Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Tim McKay: I mean, the multilaterals is working out very well. Obviously, as you step out, you will find areas where the viscosity is a little bit too thick, I would say, or too viscous, and the productivities aren’t as good. But generally, we’re in the generally lower viscosity areas, and the productivities have been excellent. And from a capital perspective, when we look overall, they are basically very similar to whether you’re drilling in the clear water, which is, in my mind, kind of the same thing. To me, it’s all about the areas you pick, your drilling costs and how your access costs can be lower. So in the Bonnyville-Lloydminster area, we see lower cost of entrants because of the access, and they compete very well against the Clearwater.

Menno Hulshof: Perfect. Thanks a lot, Tim. Congratulations, and I’ll turn it back.

Tim McKay: Thank you.

Operator: The next question comes from Patrick O’Rourke at ATB Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Patrick O’Rourke: Okay, guys. Thank you very much for taking my questions. And first off, obviously, congratulations to Tim and Scott on everything that’s gone on here with the transition. Just first question with respect to TMX here on the cusp of line fill, whether it’s in Q4 or Q1. And maybe if you can give us some sort of view of how you think about extracting value through marketing barrels on this asset and maybe break down, you’ve got a lot of synthetic barrels there, you’ve got dilbit. How do you anticipate you’ll break that down when that pipe comes on?

Scott Stauth: Yes, TMX does call for oil and it’s operational. First of all, it’s going to take roughly about 4.5 million barrels out of the market. So that will be a positive for differentials and gives Western Canada more egress. So I look at that as very constructive for Western Canada. As far as the marketing of the barrels, just like any area, what will happen is, and you alluded to, we have quite a slate of different varieties of oil that we can supply to that market. So, when it does come up and running, our marketing group has got some ideas in terms of the types of slate that will be opportune in those areas. But as the market develops, there may be certain markets that want certain types of crudes, like let’s say it may be more advantageous for synthetic to move to that market versus where it’s going today.

So, part of that is going to be how the market develops and how different customers want or would like certain slates that we have available. So it’s pretty early to say, but I would look at it that as TMX gets up and running, we’ll optimize our slates to maximize the net back of those barrels.

Patrick O’Rourke: Okay. And just a second question, kind of shifting gears a little bit, but maybe a bit interrelated here. You talked about the ebbs and flows of sort of working capital builds from quarter-to-quarter here. I’m just wondering how that is impacting sort of the projections and philosophies around the return of capital structure in particular with share buybacks going forward over say the next two, three, four quarters.

Mark Stainthorpe: Hey, Patrick, it’s Mark. The impact to the share returns is minimal. I mean, we’ve got a policy in place that we have our funds for lesser dividend, and currently until we get to the $10 billion, 50% is going to buybacks and 50% to the balance sheet. And that will turn to 100% here as we forecast currently to get to that $10 billion in Q1. The working capital moves in my view are just regular business that happen because you have accounting closes on certain months. So to me, there is very little impact for that going forward as we manage that increasing returns to shareholders.

Patrick O’Rourke: Okay. Thank you very much.