Crescent Energy Company

The solid execution this year allowed us to generate outstanding free cash flow and improved returns on our invested capital. These efficiencies, especially associated with the acquisitions in our core areas, not only helped us perform in the second half of 2023, they've also positioned us extremely well for continued success in 2024, where we are expecting year-over-year production growth without an increase in annual CapEx. We are extremely pleased with the portfolio we've built and what it provides to our investors. Our unique skill set operating both conventional and shale assets allows us to combine stable, low-decline cash flows with attractive reinvestment opportunities, positioning Crescent as one of the most capital-efficient platforms in the sector. Now, I will highlight how our operations performance can also drive M&A success, a key tenet of our growth strategy. We successfully executed on our acquisition strategy again this year, with $850 million of complementary and accretive acquisitions in the Western Eagleford. This year's acquisitions allowed us to transform an existing non-operated interest into a scaled, high-quality operated position in a core area of operation for Crescent. The acquisitions added significant production and reserve to our portfolio, which we've grown in a disciplined way at a 20% and 15% compounded annual growth rate, respectively, over the last three years. When evaluating acquisition opportunities, we have two key objectives. First, to buy assets that fit our portfolio at attractive value, targeting cash on cash returns in excess of two times our money. And second, to drive incremental returns through the application of our operating expertise. We've talked a lot about the attractive valuations on our 2023 acquisitions over the last few quarters, so I won't repeat myself. But I do want to spend a bit more time talking about the second objective, both as it relates to our recent Eagleford acquisitions, as well as our 2022 acquisition in the Uinta Basin. Now that we've had the time to integrate the assets and begin implementing our operating strategy across both areas, we are generating meaningful value above what we initially underwrote in our investment evaluation and business plan. I'll begin in the Western Eagle Fruit. While it is still early in our efforts, the outperformance has been significant. We talked last quarter about the immediate 15 to 20% cost savings we were seeing on the DMC side with Crescent now the operator managing development, and that has continued across all of our recent activity. Most importantly, these savings aren't coming at the cost of performance. In fact, our team is generating significantly better performance from all wells brought online since we took over operations in September. While still early in our efforts, we are seeing a 60% increase in well performance to date with 15% lower costs across the program, which represents a massive shift in capital efficiency on the assets. Over time, we expect to more clearly demonstrate the quality of the acquired assets in our hands. This improvement in well performance is only a piece of the incremental value we expect to drive on these assets under our ownership. We've also targeted and begun to capture a variety of synergies through better operating practices, including production costs and marketing, which combined with the improved well performance represent an opportunity for $30 to $50 million of incremental annual cash flow compared to our original underwriting. I will now move to our 2022 Uinta acquisition, where we've continued to drive strong performance through improved well designs. When we acquired this position, the only horizontal development on the assets utilized a legacy, smaller completion design with roughly 1,500 pounds of profit per foot. As we have implemented our operational approach, we are seeing significantly enhanced returns and improved capital efficiencies through larger completions, which we've doubled to roughly 3,000 pounds per foot. The early results from our updated design, which we implemented over the last nine months, are significantly better than the previous design. Importantly, in optimizing the DNC program, our team has managed to keep the new DNC costs generally flat versus the prior operator, despite the significant increase in job size. The Uinta Basin is an active area for the industry, where development was historically focused on the Ute-Land Butte formation. it is worth noting that adjacent operators across the basin have invested significantly in de-risking multiple additional productive formations beyond the Utlin Butte, including the Douglas Creek, Wasatch, and Castle Peak. In addition to our high-quality existing inventory, we see significant runway and upside development potential. on our acreage in incremental formations beyond the Utlin Butte, which was the primary source of production when we underwrote and acquired the assets. Looking ahead, we believe our operations team will build on these recent successes and continue driving meaningful efficiencies across our entire asset base. Importantly, we are also ready to apply our operating techniques to any new assets we acquire and integrate into the portfolio. This is great news because we currently have one of the largest pipelines of M&A opportunity in our recent history, which gives us confidence we are well positioned for operational value creation and accretive growth in 2024 and beyond. With this backdrop, I will also reiterate that we firmly believe in our ability to become an investment-grade company over time. To us, that means adding size and scale with financial discipline and a focus on compounding capital and shareholder value over time. We are investing in assets to generate attractive, full cycle cash on cash returns, and we expect to be an active participant in the ongoing wave of consolidation in the sector, particularly across our core operating areas in Texas and the Rockies. We believe that we are uniquely positioned as a leading acquisition growth company, employing our proven investment and operational expertise and supported by our strong balance sheet to acquire attractive assets accretively. Next, I'd like to discuss sustainability, an area that's core to our operations and long-term business strategy. We continue to make improvements in our greenhouse gas and methane emissions, and we're proud to report a 27% decrease in absolute scope one emissions in 2022 relative to our baseline. In December, we were awarded the gold standard pathway rating by the oil and gas methane partnership for the second consecutive year. This designation is the highest reporting level under the OGMP initiative and signifies we have a credible multi-year plan to accurately measure our methane emissions. Crescent was one of only four U.S.-based upstream companies to receive this rating for a second consecutive year. As one of the first U.S. onshore energy companies to join OGMP 2.0 in early 2022, we firmly believe that accurate measurement of emissions is imperative as we seek to most effectively improve our emissions profile. Again, we are proud of our 2023 performance We're optimistic about 2024, and we believe Crescent has never been better positioned. Our differentiated growth strategy, combining investment and operating expertise, continues to deliver a strong value proposition for our investors. With that, I'll turn the call over to Brandy to provide more detail on the quarter and our strengthened return of capital framework. Brandy?

Thanks, David. As David mentioned, performance has been extremely strong, with another quarter of record production and significant cash flow, averaging approximately 165,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day, generating $276 million of adjusted EBITDA and $102 million in levered free cash flow. This quarter's results are the first to include the impacts of both of our two Western Eagleford acquisitions. We had 134 million of capital expenditures during the fourth quarter, which has positioned us well for 2024. During the quarter, we brought online 17 gross-operated wells in the Eagleford and three gross-operated wells in the Uinta, which are all posting strong early-time results and are expected to generate in excess of two times our capital invested at current commodity prices. Turning to our outlook for 2024, as David mentioned, the capital efficiencies we've achieved to date alongside our accretive acquisition, set us up for continued strong performance. Our production is expected to be 155,000 to 160,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day, which represents a roughly 6% increase relative to 2023, with consistent capital spend supported by a two-to-three rate program. Maintaining capital spend at current levels, despite the year-over-year production growth, is a testament to the quality of our operating team and the efficiencies they've been able to drive across the asset base. At today's commodity prices, we expect to generate substantial free cash flow in 2024 and beyond. The unique stability of our asset base and cash flow generation have allowed us to return significant capital back to our shareholders with a consistent dividend for more than a decade. This quarter, we are excited to announce an even firmer commitment to shareholder returns by transitioning our current $0.12 per share dividend into a truly fixed quarterly dividend, providing even more certainty of returns to our shareholders at an industry-leading yield of roughly 4%. On top of this announcement, we also authorized up to $150 million for share buybacks, which will initially be focused on our Class B shares. At current trading levels, we believe investing in our own business offers a compelling return, and focusing on the Class B shares highlights our continued commitment to simplifying our corporate structure over time. To further emphasize our progress in this regard, we have successfully increased our public float by nearly 80% this year, significantly improving liquidity for our public investors. Moving to our balance sheet, we are exiting this year from a position of strength as we look forward to another active year in the M&A and A&D markets. We exited the year with leverage of 1.3 times and 1.3 billion of liquidity on an almost completely undrawn RBL facility. Finally, to provide a brief update on our hedging activity. In line with our strategy of preserving returns on capital, we layered on additional hedges alongside the signing of the two Western Eagleford acquisitions. As we look into 2024 and 2025, we are well protected from the current gas market volatility with roughly 50% of our production hedged through a mix of fixed swaps and collar floors of around 350 to 450 for MMBTU. On the oil side, we're well hedged in 2024, but maintain attractive long-term exposure given the long duration nature of our production base. With that, I'll turn the call back over to David.

Thank you, Brandi. Before we wrap up, there are a few things we hope you take away from today's call. First, our 2023 performance was extremely strong. We met or exceeded our increased guidance across the board and meaningfully beat on free cash flow. Our 2023 activity and execution have positioned us well for continued outperformance in 2024 and beyond. Second, we continue to execute on our growth through acquisition strategy. Our two acquisitions this past year, plus our Uinta Basin acquisition in 2022, are generating significantly more value than we underwrote. and we are unlocking incremental value through our operating capabilities. We've grown the business accretively, as production has grown at a 20% compounded annual growth rate over the last three years, and we fully expect to continue on that trajectory. Third, we are committed to a peer-leading return of capital strategy and have strengthened our framework to include a significant fixed dividend and a new share buyback program. And lastly, we have a simple value proposition. We believe Crescent is the best stock to own for long-term exposure to oil and gas prices, as we uniquely offer the discipline and capabilities of a large-cap business combined with the value and high growth potential of a proven mid-cap company. We have a lot of ambition and hold ourselves to a high standard, but we are pleased with what we've accomplished to date, and we intend to continue to do exactly what we say we're going to do. With that, I'll open it up for Q&A. Operator?

Thank you. At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. Our first question comes from the line of Neil Dingman with Truist Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Morning, all. Nice quarter. David, my first question for you, Brandon, I'm just wondering, is on capital allocation specifically, could you speak to how you're thinking about the opportunistic buybacks will fit in with the continued M&A, especially if the share price remains so highly discounted as I believe it is?

Hey, Neil. It's Brandi. Thanks for the question. I would say no change in how we think about capital allocation. 1A and 1B continue to be the dividend and the balance sheet, then return generating opportunities, whether that's our DNC program or M&A. And that's really where the bulk of the opportunity set is, if you will, if you think about we're spending plus or minus $600 million and we have a multi-billion dollar M&A pipeline. The $150 million buyback is going to be small in comparison, but we do think it's helpful just with respect to allowing us to continue to simplify our corporate structure, obviously focused on the private Class B shares initially.

Got to know that makes sense. And then just maybe looking at slide 12 or 13, my second one is just a bit on operational efficiency. It seems like you're seeing nice sort of efficiencies and even the synergies in the Eagleford after the deals. I'm just wondering, could you talk about are the, what I call operational synergies you're seeing, you know, is that sort of balance between seeing similar upside both in the Eagleford and in the Uinta, or is it more in one? And, you know, what's driving that? Is it just continue to be improvement in D&C, or is there something else you all would point to?

Yeah. Hey, Neil, it's David. We'd say a couple things, and as you can tell, the theme is sort of enhancing and simplifying right now. And to keep it simple, we think we've got a great team, and we think they're doing their job. So we kind of wake up every day just saying, how can we be better? How can we do our job? In this case in particular, we've been able to take over assets, apply our techniques to them, and that's starting to show through now that we've integrated things. The immediate kind of returns on what I'll call doing our job and on the drilling completion side. And that's just really getting more efficient as we get into what I'll call the regular rhythm in our program, but also just doing things better. You know, when we see the industry moving forward, we're trying to do the best we can to come in first place all the time. So on the drilling side, we're drilling wells faster. On the completion side, we're pumping jobs quicker and more effectively. And so I'd say it's a combination of all of those things. But in simple terms, we're just bringing what I'll call the latest technology to assets that have not been optimized. And we're seeing that both on the drilling and completion side. And I think you'll continue to see us, as we move through the year and into next year, also apply better techniques to the production side of things on the assets we've acquired. We're really pleased with what I'll call the last three or four years of acquisition activity, and everything's been integrated well. And what you're seeing is now we're getting to go to work on making everything better. So maybe too long an answer for you, but hopefully it gives you some sense of the optimism we have for what we're continuing to do.

No, that makes a lot of sense. If I could sneak one last one. It just seems like your baseline decline continues to be a big advantage over others. Could you just talk very quickly just does that still remain as low as ever?

Yeah, it's a fundamental premise of how we invest in this sector. So I think you can expect us to continue to stay committed to managing a portfolio of assets that has that as a differentiating perspective. We're not going to go – chase what I would call production growth through the cycle with the drill bit. We think keeping the business steady and generating great returns when we can is the way to go, and that's just going to continue to keep us in a great place in terms of lower decline rate, more predictable development programs, and a lower decline rate, which is frankly just better for everybody.

Well said. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of John Abbott with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

Hey, thank you very much for taking our questions. Really appreciate the efforts to further try to simplify the story. You know, just given the stock performance today, you know, part of that will be capital efficiency, part of that may be to move to a fixed dividend and also buybacks to further simplify the story. When you think about the stock reaction, what are your thoughts about the longevity of the non-economic Series 1 preferred. Does it still make sense to maintain that?

Yeah, hey, John and David. Appreciate the question. I'd say a couple of things to that. One, as you know, the number one thing that we're proud of in terms of the business strategy is that it's stayed the same, and we're going to continue doing what we said we were going to do. We feel like the business model that we've been pursuing for the last 10 plus years as a management team is still the right place to go. And as you know, the sector has kind of chased different strategies throughout that time period. So when I look at our current situation at the company, we definitely want to simplify I appreciate that you're recognizing that we're trying to do that every quarter. And with regard to your specific question around the Series 1 preferred, I'd just say two things. The board of directors today at Crescent has representatives related to 40% of the stock holding. And so we think there's really strong alignment there. And we really like waking up every day. knowing that we've got support from the shareholders and from the board to continue to pursue the same strategy. So we view it as a positive, not a negative. And I think over time, as the sector continues to chase different strategic alternatives, I think Crescent being committed to a successful and stable strategy is going to be a great thing. So that's how I'd answer that question.

Appreciate the caller. And then when you think about, for the second question, when you think about your CapEx and productivity gains, and you think about where your CapEx budget is this year. As you peer into 2025, I mean, just how do you think about spending on a year-over-year basis? I mean, is it a little bit higher this year? How do you sort of think about capital spend potentially peering into 2025, just given what you've achieved this year?

Hey, John, it's Brandy. Thanks for the question. So we would view our 24 program as maintenance pro forma for our most recent acquisitions. That's the 155 to 160 at plus or minus $600 million of capital. So I think it's fair to assume that that's a good maintenance capital level for us going forward.

Appreciate it. Thank you very much for taking our questions.

Thanks, John.

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Tarek Hamid with JP Morgan. Please proceed with your question.

Hey, good morning. So with the transformation in the Utica design, just wondering kind of how that changes how you think about the Uinta, sorry, as a target for further acquisitions.

Yeah, hey, Tarek. It's Clay. Listen, I think we're obviously very encouraged about the results we're seeing with the updated completion design and allocating half our capital there this year. So we're excited about the organic opportunity on the capital side. Certainly, it's a unique place for Further M&A, given how we ultimately came – in ownership of the asset we own there today. So it's a place we're paying attention to, as you'd expect, but there's obviously unique dynamics around it as well that we're cognizant of. So an area we'd love to continue to invest behind while being prudent in terms of how we think about it.

Got it. And then I guess just turning over to the new capital return framework. You guys have always been very, very thoughtful about returning capital to shareholders. So just love a little bit more context and why the decision to go from your kind of historical sort of 10% of EBITDA philosophy to this new updated philosophy.

Yeah, hey, great question. Obviously, we've had a lot of dialogue around this. The number one thing I would say and kind of reiterate about the way you asked your question is we're definitely not changing anything in terms of strategic approach, which is take care of the balance sheet and deliver a dividend so that we're taking care of the investors first. We've sort of lived as both a private and a public company and had that same strategy and approach consistently for over a decade now. And long story short, we just think that this is enhancing and simplifying. And so anything we can do to make things simpler, make the business more predictable and more credible, we think is good. And so again, we were not in a hurry to change anything given we were and still are a leader in return of capital in the sector, both when you look at the balance sheet and the dividend policy. So we think this is just more of the same, but more predictable and more value really to the business.

to really think about just the predictability of the fixed dividend as being kind of the one thing that you sort of said made life easier for shareholders.

Yeah, I think that's right. I think it's the same, too, though, in terms of predictability for the balance sheet as well. I know we would, you know, get questions around, you know, is 10% a target? How do you think about 10%? What's the percentage? And so I think just telling everybody, hey, we're committed to it. No change to the commitment. Priority is 1A, 1B. balance sheet and dividend and just making sure everybody knows, you know, we've been paying 12 cents for the last year and we feel very comfortable continuing to pay that 12 cents this quarter, obviously, and defining that as our framework going forward. But other than that, you know, no change. So I think the main takeaway should be this team has been doing the same thing as it relates to return of capital and taking care of the investors, both through the balance sheet and the dividend, and we'll continue to do so.

Got it. Thank you. That's it for me.

Great.

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Hanwen Chang with Wells Fargo Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Thanks for answering my question. My first question is on the Western Eagle for assets. Could you give us some colors on the Austin Chalk potential? Do you have any testing projects planned for 2024? And what have you learned from recent offset activity?

Yeah, we are drilling four Austin Chalk wells this year, so we have a small amount of capital allocated to the Austin Chalk. We're watching others. We're excited about the opportunity on the Western Eagleford asset. As you know, there's a lot of industry activity down there right now, and so I think, as always, on kind of more on-risk capital, we're going to be fast followers, but we're we're focused on the opportunity set and excited about the potential.

Thanks. The second question is on the Uintah Basin. We have seen strong production growth in the Uintah Basin in 2023. What's your overall outlook for the basin-wide activity and production growth in the next few years? Thank you.

Yeah, hey, it's David. I'll just cover this at a high level. It's a tremendous resource across the basin, and I think we're, as an industry, starting to see better and better performance from a level that was already good. So, as we mentioned just in our opening remarks, we're excited about how we were able to enter that basin and the value that... that we think we've developed there. We were targeting a proven area that had significant horizontal development, both on our position and across others, and that's only gotten larger. So I'd say a couple things in specific response to your question. We see activity continuing to accelerate as the resource expands. So the way we think about it is There's more production and longer reserve life in that basin than there's ever been, and it looks like that's going to continue. At the same time, as you know, we are a business that's focused on really growth through acquisition and maintenance of the business with the drill bit and really mindful of capital allocation and use of cash flow. So what I would say is we see very significant opportunity there. We think others' growth will outpace ours because of a different business philosophy and strategy. But as Clay mentioned, we're going to get to see a lot of development around us and also participate in it. And I think that's going to be great for us. So I don't think we're going to see a step change from here, but I think continued investment and growth in that basin with us pursuing a strategy that similar to the one we've pursued across the business for the last 10 years, and likely not leaning into growth as much as others might, but benefiting from the same resource potential and really just giving us a more predictable, longer-reserved life asset.

Thank you.

Thank you. And we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'll now turn the call over to David Rocket-Charlie for closed remarks.

Great. Thank you all again for joining us today and for supporting the company. As we said, quite simply, we think 2023 was outstanding performance we're proud of. We're very optimistic about what's ahead in 24 and beyond. And in our opinion, Crescent has never been a better position than it is today to deliver on the value proposition we have. So we look forward to staying in touch and talking to you again next quarter. So thank you.

And this concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.