“Due to the better-than-expected well performance across both Matador’s legacy assets and the recently-acquired Advance assets, we are increasing our 2023 production guidance. We are increasing the midpoint of our 2023 total oil production guidance from 26.85 million barrels of oil to 27.15 million barrels of oil and increasing the midpoint of our 2023 total natural gas production guidance from 110.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas to 117.0 billion cubic feet of natural gas. As a result, we are increasing the midpoint of our 2023 total oil and natural gas equivalent production guidance from 45.30 million BOE to 46.65 million BOE.
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Matador Wells Drilled in 2023
Permian Basin Operator List
Detailed list of Operators that have drilled wells in the Permian Basin
“We also anticipate decreased D/C/E costs for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024. Our long-term relationships with our vendors have been beneficial as we have begun to see service costs peaking across the board. Combining these overall peaking service costs with our capital and operational efficiencies, which include faster drilling and completion times, dual-fuel fracturing fleets, simultaneous and remote fracturing operations and the use of existing facilities, should position us well to increase production while still reducing costs. We expect that these capital and operational efficiencies and service cost decreases will result in well cost savings of $25.0 to $30.0 million for the remainder of 2023 as compared to our prior expectations. As a result, we currently expect our drilling and completion costs for full-year 2023 to average $1,100 per completed lateral foot, which is a decrease from our prior expectation of $1,125 per completed lateral foot. We expect to continue to realize additional benefits from our capital and operational efficiencies and decreased service costs in 2024 and beyond.
“As a result of increased capital and operational efficiencies, the peaking service cost environment and adjustments to our operating plan for the remainder of 2023, we are decreasing the midpoint of our D/C/E capital expenditure guidance from $1.25 billion to $1.16 billion and decreasing the midpoint of our total capital expenditure guidance from $1.425 billion to $1.335 billion.
“Following the closing of the Advance acquisition, we continued operating the one drilling rig Advance had been operating. We subsequently released this drilling rig in anticipation of picking up a new “super-spec” drilling rig that would be better suited to Matador’s planned drilling operations. We currently plan to operate just seven drilling rigs for the remainder of 2023. Due to the various work by our drilling and completions teams to increase our capital and operational efficiencies, we expect to turn to sales the same number of operated wells in 2023 as we had previously planned and continue to expect to produce 143,000 BOE per day at the midpoint of our guidance for the fourth quarter of 2023 despite dropping the eighth drilling rig. We will continue to evaluate when to add back an eighth drilling rig depending on our realization of decreased service costs, capital and operational efficiencies, the prices of oil and natural gas and our various drilling and acquisition opportunities.
“In addition to capital expenditure savings, we anticipate lower per unit lease operating expenses during the remainder of 2023. As expected, the lease operating expenses for the Advance assets as well as our other Lea County assets have been higher than our historical lease operating expenses. We have mitigated this increase, however, by targeting improvements in workover, supervision and repair and maintenance costs. As a result, we are decreasing the midpoint of our expected 2023 lease operating expenses from $5.50 per BOE to $5.25 per BOE. The Board and I congratulate our office and field production staff for their good work that has allowed us to reduce our expected lease operating expenses for 2023, another targeted goal of Matador bearing fruit, so to speak.
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