Continental Resources, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Continental Resources, Inc. Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Rory Sabino, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Welcome to today's earnings call. We'll start today's call with remarks from Harold Hamm, Executive Chairman, Bill Berry, Chief Executive Officer, and Jack Stark, President and Chief Operating Officer. John Hart, Chief Financial Officer, and other members of management will be available during Q&A. Today's call will contain forward-looking statements that address projections, assumptions, and guidance. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's SEC filings for additional information concerning these statements and risks. In addition, Continental does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements made on this call. Finally, on the call, we'll refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. For a reconciliation of these measures to generally accepted accounting principles, please refer to the updated investor presentation that's been posted on the company's website at www.clr.com. With that, I will turn the call over to Mr. Hamm.

Harold? Thank you, Rory, and good morning, everyone. Underinvestment in the oil and gas industry has created a huge opportunity for today's investors. Crude oil and natural gas inventories have been and continue to be drawn down worldwide, yet remain higher than normal levels at this time. The industry consolidation within our sector will continue to drive capital discipline as additional supplies are not needed at this time. I believe the winners in our sector will produce low cost operations and the most capital efficient barrels to deliver significant and consistent free cash flow. We deliver on both of those and that is why when you invest in commodities, continental resource should be your number one choice. We are undervalued and I believe we have the best value in our sector. We have industry leading capital efficiency and lowest cost leadership amongst our peers. Our technological and operational expertise continues to drive these efficiencies. We have a large production base from our high quality assets with dominant position in both the Bakken and Oklahoma. Our assets afforded commodity optionality and gives us the capability of pivoting quickly and nimbly as demonstrated this quarter to take advantage of higher natural gas prices. And Jack and others will talk about that. We continue, we proactively manage our business with a long-term view on generating shareholder value regardless of the price environment. This will be the fifth consecutive year of policy free cash flow for our company. We have unmatched shareholder alignment. We are always delivering innovative entrepreneurship across all of our teams and all of our operations. We are responsibly fueling a better world through ESG stewardship and our company record best safety experience. We have a seasoned leadership team. Our sustainable free cash flow provides a direct path to further debt reduction and return of capital to shareholders. Despite recent volatility from demand concerns attributable to COVID, we remain optimistic in our ability to produce considerable sustainable shareholder value well into the future. I also wanted to provide an update regarding American Gulf Coast Select. The AGS Task Force continues to make great progress on technical recommendations and best practices around standardizing a new U.S. Gulf Coast financial and fiscal market for crude oil. In the third quarter, we saw an important announcement from Magellan Midstream Partners, which allows for crude oil from third-party pipelines to access Magellan East Houston Terminal, allowing for additional access to Gulf Coast refineries and international waterborne markets. This is a natural evolution for the Houston crude oil market, providing a transparency, reliability, and liquidity required to be competitive in global oil markets, and there's more to come. Finally, I wanted to provide my thoughts on the current state of the election. The election process is not final, and we, like you, are waiting to see the results when all legal votes are counted. Energy jobs and energy security became the center of this election and motivated many voters in these swing states. I believe that had the Democrats position to eliminate oil and gas, they call fracking. Had that been known at the commencement of early voting, the outcome would have swung further to president Trump. Ironically, it was Joe Biden who helped craft the ill-fated Carter administration's energy plan and his fuel use act of 1977. which you also voted for. If you'll remember, the Fuel Use Act mandated 100% coal usage for electricity generation. Even as the EIS predicted disastrous environmental damage and it prohibited use of clean burning natural gas at the same time. And some of you remember perhaps the acid rain that was caused. The reality is natural gas usage has dramatically improved as U.S. CO2 levels over the last three decades have declined to the point where we achieved the 2030 Paris Accord targets a decade early in 2020. Many energy supporting candidates did well in this election, and we will have several champions back in the Senate and the House. Congressional District 5 in Oklahoma City was a prime example of energy voting and the importance of energy to local economies. I believe President Trump's support of energy jobs and his focus on economic prosperity bolstered his supporters. Americans care about the economy and the economic growth that will be powered by American energy. No matter the final outcome, Continental is well positioned to be a leader in powering our nation's recovery. While we wait to see the final results of the presidential election, the Senate will more than likely remain in the hands of Republican leadership, and the House Republican representation will be strengthened. This should serve as a backstop for any legislation that would be harmful for U.S. oil and gas producers. I will now turn the call over to Bill Berry.