Baytex Energy Corp.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Baytex Energy Corp first quarter 2021 financial and operating results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Brian Echter, Vice President, Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Charisse. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our first quarter 2021 financial and operating results. Today, I am joined by Ed LaFerre, our President and Chief Executive Officer. Rod Gray, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Kendall Arthur, our Vice President, Heavy Oil, Chad Kalmakoff, our Vice President, Finance, Chad Lundberg, our Vice President of Light Oil, and Scott Lovett, our Vice President of Corporate Development. While listening, please keep in mind that some of our remarks will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. I refer you to the advisories regarding forward-looking statements, oil and gas information, and non-GAAP financial and capital management measures in yesterday's press release. All dollar amounts referenced in our remarks are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise specified. And with that, I would now like to turn the call over to Ed.

Okay, great. Thanks, Brian. And good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome everybody to our first quarter 2021 conference call. Last year, as you know, we took decisive steps to adjust our business in the face of extremely volatile crude oil markets. We moved aggressively to shift our operating and capital activities to maintain financial liquidity, minimize capital outlays, and we emphasized cost reductions across all facets of our business to retain long-term value. And those decisions, while not easy, have served us well. And I am very pleased that yesterday we announced strong protocols first quarter results and a five-year outlook that demonstrates our operational and financial strength and our commitment to generating value for our shareholders. Let's talk first about our Q1 results, and then I'll provide some color on our five-year outlook. During Q1 2021, we executed our plan to maximize free cash flow and to reduce debt. We delivered adjusted funds flow of $157 million, or 28 cents per basic share. This resulted in free cash flow of $70 million, which, along with the Canadian dollar strengthening relative to the US dollar, contributed to an $89 million reduction in our net debt. We realized an operating net back of $29.80 per BOE, which is almost double the $15.19 per BOE realized in Q4 2020. Production during the first quarter averaged 78,800 BOEs per day, 81% oil and NGLs, and that's up 12% as compared to 70,475 BOEs per day in Q4 of 2020. The increased production largely reflects the resumption of drilling activity in the Viking and Eagleford, which began in the fourth quarter. Exploration and development expenditures totaled $84 million and included the drilling of 46.5 net wells with 100% success rate. One particular highlight this quarter is our successful exploration well on our Peace River Clearwater Play, which sets up follow-up activity later this year, and I'll expand on that in a few minutes. As a result of our operational momentum and the strength in commodity prices, we have announced an increase in both our production and capital spending guidance. This will position our business for continued strong operating performance and free cash flow generation going forward. Our focus on disciplined returns-based capital allocation is enabling us to generate over $250 million of free cash flow this year. We are now forecasting 2021 exploration development expenditures of $285 to $315 million, up from $225 to $275 million, which was set in a $40 U.S. to $45 U.S. pricing environment. The additional activity will largely occur in the fourth quarter and will be allocated across our portfolio. Our revised production guidance range is 77,000 to 79,000 BOEs per day, up from 73,000 to 77,000 BOEs per day. Approximately 75% of our total capital program will be directed to our light oil assets in Eagleford and Viking. In addition, we are very excited to kick off our heavy oil program in July, including follow-up activity on our Northwest Clearwater exploration discovery. and we plan to drill two wells in the Pembina DuVernay as we hold our acreage and advance the play. As some of you may recall, just over one year ago we executed a strategic agreement with the Peavine Métis settlement in the Peace River area that covers 60 sections of land directly to the south of our existing seal main operations. At the time, we identified significant potential for this exploration play targeting the Spirit River formation, a clearwater formation equivalent. Our initial exploration well was drilled during the first quarter and has shown promising results with a 30-day initial production rate of 175 barrels per day from only two laterals. With this early success, we are planning up to six additional clearwater multilateral wells for the second half of the year. Across our acreage position, we estimate that over 100 sections of our lands are prospective for clear water development. And with over a decade of experience in heavy oil exploration and multilateral development, this play aligns very strongly with our core competencies. So I will now turn the call over to Rob to discuss our balance sheet and risk management.