Enerplus Corporation (NYSE:ERF) Q2 2023 Results Conference Call August 10, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Drew Mair - Manager, IR

Ian Dundas - President, CEO

Wade Hutchings - SVP, COO

Jodi Jenson Labrie - SVP, CFO

Conference Call Participants

Greg Pardy - RBC Capital Markets

Jamie Kubik - CIBC

Jeoffrey Lambujon - TPH

Patrick O'Rourke - ATB Capital

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Enerplus Q2 2023 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Thursday, August 10, 2023.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Drew Mair. Please go ahead, Mr. Mair.

Drew Mair

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the call. Before we get started, please take note of the advisories located at the end of our second quarter News Release. Our financials have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, our production volumes are reported on a net after deduction of royalty basis and our financial figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise specified.

I'm here this morning with Ian Dundas, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Wade Hutchings, Senior VP and Chief Operating Officer; Jodi Jenson Labrie, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer; and Garth Doll, VP Marketing. Following our discussion, we will open up the call for questions.

With that, I will turn it over to Ian.

Ian Dundas

Thank you, Mr. Mair. Good morning, everyone. Our second quarter results and updated 2023 outlook reflect our strong operating momentum and commitment to returning meaningful free cash flow to shareholders. Operationally, we're seeing excellent well deliverability and solid execution will leave us well positioned to deliver on our targets this year.

Our first pads brought online in the Little Knife area are supporting this improved production outlook and further demonstrate the depth and quality of our core Bakken acreage. Wade will dig deeper into the results we're seeing from these pads in his remarks.

Based on this performance, we've increased our 2023 production guidance by 1,000 barrels per day at the midpoint with total production now expected to be 94,500 to 98,500 BOE per day. During the first half of the year, we generated $137 million in free cash flow and returned $133 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.

And in July, we repurchased the remaining shares under our normal course issuer bid authorization, having bought back 10% of our stock over the trailing 12-month period. This was the second consecutive year of repurchasing 10% of our outstanding share count.