CA - Tourmaline declares special dividend of $2/share provides 2023 guidance

• Tourmaline Oil ( OTCPK:TRMLF ) (TSX: TOU) on Thursday announced the declaration of a special dividend of $2.00/share.
• The special dividend is part of Tourmaline's comprehensive shareholder return plan, the company said, and will be paid on February 1, 2023 to shareholders of record on January 24, 2023.
• The company anticipates paying further special dividends each quarter in 2023, and expects tactical utilization of its normal course issuer bid during the course of the year.
• Looking into 2023, Torumaline's net debt  for year-end 2023 is expected to be below the long-term net debt target of $1.0-$1.2 billion.
• The company said it expects cash flow of $4.5 billion in 2023, yielding free cash flow of $2.6 billion on capital expenditures of $1.86 billion.
• The company said it estimates capital expenditures, excluding A&D, of about $1.7 billion in 2022 as inflation was on average 7% higher in the second half of 2022 than the 18% inflation contingency previously assumed in the mid-2022 outlook.
• Tourmaline now plans EP capital spending of $1.675 billion in 2023 reflecting an inflation contingency of 25% for 2023 compared to 2021 levels.
• The 2023 total capital expenditures budget also includes about $100 million for exploration.
• The company is maintaining the long-term net debt target in the $1.0-1.2 billion range (about 0.2x anticipated 2023 cash flow).
• The company drilled 11 new pool/new zone and discovery delineation follow up wells in 2022 and is planning 15 exploration wells in 2023.
• Tourmaline estimates the exploration activities have added 481 gross locations to the existing drilling inventory thus far.
• Tourmaline achieved a 2022 exit volume production of 528,000 boepd, while Q4 average production was about 512,000 boepd, challenged by considerable unplanned operated and third-party downtime.
• The company elected to increase the downtime provision from 4% to 6% for 2023, due to absence of a finalized permitting framework in NEBC.
• Tourmaline now expects 2023 average production of 520,000-540,000 boepd.

For further details see: