ARC Resources Ltd.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the ARC Resources Limited Q1 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, note that all lines are in the listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. And if at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. Also note that the call is being recorded on Friday, May 6, 2022. And I would like to turn the conference over to Dale Luko. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our first quarter earnings conference call. Joining me on the call today are Terry Anderson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Bibby, Chief Financial Officer, Armin Jahangiri, Chief Operating Officer, Lara Conrad, Chief Development Officer, and Ryan Barrett, Senior Vice President, Marketing. Before I turn it over to our executive team to take you through our first quarter results, I'll remind everyone that this conference call includes forward-looking statements and non-GAAP and other financial measures with the associated risks outlined in the earnings release and our MD&A. All dollar amounts discussed today are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. Finally, the press release, financial statements, and MD&A are available on our website as well as CDAR, and following our prepared remarks, we'll open the line to questions. With that, I'll turn it over to our President and CEO, Terry Anderson. Terry, please go ahead.

Thanks, Dale, and good morning, everyone. Today I want to take a moment to review three items related to our financial and operational results and how we are progressing our business. As it relates to the quarter ARC delivered on our strategy, we possibly invested in our assets and capitalized on elevated commodity prices to reduce debt and accelerate returns to our shareholders. Since closing the seven-generation acquisition a year ago, ARC has sustained production at greater than $340,000 BOE a day and generated over $1.6 billion of free funds flow, equivalent to about 15% of our market cap today. In Q1, we allocated two-thirds of our free funds flow to our shareholders through the base dividend and share repurchases and the remainder to debt reduction. Since initiating the buyback program in September last year, we have invested and retired approximately 6% of our shares at an average price 30% lower than today. Retiring our shares below intrinsic value has proven to be a great use of capital and an effective way to grow our per share metrics. So we'll continue to use the tool to complement the base dividend as long as it is good returns for our shareholders. In addition, we announced a 20% dividend increase in the quarter. This further demonstrates our commitment to shareholder returns as we grow our business. Importantly, the dividend is sustainable through the cycle. We can sustain the business and fund the dividend with cash flow at $40 WTI and $2 ACO. ARC is an ESG leader and very proud to have one of the lowest emissions intensities in North America. We are pleased to announce that we have achieved certification of our Northeast BC assets under equitable origin standard for responsible energy development. This is the second certification we've achieved. The first at our CAQA asset, which means approximately 95% of our operations is certified. As a result, ARC now holds the largest volumes of independently certified production in Canada. We're also excited to announce another LNG supply agreement. This is an important next step in our market diversification and market expansion strategy. ARC will supply 140 million BTU per day, or about 12% of our current gas production to Chenier beginning in 2027 or possibly sooner. In exchange, ARK will receive JKM link pricing, net of shipping costs and liquefaction fees. Our scale, strong financial position and leading emissions profile were all important factors in securing this transaction. And it supports our broader strategy to expand margins by gaining access to markets where demand for our products is strong and growing. We continue to explore additional opportunities to insert ourselves and own more of the value chain. There is growing demand for low-cost, low-carbon natural gas, and ARC has a deep, deep inventory and expertise to responsibly develop it. Finally, our priorities for the balance of the year have not changed. We will remain disciplined with our capital. We'll focus on costs and operational efficiencies given the inflationary pressures And we'll resume investment in BC growth projects like Atachi and our Sunrise expansion once the regulatory environment is supportive. Our plan yields an attractive return for our shareholders. At Strip Pricing, we expect to generate free funds flow of approximately $2.5 billion in 2022, or approximately $3.70 per share. ARC has a significant commodity and geographic optionality to help us manage risk. We are capitalizing on that optionality today as we await clarity and resolution on the regulatory environment in BC. ARC is starting to receive incremental development permits from the BC Oil and Gas Commission, which is a very encouraging step towards establishing a foundation for future investment in the province. The most efficient operating plan for ARC currently is to redirect activity to CAQA as we await more clarity. At this time, there's no change to our overall capital spending plan or production guidance. The economics incentives in CAQA are high, given the constant fundamentals and prices are very strong. And we have improved efficiencies at the asset level and are able to leverage existing infrastructure to profitably deliver growth. The optimal production for level 4 CAQA is between that $180,000 to $200,000 BOE per day, approximately $15,000 BOE per day above what we produce in the first quarter. This is the appropriate production level that optimizes free cash flow and returns by balancing capital, inventory, and available infrastructure. With that, I'll turn it over to our CFO, Chris Bibby, to go through our financial results.