Black Stone Minerals LP (BSM) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Black Stone Minerals First Quarter 2023 Earnings Release. (Operator Instructions) Please note this call will be recorded, and I will be standing by if you should need any assistance.

大家好，歡迎閱讀今天 Black Stone Minerals 2023 年第一季收益發布。 （操作員說明）請注意，此通話將被錄音，如果您需要任何協助，我將隨時待命。

It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Mr. Steve Putman, Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Please go ahead.

現在我很高興將會議交給資深副總裁兼總法律顧問 Steve Putman 先生。請繼續。

Thanks, Todd, and good morning to everyone. Thanks for joining us either by phone or online for Black Stone's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded and will be available on our website along with the earnings release that was issued last night. Before we start, I'd like to advise you that we will be making forward-looking statements during this call about our plans, expectations and assumptions regarding our future performance. These statements involve risks that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. For a discussion of these risks, you should refer to the cautionary information about forward-looking statements in our press release from yesterday and the Risk Factors section of our 2022 10-K and our 10-Q later. 

謝謝托德，祝大家早安。感謝您透過電話或線上方式參加 Black Stone 2023 年第一季財報電話會議。今天的電話會議正在錄音，並將與昨晚發布的收益報告一起發佈在我們的網站上。在我們開始之前，我想告訴您，我們將在本次電話會議中就我們未來業績的計劃、期望和假設做出前瞻性聲明。這些陳述涉及可能導致我們的實際結果與我們的前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異的風險。有關這些風險的討論，您應該參閱我們昨天的新聞稿中有關前瞻性陳述的警示信息以及我們的 2022 年 10-K 和稍後的 10-Q 的風險因素部分。

We may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are useful in evaluating our performance. Reconciliation of those measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure and other information about these non-GAAP metrics are described in our earnings press release from yesterday, which can be found on our website at www.blackstoneminerals.com.

我們可能會參考某些我們認為有助於評估我們績效的非公認會計準則財務指標。我們昨天發布的收益新聞稿中描述了這些指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的協調以及有關這些非 GAAP 指標的其他信息，該新聞稿可以在我們的網站 www.blackstoneminerals.com 上找到。

Joining me on the call from the company are Tom Carter, Chairman and CEO; Evan Kiefer, Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; Carrie Clark, Senior Vice President, Land and Commercial; Garrett Gremillion, Vice President of Engineering and Geology; and Thad Montgomery, Vice President of Land.

與我一起參加電話會議的有公司董事長兼執行長湯姆·卡特 (Tom Carter)；基弗 (Evan Kiefer)，臨時財務長兼財務主管； Carrie Clark，土地和商業高級副總裁； Garrett Gremillion，工程與地質副總裁；和土地副總裁薩德·蒙哥馬利。

I'll now turn the call over to Tom.

我現在會把電話轉給湯姆。

Thanks, Steve. Good morning to you all, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our first quarter 2013 results. We posted a strong quarter and despite headwinds in the current pricing environment, we continue to see success in our development programs with Aethon and various operators in the chalk, among others. We generated total production volumes for the quarter of 39,300 BOE per day, a decrease of 8% from our fourth quarter volumes. The primary driver of that reduced oil volumes in the Permian. Fourth quarter '22 volumes were unusually high due to first-time payments from several major operators that span multiple months that were collected in that period. Royalty volumes came in at 36.8 MBoe per day and 24% above the first quarter of 2022. We continue to see strong production in the Haynesville/Bossier, both Louisiana and in the Shelby Trough in East Texas. Aethon continues to ramp up production in the Shelby Trough and had 5 rigs on location at the end of the quarter and is expected to meet the minimum pace of 27 wells per year by the end of the year in Angelina and San Augustine counties. 

謝謝，史蒂夫。大家早安，感謝您今天加入我們討論我們 2013 年第一季的業績。我們發布了強勁的季度業績，儘管當前定價環境存在阻力，但我們與 Aethon 和各種營運商等的開發計劃繼續取得成功。我們本季的總產量為每天 39,300 桶油當量，比第四季的產量減少了 8%。這是二疊紀石油產量減少的主要原因。 22 年第四季的交易量異常高，因為幾家主要營運商在此期間收取了跨多個月的首次付款。特許權使用費產量為每天36.8 MBoe，比2022 年第一季增長24%。強勁。 Aethon 繼續提高謝爾比海槽的產量，並在本季末擁有 5 個鑽井平台，預計到年底將在安吉麗娜縣和聖奧古斯丁縣達到每年 27 口井的最低速度。

To date, 20 wells have been turned to sales in the Shelby Trough under our development agreements with Aethon, 6 new wells since the beginning of the year and another 19 are in various stages of drilling and/or completion. In addition, 21 new gen multistage completions -- completion wells have been turned to sales in our concentrated acreage position in the East Texas Austin Chalk, with potential for an additional 14 wells this year. It is exciting to see the positive momentum from the organic initiatives that we focused on over the last couple of years, and we continue to work putting in place new long-term development deals to further accelerate production on our acreage with minimal capital requirements. This strategy has created incentives to continue developing through the commodity cycles, and we have expected to add long-term value to Black Stone and its unitholders. We saw a decrease in rigs operating on our acreage in the first quarter with 78 rigs running currently running on our acreage as of March 31.

到目前為止，根據我們與 Aethon 的開發協議，Shelby Trough 的 20 口井已轉為銷售，自年初以來有 6 口新井，另外 19 口井處於不同的鑽探和/或完井階段。此外，21口新一代多級完井——完井井已轉為銷售，位於德克薩斯州東部Austin Chalk的集中區域，今年還有可能再銷售14口。令人興奮的是，我們過去幾年重點關注的有機舉措所帶來的積極勢頭，我們將繼續努力製定新的長期開發協議，以最低的資本要求進一步加快我們土地的生產。這項策略創造了在商品週期中繼續發展的動力，我們預計將為黑石及其單位持有者增加長期價值。截至 3 月 31 日，我們發現第一季在我們的油田上運行的鑽井平台數量有所減少，目前在我們的油田上運行的鑽井平台數量為 78 台。

The decrease was driven largely from the Permian where we had a higher-than-average number of rigs in the fourth quarter. Black Stone's averages approximately 10% to 15% of the U.S. rigs drilling on our acreage and expect that to continue going forward. Despite the lower rig count in the first quarter, permitted activity in the first quarter remained in line with the fourth quarter with over 400 horizontal permits added on our acreage. Realized prices for the first quarter were approximately $77 per barrel and $3.50 per MMBtu.

這一下降主要是由於二疊紀地區第四季的鑽機數量高於平均值。 Black Stone 平均約占美國鑽機的 10% 至 15% 在我們的土地上進行鑽探，並預計這種情況將繼續下去。儘管第一季的鑽機數量有所減少，但第一季的許可活動與第四季度保持一致，我們的面積增加了 400 多個水平許可。第一季的實際價格約為每桶 77 美元和每 MMBtu 3.50 美元。

While both crude and natural gas were down in the quarter, we saw the benefit of our hedge portfolio, bringing in over $13 million for the quarter with hedge natural gas prices over $5 per MMBtu. We reported adjusted EBITDA of $109 million and distributable cash flow of $104 million for the first quarter, both up 11% to 12% from the first quarter of 2022.

雖然本季原油和天然氣價格均下跌，但我們看到了對沖投資組合的好處，本季帶來了超過 1,300 萬美元的收益，對沖天然氣價格超過每 MMBtu 5 美元。我們報告第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 1.09 億美元，可分配現金流量為 1.04 億美元，均較 2022 年第一季成長 11% 至 12%。

Despite some challenges with natural gas prices, we're confident in our guidance, and we're able to maintain the highest distribution Black Stone has had as a public company at $0.475 per unit for the first quarter. Overall, it was a great start to the year, and we continue to work on our new and existing operators to continue driving activity on our acreage.

儘管天然氣價格面臨一些挑戰，但我們對我們的指導充滿信心，並且我們能夠維持 Black Stone 作為上市公司第一季每單位 0.475 美元的最高分配。總體而言，這是今年的一個良好開端，我們將繼續與新的和現有的營運商合作，以繼續推動我們土地上的活動。

With that, I'll turn it over to Evan to walk through the details of the quarter.

這樣，我將把它交給埃文，讓他詳細介紹本季的細節。

Thank you, Tom, and good morning to everyone. After several record-setting quarters, oil and gas volumes came in lower for the first quarter. Our royalty volumes for the first quarter, as Tom mentioned, totaled 36.8 MBoe per day, which was down 8% relative to the fourth quarter, and total production for the quarter was 39.3 MBoe per day. We received the benefit of several new payments coming in from volumes that span multiple periods in the Haynesville and Permian in the fourth quarter of 2022. As a result, the first quarter oil volumes were down primarily in the Permian, where as we just mentioned, that there are several first-time payments from multiple operators that was collected over that period. While this is temporary in nature, the benefit of a large diversified mineral position is that this does occur from time to time, although it is difficult predicting it going forward. 

謝謝你，湯姆，祝大家早安。在經歷了幾個創紀錄的季度後，第一季石油和天然氣產量下降。正如 Tom 所提到的，我們第一季的特許權使用費總額為每天 36.8 MBoe，比第四季度下降了 8%，該季度的總產量為每天 39.3 MBoe。我們從2022 年第四季海恩斯維爾和二疊紀多個時期的石油產量中獲得了幾筆新付款的好處。所提到的，在此期間，多個運營商收取了多筆首次付款。雖然這本質上是暫時的，但大規模多元化礦產部位的好處是，這種情況確實會不時發生，儘管很難預測它的未來。

And speaking of the Permian, we saw a decrease in rig activity on our acreage in the first quarter, which was down from 108 rigs at the end of the year. The decrease in rig activity was primarily driven by a significant number of rigs added on our Permian acreage in December, where we saw that move off in the first quarter. As you would expect, we see these ebbs and flows as operators move on and off our acreage as part of their normal development plans and expect to see the benefit of that drilling activity later this year. We also saw a rig reduction in the Haynesville in response to lower gas prices, which was contemplated in our full year guidance. These ebbs and flows in development activity for mineral owners is just one of the high- or just highlights the importance of the organic initiatives that we have been focusing on over the last couple of years. As Tom mentioned, Aethon has recently turned to sale 6 new wells and is expected to meet their minimum well commitments this year. 

說到二疊紀，我們發現第一季鑽機活動減少，較年底的 108 台下降。鑽機活動的減少主要是由於 12 月我們的二疊紀地區增加了大量鑽機，我們在第一季看到了這一情況的減少。正如您所期望的那樣，隨著運營商在我們的土地上進出，作為其正常開發計劃的一部分，我們會看到這些潮起潮落，並預計今年晚些時候會看到鑽探活動的好處。我們還看到海恩斯維爾的鑽機數量減少，以應對較低的天然氣價格，這在我們的全年指導中得到了考慮。礦主開發活動的潮起潮落只是其中之一，或者只是凸顯了我們過去幾年一直關注的有機措施的重要性。正如 Tom 所提到的，Aethon 最近開始銷售 6 口新井，預計今年將實現最低井量承諾。

We've also made headway in the Austin Chalk, where we have 21 new generation multi-stage generation wells online to date and are expecting potential for 14 more this year. These are just 2 areas of our portfolio where we see 10 to 20 years of future development activity, and we're excited to see continued momentum from the operators there.

我們在 Austin Chalk 也取得了進展，迄今為止，我們已在線上擁有 21 口新一代多級生成井，預計今年還有可能再增加 14 口。這些只是我們投資組合中的兩個領域，我們預計未來 10 到 20 年的開發活動將在這些領域進行，我們很高興看到這些領域的營運商持續保持發展勢頭。

Realized prices per BOE for the first quarter were approximately $33 per barrel, which was a decrease of 35% relative to the $51 per barrel seen in the fourth quarter. This just highlights the importance of our hedge program that is designed to provide some stability to our cash flows and provide downside protection in periods of high volatility.

第一季每桶油當量的實現價格約為每桶 33 美元，較第四季的每桶 51 美元下降了 35%。這凸顯了我們對沖計劃的重要性，該計劃旨在為我們的現金流提供一定的穩定性，並在高波動時期提供下行保護。

Our hedges brought in $13.3 million of realized hedge gains in the first quarter where the average strike price for natural gas was over $5 per MMbtu and approximately $80 per barrel for crude oil. These hedges will continue to provide support for our cash flows this year in the challenged pricing environment we currently face. We continue to add to our 2024 hedge position with an average strike price for natural gas at $3.64 per MMbtu and crude at $69.79 per barrel. 

我們的對沖在第一季帶來了 1,330 萬美元的已實現對沖收益，其中天然氣的平均執行價格超過每百萬英熱單位 5 美元，原油的平均執行價格約為每桶 80 美元。在我們目前面臨的充滿挑戰的定價環境中，這些對沖將繼續為我們今年的現金流提供支援。我們繼續增加 2024 年對沖頭寸，天然氣平均執行價格為每百萬英熱單位 3.64 美元，原油平均執行價格為每桶 69.79 美元。

We will continue to build the 2024 position, targeting approximately 70-plus percent of our estimated volumes throughout the remainder of the year. For the first quarter, we reported $109.9 million of adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow for the quarter of $104.1 million. This is down 17% from last quarter, but our financial results benefited from a solid quarter of lease bonus at almost $4 million as well as reduced cash operating costs of approximately $3 million compared to the fourth quarter. Our total debt balance was $0 at the end of the quarter, and we currently have $66 million of cash on the balance sheet today prior to the distribution payment later this month. The borrowing base for our revolving credit facility was reaffirmed at $550 million with $375 million of commitments in April. Given the undrawn revolver and cash generated in the quarter, our Board of Directors supported maintaining the existing distribution of $0.475 per unit, which translates to 1.04x coverage for the quarter. 

我們將繼續鞏固 2024 年的地位，目標是在今年剩餘時間內實現預計銷量的約 70% 以上。第一季度，我們報告調整後 EBITDA 為 1.099 億美元，本季可分配現金流量為 1.041 億美元。這比上季度下降了 17%，但我們的財務業績得益於穩定的季度租賃獎金（近 400 萬美元）以及與第四季度相比減少的約 300 萬美元的現金營運成本。本季末我們的總債務餘額為 0 美元，在本月稍後進行分配付款之前，我們目前的資產負債表上有 6,600 萬美元的現金。 4 月份，我們的循環信貸安排的借款基礎重申為 5.5 億美元，承諾金額為 3.75 億美元。考慮到本季未提取的左輪手槍和產生的現金，我們的董事會支持維持每單位 0.475 美元的現有分配，這意味著本季的覆蓋範圍為 1.04 倍。

And with that, we'll go ahead and open the call for questions.

接下來，我們將開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Derrick Whitfield with Stifel.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Stifel 的 Derrick Whitfield。

For my first question, I wanted to focus on your 2023 guidance. Assuming the midpoint of the guide that you laid out in Q4, the implied trajectory for the balance of 2023 would be 2,000 barrels per day up on oil and $40 million to $50 million down on gas. Is that an accurate depiction of your projections based on wells in process? Or is it just simply too early to update guidance?

對於第一個問題，我想專注於你們的 2023 年指導。假設您在第四季制定的指南的中點，2023 年剩餘時間的隱含軌跡將是石油每天增加 2,000 桶，天然氣每天減少 4,000 萬至 5,000 萬美元。這是基於在建井的預測的準確描述嗎？或者現在更新指南還為時過早？

Yes. Thanks, Derrick. This is Evan, and thanks for the question. Yes. Typically in the past, we've always updated our guidance in the middle of the year. And I think just really right now with where the gas price environment is, we're still looking to see where rig counts and everything settles out in really the Louisiana Haynesville side before we update that guidance. Right now, we got off to a strong start on the gas volumes, particularly with the existing contracts with Aethon and everything in place with the Shelby Trough. And so we're really just planning on waiting until the 2Q update whenever we'll put out revised guidance numbers for everyone.

是的。謝謝，德里克。我是埃文，謝謝你的提問。是的。通常在過去，我們總是在年中更新我們的指導。我認為，就目前的天然氣價格環境而言，我們仍在關注鑽機數量以及路易斯安那州海恩斯維爾方面的一切情況，然後再更新該指南。目前，我們在天然氣產量方面取得了良好的開端，特別是與 Aethon 簽訂的現有合約以及謝爾比槽的一切都已到位。因此，我們實際上只是計劃等到第二季更新，屆時我們將為每個人發布修訂後的指導數字。

Terrific. That makes sense. And then as my follow-up and maybe leaning out on the gas side. With regard to your higher NRI development with Aethon and Exxon, are you expecting a change in operating behaviors as it relates to completion, flowback and/or curtailment activities?

了不起。這就說得通了。然後作為我的後續行動，也許會向汽油側傾斜。關於您與 Aethon 和 Exxon 的更高 NRI 發展，您是否期望與完井、回流和/或削減活動相關的營運行為會改變？

Yes. So really focusing on the Shelby Trough with Aethon and even Exxon, as you mentioned. We don't see any change in the current development pace or completion schedules there. With the development agreements we have in place, there are criteria that requires them to drill and complete those wells. So as you probably remember, several years ago, we did have wells that were spud and then waited several years actually to be turned to sales. And so we've incorporated that knowledge into the current agreement that limits the amount of time from spud to overall completion in the Shelby Trough. And so we do not expect any major delays due to completion timing or changing of operations in the area.

是的。因此，正如您所提到的，與 Aethon 甚至埃克森美孚一起真正關注謝爾比槽。我們認為目前的開發速度或完成時間表沒有任何變化。根據我們簽訂的開發協議，有一些標準要求他們鑽探和完井。正如您可能還記得的那樣，幾年前，我們確實有一些油井已經開工，然後等待了幾年才真正轉向銷售。因此，我們已將這些知識納入當前協議中，該協議限制了謝爾比海槽從開工到整體完工的時間。因此，我們預計不會因竣工時間或該地區的營運變更而造成任何重大延誤。

Our next question comes from Tim Rezvan with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Tim Rezvan。

I'd like to first ask about, I guess, Evan's final prepared comments on the distribution. You have the balance sheet flexibility to kind of -- you have essentially 100% of distributable cash flow, and you were near that level in the second quarter. But the gas price environment is sort of challenged in the near term. How do you think about -- or how should investors think about a payout ratio kind of going forward? I mean you could keep that $0.475 and draw on the balance sheet, but maybe that doesn't seem optimal. How are you thinking about that distribution longer term and the payout?

我想先詢問艾文對發行版最後準備的評論。你的資產負債表具有一定的靈活性——你基本上擁有 100% 的可分配現金流，而且第二季就接近這個水準。但天然氣價格環境在短期內受到了挑戰。您如何看待—或者投資者應該如何看待未來的派息率？我的意思是你可以保留那 0.475 美元並在資產負債表上提取，但這似乎不是最佳選擇。您如何看待長期分配和支出？

Yes, Tim, thanks. And this is Evan again. That's a great question and something that we look at a lot internally. And so right now, at a 1.04x coverage and really just with where the balance sheet is today, we do feel comfortable maintaining a little bit lower coverage in the near term, something that we always look for as we establish our distribution policy and what we look for going forward is something that we can have a stable to slightly growing distribution as we look at our forecast.

是的，提姆，謝謝。這又是埃文。這是一個很好的問題，也是我們內部經常關注的問題。因此，現在，在1.04 倍的覆蓋率下，而且實際上與今天的資產負債表狀況一樣，我們確實感到在短期內保持較低的覆蓋率是很舒服的，這是我們在製定分配政策時一直尋求的東西我們希望未來在我們的預測中能夠有一個穩定到略有增長的分佈。

And so I recognize that right now, there is some challenges on the natural gas side as well as potential volumes resulting in those lower prices. And as we continue to look at our forecast going forward, we'll revise and look at what we think the appropriate level is quarter-to-quarter.

因此，我認識到，目前天然氣方面存在一些挑戰，以及導致價格較低的潛在產量。當我們繼續審視未來的預測時，我們將修改並審視我們認為每季的適當水準。

But whenever we set out that number and held that flat for the fourth quarter and the latest distribution, we were still expecting to have decent coverage going forward. And that's where we'll continue to look at that and potentially adjust as necessary if things change in the future. But really with the Aethon development agreements and even the Austin Chalk, where we expect to see ramping up production for the second half of the year, we still see growing volumes potentially from those areas that may mitigate some of the risks in the others, and that gives us confidence in the current guidance that we have outstanding.

但每當我們設定這個數字並在第四季度和最新的分配中保持不變時，我們仍然期望未來會有不錯的覆蓋範圍。我們將繼續關注這一點，如果未來情況發生變化，我們可能會根據需要進行調整。但實際上，透過 Aethon 開發協議，甚至是 Austin Chalk，我們預計下半年產量將增加，我們仍然看到這些地區的產量可能會增加，這可能會減輕其他地區的一些風險，並且這讓我們對當前出色的指導充滿信心。

Okay. That's helpful. And I guess we'll stay tuned on the new royalty production. For my second question, I'd like to dig into the track a bit more, some pretty constructive comments on visibility provided. So how should we -- can you generalize kind of the oil cuts of these talk wells coming on? I know it's variable across the play. And when we could really start seeing that impact total production? Do you think that's more a 3Q event? Should we look this quarter? When does the Chalk really become a big wedge in total production for you all?

好的。這很有幫助。我想我們會繼續關注新的版稅作品。對於我的第二個問題，我想進一步深入研究賽道，提供一些關於可見性的相當有建設性的評論。那麼我們應該如何——你能概括一下這些談話井即將發生的石油減產嗎？我知道這在整個遊戲中是可變的。我們什麼時候才能真正開始看到這對總產量的影響？您認為這更像是第三季的活動嗎？我們應該關注這個季度嗎？粉筆何時真正成為你們所有人總生產中的一個大楔子？

Tim, this is Garrett Gremillion. Thanks for the question. So certainly, Q3, Q4, we expect volumes to start ramping up heavily, more heavily in that area. Within the play, we have seen a good number of areas tested across that 4 county area. Operators seem to be starting to concentrate some of their future development in the existing field where we see 14-plus wells per year, over 200 locations, and the oil cuts tend, as you say, like to vary across, but at the same time, healthy enough to be very economic in the current environment.

提姆，我是加勒特‧格雷米利恩。謝謝你的提問。因此，我們預計第三季、第四季的銷量將開始大幅增加，而且在該領域的增幅更大。在劇中，我們看到了這 4 個縣區的許多地區進行了測試。營運商似乎開始將未來的一些開發集中在現有油田，我們每年看到 14 口以上的油井，超過 200 個地點，正如你所說，石油產量往往會有所不同，但同時，足夠健康，在當前環境下非常經濟。

Okay. And do you have any context on kind of what sort of oil you're seeing as a percent of production in that area?

好的。您是否了解該地區的石油產量佔該地區產量的百分比？

You can get anywhere from 100 to 175 barrels per million within some of the areas that they drew. Some of the recent wells that have come online, the middle earth 2H and 1H you've got current rates of 1,700 barrels a day and 8.5 million cubic feet a day for the 2H and then for the 1H 400 barrels a day and about 2.3 million barrels a day.

在他們繪製的某些區域內，您可以獲得每百萬桶 100 至 175 桶的產量。最近上線的一些油井，中土 2H 和 1H 目前的產量為每天 1,700 桶，2H 產量為每天 850 萬立方英尺，1H 產量為每天 400 桶，產量約為 230 萬立方英尺每天桶。

Okay. Our next question comes from Trafford Lamar with Raymond James.

好的。我們的下一個問題來自特拉福德·拉馬爾和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Kind of circling back to the payout ratio and potentially lowering that going forward. Expanding on that, how do you all kind of think about buybacks with a lower payout ratio given you guys have $75 million authorized and obviously, no debt on the balance sheet. Just wanted to get some color from you on that.

有點回到派息率，並有可能降低未來的派息率。在此基礎上，考慮到你們有 7500 萬美元的授權，而且資產負債表上顯然沒有債務，你們如何看待以較低支付率進行回購。只是想從你那裡得到一些資訊。

This is Tom. I'll take a stab at that. Buybacks are something that we have looked at and we will continue to look at it. We don't have any current aggressive plans in that area. We do have a preferred security that is in place that could see some focus as we go through the year. And I would just answer that question with we have absolutely cleaned up our balance sheet tremendously, and that scenario that you're mentioning is certainly something that's available to us and that we're keeping a sharp eye.

這是湯姆。我會嘗試一下。回購是我們已經研究過並將繼續研究的事情。我們目前在該領域沒有任何積極的計劃。我們確實有一個首選的安全措施，在我們度過這一年的過程中，它可能會引起一些關注。我只想回答這個問題，我們已經徹底清理了我們的資產負債表，你提到的這種情況肯定是我們可以實現的，我們正在密切關注。

Perfect. Appreciate the color on that. And then one quick one real quick. On the lease bonus, I noticed you had a pretty good step up quarter-over-quarter. And you mentioned both Wolfcamp and Haynesville/Bossier. Regarding the Haynesville/Bossier, I'm assuming that is not -- that lease bonus activity wasn't related to Aethon. Is that correct? That was more third-party operator bonus?

完美的。欣賞它的顏色。然後一快一快。在租賃獎金方面，我注意到您的季度環比增長相當不錯。您提到了沃爾夫坎普和海恩斯維爾/波西爾。關於 Haynesville/Bossier，我假設租賃獎金活動與 Aethon 無關。那是對的嗎？那是更多的第三方運營商獎金？

That is correct. It's a third party.

那是對的。這是第三方。

Our next question will come from Tim Rezvan with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題將來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Tim Rezvan。

I did want to follow up on that preferred. I believe in first quarter of 2024, the rate steps up on that. It's more of a kind of floating rate and certainly in a much different interest rate environment than we were a couple of years ago. How do you think -- is that just something you will just deal with? Or I guess I'm trying to get a little more color on kind of how you think about the capital structure and possibly using free cash flow to whittle that down or just kind of retire that completely.

我確實想跟進這個偏好。我相信到 2024 年第一季度，利率會進一步上升。它更像是一種浮動利率，當然利率環境與幾年前有很大不同。你覺得怎麼樣——這只是你要處理的事情嗎？或者我想我正在嘗試更多地了解您對資本結構的看法，並可能使用自由現金流來削減它，或者只是完全退休。

This is Tom again. We're -- we have not made any firm decisions around what we're going to do relative to the preferred as it becomes redeemable in the fourth quarter, but we're looking at it very closely. And as I said just a moment ago, our balance sheet has been cleaned up significantly. Our distribution is at its highest level. And we are very closely looking at that issue and we'll be making some decisions as the year progresses around that. All right. Well, I don't think there are any other questions. So we just thank you all for joining us on the call today, and we look forward to catching up with you next quarter.

這又是湯姆。我們尚未就優先股在第四季度可贖回時將採取的行動做出任何明確的決定，但我們正在非常密切地關注它。正如我剛才所說，我們的資產負債表已被顯著清理。我們的發行處於最高水準。我們正在非常密切地關注這個問題，隨著今年的進展，我們將圍繞這個問題做出一些決定。好的。嗯，我認為沒有其他問題了。因此，我們感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議，我們期待下個季度與您會面。

Thank you. This does conclude today's call. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect at any time.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與。您可以隨時斷開連線。