Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| Statement |
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| That leads to simply excellent economics in both plays and we’re always working to get even better |
| Empowered by our strong balance sheet and world class technical team, we are poised to repeat this success |
| We are really well positioned coming into the year with a low breakeven cost portfolio, low leverage, ability to increase oil directed activity given the current commodity price outlook and finally, the upside value proposition presented through recently acquired acreage |
| Increased production guidance over the course of 2023 was driven by well performance from our Austin Chalk program, which exceeded expectations, while operating efficiencies served to accelerate drill and completion times for certain wells in the Midland Basin |
| If we measure operational execution by production performance, production came in about 3.5% ahead of the mid-point of early-year guidance, and production was up approximately 5% year-over-year, consistent with mid-single digit growth discussed last June |
| Low leverage affords flexibility in the allocation of free cash flow in 2024 and positions SM for continued growth in return of capital to stockholders |
| As a reminder, we are a premier operator of top tier assets delivering a sustainable return of capital |
| For a company in our industry, that is simply a stellar outcome |
| We expect the program to deliver an attractive free cash flow yield, while enabling the team to initiate delineation and development of properties acquired in 2023 |
| So, in closing, I would like to say again how proud we are of the 2023 results and the corresponding outperformance in SM shares |
| We certainly demonstrated that in 2023 with solid operational execution, driving results that exceeded street expectations |
| We are very pleased to report our excellent 2023 financial and operating results |
| We are well positioned to slightly increase activity and deliver an attractive return of capital to our stockholders, initiate development of properties acquired in 2023 and maintain our low leverage |
| Given the outstanding performance in all these dimensions in 2023, I’d like to say, thank you for your commitment to excellence to each of our 544 employees for a job really well done |
| This significant increase reflects our confidence given the excellent economic performance of the 106 Austin Chalk wells we have already brought into production over the past five years |
| Creating value by finding and developing reserves is our focus, and as many of you know, an area where we have a strong track record |
| In regards to safety and stewardship, we had another excellent year, thanks to the focused efforts of our operating teams |
| For 2023, we highlight a truly superior total recordable incident rate, or TRIR, safety metric of 0.20 reportable injuries per 200, 000 man-hours worked, which comprises both employees and contractors, and a spill rate of 0.006 barrels spilled per thousand barrels produced |
| In addition, we set a company record for proved reserves, ending the year with 605 MMBoe, up almost 13% from yearend 2022, despite a reduced SEC pricing environment |
| Total shareholder return achieved for SM shares was positive 13%, despite oil being down 11% in 2023 and gas being down 44% |
| We also added 40 wells so far from 2023 acquisitions, so delineation and development of new acreage offers upside to identify and add inventory in 2024 from those acquisitions |
| At the same time, we improved our balance sheet, reducing net debt by $171 million to $969 million, which met our objective of less than $1 billion net debt |
| We truly believe that safety and environmental stewardship are an integral part of operational excellence |
| There is significant cash flow benefit here |
| We measured up very well against each of our 2023 objectives! Today, we will spend more time looking forward, into our plans for 2024 |
| In addition, more than 80% of inventory is categorized as 3P, which implies the inventory location count is very high quality |
| As Herb mentioned, proved reserves are up 13% year-over-year, and the net increase in reserves year-over-year replaced production by more than 2.2x |
| We generated substantial free cash flow of $509 million and returned $300 million to our stockholders |
| We added locations in Klondike based on offset well data and we expect further delineation and development to bring upside |
| In this case, we have confidence from detailed evaluation of offset well performance and subsurface data, indicating extension of certain intervals into our buy areas |
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| First quarter guidance is approximately 13 MMBoe, or 143 MBoe/d, which takes into account only 11 net wells turned-inline in the fourth quarter 2023, as well as the effect of adverse January weather |
| We are seeing deflation essentially across the board on larger items, with the exception of labor |
| I direct you to Slide 2 of the accompanying slide deck, Page 7 of the accompanying earnings release and the Risk Factors section of our most recently filed 10-K, which describe risks associated with forward-looking statements that could cause actual results to differ |
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