Tidewater (TDW) Risk Analysis

Certain of our employees are covered by provisions of the Jones Act, the Death on the High Seas Act and general maritime law. These laws preempt state workers' compensation laws and permit these employees and their representatives to pursue actions against employers for job-related incidents in federal courts based on tort theories. Because we are not generally protected by the damage limits imposed by state workers' compensation statutes for these types of claims, we may have greater exposure for any claims made by these employees.

Most of the long-term contracts for our vessels and many of our contracts with governmental entities and national oil companies contain early termination options in favor of the customer, in some cases permitting termination for any reason. Although some of these contracts have early termination remedies in our favor or other provisions designed to discourage early termination, we cannot assure you that our customers would not choose to exercise their termination rights despite such remedies or the threat of litigation with us. Moreover, many of the contracts for our vessels have a term of one year or less and can be terminated with 90 days or less notice. Unless such vessels can be placed under contract with other customers, any termination could temporarily disrupt our business or otherwise adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. We might not be able to replace such business or replace it on economically equivalent terms. In those circumstances, the amount of backlog could be reduced and the conversion of backlog into revenue could be impaired. Additionally, depressed commodity prices, adverse changes in credit markets, economic downturns, changes in strategy or other factors beyond our control cause our customers to seek to renegotiate the terms of our existing contracts, terminate our contracts without justification or repudiate or otherwise fail to perform their obligations under our contracts. In any case, an early termination of a contract may result in one or more of our vessels being idle for an extended period. Each of these results could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Demand for our services depends substantially on the capital spending of our customers for offshore exploration, development and production of oil and gas reserves. These expenditures are generally dependent on our customers' views of future demand for oil and gas and future oil and gas prices, as well as our customers' ability to access capital. In addition, the transition of the global energy sector from primarily a fossil fuel-based system to include more renewable energy sources could impact the allocation of our customers' capital expenditures to offshore oil and gas projects. Fundamentally, the oil and gas industry is a commodity business impacted by changes in prices, which in turn depend on local, regional, and global events or conditions that affect supply and demand for oil and gas products. Actual or anticipated declines in oil and gas prices have often in the past resulted in lower capital expenditures, project modifications, delays or cancellations by our customers, which has historically led to lower demand for our services, delays in payment of, or nonpayment of, amounts that are owed to us. These effects have had, and in the future may have, material adverse effects on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Historically, oil and gas prices have experienced significant volatility and can be affected by a variety of factors, including: - domestic and foreign supply of and demand for hydrocarbons, which are affected by general worldwide economic and business conditions;   - the cost of exploring for, developing, producing and delivering oil and gas;   - the level of oil and gas exploration and production activity;   - the level of excess production capacity;   - the level of oil and gas inventories;   - the price and quantity of imports of foreign oil and gas, including the ability or willingness of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the expanded alliance known as OPEC+ to set, maintain or change production levels for oil;   - political and economic uncertainty and geopolitical unrest;   - the expected rates of decline in offshore production from existing and prospective wells and the discovery rates of new offshore oil and gas reserves;   - governmental laws, policies, regulations and subsidies, including initiatives to promote renewable energy sources;   - public pressure on, and legislative and regulatory interest within, federal, state and local governments to stop, significantly limit or regulate oil or gas production;   - extreme weather conditions, natural disasters, and global or regional public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, and other catastrophic events;   - incidents resulting from operating hazards inherent in offshore drilling, such as oil spills;   - political, military and economic instability and social unrest in or near oil and gas producing nations, including the impact of armed hostilities involving one or more oil and gas producing nations or nations near such oil and gas production;   - advances in exploration, development and production technologies or in technologies affecting energy consumption;   - the price and availability of, and public sentiment regarding, alternative fuel and energy sources;   - speculation as to the future price of oil and gas and the speculative trading of oil and gas futures contracts;   - uncertainty in capital and commodities markets; and   - domestic and foreign tax policies, including those regarding tariffs and duties. The oil and gas industry has historically experienced periodic downturns, resulting in diminished demand for our services and downward pressure on the charter rates and prices that we are able to charge. Sustained market uncertainty can also result in lower demand for our services. Moreover, higher commodity prices will not necessarily translate into increased demand for offshore support services or sustained higher pricing for offshore support vessel services, in part because customer demand is often driven by capital expenditure programs focused on future commodity price expectations and not solely on current prices, along with customer opportunities to invest in onshore conventional and unconventional oil and gas production. Many of our customers' capital expenditure programs are lower than expected given current commodity prices and supply and demand dynamics. The amounts previously allocated to capital expenditures have been re-allocated to several competing priorities, including returning capital to stockholders and investing in alternative energy sources. A significant industry downturn, sustained market uncertainty, or increased availability of economical alternative energy sources could reduce demand for our services, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Our ability to renew or replace expiring contracts or obtain new contracts, and the terms of any such contracts, will depend on various factors, including market conditions and the specific needs of our customers. Given the highly competitive and historically cyclical nature of our industry, we may not be able to renew or replace the contracts or we may be required to renew or replace expiring contracts or obtain new contracts at rates that are below, and potentially substantially below, existing day rates, or that have terms that are less favorable to us than the terms of our existing contracts, or we may be unable to secure contracts for these vessels. This could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our international operations are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate risks on all charter hire contracts denominated in foreign currencies. For some of our international contracts, a portion of the revenue and local expenses is incurred in local currencies, which subjects us to risk of changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies. In some instances, we receive payments in currencies that are not easily traded, difficult to convert into U.S. dollars or may be illiquid. We generally do not hedge against any foreign currency rate fluctuations associated with foreign currency contracts that arise in the normal course of business, which exposes us to the risk of exchange rate losses. Gains and losses from the revaluation of our monetary assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are included in our consolidated statements of operations. Foreign currency fluctuations may cause the U.S. dollar value of our non-U.S. results of operations and net assets to vary with exchange rate fluctuations. This could have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial position. In addition, fluctuations in currencies relative to currencies in which the earnings are generated may make it more difficult to perform period-to-period comparisons of our reported results of operations. To minimize the financial impact of these items, we attempt to contract a significant majority of our services in U.S. dollars and, when feasible, we attempt to avoid maintaining large, non-U.S. dollar-denominated cash balances. In addition, we attempt to minimize the financial impact of these risks by matching the currency of our operating costs with the currency of revenue streams when considered appropriate. We actively monitor the currency exchange risks associated with our contracts not denominated in U.S. dollars.

Our business has been, and in the future will be, affected by severe weather events in areas where we operate, which could materially affect our operations and financial results. Extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes and flooding, have in the past resulted in, and may in the future result in, the evacuation of personnel, stoppage of services and activity disruptions of our vessels, in our supply chain, or at our customer's offshore sites, or result in disruptions of our customers' operations. Particularly severe weather events affecting platforms or structures may result in a suspension of activities. In addition, acute or chronic physical impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise, coastal storm surge, inland flooding from intense rainfall, and hurricane-strength winds may damage our vessels or facilities. Any such extreme weather events may result in increased operating costs or decreases in revenue.

Our global operations require us to comply with several complex U.S. and international laws and regulations, including those involving anti-bribery and, anti-corruption. The FCPA and similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions, including the U.K. Bribery Act the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and the Brazil Clean Company Act, generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business or obtaining an improper business benefit. We have adopted proactive procedures to promote compliance with the FCPA and other anti-bribery legislation. Any failure to comply with the FCPA or other anti-bribery legislation could subject us to civil and criminal penalties or other fines or sanctions, including prohibition of our participating in or curtailment of business operations in those jurisdictions and the seizure of vessels or other assets, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operation. Moreover, we may be held liable for actions taken by local partners or agents in violation of applicable anti-bribery laws, even though these partners or agents may themselves not be subject to such laws. Operating in regions where governmental corruption is prevalent presents additional challenges, as strict compliance may conflict with local customs and business practices. Any determination that we have violated applicable anti-bribery laws in countries in which we do business could have a material adverse effect on our business and business reputation, as well as our results of operations, and cash flows.

Companies across all industries are facing increasing focus from certain regulators, investors, and other stakeholders related to environmental, social, and governance matters. We communicate our sustainability performance, initiatives, goals and other matters in our annual Sustainability Report. Any sustainability-related initiatives could be difficult to achieve and costly to implement, and we may be unable to economically develop or deploy technologies to achieve our goals, if at all. In addition, we could be criticized for the timing, scope or nature of these initiatives or goals, or for any revisions to them. The standards for tracking and reporting on climate-related and other sustainability matters are relatively new, have not been harmonized and continue to evolve. Further, historical, current and forward-looking sustainability-related statements may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve and definitions, assumptions, data sources and estimates or measurements that are subject to change in the future, including through rulemaking or guidance. There are multiple proposed or recently adopted changes to various GHG reporting regulations and protocols, including from the GHG Protocol, the European Union (EU) Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the standards of the International Sustainability Standards Board. As the nature, scope and complexity of sustainability reporting, calculation methodologies, voluntary reporting standards and disclosure requirements expand and change, we will likely incur additional costs to control, assess, report and assure our sustainability performance. We could also be penalized or criticized for the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of such disclosures. Our actual or perceived failure to report accurately or achieve our sustainability-related initiatives or goals could negatively impact our reputation, result in ESG-focused investors not purchasing and holding our stock, or otherwise materially harm our business. There also have been efforts in the investment community, including investment advisers, financial institutions and certain sovereign wealth, pension and endowment funds, as well as political actors and other stakeholders, promoting divestment of fossil fuel equities, reducing access to capital markets and pressuring lenders to limit funding or increase the cost of lending to companies in the fossil fuel industry. Additionally, institutional lenders who provide financing to oil and gas companies have become more attentive to sustainable lending practices, and some of them may substantially reduce, or elect not to provide, funding for oil and gas companies. Customers also may evaluate our sustainability practices or require that we adopt certain sustainability policies as a condition of awarding contracts. Such environmental initiatives aimed at limiting climate change and reducing air emissions or use of natural resources generally could adversely affect our business activities, operations and ability to access capital, cause the market value of our securities to decrease or our cost of capital to increase, and adversely affect our reputation. At the same time, stakeholders and regulators have increasingly expressed or pursued divergent and evolving views, legislation and investment expectations with respect to sustainability, including the enactment or proposal of "anti-ESG" legislation or policies. We may also face negative impacts from consumers who do not support climate-related initiatives or concerns. Finally, increasing attention to climate change risks has resulted in an increased possibility of government investigations or claims and additional private litigation against companies in the oil and gas industry. Further, the increasing attention on climate change and other sustainability matters has resulted in governmental investigations, and public and private litigation, which could increase our costs or otherwise adversely affect our business or results of operations. For example, the Paris Climate Accord, the Kyoto Protocol, the European Union Emission Trading System, the United Kingdom's Carbon Reduction Commitment, the International Maritime Organization's MARPOL Annex VI amendments, and, in the U.S., the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative, and other various state programs, may require, or could result in future legislation and regulatory measures that require significant equipment and fleet modifications, operational changes, taxes, or purchase of emission credits to reduce emission of greenhouse gases from our operations, which may result in substantial capital expenditures and compliance, operating, maintenance and remediation costs. In addition, government and private parties have increasingly filed lawsuits or initiated regulatory action alleging misrepresentation regarding climate change, sustainability and other related matters and practices or a failure or lack of diligence to meet sustainability or climate-related goals. Such legislation and lawsuits present a high degree of uncertainty regarding the extent to which energy companies face an increased risk of liability stemming from climate change or sustainability disclosures and practices.