Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Fourth Quarter 2022 Halliburton Company Earnings Conference Call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, David Coleman, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Hello, and thank you for joining the Halliburton Fourth Quarter 2022 Conference Call. We will make the recording of today's webcast available on Halliburton's website after this call. Joining me today are Jeff Miller, Chairman, President and CEO; and Eric Carre, Executive Vice President and CFO. Some of today's comments may include forward-looking statements, reflecting Halliburton's views about future events. These matters involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to materially differ from our forward-looking statements. These risks are discussed in Halliburton's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, recent current reports on Form 8-K and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly update any forward-looking statement for any reason. Our comments today also include non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our fourth quarter earnings release and in the quarterly results and presentation section of our website. Now I'll turn the call over to Jeff.

Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. Halliburton finished the year strong with solid financial and operational performance in both divisions and both hemispheres. Halliburton's execution in 2022 demonstrates the earnings power of our strategy, and I expect this earnings power to strengthen in 2023 and beyond. Let's jump right into the 2022 highlights. We delivered full year total company revenue of $20.3 billion and operating income of $2.7 billion. Adjusted operating income grew 70% compared to 2021 with improved margin performance in both divisions. Our full year international revenue grew 20% over 2021, and our revenue and operating income increased each quarter in 2022. I am pleased with the international growth and margin progression Halliburton demonstrated this year despite a second quarter exit from our Russian business. Our full year North America revenue increased 51% over 2021 with improved margins driven by activity and pricing gains. Both our drilling and evaluation and completion and production divisions grew revenue and margins this year. The Drilling and Evaluation division generated full year operating margins of 15%, an increase of 320 basis points over 2021. The steady expansion of D&E margins demonstrates the global competitiveness of our D&E business. Our Completion and Production division posted 18% full year operating margins, a year-over-year increase of 290 basis points, driven by activity and pricing improvements. We generated strong free cash flow of $1.4 billion, retired $1.2 billion of debt, maintained capital spending within 5% to 6% of revenues, and ended the year with $2.3 billion of cash on hand. Finally, our service quality performance excelled in 2022. Nonproductive time improved by 7% over 2021, which drove the highest ever uptime across our business. Execution is at the heart of who we are, and our results are a testament to our employees' continued commitment to superior service quality. I'm pleased with the fourth quarter results. Revenue grew 4% and operating income grew 15% sequentially. Margins increased in both C&P and D&E divisions and in both hemispheres. Cash flow from operations in the quarter was $1.2 billion and free cash flow was $856 million. Building on the strong foundation of execution, today, I am pleased to announce the following shareholder return actions: first, our Board approved an increase in our quarterly dividend to $0.16 per share in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 33% increase from last year; second, we have resumed share buybacks under our existing Board authorization of approximately $5 billion and in the fourth quarter of 2022, bought back shares totaling $250 million; finally, our Board approved a capital return framework that we expect going forward to return at least 50% of our annual free cash flow to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. These actions demonstrate Halliburton's confidence in our business, customers, employees, and industry outlook. Before we continue, I want to take a moment and thank the Halliburton employees around the world who made these results possible. Our success this quarter and throughout 2022 was a direct result of your hard work and dedication. I thank you for your relentless focus on safety, operational execution, customer collaboration, and service quality performance. Now let's turn to the macro outlook where everything I see today points towards continued oil and gas tightness. On the supply side, in the US, an increased spend of almost 50% and activity growth of nearly 30% yielded a production increase of about 5%. Given the increased spend required to grow and replace production, I expect activity to remain strong and service intensity to increase through 2023. I see the same supply side challenges in the international markets. One indicator being that despite OPEC's 2022 production quotas, several members did not meet their goals. On the demand side, we saw the resilience of oil and gas demand throughout 2022, even as central banks raised interest rates to combat inflation. I expect oil and gas demand to remain strong. As we start 2023, I also expect China's reopening to further increase demand. It's clear to me that oil and gas is in short supply, and only multiple years of increased investment in both stemming declines and reserve additions will solve this short supply. I believe these investments will drive demand for oilfield services for the next several years. The unique feature of this upcycle, as I see it, is the investor-driven return discipline by both operators and service companies, which I expect will drive a longer duration cycle and translate into years of increasing demand for Halliburton services. Now let's turn to Halliburton, starting with our performance in the international markets. We successfully executed our strategy to deliver profitable international growth through competitive technology offerings, improved pricing, and selective contract wins. International revenue grew 20% year-on-year with strong growth and margin expansion from both divisions. This gives me confidence in the earnings power of our international strategy. In 2023, we expect international activity to grow at least mid-teens with most new activity coming from the Middle East and Latin America. As this upcycle continues, I believe that we will see substantial growth in all international markets, both onshore and offshore, led by development activity and increased spend at the wellbore. This is excellent news for Halliburton. About half our revenue comes from international markets. We have leading positions in key well construction product lines and a strong geographic footprint. I'm excited about the growth and profit opportunities that will come with the adoption of our new drilling technology platforms: our iCruise drilling technology, iStar logging while drilling platform, and LOGIX automation capabilities. Each of these technologies are in different stages of implementation, and we are already seeing benefits. Our iCruise directional drilling system represents about half of our rotary steerable fleet while drilling about 70% of our global footage. It is a key contributor to increasing international profitability. Our iStar logging while drilling platform now delivers high-definition measurements closer to the bit and deeper into the formation. While early in its rollout with only 600,000 feet logged, the iStar platform directly complements the iCruise directional drilling system. Finally, LOGIX automates drilling with iCruise and iStar. With more than 7 million feet drilled in over 20 countries, the LOGIX platform reduces operational risk and delivers wells reliably. Turning to North America. We had a terrific year. Our performance demonstrated our strategy to maximize value in North America through capital efficiency, improved pricing, differentiated technology, and alignment with high quality customers. In 2022, our North America revenue grew 51% year-over-year, while revenue in the fourth quarter was flat sequentially due to weather-related downtime late in the year. Looking ahead, we expect strong activity and anticipate customer spending to grow by at least 15% in 2023. The market for equipment is tight. Lead times for new and replacement equipment remain long, and service companies remain disciplined. Our completions calendar is fully booked, and pricing continues to improve across all product service lines. Against this constructive market backdrop, Halliburton will outperform with our unique strategy to maximize value. We see strong demand for our Zeus e-fleets with several repeat customers contracting additional fleets. Zeus is a proven design with a strong operational track record. Our new automated fracturing platform, Optiv, fully automates equipment operation, reduces maintenance, and extends component life. We are in the early innings of this rollout, having proven it over 15,000 stages, and I expect it to drive higher capital efficiency. Finally, our SmartFleet intelligent fracturing system is gaining significant traction with customers. SmartFleet data helps customers answer key questions such as the existence of flow barriers, well interference, parent-child performance, and depletion, all to improve completion performance. These are a few examples of how technology maximizes value in North America. Each example delivers better margins, either by reducing capital costs or increasing capital velocity, and in many cases, both. Halliburton is unique and is the only integrated services company to have a strong presence in both North America and international markets, a strong execution culture, and differentiated technology. We will continue to sharpen our value proposition to collaborate and engineer solutions to maximize asset value for our customers. I am confident in Halliburton's strong long-term outlook. This is the best setup and market outlook for oilfield services at Halliburton that I have seen in a very long time. Our exceptional financial performance this year is a clear result of the execution of our strategic priorities to maximize value in North America, deliver profitable international growth, and drive capital efficiency. I expect Halliburton to continue to deliver financial outperformance. Now I will turn the call over to Eric to provide more details on our financial results.

Thank you, Jeff, and good morning. Let me begin with a summary of our fourth quarter results. Total company revenue for the quarter was $5.6 billion, a 4% increase over the third quarter while operating income was $976 million, an increase of 15% over third quarter operating income. Operating margin for the company was 17.5% in the fourth quarter, a 460 basis point increase over operating margins in the fourth quarter of 2021. These results were primarily driven by increased global activity, pricing, and year-end product and software sales. Our fourth quarter reported net income per diluted share was $0.72, an increase of $0.12 or 20% from the third quarter. Our 2022 full year adjusted net income per diluted share nearly doubled from 2021. Beginning with our Completion and Production division. Revenue in the fourth quarter was $3.2 billion, a 1% increase when compared to the third quarter, while operating income was $659 million, an increase of 13% when compared to the third quarter. Despite weather-related downtime late in the year, C&P delivered an operating income margin of 20.7%, the highest operating income margin since 2012. This was due to improved pricing, service efficiency, and activity mix in North America land as well as increased activity in international markets. In our Drilling and Evaluation division, revenue in the fourth quarter was $2.4 billion, an increase of 8% when compared to the third quarter, while operating income was $387 million, an increase of 19% when compared to the third quarter. These results were driven by higher year-end software sales and an uptick in international activity. Operating margin increased 210 basis points above Q4 2021, which demonstrates the global competitiveness of our D&E business. Moving on to geographic results. Our international revenue increased 9% sequentially due to solid year-end sales, pricing gains, and activity increases. In North America, revenue in the fourth quarter was $2.6 billion, a 1% decrease when compared to the third quarter. This decrease was primarily driven by weather-related downtime in North America land. Latin America revenue in the fourth quarter was $945 million, a 12% increase sequentially due to higher activity in Mexico and across the region. Europe/Africa revenue in the fourth quarter was $657 million, a 3% increase sequentially driven by higher completion tool sales, drilling activity, and well intervention services across the region. These increases were partially offset by lower activity in Norway. Middle East/Asia revenue in the fourth quarter was $1.4 billion, a 10% increase sequentially, primarily resulting from higher software sales and drilling and evaluation services across the region. Now I'd like to cover some additional financial items. In the fourth quarter, our corporate and other expenses were $70 million. For the first quarter, we expect our corporate expenses to be slightly lower. Net interest expense for the quarter was $74 million, a slight decrease due to higher yields on cash balances and debt retirement in September. For the first quarter, we expect this expense to remain approximately flat. Other net expense for the quarter was $60 million, primarily related to unfavorable foreign exchange movements. For the first quarter, we expect this expense to be slightly lower. Our normalized effective tax rate for the fourth quarter came in at approximately 21%. Based on our anticipated geographic earnings mix, we expect our first quarter effective tax rate to increase roughly 150 basis points. Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter were $350 million with our 2022 full year CapEx totaling approximately $1 billion. Turning to cash flow. For the full year, we generated $2.2 billion of cash from operations and delivered approximately $1.4 billion of free cash flow. As a result, we ended the year with approximately $2.3 billion in cash. Next, I'd like to provide a few more details about our capital return framework. First, an important pillar of our capital framework is to maintain CapEx between 5% and 6% of revenue. I believe the spending level is appropriate and supports our earnings growth and free cash flow generation over the next several years. Second, we expect to return a minimum of 50% of free cash flow to our shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks. Our Board of Directors increased our quarterly dividend by 33% to $0.16 per share, effective with a dividend payment in March 2023. Finally, in the fourth quarter, we repurchased $250 million of shares, and we have remaining authorization of approximately $5 billion. We were clear about our goals to reduce debt and increase cash returns to shareholders, and I am pleased that we've announced these actions today. I believe Halliburton's capital return framework provides visibility for investors and affords us the flexibility to pursue acquisitions and strengthen the balance sheet. Now let me provide you with some comments on how we see the first quarter. As is typical, our results will be subject to weather-related seasonality and the roll-off of year-end product sales, which will mostly impact our international business. As a result, in our Completion and Production division, we anticipate sequential revenue to be essentially flat with the fourth quarter while margins will drop between 75 and 125 basis points. In our Drilling and Evaluation division, we expect revenue to decrease in the low to mid single digits sequentially while margins are expected to be down 25 to 75 basis points.

Thanks, Eric. Let me summarize our discussion today. Oil and gas is tight, and only multiple years of increased investment will solve short supply, which translates into years of increasing demand for Halliburton Services. The announced dividend increase, share buybacks, and Halliburton's new capital return framework provide shareholders with clarity and consistency on how we expect to return cash to shareholders. This exceptional financial performance is a clear result of our execution of Halliburton's strategic priorities. I expect Halliburton to continue to deliver financial outperformance, strong free cash flow, and shareholder returns. And now let's open it up for questions.

Our first question comes from David Anderson with Barclays.

So Halliburton's international business is now half of overall revenue. The Middle East has been a big part of that growth over the years; it was up 10% this quarter. Just wondering if you could just give us a little bit more insight into your views on that market over the next couple of years. So based on activity is how it's trending and the ramp-up going on, I guess, in the near term, is it reasonable to think the growth should sort of stay at these levels the next several quarters? And also, if you could highlight some of the countries where you see most of the growth coming from over the next several years, including where you think you're best positioned in terms of footprints or product lines in the Middle East?

Look, I'm really excited about international growth. I think I said in my call, north of 15%, which clearly, I expect it will be north of that and should continue actually to expand, I think, over the next few years just because it takes longer to get traction internationally and get things contracted. So I'm really excited about what we see. With our international business being about half of our business today, it indicates or demonstrates that we have a strong footprint in all the places we think are important, and our technology, as I described, is rolling out. So clearly, it has strong application in the Middle East and Latin America, which we kind of saw this year, but it's the same technology applicable in all corners of the world. And so I think we're early in the rollout of a lot of this technology, and that's only going to help strengthen our international business. As we see activity grow, I expect our share of that to grow and improve margins as we focus on profitable international growth.

And if I could shift over to the US side, there's been a lot of recent talk about activity levels slowing down in the US. The rig count has drifted down a bit in recent weeks, been some weather, as you highlighted, and there's also some concerns out there in the natural gas market. I also know how any E&Ps have announced any spending budgets this year. So I was wondering if you can just help us out with a little bit of visibility on the market. What are your customers saying about how activity is going to play out into the spring? And then based on that, how do you see the dynamics of the pressure pumping market in terms of capacity and tightness for 2023?

I believe North America is poised for surprising growth, projecting over 15% growth. We exceeded that last year, and I mentioned this previously. None of my clients plan to decrease their operations; they all intend to expand. North America's situation is such that as growth continues, the market will need to work harder to sustain that growth due to decline curves. I anticipate increased service intensity throughout 2023 and likely beyond, as the market for frac equipment is very tight and the supply chain remains congested. I notice discipline in the market, which is crucial since equipment is not available. Consequently, as activity increases, we can expect prices to rise. Therefore, I am very optimistic about North America in 2023. I believe any concerns are unfounded, and the rig count will likely increase as drilled but uncompleted wells are utilized.

Our next question comes from Arun Jayaram from JPMorgan.

Jeff, clearly, one of the themes this earnings season has been the inflection in Middle East spending in offshore. I was wondering if you could talk about Halliburton's portfolio and competitive position in both the Middle East and offshore, and how do you think you're positioned in this cycle versus last?

Look, we're better positioned than we've ever been as Halliburton, both from a technology perspective that I described examples of, but that's not all of the technology we've got in the market today and from a footprint standpoint. So a lot of that build-out was done in prior cycles; it's still there and ready to go. So I feel very good about our geographic footprint, our technology advancements that we've made, and our team. We've just got an exceptionally strong team today internationally. So I feel very confident from that perspective. And when we look at where our business is, offshore is good for us. I think that about 40% of our international business is offshore today. And so that's a good market for us. And I think another nuance as we look out into next year, certainly and likely beyond, is the emphasis on development activity as opposed to exploration that maybe we've seen in prior cycles. And I think that's very consistent with where operators are from a capital discipline standpoint and just producing more barrels sooner, which leads us to development. And that is a place where we have leading positions in a number of the service lines that allow that to happen, meaning drilling fluids and completion tools. I think this is going to be an even better market for Halliburton.

And maybe a follow-up for Eric. Eric, I wanted to get your thoughts on cash conversion in 2023, and just wanted to think about the working capital needs to support the growth this year? Just any broad thoughts on collections, particularly for some of your international and NOC customers?

So, broadly speaking, we're looking at the cash generation profile in 2023 as being fairly similar to 2022, so quite a bit weighted toward the back half of the year. Looking at things overall, I mean, the big buckets, obviously, we'll see significantly increased net income driven by growth in our revenue and improvements in our margins. On the CapEx side of things, we finished 2022 on the low end of our range of 5% to 6%. We were at 5%. When I look at '23, we will be at the higher end of that range, primarily driven by supply chain constraints and extended lead time in our supply chain that we talked about on prior calls. And the third element in terms of working capital, again, our business will continue to grow, so we will continue to see some headwinds in terms of working capital essentially, and also the impact of growing internationally, which tends to be bigger consumers of working capital than when we grow our business in North America. So the way all of that is going to land is a little north of 20% growth in terms of free cash flow over our 2022 performance.

Our next question comes from James West with Evercore ISI.

So Jeff, let's start with North America. Your customer base there generally has three choices: to grow, to shrink, or to expand internationally. In your discussions with the larger shale operators, you've mentioned that there might be an upside surprise in North America. How do you think they are approaching the North American market, especially considering the inventory constraints that could arise in the future, whether it's three, five, or seven years down the line? What are their plans for the next few years?

I expect that within the bounds of capital discipline, growth is the only path for most companies. Commodity prices are supportive, international growth is challenging, and shrinking is not really an option. I believe we will see increased service intensity, which is our first step, and we definitely benefit from that. Looking ahead ten years, I won't bet against technology because I am confident in its capabilities. There is a significant amount of oil in North America, and we are already seeing the effects of increased efforts to produce more barrels. One of the reasons is Halliburton's SmartFleet; I often mention it as a tool that operators can utilize. I anticipate that over time, we will find ways to increase barrel production and productivity. Our investment in R&D in North America is somewhat unique, and we aim to allocate those resources to the most impactful areas. It’s not about bigger or smaller metrics but rather focusing on the technology that we believe will unlock productivity in the long run. Having these tools at the disposal of our operators, who are exceptionally competitive and technically skilled, will enable them to realize what the next ten years could look like.

Okay, that's great perspective there. And then if I could just switch to the international side of the business. At this point, are we in a market that is still price-driven, or have we switched to a market where it's about availability and service quality?

I believe you can't have one without the other, but I think service quality and having quality equipment become increasingly important. This ultimately influences pricing. We concentrate a lot on how we execute and provide service quality, and we are confident in our service quality. As the market tightens, equipment may be pulled out, but I believe we have a strong equipment portfolio and innovative technology that we are introducing, which certainly works to our advantage.

Our next question comes from Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs.

Thank you, Jeff, for the framework regarding capital returns, and that’s where I want to direct my questions today. Can you explain why you decided that at least 50% of free cash flow was the appropriate target? Additionally, could you clarify how you define that calculation? I believe it involves cash flow from operations including working capital, minus capital expenditures before mergers and acquisitions, but I want to confirm we are aligned on this.

Go ahead, Eric.

I think your view is correct, yes. And the 50%, I mean, there's nothing magical about the 50% per se. We think that it's a number that gives some level of certainty in terms of what we're going to return to shareholders while giving us a lot of optionality to continue to invest in our business, to continue to make bolt-on acquisitions or to make acquisitions that are complementary to our product line business. And also give us optionality over the next few years to continue to work on strengthening our balance sheet.

I wanted to follow up on capital returns. Regarding the buyback, how do you plan to approach it? Are you considering a more consistent strategy, or would you prefer a countercyclical approach? And when discussing M&A, are we looking at smaller bolt-on transactions, or could there be a possibility of pursuing larger acquisitions?

So let me start with M&A maybe. Our philosophy there is extremely focused on adding technology. So it's a bit of a build versus buy approach to complementing our technology budget. It is a bit opportunistic at times depending on what's available and the opportunities that we have. Over the years, we've also invested in complements like smaller businesses that we can easily add to existing product lines. So that's kind of the general view that we have on technology. From an overall strategy standpoint, and I'll let Jeff jump in. But we are where we need to be in terms of the businesses we want to compete in at this stage. So going to the other part of your question, Neil, around buybacks. So I'm not going to go into a lot of details, but generally speaking, we look at buybacks as being level loaded through 2023, which will obviously top off in order to make sure that we meet our overall target of 50% or more. So we're thinking about buybacks really as a mechanism to return cash to shareholders. We're not really trying to trade in our shares.

Let me just add to that as well. I think our outlook on M&A hasn't changed, and it will remain the same. In terms of capital allocation, we want to continue, as Eric mentioned, to take advantage of opportunities to pay down debt. We want to be cautious about it, but in the current market, we have the chance to pursue actions that generate returns for the company. However, it's important for us to establish a clear minimum return threshold. I believe that by setting this minimum, we can clarify our position to the marketplace, ensuring that we will only engage in activities we believe will provide meaningful returns to the company.

And our next question comes from Luke Lemoine with Piper Sandler.

Jeff, your 4Q EBITDA margins firmly hopped in that kind of low 20% range here, basically at 14 levels, which was the target for '23. Totally get there are some year-end sales there that skewed us higher in 4Q, but you're on the cusp of hitting 14 margins on an annual basis in '23. You and Lance kind of gave us a two-year outlook almost two years ago. And I just wanted to see if maybe you could refresh this or expand upon it and how you see margins evolving over the next couple of years?

When we did that a couple of years ago, when we looked at published estimates, clearly, we thought they were too low. And so we've made some clear commentary and an effort to correct that. Now as we look at the published estimates today, they seem about right. And so I don't want to try to continue to do that over and over. And what I am is super excited about our outlook. Margins from here are up; revenue is up. I'm as confident in our outlook and our business as I have ever been. But I just want to be clear, in Q2 of '21, we wanted to be clear that we were pointing out what we felt was missing in the future Street estimates. And today, as I said, I think published estimates today are about right for the years ahead, both top line and profitability.

Next question comes from Chase Mulvehill with Bank of America.

Jeff, I guess a quick follow-up or a question, maybe we can kind of dig in a little more on the international side. We spoke a little bit about this at dinner, but we get a lot of questions around confidence in multiyear growth on the international side. Obviously, we saw a strong growth last year, and expectations are for another year of strong growth. I guess, could you speak to what you see for continued growth on the international side once you get past '23 and kind of what gives you confidence that we will continue to see growth on the international side post this year?

Well, I would just start with the underinvestment that we've seen for the last roughly eight years, and we really haven't caught up with that. So if I just look broadly at kind of reserve replacement and availability, that portends a lot of years of recovery, and we're in the early stages of that in a lot of ways. It takes time to get international projects up underway; a lot has to be renegotiated with different partners. And so I think that what we see building is the tender backlog; these are tender backlogs that go beyond a year, well beyond a year, and that's consistent with the slower recovery in spend that we typically see internationally. But I'm confident that that's basically what's required to recover and produce enough oil to meet demand. Beyond that, specifically dialog with customers, target set by countries, outlooks that nearly all international countries that produce oil have targets that are certainly above where they are today, with less clarity about how they get there, which indicates more service intensity in terms of how they get there, which is more activity certainly for us.

If I could shift gears a bit and address some of the questions regarding North America. You've mentioned that there is likely upside potential in North America, indicating no significant pricing pressure in pressure pumping, with supply chain constraints and potential demand growth. However, we receive numerous inquiries about pressure pumping and the risks associated with pricing. These questions often focus on the differences between lower tier fleets and investors wanting to know about the distribution of high-end versus low-end fleets. Could you elaborate on what percentage of your fleets fall under the Tier 2 diesel category, particularly in relation to where pricing pressure might emerge?

I don't see that in our business today at any level of equipment. In fact, all equipment is in demand. We have a strong environmentally low emissions fleet, which is likely at the higher end of the price range. However, even at the lower end, we have systematically replaced our equipment over time. We're pleased with the fleet we have, and Tier 2 dual fuel equipment is definitely in demand. What impresses me most is the strong market interest in our e-fleets. We've observed solid customer demand, particularly with repeat customers, where it’s not just one but two contracts to the same customer, all fully contracted. This is indicative of the strength of our technology; it's proven technology. I believe it offers a better solution, and we have a very strong intellectual property portfolio, which will continue to be significant.

Our next question will come from Roger Read with Wells Fargo.

Congratulations and well done on the quarter. I'd like to come back to some of your guidance and expectations for the international market. As we look at '23, you said kind of 15% but bias to the upside of that. I was just curious what finished the year strong in '22, maybe better than expectations and sort of feeds into that expectation of, let's say, at least mid-teens to higher as we think about international in '23.

Look, I think it's sort of like everything is pointing at busier '23 than '22. That comes in the form of the tender pipeline; that comes in the form of sort of backlog increasing, product backlog that we've seen strengthen throughout the year. All of that points to '23, maybe even into '24. Discussions with customers, the intensity of customers' views of staying busy and producing more barrels sooner rather than later. It's a very favorable market. So it just gives me a lot of confidence in the outlook for '23 and particularly from our standpoint where we sit with technology and our global footprint.

And then on the supply chain side, not just yours, but the one you see for the industry. Any areas you think continue to have, let's just call it headwinds broadly as we look at '23, something that would slow project development or acceleration in '23?

I don’t see anything that would slow us down. We are still addressing some extended lead times, but I don’t believe anything significant will hinder our progress. We are still experiencing inflation in the market, which affects our operations, but I don’t see it as an obstacle. Rigs are beginning to come back, and while there will be considerable work involved in getting them ready in some areas, we have motivated customers. There will be some inflation involved in this process, but I don’t view these factors as hindrances.

Our next question comes from Scott Gruber from Citi.

Jeff, you mentioned a very full completion calendar here in the US. A quick question on that topic. Does that pertain to the fleets that the new e-frac fleet will be coming in to replace? My question relates to, is there work already lined up that would keep the legacy fleet fully deployed or do those fleets need to be bid on to new jobs?

Look, no, we've got everything spoken for in '23, whether replacement or not. I think over time, e-fleets will replace fleets, but they don't do it initially. And so there will be some period of time where fleets take the place of legacy fleets, but that's not what we see in ‘23; we see everything busy in '23.

Got you, that's encouraging. And then turning to D&E margins, it's another nice year of expansion there. Obviously, you guys have had internal initiatives that structurally lift those margins, but you also have a number of tailwinds today from pricing to mix. How should we think about any incrementals this year you’re willing to provide some color there? And overall, how should we think about where you could take D&E margins over the medium to longer term. I was looking back at our model, and your D&E margins basically match where they were last cycle. So think about whether you guys can get to the 20% plus margin that you witnessed back in the late 2000s if this upcycle sustains?

Look, I think that I've always said, we've invested in technology and D&E in a meaningful way. We expect those margins to continue to move up. As you just mentioned, they have consistently moved up and that's on the back of technology and footprint and where we are, and I expect that trajectory to continue beyond where we are today or where we were last cycle. The outlook would be to continue to stack year-on-year quarters that are better than the last year. I have a lot of confidence in our outlook for D&E where they could go '23 and beyond.

And our next question is from Stephen Gengaro from Stifel.

So I have two things for me, if you don't mind. Can you talk a little bit on the domestic pressure pumping side? Obviously, I know you guys are pretty much sold out for the year. What are you seeing in the market as far as new build supply-demand fundamentals as we look three, four, five quarters out? Because I know you guys have your finger on the pulse there; I'm just curious about your take on the overall market growth or lack thereof in supply?

Look, I think the market is certainly undersupplied today. I think that attrition is happening every day, even if it doesn't happen necessarily at the fleet level, but it does happen at the unit level. Part of the way that got solved in 2022 was through industry consolidation. So that's one method of dealing with attrition: bringing in more inventory and equipment. And then the other, as I look out throughout the year, all of '23, half the capacity additions that we've heard about are electric. What's being realized in the field is electric is harder to do than it looks. From our perspective, we have proven technology; we have technology with a track record, and we have a very strong IP portfolio around frac. That combination gives me a lot of confidence in where we are and also that the market won't be oversupplied.

And just as a follow-up, we've seen consolidation in the US pressure pumping space. Some of the larger competitors are doing things to kind of make themselves have a higher revenue content at the well site, right, different types of vertical integration or well site integration. Have you seen any change in the competitive landscape at the well site? I mean, obviously, now everybody is busy. But just in general, has there been any change in the way your competitors are competing with Halliburton?

No, I don't see any change there. When I think about sand, we've got very good suppliers in the sand business and we work well with them. We have a real competitive advantage. We want to spend our resources on areas where we have a clear competitive advantage, which in this case includes pumping technology, drilling technology, and software. I view sand as an important input that we need access to, but we also want to avoid over-investing in that part of the business.

Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference back to management for closing remarks.

Thank you, Catherine. As we close out today's call, let me just close out with this. In this strong market for oilfield services, I am confident that Halliburton will execute on its strategic priorities and deliver financial outperformance. I look forward to speaking with you next quarter. You can close out the call.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.