International Petroleum Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 4, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Blackrod Phase I achieved first oil ahead of schedule and on budget, with five well pairs online and plateau production targeted at 30,000 bbl/d. Management expects production and cash flow to ramp materially in the fourth quarter and into 2027.
  • Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter production of 42,200 BOE/d, operating costs of $19.10/BOE and 2026 capital spending guidance of $163 million were all in line with expectations. Full-year production guidance remains 44,000–47,000 BOE/d.
  • Positive Sentiment: Operating cash flow reached $67 million in Q2 and free cash flow turned positive at $4 million, the first positive quarter since 2023. Management forecasts 2026 operating cash flow of $230–$330 million and free cash flow of $10–$110 million at $70–$90 Brent.
  • Neutral Sentiment: IPC’s benchmark oil hedges expired at the end of June, leaving production fully exposed to WTI and Brent prices; remaining hedges mainly cover Canadian differentials, transportation and natural gas. This increases upside if prices remain strong but also raises commodity-price volatility.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Net debt was broadly stable at approximately $509 million, with more than $150 million of undrawn liquidity. Management remains opportunistic on share buybacks and M&A, but indicated that a dividend is unlikely in the short term and does not expect to materially increase 2026 capital spending.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
International Petroleum Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

Skip to Participants
William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Welcome to IPC's 2026 Second Quarter Results Update Presentation. I'm William Lundin, the President and CEO, and joined today by Christophe Nerguararian, our CFO, as well as Rebecca Gordon, our SVP, Corporate Planning and Investor Relations. I'll begin with the highlights and provide an operational update, hand it to Christophe to walk through the financial section. After the presentation, we can take questions which the audience can submit through conference call or via the Internet online. Getting right into the second quarter highlights for IPC. Our average production for the second quarter was right in line with guidance at 42,200 BOE/D, and our full year 2026 production guidance is maintained at 44,000-47,000 BOEs per day.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Second quarter operating costs came in line with expectation at $19.10/BOE, the OpEx per BOE forecast for the full year is maintained as per the original CMD guidance at $18-$20 per BOE. Of course, the major announcement in the quarter for the company was achieving first oil at Blackrod. It's the largest organic growth project IPC has undertaken since formation in 2017, to execute ahead of schedule and on budget is a huge achievement that we're very pleased about. Similar to production and OpEx per BOE guidance, we're maintaining our CapEx guidance at $163 million for 2026, noting the majority of the capital has been spent in the first half of $120 million or around three-quarters of that capital budget. Q2 capital spend was $49 million.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Operating cash flow for Q2 was robust at $67 million, noting oil prices were higher in the second quarter relative to the first quarter, averaging around $100/bbl Brent. 40% of our production exposure, oil production exposure was hedged at a WTI price between low and mid $60s and for the Brent side, between the mid to high $60s for Brent. Despite those hedges in place, still a robust print in cash flow. Our full year OCF is forecast at $230 million-$330 million, assuming $70-$90/bbl Brent for the remainder of 2026. Free cash flow for Q2 was a positive $4 million, noting this is the first quarter of positive free cash flow since 2023 as we transition from a higher spending period during the Blackrod build-out to start-up.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Full year free cash flow is expected to be between $10 million-$110 million between $70-$90/bbl Brent for the rest of the year. Net debt as at the end of Q2 stands at $509 million, about a $4 million reduction relative to the prior quarter, thanks to the positive free cash flow delivery in Q2. We have greater than $150 million of undrawn credit availability under a Canadian bank syndicate. As of July 1st, 2026, our oil production is fully exposed to WTI and Brent oil prices, with the prior benchmark oil hedges rolling off, as I'd mentioned previously.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

There are some Canadian heavy oil differential transport and quality-related hedges for the remainder of 2026 and some into 2027 that are in place, as well as some natural gas hedges that are also in place for 2026, all of which are in the money currently. Our seventh annual sustainability report was issued alongside our Q2 results. As can be seen on the production plot, we've seen continuous flat production performance through the first six months of the year, with average rates of around 42,600 BOE/D. Stable performance across the portfolio year to date, looking forward to the imminent production growth going into the second half and beyond. As mentioned, we're well-positioned to deliver on our annual production guidance for 2026 of 44,000-47,000 BOE/D.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

The guidance bands in the production forecast shows a progressive production ramp-up in the second half of the year, and that trend will continue into 2027. The increased forecast is predominantly due to the Blackrod start-up and partially supported by intra-year production investment additions at existing producing assets, which will yield more of an impact at the end of this year and going into 2027. I'll touch on more specific activity detail in the following slides. Q2 is the inflection point from a production standpoint, and higher production quarterly averages will shine through going forward as we transition from inventorying period at Blackrod to consistent sales mode in Q4. We'll also see a material uplift in cash flow generation. Our current production mix is split 70% towards oil and 30% towards natural gas, which is important to highlight.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

As per my previous comment, with larger proportion of oil-weighted production coming imminently, our future production mix is going to be higher proportionally weighted towards oil versus natural gas, lending to increased cash flow. Operating guidance is maintained at $18-$20/BOE, with Q2 costs settling in at $19.10. As previously reported, we added some production enhancement activity that is going to be expensed, most of which will fall into Q3, which is expected to be a slightly higher OpEx per BOE quarter before dropping in the subsequent quarters. Christophe will expand on this evolution in his section of the presentation. Operating cash flow for the first half settled in at $134 million, with an average Brent price of $92 and a WTI price of $82 and WCS of $68.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

It has been a volatile period on the pricing front so far year to date. The cash flow and corresponding prices were higher than our original CMD guidance, as shown on the right-hand side of the slide. We're pleased to see higher cash flow generation coming through. Looking forward for the full year OCF, we expect to generate between $230 million and $330 million, between $70 and $90 Brent, assuming a differential of $5 from Brent to WTI and $14 from WTI to WCS. The proportion of operating cash flow is heavily tilted towards Q4 compared to Q3 for the second half, as can be shown with the lighter shading on the bar chart in the middle of the slide. This is largely due to the prior mentioned additional activity taking place in Q3 and the inventorying treatment at Blackrod.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

The torque to higher prices is significant. We are fully exposed to Brent and WTI prices going forward since the Brent and WTI hedges concluded at the end of June. Our CapEx program, inclusive of decommissioning spend, is maintained at $163 million, noting we did increase the capital budget at Q1 relative to Capital Markets Day, large in part due to the sanctioning of short cycle investments in France and the Suffield area assets in light of the higher commodity pricing environment that we saw as the year progressed relative to starting 2026. We do retain flexibility to adjust our program for the second half, given our operatorship status at all the assets in our portfolio.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Free cash flow is projected to be $10 million to $110 million between $70 and $90 Brent for the remainder of 2026. Returning to a free cash flow positive position is really fantastic to see. The waterfall of free cash flow will significantly grow in the years ahead. Since inception, IPC has repurchased 77 million shares at an average price of SEK 79 per share, CAD 11 per share, translating into around $1 billion of value creation compared to our current share price. We have the ability to repurchase up to 6.5 million shares through our normal course issuer bid program, which represents 10% of the free float. Our current share count today is less than 113 million shares, notably lower than the original share count in 2017.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Driving up production value reserves and resource longevity per share is really a key ingredient to maximizing shareholder value. As previously reported to the market, Blackrod Phase I is officially producing oil, achieving this milestone at the end of May, ahead of the original scheduled guidance. Costs came in line with the budget at $855 million growth capital. We currently have five well pairs online, with several other well pairs to be converted upon necessary conformance conditions being met. We held a Blackrod site visit at the beginning of July with our board. The pride and sheer competency of the top-tier talent at site is really off the charts. The state-of-the-art facility is off to a fantastic start as we get into operational startup and ramp-up mode.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

This is really a unique feat in the industry to deliver a multiyear growth project on budget and ahead of schedule with no material safety incidents. Really hats off to the entire team involved for executing this transformational greenfield project responsibly. Blackrod is a long-life asset that is officially unlocked as the phase I CPF is now on stream. Plateau production for phase I is 30,000 bbl/d. We have 311 million 2P reserves assigned to the phase I project, which represents around $1.4 billion in net present value using a 10% discount rate based on the conservative year-end 2025 reserve auditor price deck, along with a January 1, 2026 break-even of $47 WTI.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

We have regulatory approval at this asset to go to 80,000 BOE/D, and the combined 2C + 2P volumes represent 1.45 billion bbl of recoverable resource, which is shown on the graph on the bottom. There's been a substantial increase to the total recoverable barrels, compared to that of the early volumes in 2010. The depositional environment of this asset really lends to a scalable and repeatable upside, and we continue to work behind the scenes to mature future phase expansions, which are yet to be recognized in their underlying net asset value or future cash flow projections. Moving on to Onion Lake Thermal. OLT has delivered a stable production through the first six months of the year. This is our Saskatchewan thermal operation. We did shoot some 4D seismic earlier this year.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

That data is under review, preparations are ongoing for the next sustaining capital activity. At the Suffield area assets, this consists of our Suffield Block acquisition that we acquired from Cenovus in early 2018, as well as the Brooks package that we purchased from Cor4 in 2023. This package overall continues to deliver stable, low decline, reliable production. We're super excited to be drilling again here within the Basal Quartz formation. Four production multi-leg lateral wells are planned to be drilled. First half production from our Brent-linked assets was around 500,000 bbl/d. Drilling is underway in France with four well sidetrack campaign. Initial results from the first well are very encouraging thus far, and we look forward to future reporting on the progress of this campaign.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Malaysia dated Brent premium realizations have been very material, as Christophe will share in his section of the presentation. Workover activity is ongoing in Bertam, which will boost production rates from current levels looking ahead into Q4.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

I'll hand it over to Christophe to expand on the financial highlights.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Thank you very much, Will. Good morning to everyone. It was a solid quarter operationally. Hats off to all of the teams locally with the production right in line with guidance in excess of 42,000 BOE/D. We saw some very strong oil prices during the quarter, with an average dated Brent price in excess of $100/bbl. With operating costs in line with guidance at $19 BOE, IPC generated strong operating cash flow and EBITDA at $67 million and $64 million respectively. I think what's really worth noting here is that, almost for the first time in almost three years, the operating cash flow fully covers the CapEx, and that was true in the second quarter, and that is true year to date.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

That's really the turning point we've been talking about for a while with Blackrod first oil achieved at the end of May during the quarter. We've not really turned the corner yet, but almost. At least we see a strong reduction in the Blackrod CapEx and still a very strong operating cash flow. We're really going to move back into positive free cash flow territory. That was the case in this second quarter with a ramp-up at Blackrod in the third quarter. It may or may not be again the case, but we would hope to have another free cash flow positive or right in line with the second quarter. The real change will occur in the fourth quarter with a much stronger production from Blackrod, translating into what we believe will be a much stronger free cash flow towards the end of the year.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

The net debt at the end of the quarter was reasonably flat, just around $510 million. Looking at the realized prices, of course, with the war in Iran, the oil which was not flowing freely through the Strait of Hormuz, we saw very high oil prices in April and May, specifically during the second quarter. With dated Brent price of $104/bbl on average during the quarter, and WTI, WCS at $92 and $78 respectively. Those are very, very high level, which we didn't fully benefit from because around 40% of our production was hedged before the war started early March in Iran. That being said, maybe just another comment that's interesting is that, Will talked about it, but we were lifting cargoes roughly every two months in Malaysia, and the premium we get there is always an interesting indication about how tight physical markets are.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Clearly, the June cargo, which was priced in April during the quarter, saw a very, very strong, very high premium, which showed how tight markets was. Again, for our next cargo in the third quarter, we've already agreed on a very high premium as well. That's a sign that the physical market remained very tight. Looking at the gas prices, not much change, frankly, and sadly, the Canadian gas prices remain at a discount to the U.S. market. It's not fully or very well physically connected with the U.S. market, which enjoys higher gas prices. During the quarter, we realized a price of CAD 1.75/Mcf. It's traditional that there's an element of weakness for gas prices during the summer. Unfortunately, it stays well below U.S. gas prices.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Looking at the operating cash flows and EBITDA, for the first six months in 2026 and compare those to 2025, reasonably stable here. The production was a bit higher last year. Oil prices a bit lower last year as well. It's roughly in line with around $130 million of operating cash flow during the first six months, both last year and this year, and around $125 million both last year and this year. I think as we touched upon before, with a bit more one-off OpEx with more activity in terms of workovers in Malaysia, in Canada as well, we're expecting maybe the operating cash flow to be in line or lower in Q3, but much higher with the Blackrod contribution during the fourth quarter.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Indeed, you can see on the OpEx per barrel, we are maintaining our guidance, but you see that clearly with some of the activity which we sanctioned at the end of Q1 and which is really being carried out in this third quarter. You can see a bump in the operating cost per barrel in that third quarter that is well anticipated and hopefully well communicated to you and the market. On average, we're expecting to be in the second part of that $18-$20 range, but stay within it. Again, I think it's important to anticipate and note that in the fourth quarter, as Blackrod production is going to further ramp up, you can see the natural decline in OpEx per barrel.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Irrespectively of what you can see here in the third and fourth quarter, I think it's important for us to reiterate that the mid to long-term operating cost per barrel remain very positive and should be below what we see here once Blackrod is ramping up to its full potential at 30,000 bbl/d in the course of next year, towards the end of next year. Strong netback, obviously driven by the strong operational and the solid oil prices. You can see here, both in the second quarter and for the first six months, relatively stable with an operating cash flow netback in excess of $17/BOE and an EBITDA at around $16.5/BOE.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Looking at the net, that's really at the cash flow, I like and I want to emphasize again that for the first time in a while, you can see here the operating cash flow of $134 million for the first six months, which is covering more than all of our development CapEx and abandonment cost. We are moving into this phase where finally, we are going to generate free cash flow. It's not fully the case yet for the first six months, but we're getting there. You can see that. Where the operating cash flow fully covers our CapEx and cash G&A, and we believe that very soon we'll be covering as well all of our cash financial items and working capital to put us in a solid free cash flow position.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Please note that we had a $6 million sale of assets in the first six months. Those were lands which we never really intended to drill. It's some acreage, which we had been collected along the prior years and were able to sell them to some Canadian companies. In terms of financial item, well, the situation on the balance sheet and the capital structure is very stable, with our bonds and revolving credit facility. You can see that we have net interest expenses of around $10 million per quarter. Stable again quarter-to-quarter, and we're expecting stable again going into the third quarter. G&A is stable as well at around $4 million, $4.3 million, $4.2 million, $4.3 million per quarter or just above $1/BOE.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Strong financial results with almost $360 million of revenues, a cash margin of $135 million, gross profit of $75 million, and a net result of $23 million for the first six months. The balance sheet, not much to mention here. The investment, of course, goes into increasing the value of our oil and gas property assets on the asset side of the balance sheet, and we're continuing to depreciate those assets as we are producing them. We have very little cash now, and we're usually maintaining around $10 million on the balance sheet, and otherwise, we draw or repay under our revolving trade facility as we need. The capital structure I mentioned is very stable. We have our five-year bonds with a coupon of 7.5% maturing in 2030, $450 million of bonds.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

On top of that, as an adjustment, if you wish, depending on whether we need it or not, quarter to quarter, we have access to an equivalent revolving credit facility from our Canadian banks of $250 million, and only CAD 100 million were drawn at the end of the quarter. We have reduced our outstanding letters of credit now that the Blackrod project is finally on stream. We have roughly CAD 12 million of letters of credit just to support access to pipelines and some export facilities. We had a very small amount under our French loan, which was fully repaid in the month of May. We didn't fully benefit from the high oil prices, only 60% roughly. We benefited from doing that second quarter because we had 40% of WTI and Brent exposure hedged.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

That is no longer the case going forward. We have no benchmark hedging going forward. What we have, though, for the next 18 months, is we've hedged some differential. We have typically for this year, the differential, the WTI, WCS differential hedged at -$12.5, which is roughly $2 in the money. Depending on the months, you have the detail on this table. We've also hedged a part of the transportation cost between Hardisty, Canada, and Houston in the United States. All of these hedges are in the money, and you can see around $6 million of positive mark to market on our balance sheet.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

That concludes my finance section, and I will hand over to Will for the overall conclusion.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Thank you, Christophe. In summary, a solid second quarter for the company and a compelling outlook going forward. Q2 production of 42,200 BOE/D, OpEx of $19.10 per BOE in the quarter, and the original Capital Markets Day production and OpEx guidance is maintained. Capital spend in Q2 was $49 million, and the full year 2026 outlook is maintained at $163 million. Operational cash flow was $67 million for Q2, and $230 million-$330 million is expected for the full year. We have in excess of $150 million of undrawn liquidity headroom. Our sustainability report was issued alongside our Q2 results, which I encourage the audience to read. It highlights the responsible business practice undertaken in 2025, and this voluntary report is progressively aligned with the latest standards such as IFRS S2.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

With that, I'll hand it to the operator to open the floor for questions, and as well, questions can be submitted online.

Operator

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question over the phone, please signal by pressing star one, and please make sure the mute function on your phone is switched off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. You may also submit your questions via the webcast. The first question is from Teodor Nilsen from SB. Please go ahead.

Teodor Nilsen
Equity Research Analyst at SB

Good morning, Will and Christophe, and thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on Blackrod first oil. My first question, that is on production guidance. As you mentioned, you achieved Blackrod first oil slightly before expectations, at least slightly before guidance, but you do not increase production guidance, although first oil was achieved earlier than expected. Why is that?

Teodor Nilsen
Equity Research Analyst at SB

Second question that is on hedging. Christophe, you highlighted you don't have too much hedging, at least on the oil side, going forward. Is that mainly explained by lower CapEx going forward, so lower commitments, or do you have any particular market view that drives that hedging strategy?

Teodor Nilsen
Equity Research Analyst at SB

My last question that is on share repurchases. I think we discussed this also last quarter, now that most of the Blackrod CapEx is behind us, should we expect you to do some more on repurchases than you have done over the past couple of quarters or Yeah. Any thoughts around that would be useful. Thanks.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Thanks for the questions, Teodor. I'll answer the first question, the third question, and I'll hand the hedging question to Christophe to answer that one. You're right, we're really pleased about Blackrod first oil being achieved ahead of guidance. I think the type of asset that we're talking about and first oil being achieved there are going to need to be 40 well pairs online to deliver 30,000 bbl/d. We did have our initial set of well pairs came on ahead of expectation, which is very positive, but at this point in time, I feel like it's still prudent to maintain the full-year guidance. As we progress further into the year, we feel like we're pretty well positioned to deliver at least within the midpoint and potentially in excess of that.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

We're maintaining the guidance as things stand at this point in time, but in the field, it's looking very positive at this point at the Blackrod asset. On the share repurchase side, regarding the flexibility, that's right. As I had mentioned in the presentation, we have the flexibility to repurchase around 6.5 million shares. We haven't done that yet as we remain steadfast on executing Blackrod, which, of course, as you point out, is now on stream. We are pleased to see a marginal net debt reduction in this quarter. We are monitoring macro, micro conditions as things stand and keeping a close eye on our liquidity. We remain opportunistic to begin participating in that program.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

On the hedging front, Christophe?

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Thanks for a very good question, obviously. I think we are generally bullish long term. The short term is much more difficult to take a view on and changes almost on a daily basis depending on the statements coming from the White House in the U.S. That being said also, we shouldn't be confused with the very short-term daily volatility and the long-term oil prices where we can hedge. The curve is relatively steep and backward dated, so we obviously cannot hedge at the current spot rates. We are monitoring that. The flip side is we've always communicated that when the bulk of the CapEx is behind us or we don't have any specific debt maturities, we will take a lighter approach on benchmark hedging.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

We'd rather focus on hedging and securing good transportation costs for crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast or the absolute WTI, WCS differential. I think we'll be a bit more cautious on hedging dated Brent or WTI prices. It's not excluded, but we're going to take a much more prudent approach there.

Teodor Nilsen
Equity Research Analyst at SB

Okay. Thank you. Makes sense then. Actually, if I may have even one more question that is on [Blackrod]. Just please remind me what's the latest you have communicated on timeline for sanctioning of Blackrod phase II?

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Yeah, phase II and future phase expansions still lie within our contingent resources. There hasn't been any prescriptive disclosure in terms of when the next expansion project takes place, it is a lot of work that's happening behind the scenes on looking into multiple expansion opportunities there, as those plans mature, we will provide an update accordingly to the market at that point in time.

Teodor Nilsen
Equity Research Analyst at SB

Okay, thanks. That's all for me.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. As a final reminder, if you wish to ask a question over the phone, please signal by pressing star one now. We will pause for just a moment to allow you to signal. It appears there are currently no further questions over the phone. With this, I'd like to hand the call back over to our host for any webcast questions.

Rebecca Gordon
SVP of Corporate Planning and Investor Relations at IPC

Okay. Thank you, operator. We have a few questions from the internet here. Just kicking off with a question regarding the portfolio. Will, perhaps you can comment. With Blackrod now upstream, is now the time to rationalize your portfolio and divest your international assets?

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

The asset base that we have has demonstrated a high cash flow generative ability and the foundation of existing assets has really supported us to put us in a place to be able to unlock the likes of Blackrod phase I. There's still a lot of life out of the portfolio beyond Blackrod with the existing producing assets. We do think of ourselves as ruthless capital allocators, and we're interested in maximizing value. There's no imminent processes at this point in time to note.

Rebecca Gordon
SVP of Corporate Planning and Investor Relations at IPC

Okay, thanks very much. We had a few questions on hedging, Christophe, which I think you've covered here, but maybe you could comment on, given we've only got $40 million remaining CapEx for the year, how does management think about the opportunity to increase this to take advantage of commodity prices versus paying down debts?

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Yeah, increasing CapEx, you mean?

Rebecca Gordon
SVP of Corporate Planning and Investor Relations at IPC

Yes, increasing activity.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Well, we've already leveraged to some extent. In our portfolio, we have short-term, quick payback activity sets. We've committed some increased activity, as you know, at the end of Q1. We are constantly looking and trying to high grade those options and possibilities. Will mentioned earlier on to the other question that we're working on future potential phases at Blackrod. There's always an opportunity to spend $2 million or $3 million on accelerating those future phases and expansion, which we are working on in any case, which may be considered OpEx or CapEx. I think we're very active. Generally, we don't anticipate to significantly increase further CapEx this year. A lot of activity is happening behind the scene already.

Rebecca Gordon
SVP of Corporate Planning and Investor Relations at IPC

Okay. Thanks, Christophe. We do have another couple of capital allocation questions. I think one here, Will, that we haven't covered is, are dividends something that's being considered going forward?

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Yeah, we have the full flexibility on our shareholder returns in terms of dividends or buybacks and subject to the conditions of the company, the liquidity when we look to return value back to shareholders in the form of distributions and subject to where our share price is sitting will kind of dictate the form of shareholder returns. We have never had a dividend in IPC and so we really firmly believe the share price appreciation is still to shine through much higher than current levels. At this very point in time, I think it's less likely that a dividend would be implemented in the short term.

Rebecca Gordon
SVP of Corporate Planning and Investor Relations at IPC

Okay, thanks, Will. Just a quick question, if you can elaborate on any CapEx plans for 2027.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Yeah, our 2027 budget details will be put together and released to the market at our Capital Markets Day in 2027. We have our year-end 2025 reserves plan, which is based on the year-end reserve auditor price deck, which has a CapEx profile, which we have disclosed externally as well for the next five years. Subject to commodity prices, the opportunity set of maturation, we may look to add on incremental value-adding activities based on that current assumption, but it's something that will be reviewed in detail at the end of this year and consulted with the board before we release our final 2027 budget, which will come at Capital Markets Day.

Rebecca Gordon
SVP of Corporate Planning and Investor Relations at IPC

Okay, thanks, Will. The final question here really is to do with strategic focus going forward. Will that include some M&A?

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Yeah, we've always said M&A is in our DNA. We remain opportunistic to growing inorganically, provided a tangible and robust opportunity presents itself. We are very much anchored in maximizing shareholder value. We have a tremendous portfolio of organic growth potential within it. As well, we always want to benchmark against buying back our own stock as well, compared to doing M&A. Within the boundaries of that, if the right opportunity presents itself for the right price, we're open to and opportunistic to growing through M&A, but it's grounded within those boundaries as I had touched on.

Rebecca Gordon
SVP of Corporate Planning and Investor Relations at IPC

Okay. Thanks very much, Will. Christophe, that's the questions that we have today. We'll close the conference, Will.

Christophe Nerguararian
CFO at IPC

Thank you.

William Lundin
President and CEO at IPC

Thanks very much. Look forward to reporting in Q3.

Analysts
    • William Lundin
      President and CEO at IPC
    • Christophe Nerguararian
      CFO at IPC
    • Teodor Nilsen
      Equity Research Analyst at SB
    • Rebecca Gordon
      SVP of Corporate Planning and Investor Relations at IPC
Powered by Quartr