HOUSTON, July 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Penn Virginia Corporation (NASDAQ:PVAC) today announced an operational update and timing of its second-quarter 2020 earnings release and conference call.

Operational and Financial Update

• Estimated production for the second quarter of 2020 of between 18,500 – 18,900 barrels of oil per day and between 24,100 – 24,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day;
• Realized oil price for the second quarter of 2020 of approximately $23.97 per barrel and $50.37 per barrel including hedge settlements;
• Increased oil hedge positions (see appendix);
• Completed three drilled uncompleted (“DUC”) wells in June 2020;
• Estimated capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2020 of between $10.5 – $12.5 million;
• Reduced accounts payable by approximately $45 million in the second quarter of 2020;
• Expect to be slightly free cash flow (“FCF”) ⁽¹⁾ positive for the second quarter of 2020 and significantly FCF positive in the third quarter of 2020; and
• Current credit facility balance, net of cash, of approximately $315 million as of July 20, 2020.

John A. Brooks, President and Chief Executive Officer of Penn Virginia commented, "We are extremely proud of our operational and financial results for the quarter, especially in light of the challenging market conditions. Given these conditions and our commitment to capital discipline, we shut down activity in early April, minimizing the amount of capital incurred during the second quarter. We also actively added put hedge contracts that allowed us to benefit from falling oil prices in the second quarter. These contracts helped the Company generate a realized oil price of over $50 per barrel as well as incremental cash flow, which we used to reduce payables and pay down debt. With respect to our production volumes, we proactively secured third party oil storage to give us the most operating flexibility possible. In early May, we recognized that the oil markets were in steep contango with June pricing, when taking effect of differentials, of approximately $20 per barrel higher than May. To take advantage of this dislocation in the market, Penn Virginia elected to store a significant portion of our May oil production, rather than fully shutting in. By utilizing our storage assets, we were able to capture that arbitrage and sell that production in June at much higher pricing. Additionally, due to the short-term nature of the production shut-in, our PDP wells are performing very well, and no degradation of those wells is evident.”

Mr. Brooks continued, “With our strong production profile and high realized pricing after taking into account substantial realized hedge gains, we will again be free cash flow positive for the second quarter. Since the beginning of the year, we have reduced the outstanding credit facility balance, net of cash on hand, by approximately $40 million. Given our current outlook, we expect to continue our free cash flow positive trend for the remainder of the year and plan to use that free cash flow to reduce debt further. As always, we remain focused on capital discipline and cash on cash returns.”

About Penn Virginia Corporation

Penn Virginia Corporation is a pure-play independent oil and gas company engaged in the development and production of oil, NGLs, and natural gas, with operations in the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas. For more information, please visit our website at www.pennvirginia.com. The information on the Company’s website is not part of this release.