Diamondback Energy Inc (FANG) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Diamondback Energy second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加響尾蛇能源 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Adam Wallace, VP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的第一位發言人，投資者關係副總裁 Adam Wallace。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Diamondback second quarter 2024 conference call. During our call today, we will reference an updated investor presentation and letter to stockholders, 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。早安，歡迎參加響尾蛇 2024 年第二季電話會議。在今天的電話會議中，我們將參考更新的投資者介紹和致股東的信函，這些內容可以在響尾蛇的網站上找到。今天代表 Diamondback 的是董事長兼執行長 Travis Stice； Kaes Vanât Hof，總裁兼財務長；和首席營運長丹尼·韋森 (Danny Wesson)。

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

在本次電話會議期間，與會者可能會就本公司的財務狀況、營運績效、計畫、目標、未來績效和業務做出某些前瞻性陳述。我們提醒您，由於各種因素，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性聲明中所示的結果有重大差異。有關這些因素的資訊可以在公司向 SEC 提交的文件中找到，我們將參考某些非 GAAP 措施。

The reconciliations with the appropriate GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release issued yesterday afternoon. And I will now turn the call over to Travis Stice.

與適當的公認會計準則措施的對帳可以在我們昨天下午發布的收益報告中找到。我現在將把電話轉給特拉維斯·斯蒂斯。

Thank you, Adam, and I appreciate everyone joining this morning. I hope you continue to find the stockholders' letter issued last night and efficient way to communicate. We spent a lot of time putting that together and there's a lot of material contained in the text. Operator, would you please open the line for questions?

謝謝你，亞當，我也謝謝今天早上大家的加入。希望大家繼續尋找昨晚發出的股東信和高效率的溝通方式。我們花了很多時間將它們放在一起，並且文本中包含了很多材料。接線生，請您撥打電話提問好嗎？

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Neal Dingmann of Truist.

Truist 的尼爾丁曼。

Good morning, Travis and nice results. Travis, my first question is on sort of the leading capital efficiencies you all continue to highlight. Specifically, you talked about the latest announcement and I think you guys talked about dropping to 10 from 12 rigs and I think what that's even versus 14 a few months ago. And I'm just wondering, are the drilling efficiencies so good that you're able to maintain the pace from nearly 30% rigs than just a few months ago? And just wondering how you anticipate or if you anticipate the same type of efficiency as once you take over the Endeavor assets?

早安，崔維斯，結果很好。崔維斯，我的第一個問題是關於你們一直強調的領先資本效率。具體來說，你們談到了最新的公告，我想你們談到了從 12 台鑽機減少到 10 台，我認為這與幾個月前的 14 台鑽機相比是多少。我只是想知道，鑽井效率是否如此之好，以至於您能夠保持比幾個月前近 30% 的鑽機數量的增長速度？只是想知道您如何預期，或者您是否預期與接管奮進資產後相同類型的效率？

Sure. Good question, Neal. The first half of the year was really typified by us doing more with less. And you gave some numbers there, but just to, just to repeat some of those in January of this year, we estimated that we could get 24 wells per rig per year and now we're up to 26 wells per year for the rest of the year. And you see a similar efficiency gain on the completions, where we previously signaled 80 completions per year per crew, and now we're up to over 100 completions per crew per year. Those are simul-frac crews.

當然。好問題，尼爾。今年上半年的特色是我們事半功倍。你在那裡給出了一些數字，但只是為了重複今年 1 月的一些數字，我們估計每個鑽機每年可以鑽 24 口井，現在剩下的時間我們每年可以鑽 26 口井那一年。您會看到完成次數也有類似的效率提升，之前我們表示每個工作人員每年完成 80 次工作，而現在每個工作人員每年完成 100 多次工作。這些是同步壓裂人員。

And look, as we look into the future, one of the things that I get excited about is that these efficiencies are things that we don't get back. And so as we incorporate after close the new assets from Endeavor, I fully anticipate our operations organization combined with Endeavor's operations organization will be able to continue these results. And what's significant about that is when we talked to the market on February 12 announcing this deal, one of the biggest, the biggest synergy that we talked about was being able to apply Diamondback's current D&C cost on a larger asset.

看看，當我們展望未來時，令我興奮的一件事是，這些效率是我們無法恢復的。因此，當我們在收購 Endeavor 的新資產後合併時，我完全預計我們的營運組織與 Endeavor 的營運組織相結合將能夠繼續取得這些成果。重要的是，當我們在 2 月 12 日向市場宣布這項交易時，我們談到的最大的協同效應之一是能夠將 Diamondback 目前的 D&C 成本應用到更大的資產上。

And I'm pleased to say today we're significantly below where we were in February. So that just accrues the benefit to our shareholders and, and really supercharges the delivery of the synergies that we were talking about. So, yes Neal, I'm very confident that we'll be able to continue this leading edge capital efficiency on a larger asset base.

我很高興地說，今天我們的業績明顯低於二月的水平。因此，這只會為我們的股東帶來利益，並且真正增強我們正在談論的協同效應的實現。所以，是的，尼爾，我非常有信心我們將能夠在更大的資產基礎上繼續保持這種領先的資本效率。

Great to hear. Then I want to ask just quickly, on shareholder return plans, maybe just on sort of broad strokes, specifically, how would your plan vary? I mean, obviously, oil prices are jumping around. It could be anywhere from $90 to $70 environment. I'm just wondering, given your market sort of leading costs that we see on Slide 9, I'm just wondering, depending on where oil prices go, is that just a matter of having more free cash for buybacks and variable dividends or would there be any other changes we see in a high oil price environment versus a lower price environment?

很高興聽到。然後我想快速問一下，關於股東回報計劃，也許只是粗略地問一下，具體來說，你的計劃會有什麼變化？我的意思是，顯然，石油價格正在跳躍。它可以是 90 美元到 70 美元之間的任何環境。我只是想知道，考慮到我們在幻燈片 9 上看到的市場領先成本，我只是想知道，根據油價走勢，這只是擁有更多自由現金用於回購和可變股息的問題還是會與較低的油價環境相比，我們在高油價環境中看到的還有其他變化嗎？

Yes Neal, I mean I think the key point here is we've always had a very flexible return of capital program. Since the very beginning, when we put this in place in 2021, we've said we'd like to be able to flex between buying back shares and paying a variable dividends and we take that capital allocation decision very, very seriously. So we're set up in a way where if you have periods of weakness like we've seen over the last week or two, that's when the buyback kicks in. And if it continues to be weak, we'll continue to buy back more shares.

是的，尼爾，我的意思是我認為這裡的關鍵點是我們一直有一個非常靈活的資本回報計劃。從一開始，當我們在 2021 年實施這項措施時，我們就表示希望能夠在回購股票和支付可變股息之間進行靈活調整，並且我們非常非常認真地對待這一資本分配決定。因此，我們的設置方式是，如果你經歷了像我們過去一兩週所看到的那樣的疲軟時期，那就是回購開始的時候。

That's the benefit of having a low break even on your capital program, low break even on your base dividend, and continuing to generate free cash flow down to much lower numbers than peers or than what the market is used to. So I think we're excited. If things do stay weak, we'll flex that buyback and be aggressive there. And if things improve and we have a good quarter in the 80s or 90s on crude then and we'll pay a big variable dividend. But I think that flexibility has been very, very advantageous to our shareholders over the last three years.

這就是資本計畫低損益平衡、基本股利低損益平衡以及持續產生比同業或市場習慣低得多的自由現金流的好處。所以我想我們很興奮。如果情況確實持續疲軟，我們將靈活回購並積極進取。如果情況有所改善，並且我們在 80 年代或 90 年代的原油方面表現良好，那麼我們將支付大量的可變股息。但我認為，在過去三年裡，彈性對我們的股東來說非常非常有利。

And how long does that break even gotten down to?

收支平衡需要多久？

Listen, we were very focused on looking at our base dividend breakeven at $40 crude, so mid-cycle capital costs $40 crude, we could keep production flat. I don't think in a $40 crude scenario we would do that. I think kind of lessons learned from what we've seen through the cycles over the years is that it's okay to let production decline if we were in a very, very weak commodity price scenario. But in that scenario, we should be allocating 100% of our free cash flow or even more to buying back shares, because in that situation, your share price is going to be likely to be very weak. So we're really trying to move the capital allocation decision from the field and the assets to what do you do with your free cash flow and that's I think is a good place to be.

聽著，我們非常關注 40 美元原油的基本股息盈虧平衡點，因此中期資本成本為 40 美元原油，我們可以保持產量持平。我認為在原油價格為 40 美元的情況下我們不會這樣做。我認為我們從多年來的周期中學到的教訓是，如果我們處於非常非常疲軟的商品價格情況下，讓產量下降是可以的。但在這種情況下，我們應該將 100% 甚至更多的自由現金流用於回購股票，因為在這種情況下，你的股價可能會非常疲軟。因此，我們確實在努力將資本配置決策從現場和資產轉移到如何利用自由現金流，我認為這是一個好地方。

Neil Mehta of Goldman Sachs.

高盛的尼爾·梅塔。

Yes. Good morning and congrats again on very strong execution here. You've talked about getting that net debt level lower post transaction case. Kaes and Travis, how do you see yourself doing that? Is it through asset sales or through organic free cash flow generation? Just your perspective on the asset sale market recognizing you did some small deals here in the quarter?

是的。早安，再次恭喜這裡非常強大的執行力。您談到了在交易後降低淨債務水準。 Kaes 和 Travis，您如何看待自己這樣做？是透過資產出售還是透過有機自由現金流產生？您對資產銷售市場的看法是否認識到您在本季度進行了一些小額交易？

Yes, Neil. I mean, I think when we announced the deal, we were very conscious of the cash stock mix that we put in place for the Endeavor merger. I don't think we put it -- we didn't put so much cash in the deal that we had to be a seller of assets. But what you've seen us do is, sell multiple things now over the last couple quarters that start that up. Right? We sold a little bit of our Viper ownership to take some risk off the table and get some cash in the door. We sold our interest in WTG West Texas Gas to Energy Transfer. That will get some cash in the door.

是的，尼爾。我的意思是，我認為當我們宣布這項交易時，我們非常清楚我們為奮進合併所採用的現金股票組合。我認為我們沒有這麼說——我們沒有在交易中投入太多現金，以至於我們必須成為資產賣家。但你看到我們所做的是，在過去的幾個季度中，現在出售了多種產品。正確的？我們出售了部分 Viper 所有權，以規避一些風險並獲得一些現金。我們將 WTG West Texas Gas 的權益出售給 Energy Transfer。這會帶來一些現金。

And then little things like our little mono sale that we did last quarter, all that kind of almost adds up to $1 billion, which on top of free cash flow generation between January 1 and today is going to reduce the cash outflow burden for the Endeavor deal. I think we planned on looking at the deal as a delevering process through free cash flow, but the asset sales are a kicker that accelerates that.

然後是一些小事情，例如我們上個季度進行的小規模單一銷售，所有這些加起來幾乎達到10 億美元，除了1 月1 日到今天之間產生的自由現金流之外，這將減少Endeavour 的現金流出負擔交易。我認為我們計劃將這筆交易視為透過自由現金流去槓桿化的過程，但資產出售是加速這一過程的因素。

And I think we're highly focused on getting to $10 billion as quickly as possible. And then I think things can slow down from there. But I don't think you'll see us be a forced seller of assets post deal close. And I think we're going to be very, very stingy on keeping operated properties in the Permian because they're kind of worth their weight in gold right now.

我認為我們高度重視盡快達到 100 億美元。然後我認為事情會從那裡開始放緩。但我認為您不會看到我們在交易完成後被迫出售資產。我認為我們將非常非常吝嗇地保留二疊紀地區的經營財產，因為它們現在的價值相當於黃金。

Yes. Makes a ton of sense. And then just your perspective on managing gas price volatility, first of all, what are your latest thoughts on Matterhorn and when that comes in? And then secondly, how do you mitigate some of the risks around gas prices so you can really earn the margin that you deserve on the oil side of the equation?

是的。很有道理。然後是您對管理天然氣價格波動的看法，首先，您對馬特宏峰的最新想法是什麼以及何時出現？其次，如何減輕天然氣價格方面的一些風險，以便您能夠真正在石油方面獲得應得的利潤？

Yes, that's been a big topic lately and obviously we need to start making more money on our gas in the Permian and Diamondback specifically. If you look back to the history of Diamondback, we've grown through acquisition. A lot of the deals that we've done have come with marketing contracts where we don't control the molecule much further than the wellhead. And so what we've been doing over the last, I'll call it five years, is that as contracts roll off, we've been taking advantage of that and getting taken kind of rights on that molecule.

是的，這是最近的一個大話題，顯然我們需要開始在二疊紀和響尾蛇地區的天然氣上賺更多的錢。如果你回顧一下響尾蛇的歷史，你會發現我們是透過收購而成長的。我們所做的許多交易都帶有行銷合同，在這些合約中我們無法控制比井口更遠的分子。因此，我們過去（我稱之為五年）一直在做的事情是，隨著合約的到期，我們一直在利用這一點並獲得對該分子的某種權利。

We started with our commitment to Whistler and have grown that. That combined with Matterhorn will have a little bit of gas on both of those. And then I think you saw our press release last week that we're going to be a participant in the next pipeline from those guys, the Blackcomb Pipeline. And I just think that fits the strategy of let's take control of our molecules and see what we can do with them and I don't think that stops at pipeline commitments.

我們從對惠斯勒的承諾開始，並不斷發展。與馬特洪峰結合，將為這兩座山帶來一點動力。然後我想你上週看到了我們的新聞稿，我們將成為這些人的下一個管道——黑梳管道的參與者。我只是認為這符合讓我們控制我們的分子並看看我們能用它們做什麼的策略，我不認為這僅限於管道承諾。

We're really looking at power needs in the basin. Things like our Verde gas to gasoline plant and trying to find ways to create a local market here in the Permian, because it's a shame that we continue to sell gas near zero or below zero. So it's on us to continue to improve that portfolio and I think with size and scale and time we'll be able to do that.

我們確實正在考慮該盆地的電力需求。例如我們的 Verde 天然氣製汽油廠，並試圖找到在二疊紀地區創建本地市場的方法，因為我們繼續銷售接近零或低於零的天然氣，這是一種恥辱。因此，我們有責任繼續改進該產品組合，我認為憑藉規模、規模和時間，我們將能夠做到這一點。

Thanks, Neil.

謝謝，尼爾。

Arun Jayaram of JPMorgan Securities .

摩根大通證券的阿倫‧賈亞拉姆 (Arun Jayaram)。

Yes. My first question is just on the efficiency gains you highlighted in the letter. It looks like you're pushing you're drilling cycle times to 26 wells per rig and on the completion side, pushing 100 wells per frac fleet, simulfrac fleet. I was wondering, Kaes and Travis, if you could describe what the drivers of that those efficiency gains are and perhaps help us think about what's underwritten in the pro forma $1 billion to $4.4 billion guide for Endeavor for calendar 2025?

是的。我的第一個問題是關於您在信中強調的效率提升。看起來您正在將每個鑽機的鑽井週期時間推至 26 口井，而在完井方面，將每個壓裂船隊、simulfrac 船隊的鑽井週期時間推至 100 口井。 Kaes 和 Travis，我想知道你們能否描述一下這些效率提升的驅動因素是什麼，或許可以幫助我們思考 2025 年 Endeavour 的預計 10 億至 44 億美元指南中承保的內容是什麼？

Sure. On the rig side, we specifically talked about bit and bottom hole assembly improvements and again, that's not necessarily the adoption of some new emerging technology. I think it's really another example of what our guys do really, really good, which is a laser-like focus on every decision that's made. They measure almost every attribute of drilling the well and they seek for improvement and they compete against one well versus the other and we pay bonuses to the crews out there when they execute in a stellar fashion. So it's not something, again, that's easily repeatable and it's not a shelf item that someone can go take, but it's a culture of execution that's always been part of this business.

當然。在鑽孔機方面，我們特別討論了鑽頭和井底組件的改進，這並不一定是採用一些新興技術。我認為這確實是我們的員工做得非常非常好的另一個例子，就像雷射一樣專注於所做的每一個決定。他們測量鑽井的幾乎每一個屬性，他們尋求改進，他們在一口井與另一口井之間競爭，當他們以出色的方式執行時，我們向他們支付獎金。因此，這不是一件容易重複的事情，也不是一個可以讓人拿走的貨架上的東西，但它是一種執行文化，一直是這個行業的一部分。

On the completion side, there's been some design changes where we've increased rate, but we've also continued to try to optimize the exact way that we mobilize equipment. We've done some changes on some pipe down hole that allows a greater rate with less friction loss. So, again, it's nothing that's a marquee item, but it's just intense focus on doing what it is that we do, which is really, really execute well when we convert rock into cash flow.

在完成方面，我們進行了一些設計更改，提高了速度，但我們也繼續嘗試優化我們調動設備的確切方式。我們對一些井下管道進行了一些更改，以實現更高的速率和更少的摩擦損失。所以，再說一遍，這並不是什麼大牌項目，而是專注於我們所做的事情，當我們將搖滾轉化為現金流時，這確實執行得很好。

Yes, listen Arun, I mean all these things certainly have accrued to us since we announced the Endeavor merger in February. I think, as Travis mentioned earlier on the call, these are permanent items that aren't going to go away from service cost inflation or deflation. So as we work through the pro forma model, we're probably thinking that we're going to run closer to 18 to 20 rigs next year, versus 22 to 24 a while back, and closer to four to five simul-frac crews versus five plus. So we're certainly modeling these things accruing for the good guys, and it only give us a head start on the promises we made on 2025 numbers.

是的，聽著 Arun，我的意思是，自從我們二月宣布與 Endeavour 合併以來，所有這些事情肯定已經發生在我們身上。我認為，正如特拉維斯早些時候在電話會議中提到的那樣，這些是永久性項目，不會因服務成本通膨或通貨緊縮而消失。因此，當我們研究備考模型時，我們可能會認為明年我們將運行接近 18 至 20 台鑽機，而不久前為 22 至 24 台，並且將接近 4 至 5 名同時壓裂人員。因此，我們當然正在對這些為好人帶來的東西進行建模，這只會讓我們在 2025 年的數位承諾上取得領先。

Great. My followup is just on the raised production guide. You raised your oil guide at the high end by close to 1.5%, just under that and then you took up CapEx. Kaes, one thing that wasn't quite intuitive is that you're completing 7% more feet on a net basis. And so one of the questions that's come in is, would have thought maybe the oil increase would have been a little bit higher based on that level of completed footage. But maybe you could help reconcile that for us this morning.

偉大的。我的後續行動只是關於提出的製作指南。您將高端石油指導提高了近 1.5%，略低於該水平，然後您增加了資本支出。 Kaes，一件不太直觀的事情是，您在淨基礎上完成了 7% 的英尺數。因此，出現的問題之一是，根據已完成的鏡頭水平，石油增量可能會更高一些。但也許你今天早上可以幫我們協調這一點。

Yes, I mean, I don't think wells are completed like they look to be completed in the spreadsheet. Right? I mean, in 22 well pads, you move one pad from 2023 into 2024 and you got 22 extra wells. So we kind of moved almost, I think, 30 wells from 2023 into 2024. So our well count is a little bit higher than maybe a true level loaded run rate would be. But I think we're also just preparing room for a major acquisition to close.

是的，我的意思是，我認為井的完成情況並不像電子表格中看起來的那樣。正確的？我的意思是，在 22 個井場中，如果將 1 個井場從 2023 年移至 2024 年，就會獲得 22 個額外的井。因此，我認為從 2023 年到 2024 年，我們幾乎移動了 30 口井。但我認為我們也只是在為一項重大收購的完成準備空間。

And I think we're doing everything we can on our side to be prepared to hit the ground running and hit numbers right away and do exactly what you would expect us to do. So I think more importantly, it's the more drilled lateral footage for less CapEx that gives us a lot of flexibility in the second half of the year and carry that momentum into 2025.

我認為我們正在竭盡全力做好準備，立即開始行動並達到目標，並完全按照您期望我們做的事情去做。因此，我認為更重要的是，更多的橫向鑽探和更少的資本支出為我們在下半年提供了極大的靈活性，並將這種勢頭延續到 2025 年。

Makes total sense. Thanks, Travis.

完全有道理。謝謝，崔維斯。

David Deckelbaum of Cowen.

考恩的大衛·德克爾鮑姆。

Hey, Travis, Kaes, Danny and team, thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to followup on some of the earlier questions. You've obviously seen a lot of field efficiencies, particularly on the drilling side. You've lowered the Midland footage costs down, I guess 20 some dollars to midpoint. But I'm curious, like as you approach this 3Q to potentially 3Q or 4Q Endeavor closing, are there any parts of the efficiencies that you're seeing that you don't think that you could accomplish with as a synergy here? Because it would seem like that $300 million or so of synergies that you apportioned to just CapEx savings is increasing by the day.

嘿，Travis、Kaes、Danny 和團隊，感謝您回答我的問題。我想跟進一些之前的問題。您顯然已經看到了很多現場效率，特別是在鑽井方面。你們已經降低了米德蘭的鏡頭成本，我猜中間價降低了 20 美元。但我很好奇，就像您接近第 3 季到可能的第 3 季或第 4 季度 Endeavour 關閉時，您所看到的效率中是否有任何部分您認為無法透過協同作用來實現？因為您分配給資本支出節省的 3 億美元左右的協同效應似乎正在與日俱增。

I appreciate that and then just a followup to that. You've also seen the benefits of longer lateral progression, I guess, relative to your original plan this year. I know one of the things you highlighted with the Endeavor deal was the potential increase of lateral lengths to 15,000 further and beyond given 100,000 plus number of acres, how do you see the progression, I guess, into next year and then 26 in terms of lateral lengths relative to where we're at today or is this something that's a longer term endeavor?

我對此表示讚賞，然後是後續行動。我想，相對於你今年最初的計劃，你也看到了更長的橫向進展的好處。我知道您在 Endeavour 交易中強調的一件事是，考慮到 100,000 多英畝的土地，橫向長度可能進一步增加到 15,000 英畝，您如何看待明年的進展，然後是 26 英畝相對於我們今天所處的橫向長度，還是這是一個長期的努力？

Well, first we're going to have to get the two assets put together, which we obviously can't do that currently. I'll let Kaes answer the synergy question specifically, but I wanted to highlight something that we talked about in our earnings release and our stockholder letter was that we drilled a 20,000 foot lateral well in under eight days, under nine days, seven, eight days. And longer is not going to be a problem. It's just we need to make sure we have the least geometry to be able to drill even longer wells.

好吧，首先我們必須將兩個資產放在一起，但目前我們顯然無法做到這一點。我會讓凱斯具體回答協同問題，但我想強調我們在財報發布和股東信中談到的一些內容，即我們在八天、九天、七天、八天之內鑽了一口20,000 英尺的側向井天。而且更長的時間也不會成為問題。只是我們需要確保擁有最少的幾何尺寸才能鑽更長的井。

Yes, I mean, I think, David, on the plan we can't put anything together until post close, but I think the priority for the teams right now is what does the plan look like end of 2024 and into 2025 post close and then what are the projects look like starting to back out to 2025 and into 2026, start to extend laterals.

是的，我的意思是，大衛，在計劃上，我們在交易結束之前無法將任何內容放在一起，但我認為團隊現在的首要任務是2024 年底和2025 年交易結束後的計劃是什麼樣的那麼從 2025 年開始，到 2026 年開始延伸支線，計畫是什麼樣子的？

I mean, I think holding the level that we have this year, almost 12,000 feet on average for 300 wells is a pretty stellar number that we should probably look to maintain. I think going much further than that for a full program of 500 plus wells a year is going to be tough to do. But I don't think the guys are scared of drilling to 20,000 feet and if we have those opportunities, we'll take advantage of them.

我的意思是，我認為保持今年的水平，即 300 口井的平均高度接近 12,000 英尺，是一個相當不錯的數字，我們可能應該保持這一水平。我認為，要實現每年 500 多口井的完整計劃，要走得更遠是很困難的。但我不認為這些人害怕鑽探到 20,000 英尺，如果我們有這些機會，我們會利用它們。

John Freeman, Raymond James.

約翰·弗里曼，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Good morning, guys. First topic I just wanted to followup on is on the return of capital framework. When you look at Slide 6 and just sort of think about, again the efficiency gains that are really impressive, and is over time as that sort of drives that maintenance CapEx or reinvestment rate lower, should we think of maybe the first kind of evolution of that return of capital framework just being that creates like a bigger, I guess for lack of a better word, wedge that can go to that base dividend? Is that more likely kind of the way it would evolve as opposed to maybe increasing that 50% plus that's going to shareholders overall?

早安，夥計們。我想跟進的第一個主題是資本回報框架。當你看幻燈片 6 並想一想，效率的提高確實令人印象深刻，而且隨著時間的推移，這種驅動力會降低維持資本支出或再投資率，我們是否應該考慮第一種演變資本回報框架只是創造了一個更大的楔子，我想是因為缺乏更好的詞，可以達到基本股息？這是否更有可能是一種發展方式，而不是增加 50% 以上的份額給全體股東？

Yes John, I mean, I think those are two separate decisions, but I think you hit the nail on the head on as efficiencies accrue and our decline rate shallows over time and your balance sheet shrinks over time, that should create room there between your breakeven and your $40 dividend breakeven. So I think that's how we're still going to look at it. I think we see dollar $40 on the E&P side as a very well protected number. We're still going to buy puts at right now we're buying them at $55, $60 crude, but eventually probably reduce the value of our put buying down to closer to $50 just to protect the extreme downside scenario.

是的，約翰，我的意思是，我認為這是兩個獨立的決定，但我認為你擊中了要害，因為效率不斷提高，我們的下降率隨著時間的推移而變淺，你的資產負債表隨著時間的推移而縮小，這應該在你的損益平衡點和 40 美元股息損益平衡點。所以我認為我們仍然會這樣看待它。我認為我們認為勘探與生產方面的 40 美元是一個受到很好保護的數字。我們仍會以 55 美元、60 美元的原油價格買入看跌期權，但最終可能會將我們看跌期權的價值降低至接近 50 美元，以保護極端下行情況。

And I think the rest of the free cash, we did move back from 75% of free cash going to equity down to $50. But that doesn't mean that number is not going to be higher in the future in times of stress. I think in times of stress or significant stress, the number should be a lot higher than 50% of free cash going to equity. And when things are going well, the numbers should be closer to 50, and we'll continue to build a fortress balance sheet.

我認為其餘的自由現金，我們確實從 75% 的自由現金轉為股權，降至 50 美元。但這並不意味著未來在壓力時期這個數字不會更高。我認為在有壓力或重大壓力的時候，這個數字應該遠高於 50% 的自由現金轉入股權。當事情進展順利時，這個數字應該接近 50，我們將繼續建立一個堡壘式的資產負債表。

I've been very pleased with the response from our large shareholders on cutting back to 50% of free cash going to equity, because they want us to have a more fortress balance sheet than we even thought going into the deal. So I think that's been a pleasant relief and allows us to build a lot more cash and be ready for the inevitable down cycle in this sector.

我對我們的大股東將用於股權的自由現金削減至 50% 的反應感到非常滿意，因為他們希望我們擁有比我們在交易中想像的更堅固的資產負債表。因此，我認為這是一種令人愉快的緩解，使我們能夠累積更多現金，並為該行業不可避免的下行週期做好準備。

And John, I think a good way to demonstrate or a good way to visualize the Board's commitment to this sustainable and growing dividend is on slide 7. Go all the way back to 2018, when we initiated the dividend and you can see on that slide the growth rate. And on the bottom half of that slide, you can see that our commitment has translated into almost $8 billion of capital returned to our shareholders. So it is a meaningful lever that we have as a company and the Board's commitment to continue the sustainable and growing dividend.

約翰，我認為幻燈片 7 是展示董事會對可持續且不斷增長的股息的承諾的好方法或可視化的好方法。 。在這張投影片的下半部分，您可以看到我們的承諾轉化為近 80 億美元的資本回饋給我們的股東。因此，作為一家公司，這是我們所擁有的一個有意義的槓桿，也是董事會致力於繼續提供可持續且不斷增長的股息的承諾。

That's great. And then just my followup when we take these efficiency gains that have allowed you all to basically pump the brakes on rigs and frac crews in the second half of the year without missing a beat on the original production plan, is there any environment where you all would choose to basically just sort of plow ahead at the run rate you all were on in the first half of the year and just sort of allow production growth to accelerate? Is there any sort of an environment where you would foresee that ever kind of occurring?

那太棒了。然後，我的後續行動是，當我們取得這些效率提升時，你們所有人基本上都可以在下半年對鑽井平台和壓裂人員進行製動，而不會錯過最初的生產計劃，是否有任何環境可以讓你們所有人都受益會選擇基本上以你們上半年的運行速度前進，並讓產量增長加速嗎？您是否會預見到某種環境會發生這種情況？

Yes, I mean, historically we've tried post-COVID favor free cash flow generation over growth, and I think you've seen that trend continue here with what we're doing in 2024.

是的，我的意思是，從歷史上看，我們曾嘗試過在新冠疫情後更傾向於自由現金流的產生而不是增長，而且我認為您已經看到這種趨勢在我們2024 年所做的事情中繼續存在。

Thanks, guys.

謝謝，夥計們。

Scott Hanold of RBC Capital Markets.

加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的史考特漢諾德。

Yes, thank you. There's been a lot of talk of good operational efficiencies. Could you maybe pivot in and talk about what you're seeing in terms of, well performance of productivity over the last year. Is it pretty much status quo on apples to apples basis or are you seeing some gains there as well?

是的，謝謝。關於良好營運效率的討論很多。您能否談談您在過去一年中所看到的生產力良好表現。這基本上是同類產品的現狀，還是您也看到了一些進展？

I would say generally on a yearly average basis we see this year it's kind of going to be flat to last year. But I think what's unique is that we're adding a lot of Wolfcamp D, a lot of Upper Spraberry, more Jo Mill. We're adding more zones to our Midland development plan and getting the same output in terms of productivity. And so the resource expansion story probably goes sometimes unnoticed in the Permian. But talking about a zone like the Upper Spraberry where we hadn't drilled a well until two years ago outside of one Energen well in 2018 now becoming part of the stack of co-development without a degradation in well performance is truly what makes the Midland basin unique.

我想說的是，從年平均來看，今年的情況將與去年持平。但我認為獨特之處在於我們添加了很多 Wolfcamp D、很多 Upper Spraberry 以及更多 Jo Mill。我們正在米德蘭發展計劃中添加更多區域，並在生產力方面獲得相同的產出。因此，二疊紀的資源擴張故事有時可能會被忽略。但談到像 Upper Spraberry 這樣的區域，我們直到兩年前才在 2018 年的 Energen 井外鑽探一口井，現在成為聯合開發堆疊的一部分，且油井性能沒有下降，這才是 Midland 的真正原因盆地獨特。

So I think we've had a few really, really good years of well performance. We're always trying to keep pushing the performance side, but I think this year has been a year of cost gains versus well performance gains, but that doesn't mean there's not significant inventory expansion going on across our portfolio.

所以我認為我們已經度過了幾年非常非常好的表現。我們一直在努力繼續推動業績的發展，但我認為今年是成本成長與績效成長相比的一年，但這並不意味著我們的投資組合沒有重大的庫存擴張。

Thanks for that. And then my follow up question is, you kind of highlighted obviously all the drilling efficiencies again and I think you made a comment that from what you understand, the Endeavor folks are seeing some similar stuff. But can you give us some context like based on what you can see from your understanding at this point? Where is Endeavor relative to where Diamondback is?

謝謝你。然後我的後續問題是，您再次強調了所有鑽井效率，我認為您發表了評論，據您了解，奮進號的人們看到了一些類似的東西。但您能否根據您目前的理解為我們提供一些背景資訊？奮進號 (Endeavour) 相對於響尾蛇 (Diamondback) 的位置在哪裡？

So just trying to get a sense of should we expect once the merged company comes together, there's still some work to do to get it back, to get it all toward where Diamondback is right now, or is it going to be pretty much just hitting the ground running?

因此，我們只是想了解一下，一旦合併後的公司合併，我們是否應該期望它能恢復原狀，讓一切朝著響尾蛇現在的方向發展，或者它會只是剛剛起步嗎？

Well, it's going to be hard work for sure. It's our job to do that hard work and make it look easy for you guys. There's some decisions that we'll make pretty soon after we combine the two companies. One would be the use of clear drilling fluids and the second would be to put more of the frac operations onto simul-frac. So those are the two biggest levers that have the quickest change. But look, we're also going to, like we've always done, check our egos at the door and make sure we seek to understand what the Endeavor team is already doing.

嗯，這肯定會很辛苦。我們的工作就是完成這項艱苦的工作，並讓你們看起來很容易。兩家公司合併後，我們很快就會做出一些決定。一是使用透明鑽井液，二是將更多的壓裂作業進行同步壓裂。因此，這是變化最快的兩個最大槓桿。但是，我們也將像往常一樣，在門口檢查我們的自負，並確保我們努力了解奮進團隊已經在做什麼。

And historically that's generated better results when we seek first to understand and then pick the best path forward with the combined inputs from legacy Diamondback, and the new asset, new management from Endeavor. So we're going to make it look easy, but there's going to be, it's hard work behind the scenes, but I'm really confident that both of the two leadership teams are going to be able to pull this off and make it look good.

從歷史上看，當我們首先尋求理解，然後結合傳統 Diamondback 和新資產以及 Endeavor 的新管理層的投入來選擇最佳的前進道路時，會產生更好的結果。因此，我們會讓事情看起來很容易，但幕後的工作確實很艱苦，但我非常有信心兩個領導團隊都能夠成功並使其看起來如此好的。

Yes, I mean, I think from a numbers perspective, the way we're thinking about it is the pro forma business will be running basically kind of 21, 22 rigs off the start, and then by 2025, we'll probably be averaging closer to 18 to 19 combined.

是的，我的意思是，我認為從數字的角度來看，我們考慮的方式是，預計業務一開始將基本上運行 21、22 台鑽機，然後到 2025 年，我們可能會平均運行合計接近18至19。

Bob Brackett of Bernstein Research.

伯恩斯坦研究公司的鮑勃·布拉克特。

Good morning. Following up on those intriguing operational efficiencies, you mentioned the average of 26 wells per rig year, 100 wells per crew. What's the pace setting, rig or crew look like? Is it significantly ahead of that or is there a big opportunity to grab?

早安.繼這些有趣的營運效率之後，您提到每個鑽機年平均 26 口井，每個船員 100 口井。節奏設定、裝備或工作人員是什麼樣的？是遠遠領先還是有很大的機會可以抓住？

Hey Bob, it's Danny. Yes, I mean I think the crews and the rigs are pretty well all within a margin of error of each other in their performance. We've been really pretty active on fleet management over the past few years and continue to optimize our fleet where we see dwindling performance. And the best thing about our operation is the collaboration we have between the teams on sharing best practices on best-in-class rigs.

嘿鮑勃，我是丹尼。是的，我的意思是，我認為工作人員和鑽機的性能都在彼此誤差範圍內。過去幾年，我們在車隊管理方面非常積極，並在性能下降的情況下繼續優化我們的車隊。我們營運中最好的事情是我們團隊之間的合作，分享一流鑽孔機的最佳實踐。

So when we look at the rigs across the board there's always one pace setting rig, but that tends to move around as we share best practices and the other rigs catch up and then another one will pass that rig. So not one unique standout that's driving that number. It's pretty well across the board at that same level of efficiency.

因此，當我們全面審視鑽機時，總會有一個設定速度的鑽機，但隨著我們分享最佳實踐，其他鑽機迎頭趕上，然後另一個鑽機將超越該鑽機，該鑽機往往會發生變化。因此，沒有任何一個獨特的傑出人物能夠推動這個數字。在相同的效率水平下，它的整體表現相當好。

We do have a pretty healthy competition between internally and then we also every quarter we look externally and there's a pretty healthy competition. And that's why in our Stockholders Letter, I talked about in this quarter in the Midland Basin the drilling team got over 20,000 feet with a single bit run and that represents a record in the Midland Basin. So I'm sure that record will fall, but it's just part of the culture of evaluate internally and externally and compete to win and that's what our organization does.

我們內部之間確實存在著非常健康的競爭，而且每季我們都會進行外部觀察，也存在著非常健康的競爭。這就是為什麼在我們的股東信中，我談到本季在米德蘭盆地，鑽井團隊單鑽頭鑽探深度超過 20,000 英尺，這代表了米德蘭盆地的記錄。所以我確信這個記錄將會下降，但這只是內部和外部評估以及競爭獲勝文化的一部分，這就是我們組織所做的事情。

Yes, very clear. Quick follow up along that line. How do we think about the relative price between pulling on that ROP lever versus reducing nonproductive time or even reducing mob/de-mob time? Are they equal sized prices or is one the more obvious of the three?

是的，非常清楚。沿著那條線快速跟進。我們如何考慮拉動 ROP 槓桿與減少非生產時間甚至減少暴動/反暴動時間之間的相對價格？它們的價格大小相同，還是三者中較明顯的一個？

I think it kind of moves but you're getting to the point in time where, there's the little things we're focusing on now or the efficiency drivers. We talked in the last call about the guys focusing on pipe makeup speeds because that was where they saw the most NPT time on a well was just how long it takes them to break and make a pipe. And we're constantly looking at where that dead space is in these jobs and trying to attack it. And we don't just attack one dead space, we attack them all at the same time.

我認為它有所變化，但你已經到了我們現在關注的小事或效率驅動因素的時間點。我們在上次電話會議中談到了那些關注管道組裝速度的人，因為他們看到井上最長的 NPT 時間就是他們打破和製造管道所需的時間。我們不斷地尋找這些工作中的死角並試圖解決它。我們不只是攻擊一個死角，而是同時攻擊所有死角。

And I think, you know, NPT time has been a focus of coming out of the really aggressive activity levels we saw in 2023. And we've really done a good job of reducing NPT time, but there are certainly always things we can focus on there to continue to drive uptime and drive constant performance and not waiting on the sidelines for something to be fixed.

我認為，你知道，NPT 時間一直是我們在2023 年看到的真正激進的活動水平中出現的焦點。的在那裡繼續延長正常運行時間並推動穩定的性能，而不是在一旁等待修復問題。

And when we look at those details, we do it every quarter for sure. And what Danny is talking about requires a great deal of collaboration across all the teams. And even though I emphasize the competition aspect of what it is that we do, the collaborative aspect is really where this sits home, because when one team finds a solution, it's quickly shared with all the other teams internally. And in a similar fashion, if we find something externally, we would quickly adopt that as well, too.

當我們查看這些細節時，我們肯定每個季度都會這樣做。丹尼所說的需要所有團隊之間的大量協作。儘管我強調我們所做的事情的競爭方面，但協作方面確實是最重要的，因為當一個團隊找到解決方案時，它會很快與內部所有其他團隊共享。以類似的方式，如果我們在外部發現一些東西，我們也會很快採用它。

Roger Read, Wells Fargo Securities.

羅傑‧里德，富國銀行證券公司。

Yes. Thank you. Good morning. Congrats on another solid quarter, guys. Just a couple of questions kind of operating focused here. One, if we look at the production beat here in the second quarter, you got it on NGL and gas. We were just sort of curious. We kind of figured maybe you stripped more liquids out of the gas, but then you would have lower gas production. So maybe a little bit of insights into kind of what's lifting the NGL side and keeping the gas production up?

是的。謝謝。早安.夥計們，恭喜又一個穩定的季度。這裡只有幾個問題。第一，如果我們看看第二季的生產節奏，就會發現液化天然氣和天然氣的產量。我們只是有點好奇。我們認為，也許你從氣體中提取了更多的液體，但這樣你的天然氣產量就會降低。那麼，也許對如何提升 NGL 方面並保持天然氣產量有一些見解？

Yes, I think on the NGL side, trying to put as much ethane as you can in the NGLs to get them out of the basin, we even probably throughout the second quarter, we saw obviously a lot of gas price weakness. So we did take a couple of our highest GOR wells down for a month or two to ease that pressure. So I think even in the face of that, the gas curve continues to outperform expectations. But we kind of even curtailed a little bit of oil to make sure our gas production was a little bit lower in the quarter, which we kind of have continued in the third.

是的，我認為在 NGL 方面，試圖在 NGL 中放入盡可能多的乙烷，以將其從盆地中取出，甚至可能在整個第二季度，我們都看到天然氣價格明顯疲軟。因此，我們確實將幾口氣油比最高的井停了一兩個月，以緩解壓力。因此，我認為即使面對這種情況，天然氣曲線仍繼續超出預期。但我們甚至削減了一點石油，以確保本季的天然氣產量略低，我們在第三季繼續這樣做。

So we just have a lot of gas production out of this basin, and that's kind of why we have such a focus now on trying to generate more value for the gas that we're producing, whether that be in basin or out of basin.

因此，我們從這個盆地生產了大量的天然氣，這就是為什麼我們現在如此專注於為我們正在生產的天然氣創造更多價值，無論是在盆地內還是盆地外。

Yes. And just to add to that, the focus on around environmental performance has driven a lot of decisions to not burn gas in the field for energy consumption and instead convert that energy demand to electrical demand. And so you're seeing a lot of gas that would have otherwise been burnt in the field to run our operation being put down the pipeline. And then on top of that, the focus on reducing, flaring those are all things that send gas to sales and get reported as a production number. That's driving some of that increase you're seeing across the basin.

是的。除此之外，對環境績效的關注促使許多人決定不在現場燃燒天然氣來消耗能源，而是將能源需求轉化為電力需求。因此，您會看到大量原本在現場燃燒以維持我們的運作的天然氣被放入管道中。最重要的是，重點是減少、燃燒這些氣體，這些都是將天然氣送至銷售並報告為產量數字的因素。這推動了整個盆地地區的成長。

Okay, that's helpful. Thanks. And then just coming back to the drilling efficiencies and the completion efficiencies going from 24 to 26 wells on our completions, can you give us an idea of maybe where the upper 10% or upper quartile is? In other words, I'm trying to think of if 24 went to 26 is the best 30, and that's where you can ultimately go or it's a much tighter dispersion so it's 26 the average best 28, maybe worse, is 24. I'm just trying to get a feel for the further improvements kind of the same idea on the completion side.

好的，這很有幫助。謝謝。然後回到我們完井的 24 口井到 26 口井的鑽井效率和完井效率，您能否告訴我們上 10% 或上四分位在哪裡？換句話說，我試著思考如果24 到26 是最好的30，這就是你最終可以去的地方，或者它是一個更緊密的分散，所以它是26，平均最好的28，也許更糟，是24。

I think, it's a good question. It just depends. But we certainly have some rigs that are drilling at a pace of 30 plus wells a year. Just depends on which zones and lateral links and all that kind of stuff. But we're really focusing on pad cycle times and how to reduce the full pad cycle time. These are large pads and give driving flexibility in the plan by reducing that cycle time on the pads is really what's important to us. And so if we have one rig that's outperforming the others in one zone, we want to look at that zone, what that rig is doing and kind of share it with the other rigs so that we can accrue that benefit to all the pad development across our portfolio.

我認為，這是一個好問題。這只是取決於。但我們確實有一些鑽井平台每年鑽井 30 口以上。僅取決於哪些區域和橫向連結以及所有此類內容。但我們真正關注的是墊循環時間以及如何減少整個墊循環時間。這些煞車片很大，透過減少煞車片上的循環時間來提供計畫中的駕駛靈活性，這對我們來說確實很重要。因此，如果我們有一台鑽機在某個區域的表現優於其他鑽機，我們希望了解該區域、該鑽機正在做什麼，並與其他鑽機共享，以便我們可以為整個焊盤開髮帶來好處我們的投資組合。

Got you. And maybe if I could just clarify on that. Three mile laterals versus something less than that as a percentage of total.

明白你了。也許我能澄清一下。三英里的橫向距離與少於三英里的橫向距離佔總數的百分比。

I'm sorry, just to rephrase your question, are you asking what's their percentage of three mile laterals to?

抱歉，只是為了重新表達您的問題，您是在問他們的三英里側線百分比是多少？

Yes, you said, it depends on what you're drilling and which zones. I was just curious, is there, obviously, it would take not as long to drill a lesser length lateral, but I was just – is there a percentage that you offer of the much longer lateral wells?

是的，你說過，這取決於你鑽探的內容和區域。我只是很好奇，顯然，鑽一個較短長度的側井不需要那麼長的時間，但我只是——你們提供的較長側井的百分比是多少？

I think our 15,000 footers this year were like at 25%-ish of our development.

我認為今年我們的 15,000 個頁腳大約占我們開發量的 25% 左右。

Yes, listen, the rig per year number is an output of getting 300 wells per year drilled. Right? It's really about net lateral footage or gross lateral footage drilled per year per rig. I think Danny is talking about 30 wells per rig. Well, I think if we're drilling more Wolfcamp D with a particular rig, that rig is going to be a little slower. But I think the general standard Wolfberry development is pushing that upper, upper echelon, but we really see the rig count as the output of what we need to do from a drilling perspective on hitting production guidance.

是的，聽著，每年的鑽孔機數量是每年鑽 300 口井的產量。正確的？這實際上是關於每台鑽機每年鑽探的淨橫向進尺或總橫向進尺。我認為 Danny 說的是每個鑽孔機 30 口井。好吧，我認為如果我們用特定的鑽孔機鑽更多的 Wolfcamp D，那麼該鑽孔機的速度會慢一些。但我認為通用標準 Wolfberry 的開發正在推動上層、上層梯隊的發展，但我們確實將鑽機數量視為我們從鑽井角度需要達到生產指導的輸出。

Geoff Jay of Daniel Energy Partners

丹尼爾能源合作夥伴的傑夫傑伊

Hey, guys, just one quick one from me. I'm just kind of curious how you think about the potential for trimul-frac in your portfolio, kind of especially after Endeavor closes.

嘿，夥計們，我只想說一句。我只是有點好奇你如何看待你的投資組合中 trimul-frac 的潛力，尤其是在 Endeavor 關閉之後。

Yes, I mean, we've looked a lot at trimul-frac, and the struggle for us is the infrastructure spend we'd have to implement to get to trimul-frac across our portfolio.

是的，我的意思是，我們對 trimul-frac 進行了很多研究，我們面臨的困難是我們必須實施的基礎設施支出，才能在我們的投資組合中實現 trimul-frac。

And does that additional infrastructure spend, do we recognize the return on that from the efficiency gains from moving from simul-frac to trimul-frac? We think the cost benefit somewhere in the move from simul-frac to trimul-frac, certainly something we would pursue in areas where we have the infrastructure in place to do so. And if we have available enough development in that area, in those areas to dedicate a trimul-frac crew, you would see us move that direction very quickly.

我們是否意識到從同步壓裂轉向三重壓裂所帶來的效率效益所帶來的額外基礎設施支出回報？我們認為從同時壓裂到三重壓裂的轉變會帶來成本效益，這當然是我們在擁有適當基礎設施的地區會追求的目標。如果我們在該領域有足夠的開發資源，可以在這些領域專門派遣三重壓裂人員，您會看到我們很快就朝這個方向發展。

Excellent, thank you.

太棒了，謝謝。

Charles Meade of Johnson Rice.

約翰遜·賴斯的查爾斯·米德。

Good morning. Travis, Kaes and the rest of the Diamondback team there. Travis, yes thank you. I want to -- I think you really tantalized a lot of people with that metric. I really appreciated it, that 24 wells a year, 26 wells a year. But I thought Kaes' comment was really, really interesting in that I've been focused on that. I think other callers have been, but really, that's the output rather than the.

早安.崔維斯、凱斯和響尾蛇團隊的其他成員都在那裡。崔維斯，是的，謝謝你。我想——我認為你的這個指標確實吸引了很多人。我真的很感激，一年24口井，一年26口井。但我認為凱斯的評論真的非常有趣，因為我一直在關注這一點。我認為其他呼叫者也是如此，但實際上，這是輸出而不是。

It's kind of a manifestation or an indicator rather than a driver, if I understand case correctly and so if that's the right way of looking at it. When I look at the other pieces of your guidance, you've actually increased the lateral length a little bit, and you've increased the well count a little bit. And so is the delta on the drilling side actually a little bit bigger the delta, the improvement you've seen since your initial plan than that '24 over or '26 over '24 would indicate?

如果我正確理解了案例，那麼這就是一種表現或指標，而不是驅動因素，如果這是正確的看待它的方式的話。當我查看您的指導的其他部分時，您實際上增加了一點橫向長度，並且增加了一點井數。那麼，鑽井方面的三角洲實際上是否比您最初計劃以來所看到的三角洲大一點，比“24 年以上”或“26 年以上”24 年所表明的有所改善？

Yes. I mean, I think so, Charles. I think the point I was trying to make is that as a public company that has public guidance and quarterly guidance, we really work from guidance backwards, and we make what looks like an easy output on the surface is very difficult below the surface. There's a lot going on in terms of the teams being able to move things around and add rigs here and drop rigs there and the plan isn't always the plan. We got to be nimble and work together as a group.

是的。我的意思是，我想是的，查爾斯。我認為我想要表達的觀點是，作為一家擁有公共指導和季度指導的上市公司，我們實際上是從指導向後進行工作的，並且我們使表面上看起來很容易的輸出在表面下非常困難。在團隊能夠移動東西、在這裡添加設備、在那裡刪除設備方面發生了很多事情，但計劃並不總是計劃。我們必須靈活並作為一個團隊一起工作。

And I think that harmony we have across all of our functions is what makes us pretty unique, particularly also given that we're in one basin. So I would say the drilling improvements this year have been more surprising than the completion improvements because we always kind of thought that drilling was already near the asymptotic curve of what they've been able to do. Not to knock the frac guys, but the drilling improvements probably supersede the frac improvements here today.

我認為我們所有職能之間的和諧使我們變得非常獨特，特別是考慮到我們位於一個盆地中。所以我想說，今年的鑽井改進比完井改進更令人驚訝，因為我們總是認為鑽井已經接近他們能夠完成的漸近曲線。不是為了打擊壓裂人員，但鑽井改進可能會取代今天的壓裂改進。

Thank you for those comments. Kaes, go ahead. That's all from me.

感謝您的評論。凱斯，繼續吧。這就是我的全部。

That's a little test for the FRAC guys to step it up next quarter.

這對 FRAC 人員來說是一個小考驗，需要在下個季度加大力度。

Paul Cheng of Scotiabank.

豐業銀行的保羅·鄭（Paul Cheng）。

Paul Cheng

鄭保羅

Travis and Kaes, that we appreciate that about great improvement in your result. But just curious that, I mean, over the next two or three years, if we're looking at the productivity improvement in drilling and completion, is that one or two areas you see as the biggest potential for you and will you be able to also quantify on that?

Travis 和 Kaes，我們對你們成績的巨大進步表示讚賞。但只是好奇，我的意思是，在接下來的兩三年裡，如果我們著眼於鑽井和完井的生產率提高，您認為最有潛力的一兩個領域是您能夠做到的嗎？此進行量化？

And the second question is that if we look at oil pro forma over the next couple of years, I mean, in order to maintain a flat production post-Endeavor, I mean, how many wells that we need, is it 500, 520, 550 any kind of rough idea? And also that do you have what Endeavor gas pricing right now, are they all in the Waha basin or that they're also spread? Thank you.

第二個問題是，如果我們考慮未來幾年的石油預計，我的意思是，為了在奮進號之後保持穩定的產量，我的意思是，我們需要多少口井，是 500 口、520 口、第550章有什麼大概的想法嗎？另外，你現在有奮進天然氣的定價嗎？謝謝。

Well, I'll talk specifically about your look ahead for two to three years and I think if you put it in one bucket, it would be in the down-hole sensing technology that allows the bit to stay in the best rock, the highest percentage of time. And then on the completion side, understanding using downhill sensing, where you can place the most frac energy in the most efficient way that creates the greatest stimulated rock volume.

好吧，我會具體談談你對未來兩到三年的展望，我認為如果你把它放在一個桶裡，那就是井下感測技術，它可以讓鑽頭留在最好的岩石、最高的岩石中。然後在完井方面，了解使用下坡感測，您可以以最有效的方式放置最多的壓裂能量，從而產生最大的受刺激岩石體積。

And these sensing technologies are evolving very, very rapidly. I think before too long we'll be able to actually sense in front of the drill bit and drill towards a target rather than drilling past it and making adjustments. And that sounds like a small change, but I think the sensing technology that we're right on the cusp of having some of those problems solved is going to be a real game changer for our industry.

這些感測技術正在非常非常迅速地發展。我認為不久之後我們將能夠實際感知鑽頭前面並向目標鑽探，而不是鑽過它並進行調整。這聽起來像是一個很小的變化，但我認為我們即將解決其中一些問題的感測技術將成為我們行業真正的遊戲規則改變者。

Paul, on your well count question, I think kind of low 500 is a good place to start and as low 500 dwells per year, but as you know, the land efficiencies accrue to us and laterals extend and the decline rate shallows a bit, you probably start to get below that 500 number should production stay flat. Now, if things are a market that's conducive to growth, that probably changes, but on a flat basis, it's more capital efficiency, less CapEx, less wells to hit the same numbers longer term.

保羅，關於你的井數問題，我認為低 500 人是一個很好的起點，每年低 500 人居住，但正如你所知，我們提高了土地效率，橫向延伸，遞減率稍微變淺，如果產量保持平穩，您的產量可能會開始低於500 個數字。現在，如果市場有利於成長，情況可能會發生變化，但在持平的基礎上，資本效率更高，資本支出更少，油井更少，才能長期達到相同的數字。

Great. And Kaes, do you have an idea that what Endeavor gas exposure to Waha?

偉大的。 Kaes，你知道 Endeavour 氣體接觸到 Waha 的是什麼嗎？

Yes. So listen, we've seen what exposure Endeavor has. I do think there's going to be a lot of opportunities for both of us combined to get gas outside of the basin. We got to close the deal first and then we can start making decisions. But I think both companies are aligned that more gas needs to get out of the basin and less exposure to Waha.

是的。聽著，我們已經看到了奮進號的曝光度。我確實認為我們雙方將有很多機會從盆地之外獲取天然氣。我們必須先完成交易，然後才能開始做出決定。但我認為兩家公司的觀點是一致的，即需要更多的天然氣從該盆地流出，並減少對瓦哈的暴露。

Leo Mariani of ROTH

羅仕證券的利奧馬裡亞尼

I wanted to follow-up on some of the comments you made around the share buyback. Obviously you guys had leaned more on the variable dividend in the past quarter, but you certainly kind of indicated from some of your comments here on the call that given the recent pullback in the stock and the sector, the buyback was looking more palatable. I'm just trying to get a sense if you guys are able to start executing on the buyback here post quarter. Are there some restrictions in place with respect to the Endeavor deal that would prevent some of that over the next couple of months until the deal closes?

我想跟進您圍繞股票回購發表的一些評論。顯然，你們在過去一個季度更傾向於可變股息，但從你們在電話會議上的一些評論中肯定可以看出，考慮到最近股票和行業的回調，回購看起來更容易接受。我只是想了解你們是否能夠在季度後開始執行回購。對於 Endeavour 交易是否存在一些限制，以防止在交易完成之前的未來幾個月內發生某些情況？

Yes, Leo, I don't think there's any more Endeavor specific restrictions. Obviously, we're now reporting earnings today, so we're in a blackout day. But I think these periods of weakness allow us to step in and we pre wire the buyback for every blackout period. And I think if we continue to see weakness here, we'll get opportunities. We just have a little more flexibility if the windows open versus closed.

是的，Leo，我認為奮進號不再有任何特定限制。顯然，我們今天要報告收益，所以我們正處於停電日。但我認為這些疲軟時期讓我們能夠介入，並在每個停電期預先進行回購。我認為，如果我們繼續看到這裡的弱點，我們就會獲得機會。如果窗戶打開而不是關閉，我們就會有更多的靈活性。

Okay, I appreciate that. And then just in your comments here and your guidance for the rest of the year, it looks like third quarter CapEx is coming down some versus 2Q. It certainly sounds like activity is falling a little bit in the second half of the year and some of the OFS cost reductions are kind of rolling through as well. I mean, do you see standalone without Endeavor, CapEx continuing to kind of drop a little bit and activity kind of dropping a little bit in 4Q as well. I'm just trying to get a sense that that's kind of the low point for spend and activity on a standalone basis here.

好的，我很欣賞。然後，就您在這裡的評論和今年剩餘時間的指導來看，第三季的資本支出似乎比第二季有所下降。聽起來，今年下半年的活動確實有所下降，而一些 OFS 成本削減也正在逐步實現。我的意思是，您是否看到沒有 Endeavor 的獨立業務，資本支出繼續略有下降，第四季度的活動也有所下降。我只是想了解這是獨立支出和活動的最低點。

Yes, I think it'll be the low point for spend because we're a cash CapEx reporter. I think the low point for activity will be this quarter. So I think we'll probably bring back our fourth simul-frac crew end of this quarter into the beginning of next quarter. That's all on a standalone basis and probably bring back a rig or two, but not much more than that, so I would say Q3 is the low for activity, Q4 is the low for CapEx.

是的，我認為這將是支出的最低點，因為我們是現金資本支出報告者。我認為活動的低點將是本季。因此，我認為我們可能會在本季末至下季初恢復第四次模擬壓裂作業。這一切都是在獨立的基礎上進行的，可能會帶回一兩個鑽機，但不會更多，所以我想說第三季度是活動的低點，第四季度是資本支出的低點。

Thanks for taking my questions.

感謝您回答我的問題。

Kalei Akamine of Bank of America.

美國銀行的卡雷‧阿卡明 (Kalei Akamine)。

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. A lot of focus on field efficiency, so I'll leave that alone. I want to ask you guys about Deep Blue. The team over there continues to be very acquisitive. It looks like that business has grown about maybe 20% plus or minus over the past year in terms of capacity. Can you talk a little bit about the growth outlook for that business potential Endeavor, drop down included, and maybe help us understand what the scale of the business could be once it matures?

嘿，早上好，夥計們。感謝您回答我的問題。人們非常關注現場效率，所以我不會去管它。我想問大家關於深藍的事。那裡的團隊仍然非常貪婪。看起來該業務的容量在過去一年中增長了約 20%。您能否談談 Endeavour 業務潛力的成長前景（包括下拉式清單），也許可以幫助我們了解業務成熟後的規模會是多少？

Yes. Listen, I think we're very pleased with what the Deep Blue team has done in a short period of time. It's kind of exactly why we did the deal with them. Right? They've got a lot of third party wins, wins that Diamondback wouldn't get if Diamondback was trying to gather someone else's water. And on top of that, a little bit of M&A to boost capacity and reduce costs there. So we're really excited with what they're doing.

是的。聽著，我認為我們對深藍團隊在短時間內所做的事情感到非常滿意。這正是我們與他們達成交易的原因。正確的？他們已經獲得了許多第三方的勝利，如果小響尾蛇試圖收集別人的水，那麼小響尾蛇就不會獲得這些勝利。最重要的是，進行一些併購以提高產能並降低成本。所以我們對他們所做的事情感到非常興奮。

Endeavor has a very impressive water system that could be a candidate to merge with Deep Blue, but I think that the price has got to be right for Diamondback shareholders, and that's what we're focused on first. But, yes, listen, they're doing a really good job building a sizable business on the water side. And with the amount of water that it takes to run multiple simul-frac crews at the same time, you're moving hundreds of thousands of barrels of water a day at low cost. So very, very impressed with what they're doing. I don't think they're ready to monetize yet. It's a longer term investment for us and we look forward to continuing to support that business.

Endeavor 擁有一個非常令人印象深刻的供水系統，可以成為與 Deep Blue 合併的候選者，但我認為價格必須適合 Diamondback 股東，這就是我們首先關注的重點。但是，是的，聽著，他們在水利方面建立了相當大的業務，做得非常好。由於同時運行多個同步壓裂人員所需的水量，您每天可以低成本運輸數十萬桶水。他們所做的事情給我留下了非常非常深刻的印象。我認為他們還沒有準備好盈利。這對我們來說是一項長期投資，我們期待繼續支持這項業務。

Thanks for that. And then maybe following up on your comments on Wolf D and the Upper Sprayberry, can you talk a little bit about that program for this year? Talk about how you're layering those zones into your development plans, whether they're co-developed with other zones, for example, and if there's any learning to take away from this 2024 program.

謝謝你。繼您對 Wolf D 和 Upper Sprayberry 的評論之後，您能談談今年的計劃嗎？談談您如何將這些區域納入您的開發計劃，例如它們是否與其他區域共同開發，以及是否可以從這個 2024 年計劃中學到任何東西。

Yes, I think so, we added the Upper Sprayberry as a test. Well, kind of in the North Martin area, like Kaes mentioned a couple of years ago, really pleased with the performance of that well. This year we've tested it in a co-developed fashion and like Kaes said, we're not seeing any real degradation there. And so what we plan to do going forward is to add that to the development zones for the North Martin area.

是的，我想是的，我們添加了 Upper Sprayberry 作為測試。嗯，就像凱斯幾年前提到的那樣，在北馬丁地區，對該井的表現非常滿意。今年，我們以共同開發的方式對其進行了測試，正如凱斯所說，我們沒有看到任何真正的退化。因此，我們未來計劃將其添加到北馬丁地區的開發區。

I think we have some tests that are co-developed and some tests that are standalone. There are certain areas where the Wolfcamp D is significantly deeper than the Wolfcamp B, and we're not seeing communication. And there are some areas where it probably just makes sense to develop it with the stack because of above ground efficiencies.

我認為我們有一些共同開發的測試和一些獨立的測試。在某些區域，Wolfcamp D 比 Wolfcamp B 更深，但我們沒有看到任何通信。由於地上效率的原因，在某些領域使用堆疊開發它可能是有意義的。

Yes, I think that's right. We tested the Wolfcamp D kind of in that same North Martin area and really not seeing any communication with Wolfcamp B. So we think it's a zone that we can come back and get or where it competes for capital we'll add it to the stack.

是的，我認為這是對的。我們在同一個北馬丁地區測試了Wolfcamp D，實際上沒有看到與Wolfcamp B 的任何通信。新增到堆疊中。

That's awesome. I appreciate that, guys.

太棒了。我很感激，夥計們。

All right, thank you. I am showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Travis Stice, CEO, for closing remarks.

好的，謝謝。我目前沒有提出任何進一步的問題。現在我想請執行長 Travis Stice 發表結束語。

Thank you again for everyone participating in today's call. If you've got any questions please reach out to us using the contact information we’ve previously provided. Thank you and have a great day.

再次感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。如果您有任何疑問，請使用我們之前提供的聯絡資訊與我們聯絡。謝謝您，祝您有美好的一天。

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

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。