TIDEWATER INC - Annual Report: 2022 (Form 10-K)

 

Table of Contents

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

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FORM 10-K

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☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022

 

or

 

☐	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from     to     .

 

Commission file number: 1-6311

 

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Tidewater Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

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Delaware				72-0487776
(State of incorporation)				(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
842 West Sam Houston Parkway North, Suite 400 Houston, Texas				77024
(Address of principal executive offices)				(Zip Code)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (713) 470-5300

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

	Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
	Common Stock, $0.001 par value per share	TDW	New York Stock Exchange
	Series A Warrants to purchase shares of common stock	TDW.WS.A	New York Stock Exchange
	Series B Warrants to purchase shares of common stock	TDW.WS.B	New York Stock Exchange
	Warrants to purchase shares of common stock	TDW.WS	NYSE American

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

 

 

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes ☐  No ☒

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes ☐    No  ☒

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer	☒		Accelerated filer	☐
Non-accelerated filer	☐		Smaller reporting company	☐
Emerging growth company	☐

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

 

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

 

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to § 240.10D-1(b).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes ☐    No ☒

 

As of June 30, 2022, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $827.4 million based on the closing sales price as reported on the New York Stock Exchange of $21.09 per share. Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Section 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

 

As of February 15, 2023, 50,566,909 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value per share, were outstanding. Registrant has no other class of common stock outstanding.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

 

Portions of the registrant’s proxy statement to be filed in connection with its 2023 annual meeting of stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

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Table of Contents

 

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Unless otherwise required by the context, the terms “we”, “us”, “our” and “the company” as used herein refer to Tidewater Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries and predecessors.

About Tidewater

We were incorporated in 1956 and for over 65 years, we have provided marine and transportation services to the global offshore energy industry. Our mission includes providing our services to our customers with the highest level of operational performance, while complying with all laws and regulations, respecting the environment and local communities in which we work and ensuring the safety of our people.

We offer a large and diversified fleet of offshore service vessels (OSV or vessels), with 183 active vessels serving customers in over 30 countries as of December 31, 2022. We believe our global operating footprint allows us to react quickly to changing local market conditions and to be responsive to the changing requirements of our customers, with which we believe we have strong relationships. We manage our operations through the following five geographically aligned reporting segments:

Each reporting segment is managed by a senior executive who reports directly to our Chief Executive Officer, the chief operating decision maker.

Our vessels routinely move between geographic regions. We conduct our business through domestic and international subsidiaries, as well as through joint ventures that we may or may not control (generally where required to satisfy local ownership or local content requirements).

Our vessels and associated services support all phases of offshore crude oil and natural gas (also referred to as oil and gas) exploration, field development and production, as well as windfarm development and maintenance. Our services include towing of, and anchor handling for, mobile offshore drilling units; transporting supplies and personnel necessary to sustain drilling, workover and production activities; offshore construction and seismic and subsea support; geotechnical survey support for windfarm construction, and a variety of other specialized services such as pipe and cable laying.

Our active OSV fleet consists primarily of company owned vessels. As of December 31, 2022, we owned 183 active vessels of which five have been temporarily stacked or withdrawn from service. In addition, we owned eight vessels classified as assets held for sale in our Consolidated Balance Sheet. Please refer to Note (1) - “Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” and Note (8) - “Assets Held For Sale, Asset Sales and Asset Impairments” to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” (Consolidated Financial Statements) in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (Form 10-K) for additional information regarding our stacked vessels and vessels held for sale.

Our principal customers include large, international integrated and independent oil and natural gas exploration, field development and production companies (IOCs); mid-sized and smaller independent exploration and production (E&P) companies; foreign government-owned or government-controlled organizations that explore for, develop and produce oil and natural gas (NOCs); offshore drilling contractors; and other companies that provide various services to the offshore energy industry, including, among other things, offshore construction companies, windfarm development companies, diving companies and well stimulation companies.

Our revenues, net earnings and cash flows from operations are largely dependent upon the activity level of our offshore marine vessel fleet. As is the case with the numerous other vessel operators in our industry, our business activity is largely dependent on the level of exploration, field development and production activity of our customers. Our customers’ business activity, in turn, is largely dependent on current and expected crude oil and natural gas prices, which fluctuate depending on expected future levels of supply and demand for crude oil and natural gas, and on estimates of the cost to find, develop and produce crude oil and natural gas reserves.

Depending on vessel capabilities and availability, our vessels operate in the shallow, intermediate and deepwater offshore markets. Deepwater oil and gas development typically involves significant capital investment and multi-year development plans. Although these projects are generally less susceptible to short-term fluctuations in commodity prices, deepwater exploration and development projects are generally more costly than other onshore and offshore exploration and development. We expect offshore windfarm developments to increase over the coming years, and believe these developments may provide additional opportunities for a certain cross-section of our larger vessels. These projects generally require fewer but more highly specialized vessels.

Revenues are derived primarily from vessel time charter or similar contracts ranging in duration from a few months to several years, and to a lesser extent, from vessel time charter contracts on a “spot” basis, which are short-term agreements ranging from one day to several months where we provide offshore marine services to customers for specific short-term jobs. The base rate of hire for a term contract is generally a fixed rate, though some charter arrangements allow us to recover specific additional costs.

Acquisition of Swire Pacific Offshore Holdings Limited

On April 22, 2022, Tidewater acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Swire Pacific Offshore Holdings Limited (SPO), pursuant to a Share Purchase Agreement with Banyan Overseas Limited (Banyan) for a total consideration of $215.5 million, consisting of (i) $61.6 million in cash paid at closing less a subsequent receipt of an $8.8 million post-closing working capital refund; and (ii) 8,100,000 warrants, exercisable at $0.001 per share for one share of our common stock (SPO Acquisition Warrants). As of closing, SPO and its wholly owned subsidiaries owned 50 offshore support vessels operating primarily in West Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

On June 24, 2022, we amended the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA Amendment) to allow Banyan to surrender SPO Acquisition Warrants to satisfy any indemnity liabilities. Under the indemnification provisions of the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) and the SPA Amendment, Banyan requested that we allow them to settle approximately $1.4 million in indemnified liabilities by surrendering the equivalent value in SPO Acquisition Warrants. We granted Banyan’s request, and during 2022, settled the agreed upon indemnification liability in exchange for the surrender of 64,086 SPO Acquisition Warrants that we subsequently cancelled.

During the second half of 2022, we completed two common stock public offerings to facilitate the redemption of the SPO Acquisition Warrants, including an offering for 4,048,000 shares at $17.85 per share completed on August 12, 2022, and an offering for 3,987,914 shares at $30.25 per share completed on November 10, 2022 (the Offerings). The Offerings resulted in net proceeds (after expenses) of approximately $187.8 million that we used to redeem 8,035,914 SPO Acquisition Warrants, which we subsequently cancelled. As a result, no SPO Acquisition Warrants remained outstanding as of December 31, 2022.

Vessel Classifications

Our primary vessel classifications include Anchor Handling Towing Supply Vessels (AHTS) and Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs). A description of the type of vessels categorized in each vessel class and the services typically performed follows.

Anchor Handling Towing Supply Vessels

The most versatile vessels in the Tidewater fleet are large, powerful AHTS vessels, capable of all types of towing, anchor handling activities, and varied subsea operations. Fitted with experienced crews and state of the art technology, AHTS vessels of various classes are capable of positioning and mooring drilling rigs in virtually any location, depth or sea condition and under a wide range of conditions. With a wide range of power, sizes and capacities, these vessels are also well-suited for general offshore support services, drilling rig support functions and cargo transport assignments.

As of December 31, 2022, we operated 57 AHTS vessels throughout our service regions.

Platform Supply Vessels (PSV)

PSVs generally have cargo carrying capacities, both below deck (liquid mud tanks and dry bulk tanks) and above deck. Most of our PSVs are outfitted with dynamic positioning capabilities, which allow the vessels to maintain an absolute or relative position when mooring to an offshore installation, rig or another vessel is deemed unsafe, impractical or undesirable. Many of our PSVs also have oil recovery, firefighting, standby rescue and/or other specialized equipment. As of December 31, 2022, we operated 104 PSVs throughout our service regions.

Other Vessels

Our other vessels class includes crew boats, utility vessels and offshore tugs. Crew boats and utility vessels are chartered to customers for use in transporting personnel and supplies from shore bases to offshore drilling rigs, platforms and other installations. These vessels are also often equipped for oil field security missions in markets where piracy, kidnapping or other potential violence presents a concern. Offshore tugs are used to tow floating drilling rigs and barges; to assist in the docking of tankers; and to assist pipe laying, cable laying and construction barges. As of December 31, 2022, we operated 22 vessels classified as other.

In addition, we have two offshore tugs and two crew boats under construction for use in our African markets. We expect the tugs to be completed in 2023 and the crew boats to be completed in 2024.

Customers and Contracting

Demand for our services depends substantially on our customers’ strategy and allocation of capital spending related to offshore exploration, development and production of oil and gas reserves. These expenditures are 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. The activity levels of our customers also are influenced by the cost (and relative cost) of exploring for and producing oil and gas offshore, which can be affected by environmental regulations, technological advances that affect energy production and consumption, extreme weather conditions, and local and international economic and political environments, including government mandated moratoriums. Although commodity prices have recovered from historic lows seen in 2020, our customers have generally lowered their capital expenditure programs considering market volatility and competing priorities, including returning capital to shareholders and investing in alternative energy sources. In addition, we derive a significant amount of revenue from a relatively small number of customers. For the year ended December 31, 2022, our five largest customers accounted for approximately 35.8%, while our ten largest customers accounted for approximately 51.2% of our total revenues.

The following table discloses our customers that accounted for 10% or more of total revenues:

* Less than 10% of total revenues.

While it is normal for our customer base to change over time as our vessel time charter contracts turn over, the unexpected loss of any of our significant customers could, at least in the short term, have a material adverse effect on our vessel utilization and our results of operations.

Competition

We have numerous competitors of all sizes. The principal competitive factors for the offshore support vessel service industry are the quality, suitability and technical capabilities of vessels, the availability of vessels and related equipment, the price and quality of service, and the legal ability to provide the service in the applicable region. In addition, the ability to demonstrate a strong record for safety and efficiency, and attract and retain qualified and skilled personnel, are important competitive factors. We have numerous competitors in all areas in which we operate, and our ability to compete in the international markets may be adversely affected by regulations requiring, among other things, local construction, flagging, ownership or control of vessels, the awarding of contracts to local contractors, the employment of local citizens and/or the purchase of supplies from local vendors.

Our diverse, mobile asset base and the wide geographic distribution of our assets generally enable us to respond relatively quickly to changes in market conditions and to provide a broad range of vessel services to customers around the world. We believe that the size, age, diversity and geographic distribution of a vessel operator’s fleet, economies of scale and experience level in the many areas of the world are competitive advantages in our industry. In the Americas region, we benefit from cabotage which includes rules and restrictions promulgated thereunder by the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 and the Shipping Act, 1916, as amended (collectively, the Jones Act), which limit vessels that can operate in the GOM and other offshore regions within U.S. territorial waters, to those owned by companies that qualify as U.S. citizens. Also, in certain foreign countries, preferences given to vessels owned by local companies may be mandated by local law or by national oil companies. We have attempted to mitigate such preferences through affiliations with local companies.

International Labour Organization’s Maritime Labour Convention

The International Labour Organization's Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (the MLC) mandates globally, among other things, seafarer living and working conditions (accommodations, wages, conditions of employment, health and other benefits) aboard ships that are engaged in commercial activities. Since its initial entry into force on August 20, 2013, 90 countries have ratified the MLC.

We maintain certification of our vessels to MLC requirements, perform maintenance and repairs at shipyards, and make port calls during ocean voyages in accordance with the MLC based on the dates of enforcement by countries in which we operate. In addition, where possible, we continue to work with identified flag states to seek substantial equivalencies to comparable national and industry laws that meet the intent of the MLC and allow us to standardize operational protocols among our fleet.

Government Regulation

We are subject to various United States (U.S.) federal, state and local statutes and regulations governing the ownership, operation and maintenance of vessels. Our U.S. flagged vessels are subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Maritime Administration. We also are subject to international laws and conventions and the laws of international jurisdictions where we operate.

Under the citizenship provisions of the Jones Act, we would not be permitted to engage in the U.S. coastwise trade if more than 25% of our outstanding shares of common stock are owned by non-U.S. Citizens (as defined by the Jones Act). For a company engaged in the U.S. coastwise trade to be deemed a U.S. citizen: (i) it must be organized under the laws of the United States or of a state, territory or possession thereof, (ii) each of the chief executive officer and the chairman of the board of directors of such corporation must be a U.S. citizen, (iii) no more than a minority of the number of directors of such corporation necessary to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business can be non-U.S. Citizens and (iv) at least 75% of the interest in such corporation must be owned by U.S. citizens. We have a dual stock certificate system to protect against non-U.S. Citizens owning more than 25% of our common stock. In addition, our certificate of incorporation (as amended) provides us with certain remedies with respect to any transfer or purported transfer of shares of our common stock that would result in the ownership by non-U.S. Citizens of more than 24% of our common stock. Based on the latest information available to us, less than 24% of our outstanding common stock was owned by non-U.S. Citizens as of December 31, 2022.

Our vessel operations in the GOM are considered coastwise trade. U.S. law requires that vessels engaged in the U.S. coastwise trade must be built in the U.S. and registered under U.S. flag. In addition, once a U.S. built vessel is registered under a non-U.S. flag, it cannot thereafter engage in U.S. coastwise trade. Therefore, our non-U.S. flagged vessels must operate outside of the U.S. coastwise trade zone. Of the total 191 vessels (which includes eight vessels held for sale) that we owned or operated at December 31, 2022, 180 vessels were registered under flags other than the United States and 11 were registered under the U.S. flag.

All our offshore vessels are subject to either United States or international safety and classification standards or sometimes both. Our U.S. flagged AHTS vessels, PSVs and other vessels are required to undergo periodic inspections generally twice within every five-year period pursuant to U.S. Coast Guard regulations. Vessels registered under flags other than the United States are subject to similar regulations and are governed by the laws of the applicable international jurisdictions and the rules and requirements of various classification societies, such as the American Bureau of Shipping.

We comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, an amendment to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention (1974/1988), and further mandated in the Maritime Transportation and Security Act of 2002 to align United States regulations with those of the ISPS Code and SOLAS. Under the ISPS Code, we perform worldwide security assessments, risk analyses, and develop vessel and required port facility security plans to enhance safe and secure vessel and facility operations. Additionally, we have developed security annexes for those U.S. flag vessels that transit or work in waters designated as high risk by the U.S. Coast Guard pursuant to the latest revision of Maritime Security Directive 104-6.

Occupational Safety and Health Compliance

In the U.S., we are subject to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and other similar laws and regulations, which establish workplace standards for the protection of the health and safety of employees, including the implementation of hazard communications programs designed to inform employees about hazardous substances in the workplace, potential harmful effects of these substances, and appropriate control measures.

As described above, certain of the international jurisdictions in which we operate have ratified the MLC, which establishes minimum requirements for working conditions of seafarers, including conditions of employment, hours of work and rest, grievance and complaints procedures, accommodations, recreational facilities, food and catering, health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection. Although the U.S. is not a party to the MLC, U.S. flag vessels operating internationally must comply with the MLC when calling on a port in a country that is a party to the MLC.

Environmental Compliance

During the ordinary course of business, our operations are subject to a wide variety of environmental laws and regulations that govern the discharge of oil, oil products and other pollutants into navigable waters. Violations of these laws may result in civil and criminal penalties, fines, injunctions and other sanctions. Compliance with the existing governmental regulations that have been enacted or adopted regulating the discharge of materials into the environment, or otherwise relating to the protection of the environment has not had, nor is expected to have, a material effect on us. Environmental laws and regulations are subject to change, however, and may impose increasingly strict requirements, and, as such, we cannot estimate the ultimate cost of complying with such potential changes to environmental laws and regulations. In addition, a wide range of governmental regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and certain individual states, regulate vessels and other structures in accordance with the requirements of federal and state law.

Little uniformity among the regulations issued by these agencies exists at this time, which increases our compliance costs and risk of non-compliance. Existing U.S. environmental laws and regulations to which we are subject include, but are not limited to:

In the U.S. and abroad, we are subject to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), an international convention that imposes environmental standards on the shipping industry relating to oil spills, management of garbage, the handling of certain substances, sewage and air emissions. Annex VI of MARPOL addresses air emissions, including emissions of sulfur and nitrous oxide, and requires the use of low sulfur fuels worldwide in both auxiliary and main propulsion diesel engines on vessels. The International Maritime Organization designates the waters off North America as an Emission Control Area, meaning that vessels operating in the U.S. must use fuel with a sulfur content no greater than 0.1%. Directives have been issued designed to reduce the emission of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. These can impact both the fuel and the engines that may be used onboard vessels. For further discussion of regulatory risks related to climate change see “Risk Factors” in Item 1A and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 of this Form 10-K.

We are also involved in various legal proceedings that relate to other environmental matters. The amount of ultimate liability, if any, with respect to these proceedings is not expected to have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flows. We are proactive in establishing policies and operating procedures for safeguarding the environment against any hazardous materials aboard our vessels and at shore-based locations. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 also requires owners and operators of vessels over 300 gross tons to provide the USCG with evidence of financial responsibility to cover the cost of cleaning up oil spills from those vessels. Several foreign jurisdictions also require us to present satisfactory evidence of financial responsibility. We satisfy these requirements through appropriate insurance coverage, as discussed below in “Risk Management.”

Moreover, environmental laws and regulations also can affect the resale value or significantly reduce the useful lives of our vessels, require a reduction in carrying capacity, ship modifications or operational changes or restrictions (and related increased operating costs) or retirement of service, lead to decreased availability or higher cost of insurance coverage for environmental matters or result in the denial of access to, or detention in, certain jurisdictional waters or ports. Whenever possible, hazardous materials are maintained or transferred in confined areas to ensure containment, if accidents were to occur. In addition, we have established operating policies that are intended to increase awareness of actions that may harm the environment, including being committed to responsible ship recycling in accordance with the Hong Kong convention and European Ship Recycling Regulation.

In addition to governmental regulation, large oil and gas producers have developed strict due diligence processes for selecting their suppliers out of concerns for the environmental impact of their operations. Our failure to maintain any of our vessels to the standards required by the industry could put us in breach of the applicable charter agreement and lead to termination of such agreement. Should we not be able to successfully clear such risk assessment processes on an ongoing basis, the future employment of our vessels could also be adversely affected since it might lead to the termination of existing charters.

Safety

We are dedicated to ensuring the safety of our operations for our employees, our customers and any personnel associated with our operations. Tidewater’s principal operations occur in offshore waters where the workplace environment presents many safety challenges. Management communicates frequently with company personnel to promote safety and instill safe work habits using company media directed at, and regular training of, both our seamen and shore-based personnel. We dedicate personnel and resources to ensure safe operations and regulatory compliance. Our Director of Health, Safety, Environment and Security (HSE) Management is involved in numerous proactive efforts to prevent accidents and injuries from occurring. The HSE Director also reviews all incidents that occur, focusing on lessons that can be learned from such incidents and opportunities to incorporate such lessons into our on-going safety-related training. In addition, we employ safety personnel to be responsible for administering our safety programs and fostering our safety culture. Our position is that each of our employees is a safety supervisor with the authority and the obligation to stop any operation that they deem to be unsafe.

Risk Management

The operation of any marine vessel involves an inherent risk of marine losses (including physical damage to the vessel) attributable to adverse sea and weather conditions, mechanical failure, and collisions. In addition, the nature of our operations exposes us to the potential risks of damage to and loss of drilling rigs and production facilities, hostile activities attributable to war, sabotage, piracy and terrorism, as well as business interruption due to political action or inaction, including nationalization of assets by foreign governments. Any such event may lead to a reduction in revenues or increased costs. Our vessels are generally insured for their estimated market value against damage or loss, including war, acts of terrorism, and pollution risks, but we do not directly or fully insure for business interruption. We also carry workers’ compensation, maritime employer’s liability, director and officer liability, general liability (including third party pollution) and other insurance customary in the industry.

The continued threat of terrorist activity and other acts of war or hostility have significantly increased the risk of political, economic and social instability in some of the geographic areas in which we operate. Further acts of terrorism may be directed against the U.S. domestically or abroad, and such acts of terrorism could be directed against properties and personnel of U.S. headquartered companies such as ours. The resulting economic, political and social uncertainties, including the potential for future terrorist acts and war, could cause the premiums charged for the insurance coverage to increase. We currently maintain war risk coverage on our entire fleet.

We seek to secure appropriate insurance coverage at competitive rates. We carefully monitor claims and actively participate in claims estimates and adjustments. We believe that our insurance coverage is adequate. We have not experienced a loss in excess of insurance policy limits; however, there is no assurance that our liability coverage will be adequate to cover claims that may arise. While we believe that we should be able to maintain adequate insurance in the future at rates considered commercially acceptable, we cannot guarantee that such insurance will continue to be available at commercially acceptable rates given the markets in which we operate. For further discussion of our risks see “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this Form 10-K.

Environmental, Social and Governance

We are committed to transparently reporting on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors that may be relevant to us. Our Board of Directors (the Board) engages in regular discussions relating to environmental matters and our response to ESG-related risks and opportunities, as further described below.

Environment

Energy Transition

Climate change concerns have precipitated a call from governments and other entities to transition from fossil fuels for energy production and power transportation. The primary offender in climate change is considered to be carbon emissions. The recent goal of the advocates of the energy transition is to reduce world-wide carbon emissions to net zero by the year 2050. The preferred energy sources that produce no carbon emissions are wind, solar and nuclear. Our Sustainability Report addresses our progress toward attaining lower carbon emissions and supporting more environmentally friendly energy sources. We believe that our long-term success depends on our ability to effectively navigate the energy transition and we believe we will have opportunities to participate in that transition while also supporting the fossil fuel industry. We currently have a few vessels supporting the wind farm business. We also expect to have significant opportunities from the offshore oil and gas industry as they dismantle their massive offshore production infrastructure during the transition. We believe that the fossil fuel industry will continue to provide fuel for energy throughout the transition and we are prepared to provide support through the process.

Seasonality

Our global vessel fleet generally has its highest utilization rates in the warmer months when the weather is more favorable for offshore exploration, field development and construction work in the oil and gas industry. Hurricanes, cyclones, the monsoon season, and other severe weather can negatively or positively impact vessel operations. Our GOM operations can be impacted by the Atlantic hurricane season from the months of June through November, when offshore exploration, field development and construction work tend to slow or halt to mitigate potential losses and damage that may occur to the offshore oil and gas infrastructure should a hurricane enter the area. However, demand for offshore marine vessels typically increases in the GOM in connection with repair and remediation work that follows any hurricane damage to offshore oil and gas infrastructure. Our vessels that operate offshore in India, other areas in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific are impacted by the monsoon season, which occurs across the region from November to April. Vessels that operate in the North Sea can be impacted by a seasonal slowdown in the winter months, generally from November to March. Although hurricanes, cyclones, monsoons and other severe weather can have a seasonal impact on operations, our business volume is more dependent on oil and gas pricing, global supply of oil and gas, and demand for our offshore support vessels and other services than on any seasonal variation.

Social and Human Capital Management

Employees and Labor Relations

As of December 31, 2022, we employed approximately 6,300 employees worldwide with over 90% of our fleet operating internationally in more than 30 countries. We are not a party to any union contract in the U.S. but through several subsidiaries, we are subject to union agreements covering local nationals in several countries other than the U.S., most heavily in the North Sea with UK and Norwegian mariners.

Culture and Engagement

Our employees and our culture are critical to our long-term success. Our senior leadership team believes in and promotes Tidewater’s culture through our “7 Cs”:

We focus on creating an environment where our colleagues feel respected, valued, and can contribute to their fullest potential. We leverage technology to promote online collaborative workspaces to bring our colleagues together across multiple time zones and geographies and to create a global sense of community.

Health and Safety

We maintain a safety culture grounded on the premise of eliminating workplace incidents, risks and hazards. We are dedicated to ensuring the safety of our employees, our customers and any personnel associated with our operations. Our principal operations occur in offshore waters where the workplace environment presents many safety challenges. Management communicates frequently with company personnel to promote safety and instill safe work habits using company media directed at, and regular training of, both our mariners and shore-based personnel. We dedicate personnel and resources to ensure safe operations and regulatory compliance. In addition, we employ safety personnel who are responsible for administering our safety programs and fostering our safety culture and monitoring the results of our safety programs and initiatives. We expect each of our employees to be a "safety supervisor" with the authority and the obligation to stop any operation that they deem to be unsafe.

By establishing practical safeguards against identified risks, we take a consistent and proactive approach to minimizing the number of accidents, incidents and hazardous occurrences. We use both leading and lagging indicators to monitor the performance of our health and safety programs. Lagging indicators include the Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) and the Lost Time Incident Rate (LTIR) based upon the number of incidents per one million working hours. Leading indicators include reporting and closure of all near-miss events and Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) training activities. For 2022, we had a TRIR of 0.79, a LTIR of 0.14 and no work-related fatalities.

In 2022, we continued certain additional safety protocols and operational measures to address the challenges resulting from COVID-19, including measures to ensure compliance with any applicable local government requirements, customer restrictions or regulatory guidelines to help mitigate the risk of operational interruptions and maintain the health and safety of our employees, contractors and customers.

Inclusion and Diversity

We embrace the diversity of our team members, stakeholders and customers, including their unique backgrounds, experiences, thoughts and talents. Everyone is valued and appreciated for their distinct contributions to the growth and sustainability of our business. We strive to cultivate a culture and vision that supports and enhances our ability to recruit, develop and retain diverse talent at every level. We are an equal opportunity employer, with all qualified applicants receiving consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. We comply with all applicable employment, labor and immigration requirements, and require our personnel to cooperate with all compliance efforts. We have a policy of continuous improvement; opportunities to further connect and support collaboration between our diverse employee base continue to be identified and addressed with further investments in training, tools and systems.

We are committed to racial equality and fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion throughout our organization, a commitment that both starts with, and is reflected in, our board of directors. We have made diversity and inclusion an important part of our hiring and retention efforts. Our chief operating officer, who also serves as our chief human resource officer (CHRO), has primary responsibility for our human capital management strategy, including attracting, developing, engaging and retaining those talented employees. The CHRO is also responsible for the design of employee compensation and benefits programs in addition to promoting diversity and inclusion throughout the company.

Governance

Our Board believes the purpose of corporate governance is to maximize stockholder value in a manner consistent with legal requirements and the highest standards of integrity. The Board has adopted and adheres to corporate governance practices, which the Board and management believe promote this purpose, are sound, and represent best practices. The Board periodically reviews these governance practices, applicable law, the rules and listing standards of the NYSE and SEC regulations, as well as best practices suggested by recognized governance authorities.

We are committed to transparently reporting on ESG factors that may be relevant to us. We use internationally recognized methods and reporting standards to measure and disclose our performance in relation to ESG factors. In April 2021, we published our inaugural sustainability report (Sustainability Report) for the year ended December 31, 2020, which included disclosures in accordance with the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting standards, and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Marine Transportation standards. We published our 2021 Sustainability Report in accordance with these same standards in April of 2022.

Given the increased importance and focus on ESG factors by our stakeholders, our Board formed a separate ESG Committee in 2022 to oversee our sustainability efforts and reporting. Our Board, along with the ESG Committee, monitors and provides oversight over our ESG policies, programs, and practices regarding corporate responsibility and sustainability and plays an active role in overseeing our human capital management efforts. Our Compensation Committee provides oversight of our social strategy, executive compensation and benefits, policies, programs, and initiatives. Our Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee provides oversight of the Company's governance and corresponding regulatory matters. The Audit Committee provides oversight over our environmental and governmental matters, including risk assessment and risk management policies and processes, including data privacy, ethics, and compliance reporting.

For further discussion of ESG risks and considerations see “Risk Factors” in Item 1A and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 of this Form 10-K.

Reporting Segments

Prior to 2022, we managed our business through four segments including the Americas, Middle East/Asia Pacific, Europe/Mediterranean, and West Africa. In connection with the acquisition of SPO, we split our Middle East/Asia Pacific segment into an Asia Pacific segment and a Middle East segment, resulting in the five segments. Our reporting segments and corresponding disclosures have been adjusted to reflect each of the five segments for all periods presented.

Corporate Information

Tidewater was founded in 1956 and is incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. Our worldwide headquarters and principal executive offices are located at 842 West Sam Houston Parkway North, Suite 400, Houston, Texas 77024.

Available Information

Tidewater maintains a website at www.tdw.com. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and Forms 3, 4 and 5 filed on behalf of directors and executive officers, and any amendments to each of those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), are made available free of charge through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after each is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Alternatively, the SEC maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that contains our reports, proxy and information statements, and our other SEC filings. Copies of our reports are also available, without charge, from Tidewater Investor Relations, 842 West Sam Houston Parkway North, Suite 400, Houston, Texas 77024.

In addition, our website includes the company’s Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, and additional policies as well as the charters of the audit, compensation and other standing committees of the Board of Directors. Unless expressly noted, the information appearing on our website or any other website is not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K and should not be considered part of this Form 10-K or any other filing Tidewater makes with the SEC.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain of the statements included in this Form 10-K constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which includes any statements that are not historical facts. Such statements often contain words such as “expect,” “believe,” “think,” “anticipate,” “predict,” “plan,” “assume,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “goal,” “target,” “projections,” “intend,” “should,” “will,” “shall” and other similar words. Forward-looking statements are made based on management’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects upon Tidewater Inc. and its subsidiaries. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Tidewater Inc. and its subsidiaries will be those anticipated by management. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and there are certain important factors that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from expectations or estimates reflected in such forward-looking statements, including, among others: fluctuations in worldwide energy demand and oil and natural gas prices; industry overcapacity; limited capital resources available to replenish our asset base as needed, including through acquisitions or vessel construction, and to fund our capital expenditure needs; uncertainty of global financial market conditions and potential constraints in accessing capital or credit if and when needed with favorable terms, if at all; changes in decisions and capital spending by customers in the energy industry and the industry expectations for offshore exploration, field development and production; consolidation of our customer base; loss of a major customer; changing customer demands for vessel specifications, which may make some of our older vessels technologically obsolete for certain customer projects or in certain markets; rapid technological changes; delays and other problems associated with vessel maintenance; the continued availability of qualified personnel and our ability to attract and retain them; the operating risks normally incident to our lines of business, including the potential impact of liquidated counterparties; our ability to comply with covenants in our indentures and other debt instruments; acts of terrorism and piracy; the impact of regional or global public health crises or pandemics; the impact of potential information technology, cybersecurity or data security breaches; integration of acquired businesses and entry into new lines of business; disagreements with our joint venture partners; natural disasters or significant weather conditions; unsettled political conditions, war, civil unrest and governmental actions, such as expropriation or enforcement of customs or other laws that are not well developed or consistently enforced; the risks associated with our international operations, including local content, local currency or similar requirements especially in higher political risk countries where we operate; interest rate and foreign currency fluctuations; labor changes proposed by international conventions; increased regulatory burdens and oversight; changes in laws governing the taxation of foreign source income; retention of skilled workers; our participation in industry wide, multi-employer, defined pension plans; enforcement of laws related to the environment, labor and foreign corrupt practices; increased global concern, regulation and scrutiny regarding climate change; increased stockholder activism; the potential liability for remedial actions or assessments under existing or future environmental regulations or litigation; the effects of asserted and unasserted claims and the extent of available insurance coverage; the resolution of pending legal proceedings; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in this Form 10-K and other filings we make with the SEC. If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties materialize (or the consequences of any such development changes), or should our underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those reflected in our forward-looking statements. Forward-looking and other statements in this Form 10-K regarding our environmental, social and other sustainability plans, goals or activities are not an indication that these statements are necessarily material to investors or required to be disclosed in our filings with the SEC. In addition, historical, current, and forward-looking environmental, social and sustainability-related statements may be based on standards still developing, internal controls and processes that we continue to evolve, and assumptions subject to change in the future. Statements in this Form 10-K are made as of the date of this filing, and Tidewater disclaims any intention or obligation to update publicly or revise such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. See “Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Form 10-K for a discussion of certain risks relating to our business and investment in our securities.

In certain places in this Form 10-K, we may refer to reports published by third parties that purport to describe trends or developments in energy production and drilling and exploration activity and we specifically disclaim any responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of such information and have undertaken no steps to update or independently verify such information.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following discussion of risk factors contains forward-looking statements. These risk factors may be important to understanding other statements in this Form 10-K. The following information should be read in conjunction with Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes in Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.

Our business, financial condition and operating results can be affected by several factors, whether currently known or unknown, including but not limited to those described below, any one or more of which could, directly or indirectly, cause our actual financial condition and operating results to vary materially from those anticipated, projected or assumed in the forward-looking statements. Any of these factors, in whole or in part, could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, stock price and cash flows. These could also be affected by additional factors that apply to all companies generally which are not specifically mentioned below.

Summary of Risk Factors

Below is a summary of some of the principal risks and uncertainties that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. You should read this summary together with the more detailed description of each risk factor contained below.

Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry

Risks Relating to Our International and Foreign Operations

Risks Relating to Our Human Capital

Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness

Risks Relating to Governmental Regulation

Risks Relating to Information Technology and Cybersecurity

Risks Relating to Our Securities

General Risks Factors

Risk Factors

Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry

Demand for our services is substantially dependent on the level of capital spending by our customers. Prior downturns in the oil and gas industry have resulted in lower expenditures by our customers and reduced demand for our services, which has in the past had, and may in the future have, a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Demand for our services depends substantially on the capital spending of our customers for offshore exploration, development and production of oil and gas reserves. These expenditures are 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 addition, the transition of the global energy sector from primarily a fossil fuel-based system to include more renewable energy sources could affect our customers’ levels of expenditures.

Fundamentally, the crude oil and natural gas industry is a commodity business impacted by changes in prices, which in turn depend on local, regional, and global events or conditions that affect supply and demand for oil and gas products. Any actual or anticipated declines in oil and gas prices have in the past resulted in lower capital expenditures, project modifications, delays or cancellations by our customers, which has historically led to lower demand for our services, delays in payment of, or nonpayment of, amounts that are owed to us. These effects have had, and may in the future have, a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Historically, oil and gas prices have experienced significant volatility and can be affected by a variety of factors, including:

The oil and gas industry has historically experienced periodic downturns, resulting in diminished demand for our services and downward pressure on the charter rates and prices that we are able to charge. Sustained market uncertainty can also result in lower demand for our services. Moreover, higher commodity prices will not necessarily translate into increased demand for offshore support services or sustained higher pricing for offshore support vessel services, in part because customer demand is often driven by capital expenditure programs focused on future commodity price expectations and not solely on current prices, along with customer opportunities to invest in onshore conventional and unconventional oil and gas production.

Although commodity prices have recovered from historic lows seen in 2020, our customers have generally lowered their capital expenditure programs considering market volatility and competing priorities, including returning capital to shareholders and investing in alternative energy sources. A significant industry downturn, sustained market uncertainty, or increased availability of economical alternative energy sources could result in a reduction in demand for our services, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Factors associated with global climate change, including evolving and increasing regulations, increasing global concern and stakeholder scrutiny about climate change, and increasing frequency and/or severity of adverse weather conditions could adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations and financial position.

Companies across all industries are facing increasing scrutiny from stakeholders related to their ESG practices. Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, investment funds and other influential investors are also increasingly focused on ESG practices and in recent years have placed increasing importance on the implications and social cost of their investments. Regardless of the industry, investors’ increased focus and activism related to ESG and similar matters may hinder access to capital, as investors may decide to reallocate capital or to not commit capital as a result of their assessment of a company’s 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. Further, the increasing attention to ESG and sustainability has resulted in governmental investigations, and public and private litigation, which could increase our costs or otherwise adversely affect our business or results of operations.

Specifically, adverse effects upon the oil and gas industry related to the worldwide social and political environment, including uncertainty or instability resulting from climate change, changes in political leadership and environmental policies, changes in geopolitical-social views toward fossil fuels and renewable energy, concern about the environmental impact of climate change and investors’ expectations regarding ESG matters, may also adversely affect demand for our services. In September 2021, a group of over 150 companies, including shipping companies, oil companies and port authorities, called on regulators to require the shipping industry to be fully decarbonized by 2050.

Social and political attention to ESG matters has resulted in both existing and pending international agreements and national, regional or local legislation and regulatory measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions and has been stated in the U.S. to be a priority of the Biden Administration, as well as other initiatives. These agreements and measures, including the Paris Climate Accord, the Kyoto Protocol, the European Union Emission Trading System, the United Kingdom’s Carbon Reduction Commitment, the International Maritime Organization’s MARPOL Annex VI amendments, and, in the U.S., the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative, and other various state programs, may require, or could result in future legislation and regulatory measures that require significant equipment and fleet modifications, operational changes, taxes, or purchase of emission credits to reduce emission of greenhouse gases from our operations, which may result in substantial capital expenditures and compliance, operating, maintenance and remediation costs. Any long-term material adverse effect on the oil and gas industry would likely have a significant financial and operational adverse impact on our business. Because we primarily support the oil and gas industry and our vessels utilize fossil fuels for internal power generation, the impact of such increased attention and regulation may have adverse effects on our and our customers’ operations and financial results.

In addition, some institutional investors are placing an increased emphasis on ESG factors when allocating their capital. These investors may be seeking enhanced ESG disclosures or may implement policies that discourage investment in the hydrocarbon industry. Organizations that provide information to institutional and retail investors on corporate governance and related matters have developed ratings processes for evaluating companies on their approach to ESG matters. Such ratings are used by some investors to inform their investment and voting decisions. Unfavorable ESG ratings may lead to negative investor sentiment toward us and our industry and to the diversion of investment to other industries. To the extent certain institutions implement policies that discourage investments in our industry, it could have an adverse effect on our financing costs, liquidity and access to capital.

Moreover, climate change may cause more extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes and snow or ice storms, as well as rising sea levels and increased volatility in seasonal temperatures. Extreme weather conditions can interfere with our or our customers’ and suppliers’ operations and increase our costs, and damage resulting from extreme weather may not be fully insured. However, at this time, we are unable to determine the extent to which climate change may lead to increased weather hazards affecting our operations.

Failure to effectively and timely address the energy transition could adversely affect our business, results of operations and cash flows.

Our long-term success depends on our ability to effectively navigate the energy transition, which will require adapting our vessels and technology portfolio to potentially changing government requirements and customer preferences, as well as engaging with our customers to develop solutions to support their oil and gas operations through this transition. If the energy transition landscape changes faster than anticipated or in a manner that we do not anticipate, demand for our services could be adversely affected. Furthermore, if we fail or are perceived to not effectively implement an energy transition strategy, or if investors or financial institutions shift funding away from companies in fossil fuel-related industries, our results of operations, liquidity and access to capital or the market for our securities could be adversely impacted.

In connection with implementing our business strategy, we face risks associated with identifying acquisition targets, integrating any acquisitions or mergers and growing the business from the acquisition, including our ability to finance any such acquisitions.

Mergers and acquisitions have historically been and continue to be a key element of our business strategy. The success of this strategy is dependent upon our ability to identify appropriate acquisition targets, negotiate transactions on favorable terms, finance transactions, complete transactions, and successfully integrate them into our existing business. Subject to the terms of our indebtedness, we may finance future acquisitions with cash from operations, additional indebtedness, and/or by issuing additional equity or debt securities. In addition, we could face financial risks associated with incurring additional indebtedness such as reducing our liquidity, limiting our access to financing markets, and increasing the amount of service on our debt. Such additional debt service requirements may impose a significant burden on our results of operations and financial condition, and any equity issuance could have a dilutive impact on our stockholders. See “Risks Related to Our Indebtedness” below.

We cannot be certain that we will be able to successfully consolidate the operations and assets of any acquired business with our own business. Acquisitions may not perform as expected when the transaction was consummated and may be dilutive to our overall operating results.

In addition, valuations supporting our acquisitions and strategic investments could change rapidly given the global economic climate. There can be no assurance that we will realize the anticipated synergies or cost savings related to acquisitions, including, but not limited to, revenue growth and operational efficiencies, or that they will be achieved in our estimated timeframe. We may not be able to successfully integrate and streamline overlapping functions from future acquisitions, and integration may be more costly to accomplish than we expect. Moreover, our management may not be able to effectively manage a substantially larger business or successfully operate a new line of business. Failure to manage these acquisition and business integration risks could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We derive a significant amount of revenue from a relatively small number of customers.

For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, our top five and ten largest customers accounted for a significant percentage of our total revenues. While it is normal for our customer base to change over time as our time charter contracts expire and are replaced, our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be materially adversely affected if one or more of these customers were to decide to interrupt or curtail their activities, in general, or their activities with us, terminate their contracts with us, fail to renew existing contracts with us, and/or refuse to award us new contracts.

Our customer base has undergone consolidation and additional consolidation is possible.

Consolidation is common in the oil and gas industry and likely to continue in the future. Consolidation reduces the number of potential customers that may need our services, and may negatively affect exploration, development and production activity as consolidated companies focus, at least initially, on increasing efficiency and reducing costs and may delay or abandon exploration activity with less promise. Such activity could adversely affect demand for our offshore services.

The high level of competition in the offshore marine service industry could negatively impact pricing for our services.

We operate in a highly competitive industry, which could depress charter and utilization rates and adversely affect our financial performance. We compete for business with our competitors based on price; reputation for quality service; quality, suitability and technical capabilities of our vessels; availability of vessels; safety and efficiency; cost of mobilizing vessels from one market to a different market; and national flag preference. In addition, competition in international markets may be adversely affected by regulations requiring, among other things, local construction, flagging, ownership or control of vessels, the awarding of contracts to local contractors, the employment of local citizens and/or the purchase of supplies from local vendors.

The rise in production of unconventional crude oil and natural gas resources could increase supply without a commensurate growth in demand which would negatively impact oil and natural gas prices.

The rise in production of unconventional crude oil and natural gas resources in North America, and the commissioning of several new large Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities around the world have in the past and could in the future result to an over-supplied natural gas market. Production from unconventional resources has increased as drilling efficiencies have improved, lowering the costs of extraction.

There have also been recent buildups in crude oil inventories in the U.S. in part due to the increased development of unconventional crude oil resources. Prolonged increases in the worldwide supply of crude oil and natural gas, whether from conventional or unconventional sources, without a commensurate growth in demand for crude oil and natural gas may depress crude oil and natural gas prices. A prolonged period of low crude oil and natural gas prices would likely have a negative impact on development plans of exploration and production companies, which in turn, may result in a decrease in demand for our offshore support vessel services.

Maintaining our current fleet size and configuration and acquiring vessels required for additional future growth requires significant capital.

Expenditures required for the repair, certification and maintenance of a vessel, some of which may be unplanned, typically increase with vessel age. Additionally, stacked vessels are not maintained with the same diligence as our marketed fleet. Depending on the length of time the vessels are stacked, we may incur additional costs to return these vessels to active service.

While we expect our cash on hand, cash flow from operations and borrowings under new debt facilities to be adequate to fund our future potential purchases of additional vessels, our ability to pay these amounts is dependent upon the success of our operations. We can give no assurance that we will have sufficient capital resources to build or acquire the vessels required to expand or to maintain our current fleet size and vessel configuration.

We may not be able to renew or replace expiring contracts for our vessels.

We have several charter hire contracts that expired in the current year and others that will expire in following years. Our ability to renew or replace expiring contracts or obtain new contracts, and the terms of any such contracts, will depend on various factors, including market conditions and the specific needs of our customers. Given the highly competitive and historically cyclical nature of our industry, we may not be able to renew or replace the contracts or we may be required to renew or replace expiring contracts or obtain new contracts at rates that are below, and potentially substantially below, existing day rates, or that have terms that are less favorable to us than the terms of our existing contracts, or we may be unable to secure contracts for these vessels. This could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Early termination of contracts on our vessels could have an adverse effect on our operations and our backlog may not be converted to actual operating results for any future period.

Most of the long-term contracts for our vessels and many of our contracts with governmental entities and national oil companies contain early termination options in favor of the customer, in some cases permitting termination for any reason. Although some of these contracts have early termination remedies in our favor or other provisions designed to discourage our customers from exercising such options, we cannot assure you that our customers would not choose to exercise their termination rights despite such remedies or the threat of litigation with us. Moreover, many of the contracts for our vessels have a term of one year or less and can be terminated with 90 days or less notice. Unless such vessels can be placed under contract with other customers, any termination could temporarily disrupt our business or otherwise adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. We might not be able to replace such business or replace it on economically equivalent terms. In those circumstances, the amount of backlog could be reduced and the conversion of backlog into revenue could be impaired.

Additionally, depressed commodity prices, adverse changes in credit markets, economic downturns, changes in strategy or other factors beyond our control cause our customers to seek to renegotiate the terms of our existing contracts, terminate our contracts without justification or repudiate or otherwise fail to perform their obligations under our contracts. In any case, an early termination of a contract may result in one or more of our vessels being idle for an extended period. Each of these results could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We may record additional losses or impairment charges related to our vessels.

We review the vessels in our active fleet for impairment whenever events occur or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset group may not be recoverable and we also perform a review of our stacked vessels not expected to return to active service whenever changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of a vessel may not be recoverable. We have realized impairment charges with respect to our long-lived assets over the past several years. If offshore oil and gas industry conditions deteriorate, we could be subject to additional long-lived asset impairments in future periods.

An impairment loss on our property and equipment exists when the estimated undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use of the asset and its eventual disposition are less than its carrying amount. Any impairment loss recognized represents the excess of the asset’s carrying value over the estimated fair value. As part of this analysis, we make assumptions and estimates regarding future market conditions. To the extent actual results do not meet our estimated assumptions, we may take an impairment loss in the future. Additionally, there can be no assurance that we will not have to take additional impairment charges in the future with depressed market conditions.

We may not be able to sell vessels to improve our cash flow and liquidity because we may be unable to locate buyers with access to financing or to complete any sales on acceptable terms or within a reasonable timeframe.

We may seek to sell some of our vessels to provide liquidity and improve our cash flow. There may not be sufficient activity in the market to sell our vessels, and we may not be able to identify buyers with access to financing or to complete any such sales. Even if we can locate appropriate buyers for our vessels, any sales may occur on significantly less favorable terms than the terms that might be available in a more liquid market or at other times in the business cycle.

An increase in vessel supply without a corresponding increase in the working offshore rig count could lead to a decline in the charter day rates we can charge and negatively impact our revenue.

In the past, combinations of high commodity prices and technological advances have resulted in significant growth in deepwater exploration, field development and production. During these times, construction of offshore vessels increased significantly in order to meet projected requirements of customers and potential customers. Excess offshore support vessel capacity usually exerts downward pressure on charter day rates. Excess capacity can occur when newly constructed vessels enter the worldwide offshore support vessel market and when vessels migrate between markets. A discussion about our vessel fleet appears in the “Vessel Utilization and Average Rates by Segment” section of Item 7 in this Form 10-K.

In addition, the provisions of U.S. shipping laws restricting engagement of U.S. coastwise trade to vessels controlled by U.S. citizens may from time to time be circumvented by foreign competitors that seek to engage in trade reserved for vessels controlled by U.S. citizens and otherwise qualifying for coastwise trade. A repeal, suspension or significant modification of U.S. shipping laws, or the administrative erosion of their benefits, permitting vessels that are either foreign-flagged, foreign-built, foreign-owned, foreign-controlled or foreign-operated to engage in the U.S. coastwise trade, could also result in excess vessel capacity and increased competition, especially for our vessels that operate in North America.

An increase in vessel capacity without a corresponding increase in the working offshore rig count could lead to a decline in the charter day rates we can charge and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. .

Our insurance coverage and contractual indemnity protections may not be sufficient to protect us under all circumstances or against all risks.

Our operations are subject to the hazards inherent in the offshore oilfield business. These include blowouts, explosions, fires, collisions, capsizings, sinkings, groundings and severe weather conditions. Some of these events could be the result of (or exacerbated by) mechanical failure or navigation or operational errors.

These hazards could result in personal injury and loss of life, severe damage to or destruction of property and equipment (including to the property and equipment of third parties), pollution or environmental damage and suspension of operations, increased costs and loss of business. Damages arising from such occurrences may result in lawsuits alleging large claims, and we may incur substantial liabilities or losses as a result of these hazards.

Although we carry what we consider to be prudent levels of liability insurance to address these hazards and generally our vessels are insured for their estimated market value against damage or loss, including war, terrorism acts and pollution risks, our insurance programs are subject to deductibles and certain exclusions, and our coverage may not be sufficient to protect us under all circumstances or against all risks. Further, while we believe we should be able to maintain adequate insurance in the future at rates considered commercially acceptable, we cannot guarantee that such insurance will continue to be available at commercially acceptable rates. We also seek to include in our contracts indemnity obligations that require customers or suppliers to hold us harmless from some of these risks. Our contracts, however, are individually negotiated, and the levels of indemnity and allocation of liabilities may vary depending on market conditions, particular customer requirements and other factors existing at the time a contract is negotiated. Additionally, the enforceability of indemnification provisions in our contracts may be limited or prohibited by applicable law or may not be enforced by courts having jurisdiction. The occurrence of a significant event not fully insured or indemnified against or the failure of a customer or supplier to meet its indemnification obligations to us could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition and cash flows.

Risks Relating to Our International and Foreign Operations

We operate in various regions throughout the world and are exposed to many risks inherent in doing business in countries other than the U.S.

We have substantial operations in Brazil, Mexico, Guyana, the North Sea (including United Kingdom (U.K.) and Norway), Southeast Asia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Angola and throughout the west coast of Africa, which generate a large portion of our revenue. Our customary risks of operating internationally include, but are not limited to, political, military, social and economic instability within the host country; possible vessel seizures or expropriation of assets and other governmental actions by the host country, including trade or economic sanctions and enforcement of customs, immigration or other laws that are not well developed or consistently enforced; foreign government regulations that favor or require the awarding of contracts to local competitors; risks associated with failing to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the U.K. Modern Slavery Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, the E.U. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), export laws and other similar laws applicable to our operations in international markets; an inability to recruit, retain or obtain work visas for workers of international operations; deprivation of contract rights; difficulties or delays in collecting customer and other accounts receivable; changing taxation policies; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; foreign currency revaluations and devaluations; restrictions on converting foreign currencies into U.S. dollars; expatriating customer and other payments made in jurisdictions outside of the U.S.; civil unrest, acts of terrorism, war or other armed conflict (further described below); and import/export quotas and restrictions or other trade barriers, most of which are beyond our control.

We are also subject to risks relating to war, sabotage, piracy, kidnappings and terrorism or any similar risk that may put our personnel at risk and adversely affect our operations in unpredictable ways, including changes in the insurance markets as a result of war, sabotage, piracy or kidnappings, disruptions of fuel supplies and markets, particularly oil, and the possibility that infrastructure facilities, including pipelines, production facilities, refineries, electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities, offshore rigs and vessels, and communications infrastructures, could be direct targets of, or indirect casualties of, an act of war, piracy, sabotage or terrorism. War or risk of war or any such attack, such as the current conflict in the Ukraine, and the international response to such events may also have an adverse effect on the economy, which could adversely affect activity in offshore oil and natural gas exploration, development and production and the demand for our services. Insurance coverage can be difficult to obtain in areas of pirate, terrorist or other hostile attacks resulting in increased costs that could continue to increase. We periodically evaluate the need to maintain this insurance coverage as it applies to our fleet. Instability in the financial markets as a result of war, sabotage, piracy, and terrorism, as well as the international response to such events such as trade and investment sanctions, could also adversely affect our ability to raise capital and could also adversely affect the oil, natural gas and power industries and restrict their future growth. The increase in the level of these criminal or terrorist acts, war and international hostilities over the last several years has been well-publicized. As a marine services company that operates in offshore, coastal or tidal waters in challenging areas, we are particularly vulnerable to these kinds of unlawful activities.

Although we take what we consider to be prudent measures to protect our personnel and assets in markets that present these risks, including solicitation of advice from third-party experts, we have confronted these kinds of incidents in the past, and there can be no assurance we will not be subjected to them in the future.

We may have disruptions or disagreements with our foreign joint venture partners, which could lead to an unwinding of the joint venture.

We operate in several foreign areas through joint ventures with local companies, in some cases due to local laws requiring local company ownership. While the joint venture partner may provide local knowledge and experience, these joint ventures often limit our ability to control the assets and operations devoted to the joint venture, and occasions may arise when we do not agree with the business objectives of our joint venture partner, or other factors may arise that make continuing the relationship unwise or untenable. Any disagreement with our partner or discontinuation of the joint venture could disrupt the joint venture operations or put the joint venture assets at risk. If we are unable to resolve issues with a joint venture partner, we may decide to terminate the joint venture and either locate a different partner and continue to work in the area or seek opportunities for our assets in another market.

The unwinding of an existing joint venture could be challenging, and the loss of revenue related to the termination or unwinding of a joint venture and costs related to the sourcing of a new partner or the mobilization of assets to another market could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Our international operations expose us to currency devaluation and fluctuation risk.

Our international operations are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate risks on all charter hire contracts denominated in foreign currencies. For some of our international contracts, a portion of the revenue and local expenses is incurred in local currencies, which subjects us to risk of changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies. In some instances, we receive payments in currencies that are not easily traded and may be illiquid. We generally do not hedge against any foreign currency rate fluctuations associated with foreign currency contracts that arise in the normal course of business, which exposes us to the risk of exchange rate losses. Gains and losses from the revaluation of our monetary assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are included in our consolidated statements of operations. Foreign currency fluctuations may cause the U.S. dollar value of our non-U.S. results of operations and net assets to vary with exchange rate fluctuations. This could have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial position. In addition, fluctuations in currencies relative to currencies in which the earnings are generated may make it more difficult to perform period-to-period comparisons of our reported results of operations.

To minimize the financial impact of these items, we attempt to contract a significant majority of our services in U.S. dollars and, when feasible, we attempt to avoid maintaining large, non-U.S. dollar-denominated cash balances. In addition, we attempt to minimize the financial impact of these risks by matching the currency of our operating costs with the currency of revenue streams when considered appropriate. We monitor the currency exchange risks associated with all contracts not denominated in U.S. dollars.

Risks Related to Human Capital

Failure to attract and retain qualified personnel could impede our operations.

Our future success depends on our ability to recruit, train, and retain qualified personnel. We require highly and narrowly skilled personnel to operate our vessels and to provide our services. Competition for the personnel necessary for our business intensifies as offshore oil and gas exploration and production activity increases; technology evolves and customer demands change. In addition, our industry has lost a significant number of experienced professionals over the years due to its cyclical nature, which is attributable, among other reasons, to the volatility levels of oil and natural gas prices and a more generalized concern about the overall future prospects of the industry. As a result, in periods of high utilization, it is often more difficult to find and retain qualified offshore employees, which could increase our costs or have other material adverse effects on our operations.

If executives, managers or other key personnel resign, retire or are terminated or their service is otherwise interrupted, we may not be able to replace them in a timely manner and we could experience significant declines in productivity.

These uncertainties could affect our relationship with customers, vendors and other parties. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that we will be able to attract, retain and motivate executives, managers, and other key personnel to the same extent as in the past.

We may be subject to additional unionization efforts, new collective bargaining agreements or work stoppages.

In locations in which we are required to do so, we have union workers subject to collective bargaining agreements, which are subject to periodic negotiation. These negotiations could result in higher personnel expenses, other increased costs, or increased operational restrictions. Disputes over the terms of these agreements or our potential inability to negotiate acceptable contracts with the unions that represent our employees under these agreements could result in strikes, work stoppages or other slowdowns by the affected workers. Further, efforts have been made from time to time to unionize other portions of our workforce, including our U.S. GOM employees. Additional unionization efforts, new collective bargaining agreements or work stoppages could materially increase our costs and operating restrictions, disrupt our operations, reduce our revenues, adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, or limit our flexibility.

Our participation in industry-wide, multi-employer, defined benefit pension plans expose us to potential future losses.

Certain of our subsidiaries are participating employers in two industry-wide, multi-employer defined benefit pension plans in the U.K. Among other risks associated with multi-employer plans, contributions and unfunded obligations of the multi-employer plan are shared by the plan participants. As a result, we may inherit unfunded obligations if other plan participants withdraw from the plan or cease to participate, and if we withdraw from participation in one or both plans, we may be required to pay the plan an amount based on our allocable share of the underfunded status of the plan. Depending on the results of future actuarial valuations, it is possible that the plans could experience further deficits that will require funding from us, which would negatively impact our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Certain of our employees are covered by federal laws that may subject us to job-related claims in addition to those provided by state laws.

Certain of our employees are covered by provisions of the Jones Act, the Death on the High Seas Act and general maritime law. These laws preempt state workers’ compensation laws and permit these employees and their representatives to pursue actions against employers for job-related incidents in federal courts based on tort theories. Because we are not generally protected by the damage limits imposed by state workers’ compensation statutes for these types of claims, we may have greater exposure for any claims made by these employees.

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash flow to meet our debt service and other obligations.

Our ability to make payments on our indebtedness and to fund our operations depends on our ability to maintain sufficient cash flows. Our ability to generate cash in the future, to a large extent, is subject to conditions in the oil and gas industry, including commodity prices, demand for our services and the prices we can charge for our services, general economic and financial conditions, competition in the markets in which we operate, the impact of legislative and regulatory actions on how we conduct our business and other factors, all of which are beyond our control.

Lower levels of offshore exploration and development activity and spending by our customers globally directly and significantly have impacted, and may continue to impact, our financial performance, financial condition and financial outlook.

Restrictive covenants in the Bond Terms and Credit Facility Agreement may restrict our ability to raise capital and pursue our business strategies, and may have significant consequences for our operations and future prospects.

The terms for our 8.50% Senior Secured Bonds due in 2026 (the Bond Terms) and the Super Senior Revolving Credit Facility Agreement with DNB Bank ASA, New York Branch, as Facility Agent, Nordic Trustee AS, as Security Trustee, and certain other institutions (the Credit Facility Agreement) contain certain restrictive covenants. 

The Bond Terms and the Credit Facility Agreement also require us to comply with certain financial covenants, including maintenance of minimum liquidity and minimum consolidated equity. We may be unable to meet these financial covenants or comply with these covenants, which could result in a default under the Bond Terms or the Credit Facility Agreement. If a default occurs and is continuing, the secured parties and the lenders under the Bond Terms and Credit Facility Agreement may elect to declare all borrowings thereunder outstanding, together with accrued interest and other fees, to be immediately due and payable. If we are unable to repay our indebtedness when due or declared due, the secured parties and the lenders under the Bond Terms and Credit Facility Agreement will also have the right to foreclose on the collateral pledged to them, including the vessels, to secure the indebtedness. If such indebtedness were to be accelerated, our assets may not be sufficient to repay in full our secured indebtedness. Please refer to Note (4) - “Debt” to our accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information on the Bond Terms and the Credit Facility Agreement. As of December 31, 2022, we had $175.0 million and $25.0 million outstanding for the Senior Secured Bonds and the Credit Facility Agreement, respectively.

As a result of the restrictive covenants under the Bond Terms and the Credit Facility Agreement, we may be prevented from taking advantage of business opportunities. In addition, the restrictions contained in the Bond Terms and the Credit Facility Agreement, including a substantial make whole premium applicable to a voluntary prepayment of obligations under the Bond Terms, may also limit our ability to plan for or react to market conditions, meet capital needs or otherwise restrict our activities or business plans and adversely affect our ability to finance our operations, refinance, enter into acquisitions, execute our business strategy, make capital expenditures, effectively compete with companies that are not similarly restricted or engage in other business activities that would be in our interest. In the future, we may also incur additional debt obligations that might subject us to additional and different restrictive covenants that could further affect our financial and operational flexibility. We cannot assure you that we will be granted waivers or amendments to these agreements if requested to obtain financial or operational flexibility or if for any reason we are unable to comply with these agreements, or that we will be able to refinance our debt on acceptable terms or at all.

We may not be able to obtain debt or equity financing if and when needed with favorable terms, if at all.

Our business and operations may consume cash more quickly than we anticipate, potentially impairing our ability to make capital expenditures to maintain our fleet and other assets. If our cash flows from operating activities are insufficient to fund capital expenditures, we would need to reduce our expenditures or increase our cash flows through debt or equity issuances, alternative financings or selling assets. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to fund our capital requirements. Any limitations in our ability to finance future capital expenditures may limit our ability to respond to changes in customer preferences, technological change and other market conditions, which may diminish our competitive position within our sector.

In addition, if commodity prices decline or the outlook for investment in offshore exploration, development and production materially declines, our access to credit and debt markets may be limited or more costly if lenders look to reduce their loan exposure to the energy sector, impose increased lending standards, increase borrowing costs and collateral requirements or refuse to extend new credit or amend existing credit facilities in the energy and energy services sectors. These potential negative consequences may be exacerbated by the pressure exerted on financial institutions by bank regulatory agencies to respond quickly and decisively to credit risk that develops in distressed industries.

Risks Relating to Governmental Regulation

With our extensive international operations, we are subject to certain compliance risks under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act or similar worldwide anti-bribery laws.

Our global operations require us to comply with several complex U.S. and international laws and regulations, including those involving anti-bribery and, anti-corruption. The FCPA and similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions, including the U.K. Bribery Act the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and the Brazil Clean Company Act, generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business or obtaining an improper business benefit. We have adopted proactive procedures to promote compliance with the FCPA and other anti-bribery legislation, any failure to comply with the FCPA or other anti-bribery legislation could subject us to civil and criminal penalties or other fines or sanctions, including prohibition of our participating in or curtailment of business operations in those jurisdictions and the seizure of vessels or other assets, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operation. Moreover, we may be held liable for actions taken by local partners or agents in violation of applicable anti-bribery laws, even though these partners or agents may themselves not be subject to such laws. Any determination that we have violated applicable anti-bribery laws in countries in which we do business could have a material adverse effect on our business and business reputation, as well as our results of operations, and cash flows. We operate in many parts of the world where governmental corruption is present and, in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices and impact our business.

There may be changes to complex and developing laws and regulations to which we are subject that would increase our cost of compliance and operational risk. 

Our operations are subject to many complex and burdensome laws and regulations. Stringent federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to several aspects of our business, including anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, import and export controls, the environment, worker health and safety, labor and employment, taxation, antitrust and fair competition, data privacy protections, securities regulations and other regulatory and legal requirements that significantly affect our operations. Many aspects of the marine industry are subject to extensive governmental regulation by the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and their foreign equivalents; as well as to standards imposed by private industry organizations such as the American Bureau of Shipping, the Oil Companies International Marine Forum, and the International Marine Contractors Association. Compliance with these laws and regulations may involve significant costs or require changes in our business practices that could result in reduced revenue and profitability. Non-compliance could also result in significant fines, damages, and other criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, prohibitions or additional requirements on the conduct of our business and damage our reputation.

Changes in U.S. and international tax laws and policies could adversely affect our financial results.

We operate in the U.S. and globally through various subsidiaries which are subject to applicable tax laws, treaties or regulations within and between the jurisdictions in which we conduct our business, including laws or policies directed toward companies organized in jurisdictions with low tax rates, which may change and are subject to interpretation. We determine our income tax expense based on our interpretation of the applicable tax laws and regulations in effect in each jurisdiction for the period during which we operate and earn income. A material change in the tax laws, tax treaties, regulations or accounting principles, or interpretation thereof, in one or more countries in which we conduct business, or in which we are incorporated or a resident of, could result in a higher effective tax rate on our worldwide earnings, and such change could be significant to our financial results.

In addition, our overall effective tax rate could be adversely and suddenly affected by lower than anticipated earnings in countries with lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated earnings in countries with higher statutory rates, or by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities. Moreover, our worldwide operations may change in the future such that the mix of our income and losses recognized in the various jurisdictions could change. Any such changes could reduce our ability to utilize tax benefits, such as foreign tax credits, and could result in an increase in our effective tax rate and tax expense.

Most of our revenues and net income are generated by our operations outside of the U.S. Our effective tax rate has historically averaged approximately 30% until recent years where the decline of the oil and natural gas market significantly impacted our operations and overall effective tax rate. 

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Tax Act). We continue to monitor the impact of the Tax Act on our ongoing operations. The impact of the Tax Act on our financial position in future periods could be adversely impacted by, among other things, changes in interpretations of the Tax Act, any legislative action to address questions that arise because of the Tax Act, or any changes in accounting standards for income taxes or related interpretations in response to the Tax Act. Additionally, longstanding international tax norms that determine each country’s jurisdiction to tax cross-border international trade are evolving as a result of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting reporting requirements (BEPS) recommended by the G8, G20 and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). During 2022, EU member states reached an agreement to implement a 15% global minimum tax following the OECD’s Pillar Two model rules. Other tax jurisdictions in which we operate have indicated they will also adopt laws that align with these proposed guidelines. As these and other tax laws and related regulations change, our financial results could be materially impacted. Given the unpredictability of these possible changes and their potential interdependency, it is very difficult to assess whether the overall effect of such potential tax changes would be cumulatively positive or negative for our earnings and cash flow, but such changes could adversely impact our financial results.

In addition, our income tax returns are subject to review and examination by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities where tax returns are filed. We routinely evaluate the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for taxes. We do not recognize the benefit of income tax positions we believe are more likely than not to be disallowed upon challenge by a tax authority. If any tax authority successfully challenges our operational structure or intercompany transfer pricing policies, or if the terms of certain income tax treaties were to be interpreted in a manner that is adverse to our structure, or if we lose a material tax dispute in any country, our effective tax rate on our worldwide earnings could increase, and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. 

Any changes in environmental regulations, including climate change and greenhouse gas restrictions, could increase the cost of energy and future production of oil and gas.

Our operations are subject to federal, state, local and international laws and regulations that control the discharge of pollutants into the environment or otherwise relate to environmental protection. Compliance with such laws and regulations may require installation of costly equipment, increased manning or operational changes. Some environmental laws may, in certain circumstances, impose strict liability for remediation of spills and releases of oil and hazardous substances, which could subject us to liability without regard to whether we were negligent or at fault.

Due to concern over the risk of climate change, several countries have adopted, or are considering the adoption of, regulatory frameworks to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases (greenhouse gas emissions). These regulations include adoption of cap-and-trade regimes, carbon taxes, restrictive permitting, increased efficiency standards, and incentives or mandates for renewable energy. These requirements could make our customer’s products more expensive and reduce demand for hydrocarbons, as well as shift hydrocarbon demand toward relatively lower-carbon sources such as natural gas, any of which may reduce demand for our services. Any such regulations could ultimately result in the increased cost of energy as well as environmental and other costs, and capital expenditures could be necessary to comply with the limitations, including upgrades to our vessels’ internal power generation systems. These developments may have an adverse effect on future production and demand for hydrocarbons such as crude oil and natural gas in areas of the world where our customers operate and thus adversely affect future demand for our offshore support vessels and other assets, which are highly dependent on the level of activity in offshore oil and natural gas exploration, development and production markets.

In addition, the increased regulation of environmental emissions may create greater incentives for the use of alternative energy sources which could reduce or eventually phase out the use of fossil fuels which could adversely affect our business. For example, laws, regulations and other initiatives to shift electricity generation away from fossil fuels to renewable sources over time are at various stages of implementation and consideration and may continue to be adopted in the future in the markets in which we operate.

Compliance with changes in laws, regulations and obligations relating to climate change could increase our costs related to operating and maintaining our vessels and require us to install new emission controls, acquire allowances or pay taxes related to our greenhouse gas emissions or administer and manage a greenhouse gas emissions program. However, unless and until regulations are implemented and their effects are known, we cannot reasonably or reliably estimate their impact on our financial condition, results of operations and ability to compete. Consideration of climate change-related issues and the responses to those issues through international agreements and national, regional, or state regulatory frameworks are integrated into the company’s strategy, planning and risk management processes, where applicable. They may also be factored into the company’s long-term supply, demand, and energy price forecasts. However, any long-term material adverse effect on the crude oil and natural gas industry may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Risks Related to Information Technology and Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity attacks on any of our facilities, or those of third parties, may result in potential liability or reputational damage or otherwise adversely affect our business.

Many of our business and operational processes are heavily dependent on traditional and emerging technology systems, some of which are managed by us and some of which are managed by third-party service and equipment providers, to conduct day-to-day operations, improve safety and efficiency and lower costs. We use computerized systems to help run our financial and operations functions, including the processing of payment transactions, store confidential records and conduct vessel operations, which may subject our business to increased risks. If any of our financial, operational, or other technology systems fail or have other significant shortcomings, our financial results could be adversely affected. Our financial results could also be adversely affected if an employee or other third party causes our operational systems to fail, either as a result of inadvertent error or by deliberately tampering with or manipulating our operational systems. In addition, dependence upon automated systems, including those on board our vessels, may further increase the risk of operational system flaws, and employee or other tampering or manipulation of those systems will result in losses that are difficult to detect.

Cybersecurity incidents are increasing in frequency and magnitude. These incidents may include, but are not limited to, installation of malicious software, installation of ransomware, phishing, credential attacks, unauthorized access to data and other advanced and sophisticated cybersecurity breaches and threats, including threats that increasingly target critical operations technologies and process control networks. Any cybersecurity attacks that affect our facilities or operations, our customers or any financial data could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, cyber-attacks on our customer and employee data may result in a financial loss, loss of intellectual property, proprietary information or customer and vendor data, and may negatively impact our reputation. The increased number of employees relying on remote access to our information systems due to the COVID-19 pandemic increases our exposure to potential cybersecurity breaches. Third-party systems on which we rely could also suffer such attacks or operational system failures. Any of these occurrences could disrupt our business, result in potential liability or reputational damage or otherwise have an adverse effect on our business, operations and financial results.

Risks Related to Our Securities

Our common stock is subject to restriction on foreign ownership and possible required divestiture by non-U.S. Citizen stockholders.

Certain of our operations are conducted in the U.S. coastwise trade and are governed by the U.S. federal law commonly known as the Jones Act. The Jones Act restricts waterborne transportation of goods and passengers between points in the U.S. to vessels owned and controlled by “U.S. Citizens” as defined thereunder. We could lose the privilege of owning and operating vessels in the Jones Act trade if non-U.S. Citizens were to own or control, in the aggregate, more than 25% of our common stock. Such loss could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Second Amended and Restated By-Laws authorize our Board of Directors to establish rules, policies and procedures, including procedures with respect to the transfer of shares, to ensure compliance with the Jones Act.

To provide a reasonable margin for compliance with the Jones Act, our Board of Directors has determined that, all non-U.S. Citizens in the aggregate may own up to 24% of the outstanding shares of common stock and any individual non-U.S. Citizen may own up to 4.9% of the outstanding shares of common stock.

At and during such time that the permitted limit of ownership by non-U.S. Citizens is reached with respect to shares of common stock, as applicable, we will be unable to issue any further shares of such class of common stock or approve transfers of such class of common stock to non-U.S. Citizens. Any purported transfer of our common stock in violation of these ownership provisions will be ineffective to transfer the common stock or any voting, dividend or other rights associated with such common stock. The existence and enforcement of these requirements could have an adverse impact on the liquidity or market value of our equity securities if U.S. Citizens were unable to transfer our shares to non-U.S. Citizens. Furthermore, under certain circumstances, this ownership requirement could discourage, delay or prevent a change of control.

The market price of our securities is subject to volatility.

The market price of our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to, and the level of trading that develops with our common stock may be affected by, numerous factors beyond our control such as, our limited trading history subsequent to our emergence from bankruptcy, the fact that on occasion our securities may be thinly traded, the lack of comparable historical financial information due to our adoption of fresh start accounting, actual or anticipated variations in our operating results and cash flow, business conditions in our markets and the general state of the securities markets and the market for energy-related stocks, as well as general economic and market conditions and other factors that may affect our future results, including those described in this Form 10-K.

We currently have no plans to pay cash dividends or make any other distributions on our common stock.

We currently do not pay and do not expect to pay any cash dividends or other distributions on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay cash dividends or other distributions on our common stock will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors, subject to any restrictions in our financing agreements and, if we elect to pay such dividends in the future, we may reduce or discontinue entirely the payment of such dividends thereafter at any time. For example, the terms of our currently outstanding long-term notes do not allow dividend payments until late 2023. The Board of Directors may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and operating results, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, agreements governing any existing and future indebtedness we or our subsidiaries may incur and other contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders, and such other factors as the Board of Directors may deem relevant. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in our common stock unless you sell our common stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

Our ability to raise capital in the future may be limited, which could make us unable to fund our capital requirements.

Our business and operations may consume cash more quickly than we anticipate potentially impairing our ability to make capital expenditures to maintain our fleet and other assets in suitable operating condition. If our cash flows from operating activities are not sufficient to fund capital expenditures, we would be required to further reduce these expenditures or to fund capital expenditures through debt or equity issuances or through alternative financing plans or selling assets. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to fund our capital requirements. Our ability to raise debt or equity capital or to refinance or restructure existing debt arrangements will depend on the condition of the capital markets, our financial condition and cash flow generating capacity at such time, among other things. Any limitations in our ability to finance future capital expenditures may limit our ability to respond to changes in customer preferences, technological change and other market conditions, which may diminish our competitive position within our sector.

If we issue additional equity securities, existing stockholders will experience dilution. Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation permits our Board of Directors to issue preferred stock which could have rights and preferences senior to those of our common stock. Because our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings. Thus, our security holders bear the risk of our future securities offerings reducing the market price of our common stock or other securities, diluting their interest or being subject to rights and preferences senior to their own.

Certain provisions and limitations on foreign ownership in our organizational documents could delay or prevent a change of control.

Certain provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and our Second Amended and Restated By-Laws and Delaware law could delay, defer or prevent a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt or other change of control transaction that our stockholders may deem advantageous, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by our stockholders or negatively affect the trading price of our common stock and other securities. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions you desire. These provisions provide for, among other things:

In addition, the Delaware General Corporation Law imposes restrictions on mergers and other business combinations between us and any holder of 15% or more of our outstanding common stock.

The exercise of outstanding warrants or the issuance of stock-based awards may dilute our common stock.

We have issued or assumed several securities providing for the right to purchase our common stock. Investors could be subject to increased dilution upon the exercise of our New Creditor Warrants and GLF Creditor Warrants for a nominal exercise price subject to Jones Act-related foreign ownership restrictions, and the exercise of our Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants and GLF Equity Warrants. Unexercised Series A Warrants and Series B Warrants will expire on July 31, 2023. Unexercised GLF Equity Warrants expire on November 14, 2024. Unexercised New Creditor Warrants expire on July 31, 2042 and unexercised GLF Creditor Warrants expire on November 14, 2042.

Additionally, shares of common stock were reserved for issuance under the 2021 Stock Incentive Plan, 2017 Stock Incentive Plan and Legacy GulfMark Stock Incentive Plan, respectively, as equity-based awards to employees, directors and certain other persons. The exercise of equity awards, including any restricted stock units that we may grant in the future, and the exercise of warrants and the subsequent sale of shares of common stock issued thereby, could have an adverse effect on the market for our common stock, including the price that an investor could obtain for their shares. Investors may experience dilution in the value of their investment upon the exercise of the warrants and any equity awards that may be granted or issued pursuant to the 2021 Stock Incentive Plan, 2017 Stock Incentive Plan and the Legacy GulfMark Stock Incentive Plan.

Please refer to Note (10) - “Stock-Based Compensation and Incentive Plans” and Note (11) - “Stockholders’ Equity” in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for additional discussion of our outstanding warrants and stock-based awards.

There may be a limited trading market for our New Creditor Warrants and GLF Creditor Warrants, and you may have difficulty trading and obtaining quotations for New Creditor Warrants and GLF Creditor Warrants.

While there are unsolicited quotes for our New Creditor Warrants on the OTC Pink Market, there is no market maker for this security on the OTC Pink Market, and there can be no assurance that an active trading market will develop. While the GLF Creditor Warrants trade on the OTC QX market, there has been limited trading volume since the business combination. The lack of an active market may impair your ability to sell or reduce the fair market value of your New Creditor Warrants or GLF Creditor Warrants at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable.

The exercise price of our Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants and GLF Equity Warrants may never exceed our stock price (be in the money), and unexercised warrants may expire with limited or no value. Further, the terms of such warrants may be amended.

As long as our stock price is below the strike price of each of the Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants and GLF Equity Warrants ($57.06 per share for Series A Warrants, $62.28 per share for Series B Warrants and $100.00 per share for the GLF Equity Warrants), these warrants will have limited economic value, and they may expire with limited or no value. Additionally any material amendment to the terms of the warrant in a manner adverse to a holder would only require the approval  of  a certain percentage of the holders of the then outstanding warrants.

We may not be able to maintain a listing of our common stock, Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants and GLF Equity Warrants on the NYSE or NYSE American.

We must meet certain financial and liquidity criteria to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE or NYSE American, as applicable. If we fail to meet any of the NYSE or NYSE American’s continued listing standards, our common stock, Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants, or GLF Equity Warrants may be delisted. A delisting of our common stock, Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants, or GLF Equity Warrants may materially impair our stockholders’ and warrant holders’ ability to buy and sell our common stock, Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants, or GLF Equity Warrants and could have an adverse effect on the market price of, and the efficiency of, the trading market for these securities. A delisting of our common stock, Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants or GLF Equity Warrants could significantly impair our ability to raise capital.

General Risk Factors

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting adverse economic conditions have had, and may continue to have, a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused, and any resurgence of the pandemic could again cause, a significant reduction in global economic activity, significantly weakening demand for oil and gas, and in turn, for our services. Other effects of the pandemic included, and may continue to include, significant volatility and disruption of the global financial markets; adverse revenue and net income effects; disruptions to our operations, including suspension of our services; customer shutdowns of oil and gas exploration and production; downward revisions to customer capital expenditures; limitations on access to sources of liquidity; supply chain disruptions; border closings; employee impacts from illness; and local and regional closures or lockdowns, including temporary closures of our onshore facilities and the facilities of our customers and suppliers. The extent to which our operating and financial results will continue to be affected by the pandemic will depend on various factors beyond our control, such as the continued severity of the pandemic, including any sustained geographic resurgence; the emergence of new variants and strains of the COVID-19 virus; and the success of actions to contain or treat the virus. COVID-19, and volatile regional and global economic conditions stemming from the pandemic, could also aggravate our other risk factors described in this Form 10-K.

Demand for oil and gas and commodity prices have recently recovered to near pre-pandemic levels and we do not expect our operations and business in 2022 to continue to be negatively impacted. However, other factors, including pressure on our customers to return capital to shareholders and pressure to address ESG concerns related to fossil fuel production and consumption, coupled with the lingering uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic could have a negative impact on our operations in the near term.

Uncertain economic conditions may lead our customers to postpone capital spending or jeopardize our customers’ or other counterparties’ ability to perform their obligations.

Uncertainty about future global economic market conditions makes it challenging to forecast operating results and to make decisions about future investments. The success of our business is both directly and indirectly dependent upon conditions in the global financial and credit markets that are outside of our control and difficult to predict. Uncertain economic conditions may lead our customers to postpone capital spending in response to tighter credit markets and reductions in our customers’ income or asset values. Similarly, when lenders and institutional investors reduce, and in some cases, cease to provide funding to corporate and other industrial borrowers, the liquidity and financial condition of the company and our customers can be adversely impacted. These factors may also adversely affect our liquidity and financial condition. Factors such as interest rates, availability of credit, inflation rates, economic uncertainty, changes in laws (including laws relating to taxation), trade barriers and economic sanctions or other restrictions imposed by the U.S. or other countries, commodity prices, currency exchange rates and controls, and national and international political circumstances (including wars, terrorist acts, security operations, and seaborne refugee issues) can have a material negative effect on our business, revenues and profitability.

Additionally, continued uncertain industry conditions could jeopardize the ability of certain of our counterparties, including our customers, insurers and financial institutions, to perform their obligations. Although we assess the creditworthiness of our counterparties, a prolonged period of difficult industry conditions could lead to changes in a counterparty’s liquidity and increase our exposure to credit risk and bad debts. In addition, we may offer extended payment terms to our customers in order to secure contracts. These circumstances may lead to more frequent collection issues. Our financial results and liquidity could be adversely affected.

Severe weather events, including extreme weather conditions associated with climate change, have in the past and may in the future adversely affect our operations and financial results.

Our business has been, and in the future will be, affected by severe weather events in areas where we operate, which could materially affect our operations and financial results. Extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes and flooding, have in the past resulted in, and may in the future result in, the evacuation of personnel, stoppage of services and activity disruptions of our vessels, in our supply chain, or at our customer’s offshore sites, or result in disruptions of our customers’ operations. Particularly severe weather events affecting platforms or structures may result in a suspension of activities. In addition, acute or chronic physical impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise, coastal storm surge, inland flooding from intense rainfall, and hurricane-strength winds may damage our vessels or facilities. Any such extreme weather events may result in increased operating costs or decreases in revenue.

Activist stockholders could divert the attention of our management team and/or negatively affect our business.

Activist stockholders could advocate for changes to our corporate governance, operational practices and strategic direction, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business and future operations. In recent years, publicly-traded companies have been increasingly subject to demands from activist stockholders advocating for changes to corporate governance practices, such as executive compensation practices, ESG issues, or for certain corporate actions or reorganizations. There can be no assurances that activist stockholders will not publicly advocate for us to make certain corporate governance changes or engage in certain corporate actions. Responding to challenges from activist stockholders, such as proxy contests, media campaigns or other activities, could be costly and time consuming and could have an adverse effect on our reputation and divert the attention and resources of management and our Board, which could have an adverse effect on our business and operational results. Additionally, stockholder activism could create uncertainty about future strategic direction, resulting in loss of future business opportunities, which could adversely affect our business, future operations, profitability and our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our worldwide headquarters and principal executive offices are located at 842 West Sam Houston Parkway North, Suite 400, Houston, Texas 77024, and our telephone number is (713) 470 5300. Our U.S. marine operations are based in Amelia, Louisiana and Houston, Texas. We conduct our international operations through facilities and offices located in over 30 countries. Our principal international offices and/or warehouse facilities, most of which are leased, are in Brazil; Mexico; Trinidad; Scotland; Egypt; Angola; Nigeria; Cameroon; Singapore; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Australia; and Norway. Our operations generally do not require highly specialized facilities, and suitable facilities are generally available on a leased basis as required.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

See the relevant portions of “Note (12) - Commitments and Contingencies”, in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for information with respect to this Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS, AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

As of February 15, 2022, we had 361 stockholders of record. The principal market for Tidewater’s common stock is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where it is traded under the symbol “TDW.”

Performance Graph

The following graph and table compare the cumulative total return on Tidewater’s common stock to the cumulative total returns of the Russell 2000 Stock Index, the PHLX Oil Service Sector Index, and the Dow Jones U.S. Oil Equipment & Services Index. The analysis assumes the investment of $100 on December 31, 2017 in Tidewater common stock, and in each of the Russell 2000, the PHLX Oil Service Sector and the US Oil Equipment & Services, as well as the reinvestment of dividends into additional shares of the same class of equity securities at the frequency with which dividends are paid on such securities during the applicable fiscal year.

Investors are cautioned against drawing conclusions from the data contained in the graph, as past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. The following graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.

 

 

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition, and Results of Operations (MD&A) should be read in conjunction with the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8 of this Form 10-K. The following discussion and analysis contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our future results of operations could differ materially from our historical results or those anticipated in our forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. With respect to this section, the cautionary language applicable to such forward-looking statements described under “Forward-Looking Statements” found before Item 1 of this Form 10-K is incorporated by reference into this Item 7.

Executive Summary

We are one of the most experienced international operators in the offshore energy industry with a history spanning over 65 years. Our vessels and associated vessel services provide support for all phases of offshore oil and natural gas exploration, field development and production as well as windfarm development and maintenance. These services include towing of, and anchor handling for, mobile offshore drilling units; transporting supplies and personnel necessary to sustain drilling, workover and production activities; offshore construction and seismic and subsea support; geotechnical survey support for windfarm construction, and a variety of other specialized services such as pipe and cable laying. In addition, we have one of the broadest geographic operating footprints in the offshore vessel industry. Our global operating footprint allows us to react quickly to changing local market conditions and to be responsive to the changing requirements of the many customers with which we believe we have strong relationships.

On April 22, 2022, we completed the acquisition of Swire Pacific Offshore Holdings Ltd. (SPO) and its 50 offshore support vessels operating primarily in West Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. As consideration for the acquisition, we paid $42.0 million in cash and issued 8,100,000 warrants, each of which is exercisable at $0.001 per share for one share of our common stock (SPO acquisition warrants). In addition, we paid $19.6 million at closing and received an $8.8 million post-closing working capital refund related to pre-closing working capital adjustments, for a total consideration of $215.5 million.

During the second half of 2022, we completed two common stock public offerings to facilitate the redemption of the SPO acquisition warrants, including an offering for 4,048,000 shares at $17.85 per share completed on August 12, 2022, and an offering for 3,987,914 shares at $30.25 per share completed on November 10, 2022 (the Offerings). The Offerings resulted in net proceeds (after expenses) of approximately $187.8 million that we used to redeem 8,035,914 SPO acquisition warrants, which we subsequently cancelled.

At December 31, 2022, we owned 191 vessels with an average age of 11.7 years (excluding 1 joint venture vessel, but including five stacked active vessels and eight vessels designated for sale) available to serve the global energy industry. The average age of our 183 active vessels at December 31, 2022 is 11.4 years.

MD&A Objective and Principal Factors That Drive Our Results, Cash Flows and Liquidity

Our MD&A is designed to provide information about our financial condition and results of operations from management’s perspective.

Our revenues, net earnings and cash flows from operations are largely dependent upon the activity level of our offshore marine vessel fleet. As is the case with the numerous other vessel operators in our industry, our business activity is largely dependent on the level of exploration, field development and production activity of our customers. Our customers’ business activity, in turn, is dependent on current and expected crude oil and natural gas prices, which fluctuate depending on expected future levels of supply and demand for crude oil and natural gas, and on estimates of the cost to find, develop and produce crude oil and natural gas reserves. Our objective throughout the MD&A is to discuss how these factors affected our historical results and, where applicable, how we expect these factors to impact our future results and future liquidity.

Our revenues in all segments are driven primarily by our active fleet size, active vessel utilization and day rates. Because a sizeable portion of our operating and depreciation costs do not change proportionally with changes in revenue, our operating profit is largely dependent on revenue levels.

Operating costs consist primarily of crew costs, repair and maintenance costs, insurance costs, fuel, lube oil and supplies costs and other vessel operating costs. Fleet size, fleet composition, geographic areas of operation, supply and demand for marine personnel, and local labor requirements are the major factors impacting overall crew costs in all segments. In addition, our newer, more technologically sophisticated vessels generally require a greater number of specially trained, more highly compensated fleet personnel than our older, smaller and less sophisticated vessels. Crew costs may increase if competition for skilled personnel intensifies.

Costs related to the recertification of vessels are deferred and amortized over 30 months on a straight-line basis. Maintenance costs incurred at the time of the recertification drydocking not related to the recertification of the vessel are expensed as incurred. Costs related to vessel improvements that either extend the vessel’s useful life or increase the vessel’s functionality are capitalized and depreciated.

Insurance costs are dependent on a variety of factors, including our safety record and pricing in the insurance markets, and can fluctuate over time. Our vessels are generally insured for up to their estimated fair market value in order to cover damage or loss. We also purchase coverage for potential liabilities stemming from third-party losses with limits that we believe are reasonable for our operations, but do not generally purchase business interruption insurance or similar coverage. Insurance limits are reviewed annually, and third-party coverage is purchased based on the expected scope of ongoing operations and the cost of third-party coverage.

Fuel and lube costs can fluctuate in any given period depending on the number and distance of vessel mobilizations, the number of active vessels off charter, drydockings, and changes in fuel prices. We also incur vessel operating costs aggregated as “other” vessel operating costs. These costs consist of brokers’ commissions, training costs, satellite communication fees, agent fees, port fees and other miscellaneous costs. Brokers’ commissions are incurred primarily in our non-United States operations where brokers sometimes assist in obtaining work. Brokers generally are paid a percentage of day rates and, accordingly, commissions paid to brokers generally fluctuate in accordance with vessel revenue.

We discuss our liquidity in terms of cash flow that we generate from our operations. Our primary sources of capital have been our cash on hand, internally generated funds including operating cash flow, vessel sales and long-term debt financing. From time to time, we also issue stock or stock-based financial instruments either in the open market or as currency in acquisitions. This ability is impacted by existing market conditions.

Industry Conditions and Outlook

Our outlook for the oil and gas sector is generally positive after several years of low commodity prices and underinvestment in offshore activities by the major oil and gas producers. Recently, we have seen increased global demand for hydrocarbons combined with a diminishing global supply of vessels. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the related economic sanctions have highlighted the criticality of energy reliability and security across Europe and the U.S. Due to these and other factors, oil prices have increased materially over the past two years and in June of 2022 reached a new ten-year high.

Our business is directly impacted by the level of activity in worldwide offshore oil and natural gas exploration, development and production, which in turn is influenced by trends in oil and natural gas prices and the condition of the energy markets and, in particular, the willingness of energy companies to spend on operational activities and capital projects. Crude oil and natural gas prices are affected by a host of geopolitical and economic forces, including the fundamental principles of supply and demand. In particular, the oil price is significantly influenced by actions of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. Offshore oil and gas exploration and development activities generally require higher oil or natural gas prices to justify the much higher expenditure levels of offshore activities compared to onshore activities. Prices are subject to significant uncertainty and, as a result, are extremely volatile. Over the past several years, oil and natural gas commodity pricing has been affected by a global pandemic (COVID-19 is discussed below) which included lock downs by major oil consuming nations, a war in eastern Europe between Russia and Ukraine, OPEC production quotas, capital discipline within the major oil and gas companies, and increased activism related to the oil and gas sector responsibility for climate change. These factors have at various times caused or exacerbated significant swings in oil and gas pricing, which in turn has affected the capital budgets of oil and gas companies. Energy prices in 2023 are expected to continue the volatility experienced in the last few years due to ongoing geopolitical conflicts, the continued relaxation of worldwide restrictions put in place during the recent pandemic, generalized price level increases and related interest rate adjustments from the world's central banks to address these increases, and uncertainties about the rate of growth in key world economies.

There has been recent pressure from certain shareholders and other stakeholders, including governmental entities, on our customers related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Many of our large international customers have indicated changes in their future business plans to achieve a lower environmental impact. Our customers have also responded to pressure to return capital to shareholders and are increasingly shifting capital allocation from primarily new oil and gas production and reserve additions to a mix of returns to shareholders, new oil and gas project development and renewable energy source development. Even with these pressures to move towards more sustainable fuels for supplying worldwide energy, fossil fuels are expected to be the largest source for supplying worldwide energy needs for years to come.

We are one of the world’s largest operators of offshore support vessels and we have operations in most of the world’s offshore oil and gas basins. We continue to believe that there will be sufficient opportunities for us to operate our vessels in this sector for many years to come. We have also pursued opportunities in the sustainability arena, including the support of offshore wind energy generation and the improvement of our fleet performance regarding emissions and environmental impact. Although our business is impacted by a number of macro factors, including those factors discussed here, which influence our outlook and expectations given the current volatile conditions in our industry, our fleet is currently close to full utilization and our day rates have increased in recent quarters. We are of the opinion that the underlying fundamentals, particularly energy source supply and demand, will support a multi-year increase in offshore upstream development spending. Our outlook expectations are based on the market as we see it today and subject to changing conditions in and impacting our industry.

COVID-19

As COVID-19 spread throughout the world, its impact on many of our locations, including our vessels, has affected our operations. We implemented various protocols for both onshore and offshore personnel in efforts to limit this impact. The effect on our business included lockdowns of shipyards performing drydocks which delayed vessels returning to service and the cancellation and/or temporary delay of certain revenue vessel contracts allowed either under the contract provisions or by mutual agreement with our customers. These cancellations and/or temporary delays reduced our year 2020 revenues by 18% and year 2021 revenues by less than 3%. Our revenues for 2022 were not significantly impacted. In addition, in the years ended December 31, 2021 and the December 31, 2022, we incurred approximately $7.0 million and $2.7 million, respectively, in higher operating costs, primarily related to additional crew costs, mobilization and vessel stacking costs as a result of these unplanned contract cancellations. These 2022 costs were primarily incurred in the first half of the year. Although there may be additional cancellations or delays, we do not expect COVID-19 to have a significant effect on our business going forward.

ESG and Climate Change

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of certain adverse weather patterns, which may impact our business. Due to concern over the risk of climate change, several countries have adopted, or are considering the adoption of, regulatory frameworks to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases (greenhouse gas emissions). In addition, the increased regulation of environmental emissions is expected to create greater incentives for the use of alternative energy sources. Consideration of climate change-related issues and the responses to those issues through international agreements and national, regional, or state regulatory frameworks are integrated into our strategy, planning, forecasting and risk management processes, where applicable.

Our primary business is to support the fossil fuel industry, which is the primary source of energy in the world. In addition, we burn fossil fuels in operating our vessels. The fossil fuel industry is considered one of the primary contributors to the elements of global climate change. We believe that continued use of fossil fuels will be important as the world transitions to alternative energy sources. We are prepared to participate in the energy transition, including an increased focus on natural gas, and at the same time continue to support the oil industry. We have started taking measures to address our impact on climate change, including modifying many of our vessels to reduce our carbon footprint (approximately $13.5 million of emissions focused costs including fuel monitoring systems and batteries for supplemental power are included in our net properties and equipment amount as of December 31, 2022); and providing support to offshore alternative energy providers, such as windfarms. In addition, during 2022 we published our second annual sustainability report and our Board of Directors formed an Environmental, Social and Governance Committee to oversee and support our ESG strategy, initiatives and reporting. We are in the early stages of our ESG initiatives and we are committed to continuously consider, develop and implement our ESG strategy as applicable new regulations, business opportunities and sustainable technologies evolve.

In March 2022, the SEC proposed rule changes that would require registrants to include certain climate-related disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports, including information about climate-related risks reasonably likely to have a material impact on their business, results of operations, or financial condition, and certain climate-related financial statement metrics in a note to their audited financial statements. The required information about climate-related risks also would include disclosure of a registrant’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have become a commonly used metric to assess a registrant’s exposure to such risks. We expect final rules to be published in 2023.

For detailed discussion of climate change and related governmental regulation, including associated risks and possible impact on our business, financial conditions and results of operations, please see “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this Form 10-K.

Segment Changes

In conjunction with the acquisition of SPO, the previous Middle East/Asia Pacific segment has been split into the Middle East segment and the Asia Pacific segment. Our previous operations in Southeast Asia and Australia, along with the legacy SPO operations in the Asia Pacific region, now form the new Asia Pacific segment. Our segment disclosures reflect the current segment alignment for all periods presented.

Each of our five operating segments is managed by a senior executive reporting directly to our Chief Executive Officer, the chief operating decision maker. Discrete financial information is available for each of the segments, and our Chief Executive Officer uses the results of each of the operating segments for resource allocation and performance evaluation.

Results of Operations

We manage and measure our business performance primarily based on five distinct geographic operating segments: Americas, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Europe/Mediterranean and West Africa. 

This section of this Form 10-K generally discusses 2022, 2021 and 2020 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 and between 2021 and 2020. 

The following tables present vessel revenue and operating costs by segment, total vessel revenue and operating costs, and the related segment and total vessel revenue and operating costs as a percentage of segment and total vessel revenues for our owned and operated vessel fleet:

The following tables present vessel operations general and administrative expenses by segment and in total; and the related segment vessel operations general and administrative expenses as a percentage of segment and total vessel revenues.

The following tables present depreciation and amortization expense by segment and in total; and the related segment and total depreciation and amortization expense as a percentage of segment and total vessel revenues.

The following tables compare operating income and other components of earnings before income taxes, and its related percentage of total revenues.

Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021

Our total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 were $647.7 million and $371.0 million, respectively. The $276.7 million increase in revenue is primarily due to 47 more active vessels in the year ended December 31, 2022 than in the year ended December 31, 2021. We added 50 vessels to our fleet with the April 22, 2022 acquisition of SPO. Supplementing the increase in capacity was the increase in active utilization from 80.1% in 2021 to 82.8% in 2022. In addition, the increase in revenue was impacted by average day rates which were 23% higher in 2022 than in 2021. The average day rates are driven by market conditions affected by the increase in demand for vessels as the oil and gas industry recovers from the pandemic. The SPO vessels added approximately $150.0 million to our 2022 revenues. The remaining increase in revenue was attributable to the legacy company fleet increasing average active vessels, day rates and utilization throughout the year.

Vessel operating costs for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 were $397.3 million and $261.8 million, respectively. The $135.5 million increase is primarily due to an increase in vessel activity in 2022 as a result of the acquisition of 50 additional vessels from SPO and also as a result of our continued recovery from the low vessel utilization levels caused by the pandemic and increased activity as higher crude oil prices has resulted in more activity from our customers.

Depreciation and amortization expense for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 was $119.2 million and $114.5 million, respectively. Depreciation and amortization expenses were higher in 2022 largely due to the acquisition of 50 additional vessels from SPO, partially offset by lower amortization of deferred drydocking costs as the timing of drydocks and the short period of amortization continues to create variances in the expense. In addition, we have sold vessels from the active fleet and classified vessels from the active fleet to assets held for sale, which has reduced drydock amortization costs.

General and administrative expenses for the years ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 were $101.9 million and $68.5 million, respectively. The increase is primarily due to increased general and administrative costs associated with the Singapore and Dubai offices acquired in the SPO acquisition and professional fees and transaction costs (including severance costs) primarily related to the SPO acquisition, which totaled $18.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.

The net gain (loss) on asset dispositions for the year ended December 31, 2022 totaled $0.3 million of net gains, primarily from the sale of 14 vessels and other assets. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recognized net losses of $2.9 million related to the sale of 19 vessels and other assets. One of the vessel sales in 2021 was to a third-party operator, Jackson Offshore, whose Chief Operating Officer, Matthew Rigdon, is the son of Larry Rigdon, the chairman of our Board of Directors. This vessel was sold for proceeds of $11.4 million, all of which was collected in the second quarter of 2021, and we recognized a gain of $4.3 million on the sale.

During 2022, we recorded a $0.5 million reversal of previously recorded impairment charges for assets held for sale that were reclassified back to the active fleet and we recorded $1.2 million in impairment for certain obsolete marine service parts and supplies inventory. During 2021, we recorded $15.6 million of impairment expense primarily related to assets held for sale.

Interest expense and other debt costs increased by $1.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 because of higher interest rates on our outstanding debt and slightly higher levels of outstanding debt in 2022. In addition, our interest income and other increased by $3.8 million primarily because of higher interest earned on cash equivalents and a $1.3 million bargain purchase gain in connection with the acquisition of Sonatide.

During 2021, we recorded an $11.1 million loss on early extinguishment of debt consisting of make whole premiums and other related costs resulting from the extinguishment of our Senior Secured Notes and Troms offshore debt.

In connection with the reclassification of the SPO Acquisition Warrants from liabilities to additional paid in capital, we recognized a $14.2 million loss associated with the mark-to-market adjustment of the SPO Acquisition Warrants, based on the difference in the Tidewater common stock price on that date and the closing common stock price on the SPO acquisition date.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we recognized foreign exchange losses of $2.8 million and for the year ended December 31, 2021, we recognized losses of $0.4 million. These foreign exchange losses were primarily the result of the revaluation of various foreign currency balances due to a strengthening of the U.S. Dollar against the Norwegian Kroner, Brazilian Real, Angola Kwanza, British Pound and Euro.

In addition, our income tax expense was $19.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2022 compared with an income tax expense of $5.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily because the year ended December 31, 2021 benefitted from a NOL carryback for a tax refund under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Americas Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the Americas segment increased 43.8%, or $44.7 million, during the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase is primarily due to an increase of four active vessels primarily due to the 2022 recovery in the industry. Active utilization decreased marginally from 81.3% during 2021 to 80.8% during 2022, however average day rates during these same periods increased 27.1%, which was generally due to a greater portion of the segment’s vessels being hired at current prevailing day rates which were higher than those in 2021.

Operating profit for the Americas segment for the year ended December 31, 2022, was $12.0 million compared to an operating loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 totaling $11.3 million. The increase was primarily due to the increase in revenues. The revenue increase was partially offset by a $21.7 million increase in operating costs largely due to higher vessel personnel costs resulting from the higher active vessel count. In addition, depreciation and amortization, and general and administrative costs, were $0.9 million lower and $0.7 million higher, respectively, than prior year.

Asia Pacific Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the Asia Pacific segment increased by 254.0%, or $46.1 million, during the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. Active vessels increased by eight vessels consisting of 15 vessels added with the SPO acquisition offset by a decrease in legacy Tidewater active vessels due to contract expirations. Average day rates were 52.9% higher for 2022 than for 2021. Active utilization decreased from 94.5% to 81.6%, largely due to the contract expirations.

Operating profit for the Asia Pacific segment was $3.7 million in 2022 compared to an operating profit of $4.9 million in 2021. The revenue increase was offset by $34.3 million in higher operating costs, $11.5 million in higher general and administrative costs, and $1.5 million in higher depreciation and amortization which all resulted from the SPO acquisition.

Middle East Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the Middle East segment increased by 30.8%, or $26.0 million, during the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. Active vessels increased by seven, of which six are vessels acquired from SPO. The Middle East average day rates were 12.7% higher for 2022 than for 2021. Active utilization decreased from 87.0% to 82.7%, largely due to downtime from repairs and maintenance in 2022.

Operating loss for the Middle East segment was $1.1 million in 2022 compared to an operating loss of $6.1 million in 2021. The revenue increase was partially offset by $17.1 million in higher operating costs, $1.2 million in higher general and administrative costs, and $2.7 million in higher depreciation and amortization resulting from the acquisition of SPO.

Europe/Mediterranean Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the Europe/Mediterranean segment increased by 60.1%, or $48.7 million, during the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to six additional active vessels in 2022 and 25.1% higher average day rates. Europe/Mediterranean segment active utilization also increased slightly from 88.1% to 90.6%. The increases are due to increased demand in the region as the industry recovers from the pandemic.

Operating profit for the Europe/Mediterranean segment was $18.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to an operating loss of $17.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. This increase resulted from the higher revenue offset by $13.1 million in increased vessel operating costs largely attributable to higher personnel and consumables costs primarily due to the increased vessel activity.

West Africa Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the West Africa segment increased by 150.6%, or $114.4 million, during the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, predominately due to the effect of the 24 vessel increase in active vessels acquired from SPO. In addition, average day rates increased by 26.6%, and active utilization increased from 66.3% to 80.9%. 

The operating profit for the West Africa segment was $43.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to an operating loss of $17.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. This increase in profit resulted from the higher revenue offset by $49.3 million in increased vessel operating cost, $2.7 million in higher general and administrative costs, and $2.3 million in higher depreciation and amortization resulting from the acquisition of SPO.

Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020

Our total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 were $371.0 million and $397.0 million, respectively. The decrease in revenue is primarily due to 11 less active vessels in the year ended December 31, 2021 than in the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily from our Americas segment. This segment was significantly affected by the decrease in demand caused by the pandemic. Offsetting the decrease in capacity was the increase in active utilization from 77.0% in 2020 to 80.1% in 2021. In addition, the decrease in revenue was impacted by average day rates which were 2.2% lower in 2021 than in 2020. The average day rates were driven by market conditions affected by the pandemic. The revenue effect from the pandemic began in the second quarter of 2020 and continued into the third and fourth quarters as our customers canceled contracts. The impact continued through most of the year 2021, only beginning to improve later in the year. Overall, Americas had the most negative impact, with Europe/Mediterranean and West Africa withstanding a harsh early impact but also experiencing the quickest recovery. Middle East and Asia Pacific both had the least impact from the pandemic with revenue increasing in both segments in 2021 compared to 2020. The individual segment discussions below reflect these impacts.

Vessel operating costs for the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 were $261.8 million and $268.8 million, respectively. The decrease is primarily due to a decrease in vessel activity, as we had 11 less active vessels in our fleet in the year ended December 31, 2021. Overall, our vessel personnel costs and insurance costs were lower in 2021 than 2020 due to cost management efforts associated with the COVID-19 downturn and several credits issued by our insurance carriers in 2021 related to vessel valuations and prior year estimates, but were partially offset by increased repair and maintenance costs due to the reactivation of stacked vessels in the latter part of 2021.

Depreciation and amortization expense for the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 was $114.5 million and $116.7 million, respectively. Depreciation and amortization expenses were lower in 2021 largely because of lower amortization of deferred drydocking costs resulting from the discontinuation of amortization on vessels classified as held for sale and vessels sold from the active fleet.

General and administrative expenses for the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 were $68.5 million and $73.4 million, respectively. General and administrative expenses decreased overall in 2021 because of continued cost cutting measures being implemented during the pandemic and a reduction in one-time severance charges incurred in 2020 compared to 2021.

The net gain (loss) on asset dispositions for the year ended December 31, 2021 totaled $2.9 million of net losses, primarily from the sale of 19 vessels and other assets. One of the vessel sales was to a third-party operator, Jackson Offshore, whose Chief Operating Officer, Matthew Rigdon, is the son of Larry Rigdon, the chairman of our Board of Directors. This vessel was sold for proceeds of $11.4 million, all of which was collected in the second quarter of 2021, and we recognized a gain of $4.3 million on the sale. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized net gains of $7.6 million related to the sale of 56 vessels and other assets.

During 2021, we recorded $15.6 million of impairment primarily related to assets held for sale. During 2020, as discussed previously, we recorded $74.1 million of impairment primarily related to classifying our vessels to assets held for sale and $53.0 million of credit related losses associated with our two joint ventures in Nigeria and Angola.

Interest expense and other debt costs decreased by $8.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. This is the result of paying down $98.1 million of our long-term debt primarily in the third and fourth quarters of 2020 and $39.3 million during the first nine months of 2021. In addition, our interest income and other increased by $0.4 million primarily because of a legal settlement with a customer.

During 2021, we recorded an $11.1 million loss on early extinguishment of debt consisting of make whole premiums and other related costs resulting from the extinguishment of our Senior Secured Notes and Troms offshore debt.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recognized foreign exchange losses of $0.4 million and for the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized losses of $5.2 million. These foreign exchange losses were primarily the result of the revaluation of various foreign currency balances due to a strengthening of the US Dollar against the Norwegian Kroner, Brazilian Real, Angola Kwanza, British Pound and Euro.

In addition, our income tax expense was $5.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2021 compared with an income tax benefit of $1.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2020 primarily because the year ended December 31, 2020 benefitted from a NOL carryback for a tax refund under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Americas Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the Americas segment decreased 19.4%, or $24.5 million, during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease is primarily due to a decrease of six active vessels primarily due to the pandemic. Overall, America's segment active utilization decreased from 85.7% during 2020 to 81.3% during 2021, however average day rates during these same periods increased 4.6%, which was generally due to a greater portion of the segment’s vessels being hired at current prevailing day rates which were higher than those in 2020.

Operating loss for the Americas segment for the year ended December 31, 2021, was $11.3 million compared to an operating profit for the year ended December 31, 2020 totaling $4.9 million. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in revenues. The revenue decrease was partially offset by a $5.4 million decrease in operating costs largely due to lower vessel personnel costs resulting from the lower active vessel count. Depreciation and amortization, and general and administrative costs, were $1.2 million and $1.7 million lower, than prior year respectively, because of vessel sales and cost cutting measures.

Asia Pacific Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the Asia Pacific segment increased $3.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The Asia Pacific average day rates were 18.8% higher for 2021 than for 2020. Asia Pacific segment active utilization increased from 75.0% to 94.5%.

Operating profit for the Asia Pacific segment was $4.9 million in 2021 compared to an operating profit of $2.1 million in 2020. The revenue increase was partially offset by $1.2 million in higher operating costs resulting from higher maintenance and supplies and $0.4 million increase in depreciation and amortization resulting from increased amortization of deferred drydock costs. General and administrative expenses were lower by $0.6 million due to ongoing cost reduction initiatives.

Middle East Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the Middle East segment increased $1.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The Middle East average day rates were 1.7% higher for 2021 than for 2020. Middle East segment active utilization increased from 76.7% to 87.0%. Our Middle East segment was also only marginally affected by COVID-19.

Operating loss for the Middle East segment was $6.1 million in 2021 compared to an operating loss of $8.0 million in 2020. The revenue increase, supplemented with $1.4 million in lower operating costs, was partially offset by $1.3 million in higher depreciation and amortization resulting from increased amortization of deferred drydock costs. General and administrative expenses were lower by $0.3 million due to ongoing cost reduction.

Europe/Mediterranean Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the Europe/Mediterranean segment decreased $2.7 million, during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 primarily due to lower average day rates which decreased from $12,700 to $12,201 per day. Europe/Mediterranean segment active utilization decreased slightly from 89.8% to 88.1%. These decreases in average day rates are due to the mix of vessels under longer term higher day rate contracts declining while shorter term and spot contracts were taken in their place. This segment experienced a significant downturn due to the pandemic in 2020 which continued in 2021.

Operating loss for the Europe/Mediterranean segment increased from $8.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 to $17.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. This loss increase resulted from the lower revenue, coupled with $6.3 million in increased vessel operating costs largely attributable to higher personnel costs and repair and maintenance charges partially offset by $1.1 million in lower depreciation and amortization expense.

West Africa Segment Operations. Vessel revenues in the West Africa segment decreased $2.8 million, during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. Average day rates decreased by 9.5%, while active utilization increased from 62.8% to 66.3%. This segment had the most negative impact from the pandemic because of significant contract cancellations.

The operating loss for the West Africa segment was $17.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $27.5 million operating loss for the year ended December 31, 2020 primarily resulting from decreased revenue offset by $7.7 million in lower operating costs due mainly to the decreased activity in Nigeria, and $4.0 million in lower general and administrative costs attributable to our ongoing cost reduction efforts and decreased activity in Nigeria.

Vessel Utilization and Average Rates by Segment

We consider a vessel to be stacked if the vessel crew is furloughed or substantially reduced and limited maintenance is performed on the vessel. We reduce operating costs by stacking vessels when management does not foresee opportunities to profitably or strategically operate the vessels in the near future. Vessels are stacked when market conditions warrant and they are no longer considered stacked when they are returned to active service, sold or otherwise disposed. When economically practical marketing opportunities arise, the stacked vessels can be returned to active service by performing any necessary maintenance on the vessel and either rehiring or returning fleet personnel to operate the vessel. Although not currently fulfilling charters, stacked vessels are considered to be in service and are included in the calculation of our utilization statistics.

We had 13, 27 and 35 stacked vessels including 8, 18 and 23 vessels, respectively, classified as assets held for sale in our fleet as of December 31, 2022, December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively. During 2022, we sold 12 vessels that had been designated as held for sale and two vessels from our active fleet. We also designated three vessels to assets held for sale and reactivated one vessel from assets held for sale into the active fleet in 2022. During 2021, we designated an additional seven vessels for disposition and sold nine vessels that had been designated as held for sale and re-activated three vessels from the assets held for sale back into the active fleet. In addition, we sold ten vessels from our active fleet in 2021.

Vessel Dispositions

We seek opportunities to sell and/or recycle our older vessels when market conditions warrant and opportunities arise. Most of our vessels are sold to buyers who do not compete with us in the offshore energy industry. The number of vessels disposed by segment are as follows:

Vessel Commitments

In the fourth quarter of 2022, we contracted to build two Alucat crew boats for the African market. These vessels are expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2023 and cost approximately $3.5 million each. We made a $1.2 million down payment to start construction on these two vessels. In the fourth quarter of 2021, we contracted to build two new ocean-going tugs for the Africa market. These vessels are expected to be complete in 2023 and cost approximately $6.3 million each. We made a $2.3 million down payment to start construction on these two tugs. We did not build any vessels in the year ended December 31, 2020.

General and Administrative Expenses

Consolidated general and administrative expenses and the related percentage of each component to total revenues are as follows:

Segment and corporate general and administrative expenses and the related percentage of total general and administrative expenses were as follows:

General and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2022 increased compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to higher general and administrative costs associated with the Singapore and Dubai offices and professional fees and transaction costs (including severance costs) related to the SPO acquisition, which totaled $18.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. General and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2021 decreased compared to the prior year primarily as a result of our continuing efforts to reduce overhead costs.

Liquidity, Capital Resources and Other Matters

As of December 31, 2022, we had $168.0 million in cash and cash equivalents (including restricted cash), including amounts held by foreign subsidiaries, the majority of which is available to us without adverse tax consequences. Included in foreign subsidiary cash are balances held in U.S. dollars and foreign currencies that await repatriation due to various currency conversion and repatriation constraints, partner and tax related matters. We currently intend that earnings by our foreign subsidiaries will be indefinitely reinvested in foreign jurisdictions in order to fund strategic initiatives (such as investment, expansion and acquisitions), fund working capital requirements and repay debt (both third-party and intercompany) of our foreign subsidiaries in the normal course of business. Moreover, we do not currently intend to repatriate earnings of our foreign subsidiaries to the U.S. because cash generated from our domestic businesses and the repayment of intercompany liabilities from foreign subsidiaries are currently deemed to be sufficient to fund the cash needs of our U.S. operations.

During 2022, we generated $40.2 million of cash from operating activities and received $13.6 million in proceeds from the sale of assets which was partially used to acquire SPO and the 51% equity interest in Sonatide owned by our former joint venture partner as well as funding $16.6 million in capital expenditures for the year. As a result, we ended the year 2022 with $13.7 million more in cash compared with the beginning of the year. We anticipate generating positive operating cash flows in 2023 net of drydock costs required to maintain our fleet. In addition, we anticipate generating proceeds from the sale of eight vessels held for sale valued at approximately $4.2 million and we expect to continue to invest in capital improvements, primarily to maintain our fleet and our information systems. Based on the current levels of activity in our industry and the anticipated levels of activity from our customers in response to increasing demand levels and pricing for oil and gas, we anticipate improved cash flow over the next several years sufficient to meet our obligations, including debt service, drydock costs and capital expenditures. We have no major obligations for capital expenditures, except for the previously mentioned Alucat crew boats and ocean-going tugs, or scheduled repayments of debt until the Nordic bonds mature in November 2026.

Our objective in financing our business is to maintain and preserve adequate financial resources and sufficient levels of liquidity. We have a $25.0 million revolving credit facility (RCF) which matures in 2026. No amounts have been drawn on this facility. As of December 31, 2022, we had $175.0 million of long-term debt on our consolidated balance sheet of which none is due until late 2026. The Senior Secured Bonds due November 2026 (the 2026 Notes) contain two financial covenants: (i) a minimum free liquidity test of the obligors (as defined) equal to the greater of $20.0 million or 10% of net interest bearing debt, and (ii) a minimum equity ratio of 30%, in each case for us and our consolidated subsidiaries. We are currently in compliance and anticipate being able to maintain ongoing compliance with these two financial covenants. We believe cash and cash equivalents, availability under our RCF and future net cash provided by operating activities, provide us with sufficient liquidity to meet our liquidity requirements. We also have an “at-the-market” offering registered with the SEC under which we may offer and sell shares of our common stock, having an aggregate offering price of up to $30.0 million from time to time through the Agents acting as a sales agent or directly to the Agents acting as a principal. We expect to use the net proceeds from the sale of the securities covered by these offerings for general corporate purposes, which may include repayment or refinancing of indebtedness, working capital, capital expenditures, investments, acquisitions and other business opportunities.

Please refer to Note (4) - “Debt” to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for further details on our indebtedness.

Share Repurchases

No shares were repurchased during the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020. Please refer to Note (11) - “Stockholders’ Equity” to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

Dividends

There were no dividends declared during the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020. Please refer to Note (11) - “Stockholders’ Equity” to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

Operating Activities

Net cash provided by or used in operating activities for any period will fluctuate according to the level of business activity for the applicable period.

Net cash provided by operating activities is as follows:

Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2022, of $40.2 million reflects a net loss of $22.2 million, non-cash impairments of $0.7 million, non-cash depreciation and amortization of $119.2 million, stock-based compensation expense of $7.4 million, and loss on warrants of $14.2 million. Changes in operating assets and liabilities used $23.2 million in cash, reflecting additional investments in working capital as a result of the increase in business activity. We paid $56.0 million for regulatory drydocks in 2022.

Net cash used by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2021, of $15.0 million reflects a net loss of $129.7 million, non-cash impairments of $16.0 million, non-cash depreciation and amortization of $114.5 million, a net loss on asset dispositions of $2.9 million, stock-based compensation expense of $5.6 million, and loss on debt extinguishment of $11.1 million. Changes in operating assets and liabilities provided $20.0 million in cash while amounts due to/from affiliates used $0.1 million in cash. We paid $27.3 million for regulatory drydocks in 2021.

Investing Activities

Net cash provided by investing activities is as follows:

Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022, was $23.8 million, reflecting proceeds of $13.6 million related to the disposal of 14 vessels. Acquisitions included $19.7 million for the purchase of SPO and $1.0 million to acquire the 51% equity interest in Sonatide owned by our former joint venture partner. Additions to property and equipment were comprised of $16.6 million, primarily for the down payment on two Alucat crew boats, upgrades to our existing fleet and continued enhancements to our current enterprise software system.

Net cash provided by investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2021, was $25.1 million, reflecting proceeds from the sale of assets of $34.0 million related to the disposal of 19 vessels. Additions to property and equipment were comprised of $9.0 million, primarily for the down payment on two tugboats, upgrades to our existing fleet and continued enhancements to our current enterprise software system.

Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities is as follows:

Financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022, used $2.7 million of cash, including $0.3 million of debt issuance and modification costs related to our 2026 notes and $2.3 million in taxes paid on share-based awards. We also received $187.8 million in proceeds from two offerings of our common stock. These proceeds were used to repurchase the outstanding SPO acquisition warrants issued in connection with the acquisition of SPO.

Financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2021, used $41.0 million of cash, as a result of the repayment of $198.9 million and make-whole premiums of $7.8 million reflecting the retirement of our senior secured notes and the Troms offshore debt. Financing activities also included $5.7 million of debt issuance and modification costs related to our new 2026 notes and costs to modify our Troms offshore debt.

Legal Proceedings

We are named defendants or parties in certain lawsuits, claims or proceedings incidental to or arising in the ordinary course of business. Although the outcome of such lawsuits or other proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty and the amount of any liability that could arise with respect to such lawsuits or other proceedings cannot be predicted accurately, we do not expect these matters to have a material adverse effect on our financial position, operating results and cash flows. Please refer to Note (12) - “Commitments and Contingencies” to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

Application of Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and related disclosures and disclosures of any contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements. We evaluate the reasonableness of these estimates and assumptions continually based on a combination of historical experience and other assumptions and information that comes to our attention that may vary the outlook for the future. 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. As a result, actual results may differ from estimates under different assumptions.

The “Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies”, as described in Note (1) to the Consolidated Financial Statements, should be read in conjunction with this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”. We have defined a critical accounting estimate as one that is important to the portrayal of our financial condition or results of operations and requires us to make difficult, subjective or complex judgments or estimates about matters that are uncertain. We believe the following critical accounting policies that affect our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements are described below. There are other items within our consolidated financial statements that require estimation and judgment, but they are not deemed critical as defined above.

Business Combination

On April 22, 2022 (the “Acquisition Date”) we completed our business combination with SPO. Assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the business combination have been recorded at their estimated fair values as of the Acquisition Date under the acquisition method of accounting. The estimated fair values of certain assets and liabilities require judgments and assumptions. Adjustments might be made to these estimates during the measurement period subsequent to the Acquisition Date. These adjustments could be material. Please refer to Note (2) - “Acquisitions” to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further details on the impact of this business combination on our consolidated financial statements.

Receivables and Allowance for Credit Losses

In the normal course of business, we extend credit to our customers on a short-term basis. Our principal customers are major oil and natural gas exploration, field development and production companies. We routinely review and evaluate our accounts receivable balances for collectability. The determination of the collectability of amounts due from our customers requires us to use estimates and make judgments regarding future events and trends, including monitoring our customers’ payment history and current credit worthiness to determine that collectability is reasonably assured, as well as consideration of the overall business climate in which our customers operate. Expected credit losses are recorded on the initial recognition of our primary financial assets, which are trade accounts receivable and contract assets. We also have net receivable balances related to joint ventures in which we own less than 50%. We review and evaluate these receivables for collectability in a similar manner as we evaluate trade receivables. We believe that our allowance for credit losses is adequate to cover potential bad debt losses under current conditions; however, uncertainties regarding changes in the financial condition of our customers, either adverse or positive, could impact the amount and timing of any additional provisions for credit losses that may be required.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

We review the vessels in our active fleet for impairment whenever events occur or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset group may not be recoverable. In such evaluation, the estimated future undiscounted cash flows generated by an asset group are compared with the carrying amount of the asset group to determine if a write-down may be required. With respect to vessels that are expected to remain in active service, we group together for impairment testing purposes vessels with similar operating and marketing characteristics. Stacked vessels expected to return to active service are evaluated for impairment as part of their assigned active asset group and not individually.

If an asset group fails the undiscounted cash flow test, we estimate the fair value of each asset group and compare such estimated fair value to the carrying value of each asset group in order to determine if impairment exists.

Management estimates the fair value of each vessel in an asset group considered Level 3, as defined by ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, by considering items such as the vessel’s age, length of time stacked, likelihood of a return to active service and actual recent sales of similar vessels, among others. Third party appraisals, broker values or internal valuations based on recent sale activity are utilized for vessels expected to be sold as an operating vessel. We leverage information for vessels in a similar class, similar age, or similar specification to be used as a basis of fair value for vessels expected to be sold. Internal valuations are also prepared for vessels expected to be sold for recycling utilizing an estimated recycle value per lightweight ton based on the vessel location, the weight of the vessel and recent recycling activity. We record an impairment charge when the carrying value of an asset group exceeds its estimated fair value. In previous years, we sought opportunities to dispose of our older vessels when market conditions warranted and opportunities would arise. As a result, vessel dispositions would vary from year to year, and gains (losses) on sales of assets would also fluctuate significantly from period to period. Most of our vessels were sold to buyers with whom we do not compete in the offshore energy industry. We continue to employ that strategy, but to a lesser extent. When circumstances warrant we review our fleet and make decisions to remove assets that are not considered to be part of our long-term plans. In these circumstances, we will reclassify the identified vessels as held for sale and, if necessary, we will revalue these vessels to net realizable value. We consider the valuation approach for our assets held for sale to be a Level 3 fair value measurement due to the level of estimation involved in valuing assets to be recycled or sold. We estimate the net realizable value using various methodologies including third party appraisals, sales comparisons, sales agreements and scrap yard tonnage prices. Estimates generally fall in ranges rather than exact numbers due to the nature of sales of offshore vessels and industry conditions. Our value ranges depend on our expectation of the ultimate disposition of the vessel. We will in all circumstances attempt to achieve maximum value for our vessels, but also recognize that certain vessels are more likely to be recycled, especially given the time and effort required to achieve a sale and the costs incurred to maintain a vessel while searching for a buyer. We establish ranges that in many cases have scrap value as the low end of the range and an expected open market sale value at the top of the range. When there is no expectation within the range that is considered more likely than any other, we apply equal probability weighting to the low and high ends of the valuation range.

Income Taxes

The asset-liability method is used for determining our income tax provisions, under which current and deferred tax liabilities and assets are recorded in accordance with enacted tax laws and rates. Under this method, the amounts of deferred tax liabilities and assets at the end of each period are determined using the tax rate expected to be in effect when taxes are actually paid or recovered. In addition, we determine our effective tax rate by estimating our permanent differences resulting from differing treatment of items for tax and accounting purposes.

As a global company, we are subject to the jurisdiction of taxing authorities in the United States and by the respective tax agencies in the countries in which we operate internationally, as well as to tax agreements and treaties among these governments. Our operations in these different jurisdictions are taxed on various bases: actual income before taxes, deemed profits (which are generally determined using a percentage of revenue rather than profits) and withholding taxes based on revenue. Determination of taxable income in any tax jurisdiction requires the interpretation of the related tax laws and regulations and the use of estimates and assumptions regarding significant future events such as the amount, timing and character of deductions, permissible revenue recognition methods under the tax law and the sources and character of income and tax credits. Changes in tax laws, regulations, agreements and treaties, foreign currency exchange restrictions or our level of operations or profitability in each taxing jurisdiction could have an impact on the amount of income taxes that we provide during any given year. We are periodically audited by various taxing authorities in the United States and by the respective tax agencies in the countries in which we operate internationally. The tax audits generally include questions regarding the calculation of taxable income. Audit adjustments affecting permanent differences could have an impact on our effective tax rate.

The carrying value of our net deferred tax assets is based on our present belief that we will be unable to generate sufficient future taxable income in certain tax jurisdictions to utilize such deferred tax assets, based on estimates and assumptions. If these estimates and related assumptions change in the future, we may be required to adjust valuation allowances against our deferred tax assets resulting in additional income tax expense or benefit in our consolidated statement of operations. Management evaluates the realizability of the deferred tax assets and assesses the need for changes to valuation allowances on a quarterly basis. While we have considered future taxable income and ongoing prudent and feasible tax planning strategies in assessing the present need for a valuation allowance, in the event we were to determine that we would be able to realize our deferred tax assets in the future in excess of our net recorded amount, an adjustment to the valuation allowance would increase income in the period such determination was made. Should we determine that we would not be able to realize all or part of our net deferred tax asset in the future, an adjustment to the deferred tax asset would be charged to income in the period such determination was made.

Deferred taxes are not provided on undistributed earnings of certain non-U.S. subsidiaries and business ventures because we consider those earnings to be permanently invested abroad.

We record uncertain tax positions on the basis of a two-step process in which (1) we determine whether it is more likely than not that the tax positions would be sustained on the basis of the technical merits of the position and (2) for those tax positions that meet the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold, we recognize the largest amount of tax benefit that was more than 50 percent likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement with the related tax authority. The recognition and measurement of tax liabilities for uncertain tax positions in any tax jurisdiction requires the interpretation of the related tax laws and regulations as well as the use of estimates and assumptions regarding significant future events. Changes in tax laws, regulations, agreements and treaties, foreign currency exchange restrictions or our level of operations or profitability in each taxing jurisdiction could have an impact on the amount of income taxes during any given year.

New Accounting Pronouncements

For information regarding the effect of new accounting pronouncements, please refer to Note (1) - “Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

Market risk refers to the potential losses arising from changes in interest rates, foreign currency fluctuations and exchange rates, equity prices and commodity prices including the correlation among these factors and their volatility. We are primarily exposed to interest rate risk and foreign currency fluctuations and exchange risk. We enter into derivative instruments only to the extent considered necessary to meet our risk management objectives and do not use derivative contracts for speculative purposes.

Interest Rate Risk and Indebtedness

Changes in interest rates may result in changes in the fair market value of our financial instruments, interest income and interest expense. Our financial instruments that are exposed to interest rate risk are our cash equivalents. Due to the short duration and conservative nature of the cash equivalent investment portfolio, we do not expect any material loss with respect to our investments. The book value for cash equivalents is considered to be representative of its fair value.

Senior Secured Bonds

Please refer to Note (4) - “Debt” to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for a discussion on our outstanding debt.

Because the terms on the Senior Secured Bonds due November 2026 bear interest at fixed rates, interest expense would not be impacted by changes in market interest rates. The following table discloses how the estimated fair value of our respective Senior Secured Bonds, as of December 31, 2022, would change with a 100 basis-point increase or decrease in market interest rates.

Foreign Exchange Risk

Our financial instruments that can be affected by foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents, trade receivables, trade payables and debt denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. We may enter into spot and forward derivative financial instruments as a hedge against foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities, currency commitments, or to lock in desired interest rates. Spot derivative financial instruments are short-term in nature and settle within two business days. The fair value of spot derivatives approximates the carrying value due to the short-term nature of these instruments, and as a result, no gains or losses are recognized. The accounting for gains or losses on forward contracts is dependent on the nature of the risk being hedged and the effectiveness of the hedge. We had no derivative instruments as of December 31, 2022 and 2021.

Other

Due to our international operations, we are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and exchange rate risks on all charter hire contracts denominated in foreign currencies. For some of our international contracts, a portion of the revenue and local expenses are incurred in local currencies with the result that we are at risk of changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies. We generally do not hedge against any foreign currency rate fluctuations associated with foreign currency contracts that arise in the normal course of business, which exposes us to the risk of exchange rate losses. To minimize the financial impact of these items we attempt to contract a significant majority of our services in U.S. dollars. In addition, we attempt to minimize the financial impact of these risks by matching the currency of our operating costs with the currency of the revenue streams when considered appropriate. We continually monitor the currency exchange risks associated with all contracts not denominated in U.S. dollars.

TIDEWATER INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In Thousands, except share and par value data)