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Vista Energy, S.A.B. de C.V. (VIST)

Q4 2019 Earnings Call· Sun, Mar 1, 2020

$73.25

+1.79%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Vista's Full-Year 2019 and Fourth Quarter 2019 Results Conference Call. [Operator instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Alejandro Cherñacov, Investor Relations Officer. Thank you. Please go ahead, sir. Alejandro Cherñacov: Thanks. Good morning, everyone. We are happy to welcome you to Vista's full-year 2019 and fourth quarter 2019 results call. I'm here with Miguel Galuccio, Vista's Chairman and CEO, and with Pablo Vera Pinto, Vista's CFO.Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to our cautionary statement on Slide 2. Please be advised that our remarks today, including the answers to your questions, may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from expectations contemplated by these remarks. Our financial figures are stated in U.S. dollars and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS.However, during this conference call, we may discuss certain non-IFRS financial measures, such as adjusted EBITDA. Reconciliations of these measures to the closest IFRS measure can be found in the earnings release that we issued yesterday. Please check our website for further information.Our company, Vista Oil & Gas, is a Sociedad Anonima Bursatil de Capital Variable, organized under the laws of Mexico, registered in the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores and the New York Stock Exchange. The tickers of our common stock are VISTA in the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores and VIST in the New York Stock Exchange. The ticker of our warrant is VTW408A.Miguel Galuccio will now present our full-year 2019 and fourth-quarter 2019 results.

Miguel Galuccio

Analyst

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining this earnings call.The year 2019 was one of exceptional execution for Vista as we achieved our main strategic goals: Repaying our shale rig well in the Bajada del Palo Oeste, troughing the high quality of our Vaca Muerta acreage.As I will show later during the presentation, our wells continued performing above our type curve and ranked among of the best wells of Vaca Muerta play and even the Permian. Productivity results in Bajada del Palo Oeste boosted our P1 reserves by adding 49.2 million barrels of oil equivalent and pushing our reserves replacement ratio above 500%.The strong performance of our Bajada del Palo Oeste project was also the main driver of the 19% annual increase in total production which averaged 29,100 BOEs per day in 2019, exceeding 33,000 BOEs per day in the month of August. Shale oil and gas contributed more than 5,000 BOEs per day on average and peaked about 10,000 BOEs per day.During 2019, we have also accomplished significant milestone in terms of efficiency gains, proving our operational model and reducing our lifting cost by 22% year on year to an average of $10.8 per BOE. Our drilling and completion activity in Vaca Muerta has shown progress as well with improvements of 20% in our drilling cost per lateral foot and 14% in completion cost per stage.Finally, our operations have been supported by a strong balance sheet. We finished the year with $240 million in cash and net leverage ratio of 1.2 times. This was mainly a reserve, our successful capital raise of $100 million in the dual listing in the New York Stock Exchange and another 100 million in two bonds in Argentina. This slide shows an update of our development in Bajada del Palo Oeste.Our first eight…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of [Enrique Simons] from Credit Suisse. Your line is now open.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

I have a question for you. Can you provide us an update on pricing of crude oil in Argentina since the price freeze from last year? And the second question is, how's the discussions regarding pricing affect the Bajada del Palo Oeste development? Are you holding back investments?

Miguel Galuccio

Analyst

Enrique, I was trying to understand exactly what you - your question because we couldn't listen very well, but I think I have it here. So, look at - starting with the pricing. First of all, I would like to recap on pricing. The start of drilling operation last year when the government basically freed the price of oil and testified as well with a Decree 566.We decide to restart the operation middle of November when the prices went from the period of $40 to $42 per barrel in mid-November to $51. December, we saw $53. And in January, we have realized prices of around $55. And that was basically was the main driver of us to restart operations.I believe now we are basically looking to a new scenario where, clearly, we have proved the potential that we have in Vaca Muerta. I do believe that for Argentina, this has not gone unnoticed. And besides the renegotiation of the debt, that today, probably is the country's best priority. In order to minimize the economy, there's probably one button in the control room that they have to push, and that is the development of Vaca Muerta.For that, we will require - of course, prices. We will require for me incentives to export or get to export market. And I think we will also require - or most of the company would require some kind of way of getting access to the proceeds of exportation. And I do believe, and I'm cautiously positive, that the government have that in mind, and I should be working on that.So that's still related to pricing. The other question was related to Bajada del Palo Oeste and the development. Can you repeat the second part of the question, please?

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

The second question is, how are the discussions regarding pricing affect the Bajada del Palo Oeste development, and are you holding back investments?

Miguel Galuccio

Analyst

Yes. So, look at - we, first of all, we have built a plan. We have built a development plan based on one clear for us - a clear feature that is flexibility. Our contract with drilling contractors, our contract with the provider of the frac fleet are contracts that has embedded somehow the possibility for us to accelerate and also to stop.Therefore, we believe that with the pricing scenario that we have today, we will have very good IRRs. And of course, this is due to the production results that we are seeing in Bajada del Palo Oeste, so I think we feel comfortable in the range that we are today. And also, we want to take advantage, as you know, of the scale. For us having two drilling rigs is a way of also having economy with scale that impacts our costs.So I don't believe there is a massive number where we can stop and then accelerate. And as you can see, our CapEx costs continue in a trend of reduction. And also, we are in a trend where our production of type curve has been improving. So, I don't want to give you a massive number.I think we feel comfortable on the range, and we believe one of the key things that we have to build in, in our plan is the possibility to accelerate and to stop. We proved that last quarter in a very successful way because we managed to stop the operation and moved to cash preservation mode. We're starting this year with two rigs, but we will take the actions that we need to take if the pricing scenario change.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Bruno Montanari from Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.

Bruno Montanari

Analyst

First one is about access to exports and FX. So, we've been reading a lot about this potential new hydrocarbon law being discussed in Argentina. So, just wanted to pick your brain on what the company thinks the timing should be on this. When should we get an approval on this potential law and what you imagine the structure could be? So would it be on a company-by-company basis, establishing volumes that you can export or not? So just curious on what the potential structure could be. A second question on the reserves. I understand that you use your - pretty much your type curve for the certification of the reserves.Would you be able to give us a hint on what would the reserves look like at the current well performance level which is much better than the type curve? And a quick one, with Aleph now back to the company in full, shouldn't costs decline more in 2020, or is the company being conservative on the $10 per BOE guidance?

Miguel Galuccio

Analyst

Thank you, Bruno, for your question. So, look at - I will say that starting with the export and the access to dollar, I think the first thing that has to happen in order to access to export is to have the local market completely supplied, okay? So as we see more production coming from Vaca Muerta, I think the ability to create an export market is becoming something more real. Of course, we will need a change in regulation. This is my personal point of view.I think the countries have a great opportunity there, and therefore, the rules to export need to be put in place. I don't want to comment on the timing of the law because, first of all, we need a law or we could not be the law. I mean there are things that we can - that the government could basically address with a simple decree as has been done in the past. Nevertheless, I believe there are certain things that need to be regulated that have not been regulated yet.I cannot comment on the timing. I know this is important for the economy. I know there's a clear understanding of the potential of Vaca Muerta. So, as I said before, I'm optimistically cautious that we should see some action on that front.Of course, as I mentioned to you, actually, and as I mentioned before, access to proceeds for certain companies will be very important to really ramp up operation and to have an aggressive growth plan, but we are almost neutral in terms of what the local market require.So, I think we are in a very good position compared where we were a few years ago to make this happen. In terms of reserves which was your second question. As you saw, our…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. At this time, I am showing no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Miguel for closing remarks.

Miguel Galuccio

Analyst

Thank you very much for joining us in the call and for the continued support, questions and reports and the way that you treat Vista. Hopefully to see you soon in the next quarter call. Thank you very much. Have a good day.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.