believe that proper alignment of our management and our board of directors with our shareholders is critical to creating long-term value, including the alignment of management compensation and incentive structures and the establishment of a diverse and independent board of directors. See Part III, Item 10. “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance” and Part III, Item 11 “Executive Compensation” for additional discussion on our governance and compensation structures.
Human Capital
We consider our employees vital to our success and are focused on attracting, developing and retaining the most qualified employees at all levels of our business. In particular, the quality of our customer service depends significantly on employee satisfaction and retention. We strive to create a productive and collaborative work environment for our employees.
As of December 31, 2021, we had more than 3,000 employees and we believe we have good relations with our employees.
To attract talent and meet the needs of our employees, we offer a competitive benefits package for regular, full-time employees including health benefits such as medical, dental and vision, welfare benefits such as life and accident insurance, an employee assistance program, and a qualified defined contribution plan to all eligible employees. We also provide our employees with resources for professional development including training, feedback and performance reviews from supervisors. Our human capital measures and objectives focus on several areas including, but not limited to, human rights and social responsibility, diversity initiatives, culture, safety of our employees, COVID-19, employee development and training, and operational execution.
● Human Rights: Select is committed to conducting business in a manner that respects all human rights. Select is committed to promoting and encouraging respect for people and fundamental freedoms for all without distinctions of any kind such as race, color, sex, language, religion, or political or other opinions. We are committed to partnering with personnel, business parties and other stakeholders directly linked to our operations that share our commitment to these same principles. We demonstrate this commitment in our employment practices, including through our Code of Conduct, our Equal Employment Opportunity Employer Policy, and our Anti-Harassment Policy, as well as through our policies on safety and security for our employees. Additionally, our human resource department tracks and reviews metrics on the sex, age, and ethnicity of our employees to help ensure that current employees and prospective employees are treated fairly. Select provides several ways for individuals to raise concerns anonymously, including the 24-hour Employee Hotline, Whistleblower Hotline and Environmental Health & Safety Hotline, which promotes quick and confidential remediation without fear of retaliation.
● Diversity Initiatives: Select recognizes the many benefits of having a diverse workforce. Diversity impacts all stages of employment, from making it easier to attract and retain top talent, to better performance among diverse teams, to the greater innovation and creativity that comes from a workforce comprised of different backgrounds and experiences. Over 50% of our workforce is comprised of ethnic minorities. Additionally, while 11% of our overall workforce is female, women represent 44% of our corporate employees. We provide employee resources such as handbooks, procedures, and training in more than one language and are always looking for ways to be more inclusive and tap into the talent of our diverse workforce. In 2021 Select employed a recruiting consultant with a focus on increasing the diversity of our new hires.
● Culture: We believe company culture is an integral part of business that affects recruitment, job satisfaction, work performance and morale and begins with our mission, vision and core values. Our Company introduced new core values (Accountability, Continuous Improvement and Teamwork or “ACT”) with a renewed focus on how we ACT to be successful employees and build a great company that provides innovative solutions to our customers. Every day our employees put our core values into action to improve operational excellence, safety, and the customer experience. These core values are helping to align our efforts to accomplish our vision to be the recognized leader and trusted partner in sustainable water management solutions. Through a series of employee-centric videos called “This is How We ACT,” we demonstrate an inclusive and dynamic team all working towards the same goal.
● Safety: Select maintains a culture of safety, which we believe preserves the environment and our relationships with the communities in which we operate. We place a strong emphasis on the safe execution of our operations, including safety training for our employees and the development of a variety of safety programs designed to make us a market leader in safety standards and performance. We have a comprehensive approach to formulating and managing training requirements for all of Select’s operational employees. This includes mandatory participation in monthly, quarterly, and annual environmental, health and safety meetings, a combination of live in-person training and computer-based training tailored to specific job-duties and operational activities, and comprehensive safety reference material. In addition, our safety recognition program incentivizes employees throughout our organization to focus on conducting operations in accordance with our strict safety standards. Further, we work closely with federal, state, local and tribal governments and community organizations to help ensure that our operations comply with legal requirements and community standards. Lastly, when our employees identify a heightened safety risk, we respond quickly to mitigate the risk through communication, coordination and, if appropriate, a change in policy, procedures and training. We believe that our customers select their operational partners based in part on the quality of their safety and compliance records, and therefore, we will continue to make investments to be a market leader in this area. Select also empowers operational personnel with stop-work authority (“SWA”) as a tool for helping ensure safety. Our SWA policy empowers our employees to stop work
whenever they identify unsafe work conditions. When SWA is employed, operations cease until the risk is addressed and both the employee and management agree that it is safe to resume work.
● COVID-19: To protect Select’s workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken steps to support our people who are affected by the disease, manage work-from-home scheduling as appropriate, limit on-site visitors, and monitor and consistently communicate with those who are required to be at a work location, while also providing these employees with additional personal protective equipment. We empaneled a COVID-19 task force and created a COVID-19 rules of engagement instructional job aid that provides guidance on facemasks, social distancing, personal hygiene, engineering controls, administrative controls, specific rules for facilities and vehicles and a reporting mechanism.
● Employee Development: Select encourages managers and supervisors at all levels to have frequent, open and constructive dialogue with their direct reports about job performance continuous performance improvement and development. In addition, managers and employees are directed to connect and conduct one-on-one conversations twice a year on employee well-being, performance, development and growth opportunities utilizing a formal feedback program. Employees answer four simple questions relating to their recent performance (successes and challenges) and development. As part of this conversation, our core values play an important part in communicating expected behaviors and how we expect each of us to ACT. With these and related practices, we strive for a culture of open dialogue and commitment to development. During 2021, we had a mid-year completion percentage of 78% and an end of year completion percentage of 73%. In order to better equip our managers to conduct meaningful conversations, we had training for both mid-year and year-end conversations. Select focused on the continuous improvement of our managers and supervisors by offering a series of trainings to better their understanding of company policies and how to better support our employees. Training sessions were led by multiple departments such as the Department of Transportation (“DOT”), Safety and Human Resources. We noticed a marked increase in manager participation in 2021 over 2020 training sessions. We began the development of a National Awareness Calendar and subsequent employee communication in mid-2021 with the purpose of increasing employee awareness on important employee-related topics such as Mental Health Awareness, Military Appreciation and National Diabetes Awareness.
● Operational Execution: It is critical that all Select employees that serve our customers are qualified and trained for their roles, understand our policies and work procedures, and receive the work direction necessary to operate safely. Site managers create daily, weekly and monthly plans for coordination of tasks and personnel. Our employees use standard operating procedures and best practices to standardize effective and consistent execution. Further, we employ a comprehensive mentor program, where more experienced employees provide guidance and instruction to less experienced employees and use videos to train and develop our operational personnel.
Competitive Strengths
We believe our ability to integrate the complexities of our water and chemical-related services through both temporary, customized services and longer-term solutions that include investments in sustainable infrastructure gives us a competitive advantage and is the foundation of our business. We believe our comprehensive suite of sustainable water and chemical solutions, inventory of water sources, advanced technology and recycling capabilities, and semi-permanent and permanent pipeline infrastructure position us to be a leading provider of water and chemical solutions in all of the oil and gas plays that we serve. We have well-established field operations in what we believe to be core areas of many of the most active shale plays, basins and regions in the U.S., including the Permian, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Marcellus, Utica, Rockies and Mid-Continent (“MidCon”) regions. Our broad geographic footprint enables us to service the majority of current domestic unconventional drilling and completion activity. We estimate that approximately 85% of all currently active U.S. onshore horizontal rigs are operating in our primary service areas. We believe that the vast majority of rigs that will be deployed in the near- to medium-term will be situated in these areas. In particular, we have established a strong position in the Permian Basin, which is presently our largest operating region, accounting for approximately 49% of our revenue in 2021 and 46% of our revenue in 2020.
Our Water Services segment focuses on supplying the services and customized, job-specific solutions needed as our customers’ activities move from location to location across the geographic footprint of their acreage over time. These services include the transportation, logistics and storage solutions needed to support the delivery of water to the wellsite for new well completions, the flowback and well testing services needed to manage the initial production phases
of the well and the logistics services needed to manage the long-term produced water volumes associated with oil and gas production over the life of the well. We believe we are a market leader in providing comprehensive water-related services to the industry and we have dedicated significant resources to developing technology solutions to manage the increasingly complex needs of our customers throughout the water lifecycle.
We have invested significantly in our patented WaterONE™ and AquaView® suite of proprietary hardware and software applications for measuring, monitoring and automating our water services throughout the well lifecycle. Our suite of automated solutions include automated water transfer pumps, automated manifolds, automated proportioning systems and telemetry meter trailers. WaterONE™ provides true automation to gather, analyze and act on data in real-time - all without human intervention - giving operators the ability to remotely set and maintain or improve the operational control of their frac and produced water-related requirements. When our monitoring systems detect that certain defined thresholds set by our customers are out of desired range, our equipment sends out an alert and then, through dynamic machine learning, takes action to keep operations running safely and smoothly. This can include actions such as raising a pump’s RPM to maintain desired flow rates, adjusting valves in a proportioning system to maintain the desired water quality in real time while blending fresh, brackish, produced or otherwise impaired water sources or shutting down the system and valves completely in the event of a detected failure. In addition to reducing the risk of spills and injuries, our automated operations increase efficiency across the water transfer supply chain, reducing the risk of pressure spikes and increasing associated fuel efficiency, thereby significantly reducing overall fuel emissions. Our automation capabilities provide a safer, more efficient and cost-effective transfer, treatment and containment of produced or otherwise impaired water sources.
Within our AquaView® monitoring software systems, our solar-powered cellular and satellite-based remote-monitoring telemetry systems give our customers the ability to gain precise and accurate volumetric analyses of water sources and provide real-time data to our customers that is accessible 24/7 via computer, smart phone or tablet. Our Hydrographic Mapping Vessels (“HMVs”) use sonar, satellite, and compass technology to provide precise volumetric analyses of water sources. The HMVs are rapidly deployed, durable enough to handle flowback pits, and can navigate through tight spaces in natural ponds. Additionally, our AquaView® sensors give timely information about pH levels, water quality, temperature and flow rate to assure there is sufficient water at the right quality levels required by our customers and provide alarm notifications to prevent problems during the well completion. We believe that our investments in technology provide a significant competitive advantage for us relative to our smaller, regionally-focused competitors by delivering more reliable, efficient, and environmentally responsible solutions, often at a lower overall cost.
Our Water Infrastructure segment develops water sources, recycling infrastructure and the associated semi-permanent and permanent pipeline infrastructure to both meet our customers’ needs for source water for new well completions as well as their requirements for the gathering of flowback and produced water for either recycling for reuse or disposal. We believe that investments in infrastructure such as commercialized recycling facilities or disposal wells that serve multiple customers, when underwritten by longer-term contracts, lowers the cost of development for our customers, while reducing the overall environmental footprint and impact on the local communities. Additionally, the development of water infrastructure networks to serve multiple customers can improve the economics of produced water recycling and therefore reduce the demand for fresh water required in oil and gas operations while also reducing required disposal volumes.
To meet the water demands of our customers, we have secured access to significant volumes of water in key unconventional development areas. Water sources are often difficult to locate, acquire and permit, particularly in the quantities and at the locations needed for multi-well pad development programs. We have secured permits or long-term access rights to approximately two billion barrels of water annually from hundreds of sources, including surface, subsurface, municipal and industrial sources, including produced water. We have also invested in significant pipeline infrastructure to support the delivery of water from our water sources, consisting of over 1,300 miles of both above-ground and buried infrastructure, including key systems in the Delaware Basin in New Mexico and Texas and the Bakken shale in the Williston Basin in North Dakota. We continue to focus our efforts on the development of non-potable sources as well as the infrastructure and solutions required for the treatment, recycling and reuse of produced water. We have developed and maintained extensive relationships with landowners as well as local, state, tribal and federal authorities to ensure that we can sustainably meet both the economic and operational needs of our customers
while responding to the concerns of the local communities in which we operate. We believe that our extensive relationships and regulatory expertise will continue to constitute a competitive advantage in identifying and developing additional sources of water, including recycled volumes of produced water, in a responsible and sustainable manner.
Water is vital to the health, economic, and social well-being of the communities where we live and work. In support of industry-wide efforts to reduce the demand for fresh water for hydraulic fracturing, we have a dedicated team of specialists focused on developing and deploying innovative water treatment and reuse services for our customers. We strive to fully understand local water issues, and to develop sustainable solutions with a commitment to conservation. Working collaboratively with our customers, we are operating and actively developing recycling facilities in the Delaware and Midland basins, as well as in the Rockies region, and will continue to focus on recycling opportunities in all of the areas that we operate. Longer term, we believe our focus on commercialized solutions that connect multiple operators to strategic infrastructure that provides for greater use of treated produced water for new well completions will reduce the use of fresh water for hydraulic fracturing. By doing so, we also strive to both reduce the portion of produced water being reinjected into SWDs and to reduce the industry’s need for fresh water.
We believe that greater use of produced water to reduce fresh water consumption will require collaboration with all stakeholders as we together develop water infrastructure networks to meet the needs of multiple operators. In addition to investing in pipelines and related infrastructure, Select offers mechanical and chemical solutions for treatment of produced water, and other non-potable water sources customized for our E&P customers’ complex fracturing fluid systems. We believe our expertise in utilizing chemical technologies in the water reclamation and conditioning process, combined with our chemical expertise in fracturing fluid system design, gives us a competitive advantage. For example, we offer a wide spectrum of bacterial control, aeration, proportioning and recycling technologies to condition source water or reuse flowback and produced water for hydraulic fracturing.
Additionally, we invest in gathering infrastructure to collect produced water, and we operate produced water disposal facilities in major U.S. shale plays with a permitted capacity of approximately 1.0 million barrels/day (“bbl/d”) with an additional 1.2 million bbl/d of permitted capacity available for development to support the disposal of produced water that cannot be recycled and reused for new well completions. This disposal capacity is critical to support recycling and reuse capabilities, as it provides an alternative outlet during times when limited completions activity in an area may not support additional water reuse demand.
In short, Select intends to play an important role in the advancement of sustainable water solutions that are designed to align the needs of the oil and gas industry with the sustainability goals of all stakeholders.
Our Oilfield Chemicals segment, operating primarily under our subsidiary, Rockwater Energy Solutions, LLC (“Rockwater LLC”), develops, manufactures and delivers a full suite of completion chemical products utilized in hydraulic fracturing, stimulation, cementing and related well completion and production processes. Our Completion Chemicals product lines support the fluid systems utilized primarily in the completion and development of unconventional resources. These products include polymers that create viscosity, crosslinkers, friction reducers, surfactants, buffers, breakers and other chemical technologies, and are provided to leading pressure pumping service companies and E&P operators in the U.S. The use of automated monitoring systems combined with direct-to-wellsite delivery ensures seamless product availability for our customers, while our chemical expertise enables us to deliver a customized suite of products to meet customers’ technical, economic and environmental product needs.
With our wide range of manufactured products and our expertise in completion chemistry, we believe we are well positioned to support our customers as completion chemistry evolves in the coming years in response to changes in technology and the evolution of completion water fluid systems. In addition to our chemical product offerings, we provide inventory management services, including procurement, warehousing and delivery services as well as a full suite of laboratory technologies and FluidMatch™ consultation services, including water analysis, quality control and assurance, additive compatibility analysis, solids analysis and stimulation recommendations. We have two primary manufacturing facilities in Texas, regional distribution centers and a logistics fleet supporting geographic regions in the Permian, MidCon, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Rockies. We introduced the first in-basin manufacturing facility of emulsion polymers (friction reducers) in our industry, strategically located in the Permian Basin, which provides the
advantage of reducing our overall transportation costs of delivering finished goods to our customers locally within the basin.
Rockwater LLC also provides production chemicals solutions that are used by oil and gas companies to enhance well performance and reduce production costs throughout the life of a well. Our complete line of production enhancement and treating chemicals includes demulsification products, clay stabilizers, paraffin treating chemicals, pour point depressants, corrosion inhibitors, scale inhibitors, scale solvents, H2S scavengers, water treating chemicals, and bactericides. Our production enhancement capabilities include both products and problem well analysis and consultation and custom formulation is available for any treating requirement.
Additionally, through our well chemical services business (“WCS”), we provide advanced water treatment solutions throughout the water lifecycle, as well as specialized stimulation flow assurance and integrity management, and post-treatment monitoring services. We deliver customized programs using proven chemical technologies and mobile equipment to treat virtually any oilfield water for reuse. Following our treatment applications, fluid samples are analyzed again to ensure the treatment is optimized to reduce overall chemical investment. We provide disinfection treatment with a smaller environmental footprint, lower power costs and manpower needs than alternative solutions resulting in a reduced emissions profile. Our expertise allows us to advise our customers on the best economic and operational solutions to optimally manage their water quality and chemical solutions needs across water qualities and well completion fluid systems.
As mentioned under “⸺Human Capital” above, we maintain a culture focused on safety. With more than 3,000 employees and operations spanning the U.S., we believe our commitment to foster a culture of safety and corporate responsibility is essential. Our employee base is made up of dedicated operational and technical professionals, including many with advanced degrees, professional licenses and project development experience, and diverse backgrounds in geology, geography, land management, petroleum, chemical and electrical engineering, computer science, environmental science, geographic information systems and legal and regulatory affairs. In addition, we emphasize preserving the environment and building relationships with the communities in which we operate. We work closely with federal, state, local and tribal governments and community organizations to help ensure that our operations comply with legal requirements, community standards and industry best practices. Further, we believe being a good corporate steward is strategic to our leadership in the energy industry, and will better allow us to develop solutions that both address the needs of our customers and contribute to sustainable business practices. Our solutions significantly decrease the quantity of trucks on the road, thereby reducing fuel use and emissions and limiting the traffic footprint in the communities in which we operate. We believe that our customers will select their service providers based in part on the quality of their safety and compliance records and their ability to support their long-term ESG goals and therefore, we will continue to make investments to be a market leader in these areas.
Description of Business Segments
We offer our services through the following three reportable segments: (i) Water Services, (ii) Water Infrastructure and (iii) Oilfield Chemicals.
Water Services Segment
Our Water Services segment consists of our services businesses, including water transfer, flowback and well testing, fluids hauling, water containment and water network automation, primarily serving E&P companies. Additionally, this segment includes the operations of our accommodations and rentals business.
● Water Transfer. We believe we are the largest provider of water transfer services to the industry. Our Water Transfer service line installs temporary above-ground pipeline systems that can be equipped with full automation to deliver water autonomously at high volumes and rates from a water source to water containment facilities (tanks and pits), or directly to the well.
We install layflat hose as part of a flexible water transfer solution that can be customized to fit a specific project. Our layflat hose allows for quick, cost-effective deployment and removal of transfer assets with limited environmental disturbance and can be quickly redeployed for new projects, including projects in different geographic regions. Layflat hose has a significantly lower risk of spills than most other types of temporary jointed pipe as a result of the strength and durability of the hose as well as the secure nature of any coupling joints used to connect multiple sections of hose. Our layflat hose consists primarily of 10-inch and 12-inch diameter segments, powered by pumps that use diesel or in some cases electricity. Depending on the requirements of a project, layflat hose may run from a water source directly to a containment area, such as an above-ground pit or storage tank, or to a wellsite. Water can also be transferred from one containment area to another as part of managing a larger supply network. Our customers generally prefer layflat hose to alternative temporary piping options due to the cost-effectiveness, limited environmental impact, customizability and reduced risk of spills.
o Water Network Automation. Our proprietary and industry leading automation technologies provide integrated water transfer solutions with automated pump operation, automated valve control, automated blending and proportioning capabilities, automated manifolds, level monitoring and data collection with analytics. We are able to provide our customers with increased visibility into their water inventories and usage, improving their efficiency and decreasing their costs. Our technology also provides us with the unique ability to detect potential issues and prevent them from occurring, as well as to reduce manpower and equipment on certain jobs, in turn mitigating safety and environmental risks while reducing overall fuel emissions.
● Flowback and Well Testing. Our flowback and well testing services add value for our customers by providing well productivity data associated with our services, including fracturing support, fracturing plug drill out, flaring operations, ventless flowback operations, sand management and production testing. We believe we are one of the largest flowback and well testing providers to the U.S. land industry. We are a seasoned operator within Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) emissions regulations, offering green completions through our mobile production facilities. Our fleet of specialized portable combustors offers cleaner waste gas destruction and elimination, significantly reducing emissions, with an operational range from intermittent to 5mmcf/day without the need for an external power supply, further reducing the environmental impact.
Additionally, certain of our services utilize specialized, closed-loop vapor tanks that prevent the release of methane and vapors to the atmosphere during drill out and flowback operations. This collaborative process safely contains and combusts flare gas, reducing emissions at the wellsite. These solutions perform better than current EPA emissions regulations and therefore provide our customers with enhanced emissions reduction solutions to help meet their sustainability targets and initiatives. These services require highly-trained personnel that specialize in our cutting-edge technologies and equipment.
To support these specialized services, our in-house, state-of-the-art well testing training facility provides hands-on, field-simulated stimulation training with our equipment in a controlled environment, reducing the potential for training errors and related safety incidents. Our specialized well testing equipment is outfitted with pressure transducers, Coriolis meters, and guided wave radars for efficient and accurate testing. Using our online reporting system, our customers can view real-time data for well pressures, differentials, and fluid levels. This allows for immediate changes to be made during production, better optimizing oil and gas production, reducing oil and gas reservoir damage and enabling operators to quantify oil and gas reserves more effectively. Our traditional well testing and hydraulic equipment is also deployable in an extensive range of operational conditions: high and low temperature, high and low pressure, high hydrogen sulfide concentration, and high volume.
● Fluids Hauling. Our Fluids Hauling group, operating under our subsidiaries, Tidal Logistics, Inc. (“Tidal Logistics”) and Complete Energy Services, LLC, provides transportation and stores water and various drilling, completion, and production fluids, utilizing our fleet of vacuum, winch and kill trucks, hot oilers, and hydrovacs along with other related assets, such as mobile storage tanks. Currently, we own and lease a
sizable fleet of tractor trailers and body load trucks with operations across the Permian, MidCon, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, and Rockies regions.
● Water Monitoring. Our Water Monitoring services support the full scope of our Water Services offerings and include hydrographic mapping services, remote pit and tank monitoring, generator monitoring, leak detection and automation-equipment monitoring services, including automated transfer pumps, automated manifolds, automated blending and proportioning systems and telemetry meter trailers. These services securely track water assets and measure information such as flow rates, temperature, pressure and water qualities such as pH and salinity, providing real-time data through our customized portals and alert systems which are accessible 24/7 via computer, smart phone or tablet.
● Water Containment. We provide a diverse set of primary and secondary containment solutions for the temporary storage and containment of water and fluids. We believe we are the largest provider of high-capacity aboveground water storage tanks (“ASTs”) in the U.S. We offer ASTs ranging in size from 4,500 to 60,000 barrels per tank, with remote monitoring capability in every major U.S. basin. Our ASTs provide a low-cost containment alternative to traditional fracturing tanks. ASTs can be set up as part of our Water Treatment & Recycling service offerings, which can be bundled with our Water Sourcing and Water Transfer services. A 40,000 barrel AST can be delivered by three trucks and installed in one day, replacing the equivalent of 80 trucks delivering individual 500-barrel fracturing tanks. This reduction in truck traffic provides a significant reduction in traffic congestion in local communities as well as the associated emissions from the transportation of those fracturing tanks. Our modular tank design allows for twenty different tank configurations to meet each customer’s individual needs. We also offer assorted secondary containment solutions, from drive-over to raised barriers and nested AST solutions, that are designed to reduce the risk and environmental impact of potential spills.
● Accommodations and Rentals. Our accommodations and rentals service line, operating under our subsidiary, Peak Oilfield Services, LLC, provides workforce accommodations and surface rental equipment supporting drilling, completion and production operations in the U.S. onshore oil and gas industry. The services provided include fully furnished office and living quarters, freshwater supply and wastewater removal, portable power generation and light plants, internet, phone, intercom, surveillance and monitoring services and other long-term rentals supporting field personnel. Further, our recent acquisition of the HB Rentals assets has bolstered our presence in multiple regions and added thousands of fixed asset units, including skid mounted housing units and trailer housing units giving us a leading position in this service line.
Water Services Geographic Areas of Operation
We provide our Water Services offerings in most of the major unconventional shale plays in the continental U.S., as illustrated by a “✓” in the chart below.
Geographic Region
Marcellus /
Services Provided
Permian
MidCon
Bakken
Eagle Ford
Utica
Haynesville
Rockies
Water Transfer
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Flowback and Well Testing
✓
✓
-
✓
✓
✓
✓
Fluids Hauling
✓
✓
-
✓
-
✓
✓
Water Monitoring
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Water Containment
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Accommodations and Rentals
✓
✓
-
✓
✓
✓
✓
Water Services Customers
Our Water Services customers primarily include major integrated and independent U.S. and international oil and gas producers.
Water Services Competition
Our industry is highly competitive. Our customers typically award contracts after a competitive bidding process. Operational track record, the skill and competency of our people, pricing, safety, technology and environmental performance are key factors in the bid evaluation. Equipment availability, location, service breadth and technical specifications can also be significant considerations.
Certain large domestic and international oilfield services companies offer some water-oriented and environmental services, though these are generally ancillary to their core businesses. As a result, the water solutions industry is highly fragmented and our main competitors are typically smaller and often private service providers that focus on water solutions and logistical services across a narrow geographic area or service offering. We seek to differentiate ourselves from our competitors by delivering comprehensive, high-quality services and equipment, coupled with well-trained people and a commitment to sustainability, superior execution and a safe working environment.
Water Infrastructure Segment
Our Water Infrastructure segment is operated primarily under our subsidiaries, Select Energy Services, LLC (“Select LLC”) and Select Agua Libre Midstream, LLC. This segment provides water sourcing, recycling, gathering, transferring and disposal of water. Water Infrastructure operations are provided through or enabled by a network of permanent pipeline infrastructure, semi-permanent pipeline infrastructure, earthen pits, water sources and SWDs.
Water Infrastructure Service Lines
Our Water Infrastructure segment is divided into the following service lines:
● Water Sourcing. Our Water Sourcing service line provides water, permitting and, in some instances, necessary logistics required by our E&P customers to support their drilling and completion operations. Our sourcing efforts include identifying, developing and obtaining the right to use water from a variety of sources, including surface, subsurface, industrial, municipal and produced water. Through a portfolio of contracts with and permits from regulatory bodies, corporations and individual landowners, we have secured rights in excess of two billion barrels of water annually from hundreds of strategically-located sources.
● Water Treatment & Recycling. Our Water Treatment & Recycling business provides tailored solutions to fit specific customer water quality and delivery needs. We utilize both standard and proprietary processes and technology, including mechanical and chemical technologies, that provide high-quality, large volume throughput and cost-optimized solutions for our E&P customers. These solutions are largely designed for the recycling and reuse of flowback and produced water to meet a customer’s well completion water needs. We provide our customers with high-quality completion water volumes while reducing the need to source fresh water as well as reducing the need for disposal into SWDs. Our recycling operations consist of temporary, semi-permanent and permanent infrastructure, including above-ground and in-ground containment along with treatment processing assets and facilities, capable of recycling large volumes of produced water for reuse in the hydraulic fracturing process.
Over the course of 2021, we continued to invest in developing produced water recycling infrastructure with multiple new facilities commencing operations in the Midland and Delaware Basins backed by long-term contracts, resulting in approximately 375,000 barrels per day of produced water recycling capacity in the Permian Basin, supported by approximately 150,000 barrels per day of mobile recycling capacity. These facilities are also supported by approximately
3 million barrels of storage capacity and pipeline infrastructure for the gathering and delivery of produced water into and out of the facilities. Additionally, in 2021 we were awarded a three year take-or-pay contract to build, own and operate a produced water recycling facility for a major integrated oil and gas company in the Rockies region, set to commence operations in early 2022. The Rockies facility will have a throughput capacity to receive and treat 15,000 barrels per day with the ability to upgrade to 30,000 barrels per day.
● Pipelines & Logistics. We have developed some of our larger, strategic water sources into comprehensive, permanent pipeline systems designed to provide water used for drilling, completion and production activity across a wide geography. In many instances, we also provide the associated storage and logistics needed to deliver the water directly to our customers’ wellsites. We have developed pipeline systems in the Northern Delaware Basin of the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, the Bakken in North Dakota, and the Rockies in Colorado.
o Permian: We have significant Permian Basin infrastructure, primarily in the Northern Delaware Basin in New Mexico, but also in the Southern Delaware Basin and the Midland Basin in Texas. We have a vast array of brackish, effluent and industrial water sources and significant water transport infrastructure, including over 1,000 miles of temporary and permanent pipeline infrastructure and related storage facilities and pumps, all located in the Northern Delaware Basin portion of the Permian Basin. In 2019, we expanded our Northern Delaware Basin water infrastructure with the construction of a large diameter, 40-mile pipeline system that delivers drilling and completion water required by our customers in New Mexico’s Lea and Eddy Counties, as well as provides the ability to transport produced water resulting from oil and gas production to recycling facilities or to disposal wells. This system expansion is supported by a multi-year take-or-pay contract with a major integrated oil company for the purchase and delivery of 75 million barrels of water in total, which commenced in 2019. In support of this growing Permian water infrastructure network, we also acquired storage infrastructure during 2021 from an existing customer to add storage capacity to our existing infrastructure footprint.
Bakken: We have three permits that enable us to withdraw up to 192 million barrels of water annually from the Missouri River and Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota. Water access cannot be easily replicated on Lake Sakakawea today as there are multiple environmental and regulatory conditions that must be met before an industrial water intake location can be built. New permits will also not be granted within 25 miles of an intake location associated with an existing permit. We have three of the five existing permits off Lake Sakakawea. To develop these water rights, we constructed, own and operate two large diameter pipeline systems that provide drilling and completion water to support oil and gas activity in McKenzie County, North Dakota. These two systems consist of pump stations and approximately 88 miles of underground pipe, of which we own 38 miles and have contractual rights to access the remaining 50 miles.
o Rockies: We signed a multi-year agreement with a large customer in the Rockies with a dedicated pipeline from its property to our water treatment facility and adjacent saltwater disposal well. We will receive, treat and recycle water and have the ability to dispose of excess water for this customer.
● Fluid Disposal. The acquisitions of Complete and Agua Libre significantly increased the number of active SWDs we own and operate. We currently operate a sizable portfolio of active SWDs across the Permian, MidCon, Bakken, South Texas, Rockies and Haynesville regions. We also have a significant amount of additional permitted, undeveloped disposal capacity as well as additional permits in process. In total, we have more than 2.2 million barrels per day of daily permitted disposal capacity across the basins we operate. We dispose of both flowback water produced from well completion operations as well as naturally-occurring produced water that is
extracted during the oil and natural gas production process. Volumes are transported to our SWDs for disposal by means of both owned and third-party gathering pipelines, as well as through owned and third-party fluid-hauling trucks.
Water Infrastructure Geographic Areas of Operation
We provide our Water Infrastructure offerings in most of the major unconventional shale plays in the continental U.S., as illustrated by a “✓” in the chart below.
Geographic Region
Services Provided
Permian
MidCon
Bakken
Eagle Ford
Marcellus /
Utica
Haynesville
Rockies
Water Sourcing
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Pipelines Systems & Associated Logistics
✓
-
✓
-
-
✓
✓
Fluid Disposal
✓
✓
✓
✓
-
✓
✓
Water Infrastructure Customers
Our Water Infrastructure customers primarily include major integrated and independent U.S. and international oil and gas producers.
Water Infrastructure Competition
Our industry is highly competitive. Our customers typically award contracts after a competitive bidding process. Track record, the skill and competency of our people, pricing, safety and environmental performance and location and are key factors in the bid evaluation. Equipment availability, location, and technical specifications can also be significant considerations. While a significant portion of our work is awarded on a short term basis, we have a successful track record of utilizing our infrastructure to obtain various long term contracts such as areas-of-mutual-interest, acreage dedications, well bore dedications and take-or-pay agreements.
Certain large midstream companies offer some water-oriented and infrastructure services, though these are generally ancillary to their core businesses of gathering and transporting oil and gas volumes. Additionally, certain of our E&P customers have invested in water infrastructure for their own operations. As a result, the water infrastructure competitive landscape is highly fragmented and our main competitors, aside from E&P companies, are typically private water midstream companies and smaller water service providers that focus on a more limited geographic area or service offering. We seek to differentiate ourselves from our competitors through our expansive scale and by delivering high-quality solutions throughout the sourcing, recycling and disposal elements of the water lifecycle, coupled with extensive regulatory expertise, well-trained people and a commitment to superior execution and a safe working environment. Additionally, we believe our ability to couple our water infrastructure with our water services and oilfield chemicals expertise provides an advantage relative to our competition.
Oilfield Chemicals Segment
Our Oilfield Chemicals segment is operated primarily under our subsidiary, Rockwater LLC. We develop, manufacture and provide a full suite of completion and production chemical products utilized in hydraulic fracturing, stimulation, cementing and related well completion processes. We sell completion chemicals primarily to leading pressure-pumping service companies and E&P operators in the U.S. Our production chemicals are used by oil and gas companies to enhance well performance and reduce production costs throughout the life of a well. Our well chemical services service line provides customized water treatment and flow assurance solutions to our customers.
Oilfield Chemicals Service Lines
Our Oilfield Chemicals segment is divided into the following services lines:
● Completion Chemicals. Through our Completion Chemicals service line, we develop, manufacture and provide a full suite of chemicals utilized in hydraulic fracturing, stimulation and cementing, including polymers that create viscosity, crosslinkers, friction reducers, surfactants, buffers, breakers and other chemical technologies. Our product lines support the three major types of well completions used in shale oil and gas development today (cross-linked gel frac, linear fracs and slickwater fracs). We can provide 24/7/365 time-critical logistical support to our customers. Our warehousing and service includes inventory management with computerized tracking and monthly reporting. We use automated communications systems combined with direct-to-wellsite delivery to ensure seamless product availability for our customers. With our expertise in fracturing chemistry, we can develop customized products to meet customers’ frac-fluid system requirements. We have two primary manufacturing facilities, one in the Permian Basin and one in East Texas, five regional distribution centers, approximately 36 heavy chemical transport trucks and over 200 on-site storage and transport trailers.
● Production Chemicals. Through our Production Chemicals service line, we help our customers analyze well performance issues and develop engineered chemical solutions to enhance production and well performance and reduce production costs. We have two primary manufacturing facilities, one in the Permian Basin and one in East Texas. We serve the Permian, Eagle Ford and MidCon markets and we offer analytical services as well as lab and field support through 10 field locations. Our products include production-enhancing chemicals, ancillary oilfield services, including corrosion and scale monitoring, chemical inventory management, well failure analysis, and lab services. In the Permian, our centrally located lab provides complete water and bacteria analysis through the well lifecycle beginning with fracturing water through the production cycle. Our strategy is to provide basin-specific production chemicals solutions that lower our customers’ costs and increase their production. Our products help our customers mitigate scaling, corrosion, hydrogen sulfide and paraffin build-up problems. This service line allows us to help our customers manage well performance and costs over the lifecycle of a well. We believe our Production Chemicals service line complements our Water Services and Water Infrastructure segments by expanding our relationships with key customers and pulling through other services. Our Production Chemicals business works closely with our Completion Chemicals service line, for example, when advising customers on the fluid systems best suited for a particular well when it transitions from completion to production.
● Well Chemical Services. Through our Well Chemical Services service line, we provide advanced water treatment solutions throughout the water lifecycle, as well as specialized stimulation flow assurance and integrity management, and post-treatment monitoring services in the U.S. land market. Our chemical experts provide pre-treatment water sampling, analysis and testing to determine a water’s chemistry, then design the most effective fracturing fluid system. The WCS team delivers customized programs using proven chemical technologies and mobile equipment to treat virtually any oilfield water for reuse. Following our treatment applications, fluid samples are analyzed again to ensure the treatment is optimized to reduce overall chemical investment. WCS provides disinfection treatment based on proven chlorine dioxide (ClO2) technology, with a smaller environmental footprint, lower power costs and manpower needs than alternative solutions. This service neutralizes microorganisms, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), iron sulfide, phenols, mercaptans, and polymers in the surface water. Our highly mobile solids removal units offer a flexible, economic solution compared to permanently installed equipment, which may not be ideal for every application. These units, which can treat up to 10,000 barrels of water per day, are simple to set up, have low energy consumption rates, and have a small operating footprint, making them suitable for nearly any wellsite. WCS provides optimized flow assurance solutions through patented solid inhibitors, which prevent downhole deposition and tubular damage while increasing production and decreasing non-productive time. These products inhibit scale, paraffin, asphaltenes, iron sulfide and salt while also counteracting bacteria and corrosion. Our WCS team works closely with both our Completion Chemicals and Production Chemicals service lines as well as our water treatment and recycling teams within our
Water Services and Water Infrastructure segments to advise our customers on the best economic and operational solutions to manage their water quality and chemical solutions needs.
Oilfield Chemicals Geographic Areas of Operation
We provide Oilfield Chemicals services in most of the major unconventional shale plays in the continental U.S. In the chart below, a “✓” indicates that we offer the service line in the indicated geographic region.
Geographic Region
Services Provided
Permian
MidCon
Bakken
Eagle Ford
Haynesville
Rockies
Completion Chemicals
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Production Chemicals
✓
✓
-
✓
✓
-
Well Chemical Services
✓
✓
✓
✓
-
✓
Oilfield Chemicals Customers
Our Oilfield Chemicals customers primarily include pressure pumpers, along with major integrated and independent U.S. and international oil and gas producers.
Oilfield Chemicals Competition
The Oilfield Chemicals business is highly competitive. Our competitors include both large manufacturers and companies that are pure distributors of commodities and specialty chemicals. We believe that the principal competitive factors in the markets we serve are technical expertise, manufacturing capacity, workforce competency, efficiency, safety record, reputation, experience and price. Additionally, projects are often awarded on a bid basis, which tends to create a highly competitive environment. We seek to differentiate ourselves from our competitors by delivering high-quality services and solutions, coupled with superior execution and operating efficiency in a safe working environment. Additionally, many of our competitors focus on serving multiple industries outside of oil and gas, and therefore we believe our dedicated focus on the oil and gas industry and in-basin manufacturing capabilities provides a competitive advantage. We also believe our expertise in water management provides a competitive advantage that allows us to assess and optimize our chemical solutions in a unique manner.
Significant Customers
There were no customers that accounted for 10% or more of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Sales and Marketing
We direct our sales activities through a network of sales representatives and business development personnel, which allows us to support our customers at both the corporate and field level. Our sales representatives work closely with local operations managers to target potential opportunities through strategic focus and regular customer interaction. We track the drilling and completion activities of our current and potential new customers. Our operations managers meet with our sales team several times a week, and monitor sales activity via daily reporting. To support our sales strategy, we have developed a proprietary database that integrates market information such as current rig, fracturing crew and permit activity and the location of our strategic water sources.
Our marketing activities are performed by an internal marketing group with input from key executives. We intend to build and maintain a well-recognized brand in the oil and gas industry through multiple media outlets, including our website and social media accounts, radio, print and billboard advertisements, and various industry-specific conferences, case studies, publications and lectures.
Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters
Our water-related operations in support of oil and gas exploration, development and production activities pursued by our customers are subject to stringent and comprehensive federal, tribal, state and local laws and regulations in the U.S. governing occupational safety and health, the discharge of materials into the environment and environmental protection. Numerous governmental entities, including the EPA, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and analogous state agencies, have the power to enforce compliance with these laws and regulations and the permits issued under them, often requiring difficult and costly actions. These laws and regulations may, among other things (i) require the acquisition of permits or other approvals to take fresh water from surface water and groundwater, construct pipelines or containment facilities, drill wells and other regulated activities; (ii) restrict the types, quantities and concentration of various substances that can be released into the environment or injected into non-producing belowground formations; (iii) limit or prohibit our operations on certain lands lying within wilderness, wetlands and other protected areas; (iv) require remedial measures to mitigate pollution from former and ongoing operations; (v) impose specific safety and health criteria addressing worker protection; and (vi) impose substantial liabilities for pollution resulting from our operations. Any failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in the assessment of sanctions, including administrative, civil and criminal penalties, the imposition of investigatory, remedial or corrective action obligations or the incurrence of capital expenditures; the occurrence of restrictions, delays or cancellations in the permitting, performance or expansion of projects; and the issuance of orders enjoining performance of some or all of our operations in a particular area.
Our business activities present risks of incurring significant environmental costs and liabilities, including costs and liabilities resulting from our handling of oilfield and other wastes, because of air emissions and wastewater discharges related to our operations, and due to historical oilfield industry operations and waste disposal practices. Our businesses include the operation of oilfield waste disposal injection wells that pose risks of environmental liability, including leakage from the wells to surface or subsurface soils, surface water or groundwater. In addition, private parties, including the owners of properties upon which we perform services and facilities where our wastes are taken for reclamation or disposal, also may have the right to pursue legal actions to enforce compliance as well as to seek damages for non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations or for personal injury or property or natural resource damages. Some environmental laws and regulations may impose strict liability, which means that in some situations we could be exposed to liability as a result of our conduct that was lawful at the time it occurred or the conduct of, or conditions caused by, prior operators or other third parties. Remedial costs and other damages arising as a result of environmental laws and costs associated with changes in environmental laws and regulations could be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
The trend in U.S. environmental regulation is typically to place more restrictions and limitations on activities that may affect the environment. In particular, President Biden has issued several executive orders since taking office, and has made combating of climate change a priority under his administration. Moreover, accidental releases or spills may occur in the course of our operations, and we cannot assure you that we will not incur significant costs and liabilities as a result of such releases or spills, including any third-party claims for damage to property, natural resources or persons. Historically, our environmental compliance costs in the U.S. have not had a material adverse effect on our results of operations; however, there can be no assurance that such costs will not be material in the future or that such future compliance will not have a material adverse effect on our business and operational results. Our customers may also incur increased costs or restrictions, delays or cancellations in permitting or operating activities as a result of more stringent environmental laws and regulations, which may result in curtailment of exploration, development or production activities that would reduce the demand for our services. Any new laws and regulations, amendment of existing laws and regulations, reinterpretation of legal requirements or increased governmental enforcement that result in more stringent and costly construction, completion or water-management activities, waste handling, storage transport, disposal, or remediation requirements or increased climate-related restrictions on our customers’ operations could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations. We may be unable to pass on such increased compliance costs to our customers.
The following is a summary of the more significant existing environmental and occupational safety and health laws in the U.S., as amended from time to time, to which our operations are subject and for which compliance may have a material adverse impact on our capital expenditures, results of operations or financial position.
Hazardous substances and wastes. The federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”), and comparable state statutes regulate the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, disposal and cleanup of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. Pursuant to rules issued by the EPA, the individual states administer some or all of the provisions of RCRA, sometimes in conjunction with their own, more stringent requirements. Drilling fluids, produced waters, and most of the other wastes associated with the exploration, development, and production of oil or gas, if properly handled, are currently exempt from regulation as hazardous waste under RCRA, and instead are regulated under RCRA’s less stringent non-hazardous waste provisions, state laws or other federal laws. However, it is possible that certain oil and gas drilling and production wastes now classified as non-hazardous could be classified as hazardous wastes in the future. Any loss of the RCRA exclusion for drilling fluids, produced waters and related wastes could result in an increase in our and our oil and gas producing customers’ costs to manage and dispose of generated wastes, which could have a material adverse effect on our and our customers’ results of operations and financial position. In the course of our operations, we generate some amounts of ordinary industrial wastes, such as paint wastes, waste solvents and waste oils that may be regulated as hazardous wastes.
Wastes containing naturally occurring radioactive materials (“NORM”) may also be generated in connection with our operations. Certain processes used to produce oil and gas may enhance the radioactivity of NORM, which may be present in oilfield wastes. NORM is subject primarily to individual state radiation control regulations. In addition, NORM handling and management activities are governed by regulations promulgated by the OSHA. These state and OSHA regulations impose certain requirements concerning worker protection, the treatment, storage and disposal of NORM waste, the management of waste piles, containers and tanks containing NORM, as well as restrictions on the uses of land with NORM contamination.
The federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), also known as the Superfund law, and comparable state laws impose liability, without regard to fault or legality of conduct, on classes of persons considered to be responsible for the release of a “hazardous substance” into the environment. These persons include the current and past owner or operator of the site where the hazardous substance release occurred and anyone who disposed or arranged for the disposal of a hazardous substance released at the site. Under CERCLA, such persons may be subject to joint and several, strict liability for the costs of cleaning up the hazardous substances that have been released into the environment, for damages to natural resources and for the costs of certain health studies. CERCLA also authorizes the EPA and, in some instances, third parties to act in response to threats to the public health or the environment and to seek to recover from the responsible classes of persons the costs they incur. In addition, neighboring landowners and other third parties may file claims for personal injury and property damage allegedly caused by the hazardous substances released into the environment. We generate materials in the course of our operations that may be regulated as hazardous substances.
We currently own, lease, or operate numerous properties that have been used for activities supporting oil and gas exploration, development and production for a number of years. Although we believe that we have utilized operating and waste disposal practices that were standard in the industry at the time, hazardous substances, wastes, or petroleum hydrocarbons may have been released on, under or from the properties owned or leased by us, or on, under or from other locations, including off-site locations, where we conduct services for our customers or where such substances have been taken for treatment or disposal. In addition, some of our properties have been operated by third parties or by previous owners or operators whose treatment and disposal of hazardous substances, wastes, or petroleum hydrocarbons was not under our control. These properties and the substances disposed or released on, under or from them may be subject to CERCLA, RCRA and analogous state laws. Under such laws, we could be required to undertake response actions or corrective measures, which could include removal of previously disposed substances and wastes, cleanup of contaminated property or performance of remedial operations to prevent future contamination, the costs of which could be material.
Water discharges and use. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), and analogous state laws, impose restrictions and strict controls with respect to the discharge of pollutants, including spills and leaks of oil and hazardous substances, into state waters and waters of the U.S. The discharge of pollutants into regulated waters is prohibited, except in accordance with the terms of a permit issued by the EPA or an analogous state agency. Spill prevention, control and countermeasure plan requirements imposed under the CWA require appropriate containment berms and similar structures to help prevent the contamination of navigable waters in the event
of a petroleum hydrocarbon tank spill, rupture or leak. In addition, the CWA and analogous state laws require individual permits or coverage under general permits for discharges of stormwater runoff from certain types of facilities.
The CWA also prohibits the discharge of dredge and fill material in regulated waters, including wetlands, unless authorized by permit. There continues to be uncertainty on the federal government’s applicable jurisdictional reach under the CWA over waters of the U.S., including wetlands, as the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) under the Obama, Trump and Biden Administrations have pursued multiple rulemakings since 2015 in an attempt to determine the scope of such reach. While the EPA and Corps under the Trump Administration issued a final rule in April 2020 narrowing federal jurisdictional reach over waters of the U.S., President Biden issued an executive order in January 2021 to further review and assess these regulations consistent with the new administration’s policy objectives, following which the EPA and Corps announced plans in June 2021 to initiate a new rulemaking process that would repeal the 2020 rule and restore protections that were in place prior to 2015. Although the EPA and Corps did not seek to vacate the 2020 rule on an interim basis, two federal district courts in Arizona and New Mexico have vacated the 2020 rule in decisions announced during the third quarter of 2021. While these district court decisions may be appealed, it is clear that the EPA and Corps intend to adopt a more expansive definition for what constitutes “waters of the U.S.” As an initial step, the agencies published on December 7, 2021 a proposed rulemaking that would put back into place the pre-2015 definition of “waters of the U.S.” in effect prior to 2015 rule issued under the Obama Administration and updated to reflect consideration of Supreme Court decisions. The proposed rule, if adopted would serve as an interim approach to “waters of the U.S.” and provide the agency with time to develop a subsequent rule that builds upon the currently proposed rule-based, in part, on additional stakeholder involvement. To the extent that any new final rule or rules issued by the EPA and Corps under the Biden Administration expands the scope of the CWA’s jurisdiction in areas where we or our customers conduct operations, such developments could increase compliance expenditures or mitigation costs and also reduce the rate of production of natural gas or crude oil from operators with whom we have a business relationship and, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and cash flows. Federal and state regulatory agencies can impose administrative, civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance with discharge permits or other requirements of the CWA and analogous state laws and regulations.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (“OPA”) amends the CWA and sets minimum standards for prevention, containment and cleanup of oil spills in waters of the U.S. The OPA applies to vessels, offshore facilities, and onshore facilities, including E&P facilities that may affect waters of the U.S. Under OPA, responsible parties including owners and operators of onshore facilities may be held strictly liable for oil cleanup costs and natural resource damages as well as a variety of public and private damages that may result from oil spills. The OPA also currently limits the liability of a responsible party for economic damages, excluding all oil spill response costs, to $137.7 million; although this limit does not apply if the spill was caused by gross negligence or willful misconduct, resulted from a violation of a federal safety, construction or operating regulation, or if the party failed to report a spill or cooperate fully in the cleanup. The OPA also requires owners or operators of certain onshore facilities to prepare Facility Response Plans for responding to a worst-case discharge of oil into waters of the U.S.
Saltwater disposal wells and induced seismicity. Saltwater disposal via underground injection is regulated pursuant to the Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) program established under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (the “SDWA”) and analogous state and local laws and regulations. The UIC program includes requirements for permitting, testing, monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting of injection well activities, as well as a prohibition against the migration of fluid containing any contaminant into underground sources of drinking water. State regulations require a permit from the applicable regulatory agencies to operate underground injection wells. Although we monitor the injection process of our wells, any leakage from the subsurface portions of the injection wells could cause degradation of fresh groundwater resources, potentially resulting in suspension of our UIC permit, issuance of fines and penalties from governmental agencies, incurrence of expenditures for remediation of the affected resource and imposition of liability by third-parties claiming damages for alternative water supplies, property and personal injuries. A change in UIC disposal well regulations or the inability to obtain permits for new disposal wells in the future may affect our ability to dispose of produced waters and other substances, which could affect our business.
Furthermore, in response to seismic events in the past several years near underground disposal wells used for the disposal by injection of produced water resulting from oil and gas activities, federal and some state agencies are investigating whether such wells have caused increased seismic activity, and some states have restricted, suspended or
shut down the use of such disposal wells in certain areas prone to increased seismic activity. Developing research suggests that the link between seismic activity and wastewater disposal may vary by region and that only a very small fraction of the tens of thousands of injection wells have been suspected to be, or have been, the likely cause of induced seismicity. In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey identified six states with the most significant hazards from induced seismicity, including Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arkansas. As a result of these concerns, regulators in some states have imposed, or are considering imposing, additional requirements in the permitting of produced water disposal wells or otherwise to assess any relationship between seismicity and the use of such wells. For example, Oklahoma has issued rules for wastewater disposal wells that imposed certain permitting and operating restrictions and reporting requirements on disposal wells in proximity to faults. The Texas Railroad Commission adopted similar rules in Texas.
States also may issue orders to temporarily shut down or to curtail the injection depth of existing wells in the vicinity of seismic events. In Texas, the Texas Railroad Commission has pursued several regulatory initiatives during the latter half of 2021 as a result of recent seismic activity in an area of the Midland Basin from northeast Ector County to southwest Martin County known as the Gardendale Seismic Response Area (“SRA”), including: (i) directing wells operators in September 2021 to pursue voluntary reductions in produced water disposals from scores of produced water well facilities in response to six earthquakes of magnitude 3.5 or greater that occurred in the Gardendale SRA between February 2020 and September 2021; (ii) suspending injection operations of seven deep disposal wells within the Gardendale SRA effective December 15, 2021 in response to a 3.6 magnitude earthquake that occurred on October 26, 2021 and a 3.5 magnitude earthquake that occurred on November 16, 2021: and (iii) suspending all disposal well permits to inject oil and gas waste into deep strata within the boundaries of the Gardendale SRA (affecting some 33 wells) effective December 31, 2021. On December 31, 2020, a magnitude 4.2 earthquake occurred about 11 miles north of Stanton, Texas, about five miles east of the unincorporated community of Lenorah and 25 miles northeast of Midland. In response to this earthquake and some eight other earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 3.9, the Texas Railroad Commission established the Stanton SRA in January 2022 as a prelude to coordinating future industry-led actions to reduce the seismic hazard in this SRA. In Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission released well completions seismicity guidelines in late 2016 for operators in the SCOOP and STACK that call for hydraulic fracturing operations to be suspended following earthquakes of certain magnitudes in the vicinity and, furthermore, has, from time to time, issued orders limiting future increases in the volume of oil and gas wastewater injected below ground into the Arbuckle formation in an effort to reduce the number of earthquakes in the state.
An additional consequence of this seismic activity is lawsuits alleging that disposal well operations have caused damage to neighboring properties or otherwise violated state and federal rules regulating waste disposal. The adoption and implementation of any new laws, regulations or directives that restrict our ability to dispose of wastewater gathered from our customers by limiting volumes, disposal rates, disposal well locations or otherwise, or requiring us to shut down disposal wells, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Hydraulic fracturing activities. Hydraulic fracturing involves the injection of water, sand or other proppants and chemical additives under pressure into targeted geological formations to fracture the surrounding rock and stimulate production. Hydraulic fracturing is an important and common practice that is typically regulated by state oil and natural gas commissions or similar agencies. However, the practice continues to be controversial in certain parts of the country, resulting in increased scrutiny and regulation of the hydraulic fracturing process, including by federal agencies that have asserted regulatory authority or pursued investigations over certain aspects of the hydraulic fracturing process. For example, the EPA has asserted regulatory authority pursuant to the SDWA UIC program over hydraulic fracturing activities involving the use of diesel and issued guidance covering such activities, as well as published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”) reporting of the chemical substances and mixtures used in hydraulic fracturing.
Additionally, the EPA published an effluent limit guideline final rule prohibiting the discharge of wastewater from onshore unconventional oil and gas extraction facilities to publicly owned wastewater treatment plants. Moreover, in 2016, the federal Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) under the Obama Administration published a final rule imposing more stringent standards on hydraulic fracturing activities on federal lands, including requirements for chemical disclosure, well bore integrity, and handling of flowback water. However, in late 2018, the BLM under the Trump Administration published a final rule rescinding the 2016 final rule. Litigation challenging the BLM's 2016 final
rule as well as its 2018 final rule rescinding the 2016 rule has been pursued by various states and industry and environmental groups. While a California federal court vacated the 2018 final rule in July 2020, a Wyoming federal court subsequently vacated the 2016 final rule in October 2020 and, accordingly, both the 2016 and 2018 final rules are no longer in effect. However, appeals to those decisions are on-going. Notwithstanding these recent legal developments, further administrative and regulatory restrictions may be adopted by the Biden Administration that could restrict hydraulic fracturing activities on federal lands and waters. Also, in late 2016, the EPA released its final report on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources, concluding that “water cycle” activities associated with hydraulic fracturing may impact drinking water resources under some circumstances.
Moreover, some state and local governments have adopted, and other governmental entities are considering adopting, regulations that could impose more stringent permitting, disclosure and well-construction requirements on hydraulic fracturing operations, including states where we or our customers operate. For example, Texas, Oklahoma, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Dakota, among others, have adopted regulations that impose stringent permitting, disclosure, disposal and well-construction requirements on hydraulic fracturing operations. States could also elect to place certain prohibitions on hydraulic fracturing. In addition to state laws, local land use restrictions, such as city ordinances, may restrict drilling in general and/or hydraulic fracturing in particular, as certain local governments in California have done. Other states, such as Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio have taken steps to limit the authority of local governments to regulate oil and gas development.
In the event that new federal, state or local restrictions or bans on the hydraulic fracturing process are adopted in areas where we or our customers conduct business, we or our customers may incur additional costs or permitting requirements to comply with such requirements that may be significant in nature and our customers could experience added restrictions, delays or cancellations in their exploration, development, or production activities, which would in turn reduce the demand for our services and have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition.
Air Emissions. The U.S. Clean Air Act (“CAA”) and comparable state laws restrict the emission of air pollutants from many sources through air emissions standards, construction and operating permit programs and the imposition of other compliance standards. These laws and regulations may require us to obtain pre-approval for the construction or modification of certain projects or facilities expected to produce or significantly increase air emissions, obtain and strictly comply with stringent air permit requirements or utilize specific equipment or technologies to control emissions of certain pollutants. The need to obtain permits has the potential to delay our projects as well as our customers’ development of oil and gas projects. Over the next several years, we or our customers may incur certain capital expenditures for air pollution control equipment or other air emissions-related issues. For example, in 2015, the EPA issued a final rule under the CAA, making the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”) for ground-level ozone more stringent. Since that time, the EPA has issued attainment/nonattainment designations with respect to ground-level ozone and in December 2020, the EPA under the Trump Administration published a final action that, upon conducting a periodic review of the ozone standard in accord with CAA requirements, elected to retain the 2015 ozone NAAQS without revision on a going-forward basis. However, several groups have filed litigation over this December 2020 decision, and the Biden Administration has announced plans to reconsider the December 2020 final action in favor of a more stringent ground-level ozone NAAQS. State implementation of the revised NAAQS could also result in the imposition of more stringent requirements. Compliance with the NAAQS requirements or other air pollution control and permitting requirements has the potential to delay the development of oil and gas projects and increase our or our customers’ costs of development and production, which costs could reduce demand for our services and have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.
Climate Change. The threat of climate change continues to attract considerable attention from the public and policymakers in the U.S. and around the world. As a result, numerous proposals have been made, and more are likely forthcoming at the international, national, regional and state levels of government to monitor and limit existing emissions of greenhouse gases (“GHGs”) as well as to restrict or eliminate such future emissions. As a result, our operations as well as the operations of our oil and natural gas exploration and production customers are subject to a series of regulatory, political, litigation, and financial risks associated with the production and processing of fossil fuels and emission of GHGs.
In the U.S., no comprehensive climate change legislation has been implemented at the federal level. Federal regulatory initiatives have focused on, among other things, establishing construction and operating permit reviews for GHG emissions from certain large stationary sources, requiring the monitoring and annual reporting of GHG emissions from certain petroleum and natural gas system sources, and reducing methane emissions from oil and gas production and natural gas processing and transmission operations through limitations on venting and flaring and the implementation of enhanced emission leak detection and repair requirements. In recent years, there has been considerable uncertainty surrounding regulation of methane emissions. During 2020, the Trump Administration revised performance standards for methane established in 2016 to lessen the impact of those standards and remove the transmission and storage segments from the source category for certain regulations. However, shortly after taking office in 2021, President Biden issued an executive order calling on the EPA to revisit federal regulations regarding methane and establish new or more stringent standards for existing or new sources in the oil and gas sector, including the transmission and storage segments. The U.S. Congress also passed, and President Biden signed into law, a revocation of the 2020 rulemaking, effectively reinstating the 2016 standards. In response to President Biden’s executive order, in November 2021, the EPA issued a proposed rule that, if finalized, would establish Quad Ob new source and Quad Oc first-time existing source standards of performance for methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in the crude oil and natural gas source category. This proposed rule would apply to upstream and midstream facilities at oil and natural gas wellsites, natural gas gathering and boosting compressor stations, natural gas processing plants, and transmission and storage facilities. Owners or operators of affected emission units or processes would have to comply with specific standards of performance that may include leak detection using optical gas imaging and subsequent repair requirements, reduction of emissions by 95% through capture and control systems, zero-emission requirements, operations and maintenance requirements, and so-called green well completion requirements. The EPA plans to issue a supplemental proposal enhancing this proposed rulemaking in 2022 that will contain additional requirements that were not included in the November 2021 proposed rule. EPA anticipates issuing a final rule before end-of-year 2022.
Separately, various states and groups of states have adopted or are considering adopting legislation, regulations or other regulatory initiatives that are focused on such areas as GHG cap and trade programs, carbon taxes, reporting and tracking programs, and restriction of emissions. At the international level, there exists a non-binding agreement, the United Nations-sponsored “Paris Agreement,” which is a non-binding agreement among participating nations to limit their GHG emissions through individually-determined reduction goals every five years after 2020. President Biden announced in April 2021 a new, more rigorous nationally determined emissions reduction level of 50-52% reduction from 2005 levels in economy-wide net GHG emissions by 2030. Moreover, the international community gathered again in Glasgow in November 2021 at the 26th Conference of the Parties (“COP26”), during which multiple announcements (not having the effect of law) were made, including a call for parties to eliminate certain fossil fuel subsidies and pursue further action on non-CO2 GHGs. Relatedly, the U.S. and European Union jointly announced at COP26 the launch of a Global Methane Pledge, an initiative which over 100 counties joined, committing to a collective goal of reducing global methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030, including “all feasible reductions” in the energy sector. The impacts of these orders, pledges, agreements and any legislation or regulation promulgated to fulfill the U.S. commitments under the Paris Agreement, COP26, or other international conventions cannot be predicted at this time.
Governmental, scientific, and public concern over the threat of climate change arising from GHG emissions has given rise to increasing political risk regarding climate change. In the U.S., President Biden has issued several executive orders calling for more expansive action to address climate change and suspend new oil and gas operations on federal lands and waters. The suspension of the federal leasing activities prompted legal action by several states against the Biden Administration, resulting in issuance of a nationwide preliminary injunction by a federal district judge in Louisiana in June 2021, effectively halting implementation of the leasing suspension. The federal government is appealing the district court decision. Litigation risks are also increasing, as a number of states, municipalities and other plaintiffs have sought to bring suit against the largest oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in state or federal court, alleging, among other things, that such companies created public nuisances by producing fuels that contributed to global warming effects, such as rising sea levels, and therefore are responsible for roadway and infrastructure damages as a result, or alleging that the companies have been aware of the adverse effects of climate change for some time but defrauded their investors by failing to adequately disclose those impacts.
Moreover, access to capital by fossil fuel producers as well as other companies supporting the oil and gas industry may be impacted by climate change policies. Stockholders and bondholders currently invested in fossil fuel energy companies but concerned about the potential effects of climate change may elect in the future to shift some or all
of their investments into non-fossil fuel energy related sectors. Institutional investors who provide financing to fossil fuel energy companies have also focused on sustainability lending practices that favor “clean” power sources such as wind and solar, making those sources more attractive, and some these investors may elect not to provide funding for energy companies. Many of the largest U.S. banks have made “net zero” carbon emission commitments and have announced that they will be assessing financed emissions across their portfolios and taking steps to quantify and reduce those emissions. At COP26, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (“GFANZ”) announced that commitments from over 450 firms across 45 countries had resulted in over $130 trillion in capital committed to net zero goals. The various sub-alliances of GFANZ generally require participants to set short-term, sector-specific targets to transition their financing, investing, and/or underwriting activities to net zero emissions by 2050. These and other developments in the financial sector could lead to some lenders restricting access to capital for or divesting from certain industries or companies, including the oil and natural gas sector, or requiring that borrowers take additional steps to reduce their GHG emissions. Additionally, there is the possibility that financial institutions will be required to adopt policies that limit funding to the fossil fuel sector. In late 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it had joined the Network for Greening the Financial System (“NGFS”), a consortium of financial regulators focused on addressing climate-related risks in the financial sector. More recently, in November 2021, the Federal Reserve issued a statement in support of the efforts of the NGFS to identify key issues and potential solutions for the climate-related challenges most relevant to central banks and supervisory authorities. While we cannot predict what policies may result from this, a material reduction in the capital available to the fossil fuel industry could make it more difficult to secure funding for exploration, development, production, transportation, and processing activities, which could reduce demand for our services. To the extent the rules impose additional reporting obligations, we could face increased costs. Separately, the SEC has also announced that it is scrutinizing existing climate-change related disclosures in public filings, increasing the potential for enforcement if the SEC were to allege an issuer’s existing climate disclosures misleading or deficient.
Finally, increasing concentrations of GHG in the Earth's atmosphere may produce climate changes that have significant physical effects, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, droughts, floods, rising sea levels and other climatic events, as well as chronic shifts in temperature and precipitation patterns. These climatic developments have the potential to cause physical damage to our assets and thus could have an adverse effect on our exploration and production operations. Additionally, changing meteorological conditions, particularly temperature, may result in changes to the amount, timing, or location of demand for energy or our production. While our consideration of changing climatic conditions and inclusion of safety factors in design is intended to reduce the uncertainties that climate change and other events may potentially introduce, our ability to mitigate the adverse impacts of these events depends in part on the effectiveness of our facilities and our disaster preparedness and response and business continuity planning, which we may not have considered or be prepared for every eventuality.
Endangered Species. The federal Endangered Species Act (the “ESA”) restricts activities that may affect endangered or threatened species or their habitats. Similar protections are offered to migratory birds under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the “MBTA”). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("FWS") under the Trump Administration issued a final rule in January 2021 clarifying that criminal liability under the MBTA would apply only to actions "directed at" migratory birds, their nests, or their eggs; however, the FWS under the Biden Administration has since published a final rule in October 2021 revoking the January 2021 rule and affirmatively stating that the MBTA prohibits incidental takes of migratory birds. To the degree that species listed under the ESA or similar state laws, or are protected under the MBTA, live in the areas where we or our oil and gas producing customers operate, our and our customers’ abilities to conduct or expand operations and construct facilities could be limited or be forced to incur material additional costs. Moreover, our customers’ drilling activities may be delayed, restricted, or cancelled in protected habitat areas or during certain seasons, such as breeding and nesting seasons. Some of our operations and the operations of our customers are located in areas that are designated as habitats for protected species. In addition, the FWS may make determinations on the listing of unlisted species as endangered or threatened under the ESA. The dunes sagebrush lizard and the lesser prairie chicken are examples of species that, if listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA in the future, could impact our or our customers’ operations. The designation of previously unidentified endangered or threatened species could indirectly cause us to incur additional costs, cause our or our oil and gas producing customers’ operations to become subject to operating restrictions or bans and limit future development activity in affected areas. The FWS and similar state agencies may designate critical or suitable habitat areas that they believe are necessary for the survival of threatened or endangered species. Such a designation could materially restrict use of or access to federal, state, and private lands.
Chemical Safety. We are subject to a wide array of laws and regulations governing chemicals, including the regulation of chemical substances and inventories, such as TSCA in the U.S. These laws and regulations change frequently and have the potential to limit or ban altogether the types of chemicals we may use in our products, as well as result in increased costs related to testing, storing, and transporting our products prior to providing them to our customers. For example, in 2016, President Obama signed into law the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (the “Lautenberg Act”), which substantially revised TSCA. Amongst other items, the Lautenberg Act eliminated the cost-benefit approach to analyzing chemical safety concerns with a health-based safety standard and requires all chemicals in commerce, including those “grandfathered” under TSCA, to undergo a safety review. The Lautenberg Act also requires safety findings before a new chemical can enter the market. Although it is not possible at this time to predict how EPA will implement and interpret the new provisions of the Lautenberg Act, or how legislation or new regulations that may be adopted pursuant to these regulatory and legislative efforts would impact our business, any new restrictions on the development of new products, increases in regulation, or disclosure of confidential, competitive information could have an adverse effect on our operations and our cost of doing business.
Furthermore, governmental, regulatory and societal demands for increasing levels of product safety and environmental protection could result in increased pressure for more stringent regulatory control with respect to the chemical industry. These concerns could influence public perceptions regarding our products and operations, the viability of certain products, our reputation, the cost to comply with regulations, and the ability to attract and retain employees. Moreover, changes in environmental, health and safety regulations could inhibit or interrupt our operations, or require us to modify our facilities or operations. Accordingly, environmental or regulatory matters may cause us to incur significant unanticipated losses, costs or liabilities, which could reduce our profitability.
Occupational Safety and Health and other legal requirements. We are subject to the requirements of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act and comparable state statutes whose purpose is to protect the health and safety of workers. In addition, the OSHA’s hazard communication standard, the EPA’s Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act and comparable state regulations and any implementing regulations require that we organize and/or disclose information about hazardous materials used or produced in our operations and that this information be provided to employees, state and local governmental authorities and citizens. We have an internal program of inspection designed to monitor and enforce compliance with worker safety requirements.
In addition, as part of the services we provide, we operate as a motor carrier and therefore are subject to regulation by the U.S. Department of Transportation (“U.S. DOT”) and analogous state agencies. These regulatory authorities exercise broad powers, governing activities such as the authorization to engage in motor carrier operations, regulatory safety, and hazardous materials labeling, placarding and marking. There are additional regulations specifically relating to the trucking industry, including testing and specification of equipment and product handling requirements. The trucking industry is subject to possible regulatory and legislative changes that may affect the economics of the industry by requiring changes in operating practices or by changing the demand for common or contract carrier services or the cost of providing truckload services. From time to time, various legislative proposals are introduced, including proposals to increase federal, state or local taxes on motor fuels, among other things, which may increase our costs or adversely impact the recruitment of drivers. We cannot predict whether, or in what form, any increase in such taxes applicable to us will be enacted.
Seasonality
Our results of operations have historically been adversely affected by seasonal declines in the activity levels of our customers, typically in the fourth quarter, related to holidays, inclement winter weather and in some years the exhaustion of our customers’ annual drilling and completions capital expenditure budgets.
Intellectual Property
Protection of our products and processes is important to our businesses. We own numerous patents and, where appropriate, we file patent applications for new products and technologies. For example, we use our AquaView® technology to quantify volumes and flow rates to verify current and potential water availability and volumes when analyzing a new water source. We also currently own multiple U.S. patents relating to completions technology including
borate cross-linkers, slurry monitoring systems and others. We also have a robust program to seek patents on new developments.
We have a meaningful backlog of pending patents, including a proprietary water analytics and automation tool, as well as creating fracturing fluids with produced water, evaporation methodologies, cross-linker/breaker mechanisms and liquid distribution metering systems. While a presumption of validity exists with respect to issued U.S. patents, we cannot assure that any of our patents will not be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or rendered unenforceable. Furthermore, we cannot assure the issuance of any pending patent application, or that if patents do issue, that these patents will provide meaningful protection against competitors or against competitive technologies. Additionally, our competitors or other third parties may obtain patents that restrict or preclude our ability to lawfully produce or sell our products in a competitive manner.
We also rely upon continuing technological innovation and trade secrets to develop and maintain our competitive position. There can be no assurance that confidentiality and other agreements into which we enter and have entered will not be breached, that these agreements will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or proprietary know-how, or that adequate remedies will be available in the event of an unauthorized use or disclosure of such trade secrets and know-how. In addition, there can be no assurance that others will not obtain knowledge of these trade secrets through independent development or other access by legal means.
We also own a number of trademarks, which we use in connection with our businesses. In addition to protections through federal registration, we also rely on state common law protections to protect our brand. There can be no assurance that the trademark registrations will provide meaningful protection against the use of similar trademarks by competitors, or that the value of our trademarks will not be diluted.
Because of the breadth and nature of our intellectual property rights and our business, we do not believe that any single intellectual property right (other than certain trademarks for which we intend to maintain the applicable registrations) is material to our business. Moreover, we do not believe that the termination of intellectual property rights expected to occur over the next several years, either individually or in the aggregate, will materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Risk Management and Insurance
Our operations are subject to hazards inherent in the oil and gas industry, including accidents, blowouts, explosions, craterings, fires, oil spills and hazardous materials spills. These conditions can cause:
● personal injury or loss of life;
● damage to, or destruction of, property, the environment and wildlife; and
● the suspension of our or our customers’ operations.
In addition, claims for loss of oil and gas production and damage to formations can occur in the well services industry. If a serious accident were to occur at a location where our equipment and services are being used, it could result in us being named as a defendant in lawsuits asserting large claims.
Because our business involves the transportation of heavy equipment, freight and materials, we may also experience traffic accidents, which may result in spills, property damage and personal injury.
Despite our efforts to maintain high safety standards, including the installation of vehicle surveillance systems, from time to time we have suffered accidents, and there is a risk that we will experience accidents in the future. In addition to the property and personal losses from these accidents, the frequency and severity of these incidents affect our operating costs and insurability, and our relationship with customers, employees and regulatory agencies. In particular, in recent years many of our large customers have placed an increased emphasis on the safety records of their service
providers. Any significant increase in the frequency or severity of these incidents, or the general level of compensatory payments, could adversely affect the cost of, or our ability to obtain, workers’ compensation and other forms of insurance, and could have other material adverse effects on our financial condition and results of operations.
We maintain insurance coverage of types and amounts that we believe to be customary in the industry including workers’ compensation, employer’s liability, sudden & accidental pollution, umbrella, directors & officers, comprehensive commercial general liability, business automobile and property and equipment physical damage insurance. Our insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover our liabilities. In addition, we may not be able to maintain adequate insurance in the future at rates we consider reasonable and commercially justifiable or on terms as favorable as our current arrangements.
We enter into master service agreements (“MSAs”) with most of our customers. Our MSAs delineate our and our customer’s respective indemnification obligations with respect to the services we provide. Generally, under our MSAs, including those relating to our Water Services, Water Infrastructure, Oilfield Chemical product sales, accommodations and rentals and completion and construction services, we assume responsibility for pollution or contamination originating above the surface from our equipment or handling of the equipment of others. However, our customers generally assume responsibility for all other pollution or contamination that may occur during operations, including that which may generally result from seepage or any other uncontrolled flow of drilling fluids. The assumed responsibilities include the control, removal and cleanup of any pollution or contamination. In such cases, we may be exposed to additional liability if we are grossly negligent or commit willful acts causing the pollution or contamination. Generally, our customers also agree to indemnify us against claims arising from the personal injury or death of the customers’ employees or those of the customers’ other contractors, in the case of our hydraulic fracturing operations, to the extent that such employees are injured by such operations, unless the loss is a result of our gross negligence or willful misconduct. Similarly, we generally agree to indemnify our customers for liabilities arising from personal injury to or death of any of our employees or employees of any of our subcontractors, unless resulting from the gross negligence or willful misconduct of our customer. The same principals apply to mutual indemnification for loss or destruction of customer-owned property or equipment, except such indemnification is not limited in an instance of gross negligence or willful misconduct. Losses arising from catastrophic events, such as blowouts, are generally the responsibility of the customer. However, despite this general allocation of risk, we may be unsuccessful in enforcing contractual terms, incur an unforeseen liability that is not addressed by the scope of the contractual provisions or be required to enter into an MSA with terms that vary from our standard allocations of risk, as described above. Consequently, we may incur substantial losses that could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Available Information
We file or furnish annual, quarterly and current reports and other documents with the SEC under the Exchange Act. The SEC also maintains an internet website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers, including us, that file electronically with the SEC.
We also make available free of charge through our website, www.selectenergy.com, electronic copies of certain documents that we file with the SEC, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information on our website is not a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
The following risks could affect our financial performance or could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates contained in our forward-looking statements. We may encounter risks in addition to those described below. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us, or that we currently deem to be immaterial, may also impair or adversely affect our business, results of operation, financial condition and prospects.
Risks Related to Our Business Operations
Our business depends on capital spending by the oil and gas industry in the U.S. and reductions in capital spending could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
Demand for our services is directly affected by capital spending by our customers to explore for, develop and produce oil and gas in the U.S. Capital spending is generally dependent on our customers’ views of future demand for oil and gas and future oil and gas prices, as well as our customers’ ability to access capital. In March 2020, Saudi Arabia and Russia failed to reach a decision to cut production of oil and gas along with OPEC. Subsequently, Saudi Arabia significantly reduced the prices at which it sells oil and announced plans to increase production. These events, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, contributed to a sharp drop in prices for oil in the first quarter of 2020 continuing into the second quarter of 2020. In April 2020, OPEC+ agreed to curtail oil production by approximately 10 million barrels per day in a coordinated effort to bring supply into better alignment with demand and thereby support the price of oil. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the average West Texas Intermediate (“WTI”) spot price was $68.16, versus an average price of $39.16 for the year ended December 31, 2020 and $56.99 for the year ended December 31, 2019. While oil prices have increased significantly through the year ended December 31, 2021 since their lows in April 2020, the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated impacts to global oil demand may result in continued uncertainty around the near-term price of oil.
Volatility in oil prices or natural gas prices (or the perception that oil prices or natural gas prices will decrease) affects the spending patterns of our customers and may result in the drilling or completion of fewer new wells or lower spending on existing wells. This, in turn, could lead to lower demand for our services and may cause lower rates and lower utilization of our assets. For example, multiple leading international and national oil companies, as well as public and private independent oil and gas producers, severely reduced capital expenditures in 2020 and 2021. While initial customer budget indications for 2022 are generally positive, factors outside of our control can alter these budgets, or lead customers to underspend their budgets. Even in an environment of stronger oil and gas prices, fewer oil and gas well completions in our market areas as a result of decreased capital spending may have a negative long-term impact on our business. Any of these conditions or events could adversely affect our operating results and may continue to do so into the future. Sustained market uncertainty could also result in lower demand for our services, which could adversely affect our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
Industry conditions are influenced by numerous factors over which we have no control, including:
● the severity and duration of world health events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, related economic repercussions and the resulting severe disruption in the oil and gas industry and negative impact on demand for oil and gas, which is negatively impacting our business;
● domestic and foreign economic conditions and supply of and demand for oil and gas;
● the level of prices, and expectations regarding future prices, of oil and gas;
● the level of global oil and gas exploration and production and storage capacity;
● operational challenges relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus, including logistical challenges resulting from limited worksite access, remote work arrangements, performance of contracts and supply chain disruption;
● recommendations of, or restrictions imposed by, government and health authorities, including travel bans, quarantines, and shelter-in-place orders to address the COVID-19 pandemic including potential vaccine mandates;
● actions by the members of OPEC+ with respect to oil production levels and announcements of potential changes in such levels, including the ability of the OPEC+ countries to agree on and comply with supply limitations;
● governmental regulations, including the policies of governments regarding the exploration for and production and development of their oil and gas reserves;
● taxation and royalty charges;
● political and economic conditions in oil and gas producing countries;
● global weather conditions, pandemics and natural disasters;
● worldwide political, military and economic conditions;
● political or civil unrest in the U.S. or elsewhere;
● the cost of producing and delivering oil and gas;
● the discovery rates of new oil and gas reserves;
● activities by non-governmental organizations to limit certain sources of funding for the energy sector or restrict the exploration, development and production of oil and gas;
● the ability of oil and gas producers to access capital;
● technical advances affecting production efficiencies and overall energy consumption; and
● the potential acceleration of the development of alternative fuels.
The widespread outbreak of an illness or any other communicable disease, or any other public health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The global or national outbreak of an illness or any other communicable disease, or any other public health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may cause disruptions to our business and operational plans, which may include (i) shortages of qualified employees in a given area, (ii) unavailability of contractors and subcontractors, (iii) interruption of supplies from third parties upon which we rely, (iv) recommendations of, or restrictions imposed by, government and health authorities, including quarantines, to address the COVID-19 pandemic, (v) restrictions that we and our contractors and subcontractors impose, including facility shutdowns or access restrictions, to ensure the safety of employees and (vi) reductions, delays or cancellations of planned operations by our customers. Additionally, these disruptions could negatively impact our financial results. For example, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we temporarily closed our corporate offices and restricted all non-critical personnel to work remotely for a period of time, reduced headcount and employee salaries both temporarily and permanently, closed certain yard locations, reduced third-party expenses, streamlined operations, reduced capital expenditures and recorded impairment expenses.
Further, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns regarding its global spread have negatively impacted the global economy, reduced global oil demand, disrupted global supply chains and created significant volatility and disruption of financial and commodities markets, which could lead to our customers curtailing existing production due to lack of downstream demand or storage capacity as well as reducing or eliminating the number of wells completed in the near to medium term. Additionally, a significant majority of states as well as local jurisdictions have imposed, and others in the future may impose, "stay-at-home" orders, quarantines, executive orders and similar government orders and restrictions for their residents to control the spread of COVID-19. Such orders or restrictions, and the perception that such orders or restrictions could occur, have resulted in business closures, work stoppages, slowdowns and delays, work-from-home policies, travel restrictions and cancellation of events, among other effects.
The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operational and financial performance, including our ability to execute our business strategies and initiatives, will depend on future developments, including the duration and spread of COVID-19 and related restrictions on travel and general mobility, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted. An extended period of global supply chain and economic disruption, as well as significantly decreased demand for oil and gas, could materially affect our business, results of operations, access to sources of liquidity and financial condition.
The failure to successfully combine our business and Nuverra’s business in the expected time frame may adversely affect our future results.
If our business and Nuverra’s business are not successfully integrated, the anticipated benefits of the Nuverra merger may not be realized fully or at all or may take longer to realize than expected. In addition, the actual integration may result in additional and unforeseen expenses, which could reduce the anticipated benefits of the Nuverra merger.
It is possible that the integration process could result in the loss of key employees, as well as the disruption of our ongoing businesses or inconsistencies in our standards, controls, procedures and policies. Any or all of those occurrences could adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with customers and employees after the Nuverra merger or to achieve the anticipated benefits of the Nuverra merger. Integration efforts between Nuverra and us will also divert management attention and resources. These integration matters could have an adverse effect on us.
If volatility in oil prices or natural gas prices continues, the demand for our services could be adversely affected.
The demand for our services is primarily determined by current and anticipated oil and natural gas prices and the related levels of capital spending and drilling activity in the areas in which we have operations. Volatility or weakness in oil prices or natural gas prices (or the perception that oil prices or natural gas prices will decrease) affects the spending patterns of our customers and may result in the drilling or completion of fewer new wells or lower production spending on existing wells. This, in turn, could lead to lower demand for our services and may cause lower rates and lower utilization of our assets. If oil prices or natural gas prices decline, or if completions activity is reduced, the demand for our services and our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
Prices for oil and gas historically have been extremely volatile and are expected to continue to be volatile. During 2021, the WTI price for oil ranged from $47.47 to $85.64 per Bbl and the Henry Hub natural gas price ranged from $2.43 to $23.86. If the prices of oil and natural gas decline, our operations, financial condition, cash flows and level of expenditures may be materially and adversely affected.
Recent volatility in oil and gas prices and pressure from investors has led, and may continue to lead, our customers to implement a more disciplined capital spending strategy. This disciplined approach has led to, and could continue to result in, reduced demand for our services and cause our customers to demand lower rates for our services, which could materially and adversely affect our results of operation.
We have developed certain key infrastructure assets in the Bakken area of North Dakota and in the Northern Delaware Basin region of the Permian Basin in New Mexico, making us vulnerable to risks associated with conducting business in these regions.
We have secured three governmental permits that enable us to withdraw water from the Missouri River and Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota and have developed and expect to develop in the future significant water infrastructure related to these permits.
Because of the key nature of these permits and water infrastructure within the Bakken, the success and profitability of our business may be disproportionately exposed to factors impacting this region. These factors include, among others: (i) the prices of, and associated costs to produce, crude oil and gas from wells in the Bakken and other regional supply and demand factors (including the generally higher cost nature of production in the Bakken compared to other major shale plays and the pricing differentials that exist in the Bakken because of transportation constraints); (ii) the amount of exploration, development and production activities of our Bakken customers and their spending on our services; (iii) our ability to keep and maintain our governmental water permits; (iv) the cost of operations and the prices
we can charge our customers in this region; and (v) the availability of equipment, supplies, and labor. Although we currently have secured key permits for water in this region, if we were to lose our water rights for any reason, including termination by the government upon the occurrence of a material breach, including nonpayment and default in performance, unexpected adverse environmental impacts, or our competitors were able to secure equivalent rights, our business could be materially harmed. In addition, our operations in the Bakken field may be adversely affected by severe weather events such as floods, blizzards, ice storms and tornadoes. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, our Bakken operations represented 2.5%, 6.4% and 7.1%, respectively, of our revenues. The concentration of our water permits and significant infrastructure assets in North Dakota also increases our exposure to changes in local laws and regulations, including those designed to protect wildlife and unexpected events that may occur in this region such as seismic events, industrial accidents or labor difficulties. Any of the risks described above could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Additionally, through acquisition and organic development efforts, we have bolstered our water and water-related services to our customers in New Mexico. We expect to further develop those water and water-related services in the state in the future but the future availability of, and/or access to, water in New Mexico will be affected by the results of a case, Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado, which is currently stayed pending further order by a special master. It is anticipated that any trial will commence in late summer 2022 and extend into the fall. In this lawsuit, Texas is alleging that New Mexico is unlawfully allowing diversion of Rio Grande surface water, including groundwater hydrologically connected to the Rio Grande, and thereby depriving Texas of the full amount of Rio Grande water it is due under the Rio Grande Compact, which agreement was created in 1938 to ensure that the two states and the state of Colorado would get their fair share of water from the river. To the extent that this lawsuit is adversely decided against New Mexico, the state could, among other things, be required to provide more water downstream to Texas, which could reduce the availability of and/or access to water to existing or new water rights holders in New Mexico. The risk of such adverse development could reduce our ability to obtain or maintain access to water for our customers’ operations in the vicinity of our assets in New Mexico and have a corresponding adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Restrictions on the ability to procure water or changes in water sourcing or disposal requirements could decrease the demand for our water-related services.
Our business includes water transfer for use in our customers’ oil and gas E&P activities. Our access to the water we supply may be limited due to prolonged drought or our inability to acquire or maintain water sourcing permits or other rights. In addition, some state and local governmental authorities have begun to monitor or restrict the use of water subject to their jurisdiction for hydraulic fracturing to ensure adequate local water supply. For instance, some states require E&P companies to report certain information regarding the water they use for hydraulic fracturing and to monitor the quality of groundwater surrounding some wells stimulated by hydraulic fracturing. Any such decrease in the availability of water, or demand for water services, could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
The adoption of more stringent trucking legislation or regulations may increase our costs and could have an adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations, and financial condition.
During 2021, our trucking operations significantly increased as a result of the Complete and Basic asset acquisitions. In connection with the services we provide, we operate as a motor carrier and therefore are subject to regulation by the U.S. DOT and analogous state agencies, which govern such activities as the authorization to engage in motor carrier operations and regulatory safety. The trucking industry is subject to possible legislative and regulatory changes that may affect the economics of the industry by requiring changes in operating practices or by changing the demand for common or contract carrier services or the cost of providing truckload services.
Moreover, from time to time, various legislative proposals are introduced, including proposals to increase federal, state or local taxes, including taxes on motor fuels, which may increase our costs or adversely affect the recruitment of drivers. Management cannot predict whether, or in what form, any increase in such taxes applicable to us will be enacted. We may be required to increase operating expenses or capital expenditures in order to comply with any new laws, regulations or other restrictions. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on the DOT and associated trucking matters.
Fuel conservation measures could reduce demand for oil and natural gas which would, in turn, reduce the demand for our services.
Fuel conservation measures, alternative fuel requirements and increasing consumer demand for alternatives to oil and natural gas could reduce demand for oil and natural gas. The impact of declining demand for oil and natural gas may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, prospects, results of operations and cash flows. Additionally, the increased competitiveness of alternative energy sources (such as wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, fuel cells and biofuels) could reduce demand for hydrocarbons and therefore for our services, which would lead to a reduction in our revenues.
We may be unable to implement price increases or maintain existing prices on our core services.
We periodically seek to increase the prices on our services to offset rising costs and to improve returns on investment for our stockholders. However, we operate in a very competitive industry and as a result, we are not always successful in raising, or maintaining, our existing prices. Additionally, during periods of increased market demand, a significant amount of new service capacity, including new water transfer equipment, fluid hauling trucks and pipelines, may enter the market, which also puts pressure on the pricing of our services and limits our ability to increase prices.
Even when we are able to increase our prices, we may not be able to do so at a rate that is sufficient to offset rising costs. In periods of high demand for oilfield services, a tighter labor market may result in higher labor costs. During such periods, our labor costs could increase at a greater rate than our ability to raise prices for our services. Also, we may not be able to successfully increase prices without adversely affecting our activity levels. The inability to maintain our pricing and to increase our pricing as costs increase could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.
We have operated at a loss in the past, including in 2021, and there is no assurance of our profitability in the future.
Historically, we have experienced periods of low demand for our services and have incurred operating losses, including in 2021. In the future, we may not be able to reduce our costs, increase our revenues or reduce our debt service obligations sufficient to achieve or maintain profitability and generate positive operating income. Under such circumstances, we may incur further operating losses and experience negative operating cash flow.
We may be subject to claims for personal injury and property damage, which could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We operate with most of our customers under MSAs. We endeavor to allocate potential liabilities and risks between the parties in the MSAs. Generally, under our MSAs, including those relating to our services, we assume responsibility for, including control and removal of, pollution or contamination which originates above the surface and originates from our equipment or services. Our customers generally assume responsibility for, including control and removal of, all other pollution or contamination which may occur during operations, including that which may result from seepage or any other uncontrolled flow of drilling fluids. We may have liability in such cases if we are negligent or commit willful acts. Generally, our customers also agree to indemnify us against claims arising from their employees’ personal injury or death to the extent that, in the case of our operations, their employees are injured or their properties are damaged by such operations unless resulting from our gross negligence or willful misconduct. Similarly, we generally agree to indemnify our customers for liabilities arising from personal injury to or death of any of our employees, unless resulting from gross negligence or willful misconduct of the customer. In addition, our customers generally agree to indemnify us for loss or destruction of customer-owned property or equipment and in turn, we agree to indemnify our customers for loss or destruction of property or equipment we own. Losses due to catastrophic events, such as blowouts, are generally the responsibility of the customer. However, despite this general allocation of risk, we might not succeed in enforcing such contractual allocation, might incur an unforeseen liability falling outside the scope of such allocation or may be required to enter into an MSA with terms that vary from the above allocations of risk. As a result, we may incur substantial losses, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We operate in a highly competitive industry, which may intensify as our competitors expand their operations, thereby causing us to lose market share, and which could negatively affect our ability to expand our operations.
The oilfield water management business is highly competitive and includes numerous small companies capable of competing effectively in our markets on a local basis. Some of our larger diversified competitors have a similarly broad geographic scope, as well as greater financial and other resources than us, while others focus on specific basins only and may have locally competitive cost efficiencies as a result. Additionally, there may be new companies that enter our markets, or our existing and potential customers may choose to develop their own water management solutions. Our ability to maintain current revenue and cash flows, and our ability to expand our operations, could be adversely affected by the activities of our competitors and our customers. We may be unable to effectively compete if our competitors substantially increase the resources they devote to the development and marketing of the services that we offer, or substantially decrease the prices at which they offer their services. If our existing and potential customers develop their own water solutions, we may not be able to effectively replace that revenue. All of these competitive pressures could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The oil and gas services industry is intensely competitive, and in certain businesses we compete with other companies that have greater resources than us. Many of our larger competitors provide a broader base of services on a regional, national or worldwide basis. These companies may have a greater ability to continue oilfield service activities during periods of low commodity prices, to contract for equipment, to secure trained personnel, to secure contracts and permits and to absorb the burden of present and future federal, state, provincial, local and other laws and regulations (as applicable). Any inability to compete effectively with larger companies could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
Our operations involve risks that may increase our operating costs, which could reduce our profitability.
Although we take precautions to enhance the safety of our operations and minimize the risk of disruptions, our operations are subject to hazards inherent in the manufacturing and marketing of chemical and other products. These hazards include chemical spills, pipeline leaks and ruptures, storage tank leaks, discharges or releases of toxic or hazardous substances or gases and other hazards incident to the manufacturing, processing, handling, transportation and storage of hazardous chemicals. We are also potentially subject to other hazards, including natural disasters and severe weather; explosions and fires; transportation problems, including interruptions, spills and leaks; mechanical failures; unscheduled downtimes; labor difficulties; remediation complications; and other risks. Many potential hazards can cause bodily injury and loss of life, severe damage to or destruction of property and equipment and environmental damage, and may result in suspension of operations and the imposition of civil or criminal penalties and liabilities. Furthermore, we are subject to present and future claims with respect to workplace exposure, exposure of contractors on our premises as well as other persons located nearby, workers’ compensation and other matters.
We maintain property, business interruption, products liability and casualty insurance policies which we believe are in accordance with customary industry practices, as well as insurance policies covering other types of risks, including pollution legal liability insurance, but we are not fully insured against all potential hazards and risks incident to our business. Each of these insurance policies is subject to customary exclusions, deductibles and coverage limits, in accordance with industry standards and practices. As a result of market conditions, premiums and deductibles for certain insurance policies can increase substantially and, in some instances, certain insurance may become unavailable or available only for reduced amounts of coverage. If we were to incur a significant liability for which we were not fully insured, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.
In addition, we are subject to various claims and litigation in the ordinary course of business. We are a party to various pending lawsuits and proceedings. For more information, see Part I, Item 3. “Legal Proceedings.”
Delays or restrictions in obtaining permits by us for our operations or by our E&P customers for their operations could impair our business.
Our operations and the operations of our E&P customers in most states require permits from one or more governmental agencies in order to perform drilling and completion activities, secure water rights, construct impoundment
tanks and operate pipelines or trucking services. Such permits are typically issued by state agencies, but federal and local governmental permits may also be required. In addition, some of our customers’ drilling and completion activities in the U.S. may take place on federal land or Native American lands, requiring leases and other approvals from the federal government or Native American tribes to conduct such drilling and completion activities. Under certain circumstances, federal agencies may cancel proposed leases for federal lands and refuse to grant or delay required approvals. Moreover, President Biden issued an executive order in January 2021 to suspend new federal leasing activities on federal lands and waters, which suspension also restricts the ability to conduct hydraulic fracturing on those federal lands that are not leased; however, a nationwide preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Louisiana in June 2021 has effectively halted implementation of the leasing suspension but the federal government is appealing the issuance of the injunction. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on possible actions under the Biden Administration that may adversely affect oil and natural gas leasing and permitting activities.
We are subject to cybersecurity risks. A cyber incident could occur and result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.
The oil and gas services industry has become increasingly dependent on digital technologies to conduct certain processing activities. For example, we depend on digital technologies to perform many of our services and to process and record financial and operating data. At the same time, cyber incidents, including deliberate attacks or unintentional events, have increased. The U.S. government has issued public warnings that indicate that energy assets might be specific targets of cybersecurity threats. Our technologies, systems and networks, and those of our vendors, suppliers and other business partners, may become the target of cyber attacks or information security breaches that could result in the unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, loss or destruction of proprietary and other information, or other disruption of business operations. In addition, certain cyber incidents, such as surveillance, may remain undetected for an extended period. Our systems for protecting against cybersecurity risks may not be sufficient. As cyber incidents continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to cyber incidents. Our insurance coverage for cyber attacks may not be sufficient to cover all the losses we may experience as a result of such cyber attacks.
If we are unable to fully protect our intellectual property rights, we may suffer a loss in our competitive advantage or market share.
We do not have patents or patent applications relating to many of our proprietary chemicals. If we are not able to maintain the confidentiality of our trade secrets, or if our competitors are able to replicate our technology or services, our competitive advantage would be diminished. We also cannot assure you that any patents we may obtain in the future would provide us with any significant commercial benefit or would allow us to prevent our competitors from employing comparable technologies or processes.
Technology advancements in well service technologies, including those involving the replacement of water in fracturing fluid, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The oilfield services industry is characterized by rapid and significant technological advancements and introductions of new products and services using new technologies. As competitors and others use or develop new technologies or technologies comparable to ours in the future, we may lose market share or be placed at a competitive disadvantage. For example, some oil and gas producers are focusing on developing and utilizing non-water fracturing techniques, including those utilizing propane, carbon dioxide or nitrogen instead of water. Further, we may face competitive pressure to implement or acquire certain new technologies at a substantial cost. Some of our competitors may have greater financial, technical and personnel resources than we do, which may allow them to gain technological advantages or implement new technologies before we can. Additionally, we may be unable to implement new technologies or products at all, on a timely basis or at an acceptable cost. New technology could also make it easier for our customers to vertically integrate their operations or reduce the amount of waste produced in oil and gas drilling and production activities, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for third-party disposal. Limits on our ability to effectively use or implement new technologies may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may be adversely affected by uncertainty in the global financial markets and a worldwide economic downturn.
Our future results may be impacted by uncertainty caused by a worldwide economic downturn, continued volatility or deterioration in the debt and equity capital markets, inflation, deflation or other adverse economic conditions that may negatively affect us or parties with whom we do business resulting in a reduction in our customers’ spending and their non-payment or inability to perform obligations owed to us, such as the failure of customers to honor their commitments or the failure of major suppliers to complete orders. The COVID-19 pandemic has created global uncertainty that has negatively affected our business and industry and will continue to do so. Additionally, credit market conditions may change, slowing our collection efforts as customers may experience increased difficulty in obtaining requisite financing, potentially leading to lost revenue and higher than normal accounts receivable. In the event of the financial distress or bankruptcy of a customer, we could lose all or a portion of such outstanding accounts receivable associated with that customer. Further, all or a portion of our service contracts could be cancelled at significant expense or loss of expected revenues to us if a customer was to enter into bankruptcy.
The current global economic environment may adversely impact our ability to issue debt. Any economic uncertainty may cause institutional investors to respond to their borrowers by increasing interest rates, enacting tighter lending standards or refusing to refinance existing debt upon its maturity or on terms similar to the expiring debt. Due to the above-listed factors, we cannot be certain that additional funding will be available if needed and, to the extent required, on acceptable terms.
Our operations are subject to inherent risks, some of which are beyond our control. These risks may be self-insured, or may not be fully covered under our insurance policies.
Our operations are subject to hazards inherent in the oil and gas industry, such as, but not limited to, accidents, blowouts, explosions, craterings, fires, oil spills and releases of drilling, completion or fracturing fluids or wastewater into the environment. These conditions can cause:
● disruption in operations;
● substantial repair or remediate costs;
● personal injury or loss of human life;
● significant damage to or destruction of property, plant and equipment;
● environmental pollution, including groundwater contamination;
● impairment or suspension of operations; and
● substantial revenue loss.
The occurrence of a significant event or adverse claim in excess of the insurance coverage that we maintain or that is not covered by insurance could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition. Any interruption in our services due to pipeline breakdowns or necessary maintenance or repairs could reduce sales revenues and earnings. In addition, claims for loss of oil and gas production and damage to formations can occur in the well services industry. Litigation arising from a catastrophic occurrence at a location where our equipment and services are being used may result in our being named as a defendant in lawsuits asserting large claims.
We do not have insurance against all foreseeable risks, either because insurance is not available or because of the high premium costs. The occurrence of an event not fully insured against or the failure of an insurer to meet its insurance obligations could result in substantial losses. In addition, we may not be able to maintain adequate insurance in the future at rates we consider reasonable. Insurance may not be available to cover any or all of the risks to which we are subject, or, even if available, it may be inadequate, or insurance premiums or other costs could rise significantly in the future so as to make such insurance prohibitively expensive.
Seasonal weather conditions and natural disasters could severely disrupt normal operations and harm our business.
Our water solutions operations are located primarily in the southern, mid-western and eastern U.S. Certain of these areas are adversely affected by seasonal weather conditions, primarily in the winter and spring. During periods of heavy snow, ice or rain, we may be unable to move our equipment between locations, thereby reducing our ability to provide services and generate revenues. Additionally, extended drought conditions in our operating regions could impact our ability to source sufficient water for our customers or increase the cost for such water. As a result, a natural disaster or inclement weather conditions could severely disrupt the normal operation of our business and adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations.
A terrorist attack, armed conflict or unrest could harm our business.
The occurrence or threat of terrorist attacks in the U.S. or other countries, anti-terrorist efforts and other armed conflicts involving the U.S. or other countries, including continued hostilities in the Middle East, and political or civil unrest in the U.S. may adversely affect the U.S. and global economies and could prevent us from meeting our financial and other obligations. Additionally, destructive forms of protest and opposition by extremists and other disruptions, including acts of sabotage or eco-terrorism, against oil and natural gas development and production activities could potentially result in personal injury to persons, damages to property, natural resources or the environment, or lead to extended interruptions of our or our customers’ operations. If any of these events occur, the resulting political instability and societal disruption could reduce overall demand for oil and gas, potentially putting downward pressure on demand for our services and causing a reduction in our revenues. Oil and gas related facilities could be direct targets of such terrorist attacks or unrest, and our operations could be adversely impacted if infrastructure integral to our customers’ operations is destroyed or damaged. Costs for insurance and other security may increase as a result of these threats, and some insurance coverage may become more difficult to obtain, if available at all.
Disruptions in the transportation services of trucking companies transporting wastewater and other oilfield products could have an adverse effect on our results.
During 2021, we expanded our trucking operations with the acquisitions of Complete and Basic. We use trucks to transport some produced water to our wastewater disposal facilities. In recent years, certain states, such as North Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico and certain state counties have increased enforcement of weight limits on trucks used to transport raw materials on their public roads. It is possible that the states, counties and municipalities in which we operate our business may modify their laws or regulations to further reduce truck weight limits or impose curfews or other restrictions on the use of roadways. Such legislation and regulations and associated enforcement efforts could result in delays, and increased costs, with respect to the transport of produced water to our wastewater disposal facilities, which may either increase our operating costs or reduce the amount of produced water transported to our facilities. Such developments could decrease our operating margins or amounts of produced water and thereby have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
A significant increase in fuel prices may adversely affect our transportation costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
Fuel is one of our significant operating expenses, and a significant increase in fuel prices could result in increased transportation costs. The price and supply of fuel is unpredictable and fluctuates based on events such as geopolitical developments, supply and demand for oil and gas, actions by oil and gas producers, war and unrest in oil producing countries and regions, regional production patterns and weather concerns. A significant increase in fuel prices could increase the price of, and therefore reduce demand for, our services, which could affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Related to Customers and Suppliers
The deterioration of the financial condition of our customers could adversely affect our business.
During times when the gas or crude oil markets weaken, including during 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, our customers are more likely to experience financial difficulties, including being unable to access debt or equity financing, which could result in a reduction in our customers’ spending for our services. In addition, in the course of our business we hold accounts receivable from our customers. In the event of the financial distress or bankruptcy of a customer, we could lose all or a portion of such outstanding accounts receivable associated with that customer. Further, all or a portion of our service contracts could be cancelled at significant expense or loss of expected revenues to us if a customer was to enter into bankruptcy.
Disruptions in production at our chemical manufacturing facilities may have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and/or financial condition.
Chemical manufacturing facilities in our industry are subject to outages and other disruptions. Serious disruptions at any of our facilities could impair our ability to use our facilities and have a material adverse impact on our revenue and increase our costs and expenses. Unplanned production disruptions may occur for external reasons including natural disasters, weather, disease, strikes, transportation interruption, government regulation, political or civil unrest or terrorism, or internal reasons, such as fire, unplanned maintenance or other manufacturing problems. Moreover, alternative facilities with sufficient capacity may not be available, may cost substantially more or may take a significant time to increase production or qualify with our customers, any of which could negatively impact our business, results of operations and/or financial condition. Long-term production disruptions may cause our customers to seek alternative supply, which could further adversely affect our profitability.
Unplanned production disruptions may occur for external reasons including natural disasters, world health events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, weather, disease, strikes, transportation interruption, government regulation, political or civil unrest or terrorism, or internal reasons, such as fire, unplanned maintenance or other manufacturing problems. Any such production disruption could have a material impact on our operations, operating results and financial condition.
Additionally, we rely on a number of vendors, suppliers, and in some cases sole-source suppliers, service providers, toll manufacturers and collaborations with other industry participants to provide us with chemicals, feedstocks and other raw materials, along with energy sources and, in certain cases, facilities that we need to operate our business. If the business of these third parties is disrupted, some of these companies could be forced to reduce their output, shut down their operations or file for bankruptcy protection. If this were to occur, it could adversely affect their ability to provide us with the raw materials, energy sources or facilities that we need, which could materially disrupt our operations, including the production of certain of our chemical products. Moreover, it could be difficult to find replacements for certain of our business partners without incurring significant delays or cost increases. All of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.
While we maintain business recovery plans that are intended to allow us to recover from natural disasters or other events that could disrupt our business, we cannot provide assurances that our plans would fully protect us from the effects of all such disasters or from events that might increase in frequency or intensity due to climate change. In addition, insurance may not adequately compensate us for any losses incurred as a result of natural or other disasters. In areas prone to frequent natural or other disasters, insurance may become increasingly expensive or not available at all.
Constraints in the supply of equipment used in providing services to our customers and replacement parts for such could affect our ability to execute our growth strategies.
Equipment used in providing services to our customers is normally readily available. Market conditions could trigger constraints in the supply chain of certain equipment or replacement parts for such equipment, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. The majority of our risk associated with supply chain constraints occurs in those situations where we have a relationship with a single supplier for a particular resource.
Unsatisfactory safety performance may negatively affect our E&P customer relationships and, to the extent we fail to retain existing customers or attract new customers, adversely impact our revenues.
Our ability to retain existing E&P customers and attract new business is dependent on many factors, including our ability to demonstrate that we can reliably and safely operate our business and stay current on constantly changing rules, regulations, training and laws. Existing and potential customers consider the safety record of their service providers to be of high importance in their decision to engage third-party services. If one or more accidents were to occur at one of our operating sites, the affected customer may seek to terminate or cancel its use of our facilities or services and may be less likely to continue to use our services, which could cause us to lose substantial revenues. Further, our ability to attract new customers may be impaired if they elect not to purchase our third-party services because they view our safety record as unacceptable. In addition, it is possible that we will experience numerous or particularly severe accidents in the future, causing our safety record to deteriorate. This may be more likely as we continue to grow, if we experience high employee turnover or labor shortage, or add inexperienced personnel. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on worker safety matters.
Significant price volatility or interruptions in supply of our raw materials for our chemicals business may result in increased costs that we may be unable to pass on to our customers, which could reduce profitability.
We purchase a substantial portion of our raw materials for our chemicals business from third-party suppliers and the cost of these raw materials represents a substantial portion of our operating expenses. The prices of the raw materials that we purchase from third parties are cyclical and volatile. Our supply agreements provide us only limited protection against price volatility because they are entered into either on a short-term basis or are longer-term volume contracts, which provide for market-based pricing renegotiated several times per year. While we attempt to match cost increases with corresponding product price increases, we are not always able to raise product prices immediately or at all. Timing differences between raw material prices, which may change daily, and contractual product prices, which in many cases are negotiated only monthly or less often, have had and may continue to have a negative effect on our cash flow. Any cost increase that we are not able to pass on to our customers could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.
There are several raw materials for which there are only a limited number of suppliers or a single supplier. To mitigate potential supply constraints, we enter into supply agreements with particular suppliers, evaluate alternative sources of supply and evaluate alternative technologies to avoid reliance on limited or sole-source suppliers. Where supply relationships are concentrated, particular attention is paid by the parties to ensure strategic intentions are aligned to facilitate long-term planning. If certain of our suppliers are unable to meet their obligations under present supply agreements, we may be forced to pay higher prices to obtain the necessary raw materials from other sources and we may not be able to increase prices for our finished products to recoup the higher raw materials costs. Any interruption in the supply of raw materials could increase our costs or decrease our revenue, which could reduce our cash flow. The inability of a supplier to meet our raw material needs could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
The number of sources for and availability of certain raw materials is also specific to the particular geographical region in which a facility is located. Political and economic instability in the countries from which we purchase our raw material supplies could adversely affect their availability. In addition, if raw materials become unavailable within a geographic area from which they are now sourced, we may not be able to obtain suitable or cost-effective substitutes. During 2021, the importation of internationally sourced chemicals presented new challenges such as increased freight costs, limited container space, and reduced production of certain chemicals. We may also experience higher operating costs such as energy or transportation costs, which could affect our profitability. We may not always be able to increase our selling prices to offset the impact of any higher production costs or reduced production levels, which could reduce our earnings and decrease our liquidity.
Risks Related to Compliance with Regulations
Laws, regulations, executive actions and other regulatory initiatives in the U.S. relating to hydraulic fracturing could increase our costs of doing business and result in additional operating restrictions, delays or cancellations in the drilling and completion of oil and gas wells, or possible restrictions on the performance of hydraulic fracturing that may reduce demand for our services and could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
Although we do not directly engage in hydraulic fracturing, our operations support many of our E&P customers in such activities. The practice continues to be controversial in certain parts of the country, resulting in increased scrutiny and regulation of the hydraulic fracturing process, including by federal and state agencies and local municipalities. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on these hydraulic fracturing and seismicity matters.
The adoption of any federal, state or local laws or the implementation of regulations or issuance of executive orders regarding hydraulic fracturing activities or leasing activities on federal properties could potentially cause a decrease in the completion of new oil and gas wells and an associated decrease in demand for our services and increased compliance costs and time, which could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations, and financial condition.
Our and our E&P customers' operations are subject to a number of risks arising out of the threat of climate change, energy conservation measures or initiatives that stimulate demand for alternative forms of energy, which could result in increased operating and capital costs for our customers, restrictions on drilling for our customers and reduced demand for the products and services we provide.
The threat of climate change continues to attract considerable attention in the U.S. and foreign countries. As a result, numerous proposals have been made and are likely to continue to be made at the international, national, regional and state levels of government to monitor and limit emissions of GHGs as well as to eliminate such future emissions. As a result, our operations as well as the operations of our E&P customers are subject to a series of regulatory, political, litigation and financial risks associated with the production and processing of fossil fuels and emission of GHGs. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on the threat of climate and restriction of GHG emissions. The adoption and implementation of any international, federal, regional or state legislation, executive actions, regulations or other regulatory initiatives that impose more stringent standards for GHG emissions from the oil and natural gas sector or otherwise restrict the areas in which this sector may produce oil and natural gas or generate GHG emissions could result in increased compliance costs or costs of consuming fossil fuels. Such legislation, executive actions or regulations could result in increased costs of compliance or costs of consuming, and thereby reduce demand for oil and natural gas, which could reduce demand for our products and services. Additionally, political, financial and litigation risks may result in our customers restricting, delaying or canceling production activities, incurring liability for infrastructure damages as a result of climatic changes, or impairing the ability to continue to operate in an economic manner, which also could reduce demand for our products and services. The occurrence of one or more of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Moreover, the increased competitiveness of alternative energy sources (such as wind, solar geothermal, tidal and biofuels) could reduce demand for hydrocarbons, and therefore for our products and services, which would lead to a reduction in our revenues.
Our chemical products are subject to stringent chemical control laws that could result in increased costs on our business.
We are subject to a wide array of laws and regulations governing chemicals, including the regulation of chemical substances and inventories, such as the TSCA. These laws and regulations change frequently and have the potential to limit or ban altogether the types of chemicals we may use in our products, as well as result in increased costs related to testing, storing, and transporting our products prior to providing them to our customers. Any new restrictions on the development of new products or use of existing products, increases in regulation of those products, or disclosure of confidential, competitive information relating to the products could have an adverse effect on our operations and our cost of doing business. Furthermore, governmental, regulatory and societal demands for increasing levels of product
safety and environmental protection could result in increased pressure for more stringent regulatory control with respect to the chemical industry. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on chemical product use and safety.
In the future, we may face increased obligations relating to the closing of our wastewater disposal facilities and may be required to provide an increased level of financial assurance to guarantee that the appropriate closure activities will occur for a wastewater disposal facility.
Our ability to obtain permits to own or operate wastewater disposal facilities generally requires us to establish performance bonds, letters of credit or other forms of financial assurance to address remediation and closure obligations. As we acquire additional wastewater disposal facilities or expand our existing wastewater disposal facilities, these obligations will increase. Additionally, in the future, regulatory agencies may require us to increase the amount of our closure bonds at existing wastewater disposal facilities. Moreover, actual costs could exceed our current expectations, as a result of, among other things, federal, state or local government regulatory action, increased costs charged by service providers that assist in closing wastewater disposal facilities and additional environmental remediation requirements. Increased regulatory requirements regarding our existing or future wastewater disposal facilities, including the requirement to pay increased closure and post-closure costs or to establish increased financial assurance for such activities could substantially increase our operating costs and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
State and federal legislation and regulatory initiatives relating to our disposal operations and seismicity could harm our business.
Our disposal business and the number of SWDs we operate has significantly increased in connection with our 2021 acquisitions of Complete and Agua Libre. This disposal process has been linked to increased induced seismicity events in certain areas of the country, particularly in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. For example, Texas and Oklahoma have issued rules for wastewater disposal wells that imposed certain permitting and operating restrictions and reporting requirements on disposal wells in proximity to faults. Other states, such as Texas and Oklahoma, have also issued orders, from time to time, for certain wells where seismic incidents have occurred to restrict or suspend disposal well operations. Another consequence of seismic events may be lawsuits alleging that disposal well operations have caused damage to neighboring properties or otherwise violated state and federal rules regulating waste disposal. These and other states have begun to consider or adopt laws and regulations that may restrict or otherwise prohibit oilfield fluid disposal in certain areas or underground disposal wells, and state agencies implementing these requirements may issue orders directing certain wells where seismic incidents have occurred to restrict or suspend disposal well operations or impose standards related to disposal well construction and monitoring. Any one or more of these developments may result in our having to limit disposal well volumes, disposal rates or locations, or to cease disposal well activities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on seismic matters.
Changes in U.S. and international trade policies, particularly involving China, may adversely impact our business and operating results.
Though a comprehensive trade agreement was signed in 2020, the U.S. government has previously imposed tariffs affecting certain goods produced in China. A portion of the chemicals we use originate in China and are sold to us by our supplier partners. As a result, tariffs incurred by our supplier partners could increase our costs and reduce profitability. Additionally, delays or interruptions in the supply of some chemicals for any reason could impact our ability to generate chemicals revenue. If we are forced to source chemicals currently originating in China from other countries, such compounds might be more expensive, inferior in quality, or take longer to source. If we incur higher costs that we cannot pass on to our customers or if we are unable to adequately replace the chemicals we currently source with chemicals produced elsewhere, our business could be adversely affected.
Changes to applicable tax laws and regulations or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could affect our business and future profitability.
We are subject to various and evolving U.S. federal, state and local taxes. U.S. federal, state and local tax laws, policies, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us, in each case, possibly with retroactive effect, and may have an adverse effect on our business and future profitability. For example, several tax proposals have been set forth that would, if enacted, make significant changes to U.S. tax laws. Such proposals include an increase in the U.S. income tax rate applicable to corporations (such as us) from 21%, the imposition of a minimum tax on book income for certain corporations and the imposition of an excise tax on certain corporate stock repurchases that would be borne by the corporation repurchasing such stock. The U.S. Congress may consider, and could include, some or all of these proposals in connection with tax reform that may be undertaken. It is unclear whether these or similar changes will be enacted and, if enacted, how soon any such changes could take effect. The passage of any legislation as a result of these proposals and other similar changes in U.S. federal income tax laws could adversely affect our business and future profitability.
We are subject to environmental and occupational health and safety laws and regulations that may expose us to significant liabilities for penalties, damages or costs of remediation or compliance.
Our operations and the operations of our E&P customers are subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations in the U.S. relating to protection of natural resources and the environment, health and safety aspects of our operations and waste management, including the transportation and disposal of waste and other materials. These laws and regulations may take the form of laws, regulations, executive actions and various other legal initiatives and result in the imposition of numerous obligations on our operations and the operations of our customers. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on these matters. Compliance with these regulations and other regulatory initiatives, or any other new environmental laws, regulations and executive actions could, among other things, require us or our customers to install new or modified emission controls on equipment or processes, incur longer permitting timelines, and incur significantly increased capital or operating expenditures, which costs may be significant. One or more of these developments that impact our customers could reduce demand for our services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act govern both our and our E&P customers’ operations and additional restrictions may be imposed in the future, which constraints could have an adverse impact on our ability to expand some of our existing operations or limit our customers’ ability to develop new oil and gas wells.
The ESA and comparable state laws restrict activities that may affect endangered or threatened species or their habitats. Similar protections are offered to migratory birds under the MBTA. To the degree that species listed under the ESA or similar state laws, or are protected under the MBTA, live in the areas where we or our E&P customers’ operate, both our and our customers’ abilities to conduct or expand operations and construct facilities could be limited or be forced to incur additional material costs. Additionally, the FWS may make determinations on the listing of unlisted species as endangered or threatened under the ESA. See Part I, Item 1. “Business - Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Matters” for more discussion on ESA and MBTA matters. The designation of previously unidentified endangered or threatened species could indirectly cause us to incur additional costs, cause our or our E&P customers’ operations to become subject to operating restrictions or bans and limit future development activity in affected areas, which developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Increasing investor attention to ESG matters may impact our business.
Companies across all industries are facing increasing scrutiny from stakeholders related to their ESG practices. Companies that do not adapt to or comply with investor or stakeholder expectations and standards, which are evolving, or which are perceived to have not responded appropriately to the growing concern for ESG issues, regardless of whether there is a legal requirement to do so, may suffer from reputational damage and the business, financial condition, and/or stock price of such a company could be materially and adversely affected. Increasing attention to climate change, increasing societal expectations on companies to address climate change, and potential consumer use of substitutes to
energy commodities may result in increased costs, reduced demand for our products and services, reduced profits, increased governmental investigations and private litigation against us.
Moreover, to an increasing extent, many institutional investors have announced plans to transition their portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions over the next 2-3 decades as part of a commitment to combat climate change. This has, and will likely continue to result in some (and perhaps a growing number of) institutions removing from their portfolios the shares of companies that do not meet their minimum investment standards. Further, banks and other capital providers are reassessing their capital allocation to our industry or making their participation conditional. This trend towards the divestment or limitation of future investment in companies involved in the development, production, transportation and utilization of fossil fuels, may adversely affect the price of our stock and limit our access to the debt and equity markets for capital to fund our growth.
In addition, organizations that provide proxy advisory services to investors on corporate governance and related matters have developed ratings processes for evaluating companies on their approach to ESG matters. Currently, there are no universal standards for such scores or ratings, but the importance of sustainability evaluations is becoming more broadly accepted by investors and shareholders. Such ratings are used by some investors to inform their investment and voting decisions. Additionally, certain investors use these scores to benchmark companies against their peers and if a company is perceived as lagging, these investors may engage with companies to require improved ESG disclosure or performance. Unfavorable ESG ratings may lead to increased negative investor sentiment toward us or our customers and to the diversion of investment to other industries, which could have a negative impact on our stock price and/or our access to and costs of capital.
Risks Related to Personnel and Related Parties
Our industry typically experiences a high rate of employee turnover. Any difficulty we experience replacing or adding personnel could have a material adverse effect on our operational performance, customer satisfaction, ability to retain existing business or secure new business, and therefore liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
We are dependent upon the available labor pool of skilled employees and may not be able to find enough skilled labor to meet our needs, which could have a negative effect on our growth. We are also subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act, which governs such matters as minimum wage, overtime and other working conditions. Our services require skilled workers who can perform physically demanding work. As a result of our industry volatility, pronounced declines in drilling and completions activity, as well as the demanding nature of the work, many workers have left the oilfield services section to pursue employment in different fields. If we are unable to retain or meet the growing demand for skilled technical personnel, our operating results and our ability to execute our growth strategies may be adversely affected.
We engage in transactions with related parties and such transactions present possible conflicts of interest that could have an adverse effect on us.
We have historically entered into a number of transactions with related parties. Related party transactions create the possibility of conflicts of interest with regard to our management. Such a conflict could cause an individual in our management to seek to advance his or her economic interests above ours. Further, the appearance of conflicts of interest created by related party transactions could impair the confidence of our investors. While our board of directors regularly reviews these transactions, in accordance with our Related Party Transactions policy, a related party transaction presenting a conflict of interest could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
Potential vaccine mandates and other governmental regulations relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could have a material adverse impact on our business, operations, and results of operations.
On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced a proposed rule requiring that all employers with at least
100 employees require that their employees be fully vaccinated or tested weekly (the “vaccine mandate”). The
OSHA issued an emergency temporary standard regulation to carry out this mandate. On November 4, 2021, the OSHA issued its related regulations for covered employers, including us, which set a January 4, 2022 deadline for compliance, which has subsequently been challenged in the courts and is currently stayed. On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court struck down the mandate for employers with at least 100 employees to require vaccinations or weekly testing of their employees, but other variations of the pursuit for vaccine mandates could resurface in the future, including laws passed by Congress.
It is anticipated that, should a vaccine mandate go into effect, we would be subject to the OSHA regulation concerning the vaccine mandate. As a result, we may be required to implement a requirement that all of our employees or certain of our contractors get vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19. At this time, it is not possible to predict the impact that a vaccine mandate and any other related measures, or a vaccine requirement should we adopt one, will have on us. Any vaccine requirement put in place may result in employee attrition and impact our ability to recruit new talent and also negatively impact vendors and customers, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Capital Structure
We do not currently pay any dividends to the holders of the Class A common stock and the availability and timing of future dividends, if any, is uncertain.
We do not currently pay dividends on our Class A common stock, and consequently, in the near term, your only opportunity to achieve a return on your investment in us will be if you sell your Class A common stock at a price greater than you paid for it. There is no guarantee that the price of our Class A common stock that will prevail in the market will ever exceed the price that you pay. Additionally, our Credit Agreement places certain restrictions on our ability to pay dividends. We may amend our Credit Agreement or enter into new debt arrangements that also prohibit or restrict our ability to pay dividends on our Class A common stock.
Subject to such restrictions, our board of directors will periodically review the amount and timing of stockholder dividends, if any, that we may pay in future periods. In making this determination, our directors will consider all relevant factors, including the amount of cash available for dividends, capital expenditures, covenants, prohibitions or limitations with respect to dividends, applicable law, general operational requirements and other variables. We cannot predict the amount or timing of any future dividends you may receive, and if we do commence the payment of dividends, we may be unable to pay, maintain or increase dividends over time. Therefore, you may not be able to realize any return on your investment in our Class A common stock for an extended period of time, if at all. Please read Part II, Item 5. “Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities - Dividend Policy.”
If we fail to maintain and enhance an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, current and potential stockholders could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports, prevent fraud and operate successfully as a public company. We are subject to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley”) and therefore are required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting for that purpose. We cannot be certain that our efforts to maintain and enhance our internal controls will be successful, that we will be able to maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future or that we will be able to comply with our obligations under Sections 302 and 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls, or difficulties encountered in implementing or improving our internal controls, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our Class A common stock.
We may incur indebtedness or issue additional equity securities to execute our long-term growth strategy, which may reduce our profitability or result in significant dilution to our stockholders.
Constructing and maintaining water infrastructure used in the oil and gas industry requires significant capital. We may require additional capital in the future to develop and construct water sourcing, transfer and other related infrastructure to execute our growth strategy. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, we spent $40.0 million, $21.2 million and $110.1 million, respectively, in capital expenditures (excluding expenditures connected with business combinations). Historically, we have financed these investments through cash flows from operations, external borrowings, capital contributions and proceeds from the issuance of equity securities. These sources of capital may not be available to us in the future. If we are unable to fund capital expenditures for any reason, we may not be able to capture available growth opportunities or effectively maintain our existing assets and any such failure could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. If we incur additional indebtedness or issue additional equity securities, our profitability may be reduced and our stockholders may experience significant dilution.
Our Credit Agreement subjects us to various financial and other restrictive covenants. These restrictions may limit our operational or financial flexibility and could subject us to potential defaults under our Credit Agreement.
Our Credit Agreement subjects us to significant financial and other restrictive covenants, including restrictions on our ability to consolidate or merge with other companies, conduct asset sales, incur additional indebtedness, grant liens, issue guarantees, make investments, loans or advances, pay dividends and enter into certain transactions with affiliates.
Our Credit Agreement contains certain financial covenants, including the maintenance of a fixed charge coverage ratio of at least 1.0 to 1.0 at any time availability under the Credit Agreement is less than the greater of (i) 10% of the lesser of (A) the maximum revolver amount and (B) the then-effective borrowing base and (ii) $15.0 million and continuing through and including the first day after such time that availability under the Credit Agreement has equaled or exceeded the greater of (i) 10% of the lesser of (A) the maximum revolver amount and (B) the then-effective borrowing base and (ii) $15.0 million for 60 consecutive calendar days. Our ability to comply with such financial condition tests can be affected by events beyond our control and we may not be able to do so. The scheduled maturity date for our Credit Agreement is November 1, 2022. In addition, the Credit Agreement restricts SES Holdings’ and Select LLC’s ability to make distributions on, or redeem or repurchase, its respective equity interests, except for certain distributions, including distributions of cash so long as, both at the time of the distribution and after giving effect to the distribution, no default exists under the Credit Agreement and either (a) excess availability at all times during the preceding 30 consecutive days, on a pro forma basis and after giving effect to such distribution, is not less than the greater of (1) 25% of the lesser of (A) the maximum revolver amount and (B) the then-effective borrowing base and (2) $37.5 million or (b) if SES Holdings’ fixed charge coverage ratio is at least 1.0 to 1.0 on a pro forma basis, and excess availability at all times during the preceding 30 consecutive days, on a pro forma basis and after giving effect to such distribution, is not less than the greater of (1) 20% of the lesser of (A) the maximum revolver amount and (B) the then-effective borrowing base and (2) $30.0 million. For additional information regarding our Credit Agreement, please read Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources - Credit Agreement.”
If we are unable to remain in compliance with the covenants of our Credit Agreement, then the lenders may declare all amounts outstanding under the Credit Agreement to be immediately due and payable. Any such acceleration could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Future sales of our equity securities, or the perception that such sales may occur, may depress our share price, and any additional capital raised through the sale of equity or convertible securities may dilute your ownership in us.
Subject to certain limitations and exceptions, Legacy Owner Holdco and its permitted transferees may exchange their SES Holdings LLC Units (together with a corresponding number of shares of Class B common stock) for shares of Class A common stock (on a one-for-one basis, subject to conversion rate adjustments for stock splits, stock dividends and reclassification and other similar transactions) and then sell those shares of Class A common stock. Additionally, we may in the future issue our previously authorized and unissued securities. We are authorized to issue 350 million shares
of Class A common stock, 40 million shares of Class A-2 common stock, 150 million shares of Class B common stock and 50 million shares of preferred stock with such designations, preferences and rights as determined by our board of directors. The potential issuance of such additional shares of equity securities will result in the dilution of the ownership interests of the holders of our Class A common stock and may create downward pressure on the trading price, if any, of our Class A common stock.
In addition, Legacy Owner Holdco, Crestview Partners II SES Investment B, LLC and the SCF Group (as defined below) (collectively, the “Registration Rights Holders”), who collectively own in excess of 30 million shares of our common stock, are party to a registration rights agreement which provides, among other things, for parties to that agreement to initiate or participate in an underwritten public offering of all or a portion of their shares. The Registration Rights Holders may exercise their rights under such agreement in their sole discretion, and sales pursuant to such rights may be material in amount and occur at any time.
The sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock following the effectiveness of registration statements for the benefit of such holders, or the perception that these sales may occur, could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline and impair our ability to raise capital. We also may grant additional registration rights in connection with any future issuance of our capital stock.
We cannot predict the size of future issuances of our Class A common stock or securities convertible into Class A common stock or the effect, if any, that future issuances and sales of shares of our Class A common stock will have on the market price of our Class A common stock. Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock (including shares issued in connection with an acquisition), or the perception that such sales could occur, may adversely affect prevailing market prices of our Class A common stock.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our Class A common stock or if our operating results do not meet their expectations, the share price for our Class A common stock could decline.
The trading market for our Class A common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the price or trading volume of our Class A common stock to decline. Moreover, if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our Class A common stock or if our operating results do not meet their expectations, the share price of our Class A common stock could decline.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law may discourage a takeover attempt even if a takeover might be beneficial to our stockholders.
Provisions contained in our Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and our Second Amended and Restated Bylaws, which we refer to herein as our “amended and restated certificate of incorporation” and “amended and restated bylaws,” respectively, could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us. Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws impose various procedural and other requirements, which could make it more difficult for stockholders to effect certain corporate actions. For example, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes our board of directors to determine the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of unissued series of preferred stock without any vote or action by our stockholders. Thus, our board of directors can authorize and issue shares of preferred stock with voting or conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting or other rights of holders of our capital stock. These rights may have the effect of delaying or deterring a change of control of our company. Additionally, our amended and restated bylaws establish limitations on the removal of directors and on the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings and include advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board of directors and for proposing matters that can be acted upon at stockholder meetings. These provisions could limit the price that certain investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Class A common stock.
In addition, certain change of control events have the effect of accelerating the payment due under our Tax Receivable Agreements (as defined herein), which could be substantial and accordingly serve as a disincentive to a potential acquirer of our company. See “-Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure-In certain cases, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements may be accelerated and/or significantly exceed the actual benefits, if any, we realize in respect of the tax attributes subject to the Tax Receivable Agreements.”
Legacy Owner Holdco controls a significant percentage of our voting power.
As of December 31, 2021, Legacy Owner Holdco beneficially owned 100% of our Class B common stock which represented approximately 14.7% of our outstanding voting capital stock. In addition, one of our directors is currently employed by Crestview Advisors, L.L.C. (“Crestview Partners”), our private equity sponsor and, through Crestview Partners II GP, L.P. (“Crestview GP”), the manager of funds that hold the largest equity interest in Legacy Owner Holdco. Other funds controlled by Crestview GP also have an interest in our currently outstanding shares of our Class A common stock, which represented an additional 4.1% of our outstanding voting capital. Collectively, these holders controlled approximately 18.2% of our voting shares. Holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock generally will vote together as a single class on all matters presented to our stockholders for their vote or approval. Consequently, Legacy Owner Holdco will be able to significantly influence all matters that require approval by our stockholders, including the election and removal of directors, changes to our organizational documents and approval of acquisition offers and other significant corporate transactions, regardless of whether other stockholders believe that a transaction is in their own best interests. This concentration of ownership will limit your ability to influence corporate matters, and as a result, actions may be taken that you may not view as beneficial.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains a provision renouncing our interest and expectancy in certain corporate opportunities, which could adversely affect our business or prospects.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we renounce any interest or expectancy in any business opportunity that involves any aspect of the energy business or industry and that may be from time to time presented to any member of (i) Legacy Owner Holdco; Crestview Partners II SES Investment, LLC; any funds, limited partnerships or other investment entities or vehicles managed by Crestview Partners or controlled by Crestview GP; B-29 Investments, LP; Sunray Capital, LP; Proactive Investments, LP and their respective affiliates, other than us (collectively, the “SES Group”); (ii) SCF-VI, L.P., SCF-VII, L.P. and SCF-VII(A), L.P. and their respective affiliates, other than us (collectively, the “SCF Group”); (iii) the other entities (existing and future) that participate in the energy industry and in which the SES Group and SCF Group own substantial equity interests (the “Portfolio Companies”) or (iv) any director or officer of the corporation who is also an employee, partner, member, manager, officer or director of any member of the SES Group, the SCF Group or the Portfolio Companies, including our Chairman, President and CEO , John D. Schmitz, our director, David C. Baldwin, and our Executive Vice President, Business Strategy, Cody Ortowski, even if the opportunity is one that we might reasonably have pursued or had the ability or desire to pursue if granted the opportunity to do so. Mr. Schmitz controls both B-29 Investments, LP and Sunray Capital, LP and is a direct and indirect beneficiary of these provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that no such person or party shall be liable to us by reason of the fact that such person pursues any such business opportunity, or fails to offer any such business opportunity to us.
As a result, any member of the SES Group, SCF Group or the Portfolio Companies or any director or officer of the corporation who is also an employee, partner, member, manager, officer or director of any member of the SES Group, SCF Group or the Portfolio Companies may become aware, from time to time, of certain business opportunities, such as acquisition opportunities, and may direct such opportunities to other businesses in which they have invested, in which case we may not become aware of or otherwise have the ability to pursue such opportunity. Further, such businesses may choose to compete with us for these opportunities. As a result, by renouncing our interest and expectancy in any business opportunity that may be from time to time presented to any member of the SES Group, SCF Group or the Portfolio Companies or any director or officer of the corporation who is also an employee, partner, member, manager, officer or director of any member of the SES Group, SCF Group or the Portfolio Companies, our business or prospects could be adversely affected if attractive business opportunities are procured by such parties for
their own benefit rather than for ours. See Part III, Item 13. “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.”
A significant reduction by Crestview GP or the SCF Group of either of their respective ownership interests in us could adversely affect us.
We believe that Crestview GP’s and the SCF Group’s beneficial ownership interests in us provides each with an economic incentive to assist us to be successful. Neither Crestview GP nor the SCF Group is subject to any obligation to maintain its ownership interest in us and either may elect at any time to sell all or a substantial portion of or otherwise reduce its ownership interest in us. If either Crestview GP or the SCF Group sells all or a substantial portion of its ownership interest in us, it may have less incentive to assist in our success and its affiliate(s) that are expected to serve as members of our board of directors may resign. Such actions could adversely affect our ability to successfully implement our business strategies, which could adversely affect our cash flows or results of operations.
We may issue preferred stock whose terms could adversely affect the voting power or value of our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue, without the approval of our stockholders, one or more classes or series of preferred stock having such designations, preferences, limitations and relative rights, including preferences over our Class A common stock respecting dividends and distributions, as our board of directors may determine. The terms of one or more classes or series of preferred stock could adversely impact the voting power or value of our Class A common stock. For example, we might grant holders of preferred stock the right to elect some number of our directors in all events or on the happening of specified events or the right to veto specified transactions. Similarly, the repurchase or redemption rights or liquidation preferences we might assign to holders of preferred stock could affect the residual value of the Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, employees or agents to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer or other employee or agent of ours arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer or other employee or agent of ours that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine, in each such case subject to such Court of Chancery having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants therein.
The exclusive forum provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act or the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. To the extent that any such claims may be based upon federal law claims, Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation or similar governing documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable, including with respect to claims arising under the U.S. federal securities laws.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock will be deemed to have notice of, and consented to, the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation described in the preceding sentence. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and such persons. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure
We are a holding company. Our sole material asset consists of SES Holdings LLC Units, and accordingly, we are dependent upon distributions and payments from SES Holdings to pay taxes, make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements and cover our corporate and other overhead expenses.
We are a holding company and have no material assets other than our equity interest in SES Holdings. We have no independent means of generating revenue. To the extent SES Holdings has available cash, we intend to cause SES Holdings to make (i) generally pro rata distributions to its unitholders, including us, in an amount at least sufficient to allow us to pay our taxes and to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements that we entered into in connection with our restructuring at the Select 144A Offering and any subsequent tax receivable agreements that we may enter into in connection with future acquisitions and (ii) non-pro rata payments to us to reimburse us for our corporate and other overhead expenses. We will be limited, however, in our ability to cause SES Holdings and its subsidiaries to make these and other distributions or payments to us due to certain limitations, including the restrictions under our Credit Agreement and the cash requirements and financial condition of SES Holdings. To the extent that we need funds and SES Holdings or its subsidiaries are restricted from making such distributions or payments under applicable law or regulations or under the terms of their financing arrangements or are otherwise unable to provide such funds, our liquidity and financial condition could be adversely affected.
We will be required to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements for certain tax benefits we may claim, and the amounts of such payments could be significant.
In connection with our restructuring at the Select 144A Offering, we entered into the Tax Receivable Agreements with certain affiliates of the then-holders of SES Holdings LLC Units (each such person and any permitted transferee thereof, a “TRA Holder,” and together, the “TRA Holders”) which generally provide for the payment by us to the TRA Holders of 85% of the net cash savings, if any, in U.S. federal, state and local income and franchise tax that we actually realize (computed using simplifying assumptions to address the impact of state and local taxes) or are deemed to realize in certain circumstances as a result of certain tax basis increases, net operating losses available to us as a result of certain reorganization transactions entered into in connection with the Select 144A Offering, and certain tax benefits attributable to imputed interest. We will retain the benefit of the remaining 15% of these cash savings.
The term of each Tax Receivable Agreement commenced upon the completion of the Select 144A Offering and will continue until all tax benefits that are subject to such Tax Receivable Agreement have been utilized or expired, unless we exercise our right to terminate the Tax Receivable Agreements (or the Tax Receivable Agreements are terminated due to other circumstances, including our breach of a material obligation thereunder or certain mergers or other changes of control) and we make the termination payment specified in the Tax Receivable Agreements. In addition, payments we make under the Tax Receivable Agreements will be increased by any interest accrued from the due date (without extensions) of the corresponding tax return. In the event that the Tax Receivable Agreements are not terminated and we have sufficient taxable income to utilize all of the tax benefits subject to the Tax Receivable Agreements, the payments due under the Tax Receivable Agreement entered into with Legacy Owner Holdco and Crestview GP are expected to commence at a yet to be determined future date, and continue until the benefits of the last exchange of SES Holdings LLC Units are realized or expire, and the payments due under the Tax Receivable Agreement entered into with certain Legacy Owners are expected to commence at a yet to be determined future date, and to continue until the benefits of the exchanges are realized or expire.
The payment obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreements are our obligations and not obligations of SES Holdings, and we expect that the payments we will be required to make under the Tax Receivable Agreements will be substantial. Estimating the amount and timing of payments that may become due under the Tax Receivable Agreements is by its nature imprecise. For purposes of the Tax Receivable Agreements, cash savings in tax generally will be calculated by comparing our actual tax liability (using the actual applicable U.S. federal income tax rate and an assumed combined state and local income and franchise tax rate) to the amount we would have been required to pay had we not been able to utilize any of the tax benefits subject to the Tax Receivable Agreements. The amounts payable, as well as the timing of any payments, under the Tax Receivable Agreements are dependent upon future events and significant assumptions, including the timing of the exchanges of SES Holdings LLC Units, the market price of our Class A common stock at the time of each exchange (since such market price will determine the amount of tax basis increases resulting from the exchange), the extent to which such exchanges are taxable transactions, the amount of the exchanging unitholder’s tax basis in its SES Holdings LLC Units at the time of the relevant exchange, the depreciation and amortization periods that apply to the increase in tax basis, the amount of net operating losses available to us as a result of reorganization transactions entered into in connection with the Select 144A Offering, the amount and timing of taxable income we generate in the future, the U.S. federal income tax rate then applicable, and the portion of our payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements that constitute imputed interest or give rise to depreciable or amortizable tax basis.
Certain of the TRA Holders’ rights under the Tax Receivable Agreements are transferable in connection with a permitted transfer of SES Holdings LLC Units or if the TRA Holder no longer holds SES Holdings LLC Units. The payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements are not conditioned upon the continued ownership interest in either SES Holdings or us of any holder of rights under the Tax Receivable Agreements. See Part III, Item 13. “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.”
In certain cases, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements may be accelerated and/or significantly exceed the actual benefits, if any, we realize in respect of the tax attributes subject to the Tax Receivable Agreements.
If we elect to terminate the Tax Receivable Agreements early or they are terminated early due to our failure to honor a material obligation thereunder or due to certain mergers, asset sales, other forms of business combinations or other changes of control, our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreements would accelerate and we would be required to make an immediate payment equal to the present value of the anticipated future payments to be made by us under the Tax Receivable Agreements (determined by applying a discount rate of the lesser of 6.50% per annum, compounded annually, or one-year London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) plus 100 basis points); and such payment is expected to be substantial. The calculation of anticipated future payments will be based upon certain assumptions and deemed events set forth in the Tax Receivable Agreements, including (i) the assumption that we have sufficient taxable income to fully utilize the tax benefits covered by the Tax Receivable Agreements, (ii) the assumption that any SES Holdings LLC Units (other than those held by us) outstanding on the termination date are exchanged on the termination date and (iii) certain loss or credit carryovers will be utilized in the taxable year that includes the termination date. Any early termination payment may be made significantly in advance of the actual realization, if any, of the future tax benefits to which the termination payment relates.
As a result of either an early termination or a “change of control” (as defined in the Tax Receivable Agreements, as amended), we could be required to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements that exceed our actual cash tax savings under the Tax Receivable Agreements. In these situations, our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreements could have a substantial negative impact on our liquidity and could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing certain mergers, asset sales or other forms of business combinations or changes of control. For example, if the Tax Receivable Agreements were terminated on December 31, 2021, the estimated termination payments would have been approximately $79.0 million (calculated using a discount rate equal to the lesser of 6.50% per annum, compounded annually, or one-year LIBOR plus 100 basis points, applied against an undiscounted liability of $88.4 million, based upon the last reported closing sale price of our Class A common stock on December 31, 2021) in the aggregate. The foregoing number is merely an estimate and the actual payment could differ materially. There can be no assurance that we will be able to finance our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreements.
Payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements will be based on the tax reporting positions that we will determine. The TRA Holders will not reimburse us for any payments previously made under the Tax Receivable Agreements if any tax benefits that have given rise to payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements are subsequently disallowed, except that excess payments made to the TRA Holders will be netted against payments that would otherwise be made to the TRA Holders, if any, after our determination of such excess. As a result, in such circumstances, we could make payments that are greater than our actual cash tax savings, if any, and may not be able to recoup those payments, which could adversely affect our liquidity. See Part III, Item 13. “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.”
If SES Holdings were to become a publicly-traded partnership taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we and SES Holdings might be subject to potentially significant tax inefficiencies, and we would not be able to recover payments previously made by us under the Tax Receivable Agreements even if the corresponding tax benefits were subsequently determined to have been unavailable due to such status.
We intend to operate such that SES Holdings does not become a publicly-traded partnership taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A “publicly-traded partnership” is a partnership, the interests of which are traded on an established securities market or are readily tradable on a secondary market or the substantial equivalent thereof. Under certain circumstances, exchanges of SES Holdings LLC Units for shares of our Class A common stock or cash pursuant to the Eighth Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of SES Holdings (the “SES Holdings LLC Agreement”) or other transfers of SES Holdings LLC Units could cause SES Holdings to be treated as a publicly-traded partnership. Applicable U.S. Treasury regulations provide for certain safe harbors from treatment as a publicly-traded partnership, and we intend to operate such that exchanges or other transfers of SES Holdings LLC Units qualify for one or more such safe harbors. For example, we intend to limit the number of unitholders of SES Holdings and Legacy Owner Holdco, and the SES Holdings LLC Agreement provides for limitations on the ability of unitholders of SES Holdings to transfer their SES Holdings LLC Units and will provide us, as managing member of SES Holdings, with the right to impose restrictions (in addition to those already in place) on the ability of unitholders of SES Holdings to exchange their SES Holdings LLC Units pursuant to the SES Holdings LLC Agreement to the extent we believe it is necessary to ensure that SES Holdings will continue to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If SES Holdings were to become a publicly-traded partnership, significant tax inefficiencies might result for us and for SES Holdings. In addition, we may not be able to realize tax benefits covered under the Tax Receivable Agreements, and we would not be able to recover any payments previously made by us under the Tax Receivable Agreements, even if the corresponding tax benefits (including any claimed increase in the tax basis of SES Holdings’ assets) were subsequently determined to have been unavailable.
Legacy Owner Holdco and the Legacy Owners may have interests that conflict with the interests of holders of the Class A common stock.
As of December 31, 2021, Legacy Owner Holdco owned approximately 14.7% of the outstanding SES Holdings LLC Units. Because it holds a portion of its ownership interest in our business in the form of direct ownership interests in SES Holdings rather than through us, Legacy Owner Holdco may have conflicting interests with holders of shares of Class A common stock. For example, Legacy Owner Holdco may have different tax positions from us, and decisions we make in the course of running our business, such as with respect to mergers, asset sales, other forms of business combinations or other changes in control, may affect the timing and amount of payments that are received by the TRA Holders under the Tax Receivable Agreements. See Part III, Item 13. “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.”
Our ability to use Rockwater’s net operating loss carryforwards may be limited.
As of December 31, 2021, Rockwater had approximately $105.1 million of NOLs, which will begin to expire in 2035, approximately $62.6 million of state NOLs which will begin to expire in 2023, and approximately $6.5 million of foreign NOLs, which will begin to expire in 2037. Utilization of these NOLs depends on many factors, including our future income, which cannot be assured. In addition, Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), generally imposes an annual limitation on the amount of NOLs that may be used to offset taxable income when a corporation has undergone an “ownership change” (as determined under Section 382 of the Code). An ownership
change generally occurs if one or more stockholders (or groups of stockholders) who are each deemed to own at least 5% of the relevant corporation’s stock change their ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a rolling three-year period. In the event that an ownership change has occurred, or were to occur, utilization of the NOLs would be subject to an annual limitation under Section 382 of the Code, determined by multiplying the value of the relevant corporation’s stock at the time of the ownership change by the applicable long-term tax-exempt rate as defined in Section 382 of the Code, and potentially increased for certain gains recognized within five years after the ownership change if we have a net built-in gain in our assets at the time of the ownership change. Any unused annual limitation may be carried over to later years until they expire. Rockwater experienced an ownership change in connection with the Rockwater Merger. As a result, some or all of our U.S. federal, state or foreign NOLs could expire before they can be used. In addition, future ownership changes or changes to the U.S. tax laws could limit our ability to utilize our NOLs. To the extent we are not able to offset our future income with our NOLs, this would adversely affect our operating results and cash flows if we attain profitability.
General Risks
We may not be able to finance future growth of our operations or future acquisitions, which could adversely affect our operations and financial position.
The successful execution of our growth strategy depends on our ability to generate sufficient cash flows and our access to capital, both of which are impacted by numerous factors beyond our control, including financial, business, economic and other factors, such as volatility in commodity prices and pressure from competitors. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flows or obtain additional capital on favorable terms or at all, we may be unable to continue growing our business, conduct necessary corporate activities, take advantage of business opportunities that arise or engage in activities that may be in our long-term best interest, which may adversely impact our ability to sustain or improve our current level of profitability.
The growth of our business through acquisitions may expose us to various risks, including those relating to difficulties in identifying suitable, accretive acquisition opportunities and integrating businesses, assets and personnel, as well as difficulties in obtaining financing for targeted acquisitions and the potential for increased leverage or debt service requirements.
As a component of our business strategy, we intend to pursue selected, accretive acquisitions of complementary assets, businesses and technologies. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including:
● unanticipated costs and assumption of liabilities and exposure to unforeseen liabilities of the acquired business, including but not limited to environmental liabilities and plug and abandonment obligations;
● difficulties in integrating the operations and assets of the acquired business and the acquired personnel;
● limitations on our ability to properly assess and maintain an effective internal control environment over an acquired business;
● potential losses of key employees and customers of the acquired business;
● risks of entering markets in which we have limited prior experience; and
● increases in our expenses and working capital requirements.
In evaluating acquisitions, we generally prepare one or more financial cases based on a number of business, industry, economic, legal, regulatory and other assumptions applicable to the proposed transaction. Although we expect a reasonable basis will exist for those assumptions, the assumptions will generally involve current estimates of future conditions. Realization of many of the assumptions will be beyond our control. Moreover, the uncertainty and risk of inaccuracy associated with any financial projection will increase with the length of the forecasted period. Some acquisitions may not be accretive in the near term and will be accretive in the long term only if we are able to timely and
effectively integrate the underlying assets and such assets perform at or near the levels anticipated in our acquisition projections.
The process of integrating an acquired business may involve unforeseen costs and delays or other operational, technical and financial difficulties and may require a significant amount of time and resources. Our failure to successfully incorporate the acquired business and assets into our existing operations or to minimize any unforeseen operational difficulties could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, there is intense competition for acquisition opportunities in our industry. Competition for acquisitions may increase the cost of, or cause us to refrain from, completing acquisitions.
In addition, we may not have sufficient capital resources to complete any additional acquisitions. We may incur substantial indebtedness to finance future acquisitions and also may issue equity, debt or convertible securities in connection with such acquisitions. Debt service requirements could represent a significant burden on our results of operations and financial condition and the issuance of additional equity or convertible securities could be dilutive to our existing stockholders. Furthermore, we may not be able to obtain additional financing on satisfactory terms. Even if we have access to the necessary capital, we may be unable to continue to identify suitable acquisition opportunities, negotiate acceptable terms or successfully acquire identified targets.
Our success depends on key members of our management, the loss of any of whom could disrupt our business operations.
We depend to a large extent on the services of some of our executive officers. The loss of the services of one or more of our key executives could increase our exposure to the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section. We do not maintain key person insurance on any of our personnel.
We may be required to take write-downs of the carrying values of our long-lived assets and finite-lived intangible assets.
We evaluate our long-lived assets, such as property and equipment, and finite-lived intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying value may not be recoverable. Recoverability is measured by a comparison of their carrying amount to the estimated undiscounted cash flows to be generated by those assets. Based on specific market factors and circumstances at the time of prospective impairment reviews and the continuing evaluation of development plans, economics and other factors, we may be required to write down the carrying value of our long-lived and finite-lived intangible assets. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we recorded $7.9 million of abandonment charges to write down the carrying value of our long-lived assets and $9.1 million of impairment charges to write down the carrying value of our trademarks. There were not costs related to trademark impairment or abandonment of property and equipment in 2021.
We may be required to take a write-down of the carrying value of goodwill.
We had no goodwill as of December 31, 2021, but we could add goodwill in the future in connection with business combinations. We conduct our annual goodwill impairment assessment during the fourth quarter of each year, or more frequently if an event or circumstance indicates that the carrying value of a reporting unit may exceed the fair value. When possible impairment is indicated, we value the implied goodwill to compare it with the carrying amount of goodwill. If the carrying amount of goodwill exceeds its implied fair value, an impairment charge is recorded. The fair value of goodwill is based on estimates and assumptions applied by us such as revenue growth rates, operating margins, weighted-average costs of capital, market multiples, and future market conditions and as affected by numerous factors, including the general economic environment and levels of exploration and production activity of oil and gas companies, our financial performance and trends, and our strategies and business plans, among others. As a result of this annual impairment assessment, we may be required to write down the carrying value of goodwill. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we recorded $4.4 million of goodwill impairment in connection with Affirm Oilfield Services, LLC’s (“Affirm”) reporting unit based on the then-expected proceeds from the sale of our Affirm business. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we impaired $266.9 million of goodwill in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
We lease space for our principal executive offices in Houston and Gainesville, Texas and we also lease local office space in the regions in which we operate. Additionally, we own and lease numerous storage facilities, trucking facilities and sales and administrative offices throughout the geographic areas in which we operate. In connection with our Oilfield Chemicals segment, we own two primary manufacturing facilities in Texas, and we lease three primary regional distribution centers through which we provide products to our customers in all major U.S. shale basins. Our leased properties are subject to various lease terms and expirations.
We believe all the properties that we currently occupy are suitable for their intended uses. We believe that our current facilities are sufficient to conduct our operations. However, we continue to evaluate the purchase or lease of additional properties or the sale or consolidation of our properties, as our business requires.
The following table shows our active leased and owned properties categorized by segment as of December 31, 2021:
Region
Water Services
Water Infrastructure
Oilfield Chemicals
Corporate & Other
Total
Leased
Owned
-

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
We are not currently a party to any legal proceedings that, if determined adversely against us, individually or in the aggregate, would have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. We are, however, named defendants in certain lawsuits, investigations and claims arising in the ordinary course of conducting our business, including certain environmental claims and employee-related matters, and we expect that we will be named defendants in similar lawsuits, investigations and claims in the future. While the outcome of these lawsuits, investigations and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, we do not expect these matters to have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. We have not assumed any liabilities arising out of these existing lawsuits, investigations and claims.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Our Class A common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the ticker symbol “WTTR.” As of February 21, 2022, there were 159 stockholders of record of our Class A common stock.
Dividend Policy
We have not previously paid dividends to holders of our Class A common stock. We currently intend to retain future earnings, if any, to finance the expansion of our business and repay any debt we may incur. While we have no current intention of declaring or paying any cash dividends to holders of our Class A common stock in the near future, our dividend policy is periodically reviewed. Our future dividend policy is within the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon then-existing conditions, including our results of operations and financial condition, capital requirements, business prospects, statutory and contractual restrictions on our ability to pay dividends, including restrictions contained in our Credit Agreement and other factors our board of directors may deem relevant.
Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans
Our only equity compensation plans are the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (as amended, the “2016 Plan”) and the Select Energy Services, Inc. Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the "ESPP"). The 2016 Plan was approved by our stockholders prior to our initial public offering but has not been approved by our public stockholders; however, the first amendment to the 2016 Plan was approved by our public stockholders in October 2017 and the second amendment to the 2016 Plan was approved by our public stockholders in May 2020. The ESPP was approved by our stockholders on May 4, 2018. See “Note 12-Equity-Based Compensation” for a description of our equity compensation plans.
The following table provides information about our Class A common stock that may be issued under our equity compensation plans as of December 31, 2021.
Plan Category
Number of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding options, warrants and rights
Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights(1)
Number of securities remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in column (a))(2)
(a)
(b)
(c)
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders
2,074,216
$16.89
2,832,299
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders
-
-
-
Total
2,074,216
$16.89
2,832,299
(1)
Only stock options have an exercise price.
(2)
This column reflects the total number of shares of Class A common stock (i) subject to outstanding rights under the ESPP and (ii) remaining available for issuance under the 2016 Plan and the ESPP. Shares remaining available under the 2016 Plan may be issued other than with respect to options, warrants or rights.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Approximate Dollar Value of
Total Number of
Average Price
Shares that May Yet be Purchased
Period
Shares Purchased
Paid per Share(1)
Under the Plans or Programs(2)
October 1 through October 31, 2021
-
$
-
$
2,377,345
November 1 through November 31, 2021
-
$
-
$
2,377,345
December 1 through December 31, 2021
-
$
-
$
2,377,345
(1)
The average price paid per share includes commissions.
(2)
Our board of directors has approved programs permitting the Company to repurchase a portion of its outstanding shares of Class A common stock in the open market not to exceed $25.0 million in the aggregate.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6. RESERVED

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto in Part II, Item 8. “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data”. This discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements based on our current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors as described under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors.” We assume no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements.
Overview
We are a leading provider of comprehensive water-management and chemical solutions to the oil and gas industry in the U.S. We also develop, manufacture and deliver a full suite of chemical solutions for use in oil and gas well completion and production operations. As a leader in the water solutions industry, we place the utmost importance on safe, environmentally responsible management of water throughout the lifecycle of a well. Additionally, we believe that responsibly managing water resources through our operations to help conserve and protect the environment in the communities in which we operate is paramount to our continued success.
In many regions of the country, there has been growing concern about the volumes of water required for new oil and gas well completions. Working with our customers and local communities, we strive to be an industry leader in the development of cost-effective alternatives to fresh water. Specifically, we offer services that enable our E&P customers to treat and reuse produced water, thereby reducing the demand for fresh water while also reducing the volumes of saltwater that must be disposed by injection. In many areas, we have also acquired sources of non-potable water, such as brackish water or municipal or industrial effluent. Through our expertise in chemical technologies and our FluidMatch™ design solutions, we provide water profiling and fluid assessment services for our customers to support the optimization of their fluid systems, enabling the economic use of these alternative sources. We also work with our E&P customers to lower their emissions through methane combustion technology, and reduce the environmental footprint of their operations through the use of temporary hose and permanent pipeline systems, which are supported by extensive monitoring and automation technology solutions that provide safer and more efficient water resource management. These solutions significantly reduce the demand for trucking operations, thereby reducing gasoline and diesel exhaust emissions, increasing safety and decreasing traffic congestion in nearby communities.
Recent Trends and Outlook
The recent acquisition of Complete, the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Agua Libre and other water-related assets, operations and assumed liabilities from Basic, and the acquisition of U.S. Lower 48 onshore accommodations and rental assets and operations H.B. Rentals, benefitted our financial results in the year ended December 31, 2021, as well as our competitive positioning in the water solutions market. These acquisitions expanded our geographic footprint, most notably in the Rockies region, provided access to employee expertise, as well as opportunities to expand our growing water recycling business into new areas. The acquisitions also increased our market share and added significant revenue-producing assets and multiple opportunities for future revenue and cost synergies.
On December 12, 2021, the Company entered into the Nuverra Merger Agreement with Nuverra, an energy-focused environmental solutions company, providing comprehensive, full-cycle environmental solutions, including the removal, treatment, recycling, transportation and disposal of restricted solids, fluids and hydrocarbons for exploration and production companies operating across the U.S., including in the Bakken, Haynesville, Marcellus and Utica Shales. With the Nuverra transaction, we will be adding more than 300,000 barrels per day of permitted daily disposal capacity in Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Montana and Ohio. When combined with our existing assets and other recent acquisitions, this brings our company-wide permitted daily disposal capacity to approximately 2.5 million barrels per day. The transaction closed on February 23, 2022. See “Note 19-Subsequent Events” for additional information on the merger.
The ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations have had a material negative impact on our financial results. While we have seen economic recovery and higher oil prices through the year ended December 31, 2021, such negative impact may continue well beyond the containment of the pandemic until global GDP levels, associated oil demand and resulting oilfield activity all fully rebound. While we have seen activity improve considerably since the low point experienced in 2020, there remains uncertainty, but global oil inventories have rapidly normalized with continued demand growth. Even with this recent recovery however, we cannot provide assurance that our assumptions used to estimate our future financial results will be correct given the unpredictable nature of the current market environment after the recent elevated volatility in the demand for oil and demand for our services. As a consequence, our ability to accurately forecast our activity and profitability is uncertain.
The future magnitude and ultimate duration of the COVID-19 pandemic is also uncertain. Therefore, we cannot estimate its impact on our business, financial condition or near- or longer-term financial or operational results with certainty. In this environment, the Company has planned for a range of scenarios and has taken a number of actions to decrease operating and capital expenses, and defer other expenses in accordance with the provisions of the CARES Act. To protect our workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken steps to support our people who are affected by the virus, manage work-from-home scheduling as appropriate, limit on-site visitors, and monitor and consistently communicate with those who are required to be at a work location, while also providing these employees with additional personal protective equipment.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the average spot price of WTI crude oil was $68.16 versus an average price of $39.16 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The average Henry Hub natural gas spot price during the year ended December 31, 2021, was $3.91 versus an average of $2.04 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The significant improvement in oil and gas prices in 2021 relative to 2020 has been driven largely by reduced oil inventories resulting from economic recovery and oil demand growth in much of the world. These price levels are supportive of our customers’ drilling and completion programs in the major shale basins.
Many of our customers have demonstrated their resolve to manage their capital spending to within budgets and cash flow from operations and increase redemptions of debt and/or returns of capital to investors. Additionally, consolidation among our customers can disrupt our market in the near-term and the resulting demand for our services. Overall however, the financial health of the oil and gas industry and many of our customers specifically, as reflected in debt metrics, recent capital raises, and equity valuations, has greatly improved over the year ended December 31, 2021.
From an operational standpoint, many of the recent trends still apply to ongoing unconventional oil and gas development. For example, while we believe leading-edge lateral lengths and proppant use are plateauing, the average operator continues to catch up to this leading edge. The continued trend towards multi-well pad development, executed within a limited time frame, has increased the overall complexity of well completions, while increasing fracturing efficiency and the use of lower-cost in-basin sand has decreased total costs for our customers. However, we note the continued efficiency gains in the well completions process can limit the days we spend on the wellsite and, therefore, negatively impact the total revenue opportunity for certain of our services utilizing day-rate pricing models.
This multi-well pad development, combined with recent upstream acreage consolidation and the growing trends around the reuse applications of produced water, particularly in the Permian Basin but also emerging in other basins as well, however, provides significant opportunity for companies like us that can deliver increasingly complex solutions for our E&P customers across the full completion and production lifecycle of wells.
The trend of increased use of produced water will require additional chemical treatment solutions, and we have a dedicated team of specialists focused every day on developing and deploying innovative water treatment and reuse services for our customers. Our FluidMatch™ design solutions enable our customers to economically use these alternative sources to optimize their fluid systems by providing water profiling and fluid assessment services working towards real time. With our water treatment capabilities, our Well Chemical Services team and our knowledge base within our Oilfield Chemicals segment, we are well-positioned to advance these solutions. This trend also supports more complex “on the fly” solutions that treat, proportion, and blend various streams of water and chemicals at the wellsite. This complexity favors service companies able to provide advanced technology solutions that are able to economically
compete with alternative historical solutions. Ultimately, we intend to play an important role in the advancement of water and chemical solutions that are designed to meet the sustainability goals of all stakeholders.
Our water logistics, treatment, and chemical application expertise, in combination with advanced technology solutions, are applicable to other industries beyond oil and gas, and we are working to further commercialize our services in other industrial businesses.
Permian Basin and Rockies Recycling Facility Projects
In 2021, we were awarded contracts underwriting the construction of three new produced water recycling facilities serving key customers in the Permian Basin, with two located in the Midland Basin and one located in the Delaware Basin. These state-of-the-art facilities will allow us to leverage our expertise in fracturing chemistry and fluid optimization and provide customers with sustainable recycling solutions that deliver a consistent water quality standard for use in completion activities, thereby decreasing both fresh water usage and waste disposal. We also signed a multi-year agreement with a large customer in the Rockies with a dedicated pipeline from its property to our water treatment facility. We will receive, treat and recycle water and have the ability to dispose excess water for this customer. The facility will have a throughput capacity to receive and treat 15,000 barrels per day with the ability to upgrade to 30,000 barrels per day. This agreement includes a minimum volume commitment and operations commenced in the fourth quarter of 2021.
In support of this growing Permian water infrastructure network, we also acquired infrastructure from an existing customer with one million barrels of storage capacity and are in the process of upgrading our previously announced Midland Basin produced water recycling facility to meet additional commercial demand from customers adjacent to the facility. We commenced construction on the two new Midland Basin fixed infrastructure produced water recycling facilities during the second quarter of 2021. Both projects are supported by long-term contracts with private operators in the Midland Basin for the purchase and delivery of recycled produced water. Each facility will support the recycling of up to 40,000 barrels of water per day while providing approximately 1.3 million barrels of adjacent recycled water storage capacity. Operations commenced during the second half of 2021.
Additionally, we expanded our previously announced Midland Basin produced water recycling facility serving Martin and Midland Counties, Texas and installed a bi-directional pipeline infrastructure to connect the facility to nearby operators to meet increasing demand from our anchor customer as well as from nearby third-party operators. These upgrades are expected to increase the throughput capacity of the facility by 30% to 65,000 barrels of produced water per day and increase the nearby recycled water storage capacity by 40% to 2.7 million barrels. The new pipeline is capable of transporting approximately 58,000 barrels of water per day to and from the facility. These upgrades were completed and became operational during the second half of 2021, and are expected to be accretive financially given the existing infrastructure already in place.
We also completed construction and commenced operations on a third facility during the second half of 2021, which is a centralized produced water recycling facility for a major integrated operator in the Delaware Basin. This facility is designed for recycling up to 30,000 barrels of produced water per day and will be supported by one million barrels of adjacent recycled water storage capacity.
These projects supplement our sizable existing footprint of water storage, distribution and recycling infrastructure in the Permian Basin and represent our entry with recycling solutions into the Rockies. In aggregate, we expect to spend approximately $10 million to construct the three new recycling facilities, to purchase the existing storage infrastructure, and to upgrade the existing produced water treatment facilities in the Midland Basin. Once fully operational, these projects will bring our total centralized produced water recycling capacity in the Permian Basin to approximately 375,000 barrels of water per day, which is supplemented by our mobile recycling technologies and capabilities that are currently supporting nearly 150,000 barrels per day of active produced water recycling projects.
February 2021 Severe Weather
Severe winter weather in February 2021 negatively impacted our 2021 results, equating to approximately one lost week of operations across most of our locations, with extended raw material shortages that impacted our Oilfield Chemicals segment into March. We estimate that this negatively impacted 2021 revenue by an amount ranging from $9 million to $12 million.
Our Segments
Our services are offered through three reportable segments: (i) Water Services; (ii) Water Infrastructure; and (iii) Oilfield Chemicals.
● Water Services. The Water Services segment consists of the Company’s services businesses, including water transfer, flowback and well testing, fluids hauling, water containment and water network automation, primarily serving E&P companies. Additionally, this segment includes the operations of our accommodations and rentals business as well as the Company’s industrial solutions business.
● Water Infrastructure. The Water Infrastructure segment consists of the Company’s infrastructure assets, including operations associated with our water sourcing and pipeline infrastructure, our water recycling solutions and infrastructure, and our produced water gathering systems and SWDs, primarily serving E&P companies.
● Oilfield Chemicals. The Oilfield Chemicals segment provides technical solutions and expertise related to chemical applications in the oil and gas industry. We also have significant capabilities supplying logistics for chemical applications. We develop, manufacture and apply a full suite of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, stimulation, cementing, production, pipelines and well completions. Given the breadth of chemicals and application expertise we provide, our customers range from pressure pumpers to major integrated and independent oil and gas producers. This segment also utilizes its chemical experience and lab testing capabilities to customize tailored water treatment solutions designed to optimize the fracturing fluid system in conjunction with the quality of water used in well completions.
How We Generate Revenue
We currently generate the majority of our revenue through our water-management services associated with hydraulic fracturing, provided through our Water Services and Water Infrastructure segments. The majority of this revenue is realized through customer agreements with fixed pricing terms and is recognized when delivery of services is provided, generally at our customers’ sites. While we have some long-term pricing arrangements, particularly in our Water Infrastructure segment, most of our water and water-related services are priced based on prevailing market conditions, giving due consideration to the specific requirements of the customer.
We also generate revenue by providing completion, specialty chemicals and production chemicals through our Oilfield Chemicals segment. We invoice the majority of our Oilfield Chemicals customers for services provided based on the quantity of chemicals used or pursuant to short-term contracts as the customers’ needs arise.
Costs of Conducting Our Business
The principal expenses involved in conducting our business are labor costs, vehicle and equipment costs (including depreciation, repair, rental and maintenance and leasing costs), raw materials and water sourcing costs and fuel costs. Our fixed costs are relatively low. Most of the costs of serving our customers are variable, i.e., they are incurred only when we provide water and water-related services or chemicals and chemical-related services to our customers.
Labor costs associated with our employees and contract labor comprise the largest portion of our costs of doing business. We incurred labor and labor-related costs of $285.7 million, $243.6 million and $477.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The majority of our recurring labor costs are variable and are incurred only while we are providing operational services. We also incur costs to employ personnel to sell and supervise our services and perform maintenance on our assets, which is not directly tied to our level of business activity. Additionally, we incur selling, general and administrative costs for compensation of our administrative personnel at our field sites and in our operational and corporate headquarters as well as for third-party support, licensing and services.
We incur significant vehicle and equipment costs in connection with the services we provide, including depreciation, repair and maintenance, rental and leasing costs. We incurred vehicle and equipment costs of $165.1 million, $157.6 million and $245.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
We incur raw material costs in manufacturing our chemical products, as well as for water that we source for our customers. We incurred raw material costs of $209.7 million, $154.2 million and $274.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
We incur variable transportation costs associated with our service lines, predominately fuel and freight. We incurred fuel and freight costs of $58.5 million, $35.6 million and $81.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Rising fuel prices impact our transportation costs, which affect the pricing and demand for our services and, therefore, our results of operations.
Public Company Costs
General and administrative expenses related to being a publicly-traded company include: Exchange Act reporting expenses; expenses associated with compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley; expenses associated with maintaining our listing on the NYSE; incremental independent auditor fees; incremental legal fees; investor relations expenses; registrar and transfer agent fees; incremental director and officer liability insurance costs; and director compensation. We expect that these and other general and administrative expenses related to being a publicly-traded company will generally remain consistent with costs incurred during 2021. Costs incurred by us for corporate and other overhead expenses will be reimbursed by SES Holdings pursuant to the SES Holdings LLC Agreement.
How We Evaluate Our Operations
We use a variety of operational and financial metrics to assess our performance. Among other measures, management considers each of the following:
● Revenue;
● Gross Profit;
● Gross Margins;
● EBITDA; and
● Adjusted EBITDA.
Revenue
We analyze our revenue and assess our performance by comparing actual monthly revenue to our internal projections and across periods. We also assess incremental changes in revenue compared to incremental changes in direct operating costs and selling, general and administrative expenses across our reportable segments to identify potential areas for improvement, as well as to determine whether segment performance is meeting management’s expectations.
Gross Profit
To measure our financial performance, we analyze our gross profit, which we define as revenues less direct operating expenses (including depreciation and amortization expenses). We believe gross profit provides insight into profitability and true operating performance of our assets. We also compare gross profit to prior periods and across segments to identify trends as well as underperforming segments.
Gross Margins
Gross margins provide an important gauge of how effective we are at converting revenue into profits. This metric works in tandem with gross profit to ensure that we do not seek to increase gross profit at the expense of lower margins, nor pursue higher gross margins at the expense of declining gross profits. We track gross margins by segment and service line and compare them across prior periods and across segments and service lines to identify trends as well as underperforming segments.
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA
We view EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as important indicators of performance. We define EBITDA as net income/(loss), plus interest expense, income taxes, and depreciation and amortization. We define Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA plus/(minus) loss/(income) from discontinued operations, plus any impairment charges or asset write-offs pursuant to generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. (“GAAP”), plus non-cash losses on the sale of assets or subsidiaries, non-recurring compensation expense, non-cash compensation expense, and non-recurring or unusual expenses or charges, including severance expenses, transaction costs, or facilities-related exit and disposal-related expenditures, plus/(minus) foreign currency losses/(gains) and plus/(minus) losses/(gains) on unconsolidated entities less bargain purchase gains from business combinations. The adjustments to EBITDA are generally consistent with such adjustments described in our Credit Agreement. See “-Comparison of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information and a reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss), the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.
Factors Affecting the Comparability of Our Results of Operations to Our Historical Results of Operations
Our future results of operations may not be comparable to our historical results of operations for the periods presented, primarily for the reasons described below and those described in “-Recent Trends and Outlook” above.
Acquisition and Divestiture Activity
As described above, we are continuously evaluating potential investments, particularly in water infrastructure and other water-related services and technology. To the extent we consummate acquisitions, any incremental revenues or expenses from such transactions are not included in our historical results of operations.
Complete Energy Services Acquisition
On July 9, 2021, we acquired Complete, an operating subsidiary of Superior Energy Services, Inc. (“Superior”) for purchase consideration of $34.7 million. Our historical financial statements for periods prior to July 9, 2021 do not include the results of operations of Complete.
UltRecovery Acquisition
On August 2, 2021, we acquired substantially all of the assets of UltRecovery Corporation (“UltRecovery”), a provider of sustainable production enhancement applications focused on existing conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells. The total purchase consideration was $3.6 million and our historical financial statements for periods prior to August 2, 2021 do not include the results of operations of UltRecovery.
Agua Libre and Basic Acquisition
On October 1, 2021, we completed the acquisition of certain assets of Agua Libre and other water-related assets, operations and assumed liabilities from Basic. The total purchase consideration was $21.1 million and our historical financial statements for periods prior to October 1, 2021 do not include the results of operations of Agua Libre and Basic.
HB Rentals Acquisition
On December 3, 2021, Peak Oilfield Services, LLC, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Select, completed the acquisition of certain assets of HB Rentals, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Superior. The total purchase consideration was $8.7 million and our historical financial statements for periods prior to December 3, 2021 do not include the results of HB Rentals. Refer to “Note 3-Acquisitions and Divestitures” for detail on recent acquisition and divestiture activity.
Results of Operations
The following table sets forth our results of operations, including revenue by segment, for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 is set forth in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 under the caption “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
Year Ended December 31, 2021 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2020
Year ended December 31,
Change
Dollars
Percentage
(in thousands)
Revenue
Water Services
$
394,075
$
319,766
$
74,309
23.2
%
Water Infrastructure
154,789
125,356
29,433
23.5
%
Oilfield Chemicals
215,756
159,983
55,773
34.9
%
Total revenue
764,620
605,105
159,515
26.4
%
Costs of revenue
Water Services
346,730
291,734
54,996
18.9
%
Water Infrastructure
115,887
99,546
16,341
16.4
%
Oilfield Chemicals
191,115
143,550
47,565
33.1
%
Other
-
(740)
NM
Depreciation and amortization
90,028
98,800
(8,772)
(8.9)
%
Total costs of revenue
743,760
634,370
109,390
17.2
%
Gross profit (loss)
20,860
(29,265)
50,125
171.3
%
Operating expenses
Selling, general and administrative
83,076
74,364
8,712
11.7
%
Depreciation and amortization
2,430
2,872
(442)
(15.4)
%
Impairment of goodwill and trademark
-
276,016
(276,016)
NM
Impairment and abandonment of property and equipment
-
7,910
(7,910)
NM
Lease abandonment costs
4,350
(3,456)
NM
Total operating expenses
86,400
365,512
(279,112)
NM
Loss from operations
(65,540)
(394,777)
329,237
NM
Other (expense) income
Losses on sales of property and equipment and divestitures, net
(2,068)
(2,815)
(26.5)
%
Interest expense, net
(1,711)
(2,136)
(19.9)
%
Foreign currency gain, net
(37)
NM
Bargain purchase gain
18,985
-
18,985
NM
Other income (expense), net
(3,519)
4,192
NM
Loss before income tax (expense) benefit
(49,659)
(403,208)
353,549
NM
Income tax (expense) benefit
(147)
1,476
(1,623)
NM
Equity in losses of unconsolidated entities
(279)
-
(279)
NM
Net loss
$
(50,085)
$
(401,732)
$
351,647
NM
Revenue
Our revenue increased $159.5 million, or 26.4%, to $764.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $605.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was composed of a $74.3 million
increase in Water Services revenue, a $29.4 million increase in Water Infrastructure revenue and a $55.8 million increase in Oilfield Chemicals revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2021, our Water Services, Water Infrastructure and Oilfield Chemicals revenues constituted 51.6%, 20.2% and 28.2% of our total revenue, respectively, compared to 52.9%, 20.7% and 26.4%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2020. The revenue changes by reportable segment are as follows:
Water Services. Revenue increased $74.3 million, or 23.2%, to $394.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $319.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily attributable to higher demand for our services in comparison to the year ended December 31, 2020, which was impacted by a significant reduction in drilling and completions activity following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as $78.6 million of incremental revenue contributed by the Complete, Basic and HB Rentals acquisitions. This was partially offset by comparative decreases in the first quarter of 2021 versus the first quarter of 2020, as the majority of the first quarter of 2020 revenue activity occurred before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also offsetting the comparative increase was the impact of severe weather in February 2021 for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Water Infrastructure. Revenue increased by $29.4 million, or 23.5%, to $154.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $125.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily attributable to higher demand for our services in comparison to the year ended December 31, 2020, which was impacted by a significant reduction in drilling and completions activity following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as $6.0 million of incremental revenue contributed by the Complete and Agua Libre acquisitions. This was partially offset by comparative decreases in the first quarter of 2021 versus the first quarter of 2020, as the majority of the first quarter of 2020 revenue activity occurred before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also offsetting the comparative increase was the impact of severe weather in February 2021 for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Oilfield Chemicals. Revenue increased $55.8 million, or 34.9%, to $215.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $160.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily attributable to higher demand for our services in comparison to the year ended December 31, 2020, which was impacted by a significant reduction in drilling and completions activity following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was partially offset by comparative decreases in the first quarter of 2021 versus the first quarter of 2020, as the majority of the first quarter of 2020 revenue activity occurred before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also offsetting the comparative increase was the impact of severe weather in February 2021 for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Costs of Revenue
Costs of revenue increased $109.4 million, or 17.2%, to $743.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $634.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was comprised of a $55.0 million increase in Water Services costs, a $16.3 million increase in Water Infrastructure costs and a $47.6 million increase in Oilfield Chemicals costs. This was partially offset by an $8.8 million decrease in depreciation and amortization expense, primarily due to a lower fixed asset base prior to the Complete, Agua Libre and Basic, and HB Rentals acquisitions.
Water Services. Costs of revenue increased $55.0 million, or 18.9%, to $346.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $291.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Cost of revenue as a percent of revenue decreased to 88.0% from 91.2%, primarily due to a gradual increase in demand for our services after June 30, 2020, which spread fixed costs over a larger revenue base. Additionally, costs of revenue were impacted during the year ended December 31, 2020, by severance and yard closure costs totaling $5.6 million.
Water Infrastructure. Costs of revenue increased $16.3 million, or 16.4%, to $115.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $99.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Cost of revenue as a percent of revenue decreased to 74.9% from 79.4%, primarily due to a higher relative contribution from high-margin pipeline revenue as well as a discrete cost in the year ended December 31, 2020 related to a customer bankruptcy. Additionally, costs of revenue were impacted during the year ended December 31, 2020 by severance and yard closure costs totaling $0.5 million.
Oilfield Chemicals. Costs of revenue increased $47.6 million, or 33.1%, to $191.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $143.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Cost of revenue as a percent of
revenue decreased to 88.6% from 89.7%, primarily due to certain events in 2020 that did not recur in 2021. For the year ended December 31, 2020, costs of revenue were impacted by inventory adjustments and reserve additions of $0.6 million, severance costs of $0.6 million, and yard closure and equipment rental return costs of $0.5 million, including costs associated with idling our Tyler manufacturing facility to consolidate production in Midland. For the year ended December 31, 2021, costs were impacted by the severe winter weather in February and rising raw materials costs due to certain raw materials shortages, supply chain challenges, and inflationary pressures.
Depreciation and Amortization. Depreciation and amortization expense decreased $8.8 million, or 8.9%, to $90.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $98.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily due to a lower fixed asset base for the majority of the year ended December 31, 2021, prior to the Complete, Agua Libre and Basic, and HB Rentals acquisitions.
Gross Profit (Loss)
Gross profit was $20.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to a gross loss of $29.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Gross profit increased by $19.3 million in our Water Services segment, $13.1 million in our Water Infrastructure segment and $8.2 million in our Oilfield Chemicals segment. Depreciation and amortization expense also decreased by $8.8 million. Gross margin as a percent of revenue was 2.7% and (4.8%) during the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $8.7 million, or 11.7%, to $83.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $74.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily due to $5.8 million of costs from the additional personnel and related back-office expenses as a result of our 2021 acquisitions, comprised of $4.1 million of personnel costs and $1.7 million of other back-office costs, a $3.7 million increase in equity-based compensation costs, $2.6 million in higher legal and professional fees in connection with work on realized and considered transactions, $1.3 million in higher dues and subscriptions, $1.1 million in higher travel, meals and entertainment costs, and $1.5 million from a combination of other expenses partially offset by a $6.6 million net decrease in bad debt expense and $0.7 million in lower costs related to the Company’s annual bonus plan.
Impairment
Goodwill and trademark impairment costs were $276.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. During the year ended December 31, 2020, all of our goodwill was impaired due to the significant decline in oil prices and the uncertainty associated with the future recovery. We also recorded a $9.1 million partial impairment of our Rockwater trademark.
Impairment and abandonment of property and equipment costs were $7.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. These impairment costs were comprised of leasehold improvements related to abandoned facilities, abandonment of certain saltwater disposal and fresh water wells, and obsolete machinery and equipment.
There were no costs related to goodwill and trademark impairment or impairment and abandonment of property and equipment in 2021.
Lease Abandonment Costs
Lease abandonment costs were $0.9 million and $4.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2021, lease abandonment costs primarily related to expenses associated with facilities previously abandoned. The costs incurred in 2020 were primarily due to leases abandoned associated with realignment and combining activity on fewer leased properties.
Bargain Purchase Gain
Bargain purchase gain of $19.0 million in 2021 was comprised of $9.4 million, $5.9 million and $3.6 million for the Complete, HB Rentals, and Agua Libre and Basic acquisitions, respectively. The Complete and HB Rentals acquisitions resulted in a bargain purchase in part due to the seller recently emerging from bankruptcy and deciding to divest domestic assets and operations and focus on international operations. The Agua Libre and Basic acquisition resulted in a bargain purchase as the seller was distressed and decided to divest its assets and operations to multiple buyers as operations were wound down and the business was shuttered.
Other Income (Expense)
Other income was $0.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to other expense costs of $3.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. During the year ended December 31, 2021, other income primarily related to the disposal of asset retirement obligations and the realized gain, partially offset by an unrealized loss on equity securities sold in 2021 versus the mark-to-market fair value as of December 31, 2020. During the year ended December 31, 2020, other expenses primarily related to legal and sales tax expenses related to certain acquired subsidiaries.
Net Loss
Net loss decreased by $351.6 million, to a net loss of $50.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to a net loss of $401.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily due to the $276.0 million in goodwill and trademark impairment costs and $7.9 million in impairment and abandonment of property and equipment costs during the year ended December 31, 2020, a $50.1 million increase in gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2021 and a bargain purchase gain of $19.0 million related to 2021 acquisitions, an increase to other income (expense) of $4.2 million and a $3.5 million reduction in lease abandonment costs. This was partially offset by an increase in selling, general and administrative costs of $8.7 million.
Comparison of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We view EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as important indicators of performance. We define EBITDA as net income (loss), plus interest expense, income taxes, and depreciation and amortization. We define Adjusted EBITDA, as EBITDA plus/(minus) loss/(income) from discontinued operations, plus any impairment charges or asset write-offs pursuant to GAAP, plus non-cash losses on the sale of assets or subsidiaries, non-recurring compensation expense, non-cash compensation expense, and non-recurring or unusual expenses or charges, including severance expenses, transaction costs, or facilities-related exit and disposal-related expenditures, plus/(minus) foreign currency losses/(gains) and plus/(minus) losses/(gains) on unconsolidated entities less bargain purchase gains from business combinations. The adjustments to EBITDA are generally consistent with such adjustments described in our Credit Agreement. See “-Note Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information and a reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss), the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.
Our board of directors, management and investors use EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to assess our financial performance because it allows them to compare our operating performance on a consistent basis across periods by removing the effects of our capital structure (such as varying levels of interest expense), asset base (such as depreciation and amortization) and items outside the control of our management team. We present EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA because we believe they provide useful information regarding the factors and trends affecting our business in addition to measures calculated under GAAP.
Note Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not financial measures presented in accordance with GAAP. We believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures will provide useful information to investors in assessing our financial performance and results of operations. Net income is the GAAP measure most directly comparable to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA. Our non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as alternatives to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. Each of these non-GAAP financial measures has important limitations as an analytical tool due to exclusion of some but not all items that affect the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. You should not consider EBITDA or Adjusted EBITDA in isolation or as substitutes for an analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Because EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may be defined differently by other companies in our industry, our definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies, thereby diminishing their utility.
The following table sets forth our reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to our net (loss) income, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure, for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. The reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 is set forth in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 under the caption “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
Year ended December 31,
Net loss
$
(50,085)
$
(401,732)
Interest expense, net
1,711
2,136
Income tax expense (benefit)
(1,476)
Depreciation and amortization
92,458
101,672
EBITDA
44,231
(299,400)
Non-cash compensation expenses
9,469
5,764
Nonrecurring severance expenses(1)
3,225
7,168
Non-cash loss on sale of assets or subsidiaries(2)
4,596
9,767
Nonrecurring transaction costs(3)
5,656
4,439
Lease abandonment costs(4)
4,350
Impairment of goodwill and trademark(4)
-
276,016
Impairment and abandonment of property and equipment(4)
-
7,910
Bargain purchase gain
(18,985)
-
Yard closure costs related to consolidating operations(4)
-
2,961
Other nonrecurring charges(3)
1,969
Equity in losses of unconsolidated entities
-
Foreign currency gain, net
(2)
(39)
Adjusted EBITDA
$
49,971
$
20,905
(1)
For 2021, these costs related to severance costs associated with our former CEO. For 2020, these costs related to severance due to the significant adverse change to the demand for the Company’s services in connection with a significant decline in the price of oil.
(2)
For all periods presented, the losses were primarily due to sales of real estate and underutilized, excess or obsolete property and equipment.
(3)
For 2021, these costs were primarily legal-related due diligence costs as well as costs related to certain acquired subsidiaries. For 2020, these costs were primarily due to a legal accrual related to certain previously acquired subsidiaries.
(4)
For 2020, these costs were due to the significant adverse change to the demand for the Company’s services in connection with a significant decline in the price of oil.
EBITDA was $44.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to ($299.4) million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The $343.6 million increase in EBITDA was driven primarily by the $276.0 million in goodwill and trademark impairment costs and $7.9 million in impairment and abandonment of property and equipment costs during the year ended December 31, 2020, a bargain purchase gain of $19.0 million related to 2021 acquisitions, and higher gross profit of $41.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $50.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $20.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The $29.1 million increase is primarily attributable to many of the items discussed above.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Overview
Our primary sources of liquidity are cash on hand, borrowing capacity under the Credit Agreement, cash flows from operations and proceeds from the sale of excess property and equipment. Our primary uses of capital have been to
fund current operations, maintain our asset base, implement technological advancements, make capital expenditures to support organic growth, fund acquisitions and minority investments, and when appropriate, repurchase shares of Class A Common Stock in the open market. Depending on market conditions and other factors, we may also issue debt and equity securities, in the future, if needed.
As of December 31, 2021, we had no outstanding bank debt and a positive net cash position. We prioritize sustained positive free cash flow and a strong balance sheet, and evaluate potential acquisitions and investments in the context of those priorities, in addition to the economics of the opportunity. We believe this approach provides us with additional flexibility to evaluate larger investments as well as improved resilience in a sustained downturn versus many of our peers.
Based on our current cash and cash equivalents balance, operating cash flow, available borrowings under our Credit Agreement and the ongoing actions discussed above, we believe that we will be able to maintain sufficient liquidity to satisfy our obligations and remain in compliance with our existing debt covenants through the next twelve months and beyond, prior to giving effect to any future financing that may occur.
We intend to finance most of our capital expenditures, contractual obligations and working capital needs with cash on hand, cash generated from operations and borrowings under our Credit Agreement. For a discussion of the Credit Agreement, see “-Credit Agreement” below. Although we cannot provide any assurance, we believe that our current cash balance, operating cash flow and available borrowings under our Credit Agreement will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months.
As of December 31, 2021, cash and cash equivalents totaled $85.8 million and we had approximately $117.1 million of available borrowing capacity under our Credit Agreement. As of December 31, 2021, the borrowing base under the Credit Agreement was $132.7 million, we had no outstanding borrowings, and outstanding letters of credit totaled $15.6 million. As of February 21, 2022, we had no outstanding borrowings, the borrowing base under the Credit Agreement was $148.4 million, the outstanding letters of credit totaled $15.6 million, and the available borrowing capacity under the Credit Agreement was $132.8 million.
As of December 31, 2021, we had no material off-balance sheet arrangements. As such, we are not exposed to any material financing, liquidity, market or credit risk that could arise if we had engaged in such financing arrangements.
Our contractual obligations include, among other things, our Credit Agreement and operating leases. Refer to “Note 6-Leases” for operating lease obligations as of December 31, 2021 and “Note 10-Debt” for an update to our Credit Agreement as of December 31, 2021.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes our cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. The summary of our cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 is set forth in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 under the caption “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
Cash Flow Changes Between the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Year ended December 31,
Change
Dollars
Percentage
(in thousands)
Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities
$
(16,248)
$
105,810
$
(122,058)
(115.4)
%
Net cash used in investing activities
(64,456)
(5,393)
(59,063)
(1095.2)
%
Net cash used in financing activities
(2,542)
(10,710)
8,168
76.3
%
Subtotal
(83,246)
89,707
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents
(56)
NM
Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents
$
(83,238)
$
89,771
Operating Activities. Net cash used in operating activities was $16.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to net cash provided by operating activities of $105.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The $122.1 million decrease is primarily due to $160.1 million lower cash from a non-recurrence of harvesting substantial working capital in the year ended December 31, 2020, as well as the current timing of collecting receivables connected with increasing revenue. This was partially offset by cash flows stemming from higher profitability for the year ended December 31, 2021 versus 2020.
Investing Activities. Net cash used in investing activities was $64.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $5.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The $59.1 million increase in net cash used in investing activities was primarily due to $34.7 million in cash disbursed for acquisitions during the year ended December 31, 2021, an $18.8 million increase in purchases of property and equipment and a $5.9 million decrease in proceeds received from sales of property and equipment.
Financing Activities. Net cash used in financing activities was $2.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to net cash used in financing activities of $10.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The $8.2 million decrease in cash used in financing activities was primarily due to a $9.7 million decrease in repurchases of shares of Class A Common Stock during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 partially offset by a net $1.4 million increase in distributions to noncontrolling interests in water-related services joint ventures.
Credit Agreement
On November 1, 2017, SES Holdings and Select LLC entered into a $300.0 million senior secured revolving credit facility (the “Credit Agreement”), by and among SES Holdings, as parent, Select LLC, as borrower, certain of SES Holdings’ subsidiaries, as guarantors, each of the lenders party thereto and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, issuing lender and swingline lender (the “Administrative Agent”). The Credit Agreement has a sublimit of $40.0 million for letters of credit and a sublimit of $30.0 million for swingline loans. The maturity date of the Credit Agreement is the earlier of (a) November 1, 2022, and (b) the termination in whole of the Commitments pursuant to Section 2.1(b) of Article VII of the Credit Agreement. It is our intention to either extend the current Credit Agreement or enter into a new Credit Agreement prior to the termination of the current Credit Agreement. Refer to “Note 10-Debt” for further discussion of the Credit Agreement.
Tax Receivable Agreements
We intend to fund any obligation under the Tax Receivable Agreements with cash from operations or borrowings under our Credit Agreement. With respect to obligations under each of our Tax Receivable Agreements (except in cases where we elect to terminate the Tax Receivable Agreements early, the Tax Receivable Agreements are terminated early due to certain mergers or other changes of control or we have available cash but fail to make payments when due), generally we may elect to defer payments due under the Tax Receivable Agreements if we do not have available cash to satisfy our payment obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreements or if our contractual obligations limit our ability to make these payments. Any such deferred payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements generally will accrue interest.
We intend to account for any amounts payable under the Tax Receivable Agreements in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 450, Contingent Consideration. For further discussion regarding such an acceleration and its potential impact, please read Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors - Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure - In certain cases, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements may be accelerated and/or significantly exceed the actual benefits, if any, we realize in respect of the tax attributes subject to the Tax Receivable Agreements.”
We have assessed the amount of any liability under the Tax Receivable Agreements required under the provisions of ASC 450 in connection with preparing the consolidated financial statements. We determined that there was no liability related to the Tax Receivable Agreements arising from the corporate reorganization and subsequent
exchanges as of December 31, 2021 due to there not being any payments under the Tax Receivable Agreements that are probable under the provisions of ASC 450 within the foreseeable future. The Company would generally expect to recognize the liability under the Tax Receivable Agreements as probable in conjunction with the conclusion that deferred tax assets are more likely than not to be realized and, therefore, part or all of the valuation allowance on the deferred tax assets is released. We believe this correlation is appropriate given the relationship between the likelihood of realization of deferred tax assets and the probability of utilization of certain tax benefits that are subject to the Tax Receivable Agreements.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures about any contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Our critical accounting policies are described below to provide a better understanding of how we develop our assumptions and judgments about future events and related estimations and how they can impact our financial statements. The following accounting policies involve critical accounting estimates because they are dependent on our judgment and assumptions about matters that are inherently uncertain.
We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions we believe to be reasonable according to the current facts and circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Estimates and assumptions about future events and their effects are subject to uncertainty and, accordingly, these estimates may change as new events occur, as more experience is acquired, as additional information is obtained, and as the business environment in which we operate changes. We believe the current assumptions, judgments and estimates used to determine amounts reflected in our consolidated financial statements are appropriate, however, actual results may differ under different conditions. This discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this Annual Report.
Goodwill and other intangible assets: The purchase price of acquired businesses is allocated to its identifiable assets and liabilities based upon estimated fair values as of the acquisition date. Goodwill and other intangible assets are initially recorded at their fair values. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price of acquisitions over the fair value of the net assets acquired in a business combination. Our goodwill balance at both December 31, 2021 and 2020 was zero. Goodwill and other intangible assets not subject to amortization are tested for impairment annually or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the asset might be impaired. Intangible assets with finite useful lives are amortized either on a straight-line basis over the asset’s estimated useful life or on a basis that reflects the pattern in which the economic benefits of the intangible assets are realized.
Impairment of goodwill, long-lived assets and intangible assets: Long-lived assets, such as property and equipment and finite-lived intangible assets, are evaluated for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying value may not be recoverable. Recoverability is measured by a comparison of their carrying amount to the estimated undiscounted cash flows to be generated by those assets. If the undiscounted cash flows are less than the carrying amount, we record impairment losses for the excess of their carrying value over the estimated fair value. Fair value is determined, in part, by the estimated cash flows to be generated by those assets. Our cash flow estimates are based upon, among other things, historical results adjusted to reflect our best estimate of future market rates, utilization levels, and operating performance. Development of future cash flows also requires management to make assumptions and to apply judgment, including the timing of future expected cash flows, using the appropriate discount rates and determining salvage values. The estimate of fair value represents our best estimates of these factors based on current industry trends and reference to market transactions and is subject to variability. Assets are generally grouped at the lowest level of identifiable cash flows. We operate within the oilfield service industry, and the cyclical nature of the oil and gas industry that we serve and our estimates of the period over which future cash flows will be generated, as well as the predictability of these cash flows, can have a significant impact on the estimated fair value of these assets and, in periods of prolonged down cycles, may result in impairment charges. Changes to our key assumptions related to future performance, market conditions and other economic factors could adversely affect our
impairment valuation. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we impaired $7.9 million of property and equipment because the carrying values were deemed not recoverable and were comprised of leasehold improvements related to abandoned facilities, abandonment of certain saltwater and fresh water wells and obsolete machinery and equipment.
We conduct our annual goodwill impairment tests in the fourth quarter of each year, and whenever impairment indicators arise, by examining relevant events and circumstances which could have a negative impact on our goodwill, such as macroeconomic conditions, industry and market conditions, cost factors that have a negative effect on earnings and cash flows, overall financial performance, acquisitions and divestitures and other relevant entity-specific events. If a qualitative assessment indicates that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, then we would be required to perform a quantitative impairment test for goodwill comparing the reporting unit’s carrying value to its fair value. The Company’s reporting units are based on its organizational and reporting structure. In determining fair values for the reporting units, the Company relies primarily on the income, market and cost approaches for valuation. In the income approach, the Company discounts predicted future cash flows using a weighted-average cost of capital calculation based on publicly-traded peer companies. In the market approach, valuation multiples are developed from both publicly-traded peer companies as well as other company transactions. The cost approach considers replacement cost as the primary indicator of value.
If the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, impairment is calculated based on the difference between the fair value and carrying value in accordance with our early adoption of Accounting Standards Update (“ASU“) 2017-04- Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. Application of the goodwill impairment test requires judgment, including the identification of reporting units, allocation of assets (including goodwill) and liabilities to reporting units and determining the fair value. The determination of reporting unit fair value relies upon certain estimates and assumptions that are complex and are affected by numerous factors, including the general economic environment and levels of E&P activity of oil and gas companies, our financial performance and trends and our strategies and business plans, among others. Unanticipated changes, including immaterial revisions, to these assumptions could result in a provision for impairment in a future period. Given the nature of these evaluations and their application to specific assets and time frames, it is not possible to reasonably quantify the impact of changes in these assumptions. During the first quarter of 2020, we recorded $266.9 million of goodwill impairment due to the significant decline in oil prices coupled with the uncertainty associated with future recovery. This impairment brought our goodwill balance to zero.
Retentions: We assume risk of loss through deductibles and self-insured retentions, up to certain levels for losses related to general liability, workers’ compensation and employer’s liability, vehicle liability, and effective June 1, 2020, health insurance. Our exposure (i.e., the self-insured retention or deductible) per occurrence is $1.0 million for general liability, $1.0 million for workers’ compensation and employer’s liability, $2.0 million for vehicle liability and $0.3 million for health insurance. We also have an excess loss policy over these coverages with a limit of $100.0 million in the aggregate. Management reviews its estimates of reported and unreported claims and provides for losses through reserves. We use actuarial estimates to record our liability for future periods. If the number of claims or the costs associated with those claims were to increase significantly over our estimates, additional charges to earnings could be necessary to cover required payments. As of December 31, 2021, we estimate the range of exposure to be from $12.2 million to $14.3 million and have recorded liabilities of $13.2 million, which represents management’s best estimate of probable loss related to workers’ compensation and employer’s liability, and vehicle liability. Additionally, as of December 31, 2021, accrued health insurance and accrued general liabilities were $2.9 million and $0.5 million, respectively.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to “Note 2-Significant Accounting Polices” for recent accounting pronouncements.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
The demand, pricing and terms for oilfield services provided by us are largely dependent upon the level of drilling and completion activity in the U.S. oil and gas industry. The level of drilling and completion activity is influenced by numerous factors over which we have no control, including, but not limited to: global health events, including the COVID-19 pandemic; the supply of and demand for oil and gas; current price levels as well as expectations about future prices of oil and gas; the magnitude and timing of capital spending by our customers; the cost of exploring for, developing, producing and delivering oil and gas; the extent to which our E&P customers choose to drill and complete new wells to offset decline from their existing wells; the extent to which our E&P customers choose to invest to grow production; discoveries of new oil and gas reserves; available storage capacity and pipeline and other transportation capacity; weather conditions; domestic and worldwide economic conditions; political instability in oil-producing countries; environmental regulations; technical advances in alternative forms of energy (e.g., wind and solar electricity, electric vehicles) that encourage substitution for or displacement of oil and gas consumption in end-use markets; the price and availability of alternative fuels; the ability of oil and gas producers to raise equity capital and debt financing; merger and acquisition activity and consolidation in our industry, and other factors.
Any combination of these factors that results in sustained low oil and gas prices and, therefore, lower capital spending and / or reduced drilling and completion activity by our customers, would likely have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Interest Rate Risk
As of December 31, 2021, we had no outstanding borrowings under our Credit Agreement. As of February 21, 2022, we had no outstanding borrowings and $132.8 million of available borrowing capacity under our Credit Agreement. Interest is calculated under the terms of our Credit Agreement based on our selection, from time to time, of one of the index rates available to us plus an applicable margin that varies based on certain factors. We do not currently have or intend to enter into any derivative arrangements to protect against fluctuations in interest rates applicable to our outstanding indebtedness.
Foreign Currency Exchange Risk
We have been exposed to fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar with regard to the activities of our former Canadian subsidiary, which had designated the Canadian dollar as its functional currency. With the 2019 divestitures of our Canadian operations, we anticipate minimal future exposure to foreign currency exchange risk.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
The report of our independent registered public accounting firm and our consolidated financial statements and supplementary data are included in this Annual Report beginning on page.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by us in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our chief executive officer ("CEO") (principal executive officer) and chief financial officer ("CFO") (principal financial officer), as appropriate, to allow for timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well-designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.
As required by SEC Rule 13a-15(b), we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our CEO and CFO, of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021. Based on their evaluation, the Company's CEO and CFO have concluded that the Company's disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable level of assurance as of December 31, 2021.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Exchange Act as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by our board of directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
As permitted by the SEC, we have excluded the businesses of Complete Energy Services, Inc. and certain operations related to Basic Energy Services, Inc. from our evaluation of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting for the year ended December 31, 2021 due to their scale and complexity and the limited time available to complete their integration and evaluation. See “Note 3-Acquisitions and Divestitures” for additional information on these acquisitions. The operations excluded from our evaluation represent approximately 12% of our total assets as of December 31, 2021, and 10% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Under the supervision and with the participation of management, including the CEO and CFO, the Company conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in “Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013)” issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). Based on this assessment, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2021. Grant Thornton LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, audited the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f)) during the quarter ended December 31, 2021 which materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
We closed several business combinations during the year ended December 31, 2021, as described in “Note 3-Acquisitions and Divestitures” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report. At this time, we continue to evaluate the business and internal controls and processes of these acquired businesses and are making various changes to their operating and organizational structure based on our business plan. We are in the process of implementing our internal control structure over these acquired businesses. We expect that our evaluation and integration efforts related to those operations will be completed during 2022 and we believe that we will be able to maintain sufficient controls over our financial reporting throughout this integration process.
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Board of Directors and Shareholders
Select Energy Services, Inc.
Opinion on internal control over financial reporting
We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Select Energy Services, Inc. (a Delaware corporation) and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in the 2013 Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in the 2013 Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by COSO.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the consolidated financial statements of the Company as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021, and our report dated February 23, 2022 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements.
Basis for opinion
The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Our audit of, and opinion on, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting does not include the internal control over financial reporting of Complete Energy Services, Inc. and certain operations related to Basic Energy Services, Inc., whose financial statements reflect total assets and revenues constituting approximately 12 and 10 percent, respectively, of the related consolidated financial statement amounts as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021. As disclosed in Note 3, these businesses were acquired during the year ended December 31, 2021. Management’s assertion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting excluded internal control over financial reporting of Complete Energy Services, Inc. and certain operations related to Basic Energy Services, Inc.
Definition and limitations of internal control over financial reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
/s/ GRANT THORNTON LLP
Dallas, Texas
February 23, 2022

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B.
Other Information
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10.DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The information required in response to this Item 10 will be set forth in our definitive proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11.EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The information required in response to this Item 11 will be set forth in our definitive proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
ITEM 12.
SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
The information required in response to this Item 12 will be set forth in our definitive proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
ITEM 13.
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
The information required in response to this Item 13 will be set forth in our definitive proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
ITEM 14.PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
The information required in response to this Item 14 will be set forth in our definitive proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders and is incorporated herein by reference.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
ITEM 15.EXHIBIT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a)(1) and (a)(2) Financial Statements and Financial Statement Schedules
Our consolidated financial statements are incorporated under Part II, Item 8. “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report. For a listing of these statements and accompanying notes, see “Index to Financial Statements” on Page of this Annual Report.
(a)(3) Exhibits
The exhibits required to be filed or furnished under Item 15 of this Annual Report are set forth below in the Exhibit Index included within this Annual Report.
EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit
Number
Description
2.1
Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of July 18, 2017, by and among Select Energy Services, Inc., SES Holdings, LLC, Raptor Merger Sub, Inc., Raptor Merger Sub, LLC, Rockwater Energy Solutions, Inc. and Rockwater Energy Solutions, LLC (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 2.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed July 19, 2017 (File No. 001-38066)).
**2.2
Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of December 12, 2021, by and among Select Energy Services, Inc., Navy Holdings, Inc., Navy Holdco, LLC, Navy Merger Sub, Inc. and Nuverra Environmental Solutions, Inc. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 2.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed December 13, 2021 (File No. 001-38066)).
3.1
Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Select Energy Services, Inc. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 3.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed May 15, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
3.2
Second Amended and Restated Bylaws of Select Energy Services, Inc. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 3.2 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed May 15, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
4.1
Form of Stock Certificate (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 4.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, filed March 2, 2017 (Registration No. 333-216404)).
4.2
Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreements, dated as of July 18, 2017, by and among Select Energy Services, Inc., SES Legacy Holdings, LLC, Crestview Partners II SES Investment B, LLC, SCF-VI, L.P., SCF-VII, L.P., SCF-VII(A), L.P. and WDC Aggregate LLC (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 4.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed July 19, 2017 (File No. 001-38066)).
4.3
Registration Rights Agreement, dated December 20, 2016, by and between Select Energy Services, Inc. and FBR Capital Markets & Co. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 4.3 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, filed March 2, 2017 (Registration No. 333-216404)).
4.4
Assignment and Assumption Agreement, dated November 1, 2017, by and between Select Energy Services, Inc. and Rockwater Energy Solutions, Inc. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 4.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed November 2, 2017 (File No. 001-38066)).
4.5
Registration Rights Agreement, dated February 16, 2017, by and between Rockwater Energy Solutions, Inc. and FBR Capital Markets & Co. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 4.2 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed November 2, 2017 (File No. 001-38066)).
4.6
Description of Securities Registered Under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, amended (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 4.6 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed February 25, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
10.1
Credit Agreement, dated November 1, 2017, by and among Select Energy Services, LLC, SES Holdings, LLC, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, and the lenders named therein (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed November 2, 2017 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.2
Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.3 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, dated March 2, 2017 (Registration No. 333-216404)).
†10.3
First Amendment to Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.2 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed August 11, 2017 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.4
Second Amendment to Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed May 14, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.5
Form of Indemnification Agreement (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.4 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, dated March 2, 2017 (Registration No. 333-216404)).
10.6
Tax Receivable Agreement, dated December 19, 2016, by and among Select Energy Services, Inc., SES Legacy Holdings, LLC and Crestview Partners II GP, L.P. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.5 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, dated March 2, 2017 (Registration No. 333-216404)).
10.7
Amendment No. 1 to Tax Receivable Agreement, dated July 18, 2017, by and among Select Energy Services, Inc., SES Legacy Holdings, LLC and Crestview Partners II GP, L.P. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.3 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed August 11, 2017 (File No. 001-38066)).
10.8
Tax Receivable Agreement, dated December 19, 2016, by and among Select Energy Services, Inc., Crestview Partners II SES Investment B, LLC and Crestview Partners II GP, L.P. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.6 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, dated March 2, 2017 (Registration No. 333-216404)).
10.9
Amendment No. 1 to Tax Receivable Agreement, dated July 18, 2017, by and among Select Energy Services, Inc., Crestview Partners II SES Investment B, LLC and Crestview Partners II GP, L.P. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.4 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed August 11, 2017 (File No. 001-38066)).
10.10
Eighth Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of SES Holdings, LLC (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.9 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, dated March 2, 2017 (Registration No. 333-216404)).
10.11
Amendment No. 1 to Eighth Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of SES Holdings, LLC. (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.10 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.12
Form of Restricted Stock Unit Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 4.4 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8, filed April 28, 2017 (Registration No. 333-217561)).
†10.13
Form of Stock Option Agreement under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.10 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, dated March 2, 2017 (Registration No. 333-216404)).
†10.14
Form of Restricted Stock Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Agreement under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.13 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.15
Form of Performance Share Unit Grant Notice and Performance Share Unit Agreement under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.14 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.16
Global Amendment to Performance Share Unit Grant Notices and Agreements (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed January 24, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.17
Form of Stock Option Agreement for John Schmitz under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.15 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.18
Form of Success Bonus Agreement under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.12 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 19, 2017 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.19
Select Energy Services, Inc. Employee Stock Purchase Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 4.3 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-8, filed February 1, 2018 (Registration No. 333-222816)).
†10.20
Employment Agreement between Holli C. Ladhani and Rockwater Energy Solutions, Inc., dated June 1, 2011 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.18 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.21
First Amendment to Employment Agreement between Holli Ladhani, Rockwater Energy Solutions, LLC and Select Energy Services, LLC, dated February 21, 2020 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.20 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed February 25, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.22
Employment Agreement between Paul Pistono and Rockwater Energy Solutions, Inc., dated September 4, 2012 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.20 to Select Energy Services Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.23
First Amendment to Employment Agreement between Paul Pistono, Rockwater Energy Solutions, LLC and Rockwater Energy Solutions Administrative Services, LLC, dated February 21, 2020 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.22 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed February 25, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.24
Employment Agreement between Michael Skarke and Select Energy Services, LLC, dated January 14, 2019 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.22 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.25
Employment Agreement between Nick Swyka and Select Energy Services, LLC, dated March 1, 2019 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.23 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.26
Employment Agreement between Adam Law and Select Energy Services, LLC, dated March 1, 2019 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.24 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2019 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.27
Separation and Consulting Agreement by and between Select Energy Services, LLC and Mitchell M. Shauf, dated August 31, 2020 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed November 4, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.28
Global Amendment to Performance Share Unit Grant Notices and Agreements (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed January 24, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.29
Form of Letter Agreement (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.2 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed May 14, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.30
Form of Performance Share Unit Grant Notice and Performance Share Unit Agreement - Adjusted Free Cash Flow - under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.2 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 6, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.31
Form of Performance Share Unit Grant Notice and Performance Share Unit Agreement - Return on Assets - under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.3 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 6, 2020 (File No. 001-38066)).
†10.32
Letter Agreement between John D. Schmitz and Select Energy Services, LLC, dated March 1, 2021 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed March 5, 2021).
†10.33
Amended and Restated Employment Agreement between Michael Skarke and Select Energy Services, LLC, dated March 1, 2021 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.2 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed March 5, 2021).
†10.34
Letter Agreement between Michael Skarke and Select Energy Services, Inc., dated March 1, 2021 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.3 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed March 5, 2021).
†10.35
Employment Agreement between Brian Szymanski and Select Energy Services, LLC, dated March 1, 2021 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.4 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 5, 2021).
†10.36
Form of Performance Share Unit Grant Notice and Performance Share Unit Agreement - Return on Assets - under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.5 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 5, 2021).
†10.37
Form of Restricted Stock Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Agreement between John D. Schmitz and Select Energy Services, Inc. under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.6 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 5, 2021).
†10.38
Form of Special Restricted Stock Grant Notice and Restricted Stock Agreement between John D. Schmitz and Select Energy Services, Inc. under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.7 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 5, 2021).
†10.39
Form of Performance Share Unit Grant Notice and Performance Share Unit Agreement - Adjusted Free Cash Flow - between John D. Schmitz and Select Energy Services, Inc. under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.8 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 5, 2021).
†10.40
Form of Performance Share Unit Grant Notice and Performance Share Unit Agreement - Return on Assets - between John D. Schmitz and Select Energy Services, Inc. under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.9 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 5, 2021).
†10.41
Release Agreement by and between Select Energy Services, LLC and Holli C. Ladhani, dated January 3, 2021 (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.10 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed May 5, 2021).
†10.42
Form of Performance Share Unit Grant Notice and Performance Share Unit Agreement - Adjusted EBITDA - under the Select Energy Services, Inc. 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference herein to Exhibit 10.1 to Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed August 4, 2021).
*21.1
List of subsidiaries of Select Energy Services, Inc.
*23.1
Consent of Grant Thornton LLP.
*31.1
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a).
*31.2
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a).
*32.1
Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, furnished herewith.
*32.2
Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, furnished herewith.
*101
Interactive Data Files
*101.INS
iXBRL Instance Document.
*101.SCH
iXBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document.
*101.CAL
iXBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document.
*101.DEF
iXBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document.
*101.LAB
iXBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document.
*101.PRE
iXBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document.
*101
The following materials from Select Energy Services, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 formatted in iXBRL (Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language): (i) Consolidated Balance Sheets; (ii) Consolidated Statements of Operations; (iii) Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss); (iv) Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity; (v) Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows; and (vi) Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101).
*
Filed or furnished with this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
**
The schedules to this Exhibit have been omitted in accordance with Regulation S-K Item 601(b)(2). The Company agrees to furnish supplementally a copy of any omitted schedule to the Securities and Exchange Commission upon its request.
†
Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.