PDC Energy, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the PDC Energy First Quarter 2022 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only 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 1 on your telephone keypad. Please be advised that today's conference call is being recorded. And if you require any further assistance, you may press star 0. Without a further ado, I would like to welcome your speaker for today, Mr. Bill Crawford. The floor is yours.

Thank you very much, and thank you, everybody, for joining us today. Today we'll be speaking, we'll be Barb Brookman, President and CEO, handing it over to David Lillo, who is our SVP of Operations, and then on to Scott Myers, our CFO. Before I hand it over, I do want to caution everybody to read the forward-looking statements and encourage you to read our Form 10-Q that were filed this morning with the SEC. With that, I'm just going to hand it right over to Bart.

Thank you, Bill, and welcome, everyone. Let me begin by thanking all the PDC employees. A terrific quarter as we begin 2022. Solid execution of our operating plan with continued focus on safety. Significant efforts on the Great Western integration as we plan on closing this transaction tomorrow. We are excited for the balance of 2022 with new assets being added to PDC's operating base, which provide additional scale in production and strengthens nearly all of our key financial metrics. This will fuel top-tier free cash flow levels for the company, as well as shareholder returns. And I believe all of this makes PDC one of the most compelling investment stories in the E&P sector. Now, some first quarter highlights. Production of 17.9 million barrels of oil equivalent, exceeding our expectations. Exceptionally strong production performance from our Delaware team. Free cash flow of $319 million on a capital spend of $220 million. Execution in both basins was extremely efficient and, most importantly, safe. Shareholder returns for the quarter, $110 million in the form of fixed dividends and share repurchases. And for the quarter, the company purchased approximately 1.3 million shares of stock. From a debt perspective, we closed the quarter with a leverage ratio of 0.4 and $170 million cash on hand. Scott Myers will provide more details on the company's financial strength in a moment. Let's now switch gears and talk about ESG. Tremendous progress and continued social efforts on the company's part. I am pleased to announce we are on target or slightly better for our 2025 emission reduction goals. For 2021, an approximate 12% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and approximately 17% reduction in methane. The Great Western team, has done a terrific job in emissions management. This acquisition will be accretive to our emission reduction targets. And I'd like to remind everyone, these goals have been added to our corporate performance metrics and compensation system. On the social side of ESG, PDC continues its robust giving program, supporting over 80 charities in our operating areas and recently adding Ukrainian humanitarian efforts. This amounts to approximately $3.5 million of giving on an annual basis. And PDC doesn't just give dollars. Our employees give their time as well, volunteering more than 4,000 hours in community service each year, a job well done. Now, a few closing thoughts for me. We are extremely pleased we entered the current election cycle in Colorado with no anti-industry ballot initiatives, the first time in a decade. You can expect the company's blended budget post-merger to be finalized shortly after closing tomorrow and announced in early June. The outlook for the company in the second half of 2022 and future years continues to look incredibly strong. With 500 ducks and permits in hand, and the highest confidence in the approval of the Kenosha OGDP in early June, PDC's turn in line schedule of the highest quality projects is mapped by our operating team well into 2024. Last, the scale achieved through the Great Western merger coupled with the company's multi-year top tier inventory gives us the ability to deliver exceptional financial performance and shareholder returns for many, many years to come. With that, I'll turn this call over to Dave Lillo for an operational update.