Midstates Petroleum Company, Inc. provided an operational update and announced that its Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program authorizing the purchase of up to $50 million of the company’s common stock.
The Tulsa-based company does not intend to operate a drilling rig during the first half of 2019. Instead, Midstates will continue to evaluate its future activity levels and capital expenditure program as it focuses on returning capital to shareholders.
Midstates also announced a $50 million common stock repurchase program. The company’s Board of Directors and management are continuing to consider additional returns of capital through share tenders or cash dividends.
“Consistent with our commitment to return capital to our shareholders, we are pleased that our Board has approved this significant stock repurchase program which equates to over 20% of our current market cap,” said David Sambrooks, Midstates’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “We remain focused on maximizing shareholder value and being prudent financial stewards. As such, given the current macro-economic conditions and the fact that we have over 90% of our core acreage HBP, we have decided to take a pause on our drilling program as we enter 2019. While we monitor the pricing environment during this pause, we will take this opportunity to further evaluate our new drilling and completions techniques, explore additional ways to reduce costs and continue to generate considerable free cash flow. Our management team and our Board continue to believe in the significant value of our Miss Lime asset and its ability to generate significant returns for our shareholders,” said Sambrooks.
Midstates had approximately 25.3 million shares of common stock outstanding as of November 30, 2018.