Kimbell Royalty Partners LP (KRP) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Kimbell Royalty Partners first-quarter earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) And as a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Kimbell Royalty Partners 第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）提醒一下，本次會議正在錄音。

It is now my pleasure to introduce to you Rick Black with Investor Relations. Thank you, Rick. You may begin.

現在我很高興向大家介紹投資者關係部的 Rick Black。謝謝你，里克。你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Kimbell Royalty Partners conference call review financial and operational results for the first quarter of 2025, which ended on March 31, 2025. This call is also being webcast and will be accessed through the audio link on the Events & Presentations page of the IR section of kimbellrp.com.

謝謝接線員，大家早安。歡迎參加 Kimbell Royalty Partners 電話會議，回顧截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的 2025 年第一季的財務和營運表現。此次電話會議也將進行網路直播，可透過 kimbellrp.com IR 部分的活動和演示頁面上的音訊連結存取。

Information recorded on this call speaks only as of today, which is May 8, 2025. So please be advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate at the date of any replay listening or transcript reading. I would also like to remind you that the statements made in today's discussion that are not historical facts, including statements of expectations or future events or future financial performance, those are considered forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

本次通話中記錄的資訊僅截至今天，即 2025 年 5 月 8 日。因此請注意，任何時間敏感資訊在重播或閱讀文字記錄之日可能不再準確。我還想提醒大家，今天討論中做出的非歷史事實的陳述，包括對預期或未來事件或未來財務表現的陳述，這些都被視為根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法》的安全港條款做出的前瞻性陳述。

We will be making forward-looking statements as part of today's call, which by their nature are uncertain and outside of the company's control. Actual results may differ materially. Please refer to today's earnings release for our disclosures on forward-looking statements. These factors as well as other risks and uncertainties are described in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

我們將在今天的電話會議上做出前瞻性陳述，這些陳述本質上是不確定的，並且不受公司控制。實際結果可能存在重大差異。請參閱今天的收益報告，以了解我們對前瞻性陳述的揭露。這些因素以及其他風險和不確定性在公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中進行了詳細描述。

Management will also refer to non-GAAP measures, including adjusted EBITDA and cash available for distribution. Reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures can be found at the end of today's earnings release. Kimbell assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements.

管理階層也將參考非公認會計準則指標，包括調整後的 EBITDA 和可供分配的現金。在今天的收益報告末尾可以找到與最近的 GAAP 指標的對帳。Kimbell 不承擔公開更新或修改任何這些前瞻性聲明的義務。

And with that, I will now turn the call over to Bob Ravnaas, Kimbell Royalty Partners' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Bob?

現在，我將把電話轉給 Kimbell Royalty Partners 董事長兼執行長 Bob Ravnaas。鮑伯？

Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us on the call this morning. With me today are several members of our senior management team, including Davis Ravnaas, our President and Chief Financial Officer; Matt Daly, our Chief Operating Officer; and Blayne Rhynsburger, our Controller.

謝謝你，里克，大家早安。感謝您今天上午參加我們的電話會議。今天和我一起的還有我們高級管理團隊的幾位成員，包括我們的總裁兼首席財務官戴維斯·拉夫納斯 (Davis Ravnaas)、我們的首席營運官馬特·戴利 (Matt Daly) 和我們的財務總監布萊恩·林斯伯格 (Blayne Rhynsburger)。

We are pleased to start the year by reporting a record first quarter, which achieved several milestones across key metrics, including record oil, natural gas and NGL revenues, record consolidated adjusted EBITDA and record cash available for distribution.

我們很高興在新的一年伊始報告了創紀錄的第一季度業績，該季度在多個關鍵指標上取得了里程碑式的成就，包括創紀錄的石油、天然氣和 NGL 收入、創紀錄的合併調整後 EBITDA 和創紀錄的可供分配現金。

Other 2025 milestones so far also include completing a highly attractive and accretive acquisition in the core of the Permian Basin on January 17, 2025, increasing the company's borrowing base and elected commitments on our credit facility from $550 million to $625 million on May 1, 2025, and redeeming 50% of the Series A cumulative convertible preferred units on May 7, 2025, further simplifying our capital structure and reducing our cost of capital.

到目前為止，2025 年的其他里程碑還包括在 2025 年 1 月 17 日完成在二疊紀盆地核心的一項極具吸引力且增值的收購，在 2025 年 5 月 1 日將公司的借款基礎和信貸安排的選定承諾從 5.5 億美元增加到 6.25 億美元，並在 2025 年 5 月的 5 月 50%系列累積可轉換優先股，進一步簡化我們的資本結構並降低我們的資本成本。

Even with the uncertainty occurring across the broader geopolitical landscape, activity on our acreage remains robust with 90 rigs actively drilling on our acreage at quarter end, representing 16% market share of all rigs drilling in the Lower 48, which is unchanged from Q4 2024.

儘管地緣政治格局普遍存在不確定性，但我們油田的活動依然強勁，截至本季末，共有 90 個鑽機正在我們的油田上進行活躍鑽探，占美國本土 48 個鑽機總數市場份額的 16%，與 2024 年第四季相比沒有變化。

Permitting also remained strong. In fact, one notable example this quarter was from one of our oldest properties that we acquired in 2006 from an East Coast college endowment. This royalty asset, which we have owned for nearly 20 years and has generated profits that are multiple times its original investment, recently permitted 17 additional wells in Martin County, Texas, with NRIs above 2%. This shows not only the strength of our diversified portfolio of assets, but also the benefit of the perpetual nature of minerals that can often provide surprisingly upside decades beyond the original investment at no cost to us.

許可證也保持強勁。事實上，本季一個值得注意的例子是我們於 2006 年從東岸大學捐贈基金收購的最古老的房產之一。我們擁有這項特許權資產近 20 年，產生的利潤是其原始投資的數倍，最近又批准在德克薩斯州馬丁縣開採 17 口油井，NRI 超過 2%。這不僅顯示了我們多元化資產組合的實力，也顯示了礦產永久性的好處，這些礦產往往可以在我們無需付出任何成本的情況下，在最初的投資之後的幾十年裡提供令人驚訝的收益。

Line-of-site wells continue to be above the number of wells needed to maintain flat production, giving us confidence in the resilience of our production for 2025. Our superior five-year annual average PDP decline rate of 14%, including the inquired production requires only an estimated 6.5 net wells annually to maintain flat production.

現場井的數量繼續高於維持穩定產量所需的井數，這使我們對 2025 年生產的彈性充滿信心。我們的五年年平均 PDP 下降率為 14%，包括詢問的產量在內，每年僅需估計 6.5 口淨井即可維持平穩的產量。

Today, we are pleased to declare our first-quarter distribution of $0.47 per common unit, an increase of 17.5% from the fourth quarter of 2024 and reflecting an approximate 16% annualized tax advantage yield. We estimate that approximately 70% of this distribution is expected to be considered a return of capital and not subject to dividend taxes, further enhancing the after-tax return to our common unitholders.

今天，我們很高興地宣布第一季每股普通股分配 0.47 美元，較 2024 年第四季成長 17.5%，年化稅收優惠收益率約為 16%。我們估計，預計該分配中約有 70% 將被視為資本回報，無需繳納股息稅，從而進一步提高普通股持有人的稅後回報。

Turning to the remainder of the year, despite the current volatility and uncertainty in the broader economy and its impact on commodity prices, we remain confident in achieving our goals for 2025.

展望今年剩餘時間，儘管當前整體經濟存在波動性和不確定性，且對大宗商品價格產生影響，但我們仍有信心實現 2025 年的目標。

As a pure-play mineral company with ownership of a diversified portfolio of high-margin shallow decline assets with zero capital requirements needed to support resilient free cash flow, we remain bullish about the US oil and natural gas royalty industry and our role as a leading consolidator in the sector. We are encouraged by the opportunities we see in 2025 and beyond to continue to grow and expand our industry-leading portfolio of assets to generate long-term unitholder value.

作為一家純礦業公司，我們擁有多元化的高利潤淺層斜坡資產組合，且無需任何資本要求即可支持穩定的自由現金流，因此我們仍然看好美國石油和天然氣特許權使用費行業以及我們作為該行業領先整合者的角色。我們對 2025 年及以後的機會感到鼓舞，將繼續發展和擴大我們行業領先的資產組合，以創造長期的單位持有人價值。

I'll now turn the call over to Davis.

我現在將電話轉給戴維斯。

Thanks, Bob, and good morning, everyone. As Bob mentioned, this is another strong quarter for Kimbell. We generated several new quarterly records for oil, natural gas and NGL revenues, consolidated adjusted EBITDA and cash available for distribution. We also increased our borrowing base and elected commitment and redeemed 50% of the Series A convertible preferred units which I'll discuss in more detail in a moment.

謝謝，鮑勃，大家早安。正如鮑伯所說，這對金貝爾來說又是一個強勁的季度。我們在石油、天然氣和 NGL 收入、合併調整後 EBITDA 和可供分配現金方面創造了幾個新的季度記錄。我們還增加了借款基礎和選定承諾，並贖回了 50% 的 A 系列可轉換優先股，稍後我將詳細討論。

I'll now start by reviewing our financial results for the first quarter. Oil, natural gas and NGL revenues totaled $90 million during the quarter, which includes 74 days of contribution from the acquired production and is a new record for Kimbell, including a full Q1 2025 impact of the acquired production, first-quarter run rate production was 25,841 BOE per day. In addition, we exited the quarter with 90 rigs actively drilling on our acreage, which represents approximately 16% market share of all land rigs drilling in the Continental United States and is flat from Q4 2024.

現在我將首先回顧我們第一季的財務表現。本季度，石油、天然氣和 NGL 收入總計 9,000 萬美元，其中包括 74 天的收購產量貢獻，創下了 Kimbell 的新紀錄，包括收購產量對 2025 年第一季度的全部影響，第一季度的運行產量為每天 25,841 桶油當量。此外，在本季度結束時，我們擁有 90 個鑽機正在我們的土地上進行活躍鑽探，約占美國大陸所有陸地鑽機鑽探市場份額的 16%，與 2024 年第四季度持平。

On the expense side, first-quarter general and administrative expenses were $9.6 million, $5.8 million of which was cash G&A expense or $2.52 per BOE. Total first-quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $75.5 million, which includes 74 days of contribution from the acquired production and is also a new record for Kimbell. You will find a reconciliation of both consolidated adjusted EBITDA and cash available for distribution at the end of our news release.

在費用方面，第一季一般和行政費用為 960 萬美元，其中 580 萬美元為現金一般和行政費用，即每桶油當量 2.52 美元。第一季合併調整後 EBITDA 總額為 7,550 萬美元，其中包括收購生產的 74 天貢獻，這也是 Kimbell 的新紀錄。在我們的新聞稿末尾，您可以找到合併調整後 EBITDA 與可供分配現金的對帳表。

As Bob mentioned, today, we announced a cash distribution of $0.47 per common unit for the first quarter. We estimate that approximately 70% of this distribution is expected to be considered return of capital and not subject to dividend taxes, further enhancing the after-tax return to our common unitholders. This represents a cash distribution payment to common unitholders that equates to 75% of cash available for distribution, and the remaining 25% will be used to pay down a portion of the outstanding borrowings under Kimbell's secured revolving credit facility.

正如鮑伯所提到的，今天，我們宣布第一季每股普通股現金分配 0.47 美元。我們估計，預計該分配中約有 70% 將被視為資本回報，不徵收股息稅，從而進一步提高普通股持有人的稅後回報。這代表向普通股持有人支付的現金分配相當於可供分配現金的 75%，剩餘的 25% 將用於償還 Kimbell 擔保循環信貸安排下的部分未償還借款。

Moving now to our balance sheet and liquidity. At March 31, 2025, we had approximately $299 million of debt outstanding under our secured revolving credit facility, which represented a net debt to trailing 12-month consolidated adjusted EBITDA of approximately 0.9 times. We also had approximately $251 million in undrawn capacity under the secured revolving credit facility as of March 31, 2025.

現在轉到我們的資產負債表和流動性。截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日，我們的擔保循環信貸額度下未償還債務約為 2.99 億美元，相當於淨債務與過去 12 個月合併調整後 EBITDA 比率約為 0.9 倍。截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日，我們在擔保循環信貸額度下還擁有約 2.51 億美元的未提取額度。

Subsequent to quarter end, on May 1, 2025, the borrowing base and aggregate commitments on our secured revolving credit facility increased from $550 million to $625 million in connection with our spring redetermination. In addition, on May 7, 2025, we redeemed 50% of the Series A cumulative convertible preferred units outstanding. This further simplifies our capital structure and reduces our cost of capital.

季度結束後，即 2025 年 5 月 1 日，由於我們在春季重新確定，我們的有擔保循環信貸額度的借款基礎和總承諾從 5.5 億美元增加到 6.25 億美元。此外，2025 年 5 月 7 日，我們贖回了 50% 的 A 系列累積可轉換優先股。這進一步簡化了我們的資本結構並降低了我們的資本成本。

After giving effect to this redemption, along with the expected paydown from the remaining 25% of Q1 2025 projected cash available for distribution, Kimbell expects to have approximately $462.1 million in debt outstanding under its secured credit facility and have net debt to first-quarter 2025 trailing 12-month consolidated adjusted EBITDA of approximately 1.5 times.

考慮到此次贖回以及 2025 年第一季預計可供分配現金剩餘 25% 的預期償還情況，Kimbell 預計其擔保信貸安排下的未償還債務約為 4.621 億美元，而截至 2025 年第一季度的淨債務約為過去 12 個月合併調整後 EBITDA 的 1.5 倍。

We continue to maintain a conservative balance sheet and remain very comfortable with our strong financial position, the support of our expanding bank syndicate and our financial flexibility. Today, we are also affirming our financial and operational guidance ranges for 2025. As a reminder, our full 2025 guidance outlook was included in the Q4 2024 earnings release.

我們繼續保持保守的資產負債表，並對我們強大的財務狀況、不斷擴大的銀行財團的支持以及我們的財務靈活性感到非常滿意。今天，我們也確認了 2025 年的財務和營運指導範圍。提醒一下，我們完整的 2025 年指導展望已包含在 2024 年第四季財報中。

We remain confident about the prospects for continued robust development as we progress through 2025, given the number of rigs actively drilling on our acreage, especially in the Permian, as well as our line-of-site wells materially exceeding our maintenance well count.

鑑於我們油田上活躍鑽探的鑽機數量（尤其是在二疊紀地區）以及我們的現場井數量大大超過維護井數量，我們對 2025 年繼續保持強勁發展的前景仍然充滿信心。

Lastly, as evidenced by our track record of ongoing acquisition activity, we expect to continue our role as a major consolidator in the highly fragmented US oil and natural gas royalty sector, which we estimate to be over $700 billion in size. And as we have stated in the past, there are only a handful of public entities in the United States and Canada that have the financial resources, infrastructure, network and technical expertise to complete large-scale multi-basin acquisitions.

最後，正如我們正在進行的收購活動的記錄所證明的那樣，我們預計將繼續在高度分散的美國石油和天然氣特許權使用費領域發揮主要整合者的作用，我們估計該領域的規模超過 7000 億美元。正如我們過去所說，美國和加拿大隻有少數公共實體擁有完成大規模多流域收購的財政資源、基礎設施、網路和技術專長。

We continue to believe that the overall demand for Energy, our well-established and diversified asset portfolio, and the attractive opportunities to further expand and add scale within our basins will continue to enhance value for our unitholders in the years to come.

我們始終相信，能源的整體需求、我們完善而多元化的資產組合以及進一步擴大和增加盆地規模的誘人機會將在未來幾年繼續為我們的單位持有者提升價值。

With that, operator, we are now ready for questions.

接線員，現在我們可以回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) Tim Rezvan, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

（操作員指示）Tim Rezvan，KeyBanc 資本市場。

I want to start with your last comments about continuing as a major consolidator. No surprise there. But I was wondering if you could kind of talk about your interest in M&A today. Everything we're hearing on the oil side is that things are kind of on a pause right now. The mineral space, there's been a lot of new capital being deployed, especially on the gas side.

我想從您關於繼續作為主要整合者的最後一條評論開始。這並不奇怪。但我想知道您今天是否可以談談您對併購的興趣。我們所聽到的有關石油方面的消息都是，目前情況有點停滯。礦產領域已經投入了大量新資本，特別是在天然氣方面。

So can you talk about your interest today and maybe how your equity currency is not really what it was a few months ago as shares are pulled back across the industry? So kind of your interest and how maybe where your shares are trading today would factor into that? Thanks.

那麼，您能否談談您今天的興趣，以及隨著整個行業股價回落，您的股權貨幣與幾個月前相比有何不同？那麼，您對此感興趣嗎？您股票今天的交易情況可能會如何影響這一點？謝謝。

Yeah, great question Tim. Always looking at M&A opportunities just to stay right out of the gate, your comments notwithstanding, which I totally agree with. We've had a hard time transacting on natural gas deals over the last couple of years. Just seems like we've gotten blown out of the water. I don't know if people are baking in higher price decks than the future strip or what exactly is happening there, but that's been challenging on the natural gas side.

是的，提姆，問得好。總是尋找併購機會只是為了保持領先，儘管您有這樣的評論，但我完全同意。過去幾年，我們在天然氣交易上遇到了困難。看起來我們好像被打敗了。我不知道人們是否會制定比未來更高的價格，或者那裡究竟發生了什麼，但這對天然氣方面來說是一個挑戰。

I'd say that for M&A activity, it's a high bar to state the obvious. We would be interested in doing deals where -- and we have a long history of doing this -- where we could use our equity accretively to buy assets that would delever the business and just accelerate not only the scale of the company, but also the deleveraging process.

我想說，對於併購活動來說，這是一個顯而易見的高標準。我們有興趣進行這樣的交易——我們在這方面有著悠久的歷史——我們可以利用我們的股權來購買資產，從而降低業務槓桿率，不僅加速公司規模，而且加速去槓桿進程。

So if you look back historically, we've done that quite well and have been fortunate to have a lot of success in doing that in the past. And I would expect us to -- I'd be surprised if we weren't able to execute on some sort of M&A on that front, let's call it over the next 6 to 18 months, which I think would be to everybody's benefit.

所以，如果回顧歷史，我們在這方面做得相當好，並且很幸運在過去取得了許多成功。我希望我們——如果我們不能在未來 6 到 18 個月內完成某種併購，我會感到驚訝，我認為這對每個人都有好處。

Okay. So I guess, we'll stay tuned on that front. And then, I appreciate the comments on leverage. It seems pretty clear that the residual free cash flow will work that debt balance down. Do you have a target number you're looking to? Or is the plan just steady state, pay that down to give you more dry powder for the next deal? How are you thinking about the target debt leverage?

好的。所以我想，我們會繼續關注這方面的情況。然後，我很欣賞關於槓桿的評論。很明顯，剩餘的自由現金流將會降低債務餘額。您有想要達成的目標數字嗎？或者該計劃只是穩定狀態，支付這筆錢以便為下一筆交易提供更多的資金？您如何考慮目標債務槓桿？

Yes, absolutely. So one advantage of the press that we have that I think is lost on a lot of people is that, for covenant purposes, it doesn't apply, right? So the reason that we have the press, which is more expensive than bank debt, is because we've seen this maybe several times in the past.

是的，絕對是。所以我認為，我們擁有的媒體的一個優勢是，對於契約目的而言，它不適用，對嗎？因此，我們之所以擁有比銀行債務更昂貴的媒體，是因為我們過去可能已經見過幾次這種情況。

The oil and gas industry goes through cycles. We like to put a paramount importance on the ability to protect common distributions. So we paid a dividend all the way through COVID. Even when oil went negative, we paid a dividend. So what we're doing is just carefully managing leverage so that we can stay at that 1.5 times target for the foreseeable future. And again, if we're able to execute like we have in the past on equity-based M&A, we would expect to be able to accelerate that payment down.

石油和天然氣產業經歷週期。我們非常重視保護共同分佈的能力。因此，我們在整個 COVID 期間都支付了股息。即使石油價格下跌，我們也支付了股息。因此，我們所做的只是謹慎地管理槓桿，以便在可預見的未來我們能夠保持 1.5 倍的目標。再說一次，如果我們能夠像過去一樣執行股權併購，我們預計能夠加快支付速度。

So keeping leverage at 1.5 times or less, we've gone considerably lower than that in the past. And then there's reload the balance sheet for future M&A down the road, where we have to use cash consideration to find something that's particularly attractive like Longpoint or something else. So goal is absolutely to continue to delever.

因此，我們將槓桿率保持在 1.5 倍或更低，這比過去的水平要低得多。然後，我們需要為未來的併購重新加載資產負債表，屆時我們必須使用現金對價來尋找特別有吸引力的東西，例如 Longpoint 或其他東西。因此目標絕對是繼續去槓桿。

Our business is, more than most, purpose-built for an environment like this. We have, by design, a very balanced portfolio between oil and natural gas. It's funny. I think a lot of people forgot that 50% of our production is gas-weighted, which has obviously benefited quarter over quarter.

與大多數業務相比，我們的業務更適合這樣的環境。我們設計了非常平衡的石油和天然氣投資組合。很有趣。我想很多人都忘記了我們 50% 的產量來自天然氣，這顯然使季度環比增長受益。

We also have diversity across every basin in the United States. And then last and certainly not least, we have the lowest PDP decline rate of pretty much any company that I'm aware of. So I think the combination of all of that plus 90 rigs still actively drilling on our acreage tees us up, at least on a relative basis, to outperform most companies in the upstream space.

美國各個流域也都存在多樣性。最後但同樣重要的一點是，我們的 PDP 拒絕率幾乎是我所知的所有公司中最低的。因此，我認為，所有這些加上仍在我們的油田上積極鑽探的 90 台鑽機，至少在相對基礎上，使我們有機會勝過上游領域的大多數公司。

I'd also add just anecdotally, just I thought this is interesting. We're in a unique position just given how diverse our exposure is throughout the United States. We have acreage in pretty much every county, if not every county, that produces hydrocarbons in the United States. And there's been a lot of talk in the last couple of weeks about drilling activity slowing down and what's happening.

我還要補充一點軼事，我認為這很有趣。鑑於我們在美國各地的曝光度如此多樣化，我們處於獨特的地位。幾乎在美國的每個縣（如果不是每個縣的話）都有我們的土地，可以生產碳氫化合物。過去幾週，人們一直在談論鑽井活動放緩以及正在發生的事情。

What's interesting is when looking forward to Q2, and I don't want to get ahead too much, but we might have the second highest lease bonus payments we've ever had in company history in Q2. And so I don't want to read too much into that, but we were a little bit surprised to see that lease bonus activity was picking up considerably at least quarter one to quarter two, and most of that's been in the Permian Basin.

有趣的是，當我們展望第二季度時，我不想提前太多，但我們可能會在第二季度獲得公司歷史上第二高的租賃獎金支付。因此，我不想對此進行過多的解讀，但我們有點驚訝地看到，租賃獎金活動至少在第一季到第二季大幅增加，其中大部分發生在二疊紀盆地。

So it just runs a little bit counter to the narrative that things are slowing down. And that isn't to say that things won't in the future, but from our perspective, not only have we not seen a slowdown, we've actually seen kind of a dramatic improvement in leasing activities, which I think is surprising, and I hope you find interesting.

因此，這與事態正在放緩的說法有點相悖。這並不是說未來不會發生這種情況，但從我們的角度來看，我們不僅沒有看到經濟放緩，實際上還看到租賃活動出現了顯著改善，我認為這令人驚訝，我希望你會覺得有趣。

I'd like to add to what David said. This is Bob. I've been doing this since 1998. I love this business model obviously. And what we're -- with regard to organic growth and production increases on our properties, we're very diversified. We've put together a portfolio with considerable thought through all the years to maintain a really low PDP decline rate.

我想補充大衛所說的話。這是鮑伯。我從 1998 年就開始這麼做了。我顯然喜歡這種商業模式。就我們的財產的有機增長和產量增加而言，我們是非常多樣化的。我們經過多年的深思熟慮，建立了一個投資組合，以保持真正較低的 PDP 下降率。

And what we're doing is really taking a bet on how smart the engineers and geologists and land men are and finance with -- that are employed by our operators. Their job depends on increasing production and maintaining production. Their salaries depend upon it and their bonuses depend upon it.

我們所做的實際上是在賭我們的運營商所僱用的工程師、地質學家和土地學家的聰明程度以及資金實力。他們的工作依賴於增加產量和維持產量。他們的薪水取決於它，他們的獎金也取決於它。

So every day, those engineers, geologists, landman, Midland, Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Denver are trying to figure out -- they're some of the best and the brightest in the US and they're trying to figure out a way to maintain production because they maybe want to buy a new F-150, they maybe want to get a nice Christmas gift for their kids and wives with a nice bonus and that's dependent upon them figuring out ways to maintain and increase production. I'll bet on that all day long.

因此，每天，那些工程師、地質學家、土地學家、米德蘭、休斯頓、達拉斯、俄克拉荷馬城、丹佛的人都在試圖找出辦法——他們是美國最優秀、最聰明的人之一，他們試圖找出維持生產的方法，因為他們可能想買一輛新的 F-150，他們可能想買一份讓他們的孩子和妻子買一份漂亮的聖誕禮物和一筆不錯的獎金，而這一切都取決於他們的產品和一筆都取決於他們的方式來提高他們的聖誕禮物和一筆不錯。我願意整天都為此打賭。

Okay. That's excellent color. I appreciate the context. If I could just sneak one last one in related to that comment on natural gas. I would have thought with debt up and some significant contango in the gas strip, we might see you all take advantage of that. I know you layered in some 2027 hedges, but you've seen about 20% hedged going forward. Just kind of curious on your thoughts on hedging with higher debt. Thank you.

好的。顏色真棒。我很欣賞這個背景。如果我可以偷偷地再說最後一句與天然氣相關的評論的話。我原本以為，隨著債務增加和天然氣帶出現大量期貨溢價，我們可能會看到你們都利用這一點。我知道您分層進行了一些 2027 年的對沖，但您看到未來約有 20% 的對沖。我只是有點好奇您對利用更高債務進行對沖的想法。謝謝。

Yes, that's a great question. We actually talked about that at the Board level yesterday. We run stress tests internally on our production, and we look for -- we stress the oil and gas down to very low levels, and we look at our ability to protect the ability to pay distributions to common unitholders. And we feel that 20% hedge level is a good place to be. That is something that we actively think about, though.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。我們昨天實際上在董事會層面討論過這個問題。我們對生產進行內部壓力測試，我們希望將石油和天然氣的壓力降至非常低的水平，並檢視我們保護向普通股持有人支付分配的能力。我們認為 20% 的對沖水平是一個不錯的選擇。但這是我們正面思考的事情。

And your point is well taken with, obviously, the natural gas strip increasing, should you layer on more hedges. It's something we think about. On the other hand, we try to take judgment out of the equation when we hedge. We don't try to time oil and gas prices when we layer on hedging. We have a very methodical formulaic approach to layering on hedges. So that thought is not lost on us. It's an intelligence side. But at this time, we still like that 20% hedging level. We think that it protects us even at a very draconian pricing environment.

你的觀點很正確，顯然，如果你設定更多的對沖，天然氣帶就會增加。這是我們正在思考的事情。另一方面，當我們進行對沖時，我們會嘗試將判斷排除在外。當我們進行分層避險時，我們並不會試圖預測石油和天然氣的價格。我們對樹籬分層採用非常系統化的公式化方法。所以我們並沒有忽視這個想法。這是情報方面的。但目前，我們仍然喜歡20％的對沖水平。我們認為，即使在非常嚴苛的定價環境下，它也能保護我們。

John Annis, Texas Capital.

約翰‧安尼斯，德州首府。

Hey. Good morning, guys, and congrats on the strong quarter. Good morning. For my first one, you mentioned the activity dashboard for both your line-of-site activity and your market share of active rigs is quite supportive of growth in 2025. With the strong volumes in the first quarter, how do you see volumes trending throughout the year? And is there anything that has left you a little more conservative just given the net well inventories are above maintenance levels?

嘿。大家早安，祝賀本季業績強勁。早安.對於我的第一個問題，您提到了您的視線活動和活躍鑽機市場份額的活動儀表板非常支持 2025 年的成長。第一季的銷售強勁，您認為全年的銷售趨勢如何？鑑於淨井庫存高於維護水平，有什麼因素讓您變得更加保守嗎？

Hey, great question and fair. We had a history of being conservative with our guidance. We're reaffirming our guidance. And I don't think there's anything at this time that we see that would cause us to alter guidance one way or the other. I think that in an environment like this, prudence is warranted. We're just unclear what's going to happen with drilling schedules and CapEx.

嘿，這個問題問得好，而且公平。我們的指導一向比較保守。我們正在重申我們的指導。我認為目前沒有任何事情會導致我們以某種方式改變指導。我認為在這樣的環境下，謹慎是必要的。我們只是不清楚鑽井計劃和資本支出會發生什麼。

Again, based on everything I said on the preceding 10 minutes, we're not seeing any evidence of a slowdown, which I think might be surprising to people, and maybe it comes in the future. But just based on near-term activity we've got from DUCs and permits, the amount of rigs that are running, lease bonus activity, everything else, we feel very good about hitting our guidance numbers this year, and I would like to just keep them the same. So that's why we're reaffirming them.

再說一次，根據我在前 10 分鐘所說的一切，我們沒有看到任何經濟放緩的跡象，我認為這可能會讓人們感到驚訝，也許這種情況會在未來出現。但僅基於我們從 DUC 和許可證中獲得的近期活動、正在運行的鑽機數量、租賃獎金活動以及其他一切，我們對今年達到指導數字感到非常滿意，我希望保持這些數字不變。這就是我們重申這些觀點的原因。

That's terrific color. For my follow-up, just regarding your attractive tax structure, how much runway do you have where your distributions can be conveyed on a tax-friendly basis?

這顏色真棒。我的後續問題是，關於您有吸引力的稅收結構，您在多大程度上可以在稅收友好的基礎上進行分配？

That is a great question, and it's a very complicated. It's a very complicated one. Obviously, we have a considerable tax shield, and we do feel that is a very unique attribute to our business. When oil and gas prices go up, more of our dividend is subject to taxes. When oil and gas prices go down, less of it is, and that's why we have that wonderful preponderance of our dividend, which is return of capital as opposed to ordinary income or dividend taxation.

這是一個很好的問題，而且非常複雜。這是一個非常複雜的問題。顯然，我們擁有相當大的稅盾，我們確實認為這是我們業務的一個非常獨特的屬性。當石油和天然氣價格上漲時，我們的更多股息需要納稅。當石油和天然氣價格下跌時，股息就會減少，這就是為什麼我們的股息如此豐厚，這是資本回報，而不是普通收入或股息稅。

The runway on that is hard to predict because it depends on so many different variables, production, oil and gas prices, which we can't predict, but it is considerable, I'll put it that way, and we see no near-term end to that runway, so to speak, in the foreseeable future.

這條跑道的長度很難預測，因為它取決於許多不同的變量，包括產量、石油和天然氣價格，這些都是我們無法預測的，但它是相當長的，我會這樣說，而且在可預見的未來，我們看不到這條跑道的短期盡頭。

Paul Diamond, Citibank.

花旗銀行的保羅·戴蒙德。

Just a quick one for you on -- I know you are paying down or redeemed 50% of the converts. Just wanted to get an understanding of how you all think about what's left long term and how that fits into the structure over time.

我只想快速地問您一個問題——我知道您正在償還或贖回 50% 的皈依者。只是想了解你們如何看待長期剩餘的東西以及它如何隨著時間的推移融入結構。

Yeah. So the game plan is to continue to pay down debt every quarter. I think we paid down $70 million of debt this quarter. And then every two to three quarters, we'll redeem out at least 20% of the face value of that press. That's the way that it's structured is that we can do it in 20% increments.

是的。因此，我們的計劃是繼續每季償還債務。我認為我們本季償還了 7000 萬美元的債務。然後每兩到三個季度，我們將贖回該印刷品面額的至少 20%。它的結構方式是，我們可以以 20% 的增量來完成。

So you'll see us continue to allocate 25% of cash flow available for distribution to debt paydown, and then we will periodically, every couple of quarters or so, chip away at that press, all the while maintaining that kind of ceiling of, let's call it, plus or minus, depending on oil and gas prices, the plus or minus 1.5 times EBITDA. So the goal is to just chip away at that over time.

因此，你會看到我們繼續將可供分配的現金流的 25% 用於償還債務，然後我們會每隔幾個季度左右定期削減這一壓力，同時保持這種上限，我們稱之為正負值，取決於石油和天然氣價格，即 EBITDA 的正負 1.5 倍。因此，我們的目標就是隨著時間的推移逐漸消除這個問題。

We did that -- the only other comment we've had a [press] is back when we did that Haymaker acquisition in 2018, where we bought into our what is the most important natural gas part of our company, which is in the in the Eastern Haynesville and Louisiana, and we did that quite successfully that way. And we just like the way that works. It gives us a lot of optionality to pay down the debt prudently and to manage our debt levels or covenant level.

我們做到了——我們收到的唯一另一條評論是我們在 2018 年收購 Haymaker 時，當時我們購買了公司最重要的天然氣部分，位於東部海恩斯維爾和路易斯安那州，我們透過這種方式做得非常成功。我們就是喜歡這種工作方式。它為我們提供了許多選擇，以謹慎地償還債務並管理我們的債務水平或契約水平。

Understood, makes perfect sense. And then just drilling down a bit more on something you had said prior, where you got to get blown out of the water on the M&A side for nat gas. I guess, is there any bifurcation in that narrative between Haynesville or Appalachia? And has it kind of shifted over time? Or is it all pretty much like everyone is locking in a higher future price?

明白了，非常有道理。然後進一步深入探討您之前說過的事情，您在天然氣併購方面遭遇了慘敗。我猜想，海恩斯維爾和阿巴拉契亞之間的敘述是否有分歧？隨著時間的推移，它有變化嗎？或者這一切就像每個人都在鎖定更高的未來價格？

Good, nuanced question. I would say it's been more competitive in the Haynesville than it has been in Appalachia. There's a lot of interest in the Haynesville these days. Look, we like Marcellus, too. Everybody loves the Marcellus. But just the ability to ramp growth there given infrastructure constraints is just obvious to everyone. So I would say if I had to handicap that, I'd say that we have been more in the money in Appalachia than we have been in the Haynesville recently.

很好的、細緻的問題。我想說海恩斯維爾的競爭比阿巴拉契亞的競爭更激烈。最近，人們對海恩斯維爾產生了濃厚的興趣。瞧，我們也喜歡馬塞勒斯。每個人都喜歡馬塞勒斯。但在基礎設施受限的情況下，其實現成長的能力是顯而易見的。所以我想說，如果我必須對此進行評估的話，我會說我們最近在阿巴拉契亞賺的錢比在海恩斯維爾賺的錢多。

And look, we've seen these waves before, I mean, there was a long period of time, where we were just getting crushed in the Permian, for example. And then as that place started to mature, things became more accretive to us, and we've been able to rattle off a series of acquisitions in the Permian. And that wasn't because we were deliberately targeting the Permian, it's just because that's where we saw the opportunity set.

看看，我們以前見過這些波浪，我的意思是，有很長一段時間，我們在二疊紀被壓垮了。然後，隨著這個地方開始成熟，我們的收益變得更加豐厚，我們已經能夠在二疊紀盆地完成一系列收購。這並不是因為我們有意瞄準二疊紀，而只是因為我們在那裡看到了機會。

I wouldn't be surprised to see, for example, the Western Haynesville, East Texas, those prices are really high right now, and it's still a relatively undeveloped play. There's still a lot of running room there. It's more difficult for us to make things accretive on a cash flow basis. I think as that play gets delineated as we get a better understanding of how things are developed, I would expect for that to become a more competitive place for us to allocate capital.

例如，如果看到西部海恩斯維爾、東德州的油價現在真的很高，而且還是相對未開發的地區，我不會感到驚訝。那裡仍有很大的發展空間。對我們來說，在現金流基礎上要達到增值更加困難。我認為，隨著我們對事物發展方式的理解越來越深入，這一格局也將逐漸清晰，我預計這將成為我們配置資本的更具競爭力的地方。

But good question. I think one other thing I'd add, everybody forgets about the Mid-Con. Mid-Con has tremendous gas volumes without any of the infrastructure constraints. The Longpoint acquisition that we did a few years ago really underscores almost the entire state of Oklahoma in terms of mineral ownership. So we've seen a lot of really, really great natural gas revenue coming in NGLs, coming out of Oklahoma, too. So that's an area where there's less competition, and frankly, just some really good repeatable well results. So I think that's one other play I'd kind of put on your radar of interest on the M&A front.

但這個問題問得好。我想補充一點，大家都忘了 Mid-Con。Mid-Con 擁有龐大的天然氣儲量，且不受任何基礎設施限制。我們幾年前進行的 Longpoint 收購實際上凸顯了幾乎整個俄克拉荷馬州的礦產所有權。因此，我們看到俄克拉荷馬州的天然氣液體產品帶來了大量非常可觀的天然氣收入。因此，這是一個競爭較少的領域，坦白說，只有一些非常好的可重複的良好結果。因此，我認為這是我在併購方面值得您關注的另一個項目。

Noah Hungness, Bank of America.

諾亞·洪尼斯，美國銀行。

For my first question here. I just wanted to ask on the first question here was just on NGL and natural gas realizations. You guys seem to come in a lot stronger than maybe what we were expecting and what we had seen similar times in prior years. Could you maybe talk about what drove that beat? And then also kind of how to think about where NGLs as a percent of WTI and natural gas as a percent of Henry Hub would kind of trend through the balance of 2025?

這是我的第一個問題。我只想問這裡的第一個問題是關於 NGL 和天然氣實現的。你們的表現似乎比我們預期的以及前幾年類似時期所見的要強大得多。您能談談是什麼推動了這種節奏嗎？那麼，如何考慮 NGL 佔 WTI 的百分比以及天然氣佔亨利港的百分比在 2025 年的平衡趨勢？

Yes. I would use this quarter's numbers as a goalpost for the rest of the year. Fourth-quarter differentials, they're traditionally worse for royalty companies, for everybody, but for royalty companies, in particular. I think 1Q number is going to be more representative going forward. And I actually asked that same question, Noah, to our technical team about where we're seeing the biggest uplift in differentials. And it's really been across the board. We've seen that pretty much in every basin across our portfolio and improvement in both NGL and natural gas differentials. So there really isn't one area that I can attribute that improvement to. It's really been across the entire portfolio.

是的。我會將本季的數據作為今年剩餘時間的目標。第四季的差異通常對特許權使用費公司來說更糟糕，對所有人來說都是如此，但對特許權使用費公司來說尤其如此。我認為第一季的數據將更具代表性。諾亞，我實際上向我們的技術團隊問了同樣的問題，關於我們在哪裡看到差異的最大提升。而且它確實是全方位的。我們已經看到，我們投資組合中幾乎每個盆地都存在這種情況，並且 NGL 和天然氣差異都有所改善。因此，我實際上無法將這種改進歸因於任何一個領域。它確實遍布整個投資組合。

Great. And then for my second question here, you guys gave us some great color on where net DUCs were at the end of the quarter. But I'm sure as you guys are well aware, a lot has happened since March 31. So could you guys give us an update on where the net DUCs stand today?

偉大的。然後，對於我的第二個問題，你們為我們提供了有關本季末淨 DUC 情況的詳細資訊。但我相信你們都很清楚，自 3 月 31 日以來發生了很多事情。那麼你們能否向我們介紹一下目前淨 DUC 的狀況呢？

Yes, I think that's in our materials. We pulled that up. Give me a second.

是的，我認為這在我們的材料中。我們把它拉了起來。等一下。

I mean, Noah, this is Matt Daly. We disclosed we had 4.67 net DUCs at 3/31, and that's the latest data we've disclosed publicly.

我的意思是，諾亞，這是馬特戴利。我們揭露，截至 3 月 31 日，我們的淨 DUC 為 4.67，這是我們公開揭露的最新數據。

Okay. Yes, I was just wondering if you had any color on maybe how that was trending in the first month or two into the quarter?

好的。是的，我只是想知道您是否了解本季前兩個月的趨勢如何？

No. I mean, as you can imagine, it's an incredibly time-intensive endeavor to go through our tens of millions of acres and quantify those DUCs and permits. So we do it once per quarter. Again, activity remains very solid. I wouldn't say there's a trend one way or the other. Most of the DUCs are in the Permian, but we've got a significant number. Almost the remaining half are spread throughout the other six major basins that we're in. So good trends there. Again, just haven't seen any indication of a slowdown, not to say that it isn't going to happen nationwide, but continue to feel very good about our production profile.

不。我的意思是，你可以想像，檢查我們數千萬英畝的土地並量化這些 DUC 和許可證是一項極其耗時的工作。所以我們每季做一次。再次，活動仍然非常活躍。我不會說有某種趨勢。大多數 DUC 都位於二疊紀，但我們擁有相當數量。剩下的幾乎一半分佈在我們所在的其他六個主要盆地。那裡的趨勢很好。再說一次，只是沒有看到任何放緩的跡象，並不是說它不會在全國範圍內發生，而是對我們的生產狀況繼續感到非常滿意。

Yes. And I would just add. This is Matt again. I mean, the Conoco commentary this morning indicated that production is going to remain flat in the Permian assets and overall, and then the Diamondback down 1%. So we're not looking at this sort of a dramatic drop off here in terms of Permian production. And again, half of our production is natural gas. So in some ways, we're a lot more insulated from what could be happening in the Permian in terms of a slight slowdown.

是的。我只想補充一點。我又是馬特。我的意思是，康菲公司今天早上的評論表明，二疊紀資產和整體產量將保持平穩，而 Diamondback 的產量將下降 1%。因此，我們並不認為二疊紀盆地的產量會出現如此急劇的下降。而且，我們的產量有一半是天然氣。因此，從某種程度上來說，我們對於二疊紀盆地可能出現的輕微經濟放緩的抵禦能力更強。

This now concludes our question-and-answer session, and I would like to turn the floor back over to management for any closing comments.

我們的問答環節到此結束，我想將發言權交還給管理階層，請他們發表最後的評論。

Thank you for your time, everybody, and have a great day.

謝謝大家抽出時間，祝大家有個愉快的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。