CNX Reports Second Quarter Results and Provides Updated 2019 and 2020 Guidance

PRNewswire 30-Jul-2019 6:45 AM

PITTSBURGH, July 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) ("CNX" or "the company") reports the following financial results, which are in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in the U.S.:

During the second quarter of 2019:

• The company reported net income attributable to CNX shareholders of $162 million, or earnings of $0.84 per diluted share, compared to net income attributable to CNX shareholders of $42 million, or earnings of $0.19 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2018. Included in the 2019 earnings was an unrealized gain on commodity derivative instruments of $211 million and a loss of $20 million due to a non-cash charge for additional stock-based compensation expense related to a change in control agreement of certain employees and CNX officers.
• Included in the 2018 earnings was an unrealized gain on commodity derivative instruments of $9 million.
• The company reported total production costs of $2.07 per Mcfe, including $0.89 per Mcfe of Depreciation, Depletion, and Amortization (DD&A), compared to $2.00 per Mcfe, including $0.91 per Mcfe of DD&A, in the year-earlier quarter.
• On a consolidated basis, the company reported net income of $193 million for the 2019 second quarter, compared to net income of $61 million in the second quarter of 2018.
• Capital expenditures were $329 million, compared to $264 million spent in the year-earlier quarter.
• The company had total weighted-average diluted shares of common stock outstanding of 192,780,732 compared to 218,929,960 shares in the second quarter of 2018.

Second Quarter Highlights

CNX's management uses non-GAAP financial measures for planning, forecasting and evaluating business and financial performance, and believes that they are useful for investors in analyzing the company. Stand-alone results include both CNX's Exploration & Production (E&P) and Unallocated segments (but not the Midstream segment) plus distributions CNX receives from CNX Midstream Partners LP ("CNXM"). CNX believes that providing Stand-alone results provides investors with more transparency and a better ability to compare CNX's financial results to those of our peer group. The term "consolidated" includes 100% of the results of CNX, CNX Gathering LLC, and CNXM on a consolidated basis.

• Sales volumes of 135 Bcfe, or an increase of 10% from the 123 Bcfe sold in the second quarter of 2018.
• Fully burdened cash margin of $0.93 per Mcfe, or a decrease of 23% from the $1.21 per Mcfe in the second quarter of 2018.
• Bought back 8,808,433 additional shares, or a 19% reduction in total share count since the start of our program, which as of July 15, 2019, results in 187,563,388 shares outstanding.

"Despite weaker prices, CNX's operational execution drove strong cash margins and well performance, which resulted in modest volume growth in the quarter, when compared to the first quarter of 2019," commented Nicholas J. DeIuliis, president and CEO. "We hit a major milestone in our deep dry Utica program this quarter with the Majorsville 6 pad well costs averaging $12.1 million per well, which is below the targeted well costs for Southwest Pennsylvania Utica. During the quarter, we set a Pennsylvania record for drilling the longest Marcellus lateral at 19,609 feet. Opportunistic share buybacks continued at discounted prices relative to our internal NAV per share views, with a 19% reduction in total share count since the start of our program. Our cash costs, robust hedge book, and asset base continue to drive strong risk-adjusted rates of return, and our focus remains on appropriately allocating capital across our operations, debt reduction, and/or additional share repurchases."

Mr. DeIuliis continued, "CNX is one of the most hedged producers in 2020 with 86% of our gas volumes hedged including NYMEX hedges at $2.94 per Mcf. The hedge program, coupled with the 2020 development plan and capital program, is positioning the company to generate approximately $135 million in free cash flow (FCF) in 2020 at forward strip prices on open volumes, while growing production approximately 12%, when compared to 2019. Based on this activity we expect that 2021 will be FCF positive and have flat production."

The following table represents certain non-GAAP financial measures used by the company:¹

The following table highlights operating cash margins and fully burdened cash margins:

Operations:

During the quarter, we used up to five horizontal rigs and drilled 30 wells. Many of the rigs are being utilized in batch drilling on pads that in some cases have stacked pay development. The company currently has three rigs in operation, which are under contract through the end of 2019, and CNX expects to run approximately two rigs and one frac crew in 2020. During the quarter, the company set a Pennsylvania state record for longest lateral by drilling the RHL71B Marcellus Shale well 19,609 feet. The average lateral length for this 6-well pad was 15,744 feet with estimated drilling and completion (D&C) capital of approximately $800 per foot.

During the quarter, the company utilized two frac crews to complete nine wells, which included: five Marcellus Shale wells in Greene County, Pennsylvania; and four Utica Shale wells in Marshall County, West Virginia. CNX has been a first mover in the basin by entering into a long-term contract with Evolution, an all-electric frac crew. The Evolution crew started operations in the second quarter and completed seven wells, which provided fuel savings of approximately $180,000 per well.

CNX turned-in-line four wells in the second quarter, which consisted of four Marcellus Shale wells in Greene County, Pennsylvania.

CNX's natural gas and liquids production in the quarter came from the following categories:

In the second quarter of 2019, total production costs were higher, compared to the year-earlier quarter, mainly due to increased transportation, gathering, and compression costs, offset in part by improvements to LOE, production taxes, and DD&A. The primary driver to the increased transportation, gathering, and compression costs was due to higher CNXM fees and firm transportation nominations related to new contracts. The improvement to LOE was driven by decreased water disposal costs.

Marketing:

For the second quarter of 2019, CNX's average sales price for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), oil, and condensate was $2.63 per Mcfe. The average realized price for all liquids for the second quarter of 2019 was $19.14 per barrel.

CNX's weighted average differential from NYMEX in the second quarter of 2019 was negative $0.31 per MMBtu. CNX's average sales price for natural gas before hedging decreased 21.8% to $2.51 per Mcf compared with the average sales price of $3.21 per Mcf in the first quarter of 2019. This decrease results primarily from a lower Henry Hub price reflecting current general market conditions coupled with a wider differential. Including the impact of cash settlements from hedging, CNX's average sales price for natural gas was $0.11 per Mcf, or 4.1%, lower than last year's second quarter.

Total hedged natural gas production in the 2019 third quarter is 103.9 Bcf. The annual gas hedge position is shown in the table below:

CNX's hedged gas volumes include a combination of NYMEX financial hedges, index (NYMEX and basis) financial hedges, and physical fixed price sales. In addition, to protect the NYMEX hedge volumes from basis exposure, CNX enters into basis-only financial hedges and physical sales with fixed basis at certain sales points. CNX's gas hedge position through 2023 as of July 8, 2019 is shown in the table below:

During the second quarter of 2019, CNX added additional NYMEX natural gas hedges of 2.6 Bcf and 53.6 Bcf for 2019 and 2024, respectively. To help mitigate basis exposure on NYMEX hedges, in the second quarter CNX added 3.4 Bcf, 20.3 Bcf, 23.6 Bcf, 24.0 Bcf, and 38.1 Bcf, of basis hedges for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively.

Finance:

At June 30, 2019, CNX's stand-alone net debt to trailing-twelve-months (TTM) adjusted Stand-alone EBITDAX plus distributions was 2.3x. On a consolidated basis, CNX's net debt to TTM adjusted EBITDAX was 2.5x. During the six months ended June 30, 2019, CNX completed a private offering of $500 million of 7.25% senior notes due in March 2027, of which $400 million was used to purchase its outstanding 5.875% senior notes due in April 2022. The company is evaluating additional options to refinance and extend the maturities of the 2022 senior notes.

At June 30, 2019, CNX's credit facility had $630 million of borrowings outstanding and $199 million of letters of credit outstanding, leaving $1,271 million of unused capacity. In addition, CNX holds 21.7 million CNXM limited partnership units, with a current market value of approximately $315 million as of July 18, 2019, a 2% General Partner interest, and incentive distribution rights.

Since the October 2017 inception of the current repurchase program and as of July 15, 2019, CNX has repurchased a total of approximately 44.2 million shares for approximately $595 million life-to-date, resulting in 187,563,388 shares outstanding, which is an approximately 19% reduction to total shares outstanding. The company has approximately $155 million remaining on its current $750 million share repurchase program, which is not subject to an expiration date.

Guidance and Capital Update:

CNX expects to generate approximately $135 million in FCF in 2020 based on the projected operational and financial results below.

CNX updates 2019 production volumes to 510-530 Bcfe, compared to the previous guidance of 495-515 Bcfe. CNX updates 2020 production volumes to 570-595 Bcfe, which equates to an approximately 12% annual increase, based on the midpoints of guidance.

The decreases in 2019 adjusted EBITDAX figures are due to a decline in natural gas prices since April 5, 2019, which is the date used for the previous guidance. The updated guidance assumes 2019 NYMEX gas price of $2.45 per MMBtu on open volumes and a basis differential of negative $0.275 per Mcf, based on the midpoint the guidance range. This compares to the previous guidance, which assumed a 2019 NYMEX gas price of $2.88 per MMBtu and a basis differential of negative $0.225 per Mcf, based on the midpoint of the guidance range.

Second quarter 2019 capital came in as expected, and the company is reaffirming full-year 2019 capital guidance, while increasing production volumes. CNX expects non-D&C capital expenditures to decrease by over 50% in 2020, when compared to 2019, as the company expects to benefit from these one-time investments that we expect to accrue value over time.

About CNX

CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) is one of the largest independent natural gas exploration, development and production companies, with operations centered in the major shale formations of the Appalachian basin. The company deploys an organic growth strategy focused on responsibly developing its resource base. As of December 31, 2018, CNX had 7.9 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves. The company is a member of the Standard & Poor's Midcap 400 Index. Additional information may be found at www.cnx.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Definitions: EBIT is defined as earnings before deducting net interest expense (interest expense less interest income) and income taxes.  EBITDAX is defined as earnings before deducting net interest expense (interest expense less interest income), income taxes, depreciation, depletion and amortization, and exploration. Adjusted EBITDAX consolidated is defined as EBITDAX after adjusting for the discrete items listed below. Stand-alone EBITDAX is defined as the adjusted EBITDAX related to both CNX's E&P and Unallocated segments (See Note 24 - Segment Information in CNX's Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more information) plus the distributions CNX receives during the current period from CNXM related to its limited partnership units, general partner units, and incentive distribution rights (IDRs). Although EBIT, EBITDAX, Stand-alone EBITDAX and adjusted EBITDAX consolidated are not measures of performance calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, management believes that they are useful to an investor in evaluating CNX Resources because they are widely used to evaluate a company's operating performance. We exclude stock-based compensation from adjusted EBITDAX because we do not believe it accurately reflects the actual operating expense incurred during the relevant period and may vary widely from period to period irrespective of operating results. Investors should not view these metrics as a substitute for measures of performance that are calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.  In addition, because all companies do not calculate EBIT, EBITDAX, Stand-alone EBITDAX or adjusted EBITDAX consolidated identically, the presentation here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Adjusted EBITDAX per outstanding share, adjusted net income per outstanding share, Stand-alone EBITDAX and adjusted EBITDAX consolidated, with shares measured as of July 15, 2019, are not measures of performance calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Management believes that these financial measures are useful to an investor in evaluating CNX Resources because (i) analysts utilize these metrics when evaluating company performance and, (ii) given that we have an active share repurchase program, analysts have requested this information as of a recent practicable date, and we want to provide updated information to investors.

Reconciliation of EBIT, EBITDAX, adjusted EBITDAX consolidated, Stand-alone EBITDAX, adjusted net income, net debt and TTM EBITDAX to financial net income is as follows:

Reconciliation of Adjusted Net Income

Management uses net debt to determine the company's outstanding debt obligations that would not be readily satisfied by its cash and cash equivalents on hand. Management believes that using net debt attributable to CNX Resources shareholders is useful to investors in determining the company's leverage ratio since the company could choose to use its cash and cash equivalents to retire debt.

Reconciliation of Trailing-Twelve-Months (TTM) EBITDAX by Quarter

Reconciliation of Stand-alone EBITDAX Trailing-Twelve-Months (TTM)

Cautionary Statements

We are including the following cautionary statement in this press release to make applicable and take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of us.  With the exception of historical matters, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements (as defined in 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act")) that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. These forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates concerning the timing and success of specific projects and our future production, revenues, income and capital spending. When we use the words "believe," "intend," "expect," "may," "should," "anticipate," "could," "estimate," "plan," "predict," "project," "will," or their negatives, or other similar expressions, the statements which include those words are usually forward-looking statements. When we describe a strategy that involves risks or uncertainties, we are making forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release; we disclaim any obligation to update these statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. While our management considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. These risks, contingencies and uncertainties relate to, among other matters, the following: prices for natural gas and natural gas liquids are volatile and can fluctuate widely based upon a number of factors beyond our control including oversupply relative to the demand for our products, weather and the price and availability of alternative fuels; an extended decline in the prices we receive for our natural gas and natural gas liquids affecting our operating results and cash flows; our dependence on gathering, processing and transportation facilities and other midstream facilities owned by CNXM and others; disruption of, capacity constraints in, or proximity to pipeline systems that could limit sales of our natural gas and natural gas liquids, and decreases in availability of third-party pipelines or other midstream facilities interconnected to CNXM's gathering systems; uncertainties in estimating our economically recoverable natural gas reserves, and inaccuracies in our estimates; the high-risk nature of drilling natural gas wells; our identified drilling locations are scheduled out over multiple years, making them susceptible to uncertainties that could materially alter the occurrence or timing of their drilling; the impact of potential, as well as any adopted environmental regulations including any relating to greenhouse gas emissions on our operating costs as well as on the market for natural gas and for our securities; environmental regulations introduce uncertainty that could adversely impact the market for natural gas with potential short and long-term liabilities; the risks inherent in natural gas operations, including our reliance upon third party contractors, being subject to unexpected disruptions, including geological conditions, equipment failure, timing of completion of significant construction or repair of equipment, fires, explosions, accidents and weather conditions that could impact financial results; decreases in the availability of, or increases in the price of, required personnel, services, equipment, parts and raw materials to support our operations; if natural gas prices remain depressed or drilling efforts are unsuccessful, we may be required to record write-downs of our proved natural gas properties; a loss of our competitive position because of the competitive nature of the natural gas industry or overcapacity in this industry impairing our profitability; deterioration in the economic conditions in any of the industries in which our customers operate, a domestic or worldwide financial downturn, or negative credit market conditions; hedging activities may prevent us from benefiting from price increases and may expose us to other risks; our inability to collect payments from customers if their creditworthiness declines or if they fail to honor their contracts; existing and future government laws, regulations and other legal requirements that govern our business may increase our costs of doing business and may restrict our operations; significant costs and liabilities may be incurred as a result of pipeline and related facility integrity management program testing and any related pipeline repair or preventative or remedial measures; our ability to find adequate water sources for our use in natural gas drilling, or our ability to dispose of or recycle water used or removed from strata in connection with our gas operations at a reasonable cost and within applicable environmental rules; the outcomes of various legal proceedings, including those which are more fully described in our reports filed under the Exchange Act; acquisitions and divestitures we anticipate may not occur or produce anticipated benefits; risks associated with our debt; failure to find or acquire economically recoverable natural gas reserves to replace our current natural gas reserves; decrease in our borrowing base, which could decrease for a variety of reasons including lower natural gas prices, declines in natural gas proved reserves, and lending requirements or regulations; we may operate a portion of our business with one or more joint venture partners or in circumstances where we are not the operator, which may restrict our operational and corporate flexibility and we may not realize the benefits we expect to realize from a joint venture; changes in federal or state income tax laws, particularly in the area of intangible drilling costs; challenges associated with strategic determinations, including the allocation of capital and other resources to strategic opportunities; our development and exploration projects, as well as CNXM's midstream system development, require substantial capital expenditures; terrorist attacks or cyber-attacks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations; construction of new gathering, compression, dehydration, treating or other midstream assets by CNXM may not result in revenue increases and may be subject to regulatory, environmental, political, legal and economic risks; our success depends on key members of our management and our ability to attract and retain experienced technical and other professional personnel; we may not achieve some or all of the expected benefits of the separation of CONSOL Energy; CONSOL Energy may fail to perform under various transaction agreements that were executed as part of the separation, including with respect to indemnification obligations; CONSOL Energy may not be able to satisfy its indemnification obligations in the future and such indemnities may not be sufficient to hold us harmless from the full amount of liabilities for which CONSOL Energy has been allocated responsibility; and the separation could result in substantial tax liability; and, with respect to the sale of the Ohio Joint Venture Utica assets, disruption to our business, including customer, employee and supplier relationships resulting from this transaction, and the impact of the transaction on our future operating and financial results. Additional factors are described in detail under the captions "Forward Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as supplemented by our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.