DNOW Inc

Overview

DNOW Inc., previously NOW Inc. (“DNOW” or the “Company”), headquartered in Houston, Texas, was incorporated in Delaware on November 22, 2013. On June 2, 2014, DNOW stock began regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “DNOW”. We are a global distributor to the oil and gas and industrial markets with a legacy of over 160 years. We operate primarily under the DNOW brand along with several affiliated brands operating in local or regional markets that are tied to prior acquisitions. Through a network of approximately 165 locations and approximately 2,475 employees worldwide, we offer a complementary suite of digital procurement channels that, in conjunction with our locations, provides products to the energy and industrial markets around the world.

Additionally, through our growing DigitalNOW® platform, customers can leverage world-class technology across ecommerce, data visualization, data management and supply chain optimization applications to solve a wide array of complex operational and product sourcing challenges to assist in maximizing their return on assets.

Our product and service offerings are consumed throughout all sectors of the energy industry – from upstream drilling and completion, exploration and production (“E&P”), midstream transmission, gas and crude oil processing infrastructure development to downstream petroleum refining and petrochemicals – as well as in other industries, such as chemical processing, mining, water/wastewater, food and beverage, gas utilities and the evolution of energy transition markets inclusive of greenhouse gas reduction and emissions capture and storage, renewable fuels such as biofuels and renewable natural gas ("RNG"), wind, solar, production of hydrogen as a fuel to power equipment and select industrial markets. The industrial distribution end markets include engineering and construction firms that perform capital and maintenance projects for their end-user clients. We also provide supply chain and materials management solutions to the same markets where we sell products.

Our global product offering includes consumable maintenance, repair and operating (“MRO”) supplies, pipe, manual and automated valves, fittings, flanges, gaskets, fasteners, electrical, instrumentation, artificial lift, pumping solutions and modular process, production, measurement and control equipment. We also offer sourcing, procurement, warehouse and inventory management solutions as part of our supply chain and materials management offering. We have developed expertise in providing application systems, work processes, parts integration, optimization solutions and after-sales support that provide more efficient and productive solutions for our customers.

Our solutions include outsourcing portions or entire functions of our customers’ procurement, warehouse and inventory management, logistics, point of issue technology, project management, business process and performance metrics reporting. These solutions allow us to leverage the infrastructure of our SAP™ Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) system and other technologies to streamline our customers’ purchasing process, from requisition to procurement to payment, by digitally managing workflow, improving approval routing and providing robust reporting functionality.

We support land and offshore operations for the major oil and gas producing regions around the world through our network of locations. Our key markets, beyond North America, include South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Central Asia and West and North Africa. Products sold through our locations support greenfield expansion upstream capital projects, midstream infrastructure and transmission and MRO consumables used in day-to-day production. We provide downstream energy and industrial products for petroleum refining, chemical processing, liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) terminals, power generation utilities and customer on-site locations.

Our supplier network consists of thousands of vendors in approximately 40 countries. From our operations in 18 countries, we sell to customers operating in approximately 80 countries. The supplies and equipment stocked by each of our branches are customized to meet varied and changing local customer demands. The breadth and scale of our offering enhances our value proposition to our customers, suppliers and shareholders.

We employ advanced information technologies, including a common ERP platform across most of our business, to provide complete procurement, warehouse and inventory management and logistics coordination to our customers around the globe. Having a common ERP platform allows immediate visibility into our inventory assets, operations and financials worldwide, enhancing decision making and efficiency.

Global Operations

Demand for our products is driven primarily by the level of oil and gas drilling, completions, servicing, production, transmission, refining and petrochemical activities. It is also influenced by the global supply and demand for energy, the economy in general and geopolitics. Several factors drive spending, such as investment in energy infrastructure, the North American conventional and shale plays, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”) and non-OPEC supply and investments, market expectations of future developments in the oil, natural gas, liquids, refined products, petrochemical, plant maintenance and other industrial, manufacturing and energy sectors.

We have expanded globally, through acquisitions and organic investments, in Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, England, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Scotland, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) and the United States.

Summary of Reportable Segments

We operate through three reportable segments: United States (“U.S.”), Canada and International. The segment data included in our Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) are presented on a basis consistent with our internal management reporting. Segment information appearing in Note 17 “Business Segments” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Part IV, Item 15 of this Form 10-K) is also presented on this basis.

We have approximately 105 locations in the U.S., which are geographically positioned to best serve the upstream, midstream, downstream and renewable energy and industrial markets.

We offer higher value solutions in key product lines in the U.S. which broaden and deepen our customer relationships and related product line value. Examples of these include artificial lift, pumps, valves and valve actuation, process and production equipment, fluid transfer products, measurement and controls, spoolable and coated steel-pipe and composite pipe, along with many other products required by our customers, which enable them to focus on their core business while we manage varying degrees of their supply chain. We also provide additional value to our customers through the engineering, design, construction, assembly, fabrication and optimization of products and equipment essential to the safe and efficient production, transportation and processing of oil and gas.

Canada

We have a network of approximately 40 locations in the Canadian oilfield, predominantly in the oil rich provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and other targeted locations across the country. Our Canada segment primarily serves energy exploration, production, mining and drilling businesses, offering customers many of the same products and value-added solutions that we perform in the U.S. In Canada, we also provide training for, and supervise the installation of, jointed and spoolable composite pipe. This product line is supported by inventory, as well as product and installation expertise to serve our customers.

We operate in approximately 15 countries and serve the needs of our international customers from approximately 20 locations outside the U.S. and Canada, which are strategically located in major oil and gas development areas. Our approach in these markets is similar to our approach in North America, as our customers turn to us to provide products and supply chain solutions support closer to their drilling and exploration activities. Our long legacy of operating in many international regions, combined with expansion into several key markets, provides a competitive advantage as few of our competitors have a presence in most of the global energy producing regions.

Distribution Industry Overview

The distribution industry is highly fragmented, comprised of large companies with global reach and numerous small, local and regional competitors. Distribution companies act both as supply stores and supply chain management providers for their customers. Distributors deliver value to their customers by serving as a supply chain partner by managing vendor networks and aggregating, carrying and distributing a wide range of product inventory from numerous vendors in locations close to the end-user. As a distributor to the energy and industrial markets, we offer a wide array of products and supply chain services.

We offer our products, services and supply chain solutions across the entire energy value chain, from onshore and offshore drilling of oil and gas, to the exploration and production of oil and gas, the separation, transfer, and disposal of produced water, to the midstream gathering, processing and transmission of oil, gas, water, natural gas liquids (“NGLs”), LNG, and refined petroleum products, to the downstream refining of oil, and the manufacturing of petrochemicals and specialty chemicals. We provide products and services to the energy evolution and new energy markets driven by the public's desire to reduce current greenhouse gas levels and emissions, and to replace higher sources of greenhouse gas emitting forms of energy with lower emitting alternative forms to produce energy. In addition, we provide our products, services and supply chain solutions to other end markets including mining and minerals, municipal water and wastewater and industrial manufacturing.

We provide drilling products, MRO consumables, safety and original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) equipment for land drilling rigs, workover rigs and initial offshore drilling rig load outs. Once rigs are contracted, commissioned and deployed, we seek to replace material and inventory consumed during drilling operations. We couple the sale of products with supply chain services in the form of inventory planning, inventory management and warehouse management. We provide a full suite of process and production equipment, pumps and compressor packages, artificial lift, steel, fiberglass and composite pipe, valves and fittings (“PVF”), instrumentation and measurement, and safety and personal protective equipment (“PPE”) in the exploration, production, separation, storage and gathering of oil and gas, as well as the separation, removal, storage and transfer of produced water.

To minimize carbon based effluent emissions, we provide vapor recovery systems to capture and transfer gas and volatile organic compounds during the separation and storage of oil, gas and produced water from operating reservoirs. For produced water, we provide fluid movement products that help our customers dispose of produced water in an environmentally safe manner. For oil streams, we provide products that measure the quality and quantity of oil and gas through the separation process and prior to distribution to the midstream sector. We offer a variety of fluid movement solutions ranging from standard to engineered pump packages and a wide variety of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (“ASME”) fabricated process and production equipment to remove water and contaminants prior to the midstream transfer of oil, NGLs and other refined products within the midstream sector. For gas processing and gas conditioning, we offer a full suite of PVF and ASME coded fabricated process equipment to efficiently and economically process and condition gas for transfer to end markets. Many of the terminals and tank farms used in the midstream space to facilitate the storage and distribution of oil, gas, NGLs, LNG, and other hydrocarbon-based fluids utilize our products. Across many of the process industries where we provide valves, we offer low emission stem packing options to help reduce emissions. We provide PVF, pumps, safety, PPE, supply chain and safety services to the refining, petrochemical, chemical and industrial industries. Our products are consumed from industrial customer’s daily MRO expenditures, customer capital projects in the form of existing plant expansions, new plant facilities, as well as planned and unplanned maintenance of processing units.

Our Distribution Channels

We offer a diverse range of products across the energy and industrial markets in the U.S., Canada and internationally. There are thousands of manufacturers of the products used in the markets in which we operate and customers demand a high level of service, responsiveness and availability across a broad set of products and vendors. These market dynamics make us an essential element in the value chain for our customers. Our product offering is aligned to meet the needs of our customer base.

Energy Centers

Energy centers are brick and mortar supply store operations that provide products to multiple upstream, midstream and downstream customers from a single location. These branches serve repeat account and walk-in retail customers. Products are inventoried in branch warehouses based on local market needs and are delivered or available for pick-up as needed. These branches serve a geographical radius and provide delivery of products and solutions. A number of locations that service these same customers provide a complementary and expanded set of supply chain services in conjunction with the sale of products.

The distribution channel includes sales and operations professionals trained in the products, applications and customer service required to support customers as they drill, explore, produce, transport and refine oil and gas and other products. The primary product offering includes line pipe, valves, fabrication, valve actuation, fittings and flanges, pumps, OEM equipment, electrical products, mill supplies, tools, safety supplies, PPE, applied products and applications, such as artificial lift systems, coatings and miscellaneous expendable items. We couple the sale of products with supply chain services in the form of inventory planning, inventory management and warehouse management. Supply chain services can be customized to a customer’s requirements and guided by a strategic framework to reduce direct material expenditures and supply chain costs, improve maintenance productivity, reduce inventory-related working capital, streamline time to revenue and manage the risk of material availability affecting business continuity.

Process Solutions

Process Solutions has a team of distribution experts, technical professionals and licensed engineers who provide expertise related to pumps, compressors, fluid movement packages, fabricated liquid and gas measurement systems and process and production equipment. Process Solutions distributes OEM equipment including pumps, generator sets, air compressors, dryers, blowers, mixers and valves. Within our process and production equipment category, we produce customer lease automatic custody transfer (“LACT”) units, Zero2 TM EcoVapor TM and Sulfur Sentinel TM units to reduce emissions associated with routine flaring originating from low pressure storage tanks and renewable fuels such as biogas and landfill gas marketed as RNG facilities, gas meter runs, ASME code vessels in the form of separators, heater treaters, gas conditioning systems, towers, reactors, condensate stabilizers, slug catchers and pressurized bullet tanks, pig launchers and receivers and water transfer and disposal units. After-market services include rental mobile pumping units, machining and other repair services from a team of field mechanics located throughout the central U.S.

Process Solutions serves the upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas markets as well as the municipal water, industrial, mining, power generation and general industries. Process Solutions also provides modular oil and gas wellsite facility solutions, also known as tank battery solutions that positively impact our operator customers by enabling them to design a modular tank battery that allows flexibility and scalability for current and future production, while expediting revenue generation by reducing the time to complete a tank battery and getting oil and gas into the pipeline earlier. This solution saves our customers time and expense related to well hookup and tank battery commissioning and reduces field incident exposures due to a reduced labor requirement for facility construction. Our EcoVapor TM branded vapor recovery systems provide an environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") benefit by enabling customers to retain and sell residual flash gas commonly found in storage tanks resulting in a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.

Customers

Our primary customers are companies active in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the energy industry, including drilling contractors, well servicing companies, independent and national oil and gas companies, midstream operators, refineries, petrochemical, chemical, utilities, RNG facilities and other downstream energy processors. We also serve a diverse range of industrial and manufacturing companies across a broad spectrum of industries and end markets. We partner with our customers to continually meet or exceed their expectations and add value as a supply chain partner in the locations where they operate. Our products provide an essential need to our customers’ operations, yet represent only a small fraction of their total project or facility cost. As a result, our customers seek suppliers with established qualifications and an operational history to deliver high quality and reliable products that meet their requirements in a timely manner.

As customers increasingly aggregate purchases to improve efficiency and reduce costs, they partner with large distributors who can meet their needs for products in multiple locations around the world. Customers can procure products through our direct branch model or through our ecommerce site, https://shop.dnow.com, or using our mobile application on smart devices. We believe we could benefit from consolidation among our customers, particularly in the U.S. and Canada where we have a broad footprint, as the resulting companies seek global distributors as their source for products and related solutions.

The Company had one customer in the U.S. segment that represented approximately 10% of total revenues.

Competition

The distribution companies serving the energy and industrial end markets are both numerous and competitive. This industry is highly fragmented, comprised of large distributors, each with many locations and with online ecommerce sites, who aggregate and distribute several product lines, and includes numerous smaller regional and local companies, many of which operate from a single location and either aggregate and distribute several product lines or focus on a single product line. While some large distributors compete in both markets, most companies focus on either the energy or industrial end market. Some of our suppliers also sell directly to end-users.

Seasonal Nature of the Company’s Business

A portion of our business has experienced seasonal trends, to some degree, which have varied by geographic region. In the U.S., activity has historically been higher during the summer and fall months. In Canada, certain E&P activities have declined in the spring due to seasonal thaws and regulatory restrictions limiting the ability of drilling rigs and transportation to operate effectively and safely during these periods.

Human Capital Resources

At December 31, 2023, we had approximately 2,475 employees, of which approximately 100 were temporary employees. We offer market-competitive benefits for employees and opportunities for growth and advancement. We place a strong emphasis on employee growth and development and provide opportunities for valued contribution and innovation. Our ethos determines how we act and interact, what we value, what we tolerate, how we treat one another, our customers and communities and the drive to continue to surpass expectations.

Training and Development Programs

The acquired skills, knowledge and capabilities of our people are central to our success. To maintain and acquire talented employees in the marketplace, we invest in employee development programs that incorporate training courses and programs, including a growing online learning platform, which provides our employees an opportunity for professional development.

We recognize that the advancement and empowerment of our workforce drives a better quality of work and life for our employees, ultimately resulting in the delivery of exceptional service to our customers. As such, we have designed a wide range of professional and leadership development programs focused on helping our employees reach their career goals.

Recognizing Employees

Recognition of individual achievements and contributions is an important part of our culture. Our Customer Priority One program encourages customers, peers and leaders to recognize our employees, customers or vendors who exemplify the Company’s commitment to customer service to cultivate a culture of inspiring one another to be their best. We also award Milestone Service Awards to employees for their years of service and dedication of time to our Company, which recognize employees at each five-year service anniversary.

Workforce Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to advancing an inclusive environment where diversity is appreciated and encouraged, and all employees have a sense of belonging throughout our organization. We recognize the opportunity to drive diversity in our workforce through talent acquisition and retention because we know that one of our greatest strengths is the diverse and different perspectives of our team members. We recognize that having a team with a broad range of experience, cultural characteristics and varying perspectives fortifies our brand. We believe in advocating for diversity within our workforce by employing women and men of varying cultures, nationalities and backgrounds to work together to achieve a common goal.

To find the best employees, we must have a diverse pipeline of talent. We commit to advancing an inclusive environment where diversity is encouraged. We create a culture where all employees can strive to be their best, to achieve company goals and to deliver superior service to our customers. As of December 31, 2023, our U.S. workforce was comprised of approximately 26% female and 32% racial minorities.

We recognize that we are an integral part of the communities in which we operate. By directly engaging people in the communities we serve, we create a transparent dialogue to try to listen and learn from alternative views in how we conduct our business. The strengthening of minority- and women-owned businesses contributes to the overall economic growth and the expansion of our markets.

Workforce Health and Safety

Safety is at the center of our actions. Simply put, we act with high priority on health and safety in our workplace and in the communities where we operate. Our safety culture is driven by our recently expanded health, safety and environment (“HSE”) training catalog and through our HSE management system beginning with our HSE Policy Statement, which sets the tone for our company’s commitment to safety. A one-page, top-level document, expressly approved by our senior management team, the HSE Policy Statement outlines our expectations for all employees, vendors, customers, contractors, subcontractors and third parties. This HSE Policy Statement, combined with our HSE guiding principles, corporate policies and procedures and our business level HSE policies and procedures, makes up our management system, which is overseen both with corporate supervision and field level management to ensure emphasis is consistent on proper and safe behaviors.

Sustainability

We can assist in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in our operations by creating a more efficient supply chain. An efficient supply chain can help reduce the carbon footprint of deliveries to our distribution centers and branches and ultimately to our customers. Use of our large centralized and regional distribution centers allows us to aggregate product across multiple suppliers and customers, which, in turn, prevents each customer from separately creating duplicative supply chains that require fuel for deliveries and resources to manage. Many of the products we distribute are used by our customers to aid their efforts to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. We continually seek opportunities to expand our portfolio of products we offer to customers to aid in reducing their scope 1 emissions. We offer our customers an expanding suite of emissions reduction technology that reduces the venting and flaring of greenhouse gas, targeting the oil and gas and the growing RNG markets.

As a distributor, we perform minimal manufacturing operations. We do not utilize large amounts of water. Our energy inputs are primarily electricity for lighting, heating and office and warehouse equipment, natural gas for heating and gasoline for company sales and delivery vehicles. We strive to make our operations more efficient, and in turn try to work to reduce use of these resources and resulting emissions. We have recycling programs to try and reduce waste from used cardboard, office paper and other recyclables. However, recycling programs are sometimes limited by the unavailability of users, haulers or purchasers for recyclable materials at reasonable costs.

We are a distributor of products that contain and control the movement of gases and fluids in an efficient and sustainable manner. The products we sell are designed by the manufacturers of those products to prevent and minimize accidental leaks of hydrocarbons. Additionally, we offer product lines that further aid in the mitigation of environmental impact. Examples of such products include: domestically produced goods; low emission rated valves; steel piping products produced from recycled scrap; glass reinforced epoxy piping systems; vapor recovery units that capture volatile organic compounds in an effort to limit and reduce emissions to the atmosphere; produced water transfer and water injection packages that dispose of produced water in an environmentally safe manner; and pipe produced using wind power, recycled water, and wood pellet inputs.

Environmental Matters

We are subject to a variety of federal, state, local, foreign and provincial environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permitting requirements, including those governing the discharge of pollutants or hazardous substances into the air, soil or water, the generation, handling, use, management, storage and disposal of, or exposure to, hazardous substances and wastes, the responsibility to investigate, remediate, monitor and clean up contamination and occupational health and safety. Fines and penalties may be imposed for non-compliance with applicable environmental, health and safety requirements and the failure to have or to comply with the terms and conditions of required permits. Historically, the costs to comply with environmental and health and safety requirements have not been material to our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. We are not aware of any pending environmental compliance or remediation matters that, in the opinion of management, are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our business, financial position or results of operations or cash flows.

Available Information

Our website address iswww.dnow.com. The information found on our website is not part of this or any other report we file with, or furnish to, the SEC and is expressly not incorporated by reference into this document. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and any amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are available on our website, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Alternatively, you may access these reports at the SEC’s website atwww.sec.gov.