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11/20/2024
Welcome to the presentation of Seacrest Petroleum's third quarter 2024 results. We are an independent oil and gas production company with a uniquely integrated portfolio of producing fields and export infrastructure in Brazil, where we have commenced the largest onshore drilling program of 300 infill wells.
Please review our disclaimer.
Today's presentation will be held by myself, José Cotelo, Chief Executive Officer, and Thomas Kendall, Chief Financial Officer.
These are the contents of today's presentation. We will start off going through our operational highlights for the third quarter.
We proved our ability execute on our drilling program this quarter. We drilled 10 new wells on schedule and on budget with a single rig and production from these wells was in line with our expectations. And in support of this, we have reached significant milestones in our financial strategy. We raised $8 million via a convertible offering and continue to work towards refinancing our debt. Following quarter end in October, we announced the signing of a binding term sheet for a farm down of a minority interest in our assets for up to $217 million and the term sheet for $40 million prepayment facility with Trafigura. Third quarter production was 6,843 barrel of oil equivalent per day, down 14% sequentially. Petroleum revenues declined versus the previous quarter, despite higher off-takes, in part due to the way revenues were realized under our prepayment agreements. These were based on FOB pricing, which includes a discount to reflect shipping costs that have historically been accounted for in operating expenses. Production costs fell overall, but rose on a per barrel basis because of lower production. Production failed primarily because of an ANP requirement to construct modifications on truck loading sites, which result in a temporary reduction of our production. We were the first independent oil company required to construct these loading systems. The approval process for these sites to return to operation also took the regulator longer than expected. However, we continued normal offtake operations with a 122,000 barrel over lift in Q3 compared to a 23,000 barrel under lift in the prior quarter. We will now discuss our drilling program and operations. Our in-field drilling program, the largest onshore Brazil, performed well during the quarter. After mobilizing a new rig in June, we drilled 10 new wells to target death on time and on budget. Drilling time averaged about four days, better than planned assumptions and much better than the performance at our first batch of wells. We drilled an average of one new well per week, including transport and mobilization time. So, we have demonstrated our ability to execute on the drilling program. We have tendered for fit-for-purpose rigs with shorter DTM and plan to ramp up activity building on our demonstrated success following the completion of our financing planning. This would allow us to accelerate drilling and production growth. We received six offers, have shortlisted two of them and we will decide on the winner this week. The rigs we are considering are currently active, so we will not have to deal with reactivation from cold stack. In October, we encountered a steam leak at one of our infill wells that has not yet started its production. We addressed the matter immediately, and in close cooperation with relevant regulators, there were no injuries to personnel, Spilled fluid was mostly water and clean up is substantially complete. The compacted area around the well was cleaned in less than three days with no ground penetration and the motion of steel and oil that result from stopping the leak spread only around the top leaves of surrounding trees and these were trimmed according to regulator recommendations. according to regulators we have been following up with weekly visits there was no impact on any water resources tetrabras continues to work towards the repair and certification of the north pipeline however we are now in discussions to take over completion of the pipeline work and have received codes for the relevant materials and services totaling 2.5 million dollars We will be implementing a clamping solution which is more fit for purpose and simpler, and the work will be performed by an international engineering contractor with a leading track record. The proposed timeline for the work involved entails about 90 days of completion, and with manufacturing of the clamps already underway, this would imply completion in the first quarter of 2025. As you know, VLSFO is historically priced at a premium to Brent and sale of only spec will remove $4 per barrel marketing fee for no spec oil and eliminate the off spec product discount. I will now turn over to Thomas, who will discuss our financial strategy. Thomas, good morning.
Thank you, José. We have made major progress in our plan to be fully financed. Since we last reported, we have completed the first tranche of our convertible bond offering, bringing in $8 million of new capital. We followed this up with the announcement that we sign term sheets for an asset level transaction farm down for up to $317 million of equity capital from MBD partners with long-term investors in the company with oil and gas expertise and a $40 million prepayment facility from Trafigura. In order to facilitate this transaction, the company has entered into a forbearance agreement with its bank lenders. We also continue to work towards refinancing our debt as previously announced. The high quality of our assets, supported by recent positive drawing results, has helped us explore these and other options to strengthen the company's capital structure. And we continue to pursue other means of improving the company's liquidity profile, such as the deferment of payments to Petrobras and other sources of equity. Realized oil prices went down 18.6% quarter on quarter. This was driven by two main factors. The decrease in Brent crude prices, but also a newly implemented off-tech contract reflecting FOB pricing, thereby discounting shipping costs from revenue, which were previously an incremental operating cost. There was also a negative effect of $1.05 million in realized edge losses. In addition, off-tech volumes were up 8.5% sequentially during the quarter, partially offsetting the impact of realisation on revenues. Earnings for the quarter were held down across the key indicators of Total Operating Income, EBITDA, Operating Profit and Profit Before Taxes. The driver of the lower earnings was lower revenues coupled with increased cost of sales. The cost of sales increased as a result of the 122,000 ball over lift in the quarter, which released a $7.8 million of prior capitalized inventory costs onto the income statement. The opposite effect was apparent in Q2, where we capitalized $5.8 million of inventory onto our balance sheet. The lower revenue accounted for $5.5 million delta Q and Q, and the inventory change accounted for a $13.6 million delta Q on Q. The sum of these effects resulted in a $19.1 million delta quarter-on-quarter on EBITDA operating profit and profit before taxes. The production cost per barrel, overall equivalent, increased by 8% quarter-on-quarter, driven by a 13% drop in production volumes, offset by a 5% drop in production costs. The cash flow from operation trended positive quarter on quarter due an extension of the working capital cycle. The capex for the quarter increased as a result of drilling related activities. In the third quarter, the company recorded a realized edge loss of $1.05 million in revenue. The forward curve remained flat quarter on quarter at $71 per barrel on average, but the fair value exposure decreased as a result of edge settlement. The company has also entered into a relatively small put option transaction for the next three years as per the credit agreement obligation. CapEx for the quarter ended on $17.1 million, including $5.4 million of lease payment reflecting the drilling activity during the period. Our cash position went down for the quarter due to the investment in CapEx and foreign exchange losses. I'll now pass it back to José to close out the presentation.
Thank you, Thomas.
As a summary, we have released the Petro Reconcavo drilling rig, but we have tendered for fit-for-purpose drilling rigs with shorter DTMs that will allow us for faster drilling activity once our financial plan has been completed. We are limiting cash expenses during this period to maintain operations. In the meantime, this means that our production levels will remain flat for longer than previously expected. However, given the excellent rating performance demonstrated during the third quarter and encouraging production rates we are seeing from the new wells, we have more reason than ever to be confident in our ability to resume production growth once we have completed our financial plan. We are also continuing to work on our reservoir modeling, which will allow us to perform more work over activities. During the quarterly, we successfully proved our ability to drill on time and on budget, and we also took big financial steps to support our long-term growth strategy. We are continuing to make progress in a clear plan to be fully financed and are setting the stage for a resumption and acceleration in drilling activity. We are looking forward to delivering rapid and profitable growth, and thank you for your continued support.