Earnings Labs

Battalion Oil Corporation (BATL)

Q1 2015 Earnings Call· Wed, May 6, 2015

$3.73

+0.73%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Halcón Resources First Quarter 2015 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would like to introduce your host for today's conference, Mark Mize, our CFO. Mr. Mize, you may begin. Mark J. Mize - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: Okay. Thank you. This conference call contains forward-looking statements. For a detailed description of our disclaimer, see our earnings release issued yesterday and posted to our website. We'll start the call with some financial comments, and then I'll turn it over to Floyd Wilson. A few brief comments about our line of credit with the banks and liquidity subsequent to the quarter, and we amended our revolving credit agreement to provide covenant flexibility by removing the interest coverage ratio and replacing it with a total secured debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.75 times. We also extended the maturity of the facility from February of 2017 to August of 2019. And our credit facility continues to be led by JPMorgan and Wells Fargo. We continue to have a very supportive and constructive bank group that we're happy to call our partners. Concurrent with the execution of the revolver amendment last week, we closed our second lien notes offering in the amount of $700 million and use of proceeds to repay borrowings on the credit facility with the banks. In conjunction with that capital raise, our borrowing base was reduced from $1.05 billion to $900 million. So we picked up net additional liquidity of about $550 million, which is a great outcome for the company. Pro forma for the second lien offering and the borrowing base…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our first question comes from the line of Neal Dingmann from SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Neal D. Dingmann - Suntrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst

Good morning, gentlemen. Hey. Floyd, I'm just looking at slides 13 and 20 that show the well cost reductions. I guess, question for you, Mark or Charles, are you continuing to push those down and if so, is it through the – just kind of wondering what areas are you able to continue to push down. Is it the D&C reductions, the completion cost, facilities or sort of all of the above? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Charles is sitting here. I'm going to ask him to address that, but it's pretty much all of the above. The largest single reduction has been, of course, in the frac, in the pumping of the wells. But what do you say, Charles? Charles E. Cusack - Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President: Yeah. It's everything from the brokers on the front-end, all the way through the drilling completion. It's every single facet we competitively bid, so it's supply and demand. We've driven them all down. Some of it is through efficiencies, and like Floyd mentioned, bringing some services in-house, doing things a little more efficient, which drives prices down. But the bulk majority of it is just service cost reductions.

Neal D. Dingmann - Suntrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst

Okay. Good to hear. And then, Floyd, what's your thoughts today Floyd on, with prices rallying a bit here in the last few weeks, your sensitivity is to prices rallying? And then your thoughts on, I know that you guys don't do this as much, others out there do more of these completion deferrals, just your thoughts about that. So if those two things you could hit? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, one of our objectives, Neal, has been place ourselves in a position that when and if this low price environment changes for the better that we won't have significantly decline in production, and at the same time, not significantly reducing our future inventories. So, we are looking hard at the strip for this year. And we do have some thoughts about certain frac jobs that may occur at a month or two later than they might have. But we have a weather eye on our production projection and intend to maintain that. So, you can't defer things without it affecting your prior projections. So we have to try to blend all that together. We have such a substantial hedge book for 2015, 2016. It's, of course, helpful to receive the higher physical price, but we're not quite as buffeted this year and next by the spot price for oil.

Neal D. Dingmann - Suntrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst

And then, lastly, maybe just for Mark. Mark, your thoughts on additional debt swaps or expectations around the liquidity there. Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Listen, Neal, Mark is sitting here. He just coughed or something, but we don't have any additional debt swaps on the books – on the boards right now, and our ATM is currently suspended.

Neal D. Dingmann - Suntrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst

Thanks, Floyd. Perfect.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Steve Berman from Canaccord. Your line is now open.

Stephen F. Berman - Canaccord Genuity, Inc.

Analyst

Good morning. Thanks. In the TMS, you're participating on a non-op basis – it evolved recently (15:04) what are you seeing in terms of AFEs, and with oil rallying here, are we getting close to where you might think about going back in there on an operated basis? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Steve, as we've said, there's a ton of oil down in the TMS. There's billions of barrels of recoverable oil. We've seen some dramatic improvements in the expectation for completed well costs down from the levels that they were in the last couple of years. We, at this company, have no plans to drill any wells there this year. Like I said, it's a huge prize, and I think the entire industry is going to be watching that. It's going to require some more activity, which I don't think is going to happen this year from the industry, and that activity would generate information and knowledge that will be useful in fine-tuning the approach down there. So we're on the sideline in terms of drilling down there. We're watching what everyone's doing. We're in a consortium for all the information that's being generated and we're adding our information to that. So I don't know what you're looking for there. We don't spend much time talking about the TMS right now.

Stephen F. Berman - Canaccord Genuity, Inc.

Analyst

All right. Yeah, that was a perfect answer. Thanks, Floyd. That's it for me.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Don Crist from Johnson Rice. Your line is now open. Please proceed with your question. Don P. Crist - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Good morning, Floyd. In regards to the shut-ins that you talked about in your press release, did those impact Q1 and is there a timeline as to when those will come back online in the Williston? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: We don't have a number, but they impacted Q1 a little bit and we're not certainly the ones that – the non-op ones, we're not in charge of those. I'm not so sure if we have any intelligence from our partners as to when they'll put those back on. But with the improving strip, we're expecting them to get back on this year. But we don't have a timeline. Don P. Crist - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Okay. And given that this point in the cycle is normally a very good time to buy assets and your increased liquidity position, can you talk a little bit about the M&A market as you see it right now and your appetite for possibly buying something? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, of course, we've got plenty of capacity to do something, but as we've always had, we have a strict focus on property quality and we have a strict focus on improving core areas or adding to core areas or creating a new core area. I don't see a lot of action out there. I still think that there's an expectation that prices are going be better in the future and that a lot of people that might want to sell might be waiting a bit. I don't know, all these guys talk about bid/ask. I don't know about all that, but I just don't see a lot going on; that could change overnight. We're watching everything closely and we're always willing to participate in a buy or a sale if it suits our very strict objectives. Don P. Crist - Johnson Rice & Co. LLC: Okay. That's all the questions I had. Thanks, Floyd.

Operator

Operator

And thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Rowe from Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Company. Your line is now open. Michael J. Rowe - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc.: Hi. Good morning. I was just wondering, in El Halcón, you're kind of getting about a 17% rate of return at current strip at the $7 million well cost. So I was wondering, given your capital structure, what's the rate of return you're looking to get there before you would consider adding capital back to the area? I know there's some HBP mode right now. Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, two things. You didn't ask why we're drilling there. It's a wonderful area and we intend to maintain our great position there through the course of this lower oil price environment. At some day prices and rates return will be quite a bit higher there. In a general sense, we look for returns that are well over 30%, and usually, they're higher than that. As you know, in our business, shit happens, so you have to have higher returns on your single well economics to make up for things that just come along. So, we're looking forward to the time when current single well economics are offering 30% to 40% rates of return, and that would generate a lot of interest in an increase in activity there. We will not increase our activity there this year. Michael J. Rowe - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc.: Okay. And do you still think it's appropriate to have multiple type curves there? And I was wondering, do you anticipate returns that are materially different between Brazos and Burleson County at this point? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer:…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of James Spicer from Wells Fargo. Your line is now open. Please proceed with your question.

James A. Spicer - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst · your question.

Yeah. Hi. Good morning. I had a question on the CapEx spend. You mentioned $105 million in the first quarter and I think capitalized interest was about $25 million. What was the incremental difference between that and the $265 million on the cash flow statement? Was that just carryover from 2014? (24:47 – 25:02) Mark J. Mize - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: Yeah. I don't know if you heard that but – and I know you're aware of this, so I might be stating the obvious to you, but the number you're seeing on the cash flow statement does reflect that and the investing section does reflect actual cash being paid on those capital items. So that can be items that were accrued at the end of 2014 that actually get paid in the first quarter of 2015.

James A. Spicer - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst · your question.

Yeah. That's what I suspected it was, just verifying. And then, just to follow up on the de-leveraging discussion here? Wondering if you have any targets there in terms of amount and timing, and then if there are other ideas beyond the debt for equity swaps that you guys are looking at, if you have any more color there? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Well, our target would be to get all of the holders to totally release us of all debt obligations. I don't think that's going to happen, so we'll make our payments. And if in our process we think that additional moves are smart along the way, we'll do that. Our targets – when the price kept dropping so dramatically through the course of the second half of 2014, our targets became more liquidity and process-oriented and keeping together the production and the acreage more than what are we going to do. So we went out and did those things to make sure we're in that position. Our targets would be to reduce leverage over time and to get it down dramatically either by reducing leverage or increasing production.

James A. Spicer - Wells Fargo Securities LLC

Analyst · your question.

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Jason Wangler from Wunderlich. Your line is now open.

Jason A. Wangler - Wunderlich Securities, Inc.

Analyst

Hey. Good morning. Just down in El Halcón, I'm curious, it looks like the rig now is kind of in that Northeastern position, and I know you have some exploration stuff too. But what is the plan for this year as you kind of continue to look at – are you still kind of working through some of the fringes as you push out the 10 to 12, I think it is, wells this year? Kind of where do you expect those to be drilled? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: They're really kind of bouncing around the field. Charles E. Cusack - Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President: We do have some up in northern Burleson. We've also drilled down the Southern part of Brazos. It's going to some of our larger leases that are coming up on the end of the terms. They're all single well units at this point and generally all outperforming the type curve.

Jason A. Wangler - Wunderlich Securities, Inc.

Analyst

Okay. And maybe for Mark, just curious, I think you mentioned that you started to put some hedges on in 2017. Just curious where you're seeing those levels because I don't think there was anything more than that. Just curious what you're able to get given the run in oil? Mark J. Mize - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: Right now we're kind of having indicative bids come in at $65 to $75 type levels.

Jason A. Wangler - Wunderlich Securities, Inc.

Analyst

Great. I appreciate it.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Sean Sneeden from Oppenheimer. Your line is now open. Please proceed with your question. Sean Sneeden - Oppenheimer & Co.: Hi. Thank you for taking the question. I guess number one, Floyd, did you say the ATM program is currently suspended? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: It's currently suspended. We don't run that when we're not in a window anyway. So we haven't been in a window until I think tomorrow. Sean Sneeden - Oppenheimer & Co.: Okay. Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: With the share price though, it didn't make a lot of sense right today, and we'll access it if we think it makes some sense in the future. That's supposed to be an opportunistic sort of a thing rather than just something you're going to just push through no matter what the costs are. We'll still continue to avail ourselves of that if we think it's appropriate, but not right now. Sean Sneeden - Oppenheimer & Co.: Okay. Just to be clear, there's no tie-up with the debt for equity swaps that prevents you from moving forward with that ATM program if share prices are at an optimal level for you guys, right? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: No. We don't do agreements that tie us from other things like that. There's no – that's just our discretionary program. Sean Sneeden - Oppenheimer & Co.: Okay. Perfect. Then maybe, Mark or Floyd, the 6% sequential decline in production for the second quarter, I guess at the midpoint, is that mainly being driven by timing of completions or how should we think about that in the context of full-year production, which I think was affirmed…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Jason Gilbert from Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open. Jason A. Gilbert - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Thanks for taking my question. Floyd, I think you mentioned at the end of the prepared comments that you were looking at ways to reduce leverage possibly through M&A. Did I hear that correctly? And if so, can you maybe elaborate on that a bit? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: I was hoping you didn't hear that. But, of course, there's any number of smaller E&P company business combinations that could look good on a property basis and could have the impact of a leverage improvement. And just like anything else we do, we're looking at that all the time. There's nothing on the horizon and no firm plans, but we're – that's sort of our nature to be continually sifting through ideas of how to make things bigger, stronger, better, faster, et cetera. Jason A. Gilbert - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Okay. That's helpful. And then, I guess, the second one would be in El Halcón, given the strong well results, would you think about raising the type curve there at some point? Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: We could. Keep in mind that at both El Halcón and the Williston Basin, our type curves are based on averages – areas that vary a bit. So, if we wanted to put out a group of type curves, we would put out a definite, much higher type curve for some of the wells that were in some of the areas and a similar type curve as we have. So I think for planning purposes, the type curves we have out there just for running the small number of rigs in both fields should be good enough for anybody that's addressing their model on our company. I don't see a big push to fine tune that right now. We're outperforming all of them, so that's good. Jason A. Gilbert - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Okay. Great. Thank you. I'll turn it back to the call.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our last question comes from the line of Dan McSpirit from BMO. Your line is now open.

Dan E. McSpirit - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst

My questions have been answered. Thank you. Floyd C. Wilson - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: All right, operator. Thanks a lot, everyone. And if you think of something we didn't cover, just give us a call. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.