Obsidian Energy Ltd (OBE) 2013 Q4 法說會逐字稿

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  • Operator

  • ;)) Operator Good morning. My name is Sharon and I will be your conference operator today. At this time I'd like to welcome everyone to the Penn West 2013 year-end results conference call.

  • (Operator Instructions)

  • Mr. Clayton Paradis, Manager, Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

  • Clayton Paradis - Manager of IR

  • Thank you, Sharon. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Penn West's 2013 fourth-quarter and year-end financial and operating results conference call. My name is Clayton Paradis, Manager, Investor Relations, and I will be the speaker today.

  • With me in Calgary is our President and Chief Executive Officer, Dave Roberts; Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Todd Takeyasu; Senior Vice President Development, Mark Fitzgerald; Senior Vice President Production, Greg Gegunde; General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Corporate Services, Keith Luft; and Vice President Corporate Planning, Reserves and Analysis, Tony Horvat.

  • I would remind listeners that we will be referencing a webcast presentation in conjunction with this call this morning. This presentation is available via the webcast and also on our PennWest.com website, if you have not already had a chance to review it.

  • Before getting started this morning, I am required to review our customary advisories. Penn West shares are traded both on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PWE and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PWT.

  • All references during this conference call are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. And all conversions of natural gas to barrels of oil equivalent are done on a 6 to 1 conversion ratio. All financials are reported under the International Financial Reporting Standards.

  • Certain information regarding Penn West and the transactions and results discussed during this conference call, include management's assessment of future plans, operations and targets, and constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. Our actual results could differ materially from any conclusions, forecasts or projections in such forward-looking information. Such material factors and assumptions were applied in drawing any conclusions and making any forecasts or projections reflected in such forward-looking information.

  • Additional information about the material factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any conclusions, forecasts or projections in the forward-looking information, and the material factors and assumptions that were applied in drawing any conclusions or making any forecasts or projections reflected in the forward-looking information, is contained in our 2013 fourth-quarter and reserve results presentation, which is being webcast and is available on our website. Also contained in our fourth-quarter press release and other reports on file with the Canadian and US securities regulatory authorities, which may be accessed through the SEDAR website at sedar.com, and the SEC website at sec.gov, or on Penn West's website.

  • During this conference call certain references to non-GAAP terms may be made. Participants are directed to Penn West's most recent MD&A and financial statements available on our website, as well as filings available on the website noted earlier, to review disclosure concerning non-GAAP items.

  • With that out of the way, I would now like turn to our financial and operational results for the fourth quarter of 2013. This marks the first quarter of operations following the strategic transition to the long-term plan that was announced with our third-quarter results in November 2013.

  • Average production for the quarter was 123,995 BOEs per day, and was in the line with analyst expectations, and was previously announced in our fourth-quarter operations update on January 21, 2014. Fund flow of CAD216 million or CAD0.44 per share in the quarter and CAD1.1 billion or CAD2.17 per share for the full year were in line with consensus. And we realized a 12% improvement in our annual netbacks year over year.

  • On the cost side, through organizational changes implemented primarily in the back half of 2013, and dispositions, we reduced operating expenses by approximately CAD166 million, and G&A expenses by approximately CAD12 million year over year. Of the CAD166 million in operating cost reduction, approximately 60% is attributed to dispositions over this period, with staff reductions and other cost reduction initiatives in 2013 aimed at streamlining our operations accounting for the balance. As we continue to execute on the long-term plan, focusing on reducing these costs further and improving the overall profitability of the enterprise remains critically important.

  • We recorded CAD790 million of impairments in the quarter, consisting of non-cash property, plant and equipment charges of CAD742 million, and a goodwill write-down of CAD480 million (sic- "CAD48 million"). These write-downs related to lower estimated reserve recoveries in Manitoba and limited plan capital allocations to certain natural gas weighted properties. I would point out these are unusual charges, and the assets affected are not central to the integrated development of our long-term plan. I am going to correct myself to goodwill write-down was CAD48 million.

  • We improved our balance sheet quarter over quarter with a CAD425 million reduction in debt plus working capital, excluding the effects of CAD62 million of currency translation. I will review our fourth-quarter debt bridge in a little more detail shortly.

  • For 2013, the sustainability ratio -- the ratio of cash expenditures over funds flow generated -- was 112%, and compares to 172% in 2012 and our long-term plan target of 110%. Capital expenditures in the quarter were CAD208 million, 99% of which were related to development activities, and included the drilling of 56 net wells with a success rate of 98%.

  • For the full year, capital expenditures of CAD816 million were 99% allocated to development activities, including the drilling of 206 net wells at a 99% success rate. It is important to note that 2013 capital expenditures came in under the CAD900 million guidance, primarily due to the cost reductions realized across our core light oil areas, predominantly in the second half of 2013.

  • As previously announced, we completed non-core asset dispositions in December of 2013 of approximately 10,800 BOEs per day, for gross proceeds of CAD486 million prior to customary closing adjustments, improving our balance sheet position and, more importantly, focusing Penn West's portfolio on key light oil plays and improving the profitability of our business by removing higher-cost production.

  • During 2013, by executing phase one of our asset disposition plan, our decommissioning liability was reduced by approximately CAD90 million, net of additions. With respect to the dividend, the Board of Penn West has declared the first quarter 2014 dividend in the amount of CAD0.14 per share to be paid April 15, 2014 to shareholders of record on March 31, 2014.

  • Fourth-quarter average production volumes came in as expected at approximately 124,000 BOEs per day. Looking closer at our quarter over quarter production bridge, I'd like to point out that the uneconomic shut-in volumes were actively reviewed and purposefully suspended based on economic analysis. Simply put, if it would cost us more capital to bring disruptive production back online than we expected to recover in the future, we made the decision not to spend those dollars.

  • In 2013 the peak volume impact was approximately 3,200 BOEs a day, which resulted in an average of 920 BOE per day impact in the quarter. We will continue to conduct this type of economic analysis in our operations, a reflection of our commitment to continuously improve the profitability of the enterprise. Having said this, we would not expect to see this peak level repeated moving forward.

  • A quick comment on the outages and the operational disruptions. We experienced third-party outages and extremely cold weather disruptions in the quarter.

  • Third-party outages were primarily located in the Swan Hills in central Alberta regions. And cold weather disruptions were primarily experienced in our Saskatchewan and Manitoba operations, where temperatures were recorded below minus 50 degrees Celsius in late December -- that is minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit -- impacting facilities and production lines. Currently 75% to 80% of disruptive production volumes have been restored.

  • Looking at the funds flow impact from the quarter, clearly the main driver moving our funds flow lower was the CAD91 million change attributable to commodity prices. And, in particular, the discount in the benchmark differential between WTI and Canadian light crude increasing to over CAD15 per barrel from CAD4.80 per barrel in the third quarter.

  • This widened differential persisted into 2014, averaging approximately CAD13 per barrel discount for the month of January, before moderating into February with the March index closing in the CAD5 per barrel discount range. In addition to this differential improvement, Canadian to US currency exchange has been favorable to our 2014 budget, which assumes a CAD1.03 Canadian to US exchange rate.

  • Looking at debt, this next slide, the net debt bridge illustrates all the puts and takes with respect to our debt structure through the quarter. The most important takeaway is the fact that our debt plus working capital in the quarter was reduced by CAD425 million, excluding the impact of CAD62 million of currency translations. Excluding the foreign-exchange effects, 88% of the net proceeds received from the dispositions that closed in December went to debt reduction.

  • The outstanding notes of CAD2.1 billion as at December 31, 2013 include the full effect of translation at year-end spot currency rates. We have swaps that fix the exchange rate on the repayment of CAD641 million or 39% of US-denominated notes at par Canadian to US dollars.

  • These swaps partially offset the currency translation with a mark-to-market gain of CAD50 million at year end 2013, recorded as risk management assets and not an offset to stated debt levels. The currency effects in all euro- and pound-denominated notes are fully hedged.

  • Looking at cash costs, we are very pleased to report that quarterly cash costs in terms of dollars have decreased approximately 26% or over CAD135 million year over year. We have provided the split on how these costs breakout, and we will continue to report on this trend as we move forward.

  • I will remind you that we are referencing quarterly figures here, and that these are not to be confused with annual costs. In particular, the decreases mentioned earlier in the presentation with respect to annual amounts and operating and G&A costs. Referencing the pie charts on the right hand side of this next slide, Pen West's 2013 reserve book is comprised of high-quality reserves, with proved developed producing reserves representing 72% of our proved book, and proved reserves in total representing 67% of our total proved and probable reserve book, providing Penn West a higher degree of certainty in our business capability.

  • Some highlights from our solid reserves performance in 2013 include reporting total proved and probably reserves of 625 million BOE, of which liquids account for approximately 70%. Before tax and discounted 10%, the net present value of our 2P reserves remains relatively constant at CAD8.9 billion, even considering asset sales that closed in 2013. Excluding the impact of dispositions, we replaced 97% of 2013 production on a 2P basis.

  • Future development costs, or FDC, in 2013 was significantly reduced, reflecting the realized declines in our drilling and completion costs, removal of certain capital costs associated with properties no longer carrying reserves, and technical revisions to our current reserve base. As a result, we reported the 2P finding and development costs, including FDC, of CAD9.47 per BOE. Excluding FDC, our 2P F&D cost was CAD17.17 per BOE.

  • On this next slight we're providing this information to put into context what the size of the resource potential is that exists at Penn West, as we focus on the development of light oil areas through the long-term plan. In the bottom left of each graphic is what reserves are booked at year end for each of the Cardium, Viking, and Slave Point areas. In the fourth, in the top left-hand corner, is the aggregation of just these three light oil areas.

  • The middle bar represents our view of what reserves will be developed through the execution of the long-term plan. And the right-hand bar represents the relevant size of the remaining resource in each of these areas. At year-end 2013, approximately 40% of our 625 million BOE of 2P reserves are represented by our three core light oil areas -- Cardium, Slave Point and Viking.

  • Through the execution of our long-term plan, we expect two things. First, we expect total reserves to grow over the next five years by approximately 10% to 15%. Second, we expect these three core areas will represent approximately 60% of total reserves at the end of year five.

  • We have a last slide focused on long-term value potential that exists at Penn West. I would now like to focus on our performance to date. When we look at these numbers, it is easy to understand why we are excited about the progress we have made in a very short of time.

  • Referring first to the drilling and completion costs in the table at the bottom of the slide, it is the top line in that table that I am referring to. We've laid out the drilling and completion, or D&C, cost assumptions we made when we put our 2014 budget together, which in each instance are already vastly improved from similar costs in prior years.

  • And what you will see is the current D&C costs in the Cardium and the Viking are already blow our 2014 cost assumptions. And in the case of the Viking, below our long-term target cost assumption. As we continue to operate in a deliberate and continuous manner, we expect to drive further efficiencies, and anticipate being able to advance drilling activities above plan for 2014.

  • Turning to the Cardium, we've provided an update on our production performance from the fourth quarter 2013 programs at Crimson Lake and Lodgepole. While early days, clearly these programs are performing within expectations under the significantly reduced cost structure, as represented by the green curves on the respective type curve graphs. As we continue to foster a performance-driven culture here, the focus of the development teams in the Cardium moving through 2014 is the preparation and advancement of future inventory to support increased activity into 2015 and beyond.

  • Moving on to the Viking, and similar to the Cardium production performance curves, production performance for the fourth quarter Viking program is provided, and is performing within expectations, as illustrated by the green curve on the type curve graphic. You will notice that the first-half 2013 program continues to outperform type curve expectations. And we believe the Q4 program has the same delivery potential.

  • However, it has experienced increased back pressures associated with new infrastructure installed in parallel with the drilling program. This is a reflection of the continued strength and deliverability of our Viking wells.

  • And once our debottlenecking efforts are completed here in the early second quarter of 2014, we anticipate well performance comparable to the first-half 2013 program out of our Q4 wells. In both cases, I would like to highlight that that our well performance is best in class in the Viking relative to the quality of our reservoir and inventory here.

  • In the Slave Point, the focus over the next two years is on evaluation and testing of different drilling and completion techniques in the carbonates. We plan to transition to more development drilling in the Slave Point in years three through five. And with success here, we would expect this asset to become a real driver of value for Penn West in the future. We expect to provide more color on our results in this area with our first-quarter 2014 results in early May.

  • This is an exciting time at Penn West. We have stated previously we clearly understand that as we move through 2014, it will be a year of some transition for the business. However, as we focus on our high-performance delivery culture, we improve constantly on our ability to deliver all our metrics.

  • Our strategic plan is to focus on what we believe are four key drivers of shareholder value -- production per share growth, funds flow per share growth, netback per barrel growth, and solid capital structure and debt to fund flow metrics. All other inputs we are driving -- operating costs, G&A costs, capital efficiency and portfolio rationalization -- are tied to these outcomes.

  • With that, Sharon, that concludes our formal remarks. We'd now like to open the call to questions please.

  • Operator

  • (Operator Instructions)

  • Cristina Lopez, Macquarie.

  • Cristina Lopez - Analyst

  • With respect to the cost and the bookings so far in the Cardium and the Viking, obviously you're seeing good cost improvements. What are the reserve evaluators recognizing on a per well basis in the Cardium and the Viking, if you have those numbers?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • Cristina, thank you, good morning, thank you for your question. We have included an additional chart there that basically shows where we think the EURs for the wells are. Right now they are consistent with our expectations.

  • But one of the things I would point out here is, as we made the dramatic improvements in our drilling cost performance, we are really focused on now building better wells. And so I think what you will see across the enterprise -- Cardium is a great example -- more lateral length, more stages. And we would expect those to have commensurate effects in terms of improving our type curves, EURs and rates of return.

  • Cristina Lopez - Analyst

  • Excellent. And then obviously a posting today on prop being officially marketed. Anything that you can comment further on asset sales to the progression of the asset sales so far?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • I guess I would say -- I'll be a little bit expansive here -- we find ourselves in a pretty good place coming out of 2013. I think we emphasize the debt reduction power of the deal that we had done late in 2013. We really are showing that the business is very closely balanced in terms of our expenditures versus the funds flow that we were able to take out of operations. So we are making progress on that particular front.

  • We've got several things running in the marketplace. We have said that we are going to be patient and see what the market does for us. We are actually growing in confidence because, candidly, there is not a lot of stuff on the marketplace, nothing that is comparable to the quality of the assets that we have in this space right now.

  • Processes are ongoing. We have said categorically that we're going to get back to operating, and we will continue to work the A&D market. But we expect results in 2014.

  • Cristina Lopez - Analyst

  • Excellent. And then last question from me, is there any more color you can give around the write-downs in Manitoba, specifically at Waskada?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • We have been pretty candid about taking a close look at the results that we had out there. And essentially we had a type curve reduction on a per well basis down into the 40 MBOE range in Waskada, which was lower than we had carried previously.

  • We've also increased our spacing length. I think we've become a little bit more educated about the drawdown power of the horizontal wells that we are putting out there. So, we have just reflected the reality of what the reservoir is giving us out there.

  • Now, having said that, Waskada is clearly not a focus area for us. But it remains an area even at 40 MBOE a well, with our ability to drill these wells at close to CAD1 million now, that still provides outstanding economics. It is something that we had to recognize the realities but in no means are we disappointed with the asset in aggregate.

  • Cristina Lopez - Analyst

  • Excellent. Thank you so much.

  • Operator

  • Jeremy Kaliel, CIBC.

  • Jeremy Kaliel - Analyst

  • Thanks, guys. Good reserve metrics. Just to follow-up on Cristina's question on the non-cash impairment charge, this is a non-cash charge. Was it not reflected in any reductions or negative revisions to your reserves, as well?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • Yes, Jeremy, good morning. Thanks for the question. We obviously had a revision downward in our reserves in Waskada, as well. Which, in my view, makes the reserve metrics we put up all the more impressive because we had to take a write-down there. But the power of the overall asset base was able to offset it and still deliver what we think are top decile metrics.

  • Jeremy Kaliel - Analyst

  • Okay, great. And just on a smaller number here, future development capital -- can you talk about the causes of the reduction in your future development capital? It came down quite a bit.

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • I think there was two areas that generally we looked at. The quantum, circa CAD150 million would have come out as a result of the cost improvements that we have seen in our drilling program. So, obviously very excited about that.

  • I think one of these things the Company engaged in quite diligently this year was a very thorough review of our reserve book, beginning with the continued resource studies that we published in the summer. But also going through our reserves in a detail, as you might expect, with a management change. We were able to remove circa CAD300 million or CAD400 dollars from assets that did not have reserves but had capital allocated to them. So that's a positive, as well.

  • And, again, I think that points to the strength of the overall numbers because we were able to remove certain reserves, those costs, and still report what are very strong metrics in this area.

  • Jeremy Kaliel - Analyst

  • Okay, great. That's all I had.

  • Operator

  • Gordon Tait, BMO Capital.

  • Gordon Tait - Analyst

  • Could you maybe give us a couple of reasons, maybe the two or three things that you have done in the Viking and Cardium, that account for that big cost reduction in your drilling and completion costs?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • I think the thing I would say, first and foremost, is we paid attention to what our competitors were doing. We finally said -- let's look at what these other people are doing in these areas -- and seeing if we can mimic them. Which speaks to some of the culture shift that we are seeing in Penn West in terms of wanting to be competitive.

  • I think the other thing is, we basically issued the challenge to our drilling and completion group to say -- go get these changes. And they have delivered them for us. So again, another cultural change for us is we are empowering people to make the decisions to actually drive things forward.

  • And then I have said this, what they did is basically simplified some of our designs with back to basics on some of our drilling principles. But, again, speaks to the strength and talent of the people that we have here at Penn West.

  • Gordon Tait - Analyst

  • Okay. You initiated a number of water floods in a few areas. A couple things -- when do you expect to see a production response in some of these floods? And if you looked down the road, what do you think the impact might be of these floods on your overall decline rates?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • It is a great question. I think, in majority, most of the floods that we would have put on in the back half of last year, we should probably start seeing inklings of things in the back half of this year, just to put that in perspective. Because we are being very measured, making sure that we do this in a technically correct fashion.

  • I think, in general -- and we are still doing the work on this -- but we would not be to out of sync with some of our other competitors in Canada that are talking about lessening decline rates 2% to 3% through active water floods, certainly in our key areas. So, we will continue to keep a track on that. But that is what we are looking for, is the ability to shallow out our declines in the Cardium, Slave and the Viking area.

  • Gordon Tait - Analyst

  • And presumably you might get some reserve adds with those?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • There is no question. I fully expect that. One of the things we're blessed with is a rich opportunity to increase our EOR, our pressure maintenance, activities. It should help us on the production side and definitely add reserves.

  • As you know, waterflood barrels are substantially cheaper that drill bit barrels, and so we're looking forward to that effect in our F&D in the future, as well.

  • Gordon Tait - Analyst

  • All right, thanks.

  • Operator

  • Greg Pardy, RBC Capital Markets.

  • Greg Pardy - Analyst

  • Couple of quick ones for you and then I wanted to ask a strategic question. Maybe just on the decline rate question, where would you peg your corporate decline rate now? And, Dave, the other number I wanted to see if I could get from you is just the reduction that you see now in the number of wellbores Company-wide producing versus nonproducing, as of year end or March 31, whatever you want to use.

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • I think we are going to talk about our corporate decline as being 20% to 22%. I think, generally, I have always used this as that's the Cardium metric. And since this is a Cardium-centric company, that is a number that I wouldn't expect for us to veer off of until we actually start seeing waterflood results.

  • The second question, generally what I would say is that, with the previously announced closed sale at the end of last year, and the one that we have got expected to close by the end of this quarter, we will have seen a reduction of roughly 20% of our total wellbores. So, round numbers, the total well count is going to be circa 19,000 to 15,000. And of that, one-third of those, plus or minus, are inactive.

  • So, it gives you an idea of we've reshaped this Company in a meaningful way with a couple of also important financial transactions for us.

  • Greg Pardy - Analyst

  • Okay, thanks for that. I think you've already addressed this, but we have seen other companies now stepping out of Canadian light oil into the US and so forth. Obviously the US is still your backyard, you know that area well. Strategically, do see any likelihood there that once Penn West gets its balance sheet in better shape and so that you potentially look outside of Canada into the lower 48?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • Actually, I like the view out of my front door in Canada. I think one of the things that we are blessed with at Penn West, and one of the things that we tried to show with that slide on contingent resources, is we are unique, I think, among companies our size in terms of the running room potential that we have with 600-plus million barrels in the Cardium. We think Slave is going to be significant contributor in that area.

  • So, when I think about our business, it will be some years before I run out of opportunities here. And I continue to believe that there are continued opportunities for outstanding operators in the Western Canadian sedimentary basin. So I don't have to go slug it out with people in faraway places like South Texas.

  • Greg Pardy - Analyst

  • Got it. Okay, thanks very much.

  • Operator

  • Patrick Bryden, Scotiabank.

  • Patrick Bryden - Analyst

  • I really appreciate the bridge slides you put in the presentation today. I'm just curious if we can talk about slide 4 where you are showing us your decline rate. If I do the math on that, that confirms the 22% you had mentioned in terms of corporate decline rates.

  • When I look across that scale there, and I see the production additions, the declines are still outpacing production adds by about 3 times. And I am just wondering, in your view, when we might see a normalizing or an equalization of those two numbers or, in fact, inflection point up.

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • Pat, thanks for the question. It is a good one because it allows me to speak to one of the important things here. Happy to put these Q to Q bridges in. But one of the things people should remember is that the Q4 increased number is tied to a Q3 CapEx number, which was less than CAD70 million. Which I would argue is probably the lowest quarterly spend this Corporation has had an arguably the last half decade.

  • That being said, one of the things we're looking at, I think you will start to see a little bit more positive inclination on those two curves, certainly in Q1. But clearly as we ramp up our drilling programs in Q3 and Q4 of this year we expect to close that gap.

  • Patrick Bryden - Analyst

  • Okay, I appreciate that. Thank you. And then, I don't know if you can maybe elaborate a little bit more on the laterals and the frac stages, and maybe the completion design that you are trying to evolve in your key plays,

  • Hand-in-hand with that we have been showing some specific areas, whether it is Crimson Lake or Lodgepole or Dodsland. Can we extrapolate the success you are seeing in those pockets? Are you trying to really focus in on sweet spots for the time being?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • I'm going to put that to Mark Fitzgerald because he's got some good color on that.

  • Mark Fitzgerald - SVP Development

  • Sure. Hi, Pat. I think Dave talked earlier about we have certainly seen great cost reductions across the plays, drilling what we anticipated early in the plan. Stage two of that is exactly what you talked about, which is better well bores and more productivity from the same investment.

  • What we have seen, if I start with the Viking, as you are well aware, we are best in class right now. We believe in our drilling completion cost structure as well as the deliverability from that area. That is a reflection of the quality of the reservoir that we have. And we will continue to work to drive those costs down.

  • We use a little more nitrogen in our completions, which reflects, we think, the response we see from the reservoir given the type we have. And we will continue to play with that.

  • Cardium, we have seen some real successful gains as we move from generally 1,200- to 1,400-meter laterals -- for example, in Crimson -- to we've been as long as 2,200, and we'll target 2,400. Stage movement from 17 to 22. And have seen a linear response thus far in terms of productivity per stage.

  • The most exciting part to me in that is we have seen an ability to increase lateral length and stage count in some of the investment levels that we anticipated in the five-year plan. So longer reach, more stages for comparable dollars, which we're starting to see the response in those type curves.

  • Similar story in Lodgepole. It moved from 17 to 21 stages. We will continue to reach further for similar costs.

  • And then as we go into Slave Point, we tested two long-reach laterals in Otter on the 2,200- to 2,400-meter length. That will open up significant inventory for us outside the core of that play. And have been very pleased with what we have seen in those wells right now as they come on stream in the first quarter here.

  • Overall, I think we made a significant step change in the organization in driving down just the execution costs of what we had. And are starting to see response as we push to these longer laterals and higher stages throughout those plays.

  • Patrick Bryden - Analyst

  • I appreciate that, Mark. Maybe you want to leave more details on the Slave Point to the preview you noted you would expect to provide in Q1, but is it possible to get a sense for what you think you might be doing there that is different than what industry has done in the past?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • I will jump in here. It is early days and we have always set up 2014 as a learning Q. But clearly the two things that you're going to hear from us is monobore designs in terms of drilling our wells. We are drilling longer wells than other people have drilled out there. And we are testing some new completion techniques that we think are going to be a change event for us on a go-forward basis. Give us a few more months, Pat, and we will fix you up with all of the detail.

  • Patrick Bryden - Analyst

  • Great, thanks. And one more, if I might, and then I will get out of the way. Slide 7 where you have shown the 26% reduction in operating costs, do you think you have a lot more to squeeze there? Or how are you feeling on the progression of that curve?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • I think what we would say is we are very early days. We have, candidly, hit this place with a sledgehammer in the first six months that we have been here. And I think now we're going to go at this stuff with a lot more precision. I do believe that there are a lot more cost savings that we can take out of the business both on an operating side and a G&A side.

  • Patrick Bryden - Analyst

  • Okay, thank you. Much appreciate.

  • Operator

  • Chris Bolton, Perron & Partners.

  • Chris Bolton - Analyst

  • How did you get back on new production in the Cardium and Viking compared to your corporate average during the quarter?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • Can you repeat the question, Chris?

  • Chris Bolton - Analyst

  • Your netback on new production, say, in the Cardium or the Viking, how would it compare to your corporate average?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • Obviously netbacks are driven by the commodity price of the day. But in our previous view of what the corporate long-term plan was, we have given you an idea of how the netbacks should progress against essentially a flattish commodity deck. So, we would say they are still consistent with those projections. And obviously, since the wells are drilling cheaper, they are economically more powerful.

  • Chris Bolton - Analyst

  • Okay, great. And over what time period do you think you'd be able to finish these asset sales and return to growing production on a quarterly basis?

  • Dave Roberts - President and CEO

  • I think what we said is we want 2014 to be the transition year for the portfolio. So, similar to the comments I made to Cristina's question to start, is we are in a much better place financially than we were at this time last year. We are going to see what it is we have to do here.

  • But we clearly understand we need to get this behind us this year so we can start showing the growth projections that people want to see out of this enterprise. And, candidly, we do, as well. So, I'm going to stick with my story of 2014 is the year we are going to get this done.

  • Chris Bolton - Analyst

  • Okay, sounds great. Thank you.

  • Operator

  • We have no further questions at this time.

  • Clayton Paradis - Manager of IR

  • Thank you all for your participation this morning. We look forward to speaking with you again when we report our first-quarter 2014 results in early May. Goodbye.

  • Operator

  • This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.