Earnings Labs

Epsilon Energy Ltd. (EPSN)

Q4 2023 Earnings Call· Thu, Mar 21, 2024

$6.23

+0.65%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-0.38%

1 Week

+4.57%

1 Month

+4.76%

vs S&P

+7.93%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Epsilon Energy Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After the today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please also note, today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Andrew Williamson, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Andrew Williamson

Analyst

Thank you, operator. And on behalf of the management team, I'd like to welcome all of you to today's conference call to review Epsilon's full year and fourth quarter 2023 financial and operational results. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that our comments may include forward-looking statements. It should be noted that a variety of factors could cause Epsilon's actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. Today's call may also contain certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the earnings release that we issued yesterday for disclosures on forward-looking statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Jason Stabell, our Chief Executive Officer.

Jason Stabell

Analyst

Thank you, Andrew. Good morning, and thank you for participating in our 2023 year end conference call. Joining me today are Andrew Williamson, our CFO; and Henry Clanton, our COO. We will be available to answer questions later in the call. 2023 was a year of transition for Epsilon. Natural gas transitioned from the strongest market in recent memory in 2022 to an oversupplied market in 2023 that saw prices hit multiyear lows. Despite these headwinds, our business is in a strong position. Through two transactions closed in 2023, we added a new core area in the Permian Basin, giving us a multiyear investment runway and oil exposure. We also continued our track record of shareholder returns, all while maintaining a strong balance sheet. The rewards of this strategy transition now sit largely in front of us. So what do we like about our business? We own high quality assets in two premier basins that produce strong operating cash flows and have runways for multiyear growth. Our forward revenues will be more diversified to provide our shareholders with exposure to both natural gas and oil alongside the fee-based income from our midstream position. The combination of these attributes is unique in the small-cap public energy space. Now I'd like to offer some comments on a few key areas. First, I would like to discuss our current view of the Marcelus assets. The North American natural gas markets remain oversupplied. The short-term fundamentals of natural gas have concerned us for the last 18 months and similar to 2023, we have taken defensive action for 2024 with our hedging program. However, we are starting to see changes that set the stage for a recovery in the next 12 months. Recently announced production deferrals and reductions to 2024 CapEx by larger operators are…

Andrew Williamson

Analyst

Thanks, Jason. I'll elaborate on the Permian business, which will be a much bigger contributor to results in 2024. We will have a full year from the wells brought on in the fourth quarter. Contribution from our recently announced acquisition, which has a meaningful production component to it and multiple new wells developed and brought on through the year. The first is underway. At current prices, we expect the Permian to contribute more than 50% of our upstream cash flow this year. Our capital investments were up meaningfully in 2023, driven by the Permian activity. These were underwritten at attractive rates of return that set us up for multiyear growth in liquids production. We expect almost all of our incremental development spend in Texas this year, which is estimated at over $10 million to be funded from the project's cash flows. I would also like to say that the Permian assets are not yet included in our borrowing base under the revolver. They will be added in the next redetermination this spring, so the reduction in liquidity from the deals will be partially offset. We continued our track record of consistent shareholder returns last year. We repurchased 1.16 million shares during the year for just over $6 million at an average price per share of $5.20. Those shares represent roughly 5% of the shares outstanding at the beginning of the year. We returned another $5.6 million through our regular dividend, which as Jason mentioned, remains well supported by our fee-based midstream cash flows going forward. We picked back up in January this year, repurchasing another 250,000 shares at $4.82 per share. As we announced yesterday, we reloaded the buyback program with 2.19 million shares, effective on March 27 that will run through March 26 of next year. We are still busy looking for additional opportunities that will bring in at least one new project as an option to deploy capital going forward. We look for drill bit development-focused opportunities, which offer higher return potential and the opportunity to compound with follow-on investment. The other major criterion for us is alignment with the operator on operating practices and the pace of development. Now I'll turn it over to Henry for commentary on the operations.

Henry Clanton

Analyst

Thank you, Jason and Andrew. I too would like to add some additional color on our Permian Basin project. As Jason mentioned earlier, we are very pleased with the performance of the Pradera Fuego project to date. The two initial wells, low 2-mile laterals have demonstrated higher initial production rates and lower early life decline rates than our predrill estimates. The most recent acquisition was a 25% acquisition and an additional 4,000-plus acres in the area that includes three producing wells, all 2-mile laterals. This raises the total project acreage to over 16,000 gross acres and five producing wells currently producing approximately 600 barrels of oil equivalent per day net to Epsilon. The current development plan for 2024 includes drilling at least three additional wells, the first of which has been drilled and is currently waiting on completion. A vertical pilot has been drilled and logged and a full core was taken over the target interval. This data capture will benefit the ongoing development as well as evaluate additional intervals within the acreage block for commercial viability. As mentioned previously, we think Pradera Fuego provides the company with a substantial runway of at least 20 additional gross locations, assuming 2-mile laterals. In the Marcelus, Jason mentioned the company's participation in the seven wells, 0.74 net to Epsilon that are now being drilled that are in various stages of completion. We remain in contact with the operator related to the timing of bringing these wells on and are aligned with deferred TILs given the current pricing environment. We are confident that once on production, these wells will perform consistently with other wells in the area. And depending on timing, we expect them to roughly double our net gas production from the Marcelus. Now back to Jason.

Jason Stabell

Analyst

Thanks, guys. Operator, we can now open the line for questions.

Operator

Operator

Jason Stabell

Analyst

Thank you, Jamie. I want to thank everyone for their interest in Epsilon and for joining us today. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at our Houston office. And hope you have a great Thursday and the rest of your week. Thank you, again.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, with that, we'll conclude today's conference call and presentation. We do thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.