Oilfield Services KPIs: Revenue Per Rig, Days to Pay and Equipment Utilization
By PlainSight — Insightful Actions · Updated October 2026 · ~5 min read
An oilfield service company's revenue follows the rigs, and its cash follows the operators' payables departments. Work done this month on a field ticket may not be paid for in two or three months, by a customer much larger than you who sets the terms. The numbers below track both: how your work moves with the activity in your basins, and how quickly the money for it arrives.
Where your numbers live
Your accounting or field-ticketing software can export invoices to CSV or Excel: one row per invoice with the invoice date, the operator, the basin or field, the service line and the amount.
Add the due date (or terms such as Net 30) and the paid date or a paid/open status, and the same file shows who owes you and how each operator pays. Add the field ticket date to see how long work waits to be invoiced.
The numbers that tell you how the work and the cash are moving
1. Revenue against the rig count in your basins
What good looks like: your revenue moving with the rigs where you work, or better.
Baker Hughes counts the active rigs every week. On September 25, 2026 there were 599 working in the US, 50 more than a year earlier, 270 of them in the Permian Basin. Divide your monthly revenue by the average rig count in your basins to get revenue per rig. If the rigs rise and that figure falls, you are losing share; if it holds while the rigs fall, your customers are keeping you.
2. Days to pay, by operator
What good looks like: every operator's average known, with the slow payers priced or chased to match.
For each paid invoice, the days from invoice to payment; then the average by operator. Terms of 30, 60 or even 90 days are common in the oilfield, and some operators pay later than their terms. DSO (what you are owed, divided by a day's billing) puts the whole book in days. An operator who pays in 95 days on Net 30 terms is borrowing from you, and that belongs in the next price conversation.
3. Field ticket to invoice
What good looks like: invoices out within days of the ticket being signed.
Days from the signed field ticket to the invoice date. Every day a ticket waits in a truck or an inbox adds a day to how long you wait for the money, and an operator's payment clock doesn't start until the invoice is in their system, usually with the right AFE or PO number on it. Track the lag by crew and by customer.
4. Crew and equipment utilization
What good looks like: high enough to pay for the fleet, without crews worked past safe limits.
Days each crew or unit billed divided by the days it was available. In the Dallas Fed's third-quarter 2026 energy survey, oilfield service firms' equipment utilization index rose to 41.9 from 31.9, while their operating margin index fell to 37.2 from 52.2: busier, with fewer firms reporting better margins than in the spring. Read utilization beside the price per job.
5. Customer concentration
What good looks like: no operator so large that its budget decides your year.
Your biggest operator's share of revenue, and the same by basin. Operators cut programs quickly when prices fall, and a crew built around one customer's program is a crew you may have to park.
6. Price per job and margin by service line
What good looks like: known for each service line, at today's costs.
Revenue per job or per day by service line, against crew, fuel, parts and equipment. Pricing moves with activity: Halliburton reported lower US land stimulation pricing in its second-quarter 2026 results even as its North America revenue rose 7% from the first quarter. Know which lines carry the business when pricing softens.
7. Lien deadlines
What good looks like: every unpaid invoice checked against your state's deadline before it passes.
Many oil-producing states give an unpaid contractor a lien on the well or lease, with strict deadlines. In Texas, a lien affidavit has to be filed within six months after the debt accrues, which for materials or services is the day they were last furnished (Texas Property Code §56.021). Other states differ. Diary the deadline for every invoice that ages past 60 days.
Warning signs worth acting on
- An operator paying later every quarter.
- Field tickets waiting more than a week to be invoiced.
- Revenue per rig falling while the count rises — share going to someone else.
- One operator above a third of revenue.
- Invoices aging toward your state's lien deadline.
Make it a weekly and monthly rhythm
Weekly: the open invoices, oldest first, and the field tickets not yet invoiced. Monthly: revenue per rig in your basins, days to pay by operator, utilization and the margins by service line.
Let PlainSight read your invoice export
Upload an invoice export and PlainSight ages what you're owed by operator, shows DSO and how each customer pays, sets your revenue against the Baker Hughes rig count in your basins, and writes the next steps in plain English. Everything runs in your browser — your data never leaves your device.
See it on a live example →
Frequently asked questions
- What file does PlainSight need from an oilfield service company?
- An invoice export with a date, the operator and the amount. A due date (or terms such as Net 30) and a paid date or status turn on the receivables card, and a basin column ties your revenue to the rig count where you work.
- Where does the rig count come from?
- Baker Hughes publishes the North America rig count every week. PlainSight carries its monthly history by basin and names Baker Hughes as the source wherever the numbers appear.
- Is this legal advice about liens?
- No. Lien rules, notices and deadlines differ by state and by your place in the contract chain; talk to an oil and gas attorney before a deadline, not after.
- Is my data safe if I use PlainSight?
- Yes. Files are processed entirely in your browser and never uploaded. Optional AI features send only anonymized summary totals, never names or raw rows.
Sources
This guide is general information for oilfield service owners and managers, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Figures described as “typical” or “common” are survey results and rules of thumb, not standards — always read your own numbers in context.