Viper Energy Inc (VNOM) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Viper Energy third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的耐心等待。歡迎參加 Viper Energy 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作人員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Chip Seale, Investor Relations Director. Please go ahead.

現在我謹將會議交給今天的第一位發言人，投資者關係總監 Chip Seale。請繼續。

Thank you, Amber. Good morning, and welcome to Viper Energy's third quarter 2025 conference call. During our call today, we will reference an updated investor presentation which can be found on Viper's website. Representing Viper today are Kaes Van't Hof, CEO; and Austen Gilfillian, President.

謝謝你，安珀。早安，歡迎參加 Viper Energy 2025 年第三季電話會議。在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及一份更新的投資者演示文稿，該演示文稿可在 Viper 的網站上找到。今天代表 Viper 出席的有執行長 Kaes Van't Hof 和總裁 Austen Gilfillian。

During this conference call, the participants may make certain forward-looking statements relating to the company's financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and businesses. We caution you that actual results could differ materially from those that are indicated in these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors.

在本次電話會議中，與會者可能會就公司的財務狀況、經營業績、計劃、目標、未來表現和業務發表一些前瞻性聲明。我們提醒您，由於各種因素，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性聲明中指出的結果有重大差異。

Information concerning these factors can be found in the company's filings with the SEC. In addition, we will make reference to certain non-GAAP measures. The reconciliations with the appropriate GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release issued yesterday afternoon.

有關這些因素的資訊可以在該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中找到。此外，我們也會提及一些非GAAP指標。與相應的GAAP指標的核對情況可以在我們昨天下午發布的獲利報告中找到。

I will now turn the call over to Kaes.

現在我將把通話轉給凱斯。

Thank you, Chip. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for listening to Viper Energy's third quarter 2025 conference call. During the third quarter, Viper continued to execute on our growth strategy, bolstered by the closing of the Sitio acquisition and continued organic growth.

謝謝你，奇普。歡迎各位，感謝收聽 Viper Energy 2025 年第三季電話會議。第三季度，Viper 繼續執行我們的成長策略，這得益於 Sitio 收購案的完成和持續的內生成長。

Our fourth quarter 2025 oil production guidance implies a roughly 20% increase in oil production per share compared to the same quarter last year. Looking ahead to next year, 2026, we continue to anticipate mid-single-digit organic oil production growth from fourth quarter 2025 estimated production. This implies double-digit year-over-year growth in oil production per share relative to 2025.

我們對 2025 年第四季石油產量的預測意味著每股石油產量將比去年同期成長約 20%。展望明年（2026 年），我們繼續預期有機石油產量將比 2025 年第四季的預期產量實現中等個位數成長。這意味著到 2025 年，每股石油產量將實現兩位數的年成長。

Viper also showcased our differentiated return of capital profile in the third quarter. Because of our high operating and free cash flow margins, strong balance sheet and recent signing of our non-Permian asset sale, we felt it appropriate to lean into our return of capital commitment and returned 85% of cash available for distribution in the third quarter to stockholders.

Viper在第三季也展現了我們差異化的資本報酬率。由於我們擁有較高的營運利潤率和自由現金流利潤率、強勁的資產負債表以及最近簽署的非二疊紀資產出售協議，我們認為現在是時候履行我們的資本回報承諾了，並在第三季度將可供分配現金的 85% 返還給了股東。

As a result, Viper is delivering on multiple strategic capital allocation fronts this quarter. Our combined base plus variable dividend represents a greater than 6% annualized yield and an increase of almost 10% relative to our dividend from last quarter.

因此，Viper本季在多個策略資本配置方面都取得了進展。我們的綜合基本股息加上浮動股息，年化殖利率超過 6%，比上一季的股息成長了近 10%。

This dividend increase is combined with over $90 million of share repurchases completed during the quarter and an incremental $60 million being retained to the balance sheet. In total, third quarter return of capital per Class A share represents a 48% increase versus the second quarter. Looking ahead, as we move to close our non-Permian asset sale, and as a result, move closer to our long-term net debt target of $1.5 billion, we will have line of sight to return nearly 100% of cash available for distribution to stockholders.

此次股息成長與本季完成的超過 9,000 萬美元的股票回購以及資產負債表上新增的 6,000 萬美元持平。第三季A類股每股資本報酬總額較第二季成長48%。展望未來，隨著我們完成非二疊紀資產出售，並因此更接近15億美元的長期淨債務目標，我們將有望向股東返還近100%的可用現金。

We continue -- expect to continue to allocate the majority of our cash for distribution to our base plus variable dividend, but feel compelled to buy back shares in today's market given the current market dislocation and unique opportunity to invest countercyclically by increasing our ownership in our high -- existing high-quality mineral royalty assets. Importantly, the share repurchases done today will further enhance our growth in per share metrics and allow us to distribute more through our base plus variable dividend over the long term.

我們將繼續——並期望繼續將大部分現金分配給我們的基本股息加浮動股息，但鑑於當前的市場動盪以及通過增加我們對現有高品質礦產特許權資產的持股比例來進行逆週期投資的獨特機會，我們感到有必要在今天的市場中回購股票。重要的是，今天進行的股票回購將進一步提升我們每股指標的成長，並使我們能夠在長期內透過基本股息加浮動股息分配更多收益。

On the operational front, we continue to see strong activity levels across our asset base, and as a result, continue to expect mid-single-digit organic growth in 2026 despite the commodity price volatility we have seen over the past several quarters. Following the closing of the Sitio acquisition, Viper is positioned to benefit from a best of both worlds situation.

在營運方面，我們繼續看到我們所有資產基礎的強勁活動水平，因此，儘管過去幾季大宗商品價格波動，我們仍然預計 2026 年將實現中等個位數的內生成長。完成對 Sitio 的收購後，Viper 將受益於兩全其美的局面。

Viper continues to own concentrated interests under Diamondback's core Midland Basin development, which is expected to drive meaningful long-term oil production growth. In addition, Viper now has broad exposure to leading third-party operators across both the Midland and Delaware basins. And our current acreage position has consistently captured almost half of all third-party activity in the Permian.

Viper 繼續持有 Diamondback 核心 Midland Basin 開發案的集中權益，預計這將推動石油產量實現有意義的長期成長。此外，Viper 目前已與 Midland 盆地和 Delaware 盆地的領先第三方營運商建立了廣泛的合作關係。我們目前的油田面積一直佔據著二疊紀盆地近一半的第三方油田活動。

Beyond this, the 25,000 existing horizontal wells in the Permian Basin in which Viper owns an interest provides an invaluable information advantage.

除此之外，Viper 在二疊紀盆地擁有 25,000 口現有水平井的權益，為其提供了寶貴的資訊優勢。

In conclusion, we continue to believe that Viper presents a differentiated investment opportunity within the broader energy space. Viper's unmatched ability to deliver sustained per share growth with zero capital and limited operating costs should result in a differential ability to return increasing amounts of capital to stockholders over the long term.

總之，我們仍然認為，Viper 在更廣泛的能源領域中提供了一個與眾不同的投資機會。Viper 擁有無與倫比的能力，能夠在零資本投入和有限的營運成本下實現持續的每股成長，這應該會使其在長期內有能力向股東返還越來越多的資本。

Additionally, given our extremely low breakeven, our business model should provide a more consistent cash flow returns profile during times of overall market volatility.

此外，鑑於我們極低的損益平衡點，我們的商業模式應該能夠在整體市場波動時期提供更穩定的現金流回報。

Operator, please open the line for questions.

接線員，請開通提問線。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Neal Dingmann, William and Blair.

尼爾丁曼，威廉和布萊爾。

Hey, morning. Great free cash flow story, obviously. My first question, just turning to -- given the nearly $700 million asset sale and what should be probably even over $1.5 billion of free cash flow next year, could you speak to sort of near term and '26 at capital allocation?

嘿，早安。顯然，自由現金流狀況非常好。我的第一個問題是——鑑於近 7 億美元的資產出售以及明年可能超過 15 億美元的自由現金流，您能否談談近期和 2026 年的資本配置？

I mean as I see it, I mean it seems like you'll not only quickly repay that debt, but you could bump distributions up materially and potentially do some buybacks. Would love to hear how you're thinking of it.

我的意思是，依我看，你不僅可以很快償還債務，還可以大幅提高分紅，甚至有可能進行一些股票回購。很想聽聽你的想法。

Yeah, Neal, I feel like we got a great number on that asset sale, and we debated internally if we should wait or execute on the sale. We decided to execute. And the reason being -- you recall, last quarter, we came out and said when Viper gets to $1.5 billion of net debt, we're going to return 100% of free cash back to shareholders.

是的，尼爾，我覺得我們在那筆資產出售中得到了一個非常好的價格，我們內部也討論過是應該等待還是立即執行出售。我們決定執行。原因在於——你們還記得嗎，上個季度我們曾表示，當 Viper 的淨債務達到 15 億美元時，我們將把 100% 的自由現金流返還給股東。

And with this asset sale proceeds coming in, we feel like we have line of sight to that goal. And so therefore, we're going to lean in ahead of that by adding some repurchases to our story, just given how much the market dislocation has widened between Viper and where it should trade.

隨著此次資產出售所得款項的到來，我們感覺離實現這個目標越來越近了。因此，鑑於 Viper 目前的市場價格與其應有的交易價格之間的偏差已擴大到如此大的程度，我們將提前採取行動，在我們的策略中加入一些回購計劃。

So high level, I think by the beginning of the year next year, we'll be ready to consistently return almost 100% of free cash to shareholders, but we're not going to stop now. We're going to be a little aggressive as we head into year-end with the buybacks, plus a significant continued cash distribution story.

因此，從宏觀層面來看，我認為到明年年初，我們將能夠持續將將近 100% 的自由現金流返還給股東，但我們現在不會就此止步。接近年底，我們將採取較為積極的股票回購策略，同時繼續進行大規模的現金分紅。

And that kind of leads to my second question. Is that predicated, I guess -- or maybe asked another way, could you just speak to how activity outside of Diamondback is trending? It seems like judging by last quarter, things still appear very active, even more active than what we're seeing from some of these operators out there, but really just want to confirm that's still the case?

這就引出了我的第二個問題。這是基於某種假設嗎？或者換個方式問，您能否談談 Diamondback 以外的活動趨勢？從上個季度的情況來看，市場似乎仍然非常活躍，甚至比我們看到的一些運營商還要活躍，但我想確認一下現在情況是否仍然如此？

Yeah, I think it's really strong. I'll let Austen give some more detail, but this is the first quarter we're looking at a combined Viper and Sitio together, and we think that gives us a broad exposure to a lot of the Permian.

是的，我覺得它真的很強。我會讓奧斯汀詳細介紹一下，但這是我們第一次將 Viper 和 Sitio 合併在一起進行考察，我們認為這將使我們對二疊紀盆地有更廣泛的了解。

Yeah, I mean, we put some new details in the deck, page 11 being one of those. And what this really does is go back to the beginning of 2023, and it looks at all of the wells drilled across the Permian Basin excluding Diamondback and what percentage of those -- Viper's current asset base would have an interest in.

是的，我的意思是，我們在牌組中添加了一些新的細節，第 11 頁就是其中之一。而這項調查實際上是追溯到 2023 年初，考察了除 Diamondback 之外的二疊紀盆地所有鑽井，以及 Viper 目前的資產基礎對這些井的百分比有何興趣。

And what you'll see is that we've just captured almost half of all activity across the basin over this time period with a pretty consistent average NRI at around 1.5%. So it will trend up and down kind of with activity a bit. But I really think it speaks to the quality of the acreage and the operators that we have outside of Diamondback deploying consistent capital to this position. That gives us a lot of confidence to the forecast in 2026 and really even beyond that.

你會發現，在這段時間內，我們已經捕捉到了整個盆地近一半的活動，平均淨重指數 (NRI) 相當穩定，約 1.5%。所以它會隨著市場活動而略有上下波動。但我認為這充分說明了這片土地的質量，以及除 Diamondback 之外的其他業者持續向該礦區投入資金。這讓我們對 2026 年甚至更遠的預測充滿信心。

Makes sense. Thanks (inaudible)

有道理。謝謝（聽不清楚）

Betty Jiang, Barclays.

Betty Jiang，巴克萊銀行。

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I wanted to ask about the third-party activity. Also, just on the -- the backlog has continued to increase. But even -- I want to understand how much of that increase is driven by the Sitio contribution? And how much is seeing a broader constructive uplift that you're seeing across from the legacy assets from other operators across the Permian?

您好，感謝您回答我的問題。我想詢問一下第三方活動的情況。另外，積壓的工作量還在持續增加。但是——我想了解這其中有多少成長是由 Sitio 的貢獻所推動的？您在二疊紀盆地其他業者的傳統資產方面，看到了多大的建設性提升？

Yeah, Betty, I would say it's pretty evenly mixed. I think being a couple of months in post Sitio closing, that asset base has outperformed the underwriting assumptions. But really, legacy Viper's third-party operating position has continued to outperform as well, mainly as a result of some of the higher NRIs, and you can kind of see that showing up on slide 11, as I mentioned.

是的，貝蒂，我覺得混合得相當均勻。我認為，在 Sitio 交易完成後的幾個月裡，該資產基礎的表現已經超過了承銷預期。但實際上，Viper 的傳統第三方營運地位也持續表現出色，這主要是由於一些較高的非經常性投資，正如我所提到的，你可以在第 11 張幻燈片中看到這一點。

So as we look at it today, right, we don't have full visibility into what will happen for the full year 2026, especially in the back half of the year. And we'll continue to monitor new activity as it shows up and the conversion of those permits and those wells that have been spud. But I would say, generally, we're extremely pleased with the third-party exposure and especially the complement that, that provides to the concentrated exposure through the Diamondback drill bit.

所以，就我們今天所見，我們無法完全預見 2026 年全年會發生什麼，尤其是下半年。我們將繼續監測新出現的活動，以及那些許可證的轉換和那些已經開工的油井。但總的來說，我們對第三方曝光非常滿意，尤其是它與 Diamondback 鑽頭提供的集中曝光相輔相成。

Yeah. Those are really encouraging signs to see. My second question is on AI. It strikes me that the royalty model is ideally positioned to benefit from AI integration. And thinking about the impact of predictive nature of future activity, maybe the organization, can you just speak to how you see the tools that are available today could potentially impact your operations and M&A?

是的。這些都是令人鼓舞的跡象。我的第二個問題是關於人工智慧的。我認為，版稅模式非常適合從人工智慧的整合中獲益。考慮到預測未來活動的影響，也許對組織而言，您能否談談您認為目前可用的工具可能會如何影響您的營運和併購？

Yeah, Betty, I mean, I would say generally, you're correct, right? There's a lot of data flowing through the mineral business. There's a lot of data on 35,000 wells throughout the Permian that can be utilized for a lot of things, right? We can use that data to make operational changes to buy more minerals in areas where something is emerging.

是的，貝蒂，我的意思是，總的來說，你說得對，對吧？礦業領域有大量數據流動。二疊紀盆地35,000口油井的大量資料可以用於許多方面，對吧？我們可以利用這些數據來調整營運策略，在新興領域購買更多礦產資源。

But I think in the near term, some of the benefits of AI and automation and machine learning is really to make our business more efficient on the back end, right? Tracking 35,000 wells every month is not -- should not be a manual process. And so we're working to move everything from manual to automated.

但我認為，在短期內，人工智慧、自動化和機器學習的一些好處實際上是讓我們的業務在後端更有效率，對吧？每月追蹤 35,000 口油井不是——也不應該是人工操作。因此，我們正在努力將所有工作從人工操作轉變為自動化操作。

And then beyond that, it's about finding a way to utilize all this data effectively and efficiently and even potentially monetize it. Should we not see that it provides us a differential advantage, I think it can provide a lot of data to the market.

除此之外，還要找到有效利用所有這些數據的方法，甚至有可能將其貨幣化。即使它不能為我們帶來差異化優勢，我認為它也能為市場提供大量數據。

But for now, we're going to keep it all internal and I think focus on some of the automation, and that's actually one of the synergies that the Sitio team brought to the table that we hadn't developed ourselves at Viper. So with all these deals, we end up learning something. And I'd say the biggest thing from the Sitio team has been big data and automation.

但就目前而言，我們將把所有工作都保留在內部，我認為應該專注於一些自動化工作，而這實際上是 Sitio 團隊帶來的協同效應之一，這是我們 Viper 自己沒有開發的。所以，透過這些交易，我們最終都能學到一些東西。我認為 Sitio 團隊最大的成就就是大數據和自動化。

Very interesting.

很有意思。

Neil Mehta, Goldman Sachs and company.

尼爾梅塔，高盛公司。

Yeah, thanks so much. Just -- congrats on some of these non-Permian divestitures. And it's good to see the business kind of core up around the Permian again. As we think about the cash that's coming in, Kaes, are there any considerations we should be mindful of in terms of the number that's coming in? Are there any offsets, whether it's taxes or anything else around these inflows?

是啊，非常感謝。恭喜你們成功剝離了部分非二疊紀地層。很高興看到商業活動再次圍繞著二疊紀盆地集中起來。Kaes，當我們考慮即將到達的現金時，關於到帳金額，我們有哪些需要注意的事項？這些資金流入是否有任何抵銷因素，例如稅收或其他方面？

Yes, we kind of highlighted that there would be a little bit of a tax hit. So I think our net proceeds will be about $610 million. There will be some reduction between effective date and close date. But all in all, I think generally, the proceeds are going to pay down essentially the revolver to zero as well as almost pay our term loan down to essentially zero.

是的，我們已經強調過，這會帶來一些稅收負擔。所以我認為我們的淨收益將約為 6.1 億美元。生效日期和結束日期之間會有一些減少。但總的來說，我認為所得款項基本上會將循環貸款還清至零，同時也會將我們的定期貸款幾乎還清至零。

And that would put essentially a balance sheet I define as an almost perfect position with one five-year note, one 10-year note that we executed over the summer, leaving us a lot of optionality and flexibility to buy little deals, but also return a lot of cash to shareholders.

這樣一來，我的資產負債表基本上就達到了我所定義的近乎完美的狀態：我們只有一筆五年期票據和一筆我們在夏季執行的十年期票據，這讓我們有很多選擇和靈活性去進行小規模交易，同時也能向股東返還大量現金。

Yeah. And Kaes, can you talk about the A&D market? That's been kind of a hallmark of the broader Diamondback complex is finding those bolt-on opportunities. We think, especially given the softer commodity price environment, that's going to -- does that make it easier or harder to get deals done here over the next 6 to 12 months?

是的。Kaes，您能談談航空航太與國防市場嗎？尋找這些補充機會一直是響尾蛇整體發展的一個標誌。我們認為，尤其是在大宗商品價格疲軟的環境下，這會使未來 6 到 12 個月內在這裡達成交易變得更容易還是更難？

Yeah. Traditionally, it makes mineral deals harder to get done. It's -- you see a lot more upstream deals lower in the cycle than minerals just because of the 0 CapEx nature of minerals. So I think we're probably on a bit of a pause at Viper for now and waiting for what we see is still a significant opportunity set to come our way in the coming years. But Austen, anything else you want to add?

是的。傳統上，這會使礦產交易更難達成。你會發現，在經濟週期的早期階段，上游產業的交易比礦產業的交易多得多，這僅僅是因為礦產業的資本支出為零。所以我覺得Viper目前可能暫時處於停滯狀態，等待未來幾年內我們認為仍然會為我們帶來重大機會的機會。奧斯汀，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yeah. I think that's certainly the case on the larger, more strategic acquisitions. We've tried to position ourselves to be the consolidator of choice on the $1 billion-plus type opportunities. And it's tough to see those transacting with where commodity prices are today. I would say it's a little bit different on kind of the smaller ground game-type acquisitions.

是的。我認為對於規模更大、更具策略性的收購而言，情況確實如此。我們努力將自己定位為10億美元以上投資機會的首選整合商。很難想像在如今的大宗商品價格水準下，還有人會進行交易。我認為，在規模較小的地面戰這類收購中，情況會略有不同。

We've had some success in some of those owners might see the royalty checks go down and see that as an opportunity to liquidate it. But that's tougher to scale today relative to the size of the enterprise value at least. So part of our thinking additionally is with the buyback, that's an effective way to buy really high-quality assets that we know and that have grown the assets today. So it's kind of a combined strategy of how to deploy capital for us today.

我們已經取得了一些成功，一些業主可能會看到版稅支票減少，並將此視為清算資產的機會。但至少相對於企業價值的規模而言，如今要實現規模化擴張更加困難。因此，我們考慮的一部分還包括回購，這是一種有效的方式，可以購買我們所了解的、並且如今已經實現資產成長的真正高品質資產。所以，這算是我們今天部署資本的一種綜合策略。

Yes, that's awesome. Thanks.

是的，太棒了。謝謝。

Kalei Akamine, Bank of America.

卡雷‧阿卡明 (Kalei Akamine)，美國銀行。

Hey, good morning guys. Okay, Kaes, in your opening remarks, you called out that Viper has been exposed to about half of all third-party activity in the Permian Basin over the last three years. In the basin this year, there has been a reduction in activity because of oil price uncertainty. The market expects maybe zero oil growth in the Permian Basin next year, yet your Permian volumes continue to grow. That's a favorable dynamic. How long do you expect that it can continue?

嘿，各位早安。好的，Kaes，你在開場白中指出，在過去三年裡，Viper 接觸到了二疊紀盆地大約一半的第三方活動。今年，由於油價的不確定性，該盆地的活動有所減少。市場預期明年二疊紀盆地石油產量可能為零成長，但你們的二疊紀盆地石油產量卻持續成長。這是一個有利的局面。你預計這種情況能持續多久？

Yes. I mean, I think the advantaged nature of the Diamondback-Viper relationship probably drives that growth for at least the next couple of years, if not longer. I think we have somewhere between a 5% and 7% interest expected in all of Diamondback's wells on average for the next five years.

是的。我的意思是，我認為響尾蛇與蝰蛇之間有利的合作關係可能會在未來至少幾年內，甚至在更長時間內推動這種成長。我認為，未來五年內，我們預計平均將持有 Diamondback 所有油井 5% 到 7% 的股份。

So that's a pretty unique position to be in. And I think that, combined with -- in our remarks, we kind of highlighted that, that, combined with the broad exposure, otherwise puts us in a pretty good spot here for the next few years.

所以，這是一種相當獨特的處境。我認為，再加上——我們在演講中也強調了這一點——再加上廣泛的曝光，這將使我們在未來幾年處於相當有利的地位。

I appreciate that. For my next question, one question that we get from investors considers the valuation of Viper. It's the best risk-adjusted return in the Permian, in our view. Another way to look at it is that VNOM shares are trading with great value today. So my question is, would you ever consider using free cash at bank to purchase more interest in VNOM shares?

我很感激。我的下一個問題，是我們從投資者那裡收到的一個關於 Viper 估值的問題。我們認為，這是二疊紀盆地風險調整後收益最高的投資項目。換個角度來看，VNOM股票目前具有很高的價值。所以我的問題是，您是否會考慮使用銀行的閒置資金來購買更多VNOM股票？

Yeah, it's certainly on the table. I think Diamondback has some strategic priorities that they need to continue to execute on, mainly reducing its share count as well. But we certainly are kind of trying to pound the table on VNOM's valuation. And also, I think as part of the rationale for the non-Permian asset sale getting executed so quickly is that we can lean in at the Viper level and reduce that Viper per share count. Because I think until the market wakes up to the free cash flow yield plus growth story, we're going to try to take advantage of it as a complex.

是的，這當然在考慮範圍內。我認為Diamondback有一些策略重點需要繼續執行，主要包括減少其股票數量。但我們當然會盡力提高 VNOM 的估值。而且，我認為非二疊紀資產出售能夠如此迅速地完成的部分原因是，我們可以增加對 Viper 的投入，降低 Viper 的每股持有量。因為我認為，在市場意識到自由現金流收益率加上成長潛力之前，我們將嘗試將其作為一個整體來利用。

I appreciate the comments. Thanks case.

感謝您的評論。謝謝案例。

Derrick Whitfield, Texas Capital.

德里克·惠特菲爾德，德克薩斯資本。

Thanks, good morning all and thanks for taking my question. For my first question, I wanted to start with your guidance regarding the soft guide for 2026. How are you thinking about the price sensitivity associated with that guidance from a Diamondback operating perspective?

謝謝大家，早安，謝謝你們回答我的問題。我的第一個問題是，我想先請教您關於 2026 年軟指南方面的問題。從Diamondback的營運角度來看，您如何看待與該指引相關的價格敏感度？

Yeah. So that really contemplates the base case of Diamondback's current activity levels, right, and really maintaining that more maintenance level through 2026. So to draw on their analogy being the yellow light scenario, that's kind of what's underwritten here. Things could flex up or down.

是的。所以這確實考慮了 Diamondback 目前的活躍程度的基本情況，對吧，並且要將這種維持水準保持到 2026 年。所以，借用他們提出的黃燈情景的比喻，這正是這裡所隱含的道理。情況可能會好轉，也可能會惡化。

I think the beauty of the relationship that Kaes was hitting on it earlier, to the extent that it flexes down, Diamondback will really be prioritizing the highest returning projects in the lower commodity price environment. So Viper tends to be insulated at least in gross reductions in Diamondback activity level and just kind of gives a higher percent exposure and a higher average NRI.

我認為凱斯之前提到的這種關係的美妙之處在於，隨著大宗商品價格的下降，Diamondback 將真正優先考慮回報最高的項目。因此，Viper 至少在 Diamondback 活動水準大幅下降的情況下能夠起到一定的隔離作用，從而提供更高的百分比曝險和更高的平均淨收益指數 (NRI)。

Got it. Makes sense. And then maybe just to build on an earlier question. With the benefit of more time with the Sitio team and their approach, could you guys elaborate on the synergy opportunity you see from a cash savings perspective on just implementing some of the AI processes? And then the opportunity it could generate from a ground game perspective?

知道了。有道理。然後，也許可以就之前的問題做進一步的探討。有了更多時間與 Sitio 團隊及其方法交流，你們能否詳細闡述一下，從節省現金的角度來看，僅僅實施一些 AI 流程就能帶來哪些協同效應？那麼，從地面進攻的角度來看，它又能帶來哪些機會呢？

Yeah. I would say, obviously, the employee aspect of the deal and those synergies have been realized, and we brought over some select high performers from Sitio that are helping us out today. Second to that, one of the big synergies was cost of capital savings on the debt, on both their debt and ours. And it's clear that Viper got upgraded to investment grade and was able to execute its first investment-grade deal in the quarter in July. And so that sets us up from a balance sheet perspective.

是的。顯然，這項交易的員工方面以及由此產生的協同效應已經實現，我們從 Sitio 引進了一些優秀的員工，他們現在正在幫助我們。其次，一大綜效是債務資本成本的節省，包括他們的債務和我們的債務。很明顯，Viper 的評級已提升至投資等級，並在 7 月完成了本季的第一筆投資等級交易。從資產負債表的角度來看，這就為我們奠定了基礎。

And then I think on the automation side, there's certainly benefits to automating the processes that -- at Viper, I think over time, those same people that are working on automating those processes at Viper will then move to automate more at Diamondback. So it's kind of a synergy to the parent co as well. I can't tell you exactly what that number is going to be today, but I think a lot of our business is going to be moving towards less manual entry and more observing by exception versus doing things by hand. So I think a lot to come there. I think the whole industry is working to continue to automate, but you can expect us to be on our front foot.

然後我認為，在自動化方面，自動化流程肯定是有好處的——在 Viper，我認為隨著時間的推移，那些在 Viper 從事流程自動化工作的人，之後也會轉到 Diamondback 從事更多自動化工作。所以這對母公司來說也是一種綜效。我無法準確告訴你今天這個數字會是多少，但我認為我們的許多業務將會減少人工錄入，並更多地透過例外情況進行觀察，而不是手工操作。所以我認為那裡有很多值得期待的地方。我認為整個產業都在努力繼續實現自動化，但你們可以期待我們會保持領先地位。

And then on the deal side, I think we -- being in Midland, we have pretty good access to all the deals. There's a saying out here that if a deal leaves Midland, I mean, it might not be a good deal. So we're on the front foot here in the mix, and we have a really good deal flow.

至於交易方面，我認為我們身處米德蘭，所以我們能夠很好地接觸到所有交易機會。這裡流傳著這樣一句諺語：如果一筆交易離開了米德蘭，我的意思是，那它可能就不是什麼好交易。所以我們在競爭中處於領先地位，而且我們的交易進展非常順利。

Back to the operator. Thank you.

交還操作員。謝謝。

Leo Mariani, ROTH.

Leo Mariani，ROTH。

Hi guys, I just wanted to clarify on the guidance here. I know it's a soft guide for '26. When you guys talk about mid-single-digit growth next year versus 4Q, I assume that's kind of unadjusted for the pending asset sale. So clearly, as we strip those volumes out, then you kind of wouldn't quite hit that mid-single digit growth to be a little bit lower as kind of a pre-asset sale guide here?

大家好，我只是想就這裡的指導意見進行一些澄清。我知道這是 2026 年的軟指南。你們說明年將實現個位數中段的成長，與第四季相比，我猜這還沒有考慮到即將進行的資產出售的影響。所以很明顯，當我們剔除這些交易量後，就無法達到個位數的中段成長，作為資產出售前的參考指標，這個數字可能會略低一些？

Yeah. I mean, it's either -- if you look at Q4 being pro forma, right, really, the way to look at it is you're going to have a couple of thousand barrels a day of growth on an absolute basis on the assets that we'll retain.

是的。我的意思是，要么——如果你把第四季度作為備考數據來看，對吧，實際上，看待這個問題的方式是，在我們保留的資產基礎上，每天的產量絕對值將增長幾千桶。

So the Q4 guidance of 66,000 a day of oil at the midpoint, that includes about 5,000 a day of contributions to the non-Permian assets. So if you strip that out, that will be your go-forward starting point for 2026, and then you'll grow a couple of thousand barrels from there, which kind of gets you to that mid-single-digit level.

因此，第四季石油日產量指引中位數為 66,000 桶，其中包括對非二疊紀盆地資產的約 5,000 桶/日的貢獻。所以，如果把那部分去掉，那將是 2026 年的起點，然後你將在此基礎上增長幾千桶，這就能達到個位數的中段水平。

Okay. Appreciate that clarification. And obviously, you've got the asset sale done and you certainly spoke to returning a greater percentage of capital to shareholders. You clearly leaned into the buyback pretty heavily. But just trying to get a sense as that debt is paid off, as you kind of spoke to, it sounds like in the next handful of months, are your eyes also looking to maybe kind of accelerate the growth in the variable dividend component as well over the next few quarters?

好的。感謝您的澄清。顯然，資產出售已經完成，而且您也確實談到了向股東返還更高比例的資本。你顯然非常重視回購計畫。但我想了解一下，隨著債務的償還，正如您剛才所說，在接下來的幾個月裡，您是否也考慮在未來幾季加快可變股息部分的成長？

Is that something that investors should also be looking forward to?

這是投資人也該期待的事嗎？

Yeah. I mean, I think it's all price related, right? And the key point here on the buyback, which is, in our mind, our third priority return of capital behind the base dividend and the variable dividend, leaning into that buyback sends a pretty strong message that we think the stock is cheap. We do agree with a lot of our large shareholders, Diamondback being the largest, that we want a majority of the return of capital in the form of cash.

是的。我的意思是，我覺得這一切都跟價格有關，對吧？而這裡的關鍵點在於股票回購，在我們看來，股票回購是繼基本股利和可變股利之後，我們第三優先的資本回報方式。我們大力推進股票回購，這傳遞了一個非常強烈的訊號，那就是我們認為這檔股票很便宜。我們與許多大股東（其中最大的股東是Diamondback）的觀點一致，希望以現金形式獲得大部分資本回報。

But I think what's interesting about Viper with the debt position it's in, the balance sheet position it's in is that it can do both. And I think we would, at some point, tap the brakes on the buyback if the market wakes up to this story. But until then, we're going to keep reducing the share count.

但我認為 Viper 有趣的地方在於，就其目前的債務狀況和資產負債表狀況而言，它能夠做到這兩點。我認為，如果市場意識到這一點，我們會在某個時候踩下回購的煞車。但在此之前，我們將繼續減少股份數量。

Tim Rezvan, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Tim Rezvan，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Thanks for taking my questions, folks. I don't mean to beat the dead horse here, but the repurchase news was really notable. It was equal to your prior two biggest quarters combined. So is it safe to say this was more of kind of an extreme quarter given shares at the $37, $38 level? Or would you potentially look to go even bigger at the expense of the variable dividend if you thought the dislocation warranted that?

謝謝各位回答我的問題。我不想老生常談，但回購消息確實引人注目。這相當於你之前兩個季度業績最好的兩個季度的總和。鑑於股價曾經達到 37 美元、38 美元的水平，是否可以說這是一個比較極端的季度？或者，如果您認為市場環境的變化值得您這樣做，您是否可能會犧牲浮動股息，尋求更大的投資規模？

Yeah. I mean -- so I think it depends, right? But I think what's interesting about -- again, about Viper, here we are at $60 oil, generating 92%, 93% margins. There's a lot of flexibility to do a lot of things with cash, right? I think if you put your E&P hat on, you're restricted by how much capital you need to spend to maintain your production base.

是的。我的意思是——所以我覺得這要看情況，對吧？但我認為有趣的是——再說一遍，關於 Viper，現在油價是 60 美元，利潤率卻高達 92%、93%。用現金做很多事情都很靈活，對吧？我認為，如果你從勘探與生產的角度來看這個問題，你會受到維持生產基地所需資金的限制。

And here, other people are spending capital for you to maintain your production base. And so that frees up a lot of free cash to do different things with.

在這裡，其他人正在投入資金來幫助你維持生產基地。這樣一來，就能騰出很多自由資金去做其他事情了。

I think if the market dislocates further, we can just -- we can lean in further without compromising free cash flow generation or the balance sheet. So it's truly -- in my mind, it should theoretically be a lower cost of capital business than where it's trading today.

我認為，如果市場進一步動盪，我們可以——我們可以進一步增加投入，而不會影響自由現金流的產生或資產負債表。所以，在我看來，從理論上講，它的資本成本應該比現在的交易價格更低。

Okay. I appreciate that response. And then on the topic of repurchases, there's been some market consternation perhaps overdue about these new holders that you have following the Sitio closing. And I believe there's 4, what people would call unnatural holders at about 13% of shares.

好的。感謝您的回覆。至於回購問題，在 Sitio 關閉後出現的這些新持有者，市場可能已經出現了一些早該出現的擔憂。我相信有 4 位（人們會稱之為）非自然持股者，他們持有約 13% 的股份。

Can you talk, Kaes, about any dialogue you've had with any of them? And how high that is on your sort of kind of maybe removing that overhang or sort of addressing that as they look to sell? Thank you.

凱斯，你能談談你和他們中的任何人有過哪些對話嗎？那麼，在他們尋求出售的過程中，消除這種不利因素或解決這個問題，對您來說有多重要？謝謝。

Yeah. We'll be prepared to address it should they make the decision to sell. But I'm talking to a lot of them with -- particularly with respect to the Sitio merger, they merged their stock into ours knowing that there's a lot of long-term upside to the combined business. So I can't comment on if they want to or not -- don't want to sell because that's their decision. But I will say we have the firepower to aid that if that ever happened.

是的。如果他們決定出售，我們將做好應對準備。但我與他們中的許多人談過——尤其是在 Sitio 合併這件事上，他們把他們的股票併入我們的股票，因為他們知道合併後的業務有很多長期的成長空間。所以我無法評論他們是否想賣或不想賣，因為那是他們的決定。但我可以說，如果這種情況真的發生，我們有足夠的火力來支援。

Just like any other shareholder, right? If there are any other large shareholders looking to sell here, we've got the firepower to buy those shares back.

和其他股東一樣，對吧？如果還有其他大股東想要出售股份，我們有足夠的實力將這些股份買回。

Okay, that's all I had. Thank you.

好了，這就是我全部的內容了。謝謝。

Thank you. I am showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to the CEO, Kaes Van't Hof, for closing remarks.

謝謝。我目前沒有其他問題要問。現在我謹將發言權交還給執行長凱斯·范特霍夫，請他作總結發言。

Well, thanks, everybody, for participating today. And please reach out if you have any questions, and we'll talk to you in one quarter.

謝謝大家今天的參與。如果您有任何疑問，請隨時聯繫我們，我們將在一個季度內與您討論。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program, and you may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。程式到此結束，您可以斷開連線了。