Sitio Royalties Corp (STR) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Sitio Royalties Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. My name is Nadia, and I'll be coordinating the call today. (Operator Instructions). I will now hand over to your host, Ross Wong, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations to begin. Ross, please go ahead.

大家好，歡迎來到 Sitio Royalties 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。我叫 Nadia，今天我將負責協調電話會議。 （操作員說明）。我現在將交給你的東道主財務和投資者關係副總裁 Ross Wong 開始。羅斯，請繼續。

Thanks, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Sitio Royalties Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Call. If you don't already have a copy of our recent press release and updated investor presentation, please visit our website at www.sitio.com, where you will find them in our Investor Relations section. With me today to discuss fourth quarter and full year 2022 financial and operating results is Chris Conoscenti, our Chief Executive Officer; Carrie Osicka, our Chief Financial Officer; and other members of our executive leadership team.

謝謝接線員，大家早上好。歡迎來到 Sitio Royalties 第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。如果您還沒有我們最近的新聞稿和更新的投資者介紹的副本，請訪問我們的網站 www.sitio.com，您可以在我們的投資者關係部分找到它們。今天和我一起討論第四季度和 2022 年全年財務和經營業績的是我們的首席執行官 Chris Conoscenti； Carrie Osicka，我們的首席財務官；以及我們執行領導團隊的其他成員。

Before we start, I would like to remind you that our discussion today may contain forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Please refer to our earnings press release, investor presentation and publicly filed documents for additional information regarding such forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. And with that, I will turn the call over to Chris.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，我們今天的討論可能包含前瞻性陳述和非 GAAP 措施。請參閱我們的收益新聞稿、投資者介紹和公開提交的文件，了解有關此類前瞻性陳述和非 GAAP 措施的更多信息。有了這個，我會把電話轉給克里斯。

Thanks, Ross. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Sitio's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Call. We had a tremendous 2022 and demonstrated strong execution on our large-scale minerals consolidation strategy through a series of transactions that transformed us from a private company with approximately 106,000 net royalty acres in the Permian Basin at the beginning of the year to one of the largest publicly traded oil and gas mineral and royalty companies in the U.S. upon completion of the Brigham merger in December.

謝謝，羅斯。大家早上好，感謝您參加 Sitio 的第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。我們在 2022 年表現出色，並通過一系列交易展示了我們大規模礦產整合戰略的強大執行力，這些交易使我們從年初在二疊紀盆地擁有約 106,000 英畝淨特許權使用費的私營公司轉變為最大的公司之一在 12 月完成 Brigham 合併後，在美國上市的石油和天然氣礦產和特許權使用費公司。

Closing 2 corporate mergers and 2 large cash acquisitions within a calendar year is an impressive feat, and I would like to thank the Sitio team and our Board members for their dedication and hard work to get us to this point. We now own 260,000 net royalty acres across 7 of the premier oil and gas basins in the country and have exposure to over 170 operators of horizontally drilled wells based on fourth quarter 2022 production.

在一個日曆年內完成 2 次公司合併和 2 次大額現金收購是一項了不起的壯舉，我要感謝 Sitio 團隊和我們的董事會成員，感謝他們的奉獻和辛勤工作，讓我們走到今天。我們現在在該國 7 個主要油氣盆地擁有 260,000 英畝的淨特許權使用費，並且根據 2022 年第四季度的產量，我們有超過 170 家水平鑽井運營商。

The oil and gas minerals and royalties sector remains highly fragmented, and we're well positioned to be the natural consolidator with our proven returns-focused and large-scale consolidation strategy. In addition to meaningfully scaling our business, impressive returns were generated for investors, all shareholders, regardless of whether they originally owned Falcon or Brigham, experienced total returns in 2022 in excess of 60%.

油氣礦產和特許權使用費行業仍然高度分散，我們有能力成為天然的整合者，憑藉我們久經考驗的以回報為中心的大規模整合戰略。除了有意義地擴展我們的業務外，還為投資者帶來了可觀的回報，所有股東，無論他們最初擁有 Falcon 還是 Brigham，在 2022 年的總回報率都超過了 60%。

Now turning to our fourth quarter results. Due to lower commodity prices, Sitio's average realized unhedged revenue per barrel of oil equivalent was down 17% from $65.71 per BOE in the third quarter to $54.68 per BOE in the fourth quarter. This was partially offset by a quarterly increase in average daily production of 935 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which generated an incremental $5.8 million in revenues in the fourth quarter.

現在轉向我們的第四季度業績。由於大宗商品價格下跌，Sitio 的平均已實現每桶石油當量未對沖收入從第三季度的每桶油當量 65.71 美元下降 17% 至第四季度的每桶油當量 54.68 美元。這部分被平均每日產量的季度增長 935 桶油當量所抵消，第四季度的收入增加了 580 萬美元。

Sitio generated adjusted EBITDA of $93.1 million and discretionary cash flow of $77.5 million in the fourth quarter, which both included 3 days of contribution from the Brigham assets since that transaction closed on December 29.

Sitio 在第四季度產生了 9310 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA 和 7750 萬美元的可自由支配現金流，其中均包括自 12 月 29 日交易結束以來 Brigham 資產的 3 天貢獻。

Quarterly adjusted EBITDA was down sequentially by 12%, primarily due to lower commodity prices. Quarterly discretionary cash flow was down sequentially by 17% as a result of weaker commodity prices and increased cash interest, partially offset by a reduction in cash taxes. Cash interest expense was higher by $4.1 million compared to the third quarter, due to higher debt levels from refinancing the $425 million bridge loan with $450 million of senior unsecured notes and higher interest rates on all of our debt because of the rising SOFR curve.

季度調整後的 EBITDA 環比下降 12%，主要是由於大宗商品價格下跌。由於大宗商品價格疲軟和現金利息增加，季度可自由支配現金流量環比下降 17%，部分被現金稅的減少所抵消。與第三季度相比，現金利息支出增加了 410 萬美元，這是由於用 4.5 億美元的高級無擔保票據對 4.25 億美元的過橋貸款進行再融資導致的債務水平較高，以及由於 SOFR 曲線上升導致我們所有債務的利率較高。

Our cash taxes paid decreased by $1.4 million relative to the third quarter. However, some of this was due to timing because the tax payment for the fourth quarter of approximately $0.5 million was made in January of this year. For the fourth quarter, we are declaring a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is based on a full quarter of discretionary cash flow from Sitio and Brigham of $144.3 million, assuming the Brigham transaction had closed on October 1, 2022.

與第三季度相比，我們支付的現金稅減少了 140 萬美元。然而，部分原因在於時間安排，因為第四季度約 50 萬美元的稅款是在今年 1 月支付的。對於第四季度，我們宣布派發每股 0.60 美元的股息。這是基於 Sitio 和 Brigham 的全季度可自由支配現金流量 1.443 億美元，假設 Brigham 交易已於 2022 年 10 月 1 日結束。

This dividend per share amount is down $0.12 or nearly 17% from our third quarter dividend per share of $0.72. So I wanted to provide some color to help explain that change. On a stand-alone basis, as if the Brigham merger had never occurred and at our standard 65% payout ratio, Sitio's fourth quarter dividend would have been $0.58 per share. Lower commodity prices accounted for a $0.12 per share decrease, higher interest expense, lower lease bonus activity and higher severance and ad valorem taxes accounted for a $0.05 per share decrease.

該每股股息金額比我們第三季度每股 0.72 美元的股息下降 0.12 美元或近 17%。所以我想提供一些顏色來幫助解釋這種變化。單獨來看，就好像 Brigham 合併從未發生過一樣，按照我們 65% 的標準派息率，Sitio 第四季度的股息為每股 0.58 美元。較低的商品價格導致每股減少 0.12 美元，利息支出增加、租賃紅利活動減少以及遣散費和從價稅增加導致每股減少 0.05 美元。

Lower cash G&A, lower cash taxes and hedge impacts accounted for a $0.03 per share increase in the fourth quarter dividend. Outperformance of the Brigham assets created a $0.02 per share accretion versus Sitio on a stand-alone basis, increasing the fourth quarter declared dividend to $0.60 per share. Our business generates an incredible amount of cash and assuming that Sitio and Brigham had been combined since July 1, 2022, we have declared or distributed approximately $200 million in aggregate dividend for the second half of 2022, which is more than any other U.S. publicly traded minerals company over this time period.

較低的現金 G&A、較低的現金稅和對沖影響導致第四季度股息每股增加 0.03 美元。與 Sitio 相比，Brigham 資產的出色表現創造了每股 0.02 美元的增長，將第四季度宣布的股息增加至每股 0.60 美元。我們的業務產生了大量現金，假設 Sitio 和 Brigham 自 2022 年 7 月 1 日起合併，我們已經宣布或分配了 2022 年下半年總股息約 2 億美元，這比任何其他美國公開交易的公司都多礦產公司在此期間。

This aggregate dividend amount is also competitive with exploration and production companies, with only 3 publicly traded E&Ps in the U.S. that have declared more aggregate dividends over the same period and have a market cap of less than $20 billion. To make things simple, all metrics I refer to from here on will be on a pro forma basis as if Sitio and Brigham were combined for the entire fourth quarter because we believe it is most relevant for investors, particularly since this is how results will be reported in future quarters.

這一總股息金額也與勘探和生產公司相比具有競爭力，美國祇有 3 家公開交易的 E&P 同期宣布了更多的總股息，市值不到 200 億美元。為簡單起見，我從這裡提到的所有指標都將以備考為基礎，就好像 Sitio 和 Brigham 在整個第四季度的合併一樣，因為我們認為它與投資者最相關，特別是因為這就是結果在未來幾個季度報告。

Operators remained active on our acreage underlying our minerals. Turning in line 1,200 gross wells normalized to 5,000-foot laterals, which equated to 7.3 net normalized wells. Fourth quarter net production volumes of 34,424 BOEs per day outperformed our expectations and were above the top end of the range of our combined company guidance, partly due to approximately 16,000 BOEs per day from the Brigham assets, which continue to outperform what we underwrote for the merger.

運營商在我們的礦產下的種植面積上保持活躍。將 1,200 口總井歸一化為 5,000 英尺的分支井，相當於 7.3 口淨歸一化井。第四季度每天 34,424 桶油當量的淨產量超出了我們的預期，並且高於我們綜合公司指導範圍的上限，部分原因是來自 Brigham 資產的每天約 16,000 桶桶油當量，其表現繼續優於我們為合併。

Now that the Brigham merger is behind us and the 2022 books are closed, we have issued full year of 2023 guidance. Our line-of-sight inventory of 47.9 net normalized spud and permitted wells, which, on average typically come online within 12 months, remains near record high levels and provides visibility into near-term production growth, particularly when compared to the 128.1 net normalized wells that were turned in line on our acreage over the past 4 years combined.

現在 Brigham 合併已經過去，2022 年的賬簿已經關閉，我們已經發布了 2023 年全年的指導。我們的視線範圍內有 47.9 口淨標準化鑽井和許可井，平均通常在 12 個月內上線，仍接近歷史最高水平，並提供了對近期產量增長的可見性，特別是與 128.1 口標準化淨井相比在過去的 4 年裡，在我們的土地上轉成一條直線的井的總和。

The Delaware, Midland and DJ Basins continue to be the most meaningful and active areas in our portfolio, accounting for 94% of net wells turned in line during the fourth quarter and 92% of our net line-of-sight wells at year-end. We expect these 3 basins to have higher near-term growth than the other geographies in our portfolio due to the mix of operators, resilient well economics and robust levels of remaining inventory.

特拉華州、米德蘭和 DJ 盆地仍然是我們投資組合中最有意義和最活躍的地區，佔第四季度在線轉井的 94% 和年底淨視線井的 92% .由於運營商的組合、具有彈性的油井經濟和強勁的剩餘庫存水平，我們預計這 3 個盆地的近期增長將高於我們投資組合中的其他地區。

Our 2023 guidance includes a production guidance range of 34,000 to 37,000 BOEs per day with a range of 49% to 51% for oil as a percent of production. The midpoint of this production guidance range is up by 6% relative to the midpoint of the previous guidance issued in November for the 12 months ending June 30, 2023. We also provided an annual cash G&A guidance range of $25 million to $27 million, which implies cash G&A of $2.01 per BOE, a $0.26 per BOE reduction versus Sitio on a stand-alone basis for the fourth quarter of 2022.

我們的 2023 年指導包括每天 34,000 至 37,000 桶油當量的生產指導範圍，其中石油占產量的百分比範圍為 49% 至 51%。在截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日的 12 個月中，該生產指導範圍的中點相對於 11 月發布的先前指導的中點提高了 6%。我們還提供了 2500 萬至 2700 萬美元的年度現金 G&A 指導範圍，這意味著 2022 年第四季度每桶油當量的現金 G&A 為 2.01 美元，與 Sitio 相比每桶油當量減少 0.26 美元。

The rest of our full year 2023 guidance metrics are relatively in line with our prior guidance. Now transitioning to the balance sheet. We inherited Brigham's revolving credit facility when we closed the merger, resulting in us having both Sitio's revolver and Brigham's revolver on our balance sheet at year-end. In January, we launched a syndication for a new revolving credit facility, which closed and became effective on February 3 with elected commitments of $750 million from a 15-member bank group.

我們 2023 年全年指導指標的其餘部分與我們之前的指導相對一致。現在過渡到資產負債表。當我們完成合併時，我們繼承了 Brigham 的循環信貸額度，導致我們在年底的資產負債表上同時擁有 Sitio 的左輪手槍和 Brigham 的左輪手槍。 1 月，我們推出了一項新的循環信貸安排銀團，該安排於 2 月 3 日結束並生效，由 15 名成員銀行集團選擇承諾 7.5 億美元。

I would like to thank all of the banks who supported us throughout this process and helped syndicate one of the largest revolvers in the oil and gas minerals and royalty sector, provided the company with additional liquidity and financial flexibility to help run our business efficiently. As of March 3, we had $407 million drawn on our newly syndicated revolving credit facility, down from $510 million in credit facility debt at December 31.

我要感謝在整個過程中支持我們並幫助辛迪加石油和天然氣礦產和特許權使用費行業最大的左輪手槍之一的所有銀行，為公司提供額外的流動性和財務靈活性，以幫助我們有效地開展業務。截至 3 月 3 日，我們從新銀團循環信貸額度中提取了 4.07 億美元，低於 12 月 31 日的 5.1 億美元信貸額度債務。

At the end of December, we made our first quarterly amortization payment at par of $11.25 million on our senior unsecured notes, reducing the outstanding principal from $450 million to $438.75 million. The senior unsecured notes prohibit us from making stock repurchases, which we would like to be able to opportunistically do with the 35% of our discretionary cash flow that we don't distribute as a quarterly dividend.

12 月底，我們按面值 1,125 萬美元對高級無抵押票據進行了第一季度攤銷，將未償還本金從 4.5 億美元減少至 4.3875 億美元。高級無擔保票據禁止我們進行股票回購，我們希望能夠利用我們不作為季度股息分配的 35% 的可自由支配現金流量進行機會主義的回購。

We are monitoring market conditions for an opportunity to refinance these notes either after the first call date on September 21 of this year, or sooner, if warranted, to provide our company the appropriate amount of capital allocation flexibility. Regarding our outlook for additional large-scale acquisitions, we remain focused on our underwriting discipline and believe that there will be fewer opportunities that meet our returns criteria in 2023 compared to 2022.

我們正在監測市場狀況，尋找機會在今年 9 月 21 日的第一個贖回日之後或更早（如果有必要的話）為這些票據再融資，以便為我們公司提供適當的資本配置靈活性。關於我們對額外大規模收購的展望，我們仍然關注我們的承銷紀律，並相信與 2022 年相比，2023 年滿足我們回報標準的機會將會減少。

There is still a large opportunity set of high quality and sizable minerals positions to consolidate, and we have made several offers to acquire additional mineral assets this year, but the bid-ask spread has been too wide. If attractive consolidation opportunities do not materialize, we will continue to focus on strengthening the balance sheet by paying down our prepayable debt and building liquidity for when market conditions normalize.

仍有大量機會整合優質和規模龐大的礦產頭寸，我們今年已提出多項收購額外礦產資產的要約，但買賣差價過大。如果有吸引力的整合機會沒有實現，我們將繼續專注於通過償還可提前償還的債務和為市場狀況正常化建立流動性來加強資產負債表。

In 2023, we will also be acutely focused on gaining additional efficiencies and implementing new technologies to help us continue to scale and provide competitive advantages that will allow us to replace less effective third-party vendors. Professional management of oil and gas minerals is still a relatively new concept, and we believe there is a large opportunity to transform the industry, which currently uses many outdated methods and tools.

2023 年，我們還將專注於提高效率和實施新技術，以幫助我們繼續擴大規模並提供競爭優勢，從而使我們能夠取代效率較低的第三方供應商。石油和天然氣礦產的專業管理仍是一個相對較新的概念，我們認為該行業存在巨大的轉型機會，該行業目前使用許多過時的方法和工具。

Technological advances geared specifically for the challenges of an independent mineral owner are in their very early stages of development, and we are piloting a number of new efficiency tools. We also see a large opportunity to fundamentally improve the relationship between operators and mineral owners while saving money and time on both sides and eliminating inefficiencies in the system from duplicative work done by hundreds of operators and tens of thousands of mineral owners. That concludes my prepared remarks. Operator, please open up the call for questions.

專為應對獨立礦產所有者的挑戰而設計的技術進步正處於發展的早期階段，我們正在試用一些新的效率工具。我們還看到了從根本上改善運營商和礦主之間關係的巨大機會，同時節省了雙方的金錢和時間，並消除了系統中數百名運營商和數万名礦主所做的重複工作造成的低效率。我準備好的發言到此結束。接線員，請打開電話詢問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today goes to Tim Rezvan of KeyBanc Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題是 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Tim Rezvan。

First question, I guess, Chris, you gave line-of-sight information, 47.9 wells at year-end. You're now almost 10 weeks into the year. There's a lot of concerns on a potential slowdown in industry-wide activity. Can you give any insight on what that line-of-sight information is now or just generally, can you talk about the pace of activity you've seen year-to-date?

第一個問題，我想，克里斯，你提供了視線信息，年底有 47.9 口井。你現在已經進入一年將近 10 週了。人們對全行業活動可能放緩存在很多擔憂。你能否就現在或一般情況下的視線信息提供任何見解，你能談談你今年迄今看到的活動速度嗎？

Tim, thanks for the question. So given data lag, it's hard to give real-time updates on exactly what is happening at this moment. But what we have seen over the past several months has been a trend of increasing spud activity and plateauing permitting activity on a gross basis. It's had a somewhat different effect on a net basis to us because there's different interest wells drilled within those. But a similar trend of increasing net spud activity and a flat-ish profile for the net permitting activity. But again, that's maybe current as of January, it's not really up to date as of March 9.

蒂姆，謝謝你的提問。因此，鑑於數據滯後，很難實時更新此刻發生的事情。但我們在過去幾個月中看到的趨勢是開鑽活動增加，許可活動總量趨於平穩。它在淨基礎上對我們產生了一些不同的影響，因為在這些井中鑽了不同的興趣井。但淨鑽探活動增加的類似趨勢和淨許可活動持平的情況。但同樣，這可能是截至 1 月的最新信息，截至 3 月 9 日並不是最新的。

Okay. Okay. I appreciate that. If I could switch -- I don't know if this is for Carrie or for you. As Sitio works to get leverage down 2 or below sort of that target 1x goal, how do you think about the value of your non-Permian minerals? And I ask -- in light of another public minerals company announced a sale of non-Permian minerals acreage a couple of weeks ago. So just kind of -- is that something you're considering? Or is it more of a low likelihood event?

好的。好的。我很感激。如果我可以轉換——我不知道這是給 Carrie 還是給你的。隨著 Sitio 努力將槓桿率降低 2 倍或低於 1 倍目標，您如何看待非二疊紀礦物的價值？我問 - 鑑於另一家上市礦產公司幾週前宣佈出售非二疊紀礦產面積。所以有點 - 這是你正在考慮的事情嗎？或者它更像是一個低可能性事件？

Well, it's something that we didn't have the luxury to consider this time last year because we had a 100% Permian portfolio. But now that we have a broader set of assets, those are the types of portfolio management opportunities that we do consider. Now in order to be value additive for the company, it has to be a pretty compelling valuation.

好吧，這是我們去年這個時候沒有奢侈考慮的事情，因為我們擁有 100% 的二疊紀投資組合。但現在我們擁有更廣泛的資產，這些是我們確實考慮的投資組合管理機會類型。現在，為了為公司增值，它必須是一個非常有吸引力的估值。

So it's one of those circumstances where we're in the business of aggregating and consolidating this business, and we have to see the compelling use of the capital deployed elsewhere to consider selling some of our assets today.

因此，這是我們從事整合和整合這項業務的業務的情況之一，我們必須看到部署在其他地方的資本的強制使用，以考慮今天出售我們的部分資產。

That said, there's places that we look at and we think they're challenged from a growth perspective and a good example is Appalachia. When you look at Appalachia, it's unlikely that we're going to see additional long-haul pipelines built out of Appalachia in my career, just given the political landscape up there. And so that basin is effectively capped in terms of production growth. So when we look at minerals there, as a mineral owner, what you really hope to see is the rapid pace of development, healthy operators, some good infrastructure and a stable regulatory environment.

也就是說，我們看到了一些地方，我們認為它們從增長的角度來看面臨挑戰，一個很好的例子就是阿巴拉契亞。當你看阿巴拉契亞時，我們不太可能在我的職業生涯中看到在阿巴拉契亞建造額外的長途管道，只是考慮到那裡的政治格局。因此，該盆地的產量增長受到有效限制。因此，當我們看那裡的礦產時，作為礦產所有者，您真正希望看到的是快速的發展速度、健康的經營者、良好的基礎設施和穩定的監管環境。

And unfortunately, we just don't have all of that in Appalachia. So that's just one example of the small segment of our assets. We're not actively considering selling anything at the moment, but those are the types of criteria we look at when we consider selling assets.

不幸的是，我們只是在阿巴拉契亞沒有所有這些。所以這只是我們資產的一小部分的一個例子。我們目前沒有積極考慮出售任何東西，但這些是我們在考慮出售資產時所考慮的標準類型。

Okay. And then if I could just sneak one last one in. In your prepared comments, Chris, you talked about, in September, there's the 1-year anniversary of the senior notes and you could look to refi. You did mention maybe refinancing earlier. Can you just kind of -- any details on what the terms would be? Is there some sort of premium if you were to refi earlier? And would that be in theory, like related to some sort of compelling acquisition that you wanted to make and reset the capital structure? Just trying to understand that comment. And that's all I have.

好的。然後，如果我能偷偷最後一個。在你準備好的評論中，克里斯，你談到，在 9 月，是高級筆記的 1 週年紀念日，你可以看看重新整理。你之前確實提到過可能再融資。你能不能——關於條款的任何細節？如果你早點再融資，會有某種溢價嗎？這在理論上是否與您想進行的某種引人注目的收購和重置資本結構有關？只是想了解該評論。這就是我的全部。

Sure, Tim. So at September 21, there is a call premium of 103 and then there's a make whole on top of that to do it prior to September 21. So if (inaudible) becomes a pretty NPV negative trade to do something a lot sooner than September 21 at today's market conditions, now that can always change. But as we analyze it today, it's not a compelling trade.

當然，蒂姆。因此，在 9 月 21 日，有 103 的看漲溢價，然後在 9 月 21 日之前在此基礎上進行整體調整。因此，如果（聽不清）成為一個相當 NPV 負交易，那麼在 9 月 21 日之前做一些事情在今天的市場條件下，這總是可以改變的。但正如我們今天分析的那樣，這並不是一項引人注目的交易。

But you're right, one of the things that could factor into our decision-making could be a compelling cash acquisition and us looking for additional liquidity. So we're going to continue to watch it and look for the flexibility that this company needs. These notes were put into place at a much different time in our company's life cycle. We were smaller.

但你是對的，可能影響我們決策的因素之一可能是引人注目的現金收購，而我們正在尋找額外的流動性。所以我們將繼續關注它並尋找這家公司需要的靈活性。這些說明是在我們公司生命週期中的一個非常不同的時間出現的。我們比較小。

The capital markets were in a much different position than they're in today. And so I think the overall terms would be much more favorable for our company. So there's other factors, not just the NPV that go into it, but right now, it's a fairly NPV negative trade.

資本市場的處境與今天大不相同。因此，我認為總體條款對我們公司有利得多。所以還有其他因素，不僅僅是 NPV，但現在，這是一個相當 NPV 的負交易。

The next question goes to Jeanine Wai of Barclays.

下一個問題是巴克萊銀行的 Jeanine Wai。

Our first question is on productivity, I guess -- our first question on productivity. The press release cited near-record level line-of-sight wells, which is great. That's a tailwind in '23, but continued capital discipline from public E&P operators as a headwind.

我們的第一個問題是生產力，我想——我們的第一個問題是生產力。新聞稿引用了接近創紀錄水平的視線井，這很棒。這是 23 年的順風，但公共 E&P 運營商的持續資本紀律是逆風。

So on the discipline side, is it your sense that companies, they continue to high-grade activity within their acreage position? There's been a lot of attention on year-over-year oil productivity with one large cap E&P actually saying that flat productivity at this point would be a win in '23, considering just the natural maturation of the industry.

因此，在紀律方面，您是否認為公司在其種植面積內繼續開展高端活動？與去年同期相比，石油生產率受到了很多關注，一家大型 E&P 實際上表示，考慮到該行業的自然成熟度，此時的持平生產率將是 23 年的勝利。

So I guess, any comments on what you're seeing from year-end regarding oil productivity trends? And is -- it's kind of in direct conflict with some of the trends that we're seeing from the E&P operators of doing more co-development or exploring more deeper zones. So any commentary you have would be very helpful.

所以我想，關於你從年底看到的關於石油生產率趨勢的任何評論？而且——這與我們從 E&P 運營商那裡看到的進行更多合作開發或探索更深區域的一些趨勢有直接衝突。所以你的任何評論都會非常有幫助。

Sure. Thanks for the questions, Jeanine. So we are seeing people look around for leases on deeper horizons, not in great volumes, but here and there, anecdotally, we are seeing that. And we are seeing wells here and there testing different zones. But again, it's not the lion's share of activity. The lion's share of activity is still in the most productive and highest IRR known zones. So not a lot of deviation from past activity there. We did take a look at some of the performance data on some of the operators that did report some of those productivity differences versus prior wells.

當然。謝謝你的問題，珍妮。因此，我們看到人們四處尋找更深層次的租約，雖然數量不多，但有趣的是，我們確實看到了這一點。我們看到到處都有井在測試不同的區域。但同樣，這不是活動的最大份額。大部分活動仍位於生產率最高和內部收益率最高的已知區域。所以與過去的活動沒有太大的偏差。我們確實查看了一些運營商的一些性能數據，這些運營商確實報告了一些與先前油井的生產率差異。

As a mineral owner, we sit here and one of our goals is to maximize resource recovery from a drilling unit. So it's probably less sensitive than an operator is to single well economics because they're the ones that have to deploy the capital and bear the burden of that capital expense. For us, what we're hoping to achieve is maximum drainage from any unit. So yes, single well economics are important, but more important to us is actual maximizing of drainage from a given unit. So that's the area we're more focused on.

作為礦產所有者，我們坐在這裡，我們的目標之一是最大限度地從鑽井裝置中回收資源。因此，它可能不像運營商那樣對單井經濟敏感，因為他們是必須部署資本並承擔資本支出負擔的人。對我們來說，我們希望實現的是任何單位的最大排水量。所以是的，單井經濟學很重要，但對我們來說更重要的是實際最大化給定單元的排水量。所以這是我們更關注的領域。

Okay. Another structural advantage for minerals, we like it. Our second question, maybe just going to the deal environment. The commentary in the press release indicated that the current environment is looking to have similarities to 2019 and 2020 with, I think, it cited single-digit rates of return. So just wondering if you could provide a little more color on what you're seeing and what level of returns do you consider to be acceptable considering that you can hedge some of the commodity price risk?

好的。礦物的另一個結構優勢，我們喜歡它。我們的第二個問題，也許只是關於交易環境。新聞稿中的評論表明，當前環境看起來與 2019 年和 2020 年有相似之處，我認為，它引用了個位數的回報率。所以只是想知道您是否可以為您所看到的提供更多顏色，以及考慮到您可以對沖一些商品價格風險，您認為什麼水平的回報是可以接受的？

Our expectations for rates of return haven't wavered since we were a private company with private equity capital and those types of return requirements. So we still look for mid- to high teens to low 20s IRRs over the life of the asset. And we value these assets that strip pricing. And when strip pricing is above what we consider mid-cycle, which is in today's terms, $50 to $75 by our math, then we'll hedge.

自從我們是一家擁有私募股權資本和此類回報要求的私營公司以來，我們對回報率的期望從未動搖過。因此，我們仍然在資產的整個生命週期內尋找中高青少年到低 20 多歲的內部收益率。我們重視這些剝離定價的資產。當剝離價格高於我們認為的中期週期時，按照今天的計算，即 50 美元至 75 美元，我們將進行對沖。

And so our underwriting standards haven't changed, but we're in a time period right now, much like we were in 2020 where commodity prices were much higher, not too long ago. And when that pattern exists, you see sellers look for commodity pricing or valuations that reflect prior pricing not current pricing, and prior levels of activity not current levels of activity. So these things move in cycles, and we're patient and disciplined. So we'll be here when the cycle normalizes, and we're just going to build liquidity in the meantime.

因此，我們的承保標準沒有改變，但我們現在正處於一個時間段，就像我們在 2020 年一樣，不久前商品價格高得多。當這種模式存在時，您會看到賣家尋找反映先前定價而非當前定價、先前活動水平而非當前活動水平的商品定價或估值。所以這些事情是循環往復的，我們很有耐心，也很有紀律。所以當週期正常化時我們會在這裡，同時我們只是要建立流動性。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question goes to Noel Parks of Tuohy Brothers.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題是 Tuohy Brothers 的 Noel Parks。

Just a couple of things. One thing I noticed is that actually the proved reserve figures came in higher than sort of my back-of-the-envelope estimate. And I wonder, is there anything notable that came from your process of sort of rationalizing the old Desert Peak and in Falcon and then Brigham's different reserve policies? I seem to recall there's some differences as far as PUD bookings and also different accounting method change with Brigham, I believe?

只是幾件事。我注意到的一件事是，實際上已探明的儲量數字高於我的粗略估計。我想知道，在你對舊沙漠峰和獵鷹以及布里格姆不同的儲備政策進行合理化的過程中，有什麼值得注意的嗎？我似乎記得就 PUD 預訂和 Brigham 的不同會計方法變化而言存在一些差異，我相信嗎？

Yes. Noel, thanks for the question. Nothing notable in terms of evolution of reserves beyond what we were expecting. You are correct. There were some nuances in how each of the companies philosophically approached PUD bookings. I would say ours is on the more conservative end of the spectrum where we only book wells that have been spud as PUD wells. So that's where you're maybe seeing some differences versus legacy companies in those acquisitions.

是的。諾埃爾，謝謝你的提問。儲量的變化沒有超出我們的預期。你是對的。每家公司在哲學上處理 PUD 預訂的方式都存在一些細微差別。我想說的是，我們處於更保守的一端，我們只預訂已作為 PUD 井開鑽的井。因此，您可能會在這些收購中看到與傳統公司的一些差異。

Okay. Good enough. And you mentioned right at the end of your remarks that you were piloting a number of new efficiency tools. You're talking in general about professional management of minerals is still relatively new. Just curious about some of the things you're experimenting with?

好的。夠好了。您在發言的最後提到您正在試用一些新的效率工具。您所說的專業礦產管理一般來說還是比較新的。只是對您正在嘗試的一些事情感到好奇？

So we're really excited about a couple of the initiatives we have starting this year. And we sit here in a pretty unique position where we view ourselves as the permanent owners of these assets. And we're buying assets and people who maybe aren't necessarily the permanent owners, and that's why they're selling them to us.

因此，我們對今年開始的幾項舉措感到非常興奮。我們坐在這里處於一個非常獨特的位置，我們將自己視為這些資產的永久所有者。我們正在購買可能不一定是永久所有者的資產和人員，這就是他們將它們出售給我們的原因。

And as the permanent owners, we're going to manage them differently, meaning we're going to make sure we're getting paid timely on every well, every month. Making sure that the decimals on which we're paid matched the decimals on which we believe we own. And we track these things monthly. We prioritize the missing payments that we believe we're owed, and we pursue them with operators.

作為永久所有者，我們將以不同的方式管理它們，這意味著我們將確保我們每個月都能及時收到每口井的報酬。確保我們獲得報酬的小數點與我們認為自己擁有的小數點相匹配。我們每月跟踪這些事情。我們優先處理我們認為欠付的欠款，並與運營商一起追討。

And to do that, a business of our scale with 5,000 leases, over 25,000 wells, it takes a lot of technology and data management to do it efficiently. And so we are developing tools on our own just because there are -- there's no suite of software that effectively manages a minerals business. So we've spent a lot of time in 2020 building out our data warehouse and data management system, and that has allowed us to scale up the way that we have.

要做到這一點，我們這樣規模的企業擁有 5,000 個租約，超過 25,000 口井，需要大量技術和數據管理才能有效地做到這一點。所以我們正在自己開發工具，因為沒有一套軟件可以有效地管理礦產業務。因此，我們在 2020 年花了很多時間來構建我們的數據倉庫和數據管理系統，這使我們能夠擴大我們現有的方式。

And now we're working on ways to make our team more efficient by having them touch fewer of the data points and just automatically process some of the data points. So things like revenue or division orders are just begging for efficiency measures. So we're working on those things this year.

現在我們正在研究如何讓我們的團隊接觸更少的數據點並自動處理一些數據點，從而提高團隊的效率。因此，諸如收入或部門訂單之類的事情只是在乞求提高效率的措施。所以我們今年正在做這些事情。

Great. And just one housekeeping item. In the release, the onetime transaction costs were broken out, which was helpful. And is that -- is the fourth quarter amount sort of the bulk of what we'll see? Or do you expect there will still be some rating items in first quarter or second quarter?

偉大的。並且只有一件家政用品。在發布中，分解了一次性交易成本，這很有幫助。那是——第四季度的數量是我們將看到的大部分嗎？或者您預計一季度或二季度還會有一些評級項目？

There were a couple of lingering invoices in January, but that's it.

一月份有幾張揮之不去的發票，僅此而已。

(Operator Instructions) And we have a follow-up from Jeanine Wai of Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們有來自巴克萊銀行的 Jeanine Wai 的跟進。

Just a question from us, maybe following up on something that Noel just asked in terms of new things that you're thinking about doing. So you also mentioned in your prepared remarks doing certain things to improve the relationships between operators and mineral owners.

只是我們的一個問題，也許是跟進 Noel 剛剛提出的關於您正在考慮做的新事情的問題。所以你在準備好的發言稿中也提到了做一些事情來改善經營者和礦主之間的關係。

And we found that really intriguing, and we know that you're kind of trailblazing some of the minerals business model here with large scale. So just any commentary or color on what you meant by improving the relationships and how that will translate into tangible improvement?

我們發現這真的很有趣，我們知道你在這里大規模開拓了一些礦物商業模式。那麼，關於改善關係的含義以及這將如何轉化為切實改善的任何評論或色彩？

Sure. So if you think about the construct we live under today, we deal with publicly released information. So information that comes through regulatory bodies like the Railroad Commission in Texas and check data that we receive from operators. But all this data comes to us on a lag basis. It'd be nice when we're more relevant and at a larger scale with operators to have a more direct line of communication because we think that, that can save the operator's time and money and also improve the quality of data we receive from them.

當然。因此，如果您考慮一下我們今天生活的結構，我們會處理公開發布的信息。因此，來自德克薩斯州鐵路委員會等監管機構的信息以及我們從運營商那裡收到的檢查數據。但是所有這些數據都是滯後的。如果我們與運營商的相關性更高，規模更大，擁有更直接的溝通渠道，那就太好了，因為我們認為，這可以節省運營商的時間和金錢，還可以提高我們從他們那裡收到的數據的質量.

Right now, that data filters through third-party providers. And often, mistakes are made by those third-party providers, and we find ourselves having to correct them or work with the operators. Again, it just consumes time and resources on both sides. And so just having a more direct line of communication, more standardized output of information, those types of things will go a long way to reducing costs for operators and for mineral owners.

現在，該數據通過第三方提供商進行過濾。通常，這些第三方提供商會犯錯誤，我們發現自己必須糾正錯誤或與運營商合作。同樣，它只會消耗雙方的時間和資源。因此，只要擁有更直接的溝通渠道、更標準化的信息輸出，這些類型的事情將大大有助於降低運營商和礦主的成本。

Okay. Great. And then just one quick one on potential buybacks in the future once you take out those old notes. We heard some commentary on the E&P earnings calls that they just think that their variable distributions aren't getting enough credit in the market. We've heard this from a couple of operators actually.

好的。偉大的。然後，一旦你拿出那些舊票據，就可以快速了解未來的潛在回購。我們聽到一些關於 E&P 財報電話會議的評論，他們只是認為他們的可變分佈沒有在市場上獲得足夠的信任。實際上，我們已經從一些運營商那裡聽說過這一點。

And so one of them was moving more towards buybacks in a meaningful way. Another operator said they were going to go back to their shareholders and kind of pick their brains on that. So I think for you guys buybacks has always been part of a broader conversation. Just wondering if there's been a change in any of your conversations with your own investors about what they really want you to do on capital allocation of that distribution?

因此，其中一個正在以一種有意義的方式更多地轉向回購。另一家運營商表示，他們將回到股東那裡，就此徵求意見。所以我認為對於你們來說，回購一直是更廣泛對話的一部分。只是想知道您與您自己的投資者關於他們真正希望您對該分配的資本配置做些什麼的談話是否有任何變化？

We haven't heard any change or seen any change from our shareholders and what they're looking for. As we look at our options here, we still remain committed to our at least 65% payout ratio as a percentage of our discretionary cash flow. And the current thinking is that if we were to institute a buyback program once we get the Board authorization and once we refinance these existing unsecured notes for a more flexible piece of capital, the thinking now is that the share repurchases will be done out of the 35% of retained cash flow.

我們沒有聽到任何變化，也沒有看到我們的股東和他們正在尋找的東西有任何變化。當我們在這裡查看我們的選擇時，我們仍然致力於至少 65% 的支付比率作為我們可自由支配現金流的百分比。目前的想法是，如果我們在獲得董事會授權後製定回購計劃，並且一旦我們為這些現有的無擔保票據再融資以獲得更靈活的資本，那麼現在的想法是，股票回購將通過留存現金流的 35%。

And so we remain committed to that 65% on the dividend payout. That's the current thinking. That could always change, but we'll continue to reevaluate that at the time that we have the flexibility to make the repurchases.

因此，我們仍然致力於 65% 的股息支付。這是目前的想法。這可能總是會改變，但我們會在我們可以靈活地進行回購時繼續重新評估這一點。

(Operator Instructions) It appears we have no further questions. This now concludes today's call. Thank you so much for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

（操作員說明）看來我們沒有其他問題了。今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開線路。