Viper Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:VNOM) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator: . Our next question will come from Paul Diamond of Citi.

Paul Diamond: Just a quick one for you, talking about as it is going. Just a quick one for you talking about — you just noted that some of the private deals are going for 50%, 60%, 70% above what you think is a good value, but you still got a few things done last quarter. Is that kind of a trend you’re seeing is going to be a lot more like nuanced and specific? Or do you guys see the market opening up a bit more and just kind of coming back to, I guess, rationality on that front?

Kaes Van’t Hof: Yes. I was also referring to where Viper is trading on a mineral acre basis. But I think your point is valid. I think we’re getting a pretty in a lot of the, I would say, mid-market deals, $20 million to $80 million deals or $20 million to $100 million. I think Viper has a unique advantage with our size and scale to compete in the $500-plus million mineral deals. Now I think those are fewer and further between. But I do think eventually, like a deal like Swallowtail, we have a unique advantage to get that deal done. That’s kind of our playground because right now, in the middle market deals, the numbers being paid are astronomical.

Operator: . Our next question will come from Derrick Whitfield of Stifel.

Derrick Whitfield: Congrats again on a solid quarter and drop-down transaction. With regard to the drop down, and I think it about some of your comments on the mispricing of mineral assets, I mean this drop down was extremely impactful from the perspective of line-of-sight activity at elevated NRIs as this was sourced from a ward acquisition at Diamondback over a year ago. I wanted to ask if there are other potential carve-outs from the FireBird or Lario acquisitions that could make sense in the future.

Kaes Van’t Hof: Yes, Derrick, there are none today that came with the Lario or FireBird packages. Now that when we do get a new playground to buy minerals and that — that does allow some opportunities to try to buy minerals in those new areas, but no drop-down opportunities. To comment on the drop down specifically, this deal, we have the benefit of figuring out the right timing of when to drop something down between the 2 companies. This deal wouldn’t have made sense to do a year ago, but now that development is happening and there’s that forward visibility made a lot of sense to be able to get that done ahead of the first large pads coming on in March. Austen, do you want to add anything to that?

Austen Gilfillian: No, that’s right. I mean we got it done right around the ramp-up in production and then still quite a bit of visibility to some high-interest pads over the next couple of years. So it made a lot of sense for Viper, and I think Diamondback, to do a deal here this past quarter.

Derrick Whitfield: Terrific. And with my follow-up, I wanted to focus on a bigger picture question for Permian activity, which I think placed your benefit relative to your peers. And that question is, if we were to assume strip pricing, do you think we’ve seen peak activity in the Permian for at least the immediate term, given that privates generally have less quality inventory depth and are likely more exposed to weaker gas pricing? Again, the benefit part would just be what percent operated you guys carry today and the visibility you have with that?