Epsilon Energy (EPSN) 2026 年第二季財報電話會議：原油成長與 Parkman 產能提升

核心要點

• Epsilon Energy 表示，2026 年第二季為當年的產量低谷。管理層預計，在粉河盆地 (Powder River Basin) 原油產量的主要推動下，年底前產量將實現逐季成長。
• 管理層 2026 全年展望的中位數意味著總產量將比去年同期成長 15% 至 20% 之間，且石油產量成長接近 200%。
• 7 月投產的兩口 Niobrara 井日產量峰值雙雙超過 900 桶原油，表現超出公司預期。
• Parkman 計畫的 3 口井鑽探工作比預期提前約一個月完成。完井作業預計於第三季進行，首批產量預計於 2026 年第四季產出。
• Epsilon 在 2026 年上半年減少了 1,000 萬美元債務。該公司預計將使用循環信貸額度來為增加的投資提供部分資金，同時維持 1.5 倍 EBITDA 的槓桿目標。
• 管理層表示，財報新聞稿的更正僅影響彙總表中調整後淨收益和調整後每股盈餘 (EPS) 的呈現，對 GAAP 結果、現金流或商業效益均無影響。

關鍵財務與營運數據

業務與營運表現

粉河盆地 (Powder River Basin)

粉河盆地預計將成為 Epsilon 近期成長的最大貢獻來源。公司完成了從 Peak 收購的兩口 2 英里 Niobrara 水平井完井作業，完成預期的全部 100 個壓裂段並注入設計砂量。兩口井均於 7 月投產，日產量峰值均超過 900 桶原油。

在確認鑽陸設備後，Epsilon 也加速了 Parkman 計畫中 3 口井的鑽探工作。這 3 口井均已達到預定深度，完井作業排定於第三季稍晚進行，預計第四季實現首次產出。公司在將權益比例從 90% 多降售後，仍保留了 70% 以上的工作權益 (Working Interest)。

在康弗斯郡 (Converse County)，一座容量 100 萬桶的供水與蓄水設施預計於第三季動工。修正後的設計將支援未來採出水 (Produced Water) 的引進與循環利用，管理層預期這將降低水源採購和處理成本。

二疊紀盆地 (Permian Basin)

Epsilon 首口 3 英里 Barnett 水平井於 6 月進入回流 (Flowback) 階段。管理層表示其表現符合鑽前類型曲線 (Type Curve)，營運團隊則指出早期標準化回流表現超越預期。

該井是該地塊上鑽探的第九口井。營運商已提議開鑽兩口鄰近的 Barnett 井，預計於 2026 年稍晚開鑽，並排定於 2027 年第一季完井。

一口 Epsilon 未參與的 Woodford 評價井已經鑽探完畢，排定於 8 月稍晚完井。管理層表示，若取得成功結果，將有助於將其地塊相關的鑽探儲備擴展至 Barnett 地層之外。

馬塞勒斯 (Marcellus)

賓州的產量受到計畫性減產和集氣系統壓力調整的影響。管理層表示，該策略旨在盆地內淨回價 (Netback) 跌至 2 美元以下時限制銷售，並將產量保留給需求較強勁的時期。

代表 0.4 口淨井的 5 口井已鑽探完畢，完井作業計劃於 2026 年下半年進行。首次產出排定於 12 月，管理層預測淨產量將每日增加 650 萬立方英尺。其中 4 口井預計將使 Auburn 集氣系統的初始輸送量每日增加約 8,000 萬至 9,000 萬立方英尺。

管理層指引

Epsilon 首次發布 2026 年下半年的產量指引。管理層預計今年剩餘時間將實現顯著的逐季成長，其中第四季隨著 Parkman 井開始貢獻，增幅將最大。

由於 Parkman 開發、二疊紀鑽探、康弗斯郡設施建設以及為 2027 年初活動增加做準備，第三季資本支出預計將大幅上升。公司預計將透過其循環信貸額度為該項投資提供部分資金。

展望 2027 年，管理層計劃在粉河、二疊紀和馬塞勒斯地區展開高於 2026 年的開發活動。2027 全年指引預計於 2027 年第一季、即公司公布 2026 年年終財報之前發布。

風險與觀察重點

• 2026 年資本支出的相當大一部分要到第四季或 2027 年才會對產量做出貢獻，從而增加了對專案進度的敏感度。
• 馬塞勒斯的產量仍面臨減產、集氣系統壓力調整、自然衰減以及區域氣價疲軟的風險。
• 馬塞勒斯新產量開出的時間取決於營運夥伴。管理層表示，其指引已將潛在延誤的容錯空間納入考量。
• 在投資擴張期間，Epsilon 預計將動用循環信貸，不過管理層仍致力於維持 1.5 倍 EBITDA 的槓桿目標。
• 二疊紀和馬塞勒斯未來的成長仍取決於第三方營運商的最終計劃。

分析師問答亮點

管理層計劃於每年年初提供年度產量指引，並按季進行微調。2027 全年指引預計於 2027 年第一季發布。

在避險方面，Epsilon 打算在未來 18 個月內將避險覆蓋率維持在已開發開採中 (PDP) 產量的 50% 左右。該公司目前沒有超出該目標的天然氣避險計劃，並預計隨著馬塞勒斯新增產量的確定性提升而增加避險。

管理層將出售工作權益 (Working Interest) 描述為一種資本管理工具，而非固定策略。Epsilon 未來可能會透過減持權益，將開發支出控制在槓桿目標之內，同時保持對成長專案的參與。

該公司也在與規模較大的粉河盆地營運商討論地塊交換、更長的水平井以及合作夥伴關係。管理層預計在下一季內提供更明確的最新動態，但並未透露具體協議。

電話會議完整逐字稿

完整財報電話會議逐字稿

管理層陳述

Operator

Thank you. Good day and welcome to the Epsilon Energy Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to your President and CEO, Jason Stabell. Please go ahead.

Jason Stabell

Good morning. Before we begin our prepared remarks, we would like to address the press release correction issued yesterday. The correction was limited to the presentation of adjusted net income and adjusted EPS in the summary table. The reconciliation later in the release reflected the correct treatment. After identifying the inconsistency, we promptly updated the release. There was no impact to our reported GAAP results, cash flows, or the underlying economics of the business. Thank you, Operator.

I'll now turn the call over to Andrew Williamson, our CFO.

J. Williamson

Thank you, Operator. And on behalf of the management team, I would like to welcome all of you to today's conference call to review Epsilon's Second Quarter 2026 Financial and Operational Results. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that our comments may include forward-looking statements. It should be noted that a variety of factors could cause Epsilon's actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements.

Today's call may also contain certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the earnings release that we issued yesterday for disclosures on forward-looking statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Jason Stabell, our Chief Executive Officer.

Jason Stabell

Thank you, Andrew, and good morning, everyone. Joining me today are Andrew Williamson, our CFO, and Henry Clanton, our COO. We will be available for questions following our prepared remarks. Our message this quarter remains consistent with what we communicated in May. We are focused on execution, and I am pleased to report that our major operational initiatives have progressed on schedule and on budget. We have started to execute our development plan as expected and anticipate meaningful quarter-over-quarter production growth through the remainder of 2026, primarily driven by crude volumes in the Powder River Basin.

As a result of the progress we have made across the portfolio, for the first time, we are providing production guidance for the second half of 2026. The anticipated increase in volumes reflects the commencement of production from several high-return oil projects that have either recently been brought online or are expected to begin contributing over the coming months. We refer you to a presentation posted to our website this morning for additional details on our guidance.

In the Powder River Basin, execution on our acquired operated assets has been particularly strong. Our 2 Niobrara DUC completions were completed during the quarter and brought online in July. Early production results have exceeded our type curve expectations. In addition, drilling operations on our 3-well Parkman pad were completed approximately 1 month ahead of plan. These high working interest Parkman wells are now on track to begin production during the fourth quarter and represent the biggest contributor to our anticipated growth profile.

In the Permian Basin, our first 3-mile Barnett well was placed on flowback during June and is currently performing in line with our pre-drill type curve. The successful execution of this well marks another important milestone in the development of the project and provides further confidence in the operator's transition to longer lateral development. Looking ahead, the operator has informed us that 2 additional Barnett wells are expected to be drilled during the second half of 2026, with completion scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.

In addition, the Woodford appraisal well, in which Epsilon elected not to participate, has now been drilled and is scheduled for completion later this month. A successful result could meaningfully expand the future drilling inventory associated with our acreage position and provide additional development opportunities beyond the Barnett formation. In Pennsylvania, production from our Marcellus assets was impacted during the quarter by planned temporary curtailments associated with operating pressure adjustments on our gathering system, will make room on the system for newly drilled wells scheduled to turn in line late in the fourth quarter of this year.

From an organizational standpoint, we have largely completed the transition period associated with the Peak acquisition. The integration of personnel, systems, and field operations has progressed well, and I want to thank our employees for their efforts throughout this process. The successful integration of the acquired assets has allowed our team to remain focused on execution while continuing to identify opportunities to improve operational performance and efficiencies.

Overall, we are accomplishing what we set out to do at the start of the year. Our development program is advancing as planned, our balance sheet remains strong, and we expect to deliver meaningful quarter-over-quarter production growth through the remainder of 2026, as reflected in the guidance provided today. Andrew and Henry will provide additional detail on our major operational initiatives, production outlook, and financial position.

Andrew, I'll turn it over to you.

J. Williamson

Thanks, Jason. On the recent results, the second quarter was a trough for us this year on production, as new development in the Powder River Basin and Permian started to contribute late in the quarter. As Jason mentioned, we anticipate growth from here as Q2 activity is reflected in Q3, and escalates through year-end and into 2027 with continued activity across the portfolio. The biggest impact this year will come in the fourth quarter with our first Parkman volumes in the Powder River Basin. The midpoint of full-year 2026 guidance shows high teens year-over-year growth in total production and almost 200% year-over-year growth in oil volumes.

On the capital side, also as shown in our guidance figures, we plan to spend meaningfully more in the third quarter than we have in past quarters, with the high-interest Parkman development already mentioned, together with drilling activity in the Permian, and facilities build-out in one of our core areas in Converse County, Wyoming, and preparation for a ramp and development activity there early next year. Well over half of our full year capital spending will not contribute to results until the fourth quarter, with over a third showing up in results starting next year, including the facilities build-out I mentioned.

We made several moves during the second quarter in preparation for these investments, including the non-core Marcellus overriding royalty interest sale and an interest sell-down in this quarter's Parkman development, which still leaves us with over 70% interest in the project. The previously disclosed potential sale of our Durango office building did not close, but we expect to reevaluate a potential sale later this year. Over the first half of the year, we paid down our debt balance by $10 million. We expect to utilize the revolver to partially fund the investment ramp starting this quarter. That said, we're very comfortable we can execute our plans while staying within our target leverage level of 1.5x EBITDA.

Looking ahead to next year, we're planning to continue to invest for growth, with development activity in excess of 2026 expected across all 3 of our primary areas. The biggest component will be the Powder River Basin, with additional operated development targeting the Parkman. We are also in discussions with some of the larger operators in the basin to pull forward some of our shale inventory there in partnerships, allowing us to develop cost-efficiently. The Permian and Marcellus assets are expected to exhibit growth next year as well, subject to the final plans of our operating partners.

Now to Henry.

Henry Clanton

Thank you, Andrew, and good morning to everyone. Today I'd like to begin by highlighting some recent operations on our Powder River Basin assets. The company has successfully stimulated both of the 2-mile Niobrara laterals in Campbell County, Wyoming, we acquired from Peak. The frac went as planned with all design sand placed and the 100 stages completed. The wells were flowed back under a managed pressure procedure to technically guide the choke management decisions. Both wells continue to flow up casing on a reduced choke and are performing above expectation, with peak daily rates achieved in excess of 900 barrels of oil a day from each well.

Different from the timing provided in the prior earnings call, we were able to accelerate the drilling of our 3-well Parkman program in July. This being our first drilling operation in the basin, I'm pleased to report that all 3 wells were successfully drilled to their planned depths. The completions are scheduled for later this quarter. As we've done with the Niobrara wells, all production facility work that could be built out prior to placing the wells on production has been completed. Initial production is expected in the fourth quarter.

In Converse County, the 1 million barrel [ lined ] water supply and impoundment facility has finalized with contractor bids under evaluation. Construction is expected to begin in Q3. The original design of the impoundment ponds have been modified to allow for intake and recycling of produced water in the future, which will reduce the total water sourcing and processing costs moving forward. In follow-up to the production enhancement initiatives, the ops team has replaced 16 compression units to date, removing $65,000 a month of operating expenses moving forward. There are several more units to be downsized before the year end when total savings will exceed $100,000 a month. As expected, there have been no decreases to existing production as a result of the compressor downsizing program.

Lots going on in our Permian Basin Barnett project in Ector County. Drill out of the recent 3-mile Barnett lateral went as expected and the well has been placed on production. This is the 9th well drilled on the acreage and the early flowback period has exceeded the normalized type curve expectations and is exhibiting excellent productivity consistent with the existing wells on the acreage. This week we have received well proposals from the operator for 2 offsets to this lateral. These wells have been moved up in the drilling schedule by the operator with plans to spud them later this month.

Finally, the Woodford appraisal test mentioned on the last earnings call has been drilled with completion scheduled for later this month as well. In the Marcellus, as reported last quarter, the operators completed the drilling of a scheduled 5 wells, 0.4 net. Completion operations are planned for the second half of this year. First production from this development is scheduled in December and forecasted to add 6.5 million cubic foot a day net. 4 of the new drills will gather through the Auburn system and are forecasted to increase throughput in the midstream system by approximately 80 to 90 million cubic foot a day upon initial completion.

Now I'll turn it back to Jason.

Jason Stabell

Thanks, guys. Operator, we can now open the lines for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question today will come from Anthony Perala with Punch & Associates. Please go ahead.

分析師問答

Anthony Perala

Nice to see the first guidance you've been able to give for production for this year speaks to the shifting the business from non-op to now having the operating piece. What's the best way to think about the approach to guidance going forward into 2027 and beyond?

J. Williamson

Yes, thanks, Anthony. I think the next piece that we'll come out with will be full year '27. And we'll do that, targeting to do that in the first quarter of next year before we post year-end '26 results.

Anthony Perala

Okay, sounds good. So targeting it to be annually, kind of at the beginning of every year.

J. Williamson

That's right, and refined throughout the year with quarters.

Anthony Perala

Okay. A couple questions on the gas business in Pennsylvania. Any more details you could give on the maintenance activities there would be helpful. And then, I'm not sure if you have it available, but, kind of, how you delineate the falloff in production quarter-over-quarter? How much was attributable to the maintenance activities and how much was just your typical decline rates that we would have seen otherwise?

Jason Stabell

Yes, thanks for that question. This is Jason. If you look at our business in Appalachia, our operator has done a really good job in our view, and we've been in agreement with the approach that in the shoulder seasons or periods where we have prolonged pricing netbacks in Appalachia that are sub-$2, we've had curtailments. And the flip side of that, you'll notice in the first quarter we had a monster gas production cash flow quarter because we worked at the opposite, maximize production when we had realized prices of almost $5.50 versus the $1.80 in the second quarter.

So we, kind of, look at it on an annual basis over time. We're trying to maximize production with the operator in high demand, in-basin seasons, and then curtailing as appropriate when we think we're selling gas at depressed prices that are not sustained. As far as delineating, because the way that these volumes were curtailed was a increase in the operating pressure of our gathering line, it's hard to attribute an exact breakdown between what's natural depletion versus what's attributable to that pressure build back on the wells. The farther we are from where that pressure is applied, the more of an impact there is.

Roughly, we think we've been in depletion mode in PA since the wells were brought online last year in the first quarter and will be in depletion mode until the fourth quarter of this year when we start to see those incremental volumes that we addressed earlier in the report today.

Anthony Perala

Okay, that's helpful. And any updates from the operator? It stayed consistent on bringing those wells on in Q4. I guess I'd pair the other piece of the question is, I've seen a lot about just the, kind, of super El Niño and what that does for winter weather and it's biased warmer based on prior analog years when you've seen that type of weather pattern. Any thoughts around the operator potentially pushing the tails out of Q4? And any thoughts on maybe looking to add more hedges given, kind of, forecast for a warmer winter here?

Jason Stabell

I'll let Andrew address the hedging question. We think we've built appropriate, in our guidance, we've, kind of, built appropriate margin of error to adjust for any slide that the operator has on those volumes. And on the hedging?

J. Williamson

Yes, Anthony, we target -- in terms of volume coverage, as I've mentioned in previous calls, we target 50% PDP hedged over the next 18 months. It also coincides with the hedge covenant on our credit facility. So what we've done on gas is use collars to put that production on.

With oil, as I've mentioned before, we took a big hedge book from Peak in the deal in the fourth quarter of last year. The majority of the incremental volumes we have on between now and the end of the year and into '27 as well, or a big chunk of them are our oil volumes, and so we've strategically started to add there starting in the fourth quarter of this year on crude. On the gas, I think we'll just continue to keep coverage as we've had it at that 50% of PDP. So we'll add again once we have some certainty on those incremental volumes coming on that we just talked about in the Marcellus late this year. So to answer your question directly, no plans to put protection on in excess of, kind of, the mandate that we have on 50% coverage.

Anthony Perala

Okay, that's great. That's very helpful color. Then shifting over to the Powder. Nice realization on the working interest sell-down. Just curious on what the market's like for that when you were marketing it and if you could give, kind of, a peek maybe into 2027 what those 6 wells, what your, kind of, net interest is right now and if you may look to tap that market again?

Jason Stabell

As a non-op player, we've been very aware of the AFE wellbore market. It's pretty active across, particularly in the Permian, but there is activity as well in the Rockies, in the Marcellus. So when we -- on that Parkman sell-down, I mean, there were a couple of drivers on that. And Andrew can add some additional color. One, we felt like if we could get a nice premium to our AFE, it really juices our cash-on-cash returns. And as Henry mentioned, these were our first 3 wells in the basin, we -- drilling operation wise, so really we felt okay taking our working interest down from a mid-90s into the low 70s here as a risk mitigant as well. Going forward, we have high working interest Parkman wells. We may consider sell-downs, but I think we feel pretty good about the well design and the performance. So I feel good on that.

J. Williamson

Yes. I'd add to that. Anthony, it's a tool to use to rightsize the capital program. So all of the things that we're planning on doing in the medium term, Powder, Parkman, Barnett development in the Permian, and then continued activity in the Marcellus, those are highly coveted in that market and so we know we can go there to rightsize that capital program and that's to stay within our leverage target that we discussed and still drive growth with that rightsized program, if that makes sense. So it's just a tool that we use. So no definitive plans there to sell down next year to answer your question directly, but it's a pretty quick cycle action if we want to go that route.

Anthony Perala

Yes, that makes a lot of sense. That's great. And then it seems like things were brought forward about a month, I think initially it was December for first production. Now you're assuming, kind of, 60 days that fall into 2026. Was it more a timing thing? Was it efficiency on the drill side? Just any details on that would be helpful.

Jason Stabell

Yes, I may flip this one to Henry. Henry, you want to take that one?

Henry Clanton

Yes, so related to the 3-well Parkman program in Wyoming, we had an opportunity to capture some rig availability. We had all of our permits in place. We had locations built, got our personnel ready, and so we acted upon it.

Anthony Perala

That's great. What is -- what's the market like for availability right now and looking into 2027? Yes, just that.

Henry Clanton

Yes, so in Wyoming, sorry, this is Tim. In Wyoming, yes, from a rig perspective, the rig count in the 2 counties that we're active in, Campbell and Converse, remain in about the 13 rigs running range. 9 of those are focused on the shales, Niobrara and Mowry, the other 4 are the sandstones. And so we're seeing stable activity in our area of the Powder River at this point.

Anthony Perala

And then the last one, I think, Henry, you had mentioned in your prepared remarks, just that you are having active conversations with other operators to maybe pull forward some development in a cost-effective nature, I think is the phrase that you used. Any more detail around that would be helpful just to frame up what that program could look like over the next couple of years.

Jason Stabell

Yes, Anthony, I'll take that one. This is Jason. We intimated on the call last time that we have a large acreage position in the Powder. There are opportunities for swaps and trades and partnerships. So we've had a number of inbounds about that. We're -- I'd say we're farther along in a couple of those discussions, but at this point, not in a position to really provide details, but I'd expect over the next quarter we're going to have something more definitive to provide to you guys.

But essentially this would be areas where we can either swap acreage to extend lateral lengths and/or participate alongside scaled operators and some of the other resource plays in the basin where they have existing infrastructure that's going to allow us to participate at a enhanced cost structure. So more to come on that, but I think that's been -- that's kind of gravy from what our base evaluation was on this Powder asset, because as you know, we've stressed our focus is going to be on the Parkman. But there are some nice opportunities that are also going to be available to us in the shale, the Niobrara in particular, going forward.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Showing no further questions. This will conclude our question-and-answer session. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference back over to Jason Stabell for any closing remarks.

Jason Stabell

Thank you, Operator. I want to thank everyone for joining us today, and as always, if you have additional questions or comments, please reach out to us. I appreciate your support. Have a great day.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect your lines.