HOUSTON, Nov. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

• Identified 21 Tcf Net Resource Potential and 1,250 Net Premium Locations in New South Texas Natural Gas Play
• Added a Total of 1,400 Net Premium Locations to Drilling Inventory Which Now Totals 11,500 Locations
• Generated $1.2 Billion Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities and Significant Free Cash Flow
• Capital Expenditures 23% Below Target and Crude Oil Production 2% Above Target
• Per-Unit Cash Operating Costs Below Targets
• Introduced Three-Year Outlook with 70-80% Cash Flow Reinvestment

EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG) today reported a third quarter 2020 net loss of $42 million, or $0.07 per share, compared with third quarter 2019 net income of $615 million, or $1.06 per share.

Adjusted non-GAAP net income for the third quarter 2020 was $252 million, or $0.43 per share, compared with adjusted non-GAAP net income of $654 million, or $1.13 per share, for the same prior year period. Please refer to the attached tables for the reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures.

Third Quarter 2020 Review
EOG continued to respond aggressively to adverse market conditions by sharply lowering operating and capital costs as well as deferring production volumes to future periods. Reductions to operating costs were offset by lower commodity prices and production volumes, resulting in lower earnings in the third quarter 2020 compared with the same prior year period. Realized crude oil prices were $40.15 per barrel in the third quarter, down 29 percent from the same prior year period, while natural gas prices declined 21 percent, to $1.68 per thousand cubic feet. These declines were partially offset by an increase in natural gas liquids prices in the third quarter to $14.34 per barrel, up 13 percent compared with the same prior year period.

Compared with the third quarter 2019, total company crude oil volumes were 19 percent lower, at 377,600 barrels of oil per day (Bopd). Natural gas liquids production was one percent lower and natural gas volumes were 13 percent lower, contributing to 14 percent lower total company daily production. EOG continued to return shut-in wells to production during the third quarter, and nearly all shut-in wells were back on production by the end of September. On average, 28,000 Bopd was shut-in during the third quarter. EOG also began initial production from approximately 100 net new wells in the third quarter, after deferring such activity earlier in the year in response to lower oil prices.

Lease and well costs declined 24 percent on a per-unit basis compared with the same prior year period, driving an overall reduction in per-unit operating costs. Most of the lease and well cost savings were based on sustainable efficiency improvements in well-site maintenance, equipment repair, managing offset completions and other production operations.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $1.2 billion. Excluding changes in working capital and certain other items, EOG generated $1.3 billion of discretionary cash flow. The company incurred total expenditures of $646 million, including $499 million of capital expenditures before acquisitions, non–cash transactions and asset retirement costs, resulting in $762 million of free cash flow. Please refer to the attached tables for the reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures.

"Our operational execution continues to be excellent," said William R. "Bill" Thomas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "I'm grateful to all EOG employees during these unusual times. We continue to exceed expectations by optimizing production volumes and reducing costs while maintaining our strong safety and environmental performance.

"Notably, we are not playing defense in the current challenging environment. In fact, the opposite is true: we are aggressively moving EOG forward, advancing new plays, identifying innovative solutions to lower costs and improve well productivity, sharpening our technological edge and further demonstrating our commitment to sustainability. All of this is driven from the bottom up by a decentralized organization and a unique culture. This year more than ever, we are focused on investing in our people and enhancing our culture to sustain our competitive advantage and enable EOG to play an increasingly vital role in meeting the long-term global energy needs."

New South Texas Natural Gas Play and Premium Inventory Update
EOG has made a large natural gas resource play discovery on its Dorado prospect located in Webb County, Texas. A total of 21 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of estimated net resource potential is contained in 700 feet of stacked pay in the Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford Shale formations. The company has identified an initial 1,250 net premium drilling locations across its 163,000 net acre position in the core of the play. EOG has drilled 17 wells in the Dorado play since January 2019, including five wells targeting the Austin Chalk and 12 wells targeting the Upper and Lower Eagle Ford.

The Austin Chalk formation has an estimated net resource potential of 9.5 Tcf of natural gas. EOG has identified 530 net premium drilling locations in the Austin Chalk. The prolific Austin Chalk wells generate rates of return that are competitive with EOG's large inventory of premium oil plays. The rates of return are supported by low cash operating costs and proximity to several natural gas markets with options for LNG and pipeline export pricing. In addition, EOG plans to apply its latest water and emissions management technology to minimize the environmental footprint of its development activities.

The five initial Austin Chalk wells produced an average of 3.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas per well in the first year of production, with an average lateral length of 6,600 feet per well. EOG expects to complete approximately 15 wells in the Austin Chalk in 2021. A typical Austin Chalk well is expected to recover 22 Bcf of natural gas, or 18 Bcf net after royalty, from a 9,000 foot lateral at a targeted well cost of $7.0 million per well.

The company has identified additional net resource potential of 11.5 Tcf and 720 net premium drilling locations in the Lower and Upper Eagle Ford, which underlies the Austin Chalk in the same area. Wells targeting the Eagle Ford also generate strong premium rates of return, supported by low drilling costs and shared infrastructure with the Austin Chalk wells.

The first 12 wells targeting the Eagle Ford produced an average of 2.8 Bcf of natural gas per well in the first year of production, with an average lateral length of 7,700 feet per well. A typical Eagle Ford well is expected to recover 19 Bcf of natural gas, or 16 Bcf net after royalty, from a 9,000 foot lateral at a targeted well cost of $6.5 million per well.

Including the Dorado locations, EOG added 1,400 net premium drilling locations to its undrilled premium inventory in the third quarter 2020. Taking into account wells drilled over the past year and updated location counts across its portfolio, EOG's premium inventory now totals approximately 11,500 net locations.

"Our new South Texas natural gas play is the latest example of EOG's sustainable business model of organic exploration-driven resource expansion," Thomas said. "The addition of Dorado to EOG's diverse portfolio of premium plays improves the financial profile of EOG by every measure. It also allows us to diversify capital deployment throughout the organization and across our assets. We believe this prolific new discovery represents the lowest-cost natural gas play in the U.S., which will be both operationally efficient and have a small environmental footprint. With 21 Tcf of net resource potential captured by EOG in the heart of the play, it is also one of the largest. Dorado competes today with EOG's premium oil plays, and we expect it to move rapidly into the top tier of our inventory as development unfolds. This is just the latest example of how EOG continues to organically improve."

Capital Allocation Outlook
Over the next three years, EOG's goal is to continue improving reinvestment returns, lowering per-unit operating costs and generating strong free cash flow to support a growing sustainable dividend while further strengthening its balance sheet. The company anticipates the current imbalance in the global crude oil market is likely to extend into 2021, and therefore expects to maintain its crude oil production at approximately the same level as the fourth quarter 2020. Assuming a balanced crude oil market after 2021, EOG expects to reinvest 70 to 80 percent of its discretionary cash flow and generate up to 10 percent compound annual crude oil production growth in 2022 and 2023 at a $50 West Texas Intermediate crude oil price and using the company's current inventory of premium locations. At higher oil prices, EOG expects to maintain the same growth rate of up to 10 percent per year. Priorities for the allocation of additional free cash flow include sustainable dividend growth, debt reduction, the return of additional cash to shareholders and low-cost property acquisitions.

"Our new three-year outlook provides visibility into the momentum we have built the last four years since the introduction of our premium return criteria," Thomas said. "EOG's long-term strategy and capital allocation priorities remain consistent. We are focused on high-return reinvestment in our growing stable of premium plays, which continues to improve in quality and drives increasing capital efficiency. With our disciplined capital allocation, we expect free cash flow growth, which will support sustainable dividend growth and further strengthen the balance sheet. Returning additional cash to shareholders also becomes more likely as oil prices continue to recover. Altogether, this balanced strategy leverages the competitive strengths of EOG and maximizes total shareholder value."

Financial Review
At September 30, 2020, total debt outstanding was $5.7 billion for a debt-to-total capitalization ratio of 22 percent. Considering $3.1 billion of cash on the balance sheet at the end of the third quarter, EOG's net debt-to-total capitalization ratio was 12 percent. EOG's liquidity is further enhanced by $2.0 billion of availability under its senior unsecured revolving credit agreement as of September 30, 2020. For a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures, please refer to the attached tables.

EOG divested its assets in the Marcellus Shale effective September 1, 2020 for proceeds of approximately $130 million. Current production from the divested assets is approximately 40 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and there were no premium locations associated with the assets.

Third Quarter 2020 Results Webcast
Friday, November 6, 2020, 9:00 a.m. Central time (10:00 a.m. Eastern time)
Webcast will be available on EOG's website for one year.
http://investors.eogresources.com/Investors

About EOG
EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE: EOG) is one of the largest crude oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the United States with proved reserves in the United States, Trinidad, and China. To learn more visit www.eogresources.com.

Investor Contacts
David Streit  713-571-4902
Neel Panchal  713-571-4884

Media and Investor Contact
Kimberly Ehmer  713-571-4676

Category: Earnings

This press release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.  All statements, other than statements of historical facts, including, among others, statements and projections regarding EOG's future financial position, operations, performance, business strategy, returns, budgets, reserves, levels of production, capital expenditures, costs and asset sales, statements regarding future commodity prices and statements regarding the plans and objectives of EOG's management for future operations, are forward-looking statements.  EOG typically uses words such as "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "strategy," "intend," "plan," "target," "aims," "goal," "may," "will," "should" and "believe" or the negative of those terms or other variations or comparable terminology to identify its forward-looking statements.  In particular, statements, express or implied, concerning EOG's future operating results and returns or EOG's ability to replace or increase reserves, increase production, generate returns, replace or increase drilling locations, reduce or otherwise control operating costs and capital expenditures, generate cash flows, pay down or refinance indebtedness or pay and/or increase dividends are forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance.  Although EOG believes the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable and are based on reasonable assumptions, no assurance can be given that these assumptions are accurate or that any of these expectations will be achieved (in full or at all) or will prove to have been correct.  Moreover, EOG's forward-looking statements may be affected by known, unknown or currently unforeseen risks, events or circumstances that may be outside EOG's control.  Furthermore, this press release and any accompanying disclosures may include or reference certain forward-looking, non-GAAP financial measures, such as free cash flow or discretionary cash flow, and certain related estimates regarding future performance, results and financial position.  Because we provide these measures on a forward-looking basis, we cannot reliably or reasonably predict certain of the necessary components of the most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP measures, such as future impairments and future changes in working capital. Accordingly, we are unable to present a quantitative reconciliation of such forward-looking, non-GAAP financial measures to the respective most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP financial measures. Management believes these forward-looking, non-GAAP measures may be a useful tool for the investment community in comparing EOG's forecasted financial performance to the forecasted financial performance of other companies in the industry.  Any such forward-looking measures and estimates are intended to be illustrative only and are not intended to reflect the results that EOG will necessarily achieve for the period(s) presented; EOG's actual results may differ materially from such measures and estimates.  Important factors that could cause EOG's actual results to differ materially from the expectations reflected in EOG's forward-looking statements include, among others:

• the timing, extent and duration of changes in prices for, supplies of, and demand for, crude oil and condensate, natural gas liquids, natural gas and related commodities;
• the extent to which EOG is successful in its efforts to acquire or discover additional reserves;
• the extent to which EOG is successful in its efforts to (i) economically develop its acreage in, (ii) produce reserves and achieve anticipated production levels and rates of return from, (iii) decrease or otherwise control its drilling, completion, operating and capital costs related to, and (iv) maximize reserve recovery from, its existing and future crude oil and natural gas exploration and development projects and associated potential and existing drilling locations;
• the extent to which EOG is successful in its efforts to market its crude oil and condensate, natural gas liquids, natural gas and related commodity production;
• security threats, including cybersecurity threats and disruptions to our business and operations from breaches of our information technology systems, physical breaches of our facilities and other infrastructure or breaches of the information technology systems, facilities and infrastructure of third parties with which we transact business;
• the availability, proximity and capacity of, and costs associated with, appropriate gathering, processing, compression, storage, transportation and refining facilities;
• the availability, cost, terms and timing of issuance or execution of, and competition for, mineral licenses and leases and governmental and other permits and rights-of-way, and EOG's ability to retain mineral licenses and leases;
• the impact of, and changes in, government policies, laws and regulations, including any changes or other actions which may result from the recent U.S. elections and including tax laws and regulations; climate change and other environmental, health and safety laws and regulations relating to air emissions, disposal of produced water, drilling fluids and other wastes, hydraulic fracturing and access to and use of water; laws and regulations affecting the leasing of acreage and permitting for oil and gas drilling and the calculation of royalty payments in respect of oil and gas production; laws and regulations imposing additional permitting and disclosure requirements, additional operating restrictions and conditions or restrictions on drilling and completion operations and on the transportation of crude oil and natural gas; laws and regulations with respect to derivatives and hedging activities; and laws and regulations with respect to the import and export of crude oil, natural gas and related commodities;
• EOG's ability to effectively integrate acquired crude oil and natural gas properties into its operations, fully identify existing and potential problems with respect to such properties and accurately estimate reserves, production and drilling, completing and operating costs with respect to such properties;
• the extent to which EOG's third-party-operated crude oil and natural gas properties are operated successfully and economically;
• competition in the oil and gas exploration and production industry for the acquisition of licenses, leases and properties, employees and other personnel, facilities, equipment, materials and services;
• the availability and cost of employees and other personnel, facilities, equipment, materials (such as water and tubulars) and services;
• the accuracy of reserve estimates, which by their nature involve the exercise of professional judgment and may therefore be imprecise;
• weather, including its impact on crude oil and natural gas demand, and weather-related delays in drilling and in the installation and operation (by EOG or third parties) of production, gathering, processing, refining, compression, storage and transportation facilities;
• the ability of EOG's customers and other contractual counterparties to satisfy their obligations to EOG and, related thereto, to access the credit and capital markets to obtain financing needed to satisfy their obligations to EOG;
• EOG's ability to access the commercial paper market and other credit and capital markets to obtain financing on terms it deems acceptable, if at all, and to otherwise satisfy its capital expenditure requirements;
• the extent to which EOG is successful in its completion of planned asset dispositions;
• the extent and effect of any hedging activities engaged in by EOG;
• the timing and extent of changes in foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates, inflation rates, global and domestic financial market conditions and global and domestic general economic conditions;
• the duration and economic and financial impact of epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic;
• geopolitical factors and political conditions and developments around the world (such as the imposition of tariffs or trade or other economic sanctions, political instability and armed conflict), including in the areas in which EOG operates;
• the use of competing energy sources and the development of alternative energy sources;
• the extent to which EOG incurs uninsured losses and liabilities or losses and liabilities in excess of its insurance coverage;
• acts of war and terrorism and responses to these acts; and
• the other factors described under ITEM 1A, Risk Factors, on pages 13 through 23 of EOG's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 and any updates to those factors set forth in EOG's subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K.

In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events anticipated by EOG's forward-looking statements may not occur, and, if any of such events do, we may not have anticipated the timing of their occurrence or the duration or extent of their impact on our actual results.  Accordingly, you should not place any undue reliance on any of EOG's forward-looking statements. EOG's forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and EOG undertakes no obligation, other than as required by applicable law, to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events, anticipated or unanticipated circumstances or otherwise.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose not only "proved" reserves (i.e., quantities of oil and gas that are estimated to be recoverable with a high degree of confidence), but also "probable" reserves (i.e., quantities of oil and gas that are as likely as not to be recovered) as well as "possible" reserves (i.e., additional quantities of oil and gas that might be recovered, but with a lower probability than probable reserves).  Statements of reserves are only estimates and may not correspond to the ultimate quantities of oil and gas recovered. Any reserve or resource estimates provided in this press release that are not specifically designated as being estimates of proved reserves may include "potential" reserves, "resource potential" and/or other estimated reserves or estimated resources not necessarily calculated in accordance with, or contemplated by, the SEC's latest reserve reporting guidelines.  Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in EOG's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, available from EOG at P.O. Box 4362, Houston, Texas 77210-4362 (Attn: Investor Relations). You can also obtain this report from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330 or from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.  In addition, reconciliation and calculation schedules for non-GAAP financial measures can be found on the EOG website at www.eogresources.com.

 

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SOURCE EOG Resources, Inc.