德文能源 (DVN) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Devon Energy's third quarter 2025 conference call. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded.

歡迎參加德文能源公司2025年第三季電話會議。（操作員指示）本次通話正在錄音。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Mr. Chris Carr, Director of Investor Relations. You may begin.

現在我將把電話交給投資者關係總監克里斯卡爾先生。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 Investors section of the Devon website.

早安，感謝各位今天參加我們的電話會議。昨晚，我們發布了德文郡第三季財報和簡報資料。在今天的通話中，我們將多次引用這些資料來佐證​​我們準備好的發言。新聞稿和幻燈片可在德文郡網站的投資者關係部分找到。

Joining me on the call today are Clay Gaspar, Chief Executive Officer; Jeff Ritenour, Chief Financial Officer; John Raines, SVP, Asset Management; Tom Hellman, SVP E&P Operations; and Trey Lowe, SVP and Chief Technology Officer.

今天與我一起參加電話會議的有：執行長 Clay Gaspar；財務長 Jeff Ritenour；資產管理資深副總裁 John Raines；探勘與生產營運資深副總裁 Tom Hellman；以及資深副總裁兼技術長 Trey Lowe。

As a reminder, this call will include forward-looking statements as defined under US 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.

提醒各位，本次電話會議將包含美國證券法定義的前瞻性陳述。這些聲明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。請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件和收益資料中提供的警示性語言和風險因素。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Clay.

接下來，我將把電話交給克萊。

Thank you, Chris. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us.

謝謝你，克里斯。各位早安，感謝各位的參與。

Let's begin with slide 2. With outstanding execution and innovation from every part of our organization, Devon delivered another outstanding quarter. I'm proud of our team's performance. We exceeded the midpoint of guidance on every key metric, including production, operating costs, and capital. These results mark our strongest performance of the year, highlighting the exceptional quality of our assets and our unwavering commitment to operational efficiency and cost control.

讓我們從第二張投影片開始。憑藉公司各部門出色的執行力和創新精神，德文郡又取得了一項出色的季度成績。我為我們團隊的表現感到自豪。我們在各項關鍵指標上都超過了預期中位數，包括產量、營運成本和資本支出。這些業績標誌著我們今年表現最為強勁，凸顯了我們資產的卓越品質以及我們對營運效率和成本控制的堅定承諾。

Building on this performance, we continue to advance our business optimization plan, firmly on track to generate an incremental $1 billion of annual pre-tax free cash flow. As we enter the fourth quarter, we have already achieved more than 60% of our target, underscoring both the effectiveness and urgency of our approach. These initiatives go beyond cost reductions. They are fundamentally reshaping our business by enhancing margins and boosting capital efficiency across our portfolio.

在此業績的基礎上，我們繼續推進業務優化計劃，穩步朝著每年新增 10 億美元稅前自由現金流的目標邁進。進入第四季度，我們已經完成了目標的 60% 以上，這凸顯了我們方法的有效性和緊迫性。這些措施不僅限於降低成本。他們從根本上重塑了我們的業務，提高了我們整個投資組合的利潤率和資本效率。

The output of these compounding efforts show up in our strong preliminary outlook for 2026, which Jeff will discuss in more detail. Despite persistent macro headwinds, these achievements directly contributed to our resilient free cash flow as we returned over $400 million to shareholders in the quarter and retired $485 million of debt, demonstrating our focus on delivering meaningful value to our shareholders.

這些累積努力的成果體現在我們對 2026 年的強勁初步展望中，傑夫將對此進行更詳細的討論。儘管宏觀經濟持續面臨不利因素，但這些成就直接促進了我們穩健的自由現金流，我們在本季度向股東返還了超過 4 億美元，並償還了 4.85 億美元的債務，這表明我們專注於為股東創造有意義的價值。

Beyond business optimization, we continue to unlock significant value throughout our portfolio. While getting into the details on a later slide, our teams have capitalized on a multitude of opportunities to drive additional value for the organization. Collectively, these achievements reinforce Devon's momentum and position us exceptionally well for the remainder of 2025 and into 2026.

除了業務優化之外，我們還在不斷挖掘整個產品組合的巨大價值。稍後會在幻燈片中詳細介紹，我們的團隊已經利用多種機會為組織創造更多價值。總而言之，這些成就鞏固了德文郡的發展勢頭，使我們在 2025 年剩餘時間和 2026 年都處於非常有利的地位。

Let's flip to slide 4 and take a deeper look at the quarter. Our relentless focus on production optimization continues to drive our outperformance. With oil production exceeding the midpoint of guidance by 3,000 barrels per day, the outstanding efforts of our teams to reduce artificial lift failure rates and improve workover efficiencies resulted in a 5% reduction in operating costs compared to the start of the year.

讓我們翻到第 4 張投影片，更深入了解本季的情況。我們始終不懈地專注於生產優化，這持續推動我們取得優異的績效。由於石油產量比預期中位數高出每天 3,000 桶，我們的團隊在降低人工舉升故障率和提高修井效率方面做出了傑出努力，與年初相比，營運成本降低了 5%。

Additionally, effective cost management drove our capital investment 10% below the first half run rate. These accomplishments, combined with other ongoing initiatives, led to robust free cash flow of $820 million in the third quarter and enabled us to deliver substantial cash returns to our shareholders.

此外，有效的成本管理使我們的資本投資比上半年的運行速度降低了 10%。這些成就，加上其他正在進行的舉措，使得第三季自由現金流強勁增長至 8.2 億美元，並使我們能夠為股東帶來豐厚的現金回報。

Moving to slide 5. Our consistent track record of disciplined execution and tireless pursuit of capital efficiency is evident. Quarter after quarter, we drive meaningful improvements to our outlook. This momentum is reflected in our updated guidance, where we've raised our full year production expectations every quarter this year while reducing capital by $400 million since our preliminary guidance.

切換到第5張投影片。我們一貫嚴謹的執行力和對資本效率不懈的追求有目共睹。每個季度，我們的業績前景都取得了顯著改善。這一勢頭體現在我們更新後的業績指引中，今年以來，我們每個季度都提高了全年產量預期，同時自初步指引發布以來減少了 4 億美元的資本支出。

These are not isolated wins. They result directly from our steadfast commitment to operational excellence, our culture of continuous improvement, and a rapid adoption of leading-edge technologies across our portfolio.

這些並非孤立的勝利。這些成果直接源自於我們對卓越營運的堅定承諾、持續改進的企業文化以及我們產品組合中對尖端技術的快速採用。

Now looking at slide 6. This continuous improvement is also resulting in top-tier performance versus our competitors. Our well productivity stands in the upper echelon of our peers, reflecting the strength of our asset portfolio and the execution of our teams across every basin.

現在來看第6張投影片。這種持續改進也使我們在與競爭對手的較量中處於領先地位。我們的油井產能處於同行的前列，這反映了我們資產組合的實力以及我們團隊在各個盆地的出色執行力。

On the right-hand side, our disciplined approach to capital allocation is evident in our industry-leading capital efficiency, setting us apart in a highly competitive space. These achievements highlight the power of our advantaged portfolio and the rigor of our capital allocation process and the ability of our people to drive superior results. And with our extensive inventory, we are well positioned to continue this strong performance moving forward.

從右側可以看出，我們嚴謹的資本配置方法體現在我們行業領先的資本效率上，這使我們在競爭激烈的領域中脫穎而出。這些成就凸顯了我們優勢投資組合的實力、我們資本配置流程的嚴謹性以及員工取得卓越成果的能力。憑藉我們充足的庫存，我們完全有能力繼續保持這一強勁的業績。

Turning to our business optimization initiative highlighted on slide 7. Our teams are outperforming expectations and delivering results well ahead of schedule. We have already captured more than 60% of our ambitious $1 billion target. When we originally launched this initiative, our focus was for year-end 2025 was $300 million in value uplift.

接下來，我們來看看投影片 7 中重點介紹的業務最佳化計畫。我們的團隊表現超出預期，並提前交付了成果。我們已經完成了10億美元宏偉目標的60%以上。當我們最初啟動這項計畫時，目標是在 2025 年底實現 3 億美元的價值提升。

As shown on the left side of the slide, we are on pace to double that milestone this year alone. This exceptional progress is highlighted this quarter by our significant progress in capital efficiency and production optimization on the right side, and we are fully confident in our ability to deliver these substantial cash flow improvements as we advance towards 2026.

如幻燈片左側所示，我們預計僅今年一年就實現這一里程碑的兩倍。本季我們在資本效率和生產優化方面取得了顯著進展，這凸顯了我們所取得的卓越成就。我們完全有信心在邁向 2026 年的過程中，實現這些實質的現金流改善。

Driving this rapid progress is our outstanding execution. With greater visibility and confidence in our 2025 full year production volumes, we anticipate a sustainable increase in free cash flow of $150 million resulting from incremental 20,000 BOE per day above our initial baseline when this initiative began. This reflects further acceleration from our outlook from last quarter, highlighting the urgency of our efforts. When we announced the plan in April, we recognized that the market wouldn't immediately price the aspirational $1 billion of incremental free cash flow in our share price.

推動這項快速發展的是我們卓越的執行力。由於我們對 2025 年全年產量有了更清晰的了解和更充分的信心，我們預計，自該計劃啟動以來，每天新增 20,000 桶油當量（BOE）的產量將使我們的自由現金流可持續增加 1.5 億美元。這反映出我們的預期比上一季進一步加快，凸顯了我們工作的迫切性。當我們在 4 月宣布該計劃時，我們意識到市場不會立即將預期的 10 億美元新增自由現金流計入我們的股價。

We knew we would have to earn it. While the plan is still in flight, I'm encouraged that Devon's stock is starting to feel a bit of relative appreciation to our peers. That said, I believe that we have much more ground to gain, and I look forward to earning that value in time.

我們知道我們必須靠自己的努力才能獲得它。雖然該計劃仍在進行中，但令我感到鼓舞的是，德文郡的股票相對於同行已經開始出現一些相對升值。儘管如此，我相信我們還有很大的進步空間，我期待在未來的時間內實現這一目標。

Slide 8 showcases key examples of the initiatives our teams are pursuing to meet targets in each category. These represent some of the most impactful efforts currently underway. As our teams proactively implement these initiatives, we remain confident in our ability to achieve our targets and maintain clear line of sight to our objective.

第 8 張投影片展示了我們團隊為實現各類別目標而正在採取的關鍵舉措範例。這些代表了目前正在進行的一些最具影響力的舉措。隨著我們的團隊積極落實這些舉措，我們對實現目標的能力充滿信心，並始終保持清晰的目標方向。

Turning to slide 9. I'd like to highlight several portfolio optimization actions we've taken on this year, which are delivering an uplift of over $1 billion to enterprise NAV. Importantly, these gains are in addition to the improvements through our ongoing business optimization initiatives. Early in the year, we signed an agreement to dissolve our joint venture in the Eagle Ford, giving us control of our development and the ability to reduce well costs and significantly enhance returns.

翻到第9張投影片。我想重點介紹我們今年採取的幾項投資組合優化措施，這些措施為企業淨值帶來了超過 10 億美元的提升。重要的是，這些收益是在我們正在進行的業務優化舉措所帶來的改進之外的。今年年初，我們簽署了一項協議，解散了我們在 Eagle Ford 的合資企業，這使我們能夠控制自己的開發，並降低油井成本，大幅提高收益。

In Q2, we completed the sale of the Matterhorn Pipeline and subsequently acquired the remaining interest in Cotton Draw Midstream. Last quarter, we executed two strategic gas marketing agreements that expanded our natural gas sales portfolio into premium markets.

第二季度，我們完成了馬特洪峰管線的出售，隨後收購了Cotton Draw Midstream的剩餘股份。上個季度，我們簽署了兩項策略性天然氣行銷協議，將我們的天然氣銷售組合擴展到了高端市場。

In Q3, we acquired approximately 60 net locations in New Mexico for $170 million, increasing our runway of high-return opportunities in Delaware. And finally, we've benefited from the WaterBridge IPO, which now provides a public marker for our investment valued at greater than $400 million. These actions showcase our team's initiative and strategic thinking to create shareholder value.

第三季度，我們斥資 1.7 億美元在新墨西哥州收購了約 60 個淨資產，增加了我們在德拉瓦州獲得高回報機會的儲備。最後，我們從 WaterBridge 的 IPO 中受益，這為我們超過 4 億美元的投資提供了一個公開市場。這些舉措展現了我們團隊的主動性和策略思維，旨在創造股東價值。

As we execute our business plan, we will seek further opportunities to optimize capital allocation, efficiency, costs and asset mix. We remain committed to continuous improvement, innovation and technological leadership, taking decisive steps to strengthen our operations and deliver strong shareholder returns.

在執行業務計劃的過程中，我們將尋求更多機會來優化資本配置、效率、成本和資產組合。我們將繼續致力於持續改善、創新和技術領先，採取果斷措施加強運營，為股東帶來豐厚回報。

With that, I'll hand the call over to Jeff.

這樣，我就把電話交給傑夫了。

Thanks, Clay. Turning to slide 10. Devon delivered another quarter of strong financial results. In the third quarter, we generated operating cash flow of $1.7 billion. After funding capital requirements, free cash flow totaled $820 million. This robust free cash flow generation enabled us to return significant value to shareholders, including $151 million in dividends and $250 million in share repurchases. We remain committed to our capital allocation framework, balancing high-return investments with substantial cash returns to shareholders.

謝謝你，克萊。翻到第10張投影片。德文郡連續第二季取得了強勁的財務業績。第三季度，我們產生了17億美元的營運現金流。在滿足資本需求後，自由現金流總計 8.2 億美元。強勁的自由現金流使我們能夠為股東創造重大價值，包括 1.51 億美元的股息和 2.5 億美元的股票回購。我們將繼續堅持我們的資本配置框架，在保證高回報投資的同時，為股東帶來豐厚的現金回報。

Moving to slide 11. Devon's financial strength and liquidity continue to set us apart. We ended the quarter with $4.3 billion in total liquidity, including $1.3 billion in cash. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio remains low at 0.9x, underscoring our commitment to a strong balance sheet. As part of our disciplined capital return framework, we accelerated the retirement of $485 million in debt this quarter, completing the repayment ahead of schedule and generating approximately $30 million in annual interest savings.

切換到第11張投影片。德文郡的財務實力和流動性使我們繼續保持領先地位。本季末，我們的總流動資金為 43 億美元，其中包括 13 億美元的現金。我們的淨負債與 EBITDA 比率維持在 0.9 倍的低位，凸顯了我們對維持穩健資產負債表的承諾。作為我們嚴謹的資本回報框架的一部分，本季我們加快償還了 4.85 億美元的債務，提前完成了償還，每年節省了約 3000 萬美元的利息。

With this action, we've now achieved nearly $1 billion towards our $2.5 billion debt reduction target. Looking ahead, our next maturity is our $1 billion term loan due in September of 2026. We remain focused on executing our debt reduction strategy and maintaining the financial flexibility that supports Devon's value-enhancing growth.

透過這項舉措，我們已朝著25億美元的債務削減目標邁出了近10億美元。展望未來，我們下一筆到期的債務是 2026 年 9 月到期的 10 億美元定期貸款。我們將繼續專注於執行債務削減策略，並保持財務靈活性，以支持德文郡的價值提升成長。

Beyond debt reduction, we also used cash on hand to acquire all outstanding non-controlling interest in Cotton Draw Midstream, saving $50 million in annual distributions and secured additional resources in the Delaware, as Clay mentioned earlier. These timely transactions reinforce the value of maintaining an investment-grade balance sheet and ample liquidity. As we approach 2026, we're determined to accelerate our operational momentum, prioritizing per share growth, maximizing free cash flow and making targeted reinvestments for sustained success.

除了減少債務外，我們還利用手頭現金收購了 Cotton Draw Midstream 的所有未償非控股權益，從而節省了 5000 萬美元的年度分紅，並在特拉華州獲得了額外的資源，正如 Clay 之前提到的那樣。這些及時的交易凸顯了維持投資等級資產負債表和充足流動性的價值。隨著 2026 年的臨近，我們決心加快營運步伐，優先考慮每股成長，最大限度地提高自由現金流，並進行有針對性的再投資，以實現持續成功。

Slide 12 highlights the key attributes supporting our strong preliminary outlook for 2026. Given ongoing commodity price volatility, we're taking a disciplined approach to capital planning. We intend to maintain consistent activity levels to keep production around 845,000 BOE per day with oil production at approximately 388,000 barrels per day. With macroeconomic uncertainty and an appearance of a well-supplied oil market, we do not plan to add incremental barrels to the market at this time.

第 12 張投影片重點介紹了支撐我們對 2026 年強勁初步展望的關鍵屬性。鑑於大宗商品價格持續波動，我們採取了嚴謹的資本規劃方法。我們計劃保持穩定的生產活動水平，使日產量保持在 845,000 桶油當量左右，其中石油日產量約為 388,000 桶。鑑於宏觀經濟的不確定性以及石油市場供應充足的現狀，我們目前不打算為市場增加額外的石油供應。

To support this production profile in 2026, we anticipate capital investment of $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion, a reduction of $500 million compared to our maintenance capital levels just one year ago. Importantly, we can fund this program below $45 WTI, including the dividend, providing significant flexibility. This disciplined plan positions us to generate strong free cash flow at current prices and deliver a free cash flow yield that exceeds the broader market.

為了支持 2026 年的這項生產計劃，我們預計資本投資為 35 億至 37 億美元，比一年前的維護資本水準減少了 5 億美元。重要的是，即使 WTI 原油價格低於 45 美元，我們也能為該項目提供資金，包括股息，從而提供很大的靈活性。這項嚴謹的計畫使我們能夠在當前價格下產生強勁的自由現金流，並實現超過大盤的自由現金流收益率。

Regarding free cash flow allocation, our financial framework provides flexibility to deliver market-leading cash returns to shareholders and achieve our debt reduction objectives. We'll continue to target share repurchases of $200 million to $300 million per quarter, and we'll retain free cash flow beyond share repurchases on the balance sheet to efficiently reduce net leverage.

關於自由現金流分配，我們的財務框架提供了靈活性，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。我們將繼續以每季 2 億至 3 億美元為目標回購股票，並將股票回購以外的自由現金流保留在資產負債表上，以有效降低淨槓桿率。

Complete 2026 guidance will be provided on our February call after the budget is finalized with our Board. In summary, Devon had all the key attributes to thrive in today's environment and create value well into the future.

完整的 2026 年指導意見將在我們與董事會最終確定預算後，於 2 月的電話會議上提供。總而言之，德文郡具備在當今環境下蓬勃發展並在未來創造價值的所有關鍵特質。

Our high-quality portfolio provides a solid foundation while our disciplined strategy keeps us focused on growing per share value and generating free cash flow. With a strong balance sheet, we are positioned to deliver lasting value and confidently navigate whatever the market brings.

我們高品質的投資組合提供了堅實的基礎，而我們嚴謹的策略使我們專注於提高每股價值和產生自由現金流。憑藉穩健的資產負債表，我們有能力創造持久價值，並自信地應對市場帶來的任何挑戰。

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

接下來，我將把電話交還給克里斯，讓他回答問題。

Thanks, Jeff. We'll now open the call to Q&A. (Operator Instructions) With that, operator, we'll take our first question.

謝謝你，傑夫。現在進入問答環節。（操作員指示）那麼，操作員，我們來回答第一個問題。

Neil Mehta, Goldman Sachs.

尼爾梅塔，高盛集團。

Yes. Thanks so much for the visibility as we look into 2026. And I think the capital efficiency and the cost savings is really starting to materialize, including in the guidance. So maybe that's where we start off, which is where we are in the business optimization program and the $1 billion. You gave us a little bit of color on slide 8, but kind of unpack what's left to do in the journey. And if you end up surprising to the upside relative to the initial guide, where could that be?

是的。非常感謝你們讓我們對2026年有了更清楚的了解。我認為資本效率和成本節約正在真正開始顯現，包括在績效指引中。所以，也許這就是我們的起點，這就是我們在業務優化計畫和10億美元目標中所處的位置。您在第 8 張幻燈片中為我們帶來了一些色彩，但也要解釋一下旅程中還有哪些事情要做。如果最終結果比最初的預期好得多，那會是哪裡好呢？

Yes, Neil, I appreciate it. This is Clay. We're incredibly proud. This was a big, hairy, audacious goal. When Jeff and I started first contemplating, one, what was the metric we wanted to focus on, and that was sustainable free cash flow and then how audacious should it be and what kind of time frame should we put it around? I can tell you there was a tremendous amount of discomfort around the organization and just amongst Jeff and I on how do we get there from here. But what we knew, I mean, deep in our soul was that you get the flywheel starting to turn, and there's so much that continues to come our way.

是的，尼爾，我很感激。這是克萊。我們感到無比自豪。這是一個巨大、艱鉅、大膽的目標。當 Jeff 和我最初開始思考時，第一，我們想要關注的指標是什麼，那就是可持續的自由現金流，然後這個指標應該有多大膽，以及我們應該設定什麼樣的時間框架？我可以告訴你，當時整個組織，包括我和傑夫在內，都瀰漫著巨大的不安，我們都不知道該如何從現在走到那一步。但我們內心深處知道，一旦飛輪開始轉動，就會有很多事情接踵而至。

Right now, we have over 80 parallel work streams on different ideas. So the progress that we've made essentially in a third of the time to accomplish 60% of the results, I can tell you, I'm even more encouraged about what this leads to. The most important measure of success will be locking these earnings in and building into the culture of the organization, benchmarking, hunger for more creative ways of creating value. And like I said, there is much more to come from this. Trey, you may jump in and just throw a couple of pieces of color of ideas that you have.

目前，我們有超過 80 個並行進行的關於不同想法的工作流程。因此，我們僅用三分之一的時間就取得了 60% 的成果，我可以告訴你，我對這最終會帶來什麼更加鼓舞人心。衡量成功的關鍵在於鎖定這些收益，並將其融入組織文化、標竿管理以及對更具創造性的價值創造方式的渴望之中。正如我所說，這件事還有更多後續發展。Trey，你可以插話，把你腦海中的一些色彩想法說出來。

You bet. I appreciate the question, Neil. We've -- Clay mentioned the 80 work streams that we have ongoing. The early results that we saw, a lot of them show up very quickly in the capital side of our business, on the drilling completions operations. Over the last quarter, last kind of four-, five months, we've seen a lot of new ideas arriving from our production department. And we continue to see those starting to show up now in our forecast and what's going forward.

當然。感謝你的提問，尼爾。克萊提到，我們目前正在進行 80 個工作流程。我們看到的早期成果，很多都很快反映在我們業務的資本方面，也就是鑽井完井作業中。在過去的一個季度，也就是過去的四、五個月裡，我們看到生產部門提出了許多新想法。我們已經開始在預測和未來發展趨勢中看到這些跡象。

One of the examples I mentioned even a quarter ago was our focus on automating and using our technology stack to help us with our downtime. We've made a ton of progress over the last three months on that one and scaled that across the organization. And now we're working on the next phase of using even more kind of AI to underpin what we're trying to do to continue to look at our faults and what causes those faults. And we're going to see those type of examples show up.

我三個月前提到的一個例子是，我們專注於自動化和利用我們的技術堆疊來幫助我們應對停機時間。過去三個月，我們在這方面取得了巨大進展，並在整個組織內推廣了這項做法。現在，我們正在努力進入下一階段，利用更多類型的人工智慧來支援我們正在進行的工作，以便繼續研究我們的錯誤以及導致這些錯誤的原因。我們將會看到這類例子出現。

We estimate over $10 million on that work stream in 2026, but that shows up and that's sticky, like Clay said, and we'll see that in our base production. And those are the types of things that we're looking forward to in the future. All of that is underpinned by really a desire across our employee base to use technology.

我們預計 2026 年這項工作將耗資超過 1000 萬美元，但這筆錢一旦到達就會持續下去，就像克萊說的那樣，我們會在基礎產量中看到這一點。而這些正是我們未來所期待的事。這一切都源自於我們全體員工對使用科技的強烈渴望。

At this point, essentially all of our office-based employees are using AI to help them with productivity gains. And we're right now on the very tip of what we call Wave 2 and Wave 3 is where you're implementing that AI in our work processes. So a lot of momentum there, a lot of excitement across all of our organization to continue to move the ball down the field, and everything is looking good.

目前，我們幾乎所有在辦公室工作的員工都在使用人工智慧來幫助他們提高工作效率。我們現在正處於所謂的第二波浪潮的頂端，而第三波浪潮則是將人工智慧應用到我們的工作流程中。所以現在勢頭很強勁，我們整個組織都充滿熱情，希望繼續向前推進，一切看起來都很順利。

Appreciate the color, guys. And then as you think about setting that CapEx budget for '26, you probably took a view on different product lines on the services side. And just talk about -- we're trying to isolate the structural cost improvements, which you talked about in the answer to the first question versus more of the cyclical stuff. So can you talk about the service environment right now and which product lines you're seeing deflation and which ones -- which of the cost items you're seeing flat to inflation?

夥計們，欣賞一下這色彩吧。然後，在考慮制定 2026 年的資本支出預算時，您可能對服務方面的不同產品線有了看法。我們想談談——我們正在努力將結構性成本改善（您在第一個問題的答案中談到了這一點）與週期性因素區分開來。那麼，您能否談談當前的服務環境，以及您認為哪些產品線出現了通貨緊縮，哪些成本項目出現了持平或通膨？

Neil, we feel really good about our positioning ahead of what could be a really challenging 2026. We look like the market is exceptionally well supplied, maybe potentially oversupplied. And so as a kid that grew up on the Gulf Coast, we know how to prepare for a hurricane. And when the storms come and you make sure you got your balance sheet right. You got your operations really buckled down. You got the teams focused on the right things, and then that helps drive through those troubling times.

尼爾，我們對目前的情況感到非常樂觀，相信自己能夠應對可能充滿挑戰的 2026 年。看起來市場供應非常充足，甚至可能有供應過剩的情況。所以，作為在墨西哥灣沿岸長大的孩子，我們知道如何為颶風做好準備。當風暴來臨時，你要確保你的資產負債表一切正常。你們的營運工作做得非常到位。你讓團隊專注於正確的事情，這有助於度過那些困難時期。

So when I think about what could come from 2026 and how we think about this preliminary guide, we've taken out any assumptions of inflation or deflation, really kind of time stamp where we're at today. We don't know where commodity prices are going to go and subsequent activities and therefore, subsequent deflation. So just consider that flat to where we're at today, and then we're prepared for whatever comes our way from a macro standpoint.

所以，當我思考 2026 年可能發生的事情以及我們如何看待這份初步指南時，我們已經排除了任何關於通貨膨脹或通貨緊縮的假設，實際上只是為我們今天的處境打上了一個時間戳。我們不知道大宗商品價格的走勢以及隨之而來的經濟活動，因此也不知道隨之而來的通貨緊縮。所以，就把這種情況看作是我們今天所處的水平，那麼從宏觀角度來看，我們就做好了應對任何可能發生的情況的準備。

Arun Jayaram, JPMorgan.

Arun Jayaram，摩根大通。

I was wondering if you could maybe elaborate on what you're doing to kind of manage your base production. You highlighted in the release that it's leading to maybe 20 MBOE per day of production uplift and a pretty meaningful improvement in cash flow from those efforts. And maybe talk about your views on the sustainability as we think about go forward 2026 beyond.

我想請您詳細說明您是如何管理基礎生產的。你在新聞稿中強調，這些努力可能會使日產量提高 2,000 萬桶油當量，並帶來相當顯著的現金流改善。或許還可以談談您對永續發展的看法，以及我們展望2026年以後的發展方向。

Thanks for the question, Arun. This, I think, is really important for us to spend a little time on. So I really appreciate the angle on this one. We -- it's pretty easy to quantify savings on that side of the equation. It's harder to quantify these wins. And we've been very clear from the beginning. This is not just a cost reduction program. This is a value enhancement program, and that should come on both sides of the ledger. This what you're talking about is more value enhancement.

謝謝你的提問，Arun。我認為，花點時間認真考慮這件事真的非常重要。所以我非常欣賞這個角度。我們——量化這方面的節省非常容易。這些勝利更難量化。我們從一開始就非常明確地表明了這一點。這不僅僅是一個削減成本的計劃。這是一個價值提升計劃，這應該惠及交易雙方。你所說的這不就是價值提升嗎？

And I can be honest with you, it's really hard to measure how much downtime would we have had theoretically, how much are we gaining incrementally from the actions, but that's exactly what this attempt is. We're trying to be exceptionally credible. At the same time, we know that this is a hard number to precisely quantify.

我可以坦誠地告訴你，要衡量我們理論上會有多少停機時間，以及我們從這些行動中逐步獲得了多少收益，這真的很難，但這正是我們這次嘗試的目的。我們力求做到極具公信力。同時，我們也知道這是一個很難精確量化的數字。

I'll ask John to dig in on a couple of things that we're doing to measure this, quantify this, and then how we're seeing wins.

我會請約翰深入探討我們正在採取哪些措施來衡量、量化這一點，以及我們是如何看到成效的。

Yes, Arun. I appreciate the question. I think Clay hit it well. When you look at the full year, we've had a really strong production beat. And the first thing I would say on that is when you look at that production beat and you break it down, we certainly beat on our wedge. We've had some outperformance on our wells. We've had a little bit of acceleration. But overall, the biggest part of that production beat comes from our base, and we feel that, that's very measurable.

是的，阿倫。感謝您的提問。我覺得克萊打得很好。從全年來看，我們的生產業績非常強勁。首先我想說的是，當你仔細觀察並分析這個製作節拍時，你會發現我們確實在楔形節拍上取得了成功。我們的油井產量已超出預期。我們取得了一些進展。但總的來說，這種製作節奏的最大部分來自我們的基地，我們認為這一點是可以衡量的。

Now we've got, and I think Clay said earlier, over 80 work streams on our business optimization. We've got a ton of these that go towards the base. I'm going to talk about a few that I think have contributed the most this year. We've got a combination of technology and good blocking and tackling. I'll start with a project that I'm very proud of that we've deployed in the Delaware Basin. Really, this deploys some next-generation technology. You've heard me talk about it before. But this is our smart gas lift project in the Delaware Basin.

現在，正如克萊之前所說，我們已經有超過 80 個關於業務優化的工作流程。我們有很多這樣的東西要運到基地去。我今天要談談我認為今年貢獻最大的幾位。我們擁有先進的技術和出色的防守攔截能力。首先，我想介紹一個我非常引以為傲的項目，我們已經在特拉華盆地部署了這個項目。這確實運用了一些下一代技術。你以前聽我說過這件事。但這是我們在特拉華盆地的智慧氣舉計畫。

What we're seeking to do here is essentially to deploy AI models that continuously optimize the optimal rate of gas injection for gas lift wells that sit on centralized gas lift systems. This is a project that we piloted back in Q2. And we saw tremendous results here. We saw a 3% to 5% uplift. And we talked about moving to a pilot 2 on that. We saw success that was so good that we've moved essentially into full deployment of that in the Delaware Basin. And we expect to be complete roughly by year-end on that. The beauty of this project is we also have application in the Williston Basin. We have application in the Eagle Ford.

我們在這裡要做的，本質上是部署人工智慧模型，以持續優化集中式氣舉系統中氣舉井的最佳注氣速率。這是我們在第二季試行的專案。我們在這裡看到了巨大的成果。我們看到了3%到5%的成長。我們也討論了啟動第二輪試播的可能性。我們看到了非常好的成功，因此我們基本上已經在特拉華盆地全面部署了這項技術。我們預計到年底左右就能完成這項工作。這個計畫的妙處在於，它也適用於威利斯頓盆地。我們在鷹福特頁岩油田有專案。

And so this is going to be a project that's going to have ongoing sustainable results to our base production, and we're super excited about that. Probably a couple of other projects I'll hit on, and Clay mentioned this in our opening remarks. But we've had a tremendous focus on workover optimization this year. I'd say this year, this really started last year. We're looking at every which way that we can get better on our workover operations from operational efficiency all the way to safety.

因此，這將是一個能夠持續為我們的基礎生產帶來永續成果的項目，我們對此感到非常興奮。也可能涉及其他幾個項目，克萊在開場白中也提到了這一點。但今年我們非常重視修井優化。我覺得這件事其實是從去年開始的。我們正在研究各種方法來改進我們的修井作業，從操作效率到安全保障，面面俱到。

We took advantage early in the year. We made some changes in the organization to focus on this. We've got leads that work together to look at best practices across our basins. And when you look at what we've done there operationally, we've looked at advanced KPIs to manage our rig fleet. We've looked at design optimization. We've looked at equipment standardization. And really, we've looked at planning optimization.

我們在年初就抓住了機會。我們對組織結構進行了一些調整，以專注於此。我們有負責人共同合作，研究我們流域內的最佳實踐。從營運角度來看，我們已經採用了先進的關鍵績效指標來管理我們的鑽井平台船隊。我們已經研究過設計優化。我們已經研究過設備標準化問題。實際上，我們已經研究過規劃優化。

Not only have we been able to pull a ton of cost out of the system, but we've been able to lower the amount of time that we're spending on pad with these workovers. And essentially, what we've seen is we're getting our wells back quicker.

我們不僅能夠從系統中節省大量成本，而且透過這些修整工作，我們還能夠減少在墊層上花費的時間。從本質上講，我們看到的是，我們的油井恢復得更快了。

And when we try to break down how much base contribution this had or the contribution to the base beat, we think it's over 2,000 barrels a day net production that we're seeing so far this year. And importantly, we think that's sustainable. I think maybe the last example I'll provide, we've had a really tremendous focus on failure rate reduction and optimization. We've had this throughout the portfolio. I'll brag on the Rockies team a little bit here.

當我們試圖分析這部分產量對基準產量的貢獻，或是對基準產量超預期的貢獻時，我們認為今年到目前為止，淨產量已經超過了每天 2000 桶。更重要的是，我們認為這是可持續的。我想，我最後舉的例子是，我們一直非常重視降低故障率和進行最佳化。我們整個產品組合中都有這種現象。我在這裡稍微吹噓一下科羅拉多洛磯隊。

Over the course of the last 18 months, we really looked at our artificial lift failures. We did some very intensive look backs on that front. We did some proactive redesign there. And when we look back at the reduction in failure rate, we're tracking towards something that's 25%. And so again, that's a good example of a project that takes cost out of the system, but it also increases our uptime pretty significantly. And so a lot of really good projects in the queue like that, but we think these are all importantly, very sustainable to the base production overall.

在過去的18個月裡，我們認真研究了人工舉升故障。我們在這方面進行了一些非常深入的回顧。我們在那裡進行了一些積極的重新設計。當我們回顧故障率的下降情況時，我們正朝著 25% 的目標邁進。所以，這又是一個很好的例子，說明一個專案既能降低系統成本，又能顯著提高我們的正常運作時間。因此，還有很多像這樣的優秀項目正在排隊等待中，但我們認為這些項目對於整體基礎生產而言，都具有非常重要的可持續性。

Maybe just a follow-up. Your Rockies production has been trending maybe a little bit better than we had been modeling. In fact, if you look -- you grew your oil 7,000 barrels a day sequentially and you're relatively flat versus the 4Q 2024 number. So maybe talk to us a little bit about what's been driving that and maybe how the overall integration with Grayson Mill assets has been going?

或許只是個後續問題。你們洛磯山脈的產量趨勢可能比我們之前預測的要好一些。事實上，如果你仔細觀察——你的石油日產量環比增長了 7000 桶，與 2024 年第四季的數據相比，基本上持平。那麼，您能否跟我們談談推動這項進程的因素，以及與 Grayson Mill 資產的整體整合進展如何？

Yes, I'll start with the integration of the Grayson Mill assets. That integration is roughly complete. It's gone really well. We've had a lot of bidirectional lessons learned there, everything from midstream to the base operations, to learning more and more about the reservoir, how to drill these wells, how to complete these wells. So I can't say enough good things about how that integration has gone. When you talk specifically about the production, you're seeing a few things there.

是的，我將首先著手整合格雷森米爾公司的資產。整合工作已基本完成。一切都很順利。我們在那裡學到了很多雙向經驗，從中游到基地運營，再到對油藏、如何鑽井、如何完井等方面的不斷了解。所以，我對這次整合的進展讚不絕口。具體來說，談到製作方面，你會發現一些問題。

One, again, on the wedge, we're seeing well results that meet or exceed our expectation. And so we've continued to be very pleasantly surprised with the good production we've seen, the good well results, especially as we focus on the western side of the play. But Neil -- or excuse me, Arun, a lot of what I just said around the base is really what's driving that sequential improvement.

再次強調，在楔形區域，我們看到了符合甚至超出預期的良好結果。因此，我們對所看到的優秀製作和良好的演出效果感到非常驚喜，尤其是在我們專注於該劇的西部部分時。但是尼爾——或者抱歉，阿倫——我剛才在基地裡說的很多話，實際上正是推動這種連續改進的動力。

And I would say the Rockies team has really led the way on that. That artificial lift failure reduction that I talked about as a huge driver for us in the Rockies. And specifically, we've seen our workover rig count in the Rockies come down the most and probably the biggest contribution to the base come from the Rockies. So really proud of the work they've done, and I can't emphasize enough how important that base uplift has been for us there.

我認為科羅拉多洛磯隊在這方面確實起到了領導作用。我之前提到過，人工舉昇機故障率的降低是我們落磯山脈地區發展的重要驅動因素。具體來說，我們看到落基山脈的修井設備數量下降最多，而落基山脈可能是基地建設的最大貢獻者。我為他們所做的工作感到非常自豪，而且我再怎麼強調這次基地提升對我們來說有多重要都不為過。

Yes. Arun, I just want to jump in on John's comments. As we talk about the workover rigs, especially, a lot of this motivation, I can tell you, was around safety. The workover rigs was something the industry was really struggling with. And with this hyper focus, we found incremental value, cost savings, production efficiency and maybe most importantly, safety improvement as well. So really proud of all the teams that are working on that, and that's been kind of around the industry focus. So great progress on that. Thanks again for the questions, Arun.

是的。Arun，我想補充John的評論。當我們談到修井設備時，尤其是，我可以告訴你，很多動機都與安全有關。修井設備是當時整個產業真正面臨的難題。透過這種高度專注，我們發現了增量價值、成本節約、生產效率，或許最重要的是，安全性也提高了。我真的為所有參與這項工作的團隊感到驕傲，而這項工作也一直圍繞著產業重點。在這方面取得了巨大進展。再次感謝你的提問，Arun。

Neal Dingmann, William Blair.

尼爾丁曼，威廉布萊爾。

I was late last quarter. Clay, my first question is just on M&A. Specifically, I couldn't help but notice. I mean, you guys did a great job on the ground game being active on New Mexico lease sales. So I'm just wondering, with that said, do you all anticipate the ground game such as this, maybe in New Mexico or other states around other plays continue to represent a significant portion of your M&A?

我上個季度遲交了。Clay，我的第一個問題是關於併購的。具體來說，我忍不住注意到了。我的意思是，你們在新墨西哥州的租賃銷售方面做得非常出色。所以我想問的是，基於以上情況，你們是否預期像這樣的地面戰，比如在新墨西哥州或其他州週邊地區的戰事，將繼續在你們的併購活動中佔據相當大的比例？

Thanks for the question, Neal. Yes, I would say this is very important. We've done a lot of this work quietly kind of on the backs of trades, 40 acres in, 40 acres out. I mean, just hard work every single day that can be incredibly value creative. We've had some more opportunities with state lease sales and upcoming federal lease sales. That's definitely something we want to participate. We'll look at it objectively as we do all incremental investments. But really excited about that opportunity and definitely something we want to play an active role in. Clearly, we have.

謝謝你的提問，尼爾。是的，我認為這非常重要。我們悄悄地做了很多這樣的工作，靠著以物易物，投入 40 英畝，再投入 40 英畝。我的意思是，每天努力工作就能產生極具價值的創造力。我們還有一些州租賃銷售和即將進行的聯邦租賃銷售的機會。這絕對是我們想要參與的事情。我們會像對待所有增量投資一樣，客觀地看待它。但我們對這個機會感到非常興奮，也絕對希望在其中發揮積極作用。顯然，我們已經做到了。

And we think we have -- with the flywheel, the machine that we have running in the Delaware Basin, in particular, I think it's a great opportunity for us to leverage not just the skill sets, the momentum that the team has, the technology, the benefit from the business optimization, all of those things, but also the mechanics of being there, boots on the ground every single day has a great ability to scale. So we think we have every right to be on the front end of that and successful thus far.

我們認為我們已經——尤其是在特拉華盆地運行的飛輪和機器——為我們提供了一個絕佳的機會，不僅可以利用團隊的技能、勢頭、技術、業務優化帶來的好處等等，還可以利用每天實地考察的機制，這具有很強的擴展能力。所以我們認為我們完全有理由走在前列，並且到目前為止取得了成功。

Great point. And then that leads me to my second question, Clay. I can't help but notice just how much you continue to advance the Delaware, not only just better wells, but you continue to recognize more resource just on developing mode -- kind of developing more rock.

說得對。那麼，這就引出了我的第二個問題，克萊。我不禁注意到，你們在德拉瓦州取得了多麼大的進步，不僅僅是更好的油井，而且你們還在開發模式下不斷發現更多資源——某種程度上說，就是開發更多岩石。

So I guess with that said and just how well you're doing there, does that cause you to think about differently maybe one of your other plays like the Anadarko or PRB where you have less scale and one rig and I'd suggest investors are not giving you full credit. I mean why -- any thought about potentially reallocating, selling something and reallocating into the bit more -- even more in the Delaware where you continue to see all this upside?

所以我想說的是，鑑於你在那裡做得這麼好，這是否會讓你重新考慮一下你在其他項目上的做法，比如阿納達科油田或PRB油田，這些項目規模較小，只有一個鑽井平台，我認為投資者並沒有充分認可你的實力。我的意思是，為什麼——有沒有考慮過重新配置資金，賣掉一些，然後把更多的資金重新配置到特拉華州——在那裡你仍然看到了很多上漲空間？

Yes, Neal. As you know, we look at this stuff all of the time. Our Board -- this is an imperative that our Board has for us to be thinking about all of the art of the possible. And that certainly means we're not going to be in these five basins exactly as constructed for the indefinite future. Objectively, we need to think about what's the right opportunity for us for how these positions would fit given the market demands, but also thinking about what the opportunities are to continue to scale and grow and make sure that we've got a sustainable value-creating business going forward.

是的，尼爾。如你所知，我們一直在關注這些問題。我們的董事會—這是我們董事會要求我們思考所有可能藝術形式的必要條件。這當然意味著，在未來很長一段時間內，我們不可能一直按照目前設想的方式生活在這五個盆地。客觀地說，我們需要考慮在市場需求下，這些職位如何能更好地契合我們的需求，同時也要考慮如何才能繼續擴大規模、實現成長，並確保我們未來能夠擁有可持續的價值創造業務。

When you look back at the 50-plus year history of Devon, and I would say any organization that survived 50 years in this very tough business, we have reinvented ourselves a number of times along the way. We always will remain objective about what that could mean going forward. And again, this is regular conversations that we have with our Board as we should about thinking the longevity of creating long-term shareholder value. It's just fundamental to what we do.

回顧德文公司 50 多年的歷史，我認為任何在這個競爭激烈的行業中生存下來 50 年的組織，都曾多次進行自我革新。我們將始終保持客觀態度，並看待這可能對未來的影響。再次強調，這是我們與董事會定期進行的對話，我們應該就如何創造長期股東價值進行思考。這對我們所做的工作至關重要。

Doug Leggate, Wolfe Research.

道格‧萊格特，沃爾夫研究公司。

Clay, I wonder if I could come back to the business optimization for a second. I think I've maybe been confused about something, and I'm looking for some clarity. You have some of the legacy midstream contracts rolling off. But my understanding is it's beyond the timeline of the $1 billion target. So I'm thinking EnLink specifically. So can you tell us what's included in the remaining $400 million? And it sounds like there might be an upside case for that based on some of these longer-dated contracts. Sorry if I'm getting that wrong.

克萊，我能再跟你談談業務優化嗎？我可能對某些事情感到困惑，想請教一下。你們有一些遺留的中游合約即將到期。但我了解到，這已經超出了10億美元的目標期限。所以我特別想到的是 EnLink。那麼，您能告訴我們剩下的 4 億美元都包含哪些內容嗎？根據一些期限較長的合約來看，這似乎有上漲空間。如果我理解錯了，請見諒。

No, I think you're exactly right, Doug. I think there is upside. One of the things that we debated early, I can tell you the original construction from the team that was presented to Jeff and I as we were thinking about what could this look like? It was actually a three-year look, and that includes some other things that we know we're going to have in kind of year three of this opportunity.

不，我覺得你說得完全正確，道格。我認為有正面的一面。早期我們討論過的一件事，我可以告訴你，團隊最初的設計方案是這樣的，當時我和傑夫在思考這會是什麼樣子？實際上，這是一個為期三年的計劃，其中包括一些我們知道將在第三年開展的其他項目。

I can tell you there's additional wins in years 3, 4, 5 and for the foreseeable future. We've really focused on '25 and '26 wins. And as you pointed out, there are some really material, specifically in the gas contract world that comes out further than that. I'll ask Jeff to dig into some of those opportunities.

我可以告訴你，在第 3 年、第 4 年、第 5 年以及可預見的未來，還會有更多勝利。我們真正關注的是2025年和2026年的勝利。正如你所指出的，在天然氣合約領域，確實存在一些比這更實質的問題。我會請傑夫深入研究這些機會。

Yes, Doug, just to be clear, so in the business optimization guidance that we rolled out to get to the $1 billion of free cash flow starting in January of 2027. The bulk of that that relates to the commercial opportunities is what we talked about in the previous quarters, which is reduced fees on gathering, processing, transportation and fractionation. Most of that's on gas and NGLs, specific to the Delaware Basin. So the lion's share and bulk of that really resides in the Delaware. T.

是的，道格，說清楚點，我們在推出的業務優化指導中，目標是從 2027 年 1 月開始實現 10 億美元的自由現金流。與商業機會相關的絕大部分內容，正如我們在前幾季所討論的那樣，就是降低收集、加工、運輸和分餾的費用。其中大部分是關於天然氣和液化天然氣，特別是特拉華盆地的天然氣和液化天然氣。因此，絕大部分實際上都位於德拉瓦州。T.

That's where you're going to get this incremental uplift, if you will, of the commercial opportunities that we highlighted specific to the $1 billion. As Clay just said, 2027 and beyond, there'll be other opportunities across our portfolio where we could see some incremental benefit. But in the $1 billion, the real driver of that is what we're seeing in the Delaware specific to our gas and NGL contracts.

這就是我們重點提到的與10億美元相關的商業機會將帶來的逐步提升。正如克萊剛才所說，2027 年及以後，我們的投資組合中還會出現其他機會，我們可能會從中獲得一些額外的收益。但在這 10 億美元中，真正的驅動因素是我們從德拉瓦州的天然氣和液化天然氣合約中看到的情況。

That's very helpful. I guess it would be a bit of a stretch to ask you to quantify the upside at this point, but maybe that's for another call. My follow-up is a little self-serving, I'm afraid. And I just want to make sure I'm not misinterpreting or overstating this. But if I look back to the legacy commitment from when you were still COO, Clay, you used to talk about 70% of your free cash flow coming back to shareholders.

那很有幫助。我覺得現在讓你量化上漲空間有點勉強，但這或許可以留到下次電話會議再談。恐怕我的後續發言有點自私自利。我只是想確認一下，我沒有誤解或誇大其詞。但回顧你擔任營運長時所做的承諾，克萊，你曾說過要將 70% 的自由現金流返還給股東。

It seems that your presentation deck has adjusted that a little bit to now include debt reduction in your shareholder returns. Is that the right interpretation? Because obviously, we're big fans of that. I just wanted to clarify with you if that's how you're thinking about it.

看來您的簡報已經對此進行了一些調整，現在將減少債務納入了股東回報的考慮範圍。這種解讀正確嗎？很顯然，我們非常喜歡那樣的風格。我只是想跟你確認一下，你是不是也是這麼想的。

Yes, I appreciate that. I mean I think it is a fundamental piece of how we think about returning value to shareholders. And certainly, ahead of what could be a pretty choppy year in 2026, I think we want to make sure that we are thinking about debt, debt structure, how we capitalize the company and that we're prepared for anything that comes ahead. So there was an opportunity for us to take the $485 million down. We certainly consider that part of, again, returning cash in various forms to shareholders. And obviously, we had an illustration this time that included that.

是的，我很感激。我的意思是，我認為這是我們思考如何為股東創造價值的一個基本組成部分。當然，考慮到 2026 年可能會相當動盪，我認為我們應該確保考慮債務、債務結構、公司資本運作方式，並為未來可能發生的任何事情做好準備。因此，我們有機會拿下這 4.85 億美元。我們當然認為這是以各種形式向股東返還現金的一部分。顯然，這次我們配的插圖就包含了這一點。

So yes, I appreciate your support over the years for debt reduction. This is a very -- it's a challenging business. We think the more that you can be prepared for the storms, the storms turn into real opportunities. And I think that's where Devon is positioned today that when these challenges come ahead, we're going to be front-footed and on the -- have an opportunity to really be -- to turn them into a value-creating opportunity rather than just a defensive posture.

是的，我感謝您多年來對減少債務的支持。這是一個非常——這是一個充滿挑戰的行業。我們認為，你為應對風暴準備得越充分，風暴就越能轉化為真正的機會。我認為，德文郡目前所處的位置是，當這些挑戰來臨時，我們將能夠先發製人，並有機會真正地將它們轉化為創造價值的機會，而不僅僅是採取防禦姿態。

This sounds like an M&A question, Clay, but I'll leave it there.

克萊，這聽起來像是併購問題，但我就說到這裡吧。

Thank you, Doug. Appreciate it.

謝謝你，道格。謝謝。

Scott Gruber, Citigroup.

史考特‧格魯伯，花旗集團。

I want to come back to the production optimization bucket. Great gains there. I think the bulk of that effort hits production and therefore, a reduction in your maintenance CapEx needs. I think there's also an LOE benefit as well. How does that split? And we see your LOE rolling lower. How should we think about the LOE cost in '26?

我想回到生產優化這個主題。收穫頗豐。我認為大部分精力都投入了生產中，因此可以減少您的維護資本支出需求。我認為還有工作效率方面的益處。那該如何分割？我們看到您的 LOE 正在下降。我們該如何看待 2026 年的 LOE 成本？

Yes, Scott, that's a great question. And it is -- this manifests in a few different categories, and some of them are cost reductions. As you mentioned, LOE, we've seen a significant improvement quarter-over-quarter. We'll continue to see benefits there. It shows up, obviously, in the maintenance capital requiring us to drill fewer wells.

是的，斯科特，這是一個很好的問題。確實如此——這體現在幾個不同的類別中，其中一些是成本降低。正如您所提到的，LOE，我們看到季度環比都有了顯著改善。我們將繼續從中受益。顯而易見，這體現在維護資本上，導致我們鑽井數量減少。

I think our original plan versus the plan we're executing now, we're actually drilling 20 fewer wells this year because of these kind of benefits, essentially lowering that burden of maintenance capital and as a side benefit, prolonging the really high-quality portfolio that we have. I might ask John to see if he has anything else to add to that.

我認為，與我們最初的計劃相比，我們現在執行的計劃實際上今年少鑽了 20 口井，因為這些好處降低了維護資本的負擔，並且還有一個附帶好處，就是延長了我們擁有的真正高品質的資產組合。我可能會問約翰，看看他是否還有什麼補充。

Yes. As we originally contemplated this, you're absolutely right. There's a component of our production optimization target that's LOE. There's a component that is production uplift. There's even a little bit there that is pulling capital out of the system. What I'll tell you right now is the way that we're looking at the $150 million, that's essentially all of the production uplift at this point in time. We have had some success on LOE over the course of the year.

是的。正如我們最初設想的那樣，你的想法完全正確。我們的生產優化目標中包含降低營運成本 (LOE) 的一項內容。其中有一個組成部分是生產提升。甚至還有一小部分資金正從系統中流出。我現在要告訴你們的是，就我們目前對這 1.5 億美元的看法而言，這基本上就是目前為止所有的生產提升。今年我們在LOE方面取得了一些成功。

I think if you look back to Q1 and you break it out from the number we disclosed, LOE plus GP&T, we're sitting about [$6.50] a barrel. I want to say this quarter, we're sitting just above [$6.10] a barrel, so about a 6% improvement year-over-year. LOE is pretty sticky and it lags. So as we go into 2026, we expect ongoing reductions on LOE, and you'll see more LOE contribution show up within production optimization. But essentially, what we're taking credit for up to this point is that base uplift that I mentioned earlier.

我認為，如果你回顧第一季度，並從我們披露的數字中剔除營運成本加上生產製造和技術成本，我們現在的成本大約是每桶 6.50 美元。我想說，本季我們油價略高於每桶 6.10 美元，比去年同期成長了約 6%。LOE 運作起來很卡頓，而且會卡頓。因此，進入 2026 年，我們預計 LOE 將持續減少，您將看到 LOE 的貢獻更多地體現在生產優化中。但本質上，到目前為止我們所取得的成就，就是我之前提到的基礎提升。

I appreciate that color. And with the efforts reducing your well count needs? How do we think about the TIL count that's embedded in your '26 preliminary guide here?

我喜歡這個顏色。那麼，減少井位需求的努力又該如何進行呢？我們如何看待您這裡 '26 年初步指南中嵌入的 TIL 計數？

Yes. I think that's obviously contemplated as we get both more efficient on how quickly we can execute, drilling, completion, building facilities and then the effectiveness of those completions and how they contribute. Again, we're in a base capital mode -- excuse me, a base oil production mode and the lower maintenance capital is certainly reflected by that preliminary $3.6 billion guide, which again is a substantial improvement from where we were 12 months ago when we were providing a preliminary guide for 2025.

是的。我認為，隨著我們在鑽井、完井、建造設施等方面效率的提高，以及完井作業的有效性及其貢獻，這顯然是需要考慮的問題。再次強調，我們目前處於基礎資本模式——抱歉，是基礎石油生產模式，較低的維護資本無疑體現在初步的 36 億美元指導方針中，這比 12 個月前我們提供的 2025 年初步指導方針有了顯著改善。

So we are winning significantly on that. That's showing up in the numbers. I continue to be encouraged by the work that we're doing and the great efforts of the team and how this is showing up and will continue to show up in time.

所以，我們在這方面取得了顯著優勢。這一點在數據中有所體現。我繼續受到我們正在進行的工作和團隊的巨大努力的鼓舞，而且這些努力已經顯現出來，並將繼續隨著時間的推移而顯現出來。

But should we think about the '25 TIL count kind of less 20 as a starting point for '26? Is that fair?

但是，我們是否應該將 2025 年的 TIL 計數（略小於 20）作為 2026 年的起點呢？這樣公平嗎？

Look, I don't know if we want to get into details of that. But here's what I would tell you is take the preliminary guide, start with the numbers that we're guiding on 2025 as of today. And I think that's a good kind of relative application and allocation. Again, we've mentioned no additional deflation is baked in. So I think that's a good starting point for assumptions. And then obviously, when we come back to you early in the year with firm guidance, we'll have a lot more details to share with you then.

嗯，我不知道我們是否想深入探討這個細節。但我建議你們先參考初步指南，從我們目前 2025 年的預測數字開始。我認為這是一種很好的相對應用和分配方式。我們再次強調，不會再有額外的通貨緊縮措施出爐。所以我認為這是一個很好的假設出發點。顯然，今年年初我們給出確切的指導意見時，會有更多的細節與您分享。

Kevin MacCurdy, Pickering Energy Partners.

Kevin MacCurdy，Pickering Energy Partners。

Kind of going back to M&A. There's been a lot of industry interest in the Anadarko and specifically M&A in the Anadarko. And maybe a two-part question there. I mean, being located there in Oklahoma, what do you make of the interest in that basin? And what do you think is driving kind of the renewed interest? And does the level of interest kind of make you reconsider your -- the Anadarko's place in your portfolio?

某種程度上又回到了併購的話題。業界對阿納達科油田，特別是阿納達科油田的併購活動，展現了濃厚的興趣。這或許是一個包含兩個部分的問題。我的意思是，既然你身處俄克拉荷馬州，你如何看待人們對那個盆地的興趣？你認為是什麼因素促成了這股重新燃起的興趣？這種程度的關注是否讓您重新考慮阿納達科石油公司在您投資組合中的地位？

Yes, Kevin, I would say on the first question, obviously, it's gas-oriented. It's positioned well. It's not backed up behind Waha. So there's some structural advantages of the Mid-Continent, the Anadarko Basin that we benefit from today. And certainly, we're very aware of that, and we take great pride in that.

是的，凱文，關於第一個問題，顯然，它是與天然氣相關的。它的地理位置很好。它沒有被Waha拖累。因此，中大陸地區，特別是阿納達科盆地，具有一些結構性優勢，我們今天從中受益匪淺。當然，我們對此非常清楚，並且為此感到非常自豪。

I'll go back to my earlier comments. We consider everything all the time. Our Board is very inquisitive and very thoughtful about how do we build the right long-term shareholder opportunity value set? How do we think about the portfolio? You have to remember, we're always consuming the front end of our portfolio.

我還是堅持我之前的觀點。我們時刻都在考慮所有事情。我們的董事會非常好奇，也很有思考力，致力於建構正確的長期股東機會價值體系？我們如何看待投資組合？你要記住，我們始終都在消耗投資組合的前端部分。

So how are we backfilling with quantity and quality of the portfolio to make sure that we have a very substantial and solid 10-year runway in front of us. All of those things are considered. And so as markets change and we see other things, we have interest, we have interest in other things. All of that certainly comes into play, but no additional details to share with you on that today, but I appreciate you asking.

那麼，我們如何透過增加投資組合的數量和品質來彌補缺口，以確保我們未來 10 年擁有非常充足和穩固的發展前景？所有這些因素都已考慮在內。因此，隨著市場變化，我們看到其他事物，我們對其他事物產生了興趣。所有這些因素當然都會起作用，但今天沒有更多細節可以和您分享，不過感謝您的提問。

Got you. And then as a follow-up. I really like the details on slide 9. I think that highlights the value creation that you've had that doesn't always kind of show up in the production numbers. I guess a question on WaterBridge. Is there any operational reasons that you would keep that equity interest?

抓到你了。然後作為後續。我非常喜歡第9張投影片上的細節。我認為這凸顯了你所創造的價值，而這個價值並不總是能從生產數據中體現出來。我想問一個關於WaterBridge的問題。您保留這些股權是否有任何營運方面的原因？

Yes, Kevin, I'd probably put it in the same category. We've done a lot of deals kind of adjacent to our core business. Think about something like Matterhorn, where we entered that opportunity. The key there was really specific to Matterhorn, making sure that we had gas takeaway from the basin. That was the phenomenal or the fundamental importance that we did. By underwriting that, we ensured that, that pipe was built. We have a significant position on that. We've retained that volume on the pipe. We also benefited from an equity position.

是的，凱文，我大概也會把它歸類為同一類。我們做了很多與核心業務相關的交易。想想馬特洪峰，我們就是在那裡抓住了機會。關鍵在於馬特洪峰的具體情況，確保我們能夠從盆地中抽取天然氣。這就是我們所做之事的非凡意義或根本重要性所在。透過提供擔保，我們確保了那條管道的建成。我們對此持重要立場。我們保持了管道的流量。我們也受惠於股權投資。

We made a very, very substantial return on that. We're very proud of that. But again, the objective was making sure that, that pipe was built and making sure that we had our ability to get our gas to market. Similarly, with WaterBridge, the main objective there is making sure that we're thinking a lot about a super system -- we reserved poor space. That's very proactive in our industry. John's probably tell you a little bit more about that when I hand it to him.

我們從中獲得了非常非常可觀的回報。我們為此感到非常自豪。但再次強調，我們的目標是確保管道建成，並確保我們有能力將天然氣輸送到市場。同樣，對於 WaterBridge 來說，其主要目標是確保我們充分思考一個超級系統——我們保留了有限的空間。這在我們這個行業中是非常積極主動的做法。等我把東西交給約翰的時候，他可能會跟你多說一些。

But I can tell you, the really fundamental and important piece of this was to make sure that we have our water taken care of in the Delaware Basin. And through this JV, this partnership, we've secured that. Now as a very beneficial byproduct, we have a substantial ownership in a publicly traded entity that's done very well. There's no reason we have to hang on to it.

但我可以告訴你，這件事真正根本和重要的一點是確保特拉華河流域的水資源得到保障。透過這項合資企業、這項合作關係，我們已經實現了這一點。現在，一個非常有益的副產品是，我們持有一家業績非常好的上市公司的大量股份。我們沒理由一定要留著它。

By the same token, it's a great investment. And I would tell you, we're not -- we have to sell either in that position. So it's option value for us. We have a lot of that in our organization, and we continue to evaluate that just as we do with other things in our portfolio, and it's a regular part of the conversation we have with our Board. John, anything else you want to add?

同樣，這也是一項不錯的投資。我會告訴你，我們——我們必須在這種情況下出售其中任何一種。所以這對我們來說是選擇權價值。我們公司有很多這樣的項目，我們會像評估投資組合中的其他項目一樣，持續評估這些項目，這也是我們與董事會定期討論的內容之一。約翰，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Clay, I think you covered it really well. I would say the relationship there remains very important to us. Operationally, we work with those guys every day. We've got a very multifaceted water management effort in the Delaware Basin. That's both to manage cost but manage future risk associated with water.

克萊，我覺得你解釋得非常清楚。我認為，我們與兩國的關係仍然非常重要。在實際操作中，我們每天都和他們一起工作。我們在特拉華河流域開展了一項非常全面的水資源管理工作。這既是為了控製成本，也是為了控制未來與水相關的風險。

I've talked about this before on our calls, but our first call on water is always to go to recycle. We've got a big recycle operation in the basin. In New Mexico, we've got a large water midstream presence. We probably don't talk about enough. That gives us a lot of flexibility there. We've got a lot of strategic offloads.

我之前在電話會議中談到過這一點，但我們關於水的首要建議始終是進行回收。我們在盆地裡開展了​​一項大型回收利用作業。在新墨西哥州，我們在水利中游領域擁有強大的影響力。我們可能談論得還不夠多。這給了我們很大的靈活性。我們有很多策略性減員計畫。

Many of those offloads are WaterBridge. And then when you get into Texas, we really leverage our WaterBridge relationship to give us diversity of options across the play there. So we feel really good about how that's working operationally.

其中許多卸貨作業都是透過 WaterBridge 進行的。然後，當我們進入德克薩斯州時，我們會充分利用我們與 WaterBridge 的關係，為我們在那裡的業務提供多樣化的選擇。所以我們對目前的營運狀況非常滿意。

Kalei Akamine, Bank of America.

卡雷‧阿卡明 (Kalei Akamine)，美國銀行。

I want to start with the Wolfcamp B drilling program for this year, and maybe this one is for John. So production in the Delaware has been holding up quite well this year. Can you kind of compare how the Wolfcamp B results are comparing to your expectations? And then for 2026, do you anticipate this zone comprising a similar proportion of the program?

我想從今年的 Wolfcamp B 鑽探計劃開始，也許這個鑽探計劃是為約翰準備的。所以今年特拉華州的生產情況一直維持得相當不錯。您能否大致比較 Wolfcamp B 的成績與您的預期有何不同？那麼對於 2026 年，您預計該區域在專案中所佔的比例是否與此類似？

Kalei, appreciate the questions. I would say Wolfcamp B is performing very well relative to our expectations for the year. You probably heard me mention this on the last call. When you look at 2025, we've got a very diversified program as far as the zones that we're targeting for the full year. We're looking at about 30% Wolfcamp B or deep Wolfcamp, about 30% Upper Wolfcamp, about 30% Bone Spring and the remainder in the Avalon. What you're really seeing, you're going to see some volatility in terms of zone mix each quarter.

Kalei，感謝你的提問。我認為 Wolfcamp B 的表現遠遠超出我們今年的預期。你可能在上次通話中聽到我提到過這件事。展望 2025 年，我們制定了一個非常多元化的計劃，涵蓋了我們全年目標區域的各個方面。我們看到大約 30% 的 Wolfcamp B 或深 Wolfcamp，大約 30% 的 Upper Wolfcamp，大約 30% 的 Bone Spring，其餘的在 Avalon。實際上，你會看到每個季度區域組合都會出現一些波動。

A lot of our Wolfcamp B wells have come on in the first quarter and really the first half of the year. So we've had a little bit of a run at seeing how those wells are performing. And generally speaking, I'd say they're mostly meeting our expectations with quite a few of those wells beating our expectations.

我們 Wolfcamp B 型油井中的許多井都在今年第一季和上半年開始投產。所以我們已經初步了解了這些油井的運作。總的來說，我認為它們大多符合我們的預期，其中不少油井的表現甚至超出了我們的預期。

What I think you can expect from us going forward for 2026, it's too early to get in and talk specifically about zone mix throughout the year. But I think Clay said earlier, you can expect some stability, some consistency in how we're thinking about our overall Delaware program.

對於 2026 年的未來發展，我認為現在談論全年的區域組合還為時過早。但我認為克萊之前說過，我們可以期待我們在考慮特拉華州整體項目時會保持一定的穩定性和一致性。

And as we've shifted more into this multi-zone co-development, from a well productivity standpoint, we took that trade-off to go a little bit lower this year in exchange for better NPV overall and for a longer inventory runway. But I think you can expect that well productivity to be very consistent going forward for the next couple of years.

隨著我們更多地轉向多區域合作開發，從油井生產率的角度來看，我們做出了權衡，今年將產量略微降低，以換取更好的整體淨現值和更長的庫存週轉期。但我認為，未來幾年該油井的產量應該會非常穩定。

Yes. And if I could add, I'm going to ask Tom just to add a little bit more about our D&C efficiency that we continue to see in the Delaware Basin. I mean, I think it's very important as we think about all of these additional zones. The Wolfcamp B is just a touch deeper. But as we start expanding to the geographic edges and up and down the zone, so to speak, that efficiency really contributes as well. So Tom, just maybe a little bit on how we're thinking about on the efficiency gains there.

是的。如果可以的話，我想請湯姆再補充一點關於我們在特拉華盆地持續看到的鑽井和施工效率。我的意思是，我認為當我們考慮所有這些新增區域時，這一點非常重要。Wolfcamp B 的深度略深一些。但隨著我們開始向地理邊緣和區域上下擴展，這種效率也確實發揮了作用。所以湯姆，或許可以簡單談談我們是如何考慮提高效率的。

Yes, Clay. It's been really interesting this year. We've been really leaning into benchmarking in the Delaware Basin and using the AI tools on top of that. We have both AI tools that help us on sort of the new school, where we can predict -- use the AI to look at the parameters, the drilling parameters that really help us predict how to drill faster on the current well. And we're even using AI tools right now to help us trip faster and drill curves faster and even running casing faster, all about 30% faster.

是的，克萊。今年真是太有趣了。我們一直在大力進行特拉華盆地的基準測試，並以此為基礎使用人工智慧工具。我們擁有人工智慧工具，可以幫助我們進行某種新式鑽井作業，我們可以利用人工智慧來預測鑽井參數，這確實可以幫助我們預測如何在目前的井上更快地鑽井。我們現在甚至正在使用人工智慧工具來幫助我們更快地起下鑽、更快地鑽曲線，甚至更快地下套管，所有這些都能提高約 30% 的速度。

Each one of those saves us millions of dollars. And now in the Delaware Basin, we have a new record at about 1,800 feet per day. That really screens well versus all of our fastest peers. So Clay, it's looking really good, and I think the AI tools and the benchmarking is really coming through for us.

每一項措施都能為我們節省數百萬美元。現在，特拉華盆地的水位創下了每天約 1800 英尺的新紀錄。與所有速度最快的同類產品相比，它的表現確實非常出色。所以 Clay，情況看起來真的很好，我認為人工智慧工具和基準測試真的幫了我們大忙。

That's awesome. I appreciate that detailed answer. My follow-up is on the lease sales. So yesterday, that sale was a state sale, but this presidential administration has put federal lease sales back on the table, and they should occur with a pretty steady cadence. How are you guys thinking about those? And do you anticipate that being a part of your cash allocation priorities for '26?

太棒了。感謝您如此詳細的解答。我的後續工作是關於租賃銷售的。所以昨天的拍賣是州政府的拍賣，但本屆總統政府已經將聯邦租賃拍賣重新提上日程，而且這些拍賣應該會以相當穩定的節奏進行。你們對這些有什麼看法？您是否預計這會成為您 2026 年現金分配優先事項的一部分？

Yes, great question. And I think, as I mentioned earlier, I think this is something we should be able to compete exceptionally well. We've got an existing footprint. The momentum of the organization. The efficiencies Tom was just talking about around D&C. The infrastructure that we have, including WaterBridge. The relationships that we have with the gas midstream partners.

是的，問得好。而且我認為，正如我之前提到的，我們應該能夠在這方面取得非常好的成績。我們已經有現成的場地了。組織的勢頭。湯姆剛才提到的D&C的效率提升。我們擁有的基礎設施，包括 WaterBridge。我們與天然氣中游合作夥伴的關係。

And then, of course, the existing infrastructure of the people applying this business optimization. The technology puts us in a really good position to be super competitive. So when we look at those, you bet, we'll be participating in the process. There's some really interesting land. We're thrilled to have the BLM open up some of these opportunities.

當然，還有應用這種業務優化方法的現有基礎設施。這項技術使我們處於非常有利的地位，從而擁有極強的競爭力。所以，當我們審視這些問題時，我們肯定會參與其中。這裡有一片非常有趣的土地。我們很高興土地管理局能夠提供這些機會。

And there's some pretty material lease sales coming up. So yes, we -- as we've shown on the last lease sale, we want to be part of the process. And at the same time, we want to be very objective about how do we create value, full cycle value from these opportunities.

而且接下來還有一些金額相當大的租賃權出售。所以，是的，正如我們在上次租賃銷售中所展示的那樣，我們希望參與這個過程。同時，我們希望非常客觀地看待如何從這些機會中創造價值，創造全週期價值。

So yes, count us in as part of the process. And as long as -- alongside everything that we're doing on the ground game, including trades, small acquisitions, ground floor leasing in all the basins we're doing. We just see a real interesting opportunity coming in the Delaware. So definitely leaning in that direction.

所以，是的，請把我們算作這個過程的一部分。只要——以及我們在地面上所做的一切，包括交易、小型收購、在我們所做的所有盆地中的底層租賃。我們看到特拉華州出現了一個非常有趣的機會。所以一定會往那個方向發展。

We have no further questions. And so I'd like to turn the call back over to Chris for closing comments.

我們沒有其他問題了。所以，我想把電話交還給克里斯，讓他做最後的總結發言。

Yes. Thank you for your interest in Devon today. If there are any further questions, please reach out to the Investor Relations team. Have a good day. Thanks.

是的。感謝您今天對德文郡的關注。如有任何其他疑問，請聯絡投資者關係團隊。祝你有美好的一天。謝謝。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This concludes our call, and you may now disconnect your lines.

謝謝各位今天蒞臨。通話到此結束，您可以掛斷電話了。