阿帕契 (APA) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the APA Corporation's Second Quarter 2025 Financial and Operational Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 APA 公司 2025 年第二季財務與營運績效電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Stephane Aka, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的發言人、投資者關係總監 Stephane Aka。請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on APA Corporation's Second Quarter 2025 Financial and Operational Results Conference Call. We will begin the call with an overview by CEO, John Christmann; Ben Rodgers, CFO, will then provide further color on our results and outlook. Steve Riney, President; and Tracey Henderson, Executive Vice President of Exploration, are also on the call and available to answer questions. We will start with prepared remarks and allocate the remainder of time to Q&A. In conjunction with yesterday's press release, I hope you've had the opportunity to review our financial and operational supplement, which can be found on our Investor Relations website at investor.apacorp.com.

早安，感謝您參加 APA 公司 2025 年第二季財務與營運績效電話會議。我們將以執行長 John Christmann 的概述開始電話會議；然後財務長 Ben Rodgers 將進一步闡述我們的業績和前景。總裁史蒂夫·萊尼 (Steve Riney) 和勘探執行副總裁特蕾西·亨德森 (Tracey Henderson) 也出席了電話會議並回答問題。我們將從準備好的演講開始，然後將剩餘時間分配給問答環節。結合昨天的新聞稿，我希望您有機會查看我們的財務和營運補充文件，該文件可以在我們的投資者關係網站 investor.apacorp.com 上找到。

Please note that we may discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of the differences between these measures and the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in the supplemental information provided on our website. Consistent with previous reporting practices, adjusted production numbers cited in today's call are adjusted to exclude noncontrolling interest in Egypt and Egypt tax barrels.

請注意，我們可能會討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。在我們網站提供的補充資訊中可以找到這些指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標之間的差異的對帳。與先前的報告慣例一致，今天電話會議上引用的調整後產量數字經過調整，排除了埃及的非控制權益和埃及稅收桶。

I'd like to remind everyone that today's discussion will contain forward-looking estimates and assumptions based on our current views and reasonable expectations. However, a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from what we discuss on today's call. A full disclaimer is located in the supplemental information on our website.

我想提醒大家，今天的討論將包含基於我們當前觀點和合理預期的前瞻性估計和假設。然而，許多因素可能導致實際結果與我們今天電話會議上討論的結果大不相同。完整的免責聲明位於我們網站的補充資訊中。

And with that, I will turn the call over to John.

說完這些，我會把電話轉給約翰。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. On today's call, I will provide an overview of our second quarter results, share an update on our cost reduction initiatives and provide color on our outlook for the second half of the year. Overall, this was an excellent quarter for APA, showcasing strong operational and financial performance, continued capital returns to shareholders and significant debt reduction.

早安，感謝您加入我們。在今天的電話會議上，我將概述我們第二季的業績，分享我們削減成本措施的最新進展，並對下半年的前景進行展望。總體而言，對於 APA 來說，這是一個出色的季度，展現了強勁的營運和財務業績、持續向股東提供資本回報以及大幅減少債務。

I want to first acknowledge the strides we continue to make in strengthening the balance sheet and improving our capital structure. We reduced net debt by more than $850 million during the quarter and returned approximately $140 million to shareholders through our dividends and buybacks. We remain firmly committed to shareholder returns and balance sheet strengthening through debt reduction. Ben will provide more color on this topic shortly.

首先，我要承認我們在強化資產負債表和改善資本結構方面不斷取得的進展。本季度，我們減少了超過 8.5 億美元的淨債務，並透過股息和回購向股東返還了約 1.4 億美元。我們仍然堅定地致力於透過減少債務來實現股東回報並加強資產負債表。本將很快就此主題提供更多詳細資訊。

Turning specifically to second quarter operational performance. Production volumes across the portfolio generally exceeded guidance [were] remaining on plan for company-wide capital investment. In the Permian, oil production exceeded guidance, primarily driven by faster turn in lines enabled by efficient field execution. Capital investment came in slightly above guidance, largely due to the ongoing capture of efficiency gains across drilling and completions. Put simply, we are delivering more activity with fewer rigs and frac crews. Last quarter, we noted that these efficiency gains would allow us to keep Permian oil production flat with 6.5 rigs instead of eight. As a result of further progress, we are currently delivering flat go-forward oil production with six drilling rigs.

具體談談第二季的營運表現。整個產品組合的產量普遍超出預期，公司範圍內的資本投資計畫仍在持續。在二疊紀盆地，石油產量超出預期，主要得益於高效率的現場執行實現了更快的生產線運作。資本投資略高於預期，主要由於鑽井和完井過程中效率的不斷提高。簡而言之，我們用更少的鑽孔機和壓裂人員進行更多的活動。上個季度，我們注意到這些效率的提高將使我們能夠保持二疊紀石油產量平穩，鑽井數量從 8 台減少到 6.5 台。隨著進一步的進展，我們目前使用六台鑽井平台實現了平穩的石油產量。

Our continued improvement in drilling performance is evident. Our D&C cost per foot are now among the lowest in the Midland Basin and in line with offset peers in the Delaware Basin. Our teams are committed to finding new ways to further improve efficiencies across the basin. In Egypt, we again exceeded our quarterly gas production guidance, driven by the strong performance of our recent discoveries and our ability to continue increasing utilization of existing infrastructure. Oil production declined modestly following our decision to shift rig activity toward increased gas development due to improved gas realizations. However, gross BOEs were consistent quarter-over-quarter. Reported volumes also exceeded guidance, but adjusted production was slightly lower than guidance due to the impacts of higher oil prices and lower operating costs on our allocated volumes under the production sharing contract.

我們的鑽井績效持續改善是顯而易見的。我們每英尺的 D&C 成本目前是米德蘭盆地中最低的，與特拉華盆地的補償同行一致。我們的團隊致力於尋找新方法來進一步提高整個流域的效率。在埃及，我們再次超越了季度天然氣產量預期，這得益於我們近期發現的強勁表現以及我們繼續提高現有基礎設施利用率的能力。由於天然氣產量提高，我們決定將鑽井活動轉向增加天然氣開發，隨後石油產量略有下降。然而，總資產規模與上一季相比保持了一致。報告的產量也超過了預期，但由於油價上漲和營運成本下降對我們根據產量分成合約分配的產量的影響，調整後的產量略低於預期。

Our capital efficiency in Egypt is benefiting from small refinements across our drilling and infrastructure programs, which collectively result in meaningful time and cost savings. For example, on the drilling side, on average, we are delivering wells more than two days faster compared to last year. Lastly, North Sea production was ahead of guidance, a testament to the continued optimization of field operations and maximizing run time as we manage these late life assets. Our focus remains on safety, operating efficiency and cost management as we prepare for decommissioning.

我們在埃及的資本效率得益於我們鑽井和基礎設施項目的細微改進，這些改進共同帶來了顯著的時間和成本節省。例如，在鑽井方面，與去年相比，我們平均交付鑽井速度快了兩天多。最後，北海的產量超出了預期，這證明了我們在管理這些晚期資產時不斷優化現場營運並最大限度地延長運行時間。在準備退役時，我們仍然專注於安全、營運效率和成本管理。

Turning now to our cost reduction initiatives. At the start of the year, we set forth some important goals for reducing controllable spend over the next three years. I just outlined some of the significant capital efficiency improvements we are making in the Permian and Egypt. Ben will provide further details on other cost initiatives which have also advanced considerably since our last update.

現在談談我們的成本削減措施。年初，我們制定了未來三年減少可控支出的一些重要目標。我剛剛概述了我們在二疊紀和埃及進行的一些重大資本效率改進。本將提供有關其他成本舉措的更多詳細信息，這些舉措自我們上次更新以來也取得了長足的進展。

We now anticipate capturing at least $200 million in savings in 2025, up from our prior estimate of $130 million, and plan to exit the year at an impressive $300 million annual savings run rate. We are now on a path to achieve our $350 million run rate target sometime in 2026 versus year-end 2027. Moving forward, over the next two years, we see considerable opportunities to further streamline our business and simplify the way we operate. Given the magnitude of these opportunities, it is clear we have upside to our three-year goal. As we began implementing these initiatives, we will address the scale of that upside in the future.

我們現在預計 2025 年將節省至少 2 億美元，高於我們先前估計的 1.3 億美元，並計劃在今年年底實現令人印象深刻的 3 億美元年節省率。目前，我們正朝著在 2026 年某個時候（而不是 2027 年底）實現 3.5 億美元運行率目標的方向前進。展望未來兩年，我們將看到大量機會進一步精簡業務和簡化營運方式。考慮到這些機會的巨大潛力，我們顯然有能力實現三年目標。當我們開始實施這些措施時，我們將在未來解決這項優勢的規模問題。

Looking ahead to the second half of 2025. Our supplement released last night outlined our expected Permian activity and production for the third and fourth quarters, adjusted to reflect the recent asset sale that closed in mid-June. With continued efficiency gains, we are delivering our planned number of turn in lines and expected production volumes, and we now expect to exit the year with a higher DUC inventory than originally planned. We'll continue to optimize our drilling and completion cadence through the second half of the year to ensure we deliver our revised capital guidance and set 2026 up for success.

展望2025年下半年。我們昨晚發布的補充報告概述了我們預期的第三季和第四季二疊紀活動和產量，並根據 6 月中旬完成的近期資產出售進行了調整。隨著效率的持續提高，我們正在實現計劃的上線數量和預期的生產量，現在我們預計今年年底的 DUC 庫存將高於原始計劃。我們將在下半年繼續優化鑽井和完井節奏，以確保我們實現修訂後的資本指導並為 2026 年的成功做好準備。

As an additional benefit, these efficiency gains enable incremental resource development. As previously noted, we are moving toward denser well spacing with smaller frac sizes. While this may result in lower average well productivity, our new development patterns should deliver increased EURs at the spacing unit level and lower breakeven prices per barrel of oil. In turn, this expands economic inventory counts and increases both overall oil recovery and net asset value. This is a fantastic outcome.

作為額外的好處，這些效率的提高使得資源開發得以漸進。如前所述，我們正在朝著更密集的井距和更小的壓裂規模邁進。雖然這可能會導致平均油井產量下降，但我們的新開發模式應該會在間隔單位層級提高歐元，並降低每桶石油的損益平衡價格。反過來，這擴大了經濟庫存數量並提高了整體石油採收率和淨資產價值。這是一個非常棒的結果。

In Egypt, underscoring our long-term strategic commitment and the ongoing success of our development program, we have recently secured presidential approval for the award of approximately 2 million net prospective acres in the Western Desert. This represents a greater than 35% increase in our acreage position and meaningfully enhances our already substantial footprint in the region. This acreage benefits from extensive 3D seismic coverage and considerable overlap with our existing operations, presenting compelling prospectivity for both oil and gas. We are currently in the final steps of the administrative process and plan to initiate drilling activity before the end of 2025.

在埃及，我們最近獲得總統批准，將西部沙漠約 200 萬英畝淨潛在土地授予埃及，這凸顯了我們的長期戰略承諾和發展計畫的持續成功。這意味著我們的種植面積將增加 35% 以上，並顯著增強我們在該地區本已很大的影響力。該區域受益於廣泛的 3D 地震覆蓋，並且與我們現有的作業有相當大的重疊，因此具有極好的石油和天然氣勘探前景。我們目前正處於行政程序的最後階段，並計劃在 2025 年底前開始鑽探活動。

We expect to maintain current activity allocations, with around one-third of our turn-in lines expected to be gas focused for the remainder of the year. Based on our year-to-date performance, we are once again raising our guidance for gross gas volumes for the next two quarters. This also increases our outlook for price realizations, as a higher share of volumes will now be subject to the new price negotiated under last year's revised gas sales agreement.

我們預計將維持目前的活動分配，預計今年剩餘時間內約有三分之一的上交線將集中在天然氣上。根據我們今年迄今的表現，我們再次上調了未來兩個季度的天然氣總產量預期。這也增加了我們對價格實現的預期，因為現在更大比例的產量將受到去年修訂的天然氣銷售協議所協商的新價格的限制。

On the oil side, we expect production to stabilize for the remainder of 2025 and hold relatively flat to second quarter levels as our workovers, recompletions and waterflood programs help mitigate base decline. Combined with the success in the gas program, Egypt is now poised for 2025 growth in both BOE volumes and free cash flow relative to our expectations at the beginning of the year.

在石油方面，我們預計 2025 年剩餘時間內產量將保持穩定，並與第二季度的水平保持相對平穩，因為我們的修井、重新完井和注水計劃有助於緩解基數下降。加上天然氣專案的成功，埃及目前預計在 2025 年實現桶油產量和自由現金流的成長，這與我們年初的預期相符。

In Suriname, the GranMorgu development continues to advance towards first oil in mid-2028. I would like to commend our partner, Total, on their execution of the project since announcing FID last fall. Manufacturing of the top sides for the FPSO is currently ongoing, and Total was able to secure drilling contracts at very attractive rates earlier this year. We have updated our full year capital guidance to $275 million to reflect additional milestone and progress payments expected later this year. This just reflects a simple rephasing of spend patterns, and total anticipated project costs remain unchanged.

在蘇利南，GranMorgu 開發案持續進行，預計 2028 年中期產出第一批石油。我要對我們的合作夥伴道達爾自去年秋天宣布最終投資決定以來對該項目實施情況表示讚賞。FPSO 頂部的製造目前正在進行中，道達爾今年早些時候以非常優惠的價格獲得了鑽井合約。我們已將全年資本指引更新為 2.75 億美元，以反映今年稍後預計的額外里程碑和進度付款。這只是反映了支出模式的簡單重新調整，預計專案總成本保持不變。

Lastly, we announced a discovery and successful flow test at Sockeye-2 in Alaska earlier this spring. As a reminder, the Sockeye prospect is amplitude supported across 25,000 to 30,000 acres and the discovery well encountered approximately 25 feet of net oil pay in one blocky sand. The subsequent flow test validated rock properties much better than regional analogs now under development. Given the size and extensive prospectivity of the block, the next best step is to reprocess 3D seismic data across the majority of our acreage position.

最後，我們宣布今年春初在阿拉斯加的 Sockeye-2 發現了水並成功進行了流量測試。提醒一下，Sockeye 勘探區面積達 25,000 至 30,000 英畝，發現井在一個塊狀砂岩中發現了約 25 英尺的淨油層。隨後的流動測試驗證了岩石特性，比目前正在開發的區域類似物好得多。考慮到該區塊的規模和廣泛的勘探前景，下一步最佳措施是重新處理我們大部分區塊的 3D 地震資料。

This will allow us to tie multiple surveys together to refine our technical understanding and provide regional context. This is a key step for both better characterizing additional exploration prospects and for optimizing an appraisal program for Sockeye as well as helping to prioritize between the two. Given the timing of the seismic reprocessing and subsequent technical data integration, we anticipate drilling activity will resume during the 2026 to 2027 winter season.

這將使我們能夠將多項調查結合在一起，以完善我們的技術理解並提供區域背景。這是更好地描述額外勘探前景、優化紅鮭評估方案以及幫助確定兩者優先順序的關鍵一步。考慮到地震再處理和後續技術資料整合的時間，我們預計鑽井活動將在 2026 年至 2027 年冬季恢復。

In closing, I will leave you with the following: First, our operational and financial performance for the first half of the year was outstanding. This success is due to the collective efforts of our teams and strong alignment among all leaders in the organization. Our momentum is palpable and sets us up extremely well for the remainder of the year and into 2026.

最後，我想告訴大家以下幾點：首先，我們上半年的營運和財務表現非常出色。這項成功歸功於我們團隊的共同努力以及組織內所有領導人之間的緊密配合。我們的勢頭是顯而易見的，這為我們在今年剩餘時間和 2026 年做好了非常好的準備。

Second, our cost reductions initiatives are progressing very well, and we are on the path to achieving significant and lasting improvements to our cost structure. On the capital side, we are capturing efficiency gains through structural improvements to our operations. This is allowing us to deliver our planned Permian oil production volumes at a reduced rig count and to grow BOE volumes in Egypt at lower capital. Our operating costs are also trending lower in both Egypt and the North Sea, and we continue to capture significant overhead cost savings through our ongoing simplification efforts.

其次，我們的成本削減計劃進展順利，我們正在實現成本結構的重大且持久的改善。在資本方面，我們透過營運結構改進來提高效率。這使我們能夠在減少鑽機數量的情況下實現計劃的二疊紀石油產量，並以較低的資本增加埃及的石油當量產量。我們在埃及和北海的營運成本也呈下降趨勢，我們透過持續的簡化努力繼續節省大量管理費用。

Third, our progress in Suriname and our success in Alaska further underscores the value of our diverse portfolio of high-quality exploration opportunities which represent material catalysts for the future of the company. Finally, we are committed to our capital returns framework, which allows us to further strengthen our balance sheet while maintaining a competitive payout to shareholders.

第三，我們在蘇利南的進展和在阿拉斯加的成功進一步凸顯了我們多樣化高品質勘探機會的價值，這些機會是公司未來的重要催化劑。最後，我們致力於我們的資本回報框架，這使我們能夠進一步加強我們的資產負債表，同時保持對股東的有競爭力的回報。

And with that, I will turn the call over to Ben.

說完這些，我將把電話轉給本。

Thank you, John. For the second quarter, under generally accepted accounting principles, APA reported consolidated net income of $603 million or $1.67 per diluted common share. As usual, these results include items that are outside of core earnings, the most significant of which was a $219 million after-tax gain on the New Mexico divestiture that closed in June and a $106 million unrealized after-tax gain on derivatives. Excluding these and other smaller items, adjusted net income for the second quarter was $313 million or $0.87 per share.

謝謝你，約翰。根據公認會計原則，APA 報告第二季合併淨收入為 6.03 億美元，即每股攤薄普通股 1.67 美元。與往常一樣，這些結果包括核心收益以外的項目，其中最重要的是 6 月完成的新墨西哥州資產剝離的 2.19 億美元稅後收益，以及 1.06 億美元未實現的衍生性商品稅後收益。除這些和其他較小的項目外，第二季調整後的淨收入為 3.13 億美元，即每股 0.87 美元。

LOE came in below guidance, primarily driven by cost savings realized in our international assets. G&A was also lower due to continued progress in simplifying our organizational structure. While the majority of the variance stems from these structural improvements, both LOE and G&A were modestly impacted by timing-related shifts in spend, which are expected to land in the second half of this year.

LOE 低於預期，主要由於我們國際資產實現了成本節約。由於我們不斷簡化組織架構，一般及行政開支也有所降低。雖然大部分差異源於這些結構性改進，但 LOE 和 G&A 均受到與時間相關的支出變化的輕微影響，預計這些變化將在今年下半年發生。

APA generated $134 million of free cash flow during the second quarter, all of which was returned to shareholders through our base dividend and share repurchases. Our free cash flow is expected to be second half weighted, driven by Permian capital timing and continued growth in Egypt gas volumes and price realizations. During the quarter, we also made significant progress on debt reduction. We eliminated outstandings on our revolver and reduced net debt by over $850 million, a decrease of more than 15%. This was driven by proceeds from the New Mexico asset sale and positive working capital inflows primarily associated with payments from Egypt. In total, for the second quarter, nearly $1 billion was returned to investors through dividends, buybacks and debt reduction.

APA 在第二季產生了 1.34 億美元的自由現金流，全部透過基本股利和股票回購返還給股東。受二疊紀資本時機以及埃及天然氣產量和價格實現的持續成長的推動，我們的自由現金流預計將在下半年加權。本季度，我們在減債方面也取得了重大進展。我們消除了循環信貸的未償債務，減少了淨債務 8.5 億多美元，降幅超過 15%。這是由新墨西哥州資產出售所得以及主要與埃及付款相關的正營運資金流入所推動的。總體而言，第二季透過股息、回購和減債等方式向投資者返還了近 10 億美元。

I'd like to take a moment to step back and highlight the meaningful progress we've made over the past several years under our capital returns framework. Since emerging from the COVID downturn at the end of 2020, APA has strengthened its balance sheet by reducing net debt by more than $4 billion. During that same period, we've returned over $4 billion to shareholders through our base dividend and share repurchase programs. This underscores our disciplined approach to capital allocation and our ability to consistently navigate commodity cycles while delivering long-term value.

我想花點時間回顧一下，強調我們在過去幾年在資本回報框架下取得的有意義的進展。自 2020 年底走出新冠疫情低迷以來，APA 已透過減少 40 多億美元的淨債務來增強其資產負債表。在同一時期，我們透過基本股利和股票回購計畫向股東返還了超過 40 億美元。這凸顯了我們對資本配置的嚴謹態度以及我們在提供長期價值的同時持續駕馭商品週期的能力。

Looking ahead, we plan to continue this balanced capital return strategy. To reinforce our focus on financial strength, we are establishing a long-term net debt target of $3 billion. While we remain committed to returning 60% of our free cash flow to shareholders, providing a debt target reflects our confidence in the durability of our cash flows, the resilience of our asset base and our goal of maintaining an investment-grade credit profile through the cycle. Maintaining low leverage enhances financial flexibility, reduces volatility and positions APA for sustainable success. This approach is not new. It's a continuation of the principles that have guided us, allowing us to fortify the balance sheet while delivering strong shareholder returns.

展望未來，我們計劃繼續這項平衡的資本回報策略。為了加強對財務實力的關注，我們設定了 30 億美元的長期淨債務目標。雖然我們仍然致力於將 60% 的自由現金流返還給股東，但設定債務目標反映了我們對現金流持久性、資產基礎彈性以及在整個週期內保持投資級信用狀況的目標的信心。保持低槓桿可增強財務靈活性、降低波動性並使 APA 獲得可持續的成功。這種方法並不新鮮。這是我們指導原則的延續，使我們能夠鞏固資產負債表，同時為股東帶來豐厚的回報。

Moving now to our controllable spend reduction initiatives, where we continue to significantly exceed the targets established earlier this year. This accelerated momentum demonstrates our relentless focus on managing every aspect of our controllable spend across G&A, LOE and capital. Importantly, these increased targets do not represent a stopping point. Instead, they serve as key milestones in our consistent pursuit of operational excellence and our ongoing drive to reduce our cost structure.

現在轉向我們的可控支出削減計劃，我們繼續大幅超越今年早些時候設定的目標。這種加速的動能顯示我們堅持不懈地致力於管理包括一般及行政費用、損失賠償金和資本在內的可控支出的各個方面。重要的是，這些增加的目標並不代表停止點。相反，它們是我們不斷追求卓越營運和持續降低成本結構的關鍵里程碑。

Slide 4 of our supplement provides further detail between the various categories of cost savings that we expect to capture this year. While the changes in LOE and G&A savings can be reconciled with the movement in our guidance ranges for those items, our capital savings are partially offset by additional activity in the Permian. With the efficiency gains we've achieved, we're on pace to end the year with approximately 25% more drilled uncompleted wells than previously planned, while remaining within our capital guidance range, which will provide operational flexibility as we head into 2026.

我們的補充資料中的第 4 張投影片進一步詳細介紹了我們預計今年將實現的各類成本節約。雖然 LOE 和 G&A 節省的變化可以與我們對這些項目的指導範圍的變動相協調，但我們的資本節省部分被二疊紀的額外活動所抵消。憑藉我們已實現的效率提升，我們預計在今年年底實現比原計劃多出約 25% 的未完工井數量，同時仍保持在資本指導範圍內，這將為我們邁向 2026 年提供營運靈活性。

On the LOE front, costs are trending lower across our international assets. In Egypt, reductions to date have come from two of our larger categories, optimizing equipment use and reducing our diesel consumption through recently completed power projects. Moving forward, we expect to further reduce diesel usage as we progress additional power projects into next year.

在 LOE 方面，我們的國際資產成本呈現下降趨勢。在埃及，迄今為止的減排主要來自兩個較大的方面：優化設備使用和透過最近完成的電力項目來減少柴油消耗。展望未來，隨著明年更多電力項目的推進，我們預期柴油使用量將進一步減少。

In the North Sea, we have been streamlining vendors and optimizing the size of our offshore organization as we manage late life operations. Furthermore, while maintaining our commitment to safety, we've shifted the scope of our maintenance activities to accommodate shorter, more focused pit stops versus extended platform turnarounds. In the Permian, while we expect the bulk of our LOE savings to become evident in 2026, we are already seeing early signs of improvement this year. Additionally, we are progressing multiple projects in the back half of this year that will deliver meaningful benefits in 2026 and beyond.

在北海，我們在管理後期營運的同時，一直在精簡供應商並優化海上組織的規模。此外，在堅持安全承諾的同時，我們改變了維護活動的範圍，以適應更短、更有針對性的進站，而不是延長平台週轉時間。在二疊紀盆地，雖然我們預計大部分 LOE 節省將在 2026 年顯現，但今年我們已經看到了改善的早期跡象。此外，我們今年下半年正在推進多個項目，這些項目將在 2026 年及以後帶來重大效益。

These projects include, but are not limited to, utilizing owned and operated saltwater disposal facilities that will reduce reliance on third-party providers, consolidating field compression to larger centralized compression stations and reducing our workover fleet based on improved workover rig efficiencies. Across our entire operated asset base, we have moved decision-making authority closer to operations, which enables field personnel to swiftly identify and implement cost savings without compromising safety or performance. This has gained traction, unlocking a steady stream of small-scale opportunities that collectively drive meaningful financial impact.

這些項目包括但不限於利用自有和運營的鹽水處理設施來減少對第三方供應商的依賴、將現場壓縮整合到更大的集中壓縮站以及基於修井機效率的提高來減少我們的修井機隊。在我們整個營運資產基礎上，我們將決策權移近運營，這使現場人員能夠在不影響安全或性能的情況下迅速識別和實施成本節約。這項舉措已獲得廣泛關注，釋放出一系列小規模的穩定機遇，共同推動產生有意義的財務影響。

Turning to overhead. Our initial focus was on executing quick win opportunities primarily through selective cost-cutting decisions. We implemented the bulk of those near-term actions, which drove the additional $35 million in realized savings since our last update. Looking ahead, we're advancing several work streams to rethink and reshape broader organizational processes and workflows with a focus on streamlining the business. These efforts, along with other simplification initiatives, are expected to deliver further savings in 2026 and beyond.

轉向頭頂。我們最初的重點是透過有選擇的削減成本的決策來抓住快速取勝的機會。我們實施了大部分近期行動，自上次更新以來，這又帶來了 3,500 萬美元的節省。展望未來，我們正在推動多項工作，以重新思考和重塑更廣泛的組織流程和工作流程，重點是簡化業務。這些努力以及其他簡化措施預計將在 2026 年及以後帶來進一步的節省。

With all of these initiatives gaining traction across the organization, we're confident in reaching our $350 million run rate savings target within 2026, a significant change from our prior time line of end of 2027. We also see meaningful upside beyond that original target, which we will quantify at a later date. What's clear is that the entire organization is aligned and committed. In just six months, we've made real strides toward positioning APA as a cost leader. The focus is relentless, and the results speak volumes.

隨著所有這些舉措在整個組織內獲得支持，我們有信心在 2026 年之前實現 3.5 億美元的運行率節約目標，這與我們先前設定的 2027 年底的時間表相比發生了重大變化。我們還看到了超出最初目標的有意義的上升空間，我們將在稍後進行量化。顯然，整個組織都團結一致、全力以赴。在短短六個月內，我們已在將 APA 定位為成本領先者方面取得了真正的進步。專注不懈，成果顯著。

Shifting to our oil and gas trading portfolio. At current strip pricing, our full year guidance reflects $650 million in pretax income from our trading operations, a $75 million increase from our May update. This is a key value driver for us, and the forward curve for 2026 shows favorable LNG pricing and spreads, reinforcing these activities as a meaningful differentiator for APA.

轉向我們的石油和天然氣交易組合。按照目前的條形定價，我們的全年預期反映了我們交易業務的稅前收入為 6.5 億美元，比 5 月份的更新值增加了 7,500 萬美元。這是我們的一個關鍵價值驅動因素，2026 年的遠期曲線顯示出有利的液化天然氣定價和價差，從而強化了這些活動作為 APA 的一個有意義的差異化因素。

I will close by discussing several changes to our US and US tax estimates. Following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we expect to benefit from two changes to the US tax code, the first being 100% bonus depreciation for taxable income, which is effective as of January 20 of this year. The second being the ability to deduct intangible drilling costs for corporate alternative minimum tax, which comes into effect at the beginning of 2026.

最後，我將討論我們對美國和美國稅收估算的幾項變化。《一項偉大的美麗法案》通過後，我們預計將受益於美國稅法的兩項變化，第一項是應稅收入的 100% 獎金折舊，該法案將於今年 1 月 20 日生效。第二項是允許扣除企業替代最低稅中的無形鑽井成本，該措施將於 2026 年初生效。

For 2025, we expect a significant reduction in our US current tax expense, driven by bonus depreciation changes and the recently passed legislation, changes in 2024 tax estimates and other smaller items. This reduction is largely offset by an increase in US current tax expense, where higher revenues and lower operating costs have increased our taxable income. Starting in 2026, at current strip prices, we do not expect our US operations to generate meaningful taxable income. Combined with the expected benefits from the One Big Beautiful Bill, our total US and US current tax expense will be significantly lower compared to this year.

到 2025 年，我們預計美國當期稅費將大幅減少，這主要得益於獎金折舊變化和最近通過的立法、2024 年稅收估算的變化以及其他較小項目。這一減少在很大程度上被美國當期稅費的增加所抵消，因為更高的收入和更低的營運成本增加了我們的應稅收入。從 2026 年開始，以目前的礦條價格，我們預期美國業務不會產生有意義的應稅收入。加上《一項偉大的美麗法案》帶來的預期收益，我們的美國總稅費和美國當期稅費支出將比今年大幅降低。

With that, I'll turn the call back to the operator for Q&A.

說完這些，我將把電話轉回給接線生進行問答。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

John Freeman, Raymond James.

約翰‧弗里曼、雷蒙‧詹姆斯。

Thank you. Good morning.

謝謝。早安.

Good morning John.

早安，約翰。

Good morning. Congratulations on the continued progress on the cost savings initiatives. Along those lines with the new $3 billion long-term net debt target that Ben outlined, do you all have a time line for achieving that target? And maybe if you could provide some details on the planned and whether or not divestitures might be used as a tool to kind of accelerate that time line or possibly exceed kind of that debt target kind of on the heels of what you did with the recent New Mexico sale?

早安.祝賀成本節約措施不斷取得進展。按照本所概述的新的 30 億美元長期淨債務目標，你們是否有實現該目標的時間表？也許您能提供一些有關計劃的細節，以及是否可以使用資產剝離作為一種工具來加速這一時間表，或者可能超越債務目標，就像您最近在新墨西哥州出售資產時所做的那樣？

Sure, John. When we outlined that target, we thought it was responsible really to commit to the specific target and not really a date which could move around and ostensibly be artificial. There's a lot of macro volatility and regulatory shifts that could just distort short-term move in optics in that. So we just thought that putting a target out there was more prudent.

當然，約翰。當我們概述該目標時，我們認為真正致力於實現具體目標是負責任的，而不是真正制定一個可以移動且表面上是人為的日期。許多宏觀波動和監管變化可能會扭曲短期走勢。因此我們認為設定一個目標是更為謹慎的。

Now that being said, at what we think is mid-cycle pricing, which is pretty close to what we have seen last year and this year, we'll achieve that target likely by close to the end of this decade, so call it in the next four plus or minus years. If prices are higher, then that can be accelerated, and we might be able to achieve that earlier, call it, in a couple of years. And if prices for that entire time period are below, then it could take a little bit longer, call it, five years. But we expect to do that just through our organic free cash flow generation and really a commitment of that 40% that's not being returned to equity being directed towards getting our net debt down.

話雖如此，我們認為現在是周期中期的定價，這與去年和今年的定價非常接近，我們很可能在這個十年末實現這一目標，也就是在未來四年左右的時間裡。如果價格更高，那麼這個進程就會加快，我們也許能夠更早實現這個目標，或者說，在幾年內。如果整個時段的價格都低於這個水平，那麼可能需要更長的時間，比如說五年。但我們希望透過我們的有機自由現金流產生來實現這一目標，並且真正承諾將未返還給股權的 40% 用於降低我們的淨債務。

And it's just going to provide a lot of flexibility. That still includes us managing our ARO and decommissioning spend, and we're getting that liability managed. It allows us to invest in the future for exploration and other projects that we see necessary to continue to help the future of Apache. And so we didn't want to put a specific time on it. We just feel very confident in the durability of our cash flows that we'll be able to achieve it, like I said, call it, in the next three to five years.

它將提供很大的靈活性。這仍然包括我們管理 ARO 和退役支出，並且我們正在管理這些責任。它使我們能夠投資未來的探索和其他我們認為有必要繼續幫助 Apache 未來的項目。所以我們不想設定一個具體的時間。我們對現金流的持久性非常有信心，我們將能夠在未來三到五年內實現這一目標。

Thanks for that, Ben. And then shifting gears and looking at kind of what you have outlined on Slide 11 with Egypt, given the impact of the recent gas pricing agreements, the consistent outperformance on the production side, along with the recent award of the additional 2 million acres in Egypt. When you sort of look out to next year, would this sort of indicate that there might be a shift to a larger percentage of the total CapEx budget being allocated to Egypt?

謝謝你，本。然後換個話題，看看您在幻燈片 11 中概述的埃及的情況，考慮到最近的天然氣定價協議的影響、生產方面的持續優異表現，以及最近在埃及額外授予的 200 萬英畝土地。展望明年，這是否意味著分配給埃及的總資本支出預算的比例可能會增加？

Yes. John, if you just step back and look big picture at Egypt, I'll just give -- it is a big award, and I'll give a little bit of context. We've been in the Western Desert now for over three decades. And for those first three decades, we spent the majority of that time looking for oil. Along the way, we found some gas and some material gas, feel like costs are over three Tcf. And then a lot of associated gas and some rich gas. And so we spent three decades looking for oil and trying to really stay away from gas. If you look at the Western Desert, you've got 15,000 to 18,000 feet of stack pay. It's all sand, it's high quality. We knew, drilling deeper, you would find it.

是的。約翰，如果你退一步來看看埃及的大局，我會說——這是一個大獎，我會提供一些背景資訊。我們已經在西部沙漠生活了三十多年。在最初的三十年裡，我們大部分時間都在尋找石油。一路上，我們發現了一些氣體和一些物質氣體，感覺成本超過三兆立方英尺。然後還有大量的伴生氣和一些富氣。因此，我們花了三十年時間尋找石油，並試圖遠離天然氣。如果你看看西部沙漠，你會發現那裡有 15,000 到 18,000 英尺厚的礦層。全是沙子，品質很高。我們知道，只要鑽得更深，你就會找到它。

So if you go back, what changed for Egypt is they went from an exporter of LNG to an importer of LNG. And with the change in the new minister last summer, early on, we set a goal in place to -- let's put a new gas price in place that would incentivize us to get after drilling. And we also had our eye on some acreage that is prospective for both oil and gas. So we've worked through that direct award. We've gotten after the program, and Steve can talk a little bit about the impact we're having on the gas program. And then I'll let Tracey talk about what she sees is longer-term upside for gas in the Western Desert, which we think is perspective.

所以如果你回顧一下，埃及的變化就是他們從液化天然氣出口國變成了液化天然氣進口國。隨著去年夏天新部長的更換，我們很早就設定了一個目標——制定新的天然氣價格，以激勵我們進行鑽探。我們也關注了一些有潛力蘊藏石油和天然氣的土地。因此，我們已經完成了直接獎勵工作。我們已經完成了該計劃，史蒂夫可以稍微談一下我們對天然氣計劃的影響。然後，我會讓特蕾西談談她所看到的西部沙漠天然氣的長期優勢，我們認為這是有前景的。

Yes. Thanks, John. As John said, historically, we've been -- we've done what we could for the last 30 years to avoid gas, but we have encountered gas. Sometimes in large enough quantities that was worth developing, sometimes rich enough with enough associated liquids that it was worth developing. But sometimes we left it either undeveloped or underdeveloped simply because the gas price that prevailed at the time wasn't economic enough to deliver -- to develop the asset when we had more oil opportunities. And in nine months now, we've focused on going back after those opportunities, mostly things that we left undeveloped or underdeveloped, and the results have been quite striking where there are more known opportunities to go. So there is more to do in that space.

是的。謝謝，約翰。正如約翰所說，從歷史上看，過去 30 年來我們一直在盡力避免天然氣洩漏，但我們還是遇到了天然氣洩漏。有時其數量足夠大，值得開發；有時其含量足夠豐富，伴生液體足夠多，值得開發。但有時，我們要不是不開發，就是開發不足，只因為當時的天然氣價格不夠經濟，無法提供這種資源——等我們有更多的石油機會時再去開發這種資源。九個月以來，我們一直致力於重新尋找這些機會，主要是那些我們尚未開發或開發不足的領域，結果非常引人注目，我們發現了更多已知的機會。因此，在該領域還有很多事情要做。

And the good thing is that through that, we're actually derisking what I would call kind of minor step-out type of, if you want to call it, exploration, the step-out opportunities beyond what we know is there, we're de-risking those, and there's quite a bit of those for the near-term future as well. And so the obvious question is, well, how long can this type of performance run and actually potentially for quite some time. But at the same time, we're also stepping back, and Tracey's team is looking at, well, let's just step back and look at the whole regional geology around this 7.5 million acre position that we have now and what's the potential for even larger scale gas opportunities. And I'll let Tracey talk about that.

好消息是，透過這種方式，我們實際上正在降低所謂的小規模探索的風險，如果你願意稱之為探索的話，我們正在降低那些超出我們所知範圍的探索機會的風險，而且在近期內也會有相當多這樣的機會。所以顯而易見的問題是，這種類型的效能可以運行多長時間，實際上可能會持續相當長的一段時間。但同時，我們也在退一步，特蕾西的團隊正在研究，好吧，讓我們退一步，看看我們現在擁有的這片 750 萬英畝土地周圍的整個區域地質狀況，以及更大規模天然氣機會的潛力。我讓 Tracey 來談論這個。

Sure. Good morning, John. So with the new acreage additions, we're going to be really well positioned to both expand our existing proven place for both oil and gas and test and new concepts to add inventory. So for example, in the western portion of our acreage, in the [Fugar Shushan] region, we've had some recent success by drilling deeper to the [Paleozoic] and have encountered some really good discoveries for gas. So we're really building on that success there by extending the [Paleozoic] plays both to the west and to the south into the direct award acreage, where we believe we have mature gas prone source rocks in the [Paleozoic]. So we see that deep play continuing, and we think we've got a lot of running room because that's a very underexplored play in a mature area.

當然。早安，約翰。因此，隨著新種植面積的增加，我們將能夠更好地擴大現有的石油和天然氣探明儲量地，並測試新概念以增加庫存。例如，在我們土地面積的西部，在 [Fugar Shushan] 地區，我們最近透過深入 [古生代] 進行鑽探取得了一些成功，並發現了一些非常好的天然氣。因此，我們真正在此基礎上取得了成功，將[古生代]油氣藏向西和向南延伸至直接授予區塊，我們相信那裡擁有成熟的易產氣源岩。[古生代]。因此，我們看到深度挖掘仍在繼續，我們認為我們有很大的發展空間，因為這是一個成熟領域中尚未充分探索的領域。

And in the AG Basin, which was in the Southern Central portion of our acreage, this is one area where we previously focused and only limited ourselves to oil prospectivity and the shallower Cretaceous targets. And now this is a big area for us for big gas and a big focus. So we're quite excited about this because this is an area that's a proven basin. But it's been underexplored because we've been avoiding drilling for gas. So the gas pump portions of this basin, we think we have a lot of running room in.

AG 盆地位於我們油田中南部，這是我們先前重點關注的區域之一，我們之前只將重點放在石油勘探和較淺的白堊紀目標上。現在，這裡是我們天然氣產量大、關注點多的地區。因此我們對此感到非常興奮，因為這是一個已探明的盆地。但由於我們一直避免鑽探天然氣，因此該區域的勘探工作尚未充分進行。因此，我們認為該盆地的加油站部分有很大的發展空間。

The last area that I'll touch on is the acreage to the east, which will allow us to expand our oil plays as well. So we picked up a block there with only eight wells drilled in it. So it's very underexplored for a very sizable area. And we see evidence on seismic that some of our proven Cretaceous plays in the Western Desert expand into this area. So we've got some new play tests there as well. So we're really encouraged by what we're seeing on 3D seismic, and we'll be testing some of those later this year.

我要談的最後一個區域是東部的土地，這也將使我們能夠擴大石油開採範圍。因此，我們在那裡選了一個只有八口井的區塊。因此，對於這麼大一片區域來說，其探索程度非常低。地震證據表明，西部沙漠中一些已探明的白堊紀儲層已擴展到這一地區。因此我們也進行了一些新的遊戲測試。因此，我們對 3D 地震的觀察結果感到非常鼓舞，我們將在今年稍後對其中一些進行測試。

So we're in a really good position to both leverage what we know in the desert and test some new concepts. And I'm really optimistic on what we're going to be able to deliver in Egypt for the exploration program.

因此，我們處於非常有利的位置，既可以利用我們在沙漠中已知的知識，又可以測試一些新概念。我對我們能在埃及的勘探計劃中取得的成果非常樂觀。

If I could just wrap that up. I mean, we're operating now in a 7.5 million acres in what's obviously a hydrocarbon-rich basin. And with the new gas price agreement, we can actually operate in a way where we don't have to avoid certain types of hydrocarbons. So we can just pursue the best prospects and were really almost indifferent over time to whether it's oil or gas.

如果我可以就此結束的話。我的意思是，我們現在在一個顯然富含碳氫化合物的盆地中作業，面積達 750 萬英畝。有了新的天然氣價格協議，我們實際上可以以一種不必避免某些類型碳氫化合物的方式運作。因此，我們只需追求最好的前景，而隨著時間的推移，我們幾乎不再關心它是石油還是天然氣。

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all the details.

謝謝大家。我真的很感謝所有的細節。

Doug Leggate, Wolfe Research.

道格‧萊格特（Doug Leggate），沃爾夫研究公司。

Thanks. Good morning, everyone. John, this is starting to look a lot like a turnaround, so congrats on the quarter. But there's a lot of things to dig into. I'm going to pick two, if I may. And it's the one sore point perhaps for the market, which is there's still no visibility on inventory in the Permian. So you haven't commented on that in quite some time. So I wonder if you could address that and the associated run rate capital we should expect for that maintenance of the new production level that you highlighted in your comments?

謝謝。大家早安。約翰，這看起來很像是一個轉折點，所以祝賀本季。但還有很多東西需要深入挖掘。如果可以的話，我將選擇兩個。這或許是市場的一個痛點，即二疊紀盆地的庫存狀況仍然不明朗。所以你已經有很長時間沒有對此發表評論了。所以我想知道您是否可以解決這個問題以及我們在評論中強調的維持新生產水準所需的相關營運資本？

Yes, Doug, I'll jump in. And the first thing I'll say is we're always culturally looking for how do we continuously improve and drive innovation. And if you look at the impact you're seeing on the capital efficiency today in the Permian, those are results that are really a credit to both the technical teams and the field staff for really focusing on operations excellence over the last two years. We've continued to build a lot of momentum. You're seeing those results come in. And quite frankly, there's a lot of upside and more we still see to bring forward.

是的，道格，我加入。我想說的第一件事是，我們始終在文化上尋找如何不斷改進和推動創新。如果你看一下目前二疊紀盆地資本效率的影響，你會發現這些成果確實要歸功於技術團隊和現場工作人員在過去兩年中真正專注於卓越營運。我們繼續保持強勁勢頭。您會看到這些結果。坦白說，我們還看到了很多好處，還有更多可以推動。

In my prepared remarks, I outlined how our Permian development strategy is evolving in a lot of areas now where we're drilling more wells per section with smaller fracs, and it's really a function of getting the cost down and being able to drive the capital efficiencies. And where we are, we're in the process of characterizing all of our inventory and all of the upside zones in the Permian. I have seen what I'd call the core inventory. And where we historically would have said to the end of the decade, I can tell you today, looking at what I would call core development inventory, we're now well into the 2030s with run rate in terms of existing pace in time. And there's a lot more we're still working on.

在我準備好的發言中，我概述了我們的二疊紀開發策略在許多地區的演變情況，我們在每個區塊鑽探更多的井，使用更小的壓裂口，這實際上是為了降低成本並提高資本效率。目前，我們正在對所有庫存和二疊紀盆地的所有上部區域進行描述。我已經看到了所謂的核心庫存。從歷史上看，我們會說要到本世紀末，但我今天可以告訴你們，看看我所說的核心開發庫存，按照現有的速度，我們現在已經順利進入 2030 年代。我們還有很多工作要做。

It's a very iterative process. The teams have been working hard on it, and we should be in a position, either late this year or early next year, to give some more color on that. But it's progressing. I'm excited about the impact we're seeing. And Steve can get into some of the results. But if you look at some of the pads we're drilling today, we've gone back into overfill areas and are having fantastic results. So very excited. We will be at the Permian on our existing portfolio for a long time.

這是一個非常反覆的過程。各個團隊一直在為此努力，我們應該能夠在今年年底或明年年初對此做出更多說明。但它正在進步。我對我們所看到的影響感到非常興奮。史蒂夫可以了解一些結果。但如果你看看我們今天鑽探的一些平台，你會發現我們已經回到了過度填充區域，並且取得了非常好的效果。我非常興奮。我們現有的投資組合將在二疊紀盆地長期存在。

Yes, John, just -- if people will indulge me a bit with a bit of time. I think if you just step back, capital efficiency changes everything in our industry, and that's always been true in our industry. And that lower cost leads to the ability to access more resource. And all you have to do is look at the history of the Permian conventional to see that, where as costs came down, people went from 40-acre spacing to 20-acre spacing to 10-acre spacing, increasing well density and even promoting resource from uneconomic to economic status.

是的，約翰，只是──如果人們願意給我一點時間的話。我認為，如果你退一步來看，資本效率會改變我們產業的一切，而這在我們的產業中一直都是如此。較低的成本使得我們能夠獲得更多的資源。只要看一下二疊紀常規油氣的歷史，你就會發現，隨著成本的下降，人們將油井間距從 40 英畝縮小到 20 英畝，再縮小到 10 英畝，增加了油井密度，甚至將資源從不經濟的狀態提升到經濟的狀態。

In the unconventional space in Permian, that increasing well density also enables, as you alluded to, lowering frac intensity, which then further compounds the lower cost structure that you have on a per well basis. And so for us, capital efficiency has really led to here recently to a step function change in our capital efficiency and is leading to pretty meaningful changes in our development patterns. And I don't use the term step function change very lightly either because I think that's an adequate descriptor of what we've done over the last several quarters. We're increasing well count. We're decreasing frac intensity, as you alluded to.

在二疊紀非常規空間中，如您所提到的，增加井密度還可以降低壓裂強度，從而進一步降低每口井的成本結構。因此，對我們來說，資本效率最近確實導致了我們的資本效率發生了階躍變化，並導致了我們的發展模式發生了相當有意義的變化。而且我不會輕易使用階躍函數來變化這個術語，因為我認為這足以描述我們過去幾季所做的事情。我們正在增加油井數量。正如您所提到的，我們正在降低壓裂強度。

That generally lowers average well productivity, yes. But at the DSU level, the drilling spacing unit level, we're increasing total resource access and lowering breakeven oil prices. We talked about in Callon, in 2023, Callon had a $78 WTI oil breakeven price. In 2024, we lowered that to $61. Currently, in the Permian, we are running on average in the low 40s across the entire Permian in terms of a WTI breakeven oil price. In Midland Basin, we're running in the high 30s. And in the Delaware Basin, we're in the low 50s.

是的，這通常會降低平均油井產量。但在 DSU 級別，即鑽井間距單位級別，我們正在增加總資源獲取量並降低損益平衡油價。我們在卡隆石油公司談到，2023 年，卡隆石油公司的 WTI 石油損益平衡價格為 78 美元。2024 年，我們將這一數字降至 61 美元。目前，在二疊紀盆地，整個二疊紀盆地的 WTI 損益平衡油價平均處於 40 度出頭。在米德蘭盆地，氣溫已升至 30 度以上。而在德拉瓦盆地，氣溫則在華氏 50 度以下。

And most of that Delaware Basin stuff is Callon. And so Callon has come down in 2023 from a $78 breakeven oil price to low 50s at this point. All of this is increasing net asset value and increasing inventory duration, as you alluded to. And while I say average well productivity is lower, I think it's a focus on average well productivity is actually not the right metric.

大部分的特拉華盆地東西都是卡隆的。因此，到 2023 年，卡隆油價已從 78 美元的損益平衡價降至目前的 50 美元出頭。正如您所提到的，所有這些都在增加淨資產價值並增加庫存持續時間。雖然我說平均井生產率較低，但我認為關注平均井生產率實際上並不是正確的衡量標準。

You really have to focus on the spacing unit because wells in a spacing unit are interdependent. And it's the spacing unit that actually matters. Just a couple of years ago, a well-followed industry analyst group noted that Apache have -- Apache's wells have 30% more EUR than industry average. And it was just a couple of years ago, and these were highly productive wells.

您確實必須關注間隔單元，因為間隔單元中的井是相互依賴的。而實際上重要的是間距單位。就在幾年前，一個備受關注的行業分析師團體指出，Apache 的油井的 EUR 比行業平均高出 30%。就在幾年前，這些都是高產量油井。

But at today's cost structure that we have, that development pattern with the wider spacing and larger fracs would actually leave a pretty meaningful amount of economic resource behind. And so today, our development patterns, as you said, much tighter, smaller fracs, they're lower EUR per well, lower productivity per well, but more inventory, more resource, more NAV, lower breakeven oil price. And so if you look at some of our most recent wells using new development patterns, these are delivering -- these wells are delivering as we planned. Some are over plan, some are under plan, that's always the case. But importantly, some of these ones that are under plan, we're actually learning from those and improving. It's not just because they can't be improved. It's because there are things that we're learning and improving along the way.

但按照我們目前的成本結構，間距更寬、壓裂規模更大的開發模式實際上會留下相當可觀的經濟資源。因此，今天，正如您所說，我們的開發模式更加緊密，壓裂規模更小，每口井的成本更低，每口井的生產率更低，但庫存更多，資源更多，資產淨值更高，盈虧平衡油價更低。因此，如果您查看我們最近使用新開發模式的一些油井，您會發現它們正在按計劃交付。有些超出計劃，有些低於計劃，情況總是如此。但重要的是，對於一些正在計劃中的項目，我們實際上正在從中學習並改進。這不僅僅是因為它們無法改進。這是因為我們一路上都在學習和改進一些東西。

And I think some really important context that might not be visible to the market, especially related to some of these recent wells that we've been drilling is that there's been some temporary constraints or curtailments on the productivity, impacting perceived well producibility. A few examples of that in the Delaware Basin at the [Gar] facility, as we noted in the fourth quarter, we're actually curtailing production on those intentionally because of the low oil price that wasn't going to last very long. It was because of some pipeline maintenance that was going on at a really low price at Waha. And so we intentionally curtailed production for a while.

我認為，一些非常重要但市場可能看不到的背景信息，特別是與我們最近鑽探的一些油井相關的信息，就是生產力受到了一些暫時的限製或削減，影響了人們所認為的油井產能。舉幾個例子，位於特拉華盆地的 [Gar] 工廠，正如我們在第四季度指出的那樣，由於低油價不會持續很長時間，我們實際上正在有意削減這些工廠的產量。這是因為 Waha 正在進行一些管道維護，而且費用非常低。因此我們有意暫時減少產量。

Drilling and completion in the [Gar] area also actually significantly outpaced our facility logistics, and the facility just wasn't completely ready for that. That was -- that's been fixed since then. Also in the Delaware Basin, there's a facility called [Wild Jenny]. We currently have 14 producers into the [Wild Jenny] facility and have been producing for the last few months. If you looked at the production of those wells, you say, well, that's not really very exciting. But again, facility logistics, drilling and completions going faster than facilities have also constrained those wells' productivity for the last few months. We actually like the underlying performance, and we think the rock quality of those wells are actually really good.

[Gar] 地區的鑽井和完井實際上也大大超出了我們設施物流的速度，而設施還沒有完全做好準備。從那時起這個問題就被解決了。在德拉瓦盆地，還有一個名為[野生珍妮]。我們目前有 14 家生產商進入 [Wild Jenny] 工廠，並且已經生產了幾個月。如果你觀察過這些油井的產量，你會說，嗯，這真的不太令人興奮。但同樣，設施物流、鑽井和完井速度快於設施速度也限制了過去幾個月這些油井的生產力。我們確實喜歡其潛在的表現，而且我們認為這些井的岩石品質實際上非常好。

We've got 24 more turn-in lines into the [Wild Jenny] facility by the end of this year. And the production from those wells, even though it might -- on paper might not look all that great, the production from those have actually derisked those 24 turn-in lines. The facility is being worked on as we speak, being debottlenecked and being completed, actually. And we expect that all 38 of those wells will flow unconstrained or nearly unconstrained by the end of this year.

今年底，我們將為 [Wild Jenny] 設施新增 24 條上交線路。儘管從紙面上看這些油井的產量可能不是那麼好，但實際上它們已經降低了 24 條上交線的風險。正如我們所說，該設施目前正在建設中，實際上正在消除瓶頸並即將完工。我們預計，到今年年底，所有 38 口油井都將實現無限製或幾乎無限制地生產。

And perhaps most importantly, in the Midland Basin in the [wildfire] area, we've got the [Silver Belly] facility. And the [wildfire] is the area where we're going back in and drilling what we call overfills, which is we're drilling shallower zones where we, in prior years developed on the wider spacing with what we called mega fracs at the time. And there's some doubts or concerns out there about, well, what are these wells going to produce with those mega fracs down below them, they've been producing for a few years.

也許最重要的是，在[野火]地區的米德蘭盆地，我們有[銀腹]設施。而 [野火] 是我們要返回並鑽探所謂的過度填充的區域，也就是我們鑽探較淺的區域，前幾年我們在較寬的間距上開發了當時我們所說的大型壓裂。還有一些人有疑問或擔憂，這些油井在下方的大型壓裂作用下將會產出什麼，它們已經生產了好幾年了。

Well, at the [Silver Billy] facility, we had delays in delivering power to the facility, and we have electric compression there. So those -- that actually constrained early production from those wells as well. The wells were ready, but the facility wasn't completely ready. That power is now online. The electric compression is up and running and the performance of those wells have actually improved significantly.

嗯，在 [Silver Billy] 工廠，我們在向工廠輸送電力時遇到了延遲，而且我們在那裡進行電壓縮。所以這些其實也限制了這些油井的早期產量。水井已經準備好了，但設施尚未完全準備好。這種力量現在已上線。電壓縮已啟動並運行，這些井的性能實際上已顯著改善。

So the point to all of this is that it's a bit hazardous looking at either comparing well productivity today to two years ago when we were developing at a much different pattern. It's also a bit hazardous looking at short-term production from new wells when there might be constraints or other reasons at facilities. We look at the [wildfire] production and the wells that are online today and we actually believe that that's derisked quite a bit more drilling in that area.

所以，所有這一切的重點是，將今天的油井生產力與兩年前以截然不同的模式開發的油井生產力進行比較，這有點危險。當設施可能受到限製或其他原因時，考慮新井的短期生產也有點危險。我們觀察了[野火]生產和目前投入使用的油井，我們確實相信這可以降低該地區鑽探的風險。

Gosh. Very thorough answer, Steve. I appreciate that. I wonder if I could just put a bow on it. What is the sustaining capital in the Permian production? What is the spending run rate into '26?

天哪。非常透徹的回答，史蒂夫。我很感激。我不知道我是否可以把它打結。二疊紀生產的維持資本是多少？26 年的支出運行率是多少？

Doug, I think if you looked at us today, six rigs -- and if you adjust our numbers for the New Mexico sale this year, we're in the low 120 range. So I would say, going into '26 right now, six rigs, 120. And I think you need to look at a capital number, back half of this year will be lighter than that. So you're probably more in the six rigs range. Ben?

道格，我想如果你今天看我們，有六輛鑽機 - 如果你調整我們今年在新墨西哥州的銷售數字，我們的銷量在 120 輛出頭。所以我想說，現在進入 26 年，有 6 台鑽孔機，120 台。我認為你需要看一下資本數字，今年下半年的數字會比這還要輕。因此，您很可能處於六台鑽孔機的範圍內。本？

Yes. I think, Doug, just -- if you annualize second quarter through fourth quarter of this year, that will give you a decent proxy for next year, which is lower than '25 full year as expected with the cost savings initiatives, and we think there's even upside to that. But just from where we sit right now, if you annualize our second quarter through fourth quarter spend this year, that will give you a decent proxy for what to look at for next year on US capital.

是的。道格，我認為——如果你將今年第二季度到第四季度的數據進行年化，那麼就能為明年提供一個不錯的參考值，由於成本節約舉措，這一數字將低於 25 年全年的預期，而且我們認為這甚至還有上行空間。但就我們目前的情況來看，如果將今年第二季至第四季的支出按年化，就能很好地預測明年美國資本的走勢。

All right. Guys, I had five more questions, but you've taken a long time for this one, so I'm going to turn it back to someone else jump on. But thanks so much.

好的。夥計們，我還有五個問題，但你們花了很長時間才回答這個問題，所以我要把它交還給其他人。但非常感謝。

Thank you, Doug.

謝謝你，道格。

Michael Scialla, Stephens.

邁克爾·西亞拉，史蒂芬斯。

Good morning, everybody. I know Total pushed back on their second quarter call and the possibility they were ahead of schedule on Suriname and you're sticking with first oil in mid-'28, but is it fair to say that the fact you're increasing the budget for GranMorgu milestone payments reflects that the project's moving more quickly at least than you anticipated?

大家早安。我知道道達爾推遲了第二季度的計劃，並且他們可能提前完成了蘇利南項目的計劃，而你們堅持在 28 年中期產出第一批石油，但是，你們增加 GranMorgu 里程碑付款預算這一事實是否反映出該項目的進展至少比你們預期的要快？

Mike, what I'd say is, first of all, I really want to complement Total. I mean they stepped in, we FID'd this thing last fall, and they have gotten after it and they're really validating that we picked the right partner for Suriname. What I would say is overall project is moving as scheduled. What's actually moved from early next year payments to this year, you're seeing some milestones on some of the things like the FPSO moving a little quicker, but nothing that's going to change the overall project at this point or increase the overall cost. So it's just some of the noise, I'd call it, between a calendar year of what's getting paid because as you complete certain aspects of the infrastructure and things, those are due. So no real change at this point, but things are progressing very, very well.

麥克，我想說的是，首先，我真的想補充道達爾。我的意思是，他們介入了，我們在去年秋天對這件事做出了最終決定，他們已經開始行動，並且確實證實了我們為蘇利南選擇了正確的合作夥伴。我想說的是，整個專案正在按計劃進行。實際上，從明年年初的付款到今年，您會看到一些里程碑，例如 FPSO 的進展速度有所加快，但目前沒有任何因素會改變整個專案或增加整體成本。所以，我稱之為日曆年之間的一些噪音，因為當你完成基礎設施和事物的某些方面時，這些都是到期的。所以目前還沒有真正的變化，但事情進展得非常非常好。

Okay. Sounds good. I wanted to ask on Alaska. You gave a little bit of detail on that. I guess, on the technical work that's being done there, did I hear you correctly that it's just seismic reprocessing for a while and no drilling until the '26-'27 winter? I guess I wanted to get a progress report there and what you're looking at with the reprocessing.

好的。聽起來不錯。我想問一下阿拉斯加的情況。您對此給出了一些細節。我想，關於那裡正在進行的技術工作，我是否聽得正確，只是暫時進行地震再處理，直到 26-27 年冬天才進行鑽探？我想我想要得到一份進度報告，以及你對再處理的觀察。

Mike, if you step back two years ago and our partner originally spud three wells, three prospects on the block there. And the only one that got down, we ran into a shortened winter and they had some drilling challenges with the equipment. The only well we TD'd was King Street, and it was a successful discovery in the Brookian play. What King Street told us is that you can move 90 miles from any of the offset development, and we had a really high-quality sand.

麥克，如果你回顧兩年前，我們的合作夥伴最初鑽了三口井，那裡有三個勘探前景。這是我們唯一一個下井的人，我們遇到了一個縮短的冬季，他們在鑽井設備上遇到了一些挑戰。我們勘探的唯一一口井是 King Street 井，這是 Brookian 油田中的成功發現。國王街告訴我們，你可以從任何偏移開發區移動 90 英里，而且我們擁有真正高品質的沙子。

So when we looked at this year's program, we wanted to go in and drill one well. The well we elected to drill was Sockeye, it is not the largest prospect. But the reason we prioritize Sockeye this year was it had the highest quality seismic data. And what we were hoping to prove is Sockeye is one oil to high-quality sands. We did both of those, 25 feet of net pay. It's amplitude supported over 25,000 to 30,000 acres, really high-quality sand, and it's all oil. So -- and then the flow test confirmed the Perm is much better than what's being developed. So we're very, very happy.

因此，當我們審視今年的計劃時，我們想進去鑽一口井。我們選擇鑽探的井是 Sockeye 井，它並不是最大的勘探井。但我們今年優先考慮 Sockeye 的原因是它擁有最高品質的地震資料。我們希望證明的是，紅鮭魚是一種優質沙石油。我們都做了這兩項工作，淨薪為 25 英尺。它的面積超過 25,000 到 30,000 英畝，都是優質沙子，而且全部都是石油。所以——流動測試證實了 Perm 比正在開發的要好得多。所以我們非常非常高興。

When you step back, as I said, Sockeye was not the biggest prospect. We've got a bunch of different seismic surveys. And so with the success we've now had on both the east and the west side of the block, the next step is really, let's reprocess the seismic, put all these together because, quite frankly, where we place the next exploration well and then the timing and the plan on how we appraise Sockeye are important and a better picture across the whole block from a regional perspective is what's key right now. And it takes a little bit of time. And so there's a lot of data to integrate. It won't be just the seismic the technical teams are doing, they are going to be working. But yes, it's likely winter of '26 before we move a rig back out there. And Tracey, anything you want to say?

正如我所說，退一步來看，Sockeye 並不是最有前途的。我們進行了大量不同的地震勘測。因此，鑑於我們目前在該區塊東側和西側都取得的成功，下一步實際上是重新處理地震數據，將所有這些結合起來，因為坦率地說，我們在哪裡放置下一個勘探井以及我們如何評估 Sockeye 的時機和計劃很重要，從區域角度更好地了解整個區塊是現在的關鍵。這需要一點時間。因此需要整合大量數據。技術團隊所做的不只是地震調查，他們還會繼續工作。但是的，我們很可能要到 26 年冬天才能把鑽孔機移回那裡。崔西，您還有什麼想說的嗎？

John, I think you covered it. I think the most exciting thing, as John mentioned, was that we proved the play concept moving from the Pikka and Willow discoveries to the block on the other side of [Prudo Bay], which was a really big story. And I think we've just really been bolstered by the success that we've seen at Sockeye as well that further demonstrates a working hydrocarbon system with really good reservoir quality and an oil charge.

約翰，我想你已經講清楚了。我認為最令人興奮的事情是，正如約翰所提到的，我們證明了從皮卡和柳樹發現區轉移到 [普魯多灣] 另一側街區的遊戲概念，這是一個非常重要的故事。我認為我們在 Sockeye 取得的成功也讓我們備受鼓舞，這進一步證明了碳氫化合物系統具有良好的儲層品質和充注量。

Sounds good. Thank you very much.

聽起來不錯。非常感謝。

Thank you, Mike.

謝謝你，麥克。

Betty Jiang, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的 Betty Jiang。

Good morning. It's great to see North Sea taxes coming down so much in -- next year. Could you help us just impact what exactly is driving that drop? Does it mean the ARO spend is going up in a meaningful way next year? And if you could just remind us what's the general trajectory of that decommissioning activity over the next few years?

早安.很高興看到北海稅明年大幅下降。您能否幫助我們分析一下導致這種下降的確切原因？這是否意味著明年 ARO 支出將​​大幅增加？您能否提醒我們一下，未來幾年退役活動的整體軌跡是怎麼樣的？

Sure. Really, I'll just step back when you look at the US, this year, the team has done a really great job with the asset, as you can tell in the first half. We've gotten production higher than expected, and we've been -- and the team has been cutting a lot of costs there. And that's increased taxable income for this year.

當然。真的，當你看美國時，我只是退一步來看，今年，該團隊在資產方面做得非常出色，正如你在上半年看到的那樣。我們的產量已經超出了預期，而且我們團隊已經削減了大量成本。這就是今年增加的應稅所得。

But when you step back and consolidate everything, that means that free cash flow for that asset is also up at some point with production continuing to decline without investment in the asset in the future, it will be at a tax loss position and that at strip pricing and current investment levels, we think that, that's likely going to happen in 2026. Until then, we'll continue to manage productivity and cost on that asset and the profitability of that asset. But at some point, it will get to a tax loss position just inherently through the asset standing alone from regardless of the ARO spend. And so then you put ARO on there, it will increase next year compared to this year as we start to do more planning and decommission certain assets in the North Sea.

但是，當你退一步並整合所有因素時，這意味著該資產的自由現金流在某個時候也會上升，而如果未來沒有對該資產的投資，產量將繼續下降，它將處於稅收損失的境地，並且按照條帶定價和當前的投資水平，我們認為，這很可能會在 2026 年發生。在此之前，我們將繼續管理該資產的生產力和成本以及該資產的獲利能力。但在某個時候，無論 ARO 支出如何，它都會透過資產本身固有地進入稅收損失狀態。然後你把 ARO 放在那裡，隨著我們開始做更多的規劃和退役北海的某些資產，明年的 ARO 將會比今年增加。

What Steve said, I think a few quarters ago about the shape of that is it will increase pretty steadily from '25 and kind of peak in the 2030-2031 context and then decline from there into 2038. So all the while, the team is focused on safety and really managing those assets for profitability. The tax regime there has been challenging. But for us, we expect at some point, likely in the next, call it, 12 months or so, some point next year. There won't be taxable income there, and so we won't be paying cash taxes on that asset.

史蒂夫說過，我認為幾個季度前，這種趨勢將從 25 年開始穩步增長，並在 2030-2031 年達到峰值，然後從那裡下降到 2038 年。因此，團隊始終專注於安全並真正管理這些資產以實現盈利。那裡的稅收制度充滿挑戰。但對我們來說，我們預計在某個時候，可能是在接下來的12個月左右，明年的某個時候。那裡不會有應稅收入，所以我們不會為該資產繳納現金稅。

Got it. That's helpful color. My follow-up is on the free cash flow profile of the Egypt business. Just given the gas price improvement that you're seeing, the cost saving initiative that's being implemented now. Maybe one way of looking at the Egypt business is how much free cash flow do you think that business can generate on a sustainable basis?

知道了。這是很有幫助的顏色。我的後續問題是埃及業務的自由現金流狀況。鑑於您所看到的天然氣價格上漲，目前正在實施成本節約措施。也許看待埃及業務的一種方式是，您認為該業務能夠可持續地產生多少自由現金流？

Sure. I think when you step back this year and you look at the beginning of the year, where we were, we had some expectations for what we were going to do on the gas side, and we've clearly exceeded a lot of that this year. And with the increased gas production as well as the step change in the gas price, which you've seen quarter-on-quarter delivery, free cash flow for that asset net is up, and that includes the modest decline in oil that you'll see just year-on-year, '24, '25. And at this activity set with the oil -- with the oil investment that we're doing with about two-third of the activity on oil and one-third on gas, it will likely decline next year as well. But that's going to be more than offset by gas production and the gas price. And so BOEs, we expect will continue to grow and they'll grow this year. And think that, that trend can continue next year, and that implies a modest free cash flow increase year-on-year as well.

當然。我認為，當你回顧今年並回顧年初時，我們對天然氣方面的業績抱有一定期望，而今年我們顯然已經超越了許多預期。隨著天然氣產量的增加以及天然氣價格的逐步變化（您已經看到了季度環比交付），該資產淨值的自由現金流也在上升，這包括石油價格的溫和下降，您會看到 2024 年和 2025 年石油價格與去年同期相比有所下降。就石油投資而言，我們的三分之二投資於石油，三分之一投資於天然氣，明年這一比例也可能下降。但這將被天然氣產量和天然氣價格所抵消。因此，我們預期英國央行將繼續成長，今年也將如此。並認為，這種趨勢明年可以持續，這也意味著自由現金流將較去年同期適度增加。

Thank you for that detail.

感謝您提供的詳細資訊。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Paul Cheng, Scotiabank.

加拿大豐業銀行的 Paul Cheng。

Hi, good morning, guys. I don't know -- Ben. I don't know it's for John or for Steve. Just curious that, I mean, as you move to doing more gas, from an organizational capability standpoint as well as the equipment availability in Egypt, how big is the program you can do? I mean, if we set aside, say, the capital constraint, just looking at organizational capability, where is the constraint? Can we do the program? I mean, because -- it seems like you're so attractive on those developments. Can you do it faster? Do you have that capability? And also, if the market equipment can support it?

大家好，早安。我不知道——本。我不知道這是給約翰的還是給史蒂夫的。我只是好奇，我的意思是，當你轉向做更多的天然氣時，從組織能力的角度以及埃及的設備可用性來看，你可以做多大規模的專案？我的意思是，如果我們拋開資本限制，只看組織能力，那麼限制在哪裡？我們可以做這個程式嗎？我的意思是，因為——你似乎對這些發展很有吸引力。你能做得更快嗎？你有這個能力嗎？還有市場設備能支援嗎？

Paul, it's a great question. I'll jump in here, and then Steve can add if need be. But from an organizational standpoint, we've got the capacity. And if you step back and look at the Western Desert in the supplement, we put a picture in there that shows a lot of the infrastructure. We developed in the early 2000s of [field Caser], came on about $750 million a day, three Tcf.

保羅，這是一個很好的問題。我會加入進來，然後史蒂夫可以根據需要進行補充。但從組織的角度來看，我們有能力。如果你退一步看看補充資料中的西部沙漠，我們在那裡放了一張圖片，展示了許多基礎設施。我們在 21 世紀初開發了 [Caser 油田]，每天的產量約為 7.5 億美元，3 兆立方英尺。

So when you step back, I mean, I think the biggest thing for us is characterizing on the exploration side. I mean, we've historically been focused on oil for three decades. We've now been looking for gas for nine months. And so with the new acreage and the seismic, it's just -- it's letting the team have time to work up some of the larger exploration prospects and prioritizing those and drilling some of those are going to be the keys to setting us up in terms of what can we do in Egypt on the gas side. But it's a very, very gas-prone basin. There's a lot of potential. I think it's just going to take a little bit of time for us to work the entire 7.5 million acres.

所以當你退一步時，我的意思是，我認為對我們來說最重要的是在探索方面進行描述。我的意思是，我們歷史上三十年來一直專注於石油。我們已經尋找天然氣九個月了。因此，有了新的土地和地震，這只是——它讓團隊有時間去研究一些更大的勘探前景，並優先考慮這些勘探前景並鑽探其中一些，這將是我們在埃及天然氣方面可以做什麼的關鍵。但它是一個非常容易產生天然氣的盆地。有很大潛力。我認為我們只需要一點時間就能完成全部 750 萬英畝的土地。

And John, just curious on --

約翰只是好奇--

Yes, John, I'd just add on the -- on the gas processing side, if you look at field infrastructure on the gas processing side, we've got a significant amount of [olage] there. We've got -- we produce about around 500 million cubic feet a day today. We've actually got plant processing capacity of about 800 million cubic feet a day. And the limitation for us is really in the field around gathering and transport to the facilities. And in new areas, it's a need for trunk lines, and that's kind of fairly simple. In the producing areas, the legacy producing areas, we're dealing with pressure regimes as you're dealing with older legacy production that's lower pressure with the new gas discoveries and gas production volume that comes in at higher pressure, and that's a bit more complex in dealing with that.

是的，約翰，我只想補充一點——在天然氣處理方面，如果你看看天然氣處理方面的現場基礎設施​​，你會發現那裡有大量的 [olage]。我們目前每天的產量約為 5 億立方英尺。實際上，我們的工廠每天的處理能力約為 8 億立方英尺。而我們面臨的限制其實在於收集和運輸到設施的領域。在新地區，需要主幹線，這是相當簡單的。在生產區，也就是傳統生產區，我們要處理壓力狀況，就像處理舊的傳統生產一樣，壓力較低，而新發現的天然氣和產量是在較高壓力下產生的，處理起來要複雜一些。

We've been working through those limitations actually extremely effectively. But more infrastructure eventually will be needed if we have the exploration success that we actually anticipate we have for the long term. We'll need to develop low pressure and high pressure systems. We will need compression. And there are some other actually other existing or anticipated facilities in the area, third-party facilities where we're actually having conversations already with some of these third parties about could we get access to your capacity, which would lead to additional capacity much more easily available to us and a lot less capital and in some cases, readily available actually today. And I think in the longer term, exploration, as you mentioned, is going to determine the way forward around cost -- I mean, around growth.

我們一直在非常有效地克服這些限制。但如果我們能夠取得我們預期的長期勘探成功，最終就需要更多的基礎設施。我們需要開發低壓和高壓系統。我們需要壓縮。該地區實際上還有一些其他現有或預期的設施，第三方設施，我們實際上已經與其中一些第三方進行了對話，討論我們是否可以獲得你們的產能，這將使我們更容易獲得額外的產能，並且節省大量資金，在某些情況下，實際上今天就可以獲得。我認為從長遠來看，正如您所說，探索將決定成本方面的發展方向，也就是成長方面的發展方向。

Hey Steve, just curious, in the past, when you're developing oil, you have said you need about two workover rigs for one drilling rig. And that become a bottleneck because you just could not find enough of the workover rig. That's why you scale back in your program in oil. In gas, based on your experience that, what's that ratio?

嘿，史蒂夫，只是好奇，過去，當你開發石油時，你說過一台鑽井機需要大約兩台修井機。這就會變成一個瓶頸，因為你無法找到足夠的修井機。這就是你們縮減石油項目的原因。對於天然氣，根據您的經驗，該比例是多少？

Yes. In gas, it's not going to share the same ratio. And actually, we don't necessarily -- that ratio doesn't stay constant even on the oil side because we -- I think you were probably talking about the situation that we had a year or so ago, a couple of years ago when we were running -- at 1 point, we were running as many as 21 drilling rigs, and I think we had about 20 or 21 workover rigs running at the same time. And the issue on the oil side is that a lot of the oil wells have to be completed by a workover rig, and the drilling rig is not actually equipped to do that. We've actually moved to today, we can do more, not all, but more of the completions with the drilling rig. And because we're drilling more gas wells, you don't need as many workover rigs to handle the completions also.

是的。在天然氣中，它不會具有相同的比例。實際上，我們不一定——即使在石油方面，這個比例也不會保持不變，因為我們——我想你可能談論的是大約一年前、幾年前我們運行的情況——當時我們運行著多達 21 台鑽機，我想我們同時運行著大約 20 或 21 台修井機。石油方面的問題是，許多油井必須由修井機來完成，而鑽井機實際上並不具備完成這項任務的設備。實際上，到今天我們已經可以做更多的事情了，雖然不是全部，但可以用鑽孔機完成更多的完井工作。而且由於我們鑽探的氣井更多，因此不需要那麼多修井機來處理完井工作。

Yes. And the other factor that comes into play there is the deliverability of the gas wells and the targets. We've been looking for oil for 30 years, and gas, we've just started. So you'll have bigger targets relative. But -- so not a major problem on the workover rig count at this point.

是的。另一個起作用的因素是氣井和目標的產能。我們尋找石油已經 30 年了，而尋找天然氣才剛開始。因此你將有相對更大的目標。但是——目前修井機數量不存在重大問題。

Great. Final question. Steve, when you're talking about an upside to the 350, where you think that is the biggest source of that upside?

偉大的。最後一個問題。史蒂夫，當您談到 350 的優勢時，您認為其最大的優勢來源是什麼？

Sure. I'll start and hand it over to Steve. I'll start on the G&A or overhead part. We've made a lot of progress there. As I said in my prepared remarks, there have been some kind of quick wins that we've done. Right now, we've got a lot of simplification efforts ongoing in some of our larger corporate groups. And when you take all of those together, it's about seven different projects we're working on right now. It's about one-third of our total overhead. And so we'll work through that. The focus there is streamlining processes and making sure that we're being efficient with the use of technology. There's potential for AI to help out in that, and we're evaluating that. And the -- and it's also just making sure that everyone is being efficient with time and doing things that actually add value.

當然。我先開始，然後把它交給史蒂夫。我將從 G&A 或間接費用部分開始。我們在那裡取得了很大進展。正如我在準備好的演講中所說，我們已經取得了一些快速的成果。目前，我們正在一些較大的企業集團中進行大量簡化工作。如果把所有這些加在一起，我們現在正在進行大約七個不同的項目。這大約占我們總開銷的三分之一。所以我們會努力解決這個問題。重點是簡化流程並確保我們有效率地使用技術。人工智慧有可能在這方面提供幫助，我們正在對此進行評估。而且——這也只是為了確保每個人都能有效率地利用時間並做真正能增加價值的事情。

So we're starting with those seven groups, but that doesn't cover the whole organization. So you move into next year, the following year, there will be other groups that will be going through the simplification efforts. And we think that as we do that and streamline everything with a company that has manageable activity in front of it, that there's going to be upside to the overhead savings that we have and we've already captured this year. I'll turn it over to Steve to talk about additional -- on capital and LOE.

因此，我們從這七個小組開始，但這並不涵蓋整個組織。因此，進入明年、後年，將會有其他團體進行簡化工作。我們認為，當我們這樣做，並與一家擁有可管理活動的公司一起簡化一切時，我們現有的和今年已經實現的管理費用節省將會帶來好處。我將把它交給史蒂夫來談論有關資本和 LOE 的附加問題。

Yes. On the capital side, I think in the Midland Basin, we believe on a drilling and completion basis, we're actually competitive today with some of the best in the industry. And that doesn't mean that there's not opportunity for continued improvement because our competitors continue to improve as well. So obviously, we'll keep pushing for improvement there.

是的。在資本方面，我認為在米德蘭盆地，我們相信在鑽井和完井的基礎上，我們今天實際上可以與業內一些最優秀的公司競爭。但這並不意味著沒有繼續改進的機會，因為我們的競爭對手也在不斷改進。因此顯然，我們將繼續努力改進。

In the Delaware Basin, drilling and completions, we've improved quite a bit, but we're running at about industry average now that Delaware Basin is not as homogeneous as the Midland Basin is. So it's not necessarily comparable across the entire basin. But we do -- and we do think we're very good in some areas, but we do think there's also areas where we can continue to improve. I think across the entire basin, things like more use of simul frac, more drill-out optimization, which we've made some good strides there, drill out post completion, that is -- and we've accomplished quite a bit in the Midland Basin, particularly because of the pressure regime that we find in the Midland Basin, which is much lower than what we find in the Delaware Basin.

在特拉華盆地，我們的鑽井和完井工作已經有了很大的進步，但由於特拉華盆地不像米德蘭盆地那樣同質化，我們現在的運行水平大約處於行業平均水平。因此，整個盆地並不一定具有可比性。但我們確實認為——我們確實認為我們在某些​​領域做得很好，但我們也確實認為還有一些領域我們可以繼續改進。我認為在整個盆地中，我們會更多地使用模擬壓裂、更多地優化鑽井，我們在這方面已經取得了一些進展，也就是在完井後進行鑽井——我們在米德蘭盆地已經取得了相當大的成就，特別是因為我們發現米德蘭盆地的壓力狀況比特拉華盆地低得多。

But some of the things that we've done in the Midland Basin, can we transition or translate some of those in some form into the Delaware Basin, things like changes in casing programs, casing designs, drilling fluids, bottom hole assemblies and things like that, that we might be able to get into the Delaware Basin as well that have been instrumental in getting to improved rate of penetration in the Midland Basin and lowering total well costs.

但是，我們在米德蘭盆地所做的一些事情，我們能否以某種形式轉換或轉化到特拉華盆地，例如套管程序、套管設計、鑽井液、井底組件等的變化，我們可能也能夠進入特拉華盆地，這對於提高米德蘭盆地的滲透率和降低總井成本起到了重要作用。

I'd say also on the facilities side, we've probably -- we're moving away from greenfield type of facility construction, which we've done quite a bit of in the past. We're moving more towards brownfield activities, which will be less expensive. We've reduced facility spend on the magnitude of $50 million or a bit more from '24 to '25. We still had some greenfield activity even in '25. As we move into '26 and beyond, I think we're going to be predominantly brownfield type of facilities activity. And I think that there's an opportunity for further facilities capital spend reduction as well.

我想說的是，在設施方面，我們可能正在放棄綠地類型的設施建設，過去我們已經做過很多這樣的建設。我們正在更多地轉向棕地活動，這將更加便宜。從 24 年到 25 年，我們減少了 5,000 萬美元或更多的設施支出。即使在 1925 年，我們仍然有一些綠地活動。隨著我們進入 26 年及以後，我認為我們將主要進行棕地類型的設施活動。我認為還有機會進一步減少設施資本支出。

On the LOE side, I'll start with the obvious, and that is we've actually made little to no progress on the dollar side of LOE year-to-date in '25. So it's not contributing a whole lot to our improvement in costs so far this year. We're making progress today, not necessarily visible with the second quarter results, but we are making progress. And actually, second quarter was above our guide for LOE, but it was below first quarter LOE. And actually, the month of July has been the lowest month of LOE in the Permian that we've experienced to date this year. So we are making progress.

在 LOE 方面，我先從顯而易見的事情說起，那就是 25 年迄今為止，我們在 LOE 的美元方面幾乎沒有任何進展。因此，今年到目前為止，它對我們的成本改善並沒有太大貢獻。我們今天取得了進展，雖然第二季的業績不一定能反映出來，但我們正在取得進展。實際上，第二季的 LOE 高於我們的預期，但低於第一季的 LOE。實際上，7 月是今年迄今二疊紀盆地 LOE 最低的月份。所以我們正在取得進展。

Short term, I think we're benefiting from a move of accountability around certain types of costs out to the field, closer to where costs are incurred, and we're working more closely with vendors. We're seeing reductions coming in contract labor. We're seeing reductions in chemical usage. We anticipate more coming up in -- and we've done this in the past, too, just ESP to pump conversions using less power, more tankless batteries. We're seeing workover rig rationalization in the Permian due to the efficiency gains in our workover activities.

短期來看，我認為我們將受益於將某些類型的成本問責制轉移到現場，更接近成本產生的地方，我們正在與供應商進行更緊密的合作。我們看到合約工的數量正在減少。我們看到化學品的使用量正在減少。我們預計會有更多產品推出——我們過去也這樣做過，只是 ESP 可以使用更少的電力、更多的無水箱電池進行泵送轉換。由於修井作業效率的提高，二疊紀地區的修井機正趨於合理化。

I think longer term, there's some very high-return capital investment opportunities that will lower LOE, things around water disposal. Because water disposal hits us in two ways, actually, which is obviously the cost of third-party water disposal. But also as many operators are experiencing in the Permian today, we're getting water takeaway constraints from time to time, and actually, it results in curtailing production volume. And so when you have control over your own water disposal, it benefits you in both ways, compression, in the field compression, we need to go to a larger scale, more centralized, therefore, more efficient and more reliable compression systems.

我認為從長遠來看，有一些高回報的資本投資機會可以降低 LOE，以及與水處理有關的事情。因為水處理其實對我們有兩個影響，顯然是第三方水處理的成本。但正如許多業者今天在二疊紀盆地所經歷的那樣，我們不時會遇到取水限制，實際上，這會導致產量減少。因此，當您控制自己的水處理時，它會給您帶來雙重好處，壓縮，在現場壓縮中，我們需要更大規模、更集中，因此，壓縮系統更有效率、更可靠。

And just overall, continuing to improve the leverage of technology around recognizing and addressing issues in the field more timely so the production volume, which might be constrained or offline, gets back online quicker and you do it in a more targeted basis instead of the old-fashioned way of someone visiting every site every day and just getting ahead of some of those things in the field and being more preventative instead of reactive. So I think there's quite a bit of opportunity on the LOE side. And I didn't mention, but good LOE reduction activities going on in Egypt and North Sea as well.

總體而言，繼續提高技術槓桿作用，以便更及時地識別和解決現場問題，從而使可能受到限製或離線的生產量更快地恢復在線，並且可以更有針對性地進行操作，而不是像以前那樣，每天有人訪問每個站點，只是提前處理現場的一些問題，並且更具預防性，而不是被動反應。所以我認為 LOE 方面有很多機會。我還沒有提到，埃及和北海也正在進行良好的 LOE 減少活動。

David Deckelbaum, TD Cowen.

大衛·德克爾鮑姆（David Deckelbaum），TD Cowen。

Thanks, John and the team for getting me on. I wanted to follow up -- I appreciate it. I was hoping for a little bit more detail on the additional Egyptian acreage and the award there. Just to confirm, one, that -- is there any performance that APA needs to perform in terms of activity levels, et cetera, to earn into this award? Or should we just view this as a concession because you've been a solid operator in the area? And then how do you all think about the incremental acreage from an infrastructure perspective? It looks like aerially, that things are well tied in. But I guess as we think about over the next couple of years, is this an area that you're going to have to add additional infrastructure capital to?

感謝約翰和他的團隊讓我加入。我想跟進——我很感激。我希望能更詳細地了解埃及新增種植面積和那裡獲得的獎項。只是為了確認一下，第一，APA 需要在活動水平等方面表現出色才能獲得該獎項嗎？或者我們應該將此視為一種讓步，因為您一直是該地區的可靠經營者？那麼從基礎建設的角度來說，你們如何看待增量種植面積呢？從空中看，一切似乎都已完美結合。但我想，當我們考慮未來幾年時，這是您必須增加額外基礎設施資本的領域嗎？

Yes. It's something we integrate in. Some of the acreage we've had in the past, some of it we haven't. There is a bonus we pay that gets netted off of our past due receivables. And there are a number of wells we'll drill which get rolled into the program. So in general, you should think of it as just adding to our existing program on our merged concession, which is how this acreage gets rolled in and gets treated. It becomes car really just part on the infrastructure side of both the oil and gas programs with success in areas we'll need to build out and add on. But as you see from the map in the supplement, we've got quite a good backbone across the desert. And so it's something that we will look to add to and build on with success. So -- but just think of it as adding to our going concern. Egypt, we've gone up from 5.5 million acres now to 7.5. Activity levels today are going to stay the same. But we'll be drilling on this acreage in the fourth quarter.

是的。這是我們融入其中的東西。有些土地是我們過去擁有的，有些土地現在卻沒有了。我們支付的獎金是從逾期應收帳款中扣除的。我們將鑽探多口井，這些井都納入該計劃。因此，總的來說，您應該將其視為對我們現有合併特許權計劃的補充，這就是這些土地如何被納入和處理的方式。它實際上只是石油和天然氣項目基礎設施的一部分，在我們需要建設和擴建的地區取得了成功。但正如您從補充地圖上看到的，我們在穿越沙漠時擁有相當好的骨幹力量。因此，我們希望能夠進一步發展並取得成功。所以——但只要把它看作是對我們持續經營的補充即可。埃及，我們的種植面積已從550萬英畝增加到750萬英畝。今天的活動水準將保持不變。但我們將在第四季度對該區域進行鑽探。

Appreciate that, John. And then just for my follow-up, as you think about this new long-term net debt target of $3 billion, which appears like you're going to achieve in relatively short order, especially with the benefits of taxation next year, when you get there, how do you think about capital from beyond that in terms of free cash, just given the fact that you have a fairly robust exploration portfolio relative to returns of capital?

非常感謝，約翰。然後，我的後續問題是，當您考慮這個新的 30 億美元的長期淨債務目標時，這似乎將在相對較短的時間內實現，特別是考慮到明年的稅收優惠，當您實現這一目標時，考慮到您擁有相對於資本回報而言相當強勁的勘探投資組合，您如何看待超出這一目標的資本（從自由現金的角度而言）？

Yes. I mean, if you -- I mean I'll step back and then let Ben jump in, but we've tried to be really smart, right? I mean, when you look at what we did in Suriname when we brought in a partner, we banked on the fact that to really get value for this block, we needed to FID a project. And we structured the agreement accordingly. So as you're now going through development scenario, Total is carrying a large portion of our capital, and it enables us to stick to our returns framework without having to sell a lot of assets or do other things. And so we've tried to be really smart and think longer term about the balance sheet and think about how do you fund these types of projects in the future.

是的。我的意思是，如果你——我的意思是我會退後一步，然後讓本加入，但我們已經盡力變得非常聰明了，對吧？我的意思是，當你看到我們在蘇利南引入合作夥伴時所做的事情時，我們相信，要真正為這個區塊創造價值，我們需要對專案進行 FID。我們也據此制定了協議。因此，正如您現在所經歷的發展情景一樣，道達爾承擔著我們很大一部分資本，這使我們能夠堅持我們的回報框架，而不必出售大量資產或做其他事情。因此，我們努力做到真正明智，從更長遠的角度考慮資產負債表，並思考未來如何為這些類型的專案提供資金。

Yes. And we made it a net debt target. From time to time, we'll have cash on the balance sheet. I think that provides a lot of flexibility. To your point, just organically expect to get there in the foreseeable future. But when you have different priorities like John mentioned, whether it's exploration and investing in in the future or decommissioning assets, which we know is coming in the coming years and it has been. We've been decommissioning for quite a few years now. It really helps us to manage that risk and deliver returns. It's the responsible way to do it without eroding shareholder value.

是的。我們將其設定為淨債務目標。有時，我們的資產負債表上會出現現金。我認為這提供了很大的靈活性。正如您所說，只是自然而然地期望在可預見的未來實現這一目標。但是當你有不同的優先事項時，就像約翰提到的那樣，無論是未來的探索和投資還是退役資產，我們都知道這將在未來幾年內發生，而且已經發生了。我們已經退役好幾年了。它確實幫助我們管理風險並帶來回報。這是負責任的做法，不會損害股東價值。

And so really provides flexibility. And just stepping back, one comment you mentioned on the taxes. The One Big Beautiful Bill, the intent of that was -- that legislation really was for the favorable tax treatment for industries like ours that are highly capital-intensive for tax treatment for intangible drilling costs to be beneficial. And so when we look at that, we think it's durable and will continue for years as long as that legislation is intact, and that provides a lot of tailwinds for the industry and definitely for Apache.

因此確實提供了靈活性。回過頭來說，您提到了有關稅收的一條評論。《一項美麗大法案》的目的在於——這項立法實際上是為了給像我們這樣的資本密集型行業提供優惠的稅收待遇，使無形鑽井成本的稅收待遇變得有利。因此，當我們審視這一點時，我們認為只要該立法完好無損，它就會持久並持續多年，這將為該行業，尤其是 Apache 提供大量順風。

And so that helps when you think about shareholder returns and when you think about deleveraging, there's a lot of positive momentum for that. And we'll be flexible with how we deploy that capital, but focused on shareholder value, that net debt target once we do achieve that we'll step back and reevaluate. But believe that the durability of our cash flows and a lot of other momentum that we have, we'll be able to get there as well as invest in the future and return capital to shareholders.

因此，當您考慮股東回報和去槓桿時，這會有所幫助，因為這會帶來許多積極的動力。我們將靈活地部署這些資本，但重點關注股東價值，一旦我們實現淨債務目標，我們就會退一步重新評估。但相信我們現金流的持久性和我們擁有的許多其他動力，我們將能夠實現這一目標並投資未來並向股東返還資本。

Thanks, Ben. Thanks, guys.

謝謝，本。謝謝大家。

Thank you. This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn it back to John Christmann, CEO, for closing remarks.

謝謝。問答環節到此結束。現在我想請執行長約翰·克里斯特曼 (John Christmann) 致最後總結。

Thank you. Our strong second quarter results reflect the hard work of our entire organization, and specifically, the integration of the technical teams in the field and the execution across everywhere. We built strong momentum for the back half of the year and well into 2026. We are outpacing our expectations on capital efficiency gains and cost reduction initiatives while continuing to make progress on net debt reduction and shareholder returns. We have bolstered our core assets with a step change in capital efficiency in the Permian and the direct award of 2 million acres in Egypt, along with the early success of the gas program.

謝謝。我們第二季的強勁業績反映了我們整個組織的辛勤工作，特別是現場技術團隊的整合和各地的執行。我們為今年下半年以及 2026 年建立了強勁的發展勢頭。我們在資本效率提升和成本削減措施方面超出了預期，同時在淨債務削減和股東回報方面繼續取得進展。我們透過二疊紀資本效率的大幅提升、在埃及直接授予 200 萬英畝土地以及天然氣項目的早期成功增強了我們的核心資產。

The GranMorgu project in Suriname is progressing on schedule, and we remain very optimistic on the impact of our exploration portfolio [that what] it can have on the corporation. With that, I will turn the call back over to the operator, and thank you very much for joining us today.

蘇利南的 GranMorgu 專案正在按計劃進行，我們對我們的勘探組合對公司的影響仍然非常樂觀。說完這些，我將把電話轉回給接線生，非常感謝您今天的參與。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。