Talos Energy, Inc. Common Stock 2026 Q2 Earnings Call

Please go ahead. Thank you, operator.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining me today to discuss our results are Paul Goodfellow, President and Chief Executive Officer, Zach Dailey, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Bill Langin, Executive Vice President, Exploration and Development. Please refer to our second quarter 2026 earnings presentation that is available on our website under the investor relations section for a more detailed look at our results and operations. Before we start, I would like to remind you that our remarks will include forward-looking statements subject to various cautionary statements identified in our presentation and earnings release. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the company. Factors that could cause these results to differ materially are set forth in yesterday's press release and our Form 10-K for the period ending December 31st, 2025, filed with the SEC.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as of today. We undertake no obligations to update these statements as a result of new information or future events. During this call, we may present GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of certain non-GAAP to GAAP measures is included in yesterday's press release, which was furnished with our Form 8-K filed with the SEC and is available on our website. Now I would like to turn the call over to Paul.

Thanks, Kyle. Good morning to everyone joining us on the call today. We have a lot to cover this morning. As always, I want to start by thanking our employees for their continued commitment to safety and environmental stewardship. The results that Zach and I have the privilege of discussing today are a direct reflection of their talent, drive, and relentless focus on execution. I am incredibly proud of what the Talos team has accomplished during the first half of 2026. Just over a year ago, we introduced our enhanced corporate strategy built around three pillars designed to position Talos as a leading pure-play offshore E&P. Today, I am pleased to highlight the significant progress we have made through a series of strategic actions that demonstrate execution across all three pillars of our framework and further strengthen our long-term portfolio.

Before turning to those actions, I want to begin with the strength of the base business, which continues to provide the foundation for everything that we do. The second quarter was characterized by solid execution across our base business, which translated into stronger production and higher operational uptime, driven by production optimization initiatives across the organization. Oil production averaged approximately 69,000 barrels per day, and total production averaged nearly 94,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, both exceeding guidance expectations. In addition, the Cardona well, which was brought online at the beginning of the year, continues to outperform expectations. These operational results translated into record free cash flow generation during the quarter and support an increase to our full-year 2026 production guidance. Zach will provide additional detail on these results later in the call. Importantly, these results did not happen by accident.

They are the outcome of a tremendous amount of work by our operations, production, and development teams and a direct reflection of the progress being made under the Optimal Performance Plan. We achieved greater than two-thirds of our 2026 target during the first half of the year, those efforts are translating into meaningful improvements in production, uptime, and free cash flow generation. This is exactly what we mean when we talk about improving the business every day. My second takeaway is that Talos continues to distinguish itself through best-in-class execution. One example of this is the Genovesa workover. We successfully completed the workover and returned the well to production ahead of schedule late in the second quarter, with well performance in line with expectations. What I'm most proud of is how the opportunity was approached.

Before the intervention rig was on location and during the planning phase, the team identified additional work that could be completed to support future access to a secondary zone. That is exactly the kind of thinking that we encourage across Talos, finding ways to create incremental value while maintaining capital discipline. It speaks to our culture of thinking outside the box and continuously improving the business. Full credit goes to our operations and development teams for identifying and executing on that opportunity. Execution excellence is also evident across our drilling and completion activities. Year to date, our program has operated with approximately 50% lower non-productive time than the Gulf of Mexico basin average. This level of performance not only enhances capital efficiency, it also reinforces one of Talos's key competitive advantages as a technically differentiated offshore operator. We also continued advancing several important projects during the quarter.

At Monument, the first development well was successfully drilled, the operator will now shift to the second well. We continue to progress rig reactivation activities for the Brutus program and now expect the first well to spud during the third quarter. In addition, we commenced the Daenerys appraisal program as part of our ongoing evaluation efforts. Operations are progressing as planned, with results from the first appraisal well expected before year-end. Now I'd like to conclude with a few thoughts on the strategic actions we have taken to extend our resource life and further develop a long-lived portfolio. Collectively, our recently announced Gulf of Mexico bolt-on acquisition, offshore Mexico development farm-in, newly established offshore Honduras acreage position, and non-core gas-weighted shelf divestment advance all three pillars of our strategic framework.

These actions immediately increase our deepwater scale with approximately 20% oil production growth, expand our development inventory in a proven basin through a high-impact greenfield opportunity, and establish a large-scale position in an underexplored basin at an extremely low entry cost. At the same time, the shelf divestment improves the overall quality and oil weighting of our portfolio while eliminating approximately $54 million of future abandonment obligations. The strategic rationale is compelling and represents meaningful steps forward in positioning Talos as the leading pure-play offshore exploration production company. As a brief update on the recently announced bolt-on, BP elected not to exercise its preferential right. This sets the stage for us not only to operate the Coulomb field, but also to become partner in the Na Kika platform and several other associated fields.

The assets we are acquiring produced approximately 18,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the second quarter, with an oil cut, unit operating expense, and EBITDA margin that are all expected to be accretive to our company averages. This transaction further strengthens our leadership position in delivering top-decile EBITDA margins across the entire E&P sector. Pre-close integration activities are underway. We look forward to closing the transaction later in the third quarter. Looking ahead, we're focused on advancing these newly announced opportunities across our portfolio. In the Gulf of Mexico, we continue to evaluate the operated Coulomb drilling opportunity, which we expect to compete for capital in 2027, while also advancing additional ILX opportunities that could provide upside to the current production base.

In Block 29, our near-term efforts are centered on submitting the field development plan with our partner to CNOOC, as we work towards a targeted FID in 2027, while progressing technical work in support of a future exploration well. Importantly, Block 29, where Talos and Repsol are the sole partners, is a development-led opportunity anchored by two existing oil discoveries, providing a clear path to FID and development and production. We believe this differentiates the opportunity. In Honduras, we're preparing to commence the first-ever 3D seismic program across the deepwater acreage in the second half of this year, an important step towards evaluating the basin's broader potential. While these opportunities are at different stages of maturity, the speed and alignment with which our teams and partners are advancing them is a key strength and differentiator for Talos.

Our ability to progress multiple strategic initiatives in parallel reflects the depth of our technical capabilities, the quality of our partnerships, and our ability to execute across a broad portfolio. The common theme across all of these actions is disciplined execution. We are advancing our strategic priorities while continuing to deliver strong operational and financial performance from the base business. As a result, we increased standalone production guidance despite the impact of the shelf divestment, generated record free cash flow. We enter the second half of the year with significant momentum. With that, I will turn the call over to Zach to discuss our financial results, enhanced financial flexibility, capital allocation activities, and outlook in greater detail.

Thanks, Paul. This morning, I will focus on three key takeaways: record free cash flow generation, increased standalone production guidance, and enhanced financial flexibility resulting from our recent capital markets transactions. I will also touch briefly on our unchanged capital allocation framework. Starting with the quarter, the operational execution Paul just discussed translated directly into strong financial outcomes. We generated adjusted EBITDA of approximately $402 million and record adjusted free cash flow of approximately $232 million, driven by production that exceeded guidance and stronger crude oil realizations relatives to WTI. On the heels of a great first six months, we're increasing our full year 2026 production outlook for the standalone business. Our revised guidance range is 64,000 to 68,000 barrels of oil per day and 87,000 to 91,000 BOE per day.