Comstock Resources Inc (CRK) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the third quarter 2024, Comstock Resources earnings call. (Operator Instructions).

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加康斯托克資源 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）。

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Jay Allison, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead.

請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給今天的第一位發言人，董事長兼執行長傑伊·艾利森 (Jay Allison)。請繼續。

Perfect, and welcome, everyone that's listening in. Welcome to the Comstock Resources third quarter 2024, financial and operating results conference call.

完美，歡迎所有正在收聽的人。歡迎參加康斯托克資源 2024 年第三季財務與營運業績電話會議。

You can view a slide presentation during or after this call by going to our website at www.comstockresources.com and downloading the quarterly results presentation. There, you'll find a presentation entitled third quarter 2024 results.

您可以在本次電話會議期間或之後造訪我們的網站 www.comstockresources.com 並下載季度業績簡報，查看投影片簡報。在那裡，您會找到題為 2024 年第三季業績的簡報。

I am Jay Allison, Chief Executive Officer of Comstock; and with me is Roland Burns, our President and Chief Financial Officer; Dan Harrison, our Chief Operating Officer; and Ron Mills, our VP of Finance and Investor Relations.

我是傑伊‧艾利森 (Jay Allison)，康斯托克 (Comstock) 執行長；和我在一起的還有我們的總裁兼財務長羅蘭‧伯恩斯 (Roland Burns)；丹·哈里森，我們的首席營運長；以及我們的財務與投資者關係副總裁 Ron Mills。

If you would, please refer to Slide 2 in our presentations and note that our discussions today will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of securities laws. While we believe the expectations in such statements to be reasonable, there could be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

如果您願意，請參閱我們簡報中的投影片 2，並注意我們今天的討論將包括證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。雖然我們認為此類聲明中的預期是合理的，但不能保證此類預期將被證明是正確的。

If you would turn to Slide 3, before we start going over this slide, I do want to make a few comments. On Tuesday, I was watching Bloomberg News, and the headline was "big oil sees AI boom driving crazy demand for U.S. natural gas" now by the way, I love the word crazy.

如果您想看投影片 3，在我們開始討論這張投影片之前，我確實想發表一些評論。週二，我在看彭博新聞，標題是“大型石油公司看到人工智慧的繁榮推動了對美國天然氣的瘋狂需求”，順便說一句，我喜歡“瘋狂”這個詞。

Then on Wednesday, I read in the Journal, "Wall Street giants to make $50 billion bet on AI and power projects" with the "Gas is going to be at the forefront of this "Natural gas can back up those intermittent renewables very nicely" and "Natural gas-fired plants will be critical in supplying round-the-clock power to data centers."

然後在周三，我在《華爾街日報》上讀到，“華爾街巨頭將在人工智慧和電力項目上押注500 億美元”，其中“天然氣將處於這一領域的最前沿，“天然氣可以很好地支援那些間歇性可再生能源” “天然氣發電廠對於為資料中心提供全天候電力至關重要。

Now since those headlines came out on Tuesday, Wednesday, I know they are not trick-or-treat headlines. So today is Halloween, everyone. So Happy Halloween, it does make you smile a little bit, having a pure natural gas company report results on Halloween. I told someone I was hoping tonight, I'd see a kid in my front door dressed as a flame, either that or is a horseshoe, either one is good with me.

自從這些頭條新聞在周二、週三出現以來，我知道它們不是「不給糖就搗蛋」的頭條新聞。大家好，今天是萬聖節。萬聖節快樂，一家純天然氣公司在萬聖節報告業績，確實會讓你微笑。我告訴某人我希望今晚，我會在我的前門看到一個孩子，打扮成火焰，要么是火焰，要么是馬蹄鐵，要么對我很好。

Anyhow, the good news or the treat for natural gas companies is that America and the world needs more natural gas in the very near future as demand for an additional 15 Bcf of LNG feed gas gets nearer along with growth in power demand being driven by the growth in data centers and AI.

無論如何，對天然氣公司來說，好消息或好消息是，隨著電力需求的增長，美國和世界在不久的將來需要更多的天然氣，因為對額外15 Bcf 液化天然氣原料氣的需求越來越近。

The question is, though, here's the question, is where does Comstock fit into this puzzle? And how did we position ourselves over the past four years to be a difference maker in the U.S. natural gas market. As one analyst stated on Monday, "The producing basins are facing inventory exhaustion." You either add inventory by M&A or exploratory drilling. Comstock has chosen four years ago to grow inventory through exploration in our new Western Haynesville play.

但問題是，康斯托克在這個難題中處於什麼位置？在過去的四年裡，我們如何定位自己，成為美國天然氣市場的改變者。正如一位分析師週一表示，“產油盆地正面臨庫存枯竭。”您可以透過併購或勘探鑽探來增加庫存。康斯托克四年前選擇透過勘探我們新的西海恩斯維爾專案來增加庫存。

Since 2020, we have secured 450,000 net acres in the Western Haynesville, and we drilled 18 wells over an area of 26 miles to give birth to a major natural gas field close to the LNG demand corridor, which could potentially add decades of additional drilling inventory.

自2020 年以來，我們在西海恩斯維爾獲得了450,000 淨英畝土地，並在26 英里的區域內鑽探了18 口井，在靠近液化天然氣需求走廊的地方誕生了一個主要天然氣田，這可能會增加數十年的額外鑽探庫存。

I told someone that it's like a dog chasing a car and catching it. That's what we did in Western Haynesville. We got the 450,000 net acres and now we're learning how to drive the car or in our case, develop the Western Haynesville well by well. The results to date look very, very promising. So the future looks very bright.

我告訴別人，這就像一隻狗追逐一輛車並抓住它。這就是我們在西海恩斯維爾所做的。我們獲得了 450,000 英畝的淨土地，現在我們正在學習如何駕駛汽車，或者就我們而言，正在逐步開發西海恩斯維爾。到目前為止的結果看起來非常非常有希望。所以未來看起來非常光明。

In fact, today, Dan Harrison, our COO, will report on our 13th Western Haynesville well and give you cost per foot. And yes, number 13 is a lucky number for us today even on Halloween, that kind of makes you smile too. So on this Halloween Day, we're thankful to be the treat as the corner is being turned for natural gas demand.

事實上，今天，我們的營運長 Dan Harrison 將報告我們西海恩斯維爾第 13 口油井的情況，並為您提供每英尺的成本。是的，即使在萬聖節，數字 13 對我們來說也是一個幸運數字，這也會讓你微笑。因此，在這個萬聖節，我們很高興能在天然氣需求出現轉折點時受到款待。

So now let me go back to the presentation on Slide 3. On Slide 3, we summarize the highlights of the third quarter. Our financial results continue to be heavily impacted by the continued weak natural gas prices as our average realized gas price before hedging was $1.90 for the quarter.

現在讓我回到投影片 3 的簡報。在投影片 3 中，我們總結了第三季的亮點。我們的財務表現繼續受到天然氣價格持續疲軟的嚴重影響，因為本季對沖前的平均天然氣價格為 1.90 美元。

As a result, our oil and gas sales, including hedging were $305 million in the quarter and we generated cash flow from operations of $152 million or $0.52 per share and adjusted EBITDAX of $202 million. Our adjusted net loss was $0.17 per share for the quarter.

因此，本季我們的石油和天然氣銷售額（包括對沖）為 3.05 億美元，營運現金流為 1.52 億美元，即每股 0.52 美元，調整後的 EBITDAX 為 2.02 億美元。本季調整後的淨虧損為每股 0.17 美元。

Given the lower completion activity that was planned for this quarter, we had only eight operated wells turned to sales since the company's last update. These wells had an average initial production of 21 million cubic feet per day. One of those was our first horseshoe Haynesville well, which had an initial IP rate of 31 million per day, which Dan will talk about later.

鑑於本季計畫的完井活動較少，自公司上次更新以來，我們只有八口營運井轉為銷售。這些井的平均初始產量為每天 2,100 萬立方英尺。其中之一是我們的第一口馬蹄形海恩斯維爾井，其初始 IP 率為每天 3100 萬，丹將在稍後討論。

We're continuing to advance our Western Haynesville exploratory play. Our acreage in the emerging play is now up to 453,881 net acres. Most importantly, we have substantially reduced the well cost in the Western Haynesville with our 13th well recently completed at a cost of approximately $2,814 per lateral foot. This was a single well with an 11,400-foot lateral, which did not get the cost savings that we see on a two-well pad.

我們正在繼續推進我們在西海恩斯維爾的探索性活動。我們在新興礦區的面積目前已達 453,881 淨英畝。最重要的是，我們已經大幅降低了 Western Haynesville 的井成本，最近完成了第 13 口井，每側英尺的成本約為 2,814 美元。這是一口橫向 11,400 英尺的單井，並沒有像我們在兩口井平台上看到的那樣節省成本。

The next five wells in the Western Haynesville are expected to be turned to sales in late 2024 to early 2025. Four of those are on two-well pads. Now I'll give it over to Roland to go through the third quarter financial results. Roland?

西海恩斯維爾接下來的五口井預計將於 2024 年底至 2025 年初投入銷售。其中四個位於兩孔墊上。現在我將把第三季的財務表現交給羅蘭。羅蘭？

All right. Thanks, Jay. On Slide 4, we cover our third quarter financial results. Our production in the third quarter averaged 1.4 Bcfe per day, which was 2% higher than the third quarter of 2023. Continued low natural gas prices resulted in our oil and gas sales in the quarter declining 3% to $305 million. EBITDAX for the quarter was $202 million and we generated $152 million of cash flow in the third quarter.

好的。謝謝，傑伊。在投影片 4 上，我們介紹了第三季的財務表現。我們第三季的產量平均為每天 1.4 Bcfe，比 2023 年第三季高 2%。天然氣價格持續走低導致我們本季的石油和天然氣銷售額下降 3% 至 3.05 億美元。本季的 EBITDAX 為 2.02 億美元，第三季我們產生了 1.52 億美元的現金流。

We reported an adjusted loss of $49 million for the third quarter or $0.17 per share. Higher depreciation, depletion and amortization in the quarter really accounted for the loss. The higher amortization rate driving the increase in our DD&A was caused by a decrease in proved undeveloped reserves, which had to be determined under SEC rules based on the low natural gas prices we've had over the last 12 months.

我們報告第三季調整後虧損 4,900 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.17 美元。本季較高的折舊、消耗和攤銷確實造成了損失。較高的攤銷率推動我們的 DD&A 增加，這是由於已探明未開發儲量的減少，這必須根據 SEC 規則根據過去 12 個月我們的天然氣價格較低來確定。

On Slide 5, we cover our year-to-date financial results. Production in this period averaged 1.5 Bcfe per day and that was 5% higher than the same period in 2023. Again, low natural gas prices caused our oil and gas sales in the first nine months of the year to decrease 7% to $919 million as compared to 2023.

在投影片 5 上，我們介紹了今年迄今的財務表現。這段期間的產量平均為每天 1.5 Bcfe，比 2023 年同期高出 5%。同樣，天然氣價格較低導致我們今年前 9 個月的石油和天然氣銷售額較 2023 年下降 7%，至 9.19 億美元。

Our EBITDAX for the first nine months of this year is $598 million and we generated $452 million of cash flow. We reported a net loss of $121 million for the first nine months of this year or $0.42 per share as compared to income of $105 million in the same period in 2023.

今年前 9 個月，我們的 EBITDAX 為 5.98 億美元，產生了 4.52 億美元的現金流。我們報告今年前 9 個月淨虧損 1.21 億美元，即每股虧損 0.42 美元，而 2023 年同期營收為 1.05 億美元。

On Slide 6, we break down our natural gas price realizations in the quarter. The quarterly NYMEX settlement price averaged $2.16 in the third quarter and the average Henry Hub spot price averaged $2.09. Our realized gas price during the third quarter averaged $1.90, reflecting a $0.26 differential to the settlement price and a $0.23 differential to the reference price. In the third quarter, we were 28% hedged, which improved our realized gas price to $2.28. As we look ahead to the fourth quarter, we'll be 50% hedged.

在投影片 6 中，我們詳細分析了本季的天然氣價格實現。第三季 NYMEX 季度結算價平均為 2.16 美元，亨利中心現貨價格平均為 2.09 美元。第三季我們實現的 Gas 價格平均為 1.90 美元，與結算價相差 0.26 美元，與參考價相差 0.23 美元。第三季度，我們進行了 28% 的對沖，這將我們的實際 Gas 價格提高至 2.28 美元。當我們展望第四季時，我們將進行 50% 的對沖。

On Slide 7, we detail our operating cost per Mcfe and our EBITDAX margin. Our operating cost per Mcfe averaged $0.77 in the third quarter. That's a $0.07 improvement from the second quarter rate and then our margin improved to 67% in the third quarter as compared to 61% in the second quarter.

在投影片 7 上，我們詳細介紹了每 Mcfe 的營運成本和 EBITDAX 利潤率。第三季度，我們每個 Mcfe 的營運成本平均為 0.77 美元。這比第二季的利潤率提高了 0.07 美元，第三季我們的利潤率從第二季的 61% 提高到了 67%。

A lot of that was driven by lower production and ad valorem taxes, which were down $0.05, reflecting a reduction in the statutory rate in Louisiana. Our lifting costs were also down $0.05 in the quarter.

其中很大一部分原因是生產稅和從價稅下降，下降了 0.05 美元，反映出路易斯安那州法定稅率的降低。本季我們的起重成本也下降了 0.05 美元。

Our gathering costs were up $0.03 in the quarter, but this is solely due to some prior period adjustments from some of our transport agreements. So, we expect to see that back to its kind of normal rate in the fourth quarter. And our G&A costs were unchanged from the second quarter.

本季我們的收集成本增加了 0.03 美元，但這完全是由於我們的一些運輸協議的前期調整。因此，我們預計第四季度將恢復到正常水平。我們的一般管理費用與第二季相比沒有變動。

On Slide 8, we recap our spending on our drilling and other development activity. We spent a total of $184 million on development activities in the third quarter. And for all of the first nine months of this year, we've drilled 23 or 18.6 net Haynesville wells and 12 or 11.1 Bossier wells. We've also turned 41 or 35.9 net operated wells to sales so far this year that had an average IP rate of 24 million per day.

在投影片 8 中，我們回顧了鑽探和其他開發活動的支出。第三季我們在開發活動上總共花了 1.84 億美元。今年前 9 個月，我們在 Haynesville 鑽探了 23 口或 18.6 口淨井，以及 12 口或 11.1 口 Bossier 井。今年到目前為止，我們也已將 41 口或 35.9 口淨營運井轉為銷售，平均 IP 率為每天 2,400 萬。

Slide 9 recaps our capitalization at the end of the third quarter. We ended the quarter with $415 million of borrowings outstanding under our credit facility, giving us $3 billion of total debt, including our outstanding senior notes. Yesterday, our bank group unanimously reaffirmed our borrowing base of $2 billion and our elected commitment still remains at $1.5 billion under the bank credit facility.

投影片 9 回顧了我們第三季末的資本狀況。本季末，我們的信貸安排下未償還借款為 4.15 億美元，債務總額為 30 億美元，其中包括未償還的優先票據。昨天，我們的銀行集團一致重申我們的借貸基礎為 20 億美元，而我們選出的銀行信貸安排承諾仍維持在 15 億美元。

And given the extended period of low natural gas prices that we've had, our bank group approved an amendment to loosen the covenant leverage ratio that we have. The new leverage ratio under the amendment increases to less than 4 times through the first quarter of next year, then steps back down to 3.75 times in the second quarter of 2025 and then to less than 3.5 times by the third quarter of 2025.

鑑於天然氣價格長期處於低位，我們的銀行集團批准了一項修正案，以放寬我們的契約槓桿率。修正案規定的新槓桿率到明年第一季將增至4倍以下，然後在2025年第二季回落至3.75倍，然後到2025年第三季回落至3.5倍以下。

At the end of the third quarter, we ended the quarter with $1.1 billion of liquidity. I'll now turn the call over to Dan to discuss the operations.

截至第三季末，我們的流動資金為 11 億美元。我現在將把電話轉給丹，討論營運事宜。

Okay. Thanks, Roland. If you look over on Slide 10, this is an updated slide from our last call, which outlines the new development plan we have utilizing the horseshoe lateral concept. To test the concept, we have -- we've successfully drilled and completed our first single horseshoe well, the Sebastian 11# 5. This is located in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, and it's located in one of our isolated single section acreage blocks.

好的。謝謝，羅蘭。如果您查看投影片 10，這是我們上次電話會議的更新投影片，其中概述了我們利用馬蹄形橫向概念的新開發計劃。為了測試這個概念，我們已經成功鑽探並完成了我們的第一口馬蹄形井，Sebastian 11# 5。它位於路易斯安那州德索托教區，位於我們孤立的單部分面積區塊之一。

We turned the well to sales early last week and we just recently reached an IP rate of 31 million cubic feet a day from a 9,382-foot completed lateral that is in the Haynesville Shale. Building upon this successful test, we will be pursuing additional horseshoe well projects in the future. The technology allows us to develop acreage that before presented more challenging economics by being limited to drilling short laterals.

上週初，我們將該井投入銷售，最近，我們剛從海恩斯維爾頁岩中的 9,382 英尺已完工側井中達到每天 3100 萬立方英尺的產量。在這次成功測試的基礎上，我們未來將開展更多的馬蹄井計畫。該技術使我們能夠開發以前僅限於鑽探短支管而帶來更具挑戰性的經濟效益的面積。

The section we have depicted on this slide represents the project we have scheduled for late next year. This section would have originally been developed by drilling four 5,000 foot laterals from two well pads with a $40 million capital cost. This same section will now be developed from a single two-well pad drilling two horseshoe laterals with a $32 million capital cost and this is based on the D&C cost of $1,740 a foot, and our recently completed Sebastian well cost came in slightly lower than this.

我們在這張投影片上描繪的部分代表了我們計劃於明年年底進行的專案。該部分最初是透過從兩個井場鑽四個 5,000 英尺的支管來開發的，資本成本為 4000 萬美元。現在，同一部分將透過鑽兩個馬蹄形支管的單一兩井平台開發，資本成本為3,200 萬美元，這是基於每英尺1,740 美元的D&C 成本，而我們最近完成的塞巴斯蒂安井成本略低於此。

The project will deliver cost savings of 23% or $8 million, which substantially improves all our key economic performance metrics. We expect the well performance from the horseshoe wells will match that of our regular 10,000-foot laterals.

該項目將節省 23% 的成本，即 800 萬美元，從而大大提高我們所有的關鍵經濟績效指標。我們預計馬蹄井的油井性能將與我們常規的 10,000 英尺支管井的性能相媲美。

And with this success, we have also optimized our drilling inventory by converting 57% of our short Haynesville locations to 64 future horseshoe locations. We're still in the process of evaluating our short Bossier locations for additional horseshoe locations.

憑藉這一成功，我們還優化了我們的鑽井庫存，將 57% 的短海恩斯維爾地點轉變為 64 個未來的馬蹄地點。我們仍在評估我們的短波西爾地點以尋找更多馬蹄鐵地點。

On Slide 11 is our current drilling inventory as it stands at the end of the third quarter. Our total operated inventory now stands at 1,607 gross locations. That's 1,252 net locations, which equates to a 78% average working interest. The non-operated inventory now stands at 1,199 gross locations and 158 net locations, which represents a 13% average working interest.

第 11 張投影片是我們第三季末目前的鑽探庫存。目前，我們營運的總庫存達到 1,607 個地點。淨辦公地點為 1,252 個，相當於平均工作興趣的 78%。非經營庫存目前為 1,199 個總地點和 158 個淨地點，相當於 13% 的平均營運權益。

The drilling inventory is split between Haynesville and Bossier locations broken down into our four different categories bilaterally, the short laterals less than 5,000 foot, medium laterals between 5,000 and 8,500 feet. Our long laterals between 8,500 and 10,000 foot and our extra-long laterals that go past 10,000 feet.

鑽探庫存分佈在 Haynesville 和 Bossier 地點，雙邊分為四個不同類別，短支線小於 5,000 英尺，中支線介於 5,000 至 8,500 英尺之間。我們的長支線在 8,500 至 10,000 英尺之間，而超長支線則超過 10,000 英尺。

In our gross operated inventory, we now have 180 short laterals, 331 medium laterals, 482 long laterals and 614 extra long laterals. And the inventory is split evenly basically between the Haynesville and the Bossier.

在我們的總營運庫存中，我們現在有 180 條短支線、331 條中支線、482 條長支線和 614 條超長支線。庫存基本上在 Haynesville 和 Bossier 之間平均分配。

The updated inventory numbers include the impact of identifying 64 horseshoe locations in the Haynesville Shale. Two-thirds, or 68%, of the gross operated inventory has laterals longer than 8,500 feet and 38% of the gross operated inventory have laterals longer than 10,000 feet.

更新後的庫存數據包括確定海恩斯維爾頁岩 64 個馬蹄形位置的影響。三分之二（即 68%）的總營運庫存的支線長度超過 8,500 英尺，總營運庫存的 38% 的支線長度超過 10,000 英尺。

The average lateral length now stands at 9,261 foot and this is up slightly from our 9,077 feet, which we had at the end of the second quarter. This inventory provides us over 30 years of future drilling locations based on this year's activity.

現在平均橫向長度為 9,261 英尺，比第二季末的 9,077 英尺略有增加。該清單根據今年的活動為我們提供了 30 多年的未來鑽探地點。

On Slide 12 is the chart outlining our average lateral length drilled based on wells that we've turned to sales. During the third quarter, we turned 11 wells to sales with an average length of 12,580 feet. Individual lengths range from 8,912 feet to 15,303 feet.

第 12 張投影片上的圖表概述了我們根據已轉為銷售的油井鑽探的平均橫向長度。第三季度，我們銷售了 11 口井，平均長度為 12,580 英尺。個別長度範圍從 8,912 英尺到 15,303 英尺。

Our record longest lateral still stands at 15,726 feet. All the wells we turned to sales during the third quarter had laterals longer than 8,500 feet. And furthermore, 9 of the 11 wells that turned to sales during the quarter were extra long laterals that were over 10,000 feet.

我們的最長側向紀錄仍保持在 15,726 英尺。我們在第三季銷售的所有油井的支管長度均超過 8,500 英尺。此外，本季出售的 11 口井中有 9 口是超過 10,000 英尺的超長支管井。

As we mentioned earlier, we did not turn to sales any wells on our Western Haynesville acreage during the third quarter. However, we do have six additional wells in the Western Haynesville that we plan to turn to sales by the end of the year or early January 2025. The first of these six wells was turned to sales last week and it's currently being flow tested.

正如我們之前提到的，第三季度我們沒有出售西海恩斯維爾地區的任何油井。然而，我們在 Western Haynesville 確實還有另外 6 口井，我們計劃在今年年底或 2025 年 1 月初之前進行銷售。這六口井中的第一口已於上週開始銷售，目前正在進行流量測試。

Looking ahead, we have several extra long laterals slated to turn to sales over the remainder of the year and we expect our average lateral length for all of 2024, will be approximately 10,100 feet on a total of 48 wells turned to sales. To recap on our long lateral activity to date, we've now drilled 109 wells with laterals longer than 10,000 feet, and we have drilled 40 wells with laterals over 14,000 feet.

展望未來，我們有幾個超長支管計劃在今年剩餘時間內轉為銷售，我們預計 2024 年全年的平均支管長度將約為 10,100 英尺，總共 48 口井已轉為銷售。回顧迄今為止我們的長側向作業，我們現在已經鑽探了 109 口支管長度超過 10,000 英尺的井，並鑽探了 40 口支管長度超過 14,000 英尺的井。

Slide 13 outlines our new well activity since we last provided the well results at the end of July. Since our last call, we have eight new wells that have turned to sales. The individual IP rates on these range from 10 million cubic feet a day up to 31 million cubic feet a day with an average test rate of 21 million cubic feet a day.

幻燈片 13 概述了自我們上次在 7​​ 月底提供油井結果以來我們的新油井活動。自從我們上次通話以來，我們有八口新井已開始銷售。這些單獨的 IP 速率範圍從每天 1000 萬立方英尺到每天 3100 萬立方英尺不等，平均測試速率為每天 2100 萬立方英尺。

The average lateral length was 12,391 feet with the individual laterals that range from 9,382 feet up to 15,272 feet. This list includes our first horseshoe well, the Sebastian 11 #5, turned to sales last week that achieved an IP rate of 31 million cubic feet a day.

平均側向長度為 12,391 英尺，各個側向長度範圍為 9,382 英尺至 15,272 英尺。清單包括我們的第一口馬蹄形井 Sebastian 11 #5，該井上週開始銷售，產量達到每天 3,100 萬立方英尺。

Recapping our activity levels, we're currently running five rigs and two frac crews. Our second frac crew returned in late September following a 70-day frac holiday during the third quarter. We currently have two of the five rigs drilling in the Western Haynesville.

回顧我們的活動水平，我們目前正在運行五台鑽機和兩名壓裂人員。我們的第二批壓裂人員在第三季度度過了 70 天的壓裂假期後於 9 月下旬返回。目前，我們在西海恩斯維爾擁有五個鑽機中的兩個。

We also have both of our frac fleets currently working in the Western Haynesville, where we're in the process of fracking our first two well pads. Both two well pads will be completed in the fourth quarter and turn to sales at year-end. In addition to these two two-well pads, we also have two single wells that turn to sales by year-end, which generates the total six Western Haynesville wells turning to sales between now and year-end.

我們的兩支壓裂車隊目前正在西海恩斯維爾工作，我們正在那裡進行前兩個井場的壓裂。兩個井場均將於第四季完工，並於年底開始銷售。除了這兩個兩井平台外，我們還有兩個單井將在年底前轉為銷售，這使得從現在到年底總共六口西海恩斯維爾井轉為銷售。

On Slide 14 is the summary of our D&C costs through the third quarter for our benchmark long lateral wells. They are located on our core East Texas and North Louisiana acreage. This covers our wells with laterals greater than 8,500 feet long. And during the quarter, all 11 wells that we turned to sales were located on our core East Texas and North Louisiana acreage and all 11 wells fell into our benchmark long lateral group.

投影片 14 總結了截至第三季我們基準長側井的 D&C 成本。它們位於我們東德克薩斯州和北路易斯安那州的核心區域。這涵蓋了我們的支管長度超過 8,500 英尺的油井。在本季度，我們轉向銷售的所有 11 口井均位於我們東德克薩斯州和北路易斯安那州的核心區域，並且所有 11 口井均屬於我們的基準長橫向組。

We're now providing the drilling cost per foot based on the date the wells reached TD. This provides a better view of the current drilling environment and drilling cost environment and just to be better aligned with the timing of when the drilling dollars are actually being spent. The completion cost per foot continues to use the turn to sales date.

我們現在根據油井達到總深度的日期提供每英尺的鑽井成本。這可以更好地了解當前的鑽探環境和鑽探成本環境，並且可以更好地與鑽探資金實際花費的時間保持一致。每英尺的竣工成本繼續使用轉售日期。

So in the third quarter, our drilling costs averaged $642 a foot. This is a 3% increase compared to the second quarter. Our third quarter completion costs came in at $776 per foot, which represents a 6% decrease compared to the second quarter. When we kind of look out ahead to the next couple of quarters, we do see our D&C cost remaining flat to going slightly lower.

因此，在第三季度，我們的鑽井成本平均為每英尺 642 美元。與第二季相比增加了 3%。我們第三季的竣工成本為每英尺 776 美元，比第二季下降了 6%。當我們展望未來幾個季度時，我們確實看到我們的 D&C 成本保持不變甚至略有下降。

I'll now turn the call back over to Jay to summarize the 2024, outlook.

現在我將把電話轉回給 Jay，總結 2024 年的展望。

Okay, Ronald. Thank you, Dan. Thank you. If you would, I direct you to Slide 15, where we summarize our outlook for 2024. As we stated last quarter, we have taken a number of steps in response to the significantly low natural gas prices this year.

好吧，羅納德。謝謝你，丹。謝謝。如果您願意，我將引導您觀看投影片 15，其中我們總結了 2024 年的展望。正如我們上季度所說，我們採取了一系列措施來應對今年天然氣價格的大​​幅下降。

During the first quarter, we released two of our operated drilling rigs, reducing our rig count to 5 rigs and we also released one of our frac spreads, reducing our frac fleet to two spreads. We no longer have any long-term commitments for our pressure pumping services. With those steps, our 2024, CapEx is expected to be down 25% to 35% from the 2023, level. We suspended our quarterly dividend, saving approximately $140 million of dividend payments.

在第一季度，我們釋放了兩台正在運行的鑽機，將我們的鑽機數量減少到 5 台，我們還釋放了一個壓裂差價，將我們的壓裂機隊減少到兩個差價。我們不再對壓力泵服務做出任何長期承諾。透過這些步驟，我們 2024 年的資本支出預計將比 2023 年的水準下降 25% 至 35%。我們暫停了季度股息，節省了約 1.4 億美元的股息支付。

In late March, our majority shareholder, Jerry Jones, had invested an additional $100.5 million into the company through an equity private placement. Starting in late February, we have added significantly to our hedge position starting in the fourth quarter of 2024, and extending through the end of 2026. We're targeting a hedge level of 50% of our expected production level.

3 月下旬，我們的大股東 Jerry Jones 透過私募股權向公司追加投資 1.005 億美元。從 2 月下旬開始，我們從 2024 年第四季開始大幅增加對沖頭寸，一直持續到 2026 年底。我們的目標是對沖水準為預期生產水準的 50%。

In early April, we further enhanced our liquidity position with a $400 million senior notes offering. We are evaluating our planned activity level in 2025, based upon the outlook for natural gas demand and we'll adjust our drilling program as needed to a response to the natural gas prices. We'll continue to maintain our very strong financial liquidity, which totaled just under $1.1 billion at the end of the third quarter.

4 月初，我們透過發行 4 億美元的優先票據進一步增強了我們的流動性狀況。我們正在根據天然氣需求前景評估 2025 年的計劃活動水平，並將根據需要調整我們的鑽探計劃以應對天然氣價格。我們將持續維持非常強勁的財務流動性，截至第三季末，財務流動性總額略低於 11 億美元。

Our industry-leading lowest cost structure is an asset in the current low natural gas price environment as our cost structure is substantially lower than the other public natural gas producers. We remain very focused on proving up our Western Haynesville play and continuing to add to our extensive acreage position in this exciting play.

我們行業領先的最低成本結構是當前低天然氣價格環境中的資產，因為我們的成本結構大大低於其他公共天然氣生產商。我們仍然非常專注於證明我們在西海恩斯維爾的表現，並繼續在這場激動人心的比賽中擴大我們的廣泛面積地位。

Our Western Haynesville acreage position totals over 450,000 net acres. We believe that we are building a great asset in the Western Haynesville that will be well positioned to benefit from the substantial growth in demand for natural gas in our region that is on the horizon, driven by the growth in LNG exports that begins to show up in the second half of next year.

我們西海恩斯維爾的淨面積總計超過 45 萬英畝。我們相信，我們正在西海恩斯維爾建設一項巨大的資產，該資產將處於有利地位，能夠從我們地區即將出現的天然氣需求大幅增長中受益，而液化天然氣出口的增長開始顯現出來。 。

I will now have Ron provide some specific guidance for the rest of the year. Ron?

我現在將讓羅恩為今年剩餘時間提供一些具體指導。羅恩？

Thanks, Jay. On Slide 16, we provide our fourth quarter guidance. The fourth quarter production is expected to be in the 1,325 million to 1,375 million cubic feet per day range, which is down approximately 10% from the fourth quarter of 2023, as expected and as has been discussed on prior calls.

謝謝，傑伊。在投影片 16 上，我們提供了第四季的指導。第四季的產量預計將在每天 13.25 億至 13.75 億立方英尺之間，比 2023 年第四季下降約 10%，符合預期和先前電話會議的討論。

That is related to the impact of the timing of dropping the two rigs in -- late in the first quarter. The D&C CapEx guidance for the quarter is $225 million to $275 million. Due to the timing of bringing wells online, we now expect 43 net wells to be turned to sales in 2024, versus the original expectation of 38 to 39 wells when we provided our original guidance. Those wells are coming on at the very end of the year. So there's not much production impact that we do bear the full brunt of that capital expenditures.

這與第一季末投放兩台鑽機的時間影響有關。D&C 本季資本支出指引為 2.25 億至 2.75 億美元。由於油井上線的時間安排，我們現在預計 2024 年將有 43 口淨井轉化為銷售，而我們提供最初指導時的最初預期為 38 至 39 口井。這些井將於今年底投入使用。因此，我們並沒有受到資本支出的全部衝擊，對生產產生太大影響。

We continue to anticipate leasing CapEx of $2 million to $5 million per quarter and CapEx related to Pinnacle Gas Services, which is funded by our partner, Quantum, is expected to be $50 million to $90 million during the quarter.

我們繼續預期每季的租賃資本支出為 200 萬至 500 萬美元，與由我們的合作夥伴 Quantum 資助的 Pinnacle Gas Services 相關的資本支出預計在本季為 5,000 萬至 9,000 萬美元。

On the cost side, LOE is expected to average $0.24 to $0.28 per Mcfe, while GTC costs are expected to average $0.34 to $0.40 per Mcfe. Production and ad valorem taxes expected to average $0.14 to $0.18, while the DD&A is expected to remain in the $1.40 to $1.55 range.

在成本方面，LOE 預計平均每個 Mcfe 為 0.24 至 0.28 美元，而 GTC 成本預計平均為每個 Mcfe 0.34 至 0.40 美元。生產稅和從價稅預計平均為 0.14 美元至 0.18 美元，而 DD&A 預計將保持在 1.40 美元至 1.55 美元範圍內。

On the G&A side, cash G&A remains in the $6 million to $8 million per quarter range with about $3 million to $4 million of non-cash G&A expense is expected. With the current SOFR rates and the April notes offering, we now anticipate our cash interest expense to be $54 million to $56 million during the quarter, and our non-cash interest in the quarter will be $3 million to $4 million. Effective tax rate remains in the 22% to 25% range, and we still expect to defer roughly almost 100% of those taxes.

在一般管理費用方面，現金一般管理費用仍維持在每季 600 萬至 800 萬美元的範圍內，預計非現金一般管理費用約為 300 萬至 400 萬美元。根據目前的 SOFR 利率和 4 月份票據發行，我們現在預計本季的現金利息支出將為 5,400 萬至 5,600 萬美元，本季的非現金利息將為 300 萬至 400 萬美元。有效稅率仍保持在 22% 至 25% 的範圍內，我們仍預計將推遲約 100% 的稅款。

I'll now turn the call back over to Jill to answer questions.

我現在將把電話轉回給吉爾回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Kalle Akamine, Bank of America.

（操作員指令）Kalle Akamine，美國銀行。

I guess I'd like to start with the elephant in the room, which is the planned outspend for 4Q. To frame it up a little bit, I think we're all pleased to see that you guys have the waiver. But I think some of the market thought that tripping the covenant will lead you back to more of a free cash priority.

我想我想從房間裡的大象開始，這是第四季的計畫支出。概括地說，我想我們都很高興看到你們獲得了豁免。但我認為市場上的一些人認為，違反契約會讓你回到更多的自由現金優先權。

From our perspective, I think we get it. We see you trying to stabilize production and position for maybe a better '25. Just hoping that you can kind of talk through your motivations to outspend through this soft pricing and then maybe articulate your plans to manage the balance sheet in '25.

從我們的角度來看，我想我們明白了。我們看到你們正在努力穩定生產和地位，以迎接更好的 25 年。只是希望你能透過這種軟定價來談談你超支的動機，然後也許能闡明你在 25 年管理資產負債表的計劃。

Yeah, that's a good question. I think really the -- when we originally had the plan in place and by the time we kind of execute the plan, prices were a little bit stronger, and we figured it would really cover that those expenditures planned for this year.

是的，這是一個好問題。我認為，當我們最初制定計劃並執行該計劃時，價格有點上漲，我們認為它確實可以覆蓋今年計劃的支出。

And I think the only -- there's a little higher expenditure level only because the drilling days have been quicker in the Western Haynesville. So a lot of the completion work that was going to cross over -- some of that was going to cross over into 2025 is kind of now expected to be mostly in the quarter.

我認為唯一的支出水平略高只是因為西海恩斯維爾的鑽探時間更快。因此，許多原本要跨越到 2025 年完成的工作，現在預計大部分將在本季完成。

So other than looking at an individual quarter, I think if you looked at a longer period, there hasn't really been much change at all in the plans. It's just how the costs end up being reported. So our goal for 2025 is again to -- with a higher hedge level, I think it will be easier to achieve and take some of the risk out of gas prices is to try to balance the capital we invest back into -- with the cash flow we generate from operations.

因此，除了查看單個季度之外，我認為如果您查看更長的時期，您會發現計劃實際上並沒有太大變化。這就是最終報告成本的方式。因此，我們 2025 年的目標再次是——透過更高的對沖水平，我認為會更容易實現並消除天然氣價格的一些風險，嘗試平衡我們重新投資的資本——與現金我們從營運中產生的流量。

Got it. So it's really timing and your plan to keep activity continue to progress forward. Maybe my next question is really on the Western Haynesville and maybe this is for Dan. Cost per foot on the Hodges is better than our high-end estimate and it's just one well.

知道了。因此，現在確實是時候了，您的計劃繼續向前推進。也許我的下一個問題實際上是關於西海恩斯維爾的，也許這是給丹的。霍奇斯的每英尺成本比我們的高端估計要好，而且它只是一口井。

You've got a two-well pad coming up, so maybe those costs are getting better. Maybe as an aside, if you can discuss those drilling costs, we'll take that. But more broadly, with the amount of wells that you'll have online, the data points on cost, maybe you have an event path ahead. When can we expect a more fulsome update on the Western Haynesville in '25?

您即將推出一個兩孔板，所以這些成本可能會變得更好。也許順便說一句，如果您可以討論這些鑽探成本，我們會接受。但更廣泛地說，根據您將擁有的線上油井數量、成本數據點，也許您有一條前進的道路。我們什麼時候可以期待 25 年西海恩斯維爾的更全面更新？

Well, I think we're going to be probably next year, early next year on the next call, we're going to be coming forward with obviously a lot more information on the Western Haynesville. You're right, this $2,814 per foot, which is a big milestone for us, was a single well and of all the wells we drilled today, of course, this is the 13th well we turned to sales.

嗯，我想我們可能會在明年、明年初的下一次電話會議上，我們顯然會提供更多有關西海恩斯維爾的資訊。你是對的，每英尺 2,814 美元，這對我們來說是一個重要的里程碑，是單口井，在我們今天鑽的所有井中，當然，這是我們轉向銷售的第 13 口井。

This was the fastest one we drilled to TD, 51 days. If you go back a few years, we started out drilling these things in 75, say, 70 to 80 days. And now this one comes in at 51 days. So a massive improvement and we're kind of still working a few days off. But we had really good execution on this particular well, the Hodges #1, drilling just all phases of the operation went really well.

這是我們鑽到 TD 最快的一次，用時 51 天。如果你回到幾年前，我們在 75 天內（比如說 70 到 80 天）就開始鑽探這些事。現在這個已經 51 天了。這是一個巨大的進步，我們仍然在休息幾天。但我們在 Hodges #1 這口井上執行得非常好，鑽井作業的所有階段都進展順利。

We've got some pretty good frac pricing in place also right now. The well fracked really good. And I'll also point out one of the big drivers is the lateral length and the length on this one was 11,400 foot or 405 foot. So that obviously is very important in that cost per foot number.

我們現在也有一些相當不錯的壓裂定價。這口井的水力壓裂確實很好。我還要指出，最大的驅動因素之一是橫向長度，該長度為 11,400 英尺或 405 英尺。因此，這對於每英尺的成本來說顯然非常重要。

Now the numbers that we typically -- the numbers that we're kind of putting out on kind of our targets, you mentioned $3,000 a foot is all kind of normalized to a 10,000 foot lateral. So any time you have a 11,000 to 12,000 foot lateral, it's going to generate a little bit better cost per foot and vice versa, if you're at 8,500 to 9,000 foot lateral, it's going to be a little bit higher cost per foot.

現在，我們通常的數字——我們針對目標給出的數字，您提到的每英尺 3,000 美元都已標準化為 10,000 英尺橫向。因此，任何時候您的橫向高度為 11,000 到 12,000 英尺，每英尺的成本都會更高一些，反之亦然，如果橫向高度為 8,500 到 9,000 英尺，每英尺的成本會更高一些。

We are watching with interest guys.

我們正在饒有興趣地觀看。

Carlos Escalante, Wolfe Research.

卡洛斯·埃斯卡蘭特，沃爾夫研究中心。

Well, first of all, I'd like to start with the horseshoe results because they are certainly encouraging. And I think directionally, this is what the investment community wants to see. Now, I do think that we need to rationalize how this translates into free cash flow generation.

好吧，首先，我想從馬蹄形結果開始，因為它們確實令人鼓舞。而且我認為從方向上來說，這是投資界希望看到的。現在，我確實認為我們需要合理化這如何轉化為自由現金流的產生。

So my question and bearing in mind because you guys know this better than I do, that not all acreage is created equal, what's the geographical spread of the 64 locations that you think are candidates for this across your Haynesville locations?

所以我的問題是，請記住，因為你們比我更了解這一點，即並非所有面積都是平等的，你們認為在海恩斯維爾地點中候選的 64 個地點的地理分佈是怎樣的？

Good question. So that is 64 just in the Haynesville. And you're right, I'll just start off. We are -- we're very happy with the results on the Sebastian well. We didn't -- we had no issues drilling the well. I'm going to say maybe two extra days, if you compare that to just drilling a straight 10,000-foot lateral, just didn't have any issues in the frac, it fracked. If you just -- if you didn't know that it was a horseshoe well, we couldn't tell any difference in fracking those straight 10,000-foot lateral and fracking the horseshoe. The well did frac really good again.

好問題。所以光在 Haynesville 就有 64 個。你是對的，我就開始吧。我們對塞巴斯蒂安井的結果非常滿意。我們沒有——我們在鑽井過程中沒有遇到任何問題。我想說也許還需要兩天，如果你將其與直接鑽探 10,000 英尺的支線進行比較，壓裂中沒有任何問題，它就破裂了。如果你不知道這是一個馬蹄形井，我們就無法分辨出水力壓裂那些筆直的 10,000 英尺橫向井和水力壓裂馬蹄形井有什麼區別。這口井的壓裂再次表現得非常好。

So results look fantastic. So we're super excited about it. As far as the spread of the locations, I'd say they're pretty evenly kind of spread across -- if you look at that acreage position in just kind of from south to north. I think we've got them -- they're just pretty much all across the basin.

所以結果看起來棒極了。所以我們對此感到非常興奮。就地點的分佈而言，我想說它們的分佈相當均勻——如果你從南到北看一下面積位置。我想我們已經找到了它們——它們幾乎遍布整個盆地。

So we've got them in the 1.6 B per 1,000’. We got them in the 1.8 B per 1,000’ type curve areas up to [2 B per 1000’] (corrected by company after the call). So I think kind of the answer for you is really it's just spread out across all the acreage. It's not really in any specific geographic spot.

因此，我們將其控制在每 1,000 人 1.6 B 左右。我們將它們置於每 1,000 型曲線面積 1.8 B 的範圍內[每 1000 2 B —]（電話後由公司更正）。所以我認為你的答案實際上是它分佈在所有面積上。它實際上並不在任何特定的地理位置。

Sure. That certainly helps. I guess your answer provided me with another question, if you will, on that same topic. And maybe this is a bit too early because the Western Haynesville is still, by all means, an exploration play. But do you feel like you will come across the geometry lease line issues that you have in the Haynesville and the traditional Haynesville in the Western Haynesville?

當然。這當然有幫助。我想你的回答給我帶來了另一個關於同一主題的問題，如果你願意的話。也許這有點太早了，因為無論如何，西海恩斯維爾仍然是一個探索性的遊戲。但您是否覺得您會遇到海恩斯維爾和西海恩斯維爾的傳統海恩斯維爾所遇到的幾何租賃線問題？

And then just to finish up my second question, which is also in the Western Haynesville. What do you expect to be the average lateral length for your program going forward, bearing in mind that you have a harder reservoir and it's more difficult to drill?

然後完成我的第二個問題，也是在西海恩斯維爾。考慮到您的儲層更堅硬並且鑽探更困難，您預計您的計劃的平均橫向長度是多少？

Okay. So kind of I think your first question is maybe how confined will be with lease lines in the Western Haynesville versus Louisiana. So really, the big difference between is in Louisiana, we deal with square mile sections, right? Every section is a unit.

好的。所以我認為你的第一個問題可能是西海恩斯維爾與路易斯安那州的租賃線路受到的限制有多大。所以說真的，最大的區別是在路易斯安那州，我們處理的是平方英里的路段，對嗎？每個部分都是一個單元。

So we're usually either confined to drill on a 5,000 foot, a 10,000 foot or a 15,000-foot or later on in the play, we did 7,500-foot laterals. Now we've got the ability to turn the wellbore around and then horseshoe. And so we deal -- the lease lines are the section lines.

因此，我們通常要么局限於 5,000 英尺、10,000 英尺或 15,000 英尺的鑽探，要么在比賽後期，我們進行 7,500 英尺的側向鑽探。現在我們已經能夠將井眼轉向，然後再轉向馬蹄形。所以我們處理——租賃線就是剖面線。

In Texas, you don't have sections -- abstract surveys. You pretty much can build your units. They're more customized. They're more -- much more irregular in shape and size. And so you're going to have laterals in Texas that are kind of any different lengths between, say, 5,000 and 10,000 feet.

在德州，沒有章節—抽象調查。你幾乎可以建造你的單位。它們更加客製化。它們的形狀和大小更加不規則。因此，德州將會有不同長度的支管，例如 5,000 到 10,000 英尺之間。

You can have some at 9,000’, you can be at 8,000’ you can be at 6,500’, 11,500’, not really in Louisiana, you're in those kind of specific 5, 10 or 15 or 7,500-foot units. But -- so really, that's kind of the difference in drilling in one state versus the other.

你可以以 9,000 的價格購買一些，也可以以 11,500 的價格購買，也可以以 6,500 的價格購買，也可以以 11,500 的價格購買，不是在路易斯安那州，而是特定的 5、10 或 15 美元。或7,500 英尺單位。但是，實際上，這就是一個州與另一個州鑽探的差異。

As far as the average lateral length in the Western Haynesville, I think we're looking at about 10,000-foot average. We've gotten a lot better at handling the bottom hole temperature. So that's really not an issue. I think probably the bigger driver there is not the temperature.

至於西海恩斯維爾的平均橫向長度，我認為我們的平均水平約為 10,000 英尺。我們在處理井底溫度方面已經做得更好了。所以這真的不是問題。我認為更大的驅動因素可能不是溫度。

It's just there are some minor faults here and there. So there's just certain -- there's some geohazards in certain places you just -- where you can't drill across and have to stop. And so that's really kind of the only driver there. Obviously, we're trying to drill the longest laterals we can now that we're holding acreage. But I see -- I think 10,000 is a pretty good number looking out ahead of what our average lateral length will be.

只是這裡那裡有一些小錯誤。所以，可以肯定的是，在某些地方存在一些地質災害，你無法鑽過去，必須停下來。所以這確實是那裡唯一的驅動程式。顯然，既然我們已經掌握了土地，我們正在努力鑽探最長的支管。但我明白了——我認為 10,000 是一個相當不錯的數字，考慮到我們的平均橫向長度。

So we drilled a 12,700-foot max already. I think our shortest lateral right now is, I want to say, 7,800 feet. So we're not having any issues drilling these 10,000 or 11,500-foot laterals is just limited by, like I said, geo-hazards or other factors.

所以我們已經鑽探了最大 12,700 英尺的深度。我想說，我認為我們現在最短的支線是 7,800 英尺。因此，我們在這些 10,000 或 11,500 英尺的支管鑽探中沒有遇到任何問題，只是受到地質災害或其他因素的限制，就像我說的那樣。

Charles Meade, Johnson Rice.

查爾斯·米德，約翰遜·賴斯。

I want to go back to the Sebastian well. You can't help but notice that it's the shortest lateral with the highest IP on the quarter. So I know it's early, but do you think this is just luck of the draw? Or is there something else going on here perhaps?

我想回到賽巴斯蒂安井。您不禁會注意到，它是本季 IP 最高的最短橫向線。所以我知道現在還為時過早，但你認為這只是運氣嗎？或者這裡可能還發生了其他事情？

It's not luck of the draw. I'd say all of the horseshoe wells we do in Louisiana were pretty much going to be about the same lateral length unless we -- and maybe I think someday, we'll probably reach out an attempt to do a horseshoe that's maybe 7,500 foot and 7,500 back. That's way out, and that's we're getting out ahead of ourselves.

這不是抽獎的運氣。我想說的是，我們在路易斯安那州建造的所有馬蹄形井的橫向長度幾乎都是相同的，除非我們——也許我認為有一天，我們可能會嘗試建造一個大約 7,500 英尺的馬蹄形井和7,500 回來。這是出路，我們正在超越自己。

But this is kind of about what we would expect from a well in the area where we drill on this acreage. So we're not surprised at all. I mean we totally expect that this was going to be the result and I see this being very, very repeatable.

但這是我們對在該區域鑽探的一口井的期望。所以我們一點也不感到驚訝。我的意思是，我們完全期望這會是結果，而且我認為這是非常非常可重複的。

Got it. That's good. It's good to have your opinion on that. And then going back to Western Haynesville. I think you've discussed this a bit. It's great to see what you've done with that Hodge as well. But as you think of repeating that or trying to deliver repeat on that, leaving aside the lateral length, what are the pieces of the -- what are the pieces of the whole well construction and completion pulse that you're going to be most focused on to try to get a repeat of that dollar per foot metric?

知道了。那挺好的。很高興對此發表您的意見。然後返回西海恩斯維爾。我想你已經討論過這個問題了。很高興看到你對霍奇所做的一切。但是，當您考慮重複該操作或嘗試重複該操作時，除了橫向長度之外，您最關注的整個油井施工和完井脈衝的哪些部分是什麼試圖重複每英尺美元的度量標準？

Well, I think first of all, we got to be -- and we have become more consistent. We've had some really good showings, but we have -- in the early wells, we didn't have the consistency. So we're becoming much more consistent at basically the really good performance.

嗯，我認為首先，我們必須——而且我們已經變得更加一致。我們已經取得了一些非常好的表現，但是在早期的井中，我們沒有一致性。因此，我們在真正出色的表現方面變得更加一致。

And so we figure we always get a 5% to 7% cost reduction on pad drilling versus a single well pad. So this is a pretty good number for a single well pad. This well on the longer later, like I mentioned just a little bit ago, helps with that number. That's going to always move the number down a little bit when you start going over 10,000 feet, okay.

因此，我們認為與單井平台相比，平台鑽井的成本總是可以降低 5% 到 7%。因此，對於單一井場來說，這是一個相當不錯的數字。正如我剛才提到的，從長遠來看，這有助於解決這個問題。當你開始超過 10,000 英尺時，這個數字總是會稍微降低一點，好吧。

And this one was 11,400 feet. So had this exact same well. Like I said, we had great execution across all phases. If this would have been a 9,000-foot lateral, this would have been -- the cost per foot would have been a little bit higher. And if we would have been 12,000 foot a little bit lower than this. So we definitely see the costs we start doing pad drilling, with this performance, we're going to generate numbers lower than this $2,800 per se.

這個高度為 11,400 英尺。所以有這口完全相同的井。就像我說的，我們在所有階段都有出色的執行力。如果這是一條 9,000 英尺的橫向管道，那麼每英尺的成本會更高一些。如果我們的高度比這個低一點點的話，會是 12,000 英尺。因此，我們肯定會看到我們開始進行墊鑽的成本，憑藉這種性能，我們將產生低於 2,800 美元的數字。

Jake Roberts, TPH & Co.

傑克羅伯茨，TPH & Co.

I believe you've all previously contemplated adding a few rigs next year. And I understand it might be a little bit early to talk about 2025. But given where the commodity price is today, how are you thinking about the timing of those rig adds, if at all? And then maybe as well, if I could tack on what you might consider a balanced program in terms of those rigs at current commodity prices?

我相信你們之前都考慮過明年增加一些鑽孔機。我知道現在談論 2025 年可能有點早。但考慮到目前的大宗商品價格，您如何考慮增加這些鑽孔機的時間（如果有的話）？然後，也許我可以在當前大宗商品價格的這些鑽孔機方面添加您可能認為的平衡計劃？

Yeah, it's a good question. It is kind of early because we will really be watching the gas market, how -- if we have a winter or not, those would be a lot of factors, especially driving gas prices in the first half of 2025 as the second half of 2025, we kind of see some increased demand.

是的，這是一個好問題。現在還為時過早，因為我們將真正關注天然氣市場，無論是否有冬天，這些因素都會有很多，特別是推動 2025 年上半年和 2025 年下半年的天然氣價格，我們看到需求增加。

So that's something we're looking at really hard and deciding when we bring back the two rigs that we dropped in the first quarter of this year. And as we do have a lot of flexibility and when we do that, we think we can line up the services when needed, and we have a lot of services weekend with short notices drop.

因此，這是我們正在認真考慮的事情，並決定何時收回今年第一季丟棄的兩台鑽孔機。由於我們確實有很大的靈活性，當我們這樣做時，我們認為我們可以在需要時安排服務，而且我們週末有很多服務，但會臨時通知。

So again, I want to be very responsive to whatever environment we have in 2025. And target having a higher hedge percentage in 2025, that 50% level is kind of what we're going to target. We're 40% almost hedged now for 2025. So we have a little work to do there. But that should help -- that should help us stay more on track than were this year if the first three quarters, we were a little bit less than 30% hedged.

再說一遍，我希望對 2025 年的任何環境都能做出正面的反應。我們的目標是在 2025 年實現更高的對沖百分比，即 50% 的水平。我們現在幾乎已經對 2025 年的 40% 進行了對沖。所以我們還有一些工作要做。但這應該會有所幫助——如果前三個季度我們的對沖率略低於 30%，這應該會幫助我們比今年更加步入正軌。

I appreciate the color. Maybe if we could look at the Western Haynesville and particularly the midstream. Can you frame the current runway you have what the Q2 '25 addition will add to that runway maybe in terms of quarters or wells that you ultimately see being able to handle being able to be handled?

我很欣賞它的顏色。也許我們可以看看海恩斯維爾西部，特別是中游。您能否描述一下您目前擁有的跑道，25 年第二季的擴建將增加到該跑道上，也許是您最終看到能夠處理的宿舍或井？

Yeah, it's a good question. As we -- with these six wells coming on that will go into our Pinnacle system there that are coming on and we'll be at a pretty good rate by the -- in January. We start to really hit the treating capacity, not the pipeline capacity of our Bethel treating plant.

是的，這是一個好問題。隨著這六口井的投入使用，這些井將進入我們即將投入使用的 Pinnacle 系統，到 1 月我們將處於相當好的水平。我們開始真正達到處理能力，而不是伯特利處理廠的管道能力。

And we do have quite a bit of backup capacity where we could offload to a couple of other midstream companies that we have contracted capacity and a good rate on. So we could definitely do that. We just would prefer to have it in our own facility. And so that's where the key.

我們確實擁有相當多的備用產能，我們可以將其卸載給其他幾家中游公司，我們已與這些公司簽訂了產能合約並提供了良好的費率。所以我們絕對可以做到。我們只是希望將其放在我們自己的設施中。這就是關鍵所在。

A lot of the expenditures that we are incurring now, especially in the fourth quarter and early in the first quarter of next year is really to open up a new gas treating plant at Marquez, which will be on the other end of our Western Haynesville footprint. And then that's going to add 400 million a day of treating capacity. So then we'll be -- have a lot of capacity to handle the growth out there.

我們現在的許多支出，特別是第四季和明年第一季初的支出，實際上是為了在馬爾克斯開設一個新的氣體處理廠，該廠將位於我們西海恩斯維爾足跡的另一端。那麼每天的處理能力將增加 4 億。那麼我們將有很大的能力來應對那裡的成長。

So as that one comes online, we do have the ability to offload and process under these arrangements we put in place. So we definitely won't have any restraints as far as actually producing what we do. So -- and then as we evaluate the program and add more rigs, that's where we're continuing to look and say, do we want to build out additional capacity for the play.

因此，當產品上線時，我們確實有能力根據我們制定的這些安排進行卸載和處理。因此，就實際生產而言，我們絕對不會受到任何限制。因此，當我們評估該計劃並添加更多裝備時，我們會繼續考慮並說，我們是否想要為該劇增加額外的容量。

Greta Drefke, Goldman Sachs.

格蕾塔·德雷克，高盛。

I was just wondering if you could spend a bit more time on the horseshoe wells. And the benefits you're realizing there. Is there a proportion of your overall operations that you hope to apply this technique to over time? And do you see potential for any upside to your 64 horseshoe locations that you've outlined?

我只是想知道你是否可以在馬蹄井上多花點時間。以及您在那裡意識到的好處。隨著時間的推移，您希望在整個營運中應用此技術嗎？您是否認為您列出的 64 個馬蹄形地點有潛在的優勢？

Good question. So we do definitely see an upside as far as the number of locations that will get converted. So the 64 that we've got converted in the inventory so far is just on the Haynesville side. We're still working through the Bossier. All of our Bossier sticks, and we'll probably have a number on that sometime in the first quarter.

好問題。因此，就轉換的地點數量而言，我們確實看到了積極的一面。因此，到目前為止，我們在庫存中改裝的 64 架僅位於海恩斯維爾一側。我們仍在透過 Bossier 進行工作。我們所有的 Bossier 都堅持不懈，我們可能會在第一季的某個時候得到一個數字。

As far as the number of horseshoe wells, kind of pushing into our development program. I mean, being that this news is pretty fresh. We obviously are going to do more and want to do more for right now in our drilling program. Obviously, we've got a lot of things in place, and it takes a lot of time, obviously, to get things drill ready and to move around, just a lot of lead time.

就馬蹄井的數量而言，有點推動我們的開發計劃。我的意思是，這個消息相當新鮮。顯然，我們將在鑽探計劃中做更多的事情，並且現在希望做更多的事情。顯然，我們已經準備好了很多東西，顯然，需要很多時間來準備好東西並進行移動，只是需要很多準備時間。

So our next we have a single horseshoe that's coming up early next summer is the next project. We got a two-well pad Horseshoe, which is the one we talked about on the slide here. That is later next year and we also have a triple. We got a triple Horseshoe well pad that will come up behind that in 2026.

所以我們的下一個項目是明夏初推出的一個馬蹄鐵。我們有一個兩孔墊馬蹄形，這就是我們在幻燈片上討論的那個。那是明年晚些時候，我們還有三重。我們有一個三重馬蹄形井場，將於 2026 年完成。

So like I said, we love the results. It's just that it's hard to add -- push a bunch of these into our drilling program that's already been set along short notice. But I can see more than what we have scheduled now maybe get pushed into the program as we get a little bit more data on this well. And have some time to just get the drilling program revised a little bit, which takes a little bit of work.

就像我說的，我們喜歡這個結果。只是很難添加——將其中的一堆推入我們已經在短時間內制定的鑽井計劃中。但我可以看到，隨著我們獲得更多關於這口井的數據，我們現在計劃的內容可能會被推入該計劃。並且有一些時間對鑽井計劃進行一點修改，這需要一些工作。

My comment would be, if you -- we always high-grade our inventory our 1,400 locations, et cetera. And now the horseshoe will be accelerated to the front of that, as Dan had said. So that's a good thing based upon the recent results, we just have in this painful well. And again, we may have that many or more in the Bossier as we keep putting that in the first quarter of '25.

我的意見是，如果您——我們總是對我們的 1,400 個地點的庫存進行高評級，等等。現在馬蹄鐵將加速到前面，正如丹所說。因此，根據最近的結果，這是一件好事，我們只是在這痛苦的井中。再說一遍，我們可能會在 Bossier 中擁有這麼多或更多的產品，因為我們一直將其放在 25 年第一季。

So some of the other indirect positives from the horseshoe, especially as we get through the Bossier inventory, in our reserves, we will move these up with much higher economic results. And so even in low prices, some of these can come very economic.

因此，馬蹄鐵帶來的其他一些間接積極因素，特別是當我們透過我們的儲備中的波西爾庫存時，我們將提高這些積極因素，帶來更高的經濟成果。因此，即使價格低廉，其中一些也可能非常經濟。

And so yeah, we see the IRRs and the horseshoe wells being 2 times to 3 times better than a short lateral Haynesville well. Dan Harrison says 3 times better. So that's a -- it makes a lot more of that inventory very economic at lower gas prices. So you'll see some impact and improve -- just be able to bring some -- a lot more of the inventory into the proved undeveloped reserves.

所以，是的，我們看到 IRR 和馬蹄形井比海恩斯維爾短側向井好 2 到 3 倍。丹·哈里森說好三倍。所以，這使得更多的庫存在較低的天然氣價格下變得非常經濟。所以你會看到一些影響和改善——只是能夠將更多的庫存帶入已探明的未開發儲量。

Yeah. I think I didn't really answer that part of your question. So I mean, as far as the performance versus the single 5,000’, our return rate is basically it triples the return on the wells. Our payout times will be less than half. If you just look at the two single 5,000’ versus the horseshoe, we're going to generate $5.5 million to $6 million additional PV-10 value. And so pretty substantial.

是的。我想我並沒有真正回答你問題的這一部分。所以我的意思是，就與單個 5,000 井相比的性能而言，我們的回報率基本上是油井回報率的三倍。我們的付款時間將少於一半。如果您只看兩個 5,000 美元與馬蹄鐵的比較，我們將產生 550 萬至 600 萬美元的額外 PV-10 價值。而且相當可觀。

That's really helpful. And then my second question is I was wondering if you could speak about the outlook for M&A in the Haynesville. Do you expect consolidation to continue more broadly? And do you see opportunities for bolt-on M&A either in the Western or legacy Haynesville for Comstock from here?

這真的很有幫助。我的第二個問題是，我想知道您是否可以談談海恩斯維爾的併購前景。您預計整合會在更廣泛的範圍內繼續進行嗎？您是否認為康斯托克西部或傳統的海恩斯維爾有補強併購的機會？

Well, yeah, we're continue to keep a good eye, especially in the Western Haynesville, where we've had great opportunity to partner with other companies that want the shallow production or the existing production, and we've been able to acquire the deep rights and actually have acreage held by production.

嗯，是的，我們將繼續密切關注，特別是在西海恩斯維爾，在那裡我們有很好的機會與其他想要淺層生產或現有生產的公司合作，並且我們已經能夠收購深層權利並實際擁有生產面積。

So those opportunities interest us a lot in that area and there's been -- it's a fairly -- the older vertical wells are fairly mature, so they are being divested of the larger companies that own them. And so we continue to work that part of the M&A cycle.

因此，我們對這個領域的這些機會非常感興趣，而且相當老的垂直井已經相當成熟，因此它們正在被擁有它們的大公司剝離。因此，我們繼續開展併購週期的這一部分。

And there are still private operators that have plan to divest. So we expect to see those private companies probably over time, be consolidated over the next several years. And probably the, as gas prices get to more attractive levels, it's probably what kind of fuels that start up again in earnest.

而且仍有私人業者計劃撤資。因此，我們預計這些私人公司可能會在未來幾年內進行整合。也許，隨著天然氣價格達到更具吸引力的水平，什麼樣的燃料可能會再次真正啟動。

Noel Parks, Tuohy Brothers Investment Research.

諾埃爾‧帕克斯 (Noel Parks)，圖伊兄弟投資研究部。

Just had a couple. I was just wondering, you mentioned it being important to avoid faulting in the Western Haynesville. I was wondering to what degree you can anticipate those, I don't know if it's seismic or legacy penetrations or anything. So just curious in how you're handling that?

剛剛有一對。我只是想知道，你提到避免在西海恩斯維爾犯錯很重要。我想知道你能在多大程度上預見這些，我不知道它是地震還是遺留滲透還是其他什麼。所以只是好奇你是如何處理的？

We do have 3D seismic over almost the entire acreage position that we have. And so we've got a really good look on mapping of where everything is and got everything pretty much identified. So I don't see -- we don't really see that as any kind of an issue for us. It's just something that we do when we plan where we're going to lay out our sticks in the development. Obviously, that's very important factor. But we do have 3D, good data. So we've got a pretty good picture of what it looks like.

我們確實擁有幾乎整個區域的 3D 地震資料。這樣我們就可以很好地了解所有東西的位置，並且幾乎可以識別所有東西。所以我不認為——我們真的不認為這對我們來說是一個問題。這只是我們在計劃開發中的佈局時所做的事情。顯然，這是非常重要的因素。但我們確實有 3D 的良好數據。所以我們對它的外觀有了很好的了解。

Great. And I -- sort of a macro topic. In earnings season, I heard another gas producer sort of affirm a point that you've made in the past, which is that lower for longer nat gas pricing and therefore, lower levels of activity is likely to make for a tougher ramp-up of industry activity and then possibly that get reflected in a higher peak in gas prices when we see them come back.

偉大的。我——這是一個宏觀話題。在財報季節，我聽到另一家天然氣生產商肯定了您過去提出的一個觀點，即較長時期的天然氣定價較低，因此，較低的活動水平可能會導致天然氣價格的增長更加艱難。看到天然氣價格回升時，產業活動可能會反映在更高的天然氣價格高峰。

So with just another quarter under our belts with prices where they are a little better heading into winter. But just wonder about your perception of that and maybe a weak winter versus normal winter perspective on maybe where that peak might occur?

因此，我們還剩一個季度的時間，進入冬季價格會有所改善。但只是想知道您對此的看法，也許是一個疲軟的冬季與正常的冬季相比，高峰可能會在哪裡發生？

Yeah, that's a great question. That's the challenge of the natural gas industry is there is a lot of demand on the horizon that comes in pretty large increments. And -- but it's not here today. And so near-term gas prices are going to be really dependent on what's the demand for heating in the winter. And that's something we all have to see how it plays out. So in the short term, especially the first half of '25 is going to be really tied to that winter, although. I think we have two factors that are in our favor there.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。這就是天然氣產業面臨的挑戰，即將出現大量需求，而且增量相當大。而且——但今天不在這裡。因此，短期天然氣價格將真正取決於冬季供暖的需求。我們都必須看看結果如何。因此，從短期來看，尤其是 25 年上半年，確實與那個冬天息息相關。我認為我們有兩個對我們有利的因素。

One is there is start-up of new demand on the LNG side, it's sets us up to when even today at the highest rate it's been. And two, the rig count has been very low. And so production declines will also be there to help tighten the supply.

一是液化天然氣方面出現了新的需求，這使我們即使在今天也能達到有史以來的最高水準。第二，鑽機數量非常少。因此產量下降也將有助於收緊供應。

As you can see, even for Comstock, we've actually had -- even though we cut our activity back in the first quarter, it's not really to the fourth quarter that we really start to see the decline. And we were one of the first to really cut back activity in the Haynesville.

正如您所看到的，即使對於康斯托克來說，我們實際上已經 - 儘管我們在第一季度削減了活動，但直到第四季度我們才真正開始看到下降。我們是第一批真正減少海恩斯維爾活動的公司之一。

We weren’t the last. And I think you'll see that a lot of -- especially private operators followed several months later and you'll see the first quarter just a lot of that decline really showing up in the Haynesville.

我們不是最後一個。我認為你會看到很多——尤其是私人運營商在幾個月後跟進，你會看到第一季的大部分下降真正出現在海恩斯維爾。

So to help -- I think to help us kind of balance that supply and demand during the period compared to last year when we had the opposite or coming into this year, we had the opposite situation we had a really high activity level and a warm winter. And the two kind of created the big drop in gas prices that we've suffered this year.

因此，為了幫助——我認為，為了幫助我們平衡供需，與去年相比，我們遇到了相反的情況，或者進入今年，我們遇到了相反的情況，我們有非常高的活動水平和溫暖的天氣。冬天。這兩種原因造成了我們今年遭受的天然氣價格大幅下跌。

So it's going to be, I think, a more volatile gas market. And I think you could have -- trying to balance the market, they balance it with price. That's just how the gas market works. So if there's a little bit too much gas, the price drops a lot, if there's not enough gas, the price goes up a lot. And I think we're going to have a lot of volatility in 2025 as these different factors kind of play against each other.

因此，我認為天然氣市場將會更加波動。我認為你可以嘗試平衡市場，他們用價格來平衡市場。這就是天然氣市場的運作方式。因此，如果天然氣過多，價格會下降很多，如果天然氣不足，價格會上漲很多。我認為 2025 年我們將面臨很大的波動，因為這些不同的因素會相互作用。

And then, Noel, I comment on the defaulting question. I mean, we have the major control points for almost all of our 450,000 net acres. I mean we do have those points. And as Dan said, we've got 3D seismic on the majority of it. And if you look at M&A, a lot of M&A was done $4, $5 gas price and the holy grail is inventory you typically do M&A or inventory ever now in its size, if you're small, but a lot of the M&A is inventory. The holy grail is inventory. So I think what we were able to do, we were able to go take an old gas field, which is now we call the Western Haynesville, we went deeper, just like we did in the core of the Haynesville/Bossier.

然後，諾埃爾，我對違約問題發表評論。我的意思是，我們幾乎擁有 450,000 英畝淨土地的主要控制點。我的意思是我們確實有這些觀點。正如 Dan 所說，我們對大部分區域進行了 3D 地震。如果你看一下併購，很多併購都是以 4 美元、5 美元的汽油價格完成的，而聖杯是庫存，如果你規模較小，你通常會進行併購或庫存，但很多併購都是庫存。聖杯是庫存。所以我認為我們能夠做的是，我們能夠去一個古老的氣田，現在我們稱之為西海恩斯維爾，我們更深，就像我們在海恩斯維爾/博西爾的核心所做的那樣。

And we figured out that technically that we can drill to complete these wells and make it competitive with our core. So it's all about the right geographic spot, it's about the right drill bit performance is about the right EUR. And then all of a sudden, you throw in our horseshoe that makes it a little bit more exciting because as Dan and Roland said the IRR on the horseshoes 3 times better than your typical Haynesville as well.

我們發現，從技術上講，我們可以鑽完這些井，並使其與我們的核心競爭力。因此，關鍵在於正確的地理位置、正確的鑽頭性能以及正確的歐元。然後突然之間，你扔進我們的馬蹄鐵，這讓它變得更加令人興奮，因為正如丹和羅蘭所說，馬蹄鐵的 IRR 也比典型的海恩斯維爾好 3 倍。

So then you get to the banks, the 17 banks looking at us and they look at the whole company and they look at the future, and that's why we had unanimous approval. It all makes a lot of sense. Just to your point, you have to weather this storm in order to be there when the broad light and sun comes back out, and we are more than well positioned to do that.

然後你就到了銀行，17 家銀行關注我們，他們關注整個公司，他們關注未來，這就是我們獲得一致批准的原因。這一切都很有道理。就你而言，你必須經受住這場風暴，才能在陽光和陽光再次出現時到達那裡，而我們完全有能力做到這一點。

Bertrand Donnes, Truist.

伯特蘭·多尼斯，真理主義者。

I just wanted to follow up on the rig count commentary. You did a great job of notifying your rigs late last year to get them dropped by, I think, the end of the first quarter. So it seems like you have a big -- pretty good bit of flexibility on those.

我只是想跟進鑽機數量評論。去年年底，你們在通知你們的鑽孔機方面做得很好，我認為是在第一季末讓它們來的。所以看起來你在這些方面有很大的靈活性。

Do you have an updated estimate on that? Maybe how many months it would take for you to drop or pick up rigs? And maybe just logistically, do you have to do it around December? Or is it just as easy for you to do it, say, summer or fall?

您對此有最新的估計嗎？也許您需要多少個月才能放下或拿起鑽孔機？也許只是從邏輯上來說，你必須在 12 月左右完成嗎？或者說，夏天或秋天對你來說是很容易做到的嗎？

Yeah. There's no real time frame. Typically, we've got a about half the rigs that are in our fleet that are really just require a 45-day notice. So we have to plan around that. And then obviously, logistics of moving the rig out. Obviously, not going to just pull it out in the middle of a project or a middle of a multi-well pad. So it's really all about planning for it. So that's obviously something we looking at very hard as we're pondering our 2025, budget in the right activity level and kind of see how things play out.

是的。沒有實時框架。通常情況下，我們船隊中約有一半的鑽孔機實際上只需要提前 45 天通知。所以我們必須圍繞著這個來進行計劃。顯然，還有將鑽孔機移出的後勤工作。顯然，不會只是在項目中間或多孔墊中間將其拉出。所以這實際上是關於計劃的。因此，這顯然是我們非常認真考慮的事情，因為我們正在考慮 2025 年的預算，將預算安排在適當的活動水平上，並看看事情會如何發展。

But it's typically December when we really make these final decisions like we did last year and then hopefully have a good plan to get it in place quickly like we're able to do for the 2024 year.

但通常是在 12 月，我們才會像去年一樣真正做出這些最終決定，然後希望有一個好的計劃能夠迅速落實到位，就像我們在 2024 年能夠做到的那樣。

The one thing that we've tried to do is we try to have all of our rigs be capable of drilling in the Western Haynesville. So even if they're drilling in the legacy area, we want them to be qualified, if you need to move them over to the Western Haynesville.

我們試圖做的一件事是我們嘗試讓我們所有的鑽孔機能夠在西海恩斯維爾進行鑽井。因此，即使他們在遺留區域進行鑽探，如果您需要將他們轉移到西海恩斯維爾，我們也希望他們具備資格。

That makes sense. And then switching gears to the land leasing program. It seems to continue to be strong. It seems like every time you think you have an idea of how much is out there, you keep finding more attractive opportunities. Is that because of the movement in gas prices?

這是有道理的。然後轉向土地租賃計劃。看來還要繼續強勢。似乎每次你認為自己知道有多少機會時，你就會不斷發現更有魅力的機會。這是因為天然氣價格的變動嗎？

Or is the leasing team just kind of hitting their stride? Or is your view on the long-term value changing? Just why do you keep surprising to the upside on that?

還是租賃團隊剛踏出步伐？或者您對長期價值的看法是否改變了？為什麼你總是對這一點的正面感到驚訝呢？

Well, if you spent four years looking at 3D and at logs and well results, and you have an area kind of like I said, it's like we were chasing this big footprint, and we actually caught it. So if there's a little bit extra out there, I mean, you keep your land group busy to clean up around where you're already leased.

好吧，如果你花了四年時間查看3D、測井和油井結果，並且你有一個像我所說的那樣的區域，就好像我們在追逐這個巨大的足跡，而我們實際上抓住了它。因此，如果還有一點額外的空間，我的意思是，你可以讓你的土地集團忙於清理你已經租用的地方。

And if there's anything else that you would need to add to expand a little bit. But I'd give you 90% of our leasing program is in a rearview mirror. And I think if you look at our balance sheet, the debt that we've incurred, that's like a big M&A event.

如果您還需要添加其他任何內容來擴展一點。但我可以告訴你，我們 90% 的租賃計劃都在後視鏡中。我認為，如果你看看我們的資產負債表，我們所產生的債務，這就像一場大型併購事件。

I mean, we have acquired the acreage. We're now drilling it. We control the midstream with Pinnacle and you see the well costs are coming down. And as I said, the holy grail is inventory. If we've got 1400 other locations, the majorities of those in our legacy I mean just think of the upside they would have on the 450,000 net acres in the Western Haynesville.

我的意思是，我們已經獲得了土地。我們現在正在鑽探它。我們與 Pinnacle 一起控制中游，您會看到油井成本正在下降。正如我所說，聖杯是庫存。如果我們還有 1400 個其他地點，我的意思是，我們遺產中的大多數地點，只要想想它們在西海恩斯維爾 450,000 淨英畝的土地上所帶來的好處。

That is the goal. So we just keep cleaning it up. But you shouldn't expect any quarter where we spend this $50 million, $100 million like we had done in the past. Those days are behind us. And the reason we were successful at acquiring that acreage is because gas was low, nobody was out there doing it.

這就是目標。所以我們只是繼續清理它。但你不應該指望我們在任何一個季度都會像過去那樣花費 5,000 萬美元、1 億美元。那些日子已經過去了。我們成功獲得該土地的原因是因為天然氣含量低，沒有人在那裡做這件事。

Very well said. And then I just wanted to clarify something. I think I heard a triple horseshoe pad in 2026. Is that three horseshoe wells? Or is that three sets of two horse wells for a total of six?

說得很好。然後我只是想澄清一些事情。我想我在 2026 年聽過三重馬蹄墊。那是三口馬蹄井嗎？還是三組兩個馬井，總共六個？

So that is three horseshoe wells, which would be prior to that would have been six short laterals.

這是三個馬蹄形井，在此之前是六個短支管。

Jeff Jay, Daniel Energy Partners.

傑夫傑伊，丹尼爾能源合夥人。

Real quick for me. Looking at the Horseshoe D&C of about $1,700 a foot versus kind of, I guess, traditional laterals of that length at about kind of $1,400 - $1,500. Is there any reason that you're -- as you do more of these and get better at them, that you couldn't -- those two couldn't sort of get closer together? Or is there something about horseshoe drilling that's always going to be a little more expensive?

對我來說真的很快。看看馬蹄形 D&C 的價格約為每英尺 1,700 美元，而我猜，該長度的傳統支管價格約為每英尺 1,400 - 1,500 美元。當你做更多這樣的事情並做得更好時，有什麼理由讓你不能——這兩個人不能走得更近嗎？或者馬蹄形鑽探的費用總是會貴一些？

On the completion side is really not any more expensive. So it's really on just the drilling side. And it's really just the cost of -- if you have a great execution, it's just the cost of drilling -- doing a 180-degree turn. Obviously, that -- if you just equate that distance to drilling straight, it's going to take you longer to drill that distance, bending back around at 180 degrees, you're just constantly -- I mean we're using conventional tools you're just constantly sliding and turning back around. So that's going to take an extra day or 2, and that's really about the only difference.

在完成方面確實沒有更貴。所以它實際上只是在鑽井方面。這實際上只是 180 度轉彎的成本——如果你有出色的執行力，這只是鑽探的成本。顯然，如果你只是將該距離等同於筆直鑽孔，那麼你將需要更長的時間才能鑽出該距離，然後以180 度向後彎曲，你只是不斷地- 我的意思是我們正在使用傳統工具，你'我們只是不斷地滑動和轉身。因此，這將需要額外一兩天的時間，這實際上是唯一的區別。

Potentially after that number that's kind of reported on that slot. So I think that's a fairly conservative estimate too...

可能在該數字之後，該數字會在該時段上報告。所以我認為這也是一個相當保守的估計...

It is. So we -- this was what we projected before we drilled the Sebastian well. So the Sebastian well right now we got projected coming in slightly less than $1,700 a foot versus we had $1,740 is what we had modeled and what we had on this slide deck here.

這是。所以我們——這就是我們在鑽塞巴斯蒂安井之前的預測。因此，我們現在預計塞巴斯蒂安井的價格略低於每英尺 1,700 美元，而我們的模型和幻燈片上的價格為 1,740 美元。

Yeah, that well. I mean, literally, it got IP-ed yesterday.

是的，很好。我的意思是，從字面上看，它昨天獲得了 IP 化。

And that was a single. I mean that's a single horseshoe well. So really, if you do two horseshoe wells, you get that 5% to 7% additional savings from pad drilling, really, that were, say, $1,680 a foot on the Sebastian, if you do a two-well pad, we should be able to drop that cost even lower.

那是單曲。我的意思是那是一個馬蹄井。所以說真的，如果你打兩口馬蹄形井，你會從墊鑽中獲得5% 到7% 的額外節省，實際上，也就是說，在塞巴斯蒂安上每英尺1,680 美元，如果你打兩口井墊，我們應該可以將成本降得更低。

Paul Diamond, Citi.

保羅戴蒙德，花旗銀行。

Just a quick question for you on the 2025, hedging book. It's currently breaking down pretty evenly per quarter and with the curve currently sitting at around low-3s. I guess how do you guys think about the timing and opportunity of kind of trenching in those last little bit to bring you up to the 50% target?

我想問您一個關於 2025 年對沖書籍的簡單問題。目前每季的細分情況相當均勻，目前曲線處於低 3 左右。我想你們如何看待在最後一點點進行挖掘以實現 50% 目標的時機和機會？

Well, in it is our -- yes, we will work diligently to bring that to get to the 50% level. That's kind of our target, and we add a little bit post the third quarter. Gas prices have been weaker here lately. So it's really up to kind of finding good spots to do that. And they've got good structures to do that.

嗯，這是我們的——是的，我們將努力工作，使其達到 50% 的水平。這就是我們的目標，我們在第三季後增加了一些目標。最近這裡的天然氣價格一直疲軟。因此，這實際上取決於找到合適的地點來做到這一點。他們有很好的結構來做到這一點。

But potentially, if we're going to really try to -- like you said, we haven't evenly spread out. But our production next year will be potentially weighted more toward the end of the second half of the year. So potentially, there's a point where we can kind of focus on the latter part of 2025, to hit our goals where there's a little bit stronger pricing available.

但有可能，如果我們真的想嘗試——就像你說的那樣，我們還沒有均勻分佈。但我們明年的產量可能會在下半年末得到更大的權重。因此，我們可能會在某個時間點將重點放在 2025 年下半年，以實現我們的目標，屆時定價會稍微強一些。

I think what we do, we advertise to you whether you're a bank or a bondholder, an equity owner analysts that our goal if that window opens up before we can hedge 50%, that's our goal and we'll be leaning into that window. So...

我認為我們所做的就是向您做廣告，無論您是銀行還是債券持有人、股權所有者、分析師，我們的目標是，如果在對沖50% 之前該窗口打開，那就是我們的目標，我們將致力於實現這一目標窗戶。所以...

Understood. Appreciate the clarity. And just another quick one. You talked about the 57% conversion of Haynesville locations to Horseshoe. I just want to get some idea of where the other 43% kind of sits. Are those have been ruled out? Or is that just haven't got to them yet or still under evaluation?

明白了。欣賞清晰度。還有一個快速的。您談到了海恩斯維爾 57% 的地點改建為馬蹄鐵。我只是想了解另外 43% 的人的情況。這些都被排除了嗎？或只是還沒有達到他們的要求或仍在評估中？

Well, they're always under evaluation, but the -- we can't convert all of them to Horseshoe wells because they're -- some things have to work out to be able to convert. First of all, you have to have two -- you have to have two sticks together, right? So if you have. In a lot of places, we just have one stick. And so can -- obviously can't do anything with that.

嗯，它們總是在評估中，但是——我們不能將它們全部轉換為馬蹄井，因為它們——必須解決一些問題才能轉​​換。首先，你必須有兩根——你必須有兩根棍子在一起，對嗎？所以如果你有的話。在很多地方，我們只有一根棍子。顯然，我們對此無能為力。

But you also have to have a lot of this is on these isolated sections where we still have some sticks left. And it's also in areas where we've got quite a bit of development may be mostly developed and we have a few sticks kind of left to infill.

但你還必須在這些孤立的部分上有很多這樣的東西，我們仍然剩下一些棍子。這也是在我們已經有相當多的發展的領域，可能大部分已經開發，我們還剩下一些棒子需要填補。

So the spacing has to be right. So you can't have two of your sticks on opposite side of the section that are too far apart to be able to accomplish the horseshoe. So when you kind of factor in all of those different things that you have to have to make it work, that's kind of -- that we ended up with just 57% of that inventory that got converted.

所以間距一定要合適。因此，您不能將兩根棍子放在該部分的另一側，因為它們距離太遠而無法完成馬蹄形。因此，當你考慮到使其發揮作用所需的所有不同因素時，我們最終只有 57% 的庫存得到了轉換。

Got it. So it would be a reasonable read-through that you probably run into similar types of issues in the Bossier acreage as well?

知道了。那麼，您可能在波西爾地區也遇到了類似類型的問題，這將是一個合理的通讀？

That would be correct. And on the Bossier side, if you just look at the acreage and you lay out nothing but Bossier sticks, we got a little bit more of a clean slate to work with, obviously, because it's not as drilled up as the Haynesville. So we'll still have a lot of ability to drill the long laterals in the Bossier whereas in the Haynesville, we got a lot of those drilled and some of these Horseshoes are connecting the short.

那是正確的。在 Bossier 方面，如果你只看面積，除了 Bossier 棍棒之外什麼都沒有佈置，顯然，我們有更多的空白工作，因為它不像 Haynesville 那樣鑽探。因此，我們仍然有很多能力在 Bossier 中鑽長支線，而在 Haynesville，我們鑽了很多這樣的鑽，其中一些馬蹄鐵連接著短支線。

We skipped over and didn’t drill the short laterals and we were doing the development because just because of the economics. And so now that we can come back and you've got two of them there, you can hook them up.

我們跳過並沒有鑽探短支管，我們進行開發只是因為經濟。現在我們可以回來了，你已經有了兩個，你可以把它們連接起來。

So maybe in the future, we get a little bit more comfortable with maybe how wide we can space the Horseshoes. We can maybe convert a few. We just need to get a little bit further down the road on what our abilities are going to be. I'm talking about how wide, maybe right now, they're 1,100 - 1,200 feet apart between each side, but if we can -- we may be able to drill them 2,000 feet apart, where you have two sticks that are left to be drilled 2,000 feet apart, where you can do a big wide turn and hook them up.

所以也許在未來，我們對馬蹄鐵的間距可能會更滿意。我們也許可以轉換一些。我們只需要在我們的能力上更進一步。我說的是多寬，也許現在，它們每邊之間相距 1,100 - 1,200 英尺，但如果可以的話——我們也許能夠在相距 2,000 英尺的地方鑽孔，在那裡你有兩根棍子留下來相距2,000英尺進行鑽孔，您可以在其中進行大轉彎並將它們連接起來。

So I think that number will move in the future. We just need to get a little bit further down the road on what kind of we can do that's kind of within a reason.

所以我認為這個數字將來會改變。我們只需要在合理的範圍內進一步了解我們可以做些什麼。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Jay Allison for closing remarks.

我目前沒有提出任何進一步的問題。現在我想請傑伊·艾利森（Jay Allison）發表結束語。

First of all, I want to thank everybody for staying on the line for a little over an hour. With natural gas prices ranging between $1.65 and $1.90 for the last six months, it's a difficult time for pure natural gas company. That's just the fact. But what happens in those months really test to resolve. I want to acknowledge three groups over the past six months that consistently have stood firm.

首先，我要感謝大家耐心等待一個多小時。過去六個月天然氣價格在 1.65 美元至 1.90 美元之間波動，對於純天然氣公司來說這是一個困難時期。這就是事實。但那幾個月發生的事情確實需要考驗去解決。我要感謝過去六個月中始終堅持立場的三個團體。

First our 255 employees who create the exceptional results in both our legacy and Western Haynesville area. Second, our 17 banks we reaffirmed our $2 billion borrowing base and gave us unanimous approval on our bank amendment to loosen the leverage covenants. Third, the Jones family, who in the month of August made open market purchases of 13.5 million shares of our stock for $138 million.

首先是我們的 255 名員工，他們在我們的傳統地區和西海恩斯維爾地區創造了卓越的表現。其次，我們的 17 家銀行重申了 20 億美元的借貸基礎，並一致批准了放寬槓桿契約的銀行修正案。第三是瓊斯家族，他們在 8 月以 1.38 億美元的價格在公開市場購買了 1,350 萬股我們的股票。

I want to thank each of you as well as our bond and our equity owners. I can assure you we are on the exact right path to be positioned for the growth in natural gas demand that is just around the corner. Thank you for your time.

我要感謝你們每一個人以及我們的債券和股權所有者。我可以向您保證，我們正走在正確的道路上，為即將到來的天然氣需求成長做好準備。感謝您抽出時間。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。