California Resources Corporation

Good day and welcome to the California Resources Corporation first quarter 2026 conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing star then zero on your telephone keypad. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Daniel Jupp, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to CRC's first quarter 2026 conference call. Following prepared comments, members of our leadership team will be available to take your questions. I hope you have had a chance to review our earnings release and supplemental slides. We have also provided information reconciling non-GAAP financial measures to comparable gap measures on our website in our earnings release. Today, we'll be making forward-looking statements based on current expectations. Actual results may differ due to factors described in our earnings release and SEC filings. As a reminder, please limit your questions to one primary and one follow-up, as this will allow us to get more time for your questions. I'll now turn the call over to Francisco. Thanks, Danny.

Good morning, everyone. We're off to a solid start in 2026 with unprecedented energy market volatility, creating meaningful tailwinds and opportunities for our business. Before getting into the quarter, let me share a few thoughts on the macro environment and why CRC's business is well-positioned to create value through the cycle. Events across the Middle East have reminded the world of the importance of oil and energy security. Global supply chains have shown to be vulnerable, and countries have been forced to seek reliable, diversified sources of energy. While the United States has been relatively insulated due to our strong domestic production, California faces a unique and precarious position. Today, over 60% of the oil consumed in California comes from foreign sources. In recent weeks, our state's inventories have been reduced by more than 20%. A soil destined for California has been diverted to Asia at substantial premiums. The importance of in-state production has never been more critical, both to ensure supply and preserve affordability. As the Golden State's largest producer, CRC is positioned to be the solution. Delivering local barrels that shorten the supply chain lower transportation costs and associated emissions, and helping keep gasoline affordable for Californians. TRC has a deep, primarily Brent-linked, high-quality inventory of oil development opportunities, and recent legislative efforts to improve permitting are proceeding as expected. Our recent mergers were well-timed, with transactions priced well below today's strip. and set a strong foundation for future growth. We're now deploying capital into these assets to drive discipline, long-term value. California is starting to recognize that local production is essential to affordability, reliability, and the state's climate objectives. And CRC is ready to support all three. Today, we're moving decisively to accelerate development. We are increasing drilling cadence this summer by three rigs, two in California and one in Utah. This will allow us to return to our long-term production maintenance capital program ahead of schedule and accelerate high return projects to unlock value. In California, we're drilling new wells and adding capital-efficient workovers that will translate quickly into production. And in Utah, Our highly contiguous acreage position provides meaningful upside that we have only begun to capture. Let me spend a moment on the Uinta acreage because this opportunity is compelling. Since 2020, production in the basin is up 100%, reflecting both improved results at the wild level and expanded more mature regional infrastructure. Recently drilled CRC and offset wells have substantially de-risked our acreage, and we're planning to perform additional appraisal work. With over 200 gross yieldland view locations already in the portfolio and additional benches under consideration, we have considerable running room to support a scalable growth platform. Our planned acceleration activity to seven rigs will meaningfully enhance our financial outlook. For the full year, we're now targeting approximately 1% entry-to-exit gross production growth and raising our adjusted EBITDAX guidance by over 40%, outpacing the expected rise in rent. We're also increasing our varied merger synergy target, which Cleo will cover in detail in a moment. Our carbon management business, CTV, is on the cusp of a historic milestone. We completed the construction and commissioning of California's first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage project at our Elk Hills Cryogenic Gas Plant, and we expect to receive final notice of determination from the EPA any day now. That approval will clear the way to first CO2 injection marking the first time in California's history that carbon emissions are permanently stored. It will also place CRC among a small group of U.S. oil and gas companies with active CCS operations. Put simply, this is a defining moment, not just for CRC, but for California's ability to deliver on its climate objectives while preserving energy reliability and affordability. We expect carbon capture at our Elk Hills Cryogenic Gas Plant to be the first of many more projects to come. Our storage reservoirs sit within reach of approximately 17 gigawatts of baseload power generation across California that we believe has the potential to be retrofitted for CCS. And we have submitted over 350 million metric tons of carbon storage capacity to the EPA. with additional REST awards tracking or draft permits through 2026. Our data center conversations continue to gain momentum. As previously announced, a top-tier national data center developer is investing several million dollars to accelerate early-stage site readiness and permitting at elk hills. A clear vote of confidence in the opportunity. As AI transitions from training to inference, and other states face mounting power constraints, tech's appetite for scaled, clean power in California is growing. CRC is uniquely positioned to meet that demand. We can permit, deliver firm gas supply, offer available land adjacent to existing infrastructure, and pair it all with CCS. Power is the binding constraint for AI growth, and we are one of the few platforms that can solve it. On the Reliable and Clean Power Procurement Program, or RCCPP, we expect the next major update in the second half of 2026. Natural gas with CCS is not yet eligible, but support is building. and three of five CPUC commissioners have publicly endorsed inclusion. California already offers some of the highest stackable CCS incentives globally. RCPPP eligibility would make the economics even more compelling. Our enhanced 2026 outlook reflects the positive impact of these developments, as well as the continued execution of our strategy. With that, I will turn it over to Cleo to walk through our first quarter results and updated 2026 guidance. Cleo?