CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – June 4, 2017) – NuVista Energy Ltd. (“NuVista” or the “Company”) (TSX:NVA) would like to provide an update on our operational progress and outlook for 2017.
Weekly production continued with strength, reaching 33,000 Boe/d after the previously reported unscheduled 3rd party gas plant outage in April. In May, the planned maintenance outage for the K3 midstream gas plant commenced on time and it continues on schedule with a planned startup in mid June. Unfortunately we have experienced further 3rd party unscheduled downtime and flow restrictions in May and June related to Simonette midstream gas plant raw processing and liquids takeaway pipelines. These restrictions have limited our ability to make up for scheduled outages with additional production.
Drilling and completions activities have proceeded as planned. We continue to drill with one rig during spring breakup, with plans to increase to two rigs when weather permits. We have successfully finished two more high intensity fracture completions on newly drilled wells in Bilbo and crews are mobilizing to continue several more fracture operations in the upcoming weeks.
With production outside of maintenance periods at record levels, and completions ongoing on 17 drilled uncompleted wells, our confidence in fourth quarter 2017 and 2018 production has never been higher. Since most of the production which is still flowing during the outage period is from Bilbo, higher condensate weighting mitigates any funds from operations impact.
2017 Full Year Production and Funds From Operations Guidance Reaffirmed
We anticipate re-establishing base production levels of 33,000 Boe/d in the second half of June after the planned maintenance outage is complete. Based on the 3rd party outages noted above, second quarter 2017 production is expected to be in the range of 22,500 – 25,000 Boe/d. Third quarter production guidance is unchanged at 26,000 to 29,000 Boe/d. With planned maintenance complete, the fourth quarter is expected in the range of 35,000 – 38,000 Boe/d, up from our prior guidance range of 32,500 – 35,000 Boe/d. Full year 2017 production and funds from operations guidance is unchanged at 28,000 – 31,000 Boe/d and $160 – $180 million, respectively. Higher condensate weighting has offset the effect of reduced commodity pricing experienced since our original funds from operations guidance was provided. We look forward to providing further details with the release of our second quarter results in August.