SM Energy Co (SM) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to SM Energy's second-quarter 2025 financial results and operating results Q&A session. (Operator Instructions) Please note that today's conference is being recorded.

問候。歡迎參加 SM Energy 2025 年第二季財務表現與經營績效問答環節。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

At this time, I'll turn the conference over to Pat Lytle, Senior Vice President of Finance. Pat, you may begin.

現在，我將把會議交給財務高級副總裁 Pat Lytle。帕特，你可以開始了。

Thank you, Rob. Good morning, everyone. In today's call, we may reference the earnings release, IR presentation, or prepared remarks, all of which are posted to our website. Thank you for joining us to answer your questions today. On the call this morning, we have our President and CEO, Herb Vogel; COO, Beth McDonald; and CFO, Wade Pursell.

謝謝你，羅布。大家早安。在今天的電話會議中，我們可能會參考收益報告、投資者關係簡報或準備好的評論，所有這些都發佈在我們的網站上。感謝您今天加入我們並回答您的問題。今天早上的電話會議參與者有我們的總裁兼執行長 Herb Vogel、營運長 Beth McDonald 和財務長 Wade Pursell。

Before we get started, I need to remind you that our discussion today may include forward-looking statements and discussion of non-GAAP measures. I direct you to the accompanying slide deck, earnings release, and Risk Factors section of our most recently filed 10-K, which describe risks associated with forward-looking statements that could cause actual results to differ.

在我們開始之前，我需要提醒您，我們今天的討論可能包括前瞻性陳述和非公認會計準則指標的討論。我引導您參閱我們最近提交的 10-K 文件中附帶的幻燈片、收益報告和風險因素部分，其中描述了與前瞻性陳述相關的可能導致實際結果不同的風險。

Also, please see the slide deck appendix and the earnings release for a discussion of forward-looking statements and definitions and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. Also, our second quarter 10-Q was filed this morning.

此外，請參閱投影片附錄和收益報告，以了解有關前瞻性陳述以及非 GAAP 指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的定義和調整的討論。此外，我們第二季的 10-Q 報表已於今天早上提交。

With that, I will turn it over to Herb for brief opening comments. Herb?

接下來，我將把時間交給 Herb 進行簡短的開場評論。草本植物？

Thanks, Pat. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Before we get started, I want to make sure that you all took a close look at slide 6 in the slide deck we posted yesterday afternoon and heard best comments on the pre-recorded call.

謝謝，帕特。早安，感謝您加入我們。在我們開始之前，我想確保大家都仔細查看了我們昨天下午發布的幻燈片中的第 6 張幻燈片，並聽取了預先錄製的電話會議中的最佳評論。

Over the last five years, our growth has been intentional, strategic, and compelling. Slide 6 shows that since 2020, we have grown both net proved reserves and net production by over 60%, while increasing our oil percentage and production margins. Amazingly, we achieved this growth while share count remained flat, meaning no dilution, and we cut our leverage by more than a full turn from the end of 2020 to where it is today. In other words, we have delivered a step change in scale and derisked the balance sheet, all while not diluting our shareholders, benefiting per share metrics significantly.

在過去的五年裡，我們的成長是有目的的、有策略的、令人信服的。投影片 6 顯示，自 2020 年以來，我們的淨探明儲量和淨產量均成長了 60% 以上，同時提高了石油百分比和生產利潤率。令人驚訝的是，我們在實現這一增長的同時，股票數量保持不變，這意味著沒有稀釋，而且從 2020 年底到今天的水平，我們的槓桿率降低了一倍多。換句話說，我們在規模上實現了重大變革，降低了資產負債表的風險，同時沒有稀釋股東權益，每股盈餘顯著增加。

You can attribute this exceptional outcome to date to our team's extensive geoscience, engineering, and advanced analytics experience in unconventional resource development, all hyper-focused on adding shareholder value. We see a future where we can continue to access underappreciated assets, apply our deep technical skills, repeat this level of performance, and grow shareholder value meaningfully.

您可以將迄今為止的這項卓越成果歸功於我們團隊在非常規資源開發方面豐富的地球科學、工程和高級分析經驗，所有這些都高度注重增加股東價值。我們看到了未來，我們可以繼續獲取被低估的資產，運用我們深厚的技術技能，重複這種業績水平，並顯著增加股東價值。

With that, I'll turn the call back over to Rob to take your questions.

說完這些，我將把電話轉回給 Rob 來回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Zach Parham, JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）摩根大通的 Zach Parham。

First, just wanted to ask on cash taxes. You gave some specific guidance on cash taxes in 2025 post the passage of the tax bill. But how should we be thinking about your cash tax obligations as we go into 2026 and into future years?

首先，我只是想問現金稅。您對稅收法案通過後的 2025 年現金稅給了一些具體指示。但是，當我們進入 2026 年及未來幾年時，我們應該如何考慮您的現金稅務義務？

Zach, yes, this is Wade. Good question. At this point, for the foreseeable future, I would assume something similar. If you're looking into '26, under the new plan and the increased level of deductions that we will be able to achieve, I think our base plan right now looks very similar, depending on commodity prices, of course. And if you're asking about years beyond that, assuming that those laws stay into effect, it's -- and assume our spending stays at similar levels, it's going to be a pretty similar result for quite a while.

札克，​​是的，這是韋德。好問題。就目前而言，在可預見的未來，我會假設類似的事情發生。如果您研究一下 26 年，根據新計劃以及我們能夠實現的增加的扣除額水平，我認為我們現在的基本計劃看起來非常相似，當然這取決於商品價格。如果你問的是幾年後的情況，假設這些法律仍然有效，並且假設我們的支出保持在相似的水平，那麼在相當長的一段時間內，結果將會非常相似。

My follow-up is on the Uinta. You grew the Uinta pretty significantly quarter over quarter in 2Q compared to 1Q. How do you think about Uinta production from here? What's the capacity of that asset over the back half of the year and as we go into 2026?

我的後續行動是關於尤因塔 (Uinta)。與第一季相比，第二季 Uinta 的環比成長相當顯著。您如何看待 Uinta 的生產？今年下半年以及 2026 年該資產的產能是多少？

Hey, Zach. It's Beth. When you look at our turn-in lines for Uinta, we had a majority of those coming on in the first half of the year. So we came out of the gate really strong. We also have the outperformance of our wells in the quarter that led to the high production.

嘿，扎克。是貝絲。當您查看尤因塔的上交線時，您會發現其中大部分都是在今年上半年上交的。所以我們一開始就表現得非常強勁。本季我們的油井表現優異，從而帶來了高產量。

But we'll have more of South Texas and Permian coming online in the second half, but Uinta continues to stay strong. And we're really excited about what we saw in Q2 and look forward to seeing continued performance and repeatability in that asset going forward.

但下半年我們將有更多南德州和二疊紀盆地的礦產資源投入使用，但尤因塔礦場仍將保持強勁。我們對第二季的表現感到非常興奮，並期待看到該資產在未來繼續保持良好的表現和可重複性。

Leo Mariani, ROTH MKM.

Leo Mariani，ROTH MKM。

I wanted to just focus a little bit on some of the additional activity. I think if I read this right, it sounds like you guys are adding an additional 10 net wells to the drilling program for roughly $75 million. Was that the total that got the $75 million seems maybe a little high if you're just drilling wells?

我只想稍微注意一些額外的活動。我想如果我沒看錯的話，聽起來你們正在為鑽井計劃增加另外 10 口淨井，花費約 7500 萬美元。如果只是鑽井的話，那麼 7500 萬美元的總額是不是看起來有點高？

It seems like you're not completing them, but maybe these are just drills. And it sounds like they're also all non-op. Have some of those kind of already happened? Are they hitting in third quarter? And do you expect to see CapEx come down in 4Q?

看起來你沒有完成它們，但也許這些只是練習。聽起來他們也都是非操作的。其中一些已經發生了嗎？他們在第三節擊球了嗎？您預期第四季資本支出會下降嗎？

Leo, it's Beth. When you look at the timing of that, we had additional activity pull into Q2. So we had the two additional net drill wells and six turn-in-lines that came in, in Q2. But when you look at the overall capital raise that we had in new guidance for the year, it's primarily associated with non-op and better line of sight to those projects. So some of it is acceleration and some of it is non-operated projects that we know now that we're participating in, high-return ones in the Midland Basin, primarily associated with those.

利奧，我是貝絲。從時間角度來看，我們在第二季有額外的活動。因此，我們在第二季度增加了兩口淨鑽井和六條鑽進管線。但是，當你查看我們今年新指南中的整體資本籌集情況時，它主要與非運營和對這些項目的更好的視線有關。因此，其中一些是加速項目，一些是我們現在知道正在參與的非營運項目，主要與米德蘭盆地的高回報項目有關。

Yeah. And Leo, those don't add any production in '25. That's all in '26.

是的。還有 Leo，這些在 25 年並沒有增加任何產量。這就是 26 年的全部內容。

Okay. So do you guys expect to see CapEx come down here in the fourth quarter then? I know obviously, you dropped a lot of the operated rig activity.

好的。那麼你們預期第四季資本支出會下降嗎？我顯然知道，你們放棄了很多鑽井作業活動。

Yes, Leo. We expect fourth-quarter capital to come down.

是的，利奧。我們預計第四季的資本將會下降。

Okay. That's helpful. And then on the Uinta, obviously, it sounds like well performance has been certainly quite a bit stronger. This quarter, you had a lot of wells. It looks like the IP 30s were up quite a bit despite shorter laterals. I was hoping you could provide a little bit more color on sort of what drove the improved results.

好的。這很有幫助。然後在 Uinta，顯然，聽起來性能確實要強勁得多。本季度，你們有很多井。儘管橫向管道較短，但 IP 30 似乎仍上升了不少。我希望您能更詳細地解釋一下是什麼推動了結果的改善。

And can you also comment on how well costs are trending? Have you been able to bring the well cost down in addition to seeing better performance?

您能否評論一下成本趨勢如何？除了獲得更好的性能之外，您是否還能夠降低油井成本？

Yes, on both. So what I would say is that what we're seeing is our technical expertise combined with that of XCL's former operational execution, and we're seeing capital efficiency really drive costs down there. And we showed that also on slide 11, especially as it relates to the conveyor system and where we are now.

是的，兩者都有。所以我想說的是，我們看到的是我們的技術專長與 XCL 以前的營運執行相結合，我們看到資本效率確實降低了成本。我們也在第 11 張投影片上展示了這一點，特別是與傳送系統和我們現在所處的位置相關的部分。

So costs are coming down there in the Uinta. And also, when you look back on slide 10 and you see the well performance, truly stellar well performance. Our subsurface team worked very well with our completion optimization, our design going forward, and I think you're seeing some of the benefits of that combination.

因此，尤因塔地區的成本正在下降。而且，當您回顧第 10 張幻燈片時，您會看到井的性能，確實非常出色。我們的地下團隊在完井優化和未來設計方面合作非常順利，我想您已經看到了這種結合帶來的一些好處。

Oliver Huang, TPH.

奧利弗·黃，TPH。

I wanted to hit on the Uinta Basin first in a little bit more detail. I know we're still waiting for the first fully SM start to finish well design. So year to date, I think all these wells thus far were kind of part of the inherited DUC backlog from the deal when thinking about what spacing or zones that might have been targeted.

我想先更詳細地介紹一下尤因塔盆地。我知道我們仍在等待第一個完全 SM 開始完成的設計。因此，當我考慮可能針對的間距或區域時，我認為今年到目前為止所有這些油井都是從交易中繼承的 DUC 積壓的一部分。

But just kind of given how you all have had close to 50 of these wells online in the first half of the year, it's a decent sample size with a handful of months of public data, which all look to be performing better than what we saw from the program last year that your predecessor ran.

但考慮到你們在上半年已經擁有近 50 口線上油井，這是一個相當大的樣本量，加上幾個月的公開數據，這些數據看起來都比我們去年從你的前任運行的項目中看到的表現要好。

So just trying to get a sense for when you all look at the data and changes within the program on a year-over-year basis, what are some of the main differences you all would pinpoint as specific drivers for that positive rate of change?

因此，只是想了解一下，當你們逐年查看該計劃的數據和變化時，你們認為哪些主要差異是推動這一積極變化率的具體因素？

Yeah. Thanks, Oliver, for the question. I think when you look at our top initiatives as we evaluate the Uinta, we're really looking at the entire development of the wine rack. So we're looking at landing zone, our co-development strategy within the lower cube as well as looking and evaluating the upper cube. We continue to extend laterals across the acreage position, and we really look at maximizing capital efficiency. So I think when you combine all those things, you see that repeatability in the 22 wells that we put online.

是的。謝謝奧利佛提出的問題。我認為，當您查看我們評估 Uinta 的首要舉措時，我們實際上是在關注酒架的整體發展。因此，我們正在研究著陸區、下層立方體內的共同開發策略以及觀察和評估上層立方體。我們繼續在整個油田範圍內延伸水平井，並真正致力於實現資本效率的最大化。所以我認為，當你把所有這些因素結合起來時，你會看到我們投入使用的 22 口井具有可重複性。

Okay. Makes sense. And maybe just a quick follow-up on the trajectory, just thinking through how the program was fairly front-end weighted with respect to CapEx until. So just doing some back of the envelope math, it looks like 15% to 20% of your full-year CapEx remains for Q4, roughly 15% of TILs and most of the Uinta oilier wells were very front-end weighted.

好的。有道理。也許只是對軌跡進行快速跟進，只是思考一下該計劃在資本支出方面是如何相當前端加權的。因此，只需進行一些粗略的計算，看起來您的全年資本支出的 15% 到 20% 仍留在第四季度，大約 15% 的 TIL 和大多數 Uinta 油井都是前端加權的。

So when we're kind of thinking about just Q4 and Q1, any sort of color that you all could provide on the magnitude of potential roll-offs on oil volumes or any sort of color on the expected shape as we kind of head into 2026?

因此，當我們只考慮第四季度和第一季時，您能否對石油產量的潛在下降幅度或進入 2026 年時的預期形態提供任何資訊？

Yeah. Oliver, I think your back-of-the-envelope math is pretty accurate there for fourth quarter, especially on the TIL counts and what that implies. So we're not really going to discuss our plans for 2026 until our normal timing, which is February.

是的。奧利弗，我認為你對第四季度的粗略計算是相當準確的，特別是關於 TIL 數量及其含義。因此，我們實際上不會在正常時間（即二月）討論 2026 年的計劃。

And last -- in July last year, when we announced the Uinta transaction, we said we were going to reduce the rig count, and we're doing that. And we're down to six already, and it would be pretty much safe to assume we stick with six rigs for next year, spread pretty evenly across all our assets between South Texas, the Midland Basin, and Uinta.

最後，去年 7 月，當我們宣布 Uinta 交易時，我們說過我們將減少鑽井數量，而且我們正在這樣做。現在我們已經減少到六個了，而且可以相當安全地假設我們明年將繼續使用六個鑽孔機，均勻分佈在南德克薩斯州、米德蘭盆地和尤因塔之間的所有資產上。

And we kind of flagged that that would generate pretty much flattish BOE production on a little bit less CapEx year over year, even without assuming deflation. So we're going to look at the plan later in the year, evaluate where we are on commodity prices and then really work to maximize that free cash flow over two to three years as we usually do.

我們之前就預測過，即使不考慮通貨緊縮，這也會導致桶油產量與上年持平，而資本支出也會略有減少。因此，我們將在今年稍後重新審視該計劃，評估目前的大宗商品價格，然後像往常一樣，努力在兩到三年內實現自由現金流最大化。

So with the commodity price experience that we've had this year, it's just really difficult to figure exactly where things are going to be with, is there going to be a tailwind on gas or headwinds on gas and then on oil, likewise. So that -- we'll do our normal program there. And as usual, it will be focused on free cash flow generation.

因此，根據我們今年的商品價格經驗，我們很難確切地判斷事情將會如何發展，天然氣價格將面臨順風還是逆風，石油價格也是如此。這樣——我們將在那裡進行我們的正常程序。和往常一樣，它將專注於自由現金流的產生。

Scott Hanold, RBC.

斯科特·漢諾德（RBC）。

Certainly, a lot of focus on the Uinta, and you all had a nice step-up in sort of the returns and performance there. My question is, do you think there's some sustainability for that? I know there's going to be general ebbs and flows, but should we level set things to -- this was a sort of a peak quarter? Or do you expect things could be status quo even better moving ahead based on what you know today?

當然，大家的注意力都集中在尤因塔，你們在那裡的回報和表現都取得了不錯的進步。我的問題是，您認為這種做法具有永續性嗎？我知道肯定會有起伏，但我們是否應該將情況調整到某種程度——這是一個高峰季度？或者根據您目前所了解的情況，您是否期望現狀會變得更好？

Yeah, Scott, I'll start and then hand it over to Beth. But we went into the Uinta Basin because we saw all this potential, not just near term and in the lower cube, but beyond that for massive inventory expansion. So we do see it as quite sustainable on a drilling program and the ability to grow inventory. And with that, I'll hand it over to Beth for the rest of that.

是的，史考特，我先開始，然後交給貝絲。但是我們進入了尤因塔盆地，因為我們看到了所有這些潛力，不僅是短期和較低的立方體，而且還超越了大規模庫存擴張。因此，我們確實認為鑽探計劃和增加庫存的能力是相當可持續的。說完這些，我會把剩下的交給 Beth 處理。

Yeah, I agree. And if you're looking specifically at the production this year and what does that mean moving forward, it's really all timing of our turn-in lines. So we have stellar performance. Most of that's weighted toward the front half of the year. So as we continue to complete wells throughout the year, we'll still bring on great -- just as Herb said, that repeatable performance that we have and sustain our cash flow coming out of the Uinta.

是的，我同意。如果你特別關心今年的產量以及這對未來意味著什麼，那麼這實際上就是我們上線時間表的問題。因此我們的表現非常出色。其中大部分集中在上半年。因此，隨著我們全年繼續完成油井作業，我們仍將取得優異的成績——正如赫伯所說，我們擁有可重複的業績，並維持來自尤因塔的現金流。

Okay. And my follow-up, this one is probably for Wade. On shareholder returns, you guys have now a line of sight on hitting your leverage target. Would you anticipate being a little bit more, I guess, not cautious, but a little bit more conservative in terms of when you'd flex that? Or would you be willing to step in if the opportunity is right sooner than later? And what kind of scale would you feel comfortable doing that at?

好的。我的後續問題可能是針對韋德的。在股東回報方面，你們現在已經開始著眼於實現槓桿目標。我想，在何時採取這種政策方面，您是否會更加謹慎，但會更加保守？或者如果機會合適，您是否願意介入？在什麼樣的規模下您覺得這樣做比較適合？

A lot of good questions there, Scott. Thank you. Yeah, no, we are -- line of sight that is a good word. I mean we're close to getting there. I mean we ended the quarter at 1.2 times, really more like 1.1 times if you look at it on a full-year basis for XCL. And I think we mentioned in our comments that based on just using the current commodity prices, we see it happening by the end of the year. So we're really bouncing along really right there close to 1 times the second half of the year.

斯科特，有很多好問題。謝謝。是的，不，我們是——視線，這是一個很好的詞。我的意思是我們已經快到達那裡了。我的意思是，我們本季結束時的銷售額是 1.2 倍，如果從 XCL 全年來看，實際上更像是 1.1 倍。我想我們在評論中提到過，僅根據當前的商品價格，我們就能預見這種情況會在年底發生。因此，我們今年下半年的業績確實出現了近 1 倍的反彈。

So to answer your question, I could see us opportunistically stepping in at some point. As we see stability in the market, we're looking for that also. We've seen some stability in recent weeks. We'll continue to monitor that. And I'm talking about oil prices primarily.

因此，回答你的問題，我認為我們會在某個時候抓住機會介入。當我們看到市場穩定時，我們也在尋求這一點。最近幾週我們看到了一些穩定。我們將繼續監控此事。我主要談論的是油價。

So yeah, so you could see us stepping in. We have -- just to remind everyone, we have authorization from the Board, $500 million share buyback program. So you very well could see us step in there, especially if there's a period of weakness that we want to support.

是的，所以你可以看到我們介入。提醒大家，我們已經獲得董事會授權，實施 5 億美元的股票回購計畫。因此，您很可能會看到我們介入，特別是當市場出現疲軟時期，而我們需要提供支援時。

Michael Scialla, Stephens.

邁克爾·西亞拉，史蒂芬斯。

I wanted to ask on the Uinta, I think you said 90% of this year's program was focused on the lower cube. You've talked about the 17 prospective intervals there. I guess could you provide an update on how many you've tested thus far? And as you look into next year with this year's program being so much focused on the lower cube, any more plans to delineate some of these other zones next year?

我想問 Uinta，我想您說過今年 90% 的節目都集中在下部立方體上。您已經談到了那裡的 17 個預期間隔。我想您能否提供一下迄今為止您已測試過多少次的最新資訊？展望明年，今年的計劃主要集中在下層立方體上，明年還有什麼計劃來劃分其他一些區域嗎？

Yeah. Thanks, Mike, for that question. I mean when you look back kind of at the historic landing zones that we've seen across, a majority of those have been in the lower cube. So there's seven different landing zones within the lower cube itself.

是的。謝謝邁克提出這個問題。我的意思是，當你回顧我們所見過的歷史著陸區時，你會發現大多數著陸區都在下層立方體中。因此，下部立方體本身內有七個不同的著陸區。

And we've had production out of all of those that we're evaluating and taking into account in our geologic model as we set the first SM well designed and executed pad that we talked about on the call that will come online in '26.

我們在設置第一個 SM 精心設計和執行的平台時，已經對所有這些進行了生產，我們在地質模型中對其進行了評估和考慮，我們在電話會議上談到的平台將於 26 年上線。

We also have about 10% of our program associated with the upper cube. And we have several landing zones in there, too, that we're monitoring to make sure that we pull that in, design the right completion, and make it most capitally efficient and value-adding going forward.

我們的程式中還有大約 10% 與上部立方體相關。我們在那裡也有幾個著陸區，我們正在監控這些著陸區，以確保我們能夠將其納入，設計正確的完成方式，並使其在未來具有最高的資本效率和增值能力。

Appreciate that, Beth. And then you had a pretty large beat on production this quarter. You did raise your oil guidance for the year, but I guess a little surprised you didn't push the overall production guidance higher. Could you speak to that at all? What prevented you from taking the total BOE guidance for the year?

非常感謝，貝絲。本季您的生產取得了相當大的成功。您確實提高了今年的石油產量預期，但我猜有點令人驚訝的是，您沒有提高整體產量預期。你能詳細談談這個嗎？是什麼阻礙了您接受英國央行今年的整體指導？

Yeah. I think the increase in volumes that we saw this quarter was really due to the mix that we had coming from the strong performance on our Uinta and all of the POPs that you saw there. The production profile really has just shifted to earlier in the year. So that's shifted forward, if you will.

是的。我認為本季銷售的成長實際上歸功於我們在 Uinta 和您在那裡看到的所有 POP 的強勁表​​現。生產概況實際上剛剛轉移到今年早些時候。如果你願意的話，這就向前推進了。

We still see Q3 slightly higher than Q2, and that's reflected in our guidance for Q3. But that production has moved forward in time due to our efficiencies and putting more wells online but primarily associated with the outperformance that we've seen in all three of our assets.

我們仍然預計第三季的產量將略高於第二季度，這反映在我們對第三季的預期中。產量的提高得益於我們效率的提高和更多油井的投產，但這主要與我們三項資產的優異表現有關。

Michael Furrow, Pickering Energy Partners.

邁克爾·弗羅 (Michael Furrow)，Pickering Energy Partners 的負責人。

Just got a follow-up to Zach's cash tax question earlier. In the OBBA, the capitalization of R&D seems to include a multiyear catch-up and should benefit operators like SM that have historically had higher levels of R&D. So I'm curious if you could add some color to that statement and if SM expects to see some benefits to longer-term cash taxes, particularly from the R&D contribution angle.

剛剛收到 Zach 之前關於現金稅問題的後續資訊。在 OBBA 中，研發資本化似乎包括多年的追趕，並且應該使 SM 等歷史上擁有較高研發水準的營運商受益。所以我很好奇您是否可以為該聲明添加一些說明，以及 SM 是否希望看到長期現金稅的一些好處，特別是從研發貢獻的角度來看。

Yeah. No, that's a good point, and that is definitely part of our conclusions with respect to changing our guidance on cash taxes. We are -- we do accumulate a pretty significant amount of R&D every year and now having the ability to deduct those quicker is definitely part of the impact. And that will be a recurring thing for us. We do incur R&D expenses every year. And so that is a component for sure.

是的。不，這是一個很好的觀點，這絕對是我們關於改變現金稅指導的結論的一部分。我們每年確實累積了相當多的研發費用，現在能夠更快地扣除這些費用無疑是影響的一部分。這對我們來說將是一件反覆發生的事情。我們每年確實會產生研發費用。所以這肯定是一個組成部分。

Great. Appreciate the color. And then just a follow-up for me on the Uinta. It looks like operations are humming along. Cadence seems ahead of schedule for the full-year guidance of 50 net completions, completing 41 year-to-date.

偉大的。欣賞色彩。接下來是我對 Uinta 的後續報導。看起來營運進展順利。Cadence 似乎提前實現了全年淨完工 50 項的預期，今年迄今已完成 41 項。

So should we consider the 50 completion guidance as sort of a hard target for the year? Or would the company consider continuing to run a steady program in the basin potentially turning into sales a bit more wells than originally contemplated if the efficiencies allow for it?

那麼，我們是否應該將 50 個完成指導視為今年的硬性目標？或者，如果效率允許的話，該公司是否會考慮繼續在該盆地運行一個穩定的項目，從而有可能銷售比最初預想更多的油井？

Yeah. Thanks, Michael. This is Beth. I just wanted to point out one thing that Herb mentioned on the call also as it relates to Uinta. We started the year with a double barrel, which is similar to what you might call simul-frac in other basins. So we started with a double barrel and are down to single barrel as our frac fleet runs very efficiently and catches up with our rigs.

是的。謝謝，麥可。這是貝絲。我只是想指出 Herb 在電話中提到的與 Uinta 有關的一件事。今年我們開始使用雙管壓裂技術，這與其他盆地中所謂的同步壓裂相似。因此，我們一開始採用雙管，後來減少到單管，因為我們的壓裂船隊運行非常高效，並且趕上了我們的鑽機。

But we're going to continue to run that frac fleet as efficiently as possible. And if that moves more of those turn-in lines into the year, that's great. But right now, we're catching up to the rigs a little bit, and we're seeing those efficiencies, and that's just a product of going from the double barrel to the single barrel in our frac.

但我們將繼續盡可能有效率地運行該壓裂船隊。如果這能使更多的上交線路進入今年，那就太好了。但目前，我們正在一點點追趕鑽孔機，我們看到了這些效率，這只是從雙管到單管壓裂的產物。

(Operator Instructions) Tim Rezvan, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

（操作員指示）Tim Rezvan，KeyBanc 資本市場。

I'm not sure if this is for Beth or Herb. The release in the prepared comments repeatedly sort of reiterated the importance of logistics and optimizing takeaway out of the Price River Terminal. I was curious if you could be a little more specific about what was done? And if that -- if you -- is that more a reliability issue? Or could we see a potential uplift to realizations as you look to maybe get more -- you went to barrels on rail?

我不確定這是給 Beth 的還是 Herb 的。在準備好的評論中一再重申了物流和優化普萊斯河碼頭外賣的重要性。我很好奇您是否可以更具體地說明一下做了什麼？如果那樣——如果您——那是否更多的是一個可靠性問題？或者，當您希望獲得更多時，我們是否可以看到實現的潛在提升——您使用鐵路運輸的桶子？

Yeah. Thanks, Tim, and that gets into the details of the rail transport. So I'll hand that one over to Beth. And there's a lot of great opportunities in front of us there, which is pretty exciting to see. We anticipated some, but it's probably even better than we thought.

是的。謝謝，提姆，這涉及到鐵路運輸的細節。因此我將把這個交給貝絲。我們面前有很多絕佳的機會，這令人非常興奮。我們預料到了一些，但結果可能比我們想像的還要好。

Yeah. And what I would say is that our team had to respond to that increase in production growing faster. As a result, we sold -- of course, we maximize -- and we said this before, we maximize as many barrels as possible to the Salt Lake City refineries, and we were able to do that.

是的。我想說的是，我們的團隊必須對產量更快的成長做出反應。結果，我們賣出了——當然，我們最大化了——我們之前就說過，我們向鹽湖城煉油廠出售了盡可能多的石油，我們做到了這一點。

And then we were able to work with our team at Price River Terminal as well as our railroad logistics team to move. We just moved more cars, and they did an amazing job moving the barrels in and out of that terminal, and we hit record volumes. So it was a collective team effort across our infrastructure partners as well as our operations team.

然後，我們就可以與 Price River Terminal 的團隊以及鐵路物流團隊合作進行搬遷。我們只是運送了更多的汽車，他們在將桶運進運出該終端方面做得非常出色，我們的運輸量達到了創紀錄的水平。因此，這是我們基礎設施合作夥伴和營運團隊的共同努力。

Okay. So we shouldn't think of this as a sort of marketing strategy change. This is just good execution?

好的。所以我們不應該將此視為一種行銷策略的改變。這只是良好的執行嗎？

Yes, exactly.

是的，確實如此。

Okay. Okay. I appreciate that context. And as my follow-up for Herb, in the past, you've been pretty cautious on natural gas and you've allocated capital, I guess, the Board has accordingly. I know the last time I spoke to you in person about this, it was December, you were cautious on gas. And it feels like we've had several price cycles since last December. I was curious, are you getting more constructive on gas as 2026 approaches? Or sort of what's the kind of internal view given the volatility and the export outlook?

好的。好的。我很欣賞這種背景。作為我對 Herb 的後續提問，過去，您對天然氣一直非常謹慎，並且您已經分配了資金，我想董事會也做出了相應的分配。我知道我上次親自與您談論此事是在 12 月，當時您對汽油很謹慎。感覺自去年 12 月以來我們已經經歷了幾次價格週期。我很好奇，隨著 2026 年的臨近，您是否對天然氣的看法變得更加積極？或者考慮到波動性和出口前景，內部觀點是什麼樣的？

Yeah, Tim, it's a great question. And Wade always reminds me if you're going to forecast, forecast often. I would say that we're just cautious on gas because of the ability to develop supply fairly quickly. We've really been watching how does the market perform through the shoulder months.

是的，提姆，這是一個很好的問題。韋德總是提醒我，如果要預測，就要常常預測。我想說，我們對天然氣持謹慎態度，因為我們有能力相當快速地開發供應。我們一直在關注市場在這兩個月的表現。

And we're really looking for sustained price signals at a higher level. And we even had a two handle earlier in the year. And so we're just cautious. We think there's going to be a day. We're looking at the structural demand changes between LNG and the data centers. And when we see those really come along that the turbines are available for them to create that demand, then we would be a little bit less cautious on the gas side and maybe lean in a little bit more.

我們確實在尋找更高水準的持續價格訊號。我們甚至在今年稍早就推出了雙手把產品。因此我們只是謹慎而已。我們認為終有一天會實現的。我們正在研究液化天然氣和資料中心之間的結構性需求變化。當我們看到這些確實出現，渦輪機可以滿足他們的需求時，我們在天然氣方面就會稍微放鬆一點，可能會更傾向於天然氣。

But right now, it's pretty much coming out as we kind of expected, which is supply does respond to market signals. And we feel like we've got a great plan. Oil has turned out a bit better than we expected from April and May, and it's actually right at our budget for the year. So I don't know how that will continue through the end of the year, but we didn't see a reason to change our plan to respond to the shorter-term gas price signal. And obviously, there's been a little bit of erosion, unfortunately, in that one.

但目前，情況基本上符合我們的預期，即供應確實會對市場訊號做出反應。我們覺得我們已經有了一個很棒的計劃。石油價格比我們預期的四月和五月好一些，實際上正好符合我們今年的預算。所以我不知道這種情況會如何持續到今年年底，但我們認為沒有理由改變我們的計劃來應對短期天然氣價格訊號。顯然，不幸的是，那裡已經出現了一些侵蝕。

We are happy to hedge gas in the out years.

我們很高興在未來幾年對沖天然氣。

David Deckelbaum, TD Cowen.

大衛·德克爾鮑姆（David Deckelbaum），TD Cowen。

I did want to follow up just on the marketing in the Uinta. Just given the wider basis this quarter, particularly with the higher production levels, what is the outlook for basis in the back half of the year and then heading into next year as you continue to ramp the asset?

我確實想跟進尤因塔的行銷情況。鑑於本季的基礎更為廣泛，特別是產量水平更高，隨著您繼續增加資產，下半年以及明年的基礎前景如何？

Yeah. And David, it's -- asking about basis for Uinta is a bit challenging because the rail volumes are sold at the refinery locations, and those can vary from, call it, Houston being most of them and the markers there versus in Salt Lake, where we sell at more or less the wellhead or the tank.

是的。戴維，詢問 Uinta 的基礎有點困難，因為鐵路運輸的原油是在煉油廠出售的，而這些地點可能有所不同，比如休斯頓是大部分煉油廠，而鹽湖城的原油則或多或少在井口或儲罐處出售。

But I'll let Beth answer -- give a little more granularity around that. But it's not like a single basis market that you'd look at in the Permian or other markets.

但我會讓貝絲來回答——對此給出更詳細的說明。但它並不像二疊紀或其他市場中看到的單一基礎市場。

Yeah, I totally agree with you, Herb. And our marketing team just continues to work with different purchasers as we see that demand for our product continue to increase. We look for the highest realization that we can have across.

是的，我完全同意你的看法，Herb。隨著我們看到產品需求不斷增加，我們的行銷團隊繼續與不同的購買者合作。我們尋求所能獲得的最高成就。

And of course, the transportation cost to get us to Salt Lake City is lower than railing it to Houston and to the Gulf Coast, but we continue to look at what are our -- ultimately, what's the best margin and best return. And that's what our marketing team focuses on, on a monthly basis. And so we'll continue to do that and optimize as best as possible.

當然，將我們運送到鹽湖城的運輸成本比透過鐵路運送到休士頓和墨西哥灣沿岸要低，但我們仍在繼續尋找最終的最佳利潤和最佳回報。這就是我們的行銷團隊每個月關注的重點。因此，我們將繼續這樣做並盡可能地進行最佳化。

Appreciate it. And then I was asking for a little bit more color on the increased non-operated budget this year. Is that mostly a function of catch-up in activity just given commodity signals that are out there? Or are these efficiency gains that you're seeing on the non-operated side as well in terms of just drilling and completion times?

非常感謝。然後我要求對今年增加的非營運預算進行更詳細的說明。這是否主要是由於市場上存在商品訊號而導致的活動追趕作用？或者，就鑽井和完井時間而言，您在非營運方面也看到了效率的提升嗎？

David, I'll start that and then turn it over to Beth. But we -- sort of unique this year. And when we put the budget out there in February at $1.3 billion, we noted that we did not include non-op because it wasn't clear exactly what the non-op program would be from a couple of operators. Then that was exacerbated with the uncertainty in commodity prices, particularly after April.

大衛，我先開始，然後交給貝絲。但今年我們有點獨特。當我們在二月公佈 13 億美元的預算時，我們指出，我們沒有包括非營運項目，因為不清楚幾家營運商的非營運項目到底是什麼。隨後，大宗商品價格的不確定性加劇了這種情況，尤其是在四月之後。

So given that, we didn't include it, but we said we'd tell you how much we were spending each quarter. Now it's a clear outlook. We also have the ability to potentially adjust that program with the different non-operators. And we've dialed in what we think they're going to do and how they're going to execute. And so we just brought that all in for the full year.

因此，考慮到這一點，我們沒有將其包括在內，但我們說我們會告訴您我們每個季度花費了多少錢。現在前景很清楚。我們還可以根據不同的非運營商的情況調整該計劃。我們已經了解了他們要做什麼以及他們將如何執行。因此，我們將這些都納入全年的計劃中。

But Beth, do you want to add anything on that one?

但是貝絲，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No, nothing really to add. We just have better line of sight of what those projects are, and we participated in them because they have very strong returns.

不，真的沒什麼好補充的。我們只是對這些項目有更好的了解，並且我們參與其中，因為它們的回報非常豐厚。

At this time, we've reached the end of the question-and-answer session. And I'll now turn the call over to Herb Vogel for closing remarks.

至此，問答環節已經結束。現在我將把電話交給 Herb Vogel 做結束語。

Thanks, Rob, and thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to seeing a number of you at upcoming events. Have a great day.

謝謝，羅布，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們期待在即將舉行的活動中見到你們。祝你有美好的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, this will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.

女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開您的線路，感謝您的參與。