PDC Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCE) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Arun Jayaram: Right. And is the read-through from this slide is that in 2024, that your oil production should stay relatively flat on a year-over-year basis, but maybe your BOEs is down a touch?

Bart Brookman: No, I don’t think that’s the goal, Arun. This is Bart. I think obviously, the 2024 plan still has a lot of polish. But I think overall production growth, modest oil growth are still the goals for us. And there’s a lot of levers we can pull to achieve that.

Scott Meyers: That’s correct.

Arun Jayaram: Great. Thanks a lot gentlemen.

Operator: And our next question comes from Umang Choudhary of Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Umang Choudhary: Hi good morning and thank you for taking my questions. And also thank you for the update on the DJ Basin inventory and the multiyear development plans. I guess two follow-up questions on this point. One, you have €“ you indicated that you have permits for 53% of your current undeveloped inventory in the higher-return light oil window. You talked about applying for additional permits in this window. Any color you can provide on timing? And then I just wanted to quickly get your thoughts around the longer lateral development as well and how €“ and if €“ and the impact it has to your capital efficiency in the area.

Bart Brookman: So Dave, can you provide color on next year or two national permits and then the longer laterals?

Dave Lillo: Yes. So the lighter oil window that you’re describing is predominantly our CAP area. It’s the retrograde gas and the lighter oil in our CAP area. Currently, we have 200 DUCs, we have 380 permits in hand, we have 450 in this CAP area that we’re talking about now and then we have more OGDPs in process for the half of the permits for our inventory. As we continue to look at our drilling programs, the longer laterals will continue to increase, really focusing on two miles and three-mile laterals going forward. There’s just so many more advantages to larger pads, more wells per pad, sharing facilities and drawing those longer laterals from an economic standpoint.

Scott Meyers: And Dave, just one other point. I think to touch on his comment was when you look at that light oil, and there’s still 47% left to permit, we can’t really go permit all that today in OGDPs because we couldn’t drill it all by the time that this five-year window was up. So the rest of those areas at 47%, especially in the light oil window, that will be permitted over the next, I’m guessing, Dave, probably two years, three years max. Because then, they have a three-year shelf life, which will take us into our 2028, 2029 kind of activity. Is that fair?

Dave Lillo: That is fair. So when you think about OGDPs, just remember that they’re good for three years. So you don’t want to get too far over your SKUs and have them permitted and not be able to drill them within that three-year window. Now the CAP is a 10-year window, and we’re strategically planning that with infrastructure and all the other things associated with that CAP rate at this point.

Umang Choudhary: Great. That’s really helpful. And I guess on the €“ from a follow-up, just wanted to get your thoughts around your free cash flow allocation plans for this year. And how should we think about the balance between the payment of $370 million, which is currently drawn on the revolver, and then the upside to the 60% post-dividend free cash flow towards capital returns?