德文能源 (DVN) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Devon Energy's third quarter 2024 conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. This call is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the call over to Mrs. Rosy Zuklic, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.

歡迎參加 Devon Energy 2024 年第三季電話會議。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。此通話正在錄音。我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Rosy Zuklic 女士。你可以開始了。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on the call today. Last night, we issued Devon's third quarter earnings release and presentation materials. Throughout the call today, we will make references to these materials to support prepared remarks. The release and slides can be found in the investor section of the Devon website. Starting this quarter, we are providing slides specific to the earnings call discussion. In a week or two, we will publish a more comprehensive deck that will include slides that were previously provided. Joining me on the call today are Rick Muncrief, President and Chief Executive Officer; Clay Gaspar, Chief Operating Officer; Jeff Ritenour, Chief Financial Officer as well as other members of management. As a reminder, this conference call will include forward-looking statements as defined under U.S. securities laws. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our forecast. Please refer to the cautionary language and risk factors provided in our SEC filings and earnings materials. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rick.

早安，感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。昨晚，我們發布了德文郡第三季度收益發布和演示材料。在今天的電話會議中，我們將參考這些資料來支持準備好的言論。新聞稿和幻燈片可以在德文郡網站的投資者部分找到。從本季開始，我們將提供專門針對收益電話會議討論的幻燈片。一兩週後，我們將發布一個更全面的平台，其中包括先前提供的幻燈片。今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有總裁兼執行長 Rick Muncrief；克萊·加斯帕，營運長；財務長 Jeff Ritenour 以及其他管理階層成員。提醒一下，本次電話會議將包括美國證券法定義的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們的預測有重大差異。請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的文件和收益資料中提供的警告性語言和風險因素。這樣，我就把電話轉給里克。

Thank you, Rosy. I appreciate everyone taking time to join us this morning. Let's begin on slide two by covering a few of our third quarter key highlights. Once again, we delivered strong operational and financial results driven by the continued focus on executing our strategic plan. We reached an all-time quarterly record of total production averaging 728,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, including 335,000 barrels of oil per day. Our production has surpassed guidance expectations every quarter this year. In the Delaware Basin, well productivity was strong once again this period, and across all five basins, we delivered another solid base production performance. On a production per share basis, this represents a 12% year-over-year growth. With the operational performance in our recently closed acquisition, We're pleased to be able to raise our full-year production guidance again for this year. We now expect to produce about 730,000 BOE per day for 2024, an increase of 12% to this year's budget. This phenomenal performance enabled us to generate $786 million of free cash flow in the third quarter and return $431 million of it back to shareholders. We leaned in heavier on our share repurchase program, and we continue to think reinvesting in our company at today's prices is the right thing to do for shareholders. We also closed the Grayson Mill transaction very quickly. This acquisition enhances our position as one of the largest producers in the U.S., with average daily oil rates estimated at around 380,000 barrels per day. In the Williston Basin, our production will nearly triple and we have extended our resource depth, giving us about 10 years of inventory at current activity levels. We successfully accomplished these things during a very volatile market backdrop. We remained focused on the things we could control. With our high-quality portfolio, strong balance sheet and disciplined business model, we are positioned to succeed through a variety of commodity cycles. We don't have a crystal ball to know where commodity prices will be in the short term, but continue to be very constructive on oil and gas and believe that the world will continue to need all forms of energy. Now moving on to slide three to talk about where we will focus in 2025 to successfully continue to execute our strategy. We remain committed to operating excellence and will continue to look for innovative ways to improve our capital efficiency. We believe our multi-basin portfolio in the top U.S. resource place is superior to most and provides us with over a decade of low-risk development inventory. We will continue to look for opportunities to further enhance our portfolio and grow our resource base. To succeed in our business, we need to maintain our financial strength and flexibility. We will remain disciplined in our approach to maximize free cash flow and are committed to having low leverage. We are focused on delivering value to our shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. 2025 is shaping up to be an exceptionally strong year for Devon. With the Grayson acquisition, we are well positioned to deliver healthy growth in oil and expect robust free cash flow even in a lower commodity environment. Our legacy portfolio and key U.S. basins will provide a solid foundation for us to continue the momentum that we have demonstrated so far this year. As a result, Jeff will be providing preliminary 2025 guidance that is actually better than we have previously communicated. Before I hand the call over to Clay, I want to thank all of the Devon employees and contractors who challenge themselves daily to come up with innovative ways to create value for our company. I also want to thank the team for working the integration of Grayson Mill. I'm excited to see the results from teams sharing best practices. And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Clay.

謝謝你，羅西。我感謝大家今天早上抽出時間來參加我們的活動。讓我們從第二張投影片開始，介紹第三季的一些關鍵亮點。在持續專注於執行策略計畫的推動下，我們再次取得了強勁的營運和財務表現。我們創下了平均每天 728,000 桶油當量的季度總產量記錄，其中包括每天 335,000 桶石油。今年每季我們的產量都超出了指導預期。在特拉華盆地，油井生產力在此期間再次強勁，並且在所有五個盆地中，我們再次實現了堅實的基礎生產業績。以每股產量計算，年增 12%。鑑於我們最近完成的收購的營運業績，我們很高興能夠再次提高今年的全年生產指引。我們現在預計 2024 年每天產量約為 73 萬 BOE，比今年的預算增加 12%。這一驚人的業績使我們在第三季創造了 7.86 億美元的自由現金流，並將其中 4.31 億美元返還給股東。我們更傾向於股票回購計劃，並且我們仍然認為以今天的價格對我們公司進行再投資對股東來說是正確的事情。我們也很快完成了格雷森工廠的交易。此次收購增強了我們作為美國最大生產商之一的地位，平均日產量估計約為 380,000 桶/天。在威利斯頓盆地，我們的產量幾乎增加了兩倍，並且我們擴大了資源深度，在目前的活動水平下，我們的庫存量大約可以維持 10 年。我們在非常動盪的市場背景下成功完成了這些事情。我們仍然專注於我們可以控制的事情。憑藉我們高品質的投資組合、強勁的資產負債表和嚴格的商業模式，我們有能力在各種商品週期中取得成功。我們沒有水晶球來知道短期內大宗商品價格將在哪裡，但我們對石油和天然氣仍然非常有建設性，並相信世界將繼續需要各種形式的能源。現在轉到第三張投影片，討論 2025 年我們將重點放在哪些領域，以便成功地繼續執行我們的策略。我們仍然致力於卓越運營，並將繼續尋找創新方法來提高我們的資本效率。我們相信，我們在美國頂級資源地區的多盆地投資組合優於大多數資源，並為我們提供了十多年的低風險開發庫存。我們將繼續尋找機會進一步增強我們的產品組合併擴大我們的資源基礎。為了在業務上取得成功，我們需要保持財務實力和靈活性。我們將繼續嚴格遵守最大化自由現金流的方法，並致力於維持低槓桿率。我們致力於透過股利和股票回購為股東創造價值。 2025 年對德文郡來說將是異常強勁的一年。透過收購格雷森，我們處於有利位置，可以實現石油的健康成長，並預計即使在商品價格較低的環境下也能實現強勁的自由現金流。我們的傳統投資組合和美國主要盆地將為我們繼續今年迄今所展現的勢頭提供堅實的基礎。因此，Jeff 將提供 2025 年初步指導，該指導實際上比我們之前傳達的更好。在將電話交給克萊之前，我要感謝所有德文郡員工和承包商，他們每天挑戰自我，想出創新的方法為我們公司創造價值。我還要感謝團隊對 Grayson Mill 的整合工作。我很高興看到團隊分享最佳實踐的結果。現在，我將把電話轉給克萊。

Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. Turn to slide four. Devin's third quarter performance reflects exceptional operational execution across the board. The third quarter performance is a continuation of outstanding quarterly results and a product of our focused approach to operational excellence. The organization continued to build on the win that we've captured in the first half of the year, positioning us around out 2024 with very strong momentum. These results tie back to three key factors. Our premier asset portfolio, a talented and value-focused organization, and third, a disciplined capital program designed to optimize returns throughout the cycle. Each of these elements combine to contribute excellent well productivity, improved cycle times, and better base production results across our diversified portfolio. I'm confident we will continue to build on these accomplishments into 2025 and beyond. Moving to slide five, the Delaware Basin was the primary contributor this quarter to our earnings, with approximately 60% of the capital allocated to this basin. This investment led to record basin-level production volumes of 488,000 BOE per day, representing a 6% growth rate compared to the previous quarter. The volume growth was fueled by 55 new wells, primarily targeting the Wolf Camp formation, with a subset of Bonespring and Avalon wells included in the mix. Collectively, these projects exceeded expectations, achieving average 30-day rates more than 3,100 BOE per day per well. On the map to the left, we highlighted one of the primary contributors from this quarter, the CBR 12 development. This project co-developed the Wolf Camp A, Wolf Camp B, and shallower zones in the Bone Spring. In total, this state-line area development targeted six different landing zones. We brought these wells online during the second and third quarters, successfully managing any localized facility constraints. The 30-day rates from this 21-well package average 3,300 BOE per day per well, and estimated recoveries exceed 2 million BOE per well. The CBR 12-1 has provided additional insights that have helped us further advance our resource development strategy. As we continue to balance the triple mandate of returns, MPV, and inventory, the 12-1 gives us additional confidence of this winning strategy. Our team continues to de-risk multiple secondary targets across our core development areas in the Delaware Basin. The great work that the team is doing in balancing the near-term performance with the long-term inventory considerations confirms our confidence in a multi-year runway of outstanding performance from the Delaware Basin. Turning to slide six, we've seen our Delaware Basin well productivity outpace previous year by an impressive 20%. This is evidenced by the robust production growth and superior well results achieved to date. As shown on the right-hand side of the slide, we also continue to realize meaningful operational efficiencies, notably the broader adoption of Somnifrac across the Delaware Basin activity has been a key driver, enhancing completion efficiencies by 12% year-to-date and consequently increasing our days online. From a drilling perspective, Our teams are continually finding ways to optimize our rig fleet and improve operations to enhance capital efficiency. These efforts have yielded tangible results, evidenced by a reduction in drilling days and a 14% improvement in drilling efficiencies in 2024 compared to the previous year. Efficiency gains have allowed us to reduce drilling activity from 16 rigs to 15 rigs this quarter. We plan to drop an additional rig in the first quarter as a result of these efficiencies. At the current pace, we expect to duplicate 2024 16-rig output with 14 rigs in 2025. This impressive efficiency performance is a result of a focus on operational output without taking our eye off the imperative of doing things the right way. Alongside these incredible efficiency improvements, our safety and environmental metrics have also moved in a very positive direction year over year. Let's now shift to the Williston Basin on slide seven. We closed on the Grayson Mill transaction in late September. I'm pleased to report that the integration is progressing quite well, and I would add that it is our best integration to date. The teams on both sides have jumped in and are excited about the opportunity to learn, challenge, and improve existing processes. We're currently operating in three rigs in the Williston Basin and plan to roughly maintain this level of activity going forward. In the fourth quarter, production from the acquired assets is expected to slightly exceed our initial expectations, and we plan on investing approximately $150 million of capital in the new assets. For 2025, we aim to sustain the acquired assets at approximately 100,000 BOE per day. Our capital plan will feature two and three monolaterals and tactical refracts to supplement the base production. Enhanced scale in the Basin will drive additional capital efficiencies, operational improvements, and marketing synergies. The acquisition also adds 500 undrilled locations, further enhancing Devon's free cash flow profile for many years to come. I'll now hand it over to Jeff to go over the financials for the quarter.

謝謝你，瑞克，大家早安。轉到第四張投影片。Devin 第三季的業績反映了全面卓越的營運執行力。第三季業績是優秀季度業績的延續，也是我們專注於卓越營運的結果。該組織繼續在我們上半年取得的勝利的基礎上再接再厲，使我們在 2024 年保持強勁勢頭。這些結果與三個關鍵因素有關。我們的首要資產組合，一個才華橫溢且注重價值的組織，第三，一個嚴格的資本計劃，旨在優化整個週期的回報。這些要素結合起來，為我們多元化的產品組合帶來卓越的油井生產力、縮短的週期時間和更好的基礎生產結果。我相信我們將在 2025 年及以後繼續取得這些成就。轉向第五張幻燈片，特拉華盆地是本季度我們收入的主要貢獻者，大約 60% 的資本分配給該盆地。這項投資使盆地級日產量達到創紀錄的 488,000 桶油當量，較上一季成長 6%。產量成長由 55 個新井推動，主要針對 Wolf Camp 地層，其中還包括 Bonespring 和 Avalon 井的一部分。總的來說，這些項目超出了預期，平均 30 天產量每井每天超過 3,100 桶油當量。在左側地圖上，我們突出顯示了本季度的主要貢獻者之一：CBR 12 開發。該計畫共同開發了 Wolf Camp A、Wolf Camp B 以及 Bone Spring 的淺水區域。總的來說，這一國界地區開發針對六個不同的著陸區。我們在第二季和第三季將這些油井上線，成功管理了任何局部設施限制。該 21 口井包的 30 天產量平均每口井每天 3,300 桶油當量，預計採收率超過每口井 200 萬桶油當量。CBR 12-1 提供了更多見解，幫助我們進一步推動資源開發策略。當我們繼續平衡退貨、MPV 和庫存的三重任務時，12-1 給了我們對這項制勝策略的更多信心。我們的團隊持續降低特拉華盆地核心開發區域多個次要目標的風險。該團隊在平衡近期表現與長期庫存考慮方面所做的出色工作證實了我們對特拉華盆地多年表現出色的信心。轉向幻燈片 6，我們看到特拉華盆地的油井生產力比去年高出 20%，令人印象深刻。迄今為止強勁的產量成長和優異的油井成果證明了這一點。如幻燈片右側所示，我們也繼續實現有意義的營運效率，特別是在特拉華盆地活動中更廣泛地採用 Somnifrac 是一個關鍵驅動因素，今年迄今將完井效率提高了 12%，從而增加了我們上網的時間。從鑽井的角度來看，我們的團隊不斷尋找優化鑽機團隊和改善營運的方法，以提高資本效率。這些努力取得了實質的成果，2024 年與前一年相比，鑽井天數減少，鑽井效率提高 14%。效率的提高使我們能夠將本季的鑽井活動從 16 台鑽機減少到 15 台。由於這些效率的提高，我們計劃在第一季減少一台額外的鑽孔機。以目前的速度，我們預計到 2025 年產量將達到 14 台鑽機，相當於 2024 年 16 台鑽機的產量。這種令人印象深刻的效率表現是我們對營運產出的關注，同時又不忽略以正確方式做事的必要性的結果。除了這些令人難以置信的效率提升之外，我們的安全和環境指標也逐年朝著非常正面的方向發展。現在讓我們轉到第七張幻燈片上的威利斯頓盆地。我們在九月底完成了格雷森工廠的交易。我很高興地報告，整合進展順利，我想補充一點，這是我們迄今為止最好的整合。雙方團隊都積極參與其中，並對有機會學習、挑戰和改進現有流程感到興奮。我們目前在威利斯頓盆地的三座鑽井平台上運營，並計劃在未來大致維持這種活動水準。第四季度，所收購資產的產量預計將略高於我們最初的預期，我們計劃向新資產投資約 1.5 億美元。到2025年，我們的目標是將收購的資產維持在每天約10萬桶油當量。我們的資本計劃將以兩個和三個單邊和戰術折射為特色，以補充基礎生產。該盆地規模的擴大將提高資本效率、營運改善和行銷協同效應。此次收購還增加了 500 個未鑽探地點，進一步增強了 Devon 未來多年的自由現金流狀況。我現在將把它交給傑夫來檢查本季的財務狀況。

Thanks, Clay. Starting on slide 8, highlighting our third quarter financial performance, Devon's core earnings totaled $683 million, or $1.10 per share. EBITDA was $1.9 billion and we generated operating cash flow of $1.7 billion, each exceeding consensus estimates. After funding our capital requirements, we generated $786 million in free cash flow for the quarter, a significant improvement over the previous period. Our cash flow generation was underpinned by oil and total production that exceeded the top end of our guidance due to the excellent operating performance highlighted by Clay earlier. Production cost improving 7% from the prior period, driven by less downtime, resulting in lower work-over expense. And finally, a lower cash tax rate, primarily a result of accelerated tax depreciation due to the Grayson Mill acquisition. Our solid financial performance enabled another quarter of strong cash returns for shareholders. During the quarter, we distributed $431 million to shareholders through fixed dividends and buybacks. We spent $295 million on share repurchases, bringing our program total spend to just over $3 million. We elected not to pay a variable dividend this quarter. The variable dividend will remain a tool within our cash return framework, but in the near term, we expect to deliver cash returns to shareholders through our fixed dividends and share repurchase program. Foregoing the variable enabled us to reduce net leverage in pursuit of our $2.5 billion debt reduction target. We expect to utilize cash on hand and a portion of free cash flow generated each quarter to pay down the $1 billion term loan we put in place for the Grayson Mill acquisition. As highlighted on slide nine, we exited the quarter with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of just over one times and strong liquidity between our cash balance and undrawn credit facility. We've already retired $472 million of outstanding senior notes this year and have additional opportunities to further reduce our leverage with upcoming maturities, the pay down of our term loan, and outstanding callable debt. Moving to slide 10 and looking ahead to 2025, we expect another year of strong performance with total production forecasted to average around 800,000 BOEs per day. This production outlook is nearly 5% higher than what we communicated just a few months ago when we announced the Grayson Mill acquisition. Also, with the benefit of Grayson Mill and the operational momentum we established in 2024, we expect record oil volumes in 2025 averaging around 380,000 barrels per day. On the capital front, we anticipate spending to be between $4 and $4.2 billion for the year. Importantly, with this disciplined plan, we are well-positioned to generate robust free cash flow at today's prices and offer a free cash flow yield that exceeds the broader market. Moving forward with the allocation of our free cash flow, we believe our financial framework provides us the necessary flexibility to deliver market-leading cash returns for our shareholders and achieve our debt reduction goals. We will continue targeting up to 70% of our free cash flow as a cash payout for shareholders and make progress on our $2.5 billion debt reduction program. We expect share repurchases in the range of $200 to $300 million each quarter and will retain free cash flow beyond our share repurchases on the balance sheet to reduce our net leverage. We'll provide complete 2025 guidance on our February call after we finalize our budget with our board. With that, I'll now turn the call back over to Rosy for Q&A.

謝謝，克萊。從幻燈片 8 開始，重點介紹了我們第三季度的財務業績，Devon 的核心收益總計 6.83 億美元，即每股 1.10 美元。EBITDA 為 19 億美元，營運現金流為 17 億美元，均超出共識預期。在滿足資本需求後，我們本季產生了 7.86 億美元的自由現金流，比上一時期有了顯著改善。我們的現金流產生受到石油和總產量的支撐，由於克萊早些時候強調的出色經營業績，總產量超過了我們指導的上限。由於停機時間減少，修整費用降低，生產成本較上一時期下降了 7%。最後，現金稅率較低，這主要是由於收購格雷森工廠導致稅收加速折舊的結果。我們穩健的財務表現為股東帶來了另一個季度的強勁現金回報。本季度，我們透過固定股利和回購向股東分配了 4.31 億美元。我們在股票回購上花費了 2.95 億美元，使我們的計劃總支出略高於 300 萬美元。我們選擇本季不支付可變股利。可變股息仍將是我們現金回報框架內的一個工具，但在短期內，我們預計透過固定股息和股票回購計畫為股東帶來現金回報。放棄該變數使我們能夠降低淨槓桿率，以實現 25 億美元的債務削減目標。我們預計將利用手頭現金和每季產生的部分自由現金流來償還我們為收購 Grayson Mill 提供的 10 億美元定期貸款。正如幻燈片 9 所強調的那樣，本季度結束時，我們的淨債務與 EBITDA 的比率略高於一倍，並且我們的現金餘額和未提取的信貸額度之間的流動性強勁。今年我們已經收回了 4.72 億美元的未償還優先票據，並且有更多機會在即將到期、償還定期貸款和未償還的可贖回債務的情況下進一步降低我們的槓桿率。轉向幻燈片 10，展望 2025 年，我們預計又一年表現強勁，預計總產量平均每天約為 800,000 個 BOE。這項產量預期比我們幾個月前宣布收購 Grayson Mill 時傳達的預期高出近 5%。此外，憑藉 Grayson Mill 的優勢以及我們在 2024 年建立的營運勢頭，我們預計 2025 年石油產量將創歷史新高，平均每天約為 38 萬桶。在資本方面，我們預計今年的支出將在 40 至 42 億美元之間。重要的是，透過這項嚴格的計劃，我們處於有利地位，能夠以當今的價格產生強勁的自由現金流，並提供超過大盤的自由現金流收益率。隨著自由現金流的分配，我們相信我們的財務框架為我們提供了必要的靈活性，可以為股東提供市場領先的現金回報並實現我們的債務削減目標。我們將繼續將高達 70% 的自由現金流作為股東現金支付的目標，並在 25 億美元的債務削減計劃上取得進展。我們預計每季的股票回購規模為 2 億至 3 億美元，並將在資產負債表上保留股票回購以外的自由現金流，以降低我們的淨槓桿率。在與董事會最終確定預算後，我們將在 2 月的電話會議上提供完整的 2025 年指導。現在，我將把電話轉回 Rosy 進行問答。

Thank you, Jeff. We'll now open the call for questions. Please limit yourself to one question and a follow-up. Emily, we are ready to take our first question.

謝謝你，傑夫。我們現在開始提問。請只回答一個問題和一個後續問題。艾米麗，我們準備好回答第一個問題了。

Thank you. Our first question today comes from Arun Jayaram with JP Morgan. Aaron, please go ahead.

謝謝。我們今天的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Arun Jayaram。亞倫，請繼續。

Yes, good morning. I was wondering if you could highlight some of the drivers of the uptick in well productivity in the Delaware Basin. I know you shifted some activity from Monument Drawback to Southeast New Mexico. And maybe, but love to get more details on that. and what you're underwriting in terms of well productivity as we think about your 2025 plan. Hey Arun, this is Clay.

是的，早安。我想知道您是否可以強調特拉華盆地油井產能上升的一些驅動因素。我知道您將一些活動從 Monument Drawback 轉移到了新墨西哥州東南部。也許吧，但我想了解更多細節。以及當我們考慮您的 2025 年計畫時，您在油井生產力方面所承擔的費用。嘿阿倫，我是克萊。

Thanks for the question. First, let me reiterate the 2025 plan is still a soft guide. I'd like to note that this soft guide is a little better than the last soft guide, so we're continuing to improve our soft guide towards the February more constructive guide. But let me tell you a little bit about what we have baked in. There's an assumption on the cost side of the equation relative to where we're at stamp in time today. There's obviously a lot of macro in the air, so we haven't assumed presumptively additional deflation or other significant moves in the system. Back to your question on the productivity, we've also assumed on a risk basis The wells that we have in place, we probably haven't fully baked in some of the upside that we've seen in regards to some of the breakthroughs we've had around well placement, combined with completion design, combined with the sequencing. And I think that's where we really continue to outperform and really had some great breakthroughs. As we feathered in some of these other more secondary-type zones, You know, you're building in a multi-development strategy and sometimes those wells, while economic, can be diluted to the overall picture. What we've seen is with the right techniques going in, we're continuing to see some really phenomenal results from these deeper and some shallower benches as depicted in this 12-1 as an example. So I would say there's a little more upside in where we're headed, but objectively we've got a soft guide out there. We feel good about where we're at. We'll continue to hone that. and then see how we can improve from there.

謝謝你的提問。首先，我重申2025年計畫仍然是軟指南。我想指出的是，這個軟指南比上一個軟指南好一點，因此我們正在繼續改進我們的軟指南，以實現二月份更具建設性的指南。但讓我告訴你一些關於我們烘焙的內容。等式的成本方面有一個相對於我們今天所處的位置的假設。顯然有很多宏觀因素正在醞釀中，因此我們沒有假定係統會出現額外的通貨緊縮或其他重大舉措。回到你關於生產力的問題，我們還基於風險假設我們已經就位的油井，我們可能還沒有完全充分利用我們在一些突破方面看到的一些好處。 。我認為這就是我們真正繼續表現出色並且確實取得了一些重大突破的地方。當我們在其他一些次要類型區域中進行羽毛化時，您知道，您正在製定多元開發策略，有時這些井雖然經濟，但可能會被稀釋到整體情況。我們所看到的是，透過採用正確的技術，我們將繼續從這些更深和一些更淺的板凳中看到一些真正驚人的結果，如 12-1 所示。所以我想說，我們的發展方向還有更多的好處，但客觀地說，我們已經有了一個軟指南。我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好。我們將繼續磨練這一點。然後看看我們如何可以從那裡改進。

Great. My follow-up is you guys are six, seven weeks into since the close of Grayson Mill. I was wondering, Clay, maybe for you or Rick, is if you could identify any self-help opportunities where you think you could further improve kind of capital efficiency in the Bakken in particular.

偉大的。我的後續行動是，格雷森工廠關閉已經六、七週了。我想知道，克萊，也許對你或里克來說，你是否能找到任何自助機會，你認為你可以進一步提高巴肯的資本效率。

Yes as a reminder, this deal was built on its own merits and justified just on the acquisition and what it really does to make us a better company. We did identify a little bit in the synergy bucket. I can tell you we're going to blow that away. We feel really good about what we're seeing from the excitement from the team, some instant wins we found in things like infrastructure and capital program, and even the inventory that we held in place on some parts and pieces. Those have been some really instantaneous wins. things that we're working on in progress right now. There's some debundling opportunities that we had taken full advantage of on the Devon side that I still see as unlocked potential on the Grayson side. And then I think the real upside potential, and this is hard to quantify really in synergies, but think about the value of having teams that have been working problems side by side, and when you bring them together, take for example the Refrax, and all that experience and that wisdom coming together to really figure out how do we do it better, and not just better in the Wilson, but better in South Texas and better in the other amazing basins that we have. So more to come on that in synergies. We probably won't tally it up every time we have one of these wins, but that's certainly an accretive part of the value proposition when you bring in such a strong team as we did with Grayson. Great, thanks.

是的，提醒一下，這筆交易是建立在其自身優點的基礎上的，並且僅基於收購及其真正使我們成為一家更好的公司的作用來證明其合理性。我們確實在協同作用方面找到了一點。我可以告訴你，我們會消滅它的。我們對團隊的興奮感感到非常滿意，我們在基礎設施和資本計劃等方面發現了一些即時的勝利，甚至我們在某些​​零件上持有的庫存也讓我們感覺非常好。這些都是一些真正即時的勝利。我們現在正在做的事情正在進行中。我們在德文郡方面充分利用了一些分拆機會，我仍然認為格雷森方面有釋放的潛力。然後我認為真正的上升潛力，這很難在協同效應中真正量化，但想想擁有一直在並肩解決問題的團隊的價值，當你把他們聚集在一起時，以 Refrax 為例，所有這些經驗和智慧匯集在一起，真正弄清楚我們如何做得更好，不僅在威爾遜做得更好，而且在德克薩斯州南部做得更好，在我們擁有的其他令人驚嘆的盆地做得更好。因此，在協同作用方面還會有更多的事情發生。我們可能不會每次取得這些勝利時都將其計算在內，但是當您引入像我們與格雷森一樣強大的團隊時，這無疑是價值主張的增值部分。太好了，謝謝。

Our next question comes from Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs. Neil, please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的尼爾梅塔。尼爾，請繼續。

Yes, good morning, Rick and team. I guess the first question is, as you think about your M&A strategy, I guess there are a couple different paths you can look for that transformational transaction, and some have come and gone. But the other opportunity is to look for a bunch of additional Grayson-Milts type of opportunities, which are much more bolt-on in nature. And as you think about M&A, where you've definitely demonstrated an interest in being active, what do you think is the right path? And how are you thinking about maximizing value via M&A?

是的，早上好，瑞克和團隊。我想第一個問題是，當你考慮你的併購策略時，我想你可以尋找幾種不同的路徑來尋找轉型交易，有些已經來了又走了。但另一個機會是尋找一堆額外的格雷森-米爾茨類型的機會，這些機會本質上是附加的。當您考慮併購時，您肯定表現出了積極參與的興趣，您認為正確的道路是什麼？您如何考慮透過併購實現價值最大化？

Yes, Neil, that's a great question. And I think from our perspective, our commentary has been very, very consistent over the last several years, and that is we'll continue to look for opportunities, make sure that we're not missing something. We've got a team that David Harris and his folks do a really, really nice job in staying plugged in with what's in the market and what's out there. We debate internally on things that could make us a stronger company. More often, we just pass on it and move on down the road. I think if you look at our actions over the last couple of years, we'll continue to evaluate things, but don't forget the organic piece, too. That's some things. Clay, you talked about the CBR pad. That's another way. We'll continue to build inventory for the future organically. We've got a great geoscience team and a reservoir engineering team that works very hard day in, day out. And so I think that you'll see a combo path forward, and that is the organic and the inorganic. And the inorganic could be a common of the smaller, just ground game type, tuck-in type small deals, or something that's more of an asset like you saw with Grayson Mill, which, once again, works very, very well for us. And so we have a strong team. It does a good job with integrations. And I think that's the bottom line. The key takeaway is the same path going forward as what you've seen over the last couple of years.

是的，尼爾，這是一個很好的問題。我認為從我們的角度來看，過去幾年我們的評論非常非常一致，那就是我們將繼續尋找機會，確保我們不會錯過任何東西。我們有一支團隊，大衛哈里斯（David Harris）和他的團隊在了解市場上和外面的情況方面做得非常非常好。我們在內部討論可以使我們成為更強大的公司的事情。更多時候，我們只是忽略它，繼續沿著路走。我認為，如果你看看我們過去幾年的行動，我們將繼續評估事情，但也不要忘記有機部分。這就是一些事情。Clay，你談到了 CBR 護墊。那是另一種方式。我們將繼續有機地為未來建立庫存。我們擁有一支優秀的地球科學團隊和一支日復一日努力工作的油藏工程團隊。所以我認為你會看到一條組合的前進道路，那就是有機和無機。無機物可能是較小的、只是地面遊戲類型、塞入式小交易的常見內容，或者更像是一種資產，就像你在格雷森米爾看到的那樣，這對我們來說非常非常好。所以我們有一個強大的團隊。它在集成方面做得很好。我認為這是底線。關鍵的一點是，未來的發展道路與您在過去幾年中所看到的相同。

Okay. The follow-up is just maximizing your natural gas realizations, particularly in the Permian. You've discussed the in-service of Matterhorn. So I'm curious on how you think that ultimately is going to flow through Waha pricing, which is it has recovered, but not nearly to probably the fair value. And do you think there's risk that this gas oversupply is transferred over to the Gulf Coast? And then maybe as part of this discussion, you could also talk about Blackcomb. and how that resolves potentially the next bottleneck in Permian gas, too. So broader Permian gas question there.

好的。後續行動只是最大限度地提高天然氣產量，特別是在二疊紀。您已經討論了馬特洪峰的服役情況。所以我很好奇你認為最終將如何影響娃哈哈的定價，即它已經恢復，但還沒有接近公允價值。您認為天然氣供應過剩是否有轉移到墨西哥灣沿岸的風險？然後也許作為本次討論的一部分，您也可以談論 Blackcomb。以及如何解決二疊紀天然氣的下一個瓶頸。因此存在更廣泛的二疊紀天然氣問題。

Yes, Neil, this is Jeff. Yes, as you know, we obviously have a commitment on Matterhorn and have an equity contribution there as well. We're excited that the pipe is up and going and flowing two VCF a day at this point. specific to Devin, I think you're very familiar with our approach in moving the molecules away from Oaxaca to the Gulf Coast. So now with Matterhorn Online, we have call it 90% of our molecules flow away from Oaxaca to the Gulf Coast. You highlight the potential for a backup there at Katy. That's certainly something that we've been mindful of. Our team's done a great job and got out in front of that. We've taken capacity away from Katy over into the Louisiana and LNG hubs. So we feel like we've taken some really positive steps to protect ourselves from some of the dislocation in pricing that you've seen there. We feel good about pricing longer term. As you mentioned, we're still in a spot today with a lot of the maintenance that we've seen on some of the other pipe there in the Permian Basin. has led to kind of a depressed Waha price, even with Matterhorn coming online. But initially, once the pipe came on, we did see some improvement, and once some of this maintenance settles out, we expect that to continue and are realizing pricing going into the fourth quarter, and certainly into 2025, we expect to improve over time.

是的，尼爾，這是傑夫。是的，如您所知，我們顯然對馬特洪峰做出了承諾，並在那裡進行了股權投資。我們很高興管道已啟動並正常運行，並且每天有兩個 VCF 流動。具體到德文，我認為您非常熟悉我們將分子從瓦哈卡轉移到墨西哥灣沿岸的方法。因此，現在透過 Matterhorn Online，我們將其稱為 90% 的分子從瓦哈卡流向墨西哥灣沿岸。您強調了凱蒂的替補潛力。這當然是我們一直牢記在心的事。我們的團隊做得很好，並取得了領先。我們已將凱蒂的產能轉移到路易斯安那州和液化天然氣中心。因此，我們認為我們已經採取了一些非常積極的措施來保護自己免受您所看到的定價混亂的影響。我們對長期定價感覺良好。正如您所提到的，我們今天仍然處於困境，需要進行大量維護，就像我們在二疊紀盆地的其他一些管道上看到的那樣。即使馬特宏峰上線，這也導致了瓦哈價格的低迷。但最初，一旦管道開通，我們確實看到了一些改善，一旦部分維護工作解決，我們預計這種情況將繼續下去，並實現定價進入第四季度，當然到2025 年，我們預計隨著時間的推移會有所改善。

The next question comes from Kalei Akamine with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead.

下一個問題來自美銀美林的 Kalei Akamine。請繼續。

Good morning, guys. Thanks for getting me on. For my first question, I'm also going to take a shot at 25. You kind of addressed the permanent piece of the puzzle that there is an upside scenario there. But in your conservative base case, do you kind of see the Delaware oil flat or up? And the other moving part of that 25 guide is the where you're taking over Grayson. and you're basically landing that production at a lower but more optimal level. Just kind of wondering about the cadence of that block and draw down in 25.

早安，夥計們。謝謝你讓我上來。第一個問題，我也打算選擇 25。你有點解決了這個難題的永久部分，那就是那裡有一個好的前景。但在您保守的基本情況下，您認為德拉瓦州石油價格持平還是上漲？25 指南中另一個令人感動的部分是你將接管格雷森。基本上，你的產量會降到一個較低但更優化的水平。只是想知道 25 秒內的阻擋和回撤的節奏。

Yes, I appreciate it. This is Clay again. I appreciate the attempt at another 25 questions and I imagine it might not even be the last. What I would tell you is, look, let's just stick with our soft guide for now. We'll have a lot more detail coming out in February. Meanwhile, we don't want a front one on the board in a couple of weeks. We've got a really important board meeting. We'll talk about these things. We've got a lot of options, very deep portfolio. The multi-basin gives us a lot of optionality, and the team continues to provide some really interesting kind of competitive opportunities to compete for that capital. So rather than getting too granular at this point, we're just going to stick with the high level that we've provided so far.

是的，我很感激。這又是克萊。我很欣賞另外 25 個問題的嘗試，我想這可能不是最後一個。我要告訴你的是，看，我們現在就堅持我們的軟指南吧。我們將在二月公佈更多細節。同時，我們也不希望在幾週內出現一位前董事會成員。我們召開了一次非常重要的董事會。我們將討論這些事情。我們有很多選擇，非常深入的投資組合。多盆地給了我們很多選擇，團​​隊繼續提供一些非常有趣的競爭機會來爭取資本。因此，我們不會在這一點上變得過於細化，而是堅持我們迄今為止所提供的高水準。

Fair enough. For my follow-up, just kind of thinking about debt reduction, In September, you made a first go at your $2.5 billion target and taking out the $500. In the next several years, before 28, you've got about $2 billion coming due. In the base case, do you take those out as they come due?

很公平。對於我的後續行動，只是考慮一下債務削減，9 月份，你們首次嘗試實現 25 億美元的目標，並拿出了 500 美元。在接下來的幾年裡，在 28 歲之前，你還有大約 20 億美元到期。在基本情況下，您會在到期時將其取出嗎？

Yes, Clay, this is Jeff. Yes, that's exactly the game plan. You know, we feel really good about the balance sheet that we have, a lot of strength and liquidity, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks. We're not in a hurry to go out and pay down a bunch of debt in the near term, but we are going to build towards that. And as you mentioned, our game plan is to take out the maturities as they come due. I mentioned the $475 million that we took out here. this year already. We'll have another call at $485 million in the fall of next year that we'll look to take down. And then as I mentioned previously, the term loan, which has a maturity in 2026, we've got a couple of years to start chipping away at that over time as well. Over the next two to three years, as we've highlighted, we'd like to get roughly $2.5 billion of absolute debt out, but we feel really good about the kind of financial flexibility that we have with our framework to deliver on that, as well as, again, I'll just highlight our intention to deliver really competitive cash returns to shareholders over that timeframe as well.

是的，克萊，這是傑夫。是的，這正是遊戲計劃。你知道，正如我在準備好的發言中提到的，我們對我們擁有的資產負債表感覺非常好，有很大的實力和流動性。我們並不急於在短期內償還大量債務，但我們將朝著這個目標努力。正如您所提到的，我們的計劃是在到期時將其到期。我提到了我們在這裡拿出的 4.75 億美元。今年已經。我們將在明年秋天再次發出 4.85 億美元的電話，我們將考慮取消該電話。正如我之前提到的，定期貸款將於 2026 年到期，隨著時間的推移，我們也有幾年時間開始逐步削減這一期限。正如我們所強調的，在接下來的兩到三年裡，我們希望擺脫大約 25 億美元的絕對債務，但我們對我們的框架所具有的財務靈活性感到非常滿意，我再次強調，我們打算在這段時間內為股東提供真正有競爭力的現金回報。

I appreciate the comments, guys. Thank you.

我很欣賞你們的評論，夥計們。謝謝。

The next question comes from Scott Gruber with Citigroup. Please go ahead.

下一個問題來自花旗集團的史考特·格魯伯。請繼續。

Yes, good morning. How should we think about your LOE and GPT costs going forward post-closing? We got the 4Q Guide. Was there an opportunity to squeeze OpEx lower, or should we use the 4Q Guide as the baseline for 2025?

是的，早安。我們該如何考慮交割後您的 LOE 和 GPT 成本？我們得到了 4Q 指南。是否有機會壓縮營運支出，或者我們應該使用第四季度指南作為 2025 年的基準？

Yes, I think the 4Q Guide is a good starting point. Again, we'll continue to refine that, look for opportunities. You might have noticed the 3Q to 4Q change. That varies quite a bit with the workovers. We're always trying to get more efficient, less downtime. That's a lofty goal. Things tend to tick up a little bit during the winter months on some of this downtime. So we've got that baked in in the fourth quarter. So if you run that forward, I think it gets you certainly in the right ballpark.

是的，我認為 4Q 指南是一個很好的起點。同樣，我們將繼續完善這一點，尋找機會。您可能已經注意到第三季到第四季的變化。這與修井工作有很大不同。我們一直在努力提高效率、減少停機時間。這是一個崇高的目標。在冬季的幾個月裡，在一些停工期間，情況往往會有所改善。所以我們在第四季就已經解決了這個問題。因此，如果你向前邁進，我認為這肯定會讓你處於正確的位置。

OK. I appreciate that. Just thinking about your completion efficiencies, quite impressive. What do you guys think about in terms of driving the next leg? Where do you guys stand on eFRAC deployment? You mentioned the simulFRAC, but are you thinking about eFRAC deployment? Where do you guys stand on that front? and latest thoughts on potentially looking at something like Trimal Track. Just kind of what drives the, what could drive the next leg of completion efficiency gains?

好的。我很欣賞這一點。只要想想你的完成效率，就相當令人印象深刻。你們對下一站的駕駛有何看法？你們對 eFRAC 部署持什麼立場？您提到了 simulFRAC，但您是否正在考慮 eFRAC 部署？你們在這方面站在哪裡？以及關於可能關注 Trimal Track 等內容的最新想法。是什麼推動了完成效率提升的下一個階段？

Yes, Scott, I would say all of those things are on the table. We continue to evaluate them very objectively. We stay in the market pretty continuously to understand what those opportunities are. As you're well aware, some of the E-Fleets, required some pretty long-term contracting early on. As we cycle through those as an industry, I think there's more opportunity for us to participate and to see things that are really kind of contributing to the bottom line. So far, we're pretty objective about the fuel types and many of the fleets that we run actually run very high percentage of natural gas. And so think of an E-fleet as 100% natural gas, where some of our fleets are maybe 60% to 80% natural gas. And so we're getting a lot of that cost benefit from depressed natural gas prices. And at the same time, we're in the market that may be a little bit secondary to some of the premium E-fleets. So far, it's been our competitive advantage or advantageous for us. to stay in the direction we're in. But I guarantee you, we are wide open to creative ideas, continuing to innovate. The efficiencies that our service company's partners create right alongside with our team is pretty remarkable. And I'm getting tired of trying to outguess them on, is this the time that we plateau? So if you're thinking about when do we plateau, man, your guess is as good as mine. But I'm going to bet on the over on the creativity innovation that these folks have, and they continue to apply. So more to come on that, and I look forward to sharing with you.

是的，斯科特，我想說所有這些事情都擺在桌面上。我們繼續非常客觀地評價他們。我們持續留在市場，以了解這些機會是什麼。如您所知，一些電子艦隊在早期就需要一些相當長期的合約。當我們作為一個行業循環瀏覽這些內容時，我認為我們有更多的機會參與並看到真正有助於獲利的事情。到目前為止，我們對燃料類型相當客觀，我們營運的許多車隊實際上使用的天然氣比例非常高。因此，可以將電子車隊視為 100% 天然氣，而我們的一些車隊可能使用 60% 到 80% 天然氣。因此，我們從天然氣價格低迷中獲得了許多成本效益。同時，我們所處的市場可能比一些高階電子車隊稍微次要。到目前為止，這一直是我們的競爭優勢或優勢。保持我們前進的方向。但我向您保證，我們對創意持開放態度，並持續創新。我們的服務公司的合作夥伴與我們的團隊一起創造的效率是相當驚人的。我已經厭倦了試圖猜透他們，現在是我們停滯不前的時候嗎？所以，如果你在想我們什麼時候會進入穩定狀態，夥計，你的猜測和我的一樣好。但我將把賭注押在這些人所擁有的創造力上，並且他們將繼續應用。接下來還有更多內容，我期待與您分享。

Don't bet against human ingenuity. Appreciate the call. Thank you.

不要跟人類的聰明才智打賭。感謝您的來電。謝謝。

You bet, Scott.

你敢打賭，史考特。

Our next question comes from Roger Reed with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的羅傑·里德。請繼續。

Yes, thank you. Good morning. Kind of two questions. One, to follow up on your comments earlier about not really building in any productivity or efficiency, maybe just a way to look back over the last 12 months, last six months, what those productivity and efficiency trends have been. In other words, if things were to continue along that line, what's sort of the potential for improvement on well costs as you think about it?

是的，謝謝。早安.有點兩個問題。第一，跟進您之前關於沒有真正提高任何生產力或效率的評論，也許只是回顧過去 12 個月、過去 6 個月的生產力和效率趨勢的一種方式。換句話說，如果事情繼續沿著這條線發展，您認為改善油井成本的潛力有多大？

Yes, Roger, I'll take it kind of two parts. First on the overall productivity, and let's just focus on the Delaware because that's such a large piece of our business. When I look back year-to-year productivity, we've been in a band, and it's a relatively tight band, but it certainly is affected by our geographic contribution inside of the Delaware, also the zonal contribution, how much of which zones do we do, and then going forward, our ability to move more of these multi-zone developments, a little bit larger development opportunity set, that also contributes to that productivity. So while we're doing things to better land the wells, always trying to tweak the completion design to eke out a little bit more recovery factor on each of these opportunities, There's also some kind of technical tension on maybe we need to tighten a few more of these up and really lean into this inventory opportunity and not miss these. We all know this is incredibly precious inventory that doesn't exist really anywhere else on the planet, and so we want to make sure that we're thinking about the balance of near-term returns, the ultimate net present value of the project, but also the inventory considerations. Shifting over to the bigger capital picture, You know, I think about that productivity is part of the equation, speed is part of the equation, and then deflation is part of the equation. And so you think about those three inputs, we highlight on slide six the completion efficiencies and drilling efficiencies. That actually obviously on a per-well basis makes those wells cheaper, but it works a little bit against you because you're working faster and you're pulling more of next year's activity into this year. We've mitigated that by dropping rigs, lowering kind of headline number activity, still getting the same output. But as you see from our productivity and our continued beat and raise throughout the year, that productivity gains combined from the well productivity and from the more wells online, we're outrunning even our internal estimates. The deflation is kind of out there in the background, and the question is, is that going to take up enough to keep our capital in line. We saw a really good result in the third quarter. I think we're really pleased on what we're seeing in the fourth quarter. We'll continue to watch that. We'll only get too far ahead of ourselves in the 25 with all the macro things that are going on. So a lot going on as we think about 25. All of that stuff comes into play. But really excited about what the team's controlling the controllables on, on drilling better wells and doing it in a more efficient manner.

是的，羅傑，我會把它分成兩個部分。首先是整體生產力，我們只專注於特拉華州，因為這是我們業務的重要組成部分。當我回顧每年的生產力時，我們一直處於一個區間，而且是一個相對較緊的區間，但它肯定受到我們在特拉華州內部的地理貢獻的影響，還有區域貢獻，其中有多少區域我們是否會這樣做，然後展望未來，我們有能力推動更多的多區域開發，擴大一點的開發機會，這也有助於提高生產力。因此，雖然我們正在努力更好地著陸油井，但總是嘗試調整完井設計，以在每個機會中獲得更多的採收率，還有某種技術緊張，也許我們需要收緊一些更多的這些，真正傾向於這個庫存機會，不要錯過這些。我們都知道這是極其珍貴的庫存，在地球上其他任何地方都不存在，因此我們希望確保我們正在考慮短期回報的平衡，項目的最終淨現值，還有庫存考慮。轉向更大的資本圖景，你知道，我認為生產力是等式的一部分，速度是等式的一部分，然後通貨緊縮是等式的一部分。因此，您考慮這三個輸入，我們在第六張投影片上強調了完井效率和鑽井效率。實際上，顯然，以每口井為基礎，這些井的價格會更便宜，但這對你來說有點不利，因為你的工作速度更快，而且你將更多明年的活動拉到今年。我們透過放棄鑽機、降低總體數量活動來緩解這個問題，但仍獲得相同的產量。但正如您從我們的生產力以及全年持續增長和提高中看到的那樣，生產力的提高來自油井生產力和更多在線油井的結合，我們甚至超出了我們的內部估計。通貨緊縮是背景，問題是，這是否會佔用足夠的資金來維持我們的資本穩定。我們在第三季看到了非常好的結果。我認為我們對第四季度所看到的情況非常滿意。我們將繼續關注這一情況。在 25 世紀發生的所有宏觀事情上，我們只會走得太遠。當我們想到 25 的時候，發生了很多事。所有這些東西都會發揮作用。但對團隊控制可控因素、鑽更好的井並以更有效的方式進行工作感到非常興奮。

I appreciate the details and the answer. I'll turn it back. Thanks.

我很欣賞細節和答案。我會把它轉回來。謝謝。

Thank you, sir.

謝謝您，先生。

Our next question comes from Neal Dingmann with Truist. Please go ahead, Neil.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Neal Dingmann。請繼續，尼爾。

Morning. Morning, guys. Thanks for the time. My first question is likely for you, Jeff, just on capital allocation. I'm just wondering, very generally, any thoughts these days any differently about how you're thinking about the buybacks versus div going forward, and then secondly, on the recent buybacks. Does that include any PE shares, and would you all consider stepping a larger way into buybacks if any of the PEs decide to sell?

早晨。早安，夥計們。謝謝你的時間。傑夫，我的第一個問題可能是關於資本配置的。我只是想知道，非常籠統地說，這些天你對回購與未來的股利的看法有什麼不同，其次是最近的回購。這是否包括任何私募股權股票？

Yes, Neil, this is Jeff. So first priority for us on the cash returns is the fixed dividend. We're in a position today where obviously with our business model, we're really comfortable with where the fixed dividend is and frankly expect to grow it as we work our way into next year. Once we start working through our finalized budget with our board, I expect after we get past the first of the year, you'll see CES announced growth in the fixed dividend. So that's the first priority. Beyond that, we've been pretty clear for the last several quarters that our bias is towards the share repurchases. So we think there's great value in our equity today from an intrinsic value standpoint and kind of our view of the long term. So you're going to continue to see us lean in on the share repurchase program. I think if you go back and look at our track record, obviously we've paid a variable dividend in the past. that really was attuned to the market dynamics that we're seeing with what we would characterize as above mid-cycle pricing. We think it worked incredibly well for us. Now with the pullback that we've seen in commodity prices, we think it makes more sense to eliminate the variable for the near term and really lean in even further on the share repurchases and the growth in our fix. So that's going to be our game plan going forward. Obviously, if we see the market dynamics change, we'll adjust our strategy. we really feel like is the beauty of our financial framework is that it provides us all the flexibility that we need to kind of manage through the dynamic environment that we're all living in.

是的，尼爾，這是傑夫。因此，我們在現金回報方面的首要任務是固定股利。我們今天所處的位置顯然是透過我們的商業模式，我們對固定股息的水平非常滿意，並且坦率地期望隨著我們努力進入明年，它會增長。一旦我們開始與董事會一起制定最終預算，我預計在今年第一天過去後，您將看到 CES 宣布固定股息的成長。所以這是第一要務。除此之外，我們在過去幾季中一直非常明確地表明我們傾向於股票回購。因此，我們認為，從內在價值的角度以及我們的長期觀點來看，我們今天的股票具有巨大的價值。因此，您將繼續看到我們傾向於股票回購計劃。我認為，如果你回顧一下我們的業績記錄，顯然我們過去支付了可變股息。這確實符合我們所看到的市場動態，我們將其描述為高於中期定價。我們認為它對我們來說效果非常好。現在，隨著我們看到大宗商品價格的迴調，我們認為短期內消除該變數更有意義，並真正進一步依靠股票回購和固定收益的成長。這將是我們未來的遊戲計劃。顯然，如果我們看到市場動態發生變化，我們就會調整我們的策略。我們真的覺得我們的財務框架的美妙之處在於，它為我們提供了管理我們所生活的動態環境所需的所有靈活性。

Yes, I like that game plan, Jeff. And then just secondly, Rick, for you or Clay, just a broader on potential future JV plans. I mean, specifically, it seems like some of your peers have started talking about power and nuclear. I'm just wondering if you all started any of these conversations for any potential JVs with these type of plans.

是的，我喜歡那個遊戲計劃，傑夫。其次，瑞克，對你或克萊來說，只是更廣泛的未來潛在的合資計劃。我的意思是，具體來說，您的一些同行似乎已經開始談論電力和核能。我只是想知道你們是否都針對任何具有此類計劃的潛在合資企業開始了任何對話。

Yes, absolutely, Neil. We've had a lot of discussions. Not only our asset teams, but our business development teams have had a litany of discussions. But I can also tell you that what I've personally been involved with is talking to utilities and power pools just to make sure that we have the right framework and structure, and more importantly, the support to get some of this done. Because until we address some of those sorts of things, I think we're kind of waving our arms a little too much. But to answer your question, yes, we've been very, very engaged in discussions.

是的，絕對如此，尼爾。我們進行了很多討論。不僅是我們的資產團隊，我們的業務開發團隊也進行了大量的討論。但我也可以告訴你，我個人參與的工作是與公用事業公司和電力公司進行交談，以確保我們擁有正確的框架和結構，更重要的是，獲得完成其中一些工作的支持。因為在我們解決其中一些問題之前，我認為我們的揮舞手臂有點太多了。但為了回答你的問題，是的，我們一直非常非常積極地進行討論。

Yes, Neil, I'll just follow on that as well. I think you know us as a pretty creative bunch, and we've got some folks that are really thinking outside of the box on how do we connect some of these dots. We have tremendous resources, specifically in the Delaware Basin, and it's obviously not lost on us the current cost of electricity, the scarcity of that electricity, and at the same time, we have the source of that electricity that is getting terrible price realizations. And so connecting those dots with our incredible footprint, I think, is a real opportunity, and yes, we're absolutely engaged in some of those conversations today.

是的，尼爾，我也會跟進。我想你知道我們是一群非常有創意的人，我們有些人真正跳出框框思考如何將這些點連結起來。我們擁有龐大的資源，特別是在德拉瓦盆地，顯然我們並沒有忽視當前的電力成本和電力的稀缺性，同時，我們擁有的電力來源的價格卻非常糟糕。因此，我認為，將這些點與我們令人難以置信的足跡聯繫起來，是一個真正的機會，是的，我們今天絕對參與了其中的一些對話。

Great add. Thanks, Clay.

很棒的補充。謝謝，克萊。

Our next question comes from Paul Cheng with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Paul Cheng。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, guys. I'm just curious that as you are trying to do more Q development and looking at the other branches, have you seen a noticeable difference in the gas oil ratio or the sour gas exposure and all that?

謝謝。早安，夥計們。我只是好奇，當您嘗試進行更多 Q 開發並查看其他分支時，您是否看到瓦斯油比例或酸性氣體暴露等方面存在明顯差異？

Hey, thanks for the question, Paul. As we move generally down in section, generally speaking, it gets gassier. So that's no great surprise. I would say we've actually seen some upside to the oil cut and some of the what we call B200, B300 benches that have really proven a lot oilier. We've got a couple of tests that we're doing our first half of this year that we're pretty excited about even deeper benches. We have done a whole lot of geologic mapping and science work oil fingerprinting, really understanding where those opportunities are to really drill deeper, include more of these deeper benches, and still keep our oil cuts up. And so I'd say positive to the upside there, pretty excited. But overall, remember, we are moving down dip. You're kind of fighting uphill on the gas cuts, so we're obviously very aware of that. specific to the H2S. The only place we see it is in the far eastern side of the Delaware Basin in material amounts, and we're very aware of that. We work around that. We've got third-party midstream partnerships that are very engaged in that. pretty much throughout that stack of rocks. And so it's not something that typically surprises us. We're very aware of that. We certainly take that into account and make sure that we have the appropriate safety and midstream infrastructure in place as we dig into that area.

嘿，謝謝你的提問，保羅。一般來說，當我們在部分中向下移動時，它會變得更加氣體。所以這並不奇怪。我想說的是，我們實際上已經看到了減油的一些好處，以及一些我們稱之為 B200、B300 的長凳，事實證明它們確實更省油。今年上半年我們正在進行一些測試，我們對更深的長凳感到非常興奮。我們已經完成了大量的地質測繪和石油指紋識別科學工作，真正了解了哪裡有機會真正鑽得更深，包括更多更深的台架，並且仍然保持我們的石油減產。所以我想說的是正面的一面，非常興奮。但總的來說，請記住，我們正在下降。你正在與汽油削減作鬥爭，所以我們顯然非常清楚這一點。特定於H2S。我們唯一能看到它的地方是在特拉華盆地的遠東側，而且我們非常清楚這一點。我們解決這個問題。我們有非常積極參與其中的第三方中游合作夥伴。幾乎遍布那堆岩石。因此，這通常不會讓我們感到驚訝。我們非常清楚這一點。我們當然會考慮到這一點，並確保在我們深入該領域時擁有適當的安全和中游基礎設施。

And, Kate, the second question is then on inventory backlog. Now that we have Grayson, I think you're saying that you have a 10-year of the inventory. life on that. And how about in the Permit? If we look at using a, say, call it a $50 WTI and $3 gas price, what is your inventory life and how many wells you need in the Permit per year in order for you to sustain the operation?

凱特，第二個問題是庫存積壓。現在我們有了格雷森，我認為您是說您擁有了 10 年的庫存。生活就在於此。那麼在許可證中又如何呢？如果我們考慮使用 50 美元的 WTI 和 3 美元的天然氣價格，您的庫存壽命是多少？

Yes, good question on inventory. We love talking about it because I think it's an area that's a little bit misunderstood. And I'll invoke third parties like Inveris to back up these numbers. We feel very confident in a 10-year runway in all five of our basins. You know, some of these have much longer, as an example, the Powder River Basin. But even in our core, the Delaware Basin, we certainly feel really good about that runway. Now, no doubt about it Paul, as you think about the front five years versus the back five years, we have much more confidence in that front five years. In fact, when you look at the overall productivity and capital efficiency for the organization, I feel very good about that front five years de-risked and really kind of some really good continuity to what we're doing today. That just gives us five years to continue to innovate and get more efficient on that back five. And that's how I feel that, that's why I feel so confident about the 10-year runway that we talk about. And then even beyond that, Rick's signaling to me over here, there's a lot more beyond that. And he's a great champion for our innovation beyond as we think about deeper zones, uphold zones, adjacencies. to that in a business sense, and adjacencies in the sense of a geologic sense. There's a lot more to go from there. Again, don't underestimate these teams. The human ingenuity, the scrappiness of these folks across the industry is just, it's so exciting to be part of, and I'm so proud to see it. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

是的，關於庫存的好問題。我們喜歡談論它，因為我認為這是一個有點被誤解的領域。我將調用 Inveris 等第三方來支援這些數字。我們對所有五個盆地的 10 年跑道都非常有信心。你知道，其中一些河流的長度要長得多，例如保德河流域。但即使在我們的核心特拉華盆地，我們對這條跑道也感覺非常好。現在，毫無疑問，保羅，當你考慮前五年與後五年時，我們對前五年更有信心。事實上，當你看到組織的整體生產力和資本效率時，我對前五年的風險消除感到非常滿意，並且對我們今天所做的事情確實有一些非常好的連續性。這僅僅給了我們五年的時間來繼續創新並在後五年內提高效率。這就是我的感受，這就是為什麼我對我們談論的 10 年跑道如此充滿信心。除此之外，瑞克在這裡向我發出訊號，除此之外還有更多的事情。當我們思考更深層的區域、支援區域、鄰接區域時，他是我們創新的偉大擁護者。從商業意義上來說，它是指它；從地質意義上來說，它是相鄰的。從那裡還有很多事情要做。再次強調，不要低估這些團隊。整個行業的人們的聰明才智和鬥志，能夠成為其中的一員真是太令人興奮了，我很自豪能看到這一點。謝謝。謝謝您，先生。

The next question comes from Doug Leggett with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead, Doug.

下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Doug Leggett。請繼續，道格。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Guys, I think all of us have been obviously trying to figure out why the stock has had such a tough time over the last period of time. And there's a couple of things you brought up this morning I wanted to try and hit. And the first one is, Jeff, when we hear you talk about 70% free cash return buybacks, and you're going to raise a dividend. But at the same time, you've avoided the variable because of your concerns over the commodity. Well, your capital structures still get $8 billion of debt in a backward-dated oil curve. Why is the balance sheet not getting more attention than a buyback, given the uncertainty that you've yourself laid out this morning on the oil price?

謝謝。大家早安。夥計們，我想我們所有人顯然都在試圖弄清楚為什麼該股在過去一段時間裡經歷瞭如此艱難的時期。今天早上你提到的一些事情我想嘗試。第一個是，傑夫，當我們聽到您談論 70% 的免費現金回報回購時，您將提高股息。但同時，由於您對商品的擔憂，您避免了該變數。好吧，你的資本結構在向後的石油曲線中仍然有 80 億美元的債務。考慮到您今天早上對油價的不確定性，為什麼資產負債表沒有比回購更受關注？

Yes, Doug, we absolutely have a focus on the balance sheet. So I think we've been pretty clear about our intentions around reducing the debt over time. We have the luxury of the strength of the balance sheet that we have and the liquidity that we have and the business model that we pursue with the low break-evens that we don't have to rush out and act like something's wrong with the balance sheet, right, and be aggressive in some sort of debt pay down. We're trying to balance that with the value that we see in the equity, right? So as I mentioned earlier, we feel like the flexibility of our framework allows us to do both, honestly. So we feel like we could accomplish both objectives over time, grow the fixed dividend, buy back our shares at what we view as a discounted price, and achieve our debt reduction targets over time. Again, if we see the market further deteriorate, we always reserve the right to change our opinion and adjust as necessary, but we feel really comfortable in our game plan.

是的，道格，我們絕對關注資產負債表。因此，我認為我們對於隨著時間的推移減少債務的意圖已經非常明確。我們擁有強大的資產負債表和流動性，以及我們追求的低盈虧平衡的商業模式，因此我們不必匆忙退出，表現得好像平衡出了問題。我們正在努力平衡這一點與我們在股權中看到的價值，對嗎？正如我之前提到的，老實說，我們覺得我們框架的靈活性使我們能夠做到這兩點。因此，我們認為隨著時間的推移，我們可以實現這兩個目標，增加固定股息，以我們認為的折扣價回購我們的股票，並隨著時間的推移實現我們的債務削減目標。再說一遍，如果我們看到市場進一步惡化，我們始終保留改變觀點並進行必要調整的權利，但我們對我們的遊戲計劃感到非常滿意。

I understand. I guess we cannot think of equity as what's left after debt from the enterprise value, but I understand the answer. My follow-up is on and Grayson Mills. Again, Rick, in your prepared remarks, you talked about over a decade of inventory, and I realize there is no precision here, but we did have a substantially higher oil price when you made that acquisition, that $5 billion deal. As you look at it today at the current forward strip, how do you see the value of the forward free cash flow, the forward asset versus what your planning was at the time that you did the deal? I will leave it there. Thanks.

我明白。我想我們不能將股權視為企業價值扣除債務後剩下的部分，但我理解答案。我的後續行動是格雷森·米爾斯。里克，在你準備好的發言中，你談到了十多年的庫存，我意識到這裡並不精確，但當你進行那筆 50 億美元的收購交易時，我們的油價確實大幅上漲。當您今天查看當前的遠期資產時，您如何看待遠期自由現金流、遠期資產的價值以及您在進行交易時的計劃？我會把它留在那裡。謝謝。

Yes, that's a good question, Doug. I mean, the bottom line is we were about $75, $75, $76, as I recall, when we did that transaction. And it's I think you have to always think long term about about what the commodity price is going to be. And none of us, as I said, none of us have rose-colored glasses or people have been calling for $4.50 gas price by the end of this year. It doesn't look like that's going to happen either. And you've been in this business a long time as well. And picking the commodity price is probably one of the trickier things that we do. But eventually, you have to put a stake in the ground and say, this is where we're going to head. And what we liked about Grayson Middle is that the economics around that transaction, we felt very, very good about it mid-cycle pricing or probably a little bit cheaper or lower than where we are today. So we felt very good about it. We structured the deal to be two-thirds debt. and one-third equity. And we had the, I think the team did a really good job. We locked in a set number of shares. Now the commodity prices pull back, equity prices come back. And so what the $5 billion headline number is actually when we closed the transaction was probably closer to a 4.6 or 4.7 when you think about that standpoint. So that's kind of how we look at it. So we feel really good about the transaction. We feel really good about the long-term inventory. As you know, the Bakken is a great reservoir. Wilson Basin has been a tremendous provider of energy for a long time, so we really like the position we're at. So I can tell you, we have no regrets whatsoever. So we feel really, really good about it. Great.

是的，這是個好問題，道格。我的意思是，我記得，當我們進行那筆交易時，我們的底線是大約 75 美元、75 美元、76 美元。我認為你必須始終從長遠考慮商品價格。正如我所說，我們沒有人持有玫瑰色眼鏡，也沒有人呼籲今年年底將汽油價格提高到 4.50 美元。看起來這也不會發生。而且您也從事這個行業很久了。選擇商品價格可能是我們所做的更棘手的事情之一。但最終，你必須在地上立一根木樁，然後說，這就是我們要去的地方。我們喜歡格雷森中心的一點是，圍繞著該交易的經濟性，我們對它的中期定價感覺非常非常好，或者可能比我們今天的價格更便宜或更低。所以我們對此感覺非常好。我們將交易結構定為三分之二債務。以及三分之一的股權。我認為我們的團隊做得非常好。我們鎖定了一定數量的股票。現在大宗商品價格回落，股票價格回落。因此，當你考慮這個觀點時，當我們完成交易時，50 億美元的整體數字實際上可能更接近 4.6 或 4.7。這就是我們的看法。所以我們對這筆交易感覺非常好。我們對長期庫存感覺非常好。如您所知，巴肯河是一座巨大的水庫。威爾遜盆地長期以來一直是巨大的能源提供者，因此我們非常喜歡我們所處的位置。所以我可以告訴你，我們沒有任何遺憾。所以我們對此感覺非常非常好。偉大的。

Thank you, guys. I appreciate the answers.

謝謝你們，夥計們。我很欣賞這些答案。

Our next question comes from Phillips Johnston with Capital One. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自第一資本的菲利普斯約翰斯頓。請繼續。

Hey, thanks for the question. Just a clarification for Jeff on the return of capital strategy. If I heard you right, you're sticking to the 70% target. And I think you said you'd expect $200 to $300 million of buybacks each quarter to sort of get you to that 70% target at the strip. I just wanted to clarify. what we might expect in an upside oil price scenario. We just stick to the $200 to $300 million and let the return fall below 70% in order to accelerate the reduction in net debt or would you actually boost the absolute buyback to stick to the 70%?

嘿，謝謝你的提問。只是向傑夫澄清一下資本回報策略。如果我沒聽錯的話，您會堅持 70% 的目標。我想你說過，你希望每季進行 2 億至 3 億美元的回購，以幫助你實現 70% 的目標。我只是想澄清一下。在油價上漲的情況下我們可能會預期什麼。我們只是堅持200到3億美元，讓回報率低於70%，以加速淨債務的減少，或者你實際上會提高絕對回購以堅持70%嗎？

Yes, Phillips, the way I'd answer that is I'd say we have the option to do both. Our near-term plan is to be pretty consistent. We're going to deliver a fixed dividend of call it $575 million annually a year. With the repo range that we've given, the $200 million to $300 million over time, a quarter, that's going to get you north of $1 billion, $5 billion, $6 billion of of cash returns to shareholders. To the extent that we deliver, as we did this last quarter, we got to the top end of the range on our share repo game plan. Any incremental cash above that, we'll consider taking back to the balance sheet. But that being said, if we move back to an environment where we think we have above mid-cycle pricing, we'll reevaluate that thought process maybe lean in further on the share repo, or frankly, even consider the variable dividend at some point in the future again as well. But in the near term, with kind of how we look at the world, we think the fixed dividend, the share repo, leaning in on that's going to make the most sense. And then as we generate some incremental cash above that share repo game plan that we've laid out, we may take that back to the balance sheet.

是的，菲利普斯，我的回答是，我們可以選擇兩者都做。我們的近期計劃是相當一致的。我們每年將發放固定股息 5.75 億美元。根據我們給出的回購範圍，隨著時間的推移，一個季度 2 億美元到 3 億美元，這將為股東帶來超過 10 億美元、50 億美元、60 億美元的現金回報。就我們交付的情況而言，就像我們上個季度所做的那樣，我們已經達到了股票回購遊戲計劃範圍的上限。任何高於此的增量現金，我們都會考慮重新計入資產負債表。但話雖這麼說，如果我們回到一個我們認為我們的定價高於週期中期的環境，我們將重新評估這個思維過程，可能會進一步傾向於股票回購，或者坦率地說，甚至在某個時候考慮可變股息將來也一樣。但在短期內，從我們對世界的看法來看，我們認為固定股利、股票回購是最有意義的。然後，當我們在我們制定的股票回購遊戲計劃之上產生一些增量現金時，我們可能會將其帶回資產負債表。

Sounds good. Thanks, Jeff.

聽起來不錯。謝謝，傑夫。

The next question comes from Charles Meade with Johnson Rice. Please go ahead.

下一個問題來自查爾斯·米德和約翰遜·賴斯。請繼續。

Yes, good morning, Rick, Clay, and Jeff, and the whole Devon team there. Clay, I want to go back to your prepared comments, and you were specifically talking about Delaware basin activity levels, and I think you were referencing slide six, so you've addressed this a bit. But you've got a 14% improvement in drilling days year-to-date over 23, but if we think about about the delta in how many rigs you need to run going forward versus 24. Is that number maybe a little lower than that 14% as far as to keep the same drilling footage? What do you have to run?

是的，早安，Rick、Clay、Jeff 以及整個 Devon 團隊。克萊，我想回到你準備好的評論，你專門談論了特拉華盆地的活動水平，我認為你引用了第六張幻燈片，所以你已經解決了這個問題。但年初至今，鑽井天數比 23 天提高了 14%，但如果我們考慮未來需要運行的鑽機數量與 24 天相比的增量。為了保持相同的鑽進進尺，這個數字可能會比 14% 低一點嗎？你必須跑什麼？

Well, the simple math, if you're running 16 rigs multiplied by 0.86, you get about 14. So that's where we're headed by first quarter. We're probably, we don't move this, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves on dropping rigs too quickly. And so we're probably erring on the high side. And that's why you're seeing a little bit more days online and certainly helps the production numbers.

嗯，簡單的數學計算，如果您運行 16 個鑽機，乘以 0.86，大約會得到 14 個。這就是我們第一季的目標。我們可能不會移動這個，我們不想太快放棄裝備。所以我們可能犯了偏高的錯誤。這就是為什麼你會在網路上看到更多的時間，這肯定有助於提高產量。

Got it. Okay. Well, thanks for that clarification. And then One question I'd like to ask is, let's see if you want to take a stab at this, and this relates to Matterhorn. So Jeff, I think you gave some good detail there about the pipelines going into having some maintenance, because one of the big surprises was that Waha flipped. It was positive for it seemed like a couple of days, and then it went right back negative again. But I wonder if you could give us an outlook on when do you think we're going to see any kind of durable return above zero for natural gas. And also maybe one of the big questions that we've batted around with clients is how much, if any, incremental oil volumes come to market now that there's more gassy grass. So if you can take a stab at either or both of those, it'd be great.

知道了。好的。嗯，謝謝你的澄清。然後我想問的一個問題是，讓我們看看你是否想嘗試一下，這與馬特宏峰有關。所以傑夫，我認為你在那裡提供了一些關於管道進行維護的詳細信息，因為最大的驚喜之一是瓦哈翻轉了。好像過了幾天，結果是陽性，然後又恢復為陰性。但我想知道您是否可以給我們一個展望，即您認為我們何時會看到天然氣的任何持久回報高於零。也許我們與客戶討論的一個大問題是，既然有更多的含氣草，那麼市場上的石油增量有多少（如果有的話）。因此，如果您可以嘗試其中一個或兩個，那就太好了。

Yes, you bet, Charles. I'll take a stab at it. I would say our perspective is we definitely think once some of the maintenance cleans up on the other pipes in the basin, with the benefit of Matterhorn, you should see pricing improve. Whether that's next month or three months from now, I can't tell you. I think it's certainly going to be dependent on when that maintenance kind of clears up. As it relates to incremental volumes coming online, oil volumes or otherwise, we don't have direct line of sight to that. I can tell you we haven't changed our behavior at all as a result of Matterhorn coming online. We haven't turned on incremental wells as a result of having that additional takeaway. So specific to Devon, our behavior hasn't changed, but I certainly can't speak for other operators out there and if it's changed the way they've thought about things.

是的，你敢打賭，查爾斯。我會嘗試一下。我想說的是，我們的觀點是，我們肯定認為，一旦盆地中其他管道的一些維護工作得到清理，在馬特宏峰的幫助下，您應該會看到價格有所提高。無論是下個月還是三個月後，我都無法告訴你。我認為這肯定取決於維護工作何時結束。由於它與新增的上線量、石油量或其他相關，我們對此沒有直接的視線。我可以告訴你，我們的行為並沒有因為馬特洪峰上線而改變。由於有額外的收穫，我們還沒有開啟增量井。對德文郡來說，我們的行為沒有改變，但我當然不能代表其他業者，也不能代表他們思考問題的方式是否改變了。

Got it. Thanks for that answer. Appreciate it, Jeff.

知道了。謝謝你的回答。很感激，傑夫。

The next question comes from Betty Jiang with Barclays. Please go ahead.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Betty Jiang。請繼續。

Hello. Hi. A lot of questions have been asked. I just have a follow-up on the Permian. The CBR multi-dome, multi-well project is pretty impressive. So how big is the opportunity set to repeat these type of large-scale projects like the CBR going forward? And then as you phase in more Tier 2 zones, do you think you will see any impact on the average productivity in the Permian and how much that could extend your inventory life in the Permian?

你好。你好。人們提出了很多問題。我剛剛對二疊紀進行了追蹤。CBR 多圓頂、多井工程令人印象深刻。那麼，未來重複像 CBR 這樣的大型專案的機會有多大呢？然後，當您逐步進入更多的二級區域時，您認為您會看到對二疊紀的平均生產力有任何影響嗎？

Yes, thanks, Betty. This is one of the things we wrestle with, and I mentioned this a couple times in the prepared remarks, just around the balance of returns. If you just want to maximize the return of a well, there's one way to do that, and it's probably not going to maximize the NPV of the productivity of the overall pad. If you want to maximize the NPV of the pad, you may sacrifice things like some of the overall inventory. And so there's an interesting tension between those three kind of pieces and important factors when we think about inventory, returns, and NPV of the overall project to really maximize the opportunity. And so what we're thinking about is not just these incremental zones, but also the spacing. In some areas, we've tightened up a little bit. In other areas, we've loosened up a little bit. But really, this interplay in a three-dimensional sense of these other zones is one of the things that we've learned how to improve some techniques some appropriate spacings where some zones can take a little tighter spacing and other zones where we need to loosen up a little bit. I would say that's where we've seen productivity improvement that's outpaced our risk model going into 24. And that's probably been the most important tangible thing that we've changed, controlling the controllable kind of thing. And I think that does extrapolate going forward. Now, there's no doubt about it. I mean, Betty, you know this as well as anybody. We have a full inventory of assets and we're always trying to drill the best stuff up front. And so it's kind of that you're fighting the resistance of that ultimate degradation that we will all see in this prioritization. But as you see in 2024, we didn't wait to drill some of the best wells we've ever drilled until 2024 because we wanted to really hold out until then. This is the innovation of the teams and really thinking about how do we continue to do this better? And I know that there's more to come in that space to improve these future wells that on a risk basis don't look quite as good as what we drilled in the past.

是的，謝謝，貝蒂。這是我們正在努力解決的問題之一，我在準備好的評論中多次提到這一點，就在回報的平衡方面。如果您只是想最大化一口井的回報，有一種方法可以做到這一點，但它可能不會最大化整個井場生產力的淨現值。如果你想最大化墊子的淨現值，你可能會犧牲一些整體庫存之類的東西。因此，當我們考慮整個專案的庫存、回報和淨現值以真正最大化機會時，這三種部分和重要因素之間存在著有趣的緊張關係。因此，我們考慮的不僅是這些增量區域，還有間距。在某些領域，我們收緊了一點。在其他領域，我們已經放鬆了一些。但實際上，這些其他區域在三維意義上的相互作用是我們學到的事情之一，如何改進一些技術，一些適當的間距，其中一些區域可以採取更緊密的間距，而其他區域我們需要放鬆一些上漲一點點。我想說的是，這就是我們看到生產力提高的地方，其速度超過了我們的風險模型進入 24 的速度。這可能是我們改變的最重要的有形的事情，控制可控的事情。我認為這確實可以推斷未來。現在，這是毫無疑問的。我的意思是，貝蒂，你和其他人一樣了解這一點。我們擁有完整的資產庫存，我們總是努力預先挖掘最好的東西。因此，你正在與最終退化的阻力作鬥爭，我們都將在這個優先順序中看到這一點。但正如您在 2024 年看到的那樣，我們沒有等到 2024 年才鑽探一些我們曾經鑽探過的最好的油井，因為我們真的想堅持到那時。這是團隊的創新，我們真正在思考如何繼續做得更好？我知道，在這個領域還有更多的工作可以改進這些未來的油井，從風險的角度來看，這些油井看起來並不像我們過去鑽探的那麼好。

I appreciate that. Maybe just on the efficiency standpoint, I mean, the 21 well project, these type of larger projects do allow for greater efficiency gains, both on drilling and completion side. What do you see as the average project size going forward? Is there more of these larger-sized projects going forward?

我很欣賞這一點。也許只是從效率的角度來看，我的意思是，21 口井項目，這些類型的大型項目確實可以在鑽井和完井方面實現更大的效率提升。您認為未來的平均專案規模是多少？未來還會有更多這樣的大型計畫嗎？

You know, if we started from scratch, we would definitely do more of these. In some of our areas, what we're finding is we're feathering in after an initial development, and so in the 12-1, it was an opportunity to really develop all of these zones at the same time. Objectively, there's just not very many blank canvases to work with, but what we're finding is when we go back in, we now understand essentially the depletion effects from that prior development and how to mitigate downside from that and then maximize the upside of some of these zones that, again, objectively we've waited later in the cycle to develop, and they continue to prove really, really productive. So I would say we tend towards larger pad development where applicable. It does provide efficiencies on drilling and completions. but much more important than the cost side of the equation is the productivity side. And as we continue to innovate and improve that productivity well to well in an overall pad, that's where our real money is made and that's where we try to highlight really on slide five, yes, slide five about how much productivity we have and really calling out this 12-1 that's a very large project that has just continued to exceed our expectations from all of these benches.

你知道，如果我們從頭開始，我們肯定會做更多這樣的事。在我們的一些領域，我們發現我們在初步開發後正在逐漸適應，因此在 12-1 中，這是一個真正同時開發所有這些區域的機會。客觀地說，沒有太多的空白畫布可供使用，但我們發現，當我們回去時，我們現在基本上了解了先前開發的消耗效應，以及如何減輕由此帶來的負面影響，然後最大化其上行空間其中一些區域，客觀上我們再次在周期的後期等待開發，並且它們繼續證明非常非常富有成效。所以我想說，在適用的情況下，我們傾向於開發更大的焊盤。它確實提高了鑽井和完井的效率。但比成本方面更重要的是生產力方面。隨著我們不斷創新並在整體墊中不斷提高生產力，這就是我們真正賺錢的地方，這就是我們試圖在第五張幻燈片上真正強調的地方，是的，第五張幻燈片關於我們擁有多少生產力並真正呼籲這場 12-1 的比賽是一個非常大的項目，它繼續超出了我們對所有這些替補球員的期望。

Understood. Thank you.

明白了。謝謝。

Thanks, Betty.

謝謝，貝蒂。

Our next question comes from Josh Silverstein with UBS. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的喬許·西爾弗斯坦。請繼續。

Hey, thanks. Good morning, guys. The GME assets came with a big midstream footprint. How are you thinking about the value of this asset now that it's in-house? Are there opportunities or a need to expand the footprint, or could this be a potential divestiture target accelerated debt reduction plans.

嘿，謝謝。早安，夥計們。GME 資產在中游佔據了很大的份額。既然這項資產是內部資產，您如何看待它的價值？是否有機會或需要擴大足跡，或者這可能是加速債務削減計劃的潛在剝離目標。

Hey, Josh. Thanks for the question. As you know, we've got a lot of midstream assets inside the portfolio. I would say they're all in the portfolio for a reason, but we also remain very objective about when there's a better opportunity for the organization to exit some of these opportunities. I would say uniquely to Grayson, I really commended the team on the last call about the great work that they've done to build this out and how it translates into higher margins and lower overall operating costs for those assets. That becomes very critical as you get into these more mature assets and you're really trying to pick up these remaining opportunities, extend the laterals, lower that cost threshold so that more and more of these opportunities meet our return threshold. So I would say they're much more likely to stay in our portfolio. In fact, I believe on the last call, I highlighted an opportunity that we're going to be building some infrastructure on the east side, some of the legacy assets, to really open up some additional inventory in the Williston Basin. And with the expertise from Grayson, we feel even more confident

嘿，喬許。謝謝你的提問。如您所知，我們的投資組合中有很多中游資產。我想說，它們都在投資組合中是有原因的，但我們對於組織何時有更好的機會退出其中一些機會也仍然非常客觀。我要特別對格雷森說，我在上次電話會議上確實讚揚了該團隊為構建這一項目所做的出色工作，以及它如何轉化為這些資產的更高利潤率和更低的總體運營成本。當您進入這些更成熟的資產時，這一點變得非常重要，並且您確實在努力抓住這些剩餘的機會，延長橫向範圍，降低成本閾值，以便越來越多的機會滿足我們的回報閾值。所以我想說他們更有可能留在我們的投資組合中。事實上，我相信在上次電話會議上，我強調了一個機會，即我們將在東側建造一些基礎設施，一些遺留資產，以真正在威利斯頓盆地開闢一些額外的庫存。有了格雷森的專業知識，我們更有信心

That's helpful. And then within the 2025 plans, how should we think about the capital allocation to the other assets that we really haven't discussed here today, Eagleford, Anadarko, and the PRB? Are these assets just in casual harvesting mode? Is there any uptick or downtick in terms of a percentage there? Thanks.

這很有幫助。然後，在 2025 年計劃中，我們應該如何考慮對我們今天沒有討論的其他資產（Eagleford、阿納達科和 PRB）的資本配置？這些資產只是處於隨意收穫模式嗎？百分比有上升或下降嗎？謝謝。

Josh, I would direct you that it's directionally looking similar. One thing that will be a notable change, obviously with the larger Williston footprint, the overall pie will shift a little bit. You'll see higher to the Williston. You'll see Delaware Basin drop from about 60% of the portfolio to 50. Otherwise, I would say directionally we're in the same ballpark and we'll resist the urge to give you too much more granularity on 25 until the February call.

喬什，我會告訴你它在方向上看起來很相似。有一件事將是一個顯著的變化，顯然隨著威利斯頓足跡的擴大，整體情況會發生一些變化。您將看到更高的威利斯頓河。您會看到特拉華盆地從投資組合的約 60% 下降到 50%。否則，我想說的是，我們在方向上處於同一水平，並且在 2 月份的電話會議之前，我們將抵制在 25 號會議上向您提供太多詳細信息的衝動。

Got it. Thanks, guys. Thank you, sir.

知道了。謝謝，夥計們。謝謝您，先生。

So we have met our time commitment. I want to thank everyone for your interest in Devon, and if you have any further questions, please reach out to Chris or me. Thank you again for joining us on our call today. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today.

所以我們已經完成了我們的時間承諾。我要感謝大家對德文郡的興趣，如果您有任何其他問題，請聯絡克里斯或我。再次感謝您參加今天的電話會議。謝謝大家今天加入我們。

This concludes our call, and you may now disconnect your lines.

我們的通話到此結束，您現在可以斷開線路了。