Anthony Hatcher
Analyst · TD Cowen
Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Dion Hatcher, President and CEO of Vermilion Energy. With me today are Lars Glemser, Vice President and CFO; Darcy Kerwin, Vice President, International HSE; Randy McQuade, Vice President, North America; Lara Conrad, Vice President, Business Development; and Travis Thorgeirson, Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Planning. Please refer to our advisory on forward-looking statements in our Q4 release. It describes forward-looking information, non-GAAP measures and oil and gas terms used today, and it outlines the risk factors and assumptions relevant to this discussion. Vermilion had an impactful year, positioning ourselves as a global gas producer with top decile gas prices, lower cost structure and a long-duration asset base capable of delivering sustainable free cash flow for decades to come. In 2025, we delivered record production and marked a pivotal year in our company's history through strategic A&D activity, particularly the acquisition of the high-quality assets in our core Deep Basin area. And the disposition of noncore assets in Saskatchewan and the United States, our portfolio is now focused on liquids-rich gas assets in Canada and premium priced gas assets in Europe, building one of the largest land footprints in the Deep Basin, along with our growing liquids-rich gas business in the Montney has sharpened our operational focus. This allows us to improve our cost structure and more importantly, higher profitability in our Canadian portfolio. In Germany, during Q1, we brought online the first well of the deep gas exploration program, Osterheide, and progress the build-out of infrastructure to facilitate the production from one of our largest European gas discoveries, Wisselshorst, which we expect to bring online by mid-2026. In the Netherlands, we successfully drilled 2 wells with multiple prospective zones and brought them on production in Q4. The long runway of future prospects we've identified in Europe with finding and development costs of approximately CAD 1.50 per Mcf, represents an opportunity for profitable organic growth in our domestic European gas business. These core assets drove another strong quarter in Q4, both operationally and financially. Production of 121,308 BOEs per day was ahead of guidance. This was partially driven by highly productive wells in the Deep Basin, where 3 of the most productive gas wells in December were Vermilion owned and operated. Production also benefited from record volumes in the Montney as well as outperformance from the Osterheide well in Germany, which had 40% higher production compared to the third quarter and generated approximately $8 million of free cash flow in Q4 alone. Strong realized gas pricing of $5.50 per Mcf or double the AECO benchmark was driven by our direct European gas exposure, where TTF prices averaged $15 per MMBtu in the quarter. Our realized gas prices also benefit from enhanced market diversification in Canada and a sophisticated hedging program. On the operational side, we apply a continuous improvement mindset to the areas within our control, safety, production and cost management. I'm excited about the progress by each team across the business. In Canada due to the improved operational scale, high-quality assets, our unit operating costs are now the lowest in over a decade, which improved our corporate unit costs, now the lowest since 2020. Investments in infrastructure such as the Mica facility and development initiatives in Germany are expected to deliver an increase in excess free cash flow over the next few years. The long duration of our asset base and our commitment to disciplined capital allocation, when combined with only 153 million shares outstanding, positions Vermilion to add meaningful per share value. Moving to reserves. Vermilion's total proved plus probable or 2P reserves increased by 36% from the prior year, reaching 592 million BOEs. This growth was driven by a combination of organic development and the Deep Basin acquisition, which closed in February 2025, partially offset by the divestment of the United States and Saskatchewan assets in mid-2025. We added 86 million BOEs of proved developed producing or PDP reserves and 201 million BOEs of 2P reserves in 2025. Our average finding, development and acquisition costs, including future development costs, were $14.91 per BOE for PDP and $7.71 per BOE for 2P. That's a recycle ratio of 1.8 to 3.5x, respectively. These recycle ratios highlight the capital efficiency and strong returns of our reserve additions. It's also worth noting that PDP reserves do not include any volumes or present value associated with the Wisselshorst discovery well on the Bommelsen license, whereas the 2P reserves include approximately 7 million BOE or 43 Bcf related to our 64% working interest in the initial discovery. We have identified up to 6 additional drilling locations on the Bommelsen license that currently have no 2P reserves assigned, representing significant further upside for European reserves. We remain on track to spud the first 2 of these locations in early 2027 with long lead equipment ordered, the drilling rig secured and permitting progressing as expected. By applying the learnings from the previous program, we anticipate lower cost and faster cycle times resulting in these wells being on production in the second half of 2028. The 2P reserve life index was 14 years, in line with our historical averages. Our internal estimate is we have 1,700 drilling locations across our 1.3 million net acres of land that's in the Deep Basin and Montney and only 23% of these are included in our year-end reserves. Also of note, internal estimates of initial gas in place related to exploration and development prospects in Europe are minimally included in our year-end reserves. We believe there's significant upside to our European gas reserves given our 1.4 million net acres land across Germany and Netherlands combined with our track record of exploration success. Across our portfolio, the combination of book reserves and additional internally estimated locations provide long-term visibility for future production and cash flow. Before-tax net present value of our 2P reserves discounted at 10% using the 3 consultant average pricing as of Jan 1, 2026, and deducting year-end net debt, is $23 per basic share, well in excess of our current share price. I will now pass to Lars to discuss the Q4 results in more depth.