PDC Energy, Inc.

Again, this is your conference operator. Today's conference is scheduled to begin momentarily. Until that time, your lines will again be placed on hold. Thank you for your patience. Thank you. Thank you. Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the PDC Energy First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Kyle Sork, Investor Relations. You may begin, sir.

Thank you, and good morning. On today's call, we have President and CEO, Bart Brookman, Executive Vice President, Lance Locke, Chief Financial Officer, Scott Myers, and Senior Vice President of Operations, Dave Willow. Yesterday afternoon, we issued our press release and posted a presentation that accompanies our remarks today. We also filed our Form 10-Q. The press release and presentation are available on the investor relations page of our website, www.pdce.com. On today's call, we will reference both forward-looking statements and non-US GAAP financial measures. The appropriate disclosures and reconciliations can be found on slide two in the appendix of that presentation. With that, I'll turn the call over to our CEO, Bart Brookman.

Thank you, Kyle. Let me begin this call with the most sincere thank you to the PDC employees, our board of directors, investors, banks, and service providers. This has been 15 months of unprecedented risk and uncertainty, but today you will see the resiliency of the PDC story as we emerge from this crisis even stronger than we were pre-pandemic. The outlook we will provide today clearly demonstrates the company's top-tier financial and operating strategy, and I believe it provides one of the most compelling investment opportunities in the E&P sector. Now, some first-quarter highlights. $175 million of free cash flow on a capital spend of $125 million, and production of 15.7 million barrels of oil equivalent, We achieved this free cash flow despite three outlier weather events, two in Colorado and one in the Permian Basin, which adversely impacted corporate production by approximately 500,000 BOE. Thank you to our operating teams for navigating these very hazardous conditions and always putting safety first. With the abundant free cash flow, our balance sheet and shareholder returns remain our primary focus. For the quarter, we reduced net debt by approximately $230 million, maintained a 1.3 leverage ratio, and we repurchased 600,000 shares of stock. When we look back over the last 12 months, the company has generated $575 million of free cash flow, achieved a 90% free cash flow margin, and reduced net debt by approximately $600 million. all terrific accomplishments and numbers accelerated by the SRC merger. Next, our outlook for the next three years, modeled at $55 oil and generating what I consider an extremely strong forecast. Expect the company to maintain discipline around our capital and operating plan. We plan on generating $1.8 to $2 billion of free cash flow by year-end 2023, which calculates to less than 50% reinvestment rate of our cash flow from operations. Over this three-year period, we plan on reducing debt by at least $850 million and returning more than $650 million to our shareholders through dividends and our stock repurchase programs. all while generating modest production growth and maintaining an industry-leading balance sheet. On the drilling permit side of our business, tremendous effort right now by our land and regulatory teams. We expect to submit our first OGDPs in the very near future, and by year end, we plan to submit over 500 drilling permits to the state of Colorado in the form of OGDPs and a capital. Now let's talk ESG. The company's commitment and actions in this arena are very real. Some highlights, starting with the E or the environment. Through improved operating practices and midstream modifications, flaring in the Delaware is 1.2% year-to-date, a dramatic improvement from prior year levels. And PDC's corporate flaring rate is an impressive 0.2% year-to-date. This is achievable because no flaring is conducted in Colorado. On the social side, or the S, we continue to focus on equitable representation. We maintain a strong gender and diversity presence in our leadership at PDC, and we are proud. We have a completely gender-balanced staff in our corporate offices. On the governance side, or the G, we have placed intense focus on refreshment at the board level. with an emphasis on diversity of thought, gender, and background, and nearly 60% refreshment rate over the past two years. Before I turn the call over to Dave, I just want to reiterate how pleased I am with the overall results and the outlook of the company. I believe this is a direct reflection of PDC's quality team and our premier assets. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dave Lillo for an update on the operations. Thanks Bart.