Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 4, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Lance Casson - Manager, Investor Relations

Tim McKay - President

Mark Stainthorpe - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Greg Pardy - RBC Capital Markets

Dennis Fong - CIBC

Neil Mehta - Goldman Sachs

Menno Hulshof - TD Securities

Operator

Good morning. We would like to welcome everyone to the Canadian Natural Resources 2023 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. After the presentation, we’ll conduct a question-and-answer session, and instruction will be given at that time. Please note that this call is being recorded today May 4, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. Mountain Time.

I would like to turn your meeting over to your host for today's call, Lance Casson, Manager of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Lance Casson

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Canadian Natural's first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. As always, before we begin, I'd like to remind you of our forward-looking statements, and it should be noted that in our reporting disclosures everything is in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise stated, and we report our reserves and production before royalties. Additionally, I would suggest you review our comments on non-GAAP disclosures in our financial statements.

With me this morning is Tim McKay, our President; and Mark Stainthorpe, our Chief Financial Officer. Tim will first speak to how Canadian Natural is a leader on environmental, social and governance, followed by specifics on our safe, reliable, world-class operations, including details on targeted production growth from our long life low decline assets to generate strong returns on capital and maximize shareholder value. Mark will then summarize our solid financial results, including significant returns to shareholders so far this year and our strong finance position. To close, Tim will summarize our call prior to opening up the call for questions.

With that, I'll turn it over to you, Tim.

Tim McKay

Good morning, everyone. In the first quarter, we achieved strong quarterly production of approximately 1.32 million BOEs per day including record natural gas production at approximately 2.14 Bcf per day and liquids productions of approximately 963,000 barrels a day, reflecting strong operational performance across our assets, including our long life, zero-decline well and mining upgrading assets, comprising approximately 50% of the total company's liquids production this quarter. Our high-value SCO captured approximately a $2 premium to WTI in the quarter, driving strong SCO pricing and generating significant free cash for the company.