Baytex Energy Corp.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Baytex Energy third quarter 2022 financial results 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'll be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star, then zero. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Brian Achter, Vice President, Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Gaylene. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us to discuss our third quarter 2022 financial and operating results. Today's call is somewhat unique in that we are saying goodbye to Ed LaFerre, who has led our organization for the past six years, and we are welcoming Eric Grieger as our new President and Chief Executive Officer. We will hear from both Ed and Eric today. And we are also joined by Rod Gray, Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer, and Chad Lundberg, our Chief Operating and Sustainability Officer. 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.

Thanks, Brian. And good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome everybody to our third quarter 2022 conference call. And at the same time, I'm truly excited to welcome Eric to BATEX. Throughout his career, Eric has been focused on organic development and engaging and inspiring organizations to create value, key traits that I know will fit in well here. I will remain with BATEX in an advisory capacity until the end of January, at which point, my retirement will officially begin. Today is certainly a bittersweet moment for me. When I joined Batex six years ago, I remember stating on my first quarterly earnings call how impressed I was with the Batex team and how committed and focused they were on driving value. This was a strong team with high-quality assets that I knew could build a great future. Six years and 24 conference calls later, The team and the portfolio are stronger than ever before. I am enormously proud of the entire BATEX team and our accomplishments. Together, we successfully repositioned BATEX through the downturn, strengthened our balance sheet, and we discovered one of the most exciting new Clearwater oil fields that our industry has ever seen. And we are progressively increasing direct returns to shareholders, something we are all immensely proud of. Before I turn the call over to Rod and Eric, let me review for one last time our quarterly results. During the third quarter, we delivered strong operating and financial results, which has set the stage for continued momentum as we approach 2023. In addition, we advanced our Clearwater play at Peavine with results from our second half drilling program, continuing to deliver among the best wells drilled in the play. Production during the third quarter averaged over 83,000 BOEs per day, and we generated quarterly free cash flow of $112 million, which brings our year-to-date free cash flow to $478 million. Capital expenditures totaled $167 million, and we participated in the drilling of 86 gross or 72 net wells. Production in October increased to over 87,000 BOEs per day, which puts us on track to achieve our targeted exit rate of 87,000 to 88,000 BOEs per day. For 2022, we expect to average approximately 84,000 BOEs per day, which represents 5% annual production growth or 6% on a per share basis. We are now forecasting full year 2022 exploration and development expenditures of $515 million, up 3% from our previously targeted $500 million, which represented the high end of our prior guidance range. The incremental capital largely reflects the impact of a strengthening U.S. dollar relative to the Canadian dollar on our U.S. operations and further level loading of activity through year end to maintain the efficiency of our operations. We remain intensely focused on capital discipline, and maximizing free cash flow. Taking into account our year-to-date results and based on the forward strip for the fourth quarter, we expect to generate approximately $650 million or $1.16 per basic share of free cash flow this year. Operationally, the highlight of our business continues to be our Clearwater development at Peavine. This is an asset that at current commodity prices generates among the strongest economics within our portfolio and has the ability to grow organically while enhancing our free cash flow profile. During the third quarter, our clear water production averaged 8,200 barrels per day, and in October we produced approximately 10,000 barrels per day from 24 producing wells. The first four wells from our second half 2022 drilling program generated average 30-day initial production rates of 1,100 barrels per day per well. Initial well performance continues to outperform tight curve assumptions, and we now hold 13 of the top 15 initial rate wells drilled across the play. Following further detailed reservoir and economic analysis of the Peavine Clearwater, our second half wells are all drilled at 40 meter interlateral spacing, whereas our initial wells were drilled at 50 meter interlateral spacing. This tighter spacing enables the drilling of five wells per section versus four wells per section and creates the potential for a 20% increase in our prospective drilling inventory, yielding meaningfully improved resource recovery and value. To date, we have de-risked 50 sections of our 80-section Peavine land base and believe the lands hold the potential for greater than 250 locations, with production increasing to approximately 15,000 barrels per day. When combined with our legacy acreage position in northwest Alberta, we estimate that over 125 sections of our lands are highly prospective for clearwater development. I want to now turn it over to Rod, who will provide a brief update on our liquidity and capital structure.