Permian Resources Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Permian Resources NYSE: PR reported record second-quarter free cash flow of $751 million, or $0.88 per share, as higher oil production, increased working interests in completed wells and a rapid response to commodity-price movements supported results. Co-Chief Executive Officer Will Hickey said free cash flow increased nearly 50% from the prior quarter and exceeded the company’s total free cash flow generated during 2023. He said the company expects full-year 2026 free cash flow to be nearly double its 2024 result. Oil production averaged about 198,000 barrels per day during the second quarter, up 3% sequentially. Hickey said the company increased its workover-rig count by 50% after oil prices moved higher, improving well runtimes and accelerating incremental production. The company also raised its working interest in completed wells to about 82%, compared with its original expectation of 75%. Those factors, along with well performance, drove approximately 6,000 barrels per day of quarter-over-quarter oil growth for cash capital expenditures of $521 million, according to Hickey. Permian Resources curtailed natural-gas production from high gas-oil-ratio wells exposed to Waha pricing during the quarter, when Waha natural gas averaged negative $3.14 per Mcf and traded as low as negative $9.52 per Mcf. The curtailments reduced the company’s natural-gas production by about 20% from the prior quarter. Hickey said firm transportation agreements, hedging and the production curtailments enabled Permian Resources to realize $0.38 per Mcf for its gas during the period, providing more than $75 million of revenue uplift on natural-gas sales. The company returned all previously curtailed wells to production in late June as Waha pricing improved, Chief Financial Officer Guy Oliphint said. He added that third- and fourth-quarter gas volumes should look more normal and that the company has transportation capacity expected to cover roughly all of its net gas volumes in 2027. James Walter, co-CEO, said the company has not seen a meaningful change in basin activity due to improved gas egress. However, he said new pipelines coming online appear able to handle restored volumes and incremental growth, while the company feels more confident about crude and natural-gas takeaway capacity over the next several years. Permian Resources said it has acquired about 55,000 net acres in the core Delaware Basin year to date through roughly 190 separate transactions, for total consideration of approximately $1.05 billion. The transactions added about 330 high-confidence, high-net-revenue-interest drilling locations, the company said.