HighPeak Energy, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the High Peak Energy Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listening mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Stephen Tholen, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to High Peak Energy's third quarter 2025 earnings call. Representing High Peak today are President and CEO Michael Hollis, Executive Vice President Ryan Hightower, Executive Vice President Daniel Silver, Senior Vice President Chris Munday, And I'm Stephen Tholen, the Chief Financial Officer. During today's call, we may refer to our November investor presentation and our third quarter earnings release, which can be found on High Peak's website. Today's call participants may make certain forward-looking statements relating to the company's financial condition, results of operations, expectations, plans, goals, assumptions, and future performance. So please refer to the cautionary information regarding forward-looking statements and related risks in the company's SEC filings, including the fact that actual results may differ materially from our expectations due to a variety of reasons, many of which are beyond our control. We will also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures on today's call, so please see the reconciliations in the earnings release and in our November investor presentation. I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Mike Hollis.

Thank you, Steve. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for High Peak's third quarter conference call. I'm going to start today's call with a brief overview of our third quarter results and a quick update of our current development activity, after which, and more importantly, I want to use this opportunity to give you a glimpse into our company roadmap looking forward. With that said, Before we start talking about High Peak's future, I'm proud to report that we delivered a solid third quarter results which tracked our internal expectations. Production levels were consistent with the second quarter despite our reduced level of development activity. We only ran one rig through the entirety of the third quarter, drilled six wells, and turned in line only nine wells. That's roughly two-thirds of our TILs that we had in Q1 and Q2. Our CapEx was down 30% from Q2 as a result of our deliberate reduction of development activity and was spot on with our internal estimates. We held our LOE per BOE consistent with our first half 2025 levels. And as we discussed on last quarter's call, we successfully amended and extended our term loan pushed out debt maturities until 2028, and materially increased our liquidity. Now turning to current operations. Due to continued weakness in commodity prices and overall market volatility, we delayed picking our second rig back up until mid-October, a roughly one-and-a-half-month delay from our original plan. Now we plan to run both rigs throughout the fourth quarter before making a determination as to what the appropriate level of activity should be for 2026, which will be heavily dependent on oil prices, DNC cost, and overall market conditions. And we recently finished our second successful simulfrac completion on a six well pad with 15,000 foot average lateral links. This operation went smoothly with High Peak recognizing cost savings per well of over $400,000 compared with our traditional zipper frack technique. And we were even able to increase some efficiencies compared to our first simul-frack job. More lateral footage completed per day. We utilized continuous pumping operations and averaged over 4,700 feet of completed lateral footage per day. The operations team keeps delivering. We're very encouraged by the results that we've achieved to date utilizing the simulfrac ops, and we plan to tailor our 2026 development program to incorporate this completion technique more. Suffice it to say, Hypeek's operations and well performance are a well-oiled machine. That said, we will always find new, innovative optimization opportunities. As we have always done, our operations department will maintain a laser focus on low-cost operations. Now let's turn our focus to the future. I know you all have heard from me and the other High Peak Senior Team members on these calls in the past, but this is the first time I've had a chance to speak with you as the CEO and I will very clearly lay out our vision for High Peak moving forward. With our new chairman of the board and the entire team pulling in the same direction, we are moving forward with purpose and a sense of urgency. We're getting back to the basics, running a tight, disciplined operation built on focus, efficiency, and sound business sense. Our assets are strong, Our people are capable, and our commitment to managing cash flow and capital is steadfast. Now, I won't sugarcoat it. Our debt is high, and the market has told us exactly what it thinks about that. For a while, we drifted without a clear long-term plan, and it showed. That changes now. We're rolling up our sleeves to strengthen the balance sheet and rebuild the trust the only way that works, through steady, consistent results. We know talk doesn't cut it in this business, results do, and we will deliver. Now the first step in figuring out where you're heading is being very honest about where you stand and how you got there. Now we've done a lot of things right, And I want to tip my hat to the team for the hard work and follow through. But we also have some issues we need to face head on. No sense pretending otherwise. At the end of the day, the management, the board, and every one of us at High Peak own the results we have delivered to date. The good, the bad, and everything in between. It's ours to fix and to build upon. So let's reflect on what we have done well over the past five years and also what needs improvement. You can refer to page six of our investor presentation. So what have we done right over the past five years? Well, we've assembled a high-quality asset base in one of the most desired basins in the world, composed of two highly contiguous acreage positions with oil-rich inventory. allowing for cost-effective extended lateral development and strong IRRs. We've done a great job operationally maximizing efficiencies and developing a lean cost structure to drive enhanced economics. I would put our operational efficiency against any public company in the ENT space. We've also delineated a long runway of highly economic, multi-bench, oily inventory that is primed for full-scale, capital-efficient development. These are all great attributes, and I want to commend the High Peak employees, management, and even our investors for believing in the team in this area. But now let's look at some areas where we have misstepped and now need to improve. We are a controlled company, which has led to poor governance quality scores and high risk potential from the likes of ISS, Glass Lewis, and some notable rating agencies. At times, we had a growth at all costs mentality, even in the face of commodity price weakness. This ends now. This last view of cash management led us to overusing leverage and resulted in high cost of capital. Finally, what we've heard loud and clear from our investors is that our short-term focus on the business has eroded market confidence. We own these weaknesses, plain and simple, and we have a plan to set them right. So what does that look like? Well, some of these fixes we can tackle right now, and we've already started. Others are going to take a little time and patience. This isn't something that happens overnight. We see it like climbing a set of stairs. One solid step leads to the next. The first one is already behind us. We have reset our governance and put the right structure in place. That gives us the footing to run this company the correct way with discipline, accountability, and good old-fashioned business sense. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel here. Our focus is simple. Generate steady, sustainable cash flow, pay down our debt the smart way, and keep our financial house in order. Lucky for us, we've got a solid asset base that gives us the horsepower to get it done. And as we follow through step by step, I believe we will earn back the market's confidence the right way by doing exactly what we said we would do and sticking to our long-term plan. Now let's talk a little bit more about each of these areas needing improvement. If you take a step back and look at any public company, there are three levels of control. First, you have the board of directors providing direction and oversight. Second, you have management team directing the day-to-day operations. And finally, you have the shareholders who bring accountability and real-time feedback to the organization. Previously, all three of these control groups were effectively consolidated or led by a single individual. Again, this has led to poor governance scores by proxy advisory firms and credit agencies. However, over the last few months, we have made key changes in each of these areas. As most of you know, we've had a change at the top, effective immediately. I have accepted the role of permanent president and CEO of High Peak Energy. And I've got to say, I'm proud of how this team has stepped up. Several folks in senior management have really grabbed the reins and leaned into the vision. It's been all hands on deck, and I couldn't ask for a stronger group to work alongside. We have made several changes to the senior management levels, and I want to congratulate several of these employees on their new roles and titles. Second, we are pleased to welcome our new independent chairman, Jason Edgeworth. It's been a genuine pleasure working alongside him. Jason brings strong leadership, clear perspective and a shared passion for the company's long term success. I am confident with full alignment between the board management and shareholders. We will drive High Peak forward with focus and alignment to shareholder value. Third, unlike in recent past, we now have a fully independent board committees in place consistent with best practices for non-controlled companies. These include the compensation committee, the Nominating and Governance Committee, and of course, the Audit Committee. This structure strengthens oversight and reinforces our commitment to transparency, accountability, and integrity in everything we do. I want to emphasize again that both management and the board are completely aligned in our priorities. We share one clear goal, driving long-term success and sustainable value creation for High Peak and its shareholders. Now, regarding the shareholders, there are some major changes planned. As you may know, High Peak, the public company, is majority owned by two private equity partnerships, High Peak Energy Partners One and High Peak Energy Partners Two. These two partnerships own and control over 75 million of our 125 million outstanding common shares. As was recently disclosed, these partnerships plan to begin methodically distributing shares over the next two years, with high peak two being distributed first in 2026 and high peak one in 2027. It is important to note most of the limited partners have a long-term investment mindset. While we anticipate most of these shares will continue to be held by the limited partners, it will potentially provide an opportunity for some larger institutions and investors to be able to invest in high-peak stock, which should assist our low-float issue. With all of these changes, we plan to effectively split the three forms of control, management, the board, and the shareholder base, into independent but fully aligned groups. Now, continuing on the topic of accountability, Management will operate under clearly defined, measurable goals, and our compensation will be directly tied to our performance against those objectives. We are in the process of finalizing our 2026 roadmap, which will outline these performance metrics and align our incentives with long-term value creation. You can expect this framework to be in place and active in early 2026. Now let's talk a little more about sound business principles. As you know, commodity prices have a very direct effect on profitability. So despite improvements in operational efficiencies and cost structure, commodity prices are the single biggest factor in changes to our cash flow. So how are we going to navigate this volatile commodity market? In our slide deck, On page nine, we have laid out a very simple yet common sense approach. And I want to point out that the oil price laid out on the slide are long-term prices. Again, we are taking a long-term approach to capital discipline. All that to say, we will not have a knee-jerk reaction to very short-term swings in pricing. We will take a methodical and disciplined approach. Let's start with the bear case scenario, which we are currently close to right now. In the event long-term oil prices are below $60 a barrel, our focus will be exclusively on operating within cash flow. This means on the CapEx front that we will be operating less than a two-rig development program. This level of activity would lead to a moderate decline in overall production volumes, but this goes without saying there's absolutely no need to focus on growing production in an oversupplied or weak market. Again, we have a long-term view on value creation, and there is no reason to overdevelop or accelerate in drilling our high-value inventory in a low commodity price environment. Now as far as liquidity is concerned, in the face of sustained low oil price environment, anything is on the table. We will preserve liquidity. Now moving to the base case scenario of long-term oil prices in the $60 to $70 barrel range, our focus will be on free cash flow generation and prudently paying down our debt. On the CapEx front, this would most likely equate to a two rig development program, resulting in maintaining current production volumes. Now on the liquidity front, we would maintain our current dividend and use the additional free cash flow for a modest debt pay down strategy. In a bull case scenario of $70 plus oil, our focus will still be on increased free cash flow generation and accelerated debt pay down. On the CapEx program, we would likely be two rigs or just slightly more leading to moderate production growth. And on the liquidity front, it would allow us to accelerate debt pay down. But let me be clear, we would have to be in this bull case scenario for quite some time and reach a reasonable leverage ratio before we would ever consider additional shareholder value initiatives. We will get our financial house in order first. As I said earlier, these are basic business principles, but I wanted to lay them out in a very clear and concise manner. This will be the framework for our high-level roadmap for 2026 and beyond. Now, we have listened to our constituents, shareholders, creditors, rating agencies, and peers in the industry. And we have compiled some of these comments that we've heard and hear often, and we've laid them out on slide 10 of our company presentation. Now, we're fully aware of the challenges in front of us. From geographical positioning of our assets to cost of capital to questions surrounding the company's potential strategic options. Now, the key question is how to begin to rebuild and sustain market confidence. We're not ignoring the realities of our situation. Instead, we're facing them head on. And I want to take a moment to address several of the most common concerns we often hear. I want to do that openly and directly. Number one, Eastern Midland Basin is unproven. High Peak has drilled over 350 horizontal wells and have produced over 90 million BOEs from those wells. And third party organizations are now recognizing well performance cost differences i.e profitability and inventory quality and scale high peaks and offset operators track records over the last several years have dispelled this comment number two you guys have a growth at all cost mentality as a previous previously said there were many times in our history that may have been the focus But I think High Peak has been consistent over the last couple years in trying to maintain our current level of production and show the market that we're going to operate within cash flow. Number three, High Peak is over lever. That is a true statement. We are over levered for the size of company we are today. And this is one of our primary focuses moving forward. We are working to address this issue in a thoughtful and methodical way. Hopefully, you've gotten that sense through this call that operating within cash flow and paying down debt are absolutely top of our list and major areas of focus. Number four, you're starting to have GOR issues as your percentage gas production is increasing. We have seen increases in gas and NGL production. However, this is primarily due to historical takeaway issues that have been solved. As our gas midstream partners increase their takeaway capacity, and we have connected all of our central tank batteries to our gathering system, and our gatherers have lowered field-wide pressures, has allowed more oil and gas are more gas and liquids to flow to cells. I would also like to remind everybody that our percent oil production will fluctuate from quarter to quarter at times due to where our completion operations are taking place and the timing associated with turning online new pads. But at any reasonable cadence, our oil percentage should trend closer to 70%. Number five. High Peak has no float in their stock. Now, I hear this one a lot. Typically, it's I own it in my personal account, but I can't own it in my fund. Now, this has been a serious issue that we have faced for some time now, and we have done some things in the past that may have exacerbated the problem. However, we are working to fix this issue as it is extremely important moving forward i've already discussed the methodical distribution plan for the two high peak partnerships we are going to be measured and deliberate in how we solve this problem it cannot be fixed overnight number six high peak has been for sale for years high peak is a publicly traded company and as such we are always open to evaluating value-enhancing opportunities. That said, again, I want to be very clear, the board and management are fully aligned and unwavering in our commitment to long-term strategy of operating within cash flow, exercising disciplined decision-making, and maintaining measured, controlled execution. Our focus remains on building sustainable value for our shareholders over the long term. Final one, High Peak is a controlled company and there is no oversight. As I've highlighted earlier in the call today, we're very encouraged by the progress we've made over the last few months. We have established fully independent board committees, appointed an independent chairman, and put in place a clear plan starting in 2026 to transition away from being a controlled company. These steps strengthen oversight, enhance accountability, and position High Peak for long-term, sustainable value creation. Now, in conclusion, our company is in the midst of a meaningful transformation, one centered on stronger governance and accountability and a long-term focus on creating value for our shareholders. We're allocating capital with discipline, managing costs with precision, and maintaining relentless focus on efficiency. Our asset base gives us the flexibility to operate within cash flow, generate sustainable free cash, reduce debt, and continue building value the right way. We are not in the business of chasing production for short-term gains. We are here to build a durable, well-run enterprise, one that applies sound business principles, and puts every dollar to work where it drives the greatest return. Through disciplined execution, clear direction, and a unified team, we're positioning this company to perform in any environment. We are proud of what we have built, confident in where we are headed, and focused on delivering lasting value for our shareholders, employees, and partners. Thank you, and with my comments now complete, we'll open the call up for questions.