Pacific Drilling: The Preferred Offshore Driller Net Present Value (NPV) / MBA Resources

Introduction to Net Present Value (NPV) - What is Net Present Value (NPV) ? How it impacts financial decisions regarding project management?

NPV solution for Pacific Drilling: The Preferred Offshore Driller case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Pacific Drilling: The Preferred Offshore Driller case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Haiyang Li, Frederic Jacquemin, Toby Li. The Pacific Drilling: The Preferred Offshore Driller (referred as “Drilling Offshore” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Leadership & Managing People. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, Competitive strategy, Entrepreneurship, Operations management.

The net present value (NPV) of an investment proposal is the present value of the proposal’s net cash flows less the proposal’s initial cash outflow. If a project’s NPV is greater than or equal to zero, the project should be accepted.

NPV = Present Value of Future Cash Flows LESS Project’s Initial Investment

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Case Description of Pacific Drilling: The Preferred Offshore Driller Case Study

Founded in 2006, Pacific Drilling was a fast-growing offshore drilling company. From the beginning, the company's chief executive officer was determined to create a unique drilling company by focusing exclusively on ultra-deepwater drilling and technological innovation. By the end of 2014, the company had more than 1,600 employees and was generating US$1 billion in annual revenues. However, the company also faced several challenges, such as being overly reliant on one key customer (Chevron) and the high costs of differentiation. With oil prices plummeting, the company was struggling to acquire new customers. To what extent could the company rely on what it had successfully accomplished in the past, and to what extent would it need to create and adapt to a new strategy? Haiyang Li is affiliated with Rice University.

Case Authors : Haiyang Li, Frederic Jacquemin, Toby Li

Topic : Leadership & Managing People

Related Areas : Competitive strategy, Entrepreneurship, Operations management

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Pacific Drilling: The Preferred Offshore Driller Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10020330)	-10020330	-	-
Year 1	3448996	-6571334	3448996	0.9434	3253770
Year 2	3955126	-2616208	7404122	0.89	3520048
Year 3	3948636	1332428	11352758	0.8396	3315351
Year 4	3237537	4569965	14590295	0.7921	2564433
TOTAL			14590295		12653601

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2633271

In isolation the NPV number doesn't mean much but put in right context then it is one of the best method to evaluate project returns. In this article we will cover -

Different methods of capital budgeting

What is NPV & Formula of NPV,
How it is calculated,
How to use NPV number for project evaluation, and
Scenario Planning given risks and management priorities.

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Capital Budgeting Approaches

Methods of Capital Budgeting

There are four types of capital budgeting techniques that are widely used in the corporate world –

1. Profitability Index
2. Internal Rate of Return
3. Payback Period
4. Net Present Value

Apart from the Payback period method which is an additive method, rest of the methods are based on Discounted Cash Flow technique. Even though cash flow can be calculated based on the nature of the project, for the simplicity of the article we are assuming that all the expected cash flows are realized at the end of the year.

Discounted Cash Flow approaches provide a more objective basis for evaluating and selecting investment projects. They take into consideration both –

1. Timing of the expected cash flows – stockholders of Drilling Offshore have higher preference for cash returns over 4-5 years rather than 10-15 years given the nature of the volatility in the industry.
2. Magnitude of both incoming and outgoing cash flows – Projects can be capital intensive, time intensive, or both. Drilling Offshore shareholders have preference for diversified projects investment rather than prospective high income from a single capital intensive project.

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Formula and Steps to Calculate Net Present Value (NPV) of Pacific Drilling: The Preferred Offshore Driller

NPV = Net Cash In Flowt1 / (1+r)t1 + Net Cash In Flowt2 / (1+r)t2 + … Net Cash In Flowtn / (1+r)tn
Less Net Cash Out Flowt0 / (1+r)t0

Where t = time period, in this case year 1, year 2 and so on.
r = discount rate or return that could be earned using other safe proposition such as fixed deposit or treasury bond rate. Net Cash In Flow – What the firm will get each year.
Net Cash Out Flow – What the firm needs to invest initially in the project.

Step 1 – Understand the nature of the project and calculate cash flow for each year.
Step 2 – Discount those cash flow based on the discount rate.
Step 3 – Add all the discounted cash flow.
Step 4 – Selection of the project

Why Leadership & Managing People Managers need to know Financial Tools such as Net Present Value (NPV)?

In our daily workplace we often come across people and colleagues who are just focused on their core competency and targets they have to deliver. For example marketing managers at Drilling Offshore often design programs whose objective is to drive brand awareness and customer reach. But how that 30 point increase in brand awareness or 10 point increase in customer touch points will result into shareholders’ value is not specified.

To overcome such scenarios managers at Drilling Offshore needs to not only know the financial aspect of project management but also needs to have tools to integrate them into part of the project development and monitoring plan.

Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 15%

After working through various assumptions we reached a conclusion that risk is far higher than 6%. In a reasonably stable industry with weak competition - 15% discount rate can be a good benchmark.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 15 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10020330)	-10020330	-	-
Year 1	3448996	-6571334	3448996	0.8696	2999127
Year 2	3955126	-2616208	7404122	0.7561	2990643
Year 3	3948636	1332428	11352758	0.6575	2596292
Year 4	3237537	4569965	14590295	0.5718	1851072
TOTAL					10437135

The Net NPV after 4 years is 416805

(10437135 - 10020330 )

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 20%

If the risk component is high in the industry then we should go for a higher hurdle rate / discount rate of 20%.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 20 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10020330)	-10020330	-	-
Year 1	3448996	-6571334	3448996	0.8333	2874163
Year 2	3955126	-2616208	7404122	0.6944	2746615
Year 3	3948636	1332428	11352758	0.5787	2285090
Year 4	3237537	4569965	14590295	0.4823	1561312
TOTAL					9467181

The Net NPV after 4 years is -553149

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9467181 - 10020330 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Drilling Offshore to discount cash flow at lower discount rates such as 15%.

Acceptance Criteria of a Project based on NPV

Simplest Approach – If the investment project of Drilling Offshore has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Drilling Offshore can ACCEPT the project, otherwise they can reject the project. This means that project will deliver higher returns over the period of time than any alternate investment strategy.

In theory if the required rate of return or discount rate is chosen correctly by finance managers at Drilling Offshore, then the stock price of the Drilling Offshore should change by same amount of the NPV. In real world we know that share price also reflects various other factors that can be related to both macro and micro environment.

In the same vein – accepting the project with zero NPV should result in stagnant share price. Finance managers use discount rates as a measure of risk components in the project execution process.

Sensitivity Analysis

Project selection is often a far more complex decision than just choosing it based on the NPV number. Finance managers at Drilling Offshore should conduct a sensitivity analysis to better understand not only the inherent risk of the projects but also how those risks can be either factored in or mitigated during the project execution. Sensitivity analysis helps in –

What can impact the cash flow of the project.

What are the key aspects of the projects that need to be monitored, refined, and retuned for continuous delivery of projected cash flows.

What are the uncertainties surrounding the project Initial Cash Outlay (ICO’s). ICO’s often have several different components such as land, machinery, building, and other equipment.

What will be a multi year spillover effect of various taxation regulations.

Understanding of risks involved in the project.

Some of the assumptions while using the Discounted Cash Flow Methods –

Projects are assumed to be Mutually Exclusive – This is seldom the came in modern day giant organizations where projects are often inter-related and rejecting a project solely based on NPV can result in sunk cost from a related project.

Independent projects have independent cash flows – As explained in the marketing project – though the project may look independent but in reality it is not as the brand awareness project can be closely associated with the spending on sales promotions and product specific advertising.

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Negotiation Strategy of Pacific Drilling: The Preferred Offshore Driller

References & Further Readings

Haiyang Li, Frederic Jacquemin, Toby Li (2018), "Pacific Drilling: The Preferred Offshore Driller Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.