Vital Energy Inc (VTLE) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Vital Energy, Inc., second-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Dee, and I will be your conference operator for today. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes.

女士們、先生們，美好的一天，歡迎參加 Vital Energy, Inc. 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。我叫 Dee，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。（操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製以供重播之用。

It is now my pleasure to introduce to you Mr. Ron Hagood, Vice President, Investor Relations. You may proceed, sir.

現在我很高興向您介紹投資者關係副總裁 Ron Hagood 先生。您可以繼續了，先生。

Thank you, and good morning. Joining me today are Jason Pigott, President and Chief Executive Officer; Bryan Lemmerman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Katie Hill, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; as well as additional members of our management team.

謝謝你，早安。今天與我一起出席的還有總裁兼執行長傑森‧皮戈特 (Jason Pigott)；布萊恩‧萊默曼 (Bryan Lemmerman)，執行副總裁兼財務長；凱蒂·希爾，高級副總裁兼營運長；以及我們管理團隊的其他成員。

During today's call, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements, including those describing our beliefs, goals, expectations, forecasts and assumptions are intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual results may differ from these forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, many of which are beyond our control.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性聲明。這些陳述，包括那些描述我們的信念、目標、期望、預測和假設的陳述，旨在涵蓋 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款。由於多種原因，我們的實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述有所不同，其中許多原因是我們無法控制的。

In addition, we'll be making reference to non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to GAAP financial measures are included in the press release and presentation we issued yesterday afternoon. The press release and presentation can be accessed on our website at www.vitalenergy.com.

此外，我們將參考非公認會計準則財務指標。我們昨天下午發布的新聞稿和簡報中包含了公認會計準則財務指標的調節表。新聞稿和簡報可在我們的網站 www.vitalenergy.com 上存取。

I'll now turn the call over to Jason Pigott, President and Chief Executive Officer.

現在我將把電話轉給總裁兼執行長傑森·皮戈特 (Jason Pigott)。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today.

早安，感謝您今天加入我們。

Vital Energy remains focused on maximizing free cash flow by integrating our recent acquisitions, adding low breakeven inventory and maintaining a strong capital structure. Our team continued the trend of strong production results during the second quarter, with total and oil production set company records as packages turned in line during the quarter and both the Midland and Delaware Basins are exceeding expectations.

Vital Energy 仍然專注於透過整合我們最近的收購、增加低損益平衡庫存和維持強大的資本結構來最大化自由現金流。我們的團隊在第二季度繼續保持強勁的生產業績趨勢，總產量和石油產量創下了公司記錄，因為本季度的包裹交付正常，米德蘭和特拉華盆地都超出了預期。

Strong production helped drive free cash flow of $45 million for the quarter, which we used to reduce debt. We are increasing our full-year 2024 total production guidance midpoint to 129,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to incorporate both outperformance of our current operations and for our acquisition of Point Energy Partners, which is expected to close at the end of the third quarter. We are also increasing our full-year 2024 oil production guidance, raising the midpoint to 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day due to the outperformance of wells in the Delaware Basin and Howard County, as well as expected fourth-quarter volumes from the Point acquisition.

強勁的生產幫助推動本季自由現金流達到 4500 萬美元，我們用它來減少債務。我們將 2024 年全年總產量指導中位數提高至每天 129,000 桶油當量，以兼顧我們目前業務的優異表現以及我們對 Point Energy Partners 的收購（預計將於第三季末完成）。由於特拉華盆地和霍華德縣的油井表現出色，以及 Point 收購的預期第四季度產量，我們還提高了 2024 年全年石油產量指引，將中點提高至每天 60,000 桶油當量。

Turning to capital, investments in the quarter were almost $30 million below the midpoint of our guidance range. This was primarily based on activity timing, and we expect these dollars to shift to the third quarter. For full year, we have adjusted our capital investment midpoint to $845 million from the previous midpoint of $800 million, incorporating the expected fourth-quarter capital for Point. For the quarter, operating expenses were higher than projected at $966 per BOE.

談到資本，本季的投資比我們指引範圍的中點低了近 3,000 萬美元。這主要基於活動時間，我們預計這些資金將轉移到第三季。就全年而言，我們將資本投資中點從先前 8 億美元的中點調整為 8.45 億美元，其中納入了 Point 預期的第四季資本。本季營運費用高於預期，為每桶油當量 966 美元。

In our May call, we shared that LOE on the acquired assets was higher than expected due to the increased water production and H2S after close. Since May, we have reduced our run rate by nearly $4 million per month, which was accomplished by shutting in uneconomical wells and improving chemical spend across both basins, and applying new power generation capabilities in the Midland. This, along with additional optimization efforts, led to exiting Q2 at approximately $895 per BOE.

在我們 5 月的電話會議中，我們表示，由於交易結束後產水量和硫化氫增加，所收購資產的 LOE 高於預期。自 5 月以來，我們每月將運行費降低了近 400 萬美元，這是透過關閉不經濟的油井、改善兩個盆地的化學品支出以及在米德蘭應用新的發電能力來實現的。再加上額外的優化工作，第二季退出時的價格約為每桶油當量 895 美元。

While Q1 and Q2 costs were driven higher due to delayed billing throughout the acquisition transition process, we crossed over the peak in April and subsequently reduced run rate throughout the quarter. We expect second-half LOE to remain around $895 per BOE on our base business, inclusive of lower production volumes for the third quarter.

雖然由於整個收購過渡過程中的計費延遲而導致第一季和第二季的成本上升，但我們在 4 月跨越了峰值，並隨後降低了整個季度的運行率。我們預計下半年我們基礎業務的 LOE 將保持在每桶油當量 895 美元左右，其中包括第三季產量下降的情況。

In the fourth quarter, we expect total company LOE to increase to around $935 per BOE when the Point acquisition closes. We are intensely focused on optimizing operations and creating additional value from our acquired properties. We have been successful in lowering capital cost and improving productivity in the Delaware Basin.

在第四季度，當 Point 收購完成時，我們預計公司總 LOE 將增加到每 BOE 935 美元左右。我們高度重視優化營運並從收購的資產中創造額外價值。我們成功地降低了特拉華盆地的資本成本並提高了生產力。

Since closing our initial acquisition in the basin, we have recognized capital cost reductions of 12% and believe we have line of sight to another 5% reduction in the future. Our strategy of widening spacing versus the previous operator continues to deliver productivity gains on our southern Delaware position, further enhancing capital efficiency.

自從完成我們在該盆地的首次收購以來，我們已經認識到資本成本降低了 12%，並相信我們未來預計會再降低 5%。與先前的營運商相比，我們擴大間距的策略繼續為我們特拉華州南部的位置帶來生產力的提高，進一步提高資本效率。

Over the past five years, our acquisition strategy has significantly bolstered our oil-weighted inventory, now providing approximately 10 years of development at our current pace. Recently, we have taken further steps to enhance our portfolio of low breakeven locations through both organic growth and the strategic acquisition of Point Energy. This organic growth has been primarily driven by the successful implementation of long lateral horseshoe wells across our leasehold. By developing these wells in the Midland and Delaware Basin, we've converted 84 short lateral locations into 42 long lateral horseshoes, reducing the breakeven to below $50 for 30 of these locations.

在過去的五年裡，我們的收購策略大大增強了我們的石油加權庫存，以我們目前的速度，現在可以提供約 10 年的發展空間。最近，我們採取了進一步措施，透過有機成長和策略性收購 Point Energy 來增強我們的低盈虧平衡地點的投資組合。這種有機成長主要是由於我們租賃地塊上長橫向馬蹄形井的成功實施所推動的。透過在米德蘭和特拉華盆地開發這些油井，我們已將 84 個短橫向井位改造成 42 個長橫向馬蹄井，將其中 30 個井位的盈虧平衡點降至 50 美元以下。

Additionally, we've identified and added 77 new long lateral horseshoe locations to our inventory that were previously excluded due to the economics of short laterals. In our ongoing efforts to strengthen our inventory, we have initiated a testing program in the Barnett formation, recognizing an opportunity to add more low-cost locations. The associated activities, capital expenditures, and production have been fully integrated into our updated capital and production guidance. We anticipate sharing further details on this promising development in the coming months.

此外，我們還確定了 77 個新的長橫向馬蹄鐵位置，並將其添加到我們的庫存中，這些位置之前由於短橫向馬蹄鐵的經濟性而被排除在外。在我們不斷努力加強庫存的過程中，我們在巴尼特地層啟動了一項測試計劃，認識到有機會增加更多低成本地點。相關活動、資本支出和生產已完全納入我們更新的資本和生產指南中。我們預計在未來幾個月內分享有關這一充滿希望的發展的更多細節。

Moreover, we are closely monitoring the performance of our recently turned-in-line Wolfcamp C wells, which were placed on ESP after two months of free flow. The early results are promising and we look forward to providing more information on this potential inventory as we gather additional production data. Thanks to these organic inventory additions and our acquisition of Point Energy assets, which expand our scale and sub $50 breakeven inventory, our portfolio is now deeper and more resilient than ever before.

此外，我們正在密切監測最近上線的 Wolfcamp C 井的性能，這些井在自由流動兩個月後安裝了 ESP。早期結果令人鼓舞，我們期待在收集更多生產數據時提供有關此潛在庫存的更多資訊。由於這些有機庫存的增加以及我們對 Point Energy 資產的收購，擴大了我們的規模和低於 50 美元的盈虧平衡庫存，我們的投資組合現在比以往任何時候都更深入、更有彈性。

Maintaining a strong capital structure is key to executing our long-term value proposition and free cash flow generation capabilities. Our strong balance sheet and liquidity position facilitated the purchase of Point on our credit facility, driving significant per share accretion for our shareholders. To support debt repayment related to the acquisition, we added approximately 9 million barrels of oil hedges in 2025 and now have more than 15 million barrels hedged in 2025 at almost $75 per barrel.

維持強大的資本結構是執行我們的長期價值主張和自由現金流產生能力的關鍵。我們強大的資產負債表和流動性狀況促進了我們透過信貸融資購買 Point，為我們的股東帶來了每股顯著增值。為了支持與收購相關的債務償還，我們在 2025 年增加了約 900 萬桶石油對沖，目前 2025 年對沖的石油數量已超過 1,500 萬桶，價格接近每桶 75 美元。

Vital Energy is exceptionally well positioned for the future. Our strategy is focused on building durability in both well economics and our capacity to deliver free cash flow through volatile oil price cycles. We have built scale in both the Midland and Delaware Basins. We have demonstrated great progress in improving operations in both basins and are pursuing multiple new initiatives to improve both our capital costs and operating expenses.

Vital Energy 為未來做好了非常有利的準備。我們的策略重點是建立油井經濟效益的持久性以及我們在波動的油價週期中提供自由現金流的能力。我們在米德蘭盆地和特拉華盆地都建立了規模。我們在改善這兩個盆地的營運方面取得了巨大進展，並正在採取多項新措施來改善我們的資本成本和營運支出。

We have built a decade of oil weighted inventory, 45% of which breaks even below $50 per barrel. We have a strong capital structure with no term debt maturities until 2029. In short, we are well equipped to deliver long-term value creation and sustain free cash flow generation for years to come.

我們已經建立了十年的石油加權庫存，其中 45% 的庫存甚至低於每桶 50 美元。我們擁有強大的資本結構，2029 年之前沒有定期債務到期。簡而言之，我們有能力在未來幾年創造長期價值並維持自由現金流的產生。

Operator, please open the line for questions.

接線員，請開通提問線。

(Operator Instructions) Neal Dingmann, Truist Securities.

（操作員指示）Neal Dingmann，Truist 證券公司。

Jason, my first question is just, again, when I look at the 10-plus years of project inventory out there, specifically it looks like you all boosted, I think, it's around 77 total locations and even a number of $50 breakeven as a result of the organic horseshoe addition. So my question is just what areas are you planning on targeting for these incremental potential wells and could you speak to how you think about spacing and completion techniques around these type of wells versus the typical horizontal?

Jason，我的第一個問題是，當我查看10 多年的項目庫存時，具體來說，看起來你們都得到了提升，我認為，總共約有77 個地點，甚至有一些達到50 美元的盈虧平衡點。所以我的問題是，您計劃將這些增量潛在井瞄準哪些區域？

That's a big priority for us, Neal. We target this technique anywhere we have short laterals. It's well known that drilling long laterals are more efficient. This technique is a unique way for us to drill longer laterals on our acreage position.

這是我們的首要任務，尼爾。我們將這種技術瞄準任何有短支線的地方。眾所周知，鑽探長支管效率更高。這項技術是我們在我們的土地位置上鑽更長支管的獨特方法。

On slide 6, there's a map where we highlight all of the current horseshoe locations. A great example of how we use this technique and leaning to it was with Point specifically. We have 16 wells, which we believe created a unique value proposition as part of that transaction process. And when you think about spacing, we plan these wells just like we would straight wells that are 10,000 feet long.

在幻燈片 6 上，有一張地圖，我們在其中突出顯示了當前所有馬蹄鐵位置。Point 就是我們如何使用這種技術並傾向於它的一個很好的例子。我們擁有 16 口井，我們相信這些井在交易過程中創造了獨特的價值主張。當您考慮間距時，我們會像規劃 10,000 英尺長的直井一樣規劃這些井。

So the inbound lateral, so you go away from your starting point and when you come back, you come back on that same spacing that you would traditionally have. So whether you develop on six wells per section or four wells per section, we designed that return lateral on that spacing.

因此，在入站側向，您離開起點，當您回來時，您會以傳統的相同間距返回。因此，無論您是在每個區域開發六口井還是在每個區域開發四口井，我們都會在該間距上設計橫向返回。

My second question is just really when you look at future D&C costs, you all definitely have reduced some notable costs during the recent quarters. I'm just wondering, can you speak to what current steps are taken to further reduce the cost? And I'm just wondering, as these costs are reduced, maybe speak to what the impact might or might not be on the cycle times around the wells?

我的第二個問題是，當你考慮未來的 D&C 成本時，你會發現最近幾季你們肯定都減少了一些顯著的成本。我只是想知道，您能否談談目前採取了哪些措施來進一步降低成本？我只是想知道，隨著這些成本的降低，也許可以談談對油井周圍的周期時間可能會或不會產生什麼影響？

The team has done a great job of getting the cost down. Part of it is just operating in these new areas. And I'll turn it over to Katie. They've done a great job just looking at contracts and things like that, but they've made tremendous progress like you suggest.

該團隊在降低成本方面做得非常出色。它的一部分只是在這些新領域運作。我會把它交給凱蒂。他們在合約和類似的事情上做得很好，但他們已經像你建議的那樣取得了巨大的進步。

We're continuing to drive costs down really both through operating efficiency and through a softening in the service market. We've already reduced Delaware costs by about 12% per well since closing on those acquisitions. And we have line of sight on an additional 5% in that area.

我們將繼續透過營運效率和服務市場的疲軟來真正降低成本。自完成這些收購以來，我們已將特拉華州每口井的成本降低了約 12%。我們可以看到該區域另外 5% 的區域。

Strategically, we tend to stagger our long-term contracts to dampen operating cost fluctuation. However, we're currently negotiating one of our four base rigs for an extension in Q3, and we'll have an additional two contracts in negotiation towards the end of the year. So we'll be able to take advantage of the current service market. It's another reason that we're really excited about the Point acquisition as well.

從策略上講，我們傾向於錯開長期合約以抑制營運成本波動。然而，我們目前正在就四台基礎鑽機中的一台進行談判，以在第三季度進行延期，並且我們將在年底之前就另外兩份合約進行談判。這樣我們就能夠利用目前的服務市場。這也是我們對 Point 收購感到非常興奮的另一個原因。

We have an opportunity to add incremental activity towards the end of the year, which is a great time again with where the market is. And I think what's important to highlight is our capital efficiency has allowed us to add activity this year, like Jason mentioned in the opening comments without a guidance change. Great work across the team. We're excited to continue to get these Delaware assets integrated and to continue to work costs down.

我們有機會在年底前增加增量活動，這對市場狀況來說又是一個好時機。我認為重要的是要強調的是，我們的資本效率使我們今年能夠增加活動，就像傑森在開場評論中提到的那樣，沒有改變指導。整個團隊的工作都非常出色。我們很高興能夠繼續整合特拉華州的這些資產並繼續降低成本。

Zach Parham, JPMorgan.

札克·帕勒姆，摩根大通。

I wanted to follow-up on the horseshoe wells. Can you just talk about how you view the economics of these new horseshoe wells that you added versus your current inventory and maybe give us some color on how much of the program over the next few years could be horseshoe laterals versus normal 2-mile development?

我想跟進馬蹄井。您能否談談您如何看待您添加的這些新馬蹄形井與當前庫存的經濟性，並可能給我們一些關於未來幾年的計劃中有多少可能是馬蹄形支線與正常的2 英里開發相比的信息？

Look at the horseshoe wells, we've lumped everything into what is in that sub-$50 breakeven bucket. On slide 5 of the deck, what we highlighted is that we've gone from 275 wells with sub $50 breakevens to 395 wells with sub $50 breakevens. Those horseshoe shaped wells are evenly distributed amongst, what we call, our skyline of return as wells as we sort and rank them. So they're evenly distributed in there.

看看馬蹄井，我們把所有東西都集中到了 50 美元以下的盈虧平衡桶中。在投影片 5 上，我們強調的是，損益平衡點低於 50 美元的油井已從 275 口增加到損益平衡點低於 50 美元的 395 口井。這些馬蹄形的井均勻地分佈在我們所說的返回井的天際線中，以及我們對它們進行排序和排名。所以它們均勻分佈在那裡。

The Delaware Basins with the higher productivity and the lower capital costs are also distributed in there. That's the big challenge for the team going forward, is how do we optimize our budget for 2025? What we try to do is drill the highest return wells as quickly as we can. There are going to be wells that we co-develop that maybe have a lower return.

生產力較高、資本成本較低的德拉瓦盆地也分佈於此。這是團隊未來面臨的巨大挑戰，我們如何優化 2025 年的預算？我們試圖做的是盡快鑽探最高回報的井。我們共同開發的油井可能報酬率較低。

But what we're really excited about is we've extended that inventory of sub $50 breakeven, as I mentioned, to 395 wells. We drill roughly 90 wells per year. That's what we'd forecast for next year. So we've extended that that life of sub $50 breakeven wells -- that's almost four years now -- over the last couple of years.

但我們真正感到興奮的是，正如我所提到的，我們已將低於 50 美元盈虧平衡的庫存擴展到 395 口井。我們每年鑽探約 90 口井。這就是我們對明年的預測。因此，在過去的幾年裡，我們延長了 50 美元以下的盈虧平衡井的壽命——現在幾乎是四年了。

So the team is really seeing this new technique and technology to reduce our breakevens and testing new zones and targets to bring in wells that have lower breakevens as well. So they're doing a great job. We'll have more color on it as we get to the budget for 2025.

因此，團隊確實看到了這種新技術和製程可以降低我們的損益平衡，並測試新的區域和目標，以引入盈虧平衡較低的油井。所以他們做得很好。當我們制定 2025 年預算時，我們會對此有更多的闡述。

And my follow-up, I just wanted to ask on the Barnett. I know you didn't give a lot of detail there, just that you initiated a testing program. Can you give us your initial thoughts on what you think those wells could cost? I know they're a little bit deeper, but maybe any thoughts on cost of those wells versus kind of a core Midland Basin well?

我的後續行動，我只是想問巴尼特。我知道你沒有提供太多細節，只是說你啟動了一個測試計劃。您能否告訴我們您對這些井的成本的初步想法？我知道它們更深一點，但也許對這些井的成本與米德蘭盆地核心井的成本有何想法？

Majority of our company's focus has been to extend the quality and length of our inventory, and we're approaching that on multiple fronts. The Barnett is one example of where we're trying to bring in inventory at a lower cost. We have multiple Barnett wells that are being tested, as we speak, and starting flow back. These wells will provide great data to help us optimize our completion designs in the future.

我們公司的主要重點是提高庫存的品質和長度，我們正在多個方面實現這一目標。Barnett 是我們嘗試以更低的成本引入庫存的一個例子。正如我們所說，我們有多口巴尼特井正在進行測試，並開始回流。這些井將提供大量數據，幫助我們優化未來的完井設計。

The first tests are more expensive. We're coming in and putting -- fracking one well at a time, and so it's a less efficient process than our traditional zipper frac. I don't know that we have a great idea of what the run rate will be in the future. They've continued to reduce the cost on every single well they've drilled.

第一次測試費用更高。我們進來並投入——一次對一口井進行水力壓裂，因此與我們傳統的拉鍊式壓裂相比，這是一個效率較低的過程。我不知道我們是否清楚未來的運行率。他們繼續降低所鑽的每一口井的成本。

One of the things I wanted to highlight is we did put a healthy risk factor on these wells. When you look at our 3Q and 4Q production guidance, it's inclusive of four tests in new zones that we heavily risked down the production just because they were the first wells of that time for us. If it weren't for those, our production guidance would be higher at the end of the day.

我想強調的一件事是我們確實對這些井設置了健康的風險因素。當你查看我們的第三季和第四季生產指南時，它包括在新區域進行的四項測試，我們冒著降低產量的巨大風險，只是因為它們是我們當時的第一口井。如果沒有這些，我們的生產指導最終會更高。

We've also absorbed the capital to our current guidance, and these are more expensive wells to drill. So I did want to highlight that. We've acquired 17,000 acres in the Barnett that's not under our existing footprint. It's competitive, but we think we're going to have a great opportunity in the future.

我們也吸收了目前指導的資金，這些井的鑽探成本更高。所以我確實想強調這一點。我們在巴尼特收購了 17,000 英畝的土地，這塊土地不屬於我們現有的佔地面積。這是有競爭力的，但我們認為我們未來將有一個很好的機會。

We look forward to updating you on these wells as we get them in, but it's hard to say what the cost will be because, again, they're the first tries, seems to be doing a great job, but we'll have more guidance when we've got these wells done and we get to a program that is kind of more predictable and steady versus the one-off wells that are higher cost just because they're drilled in isolation.

我們期待在這些井投入使用後向您通報最新情況，但很難說成本是多少，因為它們是第一次嘗試，似乎做得很好，但我們還會有更多當我們完成這些井時，我們會得到指導，我們會制定一個更可預測和更穩定的計劃，而不是因為一次性鑽井的成本較高，因為它們是孤立鑽探的。

Paul Diamond, Citi.

保羅戴蒙德，花旗銀行。

Just a quick one following up on the Barnett. Outside of economics, what are your thoughts on the opportunity set there from notion of locations or additional inventory adds?

只是對巴尼特的快速跟進。除了經濟學之外，您對位置或額外庫存增加概念所帶來的機會有何看法？

We're really excited about it. It's very early. Like I mentioned, we bought 17,000 acres. These wells are being developed at three to four wells per section. That's one of the things the industry is working through is what is the right spacing, which will ultimately drive well count.

我們對此感到非常興奮。時間還很早。正如我所提到的，我們購買了 17,000 英畝土地。這些井每段開發三到四口井。業界正在努力解決的問題之一是什麼是正確的間距，這最終將推動井數。

That acreage I described is above and beyond what we would show on a map. Because it's competitive, we don't have it out there for you today. There are other places where Oxy is drilling. They've drilled two wells now just west of our western Glasscock position, so there's an additional potential underneath areas like that. Because it's so competitive right now, we're kind of keeping our information tight, but it is something -- I think SM came out with a report on some of their wells.

我描述的面積超出了我們在地圖上顯示的面積。因為它具有競爭力，所以我們今天不為您提供。Oxy 也在其他地方進行鑽探。他們現在在格拉斯科克西部位置以西鑽了兩口井，因此在這樣的區域下方還有額外的潛力。因為現在競爭如此激烈，所以我們對資訊保持嚴格，但這是重要的——我認為 SM 發布了一份關於他們的一些油井的報告。

There's some good excitement. These are not like the Barnett wells around the Dallas area. They're oily wells with low water yields, so it's going to be a great opportunity for us in the future to add low cost inventory.

有一些很好的興奮。這些井與達拉斯地區周圍的巴尼特井不同。它們是產水量低的油井，因此這對我們未來增加低成本庫存來說是一個很好的機會。

Just one quick one. On slide 5, you talk about cadence of wells per rigs per year. With the additional rig being added in in the fourth quarter with Point probably being kept on a run rate basis, do you expect any kind of shift in those numbers, or is that kind of operational split between Midland, Delaware and just that rig cadence that's pretty sticky, or should we expect some movement there with the efficiency gains?

就快一點吧。在投影片 5 上，您討論了每年每台鑽機的井節奏。隨著第四季度添加額外的鑽機，Point 可能會保持在運行率的基礎上，您是否預計這些數字會發生任何變化，或者是米德蘭、特拉華州之間的運營劃分以及鑽機節奏嗎？

The teams are working that, as we speak. As we mentioned, we've got great opportunities with things like the horseshoe shaped well that have low breakevens, Delaware wells, as we've highlighted in the past, with wider spacing, they've been outperforming by 45%. Katie and her team are continuing to reduce the cost out there as we get more experience drilling and completing in that area.

正如我們所說，團隊正在努力做到這一點。正如我們所提到的，我們有很好的機會，例如馬蹄形井，盈虧平衡點低，特拉華州井，正如我們過去強調的那樣，間距更寬，它們的表現優於其他井 45%。隨著我們在該領域獲得更多的鑽探和完井經驗，凱蒂和她的團隊正在繼續降低成本。

The economics are definitely positive for both the Midland area and the Delaware. The Delaware, you get a little bit more expensive wells, but higher productivity. The Midland basin, a less expensive well, a little less productivity, and the team is just working through balancing all that right now. I would say there's a bent that we would have more Delaware activity because -- again, it's both cost savings and higher production, but we'll have better guidance for you in February.

對於米德蘭地區和特拉華州來說，經濟絕對是積極的。特拉華州的油井價格稍貴一些，但生產率更高。米德蘭盆地是一口成本較低的井，生產力稍低，團隊目前正在努力平衡這一切。我想說的是，我們傾向於在特拉華州開展更多活動，因為這既可以節省成本，又可以提高產量，但我們將在二月為您提供更好的指導。

Noah Hungness, Bank of America.

諾亞·洪尼斯，美國銀行。

I just wanted to ask here again on the U laterals. What kind of runway do you think you guys have for improving the cycle times and reducing those costs, just given they're relatively newer than a more standard two-mile lateral?

我只是想再問一下U側的狀況。鑑於它們比更標準的兩英里橫向跑道相對較新，您認為您擁有什麼樣的跑道可以縮短週期時間並降低這些成本？

If you'll look on slide 6 at the bottom, one of the things we did break out this time was the cost and how that saves you money versus drilling two individual short lateral wells. I'll turn it over to Katie. She can give you a little more color on efficiency gains and how those are working for us.

如果您看底部的幻燈片 6，我們這次所做的事情之一就是成本，以及與鑽兩個單獨的短側井相比如何節省資金。我會把它交給凱蒂。她可以為您提供更多關於效率提升以及這些提升如何為我們帶來好處的資訊。

When I think about the horseshoe wells, I would consider those to be an alternative well design for us that can improve economics through lateral extension. From a cost reduction opportunity, it looks really similar to our other Delaware and Midland capital efficiency projects. We have a little bit more opportunity in the Delaware because we're newer in that part of the basin, but generally speaking, the horseshoe laterals would see the same type of efficiency and service cost improvements that we would expect with a straight conventional design.

當我想到馬蹄井時，我認為它們是我們的另一種井設計，可以透過橫向延伸來提高經濟效益。從降低成本的機會來看，它看起來與我們其他特拉華州和米德蘭資本效率項目非常相似。我們在特拉華州有更多的機會，因為我們在該盆地的那部分較新，但一般來說，馬蹄形支管將看到與我們期望的直接傳統設計相同類型的效率和服務成本改進。

I guess I was wondering too, as you guys start to really implement these at a larger scale, do you think you'll be able to take any learnings and improve the cycle times for these U laterals?

我想我也想知道，當你們開始真正大規模地實施這些措施時，你們認為你們能夠吸取教訓並改善這些 U 形支管的周期時間嗎？

We see really similar cycle times with this design as we do with a more conventional straight lateral steering strategy where we may see expansion and improvement opportunity as we continue to test this design in alternative zones. We've already proven that we can execute in the Delaware and the Midland, have high confidence in our ability to deploy it. I think that, again, the cycle time and capital efficiency opportunity is really across all of these well designs. I wouldn't just limit it to how we're thinking about the horseshoe application.

我們看到這種設計的循環時間與更傳統的直線橫向轉向策略非常相似，當我們繼續在替代區域測試這種設計時，我們可能會看到擴展和改進的機會。我們已經證明我們可以在特拉華州和米德蘭執行，並對我們的部署能力充滿信心。我再次認為，週期時間和資本效率機會確實存在於所有這些油井設計中。我不會將其僅限於我們對馬蹄形應用程式的思考方式。

There are definitely going to be performance improvement opportunities. When we were drilling the Allison pad, every single well was getting faster. So the more we do it, we'll continue to get costs down and improve our breakevens.

肯定會有績效改善的機會。當我們鑽艾里森墊時，每口井的速度都變得越來越快。因此，我們做得越多，我們將繼續降低成本並提高我們的收支平衡。

As my second question, Katie, I was just hoping you could expand a little bit on your conversations with the service providers. As you guys are in negotiations with contracts now, could you talk about how those conversations are today and how that's changed versus maybe a month ago?

作為我的第二個問題，凱蒂，我只是希望您能擴展與服務提供者的對話。你們現在正在進行合約談判，你們能談談今天的對話情況以及與一個月前相比有何變化嗎？

The market right now is experiencing consolidation, as you know. The opportunity for us is we're able to grab high spec, technically advanced rigs and frac crews, which is great. We're always looking to enter into stable long-term partnerships that dampen any impact from volatile pricing and are absolutely working to make sure that we enter into pricing agreements that can hold long term and are not tied completely to volatility of the commodity market.

如您所知，市場目前正在經歷整合。我們的機會是我們能夠獲得高規格、技術先進的鑽孔機和壓裂人員，這非常棒。我們始終尋求建立穩定的長期合作關係，以減輕定價波動的影響，並絕對努力確保我們簽訂的定價協議可以長期有效，並且不完全與商品市場的波動掛鉤。

I would say, over the last month, we're seeing probably just a consistent shift from mid-year 2023. That was really the peak of some of the inflationary impact. Again, we have a good opportunity right now in the second half to take advantage of the market pricing today with our incremental rig and frac crew towards the end of the year.

我想說，在過去的一個月裡，我們可能會看到與 2023 年年中相比的持續變化。那確實是某些通貨膨脹影響的巔峰。同樣，我們在下半年有一個很好的機會，透過我們在年底增加的鑽機和壓裂人員來利用今天的市場定價。

John Abbott, Wolfe Research.

約翰‧阿博特，沃爾夫研究中心。

Jason, it sounds like the focus here really is on your assets that you have in hand and also on reducing the borrowings under your revolver over probably the next year. I guess the question is, at this point, how do you view the importance of size and scale at this point in time for Vital Energy?

傑森，聽起來這裡的重點實際上是您手頭上的資產，以及可能在明年減少左輪手槍下的借款。我想問題是，此時此刻，您如何看待規模和規模對於 Vital Energy 的重要性？

For us, we're going through a little bit of a pivot here, I believe. When we look at the M&A landscape, there are less and less opportunities out there that will have inventory that will jump ahead of the low breakeven inventory that we've added today. I see us putting a little bit of a pause on some of the M&A compared to where we were in the past. We're really going to focus more going forward on cash flow generation. We've got great opportunities with things like the simulfrac. We can pump lower fluid loadings in some of our wells to continue to get capital costs down.

我相信，對我們來說，我們正在經歷一些轉變。當我們審視併購格局時，會發現庫存超出我們今天增加的低損益平衡庫存的機會越來越少。與過去相比，我發現我們暫停了一些併購活動。未來我們確實將更加關注現金流的產生。我們在 simulfrac 等方面有很好的機會。我們可以在一些井中泵送較低的流體負荷，以繼續降低資本成本。

On the LOE front, we're looking at infrastructure projects, work over expenses, chemical expenses that will continue to prove our LOE. There's exciting things like our machine learning process for submersible pumps that we've tested in Howard County to move that over to the Delaware basin. A lot of the LOE cost increase you see for that 4Q as a result of Point is the Point team -- a lot of workovers and resizing of pumps, and we believe things like our AI technology will allow us to extend pump lives there and reduce operating expenses over the long haul.

在 LOE 方面，我們正在研究基礎設施項目、工作費用、化學品費用，這些將繼續證明我們的 LOE。有一些令人興奮的事情，例如我們在霍華德縣測試了潛水泵的機器學習過程，並將其轉移到特拉華盆地。您在第4 季看到的許多LOE 成本增加都是由於Point is the Point 團隊進行的——大量的修井和泵的尺寸調整，我們相信像我們的人工智慧技術這樣的東西將使我們能夠延長泵的壽命並減少泵的使用壽命。

So that is going to be the higher focus for us really in this the next year or so is just improving cash flow, attacking it on the capital front, the LOE front. I don't think the exit rate that we've got in there for 4Q this year is representative of where we're going to be long term. And all of these things are going to come together.

因此，在明年左右的時間裡，我們真正更加關注的是改善現金流，在資本方面、LOE 方面進行攻擊。我認為今年第四季的退出率並不能代表我們的長期發展方向。所有這些事情都將匯集在一起。

But just the landscape, I don't see as many opportunities where inventory can jump ahead of what we've got today, which is a requirement for any future asset. We're really excited about Point because it's in our backyard and had low breakeven wells. And we're using horseshoe technology to improve economics out of that asset, but I believe there will be a little bit of a shift and much more emphasis on free cash flow growth and generation over the next year.

但就景觀而言，我認為庫存沒有太多機會超越我們今天的庫存，而這是對任何未來資產的要求。我們對 Point 感到非常興奮，因為它位於我們的後院，而且油井的盈虧平衡很低。我們正在使用馬蹄技術來提高該資產的經濟效益，但我相信明年將會有一些轉變，並且更加重視自由現金流的成長和生成。

And just a really quick follow-up, for your hedges as you sort of think to 2025, you already have some hedges in place. How do you think about the extent that you want to be hedged next year just given commodity volatility?

只是一個非常快速的後續行動，對於你認為到 2025 年的對沖，你已經有了一些對沖。鑑於大宗商品波動，您如何看待明年您希望對沖的程度？

If you look at our hedge table, you can see that we usually are putting hedges on when oil gets to $75. In the past, we've tended to be 75% hedged a year in advance. What I believe the team has done a good job is just work -- when we see volatility and prices rising, we'll layer on some hedges, but they've been at that $75 range.

如果您查看我們的對沖表，您會發現我們通常會在油價升至 75 美元時進行對沖。過去，我們傾向於提前一年進行 75% 的對沖。我認為團隊做得很好的只是工作——當我們看到波動性和價格上漲時，我們會進行一些對沖，但它們一直在 75 美元的範圍內。

You saw the big jump in our heads position. That was a result of knowing that we were in the hunt on the Point acquisition and we wanted to lock in more free cash flow and the economics of that deal. So we're in a higher -- ultimately, at a higher hedge position than we would normally be in, but we wouldn't hesitate to add hedges if we see oil spikes and put on additional layers in that $75 range.

你看到我們頭部位置的巨大跳躍。這是因為我們知道我們正在尋求收購 Point，並且我們希望鎖定更多的自由現金流和該交易的經濟性。因此，我們處於比正常情況更高的水平，最終處於更高的對沖頭寸，但如果我們看到油價飆升，並在 75 美元的範圍內增加額外的層數，我們會毫不猶豫地增加對沖。

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Mr. Ron Hagood for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我現在將會議轉回羅恩·哈古德先生致閉幕詞。

Thank you for joining us. As always, we appreciate your interest in Vital Energy. And this concludes this morning's call.

感謝您加入我們。一如既往，我們感謝您對 Vital Energy 的興趣。今天上午的電話會議到此結束。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。