先鋒自然資源 (PXD) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Pioneer Natural Resources' First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Joining us today will be Scott Sheffield, Chief Executive Officer; Rich Dealy, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Neal Shah, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

歡迎來到 Pioneer Natural Resources 第一季度收益電話會議。今天加入我們的是首席執行官 Scott Sheffield； Rich Dealy，總裁兼首席運營官；高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Neal Shah。

Pioneer has prepared presentation slides to supplement comments made today. These slides are available on the Internet at www.pxd.com. Again, the Internet website to access slides presented in today's call is www.pxd.com. Navigate to the Investors tab found at the top of the web page and then select Quarterly Results.

Pioneer 準備了演示幻燈片來補充今天發表的評論。這些幻燈片可在 Internet 上獲取，網址為 www.pxd.com。同樣，訪問今天電話會議中展示的幻燈片的 Internet 網站是 www.pxd.com。導航到網頁頂部的“投資者”選項卡，然後選擇“季度業績”。

Today's call is being recorded. A replay of the call will be archived on the www.pxd.com through May 27, 2023.

今天的通話正在錄音中。通話重播將在 www.pxd.com 上存檔至 2023 年 5 月 27 日。

The company's comments today will include forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements and the business prospects of Pioneer are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future periods to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in Pioneer's news release on Page 2 of the slide presentation and in Pioneer's public filings made with Securities and Exchange Commission.

公司今天的評論將包括根據 1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法案的安全港條款作出的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述和 Pioneer 的業務前景受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果和未來期間與前瞻性陳述存在重大差異。這些風險和不確定性在幻燈片演示文稿第 2 頁的先鋒新聞稿和先鋒向美國證券交易委員會提交的公開文件中有所描述。

At this time, for opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Pioneer's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Neal Shah. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，為了開場白，我想把電話轉給先鋒的高級副總裁兼首席財務官尼爾沙阿。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Joel.

謝謝你，喬爾。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Pioneer's first quarter earnings call. Today, we will be discussing our excellent first-quarter results, driven by our strong oil production and fortified capital return strategy. In addition, we will discuss the resilience of our free cash flow generation at various oil prices, which is underpinned by our best-in-class margins and unmatched high-return assets in the Midland Basin. We will then open up the call for your questions.

大家早上好，感謝您參加先鋒公司第一季度的財報電話會議。今天，我們將討論在強勁的石油生產和強化的資本回報戰略的推動下，我們出色的第一季度業績。此外，我們將討論我們在不同油價下產生的自由現金流的彈性，這得益於我們一流的利潤率和米德蘭盆地無與倫比的高回報資產。然後我們將打開您的問題的電話。

With that, I will turn it over to Scott.

有了這個，我會把它交給斯科特。

Thank you, Neal. Good morning. As you all saw in the news, I announced yesterday that I will retire as CEO of Pioneer beginning January 2024. Our President and Chief Operating Officer, Rich Dealy, will assume the role of CEO at that time. Rich has been with Pioneer and our predecessor company for over 30 years from a $500 million company to over a $50 billion company and has served in various executive leadership roles and is uniquely positioned to lead Pioneer forward.

謝謝你，尼爾。早上好。正如你們在新聞中看到的那樣，我昨天宣布我將從 2024 年 1 月開始退休，擔任 Pioneer 的首席執行官。屆時我們的總裁兼首席運營官 Rich Dealy 將擔任首席執行官一職。 Rich 在 Pioneer 和我們的前身公司工作了 30 多年，從一家市值 5 億美元的公司成長為一家市值超過 500 億美元的公司，並擔任過各種行政領導職務，在領導 Pioneer 前進方面處於獨特的位置。

I'm proud of the success that Pioneer has achieved in his 26-year history as well as key accomplishments over the previous several years. With consistent focus on the Permian Basin, we have formed the largest contiguous acreage position in the Midland Basin, supported by successful integration of 2 acquisitions during 2021 and have full confidence in our modifications we made last year as we were seeing an early indication of great results with our first quarter results.

我為先鋒在其 26 年的歷史中取得的成功以及過去幾年的主要成就感到自豪。憑藉對二疊紀盆地的持續關注，在 2021 年成功整合 2 項收購的支持下，我們已經形成了米德蘭盆地最大的連續種植面積位置，並且對我們去年所做的修改充滿信心，因為我們看到了早期跡象結果與我們的第一季度業績。

Our methodical approach and highly efficient development program has positioned Pioneer as the most active driller and largest oil producer in the state of Texas. I'm especially proud to have led the independent transition to a free cash flow model that focuses on return of capital to shareholders and further strengthens our balance sheet. I've taken great pride in leading the efforts to reduce flaring in testing and methane and CO2 emissions in the Permian Basin and its contribution to more sustainable practices throughout our industry.

我們有條不紊的方法和高效的開發計劃使先鋒成為德克薩斯州最活躍的鑽探商和最大的石油生產商。我特別自豪地領導了向自由現金流模式的獨立過渡，該模式專注於向股東返還資本並進一步加強我們的資產負債表。我為領導二疊紀盆地減少測試中的燃燒以及甲烷和二氧化碳排放的努力及其對整個行業更可持續實踐的貢獻而感到非常自豪。

Building on this foundation, we are one of the first U.S. operators to join OGMP, the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership, 2.0, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to sustainable operations. I'm excited for Rich has continued leadership of Pioneer as CEO in 2024.

在此基礎上，我們是首批加入 OGMP（石油和天然氣甲烷合作夥伴關係 2.0）的美國運營商之一，展示了我們對可持續運營的持續承諾。我很高興里奇在 2024 年繼續擔任先鋒的首席執行官。

I will now discuss our first quarter results going to Slide #4. During the first quarter, Pioneer generated approximately $950 million in free cash flow, contributing to a base plus variable dividend $3.34 per share and $500 million in share repurchases completed during the quarter. This strong return of capital was supported by efficient operations and oil production near the top end of our first quarter guidance range. Fortifying our return on capital, we increased our quarterly base dividend by 14% and refreshed our repurchase program with a new $4 billion authorization.

我現在將在幻燈片 #4 中討論我們的第一季度業績。第一季度，先鋒產生了約 9.5 億美元的自由現金流，貢獻了每股 3.34 美元的基本加可變股息和本季度完成的 5 億美元股票回購。這一強勁的資本回報得到了我們第一季度指導範圍上限附近的高效運營和石油生產的支持。為了加強我們的資本回報率，我們將季度基本股息提高了 14%，並通過新的 40 億美元授權更新了我們的回購計劃。

Going to Slide #5. First quarter results, as we discussed on the previous slide, Pioneer delivered strong first quarter production with both oil and total production near the top end of first quarter guidance at 361,000 barrels of oil per day and 680 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. We continue to focus on efficient operations, maintain low horizontal lifting costs that support our top-tier margins and significant free cash flow generation.

轉到幻燈片 #5。第一季度業績，正如我們在上一張幻燈片中討論的那樣，先鋒公司第一季度產量強勁，石油產量和總產量均接近第一季度指導值的上限，即每天 361,000 桶石油和每天 6.8 億桶石油當量。我們繼續專注於高效運營，保持較低的水平提升成本，以支持我們的頂級利潤率和顯著的自由現金流產生。

Now over to Rich.

現在輪到里奇了。

Thanks, Scott, and good morning, everybody.

謝謝，斯科特，大家早上好。

I'm going to turn and start on Slide 6. where you can see the development of our high-return assets compared with our peer-leading margins is expected to generate approximately $27 billion of free cash flow over the next 5 years at $80 WTI. As Scott mentioned, we are modifying how we return free cash flow to improve our financial flexibility and balance sheet while also maintaining a significant return of capital to shareholders. The modified framework provides the flexibility to allocate capital returns after the base dividend between variable dividends and share repurchases based on what provides the best value for shareholders.

我要打開幻燈片 6。你可以看到我們的高回報資產的發展與我們同行領先的利潤率相比，預計在未來 5 年內將產生大約 270 億美元的自由現金流，WTI 價格為 80 美元.正如斯科特提到的，我們正在修改我們返回自由現金流的方式，以改善我們的財務靈活性和資產負債表，同時保持對股東的顯著資本回報。修改後的框架提供了靈活性，可以根據為股東提供最佳價值的因素，在可變股息和股票回購之間分配基本股息後的資本回報。

Under the refined capital framework, 75% of our quarterly free cash flow, starting with the second quarter, will return to shareholders through a combination of base dividends, variable dividends and opportunistic share repurchases. A strong and growing base dividend remains our highest return of capital priority. In total, 75% of our quarterly cash flow will be directed towards capital returns, while the remaining 25% will be used to increase financial flexibility and further strengthen our balance sheet. As you can see on the slide, we expect to return a significant amount of free cash flow to investors over the next 5 years.

在完善的資本框架下，從第二季度開始，我們 75% 的季度自由現金流將通過基本股息、可變股息和機會性股票回購相結合的方式返還給股東。強勁且不斷增長的基礎股息仍然是我們優先考慮的最高資本回報。總的來說，我們季度現金流的 75% 將用於資本回報，而其餘 25% 將用於提高財務靈活性並進一步加強我們的資產負債表。正如您在幻燈片中看到的，我們預計在未來 5 年內向投資者返還大量的自由現金流。

Turning to Slide 7. We are further strengthening the foundation of our capital return strategy by increasing our quarterly base dividend by 14% to $1.25 per share or $5 per share on an annualized basis. This increase is incorporated into this quarter's base plus variable dividend that will be paid in June and reflects the -- or sixth consecutive years of base dividend increases. With this increase, our base dividend yield of greater than 2% surpasses the average S&P 500 dividend yield.

轉到幻燈片 7。我們通過將季度基本股息提高 14% 至每股 1.25 美元或按年化計算為每股 5 美元，進一步加強資本回報戰略的基礎。這一增長被納入本季度的基礎加上將於 6 月支付的可變股息，並反映了 - 或連續第六年的基礎股息增長。隨著這一增長，我們超過 2% 的基本股息收益率超過了標準普爾 500 指數的平均股息收益率。

Turning to Slide 8. During the first quarter, Pioneer repurchased $500 million of stock at an average price of $206 per share, demonstrating our willingness to step into the market during dislocations such as we saw in March. In total, Pioneer has repurchased $2.1 billion in equity since the beginning of 2022, reducing shares outstanding by approximately 4%, which has benefited long-term shareholder returns and per-share metrics. Further enhancing our strong shareholder returns, the Board of Directors has approved a new $4 billion share repurchase authorization, providing additional capacity to return capital through opportunistic share repurchases. This replaces the previous authorization, which had $1.9 billion remaining.

轉到幻燈片 8。在第一季度，先鋒以每股 206 美元的平均價格回購了 5 億美元的股票，表明我們願意在 3 月份看到的錯位期間進入市場。自 2022 年初以來，先鋒總共回購了 21 億美元的股權，已發行股票減少了約 4%，這有利於長期股東回報和每股指標。為了進一步提高我們強勁的股東回報，董事會批准了一項新的 40 億美元的股票回購授權，通過機會性股票回購提供額外的資本回報能力。這取代了之前的授權，後者還剩下 19 億美元。

Turning to Slide 9. Pioneer's return of capital framework, which returns at least 75% of quarterly free cash flow remains amongst the strongest when compared to peers as illustrated by the graph on the left. Our modified framework provides the flexibility to allocate capital returns after our strong base dividend between variable dividends and share repurchase based on what provides the best value for shareholders. This peer-leading return capital strategy is sustained by our disciplined reinvestment rate and our deep inventory of high rate of return wells.

轉到幻燈片 9。如左圖所示，與同行相比，Pioneer 的資本回報率框架（回報至少 75% 的季度自由現金流）仍然是最強的。我們修改後的框架提供了靈活性，可以根據為股東提供最佳價值的因素，在可變股息和股票回購之間分配強大的基礎股息後的資本回報。我們嚴格的再投資率和高回報率油井的大量庫存維持了這一同行領先的回報資本戰略。

Turning to Slide 10. The graphic on the right illustrates the compelling free cash flow generation that our program is expected to produce over the next 5 years at various oil prices. The combination of our world-class assets top-tier margins and moderate oil growth generates cumulative free cash flow of approximately $27 billion through 2027, assuming an $80 WTI oil price.

轉到幻燈片 10。右圖說明了我們的計劃預計在未來 5 年內以各種油價產生的令人信服的自由現金流產生。假設 WTI 油價為 80 美元，到 2027 年，我們世界一流的資產頂級利潤率和適度的石油增長相結合，產生的累計自由現金流量約為 270 億美元。

As you can see, our return of capital framework is expected to return about approximately 40% of our current market cap to shareholders during the same time frame also at $80. Even at $60 WTI, our program is expected to generate approximately $13 billion in cumulative free cash flow over the next 5 years, demonstrating the durability of our program even at lower oil prices. Our robust and durable free cash flow generation paired with our commitments to substantial capital returns delivers compelling value to shareholders through cycle.

如您所見，我們的資本回報率框架預計將在同一時間段內以 80 美元的價格向股東返還我們當前市值的約 40%。即使 WTI 價格為 60 美元，我們的計劃也有望在未來 5 年內產生約 130 億美元的累計自由現金流，這表明我們的計劃即使在油價較低的情況下也能持久。我們強大而持久的自由現金流生成與我們對可觀資本回報的承諾相結合，通過週期為股東提供了令人信服的價值。

Turning to Slide 11. You can see here that we are reiterating our 2023 outlook with full-year production and capital guidance remaining unchanged. The company plans to deliver 2023 full-year oil production ranging from 357,000 to 372,000 barrels of oil per day and total production ranging from 670,000 to 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, resulting in moderate production growth consistent with our investment framework. Both our drilling, completions and facilities capital budget of $4.45 billion to $4.75 billion, and our exploration, environmental and other capital budget of $150 million to $200 million are unchanged.

轉到幻燈片 11。你可以在這裡看到，我們重申了我們的 2023 年展望，全年生產和資本指導保持不變。公司計劃實現 2023 年全年石油產量 357,000 至 372,000 桶/日，總產量為 670,000 至 700,000 桶油當量/日，實現與我們投資框架相一致的適度產量增長。我們的鑽井、完井和設施資本預算為 44.5 億美元至 47.5 億美元，我們的勘探、環境和其他資本預算為 1.5 億美元至 2 億美元，均保持不變。

As we've discussed previously, key projects within the exploration, environmental and other category includes exploration drilling of 4 wells targeting the Barnett and Woodford formations in the Midland Basin as well as continued appraisal of our enhanced oil recovery project. Based on the midpoints of our capital and production ranges, at strip pricing, we expect to generate greater than $4 billion of free cash flow in 2023 from approximately $9 billion of projected operating cash flow.

正如我們之前所討論的，勘探、環境和其他類別中的關鍵項目包括以米德蘭盆地的 Barnett 和 Woodford 地層為目標的 4 口井的勘探鑽探，以及對我們提高石油採收率項目的持續評估。根據我們的資本和生產範圍的中點，以剝離定價，我們預計到 2023 年將從約 90 億美元的預計運營現金流中產生超過 40 億美元的自由現金流。

Turning to Slide 12. You can see it provides additional detail on our 2023 capital program. During 2023, we expect to operate between 24 and 26 drilling rigs and placed between 500 and 530 wells on production. Our 2023 drilling and completion activity continues to be distributed across our large and contiguous Midland Basin acreage position with approximately 3 drilling rigs operating in our joint venture area in the South. This unmatched acreage position provides a scalable operational advantages such as drilling, completing our 15,000-plus foot laterals with greater than 100 of these wells expected to be placed on production throughout the year. We also benefit from the continued utilization of simulfrac operations as well as localized sand mines, which both reduce costs and provide incremental operational efficiencies. Additionally, our significant water infrastructure provides a diversified disposal and reuse network that spans across most of our acreage position.

轉到幻燈片 12。您可以看到它提供了有關我們 2023 年資本計劃的更多詳細信息。在 2023 年期間，我們預計將運營 24 至 26 台鑽井平台，並投入生產 500 至 530 口井。我們 2023 年的鑽井和完井活動將繼續分佈在我們廣闊且毗鄰的米德蘭盆地面積位置，在我們位於南部的合資企業地區約有 3 座鑽井平台在運營。這一無與倫比的面積位置提供了可擴展的運營優勢，例如鑽井、完成我們 15,000 多英尺的分支井，預計全年將有超過 100 口井投入生產。我們還受益於 simulfrac 業務以及本地化砂礦的持續利用，這既降低了成本又提供了增量運營效率。此外，我們重要的水利基礎設施提供了一個多元化的處理和再利用網絡，橫跨我們大部分的種植面積。

Turning to Slide 13. As previously discussed, we are continuing to realize improved return, strong productivity from drilling our 15,000-foot lateral wells. Developing these long laterals drive significant efficiency gains to reduce capital costs with drilling and completion savings of approximately 15% per lateral foot. The combination of these savings and strong productivity drive increased returns with IRRs increasing by more than 20 percentage points when compared to a 10,000-foot lateral. To date, we have identified more than 1,000 locations for long lateral development, supported by our highly contiguous acreage position and expect more than 100 of these wells we placed on production in 2023.

轉到幻燈片 13。如前所述，我們正在繼續通過鑽探 15,000 英尺的側井實現更高的回報和更高的生產率。開發這些長支管可顯著提高效率，降低資本成本，每支支管可節省約 15% 的鑽井和完井成本。與 10,000 英尺的橫向相比，這些節省和強大的生產力推動了回報的增加，內部收益率提高了 20 個百分點以上。迄今為止，在我們高度連續的種植面積位置的支持下，我們已經確定了 1,000 多個用於橫向開發的地點，預計我們將在 2023 年投產其中的 100 多口井。

Turning to Slide 14 and looking at the chart on the left, you can see Pioneer's peer-leading completions efficiencies and multiyear track record of efficiency improvement. We are now operating 3 full-time simulfrac fleets with which continues to be a major contributor to our high efficiencies and cost savings. Additionally, during the second quarter of 2023, Pioneer will add its second localized sand mine for completions operations. The use of localized sand is providing average savings of approximately $200,000 per well, principally due to reduced trucking costs resulting from the mine's close proximity to our wells. Pioneer expects 100% of our completions place to be either electric or dual fuel powered by the second half of 2023, both reducing emissions and capturing cost savings opportunities based on fuel prices.

轉到幻燈片 14 並查看左側的圖表，您可以看到 Pioneer 同行領先的完井效率和多年的效率改進記錄。我們現在運營著 3 個全職 simulfrac 車隊，它們繼續成為我們提高效率和節省成本的主要貢獻者。此外，在 2023 年第二季度，Pioneer 將增加其第二個本地化砂礦以進行完井作業。使用局部沙子平均每口井可節省約 200,000 美元，這主要是由於礦山靠近我們的井而降低了卡車運輸成本。 Pioneer 預計，到 2023 年下半年，我們 100% 的完工場所將採用電動或雙燃料供電，以減少排放並抓住基於燃料價格的成本節約機會。

Turning to Slide 15 on the left, Pioneer has the deepest inventory of high-return Permian drilling locations when compared to peers. This third-party analysis presents Pioneer as a premier independent oil and gas operator across North America with decades of high-quality inventory in the core of the Midland Basin at breakeven oil price of less than $50 WTI.

轉到左側的幻燈片 15，與同行相比，先鋒擁有最深的高回報二疊紀鑽探地點庫存。該第三方分析表明，Pioneer 是北美首屈一指的獨立石油和天然氣運營商，在米德蘭盆地核心地區擁有數十年的優質庫存，盈虧平衡油價低於 50 美元 WTI。

With that, I'll turn it over to Neal.

有了這個，我會把它交給尼爾。

Thank you, Rich.

謝謝你，里奇。

Now starting on Slide 16. The combination of our low cash costs and strong realizations generated peer-leading cash margins for the full year of 2022. While our strong price realizations were driven by our oil-weighted production, our low operating costs are a function of our unmatched infrastructure and efficient operations. These best-in-class margins underpin our strong free cash flow generation leading to significant capital returns to shareholders, both of which we have highlighted this morning.

現在從幻燈片 16 開始。我們的低現金成本和強勁的實現相結合，為 2022 年全年帶來了同行領先的現金利潤率。雖然我們強勁的價格實現是由我們的石油加權生產推動的，但我們的低運營成本是一個功能我們無與倫比的基礎設施和高效的運營。這些一流的利潤率支撐著我們強勁的自由現金流產生，從而為股東帶來可觀的資本回報，我們今天上午強調了這兩點。

Turning to the next slide. Pioneer continues to offer a compelling investment case for shareholders, considering the combination of strong corporate returns and an inexpensive valuation. As you can see, our projected ROCE continues to be one of the highest in the S&P 500 for the second consecutive year. We believe our strong corporate return profile when paired with our discounted valuation provides a highly attractive opportunity for investors.

轉到下一張幻燈片。考慮到強勁的企業回報和低廉的估值，先鋒繼續為股東提供令人信服的投資案例。如您所見，我們預計的 ROCE 連續第二年成為標準普爾 500 指數中最高的公司之一。我們相信，我們強大的企業回報率與我們的折扣估值相結合，為投資者提供了極具吸引力的機會。

And with that, I will turn things over to Rich.

有了這個，我會把事情交給里奇。

Thanks, Neal.

謝謝，尼爾。

I'm going to start on Slide 18, where you can see we continue our commitment to sustainable operations, highlighted by our partnership with NextEra Energy and joining OGMP 2.0 in 2022. Additional detail related to our sustainability efforts and their impacts on our business can be found in our 2022 sustainability report and climate risk report. You can find these reports on our website.

我將從幻燈片 18 開始，您可以在其中看到我們繼續致力於可持續運營，我們與 NextEra Energy 的合作夥伴關係以及 2022 年加入 OGMP 2.0 突顯了這一點。與我們的可持續發展努力及其對我們業務的影響相關的更多詳細信息可以可在我們的 2022 年可持續發展報告和氣候風險報告中找到。您可以在我們的網站上找到這些報告。

Turning to Slide 19. Pioneer's ongoing sustainability efforts continue to benefit our emissions intensities which can be seen in the graph by Pioneer's relative position globally. Pioneer continues to provide low-emission barrels to the market, producing some of the most sustainable barrels in the world behind only Norway on a CO2 intensity basis. When combined with our low breakeven oil price, Pioneer provides exceptionally resilient production that we expect to have a place in the global market for decades to come.

轉到幻燈片 19。先鋒在可持續發展方面的持續努力繼續有利於我們的排放強度，這可以從圖表中先鋒在全球的相對位置看出。 Pioneer 繼續向市場提供低排放桶，在二氧化碳排放強度的基礎上生產了一些世界上僅次於挪威的最可持續的桶。再加上我們的低盈虧平衡油價，Pioneer 提供了異常有彈性的生產，我們希望在未來幾十年在全球市場上佔有一席之地。

Concluding on Slide 20, you can see Pioneer's key characteristics, which support our commitment to creating value for our shareholders. And with that, Joe will open up to questions or the call for questions.

在幻燈片 20 的最後，您可以看到先鋒的主要特徵，這些特徵支持我們為股東創造價值的承諾。這樣一來，Joe 就會敞開心扉接受問題或提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Your first question comes from John Freeman with Raymond James.

你的第一個問題來自 John Freeman 和 Raymond James。

First off, congrats, Scott, on a very well-earned pending retirement. Rich, congrats as well on the pending promotion. First thing is on the refinement to the shareholder return framework. I'm assuming there was a pretty aggressive sort of outreach with investors and the feedback from them sort of drove this decision. Maybe you could just kind of talk to that as well as maybe if there's going to be some sort of, I guess, a framework in place on when you all determine whether it makes more sense to lean into buybacks versus dividends each quarter.

首先，恭喜斯科特，獲得了一份非常應得的退休生活。里奇，也祝賀你即將晉升。首先是完善股東回報框架。我假設與投資者進行了相當積極的外聯，他們的反饋推動了這一決定。也許你可以談談這個問題，也可能是如果有某種框架，我想，當你們都確定每個季度傾向於回購而不是分紅是否更有意義時，就可以建立一個框架。

Yes, John, thanks for the question, and thanks for the congrats, too. So I much appreciate it. Yes, really, we had -- we have canvased our shareholders, as we've talked about in previous earnings calls over the last couple of months, but really what kind of led to the change in the framework was, one, it really allows us to improve our financial flexibility and strengthen our balance sheet, while continuing to deliver peer-leading returns of capital to shareholders. And it also provides the flexibility to continue to allocate capital between variable dividends and opportunistic share repurchases. So that was a big feature of what we wanted to accomplish, too.

是的，約翰，謝謝你的提問，也謝謝你的祝賀。所以我很感激。是的，真的，我們已經 - 正如我們在過去幾個月的前一次財報電話會議上談到的那樣，我們已經徵求了股東的意見，但實際上是什麼導致了框架的變化，一個，它確實允許我們將提高我們的財務靈活性並加強我們的資產負債表，同時繼續為股東提供同行領先的資本回報。它還提供了繼續在可變股息和機會性股票回購之間分配資本的靈活性。所以這也是我們想要完成的一大特色。

And then the third piece is really with the greater liquidity, it really supports our intention of reducing gross debt through time and provides the ability to repurchase incremental shares at times of major market dislocations like we saw in March. So we think it's a good refinement to the plan.

然後第三部分確實具有更大的流動性，它確實支持我們隨著時間的推移減少總債務的意圖，並提供在我們在 3 月份看到的重大市場混亂時回購增量股票的能力。所以我們認為這是對計劃的一個很好的改進。

And really, to your second question on what will be the distinguishment between variable versus buybacks. It's really a conversation -- from those conversations that was clear that in the last few months that our investors do like the variable dividend, and it remains an important part of our method to which we return capital, but we want to also be able to continue to repurchase shares on an opportunistic basis when we see attractive value. And so as you can imagine, that's really based on many factors that we evaluate when identifying that opportunity. It's not formulaic in nature, but generally includes looking at our internal NAV at multiple different prices. It takes a look at what's happening in the marketplace, you can imagine what's happening in the macro environment. So it's really one of those things that we will assess taking all those factors into account to say what's opportunistic at that time. So hopefully, that it helped some.

實際上，關於你的第二個問題，可變回購與回購之間的區別是什麼。這真的是一場對話——從這些對話中可以清楚地看出，在過去幾個月裡，我們的投資者確實喜歡可變股息，它仍然是我們返還資本的方法的重要組成部分，但我們也希望能夠當我們看到有吸引力的價值時，繼續在機會主義的基礎上回購股票。所以你可以想像，這實際上是基於我們在確定機會時評估的許多因素。它本質上不是公式化的，但通常包括以多種不同價格查看我們的內部資產淨值。它看看市場上發生了什麼，你可以想像宏觀環境中發生了什麼。所以這真的是我們將評估的事情之一，考慮到所有這些因素，以說明當時的機會主義。所以希望它能幫助一些人。

It does. And then just my last question. You detailed the big efficiency gains, I'll continue to make on Slide 14, and I'm just trying to get a sense of the -- during the quarter, the 120 TILs that you all had or POPs during the quarter sort of implies kind of a steady cadence all year on POPs to get to kind of the midpoint of that TIL range. And I'm just curious if kind of that's ahead of schedule that you all saw in the first quarter, you added the third simulfrac fleet if maybe we should assume that those efficiency gains keep maybe pushing the TILs or POPs toward the higher end of that range. Obviously, a first-class problem, but just trying to think about the cadence on the pops the rest of the year.

確實如此。然後是我的最後一個問題。你詳細說明了巨大的效率提升，我將繼續在幻燈片 14 上做，我只是想了解一下——在本季度，你們在本季度擁有的 120 個 TIL 或 POP 有點暗示全年在 POP 上都有一種穩定的節奏，以達到 TIL 範圍的中點。我很好奇你們在第一季度看到的是否提前了計劃，你們添加了第三個 simulfrac 艦隊，如果我們應該假設這些效率的提高可能會繼續推動 TIL 或 POP 向更高的目標推進範圍。顯然，這是一個一流的問題，但只是想想想今年餘下時間流行音樂的節奏。

Yes. I think the cadence is pretty flat quarter-over-quarter throughout the year. So I think you're exactly right. The 120 wells we put on production is you're going to see something similar for each of the quarters going forward. So very much in accord to plan and on schedule with the plan. So really just as we would have expected it.

是的。我認為全年的節奏與上一季度相比非常平穩。所以我認為你是完全正確的。我們投入生產的 120 口井將在未來的每個季度中看到類似的情況。非常符合計劃並按計劃進行。所以真的正如我們所期望的那樣。

Your next question comes from Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs.

你的下一個問題來自高盛的尼爾梅塔。

Congratulations, Scott. And Rich, congratulations to you too. Wish you all in the new role. The first question is just there's been a lot of talk around consolidation both around buying stuff and potentially putting Pioneer up for sale. And I don't want to get down the path of rumor-mongering. But I think for the investors on the call, any color you can provide on how you guys think about value creation through M&A and any updates on your thinking around this?

祝賀你，斯科特。 Rich，也祝賀你。祝大家在新的角色中。第一個問題是關於收購和可能將 Pioneer 出售的整合討論很多。我不想走上散佈謠言的道路。但我認為對於電話會議上的投資者，你們可以提供任何關於你們如何看待通過併購創造價值的顏色，以及你們對此想法的任何更新嗎？

Yes, Neil, I'll start with the general answer and then let Rich talk about his thoughts on M&A in the Permian Basin. Obviously, in regard to the past stories that have been out in the media. The Board will always do what is in the best interest for shareholders. I think that's obvious from our standpoint from myself and our Board. I'll let Rich comment on what he thinks of M&A activity in the Permian Basin.

是的，尼爾，我將從一般性答案開始，然後讓里奇談談他對二疊紀盆地併購的看法。顯然，關於過去在媒體上流傳的故事。董事會將始終按照股東的最佳利益行事。我認為從我們自己和董事會的角度來看，這是顯而易見的。我會讓里奇評論他對二疊紀盆地併購活動的看法。

Yes. Thanks, Scott. I'd say, as we've talked about, our primary focus, as you know, is executing our development program and delivering strong results. So that's kind of priority #1. But really, on an ongoing basis, as you've seen us do in the past, we will continue to add to our Tier 1 acreage position through trades and through small acquisitions that provide the ability to increase our lateral lengths and provide higher depth of inventory. So that's really the primary focus. We'll continue to look at things that are contiguous around us just because we think that is key to adding efficiencies longer term. But that's really -- our focus is those type of bolt-on things that add incremental inventory and lateral length.

是的。謝謝，斯科特。我想說的是，正如我們所討論的那樣，如您所知，我們的主要重點是執行我們的開發計劃並取得強勁的成果。所以這是第一要務。但實際上，在持續的基礎上，正如您過去看到的那樣，我們將繼續通過交易和小型收購增加我們的一級種植面積，這些收購能夠增加我們的橫向長度並提供更高的深度存貨。所以這才是真正的主要重點。我們將繼續關注我們周圍的連續事物，因為我們認為這是提高長期效率的關鍵。但這確實是——我們的重點是那些增加增量庫存和橫向長度的螺栓固定的東西。

And a follow-up for me is just, Rich, as you take over the helm. And what are the 2 or 3 strategic priorities that you're really focused on here as you build Pioneer for the next like the future?

對我來說，接下來的事情就是，里奇，你接任掌舵人。在為下一個像未來這樣的未來打造 Pioneer 時，您真正關注的 2 或 3 個戰略重點是什麼？

Yes. Thanks, Neil. It's really consistent with what we've developed working over the last couple of years. We put the strategy in place, the plan in place. And so our focus internally for the management team and really our 2,100 employees is execution. So that's what we're focused on is developing our resource out there and returning significant cash flow to shareholders. So that's really what we're focused on and we'll continue to be focused on.

是的。謝謝，尼爾。這與我們在過去幾年中開發的工作非常一致。我們把戰略到位，計劃到位。因此，我們對管理團隊以及我們 2,100 名員工的內部關注點是執行力。因此，我們關注的重點是開發我們的資源並將大量現金流返還給股東。所以這真的是我們關注的重點，我們將繼續關注。

Your next question comes from Charles Meade with Johnson Rice.

你的下一個問題來自 Charles Meade 和 Johnson Rice。

I want to begin by Scott saying, I will miss your willingness to share your unvarnished views on the oil markets and thank you for doing that over the last several years.

我想首先斯科特說，我會想念你願意分享你對石油市場的坦率看法，並感謝你在過去幾年裡這樣做。

I appreciate it, thanks.

我很感激，謝謝。

Yes. So Rich, going back to, I think, the first question you had about your -- this is the framework and metrics you guys use on evaluating the attractiveness of the buyback. I think I heard you say that you have an internal NAV that you look at various different prices. Is that not -- I recognize that there's not going to be -- you already said it's not formulaic, but is that the framework that we should think about you guys using? Or are there other frameworks or metrics that come into play?

是的。如此豐富，我想回到你對你的第一個問題——這是你們用來評估回購吸引力的框架和指標。我想我聽到你說你有一個內部資產淨值，你會看到各種不同的價格。那不是——我知道不會——你已經說過它不是公式化的，但這是我們應該考慮你們使用的框架嗎？或者是否有其他框架或指標發揮作用？

I'd say that's the main one. I mean we assess NAV at $60, $70, $80, $90 price outlook. And so you have to take that obviously with what do you think the macro outlook is? What do you think the long-term view of supply and demand looks like? And where do you see the oil prices going over time? So it's the combination of all those things that really is the assessment that goes into that.

我會說這是主要的。我的意思是我們以 60 美元、70 美元、80 美元、90 美元的價格前景評估資產淨值。所以你必須清楚地考慮到你認為宏觀前景是什麼？您認為供需的長期觀點是什麼樣的？您如何看待油價隨時間的變化？因此，所有這些因素的結合才是真正的評估。

Got it. And then when I was looking at your results last night, I noticed that it's been 3 quarters now that you guys have returned more than 100% of your free cash flow to shareholders. And actually, if you go back to 2Q '22, it was 95%. So I'm curious, what is the -- is that a street that we should expect will continue? Or is there going to be more some mean reversion back to that 75% number? What's the -- what's your expectation on the path and what's going to guide that?

知道了。然後當我昨晚查看你們的業績時，我注意到你們已經將超過 100% 的自由現金流返還給了股東，已經過去了 3 個季度。實際上，如果你回到 2Q '22，它是 95%。所以我很好奇，我們應該期待的街道會繼續是什麼？或者是否會有更多的均值回歸到 75% 的數字？什麼是——你對這條道路有什麼期望，什麼會指導它？

Yes. Great question, Charles. I think it's really, as we talked about, that framework of the 75% is that what we're committing to return to shareholders. But the other 25%, we do think it's important to continue to improve the balance sheet over time. And that's not to say we can't use that for opportunistic times. I think we saw in March that we can use the balance sheet to buy back more stock. But we think a long-term framework for the company, the 75-25 is a good split and allows us to reduce gross debt along the way.

是的。好問題，查爾斯。正如我們所討論的，我認為這真的是 75% 的框架是我們承諾回報股東的。但另外 25%，我們確實認為隨著時間的推移繼續改善資產負債表很重要。這並不是說我們不能在機會主義時期使用它。我認為我們在 3 月份看到我們可以利用資產負債表回購更多股票。但我們認為，對於公司的長期框架而言，75-25 是一個很好的拆分，可以讓我們一路減少總債務。

Your next question comes from Scott Gruber with Citigroup.

你的下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Scott Gruber。

Yes. congrats all around. So a question on your outlook for capital efficiency improvement. You seem to be in a somewhat unique position in that over the next 12 months, your well productivity should be improving while your well cost to actually deflating. How should we think about overall how much capital efficiency improvement you could see and think about if you stack the improvement in well productivity on a percentage basis this year, on top of the potential improvement in well cost on a percentage basis that you could see over the next 6 to 12 months? How large can that from be?

是的。祝賀大家。因此，關於您提高資本效率的前景的問題。在接下來的 12 個月中，您似乎處於一個有點獨特的位置，您的油井生產率應該會提高，而您的油井成本實際上會下降。我們應該如何考慮總體上您可以看到多少資本效率改善，並考慮如果您將今年以百分比為基礎的油井生產率的改善放在您可以看到的以百分比為基礎的油井成本的潛在改善之上未來 6 到 12 個月？那能有多大？

Yes. great question, Scott. And I think we'd reiterate that we're very pleased with our first quarter performance and strong well performance and really the operational efficiency that we accomplished during the quarter. The initial changes that we've made to the program are starting to materialize in our production. Obviously, the most of that is still second-half weighted as we talked about on prior calls, but excited about where we're seeing productivity go.

是的。很好的問題，斯科特。我想我們會重申，我們對第一季度的業績和強勁的業績以及我們在本季度實現的運營效率感到非常滿意。我們對程序所做的初步更改開始在我們的製作中實現。顯然，正如我們在之前的電話會議上談到的那樣，其中大部分仍然是下半年加權的，但對我們看到的生產力發展方向感到興奮。

On the capital efficiency side, it really hats off to our teams across the company that are working on improving efficiencies. So adding the extra simulfrac fleet, doing more longer laterals, the localized sand mines, our water distribution, all those things that we've been working on for many years that is going to help improve our capital efficiency. So thanks to the hard work of all those people. We've made significant progress and expect to make more progress over the course of the year. So I think everybody is working hard to make that happen.

在資本效率方面，我們整個公司致力於提高效率的團隊真的很不高興。因此，增加額外的 simulfrac 船隊，做更多更長的橫向，本地化的砂礦，我們的配水，所有這些我們多年來一直在努力的事情都將有助於提高我們的資本效率。所以感謝所有這些人的辛勤工作。我們已經取得了重大進展，並期望在這一年中取得更多進展。所以我認為每個人都在努力實現這一目標。

Got it. Got it. And just focusing on the well-cost side because obviously, a number of initiatives you just mentioned, but we're also starting to see initial signs of some deflation at the leading edge of service costs here. I mean do you think those 2 combined could be pushing kind of 10% deflation in well cost as we kind of enter 2024 and all the contracts reset?

知道了。知道了。並且只關注成本方面，因為很明顯，你剛才提到的一些舉措，但我們也開始在這裡看到服務成本前沿出現一些通貨緊縮的初步跡象。我的意思是，當我們進入 2024 年並且所有合同都重置時，您認為這兩個組合可能會推動井成本下降 10% 嗎？

It won't be lack of trying on our part. I can tell you that. But on the inflation front, we're still seeing a lot of things that moderated. The pace of change is slowing. So that's a positive. We're not seeing substantial decreases in a couple of items. We've seen some declines. So it's still early to tell where that's going to head. I'm hopeful that we'll see some deflation over the course of the year, but it's still too early to make any changes at this point because we're kind of level of where we would have anticipated. But signs are starting to look positive on the inflation side. So hopefully, that bodes well as we move into 2024 that we can see both the work internally that we're doing from efficiency gains, but some a little deflation will help well costs as we move to 2024.

我們不會缺少嘗試。我可以告訴你。但在通脹方面，我們仍然看到很多事情有所緩和。變革的步伐正在放緩。所以這是積極的。我們沒有看到幾個項目的大幅減少。我們已經看到了一些下降。因此，現在判斷它的發展方向還為時過早。我希望我們會在這一年中看到一些通貨緊縮，但現在做出任何改變還為時過早，因為我們處於我們預期的水平。但在通貨膨脹方面開始出現積極跡象。因此，希望這預示著我們進入 2024 年是個好兆頭，我們可以從提高效率中看到我們正在做的內部工作，但隨著我們進入 2024 年，一些小的通貨緊縮將有助於降低成本。

Your next question comes from Neal Dingmann with Truist Securities.

你的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Neal Dingmann。

Just a couple to follow up on that. Scott, you or Rich were talking about the vertical integration. I'm just wondering, could you talk maybe a bit more about that? Are you going to try to contract more sand kind of maybe just on vertical integration, if there's other sort of procedures you could do there?

只是一對夫婦跟進。 Scott，你或 Rich 在談論垂直整合。我只是想知道，你能多談談嗎？如果您可以在那裡執行其他類型的程序，您是否會嘗試承包更多的沙子，也許只是在垂直整合方面？

Sure. The main thing from -- we've got our program fairly well locked in, in terms of all the needs that we have for [2023], and we stagger our contracts, like I've talked about in the past, just from a supply chain standpoint to make sure you're not renewing anything on an annual basis. But we're not -- we've got adequate sand capacity. Obviously, the localized sand mines are helping with that. So that's been -- and plus it's a cost savings and savings about, as I said, $200,000 per well, the simulfrac saves about $200,000 per well as we've added that fleet. So all those things that teams are working on and plus we're lowering our emissions by moving to more dual fuel. Those things are helping as well in terms of lowering our emissions and lowering costs. So the teams are really doing an excellent job of making sure that we have the supplies that we need and improving upon them with efficiencies and then lowering costs as we can -- best we can in an inflationary environment.

當然。最主要的是——我們已經很好地鎖定了我們的計劃，就我們對 [2023] 的所有需求而言，我們錯開我們的合同，就像我過去談到的那樣，只是從供應鏈的立場，以確保您不會每年更新任何東西。但我們不是——我們有足夠的沙容量。顯然，本地化的砂礦正在幫助解決這個問題。所以這已經 - 加上它節省了成本，正如我所說，每口井節省了 200,000 美元，當我們增加了那支艦隊時，simulfrac 每口井節省了大約 200,000 美元。因此，所有這些團隊都在努力，而且我們正在通過轉向更多的雙燃料來降低我們的排放量。這些事情在減少排放和降低成本方面也有幫助。因此，這些團隊確實做得非常出色，確保我們擁有所需的供應並以效率改進它們，然後儘可能降低成本——最好是在通貨膨脹的環境中。

Great answer. And then just my follow-up on the full stack development. Could you talk about just what the typical pad size is now? And it seems like you're making really good progress on what you started late last year. Could we see some upside on that potentially later this year?

很好的答案。然後就是我對全棧開發的跟進。您能談談現在典型的焊盤尺寸是多少嗎？看起來你在去年年底開始的事情上取得了很好的進展。我們能否在今年晚些時候看到一些潛在的好處？

Like I said, we're very encouraged about how the first quarter has gone. You can see from second quarter guidance. We're continuing to see the benefit going forward. So we're really pleased. No change in our guidance, as we've talked about one quarter and -- but everything is moving well on that front, so we're happy about that. And on our average pad size, sorry I forgot that part, it is basically around -- if you look at that across our portfolio, it's about 5 wells per pad is the average.

就像我說的，我們對第一季度的表現感到非常鼓舞。你可以從第二季度的指導中看到。我們將繼續看到未來的好處。所以我們真的很高興。我們的指導方針沒有變化，因為我們已經談到了四分之一 - 但在這方面一切都進展順利，所以我們對此感到高興。在我們的平均墊尺寸上，對不起，我忘記了那部分，它基本上是——如果你在我們的產品組合中看一下，平均每個墊大約有 5 個井。

Okay. You'll stay on that. There some -- I guess, I should ask, are there some real large pads ahead that we should think about that might cause a little bit of lumpiness or you'll stick up pretty much on that 5 or 5...

好的。你會堅持下去。有一些——我想，我應該問，前面是否有一些真正的大墊子，我們應該考慮這可能會導致一點點腫塊，或者你會堅持 5 或 5……

You're right. There are some bigger pads here and there, but they're spread pretty evenly across the year, so you won't see too much lumpiness from that.

你說得對。到處都有一些更大的墊子，但它們在一年中分佈得相當均勻，所以你不會從中看到太多的塊狀物。

Your next question comes from Derrick Whitfield with Stifel.

你的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Derrick Whitfield。

Referencing Slide 19, I wanted to ask a bigger picture question on the value of low carbon intensity production. In this environment with an ever-increasing focus on decarbonization, do you sense or could you envision a day where your production would receive a downstream premium for its carbon intensity profile apart from quality adjustments?

參考幻燈片 19，我想就低碳強度生產的價值提出一個更宏觀的問題。在這種越來越關注脫碳的環境中，您是否感覺到或可以設想有一天，除了質量調整之外，您的生產將因其碳強度分佈而獲得下游溢價？

It's a great question and we want to see how the market evolves on that front. What I can tell you is the things that we are focused on is continue to lower that emissions. And then also, we're in the process of putting methane sensors across over 80% of our tank batteries that should be done mid-part of this year. The things that we're doing with NextEra on the wind farm, we're working with our transmission providers to get substations out there where we can move more of our operations to high-line power, both drilling completions and facilities as we move into 2024, '25 time period. So there's a lot of great work being done across the company that really help lower those emissions either further going forward. So -- whether that gets a premium value is a question, but we believe internally, it's just the right thing to do.

這是一個很好的問題，我們想看看市場在這方面是如何發展的。我可以告訴你的是，我們關注的是繼續降低排放量。此外，我們正在將甲烷傳感器安裝到我們 80% 以上的儲罐電池中，這應該在今年年中完成。我們在風電場與 NextEra 一起做的事情，我們正在與我們的輸電供應商合作，在那裡建立變電站，在那裡我們可以將更多的業務轉移到高壓線電力，包括鑽井完井和我們進入的設施2024 年，'25 時間段。因此，整個公司正在做很多偉大的工作，這些工作確實有助於進一步降低這些排放量。所以——這是否能獲得溢價是一個問題，但我們在內部相信，這是正確的做法。

That makes sense. And then with respect to your exploration budget, could you perhaps better detail the results from your EOR power last year and your testing plans for this year?

這就說得通了。然後關於您的勘探預算，您能否更好地詳細說明去年 EOR 功率的結果和今年的測試計劃？

Yes, it's still early. I mean last year, we had one cycle test that was -- gave us some positive indications, but we need to do more of those cycles, and that's what we're doing this year, and we're just kicking that cycles off as we speak. So it will be later this year, early next year before we have the results on that. But so far, things are encouraging, but we really need to do more cycles to understand what the full cycle economics will look like on that project. So more to come.

是的，現在還早。我的意思是去年，我們進行了一次循環測試——給了我們一些積極的跡象，但我們需要做更多這樣的循環，這就是我們今年所做的，我們只是開始這個循環，因為我們說。因此，我們將在今年晚些時候、明年初才能得出這方面的結果。但到目前為止，情況令人鼓舞，但我們確實需要做更多的周期來了解該項目的全週期經濟學會是什麼樣子。所以還有更多。

Maybe just one clarification. How extensive is the area in which you're testing and what kind of spacing do you have with those patterns?

也許只是一個澄清。您正在測試的區域有多大，這些圖案的間距是多少？

It's a historical area that we've done and so it's not a big area. It's 3 wells, I think, in 2 different zones is where it's being tested. So still an early development of an area that we have 100% ownership.

這是我們做過的一個歷史區域，所以它不是一個大區域。它是 3 口井，我認為，在 2 個不同的區域是它正在測試的地方。因此，我們擁有 100% 所有權的區域仍處於早期開發階段。

Your next question comes from Scott Hanold with RBC Capital Markets.

你的下一個問題來自 RBC 資本市場的 Scott Hanold。

Again, congrats to both of you all on your next endeavors. And maybe first to start just on the topic, Scott, just if you could give us a view of like why the succession plan kind of announced now? Do you feel confident in the trajectory of Pioneer? I know there's been a lot of volatility on the oil side as well as just a lot of, I guess, questions last year on operational performance, but -- of the wells. But can you give us a sense of why you think now is the right time to step back?

再次祝賀你們接下來的努力。也許首先就這個話題開始，斯科特，如果你能給我們一個觀點，比如為什麼現在宣布繼任計劃？您對先鋒的發展軌蹟有信心嗎？我知道石油方面存在很大的波動性，而且我猜去年也有很多關於運營績效的問題，但是 - 關於油井。但是你能告訴我們為什麼你認為現在是退後一步的正確時機嗎？

Yes. Thanks. When I came back, I first started off with a 3-year assignment to accomplish all of my goals, including succession, started working on succession back in March of 2019 when I first month came back. Obviously, COVID delayed things. And then we got into with our consolidation in the Midland Basin with our 2 large acquisitions. And I told the Board last year that I was really focused on this year. So it started last year. And especially with outperforming significantly first quarter with our production and our modifications that we made last year, I have full confidence in the fact that we're going to have significant uplift over the next several years. It was just a good time. So I've been doing this for over about 35 years running the public company and its predecessor, almost 71. And so it's time to enjoy the rest of life. So as simple as that. So nothing else is involved.

是的。謝謝。當我回來時，我首先開始了一項為期 3 年的任務，以完成我所有的目標，包括繼任，我在 2019 年 3 月回來的第一個月就開始了繼任工作。顯然，COVID 延誤了事情。然後我們通過兩次大型收購進入了米德蘭盆地的整合。去年我告訴董事會，我真的很關註今年。所以從去年開始。特別是第一季度我們的生產和我們去年所做的修改表現顯著，我完全相信我們將在未來幾年內取得顯著提升。那真是一段美好的時光。因此，我在這家上市公司及其前身，將近 71 年的時間裡一直從事這項工作超過 35 年。現在是享受餘生的時候了。就這麼簡單。所以沒有其他涉及。

Fair enough. And it's well deserved. Maybe kind of going back to the new shareholder return strategy. I know that you all emphasized that there's the other 25%. It sounds like the first priority is balance sheet, but then obviously, opportunistic buybacks, just a little bit of commentary on the sort of reducing gross debt would be helpful. Obviously, if we use your -- and just going to your slides in terms of your 5-year free cash flows. I mean if we pick a $70 oil price, I mean that would more than get you to net debt 0 or actually a negative net debt number. Do you think long-term that's in the cards where you get down to 0 net debt? Or do you think there's an optimal level of leverage on the balance sheet?

很公平。這是當之無愧的。也許有點回到新的股東回報戰略。我知道你們都強調還有另外 25%。聽起來首要任務是資產負債表，但顯然，機會主義回購，只是對減少總債務的那種評論會有幫助。顯然，如果我們使用您的 - 就您的 5 年自由現金流量而言，只是轉到您的幻燈片。我的意思是，如果我們選擇 70 美元的油價，我的意思是這不僅僅是讓你的淨債務為 0 或者實際上是一個負的淨債務數字。你認為長期來看，你是否有可能將淨債務降至 0？還是您認為資產負債表上存在最佳槓桿水平？

Scott, it's Neal. You're thinking about, I think, the right way. I mean it's our goal, and we've always said it, we believe in a pristine balance sheet and one that provides us durability during the down cycle as well as provides us operational and financial flexibility during an upcycle. So it's our intention to continue to pay down gross debt as it comes due. Now if you think about gross debt versus net debt.

斯科特，是尼爾。我認為，您正在考慮正確的方法。我的意思是這是我們的目標，我們一直這麼說，我們相信一個原始的資產負債表，它能在下行週期為我們提供耐用性，並在上升週期為我們提供運營和財務靈活性。因此，我們打算繼續償還到期的總債務。現在，如果您考慮總債務與淨債務。

We're going to continue to drive down gross debt, but now we have some long-dated maturities that have a very low interest associated with them. I think it's the 2030, '31. Those will more likely not remain outstanding. But as our gross debt comes due, it would be our intention to pay it down.

我們將繼續壓低總債務，但現在我們有一些長期到期的債券，它們的利息很低。我認為是 2030 年，'31。那些將更有可能不會保持突出。但隨著我們的總債務到期，我們打算償還它。

Okay. And then just out of curiosity, if I could stack on the half to that? You all did issue debt here recently when you had the 750 note coming due. Why do that? Is that -- was that more of a temporary bridge to you get a bigger quantum of free cash flow?

好的。然後出於好奇，如果我能把那一半疊起來？你們最近在 750 美元的票據到期時都在這裡發過債。為什麼要這樣做？那是——這更多的是讓你獲得更多自由現金流的臨時橋樑嗎？

No, I think that's the right way to think about it. So our intention is to reduce absolute gross debt through time. However, given our 2022 year-end cash balance and then you saw the recent downtick in commodity prices during the first quarter, we thought it was prudent to finance the maturity that's due here in May. And so that's exactly the reason. I view it more of a temporary bridge as we shore up free cash on the balance sheet, as Rich alluded to earlier.

不，我認為這是正確的思考方式。因此，我們的意圖是隨著時間的推移減少絕對總債務。然而，考慮到我們 2022 年年底的現金餘額，然後你看到第一季度大宗商品價格近期下跌，我們認為為 5 月到期的到期資金提供資金是謹慎的做法。這就是原因所在。正如 Rich 之前提到的那樣，我認為它更像是我們在資產負債表上支撐自由現金的臨時橋樑。

Your next question comes from Bob Brackett with Bernstein Research.

你的下一個問題來自 Bernstein Research 的 Bob Brackett。

Pass my congratulations on as well. In terms of self-sourcing sand, can you talk to the state of the art in sand in terms of grain size, moisture, crush strength. What's sort of the leading edge of what the industry is doing?

也轉達我的祝賀。就自購沙子而言，您能否談談沙子在粒度、水分、抗碎強度方面的最新水平。該行業的領先優勢是什麼？

Good question. I don't know I have all the specific details on each of that. But really, we've been using West Texas sand out there for really probably a bigger part of maybe not a decade yet, but it's been a long time, and it's worked great. So really -- that's really what we're continuing to use and the localized sand mines are exactly the same as what we were getting further West. And it's worked out for the whole industry. I mean is there the capacity is pretty well-spoken for today. That's why these localized sand mines are helping provide incremental capacity, but it's the best and cheapest source available, as you know, bringing white sand or other -- resin-coated sand or other proppant type and it is more expensive. And this is highly efficient and highly cost-effective to use in the field.

好問題。我不知道我有每一個的所有具體細節。但實際上，我們在那裡使用西德克薩斯沙子的時間可能還不到十年，但已經很長時間了，而且效果很好。所以真的 - 這真的是我們繼續使用的東西，本地化的沙礦與我們在更西部得到的完全相同。它適用於整個行業。我的意思是，今天的容量是否非常好。這就是為什麼這些本地化的砂礦正在幫助提供增量產能，但它是最好和最便宜的可用資源，如你所知，帶來白砂或其他 - 樹脂塗層砂或其他支撐劑類型，而且它更昂貴。這在現場使用非常高效且具有很高的成本效益。

Very clear. A quick follow-up. Going back to the pad size of around 5 wells, how do I think about the geometry between zone development, which sort of intuitively seems would be larger pads versus that 5-well number that's kind of flat through the year? How do I think about that?

非常清楚。快速跟進。回到大約 5 口井的井場大小，我如何考慮區域開發之間的幾何形狀，從直覺上看，哪種井場更大，而 5 口井數量全年持平？我怎麼想的？

Yes. Each of across the basin is the full stack development looks differently and you do them in a half-section type development. And so there may be -- it will look different by zone. It's typically, as you've seen on most of the diagrams that we had in charges, if you want to kind of equate it to looking like a wine rack, that's how it's done. And then we just -- we'll go from one pad to the next pad, but they may be -- we use this term like more along, it's just sequential. And so just think about that's how we're developing it across the field in these significant areas because it really just helps from an efficiency standpoint to keep rigs in one area.

是的。整個盆地中的每一個都是全棧開發看起來不同，你在半部分類型的開發中進行它們。所以可能會有 - 它看起來會因區域而異。通常情況下，正如您在我們負責的大多數圖表中看到的那樣，如果您想將其等同於看起來像酒架，這就是它的完成方式。然後我們只是——我們將從一個墊子轉到下一個墊子，但它們可能——我們更喜歡使用這個術語，它只是順序的。因此，想想看，這就是我們在這些重要領域跨領域開發它的方式，因為從效率的角度來看，它確實有助於將鑽機保持在一個區域。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Your next question comes from Doug Leggate with Bank of America.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Doug Leggate。

Scott, your stock is up 50% since you came back congratulations. You did lead that change in mindset to the market and long-deserved retirement. Same to you, Rich, you put up with my nuanced question. So it won't surprise you that I've got a couple of nuance ones today. So congrats to you, too. My first question is this. I want to go back to the Neil's question about M&A, but I want to be very specific about this. Your pattern has been not to comment on market speculation, but you did with range, you broke the precedent. The language in that press release was very specific. It said, we are not contemplating a significant business combination. Should we assume from that then that, that would preclude any discussion with ExxonMobil?

斯科特，恭喜你回來了，你的股票上漲了 50%。你確實引領了市場思維方式的轉變和應得的退休生活。你也一樣，里奇，你忍受了我微妙的問題。所以今天我有幾個細微差別，你不會感到驚訝。所以也恭喜你。我的第一個問題是這個。我想回到尼爾關於併購的問題，但我想對此非常具體。你的模式一直是不評論市場炒作，但你做到了區間，你打破了先例。該新聞稿中的語言非常具體。它說，我們沒有考慮進行重大的業務合併。我們是否應該由此假設，這將排除與埃克森美孚的任何討論？

Doug, the primary reason we responded to a -- and issued a press release on the range was due to the obviously significant reaction that we got back from our shareholder base. Obviously, there was nothing going on, and we reacted -- and so we saw our stock get down to about 180. So that's the reason -- the only reason we went away from no comment. You're going to see us always use that no comment like every other company does in every other industry. And as I said before, the Board will always do what's in the best interest for shareholders.

道格，我們回應的主要原因 - 並發布了關於該範圍的新聞稿是由於我們從我們的股東群中得到了明顯的重大反應。顯然，沒有任何事情發生，我們做出了反應——所以我們看到我們的股票跌至 180 美元左右。這就是原因——我們不予置評的唯一原因。你會看到我們總是像其他行業的其他公司一樣使用不評論。正如我之前所說，董事會將始終按照股東的最佳利益行事。

So you did not have discussions with a larger company or you did?

所以你沒有與更大的公司討論過，或者你做過？

I've already answered the question, Doug.

我已經回答了這個問題，道格。

Yes. No, I was referring to not contemplating a significant business combination, but I understand. Thanks, Scott. I know it's a tough one, tricky one to navigate. My follow-up, though, is on the capital return framework. And I really want to get to the issue of value because we all know that the commodity is a key input. But once again, you guys have talked about compelling valuation in a number of different contexts. You've also told us what your free cash flow guidance is $4 billion and with one of the best inventory debts in the industry, annuitize that, it's under your current market capitalization. So I want to understand how you define value. And more importantly, if you really believe that, why wouldn't you forego the variable dividend and just focus on buybacks?

是的。不，我指的是不考慮進行重大的業務合併，但我理解。謝謝，斯科特。我知道這是一個艱難的，棘手的導航。不過，我的後續行動是關於資本回報框架的。我真的很想談談價值問題，因為我們都知道商品是關鍵投入。但再一次，你們談到了在許多不同情況下令人信服的估值。您還告訴我們您的自由現金流指導是 40 億美元，並且擁有業內最好的庫存債務之一，年金化，它低於您當前的市值。所以我想了解您如何定義價值。更重要的是，如果你真的相信這一點，為什麼不放棄可變股息而只專注於回購呢？

Doug, it's Neal. I'll take that one. I'll start with off. Look, I've known you for like close to 20 years. I think you were always on my first call when I was on the buy side. We've had great discussions. Oftentimes, we've had different opinions and different thoughts, which again was what makes the market. I think we would describe value and look at value in multiple different ways. I think it's more than just dividing the free cash flow by the weighted average and buy your WACC. I think many on this call, the investors that look at our stock and assess the value and assess the value of the overall market. I'll also look at it very differently and through multiple lenses, not just one singular lens. So I'd say that's the ways that we perceive value is not just by one, but by multiple lenses.

道格，我是尼爾。我會拿那個。我將從關閉開始。聽著，我認識你將近 20 年了。我想當我在買方時，你總是在我的第一個電話上。我們進行了很好的討論。很多時候，我們有不同的意見和不同的想法，這又是造就市場的原因。我認為我們會以多種不同的方式描述價值並看待價值。我認為這不僅僅是將自由現金流除以加權平均值然後購買你的 WACC。我認為在這次電話會議上，許多投資者關注我們的股票並評估價值並評估整個市場的價值。我也會以非常不同的方式看待它，通過多個鏡頭，而不僅僅是一個單一的鏡頭。所以我想說這就是我們感知價值的方式，不僅僅是通過一個，而是通過多個鏡頭。

And then the last slide is one of those views that we have. We look at ROCE, the commentary that we've gotten from our shareholders is look, focus on your return of capital employed, your corporate returns. And you can see that we're leading the sectors.

最後一張幻燈片是我們的觀點之一。我們看看 ROCE，我們從股東那裡得到的評論是，關注你的資本回報率，你的公司回報率。你可以看到我們在這些行業處於領先地位。

Now you look at that sector -- the sector and you look at the valuation of the sectors within the S&P 500, we see somewhat of a mismatch there. And I think many would agree with that statement. You can look at valuation, relative valuations, sector valuation. We also believe looking at the inventory, duration of inventory, the quality of inventory, that also comes to bring to bear.

現在你看看那個行業——這個行業，你看看標準普爾 500 指數中各個行業的估值，我們發現那裡有些不匹配。我認為很多人會同意這一說法。你可以看看估值、相對估值、行業估值。我們還相信，查看庫存、庫存持續時間、庫存質量也會產生影響。

Looking at the margins, all that. So I would say valuation -- from our perspective, and I think many on this call, it's more than just one singular metric, but encompasses more of a greater mosaic. So in terms of your question now, the variable versus the buyback, you've seen the edited -- the modified capital return framework. And part of that now contemplates, as Rich alluded to, share repurchases as well. So we see great value in our equity and it is now a defined part of our capital return framework.

看著利潤率，所有這些。所以我想說估值——從我們的角度來看，我認為很多人都參加了這次電話會議，它不僅僅是一個單一的指標，而是包含更多的更大的馬賽克。所以就你現在的問題而言，變量與回購，你已經看到了經過編輯的 - 修改後的資本回報框架。正如 Rich 所暗示的那樣，其中一部分現在也在考慮股票回購。因此，我們看到了股權的巨大價值，它現在已成為我們資本回報框架的明確組成部分。

So a fair bit and balanced response to that and I do respect our relationship over the years.

因此，對此做出了公平而平衡的回應，我確實尊重我們多年來的關係。

There are no further questions at this time. Please proceed.

目前沒有其他問題。請繼續。

Again, thank you all very much. I look forward to seeing you in these last calls. So again, thank you. Again, congratulations to Rich. Thank you.

再次非常感謝大家。我期待在這些最後的通話中見到你。再次感謝您。再次祝賀里奇。謝謝。

Thanks, everybody.

謝謝大家。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與，並請您斷開線路。