Berry Corporation Reaffirms a Strong Liquidity Position, Balance Sheet Strength, and Ongoing Free Cash Flow Generation
August 30 2024 - 6:30AM
Berry Corporation (bry) (NASDAQ: BRY) (“Berry” or the “Company”) is
reaffirming its strong liquidity position consisting of $94 million
of available borrowing capacity under its reserve-based lending
(“RBL”) facility and $11 million of cash as of August 23, 2024, as
well as its expectation of significant free cash flow generation
continuing during the second half of 2024.
As of August 23, 2024, the Company’s borrowings
outstanding under its RBL facility were $22 million, reflecting a
reduction of approximately 57%, or $29 million, since the first
quarter of 2024. This reduction included the final payment of $20
million made in July on the 2023 Macpherson transaction. The
Company maintains $125 million of available borrowing capacity
until the RBL facility matures on August 26, 2025. The Company is
actively working to address its debt obligations and is in
discussions to extend or refinance its RBL facility.
The Company continues to maintain ample
liquidity and generate the free cash flow necessary to further
reduce debt and fund shareholder returns as appropriate. Production
remains on track with the Company’s previously issued annual
guidance, and the Company has in-hand the necessary permits to
complete its planned drilling program for 2024, as well as to
support activity into 2025. Based on its inventory of workovers,
sidetracks, and new wells, and assuming permits continue to be
issued at the rate and in the manner they are currently being
issued, the Company has line of sight to keep production flat and
maintain free cash flow into 2026.
“We remain focused on creating value by
maintaining balance sheet strength and generating sustainable free
cash flow. The second half of the year traditionally has
significantly better free cash flow compared to the first half due
to lower working capital usage. Our capital expenditures are
expected to be well under cash flow from operations in the second
half of 2024 and we are on track to meet our annual production
goals,” said Mike Helm, Berry’s Chief Financial Officer.
He continued, “Supported by our strong
operations, we have and will continue to take steps to strengthen
our financial position. For example, we reduced our revolver
balance by 57% from the end of the first quarter to date. This
reflects our continued prioritization of debt reduction, prudently
investing in the business and returning capital to our shareholders
when appropriate. We are actively looking to further strengthen our
balance street, including the extension or refinancing of our RBL
facility, and addressing our senior unsecured notes due February
2026.”
About Berry Corporation
(BRY)
Berry is a publicly traded (NASDAQ: BRY) western
United States independent upstream energy company with a focus on
onshore, low geologic risk, low decline, long-lived oil and gas
reserves. We operate in two business segments: (i) exploration and
production (“E&P”) and (ii) well servicing and abandonment. Our
E&P assets are located in California and Utah, are
characterized by high oil content and are predominantly located in
rural areas with low population. Our California assets are in the
San Joaquin basin (100% oil), while our Utah assets are in the
Uinta basin (60% oil and 40% gas). We operate our well servicing
and abandonment segment in California. More information can be
found on the Company’s website at bry.com.
Forward Looking Statements
The information in this press release includes
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934. You can typically identify forward-looking statements
by words such as aim, anticipate, achievable, believe, budget,
continue, could, effort, estimate, expect, forecast, goal,
guidance, intend, likely, may, might, objective, outlook, plan,
potential, predict, project, seek, should, target, will or would
and other similar words that reflect the prospective nature of
events or outcomes. All statements, other than statements of
historical facts, included in this press release that address
plans, activities, events, objectives, goals, strategies, or
developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will
or may occur in the future, such as those regarding our financial
position; liquidity; our ability to refinance or pay, when due, our
indebtedness; cash flows (including, but not limited to, Adjusted
Free Cash Flow); financial and operating results; capital program
and development and production plans; operations and business
strategy; potential acquisition and other strategic opportunities;
reserves; hedging activities; capital expenditures; return of
capital; our shareholder return model and the payment of future
dividends; future repurchases of stock or debt; capital
investments; our ESG strategy and the initiation of new projects or
business in connection therewith, recovery factors; and other
guidance are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ
from anticipated results, sometimes materially, and reported
results should not be considered an indication of future
performance. For any such forward-looking statement that includes a
statement of the assumptions or bases underlying such
forward-looking statement, we caution that while we believe such
assumptions or bases to be reasonable and make them in good faith,
assumed facts or bases always vary from actual results, sometimes
materially.
Berry cautions you that these forward-looking
statements are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties
incident to acquisition transactions and the exploration for and
development, production, gathering and sale of natural gas, NGLs
and oil most of which are difficult to predict and many of which
are beyond Berry’s control. These risks include, but are not
limited to, our ability to refinance our indebtedness on terms
favorable to us; commodity price volatility; legislative and
regulatory actions that may prevent, delay or otherwise restrict
our ability to drill and develop our assets, including with respect
to existing and/or new requirements in the regulatory approval and
permitting process; legislative and regulatory initiatives in
California or our other areas of operation addressing climate
change or other environmental concerns; investment in and
development of competing or alternative energy sources; drilling,
production and other operating risks; effects of competition;
uncertainties inherent in estimating natural gas and oil reserves
and in projecting future rates of production; our ability to
replace our reserves through exploration and development activities
or strategic transactions; cash flow and access to capital; the
timing and funding of development expenditures; environmental,
health and safety risks; effects of hedging arrangements; potential
shut-ins of production due to lack of downstream demand or storage
capacity; disruptions to, capacity constraints in, or other
limitations on the third-party transportation and market takeaway
infrastructure (including pipeline systems) that deliver our oil
and natural gas and other processing and transportation
considerations; the ability to effectively deploy our ESG strategy
and risks associated with initiating new projects or business in
connection therewith; our ability to successfully integrate the
Macpherson assets into our operations; we fail to identify risks or
liabilities related to Macpherson, its operations or assets; our
inability to achieve anticipated synergies; our ability to
successfully execute other strategic bolt-on acquisitions; overall
domestic and global political and economic conditions; inflation
levels, including increased interest rates and volatility in
financial markets and banking; changes in tax laws and the other
risks described under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in the
Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2023 and subsequent filings with the SEC.
Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of
the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no
responsibility to correct or update any forward-looking statement,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise
except as required by applicable law. Investors are urged to
consider carefully the disclosure in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, available from us via our
website or via the Investor Relations contact below, or from the
SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Contact
Contact: Berry Corporation (BRY)
Todd Crabtree – Director, Investor Relations
(661) 616-3811
ir@bry.com
Berry (NASDAQ:BRY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2024 to Nov 2024
Berry (NASDAQ:BRY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2023 to Nov 2024