NuVista Energy Ltd. Announces Strong First Quarter 2025 Results and Significant Progress on Our Shareholder Return Strategy
Press Release
CALGARY, Alberta, May 08, 2025 — NuVista Energy Ltd. (“NuVista” or the “Company”) (TSX: NVA) is pleased to announce strong financial and operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2025, and to provide an update on our operational performance. Our high-quality asset base continues to deliver strong returns across commodity price cycles, supported by the consistent achievement of new production milestones. We made significant progress on our NCIB to return capital to shareholders and further enhanced our financial strength by successfully amending and renewing our three-year covenant-based credit facility. Having completed a strong first quarter, we are pleased to reaffirm our annual capital and production guidance.
Operational and Financial Highlights
During the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, NuVista:
- Achieved our highest-ever quarterly average production of 89,516 Boe/d, surpassing our guidance range of 87,000 – 88,000 Boe/d and representing a 12% increase in production compared to the first quarter of 2024. The production composition for the first quarter was 28% condensate(1), 10% NGLs and 62% natural gas;
- Executed a net capital expenditure(3) program of $153.4 million, resulting in the drilling and completion of 9 and 24 wells, respectively;
- Generated adjusted funds flow(2) of $191.9 million ($0.94/share, basic(4)), reflecting a 42% increase compared to the first quarter of 2024;
- Realized free adjusted funds flow(3) of $35.0 million ($0.17/share, basic(4));
- Delivered a strong operating netback(5) at $28.41/Boe and a corporate netback(5) at $23.84/Boe, reflecting increases of 30% and 28%, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2024;
- Repurchased and cancelled 3.6 million common shares, at an average price of $12.86 per common share, for a total cost of $45.8 million. Since the inception of the Company’s normal course issuer bid (“NCIB”) in 2022, we have repurchased and cancelled 40.5 million common shares for an aggregate cost of $487.3 million or $12.04 per share;
- Strengthened our financial position through the amendment and renewal of our three-year covenant-based credit facility, increasing the facility size to $550 million and extending its maturity by one year to May 8, 2028;
- Exited the period with $2.7 million of available cash and net debt(2) of $267.6 million, maintaining a favorable net debt to annualized first quarter adjusted funds flow(2) ratio of 0.3x; and
- Achieved net earnings of $112.2 million ($0.55/share, basic), reflecting a 214% increase compared to the first quarter of 2024;
Notes:
| (1) | Natural gas liquids are defined by National Instrument 51-101 –Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities to include ethane, butane, propane, pentanes plus and condensate. Unless explicitly stated in this press release, references to “NGL” refers only to ethane, butane and propane and references to “condensate” refers to only to condensate and pentanes plus. NuVista has disclosed condensate and pentanes plus values separately from ethane, butane and propane values as NuVista believes it provides a more accurate description of NuVista’s operations and results therefrom. |
| (2) | Each of “adjusted funds flow”, “net debt” and “net debt to annualized first quarter adjusted funds flow” are capital management measures. Reference should be made to the section entitled “Specified Financial Measures” in this press release. |
| (3) | Each of “free adjusted funds flow” and “net capital expenditures” are non-GAAP financial measures that do not have any standardized meanings under IFRS Accounting Standards and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies where similar terminology is used. Reference should be made to the section entitled “Specified Financial Measures” in this press release. |
| (4) | Each of “adjusted funds flow per share” and “free adjusted funds flow per share” are supplementary financial measures. Reference should be made to the section entitled “Specified Financial Measures” in this press release. |
| (5) | Each of “operating netback” and “corporate netback” are non-GAAP ratios that do not have any standardized meanings under IFRS Accounting Standards and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies where similar terminology is used. Reference should be made to the section entitled “Specified Financial Measures” in this press release. |
Operations Update
Operations during the first three months of 2025 have progressed well. We have reached new corporate production milestones facilitated by the consistent utilization of our two drilling rigs and established completions crew.
Notable operational achievements in the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, included:
- Sustaining production above 90,000 Boe/d for the month of March, which exhibits our productive capability prior to our planned expansions coming on-stream later in the second quarter of 2025;
- Drilling a 4-well Lower and Mid-Montney co-developed pad in Gold Creek, which is slated to come on-stream early in the third quarter of 2025. This pad offsets a 6-well co-developed pad, that in its first year produced an average of 1,250 Boe/d per well (50% condensate), which is 45% above the Gold Creek historical average;
- Completing and bringing a 5-well pad in Elmworth online early in the second quarter of 2025. Notably, execution performance on this pad continued to set new benchmarks for the area. These improvements have resulted in average drilling and completion costs per well on the pad coming in 17% below the offsetting pad, which was executed in 2024. Production from this pad will be an important datapoint as development moves toward the higher condensate weighted portion of Elmworth;
- Bringing a 5-well pad in Bilbo online in January, which targeted three benches, including the Lower Montney. The pad has reached its IP60 milestone producing on average 1,580 Boe/d per well, including 46% condensate. Importantly, the Lower Montney exceeded the IP60 average, producing 1,850 Boe/d and over 50% condensate; and
- Completing a 14-well pad and commencing the drilling of an additional 8-well pad in Pipestone. These wells will underpin our growth into the newly expanded Pipestone infrastructure beginning later in the second quarter.
Return of Capital to Shareholders and Balance Sheet Strength
NuVista’s approach to capital allocation remains unchanged, maintaining a clear focus on the compounding benefits of absolute growth and reducing outstanding shares to deliver industry-leading total returns. We intend to allocate a minimum of $100 million in 2025, to the repurchase of the Company’s common shares under our NCIB and will allocate at least 75% of any incremental annual free adjusted funds flow above $100 million towards additional share repurchases.
Given our strong operational and financial performance year-to-date, and based on our current commodity outlook at US$60/Bbl WTI and US$3.50/MMBtu NYMEX, we expect to generate over $200 million in free adjusted funds flow in 2025, positioning us to materially exceed our minimum threshold for the year.
We remain focused on our disciplined and value-adding growth strategy, and providing significant shareholder returns. We continue to view share repurchases as the most effective initial method of returning capital to shareholders and will reassess this approach as our growth plan progresses.
As at March 31, 2025, we maintained a strong financial position with $2.7 million in cash and no amounts drawn on our covenant-based credit facility, resulting in net debt of $267.6 million. This remains well below our net debt soft ceiling of $350 million, reinforcing our ability to keep net debt to adjusted funds flow at or below 1.0x, even in a stress case of US$45/Bbl WTI and US$2.00/MMBtu NYMEX. For the first quarter, our net debt to annualized adjusted funds flow was 0.3x.
Further strengthening our financial position, on May 8, 2025, we renewed and amended our three-year, covenant-based credit facility, increasing its facility size by $100 million from $450 million to $550 million and extending the maturity by one year to May 8, 2028.
Board Retirement Update
After 22 years of leadership at NuVista, Mr. Ronald (Ron) Poelzer has decided to retire from our Board, and as such, will not be standing for re-election at this year’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Ron has been a distinguished leader and steadfast advocate for the oil and gas industry, leaving a lasting legacy through the many individuals he has worked with and mentored. As a co-founder of NuVista, he has played a vital role on our board and has been instrumental in shaping NuVista into the strong industry player we are today. His strategic insight, vision, and leadership have helped guide our growth and position us for long-term success.
The Board of Directors, management team, and all of us at NuVista extend our deepest gratitude to Ron for his invaluable contributions since the Company’s inception in 2003, and we thank him for his long and impactful service while wishing him and his family continued success and happiness in retirement.
2025 Guidance Update
Production thus far in 2025 has continued to perform well, with NuVista exceeding first quarter guidance. As previously communicated, the majority of our 2025 growth will come from the Pipestone area with the start-up of a third-party gas plant (“Pipestone Plant”), which is expected to be online late in the second quarter of 2025. Additionally, our annual guidance reflects the planned 4-year turnaround operations that are scheduled to impact production from our Pipestone South, Gold Creek and Elmworth operations during June and July. As such, our second quarter production guidance is 75,000 – 77,000 Boe/d. Subsequent to the planned turnaround and commissioning of the Pipestone Plant, the infrastructure will be in place to support production of approximately 100,000 Boe/d in the fourth quarter of 2025. We reiterate our annual production guidance of approximately 90,000 Boe/d.
Further we reaffirm our annual net capital expenditure guidance target of approximately $450 million, which will allow us to continue to prioritize at least a triple-digit return of capital to shareholders through the repurchase of our outstanding common shares. However, given recent volatility we continue to monitor the macro environment with a focus on prioritizing economics and returns, as such, if commodity prices continue to weaken and persist, we have the flexibility to adjust our capital program to maximize shareholder returns and preserve our growth economics for a more robust price environment.
Please note that our updated corporate presentation will be available at www.nuvistaenergy.com on May 8, 2025. NuVista’s management’s discussion and analysis, condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and notes thereto, will be filed on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) on May 8, 2024 and can also be obtained at www.nuvistaenergy.com.
| FINANCIAL AND OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS | ||||||
| Three months ended March 31 | ||||||
| ($ thousands, except otherwise stated) | 2025 | 2024 | % Change | |||
| FINANCIAL | ||||||
| Petroleum and natural gas revenues | 371,405 | 309,024 | 20 | |||
| Cash provided by operating activities | 232,663 | 147,893 | 57 | |||
| Adjusted funds flow (3) | 191,886 | 135,413 | 42 | |||
| Per share, basic (6) | 0.94 | 0.65 | 45 | |||
| Per share, diluted (6) | 0.94 | 0.64 | 47 | |||
| Net earnings | 112,152 | 35,769 | 214 | |||
| Per share, basic | 0.55 | 0.17 | 224 | |||
| Per share, diluted | 0.55 | 0.17 | 224 | |||
| Total assets | 3,579,218 | 3,134,976 | 14 | |||
| Net capital expenditures (1) | 153,411 | 187,856 | (18 | ) | ||
| Net debt (3) | 267,568 | 261,171 | 2 | |||
| OPERATING | ||||||
| Daily Production | ||||||
| Natural gas (MMcf/d) | 334.8 | 292.8 | 14 | |||
| Condensate (Bbls/d) | 25,178 | 24,220 | 4 | |||
| NGLs (Bbls/d) | 8,542 | 7,022 | 22 | |||
| Total (Boe/d) | 89,516 | 80,042 | 12 | |||
| Condensate & NGLs weighting | 38% | 39% | ||||
| Condensate weighting | 28% | 30% | ||||
| Average realized selling prices (5) | ||||||
| Natural gas ($/Mcf) | 3.91 | 3.08 | 27 | |||
| Condensate ($/Bbl) | 98.17 | 95.10 | 3 | |||
| NGLs ($/Bbl) (4) | 40.53 | 27.23 | 49 | |||
| Netbacks ($/Boe) | ||||||
| Petroleum and natural gas revenues | 46.10 | 42.43 | 9 | |||
| Realized gain (loss) on financial derivatives | 2.18 | (0.18 | ) | (1,311 | ) | |
| Other income | 0.01 | 0.05 | (80 | ) | ||
| Royalties | (3.89 | ) | (4.47 | ) | (13 | ) |
| Transportation expense | (4.75 | ) | (4.47 | ) | 6 | |
| Net operating expense (2) | (11.24 | ) | (11.51 | ) | (2 | ) |
| Operating netback (2) | 28.41 | 21.85 | 30 | |||
| Corporate netback (2) | 23.84 | 18.58 | 28 | |||
| SHARE TRADING STATISTICS | ||||||
| High ($/share) | 14.51 | 12.11 | 20 | |||
| Low ($/share) | 10.61 | 9.59 | 11 | |||
| Close ($/share) | 13.60 | 11.88 | 14 | |||
| Common shares outstanding (thousands of shares) | 200,664 | 206,332 | (3 | ) | ||
Notes:
| (1) | Non-GAAP financial measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS Accounting Standards and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies where similar terminology is used. Reference should be made to the section entitled“Specified Financial Measures”. |
| (2) | Non-GAAP ratio that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS Accounting Standards and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies where similar terminology is used. Reference should be made to the section entitled“Specified Financial Measures”. |
| (3) | Capital management measure. Reference should be made to the section entitled“Specified Financial Measures”. |
| (4) | Natural gas liquids (“NGLs”) includes butane, propane and ethane revenue and sales volumes, and sulphur revenue. |
| (5) | Product prices exclude realized gains/losses on financial derivatives. |
| (6) | Supplementary financial measure. Reference should be made to the section entitled“Specified Financial Measures”. |
Advisories Regarding Oil and Gas Information
BOEs may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A BOE conversion ratio of 6 Mcf: 1 Bbl is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. As the value ratio between natural gas and crude oil based on the current prices of natural gas and crude oil is significantly different from the energy equivalency of 6:1, utilizing a conversion on a 6:1 basis may be misleading as an indication of value.
Any references in this press release to initial production rates are useful in confirming the presence of hydrocarbons, however, such rates are not determinative of the rates at which such wells will continue production and decline thereafter. While encouraging, readers are cautioned not to place reliance on such rates in calculating the aggregate production for NuVista.
This press release contains certain oil and gas metrics, which do not have standardized meanings or standard methods of calculation and therefore such measures may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies and should not be used to make comparisons. Such metrics have been included herein to provide readers with additional measures to evaluate NuVista’s performance; however, such measures are not reliable indicators of NuVista’s future performance and future performance may not compare to NuVista’s performance in previous periods and therefore such metrics should not be unduly relied upon. Management uses these oil and gas metrics for its own performance measurements and to provide security holders with measures to compare NuVista’s operations over time. Readers are cautioned that the information provided by these metrics, or that can be derived from the metrics presented in this presentation, should not be relied upon for investment or other purposes.
In this press release reference is made to 2025 price outlook in the forecast of annual free adjusted funds flow. The forecast is based on 2025 price assumptions of: US$60/Bbl WTI, US$3.50/MMBtu NYMEX, C$1.95/GJ AECO and 1.38:1 CAD:USD FX.
Basis of presentation
Unless otherwise noted, the financial data presented in this press release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) also known as International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”).
Natural gas liquids are defined by National Instrument 51-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities” to include ethane, butane, propane, pentanes plus and condensate. Unless explicitly stated in this press release, references to “NGL” refers only to ethane, butane and propane and references to “condensate” refers to only to condensate and pentanes plus. NuVista has disclosed condensate and pentanes plus values separately from ethane, butane and propane values as NuVista believes it provides a more accurate description of NuVista’s operations and results therefrom.
Production split for Boe/d amounts referenced in the press release are as follows:
| Reference | Total Boe/d | Natural Gas % |
Condensate % |
NGLs % |
|||
| Q1 2025 production – actual | 89,516 | 62 | % | 28 | % | 10 | % |
| Q1 2025 production – guidance | 87,000 – 88,000 | 63 | % | 28 | % | 9 | % |
| Q2 2025 production – guidance | 75,000 – 77,000 | 62 | % | 29 | % | 9 | % |
| 2025 annual production guidance | ~90,000 | 61 | % | 30 | % | 9 | % |
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mike J. Lawford
President and CEO
(403) 538-1936
Ivan J. Condic
VP, Finance and CFO
(403) 538-1945
IBF4
