Coterra Energy Inc.

Today's prepared remarks will include an overview from Tom Jordan, Chairman, CEO, and President, Shane Young, Executive Vice President and CFO, and Blake Sergo, Senior Vice President of Operations. Michael DeShazer, Senior Vice President of Business Units, is also in the room to answer questions. 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 updated 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 everyone joining us this morning. We're pleased to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results. our plans for 2025, and our updated three-year outlook. First, Cotera had an excellent fourth quarter. We achieved production levels above the high end of our guidance range for oil and natural gas, with capital expenditures coming in near the low end of our guidance. We returned 61% of our free cash flow in the fourth quarter through dividends and share buybacks. For the full year 2024, we returned 89% of our free cash flow. Most importantly, we generated outstanding results on our capital investments in 2024, achieving financial returns that are robust, durable, and repeatable. I want to commend our entire organization for delivering these exceptional results. Our 2025 capital plan aligns with the preliminary guidance we provided during our November announcement regarding the Franklin Mountain and Avant acquisitions. In 2025, after folding in the newly acquired Permian assets, we expect to run a consistent and highly capital-efficient program across each of our three operating regions. As always, we maintain flexibility to pivot and reallocate capital as conditions warrant. We are closely monitoring gas markets and remain prepared to modestly accelerate our Marcellus program if the current positive outlook were to persist through mid-year. This acceleration could add $50 million to our 2025 capital program, allowing Coterra to deliver incremental natural gas production volumes by early 2026 in time to capture winter pricing and respond to projected demand increases. Although our 2025 plan includes significant oil investments, we also have flexibility if oil markets were to wobble. Rest assured, if we need to adjust our capital plan during the year, we will do so thoughtfully and explain it thoroughly. Flexibility is the coin of the round. Regarding the Franklin Mountain at Avant acquisitions, we successfully closed both transactions in late January and are actively integrating these assets to optimize our capital and operational efficiency throughout our Permian operations. I want to congratulate our team for successfully completing these transactions and acknowledge the professionalism of the Franklin Mountain at Avant teams during the final stages. We also updated our three-year outlook in yesterday's release. Two years ago, we were cautious in releasing our initial three-year plan because of our experience in seeing others' three-year plans evaporate quickly with changing conditions. At that time, we communicated that our three-year outlook was not a definitive plan, but a guide to what we could achieve under prevailing conditions. Since then, we are pleased to have delivered and exceeded on our rolling three-year projections. Our updated three-year outlook released last night positions Cotera for industry-leading profitable growth, capital efficiency, and reinvestment rates. Together, these stem from our outstanding assets, high-performing organization, and commitment to capital discipline. The team continues to be laser-focused on maximizing return on capital and increasing per share value for our owners. With that, I will turn the call over to Shane for further details.

Thank you, Tom, and thank you, everyone, for joining us on today's call. This morning I'll focus on four areas. First, I'll discuss highlights from our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results. Then I'll provide production and capital guidance for the first quarter and full year 2025. Next, I'll provide a new and updated three-year production and capital outlook for 2025 through 2027, incorporating our recent acquisitions. Finally, I'll discuss our shareholder return program and outlook for deleveraging. Turning to our strong performance during the fourth quarter. During the fourth quarter, oil and natural gas production each came in over 3% above the high end of guidance. We saw outperformance in new wells that came online in both the Permian as well as our new wells that came online in December in the Marcellus. Turn-in lines during the quarter were in line with expectations, totaling just under 35 net wells, with the Permian, Anadarko, and Marcellus all near the midpoint of guidance. Additionally, we brought back all of our curtailed volumes in the Marcellus in early December. Pre-hedge revenue were over 1.4 billion dollars. with oil being right at 50% of total revenue during the quarter. We reported net income of $297 million, or 40 cents per share, and adjusted net income of $358 million, or 49 cents per share. Incurred capital in the fourth quarter were just above the low end of our guidance range, with lower than expected outside operated activity, as well as lower completion and post-completion costs. Discretionary cash flow for the quarter was $776 million, and free cash flow was $351 million after cash capital expenditures. For the full year 2024, Cotera generated outstanding results. Total equivalent production beat the high end of our guidance range, coming in at 677 MBOE per day. Oil production for the year exceeded the high end of our initial guidance by about 4%. growing organically 13% year over year, and natural gas production was in line with the high end of our initial guide. This outperformance was driven by a combination of beeps on expected well productivity and, to a lesser extent, accelerated timing. Capital costs were just above the low end of the guidance range, coming in at $1.76 billion, driven by better-than-expected service costs and lower activity in the Marcellus and Anadarko basins. This represents a 16% decrease in capital spending year over year, as we continue to see greater capital efficiency across our program. Cash operating costs per unit were near our guidance midpoint, totaling $8.66 per BOE for the year. Looking ahead to 2025, we've already made significant progress integrating our newly acquired Permian assets into the Cotera program. Both transactions closed in late January, and therefore, our 2025 results will only reflect the partial month of January production from each of those assets. During the first quarter of 2025, we expect total production to average between 710 and 750 MBOE per day. Oil is expected to be between 134 and 144 MBO per day, and natural gas is expected to be between 2.85 and 3 BCF per day. Regarding investment, we expect incurred capital in the first quarter to be between $525 and $625 million. For the full year 2025, we expect incurred capital to be between $2.1 and $2.4 billion as we increase activity and capital in the Permian Basin with the assets from our recent transactions. This range is consistent with the 2025 preview released in November, but with a few changes. Specifically, Permian spending is lower, reflecting additional expected cost savings as well as capital synergies on our acquired properties. While we won't realize all of these in 2025, we expect to achieve run rate synergies on these new assets of roughly $50 million. This savings is not from reduced activity. but rather savings on expected activity relative to cost achieved by the previous operators. At the same time, we have added activity and capital in the Marcellus, reflecting improved natural gas fundamentals and a lower cost structure. We have the flexibility, if warranted, to increase our investment later in the year while staying within our guidance range. This additional capital will allow us to bring on incremental volumes next winter and stabilize our Marcellus production volume levels. Also consistent with our 2025 preview, we expect total production for the year will average 710 to 770 MDOE per day, and oil is expected to be between 152 and 168 MDO per day, or 47% higher year over year at the midpoint of oil guidance. Natural gas is expected to be between 2.675 and 2.875 BCF per day, relatively flat year over year at the midpoint. This delivers just over one TCF of gas on an annualized basis, providing significant leverage to an improving natural gas market. Having only a partial month of January on the new assets impacts full-year 2025 production by a little over four MBOE per day relative to the guidance we previewed in November, which assumed an illustrative January 1st, 2025 closing date. Reflecting on our new three-year outlook. As we have done over the past several years, yesterday we announced our new three-year outlook for 2025 through 2027. We believe this is a robust capital-efficient plan that delivers consistent, profitable growth for our shareholders. We anticipate that we can deliver 5% or greater oil volume growth over this period and 0% to 5% per BOE growth by investing between $2.1 and $2.4 billion of capital per year. These growth rates include legacy Cotera organic growth in 2025 and include our recent acquisitions for 2026 and 2027. This outlook reflects increased capital efficiency and it's designed to afford Cotera the flexibility to reallocate capital between our business units as market conditions change. We believe this outlook has an attractive level of reinvestment and delivers meaningful free cash flow to underpin our shareholder returns and deleveraging goals. Turning to shareholder returns and deleveraging. Last night, we announced a 22 cent per share dividend for the fourth quarter, increasing our annual base dividend by 5% to 88 cents per share. This remains one of the highest yielding base dividends in the industry at over 3%. Management and the board remain committed to reviewing increases in the base dividend on an annual cadence. During 2024, despite soft natural gas prices and their impact on cashflow, Cotera continued to execute on its shareholder return program by repurchasing 17 million shares for $464 million at an average price of approximately $26.41. In total, we returned 89% of free cash flow during the year, or $1.1 billion through our repurchases and dividends. During 2025, Cotera expects to prioritize deleveraging, and under current conditions, we expect to repay our $1 billion of term loans. We are focused on quickly getting our leverage back to home around 0.5 times net debt to EBITDA. Cotera is committed to maintaining a fortress balance sheet that is strong in all phases of the commodity cycle, enabling us to take advantage of market opportunities and protects our shareholder return goals. Assuming our current outlook, we would expect to return 50% or more of annual free cash flow to shareholders in 2025 with a combination of our healthy base dividend and our share repurchase program. In summary, Cotera's team delivered another exceptional fourth quarter and full year of high-quality results, both operationally and financially, and across all three business units. We've hit the ground running during the first few months of the year and expect to deliver solid first quarter results in 2025, which should set the foundation for full year 2025 and beyond. With that, I'll hand the call over to Blake to provide additional color and details on our operations. Blake?