Q3 2025 Pine Cliff Energy Ltd Earnings Call
Chris: CEO, Phil Hodge. Today, Mr. Hodge is joined by Terry McNeill, Chief Operating Officer, Kristopher Zack, Chief Financial Officer, Austin Nieuwdorp, Vice President of Finance, and Dan Keenan, Vice President Exploitation. Questions for the management team can be registered online during the webcast. Prior to starting, we would like to remind participants that the call may contain comments on or discussion of forward-looking information. As such, we refer participants to the cautionary statements on forward-looking information included in the presentation on our website, www.pinecliffenergy.com. With that, we'll turn the call to Mr. Phil Hodge, President and CEO.
Speaker #1: CEO Phil Hodge. Today, Mr. Hodge is joined by Terry McNeill, Chief Operating Officer, Kristopher Zack, Chief Financial Officer, Austin Newdorp, Vice President of Finance, and Dan Keenan, Vice President of Exploitation.
[Company Representative] (Pine Cliff Energy): CEO, Phil Hodge. Today, Mr. Hodge is joined by Terry McNeill, Chief Operating Officer, Kristopher Zack, Chief Financial Officer, Austin Nieuwdorp, Vice President of Finance, and Dan Keenan, Vice President Exploitation. Questions for the management team can be registered online during the webcast. Prior to starting, we would like to remind participants that the call may contain comments on or discussion of forward-looking information. As such, we refer participants to the cautionary statements on forward-looking information included in the presentation on our website, www.pinecliffenergy.com. With that, we'll turn the call to Mr. Phil Hodge, President and CEO.
Speaker #1: Questions for the management team can be registered online during the webcast. Prior to starting, we would like to remind participants that the call may contain comments on or discussion of forward-looking information.
Speaker #1: As such, we refer participants to the cautionary statements on forward-looking information included in the presentation on our website www.pincliffenergy.com. With that, we'll turn the call to Mr. Phil Hodge, President and CEO.
Speaker #2: Thanks, Chris. Thanks, everybody, for joining us today. And for those of you who sent some questions ahead of time, thank you very much. For those of you who do have some questions, please send them in, and we will be happy to deal with them during this call.
Phil Hodge: Thanks, Chris. Thanks everybody for joining us today. For those of you who sent some questions ahead of time, thank you very much. For those of you who do have some questions, please send them in and we will be happy to deal with them during this call. Our practice here is not to reread the press release or even my President's message, and kinda just do a quick overview and then go right to some of the questions that we've got. It was, as we indicated in my President's letter, the Q3 was a difficult quarter from a commodity price standpoint. We're fortunate that we had as much hedging in place.
Phil Hodge: Thanks, Chris. Thanks everybody for joining us today. For those of you who sent some questions ahead of time, thank you very much. For those of you who do have some questions, please send them in and we will be happy to deal with them during this call. Our practice here is not to reread the press release or even my President's message, and kinda just do a quick overview and then go right to some of the questions that we've got. It was, as we indicated in my President's letter, the Q3 was a difficult quarter from a commodity price standpoint. We're fortunate that we had as much hedging in place.
Speaker #2: The practice here is not to reread the press release or even my president's message and kind of just do a quick overview and then go right to some of the questions that we've got.
Speaker #2: The, as we indicated in my president's letter, the third quarter was a difficult quarter from a commodity price standpoint. We're fortunate that we had as much hedging in place.
Phil Hodge: We're the most hedged we've ever been in the history of Pine Cliff in the last 14 years, and that helped provide some protection. Therefore, our realized price was substantially higher than the AECO price was for the quarter. I hope that you'd got from both the quarterly email that we send out and the president's letter that we're pretty optimistic going into the winter here, and we're pretty optimistic for 2026. We have not seen forward strip prices with a 3 across the board in a long time. That's, you know, starting next month in December, it's already over CAD 3 AECO per Mcf. Next year is over CAD 3. Q1 is kind of closer to CAD 3.50. These are all very good prices.
Phil Hodge: We're the most hedged we've ever been in the history of Pine Cliff in the last 14 years, and that helped provide some protection. Therefore, our realized price was substantially higher than the AECO price was for the quarter. I hope that you'd got from both the quarterly email that we send out and the president's letter that we're pretty optimistic going into the winter here, and we're pretty optimistic for 2026. We have not seen forward strip prices with a 3 across the board in a long time. That's, you know, starting next month in December, it's already over CAD 3 AECO per Mcf. Next year is over CAD 3. Q1 is kind of closer to CAD 3.50. These are all very good prices.
Speaker #2: The most hedge we've ever been in the history of Pine Cliff in the last 14 years. And that helped provide some protection, and therefore, our realized price was substantially higher than the ACO price was for the quarter.
Speaker #2: But I hope that you got from both the quarterly email that we send out and the president's letter that we're pretty optimistic going into the winter here and we're pretty optimistic for 2026.
Speaker #2: We have not seen forward strip prices with a three across the board in a long time. And that's starting next month in December, we already have over $3 ACO and MCF.
Speaker #2: Next year is over $3. Q1 is kind of closer to 350. So these are all very good prices. And for those of you that have been following Pine Cliff for some time, you know that at those levels, we generate material free cash flow.
Phil Hodge: For those of you that have been following Pine Cliff for some time, you know that at those levels we generate material free cash flow. That's kinda, you know, what we always are focusing on, is how do we generate more free cash flow? So that we are in a position to be able to, you know, allocate that capital the best way that we see fit. It changes over the last 14 years. You know, there's been times when acquisitions made the most sense to us. So we were very You know, that's how we've gone from 100 barrels a day to 21,000 barrels a day. The one. Then we had the dividend in 2022.
Phil Hodge: For those of you that have been following Pine Cliff for some time, you know that at those levels we generate material free cash flow. That's kinda, you know, what we always are focusing on, is how do we generate more free cash flow? So that we are in a position to be able to, you know, allocate that capital the best way that we see fit. It changes over the last 14 years. You know, there's been times when acquisitions made the most sense to us. So we were very You know, that's how we've gone from 100 barrels a day to 21,000 barrels a day. The one. Then we had the dividend in 2022.
Speaker #2: And that's kind of what we always are focusing on, is how do we generate more free cash flow? How do we so that we are in a position to be able to allocate that capital the best way that we see fit?
Speaker #2: And it changes over the last 14 years. There have been times when acquisitions made the most sense to us. And so we were very that's how we've gone from 100 barrels a day to 21,000 barrels a day.
Speaker #2: The one and then we had the dividend in 2022. We've paid over $103 million in dividends since 2022 for a company of our size.
Phil Hodge: We paid over $103 million in dividends since 2022. For a company of our size, that's a pretty incredible dollar amount. The other thing that paying down debt, that's another way of increasing equity ownership, is by, you know, when you look at the enterprise value of the entire company, and as you pay down debt, then obviously there's more and more of the actual business is owned by the equity holders and not by the debt holders. That's something we focus on, and we're gonna continue to focus on paying down debt. The one extra capital allocation piece that we have today, and we've had it for 2 years now, is going back to the drill bit.
Phil Hodge: We paid over $103 million in dividends since 2022. For a company of our size, that's a pretty incredible dollar amount. The other thing that paying down debt, that's another way of increasing equity ownership, is by, you know, when you look at the enterprise value of the entire company, and as you pay down debt, then obviously there's more and more of the actual business is owned by the equity holders and not by the debt holders. That's something we focus on, and we're gonna continue to focus on paying down debt. The one extra capital allocation piece that we have today, and we've had it for 2 years now, is going back to the drill bit.
Speaker #2: That's a pretty incredible dollar amount. The other thing that paying down debt, that's another way of increasing equity ownership, is by the when you look at the enterprise value of the entire company, and as you pay down debt, then obviously there's more and more of the actual business is owned by the equity holders and not by the debt holders.
Speaker #2: And so that's something we focus on. And we're going to continue to focus on paying down debt. The one extra capital allocation piece that we have today and we've had it for two years now is going back to the drill bit.
Speaker #2: And in our view, it didn't make sense to be doing that when ACO prices were falling as quick as they were because in the one area that we're quite interested in developing, there is still it does come with a very material and significant amount of liquids, but it also comes with a lot of natural gas.
Phil Hodge: In our view, it didn't make sense to be doing that when AECO prices were falling as quick as they were, because in the one area that we're quite interested in developing, it does come with very material and significant amount of liquids, but it also comes with a lot of natural gas. We're very cognizant of the fact of, kind of, the overall economics. You know, every company drills its best wells first. For us to be able to you know, to be drilling our best wells into what was we perceived to be a weak commodity environment did not seem to make a lot of sense.
Phil Hodge: In our view, it didn't make sense to be doing that when AECO prices were falling as quick as they were, because in the one area that we're quite interested in developing, it does come with very material and significant amount of liquids, but it also comes with a lot of natural gas. We're very cognizant of the fact of, kind of, the overall economics. You know, every company drills its best wells first. For us to be able to you know, to be drilling our best wells into what was we perceived to be a weak commodity environment did not seem to make a lot of sense.
Speaker #2: And so we're very cognizant of the fact of the overall economics. Every company drills its best wells first. And so for us to be able to be drilling our best wells into what we perceive to be a weak commodity environment did not seem to make a lot of sense.
Speaker #2: So now we're heading into a much better environment. And so we're looking forward to getting back to the drill program that we've it's been about two and a half years since we drilled our last well.
Phil Hodge: Now we're heading into a much better environment. We're looking forward to getting back to the drill program that, you know, it's been about 2.5 years since we drilled our last well. We think that once we start this program, given the, you know, the future, how it looks on the commodity prices, that this will be a program that we continue to keep going every year. We're now working on kind of the optimal locations to start the program, and we now, you know, feel very comfortable that it's fully funded and we do not have to use debt to do those to start that program. That kind of brings us a little bit to the disposition. Got a couple questions on that.
Phil Hodge: Now we're heading into a much better environment. We're looking forward to getting back to the drill program that, you know, it's been about 2.5 years since we drilled our last well. We think that once we start this program, given the, you know, the future, how it looks on the commodity prices, that this will be a program that we continue to keep going every year. We're now working on kind of the optimal locations to start the program, and we now, you know, feel very comfortable that it's fully funded and we do not have to use debt to do those to start that program. That kind of brings us a little bit to the disposition. Got a couple questions on that.
Speaker #2: We think that this, once we start this program, given the future, how it looks on the commodity prices, that this will be a program that we continue to keep going every year.
Speaker #2: We're now working on kind of the optimal locations to start the program. And we now feel very comfortable that it's fully funded and we do not have to use debt to do those to start that program.
Speaker #2: That kind of brings us a little bit to the disposition. One of the it's got a couple of questions on that. And you'll see it was in the we announced a separate press release yesterday that we had sold some of our assets in Central Alberta.
Phil Hodge: You'll see it was in the, we announced a separate press release yesterday that we had sold some of our assets in Central Alberta. You know, we're pretty happy with the assets we've built up over the last 15 years, 14 years. It's we've now got a situation where we actually have multiple areas where drilling could make good sense for us. There is a zone, the Basal Quartz in Central Alberta that we've been watching very closely, and it was something that we were very interested in drilling ourselves at some point. After we did the Certus acquisition, the inventory that we picked up through there, the Glauconite, is just in our view, fits our business model better than drilling the Basal Quartz wells.
Phil Hodge: You'll see it was in the, we announced a separate press release yesterday that we had sold some of our assets in Central Alberta. You know, we're pretty happy with the assets we've built up over the last 15 years, 14 years. It's we've now got a situation where we actually have multiple areas where drilling could make good sense for us. There is a zone, the Basal Quartz in Central Alberta that we've been watching very closely, and it was something that we were very interested in drilling ourselves at some point. After we did the Certus acquisition, the inventory that we picked up through there, the Glauconite, is just in our view, fits our business model better than drilling the Basal Quartz wells.
Speaker #2: We're pretty happy with the assets we've built up over the last 15 years, 14 years. But it's we've now got a situation where we actually have multiple areas where drilling could make good sense for us.
Speaker #2: And the there is a zone the basal quartz in Central Alberta that we've been watching very closely, and it was something that we were very interested in drilling ourselves.
Speaker #2: At some point, but after we did the CERTIS acquisition, the inventory that we picked up through there the Glockenite is just in our view fits our business model better than drilling the basal quartz wells.
Speaker #2: And therefore, we kind of came to the conclusion if we're not going to drill it, and we knew there was some strong companies that would be willing to drill it, we're then why wouldn't we sell those assets, use the proceeds for our own development?
Phil Hodge: If therefore, we kinda came to the conclusion, if we're not gonna drill it, and we knew there were some strong companies that would be willing to drill it, then why wouldn't we sell those assets, use the proceeds for our own, our own development? That was the motivation. You know, it was, you know, kind of something we've been thinking about for some time. We knew that there was strong interest in the area because there's been good results, and frankly, we hope those assets turn out to be extremely productive because we still have assets in the area. The more drilling results that show positive economics, then that's gonna make the land in the area even more valuable.
Phil Hodge: If therefore, we kinda came to the conclusion, if we're not gonna drill it, and we knew there were some strong companies that would be willing to drill it, then why wouldn't we sell those assets, use the proceeds for our own, our own development? That was the motivation. You know, it was, you know, kind of something we've been thinking about for some time. We knew that there was strong interest in the area because there's been good results, and frankly, we hope those assets turn out to be extremely productive because we still have assets in the area. The more drilling results that show positive economics, then that's gonna make the land in the area even more valuable.
Speaker #2: And so that was the motivation. It was a kind of something we've been thinking about for some time. We knew that there was strong interest in the area.
Speaker #2: Because there's been good results in and frankly, we wish we hope those assets turn out to be extremely productive because we still have assets in the area.
Speaker #2: So the more drilling results that show positive economics, then that's going to make the land in the area even more valuable. So that was kind of the motivation as to why we did that transaction.
Phil Hodge: That was kind of the motivation as to why we did that transaction. Going forward, as we kind of look, you know, into 2026, we're not as heavily hedged as we were. We're about 30% hedged over CAD 3.00. You know, we'll continue to be opportunistic about hedging into the, into a strong commodity price. We wanna make sure we protect the, you know, our debt repayments, our dividend payments, and also the drill program. Those are the kind of three things we look to, you know, why we're hedging prices.
Phil Hodge: That was kind of the motivation as to why we did that transaction. Going forward, as we kind of look, you know, into 2026, we're not as heavily hedged as we were. We're about 30% hedged over CAD 3.00. You know, we'll continue to be opportunistic about hedging into the, into a strong commodity price. We wanna make sure we protect the, you know, our debt repayments, our dividend payments, and also the drill program. Those are the kind of three things we look to, you know, why we're hedging prices.
Speaker #2: The going forward is we kind of look into 2026. We're not as heavily hedged as we were. We're about 30% hedged. Over $3, we've got the we'll continue to be opportunistic about hedging into the strong commodity price.
Speaker #2: We want to make sure we protect the our debt repayments, our dividend payments, and also the drill program. So those are the kind of three things we look to when why we're hedging prices.
Speaker #2: But you'll always see us leave a pretty healthy amount exposed to the upside because our view is it's quite possible that we're going to see stronger gas prices than even what the forward strip is indicating.
Phil Hodge: You'll always see us leave a pretty healthy amount exposed to the upside because our view is, it's, you know, it's quite possible that we're gonna see stronger gas prices than even what the forward strip is indicating. It's already indicating a pretty strong strip going forward. One of the questions we had was just around a data center update. We've been very quiet after our initial announcement, and we hope to be able to provide more details as it unfolds. We are not the ones building the data center, so it's our partners. We're in constant communication with them. It is definitely proceeding. At this stage, we're really not in a position to be able to give a further update, but stay tuned.
Phil Hodge: You'll always see us leave a pretty healthy amount exposed to the upside because our view is, it's, you know, it's quite possible that we're gonna see stronger gas prices than even what the forward strip is indicating. It's already indicating a pretty strong strip going forward. One of the questions we had was just around a data center update. We've been very quiet after our initial announcement, and we hope to be able to provide more details as it unfolds. We are not the ones building the data center, so it's our partners. We're in constant communication with them. It is definitely proceeding. At this stage, we're really not in a position to be able to give a further update, but stay tuned.
Speaker #2: And it's already indicating a pretty strong strip going forward. One of the questions we had was just around the data center update. And we've been very quiet after our initial announcement, and we hope to be able to provide more details as it unfolds.
Speaker #2: But we are not the ones building the data center. And so it's our partners. We're in constant communication with them. And it is definitely proceeding.
Speaker #2: But at this stage, we're really not in a position to be able to give a further update. But stay tuned. We hope to be able to give updates here sooner rather than later.
Phil Hodge: We hope to be able to give updates here sooner rather than later. It is an area that we're very interested in pursuing across multiple sites that we own. The Alberta government's been extremely supportive of data center investment in the province. It is, you know, one of the things that's key to that investment is that they wanna focus on sites that are not connected to the grid. The reason for that is the grid is already kinda maxed out. You know, from our perspective, these projects that are gonna be, what we call behind the fence, they do not touch the grid. Our gas comes out of the ground and goes directly into reciprocating engines that'll be used on site.
Phil Hodge: We hope to be able to give updates here sooner rather than later. It is an area that we're very interested in pursuing across multiple sites that we own. The Alberta government's been extremely supportive of data center investment in the province. It is, you know, one of the things that's key to that investment is that they wanna focus on sites that are not connected to the grid. The reason for that is the grid is already kinda maxed out. You know, from our perspective, these projects that are gonna be, what we call behind the fence, they do not touch the grid. Our gas comes out of the ground and goes directly into reciprocating engines that'll be used on site.
Speaker #2: But it is an area that we're very, very interested in pursuing across multiple sites that we own. Because the Alberta government's been extremely supportive of data center investment in the province.
Speaker #2: But it is one of the things that's key to that investment is that they want to focus on sites that are not connected to the grid.
Speaker #2: And the reason for that is the grid is already kind of maxed out. And so it's from our perspective, these projects that are going to be what we call behind the fence.
Speaker #2: They do not touch the grid. Our gas comes out of the ground and goes directly into reciprocating engines. It'll be used on site. So from our perspective, we don't have to pay any transportation costs for the natural gas.
Phil Hodge: From our perspective, we don't have to pay any transportation costs for the natural gas, and yet we're getting, you know, as you saw in the announcement back earlier this year, we'd be getting paid NYMEX pricing on that. That is a significant lift from the AECO pricing. We're quite excited about it. It's just that because we're not building it, we kind of are waiting until we see further advancements on the site, and we'll then bring the market more up to date on that.
Phil Hodge: From our perspective, we don't have to pay any transportation costs for the natural gas, and yet we're getting, you know, as you saw in the announcement back earlier this year, we'd be getting paid NYMEX pricing on that. That is a significant lift from the AECO pricing. We're quite excited about it. It's just that because we're not building it, we kind of are waiting until we see further advancements on the site, and we'll then bring the market more up to date on that.
Speaker #2: And yet, we're getting as you saw in the announcement back in earlier this year, we'd be getting paid NIMAC pricing on that. And so that is a significant lift from ACO pricing.
Speaker #2: So we're quite excited about it. It's just that because we're not building it, we kind of are waiting. Until we see further advancements on the site and we'll then bring the market more up to date on that.
Phil Hodge: I think the only other question that I got, and I see we've got a couple of questions here that we'll get to, was around the kind of the hedge program and going forward. Maybe, Chris, you can talk a little bit about the hedging going forward and how we're set up going into 2026.
Speaker #2: I think the only other question that I'd got and I see we've got a couple of questions here that we'll get to. Was around the kind of the hedge program.
Phil Hodge: I think the only other question that I got, and I see we've got a couple of questions here that we'll get to, was around the kind of the hedge program and going forward. Maybe, Chris, you can talk a little bit about the hedging going forward and how we're set up going into 2026.
Speaker #2: And going forward, maybe Chris, you can talk a little bit about the hedging going forward and how we're set up going into '26.
Speaker #3: Yeah. So we'll continue to hedge prudently to help protect some of the portion of our cash flow that's allocated to the dividend and the capital spending and the debt repayment.
Chris: Yeah. We'll continue to hedge prudently to help protect some of the portion of our cash flow that's allocated to the dividend and the capital spending and the debt repayment. For 2025, for Q4 of 2025, we're still pretty well hedged. We're at about 50% of our natural gas hedged to right around $2.88 in Mcf. That starts to taper off going into 2026. On average, we're about 33% hedged at around $3 through 2026, but that tapers through the year. It's a little bit heavier hedged at the beginning of the year and a little bit more lighter hedged towards the end of the year when prices continue to strengthen. And of course, we'll always look to add more right now.
[Company Representative] (Pine Cliff Energy): Yeah. We'll continue to hedge prudently to help protect some of the portion of our cash flow that's allocated to the dividend and the capital spending and the debt repayment. For 2025, for Q4 of 2025, we're still pretty well hedged. We're at about 50% of our natural gas hedged to right around $2.88 in Mcf. That starts to taper off going into 2026. On average, we're about 33% hedged at around $3 through 2026, but that tapers through the year. It's a little bit heavier hedged at the beginning of the year and a little bit more lighter hedged towards the end of the year when prices continue to strengthen. And of course, we'll always look to add more right now.
Speaker #3: For 2025, we're still for the fourth quarter of '25, we're still pretty well hedged. We're at about 50% of our natural gas hedged to right around $2.88 in MCF.
Speaker #3: And then that starts to taper off going into 2026. On average, we're about 33% hedged at around $3 for 2026. But that tapers through the year.
Speaker #3: So it's a little bit heavier hedged at the beginning of the year, and a little bit more lighter hedged towards the end of the year when prices continue to strengthen.
Speaker #3: And of course, we'll always look to add more right now. Summer gas prices for 2026 are pushing towards $3 in MCF as we speak.
Chris: You know, summer gas prices for 2026 are pushing towards CAD 3 in Mcf as we speak. We'll continue to look at potential opportunities for us to continue to lock in to help protect the portion of our cash flow that's gonna be allocated out to our dividends and into our capital spending program.
[Company Representative] (Pine Cliff Energy): You know, summer gas prices for 2026 are pushing towards CAD 3 in Mcf as we speak. We'll continue to look at potential opportunities for us to continue to lock in to help protect the portion of our cash flow that's gonna be allocated out to our dividends and into our capital spending program.
Speaker #3: And so we'll continue to look at potential opportunities for us to continue to lock in to help protect the portion of our cash flow that's going to be allocated out to our dividend and into our capital spending program.
Speaker #1: Okay. And then there was around the hedge program, you'll find that in the appendix to our presentation, that there is a we've got a hedge kind of a slide deck in there that kind of sets out the hedging going over forward time.
Phil Hodge: Okay. And there was, around the hedge program, you'll find that in the appendix to our presentation that there is a, we've got a hedge, kind of a slide deck in there that kind of sets out the hedging going over for, forward time. You can take a look at that as well. Another question we had here come in was just about the asset sale and kind of, you know, is that gonna be something that we're gonna continue to see on an ongoing basis to fund the drill program? No, I don't think that I would look at it that way. It's a bit... not fully coincidental.
Phil Hodge: Okay. And there was, around the hedge program, you'll find that in the appendix to our presentation that there is a, we've got a hedge, kind of a slide deck in there that kind of sets out the hedging going over for, forward time. You can take a look at that as well. Another question we had here come in was just about the asset sale and kind of, you know, is that gonna be something that we're gonna continue to see on an ongoing basis to fund the drill program? No, I don't think that I would look at it that way. It's a bit... not fully coincidental.
Speaker #1: So you can take a look at that as well. Another question we had here come in was just about the asset sale. And kind of is that going to be something that we're going to continue to see on an ongoing basis to fund the drill program?
Speaker #1: No, I don't think that I would look at it that way. It was a bit I wouldn't not fully coincidental. I mean, we could see that because of Q2, Q3, natural gas prices being weaker, that when we had less cash flow than originally budgeted at the beginning of the year.
Phil Hodge: I mean, we could see that because of Q2, Q3 natural gas prices being weaker that when we had less cash flow than originally budgeted at the beginning of the year. It was a bit fortuitous, and, you know, good luck, you know, fortunate timing for us to do the dispositions at the same time that we're starting up a development program. These wells, you know, when you look at the type curves, and you'll see some of the information in our presentation, these wells generate significant cash flow. Once you've started to drill the program, it's our view that the drill program should be able to self-sustain itself with its own cash flow.
Phil Hodge: I mean, we could see that because of Q2, Q3 natural gas prices being weaker that when we had less cash flow than originally budgeted at the beginning of the year. It was a bit fortuitous, and, you know, good luck, you know, fortunate timing for us to do the dispositions at the same time that we're starting up a development program. These wells, you know, when you look at the type curves, and you'll see some of the information in our presentation, these wells generate significant cash flow. Once you've started to drill the program, it's our view that the drill program should be able to self-sustain itself with its own cash flow.
Speaker #1: And so for it was a bit fortuitous and good luck fortunate timing for us to do the disposition at the same time that we were starting up the development program.
Speaker #1: But these wells that when you look at the type curves and you'll see some of the information in our presentation, these wells generate significant cash flow.
Speaker #1: And so once you've started to drill the program, it's our view that the drill program should be able to self-sustain itself with its own cash flow.
Speaker #1: In other words, as cash flow comes in, then that'll be the cash that is enables the next well to be drilled. And so if we're not anticipating having to infuse any new capital because we haven't drilled in the last two and a half years, the simple analogy goes back to my farm boy days.
Phil Hodge: In other words, as cash flow comes in, that'll be the cash that is enables the next well to be drilled. If we're not anticipating having to infuse any new capital, because we haven't drilled in the last two and a half years. The simple analogy goes back to my farm boy days, is you need to prime the pump. You know, there had to be an initial amount that has to be put in, once the engine's running, it looks after itself. That's what we needed to do here to start the program. We needed to put that money aside. That's one of the reasons that we reduced the dividend back in March, was to free up some cash to be able to do the drilling.
Phil Hodge: In other words, as cash flow comes in, that'll be the cash that is enables the next well to be drilled. If we're not anticipating having to infuse any new capital, because we haven't drilled in the last two and a half years. The simple analogy goes back to my farm boy days, is you need to prime the pump. You know, there had to be an initial amount that has to be put in, once the engine's running, it looks after itself. That's what we needed to do here to start the program. We needed to put that money aside. That's one of the reasons that we reduced the dividend back in March, was to free up some cash to be able to do the drilling.
Speaker #1: You need to prime the pump. There had to be an initial amount that has to be put in. And then once the engine's running, then it looks after itself.
Speaker #1: I think from that's what we needed to do here to start the program. We need to put that money aside. That's one of the reasons that we reduced the dividend back in March, was to free up some cash to be able to do the drilling.
Speaker #1: These wells are not cheap. I mean, we're kind of budging in around that $8 million level for the wells. These wells are significant in length and horizontal reach.
Phil Hodge: These wells are not cheap. I mean, they, you know, we're kinda budging in around that CAD 8 million level for these wells. These wells are, you know, significant in length and horizontal reach. They're also very prolific. And when, you know, we can see the results from around the area that we have, we can see the other oil and gas producers in the area, what kind of results they're getting. You can, it's pretty clear why it's an active area. These are very, very economic wells. It's not something that we anticipate going forward. Another question we had was, what should shareholders expect in terms of free cash flow generation once Certus drilling gets underway? I know, Chris, you wanna touch on that one?
Phil Hodge: These wells are not cheap. I mean, they, you know, we're kinda budging in around that CAD 8 million level for these wells. These wells are, you know, significant in length and horizontal reach. They're also very prolific. And when, you know, we can see the results from around the area that we have, we can see the other oil and gas producers in the area, what kind of results they're getting. You can, it's pretty clear why it's an active area. These are very, very economic wells. It's not something that we anticipate going forward. Another question we had was, what should shareholders expect in terms of free cash flow generation once Certus drilling gets underway? I know, Chris, you wanna touch on that one?
Speaker #1: And so but they're also very prolific. And when we can see the results from around the area that we have, we can see the other oil and gas producers in the area and kind of the results they're getting.
Speaker #1: You can it's pretty clear why it's an active area. These are very, very economic wells. So it's not something that we anticipate going forward.
Speaker #1: Another question we had was what should shareholders expect in terms of free cash flow generation once service drilling gets underway? I know Chris, you want to touch on that one?
Speaker #3: Yeah. So obviously, I mean, there's a combination of factors that are going to contribute to our free cash flow generation in 2026. It's obviously higher commodity prices as well as the incremental contribution from the production that we expect from the drilling program.
Chris: Yeah. Obviously, I mean, there's a combination of factors that are gonna contribute to our free cash flow generation in 2026. It's obviously higher commodity prices as well as the incremental contribution from the production that we expect from the drilling program. The drilling program is attractive for us in that these wells have a higher liquids content than our general portfolio. We expect it's gonna be incremental to our netbacks. And the short payouts mean that we will be adding incremental free cash flow as the program rolls into 2026, not 2027. The paybacks on these wells are around 12 months, about a year on these wells, maybe a little bit longer at current prices.
[Company Representative] (Pine Cliff Energy): Yeah. Obviously, I mean, there's a combination of factors that are gonna contribute to our free cash flow generation in 2026. It's obviously higher commodity prices as well as the incremental contribution from the production that we expect from the drilling program. The drilling program is attractive for us in that these wells have a higher liquids content than our general portfolio. We expect it's gonna be incremental to our netbacks. And the short payouts mean that we will be adding incremental free cash flow as the program rolls into 2026, not 2027. The paybacks on these wells are around 12 months, about a year on these wells, maybe a little bit longer at current prices.
Speaker #3: The drilling program is attractive for us in that these are these wells have a higher liquids content than our general portfolios. So we expect it's going to be incremental to our net backs.
Speaker #3: And the short payouts mean that we will be adding incremental free cash flow as the program rolls into 2026, not 2027. So the paybacks on these wells are around 12 months.
Speaker #3: About a year on these wells. Maybe a little bit longer at current prices. And so as we bring those wells on, we'll be able to generate cash flow and start to see the benefit in our portfolio.
Chris: As we bring those wells on, we'll be able to generate cash flow and start to see the benefit in our portfolio.
[Company Representative] (Pine Cliff Energy): As we bring those wells on, we'll be able to generate cash flow and start to see the benefit in our portfolio.
Speaker #1: Yeah. One other question we had was just about dividend policy going forward. I think the we've got our plan is to continue to maintain the dividend that's and that's why we continue to you would have saw the announcement and the press release that we've continued to pay the monthly dividend.
Phil Hodge: Yeah. One other question we had was just about dividend policy going forward. I think the, you know, our plan is to continue to maintain the dividend. That's, and that's why we continue to, you would have saw the announcement in the press release that we've continued to pay the monthly dividend. As we generate more free cash flow in 2026, that'll be the time that we have a kind of a discussion around capital allocation across all of the areas that I mentioned earlier, which would be debt repayment, which would be, you know, potential acquisitions, which would be the drill program, and potentially, you know, whether or not we increase the dividend. I think all those things will be on the table. It all depend on kind of just how much free cash flow we have.
Phil Hodge: Yeah. One other question we had was just about dividend policy going forward. I think the, you know, our plan is to continue to maintain the dividend. That's, and that's why we continue to, you would have saw the announcement in the press release that we've continued to pay the monthly dividend. As we generate more free cash flow in 2026, that'll be the time that we have a kind of a discussion around capital allocation across all of the areas that I mentioned earlier, which would be debt repayment, which would be, you know, potential acquisitions, which would be the drill program, and potentially, you know, whether or not we increase the dividend. I think all those things will be on the table. It all depend on kind of just how much free cash flow we have.
Speaker #1: The as we generate more free cash flow in 2026, then that'll be the time that we have a kind of a discussion around capital allocation across all of the areas that I mentioned earlier, which would be debt repayment, which would be potential acquisitions, which would be the drill program, and potentially whether or not we increase the dividend.
Speaker #1: I think all those things will be on the table. It all depends on kind of just how much free cash flow we have. I think obviously our long-term goal is to continue to increase the dividend.
Phil Hodge: I think our obviously, our long-term goal is to continue to increase the dividend. We wanna make sure that we're doing it in a prudent way. We've discussed various mechanisms in the past, whether you do a special dividend or whether or not you can increase the base dividend. I think what we'd, you know, all options would be discussed and on the table. It is, but I think it's an important part of kind of the model we built. I think a lot of our shareholders, now that we are, you know, in 2022, when we moved to paying a dividend, I think they now appreciate receiving the monthly dividend. Our, you know, our goal is to make sure that that's, that we manage the business prudently, that we continue to pay the dividend.
Phil Hodge: I think our obviously, our long-term goal is to continue to increase the dividend. We wanna make sure that we're doing it in a prudent way. We've discussed various mechanisms in the past, whether you do a special dividend or whether or not you can increase the base dividend. I think what we'd, you know, all options would be discussed and on the table. It is, but I think it's an important part of kind of the model we built. I think a lot of our shareholders, now that we are, you know, in 2022, when we moved to paying a dividend, I think they now appreciate receiving the monthly dividend. Our, you know, our goal is to make sure that that's, that we manage the business prudently, that we continue to pay the dividend.
Speaker #1: The we want to make sure that we're doing it in a prudent way. We've discussed various mechanisms in the past, whether you do a special dividend or whether or not you can increase the base dividend.
Speaker #1: I think what we would all options would be discussed and on the table. It is a but I think it's an important part of kind of the model we built.
Speaker #1: I think that a lot of our shareholders now that we are in 2022 when we move to paying a dividend, I think they now appreciate receiving the monthly dividend.
Speaker #1: And so our goal is to make sure that that's that we manage the business prudently, that we continue to pay the dividend. And obviously, like I said, our goal would be to get to a point where and see whether 2026 gives us the free cash flow that we think makes that a prudent decision.
Phil Hodge: You know, obviously, like I said, our goal would be to get to a point where we can raise the dividend. You know, we'll wait and see whether 2026 gives us the free cash flow that we think, you know, makes that a prudent decision. I don't think we've got any other questions. I think a lot of some of you have reached out by email, and I've responded or Chris had responded to you directly. I won't, I don't think.
Phil Hodge: You know, obviously, like I said, our goal would be to get to a point where we can raise the dividend. You know, we'll wait and see whether 2026 gives us the free cash flow that we think, you know, makes that a prudent decision. I don't think we've got any other questions. I think a lot of some of you have reached out by email, and I've responded or Chris had responded to you directly. I won't, I don't think.
Speaker #1: I don't think we've got any other questions. I think a lot of some of you have reached out by email, and I'd responded or Chris had responded to you directly.
Speaker #1: I won't I don't think.
Speaker #3: If we might have lost audio. For everyone on the call, we might have lost audio for about five minutes. Please note that the replay will be available on the on our website.
Chris: If we might have lost audio. For everyone on the call, we might have lost audio for about five minutes. Please note that the replay will be available on the on our website, and the entire call will be recorded for reference.
[Company Representative] (Pine Cliff Energy): If we might have lost audio. For everyone on the call, we might have lost audio for about five minutes. Please note that the replay will be available on the on our website, and the entire call will be recorded for reference.
Speaker #3: And the entire call will be recorded for reference.
Speaker #1: Okay. Thanks, everybody, for your time. Appreciate it. Take care.
Phil Hodge: Okay. Thanks everybody for your time. Appreciate it. Take care.
Phil Hodge: Okay. Thanks everybody for your time. Appreciate it. Take care.
Chris: Thank you.
[Company Representative] (Pine Cliff Energy): Thank you.