CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – Aug. 8, 2017) – NuVista Energy Ltd. (“NuVista” or the “Company”) (TSX:NVA) is pleased to announce results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017 and provide an update on its future business plans. NuVista experienced another strong quarter with continued development drilling success. Funds from operations, production, and netbacks remained strong despite planned and unplanned outages and a reduction in commodity prices compared to the first quarter. This strength was primarily as a result of favorable well results and increased condensate production as lower condensate-ratio wells were shut in during outage periods.
NuVista is continuing to deliver on our accelerated 2017 drilling program, and has made impactful progress in early Gold Creek development and Pipestone delineation during the second quarter. We possess a material position in the condensate-rich Wapiti Montney play which is delivering strong financial returns to shareholders now and is expected to do so over the long term. With our prudent focus on balance sheet strength, we maintain flexibility to adjust capital spending and pace of growth commensurate with the business environment while adhering to our long term growth and profitability objectives.
Significant Operating Highlights
Bilbo Block
The Bilbo compression and dehydration facility is now at capacity with production up to 20,000 Boe/d depending on normal operational fluctuations. Four additional wells reached IP30 in Bilbo during the second quarter. The IP30’s for the four wells averaged 1,890 Boe/d including 885 Bbl/day of condensate and a high condensate-gas ratio (CGR) of 129, while flowing on a restricted basis. Two of the wells were regular fracture intensity and two were high fracture intensity (HiFi). We are very pleased with ongoing regular and HiFi well results, as evidenced by the high CGR ratios. The two HiFi wells are outperforming the two regular fracture intensity wells. It is encouraging that our ten-well moving average of Bilbo results continues to increase as the average cost per well has continued to fall.
Capital costs for drilling, completing, and tie-ing in wells are expected to increase approximately 10% for the second half of 2017 as compared to 2016, roundly in line with previous estimates which included modest room for cost inflation commensurate with the commodity price environment. Our aspiration is that evolving HiFi well results will mitigate the effect of cost inflation with higher production volumes.
The drilling of our 6-well pad at northeast Bilbo was concluded as planned, and completion operations have been finished successfully last week. This pad will now be equipped and tied in, then brought online in the fall.
Elmworth Block
The Elmworth block has recently reached a new production record of 15,000 Boe/d, including the Gold Creek production which is presently flowing through the Elmworth facility. Completion activities are progressing well now with summer weather, and a total of five new Elmworth wells have been completed successfully and are being tied in. Completion operations are underway on a further four-well pad. We expect to see continued production increases in Elmworth through the second half of 2017 with the nine new wells being tied in, reaching as high as 16,000 Boe/d.
Gold Creek Block
All three wells on our extended reach horizontal (“ERH”) pad at Gold Creek have now been completed successfully, with two of the three wells having HiFi completions. This pad contains wells with lateral length ranging from 2,900 m to our record 3,850 m. A total of 164 stages were fractured in the wells, including 71 stages in the longest well. Tied in to our Elmworth compressor and dehydration facility, this three well pad is currently producing approximately 5,100 Boe/d including 15 MMcf/d of raw gas, 2,680 Bbls/d of condensate, and 270 Bbl/d of natural gas liquids.
We are very pleased with the projected IP30 data for these wells which have now been on production for 15 to 23 days respectively. The three well average projected IP30 flowrate is 1,575 Boe/d per well, including 660 Bbls/day of condensate per well. This compares very favorably to the IP30 average of the five original NuVista Gold Creek wells of 1,173 Boe/d and 408 Bbls/day condensate per well. Importantly, the IP30 CGR of these three wells averaged 109 Bbls/MMcf as compared to 81 for the original five wells. In addition, the average of the two HiFi wells outperformed the regular fracture interval well on this pad by a margin of 64% and 82% on the Boe/d rate and condensate rate respectively.
The pad was achieved with a drilling and completion cost of $30.3 million, in line with expectations. We have now commenced drilling an additional well in Gold Creek towards delineation of the north end of the block.
Pipestone Block
We have concluded the drilling of our first NuVista well in this emerging block. The well was drilled to a lateral length of 3,100 m in just 19 days. This well will be completed and flow tested, with results expected to be available for reporting in the fall. The Pipestone stakeholder and development plan is proceeding well to underpin our planned future growth in this area which has continued to see exciting offsetting industry activity.
Lower Montney
NuVista has recently commenced drilling our first Lower Montney horizontal well at Bilbo. We look forward to well results in the fall in this new emerging layer of the Montney formation.
Commodity Price Risk Management Continues to Benefit NuVista
NuVista continues to benefit from the discipline of our strong hedging program during this period of volatile commodity prices. This has been a challenging summer for AECO, with spot natural gas prices under pressure briefly due to temporary restrictions in pipeline and compressor station capacity on the Alberta NGTL system. We are pleased to report that there was virtually no impact to NuVista pricing as a result of these restrictions and price reductions. We currently possess hedges which in aggregate cover 60% of remaining 2017 projected liquids production at a floor WTI price of C$67.31/Bbl, and 64% of remaining 2017 projected gas production at a price of C$3.13/Mcf. Both of these percentage figures relate to production net of royalty volumes. Due to our fixed price hedges, basis hedges, and our export pipeline volumes, NuVista has less than 5% of our natural gas volumes exposed to spot AECO prices in 2017.
2017 Outlook: Annual Guidance Reaffirmed
In accordance with our 2017 plan, NuVista has recently reduced activity to two rigs drilling in the Wapiti Montney area. We have significant flexibility to adjust the capital program quickly if desired, commensurate with our views on commodity pricing and changes in the business environment. At this time we have no plans to alter the program from our original 2017 budget, and re-affirm our projected capital spending in the range of $280-300 million. Commodity prices have continued with weakness and volatility so we will revisit our 2018 spending plans in the fall to determine if spending reductions are appropriate, commensurate with the pricing view at that time. First and foremost, we will continue to preserve our financial flexibility.
As previously stated, production through the third quarter of 2017 is expected to be choppy due to the major 5-year-cycle planned maintenance outage at the non-operated Simonette gas plant. Underlying production outside of outage periods is proceeding at or above planned levels with run rates already exceeding 33,000 Boe/d. As a result, we re-affirm our third and fourth quarter production guidance ranges of 26,000 to 29,000 Boe/d and 35,000 to 38,000 Boe/d respectively. Third quarter funds from operations netbacks are expected to be temporarily reduced since it is the condensate rich Bilbo block which will experience downtime in respect of the Simonette maintenance outage. Despite this, the full year 2017 production guidance range of 28,000 to 31,000 Boe/d remains intact.
Given top quality assets and a management team focused upon relentless improvement, NuVista will continue to optimize well results, improve margins, and grow our production profitably toward our 2021 goal of 60,000 Boe/d. We would like to thank our staff, contractors, and suppliers for their continued dedication and delivery, and we thank our board of directors and our shareholders for their guidance and support as we build an ever more valuable future for NuVista.
Please note that our corporate presentation is being updated and will be available at www.nuvistaenergy.com on August 8, 2017. NuVista’s second quarter 2017 condensed interim financial statements and notes to the financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under NuVista Energy Ltd. on or before August 9, 2017 and can also be accessed on NuVista’s website.
Corporate Highlights | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Three months ended June 30 | Six months ended June 30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
($ thousands, except per share and per $/Boe) | 2017 | 2016 | % Change | 2017 | 2016 | % Change | |||||||||||||||||
FINANCIAL | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Oil and natural gas revenues | $ | 79,401 | $ | 57,840 | 37 | $ | 163,637 | $ | 117,559 | 39 | |||||||||||||
Funds from operations (1) | 39,318 | 35,619 | 10 | 82,572 | 65,907 | 25 | |||||||||||||||||
Per share – basic | 0.23 | 0.23 | – | 0.48 | 0.43 | 12 | |||||||||||||||||
Net earnings (loss) | 25,767 | (7,320 | ) | (452 | ) | 64,084 | (4,867 | ) | (1,417 | ) | |||||||||||||
Per share – basic | 0.15 | (0.05 | ) | (400 | ) | 0.37 | (0.03 | ) | (1,333 | ) | |||||||||||||
Total assets | 1,107,004 | 921,401 | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Net debt (1) | 182,354 | 157,135 | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Capital expenditures | 69,250 | 28,765 | 141 | 176,662 | 89,957 | 96 | |||||||||||||||||
Proceeds on property dispositions | 528 | 69,495 | (99 | ) | 824 | 69,945 | (99 | ) | |||||||||||||||
Weighted average common shares outstanding – basic | 173,013 | 153,455 | 13 | 172,887 | 153,387 | 13 | |||||||||||||||||
End of period common shares outstanding | 173,242 | 156,838 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||
OPERATING | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Production | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Natural gas (MMcf/d) | 91.6 | 91.8 | – | 95.6 | 97.2 | (2 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Condensate & oil (Bbls/d) | 8,682 | 6,422 | 35 | 8,519 | 6,333 | 35 | |||||||||||||||||
NGLs (Bbls/d) (2) | 1,501 | 1,731 | (13 | ) | 1,629 | 1,937 | (16 | ) | |||||||||||||||
Total (Boe/d) | 25,454 | 23,451 | 9 | 26,089 | 24,468 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
Condensate, oil & NGLs weighting | 40 | % | 35 | % | 39 | % | 34 | % | |||||||||||||||
Condensate & oil weighting | 34 | % | 27 | % | 33 | % | 26 | % | |||||||||||||||
Average selling prices (3) (4) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Natural gas ($/Mcf) | 3.72 | 3.25 | 14 | 3.74 | 3.52 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
Condensate & oil ($/Bbl) | 57.26 | 49.42 | 16 | 60.29 | 45.60 | 32 | |||||||||||||||||
NGLs ($/Bbl) | 22.93 | 11.26 | 104 | 20.24 | 7.99 | 153 | |||||||||||||||||
Netbacks ($/Boe) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Oil and natural gas revenues | 34.28 | 27.10 | 26 | 34.65 | 26.40 | 31 | |||||||||||||||||
Realized gain on financial derivatives | 0.51 | 3.39 | (85 | ) | 0.26 | 4.20 | (94 | ) | |||||||||||||||
Royalties | (1.02 | ) | 1.31 | (178 | ) | (1.07 | ) | (0.06 | ) | 1,683 | |||||||||||||
Transportation expenses | (3.13 | ) | (2.07 | ) | 51 | (2.82 | ) | (2.42 | ) | 17 | |||||||||||||
Operating expenses | (10.66 | ) | (9.66 | ) | 10 | (10.69 | ) | (10.14 | ) | 5 | |||||||||||||
Operating netback (1) | 19.98 | 20.07 | – | 20.33 | 17.98 | 13 | |||||||||||||||||
Funds from operations netback (1) | 16.98 | 16.69 | 2 | 17.48 | 14.81 | 18 | |||||||||||||||||
SHARE TRADING STATISTICS | |||||||||||||||||||||||
High | 7.73 | 7.18 | 8 | 7.73 | 7.18 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||
Low | 5.91 | 4.45 | 33 | 5.52 | 2.72 | 103 | |||||||||||||||||
Close | 6.55 | 6.25 | 5 | 6.55 | 6.25 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
Average daily volume | 531,576 | 496,656 | 7 | 505,910 | 480,409 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
Basis of presentation
Unless otherwise noted, the financial data presented in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) also known as International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). The reporting and measurement currency is the Canadian dollar.
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