Coterra Energy Inc.

Good morning. My name is Rob and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Cotera Energy first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press the star one. Thank you. Dan Guffey, Vice President, Finance Planning Analysis and Investor Relations. You may begin your conference.

Thank you. Good morning and thank you for joining Cotera Energy's first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Today's prepared remarks will include an overview from Tom Jordan, Chairman, CEO and President, and Scott Schroeder, Executive Vice President and CFO. Also on the call is Blake Sergo, Senior Vice President of Operations. Following our prepared remarks, we will take your questions during our Q&A session. As a reminder, on today's call, we will make forward-looking statements based on our current expectations. Additionally, some of our comments will reference non-GAAP financial measures. Forward-looking statements and other disclaimers, as well as reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, were provided in our earnings release and update investor presentation, both of which can be found on our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom.

Thank you, Dan, and welcome to all of you who have joined us for our first quarter conference call. Cotera had an excellent first quarter. We delivered on all fronts, production at the high end of our guidance, capital within our targeted front-loaded cadence, and significant progress on our buyback. These results were driven by outstanding asset performance, a recurring trend you should expect from Cotera. Oil production exceeded the high end of our guidance, driven by strong performance in our Permian Wolf Camp and Harkey developments. Our Anadarko projects also continue to deliver above our expectations and set the stage for future activity increases. In particular, part of our production beat was driven by continued outperformance of the Anadarko Miller Trust project, which was brought online last year. The Anadarko is an underappreciated gem. within a strong portfolio. Finally, our Marcellus program outperformed in Q1, as we continue to develop a mix of lower and upper Marcellus targets. As we look ahead, we see continuing volatility in our underlying commodities. As of the close of business yesterday, 12-month NYMEX gas strip had fallen to $2.90 per MCF, The 12-month WTI oil strip stood at $67 per barrel. Two quarters ago, we were looking at a 2023 oil strip of $83 and natural gas strip of $5.30. There are growing fears of a significant recession, which have been exacerbated by the ongoing banking challenges. Fortunately, we at Cotera have some experience with living through volatility and uncertainty. Our formula is simple. Keep our debt low, strive for assets with a low cost of supply, stress test our investments with downside commodity price scenarios, and make capital allocation decisions that optimize returns and preserve flexibility. Service costs appear to have crested and are trending modestly downward. Although we welcome service cost moderation, It does not substitute for our mandate to push forward with operational efficiencies, project architectures that maximize investment returns, and the application of best-in-class technology to leverage our efforts for value creation. We focus on things that are within our control. We are on track with the three-year plan outlined in our Q1 release. In line with our initial plan, we will reduce activity in the Marcellus in the coming weeks and expect to remain at two rigs and one frack crew during the second half of the year. If we were to hold this level of activity flat through 2025, future Marcellus CapEx would decrease significantly and yet hold our northeast production flat, allowing us the option to redirect activity to the Permian and Adarco. Both of these basins have opportunities at the ready that provide great returns. Furthermore, our Marcellus assets retain the flexibility to grow in the future should macro conditions and prices warrant increased investment. Looking forward, we retain maximum optionality to deploy capital to its best use. We also look forward to publishing our 2023 sustainability report later this year. We are making great progress in understanding methane monitoring, including the discrepancies between the various technologies available to the industry. Cotera is working with our vendors to improve the available technology, understand the limitations, and choose the best solution for the problem at hand. With the varying environmental conditions between the Permian and the Dark One Marcellus, We have learned that there is no single scalable solution that can be successfully deployed across our portfolio. Instead, we will rely on multiple technologies to detect, measure, and reduce our methane emissions. Cotera will remain a leading company in innovative design and facility modification to reduce emissions. We also appreciate the collaboration with an outstanding set of competitor companies as we work together to solve this problem. This is an industry-wide challenge, and industry collaboration will be key to finding workable solutions. Our nation and the world depend upon it. With that, I will turn the call over to Scott to walk us through the particulars of a great Q1. Thanks, Tom.