The San Antonio, Texas-based company said it expected to gain around $17 million in termination payments from the four cancellations.
The company warned it expects an additional seven rigs to go idle in the next month and another two rigs by the end of the first quarter.
Most of the rigs being laid up are mechanical rigs drilling vertical wells in West Texas, Pioneer Energy Service said, although the company admitted that all rig classes were experiencing a decline of some kind in both pricing and utilisation.
Pioneer
