Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third quarter results conference call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. David Spyker. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On the call from Freehold are Dave Hendry, our CFO, and Rob King, our Chief Operating Officer. We've had a good third quarter, highligh ted by growing U.S. production volumes, active drilling programs across North America, and an 18% reduction in net debt. Production of 14,605 BOE a day was in line with the previous quarter and up 3% versus the same period in 2022. Growth in volumes was due to drilling from our third-party payers, leading to organic oil-weighted growth, most notably within our U.S. portfolio. U.S. production in the quarter averaged 5,427 BOE a day, eclipsing the previous U.S. production record by 160 BOE a day, which was set in Q4 last year.
The 12% quarter-over-quarter growth was driven by several high-impact, multi-well pads being brought on stream and higher net royalty interest wells being turned in line. Freehold's Canadian portfolio saw a slight production decline quarter-over-quarter, and this was primarily due to a negative prior period adjustment, as wildfire-impacted areas were offline in June, longer than originally estimated. A revenue of CAD 84 million was in line with expectations, generating funds from operations of CAD 65 million or CAD 0.43 per share. Realized pricing of $61.55 per BOE continues to benefit from the premium pricing associated with our U.S. portfolio. In the U.S., we realized a 34% uplift over our Canadian realized pricing during the same period, and this is due to both quality and weighting our production mix to oil, as well as proximity to sales points, which significantly reduces pipeline transportation costs.
We reduced our net debt by CAD 23 million or 18%, ending the period at CAD 107 million or 0.4 times trailing funds from operations. We continue to maintain significant financial flexibility. We paid CAD 40.7 million to our shareholders in dividends or CAD 0.27 a share, up 8% versus the same period in 2022. Dividend payout for the period was 62%, and we believe our dividend is right-sized and provides Freehold the flexibility to continue to reduce leverage or pursue value-enhancing acquisitions as we continue to see a strong set of opportunities on both sides of the border.
During the first nine months of this year, 779 gross, or 14.1 net wells, were drilled on our North American royalty lands, representing the highest level of gross drilling activity through the first three quarters of the company's 27-year history. For the quarter, we had 251 gross or 4.6 net wells drilled, with 90% of these wells targeting oil prospects. In Canada, we had 116 gross, 3.9 net locations drilled. Activity was slower in Q3 2023 relative to Q3 last year, relating in part to reduced gas well drilling activity. On the oil side, we are seeing increased activity and capital programs as we go into year-end.
In the US, 135 gross wells were drilled on our royalty lands, which compares to 157 gross wells during the same period last year and 124 gross locations during the previous quarter. Given the composition of our US portfolio, which is greater than 60% investment-grade payers, we see sustained development on our lands with more than 13 years of multi-zone, oil-weighted drilling inventory. Our US operators have been focused on drilling light oil prospects in the Permian and Eagle Ford, with 83% of the activity within these basins. In total, we had 71 gross locations targeting prospects in the Permian and 35 gross locations in the Eagle Ford. We also continue to see activity associated with the Bakken and Haynesville plays.
We've had significant leasing activity through our Canadian portfolio in 2023, with nearly half of the 102 new leases issued for the first nine months of this year, targeting Mississippian oil in Southeast Saskatchewan and Mannville oil in Alberta. We continue to see a revitalization of our Southeast Saskatchewan light oil and heavy oil portfolios, with several well-capitalized, growth-oriented junior producers focusing in these areas. Multilateral drilling has also been a focus by operators in both southeast Saskatchewan and the heavy oil areas, with an aim to improve both well productivity and oil recovery. We continue to highlight the sawtooth nature of our U.S. production, driven both by pace of activity and variation with our royalty interests across our land base. As wells come off flush production associated with the shale plays, we continue to build a low-decline underlying asset base.
As the drilling continues on our lands, this asset base will continue to grow.
...On a gross basis, we had a number of new pads in the Midland Basin and Eagle Ford contribute gross production of 50,000-60,000 BOE a day, or approximately 350 BOE net to Freehold over the period from high-quality operators such as Pioneer, Exxon, and EOG. Additional contribution to our robust US volumes came from well outperformance relative to our type curves and higher than expected completion activity. On an annual basis, we expect our US portfolio to provide organic growth of approximately 3% over the next 12 months, aligned with third-party projections of production growth in the US oil-producing basins. We're very excited about the position of strength we are in, given the quality, diversity, and long duration characteristics of our portfolio.
We continue to unlock value as new technology is being deployed, new reservoir benches are being tested and brought on production, and operators continue to lease and drill on our extensive land base. Looking forward, we continue to expect robust performance from our assets, generating significant funds flow to underpin our sustainable dividend, maintain our balance sheet strength, and to fund further growth opportunities on both sides of the border. We will now take the time to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take questions from the telephone lines. If you have a question and you're using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before making your selection. If you have a question, please press star one on your device keypad. You may cancel your question at any time by pressing star two. Please press star one at this time if you have a question. There will be a brief pause while the participants register for questions. Thank you for your patience. The first question is from Lucas Davis. One moment, please. Your line is now open.
Thanks. Good morning, guys. Wondering if you can provide some details on leasing activity, just the expectations for how that impacts volumes through the balance of this year and into 2024. And if you can, just provide some details on the types of counterparties and just general activity plans that you're seeing.
Sure. Thanks, Lucas. Rob, it's Rob here. So as we said, we've got 102 leases that we signed with 33 counterparties in up to Q3. The pipeline is continuing to, you know, to grow, and we're gonna—we're gonna move well past our record levels of leasing activity, you know, at the end of this year. You know, most of that, about 50%, is done in Southeast Saskatchewan. I'll come back to that in a minute, and about 25% with Mannville Heavy. We've already seen about 6 wells that have been drilled already, you know, on these leases. And I think something that we, we've—we're certainly work with the lessees to try and encourage, you know, active drilling on them.
In fact, you know, on about a dozen of the leases, we actually have a well commitment associated with it. In terms of who the makeup of the people who've been taking leases with us, you know, 90% have been to private, you know, junior type companies. You know, I think, you know, coming back to Southeast Saskatchewan comment, you know, I think that, that, that area of activity is gonna be a bright spot for us in, you know, in Q4 and into 2024. You know, right now, you know, our Mississippian oil is actually breaching two-year highs. We're over 900 BOEs a day of oil production, you know, in that play. And as mentioned, that's where 50% of our leases that we've signed this year have been focused.
You know, the last comment I'd make is just as it relates to thinking about 2024 activity. You know, when you think about the 346 gross wells that have been drilled on our lands, you know, in 2023, that's about an average 4% royalty interest. You know, these leases that we're signing, you know, the average is close to 16%, so they're also gonna have a much more meaningful impact on a net basis.
Thank you. The next question is from Jamie Kubik. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Yeah, good morning. Thanks for taking my question, guys. So, we've seen a pretty good drop in overall U.S. rig activity in the Permian and the Eagle Ford over the past year. Can you just talk a little bit about what you're seeing on your acreage in real time here, and what you have sort of baked into your forward plans for production growth in the U.S.? Thanks.
Yeah. Rob here again. So yeah, we got about, you know, a little over 20 rigs that are active on our lands right now on the on the U.S., and that's really... You know, that is in line with 2022 levels. You know, maybe a bit of a broader Midland Basin comment. You know, I think we've seen, maybe actually just how efficient, you know, rigs and completions are getting, and that, you know, give an example. Right now, in overall Midland, there's about, you know, 120 rigs operating in that basin, which is about 15% lower than the average in the first half of this year.
But, you know, with that 120 rig count, look, we're still expecting to see mid-single digit year-over-year oil growth in the Midland Basin. And I think it's when we've looked at our type curves, in the two basins in the US that are most relevant to us, Eagle Ford and Midland, you know, we've actually not seen degradation in the BOE per day type curve. You know, we do know that, you know, operators are pushing longer laterals. They're having more frac intensity on the completions. But, you know, they're still, you know, being able to keep that degradation at bay, by doing some different drilling operations.
You know, on our Eagle Ford, you know, I think we've actually seen our most of our land, 70% of our, you know, activity in the Eagle Ford is with Marathon in the core Karnes Trough area. And there we've seen, you know, no degradation, you know, at all in their well results over the last four years. You know, I think where we have seen, you know, a little bit of degradation outside of Marathon's acreage in the Eagle Ford, and this has probably been more a symptom of companies like SilverBow or Devon, who are actually targeting oilier wells, just given, you know, pull back in gas pricing. So we've, you know, might have seen less BOEs there, but, you know, more barrels of oil being coming out of those, some of those Eagle Ford wells.
Okay, thanks for that. Then maybe just a follow-on question. You know, we've seen some major U.S. consolidation take place over the last couple of months. Can you talk about how you think that impacts activity on your lands, or is it too early days?
Yeah, I mean, it certainly is early days, but I think we're pretty encouraged. I'd say, again, in the Midland Basin side, most of our biggest exposure, you know, from the development upside perspective would be under Pioneer. And it's certainly one where, you know, Marathon, not Marathon, but Exxon's perspectives on growth have certainly been differentiated relative to what Pioneer was saying. You know, they sort of talked about, you know, less than 5% oil growth, and with, you know, Exxon talking about, you know, 10%+ production growth over the next few years. So we'll see. Pioneer's got lots of great acreage, and we certainly aren't under, you know, everything that they have.
But, you know, the combination of Exxon and Pioneer has put Exxon into our top 10 payers on a corporate basis.
Okay, that's all for me. Thank you.
Thank you. Once again, please press star one on your telephone keypad or device if you have a question. There are no further questions registered at this time. I would now like to return the meeting back over to Mr. Spyker. Oh, we do have a few questions. I'm so sorry. May I, Mr. Spyker?
Yes, please proceed with questions.
Thank you. The next question is from Chris Jones.
Sure, taking my question. Just thinking about consolidation opportunities, can you speak to what level of deal flow you're seeing and the bid-ask spreads? And, can you remind us of some of the boxes that need to be checked when you look at acquisitions?
Sure. Thanks, Chris. Yeah, in the quarter, we've looked at, you know, a little over 20 deals came across our off of our desks. It was consistent with levels that we saw in Q1 and Q2 of this year. You know, I'd say the value of the opportunities did go up. There's a few, you know, sort of very meaningful sized opportunities that we did review. You know, 80% of those deals would have been in the U.S., 20% in Canada. You know, we actually, even though we looked at a little over 20 deals, we only dug in about half of those and then only bid on half of that number again.
You know, so I think we've been, we have been, you know, encouraged, I would say, with the deals that we're looking at in Q4. You know, that's both in terms of, of the number of opportunities, but more importantly, the quality of the opportunities. And I mean, look, it is very competitive, and we're continuing to make sure that, you know, the opportunity, anything that we add, you know, really adds value on a near-term, long-term basis, and makes us a better company.
You know, I think when we're looking at a lot of these opportunities, you know, in Q4, in particular, that, that quality comment, you know, we've been encouraged that a lot of it has been in, core Midland, you know, Basin, and core Delaware Basin. And I think, I think it's one where there's been a few opportunities that we've been pretty encouraged by, that, just how much, you know, under and undeveloped, opportunity set is within it. So, like, you can really see, you know, tangible, perspective on what kind of production growth you may get from that.
Thank you. I'll hand it back.
Thank you. The next question is from Travis Wood. Please proceed.
Good morning, guys. Sorry, you may have answered this, Jamie. The question here, but I wanted to get an understanding on some of the well performance. I think over the last few years, we've heard some commentary that type curves are lagging expectations, which I don't think is completely accurate. So apologies if you already touched on that from Jamie's question. And if you did, then maybe just expand on more so how that relates to you. And could there be maybe broken telephone in terms of what that actually means? And could it be more of a capital cost eroding economics background rather than well performance in EURs itself? Thank you.
Yeah, you bet. Sorry. Yeah, Jamie, sorry, Travis. Jamie did ask that question, so I may be able to just kind of touch on a few incremental comments there. Probably the biggest one is sort of impacting that, again, when we've looked at our type curves on our assets, in particular in the Eagle Ford and in the Midland Basin, which are the two most relevant basins for Freehold in the U.S.
You know, the wells that have been drilled on our lands, we haven't seen a degradation in those type curves over the last 4 years, and that includes, you know, call it the first 3-6 months of 2023, where we have enough data to be able to take a perspective, you know, on that. You know, certainly we have been seeing operators pushing longer laterals, and you certainly have seen that on, or heard that on earnings calls, and the operators putting more frac intensity, you know, into the reservoir. So that does, you know, factor into capital efficiencies.
But when we look at, on a BOE per day basis, and again, we've sort of seen a very similar level of productivity.
Okay. Thank you for that added color.
Thank you very much. There are no further questions. I would now like to return the meeting back over to Mr. Spyker. Thank you.
Thanks, everyone, for their time today and their participation in our conferortence call. We look forward to, you know, continued growth and development on our assets and catching up again with the Q4 results. Thank you.
Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you for your participation.