Diamondback Energy Inc (FANG) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Diamondback Energy's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持，歡迎參加 Diamondback Energy 的 2022 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Adam Lawlis, Vice President. Please go ahead.

我現在想把會議交給你今天的演講者，副總裁亞當勞利斯。請繼續。

Thank you, Jonathan. Good morning, and welcome to Diamondback Energy's Second Quarter '22 Conference Call. During our call, we will reference an updated investor presentation, which can be found on Diamondback's website. Representing Diamondback today are Travis Stice, Chairman and CEO; Kaes Van't Hof, President and CFO; and Danny Wesson, COO.

謝謝你，喬納森。早上好，歡迎參加 Diamondback Energy 的 22 年第二季度電話會議。在我們的電話會議中，我們將參考最新的投資者演示文稿，該演示文稿可以在響尾蛇的網站上找到。今天代表響尾蛇的是董事長兼首席執行官 Travis Stice； Kaes Van't Hof，總裁兼首席財務官；和首席運營官 Danny Wesson。

During this conference call, the participants may make certain forward-looking statements related to the company's financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and businesses. We caution you that actual results could differ materially from those that are indicated in forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors. Information concerning these factors can be found in the company's filings with the SEC.

在本次電話會議期間，與會者可能會就公司的財務狀況、經營業績、計劃、目標、未來業績和業務做出某些前瞻性陳述。我們提醒您，由於多種因素，實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中的結果存在重大差異。有關這些因素的信息可以在公司提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中找到。

In addition, we will make reference to certain non-GAAP measures. The reconciliations with the appropriate GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release issued yesterday afternoon.

此外，我們將參考某些非公認會計原則措施。與適當的公認會計原則措施的對賬可以在我們昨天下午發布的收益報告中找到。

I'll now turn the call over to Travis Stice.

我現在將把電話轉給 Travis Stice。

Thank you, Adam, and welcome to Diamondback's second quarter earnings call. I'd like to start by highlighting our second quarter performance. We once again delivered operationally, producing over 221,000 barrels of oil per day, near the high end of our quarterly guidance range. Our discretionary cash flow or operating cash flow before working capital changes totaled $1.8 billion, up 27% quarter-over-quarter, setting a new high for the company. This increase was primarily due to a favorable backdrop -- macro backdrop as well as improvement to our realized pricing as hedges put on last year continue to roll off.

謝謝你，亞當，歡迎來到響尾蛇的第二季度財報電話會議。我想首先強調我們第二季度的表現。我們再次實現了運營交付，每天生產超過 221,000 桶石油，接近我們季度指導範圍的高端。在營運資本變動前，我們的可支配現金流或營運現金流總計 18 億美元，環比增長 27%，創下公司新高。這一增長主要是由於有利的背景——宏觀背景以及隨著去年對沖繼續減少，我們實現的定價有所改善。

Our free cash flow for the quarter was $1.3 billion, up 35% quarter-over-quarter. We will return 63% of this free cash flow to our shareholders, well in excess of our commitment to return at least 50% of free cash flow. This return is made up of our growing and sustainable base dividend, opportunistic share repurchases and a robust variable dividend.

我們本季度的自由現金流為 13 億美元，環比增長 35%。我們將把 63% 的自由現金流返還給我們的股東，遠遠超過我們承諾返還至少 50% 的自由現金流的承諾。這一回報由我們不斷增長和可持續的基本股息、機會性股票回購和穩健的可變股息組成。

Our annual base dividend is now $3 per share or $0.75 per quarter, representing a 7.1% increase from the company's previous annual base dividend of $2.80 per share or $0.70 per quarter. As previously announced, the Board elected to keep our total dividend per share flat quarter-over-quarter at $3.05, which is comprised of the 75% base dividend and a $2.30 variable dividend. This puts our total annualized 2Q dividend yield of nearly 10%.

我們的年度基本股息現在為每股 3 美元或每季度 0.75 美元，比公司之前的年度基本股息每股 2.80 美元或每季度 0.70 美元增加了 7.1%。正如之前宣布的那樣，董事會選擇將我們的每股總股息保持在 3.05 美元的季度環比持平，其中包括 75% 的基本股息和 2.30 美元的可變股息。這使我們的年化第二季度總股息收益率接近 10%。

Additionally, we took advantage of market volatility and repurchased nearly 2.4 million shares during the quarter at an average price of a little over $127 a share for a total cost of approximately $303 million. We believe our opportunistic, disciplined approach to our repurchase program brings the most value forward for our shareholders and continues to give us the flexibility to use either our variable dividend, buybacks, or as has been the case so far in 2022, a combination of both to hit or exceed our returns target.

此外，我們利用市場波動，在本季度以略高於每股 127 美元的平均價格回購了近 240 萬股股票，總成本約為 3.03 億美元。我們相信，我們對回購計劃的機會主義、紀律性方法為我們的股東帶來了最大的價值，並繼續使我們能夠靈活地使用我們的可變股息、回購，或者像 2022 年迄今為止的情況一樣，兩者的結合達到或超過我們的退貨目標。

As we move into the second half of the year, it's hard to ignore the amount of free cash flow we expect to generate, around $2.5 billion of current strip pricing. In June, we announced an increase in our capital returns commitment target, moving it up from 50% to at least 75% of free cash flow beginning in the third quarter. At 75%, that's over $1.8 billion return to shareholders or well north of $10 per share in just 2 quarters, for a total annualized return yield of approximately 17%.

隨著我們進入下半年，很難忽視我們預計產生的自由現金流量，目前的剝離定價約為 25 億美元。 6 月，我們宣布提高資本回報承諾目標，從第三季度開始將其從自由現金流的 50% 提高到至少 75%。在 75% 的情況下，這意味著在短短兩個季度內為股東帶來了超過 18 億美元的回報或遠高於每股 10 美元，總年化回報率約為 17%。

This robust free cash flow profile led the Board to double the size of our buyback program from $2 billion to $4 billion, giving us ample running room to be opportunistic in the equity markets. Since the program was initiated in the third quarter of last year, we've repurchased over 8.3 million shares at an average price of $113 a share for a total cost of approximately $940 million. This includes 1.8 million of shares we've already repurchased in the third quarter for a total of $200 million at an average price of $113.70 a share.

這種強勁的自由現金流狀況導致董事會將我們的回購計劃規模從 20 億美元增加到 40 億美元，為我們在股票市場上投機提供了充足的運行空間。自去年第三季度啟動該計劃以來，我們以每股 113 美元的平均價格回購了超過 830 萬股股票，總成本約為 9.4 億美元。這包括我們已經在第三季度以每股 113.70 美元的平均價格回購了總計 2 億美元的 180 萬股股票。

Our confidence to increase our return through payout is rooted in the strength of our balance sheet. During the second quarter, we opportunistically repurchased $337 million in Diamondback senior notes at an average cost of 95.4% of par for a total of $322 million. We focused on our debt coming due over the next 10 years, significantly lowering our maturity towers, while taking advantage of the volatile debt market.

我們通過派息增加回報的信心植根於我們資產負債表的實力。在第二季度，我們以平均票面價值的 95.4% 的價格回購了 3.37 億美元的響尾蛇優先票據，總計 3.22 億美元。我們專注於未來 10 年到期的債務，顯著降低到期塔，同時利用動蕩的債務市場。

We also recently redeemed $45 million in legacy Energen and QEP notes due 2022 at par. As a result, our balance sheet is stronger today than ever before. Our annualized net debt-to-EBITDA is under 0.7x, and we continue to improve our leverage profile with net debt decreasing by $267 million or 5% quarter-over-quarter. These debt reduction efforts have helped decrease our interest expense by 25% year-over-year, offsetting higher production taxes and lifting costs and helping push our unhedged realized cash margin this quarter to more than 83%, a company record.

我們最近還按面值贖回了 4500 萬美元的 2022 年到期的遺留 Energen 和 QEP 票據。因此，我們今天的資產負債表比以往任何時候都強。我們的年化淨債務與 EBITDA 之比低於 0.7 倍，我們繼續改善我們的槓桿狀況，淨債務環比減少 2.67 億美元或 5%。這些減債努力幫助我們的利息支出同比減少了 25%，抵消了更高的生產稅和提高成本，並幫助我們將本季度未對沖的已實現現金利潤率提高到了 83% 以上，創下了公司紀錄。

Moving to the operations side of the business. The environment in the Permian continues to be challenged. However, we continue to focus on how we can mitigate the inflationary pressures we're seeing across nearly all facets of the business by lowering the variable pieces of our cost structure. These efforts have allowed us to keep the high end of our capital guidance range flat at $1.9 billion. We do not anticipate any future changes. Yet we still haven't been able to offset all of the fixed pricing increases we've seen, which is why we've moved up our third quarter capital range to $470 million to $510 million, up from our capital spend of $468 million this quarter. This takes into account the roughly 10% cost increase we expect on the frac side, which is made up of increases in the cost of horsepower, wireline services and fuel.

轉移到業務的運營方面。二疊紀的環境繼續受到挑戰。但是，我們繼續關注如何通過降低成本結構的可變部分來減輕我們在業務幾乎所有方面看到的通脹壓力。這些努力使我們能夠將資本指導範圍的高端保持在 19 億美元。我們預計未來不會有任何變化。然而，我們仍然無法抵消我們所看到的所有固定定價增長，這就是為什麼我們將第三季度的資本範圍從今年的 4.68 億美元上調至 4.7 億美元至 5.1 億美元。四分之一。這考慮到了我們預計壓裂方面大約 10% 的成本增加，這是由馬力、有線服務和燃料成本的增加組成的。

On the drilling side of the business, we're seeing a similar level of pricing increases, particularly from day rates, casing and cement. In the back half of this year, we plan to operate approximately 12 drilling rigs and 3 frac crews. As we mentioned last quarter, we've partnered with Halliburton to secure our first e-fleet frac crew, which will run in our Martin County acreage off power generated from a central location and delivered via existing lines, not only reducing our Scope 1 emissions profile, but also lowering our completion costs as a result of fuel savings and improved operational efficiency.

在鑽井業務方面，我們看到了類似水平的價格上漲，尤其是日費率、套管和水泥。今年下半年，我們計劃運營大約12台鑽機和3個壓裂組。正如我們上個季度提到的那樣，我們與哈里伯頓公司合作確保了我們的第一批電子車隊壓裂機組，他們將在我們馬丁縣的土地上運行，使用中心位置產生的電力並通過現有線路輸送，不僅減少了我們的範圍 1 排放外形，而且由於節省燃料和提高運營效率，還降低了我們的完工成本。

We expect this fleet to be operational early in the fourth quarter and it will simply be swapped in for 1 of our existing Halliburton crews. Earlier this month, we continue to lean into this technology and secured our second e-fleet crew. This crew will be operational in the first quarter of 2023 and is expected to further reduce costs and decrease our environmental footprint. It will also replace 1 of our existing crews.

我們預計這支機隊將在第四季度初投入運營，並將簡單地更換為我們現有的哈里伯頓機組人員之一。本月早些時候，我們繼續利用這項技術並確保我們的第二個電子艦隊船員。該團隊將於 2023 年第一季度投入使用，預計將進一步降低成本並減少我們的環境足跡。它還將取代我們現有的 1 名船員。

On the drilling side, we currently have 1 drilling rig running offline power in the Delaware Basin with 2 more electric rigs expected in 2023. Just as we're seeing on the completion side, the electrification of our drilling fleet has multiple benefits. Additionally, we're utilizing sputter and intermediate rigs to take advantage of lower pricing as compared to the rest of our drilling fleet, and are exploring downsize and surface casing size, intermediate hole size to improve our drilling efficiencies, pushing Diamondback even further down the cost curve.

在鑽井方面，我們目前在特拉華盆地有 1 台鑽井平台在離線供電，預計 2023 年還會有 2 台電動鑽井平台。正如我們在完井方面看到的那樣，我們鑽井船隊的電氣化具有多重優勢。此外，與其他鑽井船隊相比，我們正在利用濺射鑽機和中間鑽機以利用較低的價格，並正在探索縮小尺寸和表面套管尺寸、中間孔尺寸以提高我們的鑽井效率，從而將 Diamondback 進一步推低成本曲線。

Lastly, we continue to work to earn our social and environmental license to operate. Part of this is our commitment to provide quarterly disclosures that detail our progress towards our environmental goals. We are proud of how we have performed so far this year when looking at multiple metrics, including recycling nearly 40% of our produced water and keeping our total recordable incident level at multiyear lows. However, flaring continues to be an issue. We are diligently working with our gathering partners to build in redundancy, accelerate plant turnarounds and meet the takeaway needs of our current development plan. We remain committed to ending routine flaring by 2025 and are confident in our ability to achieve that goal.

最後，我們繼續努力獲得我們的社會和環境經營許可。其中一部分是我們承諾提供季度披露，詳細說明我們在實現環境目標方面取得的進展。在查看多個指標時，我們為今年迄今為止的表現感到自豪，包括回收近 40% 的采出水，並將可記錄的總事故水平保持在多年低點。然而，燃燒仍然是一個問題。我們正在努力與我們的合作夥伴合作，以建立冗餘，加速工廠周轉並滿足我們當前發展計劃的外賣需求。我們仍然致力於到 2025 年結束常規燃燒，並對我們實現這一目標的能力充滿信心。

We've also spent hundreds of millions of dollars to lower our emissions profile by building pipelines and electrifying our production fields. These projects have lowered our costs to date, but due to the increase in the cost of power across the state of Texas, we have had to move our lease operating expense guidance range up by $0.50 a barrel at $4.50 to $5 a barrel. Even with this move, we continue to be the low-cost Permian operator and build on a long track record of cost control.

我們還花費了數億美元來通過建造管道和使我們的生產領域通電來降低排放狀況。迄今為止，這些項目降低了我們的成本，但由於德克薩斯州電力成本的增加，我們不得不將我們的租賃運營費用指導範圍上調 0.50 美元，達到每桶 4.50 美元至 5 美元。即使採取了這一舉措，我們仍然是低成本的二疊紀運營商，並建立在成本控制的長期記錄之上。

The second quarter was a record quarter for the company. We delivered on our production guidance, kept costs in line and distributed over 63% of our free cash flow to our shareholders. We are well positioned to build off this momentum and are excited to begin returning at least 75% of our free cash flow to our shareholders this quarter. We expect this industry-leading cash returns program and our best-in-class operational machine to continue to deliver differentiated results for our shareholders.

第二季度是該公司創紀錄的季度。我們實現了生產指導，控製成本，並將超過 63% 的自由現金流分配給了股東。我們已做好充分準備來建立這一勢頭，並很高興本季度開始將至少 75% 的自由現金流返還給我們的股東。我們預計這個行業領先的現金回報計劃和我們一流的運營機器將繼續為我們的股東帶來差異化的結果。

With these comments now complete, operator, please open the line for questions.

現在這些評論已經完成，接線員，請打開問題線。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Neal Dingmann from Truist.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Truist 的 Neal Dingmann。

My first question is somewhat on shareholder returns. Specifically, I think on your conference call a year ago looked and, Travis, I think you stated that as you looked at back then at supply and demand fundamentals. You said, I think, suggest that oil supply was still purposely been withheld in the market, driving your call to not grow production. So I'm wondering when you look at today, do you still believe that's the overall case of worldwide fundamentals or specifically supply? And does that still drive -- is that still your primary decision -- your primary driver of your decision for the no growth? Or is this more based on investor request?

我的第一個問題是關於股東回報的。具體來說，我認為在一年前的電話會議上，特拉維斯，我認為你在回顧供需基本面時說過。你說，我認為，表明石油供應仍被有意保留在市場上，促使你呼籲不增加產量。所以我想知道當你看今天的時候，你是否仍然相信這是全球基本面或特別是供應的整體情況？這是否仍然驅動——這仍然是你的主要決定——你決定不增長的主要驅動力嗎？或者這更多是基於投資者的要求？

Well, certainly, as we look into 2023, I think it's a little premature to do much forecasting into 2023. But I can tell you kind of our base case is looking at something at the same activity level, probably generating something in the low single digits in terms of the growth rate. But again, it's more of an output.

好吧，當然，當我們展望 2023 年時，我認為對 2023 年進行大量預測還為時過早。但我可以告訴你，我們的基本情況是在相同的活動水平上尋找一些東西，可能會在低單價中產生一些東西增長率方面的數字。但同樣，它更像是一種輸出。

But I think what you specifically asked about the call last year, I think I highlighted really 3 things and then subsequently added a fourth, and that was demand at pre-COVID levels. We wanted to see 5-year inventory levels somewhere returning to the 5-year average. We still had a question about OPEC capacity. And the one I added subsequent to our call was the administration continuing to embark uncertainty into our capital allocation process across the industry.

但我想你去年特別問的電話，我想我真的強調了三件事，然後又增加了第四件事，那就是在 COVID 之前的水平上的需求。我們希望看到某個地方的 5 年庫存水平回到 5 年平均水平。我們仍然對歐佩克的產能有疑問。在我們的電話會議之後，我補充說的是政府繼續在我們整個行業的資本分配過程中引入不確定性。

And so certainly 3 of the 4 of those have been answered today, Neal. There's still a lot of administration led uncertainty, both in policy actions and rhetoric. But the other ones certainly appear to be answered. So I think as the industry starts to contribute towards more focus on 2023, I think you'll still be governed primarily by the shareholders who own the companies. But I do think you'll start to see a little bit of growth in the industry as we look into next year.

尼爾，今天肯定已經回答了其中 4 個中的 3 個。在政策行動和言辭方面，仍然存在很多由政府主導的不確定性。但其他的似乎肯定得到了回答。因此，我認為隨著行業開始更加關注 2023 年，我認為您仍將主要由擁有公司的股東管理。但我確實認為，當我們展望明年時，你會開始看到該行業的一些增長。

Great. Great response. Then my second question really, I would say is on the notable capital spend discipline that you guys continue to have. As many others we've already heard about, continue to increase their cost despite them previously saying that they were locked in. So I'm just wondering, going forward, would you all consider any type of, I don't know, like a more vertical integration or any other new strategy, will the focus remain more or less on the same as working with vendors and just the efficient execution?

偉大的。反響很大。然後我的第二個問題真的，我想說的是你們繼續擁有的值得注意的資本支出紀律。正如我們已經聽說過的許多其他人一樣，儘管他們之前說他們被鎖定了，但繼續增加他們的成本。所以我只是想知道，接下來，你們會考慮任何類型的，我不知道，比如更垂直的整合或任何其他新戰略，重點是否會或多或少地保持在與供應商合作和高效執行上？

Well, Neal, I think we've been pretty successful with the existing model. We'll always look at seeing what ways we can ensure lower execution cost. We were a little bit plummet in the first quarter with all the commentary about locked in prices and then subsequently followed with CapEx raises. And that's just not the way that we typically try to communicate what our execution focus is.

好吧，尼爾，我認為我們在現有模型上取得了相當大的成功。我們將始終關注我們可以確保降低執行成本的方法。我們在第一季度有點暴跌，所有關於鎖定價格的評論，然後是資本支出的提高。這不是我們通常試圖傳達我們的執行重點的方式。

But I do want to -- I don't know I have a lot of employees listening in the call this morning. And look, I want to give a shout out to our organization for our ability to continue to manage costs in an inflationary environment. Again, about a year ago, Neal, we were talking about how you separate winners and losers in an inflationary environment. It's always those that can control costs. And while we've taken our look on the fixed cost side of an AP ledger, we've done a really remarkable job on the variable cost, and I look for our organization to continue to lean into that in 2023.

但我確實想——我不知道今天早上有很多員工在聽電話。看，我想為我們的組織大聲疾呼，因為我們有能力在通貨膨脹的環境中繼續管理成本。再一次，大約一年前，尼爾，我們在談論如何在通貨膨脹環境中區分贏家和輸家。總是那些可以控製成本的人。雖然我們已經研究了 AP 分類賬的固定成本方面，但我們在可變成本方面做得非常出色，我希望我們的組織在 2023 年繼續向這方面傾斜。

Our next question comes from Neil Mehta from Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Neil Mehta。

First question is around capital returns. And you did increase the share repurchase authorization to $4 billion from $2 billion previously. It looks like you've been leaning a little bit more into the repurchase with the pullback in the stock. So if you just talk about your framework around variable dividend versus repurchases? And how you're thinking about being countercyclical with how you deploy your share repurchases?

第一個問題是關於資本回報的。你確實將股票回購授權從之前的 20 億美元增加到 40 億美元。看起來你在股票回調的情況下更傾向於回購。那麼，如果你只是談論關於可變股息與回購的框架？以及您如何考慮如何部署股票回購以實現反週期？

Well, we certainly think that there's a lot of value in our existing stock price. And we think that, that oil and public equity stocks is really undervalued right now. And so the 2 data points that you mentioned, I think, are good indicators of future behaviors. The first being, we spent about $500 million in the last 2 to 3 months repurchasing shares. And the Board just essentially doubled our authorization up to $4 billion. So the base dividend still remains sacred, sustainable and growing followed by this environment share repurchases. And then as we committed to a month ago, we'll make up the difference and keep our shareholders hold by returning at least 75% of free cash flow.

好吧，我們當然認為我們現有的股價有很大的價值。我們認為，石油和公共股票現在真的被低估了。所以你提到的兩個數據點，我認為，是未來行為的良好指標。首先，我們在過去 2 到 3 個月內花了大約 5 億美元回購股票。董事會基本上將我們的授權翻了一番，達到 40 億美元。因此，基本紅利仍然是神聖的、可持續的和增長的，隨後是這種環境下的股票回購。然後，正如我們一個月前承諾的那樣，我們將通過返還至少 75% 的自由現金流來彌補差額並讓我們的股東持有。

Yes. And then would love your perspective on the M&A outlook. We know that you've been active over the last couple of years. But is it fair to assume that given that you're prioritizing share repurchases at this point, do you think that's a better investment than third-party M&A?

是的。然後會喜歡你對併購前景的看法。我們知道您在過去幾年中一直很活躍。但是，假設您此時優先考慮股票回購，您認為這是否比第三方併購更好的投資？

Yes, certainly, Neil, that's the behavior we're demonstrating in. As I just iterated, just to emphasize all in the public markets is really cheaper in the private markets, and I think there continues to be a wide gap between those 2 points. And I think you're also seeing stalled or failed processes as well, which again indicates a spread between bid and ask. So right now, the greatest return for our shareholders is leaning into our repurchase program.

是的，當然，尼爾，這就是我們所展示的行為。正如我剛剛重複的那樣，只是為了強調公開市場中的所有內容在私人市場中確實更便宜，我認為這兩個點之間仍然存在很大差距.而且我認為您也看到了停滯或失敗的流程，這再次表明買賣之間的價差。所以現在，我們股東最大的回報是傾向於我們的回購計劃。

And our next question comes from Arun Jayaram from JPMorgan Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通證券的 Arun Jayaram。

Maybe just a follow-up to Neil's question, is how do you think about your process to engage in portfolio renewal in this kind of backdrop and perhaps a little bit more color, it looks like you had about $85 million of property acquisitions in the cash flow statement. I was wondering if you could provide us a little bit of detail on that? And I think on a year-to-date basis, that takes you just under $400 million of property acquisitions.

也許只是尼爾問題的後續，您如何看待在這種背景下進行投資組合更新的過程，也許還有一點色彩，看起來您有大約 8500 萬美元的現金收購流語句。我想知道您是否可以向我們提供一些詳細信息？而且我認為從年初至今，這將花費您不到 4 億美元的房地產收購。

Yes. Arun, the big deal is obviously in Q1, $230 million deal. We do capitalize a little G&A and interest which flows through that number, so it's not all property acquisitions. But a couple of things that we do on the property side, it's just the typical blocking and tackling, netting up. We give our land teams the directive that we'd rather drill 100% working interest wells across the board. And so they're always working to net up and block and tackle, but nothing of significance purchased in Q2.

是的。阿倫，大交易顯然是在第一季度，2.3 億美元的交易。我們確實利用了流經該數字的一點 G&A 和利息，因此並非所有的房地產收購。但是我們在財產方面做的一些事情，就是典型的阻截和鏟球，收網。我們向我們的土地團隊指示我們寧願全面鑽探 100% 的工作利益井。所以他們一直在努力網前攔網和鏟球，但在第二季度沒有購買任何重要的東西。

And look around being having boots on the ground here in Midland, I think all of our shareholders expect me and us to be in the deal flow at all times. But that just means we look at things coming across the desk, but I go back to say, look at what our behaviors are and the separation between public and private expectations on value. And that's -- I think that's the best way to think about what our forward plans are.

看看在米德蘭這裡有靴子，我想我們所有的股東都希望我和我們始終處於交易流程中。但這只是意味著我們會看到擺在桌面上的東西，但我回過頭來說，看看我們的行為是什麼，以及公共和私人對價值的期望之間的分離。那就是 - 我認為這是思考我們未來計劃的最佳方式。

Okay. And just my follow-up is, you guys had really, really strong oil price realizations in the quarter. I was wondering if you could just remind us about your mix between getting waterborne crude pricing versus, call it, a Midland type of benchmark?

好的。我的後續行動是，你們在本季度實現了非常非常強勁的油價。我想知道您是否可以提醒我們您在獲得水運原油定價與所謂的米德蘭類型基準之間的組合？

Yes. So we have all of our oil on pipes going to the Gulf Coast. A 1/3 of it going to Houston, getting MEH pricing, 2/3 going to Corpus getting Brent pricing. And so we've been the beneficiary of these water Brent WTI spread. We have a little bit of exposure to the Midland market, we also have the ability to kind of flex that to the Gulf Coast with the space that we have. And so the sell-off in WTI versus Brent has resulted in really good oil realizations. No guarantees that it's going to continue forever. But that kind of fits the insurance policy that we put in place to invest in these pipelines and get our barrels to the most liquid markets.

是的。所以我們所有的石油都在通往墨西哥灣沿岸的管道上。其中 1/3 流向休斯頓，獲得 MEH 定價，2/3 流向 Corpus，獲得布倫特定價。因此，我們一直是布倫特 WTI 原油價差的受益者。我們對米德蘭市場有一點了解，我們也有能力利用我們擁有的空間將其擴展到墨西哥灣沿岸。因此，WTI 對布倫特原油的拋售導致了非常好的石油變現。不能保證它會永遠持續下去。但這符合我們為投資這些管道並使我們的石油進入流動性最強的市場而製定的保險政策。

And our next question comes from Scott Hanold from RBC Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的 Scott Hanold。

Could you all give us some view on what you all are seeing on leading edge inflation? And if you can give us a sense of what kind of savings you guys expect from the e-fracs versus a regular frac crew? I mean, how meaningful is that?

你們能不能給我們一些關於你們都看到的前沿通脹的看法？如果你能告訴我們你們期望電子壓裂與普通壓裂人員相比能節省多少成本？我的意思是，這有多有意義？

Yes, Scott, good question. I would say, generally, we took up CapEx on the low end and took up our average well cost estimate for the year. I would say probably today, we're probably up 15% today from the beginning of the year. We'll probably exit a little higher than that. So probably 15% year-over-year well cost increases, but what the ops team is doing is not taking every phone call and just increasing prices. We're trying to do some things to be more efficient. You mentioned the e-fleet, Travis just mentioned in his opening remarks that we're going to have a second e-fleet coming in early next year. That saves money, not just on the horsepower piece, but on the fuel piece. These will be connected to line power and the back end of a gas plant with burning dry gas in the Permian.

是的，斯科特，好問題。我想說，一般來說，我們在低端採用了資本支出，並採用了我們今年的平均油井成本估算。我會說可能今天，我們今天可能比年初上漲了 15%。我們可能會退出比這更高一點。因此，油井成本可能同比增長 15%，但運營團隊所做的並不是接聽每個電話，而是提高價格。我們正在嘗試做一些事情來提高效率。你提到了電子艦隊，特拉維斯剛剛在他的開場白中提到我們將在明年初推出第二個電子艦隊。這不僅節省了馬力，還節省了燃料。這些將連接到線路電源和在二疊紀燃燒乾氣的天然氣廠的後端。

So while gas prices have gone up, they certainly haven't gone up as much as diesel. I would say we'd probably save 50-ish a foot with that -- $50 a foot with that e-fleet. A couple of other things we are doing on top of that, we are adding some preset rigs to replace some big rigs as those preset rigs cost a lot less with these big pads and long cycle investments. We have that ability to do so. Our team is also getting really smart on casing design, cement design, wherever we can pick up pennies that's just our stock in trade.

因此，雖然汽油價格上漲了，但它們肯定沒有像柴油那樣上漲。我會說我們可能會節省 50 多英尺的費用——使用電子艦隊每英尺 50 美元。除此之外，我們還在做一些其他的事情，我們正在添加一些預設裝備來取代一些大型裝備，因為這些預設裝備的成本要低得多，這些大打擊墊和長周期投資。我們有能力這樣做。我們的團隊在套管設計、水泥設計方面也變得非常聰明，無論我們在哪裡都能買到僅是我們的交易存貨的便士。

A lot of pennies there you're picking up. Good to hear that. And as a follow-up, and I'm going to kind of belabor the point on shareholder returns. And I know you all have done pretty well with executing your flexible plan. But the bottom line is right now, it appears that your stock is trading at a discount to peers. I mean it looks pretty evident. And like how do you all think about like what the best way to bridge that gap is? And like what can you do to kind of force the issue to get your valuation more in line with peers or where you think it should be?

你在那兒撿了很多便士。很高興聽到。作為後續行動，我將詳細闡述股東回報這一點。我知道你們在執行靈活計劃方面做得很好。但現在的底線是，您的股票似乎以低於同行的價格交易。我的意思是它看起來很明顯。就像你們都認為彌合這一差距的最佳方法是什麼？就像你能做些什麼來迫使這個問題讓你的估值更符合同行或你認為應該是什麼？

Scott, when I talk to our Board and communicate what I think the success indicators are, there's really five. Three of them were foundational that led us to success in the first 10 years. And I think the two that I've added are going to be foundational for the next 10 years. But the three that we built the company on our execution, low-cost operations and transparency. And we've been very successful at differentiating ourselves with those. The two that have recently been added are capital return and decarbonization. And on the capital return, we're now -- our yield is peer-leading. We're competitive on all forms of shareholder return measures. And the last one is decarbonization, and not only in our disclosure, but also in our performance.

斯科特，當我與我們的董事會交談並傳達我認為的成功指標時，真的有五個。其中三個是我們在前 10 年取得成功的基礎。我認為我添加的兩個將成為未來 10 年的基礎。但是，我們將公司建立在執行力、低成本運營和透明度的三個方面。我們已經非常成功地將自己與那些人區分開來。最近增加的兩個是資本回報和脫碳。在資本回報方面，我們現在——我們的收益率是同行領先的。我們在所有形式的股東回報措施上都具有競爭力。最後一個是脫碳，不僅在我們的披露中，而且在我們的表現中。

And look, those are the five things that we'd sell at. And you can ask us questions about any one of those five, we can articulate chapter verse why those are successful -- why we're successful with those. And while you pointed out a dislocation in stock, we believe fundamentally that we continue to do the right thing for our shareholders to generate the greatest value. And it -- and we believe we're running this company not just for a quarter but for the next 10 years and longer.

看，這就是我們要出售的五種東西。你可以問我們關於這五個中任何一個的問題，我們可以清楚地闡明為什麼這些是成功的——為什麼我們在這些方面取得了成功。儘管您指出了股票錯位，但我們從根本上相信，我們將繼續為股東做正確的事情，以創造最大的價值。而且——我們相信我們經營這家公司的時間不僅僅是一個季度，而是未來 10 年甚至更長的時間。

And our next question comes from David Deckelbaum from Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen 的 David Deckelbaum。

Appreciate the color today. Maybe if I could ask one on just CapEx. In 2022, I think you all forecasted about 12% of your total budget going towards non-D&C. Is that a good contribution as we think about '23 and '24?

欣賞今天的顏色。也許我可以問一個關於資本支出的問題。到 2022 年，我想你們都預測大約 12% 的總預算將用於非 D&C。當我們想到'23和'24時，這是一個很好的貢獻嗎？

Good question, David. I think generally, if you look at our past history, we kind of whenever a deal happens the next year, infrastructure and midstream is 10% to 15%, getting down to kind of 7% to 8% of total capital in that years. I certainly expect us to be closer to 7% to 8% of total capital in 2024 with a step-down next year in 2023. I think the only wrinkle is we are all us and our peers are all spending a lot of money on environmental cleanup. And so that's probably $30 million to $40 extra million a year that wasn't in the budget in 2017 or 2018. It's necessary dollars, but generally, I'd expect our midstream infrastructure budgets to come down next year and into '24, probably a step change down to 7% or 8% in a couple of years.

好問題，大衛。我認為一般來說，如果你看看我們過去的歷史，我們有點像明年發生交易時，基礎設施和中游是 10% 到 15%，在那幾年下降到總資本的 7% 到 8%。我當然希望我們在 2024 年接近總資本的 7% 到 8%，並在 2023 年下降到明年。我認為唯一的問題是我們都是我們，我們的同行都在環保上花了很多錢清理。所以這可能是每年 3000 萬到 4000 萬美元的額外費用，這不在 2017 年或 2018 年的預算中。這是必要的美元，但總的來說，我預計我們的中游基礎設施預算會在明年下降到 24 年，可能在幾年內下降到 7% 或 8%。

And then maybe just as a follow-up. Obviously, the 3Q CapEx, 4Q CapEx is going to be -- is going to follow with activity with 3Q being higher than 4Q. As we think about next year, though, I think the expectation is that you guys would still be in that sort of 270, 290 wells, 12 rigs, a few frac crews. Is that $460 million or so implied guide for 4Q? Is that $460 million to $500 million range, like a reasonable run rate to think about '23? Or are there explicit reasons why you would want us to be guided away from that?

然後也許只是作為後續行動。顯然，3Q 資本支出、4Q 資本支出將緊隨其後，3Q 高於 4Q。不過，當我們考慮明年時，我認為你們仍然會在那種 270 口、290 口井、12 台鑽機和幾個壓裂組中工作。這是 4 季度 4.6 億美元左右的隱含指導嗎？那是 4.6 億美元到 5 億美元的範圍，就像考慮 23 年的合理運行率一樣嗎？或者你是否有明確的理由希望我們遠離那個？

Yes. I mean I think it's just too early to talk '23 inflation. I'm certainly kind of in the camp that we're not willing to continue to concede margin expansion on the service side perpetually. So we're going to see where things shake out over the next 6 months. Like we said earlier in the call, there are some things we are doing to increase efficiencies and lower costs. I would just say, generally, I think you're right on activity going into 2023. I can't -- I'm not going to comment yet on some respects and where things head particularly with some of the stuff that's out of our control like steel continuing to go up in price.

是的。我的意思是，我認為現在談論 23 年的通貨膨脹還為時過早。我當然有點同意我們不願意繼續在服務方面繼續擴大利潤率。因此，我們將看看未來 6 個月內情況會發生怎樣的變化。就像我們之前在電話會議中所說的那樣，我們正在做一些事情來提高效率和降低成本。我只想說，總的來說，我認為你對 2023 年的活動是正確的。我不能——我不打算就某些方面發表評論，尤其是在我們不知道的一些事情上。控制如鋼材繼續漲價。

The only inflation I'm making then there's CapEx per share.

我所做的唯一通貨膨脹是每股資本支出。

And our next question comes from David Whitfield from Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 David Whitfield。

Congrats on your quarter end update. With my first question, I wanted to focus on your operational efficiency. Would it be safe to assume the improvement you experienced in your drilling and completion efficiency metrics over the last couple of years has at least plateaued as a result of service tightness and the dilution of experienced crews?

恭喜您的季度末更新。對於我的第一個問題，我想關注您的運營效率。假設您在過去幾年中在鑽井和完井效率指標方面所經歷的改進至少由於服務緊張和經驗豐富的工作人員的稀釋而停滯不前，這是否安全？

Yes, Derrick, I think that's a fair statement. Certainly, the business has gotten a lot harder to operate and execute this year. It's on us though to make sure we have the right supervision in the field to make sure green hands are trained up quickly. It's something that we are seeing. We do spend a lot of money near the wellhead to make sure our supervision oversees what's going on in the field.

是的，Derrick，我認為這是一個公平的說法。當然，今年該業務的運營和執行變得更加困難。不過，我們有責任確保我們在現場有正確的監督，以確保快速訓練新手。這是我們正在看到的東西。我們確實在井口附近花費了大量資金，以確保我們的監督監督該領域正在發生的事情。

But then there's a couple of other things that kind of go the other way, right? So the spud rigs that we're putting in place, they drill a little slower, but they cost half as much as the big rigs. So I think generally, we kind of hit the efficient frontier on days of TD this year, but now we're doing some things that might slow things down, but spend less money per well.

但是還有一些其他的事情是相反的，對吧？因此，我們正在安裝的鑽機，它們的鑽孔速度稍慢，但它們的成本是大型鑽機的一半。所以我認為總的來說，我們今年在 TD 的日子里達到了有效的前沿，但現在我們正在做一些可能會減慢速度的事情，但每口井的花費更少。

That makes complete sense. And as my follow-up, I wanted to touch on the Inflation Reduction Act, which could be voted on this week focusing on the minimum tax and methane fee components. Could you speak to the implications for Diamondback and the industry in general? It seems at a minimum from our perspective that the one rare case that gets Diamondback would be minimized with the 15% minimum tax stipulation.

這是完全有道理的。作為我的後續行動，我想談一談《降低通脹法案》，本周可以投票表決，重點關注最低稅收和甲烷費用的組成部分。您能否談談對響尾蛇和整個行業的影響？從我們的角度來看，至少可以通過 15% 的最低稅收規定來最大限度地減少獲得響尾蛇的罕見案例。

Derrick, the methane fee tax is one thing that we've looked at. And because of the dollars we've spent over the last 3 years really reducing our methane emissions that doesn't appear as we understand it to be a needle mover for Diamondback.

Derrick，甲烷費稅是我們研究過的一件事。由於我們在過去 3 年中花費的資金真正減少了我們的甲烷排放量，而我們認為這並沒有成為響尾蛇的推動者。

Yes. And then on the tax side, we're pretty low on NOL protection. So if the strip holds, we have about $1 billion of protection next year, we would be above the 15% minimum that's being proposed. So I think generally moving towards a full taxpaying entity at Diamondback which mitigates the impact to us. Certainly, if we're in a different commodity price environment, it might be a different story. But in this environment, we're headed towards full cash taxes in 2024.

是的。然後在稅收方面，我們對 NOL 的保護非常低。因此，如果脫歐協議成立，明年我們將獲得大約 10 億美元的保護，我們將高於提議的 15% 的最低限度。因此，我認為通常會在響尾蛇建立一個完整的納稅實體，以減輕對我們的影響。當然，如果我們處於不同的商品價格環境中，情況可能會有所不同。但在這種環境下，我們將在 2024 年實現全額現金稅。

And our next question comes from Jeanine Wai from Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊的 Jeanine Wai。

Our first question is maybe hitting on the balance sheet a little bit. So you had about $21 million of stand-alone cash at the end of the quarter, and that reflects really getting after paying off those notes early and at a very nice discount. That's great. What's the sequencing of further debt reduction that you mentioned? And do you have an updated view on your target cash balance? We're essentially kind of back in to how much potential upside there could be to exceeding the 75% minimum return?

我們的第一個問題可能是稍微影響資產負債表。因此，您在本季度末擁有約 2100 萬美元的獨立現金，這反映了在提前還清這些票據並以非常好的折扣後真正獲得了收益。那太棒了。你提到的進一步減債的順序是什麼？您是否對目標現金餘額有更新的看法？我們基本上已經回到了超過 75% 的最低迴報率的潛在上行空間？

Yes, Jeanine, good question. With the rate review we expected to close at the end of August, we'll have to pay off that revolver at close. It's about a $200 million revolver that we'll expect to pay with -- down with cash. We also want to take out the Rattler notes, $500 million notes next. There are some reporting requirements with those notes if they continue to stay out there. So I think those 2 items are certainly the priorities, and we probably expect to be in a position to have those taken out by the next time on the phone here. And then I think after that, it goes back to being selective with the other outstanding notes. You'll note that we didn't touch the 2 30-year tranches that we have out there, but we did take down some of our 29 and 31 opportunistically with a discount. But generally, the Rattler notes and Rattler revolvers coming out next and then we'll be more prudent with the rest.

是的，珍妮，好問題。由於我們預計將在 8 月底結束利率審查，我們將不得不在結束時還清那把左輪手槍。這大約是一把價值 2 億美元的左輪手槍，我們預計會用現金支付。我們還想取出 Rattler 紙幣，接下來是 5 億美元的紙幣。如果這些筆記繼續留在那裡，則有一些報告要求。因此，我認為這兩個項目肯定是優先事項，我們可能希望能夠在下次通過電話時將其刪除。然後我想在那之後，它又回到了對其他優秀音符的選擇性。您會注意到，我們沒有觸及我們現有的 2 個 30 年期的部分，但我們確實以折扣的方式將我們的一些 29 年和 31 年的部分拿掉了。但總的來說，接下來會出現 Rattler 筆記和 Rattler 左輪手槍，然後我們會更加謹慎地處理其餘部分。

Okay. Great. And then maybe a quick one on operations. I think in the past, you mentioned running 3 simul-frac crews and then potentially utilizing a spot crew. And then in your prepared remarks, I think I heard you mention just running 3 frac crews. So just wondering if I'm remembering those 2 things correctly? And have you been able to maybe drop that spot crew due to efficiencies?

好的。偉大的。然後可能是關於操作的快速操作。我認為在過去，您提到過運行 3 個模擬壓裂機組，然後可能會使用一個現場機組。然後在你準備好的評論中，我想我聽到你提到只運行 3 個壓裂組。所以只是想知道我是否正確地記住了這兩件事？由於效率，您是否能夠放棄現場工作人員？

Yes. So the 3 simul-frac crews are going to run consistently throughout the whole year. And those 3 have been going this year and they'll be the baseline for next year. We did have a spot crew running for part of Q2 -- spot crew again until probably the end of this year. We try to string together enough pads to make that spot crew cost competitive. And I don't know, Danny, you want to add anything on the spot crew?

是的。因此，3 個模擬壓裂機組將全年持續運行。這三個今年一直在進行，他們將成為明年的基線。我們確實有一個現場工作人員在第二季度的部分時間運行 - 現場工作人員可能會在今年年底之前再次運行。我們嘗試將足夠的墊子串在一起，以使現場工作人員的成本具有競爭力。我不知道，丹尼，你想在現場添加任何東西嗎？

No. I think the 3 simul-frac crews will do about 80% to 90% of our planned well activity and then the remaining 10% to 20%, we have to handle with an additional crew. We usually try to block it up and get a dedicated line of work for a crew for a period of time and then let it go and bring it back for the next group of wells.

不。我認為 3 名模擬壓裂人員將完成我們計劃的井活動的 80% 到 90%，然後剩下的 10% 到 20%，我們必須與額外的人員一起處理。我們通常會試圖阻止它，為一個工作人員安排一個專門的工作線一段時間，然後放手，把它帶回給下一組井。

And our next question comes from Nicholas Pope from Seaport Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Seaport Research 的 Nicholas Pope。

I had a quick question on kind of the updated CapEx guidance. Most -- the increase was all on the drilling side without much kind of change in kind of expected activity. But no real change in the other components, the midstream environmental infrastructure components. So I was kind of curious, are you -- what kind of inflation you're seeing on there? Are you expecting kind of the same amount of activity on those nondrilling, noncompletion components? Or is that just a little bit more fixed with project-type work?

我有一個關於更新的資本支出指南的快速問題。大多數——增長都在鑽井方面，預期活動沒有太大變化。但其他組成部分沒有真正的變化，即中游環境基礎設施組成部分。所以我有點好奇，你是不是 - 你在那裡看到了什麼樣的通貨膨脹？您是否期望在那些非鑽探、非完井組件上進行相同數量的活動？或者這只是在項目類型的工作中更固定一點？

Yes. It's definitely a little more fixed with project-type work. There is some inflation in those budgets, but that was already somewhat baked in. On the midstream side, in particular, the big bulk items is buying a lot of pipe, and we pre-bought a lot of that. So we knew where that was going to sit on the cost side. On the infrastructure and our environmental side, it's not necessarily a change in plan. As you mentioned, it's just a few inflationary items around the edges, but it's nothing to the extent of what we're seeing on the drilling and completion side when it comes to inflation.

是的。對於項目類型的工作，它肯定會更加固定。這些預算中存在一些通貨膨脹，但這已經有所影響。特別是在中游方面，大宗商品正在購買大量管道，我們預先購買了很多。所以我們知道這將在成本方面佔據什麼位置。在基礎設施和我們的環境方面，這不一定是計劃的改變。正如您所提到的，這只是邊緣的一些通貨膨脹項目，但就通貨膨脹而言，這與我們在鑽井和完井方面看到的程度無關。

Got it. I appreciate that. And as you kind of look at kind of progressing towards completion of the midstream, the Rattler kind of acquisition. Is there any anticipation of any real change in operations? Or I guess, how much kind of third-party is even a part of Rattler at this point in terms of operation?

知道了。我很感激。當你看到中游的完成時，Rattler 的收購。是否有任何實際運營變化的預期？或者我猜，在運營方面，目前 Rattler 有多少第三方？

Yes. That's a great question, too. Nothing is going to change operationally. And we still like the midstream business. We still like what it does for our consolidated margins. We just felt that it didn't need to be a separate public entity, and so we're able to buy that back in and still run a midstream business that we own 100%. I will say the team has done a good job seeking out third-party opportunities. I wouldn't say it's our core business, but we'll have some real cash flow coming in from third parties given the amount of assets we have on the ground on the midstream side.

是的。這也是一個很好的問題。操作上不會發生任何變化。我們仍然喜歡中游業務。我們仍然喜歡它為我們的綜合利潤率所做的事情。我們只是覺得它不需要成為一個單獨的公共實體，因此我們能夠將其買回並仍然經營我們擁有 100% 的中游業務。我會說團隊在尋找第三方機會方面做得很好。我不會說這是我們的核心業務，但考慮到我們在中游方面擁有的資產數量，我們將從第三方獲得一些真正的現金流。

And our next question comes from Doug Leggate from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Doug Leggate。

I hate to go back to the capital return question, but just mostly you will issue a bunch of shares. I was just wondering how we should think about split between the variable and the stepped-up buyback program as you go forward?

我討厭回到資本回報問題，但大多數情況下你會發行一堆股票。我只是想知道在你前進的過程中，我們應該如何考慮在變量和加強回購計劃之間進行拆分？

Yes, Doug, you were a little mixed on that. I couldn't hear you pretty well, but I think I got the gist of it. I think generally, we are going to be very aggressive on the buyback here in Q3 given where the stock is, and where we continue to generate free cash above mid-cycle prices. So already expensed $200 million quarter-to-date. Generally, if you kind of take street numbers and keep our base dividend flat in Q3, we could probably spend another $650 million on buybacks this quarter. So if the stock stays where it is and well stays where it is, we're going to be very, very aggressive on that buyback, which is why the Board signified the confidence in increasing that authorization to $4 billion.

是的，道格，你對此有點複雜。我聽不太清楚，但我想我明白了要點。我認為總的來說，鑑於股票的位置以及我們繼續在周期中期價格之上產生自由現金的位置，我們將在第三季度非常積極地進行回購。因此，本季度迄今已支出 2 億美元。一般來說，如果你採取街道數字並在第三季度保持我們的基本股息持平，我們可能會在本季度再花費 6.5 億美元進行回購。因此，如果股票保持原狀並且很好地保持原狀，我們將非常非常積極地進行回購，這就是為什麼董事會表示有信心將授權增加到 40 億美元。

Okay. So sorry to press on this point, Travis, and I apologize for my line, but is there a more formulaic way we can think about -- I mean, are we still looking at a substantial variable in the second half of this year?

好的。很抱歉在這一點上施壓，特拉維斯，我為我的台詞道歉，但是我們可以考慮一種更公式化的方式——我的意思是，今年下半年我們是否仍在考慮一個實質性的變量？

None of these prices, Doug, if the stock price stays where it is today, all that cash is going to go towards reducing the share count.

道格，這些價格都不是，如果股價保持在今天的水平，那麼所有現金都將用於減少股票數量。

Great. That's what I was looking for. My follow-up is just a quick one on going back to the A&D very quickly. Can you clarify, as your understanding is today, do IDCs and I guess, NOL is not such a big deal for you guys, but in IDC specifically, do they still qualify as an offset to the A&D in your view? Any color you can offer in your interpretation of that?

偉大的。這就是我一直在尋找的。我的後續行動只是關於很快回到 A&D 的快速跟進。你能澄清一下，正如你今天的理解，IDC 和我猜，NOL 對你們來說沒什麼大不了的，但在 IDC 中，在你看來，它們仍然有資格作為 A&D 的抵消嗎？您可以在解釋中提供任何顏色嗎？

I think our interpretation is they still do. Unfortunately, IDCs have become such a small part of the cash flow stream that they're not impacting things much. So that's our understanding today. But you never know if politicians, anything can happen.

我認為我們的解釋是他們仍然這樣做。不幸的是，IDC 已成為現金流的一小部分，以至於它們對事物的影響並不大。這就是我們今天的理解。但你永遠不知道政治家是否會發生任何事情。

And our next question comes from David Deckelbaum from Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen 的 David Deckelbaum。

I wanted to ask just a follow-up on some of the thoughts around return on capital. Travis, you talked about conversations with the Board how to make Diamondback competitive relative to its peers. You've seen the evolution of what you guys had promised last year, 50% of 2022's free cash return to shareholders, the rest retiring debt. You've increased it to 75%, you just increased the buyback. I guess when you talk to the Board now about the return on capital programs, are there explicit targets that you're thinking about when you're putting on the outline around the buyback? And how did you come to this amount? Are you trying to intentionally show that Diamondback can retire 10% of its market cap plus every year? Is that -- are those explicit goals now? Or are these more coincidental based on the free cash is today?

我想問一下有關資本回報率的一些想法。 Travis，您談到了與董事會的對話，如何讓 Diamondback 相對於同行具有競爭力。你們已經看到了你們去年承諾的演變，2022 年 50% 的自由現金返還給股東，其餘的則是償還債務。您已將其增加到 75%，您只是增加了回購。我想當您現在與董事會討論資本回報計劃時，您在製定回購計劃時是否有明確的目標？你是怎麼得出這個數額的？您是否試圖故意表明響尾蛇每年可以退出其市值的 10% 以上？那是 - 現在是那些明確的目標嗎？還是基於今天的自由現金這些更巧合？

Yes. Those are -- those -- we don't have specific goals that are articulated in the way that you just asked that question. We simply look at the value that we believe the inherent value of the stock versus where it's trading at. And we want to demonstratively move into repurchases when we think there's a big location like we see in today's market. And as we go forward in time, maybe that changes. But as it sits today, as Kaes just outlined with the previous caller, we believe that there's still a lot of value in the stock.

是的。這些是——那些——我們沒有像你剛才問的那樣明確表達的具體目標。我們只看我們認為股票的內在價值與其交易價格的價值。當我們認為有一個像我們在今天市場上看到的那樣大的位置時，我們希望示範性地進行回購。隨著時間的推移，也許情況會發生變化。但就目前情況而言，正如 Kaes 剛剛與前一位來電者所概述的那樣，我們認為該股票仍有很大價值。

And our next question comes from Vin Lovaglio from Mizuho Group.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞穗集團的 Vin Lovaglio。

Given the scale of free cash flow generation, I'm wondering how you guys are thinking about potential investment in future offtake, particularly on the gas side and kind of connecting that gas molecule to Gulf Coast, and ultimately, hopefully, international markets?

鑑於自由現金流產生的規模，我想知道你們如何考慮對未來承購的潛在投資，特別是在天然氣方面，以及將天然氣分子與墨西哥灣沿岸以及最終，希望是國際市場聯繫起來？

Yes, Vin, good question. I think just generally, while we are a pretty significant gas producer now at this point, we don't have a lot of control over the molecule. Diamondback has grown through acquisition over the years and with those acquisitions come dedications, and most of those dedications don't come on taking kind rights. So we're certainly doing as much as we possibly can to incentivize pipeline development, getting molecules to the Gulf Coast. We did commit to the Woodford pipeline. We'll have about 1/3 of our gas on that. But generally, you have to have control of that molecule to incentivize development, and we don't have much more beyond that today.

是的，Vin，好問題。我認為一般來說，雖然我們現在是一個非常重要的天然氣生產商，但我們對分子沒有太多控制權。多年來，響尾蛇通過收購而成長，隨著這些收購而來的是奉獻精神，而這些奉獻精神中的大多數都不是為了獲得善意的權利。因此，我們當然會盡我們所能來激勵管道開發，將分子輸送到墨西哥灣沿岸。我們確實致力於伍德福德管道。我們將有大約 1/3 的氣體在上面。但一般來說，你必須控制那個分子來激勵發展，而我們今天沒有更多的東西。

Got it. And then I just want to go back to the e-fleets. They seem like kind of a no-brainer at this point in time. I'm just wondering, if there were any changes in planning or any hurdles that you guys kind of have to get through before broader e-fleet adoption? Or is it really just kind of securing that line power?

知道了。然後我只想回到電子艦隊。在這個時間點上，它們似乎是一種不費吹灰之力的事情。我只是想知道，在更廣泛的電子艦隊採用之前，你們的計劃是否有任何變化或你們必須克服的任何障礙？還是真的只是為了保護線路電源？

Well, it's really about the quality of the fleet and what you're signing up for. I think what Halliburton has put together is truly an unique product. We're going to have some form of battery storage attached to that e-fleet so that you're very efficient with the use of natural gas and electricity when that fleet is working. So you do need a pretty big acreage blocks, you need large pads like we have ahead of us, and you need a long-term commitment with a business partner like Halliburton. So I think that -- we checked all those boxes. We feel very good about the e-fleet that's coming on in September, so good that we signed up for a second one. So 2/3 of our simul-frac fleets will be e-fleets with Halliburton. And like you said, it's pretty obvious when the economic and environmental advantages sync up, that's a no-brainer for us. And we're looking forward to getting our first 1 in the field here in a month.

嗯，這真的是關於機隊的質量和你註冊的內容。我認為哈里伯頓的產品確實是一個獨特的產品。我們將在該電子車隊上安裝某種形式的電池存儲，以便在該車隊工作時您可以非常高效地使用天然氣和電力。所以你確實需要一個相當大的地塊，你需要像我們前面那樣的大墊子，你需要與像哈里伯頓這樣的商業夥伴有長期的承諾。所以我認為——我們檢查了所有這些框。我們對即將在 9 月推出的電子艦隊感覺非常好，以至於我們註冊了第二個。因此，我們 2/3 的模擬壓裂機隊將是哈里伯頓的電子機隊。就像你說的，當經濟和環境優勢同步時，很明顯，這對我們來說是顯而易見的。我們期待著在一個月內獲得我們在該領域的第一個 1。

And our next question comes from Leo Mariani from MKM Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自 MKM Partners 的 Leo Mariani。

I just wanted to clarify a couple of things that I heard on the call here. So in terms of the buyback, I just want to make sure I heard the numbers right. Did you guys say that you could do an additional $650 million in 3Q alone on top of the $200 million you already announced? I just want to make sure I heard that number right.

我只是想澄清我在電話會議上聽到的幾件事。因此，就回購而言，我只想確保我聽到的數字是正確的。你們有沒有說在你們已經宣布的 2 億美元的基礎上，僅在第三季度就可以再增加 6.5 億美元？我只是想確保我沒聽錯。

Yes. Leo taking street numbers and multiply it by 75%, taking out the $200 million we spent quarter-to-date and taking out the $0.75 a share base dividend, and that's your math on buybacks for the quarter. And that's something we look at every day. I mean we have our team rerun the model on a weekly basis to figure out how much cash we're going to have in the quarter to buy back shares when there's this much of a dislocation between oil in the public market then oil in the ground.

是的。 Leo 將街道數字乘以 75%，取出我們本季度迄今花費的 2 億美元，並取出每股 0.75 美元的基本股息，這就是你對本季度回購的數學計算。這就是我們每天都會看到的東西。我的意思是，我們讓我們的團隊每週重新運行該模型，以計算當公開市場上的石油和地下石油之間存在如此大的錯位時，我們將在本季度有多少現金來回購股票.

Okay. That's helpful. And then just on the debt paydown. Obviously, you talked about paying off some of the Rattler debt here. Can you maybe just give us a little more color on the decision to kind of pay off some of the paying debt, which wasn't kind of due to the end of the decade, I guess some of the 29, 30s or whatnot in the second quarter. Look like you kind of elected to do that versus kind of pay the higher variable dividend because obviously, cash flows were up for the quarter. Just any more color kind of around the thinking there?

好的。這很有幫助。然後只是償還債務。顯然，您在這裡談到了償還 Rattler 的一些債務。你能不能給我們更多一點關於償還一些償還債務的決定的色彩，這不是由於十年的結束，我猜是 29 歲、30 歲或諸如此類的一些第二季度。看起來你選擇這樣做而不是支付更高的可變股息，因為很明顯，本季度的現金流量增加了。那裡的想法還有更多的顏色嗎？

Yes. It's a pretty unique opportunity where E&P has a ton of cash flow and bonds trading below par. And we saw that opportunity. Our Board saw with us and decided that buying back some debt well below par was a good use of capital and also exercise accelerates that deleveraging process to give us more confidence in the increased 75% of free cash flow going back to shareholders beginning in Q3.

是的。這是一個非常獨特的機會，E&P 擁有大量現金流和低於面值的債券交易。我們看到了這個機會。我們的董事會與我們一起看到並決定回購一些遠低於面值的債務是對資本的一種很好的利用，並且還可以加速去槓桿化過程，使我們對從第三季度開始增加的 75% 的自由現金流回饋股東更有信心。

Okay. And just to clarify on the shareholder returns, you guys do not count debt pay down as a shareholder return, right?

好的。只是為了澄清股東回報，你們不把償還債務算作股東回報，對吧？

That's correct.

這是正確的。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from Paul Cheng from Scotiabank.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Paul Cheng。

Two questions, please. Can you just remind us what is your hedging policy, if that's an official guidance in terms of what percentage that you want to hedge? Secondly, that with the rising recession period, how that impact your thought process in the 2023 budget in terms of the capital return, balance sheet management and all that?

請教兩個問題。你能否提醒我們你的對沖政策是什麼，如果這是關於你想要對沖多少百分比的官方指導？其次，隨著經濟衰退期的增加，這對您在 2023 年預算中資本回報、資產負債表管理等方面的思考過程有何影響？

Yes. Good questions, Paul. I'll take the hedging policy, and I'll let Travis talk more macro about 2023. Just generally, we do buy puts for rainy days. So we've gone to the balance sheet is strengthened, we bought more and more puts around $50 to $55 Brent. In that situation, if we do go below $55 Brent, we're probably making capital decisions to slow down, but the balance sheet doesn't blow out. We can still pay our dividend and still generate free cash in that situation. So really protecting for a rainy day, trying to spend around $1.50 to $2 a barrel to buy those puts, and we want to be about 60% hedged going into a particular quarter. So if you look at our hedge book, about 60% hedged for Q3, going down to about 0% by Q2, Q3 of 2023. And we'll just continue to keep rolling that forward for rainy day insurance.

是的。好問題，保羅。我會採取對沖政策，我會讓特拉維斯更宏觀地談論 2023 年。一般來說，我們確實會在未雨綢繆的時候買入看跌期權。所以我們已經去加強資產負債表，我們買了越來越多的看跌期權，大約在 50 美元到 55 美元布倫特附近。在這種情況下，如果我們的布倫特原油價格跌破 55 美元，我們可能會做出放慢速度的資本決策，但資產負債表並沒有爆破。在這種情況下，我們仍然可以支付股息並產生自由現金。所以真的是在未雨綢繆，試圖花大約每桶 1.50 美元到 2 美元購買這些看跌期權，我們希望在特定季度進行大約 60% 的對沖。因此，如果您查看我們的對沖賬簿，第三季度對沖約 60%，到 2023 年第三季度第二季度下降至約 0%。我們將繼續為未雨綢繆繼續滾動。

And Paul, the energy has typically been a pretty good hedge a bit offset historically. And as you look into 2023, regardless of how you define a recession, it looks like there will be recessionary impacts across our economy. But what's a little bit different this time is that the world today still appears to be chronically short physical barrels with not a lot of spare capacity to fill that gap. And so while we don't necessarily plan on anything other than in the future than our mid-cycle prospect, it looks to me like the macros -- the macro looks pretty positive for energy prices over the next couple of years, even in spite of what I know will be a recessionary impact. And look, if you do see some recessionary impacts, it will probably soften some of the inflationary pressures we're seeing today.

而保羅，從歷史上看，能量通常是一個很好的對沖工具。展望 2023 年，無論您如何定義衰退，我們的經濟似乎都會受到衰退影響。但這次有點不同的是，今天的世界似乎仍然是長期短缺的實物桶，沒有太多的閒置產能來填補這一空白。因此，雖然除了我們的中期前景之外，我們不一定會計劃未來以外的任何事情，但在我看來，它就像宏觀 - 宏觀看起來對未來幾年的能源價格非常有利，儘管儘管如此據我所知，這將是經濟衰退的影響。看，如果你確實看到了一些衰退影響，它可能會緩解我們今天看到的一些通脹壓力。

Yes. I'd make one more point. That's the benefit of this new business model where we're not changing our plans for every $10, $20, $30 move in oil prices. There needs to be a $50 move in oil price lower before we discuss any change to our execution plan. And I think this level-loaded plan, level-loaded activity levels has allowed us to fight off the inflation bug a little better than most. And again, as Travis mentioned, there's no oil out there.

是的。我再提一點。這就是這種新商業模式的好處，在這種模式下，我們不會因為油價每波動 10 美元、20 美元、30 美元而改變我們的計劃。在我們討論對我們的執行計劃進行任何更改之前，油價需要下跌 50 美元。而且我認為這個級別加載的計劃，級別加載的活動級別使我們能夠比大多數人更好地抵抗通貨膨脹錯誤。再一次，正如特拉維斯所說，那裡沒有石油。

Just curious that when you gentlemen kind of want to keep more cash balance if that's the increasing recession fee?

只是好奇，當你們先生們想要保持更多的現金餘額時，如果那是不斷增加的衰退費用？

Yes. Right now there is still cash. We certainly want to cash balance. The cash balance moves a lot right now and when you're generating $1 billion of revenue a month, if the cash balance fluctuates wildly throughout each month. I think generally, having a strong balance sheet, having some cash and having access to capital through a cycle is something us and the Board discuss on a monthly basis. And I think that also ties to where your maturity profile sits, right? So if we not only have less debt, but a longer duration maturity profile, that gives us confidence in our access to capital and our ability to generate cash, given that our cash flow breakeven is down in the mid-30s a barrel.

是的。現在還有現金。我們當然要現金餘額。現在現金餘額變動很大，當您每月產生 10 億美元的收入時，如果現金餘額每個月都在劇烈波動。我認為一般來說，擁有強大的資產負債表、擁有一些現金並通過一個週期獲得資本是我們和董事會每月討論的事情。而且我認為這也與您的成熟度概況有關，對嗎？因此，如果我們不僅債務減少，而且期限更長，這讓我們對獲得資本和產生現金的能力充滿信心，因為我們的現金流盈虧平衡點在每桶 30 年代中期下降。

And I am showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back over to Travis Stice, CEO, for closing remarks.

我沒有再提出任何問題。我現在想把電話轉回給首席執行官 Travis Stice 來做閉幕詞。

Thank you again for everyone for participating in today's call. If you've got any questions, please reach out to us using the contact informations provided. Thank you.

再次感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。如果您有任何問題，請使用提供的聯繫信息與我們聯繫。謝謝你。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。