Tulsa’s Vital Energy, Inc. is one of the latest oil and gas firms to announce record net income for its 2022 fiscal year.
The Tulsa company, formerly known as Laredo Petroleum, had fourth quarter net income of $118.2 million while the FY 22 net income was a record $631.5 million.
The firm’s fiscal year cash flow was another record, totaling $829.6 million. Its fourth quarter cash flow was $108.9 million. Vital’s fourth quarter EBITDAX was $191.1 million while for the year, it was $913.5 million.
Free cash flow for the quarter totaled $36.5 million while the FY-22 free cash flow totaled another record of $219.9 million. As a result, during the year, the company managed to repurchase $284.8 million face value of its term-debt and also reacquired $37.3 million in common stock.
“Our strong financial performance in 2022 was a direct result of the execution of our strategy to create shareholder value by acquiring and developing oil-weighted properties,” commented Jason Pigott, President and Chief Executive Officer.
“The assets we acquired since 2019 enabled Vital Energy to capitalize on higher oil prices, drive higher margins, and generate $220 million in Free Cash Flow in 2022. We utilized our Free Cash Flow and divestiture proceeds to reduce term-debt by $285 million and repurchase $37 million of common stock while cutting our leverage ratio almost in half.”
Vital reported its 2022 oil production gained 19% over that of 2021 and production was 35.9 thousand barrels of oil a day and 77.9 thousand barrels of oil equivalent a day in the fourth quarter.
Pigott said the company is poised in 2023 to build on its momentum, especially in its Permian Basin operations where it made a recent acquisition.
Vital Energy expects to operate two drilling rigs throughout the year, two completions crews for the first quarter and one completions crew for the remaining nine months of 2023. The Company’s capital plan in 2023 remains focused primarily on high-return projects in Howard County. All ~55 development wells Vital Energy expects to TIL in 2023 are anticipated to be in Howard County.
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