CNX Resources Corp (CNX) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the CNX Resources Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

早上好，歡迎參加 CNX Resources 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意此事件正在被記錄。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Tyler Lewis, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁泰勒·劉易斯 (Tyler Lewis)。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning to everybody. Welcome to CNX's second quarter conference call. We have in the room today, Nick DeIuliis, our President and CEO; Alan Shepard, our Chief Financial Officer; Navneet Behl, our Chief Operating Officer; and Ravi Srivastava, President of our New Technologies Group. Today, we will be discussing our second quarter results. This morning, we posted an updated slide presentation to our website. Also detailed second quarter earnings release data such as quarterly E&P data, financial statements and non-GAAP reconciliations are posted to our website in a document titled 2Q 2023 Earnings Results and Supplemental Information of CNX Resources.

謝謝大家，大家早上好。歡迎參加 CNX 第二季度電話會議。今天在座的有我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Nick DeIuliis；艾倫·謝潑德，我們的首席財務官； Navneet Behl，我們的首席運營官；以及我們新技術集團總裁 Ravi Srivastava。今天，我們將討論第二季度的業績。今天早上，我們在網站上發布了更新的幻燈片演示文稿。此外，詳細的第二季度收益發布數據，例如季度 E&P 數據、財務報表和非 GAAP 調節表，均發佈在我們網站上題為 2023 年第二季度收益結果和 CNX Resources 補充信息的文件中。

As a reminder, any forward-looking statements we make or comments about future expectations are subject to business risks, which we have laid out for you in our press release today as well as our previous Securities and Exchange Commission filings. We will begin our call today with prepared remarks by Nick and Nav followed by Alan, and then we will open the call for Q&A where Ravi will participate as well.

謹此提醒，我們做出的任何前瞻性陳述或有關未來預期的評論均會受到商業風險的影響，我們已在今天的新聞稿以及之前向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中為您列出了這些風險。我們今天的電話會議將以尼克和納夫準備好的發言開始，然後是艾倫，然後我們將開始問答電話會議，拉維也將參加。

With that, let me turn the call over to you, Nick.

現在，讓我把電話轉給你，尼克。

Thanks, Tyler, and good morning, everybody. Second quarter of 2023, that marks our 14th consecutive quarter of free cash flow generation and the continued execution of our long-term strategy. It also represents the halfway point on the 7-year plan that we presented to the market back in 2020. So 3.5 years into the plan, we've now generated approximately $1.8 billion in free cash flow. We reduced outstanding debt by almost $415 million, and we repurchased 30% of our outstanding shares.

謝謝泰勒，大家早上好。 2023 年第二季度，這標誌著我們連續第 14 個季度產生自由現金流，並繼續執行我們的長期戰略。這也代表了我們在 2020 年向市場提出的 7 年計劃的一半。因此，在該計劃實施 3.5 年後，我們現在已經產生了約 18 億美元的自由現金流。我們減少了近 4.15 億美元的未償債務，並回購了 30% 的已發行股票。

Now there have certainly been twists and turns from the original plan as time has passed and macro events have unfolded. So we are on pace to exceed our goals, and we've been unwavering in the core principles of our sustainable business model. It has, and it's going to continue to generate significant long-term share value for our owners.

現在，隨著時間的推移和宏觀事件的展開，原計劃肯定發生了曲折。因此，我們正在努力超越我們的目標，並且我們一直堅定不移地堅持可持續商業模式的核心原則。它已經並將繼續為我們的所有者創造巨大的長期股票價值。

And additionally, despite some near-term cyclical challenges that the industry is currently experiencing, the long-term outlook for CNX and for the natural gas industry as being the cornerstones of our collective energy and economic future, that long-term outlook has never been brighter.

此外，儘管該行業目前正在經歷一些近期週期性挑戰，但 CNX 和天然氣行業的長期前景是我們共同能源和經濟未來的基石，但這種長期前景從未更亮。

During the quarter, we continued to focus on what I referenced is the 3 key areas of long-term for share value creation. The first, we've got efficient execution and the development of our extensive asset base. Second, we've got that continued progress in the growth of our new technologies business unit. And then last but not least, clinically allocating that free cash flow to acquire a significant amount of our shares at prices that we believe represent a substantial discount to their intrinsic value.

在本季度，我們繼續關注我提到的長期創造股票價值的三個關鍵領域。首先，我們擁有高效的執行力和廣泛的資產基礎的發展。其次，我們的新技術業務部門的增長持續取得進展。最後但並非最不重要的一點是，臨床地分配自由現金流，以我們認為較其內在價值大幅折扣的價格收購大量股票。

Operationally, the team has built some serious and impressive momentum across effectively all fronts in 2023. Drilling and completions, they're firing on all cylinders. That's true for both the Marcellus and the Utica horizons, and that, of course, establishes a new efficiency level that's going to impact everything from TIL timing to capital intensity. But instead of me talking about this, let's have Nav, our leader of the operations effort, tell you directly. So I'll turn it over for a few minutes to Nav.

在運營方面，該團隊在 2023 年在各個方面都建立了一些嚴肅而令人印象深刻的勢頭。鑽探和完井，他們正在全力以赴。對於 Marcellus 和 Utica 地平線來說都是如此，當然，這建立了一個新的效率水平，這將影響從 TIL 時間到資本密集度的各個方面。不過，我們不由我來談論這個問題，而是讓我們的運營工作負責人 Nav 直接告訴您。所以我會把它交給 Nav 幾分鐘。

Thanks, Nick, and good morning, everyone. As Nick mentioned, the team has been able to establish a new level of operational efficiency, this is important because it drives our foundational free cash flow generation that supports our sustainable business model. The team had several operational accomplishments in the quarter. One of the key achievements was that we were able to compress cycle times and get a 7-well pad turned online 24 days ahead of schedule.

謝謝尼克，大家早上好。正如尼克提到的，該團隊已經能夠建立新的運營效率水平，這很重要，因為它推動了我們基本的自由現金流的產生，從而支持我們的可持續商業模式。該團隊在本季度取得了多項運營成就。其中一項關鍵成就是我們能夠壓縮週期時間並提前 24 天將 7 孔板投入使用。

We also accelerated the timing of 4 additional Marcellus wells that will come online later in the year. This TIL acceleration was mainly driven by efficiency improvements and completion activities where we achieved a 34% increase in completed lateral feet per day compared to last quarter. We also decreased completion cost per foot by 5%.

我們還加快了另外 4 口 Marcellus 井的進度，這些井將於今年晚些時候上線。 TIL 加速主要是由效率提高和完成活動推動的，與上季度相比，我們每天完成的側腳數量增加了 34%。我們還將每英尺的完工成本降低了 5%。

Shortly after the quarter ended, the drilling team successfully [TD-ed] its deepest and longest Utica well with the total vertical depth of 13,765 feet and a lateral length of over 15,000 feet. This well in the CPA Mamont area is a great accomplishment and supports the development of this prolific acreage across our long-term plan.

該季度結束後不久，鑽井團隊成功[TD-ed]其最深和最長的尤蒂卡井，總垂直深度為 13,765 英尺，橫向長度超過 15,000 英尺。 CPA Mamont 地區的這口井是一項偉大的成就，支持我們長期計劃中這一多產區域的開發。

We have continued to apply these lessons to our other Utica drilling operations in Southwest PA, where we successfully drilled, completed and are currently flowing back 2 wells. In SWPA area, we also drilled 2 long Marcellus wells with a lateral length of over 19,500 feet each. As we progress through our 1.5-rig 1 frac crew full year plan, we will be well positioned to grow volumes in 2024.

我們繼續將這些經驗教訓應用到賓夕法尼亞州西南部的其他尤蒂卡鑽井作業中，我們在那裡成功鑽探、完井，目前正在回流 2 口井。在 SWPA 地區，我們還鑽探了 2 口 Marcellus 長井，每口橫向長度超過 19,500 英尺。隨著我們推進 1.5 台鑽機、1 名壓裂人員的全年計劃，我們將做好準備，在 2024 年實現產量增長。

During the quarter, we continued to run the second horizontal rig, which was released recently. As such, the remainder of this year's activity will primarily be 1 rig and 1 frac crew and the capital spend cadence will decline accordingly.

本季度，我們繼續運行最近發布的第二台水平鑽機。因此，今年剩餘的活動將主要是 1 台鑽機和 1 名壓裂人員，資本支出節奏將相應下降。

Moving into 2024 and beyond, we expect capital intensity to lower. The significant investments we are making this year in growing volumes puts us in a position to maintain our target production levels with lower overall activity moving forward. Alan will go into more detail on the full year guidance shortly, but I want to make 1 important note on our operations.

進入 2024 年及以後，我們預計資本密集度將會降低。今年，我們在產量不斷增長方面進行了大量投資，這使我們能夠在總體活動減少的情況下維持目標生產水平。艾倫將很快詳細介紹全年指導，但我想就我們的運營提出一個重要說明。

I want to reiterate that we are well positioned to adjust our activity set to respond to any material changes in gas pricing that may unfold in the second half of the year. This flexibility is 1 of the key advantages of being the low-cost producer and owning our midstream assets. Our well economics remain attractive, even in lower pricing environments and we are not beholden to high fixed cost midstream arrangements that can lead to uneconomic decisions.

我想重申，我們有能力調整我們的活動，以應對下半年可能出現的天然氣定價的任何重大變化。這種靈活性是成為低成本生產商並擁有我們的中游資產的主要優勢之一。即使在較低的定價環境下，我們的油井經濟效益仍然具有吸引力，並且我們不會受制於可能導致不經濟決策的高固定成本中游安排。

One note on our ESG initiatives, we are on target with production equipment modifications to reduce emissions by 70,000 metric tons CO2 equivalent for December 2023 compared to December 2022. In summary, the operations team's focus on continuous improvement is driving outstanding results, and I'm proud of our team's diligence and continued hard work in positioning CNX as an operational leader in the basin.

關於我們的 ESG 舉措的一點說明是，我們的目標是對生產設備進行改造，與 2022 年 12 月相比，到 2023 年 12 月減少 70,000 公噸二氧化碳當量的排放量。總而言之，運營團隊對持續改進的關注正在推動取得出色的成果，我'我為我們團隊的勤奮和持續努力而感到自豪，將 CNX 定位為該盆地的運營領導者。

Now let me turn it over to Nick.

現在讓我把它交給尼克。

Yes. Thanks, Nav. That's exciting. So if I may, let me pivot now to new technologies. And as I mentioned on last quarter's call, we were expecting the business unit to be free cash flow positive in the year and that has started in the second quarter. Alan is going to touch on this more in his remarks, but suffice it to say that this is a very exciting part of our business, and it's going to likely materially impact our free cash flow outlook moving into 2024 and beyond.

是的。謝謝，納維。真令人興奮。因此，如果可以的話，讓我現在轉向新技術。正如我在上個季度的電話會議上提到的，我們預計該業務部門今年的自由現金流將為正，並且這一情況已從第二季度開始。艾倫將在講話中更多地談到這一點，但我只想說，這是我們業務中非常令人興奮的一部分，它可能會對我們進入 2024 年及以後的自由現金流前景產生重大影響。

And most importantly, we're just getting started here, and that's due to our one-of-a-kind asset base that underpins our Appalachia first vision, and we've got a wealth of opportunity to drive even more per share value creation through these efforts in the years ahead.

最重要的是，我們才剛剛開始，這是因為我們獨一無二的資產基礎支撐著我們的阿巴拉契亞第一個願景，而且我們有大量的機會來推動更多每股價值創造通過未來幾年的這些努力。

One effort in our new tech unit that we are very excited about is the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen hub or what's called ARCH2. This is an initiative that we've been working on for some time, and we've touched on it on past calls. But just as a refresher, our contribution to the ARCH2 hub effort is the Adams Fork clean ammonia project. That's going to be located in Mingo County, West Virginia, and it's expected to be 1 of the largest, if not the largest, and cleanest ammonia plants in the world. It's also the anchor project of the ARCH2 hub application to the U.S. DOE, and you might be asking, why get involved in something of this size and scope in Southern West Virginia of all places.

我們新技術部門的一項讓我們非常興奮的工作是阿巴拉契亞地區清潔氫中心或所謂的 ARCH2。這是我們已經研究了一段時間的一項舉措，並且我們在過去的電話會議中也談到過它。但回顧一下，我們對 ARCH2 中心工作的貢獻是 Adams Fork 清潔氨項目。該工廠將位於西弗吉尼亞州明戈縣，預計將成為世界上最大（如果不是最大）、最清潔的氨工廠之一。它也是美國能源部 ARCH2 中心應用程序的錨定項目，您可能會問，為什麼要在西弗吉尼亞州南部的所有地方參與如此規模和範圍的項目。

Well, first of all, this project in its location, it's a living, breathing example of our Appalachia First strategic vision, which is produce it here, use it here first. And in doing so, we can append the status quo, and we can provide vast economic opportunity in 1 of the hardest hit regions from an energy transition standpoint. Second, this region boasts some of the most abundant, lowest cost. And as Nav just pointed out, lowest emissions natural gas feedstock found anywhere in the world. So there's no better place to build such a project, and that's exactly why we're so focused on working with our partners to help bring it online. We're eagerly awaiting guidance out of D.C. related to the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, on the hydrogen production tax credit, which makes this project viable, in addition to final decisions from the DOE on the hydrogen hub awards.

嗯，首先，這個項目在它的位置上，是我們“阿巴拉契亞優先”戰略願景的一個活生生的例子，即在這裡生產，首先在這裡使用。通過這樣做，我們可以維持現狀，從能源轉型的角度來看，我們可以為受災最嚴重的地區之一提供巨大的經濟機會。其次，該地區擁有物產最豐富、成本最低的地區。正如 Nav 剛剛指出的那樣，世界上任何地方都可以找到排放量最低的天然氣原料。因此，沒有比這更好的地方來構建這樣一個項目了，這正是我們如此專注於與合作夥伴合作以幫助其上線的原因。除了美國能源部關於氫能中心獎項的最終決定外，我們還熱切地等待華盛頓特區有關氫氣生產稅收抵免的有關通脹削減法案（IRA）的指導，這使得該項目變得可行。

Now the intent of the hydrogen production provision in the IRA was to incentivize the creation of low carbon intensity hydrogen and to reduce emissions and to create jobs and economic activity in energy communities, and that's exactly what this project does, and it does it in a big way. Now we've seen the chilling effect chatter out of the nation's capital and what that can do to investment decisions. A recent example was Constellation who caused the $1 billion clean hydrogen project investment, pending IRA implementation guidance, so we're monitoring this very closely. Of course, we're hopeful that Washington is going to follow the intent of the law and help us make this important West Virginia project a reality.

現在，IRA 中氫氣生產規定的目的是激勵低碳強度氫氣的產生，減少排放，並在能源社區創造就業機會和經濟活動，而這正是該項目的作用，並且它是在大路。現在我們已經看到了國家首都的寒蟬效應以及這對投資決策的影響。最近的一個例子是 Constellation，它發起了 10 億美元的清潔氫項目投資，正在等待 IRA 實施指導，因此我們正在密切關注這一情況。當然，我們希望華盛頓能夠遵循法律的意圖，幫助我們使這一重要的西弗吉尼亞項目成為現實。

Regarding share purchases, let's talk about that for a minute. We continued our industry leadership on this front during the quarter. We repurchased an additional 2% of our outstanding shares. And since the start of our recent share buyback program back in the third quarter of 2020, we've repurchased over $1 billion in shares or 30% of the company. That equates to approximately 75% of our current authorization and that pace in magnitude and most importantly, the percent depletion of our current share repurchase authorization, that far exceeds anything you'll see with respect to peers. Of course, actions speak louder than words. And I think our track record of consistently returning capital to shareholders that speaks for itself.

關於股票購買，讓我們討論一下。本季度我們在這方面繼續保持行業領先地位。我們額外回購了 2% 的已發行股票。自 2020 年第三季度啟動近期股票回購計劃以來，我們已回購了超過 10 億美元的股票，即公司 30% 的股份。這相當於我們當前授權的大約 75%，而且最重要的是，我們當前股票回購授權的消耗百分比遠遠超過了您在同行中看到的任何情況。當然，行動勝於雄辯。我認為我們持續向股東返還資本的記錄是不言而喻的。

And even though we've been executing the strategy for several years, we're still when you look at it from a big picture perspective in the early innings, and we continue to believe that our shares are undervalued. So as a result, we are announcing an additional $1 billion share repurchase authorization with no expiration, which reflects our continued confidence in the outlook for our business over time. This increase brings our total authorization to $1.28 billion when you include the $280 million that's remaining on the previous authorization. And we believe the $1 billion increase in our share repurchase program, that just provides another opportunity to create incredible value over the long term for like-minded shareholders who will benefit as their ownership continues to grow meaningfully over the coming years.

儘管我們已經執行該策略好幾年了，但當你從早期的大局角度來看時，我們仍然認為我們的股票被低估了。因此，我們宣布追加 10 億美元的無限期股票回購授權，這反映了我們對業務前景的持續信心。如果算上上次授權中剩餘的 2.8 億美元，此次增加使我們的授權總額達到 12.8 億美元。我們相信，我們的股票回購計劃增加 10 億美元，這只是為志同道合的股東提供了另一個長期創造令人難以置信的價值的機會，隨著他們的所有權在未來幾年繼續有意義地增長，他們將受益。

I'd also like to take a minute to briefly highlight the non-op asset sale during the quarter. Broadly speaking, all asset sales, we said this before, they're evaluated under very strict criteria, and we consider the bar to be quite high. However, when something makes economic sense, we're going to capture that value. In this case, we sold various nonoperated producing oil and gas assets consisting of royalty and working interest primarily located in the Appalachian Basin that were producing approximately 33 million cubic feet per day or roughly $4,000 per flowing Mcf. And through this transaction, we're able to monetize noncore assets and effectively pull forward value to be redeployed in an accretive manner.

我還想花一點時間簡要介紹一下本季度的非運營資產出售情況。一般來說，所有的資產出售，我們之前說過，都是按照非常嚴格的標准進行評估的，我們認為門檻相當高。然而，當某件事具有經濟意義時，我們就會抓住這個價值。在這種情況下，我們出售了各種非運營生產石油和天然氣資產，包括主要位於阿巴拉契亞盆地的特許權使用費和工作權益，這些資產每天生產約 3300 萬立方英尺或每流動 Mcf 約 4,000 美元。通過這次交易，我們能夠將非核心資產貨幣化，並有效地拉動價值以增值的方式重新部署。

So last, I'd like to highlight our corporate sustainability report that came out during the quarter. This is a product we're very proud of. Not only does it showcase our transparency and a wide array of information that investors and various stakeholders can use to evaluate our value proposition, but we hope that it showcases how our unique approach to ESG and our Appalachia First strategic vision that prioritizes actions and decisions that are tangible and impactful and local.

最後，我想強調一下我們在本季度發布的企業可持續發展報告。這是我們非常自豪的產品。它不僅展示了我們的透明度和投資者和各利益相關者可以用來評估我們的價值主張的廣泛信息，而且我們希望它展示了我們獨特的 ESG 方法以及我們的“阿巴拉契亞優先”戰略願景如何優先考慮以下行動和決策：是有形的、有影響力的、本地化的。

I want to take a minute to highlight just 1 example of this that we've discussed a bit in the past. That is the CNX Mentorship Academy, which focuses on local high school students who desire a family sustaining well-compensated career that doesn't require a 4-year college degree. And the Mentorship Academy uniquely connects the region's premier employers and the building trades and the nonprofit community with local young emerging talent. This is a tangible local effort. It's just concluded and wrapped up its second full year and its continued success and its scaling, it underpins our long-term human capital strategy and drives us toward achieving our diversity goals as well as expanding inclusion in our regional economy.

我想花一點時間強調一下我們過去討論過的一個例子。這就是 CNX 導師學院，該學院專注於希望家庭能夠維持高薪職業且不需要 4 年制大學學位的當地高中生。導師學院以獨特的方式將該地區的主要雇主、建築行業和非營利社區與當地年輕的新興人才聯繫起來。這是當地的切實努力。它剛剛結束並結束了第二個完整的年度，它的持續成功和規模擴大，它支撐了我們的長期人力資本戰略，並推動我們實現多元化目標以及擴大對我們區域經濟的包容性。

In other words, our goal is to ensure that the vast benefits of the energy and manufacturing economy within Appalachia are available to the young men and women in some of the region's most disadvantaged communities. That would be a win for CNX as a company. That would be a win for our collective industries. And of course, that would be a win for the region at large. And it's a prime example of how we believe effective corporate ESG initiatives should be modeled and how they should be executed. And in a week or so, we kick off the program year for our third class which will be the largest to date. Hard to believe what's happened in the past 3 years there.

換句話說，我們的目標是確保阿巴拉契亞地區一些最弱勢社區的年輕男女能夠享受到能源和製造業經濟的巨大好處。對於 CNX 公司來說，這將是一次勝利。這將是我們集體工業的勝利。當然，這對於整個地區來說是一場胜利。這是我們認為應該如何對有效的企業 ESG 舉措進行建模以及如何執行的一個典型例子。大約一周後，我們將開始第三個班級的項目年，這將是迄今為止規模最大的一個。很難相信過去三年裡發生了什麼。

So with that, let me turn things over to Alan.

那麼，讓我把事情交給艾倫。

Thanks, Nick, and good morning to everyone. As Nick mentioned, this quarter represents the 14th consecutive quarter of free cash flow generation through the execution of our sustainable business model and long-term strategic plan. During the quarter, we generated approximately $135 million of free cash flow, including the proceeds from the previously announced non-op sale. Since we initially laid out our free cash flow plan in the first quarter of 2020, this brings our cumulative free cash flow to approximately $1.8 billion, which is roughly 60% of our current market cap.

謝謝尼克，祝大家早上好。正如尼克提到的，本季度是通過執行我們的可持續業務模式和長期戰略計劃連續第 14 個季度產生自由現金流。本季度，我們產生了約 1.35 億美元的自由現金流，包括之前宣布的非經營性銷售的收益。自我們最初在 2020 年第一季度製定自由現金流計劃以來，這使我們的累計自由現金流達到約 18 億美元，約占我們當前市值的 60%。

We are well on our way and continuing to execute our long-term free cash flow generation plan, and we believe that we remain well positioned to take advantage of any deepening valuation disconnects that might occur in either the debt or equity markets. We also continue to believe that our shares trade at a significant discount to their intrinsic value, and we will continue to take advantage of this opportunity moving forward to drive our share count lower and free cash flow per share higher. More on that shortly.

我們進展順利，並繼續執行我們的長期自由現金流生成計劃，我們相信我們仍然處於有利地位，可以利用債務或股票市場可能出現的任何深化的估值脫節。我們還仍然相信，我們的股票交易價格與其內在價值相比有很大折扣，我們將繼續利用這一機會，推動我們的股票數量減少，每股自由現金流增加。稍後會詳細介紹。

On the balance sheet side, we have constructed our debt maturities and leverage profile to reduce risk and enable maximum flexibility when making capital allocation decisions. Our overall objective of maintaining a low-risk balance sheet through active debt maturity management, and lowering overall absolute debt is unchanged. Our significant maturity runway and robust hedge book provides visibility into the future that underpins our capital allocation flexibility. Moreover, as we have consistently demonstrated, our capital allocation plan is intended to be fluid and will adjust as the underlying variables adjust, the most important variable currently being our equity valuation. While we have been consistent in signaling our desire to achieve lower absolute debt levels, the timing of that delevering is an output of running the clinical capital allocation math.

在資產負債表方面，我們構建了債務期限和槓桿狀況，以降低風險並在做出資本配置決策時實現最大的靈活性。我們通過積極的債務到期管理維持低風險資產負債表並降低總體絕對債務的總體目標沒有改變。我們重要的到期跑道和強大的對沖賬簿提供了對未來的可見性，支撐了我們資本配置的靈活性。此外，正如我們一貫所證明的那樣，我們的資本配置計劃旨在具有流動性，並將隨著基礎變量的調整而調整，目前最重要的變量是我們的股權估值。儘管我們一直表示希望降低絕對債務水平，但去槓桿化的時機是臨床資本配置數學的結果。

As we've seen over the last few quarters, we expect leverage ratios to tick up and down as underlying EBITDA adjust with commodity prices. Further, absolute debt levels may also fluctuate in the short term based on the timing of free cash flow deployment. However, any such fluctuations are merely short-term noise.

正如我們在過去幾個季度所看到的，我們預計槓桿率會隨著基本 EBITDA 隨大宗商品價格的調整而上下波動。此外，絕對債務水平也可能根據自由現金流部署的時間而在短期內波動。然而，任何此類波動都只是短期噪音。

Before turning to the updated guidance for 2023, I want to touch on 3 key themes that we see unfolding moving into 2024 and beyond that drive our confidence in our ability to materially grow long-term free cash flow per share. First, we expect nat gas realizations to increase in 2024 and beyond as forward NYMEX strip prices are increasing over the same period. The macro backdrop of strong long-term fundamentals for natural gas demand due to natural gas serving as the cornerstone of our world's energy mix will provide a material boost to our cash flows as we move beyond the near-term pricing environment.

在討論 2023 年的更新指引之前，我想談談我們認為進入 2024 年及以後將出現的 3 個關鍵主題，這些主題增強了我們對大幅增長每股長期自由現金流的能力的信心。首先，我們預計 2024 年及以後的天然氣實現量將增加，因為同期 NYMEX 遠期帶鋼價格也在上漲。由於天然氣作為世界能源結構的基石，天然氣需求長期基本面強勁的宏觀背景將在我們超越短期定價環境時為我們的現金流提供實質性推動。

Second, as we've previously guided to, we expect higher levels of production in 2024 and capital levels to decline materially moving forward in 2024 and beyond. As a result of the current operational successes we're experiencing, beginning in 2024 and beyond, we are expecting to grow volumes over 2023 levels to approximately 580 Bcfe. Holding production at that level beyond 2024 then provides us clear line of sight to driving capital intensity materially lower in 2024 and below $500 million annually by 2025. This assumes no change in current service cost pricing, but is driven instead by the lower capital intensity needed to maintain our projected 2024 production levels moving forward. This would return us to maintenance capital levels similar to those initially contemplated as part of our 7-year plan with the exception of the higher current service costs and about 20 Bcfe a year more of production compared to that original plan.

其次，正如我們之前所指出的，我們預計 2024 年生產水平將更高，而 2024 年及以後的資本水平將大幅下降。鑑於我們目前所取得的運營成功，從 2024 年及以後開始，我們預計產量將在 2023 年的水平上增長至約 580 Bcfe。如果 2024 年之後將產量保持在這一水平，那麼我們就可以清晰地看到，到 2024 年，資本密集度將大幅降低，到 2025 年，每年資本密集度將低於 5 億美元。這假設當前的服務成本定價沒有變化，而是由所需的較低資本密集度推動維持我們預計的 2024 年生產水平。這將使我們恢復到類似於我們 7 年計劃最初設想的維持資本水平，但當前服務成本較高，並且與原計劃相比，每年的產量增加了約 20 Bcfe。

The third key theme is that our New Technologies Group is now cash flow positive. As we discussed on prior calls, there are 3 main categories that the New Tech Group has been pursuing. One, expanding alternate fuel markets such as CNG, LNG and hydrogen; two, developing oilfield services technologies that lower cost and reduce emissions; and three, attaining value recognition for the environmental attributes tied to our waste methane abatement operations. The latter of these 3 being the most progressed in terms of impacting free cash flow in the near term.

第三個關鍵主題是我們的新技術集團現在現金流為正。正如我們在之前的電話會議中討論的那樣，新技術集團一直在追求 3 個主要類別。一是擴大CNG、LNG、氫氣等替代燃料市場；二是開發降低成本、減少排放的油田服務技術。第三，獲得與我們的廢物甲烷減排業務相關的環境屬性的價值認可。這三者中的後者在短期內影響自由現金流方面進展最大。

For the quarter, we recorded approximately $8 million in revenue associated with environmental attributes. We are still in the very early stages of developing these opportunities, but to provide some color on the near-term magnitude of their impact, we believe we have line of sight on the New Technologies Group contributing approximately $75 million in free cash flow annually starting in 2024 with the potential of achieving up to $100 million. Additionally, we expect this annual free cash flow from the New Tech Group to grow meaningfully higher in the years beyond 2024. The potential is truly exciting, and we look forward to providing more updates in detail on these projections in the coming quarters.

本季度，我們與環境屬性相關的收入約為 800 萬美元。我們仍處於開發這些機會的早期階段，但為了說明其近期影響程度，我們相信新技術集團每年將貢獻約 7500 萬美元的自由現金流到 2024 年，有望實現高達 1 億美元的目標。此外，我們預計新技術集團的年度自由現金流在 2024 年以後的幾年中將大幅增長。潛力確實令人興奮，我們期待在未來幾個季度提供有關這些預測的更多詳細信息。

When you consider these 3 factors together, it is easy to see the free cash flow per share potential of the company in the coming years. They also make for a very easy capital allocation decision to continue reducing our share count. The overall trend is clear. Unless our share price materially re-rates, we expect our outstanding shares will continue to shrink dramatically over the next several years, contributing to further growth in our free cash flow per share.

當你綜合考慮這三個因素時，很容易看出公司未來幾年每股自由現金流的潛力。他們還做出了一個非常簡單的資本分配決定，以繼續減少我們的股份數量。總體趨勢是清晰的。除非我們的股價大幅調整，否則我們預計未來幾年我們的流通股將繼續大幅萎縮，從而有助於每股自由現金流的進一步增長。

Now let's shift to our updated 2023 outlook on Slide 6 to clarify how we see the remainder of the year unfolding. We have updated each of the major guidance components for the impact of the non-op sale that occurred during the quarter and have adjusted our EBITDA and free cash flow outlook for the year to reflect that transaction as well and to reflect the decline in near-term commodity prices that occurred during the quarter.

現在，讓我們轉向幻燈片 6 上更新的 2023 年展望，以闡明我們如何看待今年剩餘時間的發展。我們更新了本季度發生的非經營性銷售影響的每個主要指導部分，並調整了今年的 EBITDA 和自由現金流前景，以反映該交易並反映近乎下降的情況。本季度發生的術語商品價格。

Starting with production. The key takeaway, as Nick and Nav mentioned, is that our operational progress for 2023 has been excellent and, on a wellhead basis, we remain on track with the initial plan for 2023 after adjusting for the non-op sale. The adjustments we are making to narrow our production range to between 545 and 555 Bcfe are being driven by 3 factors. First, we've removed approximately 9 Bcfe of volumes associated with the non-op sale. As a reminder, the effective date of that sale was April 1, and the asset was producing approximately 33 million cubic feet equivalent per day.

從生產開始。正如 Nick 和 Nav 提到的，關鍵的一點是，我們 2023 年的運營進展非常出色，並且在井口基礎上，在對非運營銷售進行調整後，我們仍然按照 2023 年的初步計劃繼續前進。我們為將生產範圍縮小到 545 至 555 Bcfe 之間而進行的調整是由 3 個因素驅動的。首先，我們刪除了大約 9 Bcfe 與非操作銷售相關的捲。需要提醒的是，此次出售的生效日期為 4 月 1 日，該資產每天的產量約為 3300 萬立方英尺當量。

The second adjustment is related to lower expected ethane recoveries for the year. One of our key downstream counterparties has been unable to take the ethane volumes initially forecasted due to their plant start-up challenges. And as such, that ethane has remained in the gas stream and have been sold for heat value. The bottom line is that due to penalty provisions in our contract with this customer, our overall free cash flow for the year has not been impacted by this. However, we expect our reported production equivalent volumes for 2023 to be approximately 9 Bcfe lower than they would have been had the ethane been recovered as planned. Lastly, due to the operational efficiencies, we expect to offset approximately 3 Bcfe of the non-op and ethane adjustments.

第二次調整與今年預期乙烷回收率較低有關。由於工廠啟動面臨挑戰，我們的主要下游交易對手之一無法接受最初預測的乙烷產量。因此，乙烷保留在氣流中並以熱值出售。最重要的是，由於我們與該客戶的合同中的處罰條款，我們今年的整體自由現金流並未受到影響。然而，我們預計 2023 年報告的生產當量將比乙烷按計劃回收的情況低約 9 Bcfe。最後，由於運營效率的提高，我們預計將抵消約 3 Bcfe 的非運營和乙烷調整。

In summary, despite the noise associated with the 2 downward adjustments, the key takeaway is that the operations are successfully on track with our plan. And as such, and as stated earlier, we are also reaffirming our production outlook for 2024, which is now approximately 580 Bcfe after updating our prior guidance of approximately 590 Bcfe to reflect an estimated 10 Bcfe impact of the non-op sale on next year's volumes.

總而言之，儘管兩次下調帶來了噪音，但關鍵的一點是，運營已成功按照我們的計劃進行。因此，如前所述，我們還重申了 2024 年的生產前景，在更新了之前約 590 Bcfe 的指導以反映非運營銷售對明年的估計 10 Bcfe 影響後，目前產量約為 580 Bcfe卷。

Next, turning to capital. The second quarter included spend associated with running 2 rigs and 1 completion crew for the entirety of the quarter. The second horizontal drilling rig has been recently released, which will result in the cadence of capital spend moving sequentially lower through the remainder of the year.

接下來，轉向資本。第二季度包括與整個季度運行 2 台鑽機和 1 名完井人員相關的支出。第二台水平鑽機最近已發布，這將導致今年剩餘時間內資本支出的節奏依次下降。

On the service cost side, while we have seen some modest downward movements in certain categories, there has not been enough downward movement to materially impact projected 2023 capital levels. As such, we are moving the lower end of our capital ranges up to reflect this. Moving forward, we are optimistic we may see further reductions on the service cost side as we head into 2024, and we will provide color on that in future calls as that outlook becomes clearer.

在服務成本方面，雖然我們看到某些類別出現了一些小幅下降，但下降幅度還不足以對 2023 年預計的資本水平產生重大影響。因此，我們將資本範圍的下限上調以反映這一點。展望未來，我們樂觀地認為，進入 2024 年，服務成本可能會進一步降低，隨著前景變得更加清晰，我們將在未來的電話會議中提供相關信息。

One last point on capital. As we touched on earlier, our 2023 activity set and corresponding capital expenditures represent more than a maintenance of production plan. This level of capital spend allows us to keep an efficient operational pace that results in production volume growth from 2023 to 2024. Additionally, despite no changes to the current plan at this time, should forward gas prices decline further throughout the year, we will not hesitate to adjust our capital activity set in accordance with our focus on achieving the best long-term economic results.

關於資本的最後一點。正如我們之前提到的，我們的 2023 年活動集和相應的資本支出不僅僅是維持生產計劃。這種資本支出水平使我們能夠保持高效的運營節奏，從而實現 2023 年至 2024 年產量增長。此外，儘管目前計劃沒有變化，但如果全年天然氣價格進一步下跌，我們將不會我們毫不猶豫地根據我們對實現最佳長期經濟成果的關注來調整我們的資本活動設置。

Lastly, on guidance, we've also increased our free cash flow outlook for 2023 to approximately $325 million. This update includes the onetime proceeds from the non-op sale, offset by roughly $12 million free cash flow decrease due to the same non-op sale and a roughly $35 million decrease due to the continued decline in commodity prices experienced during the quarter. However, despite the near-term commodity headwinds on a per share basis due to the continued reduction in shares that occurred during the quarter and the increased overall total free cash flow, we are now projecting 2023 free cash flow per share to increase by 33% to approximately $2 per share before any future share count reductions that may occur during the remainder of the year.

最後，根據指導，我們還將 2023 年自由現金流前景上調至約 3.25 億美元。此次更新包括非經營性銷售的一次性收益，但被同樣的非經營性銷售導致的約 1200 萬美元的自由現金流減少以及本季度商品價格持續下跌導致的約 3500 萬美元的減少所抵消。然而，儘管由於本季度股票持續減少以及總體自由現金流增加，導致每股大宗商品近期面臨阻力，但我們目前預計 2023 年每股自由現金流將增長 33%在今年剩餘時間內可能發生的任何未來股份數量減少之前，每股股份數量將減少至約 2 美元。

To conclude, we are confident that the sustainable business model that we have created will continue to deliver value to our shareholders throughout the entire cycle. Our focus for the remainder of 2023 will remain on safe and compliant execution to develop our extensive natural gas asset base, accelerating free cash flow growth from our New Technologies business, on consistent and clinical capital allocation to grow our long-term free cash flow per share and most importantly, as always, on ensuring all of our decisions continue to reflect a long-term owner mindset.

總而言之，我們相信我們創建的可持續商業模式將在整個週期中繼續為我們的股東創造價值。 2023 年剩餘時間裡，我們的重點將仍然是安全、合規的執行，以發展我們廣泛的天然氣資產基礎，加速新技術業務的自由現金流增長，持續和臨床資本配置，以增加我們的長期自由現金流分享，最重要的是，一如既往，確保我們的所有決策繼續反映長期所有者的心態。

With that, I will turn it back over to Tyler for Q&A.

這樣，我會將其轉回給泰勒進行問答。

Thanks, Alan. Operator, you can open the line up for questions at this time, please.

謝謝，艾倫。接線員，您現在可以開通提問隊列。

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Zach Parham with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Zach Parham。

First, just on the longer-term guide. You mentioned the line of sight to getting to less than $500 million of annual CapEx and $25 million plus to hold production flat at 580 Bcfe, you're at $650 this year on CapEx at the midpoint. How should I think about 2024? Should I just assume kind of the midpoint of those 2 numbers? Just really looking on some -- for some color on what '24 spending could look like.

首先，只是長期指南。您提到了年度資本支出低於 5 億美元的目標，以及將產量保持在 580 Bcfe 的水平以上 2500 萬美元的目標，今年資本支出的中點為 650 美元。我該如何看待2024年？我應該假設這兩個數字的中點嗎？只是真正關註一些 - 尋找一些關於 24 世紀支出可能是什麼樣子的顏色。

Yes. We're not going to provide a formal guidance range at this time. But the way to think about it is, ultimately, you're able to step down from a 1.5-rig program to maybe 1.25 or 1 in a month or 2 program next year. At the same time, you have to run fewer completions, so you don't have the full completions crew. And by the time you get to '25, you're basically just a 1 rig program and kind of a spot completions crew. So that's really what drives it.

是的。我們目前不打算提供正式的指導範圍。但思考這個問題的方法是，最終，您可以從 1.5 台鑽機計劃下降到明年的 1.25 台或一個月 1 台或 2 台項目。同時，您必須運行更少的完成工作，因此您沒有完整的完成工作人員。當你到了 25 歲的時候，你基本上只是一個 1 台鑽機項目和一個現場完井團隊。所以這才是真正的驅動力。

Got it. And then just on the New Technologies business, you talked about $75 million in free cash flow expected next year from that business. Could you give us a little more color on the different projects that are going to generate that free cash flow? And maybe some color on the expected CapEx you plan to spend on that business?

知道了。然後就新技術業務而言，您談到明年該業務預計將產生 7500 萬美元的自由現金流。您能給我們更多關於將產生自由現金流的不同項目的信息嗎？也許您計劃在該業務上花費的預期資本支出有一些顏色？

Yes. I think in the near term, as we alluded to in the comments, what's most material right now is the recognition of the environmental attributes associated with the waste mine capture projects we run. You should see that moving sequentially higher. This quarter, we booked the $8 million, and then that will move sequentially higher, but that will be the bulk of the driver in the near term, including '24.

是的。我認為，正如我們在評論中提到的，短期內最重要的是認識到與我們運行的廢礦收集項目相關的環境屬性。您應該會看到價格依次走高。本季度，我們預訂了 800 萬美元，然後該金額將連續上升，但這將是近期驅動因素的大部分，包括 24 年。

The next question comes from Leo Mariani with ROTH MKM.

下一個問題來自 Leo Mariani 和 ROTH MKM。

I wanted to just delve into the production a little bit more here in 2023. Just kind of looking at second quarter, production was down kind of a couple of percent versus 1Q. I think you guys had 13 turning lines this quarter. So kind of turn lines were up and production was down. Obviously, you detailed some of the reasons why you kind of lowered the guide here a little bit, but you've got a pretty big ramp on production in '24 from kind of where it is today. So could you give us a little bit of color on kind of how the second half of '23 breaks down. Do we see pretty significant growth in 3Q and 4Q to get to kind of a higher exit rate that kind of gets you more to that maintenance level in sort of '24. Can you just kind of help us bridge the gap here on the production between kind of second quarter, which was moving lower and kind of a big jump next year?

我想更深入地研究一下 2023 年的產量。看看第二季度，產量比第一季度下降了幾個百分點。我想你們這個季度有 13 條轉彎線。因此，轉彎線增加了，產量卻下降了。顯然，你詳細說明了為什麼你在這裡稍微降低了指南的一些原因，但是你在 24 年的產量比今天有了相當大的增長。那麼您能否給我們一些關於 23 年下半年如何崩潰的信息？我們是否會看到第三季度和第四季度出現相當顯著的增長，以達到更高的退出率，從而使您在 24 世紀達到更高的維持水平。您能否幫助我們縮小第二季度產量下降與明年大幅增長之間的差距？

Yes. What's important to remember on the second quarter is because of the April 1 effective date on the non-op sale, you're missing about 3 Bs where we otherwise would have been. So if you add that back sequentially we're higher, and as we talked about going into the year, we started the year at the low point. We're moving up to kind of the run rate we want to be at in Q3, and then you should see that kind of exit through Q4 to hit that 580 for next year.

是的。在第二季度要記住的重要一點是，由於非運營銷售的生效日期為 4 月 1 日，因此您錯過了大約 3 個 B，否則我們會錯過。因此，如果您按順序將其添加回來，我們會更高，並且當我們談到進入這一年時，我們從今年的低點開始。我們正在將運行率提高到我們希望在第三季度達到的運行率，然後你應該會看到第四季度的退出，明年達到 580。

Okay. So just to clarify, it sounds like you're going to get to this much higher run rate in Q3. And then I guess, are you kind of saying that it's sort of flattish from there into the run rate for next year? Or do you see kind of continued growth into kind of year-end and then more flat as you get into '24. I'm just trying to understand the cadence for the rest of the year.

好的。因此，澄清一下，聽起來您將在第三季度達到更高的運行率。然後我想，你是不是在說從現在到明年的運行率有點持平？或者你是否認為到年底會出現持續增長，然後進入 24 年後會變得更加平穩。我只是想了解今年剩餘時間的節奏。

You'll see a tick up in Q3 and then by the time you get to Q4, you should be around the run rate that you would extrapolate for the rest of '24.

您會在第 3 季度看到有所上升，然後到第 4 季度時，您應該處於為 24 年剩餘時間推斷的運行率附近。

Okay. So up a little bit more here in Q4. Okay. That's helpful.

好的。因此，第四季度的漲幅會更大一些。好的。這很有幫助。

Start to build.

開始構建。

Okay. And I guess, just for the asset sales, I mean, I saw that your LOE was kind of down this quarter per Mcfe. Just trying to get a sense, was that part of it due to the asset sale here? Could you see some kind of cost benefits, maybe these were some kind of older, higher cost wells that you kind of shed and is kind of second quarter LOE kind of the right run rate to think about going forward? I know it will fluctuate a little bit on a quarterly basis.

好的。我想，就資產銷售而言，我的意思是，根據 Mcfe 的數據，我發現本季度你們的 LOE 有所下降。只是想了解一下，這是否是由於這裡的資產出售所致？您能否看到某種成本效益，也許這些是您放棄的某種較舊的、成本較高的井，並且第二季度的 LOE 是考慮未來的正確運行率嗎？我知道它會按季度略有波動。

Yes. I would say the non-op sale had little to no impact on kind of that. The majority of those were really interest in kind of lower cost working interest wells. What we did see during Q2, we talked about the operational success. Nav's team has done a great job controlling LOE. Moving forward, we expect that trend to continue. And then there were some things on the marketing side with some rate settlement cases that impacted the quarter as one-offs as well.

是的。我想說，非運營銷售對此幾乎沒有影響。其中大多數人確實對成本較低的工作油井感興趣。我們在第二季度所看到的，我們談論了運營的成功。 Nav 的團隊在控制 LOE 方面做得非常出色。展望未來，我們預計這種趨勢將持續下去。然後，營銷方面的一些事情以及一些一次性的費率和解案件也影響了本季度。

The next question comes from Bertrand Donnes from Truist.

下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Bertrand Donnes。

It looks like your operational efficiencies may allow you to have kind of a faster pace of activity than you were previously expecting. And I just wanted to understand the CapEx range for this year. On the prepared remarks, it sounded like maybe the low end was just raised due to the current state of service cost, but I just wasn't sure if maybe there was some sort of allowance for maybe some activity being pulled from '24 into '23? Or could you just talk about maybe the optionality that you could do that later in the year?

看起來您的運營效率可能會讓您的活動節奏比您之前預期的更快。我只是想了解今年的資本支出範圍。在準備好的評論中，聽起來可能是由於當前的服務成本狀況而提高了低端，但我只是不確定是否可能有某種津貼，可能會將某些活動從“24 小時”拉至“24 小時” 23？或者你能談談今年晚些時候你可以這樣做的選擇嗎？

The bulk of the reason we're pulling up the low end was because the service costs haven't materialized. We've seen some green shoots as we discussed, but that's kind of the low-end cases off the table as costs haven't come down as quickly as they have in other parts of the cycle. But you're right on with the kind of the completion efficiency and other stuff. We have been able to pull in a couple of TIL this year, which will push capital up incrementally, but it's not as material as kind of the service cost adjustment pulling up the bottom end.

我們拉高低端價格的大部分原因是服務成本尚未實現。正如我們所討論的，我們已經看到了一些萌芽，但這是一種不可行的低端案例，因為成本沒有像週期的其他部分那樣迅速下降。但你對完成效率和其他東西的看法是正確的。今年我們已經能夠引入一些 TIL，這將逐步推高資本，但這並不像服務成本調整拉高底端那樣重要。

I assume minimal production impact from those late year TILs?

我認為年底 TIL 對生產的影響最小嗎？

Yes. We're just talking about sliding those in a couple of weeks.

是的。我們只是在談論在幾週內滑動這些。

Great. And then the second question on -- on the buyback strategy, I mean, you guys continue to execute on that. And I think a lot of people probably appreciate that even noncore sales count towards your free cash flow and that you -- that trickles into repurchases. I guess just on the percentage base, 1Q was probably an anomaly where you repurchased almost your entire free cash flow balance, 2Q you did around half of that. Is there a percentage that you guys are looking to target on an annual basis? Or is it opportunistic? Or what's the strategy there?

偉大的。然後是關於回購策略的第二個問題，我的意思是，你們繼續執行該策略。我認為很多人可能會意識到，即使是非核心銷售也會計入你的自由現金流，而這會慢慢轉化為回購。我想就百分比而言，第一季度可能是一個異常情況，您幾乎回購了全部自由現金流餘額，第二季度您回購了大約一半。你們希望每年達到一個百分比嗎？還是機會主義？或者說那裡有什麼策略？

It's opportunistic, right? We always talk about we continually run the clinical allocation math and depending where the share price is kind of dictates our pace. And right now, we see it well below intrinsic value, but we do try to optimize around the edges when we're picking up shares.

這是機會主義的，對吧？我們總是談論我們不斷進行臨床分配數學，並根據股價的情況決定我們的步伐。目前，我們認為它遠低於內在價值，但當我們買入股票時，我們確實嘗試在邊緣進行優化。

We'll say, too, that when you're running the math currently on the share repurchases versus other options for that free cash flow allocation, share repurchases are extremely difficult to beat.

我們還會說，當您當前對股票回購與自由現金流分配的其他選項進行計算時，股票回購是極其難以擊敗的。

For the reasons we talked about there, the 3 key themes we see coming as well.

由於我們在那裡討論的原因，我們也看到了 3 個關鍵主題。

Makes sense. So don't think about it as a percentage of your free cash flow, more of just, hey, you're going to make share repurchases because the shares look attractive and you'll just do that when you feel best.

說得通。因此，不要將其視為自由現金流的百分比，更多的是，嘿，您將進行股票回購，因為股票看起來很有吸引力，而且您會在感覺最好​​的時候這樣做。

Yes, exactly. We got a lot of flexibility with the way the balance sheet is structured. So we don't necessarily need to tie exactly the free cash flow in any given period.

對，就是這樣。我們的資產負債表結構具有很大的靈活性。因此，我們不一定需要與任何特定時期的自由現金流完全掛鉤。

The next question comes from Michael Scialla with Stephens.

下一個問題來自邁克爾·夏拉和斯蒂芬斯。

I wanted to ask again about the 2025 maintenance capital getting below $500 million. I think you mentioned that you would go down to 1 rig and less than 1 full-time frac crew. Just kind of wanted to try to understand a little bit better what's driving that? Is it the decline rate continuing to shallow or better efficiencies? And if you do go down to, I guess, less than a full-time frac crew are you worried about losing some of those efficiencies?

我想再次詢問 2025 年維護資金是否低於 5 億美元。我想您提到過您將減少到 1 台鑽機和少於 1 名全職壓裂人員。只是想嘗試更好地理解是什麼推動了這一點？是遞減率繼續變窄還是效率提高了？我想，如果您確實減少了全職壓裂人員的數量，您是否擔心會失去一些效率？

Yes. I would say it's a combination of factors, right? It's your decline rate, we've kind of reset the maintenance of production level here at 580. We had some bumps last year, and we're now -- we're back to where we need to be on an efficiency rate. So it's really you just don't need as many pads each year, right? And this is kind of what we set out to do in 2020 was to be able to continue to push that capital efficiency down by just picking a level and holding it until the market sends a call for more gas in this region.

是的。我想說這是多種因素綜合作用的結果，對嗎？這是你的下降率，我們已經將生產水平的維持重置為 580。去年我們遇到了一些障礙，現在我們回到了我們需要的效率水平。所以你每年確實不需要那麼多的衛生巾，對嗎？我們在 2020 年打算做的就是通過選擇一個水平並保持它，直到市場呼籲該地區增加天然氣，從而能夠繼續降低資本效率。

And on the well performance side, all the wells are performing at or above what our expectations are.

在油井表現方面，所有油井的表現均達到或高於我們的預期。

Okay. And any concern about losing efficiencies if you're not going to run a full-time crew and even, I guess, worried about losing the crew altogether?

好的。如果您不打算管理全職工作人員，甚至擔心完全失去工作人員，是否會擔心失去效率？

Yes. No. I mean we certainly consider that, but that's the operations teams, that's their goal is to make sure they're running as efficient as possible. Obviously, it's easiest with the continuous operations, but that would result in continued growth year-on-year, right? And that's not the model we're running right now.

是的。不，我的意思是我們當然考慮到這一點，但那是運營團隊，他們的目標是確保他們盡可能高效地運行。顯然，持續運營是最簡單的，但這會導致同比持續增長，對嗎？這不是我們現在運行的模型。

And as far as efficiency is concerned, we kind of look at efficiency from 3 different buckets, right? One is what our operational procedures are. So no matter like when we pick up our crews, we know exactly what to do, how to run those operational procedures. And then second is like preceding those gaps in our -- we have like preplanning processes, and we are really integrated with all our service providers. So we do really deep comprehensive preplanning of operational execution before we start, right?

就效率而言，我們從 3 個不同的方面來考察效率，對嗎？一是我們的運作程序是什麼。因此，無論我們什麼時候接我們的工作人員，我們都清楚地知道要做什麼，如何運行這些操作程序。其次，就像我們之前的那些差距一樣，我們有類似的預先規劃流程，而且我們確實與所有服務提供商整合在一起。因此，我們在開始之前確實對運營執行進行了深入、全面的預先規劃，對嗎？

So coupled with those 2, and then when we are executing, we kind of like take into account our design and engineering efficiencies in place. We optimize on those. And then second, we optimize on schedule length is what is the best time for us to scheduling. So with all these 5 different parameters to -- for us to optimize on I think we'll be able to stay at what our efficiency level is or actually improve and beat it.

因此，結合這兩個因素，然後當我們執行時，我們有點喜歡考慮我們的設計和工程效率。我們對這些進行優化。其次，我們優化調度長度，這就是我們調度的最佳時間。因此，通過所有這 5 個不同的參數，我們可以進行優化，我認為我們將能夠保持我們的效率水平，或者實際上提高並超越它。

Great. I appreciate the color there. And Nick, you mentioned the ammonia manufacturing facility working on with Adams Fork Energy, if you get the support you expect from Washington there, can you just talk about what the timing of that project might look like and would CO2 sequestration there require a [Class VI] drilling permit. Just trying to frame up how that project might unfold.

偉大的。我很欣賞那裡的顏色。尼克，你提到了與 Adams Fork Energy 合作的氨生產設施，如果你得到了華盛頓所期望的支持，你能談談該項目的時間安排嗎？那裡的二氧化碳封存是否需要 [Class六]鑽井許可證。只是試圖框架該項目如何展開。

This is Ravi. So we expect the guidance to come out in the later part of this year from Treasury and IRS on [45b] kind of drives the investment decisions on when the construction starts on this facility. If everything kind of checks out, we were expecting the construction to start maybe mid of next year. It's a 2- to 3-year construction project, get it up and running. And we're also waiting on the CCS side of things. A lot of work is happening to figure out where the sequestration is going to happen. We have -- we control a lot of assets that make it successful in that region. But the [Class VI] UIC well that you're talking about, there is West Virginia primacy issues, whether West Virginia is going to have primacy or not, whether we have to petition the EPA to do that, and we're trying to get the primacy for these UIC wells. So there's a lot of stuff in that arena that we're waiting to see how it all shapes up to see what our next steps are going to be. But in the meantime, based on the guidance from treasury and IRS, the construction for the project is expected to start mid of 2024.

這是拉維。因此，我們預計財政部和國稅局將在今年下半年發布關於 [45b] 的指導意見，這將推動該設施何時開始建設的投資決策。如果一切順利，我們預計施工將於明年中旬開始。這是一個2到3年的建設項目，啟動並運行。我們也在等待 CCS 方面的進展。正在進行大量工作來弄清楚封存將發生在哪裡。我們控制著很多資產，使其在該地區取得成功。但是你所說的 [VI 級] UIC 井，存在西弗吉尼亞州的首要地位問題，無論西弗吉尼亞州是否會擁有首要地位，我們是否必須向 EPA 請願才能做到這一點，我們正在努力獲得這些 UIC 井的首要地位。因此，這個領域有很多東西我們正在等待，看看它會如何發展，看看我們下一步會做什麼。但與此同時，根據財政部和國稅局的指導，該項目的建設預計將於 2024 年中期開始。

The next question comes from Noel Parks with Tuohy Brothers.

下一個問題來自諾埃爾·帕克斯 (Noel Parks) 和圖伊兄弟 (Tuohy Brothers)。

I wanted to just ask for a bit of an update and I understand what you've been saying about just still waiting for guidance around the IRA, but in general, has there been any progress on the specific terms of Adams Fork? I think a quarter ago, there was still quite a lot to be determined. So anything you can tell us on that would be great.

我只想要求提供一些更新信息，我理解您所說的仍在等待有關 IRA 的指導，但總的來說，Adams Fork 的具體條款有任何進展嗎？我認為四分之一年前，仍有很多事情需要確定。所以你能告訴我們的任何事情都會很棒。

Some of that is still in the flux a little bit. I think like based on the Treasury guidance depending on when the investment decisions are going to be. I think some of the things that are set is that we're going to provide the CCS services, we're going to provide the feedstock. I mentioned that in the call last quarter that we have all the assets that are required to make this project successful. We have the lowest carbon intensity feedstock that's available that's going to be required to produce the hydrogen and subsequently ammonia. We have the surface and the pore spaces to sequester CO2. We have the right of -- pipeline right of ways to move the CO2 and the feedstock around. We have the technical expertise to drill these deep UIC wells that's required to sequester the CO2. We have the gas processing and handling expertise to move the feedstock and the CO2 molecules around. So we control a lot of that stuff, but I think the investment decisions on the project is still depending on a lot of external factors such as the Treasury guidance, such as the hydrogen hub decision from the DOE. So stay tuned for more updates, but I think we're relying on some external factors to make some of these concrete decisions in the coming months.

其中一些仍在不斷變化。我認為這取決於財政部的指導，具體取決於投資決策的時間。我認為已經確定的一些事情是我們將提供 CCS 服務，我們將提供原料。我在上個季度的電話會議中提到，我們擁有使該項目成功所需的所有資產。我們擁有碳強度最低的可用原料，可用於生產氫氣和隨後的氨。我們有表面和孔隙空間來封存二氧化碳。我們擁有管道運輸二氧化碳和原料的權利。我們擁有鑽探這些封存二氧化碳所需的 UIC 深井的技術專長。我們擁有氣體加工和處理專業知識來移動原料和二氧化碳分子。因此，我們控制了很多東西，但我認為該項目的投資決策仍然取決於許多外部因素，例如財政部的指導，例如能源部的氫中心決策。因此，請繼續關注更多更新，但我認為我們將依靠一些外部因素在未來幾個月內做出一些具體決定。

Yes. The good news is that big picture, the intent of Congress is very clear of how this project would sit, right smack in the middle of what was intended with the IRA. But as we've seen in numerous different industries and with different situations, how the administrative state ends up interpreting that, we need to make sure that the interpretation is consistent with the intention of the law. And that's what we mean by waiting on guidance from Washington.

是的。好消息是，從大局來看，國會的意圖非常明確，該項目將如何實施，正好位於愛爾蘭共和軍的預期目標的中間。但正如我們在眾多不同行業、不同情況下所看到的，行政國家最終如何解釋，我們需要確保其解釋符合法律的意圖。這就是我們等待華盛頓指導的意思。

Great. I was wondering a bit about -- as far as the cost environment, it seems to, I guess, maybe beyond the way to being unanimous that 2023, maybe in Appalachia is not really looking like the year that there's going to be much give back from service providers. And you expressed some optimism -- a little cautious optimism out 2024. Is this sort of cycle different as far as -- I mean, I guess, between industry capital discipline that's kind of been reflected on the service providers part as well, in some other basins, we have heard a little bit more optimism about frac costs coming down and so forth. So just wondering which factors you think might be basin specific.

偉大的。我想知道，就成本環境而言，我想，2023 年可能無法達成一致，也許在阿巴拉契亞，看起來並不是會有很多回饋的一年來自服務提供商。您表達了一些樂觀態度——對 2024 年持謹慎樂觀的態度。這種週期是否有所不同——我的意思是，我猜，行業資本紀律之間的差異也反映在服務提供商方面，在某些方面在其他盆地，我們聽到了一些關於壓裂成本下降等的樂觀情緒。所以只是想知道您認為哪些因素可能是流域特定的。

Yes. I mean if you think of our basins, we've all kind of been at a maintenance production level, give or take, for a while. So there wasn't as much activity to drop up in this basin as some of the other basins. But we still do see things on the commodity side improving. And like I said, some of the service categories with some of the kind of marginal players, maybe the private guys drop in activity in the sort of price environment have provided a little bit of an uplift certainly not to the magnitude we hoped at the beginning of the year, but some of these contracts come up during the Q3 and Q4, we'll see how they reset going to the '24.

是的。我的意思是，如果你想到我們的盆地，我們一段時間以來都處於維持生產水平，或多或少。因此，這個盆地中沒有像其他一些盆地那樣多的活動。但我們仍然看到大宗商品方面的情況有所改善。就像我說的，一些邊緣參與者的服務類別，也許私營企業在這種價格環境中活動的下降，提供了一點點的提升，當然沒有達到我們一開始希望的幅度今年的合同，但其中一些合同是在第三季度和第四季度簽訂的，我們將看看它們如何重置到 24 世紀。

And this is Nav, so I want to add some color to it, how we at CNX look at cost. So in cost, we divide cost into 5 different categories, right? One is our design and engineering where our engineers really hone on optimizing and continuously improving and driving down costs from an engineering standpoint. The second phase is our operational and execution efficiency. So we are always optimizing that and trying to increase our efficiency, as you have seen we have done in the last 2 quarters.

這是 Nav，所以我想為其添加一些色彩，說明我們 CNX 如何看待成本。那麼在成本方面，我們將成本分為5個不同的類別，對嗎？一是我們的設計和工程，我們的工程師真正從工程的角度進行優化、不斷改進和降低成本。第二個階段是我們的運營和執行效率。因此，我們一直在優化這一點，並努力提高效率，正如您所看到的，我們在過去兩個季度所做的事情。

The third part of this is our supply chain team where we are always negotiating and trying to work with our partners to increase efficiency and drive down cost per unit basis, right? And then third -- sorry, the fourth part of it is our commodity pricing reps, where we see steel price and diesel price are changing. And so we are tracking that and trying to drive down the cost. And then fifth part of that is scheduling. So we are continuously trying to improve on which locations to go to, so we can affect our per unit price cost too, right? So with all of those 5 things in consideration, what we have seen or we are seeing over the next like you asked for completions, so in completions, we divide all of that into -- 1 is frac equipment pricing, where we are driving up efficiency, so our per unit cost is decreasing. And then your sand cost, and our supply chain team has done a fantastic job of working with our service providers, and we have been able to drive that cost of sand down on a unit per ton basis.

第三部分是我們的供應鏈團隊，我們一直在與合作夥伴談判並努力合作，以提高效率並降低單位成本，對吧？然後第三部分 - 抱歉，第四部分是我們的商品定價代表，我們看到鋼材價格和柴油價格正在變化。因此，我們正在跟踪這一點並努力降低成本。第五部分是日程安排。因此，我們不斷嘗試改進去哪些地點，這樣我們也可以影響我們的單價成本，對嗎？因此，考慮到所有這 5 件事，我們已經看到的或我們接下來會看到的，就像您要求的完井情況一樣，因此在完井情況中，我們將所有這些分為—— 1 是壓裂設備定價，我們正在推動這一定價效率，所以我們的單位成本正在下降。然後是沙子成本，我們的供應鏈團隊在與我們的服務提供商合作方面做得非常出色，我們已經能夠以每噸為單位降低沙子成本。

And then the third part of it is like water. So our water team has done a fantastic job of optimizing and optimizing our gathering systems and how we acquire and get water to location to reduce that cost. So overall, we think our completion costs are going to be driving downwards for the next few quarters for sure.

然後它的第三部分就像水一樣。因此，我們的水務團隊在優化和優化我們的收集系統以及如何獲取水並將其運送到指定地點以降低成本方面做得非常出色。因此，總體而言，我們認為未來幾個季度的完工成本肯定會下降。

Great. Thanks for the detail. Bye-bye.

偉大的。謝謝你的詳細信息。再見。

The next question comes from John Abbott with Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的約翰·阿博特。

Appreciate the color on the New Technologies business in 2025 potential spending. Just starting with 2025, I just want to make sure that I sort of understand this. So the -- that CapEx that you're suggesting around $500 million, does that include other discretionary spending? Does that include spending on like technology business? What is -- how do I think about other CapEx that year?

欣賞新技術業務 2025 年潛在支出的顏色。從 2025 年開始，我只是想確保我能理解這一點。那麼，您建議的資本支出約為 5 億美元，這是否包括其他可自由支配的支出？這是否包括類似技術業務的支出？我如何看待當年的其他資本支出？

Yes. So that number is primarily on the legacy kind of E&P business, right? There's no near-term major capital expenditures like -- that would materially impact on the New Technologies side. Like we talked about the nearest term real positive uplift on that side of the business is with the environmental attributes. So you have limited CapEx in the next year or 2 with that.

是的。那麼這個數字主要是針對傳統的勘探與生產業務，對吧？短期內不會出現對新技術方面產生重大影響的重大資本支出。就像我們談到的最近的術語一樣，業​​務方面真正的積極提升是環境屬性。因此，未來一兩年的資本支出有限。

Yes. And just like we've done in the past, we're going to go through the clinical math to decide where the capital allocation is going to occur and once we have a better view of what projects we're going to pursue, we'll update the community with how much capital is going to be required on the new tech side of things.

是的。就像我們過去所做的那樣，我們將通過臨床數學來決定資本配置將在哪裡進行，一旦我們更好地了解了我們將要開展的項目，我們就會“我們將向社區通報新技術方面需要多少資金。

All right. Appreciate it. And then for the -- for our follow-up question, it's been a while, but you've given guidance in the past, just -- how are you thinking about the trajectory of cash taxes at this point in time. Given the lower potential spending and the moving parts, how do you think about your future cash taxes?

好的。欣賞它。然後對於我們的後續問題，已經有一段時間了，但您過去已經給出了指導，只是您目前如何考慮現金稅的軌跡。鑑於潛在支出較低和變動因素，您如何看待未來的現金稅？

It's basically the same as when we went into the kind of the 7-year plan. You kind of get to that $3 billion mark of free cash flow generation is where you start becoming kind of a cash tax payer again. So we're still a few years out. You're still out in that '26, '27 time frame before you see anything material on the cash tax side.

這與我們制定七年計劃時基本相同。當你的自由現金流量達到 30 億美元時，你就開始再次成為現金納稅人。所以我們還需要幾年的時間。在你看到現金稅方面的任何實質性內容之前，你仍然需要在 26 年、27 年的時間範圍內。

Appreciate it.

欣賞它。

The next question comes from Jacob Roberts with TPH & Company.

下一個問題來自 TPH & Company 的 Jacob Roberts。

Just curious if you could provide some background on how the recent deal came about, what the opportunity set for similar or larger deals may be and perhaps if the proceeds are earmarked for anything in particular?

只是好奇您是否可以提供一些背景信息，說明最近的交易是如何進行的，類似或更大的交易可能會帶來什麼機會，以及收益是否指定用於任何特定用途？

You're referring to the non-op sale?

你指的是非運營銷售嗎？

Correct?

正確的？

Yes. I mean we're always going through kind of an exercise in determining are we getting the best value in terms of noncore assets. Is there some way to raise proceeds to reinvest in a more accretive manner. This is an asset set that it's all non-op. So it's definitely noncore. And we ran our kind of internal process and we got a lot of strong feedback from it, and we're able to monetize it at a flowing end number that relative to our public valuation, if you reinvest all the proceeds into share prices, you're going to come out ahead. That's how we think about that.

是的。我的意思是，我們總是在進行某種練習，以確定我們是否在非核心資產方面獲得了最佳價值。是否有某種方法可以籌集資金以更具增值性的方式進行再投資？這是一個完全不可操作的資產集。所以它絕對是非核心的。我們運行了我們的內部流程，並從中得到了很多強烈的反饋，我們能夠以相對於我們的公開估值的流動最終數字將其貨幣化，如果你將所有收益再投資於股價，你我們將會領先。我們就是這麼想的。

So is it fair to assume the proceeds will be heading to share buybacks in their entirety?

那麼，假設所得收益將全部用於股票回購是否公平？

I think we guided to. We're flexible. If the stock were to run up, we'll change our capital allocation strategy.

我想我們引導到了。我們很靈活。如果股價上漲，我們將改變資本配置策略。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Tyler Lewis for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回泰勒·劉易斯發表閉幕詞。

Great. Thank you, everyone, for joining this morning. Please feel free to reach out if you might have any additional questions. Otherwise, we look forward to speaking with everyone again next quarter. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝大家今天早上的加入。如果您還有任何其他問題，請隨時與我們聯繫。否則，我們期待下個季度再次與大家交談。謝謝。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。