Precision Drilling reports $5.3M Q1 loss, warns of drop in demand well into 2021

Precision Drilling Corp. reported a loss in its first quarter and warned that it expected a significant and sustained drop in customer demand for oil and gas services well into next year as a result of the recent plunge in oil prices.

The drilling company says the COVID-19 pandemic and the oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia has resulted in the deepest downturn the oil and gas services industry has ever experienced.

Precision says it lost $5.3 million or two cents per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31 compared with a profit of $25million or eight cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue totalled $379.5 million, down from $434million in the first quarter of 2019.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of three cents per share for the quarter and $379.4 million in revenue, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

Last month, Precision Drilling reduced staff, cut salaries and lowered its capital spending plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.