Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call November 3, 2022 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Lance Casson - Manager of Investor Relations

Tim McKay - President

Mark Stainthorpe - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Greg Pardy - RBC

Dennis Fong - CIBC World Market

Menno Hulshof - TD Securities

Nicolette Slusser - Goldman Sachs

John Royall - JPMorgan

Operator

Good morning. We would like to welcome everyone to the Canadian Natural Resources 2022 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. After the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. Please note that this call is being recorded today, November 3, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. Mountain Time.

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

Lance Casson

Thank you, operator, good morning everyone, and welcome to Canadian Natural's Third Quarter 2022 Results Conference Call. Before we begin, I would 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 reported 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 highlights on our safe reliable operations that continue to drive long-term shareholder value. This will include an overview of activities in the quarter, including specifics on our world-class assets and operations. Mark will then provide an update on our strong financial results, including our robust financial position, free cash flow generation and increasing shareholder returns. To close, Jim will summarize our call prior to open up the line for questions.

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

Tim McKay

Thank you, Lance. Good morning, everyone. Our focus on cost control, our culture of continuous improvement combined with our disciplined and balanced approach to capital allocation, continues to drive strong operational and financial results as our 2022 capital program remains unchanged at $4.9 billion, excluding acquisitions.

In the third quarter, we achieved record total quarterly production of approximately 1.34 million BOEs per day, which included record natural gas production at approximately 2.13 Bcf per day, all of which received strong realized pricing in the quarter, averaging $6.57 per Mcf as a result of our diversified sales strategy.