Notes From All Over -- Part 4 -- Friday, August 6, 2021

Earnings transcripts, 2Q21:

• SRE: link here.
• MDU: link here.
• MNRL: beats estimates.
• DVN / WPX: earnings call. This one might catch a few folks off-guard. I completely forgot and I'm long WPX. Sorry, DVN.

We have a winner: Apache. Alpine High? Link here. Apache nabs $4-plus for Permian natural gas, boosted by prescient hedging strategy. By the way, the wiki entry for Apache is a very, very interesting read. I never knew. Along with MNRL, APA is a trading stock for me but it's quickly becoming an investment-grade holding. LOL. I'm talking like I actually know something about investing. I don't. LOL. Ask my broker. 

APA: from the linked article above --

After fetching $4.61/Mcf for its Permian Basin natural gas in the first quarter, APA Corp. is stepping up its activity in some prospects and extending its exploration in Texas.

The gassy Alpine High development in the Permian Delaware sub-basin of West Texas had been the Houston-based explorer’s No. 1 global play. As gas prices stagnated and oil prices strengthened, more capital was moved to Egypt, the North Sea and offshore Suriname. 

Still, with prices on the rise early this year, CEO John Christmann IV had said in February the Alpine High and other U.S. prospects were likely to see more love in 2021. 

“We made excellent progress during the first quarter with regard to our top priority of free cash flow generation and net debt reduction,” Christmann said during the quarterly conference call Thursday.

“We performed well relative to our production expectations,” with “good capital and cost discipline,” even with the “challenging weather events” during February’s deep freeze.

The challenging weather, however, proved a boon for Apache, which in March became an APA subsidiary.