Mexico's state-run oil company — Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) — still owes Tidewater money.
The amount owed to the Houston offshore vessel giant ballooned to $26m by the end of 2020, finance chief Samuel Rubio said on Tidewater's first-quarter earnings call on Friday.
Tidewater had previously said Pemex owed it $18m.
Rubio, who called the oil company a "good customer", said: "Their payment patterns have improved in 2021.
"We still have some work to do with Pemex, but these collections play a big role in achieving our free cash flow goals. Our dialogue with them is open and constant."
Rubio added that Pemex had paid $7m in the first quarter, made a $9m payment "just a few days ago" and was confident the oil company would pay the entire balance owed.
In the first three months of 2021, Tidewater lost $35.3m, which the company adjusted by $100,000 in removing severance expenses.
In the earnings report, chief executive Quintin Kneen trumpeted the company's continued creation of free cash flow, including $19.2m for the quarter and $87.1m for the trailing 12 months.
Tidewater has been emphasising free cash flow metrics since the Covid-19 pandemic set in last year, destroying oil demand and taking its toll on the offshore industry as oil majors pulled back production.
In the fourth quarter, Kneen described Pemex's lack of payment as an annoyance that prevented Tidewater from hitting its $62m free cash flow goal for the 2020 calendar year.
Pemex did not immediately return a request for comment.
Quiet three months
On Friday's call, Kneen said the first quarter was "relatively quiet", as it typically is for offshore vessel owners.
He added that the company still has 18 ships in its vessels-held-for-sale category, after selling six in the first three months of 2021 and two more in the current quarter.
He said Tidewater does not intend to sell or scrap any more ships, and expects the entire fleet to be working by the end of 2022 following an upturn in the market in the second half of this year.
“Based on the recovery in the market we see beginning to unfold in the second half of 2021, we don’t expect reducing the [fleet] any further than what we have in the assets held for sale,” Kneen said.
He added that laid-up vessels cost the company $5.4m in the first quarter, a drag on revenues as the company continues working to slash costs around the business.
“I am very much looking forward to getting out of the laid-up vessel business," he said.
