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Helmerich & Payne rents out drilling rigs and crews that bore oil and gas wells for energy companies.
Helmerich & Payne, or H&P, owns land drilling rigs — the tall steel towers that bore holes into the ground to reach oil and gas. It doesn't sell oil itself. It rents rigs, plus the crews and know-how to run them, to energy producers who pay by the day. Most of its money comes from U.S. land drilling, with a smaller slice from international work and a growing offshore business. Think of it as the landlord and pit crew for oil wells: the customer owns the well, but H&P brings the machine and the people who make the hole.
The bulk of revenue comes from U.S. land drilling, where H&P is one of the largest players. Its customers are oil and gas producers — big names and smaller drillers — who choose H&P for its modern rigs, safety record, and ability to move fast between sites. A key shift: many of its newest rigs are "super-spec," meaning they can drill longer horizontal wells, which is how most U.S. shale oil is extracted today. Roughly a fifth of revenue now comes from international and offshore operations, which H&P has been expanding to smooth out the boom-and-bust U.S. cycle.
H&P was founded in 1920 and went public decades ago; it's based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The business is highly cyclical — when oil prices fall, producers stop drilling and H&P's day rates and rig counts drop. Recently it bought KCA Deutag, an international drilling company, to grow its overseas footprint. It uses free cash flow to pay a dividend, buy back shares, and fund acquisitions. It's a simple business with a simple risk: it makes hay when oil is busy, and waits when it isn't.
Saved answer · last researched 15 Oct 2026