Earnings Labs

SandRidge Energy, Inc. (SD)

Q3 2021 Earnings Call· Wed, Nov 10, 2021

$15.51

+1.51%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning. My name is David, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the SandRidge Energy Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. Today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] Thank you, Scott Prestridge, Director of Finance and Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

Scott Prestridge

Analyst

Thank you, and welcome, everyone. With me today are Grayson Pranin, our CEO and COO; Salah Gamoudi, our CFO and CAO; as well as Dean Parrish, our VP of Operations. We would like to remind you that today's call contains forward-looking statements and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainty, and actual results may differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We may also refer to adjusted EBITDA, adjusted G&A and other non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures can be found on our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Grayson.

Grayson Pranin

Analyst

Thank you, and good morning. Hopefully, you've had time to review the earnings release we posted yesterday after the market closed. The company is well positioned to capitalize on recent commodity price tailwinds to include a capital program supporting the reactivation of over 100 wells through the third quarter and more than 2 turns of net debt and net cash since last year. Before discussing these points in more detail though, Salah will touch on a few highlights from the third quarter earnings.

Salah Gamoudi

Analyst

Thank you, Grayson. Simply put, 3Q '21 was a strong quarter. Despite no new drilling or completion activity, our daily average production remained relatively flat at 18.7 MBoe per day for the third quarter compared to 19 MBoe per day in the prior quarter. The production for the quarter as well as the year benefited from the reactivation of over 100 wells throughout 2021 that were curtailed during last year's commodity price downdrafts. During the quarter, net cash, including restricted cash, increased to $99 million, a $28.4 million increase from the prior quarter primarily due to flat production, higher commodity prices and price realizations and our continued focus on cost minimization. As of November 5, 2021, the company's cash on hand, including restricted cash, was approximately $115.8 million. The company has no remaining debt or revolving debt obligations as the company repaid its $20 million term loan in full and terminated its previously existing credit facility in early September. Our adjusted EBITDA increased approximately 60% quarter-over-quarter to $34 million, again despite no new drilling or completion activities during either period. Commodity price realizations increased by 7%, 74% and 55% from the last quarter to $69.40 per barrel, $2.89 per Mcf and $26.93 per barrel for oil, gas and NGLs, respectively. We have maintained our large NOL position, which was over $1.6 billion as of the end of 3Q '21. Our NOL position has and will continue to allow us to shield our future cash flows from federal income tax. Our cost discipline continued to improve during the quarter, with previously implemented initiatives further manifesting in our financials, partially offset by an increase in workover activity associated with well reactivation. This quarter, total G&A was lower quarter-over-quarter at approximately $2.2 million or $1.29 per Boe compared to $2.5 million or $1.46…

Grayson Pranin

Analyst

Thank you, Salah. I thought it would be helpful to walk through some of the company's highlights, management strategy and other business details. First, let's begin with our asset base, focused here in the Mid-Con region with a primarily PDP well set, which do not require any routine flaring of produced gas. These well-understood assets are almost fully held by production with a long history, shallowing and diversified production profile, double-digit reserve life and have little to no substantial future geologic, reservoir or materially concentrated capital risk across the producing assets. As a result of this focus in Mid-Con, the company was able to keep quarter-over-quarter production as well as the trailing 12-month average rates in Mid-Con, relatively flat at nearly 19 MBoe per day, despite no new drilling activities driven in part by a reactivation of over 100 wells. We plan to continue this well reactivation program through the remainder of the year, which has cumulatively added a time-normalized 3,000 gross barrels of equivalent per day and delivered over 100% capitally weighted rate of return. In addition, we plan to convert a subset of these and other PDP wells to a more efficient long-term artificial lift method, which will likely reduce their go-forward costs. The year began with base profile decline expectation of upper teens, which will be extended further through this type of activity to the lower teens. While we continue to press on operating costs, we anticipate expenses, explicitly workover expenses, to remain at the prior quarter's level as we reactivate more wells. We have been able to control costs despite general inflationary pressures in the market due to our proactive approach to secure equipment, material and services at attractive rates, over a tender that supports our capital program as well as the benefit of prior initiatives…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Still showing no questions at this time. [Operator Instructions] And that does conclude today's conference call. You may now disconnect.