TSE:FEC Frontera Energy Q1 2024 Earnings Report C$14.73 +0.07 (+0.48%) As of 04:00 PM Eastern ProfileEarnings History Frontera Energy EPS ResultsActual EPS-C$0.14Consensus EPS N/ABeat/MissN/AOne Year Ago EPSN/AFrontera Energy Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$262.18 millionExpected RevenueN/ABeat/MissN/AYoY Revenue GrowthN/AFrontera Energy Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2024Date5/8/2024TimeN/AConference Call DateThursday, May 9, 2024Conference Call Time2:30PM ETConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptInterim ReportEarnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by Frontera Energy Q1 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 9, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.Key Takeaways Frontera delivered Q1 operating EBITDA of $97.2 M and finished the quarter with a robust cash balance of $182 M. The company received a $157 M dividend from ODL (net $54.9 M), underscoring strong cash generation from its infrastructure investment. Nearly $13 M of capital was returned to stakeholders in Q1 through dividends ($7.8 M), common share repurchases ($3 M), and 2028 note buybacks ($1.5 M). Frontera reported a Q1 net loss of $8.5 M (CAD 0.10/share) driven by finance expenses, risk management losses, and CAD 27 M in income taxes. Production fell ~3 % QoQ due to natural declines and downtime, but heavy oil output rose 2 %; planned Sahara water treatment startup in Q2 and a new injector well are expected to support growth. AI Generated. May Contain Errors.Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallFrontera Energy Q1 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xTranscript SectionsPresentationParticipantsPresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Good afternoon. My name is Julie, and I will be your conference call facilitator today. Welcome to Frontera Energy's first quarter 2024 operating and financial results conference call. All lines are currently on mute to prevent any background noise. I would like to remind you that this conference call is being recorded today and is also available through audio webcast on the company's website. Following the speaker's remarks, there will be time for questions. Analysts and investors are reminded that any additional questions can be directed to Frontera following today's call at ir@fronteraenergy.ca. This call contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws relating to activities, events, or developments the company believes or expects will occur in the future. Forward-looking information reflects the current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs of the company based on information currently available to it. Operator00:01:06Although the company believes the assumptions are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the company to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking information. The company's MD&A for the quarter ended March 31st, 2024, and the company's annual information form dated March 7th, 2024, and other documents it files from time to time with securities regulatory authorities describe the risks, uncertainties, material assumptions, and other factors that could influence actual results. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required by law. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Gabriel de Alba, Chairman of the Board of Frontera Energy. Operator00:02:12Please go ahead. Gabriel de AlbaChairman of the Board at Frontera Energy00:02:17Thank you, Operator. Good morning and welcome to Frontera's first quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me on today's call are Orlando Cabrales, Frontera's CEO, and René Burgos, Frontera's CFO. Also available to answer questions at the end of the call, we have Victor Vega, VP Field Development, Reservoir Management and Exploration; Alejandra Bonilla, General Counsel; Iván Arévalo, VP Operations; and Renata Campagnaro, VP Marketing, Logistics and Business Sustainability. Thank you for joining us. Frontera is focused on delivering on its strategic objectives and generating value for its stakeholders. In the first quarter, the company generated $97.2 million in operating EBITDA, $25.7 million of adjusted infrastructure EBITDA, and maintained a robust balance sheet, finishing the quarter with a total cash balance of $182 million. During the quarter, ODL declared a $157 million dividend, $54.9 million net to Frontera, highlighting the strong cash generation capacity of this strategic infrastructure investment. Gabriel de AlbaChairman of the Board at Frontera Energy00:03:39The company also achieved an agreement in principle with Ecopetrol for the use of the company's reverse osmosis water treatment facility, SAARA, through a two-year contract. This is a significant ESG and strategic milestone which will drive greater produced water disposal and crude oil production capacity at the Quifa block. So far this year, the company has returned nearly $30 million of capital to our stakeholders, including $7.8 million in declared dividends, $3 million of common share purchases, and $1.5 million of buybacks of its 2028 unsecured loans. Moreover, the company, with support from Goldman Sachs, has launched a strategic alternatives process for its standalone and growing Colombian infrastructure business which may include a spinoff, a total or partial sale, or other business combinations. With over $1 billion of capital invested, Frontera's infrastructure assets are a unique investment opportunity in some of Colombia's most relevant infrastructure assets. Gabriel de AlbaChairman of the Board at Frontera Energy00:04:50The ODL pipeline connects the most prolific oil reserves areas in Colombia, the Meta and Casanare departments which together hold 70% of the national 1P crude oil reserves, to the rest of Colombia's midstream network and transports 30% of the total country oil output. ODL has paid over $1.3 billion in distributions since inception. Completed in 2015, Puerto BahÃa is a state-of-the-art liquids and dry cargo port terminal strategically located in the heart of the Bay of Cartagena. Operating under a maritime concession, the port owns over 150 hectares of freehold land which include 2.4 million barrels of oil and oil product storage capacity, over 50 hectares of dry cargo storage capacity, and an additional 75 hectares of expansion capacity to develop a strategic initiative. Gabriel de AlbaChairman of the Board at Frontera Energy00:05:54The recently announced connection agreement with the Reficar refinery planned to come online this year and is expected to drive additional hydrocarbon volume and strengthening Cartagena's role as a regional leader and economic hub for the hydrocarbon space. Looking ahead, the company will consider future shareholder initiatives in 2024 and beyond, including potential additional dividends, distributions, or bond buybacks based on the raw results of our business and the company's strategic goals. I will now turn the call over to Orlando Cabrales, Frontera's CEO, and our CFO, René Burgos, who will share their views on our first quarter results. Orlando? Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:06:40Thank you, Gabriel. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us this morning. Frontera's first quarter results were in line with our expectations despite some unforeseen challenges. First quarter production declined approximately 3% on a quarter-over-quarter basis, impacted primarily by light and medium natural declines and expected oil failures partially offset by our resilient heavy oil operations. During the quarter, our heavy crude oil production grew 2% on a quarter-over-quarter basis, reaching approximately 23,400 barrels per day. We also experienced another average daily production record of 7,000 barrels at the CPE-6 block. The growth in our heavy oil business came despite several challenges, including the impact of community blockades as well as delays associated with our strategic water disposal initiatives, including SAARA. If these events had not materialized, we would have expected an increase on production of approximately 725 barrels per day. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:08:13We expect activities in SAARA to start up during the second quarter and to continue ramping up during the rest of the year, supporting our heavy oil production operation in Quifa with the objective of processing more than 250,000 barrels of water per day for the Quifa block once stabilized. Additional activities supporting our growth outlook for our heavy oil also include a new water injector well in Quifa coming online this month, expected to provide an additional 100,000 barrels of water per day. Also, we continue our efforts to expand our water handling capacity in CPE-6 to continue to capitalize on our production growth. Since the end of 2022, we have increased water handling at the CPE-6 block from 120,000 barrels per day to 240,000 during 2023 and growing to 360,000 barrels of water per day during this year. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:09:33Our drilling campaign on these blocks has also started strong and is meeting expectations. Year to date, we have drilled 20 development wells in the Quifa and CPE-6 blocks. On our light and medium operations, we suffered some unanticipated setbacks that resulted in lower levels of production than planned, including some unexpected well failures. We will continue to invest in workover and well services activity in these blocks to recover production. Additionally, we continue to invest in our VIM-1 block, including gas compression facilities that will aid in the reinjection of close to 20,000-30,000 MCF and is expected to increase production at the VIM-1 block. On the exploration side, we are excited about spudding the high impact Hydra-1 well on the VIM-1 block scheduled for June of this year. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:10:43The company completed important civil works activities, including platform and road construction, in advance of drilling the well. We reiterate our production and capital guidance for 2024. With these activities, along with our drilling program, we expect improved production and profitability throughout the rest of the year as we advance our development portfolio in Colombia and Ecuador. Along with our active pursuit of a strategic alternative for our interest in the Corentyne block in Guyana, which is still ongoing, and our recently announced strategic alternative review for our growing Colombian infrastructure business, the company remains focused on unlocking value from the sum of its products. I would now like to turn the call over to René Burgos, Frontera's CFO. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:11:51Thank you, Orlando. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I'd like to take a moment to highlight a few key financial aspects of our first quarter results. For the first quarter, the company recorded a net loss of $8.5 million or $0.10 per share. This quarter's net loss follows approximately $44 million in income from operations plus share of income from associates, which includes $14 million of share income from ODL, offset by roughly $17 million in finance expenses, $9 million in losses related to risk management contracts, and approximately $27 million in income tax expenses, including almost $22 million in deferred income taxes, primarily due to the impact of non-deductible expenses and differences related to foreign currency fluctuations. During the quarter, the company assumed an income tax rate of 50%, inclusive of the 15% surtax associated to the 2022 Colombian tax reform. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:13:00Moving to operating EBITDA, operating EBITDA for the quarter was approximately $97 million. During the quarter, we saw weighted average Brent sales prices for Frontera of $82.35 and average Vasconia differential on our export sales of $4.7. Compared to the prior quarter, our EBITDA performance was impacted by lower sales volumes as well as sustained high energy costs and inflationary effects on our operating costs. Taking a closer look at our operating costs, our production, energy, and transportation costs per barrel for the quarter totaled $10.21, $5.29, and $11.33 respectively. This compares with $9.69, $5.06, and $11.02 in the prior quarter. The increase in production costs quarter-over-quarter was primarily a result of higher well service activity, inflationary pressures on services, and wage indexation that typically occurs at the beginning of the year. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:14:16Regarding energy prices, we continue to see the effect of sustained domestic high energy prices and the impact of FX fluctuations. We saw higher energy costs driven by higher activity in the CPE-6 block and the startup of the additional water handling capacity. For the first quarter, electricity costs accounted for 30% of our energy consumption and 46% of our total energy costs. Gas generation for the quarter was strong, with cash flow from operations totaling $65.6 million, thanks in part to a strong Brent oil price environment, changes in working capital related to lower sales volumes, offset partially by lower income tax withheld. It is worth highlighting that during the quarter, Colombian tax authorities reduced the overall tax withholding rate on oil export sales from 9.9% to 5.6%. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:15:15Capital expenditures for the quarter were roughly $70 million, including primarily cost-associated water drilling campaign of 21 development wells at Quifa, Cajua, CPE-6, and the Perico blocks for roughly $35 million. On the infrastructure side, adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was $25.7 million compared with $27.3 million in the prior quarter. The quarter-over-quarter change was due to lower general cargo revenues for Puerto Bahia, lower transported volumes at ODL, lower palm oil sales from Los Llanos as a result of lower palm oil prices, and higher operating costs across the segment due to inflationary pressures on services and negative impact from foreign exchange rates. More specifically, in respect to ODL, EBITDA for the first quarter was $7.8 million, down 9% on a quarter-over-quarter basis due to lower transported volumes and inflationary pressures driving higher operating costs as compared to the prior. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:16:24Additionally, ODL declared $157 million in dividends, including approximately $55 million net to Frontera, and a return of capital close to $23 million or $8 million net to Frontera. These capital payments are payable in installments through 2024. In April 2024, the company received the first installment equal to 50% of the total capital distributions declared. As of March 31st, 2024, the company reported a total cash position of $182 million, including $155 million of unrestricted cash. Turning now to risk management, our current risk management strategy continues to show our hedging discipline supports our operations and planning. Frontera uses derivative instruments to manage exposure to oil price and FX volatility. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:17:16On the oil side, during the first quarter of 2024, the company successfully secured a 40% hedging ratio for the April to August 2024 period and entering through new hedges that protect a portion of our expected production for September 2024, protecting us of a potential drop in oil prices at average strike prices of $72 and $76 for the second and third quarter, respectively. Frontera has also entered into foreign exchange rates totaling $30 million for approximately protecting the peso exposure above 39.70 for the third quarter. Frontera also entered into forwards to protect the ODL capital distribution and the repayment of the Bancolombia principal denominated working capital loan. These hedges provide the company with stability and will help mitigate future fluctuations and allow the business to deliver on its targets. Finally, I'd like to provide an update on our shareholder value initiative. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:18:16Under the company's current NCIB, which commenced on November 21st, 2023, the company repurchased approximately 940,000 shares or just over 1% of our total common shares pending for cancellation for approximately CAD 5.8 million as of March 8th, 2024. Frontera is authorized to repurchase up to 3.9 million shares as part of its program. With respect to our announced dividend on April 16th, Frontera paid approximately CAD 3.9 million or CAD 0.0625 per share and will pay CAD 0.0625 per share to shareholders of record as of July 3rd, 2024, on or around July 17th, 2024. I would like to now turn the call back to Orlando. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:19:05Thank you, René. Before I wrap up today's call, I would like to highlight that during the quarter, Frontera offset nearly 50% of its CO2 emissions from the production and consumption of energy in our operations through carbon credit purchases. The company also achieved a total recordable incident rate of 0.72 and reused 20% of its water production and 37% of its operating waste. The company also invested $0.5 million in social projects in communities near its operations in Colombia, Ecuador, and Guyana. On February 22nd, Frontera was recognized by Ethisphere as one of the world's most ethical companies for the fourth consecutive year. Frontera was also recognized for the second time as one of the 20 best workplaces for women in Colombia by the Great Place to Work Institute. And finally, a few thoughts on our strategic review processes. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:20:19The company with support from Jefferies continues to actively pursue strategic alternatives for its interest in the Corentyne block in Guyana, including a possible farm-down. As Gabriel mentioned, the company launched a strategic alternative review for its standalone and growing infrastructure business. Frontera's infrastructure business is comprised by the company's 35% equity interest in the ODL pipeline and its 99.97% equity interest in the Puerto BahÃa port. Infrastructure business has generated $120 million of adjusted infrastructure EBITDA and $47.3 million in capital distributions in 2023. Frontera has retained Goldman Sachs as financial advisor and may retain other advisors to assist the board in evaluating the various strategic business and financial alternatives. These processes are part of the company's effort to streamline the business portfolio and unlock value from the sum of its parts. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:21:34Frontera believes the value of these assets is not reflected in the current stock price, and these processes aim to drive value for shareholders. There can be no guarantee that the strategic review process will result in a transaction. With that, I would like to conclude by saying thank you to Gabriel and René for your comments, and thank you, everyone, for attending our call. I will now turn the call back to our operator. Operator00:22:07Thank you. At this time, for those wishing to ask a question, please press Start, then a number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from Ann Milne from Bank of America. Please go ahead. Anne MilneManaging Director of Emerging Markets Corporate Research at Bank of America00:22:25Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you very much for the call today, and thank you for outlining some of your strategic initiatives that you're focusing on. I have two questions. One is sort of a broad question, and the other is a little bit more specific. The first one has to do with, I guess, the strategy towards your bonds. They are one of the cheapest ones among the independents in Latin America and in Colombia, which sort of mystifies me because you have a good diversified asset base and you have good cash flow and relatively low leverage. At some point, would you consider doing either more of a buyback or an exchange for something maybe more amortizing or something, just so you can be more in line with your peer group? Anne MilneManaging Director of Emerging Markets Corporate Research at Bank of America00:23:12I think that could also eventually help your equity valuation if people are less concerned about the debt and that there might not be any hidden problems. So that's sort of a very generalized question. The second one, I think, has to do with the initiative that you outlined in your press release, which is for looking at alternatives for your infrastructure assets. Just wondering if you have any idea of what the range of multiples are for this type of business in Latin America? Thanks very much. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:23:48Hi, Anne. Thank you very much for your question. I think I'll tackle the first one first. On our bond strategy, I think that we've been and our chairman was very upfront that we were going to continue to seek out alternatives for us to maximize value to all of our stakeholders. Right now, we're very comfortable with our bonds. It's at 2028 maturity. We're certainly disappointed with the overall trading levels, but we're going to keep an eye and proactively kind of do what's in the best interest of the company, shareholders, and also its stakeholders. So as far as this year, we've acquired roughly $1.5 million in notional. And looking forward, we will continue kind of just, as our chairman laid out, seek out opportunities to see where our best dollar is invested to maximize that value. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:24:33As it relates to the infrastructure initiative, that is a very good question. And look, and one that we believe touches on what Orlando highlighted in his portion of the call when he said that the value of these assets are not reflected in our stock price today. These are assets. And perhaps when I compare it to where our companies trade in the oil and gas field, you see oil and gas players trading to cash flow anywhere from 2-3 times depending on the oil price cycle. We believe that these are assets that trade much higher than that. And we believe through this exercise, we're going to be able to unlock some of that value. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:25:13I think that you can probably help me better by giving me some indications as to what you believe the value is or as you follow a lot of these market players. But what we can say confidently is that these assets, their predictability as it relates to their cash flows should merit a much higher multiple than what Frontera would otherwise have. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:25:29Yes. Maybe, if I may, just to build on what René said, and I think Gabriel emphasized this in his remarks, is that looking ahead, we will consider different shareholder initiatives, including for 2024 and beyond, of course, including potential additional dividends distributions or bonds buybacks. So your comment is well taken. The other comment is we really believe that the infrastructure assets have a significant cash generation and different catalysts for long-term growth in those assets. So we are excited about it and ready to start working on this process. Anne MilneManaging Director of Emerging Markets Corporate Research at Bank of America00:26:25Okay. Thank you. Operator00:26:26Your next question comes from Oriana Covault from Balanz. Please go ahead. Oriana CovaultEquity and Credit Research Analyst at Balanz Capital00:26:37Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. This is Oriana Covault with Balanz. I have two questions mainly. The first one is a follow-up on your announcement on this evaluation of strategic opportunities. So we read about these plans to monetize or spin off these assets, and we agree that it seems like a great way to unlock value for shareholders given the different valuation multiples. We were just wondering if in the case of a sale of these assets or even a portion of the equity to be spun off the vehicle, does the indenture of your bonds or other debt documents mandate you to use the proceeds to repay debt, at least partially, or would this be something that you'd consider doing voluntarily applying any eventual proceeds to bond buybacks? Thanks. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:27:27Thank you, Oriana. On the bonds, sorry, on the potential proceeds from a sale of these assets and the ability to repay back bonds, it's a terrific question. I'll remind you that these are unrestricted subsidiaries of a bond. So there is no obligation of the company to use these proceeds to repay the bond. However, as I alluded earlier, we are looking at ways, and I think our chairman said it, our CEO said it, of generating value for all of our stakeholders. So certainly, it would be a consideration, but it's certainly not an obligation. Oriana CovaultEquity and Credit Research Analyst at Balanz Capital00:28:16Perfect. That's completely clear. Thanks, René. Just on the quarterly performance, just turning more on the production side of the angle, we noticed that it's running a tad below the low end of guidance. So if you could perhaps share some more color on the catalysts to drive production within guidance in the upcoming quarters? Thanks. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:28:39Yes. Well, as I said in my remarks, we are reiterating today our production and capital guidance. And basically, the additional production that we are seeing coming up in the following months are, as I mentioned, many, many ones. I mean, the first one is the new injector well in Quifa, which is coming online very, very soon in the following days. We are also increasing the water handling capacity of CPE-6 from 240,000 to 360,000 in the following months as well. And as I mentioned, just to reiterate, we are seeing again record productions in CPE-6. And we are starting, and we expect to start up the SAARA facility in the second quarter after reaching an agreement in principle with Ecopetrol on a two-year contract. So that will allow us to increase water handling capacity for Quifa to 250,000 barrels per day. So that is another one. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:29:59The other one is in VIM-1. As I said, we are increasing our gas process compression facilities in VIM-1. So that means more liquid production and some gas production. And we are also doing workover and well services activities in our light and medium blocks. So with those activities in mind, we feel comfortable today that we can reiterate our production guidance. Oriana CovaultEquity and Credit Research Analyst at Balanz Capital00:30:35Perfect. That's completely clear. Thanks very much again, guys. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:30:42Thank you. Operator00:30:43Your next question comes from Roman Rossi from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:30:51Good morning, guys, and thanks for taking the questions. I have a couple. The first one is regarding the well failures you mentioned in the Quifa. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:31:01Hey, Roman. Sorry to interrupt you. Hey, Roman, sorry to interrupt you. I'm having really trouble hearing you. If you could perhaps back away from your phone, it's a little bit muffled. Or speak louder. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:31:12Okay. Can you hear me better now? René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:31:15That's better. Thank you. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:31:17Okay. Regarding the well failures you mentioned in your disclosure, just wanted to get a sense on the quantity of barrels that you lost and if all the production is back online? Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:31:35Yes. The production is back online. Those were unexpected failures. With this additional activity that I mentioned earlier, work order and well services, we are expecting to increase production in that asset. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:31:54Okay. And the second is regarding the Reficar connection. When are you expecting to complete? And can you give us a sense on CapEx on a quarterly basis given that you still have $40 million to deploy during this year? Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:32:13What is that $40 million? I didn't get that. Can you repeat that? You asked about the Reficar connection, but you added another thing, which I didn't understand. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:32:21Oh, the second part is regarding quarterly CapEx as you have $40 million to deploy yet. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:32:29Okay. Let me start with the Reficar connection. The Reficar connection is going very well. We are still planning to end the construction of the connection by the end of this year as we have mentioned before. That is on track, consistent with our plan. We have been making progress on different fronts, right of way negotiations, awarding of the EPC contract. We are on track to finalize the connection by the end of the year. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:33:16Look, on the other question, you just need to look at the bulk of our CapEx because I think you're focusing on the drilling campaign. The drilling campaign, as it was alluded to, is going on strong. But a significant part of our drilling campaign is the associated facilities. Some of those just require that interconnection, flow lines, etc., to get everything to properly connect and to produce. So today, we've invested roughly $54 million out of the $180 million-$210 million of the total program. I don't know if that was your question. We can get more clarity if you would like, Roman. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:33:52Thank you. Operator00:33:56Your next question comes from Cameron Ross from Mangrove Partners. Please go ahead. Cameron RossManaging Director at Mangrove Partners00:34:03Good afternoon. I was hoping you could talk about the tax implications of a spin versus asset sale of the infrastructure asset in light of the NOLs at the company. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:34:21That's a very good question. Look, we're exploring the different alternatives. Ultimately, I don't have a set response to you. To be very transparent, that's the reason why we're doing this review today, or we're launching this review today. Ultimately, we're capable of distributing value to our shareholders, one. The second part of that answer is that every single asset has a certain tax basis. So it really does depend on the price at which it's struck and the value generated at that and then how that money is mobilized up and distributed. But in the coming quarters, we're hoping to give all of our investors a better picture of how that will look like. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:35:06What I can say is that to the extent that we do have a cash transaction for any of our assets, we do not see an impediment to be able to deliver value associated with our cash to our investors. Cameron RossManaging Director at Mangrove Partners00:35:21Okay. Thank you. Operator00:35:28Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have a question, please press star one. There are no further questions at this time. Should you have any further questions, please email ir@fronteraenergy.ca. This concludes the call. Thank you for joining, and you may now disconnect.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesGabriel de AlbaChairman of the BoardOrlando CabralesCEORené BurgosCFOAnalystsAnne MilneManaging Director of Emerging Markets Corporate Research at Bank of AmericaCameron RossManaging Director at Mangrove PartnersOriana CovaultEquity and Credit Research Analyst at Balanz CapitalRoman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord GenuityPowered by Earnings DocumentsInterim report Frontera Energy Earnings HeadlinesFRONTERA OBTAINS FINAL ORDER APPROVING PLAN OF ARRANGEMENTMay 4 at 11:34 PM | finance.yahoo.comFRONTERA ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF SPECIAL SHAREHOLDER MEETINGApril 30, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comI was right about SpaceXJeff Brown predicted Bitcoin before it climbed as high as 52,400%, Tesla before 2,150%, and Nvidia before 32,000%. Now he says SpaceX is shaping up to be the biggest IPO of the decade - and three key milestones just confirmed it. In the past 21 days: SpaceX crossed 10,000 active satellites, Elon filed confidential IPO paperwork with the SEC, and another rocket launched 25 more satellites. Two-thirds of every satellite in orbit now belongs to one company. The public filing could drop any day.May 5 at 1:00 AM | Brownstone Research (Ad)Frontera Announces Filing and Mailing of Information Circular and Receipt of Interim Order in Connection With Plan of Arrangement With ParexApril 3, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comParex Resources Inc.: Parex Resources Enters into a Definitive Agreement to Acquire Frontera Energy's Colombian E&P AssetsMarch 11, 2026 | finanznachrichten.deFRONTERA ANNOUNCES DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT WITH PAREX TO DIVEST ITS COLOMBIAN E&P ASSETS PORTFOLIO FOR A FIRM VALUE OF APPROXIMATELY $750 MILLION ...March 11, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comSee More Frontera Energy Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Frontera Energy? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Frontera Energy and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Frontera EnergyFrontera Energy (TSE:FEC) Corp is a Canadian-based company engaged in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas reserves in South America. It operates in five segments: Colombia, which includes all upstream business activities of exploration and production in Colombia; Peru; Ecuador & others, which includes all upstream business activities of exploration in Ecuador, the corporate office in Canada, and non-operating entities that have been aggregated; Guyana segment includes all offshore upstream business activities; and Midstream segment includes company's investments in pipelines, storage, port, and other facilities relating to the distribution and exportation of crude oil products in Colombia. The majority of its revenue is generated from the Colombia segment.View Frontera Energy ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Latest Articles Palantir Drops After a Blowout Q1—What Investors Should KnowShopify’s Valuation Crisis Creates Opportunity in 2026onsemi Stock Dips After Earnings: Why the Dip Is BuyableTSLA: 3 Reasons the Stock Could Hit $400 in MayNebius Breaks Out to All-Time Highs—Here's What's Driving It.3 Reasons Analysts Love DexComMonolithic Power Systems: AI Stock Beat, Raised and Upgraded Post-Earnings Upcoming Earnings ARM (5/6/2026)AppLovin (5/6/2026)DoorDash (5/6/2026)Fortinet (5/6/2026)Marriott International (5/6/2026)Warner Bros. 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PresentationSkip to Participants Operator00:00:00Good afternoon. My name is Julie, and I will be your conference call facilitator today. Welcome to Frontera Energy's first quarter 2024 operating and financial results conference call. All lines are currently on mute to prevent any background noise. I would like to remind you that this conference call is being recorded today and is also available through audio webcast on the company's website. Following the speaker's remarks, there will be time for questions. Analysts and investors are reminded that any additional questions can be directed to Frontera following today's call at ir@fronteraenergy.ca. This call contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws relating to activities, events, or developments the company believes or expects will occur in the future. Forward-looking information reflects the current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs of the company based on information currently available to it. Operator00:01:06Although the company believes the assumptions are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the company to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking information. The company's MD&A for the quarter ended March 31st, 2024, and the company's annual information form dated March 7th, 2024, and other documents it files from time to time with securities regulatory authorities describe the risks, uncertainties, material assumptions, and other factors that could influence actual results. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required by law. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Gabriel de Alba, Chairman of the Board of Frontera Energy. Operator00:02:12Please go ahead. Gabriel de AlbaChairman of the Board at Frontera Energy00:02:17Thank you, Operator. Good morning and welcome to Frontera's first quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me on today's call are Orlando Cabrales, Frontera's CEO, and René Burgos, Frontera's CFO. Also available to answer questions at the end of the call, we have Victor Vega, VP Field Development, Reservoir Management and Exploration; Alejandra Bonilla, General Counsel; Iván Arévalo, VP Operations; and Renata Campagnaro, VP Marketing, Logistics and Business Sustainability. Thank you for joining us. Frontera is focused on delivering on its strategic objectives and generating value for its stakeholders. In the first quarter, the company generated $97.2 million in operating EBITDA, $25.7 million of adjusted infrastructure EBITDA, and maintained a robust balance sheet, finishing the quarter with a total cash balance of $182 million. During the quarter, ODL declared a $157 million dividend, $54.9 million net to Frontera, highlighting the strong cash generation capacity of this strategic infrastructure investment. Gabriel de AlbaChairman of the Board at Frontera Energy00:03:39The company also achieved an agreement in principle with Ecopetrol for the use of the company's reverse osmosis water treatment facility, SAARA, through a two-year contract. This is a significant ESG and strategic milestone which will drive greater produced water disposal and crude oil production capacity at the Quifa block. So far this year, the company has returned nearly $30 million of capital to our stakeholders, including $7.8 million in declared dividends, $3 million of common share purchases, and $1.5 million of buybacks of its 2028 unsecured loans. Moreover, the company, with support from Goldman Sachs, has launched a strategic alternatives process for its standalone and growing Colombian infrastructure business which may include a spinoff, a total or partial sale, or other business combinations. With over $1 billion of capital invested, Frontera's infrastructure assets are a unique investment opportunity in some of Colombia's most relevant infrastructure assets. Gabriel de AlbaChairman of the Board at Frontera Energy00:04:50The ODL pipeline connects the most prolific oil reserves areas in Colombia, the Meta and Casanare departments which together hold 70% of the national 1P crude oil reserves, to the rest of Colombia's midstream network and transports 30% of the total country oil output. ODL has paid over $1.3 billion in distributions since inception. Completed in 2015, Puerto BahÃa is a state-of-the-art liquids and dry cargo port terminal strategically located in the heart of the Bay of Cartagena. Operating under a maritime concession, the port owns over 150 hectares of freehold land which include 2.4 million barrels of oil and oil product storage capacity, over 50 hectares of dry cargo storage capacity, and an additional 75 hectares of expansion capacity to develop a strategic initiative. Gabriel de AlbaChairman of the Board at Frontera Energy00:05:54The recently announced connection agreement with the Reficar refinery planned to come online this year and is expected to drive additional hydrocarbon volume and strengthening Cartagena's role as a regional leader and economic hub for the hydrocarbon space. Looking ahead, the company will consider future shareholder initiatives in 2024 and beyond, including potential additional dividends, distributions, or bond buybacks based on the raw results of our business and the company's strategic goals. I will now turn the call over to Orlando Cabrales, Frontera's CEO, and our CFO, René Burgos, who will share their views on our first quarter results. Orlando? Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:06:40Thank you, Gabriel. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us this morning. Frontera's first quarter results were in line with our expectations despite some unforeseen challenges. First quarter production declined approximately 3% on a quarter-over-quarter basis, impacted primarily by light and medium natural declines and expected oil failures partially offset by our resilient heavy oil operations. During the quarter, our heavy crude oil production grew 2% on a quarter-over-quarter basis, reaching approximately 23,400 barrels per day. We also experienced another average daily production record of 7,000 barrels at the CPE-6 block. The growth in our heavy oil business came despite several challenges, including the impact of community blockades as well as delays associated with our strategic water disposal initiatives, including SAARA. If these events had not materialized, we would have expected an increase on production of approximately 725 barrels per day. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:08:13We expect activities in SAARA to start up during the second quarter and to continue ramping up during the rest of the year, supporting our heavy oil production operation in Quifa with the objective of processing more than 250,000 barrels of water per day for the Quifa block once stabilized. Additional activities supporting our growth outlook for our heavy oil also include a new water injector well in Quifa coming online this month, expected to provide an additional 100,000 barrels of water per day. Also, we continue our efforts to expand our water handling capacity in CPE-6 to continue to capitalize on our production growth. Since the end of 2022, we have increased water handling at the CPE-6 block from 120,000 barrels per day to 240,000 during 2023 and growing to 360,000 barrels of water per day during this year. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:09:33Our drilling campaign on these blocks has also started strong and is meeting expectations. Year to date, we have drilled 20 development wells in the Quifa and CPE-6 blocks. On our light and medium operations, we suffered some unanticipated setbacks that resulted in lower levels of production than planned, including some unexpected well failures. We will continue to invest in workover and well services activity in these blocks to recover production. Additionally, we continue to invest in our VIM-1 block, including gas compression facilities that will aid in the reinjection of close to 20,000-30,000 MCF and is expected to increase production at the VIM-1 block. On the exploration side, we are excited about spudding the high impact Hydra-1 well on the VIM-1 block scheduled for June of this year. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:10:43The company completed important civil works activities, including platform and road construction, in advance of drilling the well. We reiterate our production and capital guidance for 2024. With these activities, along with our drilling program, we expect improved production and profitability throughout the rest of the year as we advance our development portfolio in Colombia and Ecuador. Along with our active pursuit of a strategic alternative for our interest in the Corentyne block in Guyana, which is still ongoing, and our recently announced strategic alternative review for our growing Colombian infrastructure business, the company remains focused on unlocking value from the sum of its products. I would now like to turn the call over to René Burgos, Frontera's CFO. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:11:51Thank you, Orlando. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I'd like to take a moment to highlight a few key financial aspects of our first quarter results. For the first quarter, the company recorded a net loss of $8.5 million or $0.10 per share. This quarter's net loss follows approximately $44 million in income from operations plus share of income from associates, which includes $14 million of share income from ODL, offset by roughly $17 million in finance expenses, $9 million in losses related to risk management contracts, and approximately $27 million in income tax expenses, including almost $22 million in deferred income taxes, primarily due to the impact of non-deductible expenses and differences related to foreign currency fluctuations. During the quarter, the company assumed an income tax rate of 50%, inclusive of the 15% surtax associated to the 2022 Colombian tax reform. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:13:00Moving to operating EBITDA, operating EBITDA for the quarter was approximately $97 million. During the quarter, we saw weighted average Brent sales prices for Frontera of $82.35 and average Vasconia differential on our export sales of $4.7. Compared to the prior quarter, our EBITDA performance was impacted by lower sales volumes as well as sustained high energy costs and inflationary effects on our operating costs. Taking a closer look at our operating costs, our production, energy, and transportation costs per barrel for the quarter totaled $10.21, $5.29, and $11.33 respectively. This compares with $9.69, $5.06, and $11.02 in the prior quarter. The increase in production costs quarter-over-quarter was primarily a result of higher well service activity, inflationary pressures on services, and wage indexation that typically occurs at the beginning of the year. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:14:16Regarding energy prices, we continue to see the effect of sustained domestic high energy prices and the impact of FX fluctuations. We saw higher energy costs driven by higher activity in the CPE-6 block and the startup of the additional water handling capacity. For the first quarter, electricity costs accounted for 30% of our energy consumption and 46% of our total energy costs. Gas generation for the quarter was strong, with cash flow from operations totaling $65.6 million, thanks in part to a strong Brent oil price environment, changes in working capital related to lower sales volumes, offset partially by lower income tax withheld. It is worth highlighting that during the quarter, Colombian tax authorities reduced the overall tax withholding rate on oil export sales from 9.9% to 5.6%. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:15:15Capital expenditures for the quarter were roughly $70 million, including primarily cost-associated water drilling campaign of 21 development wells at Quifa, Cajua, CPE-6, and the Perico blocks for roughly $35 million. On the infrastructure side, adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was $25.7 million compared with $27.3 million in the prior quarter. The quarter-over-quarter change was due to lower general cargo revenues for Puerto Bahia, lower transported volumes at ODL, lower palm oil sales from Los Llanos as a result of lower palm oil prices, and higher operating costs across the segment due to inflationary pressures on services and negative impact from foreign exchange rates. More specifically, in respect to ODL, EBITDA for the first quarter was $7.8 million, down 9% on a quarter-over-quarter basis due to lower transported volumes and inflationary pressures driving higher operating costs as compared to the prior. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:16:24Additionally, ODL declared $157 million in dividends, including approximately $55 million net to Frontera, and a return of capital close to $23 million or $8 million net to Frontera. These capital payments are payable in installments through 2024. In April 2024, the company received the first installment equal to 50% of the total capital distributions declared. As of March 31st, 2024, the company reported a total cash position of $182 million, including $155 million of unrestricted cash. Turning now to risk management, our current risk management strategy continues to show our hedging discipline supports our operations and planning. Frontera uses derivative instruments to manage exposure to oil price and FX volatility. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:17:16On the oil side, during the first quarter of 2024, the company successfully secured a 40% hedging ratio for the April to August 2024 period and entering through new hedges that protect a portion of our expected production for September 2024, protecting us of a potential drop in oil prices at average strike prices of $72 and $76 for the second and third quarter, respectively. Frontera has also entered into foreign exchange rates totaling $30 million for approximately protecting the peso exposure above 39.70 for the third quarter. Frontera also entered into forwards to protect the ODL capital distribution and the repayment of the Bancolombia principal denominated working capital loan. These hedges provide the company with stability and will help mitigate future fluctuations and allow the business to deliver on its targets. Finally, I'd like to provide an update on our shareholder value initiative. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:18:16Under the company's current NCIB, which commenced on November 21st, 2023, the company repurchased approximately 940,000 shares or just over 1% of our total common shares pending for cancellation for approximately CAD 5.8 million as of March 8th, 2024. Frontera is authorized to repurchase up to 3.9 million shares as part of its program. With respect to our announced dividend on April 16th, Frontera paid approximately CAD 3.9 million or CAD 0.0625 per share and will pay CAD 0.0625 per share to shareholders of record as of July 3rd, 2024, on or around July 17th, 2024. I would like to now turn the call back to Orlando. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:19:05Thank you, René. Before I wrap up today's call, I would like to highlight that during the quarter, Frontera offset nearly 50% of its CO2 emissions from the production and consumption of energy in our operations through carbon credit purchases. The company also achieved a total recordable incident rate of 0.72 and reused 20% of its water production and 37% of its operating waste. The company also invested $0.5 million in social projects in communities near its operations in Colombia, Ecuador, and Guyana. On February 22nd, Frontera was recognized by Ethisphere as one of the world's most ethical companies for the fourth consecutive year. Frontera was also recognized for the second time as one of the 20 best workplaces for women in Colombia by the Great Place to Work Institute. And finally, a few thoughts on our strategic review processes. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:20:19The company with support from Jefferies continues to actively pursue strategic alternatives for its interest in the Corentyne block in Guyana, including a possible farm-down. As Gabriel mentioned, the company launched a strategic alternative review for its standalone and growing infrastructure business. Frontera's infrastructure business is comprised by the company's 35% equity interest in the ODL pipeline and its 99.97% equity interest in the Puerto BahÃa port. Infrastructure business has generated $120 million of adjusted infrastructure EBITDA and $47.3 million in capital distributions in 2023. Frontera has retained Goldman Sachs as financial advisor and may retain other advisors to assist the board in evaluating the various strategic business and financial alternatives. These processes are part of the company's effort to streamline the business portfolio and unlock value from the sum of its parts. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:21:34Frontera believes the value of these assets is not reflected in the current stock price, and these processes aim to drive value for shareholders. There can be no guarantee that the strategic review process will result in a transaction. With that, I would like to conclude by saying thank you to Gabriel and René for your comments, and thank you, everyone, for attending our call. I will now turn the call back to our operator. Operator00:22:07Thank you. At this time, for those wishing to ask a question, please press Start, then a number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from Ann Milne from Bank of America. Please go ahead. Anne MilneManaging Director of Emerging Markets Corporate Research at Bank of America00:22:25Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you very much for the call today, and thank you for outlining some of your strategic initiatives that you're focusing on. I have two questions. One is sort of a broad question, and the other is a little bit more specific. The first one has to do with, I guess, the strategy towards your bonds. They are one of the cheapest ones among the independents in Latin America and in Colombia, which sort of mystifies me because you have a good diversified asset base and you have good cash flow and relatively low leverage. At some point, would you consider doing either more of a buyback or an exchange for something maybe more amortizing or something, just so you can be more in line with your peer group? Anne MilneManaging Director of Emerging Markets Corporate Research at Bank of America00:23:12I think that could also eventually help your equity valuation if people are less concerned about the debt and that there might not be any hidden problems. So that's sort of a very generalized question. The second one, I think, has to do with the initiative that you outlined in your press release, which is for looking at alternatives for your infrastructure assets. Just wondering if you have any idea of what the range of multiples are for this type of business in Latin America? Thanks very much. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:23:48Hi, Anne. Thank you very much for your question. I think I'll tackle the first one first. On our bond strategy, I think that we've been and our chairman was very upfront that we were going to continue to seek out alternatives for us to maximize value to all of our stakeholders. Right now, we're very comfortable with our bonds. It's at 2028 maturity. We're certainly disappointed with the overall trading levels, but we're going to keep an eye and proactively kind of do what's in the best interest of the company, shareholders, and also its stakeholders. So as far as this year, we've acquired roughly $1.5 million in notional. And looking forward, we will continue kind of just, as our chairman laid out, seek out opportunities to see where our best dollar is invested to maximize that value. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:24:33As it relates to the infrastructure initiative, that is a very good question. And look, and one that we believe touches on what Orlando highlighted in his portion of the call when he said that the value of these assets are not reflected in our stock price today. These are assets. And perhaps when I compare it to where our companies trade in the oil and gas field, you see oil and gas players trading to cash flow anywhere from 2-3 times depending on the oil price cycle. We believe that these are assets that trade much higher than that. And we believe through this exercise, we're going to be able to unlock some of that value. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:25:13I think that you can probably help me better by giving me some indications as to what you believe the value is or as you follow a lot of these market players. But what we can say confidently is that these assets, their predictability as it relates to their cash flows should merit a much higher multiple than what Frontera would otherwise have. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:25:29Yes. Maybe, if I may, just to build on what René said, and I think Gabriel emphasized this in his remarks, is that looking ahead, we will consider different shareholder initiatives, including for 2024 and beyond, of course, including potential additional dividends distributions or bonds buybacks. So your comment is well taken. The other comment is we really believe that the infrastructure assets have a significant cash generation and different catalysts for long-term growth in those assets. So we are excited about it and ready to start working on this process. Anne MilneManaging Director of Emerging Markets Corporate Research at Bank of America00:26:25Okay. Thank you. Operator00:26:26Your next question comes from Oriana Covault from Balanz. Please go ahead. Oriana CovaultEquity and Credit Research Analyst at Balanz Capital00:26:37Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. This is Oriana Covault with Balanz. I have two questions mainly. The first one is a follow-up on your announcement on this evaluation of strategic opportunities. So we read about these plans to monetize or spin off these assets, and we agree that it seems like a great way to unlock value for shareholders given the different valuation multiples. We were just wondering if in the case of a sale of these assets or even a portion of the equity to be spun off the vehicle, does the indenture of your bonds or other debt documents mandate you to use the proceeds to repay debt, at least partially, or would this be something that you'd consider doing voluntarily applying any eventual proceeds to bond buybacks? Thanks. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:27:27Thank you, Oriana. On the bonds, sorry, on the potential proceeds from a sale of these assets and the ability to repay back bonds, it's a terrific question. I'll remind you that these are unrestricted subsidiaries of a bond. So there is no obligation of the company to use these proceeds to repay the bond. However, as I alluded earlier, we are looking at ways, and I think our chairman said it, our CEO said it, of generating value for all of our stakeholders. So certainly, it would be a consideration, but it's certainly not an obligation. Oriana CovaultEquity and Credit Research Analyst at Balanz Capital00:28:16Perfect. That's completely clear. Thanks, René. Just on the quarterly performance, just turning more on the production side of the angle, we noticed that it's running a tad below the low end of guidance. So if you could perhaps share some more color on the catalysts to drive production within guidance in the upcoming quarters? Thanks. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:28:39Yes. Well, as I said in my remarks, we are reiterating today our production and capital guidance. And basically, the additional production that we are seeing coming up in the following months are, as I mentioned, many, many ones. I mean, the first one is the new injector well in Quifa, which is coming online very, very soon in the following days. We are also increasing the water handling capacity of CPE-6 from 240,000 to 360,000 in the following months as well. And as I mentioned, just to reiterate, we are seeing again record productions in CPE-6. And we are starting, and we expect to start up the SAARA facility in the second quarter after reaching an agreement in principle with Ecopetrol on a two-year contract. So that will allow us to increase water handling capacity for Quifa to 250,000 barrels per day. So that is another one. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:29:59The other one is in VIM-1. As I said, we are increasing our gas process compression facilities in VIM-1. So that means more liquid production and some gas production. And we are also doing workover and well services activities in our light and medium blocks. So with those activities in mind, we feel comfortable today that we can reiterate our production guidance. Oriana CovaultEquity and Credit Research Analyst at Balanz Capital00:30:35Perfect. That's completely clear. Thanks very much again, guys. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:30:42Thank you. Operator00:30:43Your next question comes from Roman Rossi from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:30:51Good morning, guys, and thanks for taking the questions. I have a couple. The first one is regarding the well failures you mentioned in the Quifa. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:31:01Hey, Roman. Sorry to interrupt you. Hey, Roman, sorry to interrupt you. I'm having really trouble hearing you. If you could perhaps back away from your phone, it's a little bit muffled. Or speak louder. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:31:12Okay. Can you hear me better now? René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:31:15That's better. Thank you. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:31:17Okay. Regarding the well failures you mentioned in your disclosure, just wanted to get a sense on the quantity of barrels that you lost and if all the production is back online? Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:31:35Yes. The production is back online. Those were unexpected failures. With this additional activity that I mentioned earlier, work order and well services, we are expecting to increase production in that asset. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:31:54Okay. And the second is regarding the Reficar connection. When are you expecting to complete? And can you give us a sense on CapEx on a quarterly basis given that you still have $40 million to deploy during this year? Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:32:13What is that $40 million? I didn't get that. Can you repeat that? You asked about the Reficar connection, but you added another thing, which I didn't understand. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:32:21Oh, the second part is regarding quarterly CapEx as you have $40 million to deploy yet. Orlando CabralesCEO at Frontera Energy00:32:29Okay. Let me start with the Reficar connection. The Reficar connection is going very well. We are still planning to end the construction of the connection by the end of this year as we have mentioned before. That is on track, consistent with our plan. We have been making progress on different fronts, right of way negotiations, awarding of the EPC contract. We are on track to finalize the connection by the end of the year. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:33:16Look, on the other question, you just need to look at the bulk of our CapEx because I think you're focusing on the drilling campaign. The drilling campaign, as it was alluded to, is going on strong. But a significant part of our drilling campaign is the associated facilities. Some of those just require that interconnection, flow lines, etc., to get everything to properly connect and to produce. So today, we've invested roughly $54 million out of the $180 million-$210 million of the total program. I don't know if that was your question. We can get more clarity if you would like, Roman. Roman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord Genuity00:33:52Thank you. Operator00:33:56Your next question comes from Cameron Ross from Mangrove Partners. Please go ahead. Cameron RossManaging Director at Mangrove Partners00:34:03Good afternoon. I was hoping you could talk about the tax implications of a spin versus asset sale of the infrastructure asset in light of the NOLs at the company. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:34:21That's a very good question. Look, we're exploring the different alternatives. Ultimately, I don't have a set response to you. To be very transparent, that's the reason why we're doing this review today, or we're launching this review today. Ultimately, we're capable of distributing value to our shareholders, one. The second part of that answer is that every single asset has a certain tax basis. So it really does depend on the price at which it's struck and the value generated at that and then how that money is mobilized up and distributed. But in the coming quarters, we're hoping to give all of our investors a better picture of how that will look like. René BurgosCFO at Frontera Energy00:35:06What I can say is that to the extent that we do have a cash transaction for any of our assets, we do not see an impediment to be able to deliver value associated with our cash to our investors. Cameron RossManaging Director at Mangrove Partners00:35:21Okay. Thank you. Operator00:35:28Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have a question, please press star one. There are no further questions at this time. Should you have any further questions, please email ir@fronteraenergy.ca. This concludes the call. Thank you for joining, and you may now disconnect.Read moreParticipantsExecutivesGabriel de AlbaChairman of the BoardOrlando CabralesCEORené BurgosCFOAnalystsAnne MilneManaging Director of Emerging Markets Corporate Research at Bank of AmericaCameron RossManaging Director at Mangrove PartnersOriana CovaultEquity and Credit Research Analyst at Balanz CapitalRoman RossiAnalyst at Canaccord GenuityPowered by