Evolution Petroleum Corporation, Inc.

Good day, and welcome to the Evolution Petroleum first quarter fiscal year 2023 earnings release call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Ryan Stash, Evolution's Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good afternoon everyone. Welcome to our earnings call for the first quarter of fiscal 2023. Joining me today is Kelly Lloyd, a recently named President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors. After I cover the forward-looking statements, Kelly will review key highlights along with our operational results. I will then return to provide a more detailed financial review and then Kelly will provide some closing comments before we open it up and take your questions. Please note that any statements and information provided today are time sensitive and may not be accurate at a later date. Our discussion today will contain forward-looking statements of management's beliefs and assumptions based on currently available information. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that are listed and described in our filings with the SEC. Actual results may differ materially from those expected. As detailed numbers are readily available to everyone in yesterday's earnings release, this call will primarily focus on our strategy as well as key operational and financial results and how these affect us moving forward. Please note that this conference call is being recorded. If you wish to listen to a webcast replay of today's call, it will be available by going to the company's website. With that, I will turn the call over to Kelly.

Thank you, Ryan. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us for today's call. Before I begin my prepared remarks, I'd like to thank the board for naming me president and CEO. I've gotten to know the full team here at Evolution very well since I was named the interim CEO in June, and I'm truly excited to lead this talented group of professionals as we move forward and continue to make progress towards and ultimately achieving our long-term goals. I am fully committed and aligned with the board in executing the company's strategy of disciplined financial management and accretive capital allocation with a goal of maximizing total shareholder returns. I look forward to leading evolution in this next chapter. The first quarter marked a solid start to fiscal 2023. I want to thank all of our team members for their continued hard work and dedication. We're pleased with our overall results for the period, which was highlighted by another period of strong free cash flow generation, which we used to fund operations, capital spending, shareholder dividends, and to reduce a significant amount of debt. We made a commitment to continue to pay down borrowings on our credit facility, and we delivered on that commitment by reducing debt by $9 million, a decrease of more than 40% since June 30th. Our strong cash flow generated during the first quarter was also used to fund the payment of our quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per common share, which was 20% higher than the $0.10 per share that was paid during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. Our board declared a cash dividend for the second quarter of fiscal 2023 of 12 cents per share. This will mark the 37th consecutive quarterly cash dividend paid by the company since we began this return of capital program in December 2013. There are very few small cap EMP companies who can say they have consistently paid a dividend for that length of time throughout several tumultuous commodity price cycles. We are proud to say that over the past nine years, Evolution has paid over $90 million, or $2.73 per share, back to our shareholders. We have strong, long-life and low-decline assets that will continue to support a sustainable quarterly dividend for the immediate and long-term, benefiting our shareholders with a steady return of capital. Maintaining and ultimately growing the payment of a quarterly cash dividend remains a top priority. In further support of our shareholders, on September 8th, our board authorized a share repurchase program of up to $25 million of our common stock through December 31st, 2024. Turning now to operations. In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we produced 7,598 net BOE per day, which was 2% higher than the 7,451 net BOE per day that we produced in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. The first quarter benefited from higher natural gas and NGL production, as well as higher natural gas pricing. This was offset by lower oil and NGL pricing versus the fourth quarter of fiscal 22. Having said that, we have been encouraged to see an upward trend in oil and NGL pricing recently, which will support additional cash generation in the second quarter of fiscal 2023. Looking at our first quarter results in more detail, Net production at Jonah Field for the first quarter was 181 MBOE, or 1,967 BOE per day. This included 958 million cubic feet of natural gas, or 88% natural gas. The Jonah Field is our most recent acquisition and, similar to our other assets, is highlighted by long life and low decline reserves that generate significant cash flow. In addition, the transaction also provides access to attractive western markets where we continue to see favorable natural gas pricing. First quarter net production for our Williston Basin properties increased to 45 MBOE, or 489 BOE per day, of which approximately 82% was oil. We continue to work closely with the operator, Foundation Energy Management, on high-grading expense workovers, recompletes, and sidetracked drilling opportunities. In addition, technical evaluations remain underway to assess our pronghorn and three-forks drilling locations. Net production for our Barnett shale properties for the first quarter increased 8% to 329 MBOE, or 3,576 BOE per day, of which approximately 77% was natural gas. This is a result of Diversified Energy's capital workover program, which has been very active since becoming operator 11 months ago. Hamilton Dome Field net production increased slightly to 38 MBOE or 413 BOE per day. We will continue to support the operator Merit Energy in their efforts to restore production at previously shut-in wells, adjust water injection locations and volumes, and execute on other targeted maintenance projects. Net production at Del High Field increased slightly to 106 MBOE, or approximately 1,153 BOE per day. Denbury is the operator at Del High Field, and they are continuing to perform conformance workovers and upgrades to the facilities. Before I turn the call over to Ryan, I'd like to point out that we recently posted our 2022 Corporate Sustainability Report to our website, which details our commitment to high-quality, transparent, and comprehensive ESG efforts and disclosures. I am proud of our employees' commitment to sustainability and our Board's hands-on oversight, which is demonstrated by the Board's newly formed Sustainability Committee. environmental stewardship, sound corporate governance, and contributing positively to our employees and the communities where we work are cornerstones of our culture. We invite you to review our report to learn more about our sustainability efforts and our plans to continue to work with our third-party operators who share our core values and are committed to being good environmental stewards as we responsibly produce our energy resources together. With that, I will now turn the call over to Ryan to discuss our financial highlights.