Greetings, everyone. I'm delighted to welcome all of you here. I can remember going back 40 years ago, maybe a little more, when we'd have our annual meetings, we could've had them in a closet, really. Today, it's fun to look out there and see over 300 people meeting today to help guide us going forward. We started with $270,000, today we have over $10 billion in assets and moved our shareholder count from two, which was Nancy and me. We were excited when we got to 17 shareholders, which was our 17 original investors, some of which are here today. Now we have 300 people showing up for a meeting like this. It's really exciting because so much of our industry has gone to the private equity for capital, we just stayed with friends and family.
I'm very pleased to report that PwC, through Fortune Magazine, listed the top 1,000 public companies in the U.S., that was across all industries. Based on 2024 revenue, which of course our 2026 will be much better than that, we were ranked at 826. We broke into the top 1,000. The Dallas Morning News said we were number one in revenue per employee across all industries, too. Moving in the right direction, we were a top 10 producer in New Mexico. It's very exciting, again, because we look around the room. Everybody knows some people in here, we've done this together, everybody pushing on the rock. I want to welcome everybody officially to the 2026 annual meeting of shareholders of Matador Resources Company and call the meeting to order.
As I indicated, I'm Joseph Foran, Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Chief Executive Officer. Y'all probably all know that except for my two sisters who are here today, they're sitting right there ready to raise their hand. If you see them raise their hand, don't pay attention to them or encourage them. I wanted to recognize them. Hopefully they'll give me a break today. I would also like to welcome those listening in via our live webcast. For those on the webcast, we have approximately, as I said, 300 shareholders in attendance in person for our 2026 annual meeting. That's probably the statement that most surprises people on Wall Street when we're on the road meeting with financial investors, is that we still have old-fashioned enough to have a real shareholders meeting annually and that it's an active shareholder group.
Before we get to the items to be considered and acted upon this meeting, I'd like to make a few opening remarks. Mac, where are you? You got it? Okay. First, we started back here with $270,000. My mother and dad were about the last that I got an investment from because they told me that they would invest, I had to get some others to invest first. That's the way mom and dads are sometimes. They were part of the group, as well as my grandmother and some other friends. We started with $270,000. We sold, 20 years later, $388 million. An original shareholder in first Matador, we call that, they were in at $0.89, we sold for $13.85, I believe. It was a nice gain.
We felt we could do even better the next time around. We raised $6 million. Today we have assets over $10 billion. I think officially it's $12 billion. The growth has really continued. We don't have much debt. We've got good things in the pipeline. Being a public company, we can't talk about them except to say that the pipeline, the staff has done an excellent job with a number of projects coming up that should boost us that much further. It's the best-looking inventory that we've had, just the high quality and the volume, and know the team will do a good job. If all the people at Matador will please stand that helped pull that inventory together, please stand. Now, I want you to know they're not just people coming to collect checks.
In this last open period alone, that we had over 90 staffers, almost 100 staffers buy stock. None sold, but close to 100 people on staff bought stock. They're not just talking about it, they're putting their money where their mouth is. When we're on the road visiting with financial investors, they're just amazed that we're having that kind of participation, because most companies don't enjoy that. Our group has gotten out there, and we feel pretty optimistic, and looking forward to being here next year to report on that progress. We went, and here's the story of this Matador, is that in 2017, after we were underway for a little bit, we were beginning to accumulate some positions in the Delaware out there, and then five years later, we had 129,000 acres.
Today, three years later, we've got 212,000 acres in the very best parts of the Delaware. That outlook just alone on the acreage. Greg Krug helped lead the effort to start a midstream business, because there were a lot of people having problems in the Delaware getting their gas to market. To assure flow assurance, we kept building on, and now we're at a point where we're going to be all around the basin, in the best part of the basin, ready to take our gas to market, to be sure it gets there, but other people's too, and it's a profitable investor. All the people associated with the midstream company, please stand. These guys have done a great job. Mark, I want you standing, too. You've got to be there. Some of you measurement guys. To be sure that we get paid everything.
The measurement guys is often an overlooked part of a company, because they're the ones that check. The oil and gas business has a funny thing. Instead of you paying people what they ask, the midstream companies tell you what they bought. Sometimes they make a few errors in not counting all the gas and oil that they've taken. We have a group that has saved, led by Rick here, that we've nicknamed Hollywood, and you'll see later in the program why. He gave the video last year, and we have another one for you this year that I think you'll enjoy. They've recovered, it's in the $30 million to $40 million range. They've recovered additional money for gas that was taken but not yet paid for.
It's a tedious process in a way, but as you know, that's real money, and very much help. Thank you, Rick. Now that I've introduced the idea of Matador, I'd like to recognize our directors, who I am delighted that they are the ones that really pressure test our ideas. They are the ones that make sure that we keep a high caliber and integrity among our staff. They really work as a team. That's been a big part of our effort is working more and more in teams, realizing it's a complex business, and it takes a team to really think about all the decisions that have to be made in a given year. Begin with Timothy Parker, our lead independent director. That's not enough, Timothy. Stand, would you, please? All right. Timothy was the head of the T. Boone Pickens Oil & Gas process.
In the history of Matador, he's been at the forefront, and delighted to work with him. He's an investor who bothered to learn the operational side as well as the financial side, which makes a big difference as our lead independent director. Thank you, Timothy.
Thank you.
Next. Just hold the applause. I don't want to wear out your hands on this. We talk about finding better than average people, and Robert Gaines Baty has led that effort. Gaines and I met coaching our boys in baseball. What I learned from him was that the importance of hiring better than average people. Every time we hired someone we thought better than average, we felt we added value to the staff. Through Gaines, we did, and we said we were NIL cool before there was an NIL practice. Thank you, Gaines. This is my daughter, Shelley. Right. Shelley is a graduate of Yale University and a graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Almost is equal to where I went to school, University of Kentucky. Somewhere in the same category, I think. We're proud of her.
Good kid. Appreciate you being here. Her husband's come up here to see what all the fuss about Matador is. John, will you please stand wherever you are? There you are. Good. Thank you, John. Rey Baribaul t. Rey been a director now how many? 12 years.
12 years. He was with Netherland, Sewell, and one of the best petroleum engineers in the country, and makes sure that our reserves are really there, the projects test out, and that we stay on track. Next, I'd like to recognize Monika Ehrman. Monika has many careers. She's been an engineer, and she's been a practicing lawyer, and now a professor at SMU. Came on our board and helps on all the committees, and just been delighted with her broad experience in making these decisions. Finally, I'd like to recognize Susan Ward. Susan Ward was with Shell for many years, and she was the CFO when they took their midstream public. Did I get that right? Right. The one warning is that anything that we send out to the directors, Susan reads. It's pretty amazing.
She has a point of view and an experience that's unique, that's going to help us as we think about taking our midstream business public as we get a little larger. Thank you. I don't know if I was officially allowed to make that statement or not, but I don't think it's a secret. If they come up here on the stage and carry me off, you all will have to come rescue me. Paul Harvey. Paul, you need to really be up here, but we ran out of space, so it's kind of like musical chairs. You leave one, and that's how you get them into a meeting. Paul has been a shareholder for over 40 years, and has helped us all through the time on the financial side and on the messaging. He and Paul Flowers, who's here today, have really improved our messaging this year.
Paul, where are you? Okay. Stan. These two guys have really sharpened our message, and I think you've seen it reflected in the price and giving us outside guidance. Thank you, Paul. Ken Stewart. Ken, next to him. Ken is a former head of Fulbright or Norton Rose Fulbright.
Too many names.
Too many. Anyway, he's the lawyer that signed all the papers, published all the papers to make us this corporation today. When we started back there in 2003, you filed the incorporation papers, and we're ready to take first Matador public, except we filed all the papers necessary to go public, except it happened to be on September 10 of all days. The next morning, as we woke up and we're leaving to go on our chartered flight, we watched the planes fly into the building and knew the world had changed. Ken was nice enough to stay with us and help us file the papers that lead us to being public, this Matador, and whatever else we need. He's been the player that plays all the positions. Thank you, Ken. You can give everybody a hand. All right.
I'd like to invite our Co-Presidents, Van Singleton and Bryan A. Erman , to introduce our officers and staff. Van and Bryan, these are two workhorses. Van has been our deal maker. Bryan is the one that's kept us following all the appropriate lines. It's a long history between us, but it's really great to have these capable people. Go ahead.
Thank you, Joseph. We like to say at Matador that the secret sauce of the company is our people, and it really is. All the good news that you're going to hear today and exciting things happening at Matador wouldn't happen without the people in this room and the staff that are in the office and the staff in the field. We'd like to take a moment to recognize the staff that are in attendance today. We'll start with our Executive Vice Presidents. If our Executive Vice Presidents would all stand, please. Thank you.
Next, if we could get all of our Senior Vice Presidents to stand.
If our Vice Presidents would stand, please.
Last but certainly not least, if all the staff that's in attendance could stand for us.
I would like to note, while they're not in attendance, our field staff are a huge part of what we do every day. We want to recognize them. They're the people that 24/7, 365 days a year keep it happening. I want to give a round of applause to them as well because I know some of them are listening. I'd like to invite one of our directors, Shelley Appel, to introduce a few of the special guests in attendance today.
Thanks, Bryan. It's a pleasure to be here today and recognize some of our special guests in attendance. Would each of you please stand as I introduce you? Would everyone please hold your applause until the end? We'll start with Chris Stakem, Rayford High, and Derek Burns of KPMG LLP, the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31st, 2026, and members of their team. Mr. Stakem is available to respond to any questions you may have for KPMG. Next, Preston Bernhisel, Sarah Dodson, and Rusty Shellhorn of Baker Botts L.L.P., and members of their team; Jason Schumacher and Luke Ohnmeis of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, and members of their team; and Mark Shoffner of Bell, Nunnally & Martin LLP.
Also in attendance are members from our bank group, including David Dodd, Denise Davis, and Krishna Raj of PNC, and Dirk Lakin and Tim Perry of RBC. Finally, we'd like to recognize a longtime vendor, Forrester Smith from BNL PipeCo and his wife Beth, and a long-term institutional shareholder, Hodges Capital. Craig Hodges and Derek Maupin are in attendance and members of their team. All of these individuals and their teams have contributed to Matador's success over the last year. Would you please join me in a round of applause? I'd like to turn it back over to Joseph.
Actually, there's a few more I'd really like to recognize. I'll be limited, but one in particular is Wayne Gaylord. Right. Right. Wayne was an officer at one of the banks here, and they were considering an investment, and there was some challenge from the people above. Wayne put his job on the line, told them to invest. He did, and it was a lift because we were at $270,000 in capital, and he doubled that to $300,000. Thank you, Wayne. All right. Thanks, Shelley. We're a little bit old school, but we do like to know you. Any of you that ever want a tour of our offices and our MAXCOM room, please let us know. We'd love to have you and take you around.
I would ask Amanda Crawford, after the meeting, if you ever want, if you're not getting the investor alerts or if you'd like a meeting. Amanda, please, our Chief of Staff back there that keeps everything running. Thank you, Amanda. She does everything. Now I'd like to ask Bryan to return to the podium and lead the business portion of this meeting.
Thank you, Joseph. This meeting is being held today pursuant to the notice that was mailed to each shareholder of record on April 13th, 2026, which is the record date of the meeting. I have made available a complete list of the shareholders of the company entitled to vote at this meeting, alphabetically arranged and certified as of the close of business on the record date. Further, I have provided a notice, proxy statement and proxy, and an affidavit that such notice, proxy, and proxy statement, together with the 2025 annual report of the company, were mailed to shareholders of record as of the record date. These documents will be filed with the minutes of the meeting. Derek Gabriel, Senior Staff Attorney, Corporate and Administrative Counsel at Matador, has been appointed to act as Inspector of Elections at this meeting.
As Inspector of Elections, Derek will ascertain the number of shares of common stock outstanding and the voting power of each, determine the number of common shares represented at the meeting and the validity of the proxies and ballots, count all votes and ballots, and certify and declare his determination of the number of shares of common stock represented at the meeting. All holders of record of common stock as of the close of business on the record date are entitled to vote at this meeting, either in person or by proxy. Derek, would you please present the attendance report?
As Inspector of Elections, I report that there are present at this meeting, in person or represented by proxy, the holders of approximately 115,739,804 shares of common stock of the company, out of a total of 124,200,880 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote as of the record date. Thus, the holders of approximately 93% of the aggregate outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote are present in person or represented by proxy at this meeting. Each share of common stock outstanding on the record date is entitled to one vote.
Thank you, Derek. On the basis of the report of the Inspector of Elections, I declare that a quorum is present at the meeting and the meeting is legally convened. A certified report of the Inspector of Elections will be attached as an exhibit to the minutes of this meeting. As stated in the notice of this meeting, three matters will be considered and acted upon at this meeting. To expedite the actions taken, all matters of business, as reflected in the notice, will be presented first, then a ballot will be taken afterwards for voting on each matter.
The three orders of business for consideration at today's meeting are as follows: the election of three directors to our board of directors, the approval of a non-binding advisory vote to approve the 2025 compensation program of our named executive officers, also known as Say on Pay, the ratification and appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31st, 2026. Speaking on behalf of the board of directors, we recommend that you vote for the election of the three director nominees and for the two additional proposals being considered at today's meeting. I would now like to ask Director Monika Ehrman to introduce the director nominees for this meeting.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Bryan. Our directors serve staggered three-year terms and are grouped in Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 directors. The reason for the staggered terms is for the directors to get to know the key members of the staff and the other members of the board, to visit facilities in the field and to further educate them in the business. The Class 3 board nominees to be considered at this shareholder meeting are Joseph Foran, Reynald Baribault, and Timothy Parker. In the true sense of the Matador family, we know them simply as Joseph, Ray, and Timothy. Mr. Foran founded Matador Resources Company in July 2003, since our founding, has served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. He is also Chair of the Board's Executive Committee.
Mr. Foran began his career as an oil and gas independent in 1983, when he and his brilliant wife, Nancy, Co-Founder, founded Foran Oil Company with $270,000 in contributed capital from 17 of his closest friends and neighbors. The impact of that contribution lives through till today, as we've heard in Mr. Foran's remarks. Today, Matador is one of the top 20 exploration and production companies in the country by market cap, listed in Fortune's top 1,000 companies in the U.S. by revenue, and one of the top 10 oil and gas producers in New Mexico. As the Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of Matador Resources Company, Mr. Foran provides board leadership, industry experience, and long relationships with many of our shareholders. Mr. Baribault was elected to the board in 2014 and is Chair of the Board's Operations and Engineering Committee and Prospect Committee.
He served as Lead Independent Director of the board from 2016- 2019. In addition to co-founding North Plains Energy and NP Resources, focused on the Williston Basin in North Dakota, he co-founded and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of IPR Energy Partners, LLC, a Plano, Texas-based oil and natural gas production operator with current operations in the Fort Worth Basin. Prior to co-founding North Plains Energy, NP Resources, and IPR Energy Partners, Mr. Baribault served as Vice President, Supervisor, and Petroleum Engineering Consultant with Netherland, Sewell & Associates in their Dallas office from 1990- 2002. Mr. Baribault provides valuable insight to our board on our drilling, completions, and reservoir engineering operations, as well as growth strategies, midstream operations, and administration. Mr. Parker was appointed to the board in 2018. He serves as Lead Independent Director and is Chair of the Board's Capital Markets and Finance Committee.
Mr. Parker currently serves as a contractor in charge of research for Brightworks Wealth Management, LLC. Mr. Parker retired in 2017 as Portfolio Manager and Analyst, Natural Resources Group for T. Rowe Price. He managed the New Era Fund from 2010- 2013 and managed the energy and natural resources positions of T. Rowe Price's Small-Cap Value, Small-Cap Stock, and New Horizons funds from 2013 to 2017. Mr. Parker's extensive experience with a large institutional shareholder and his familiarity with the capital markets and oil and gas industry provide the company with valuable insight. I'll say that it has been a privilege to work with and learn from these three talented individuals. More information with respect to the qualifications of each nominee is included in your proxy statement. The board of directors recommends that you vote for each nominee.
I'd like to turn the time over to Gaines Baty, Chair of Strategic Planning and Compensation Committee, to discuss the next proposal.
Thank you, Monika, and thank you all for being here. We all look forward to this day when you're here. The second order of business is the non-binding advisory vote to approve the 2025 compensation program of our named executive officers, also known as Say on Pay, as set forth in the proxy statement. Our compensation program is designed to reward in both the short-term and the long-term performance that contributes to the implementation of our business strategies, maintenance of our culture and values, and achievement of our objectives. We believe the 2025 compensation program accomplishes these objectives. More information regarding the compensation of our named executive officers is included in the proxy statement. The board of directors has recommended that you vote for the non-binding resolution approving the 2025 compensation of our named executive officers.
I'd like to ask Ben Colodney, as Chief Accounting Officer, to discuss the final order of business before us in today's meeting. Ben?
Thank you, Gaines, good morning, fellow shareholders. It's an honor to be here standing in for Bill Byerley, who couldn't be with us in person today. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Bill for his expertise, guidance, and leadership of both the audit committee and the incredibly talented accounting department here at Matador. He also does a great job fostering open communication and coordination between the committee and KPMG, who has consistently delivered a high-quality team and utmost professionalism over the years. The final proposal before us today is the ratification of the appointment of KPMG as the company's independent registered public accounting firm. KPMG served as Matador's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2025, and has served as the company's auditor since 2014.
The audit committee of the board of directors has appointed KPMG as Matador's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026. In turn, the board of directors has directed that such appointment be submitted to our shareholders for ratification at this meeting. Further information about the services provided by KPMG is set forth in the proxy statement. The board of directors recommends that you vote for the ratification of KPMG as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31st, 2026. I will now turn the meeting back to Joseph Foran, our Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer.
Thank you, Ben. On behalf of everyone on the board and the Matador staff, we thank you for the rigor and expertise that you bring to the accounting department. You all have been our outside auditor for the past 12 years, I believe. Is that right? Derek there, who's going to be taking over that, started out, we were one of his first assignments, and it's nice to see they're trusting you with larger and larger assignments. It's a group that knows our company well and has responded when questions have ever come up, and we appreciate all the extra work. The vote on them, of course, Monika and Gaines, we greatly appreciate all your hard work and expertise in your board and committee assignments, as well as your support for the senior staff in carrying out their tasks, duties, and leadership responsibilities.
The three orders of business are election of three directors, non-binding vote on the 2025 compensation program, and the ratification of the appointment of KPMG as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31st, 2026. We will now distribute ballots to any shareholders present who wish to vote in person. Votes and ballots should be cast at this time only if you have not previously given a proxy, if you have revoked a proxy previously given by you, or if you are now revoking a proxy vote previously cast by you. If your stock is held in a brokerage account, in order to vote this time, you must first provide us with a legal proxy that would have been given to you by your broker, granting you the right to vote that stock.
If under these circumstances you now desire a ballot, please raise your hand and we will provide you with one. Seeing no hands in the air, we will finish voting with the Inspector of Elections now to work on the ballots and give a report on the outcome.
I am pleased to report that each of the nominees for director has been elected to the board, as each nominee has received at least 95 million votes, or approximately 87%, which constitutes a majority of the votes cast by the shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at this meeting, and entitled to vote on the election of directors. The second motion regarding the non-binding resolution approving the compensation of our named executive officers has received a favorable vote of 105,024,470 votes, or approximately 96%, which constitutes a majority of the shares present in person or represented by proxy at this meeting and entitled to vote on this matter.
Finally, the third motion ratifying the selection of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2026, has received a favorable vote of 114,318,225 votes, or approximately 99%, which constitutes a majority of the shares present in person or represented by proxy at this meeting and entitled to vote on this matter. Therefore, each of the director nominees and the proposals voted upon today, as described in the proxy statement, has, consistent with the recommendations of the board of directors, been approved by the shareholders and will be recorded as such in the minutes of this meeting.
We remind our shareholders and other stakeholders that specific information regarding the number of votes cast for or against each proposal will be included in our current report on Form 8-K that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the days following this meeting.
Thank you, Derek. This completes the scheduled items of business to be conducted at this meeting. Wish to thank all of you shareholders, either voting in here or by proxy, that we're humbled by the vote count, 99%. We couldn't match you as the auditors. There was a lot of confidence expressed in that, over 90% voting for the directors, and it was some of the highest vote totals voting yes that we've had in years past. We appreciate that support, and we do not take it lightly. Just before adjournment, there were a few people that we needed to recognize. They don't fit nicely in the categories, one of our original 17 investors, Bob Pickard, is here today, and we'd like Bob to stand up. You all know him.
We call him the brave soul, because we didn't know what we were doing at that time. I've been teammates all the way back to first year of high school and really earlier than that. He ran a very successful construction company building buildings all over the Western United States. We're glad to have him here and part of this. One of these days, I'll maybe tell you the story of what was behind Bob voting. I think he wanted Nancy to be sure that we could afford a baby, I think. Since I mentioned Nancy, again, I do want Nancy to stand and my co-founder. Wow.
Also, we have what we call one of our wily veterans, Billy Goodwin, came back to make sure we were keeping the drill bit going to the right and really increase the professionalization of our operating staff and been a key friend and executive with us for 10 years or more. Billy, good to have you back here. Thanks again on the vote count. We appreciate it, and we don't take that lightly. Now, before going any further on the company update, I'd like to share a video that Rick Alexander, our Executive Vice President of Measurement, made for us about Matador. You may remember the slides he did last year accompanied with music. As I understand it, the drumbeat that you may hear in this movie is really Rick back there adding some sound effects. Is that true?
True.
Rick, please stand up and be recognized. Do you want to start your video now? If that doesn't rate the name Hollywood nickname, I don't know what else he can do. Great job again, Rick. Well done. All right, Timothy Parker.
Hi, everyone. Nice to see you all again. I'm Timothy Parker. Thank you for electing me again. I appreciate it. Looking forward to serving another three years. I just want to say that this is a really solid company, that we all know, there are reasons to like it maybe a little bit more than we do currently. This is a time in our company's lifespan where, no, we can't grow 20% organically anymore, we might grow single digits, we might do some interesting transactions. We did that with a lease sale recently. We're looking at things to do with midstream, catalyze some value there.
We're finally going to get out of Waha pricing next year, that we're going to take all our gas east on pipeline options, we'll know what it costs to get over there and not be worried that Waha will be negative as it's been for much of the start of this year. The fact that we have this strong inventory in an industry that is increasingly short on inventory shouldn't be overlooked either. It's too simple to say we have 210,000 acres. Many of these acres have multiple targets under each acre, it's actually many more locations than you would think under this acreage. This gives us easily 10-15 years of inventory, probably more than that, more than we need. I think that will become increasingly valuable over time because the basin is maturing. Not for us necessarily, for many of our peers.
I don't think investors fully recognize the value that we can generate from our assets. I would also call your attention to Q1 results and keep an eye out for Q2 results because the well outperformance of new wells has been excellent. You don't always see this, it's hard to do because we don't try to under forecast wells. We try to put a good number on the page, yet we're outperforming that, particularly in these wells we've drilled in the last few quarters. I think we have good reason to feel like production will be strong and oily for the balance of this year. Also, you've heard us talk about our balance sheet. We took on a little bit of debt for the lease sale recently. We hope to pay it off in a year or so.
Our goal is to keep our debt to EBITDA, the kind of cash flow, to about 1x in normal situations so that we can flex up for something like an acquisition or the lease sale, and then bring that back down to a manageable level of debt. We want to be prepared for the inevitable fall in commodity prices. They may be high today for oil. Nothing lasts forever. Finally, I'll note that we pay a fixed dividend, and we've been increasing it sharply the last several years. We plan to keep increasing our fixed dividend. This is one of the uses of our free cash flow. We may not grow as fast as we used to, but we pay a dividend now. We hope you appreciate it.
We're at a time in the market right now that companies like Matador are not as appreciated as other more financially levered companies. Financially levered companies in energy need this high oil price to survive, so those stocks are the ones investors tend to focus on. We're going to survive to the other side no matter what. We're the sort of companies that will do things to enhance our value over this year and the years to come, and that will generate value for our shareholders. We may not be the favorites today, and that's because for all the good things we do as a company and everybody in the audience here that does these good things, makes good decisions, that turns these assets into cash flow, all we can do is control our decisions, make the right decisions, do the right thing, make the right transactions.
One day, the market's going to figure it out. You just can't overthink it. Sometimes the market likes you, sometimes the market doesn't. Cash flow will catch people's eyes eventually. We keep growing our cash flow, keep generating value. We're going to keep climbing the mountain. Thank you very much.
Right. Next speaker will be Ray Baribault, who heads up our prospect committees, our engineering committees, a lot of our due diligence on matters, and was formerly with Netherland and Sewell. He had a company out of Denver that did very well. We were glad to get him and his expertise to help us make our decisions at Matador. Ray?
Thank you, Joseph. Thanks for your leadership. Thank you all for taking the time to attend today. For those not here, thank you for listening in on the webcast. Speaking for all the directors here, we appreciate the Matador shareholder nation and your interest and support, and for all the talented and dedicated employees across the company, in the office and in the field. Matador is well-positioned with its staff and unique inventory of Delaware Basin opportunities to drive profitability, increase efficiencies, and deploy its capital in a manner to optimize return on investments. Their dedication and motivation are key to creating new opportunities and continuing to build value. Slide one here. In this slide, I'd like to highlight the updated MAXCOM Operations Center, completed late last year with a larger footprint and improved equipment and accommodations for the staff manning it.
Currently, 11 engineers and geologists are on a 12-hour, seven-day rotation schedules, providing 24/7 drilling planning and horizontal lateral steering guidance. The original center started in 2018 and has been pivotal to Matador's success in achieving over 470 drilling performance records now in the last seven years. That's thanks to the 75 engineers and geologists that have rotated through the center over that time period and to the field staff that executed on these records. Their efforts strive to implement best practices and deliver the best well plans. Recent advances in 3D seismic processing that the geoscience team is constantly refining provide the MAXCOM professionals with the tools to look around the corner and plan ahead of the drill bit.
The results are compelling with a near 99% in-zone reservoir targeting, and the company posting a record 10.5 day drilling record to reach total depth on a three-mile recent lateral well. I'll have more to add shortly on the company's long lateral program and the efficiencies and benefits that it's providing. To date, Matador has drilled 34 wells with 3-mi lateral lengths or longer in an average in 2026 of 15.5 Days from spud to total depth, which is impressive. As well, the teams have drilled 32 U-turn lateral wells, with two of them recently being 3 mi in length.
On the next slide, I'd like to highlight here the location of Matador's acreage that you're familiar looking at, and as well, the tracks in green are noting the added BLM acreage from the recent BLM sale in the Ranger and Antelope Ridge areas of the company's assets. This acreage presents a rare and exciting opportunity, serving as a blank canvas for Matador's asset and operating teams to design and execute operated well plans that will extract maximum hydrocarbon volumes at the lowest possible cost. The entirety of the acreage positions you see here in these three areas totals about 5,154 acres. That's going to allow for future wells to be developed in their respective spacing units without any priorwell interference effects or previous reservoir drainage concerns.
It also enables the creation of long lateral spacing units in excess of two miles and multiple well batches tailored to reduce drilling and completion costs per foot through the use of leading-edge technologies and processes that Matador is well-versed at, like enhanced rotary steerable drilling systems and trimul-frac stimulation operations. By leveraging Matador's unique and robust midstream assets in San Mateo and through its wholly-owned systems, the operations group has a competitive advantage to further reduce stimulation costs in two distinct and significant ways. By supplying treated, produced formation water for fracturing operations, which in turn saves on water disposal cost and water sourcing cost for frack supply water, also now by supplying field-produced natural gas, which can power Matador's contracted electric frack fleets with Halliburton and NexTier.
It's my understanding the teams are looking at possibly sourcing field-produced natural gas for drilling rig operations on the horizon. Matador is executing on these efficiency initiatives on its multi-well batch large scale projects, notably the recently completed nine Wolfcamp wells in what the company is calling their Gus unit with lateral lengths of 3.4 mi, which are the longest in company history. Pardon, that Gus unit being this tract acreage down here on the Texas-New Mexico border. Some of the longest laterals drilled to date in New Mexico, these nine wells with total measured depths in the 30,000-ft range. We're here sitting in Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre, just across from the Galleria. Drilling 30,000 ft total measured depth and length is the equivalent of spudding your well here where we sit today and drilling to Dallas Love Field.
The teams are doing that day in and day out and successfully doing it and hitting reservoir targets that range from 10 ft- 30 ft in thickness for near six miles. That's impressive. The next slide, I'll hone in on an aerial of this Gus federal unit for the frack operations that were completed earlier this year on this pad. This slide shows NexTier's hybrid electric frack fleet equipment with a 35-MW turbine for power generation. That being this part of the operation here. NexTier is Patterson's well completions business unit. Between NexTier and Halliburton, those two contractors are stimulating all of Matador's wells. This setup illustrates a remote trimul-frac operation for a seven-well batch stimulation.
There are four wells on this main Gus pad, and if you can see these different colored frack stacks, red, yellow, there's a blue and a white. Those are conveniently color-coded for unambiguous operations to continue on this tight pad. In addition, off to the right, these lines you see on the surface are 5.5-inch steel casing lines that connect this fleet to another Gus pad within the spacing unit where three additional wells approximately a quarter mile away are also being simultaneously fracture stimulated. Recall in a trimul-frac operation, three of the wells are being simultaneously fracked at once, while the alternate three wells are undergoing wireline perforating operations. In this foreground, this crane equipment is in the process of the perforating operations on one of the four wells you see here.
trimul-frac is a strategically planned and prosecuted operation that results in significant saving costs that Matador has championed in the last two years. A lot of prep and a lot of effort goes into it. The large silos that you see here towards the back of the pad on an incline hold in total around 3 million pounds of frack sand. Throughout the Gus federal stimulation operation on these seven wells, Matador used 10 million pounds of frack sand per day. Another way to equate that volume, 10 million pounds per day, and in the spirit of America 250, that volume is the equivalent to pumping the weight of the Statue of Liberty approximately every five hours over the entire operation.
The two large cylindrical tanks that you see in the back are holding 20,000 barrels, 10,000 barrels each, or approximately 850,000 gallons of treated, produced water from Matador's operated recycling facility nearby. Throughout the operation, the frac used around 200,000 barrels per day of recycled water, which is the equivalent of cycling 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools per day in and day out. On this pad, there's 70,000 hydraulic horsepower of equipment. That's equivalent to stacking 100 Formula 1 cars on one pad to deliver the power and the necessary horsepower to complete this operation. The turbine here burned natural gas largely produced from Matador's operations rather than burning diesel. In total, the frac crew used 340,000 MMBtu, which is a little less than half a BCF of gas during the operation.
That gas, if it was sold, would have been selling into a negative Waha price market. Instead of paying a gas purchaser to take your gas away, Matador was conveniently using it as a fuel source for this operation. The fleet as a whole used natural gas for roughly 90% of the fuel source on this operation, and that saved around $30-$50 per foot of stimulated lateral for nine wells, which reduces the exposure to elevated diesel costs as well in the current environment. The wells in the Gus unit were originally permitted and spaced to be drilled in two separate spacing units with lateral lengths that were going to average 1.7 mi.
The land and regulatory permitting teams, working closely in concert with the operations team, and with management approval, had the foresight to leverage the team's ability to execute as well as utilize their diligence and experience to combine these two smaller units with the state and federal regulatory agencies into one larger unit, allowing for a 3.4-mi lateral design. This resulting Gus federal unit development that's actually being turned to sales this week saved the company $66 million in capital spend than what was originally planned in the original design with two separate smaller spacing units.
This batch well operation combining longer laterals, consolidated production facilities, the optimized use of trimul-frac operations on multi-well pads, as well as the use of company-operated recycled water and field natural gas, delivered a cost per foot basis for this operation that was approximately 18% lower than what the company's average in this area was for the last year. This style of innovation, integration, and execution reflects how the teams plan to approach the development of the units that will be formed in the BLM acreage for years to come. That will maximize value and return on investment for years to come, as I said. This will contribute in a meaningful way to Matador's continued financial strength and meeting long-term performance goals of the company.
To wrap up, Matador's quality assets in the Delaware, which is the premium basin in the U.S., and its unique mix of production and midstream facilities with the dedicated, driven, and talented staff are creating value, generating high returns, and growing shareholder value. As Joseph frequently comments, we like our chances. Thank you for your time and attention and an interest and support for Matador.
Great job. Great job, Ray. That was a terrific presentation. Good morning. I'm delighted to be here. I've been an independent director for Matador now 2.5 Years. I thank you for the opportunity to share my views on the company's midstream performance and outlook today. As you know, the great majority of Matador's assets are upstream. Exploration, development, and production. That has been and continues to be the major focus of the company throughout its 20-year history. Midstream assets include pipelines for oil, gas, and water, gas processing plants, and water disposal wells and related operations. While Matador's midstream segment is a relatively small component of Matador, about 15% of 2025 consolidated adjusted EBITDA or operating cash flow, and a relatively new segment started a little over a decade ago, it adds a lot to the company's overall integrated value.
Having a midstream business gives Matador flow assurance to sell its production and provides Matador marketing opportunities and flexibility. Many of the industry's original midstream assets in the U.S. and in the Gulf were built by the major oil companies, not because the majors necessarily wanted to be in the pipeline business, but because having a way to get produced oil and gas to ready markets and not be held captive was and is critical. Onshore in the Permian, natural gas flaring is not an option. If a producer cannot sell its produced natural gas, its wells must be shut in, which hurts cash returns. I've been very impressed by how well Matador has grown and operated its midstream, and the strategic and capital allocation choices that have been made by the leadership.
Midstream has grown as the company's upstream operations have grown via the brick-by-brick land approach, as well as sizable completed M&A transactions. Pipeline and plant expansions have been made to take advantage of profitable opportunities to create more cash flow for the overall enterprise. That means more cash flow can be pumped back into the upstream business that can benefit by higher oil prices like those we are experiencing today. Matador's midstream growth has been both inorganic through M&A and organic, and the same value maximization mindset and operating team culture is evident. Potential challenges have been anticipated and plans developed and put in place, supported by other areas of the company to provide the optionality needed to thrive in any environment. Most of the company's midstream operations, as was mentioned, are conducted through its 51%-owned San Mateo joint venture with the private equity group, Five Point Infrastructure.
At the end of 2025, San Mateo's system, which is operated by Matador, included natural gas and processing plants with about 340 mi of pipeline and 720 million cu ft per day of gas processing capacity. Produced water gathering and disposal services with 195 mi of pipeline and 16 water disposal wells with 475,000 barrels a day capacity, and oil gathering and transportation with 120 mi of pipeline and three central delivery points with a total of 100,000 barrels a day capacity. In addition to San Mateo's joint venture majority interest, Matador owns and operates 100% of several other midstream assets, primarily gas gathering pipelines and water handling. Together, the company expects San Mateo and Matador's wholly-owned midstream to generate about $360 million of EBITDA in 2026.
You'll see from this slide that nearly all of Matador's midstream assets are concentrated near its E&P operations and its existing and recently added, as Ray pointed out, acreage in the prolific Delaware Basin. Over time, new pipelines, new interconnects, and new or expanded gas plants have been added by midstream to create a spider web to provide ongoing production evacuation assurance to Matador's upstream. A couple different points to keep in mind when you look at upstream and midstream businesses. I'd say the first one is debt capacity. Upstream has operating exposure to commodity prices, and its cash flows are much more volatile than midstream. Midstream typically operates on a fee basis for transportation or treatment under long-term contracts. Midstream cash flows are viewed as less risky and more predictable by lenders. As a result, midstream businesses can comfortably sustain higher levels of debt than upstream.
It's not unusual for an established midstream business to carry debt-to-EBITDA ratios of 3x-4x compared to upstream ratios, which are considerably lower. This provides an additive source of capital for both segments of Matador to grow. In December of 2025, San Mateo JV successfully increased the size of its credit facility commitments from $850 million- $1.1 billion, which also reduced the borrowing rate and adding a new bank. The facility also has an accordion feature to provide additional increases up to $1.35 billion. Lots of liquidity. The second difference between upstream and midstream is valuation. In the stock market, the equity trading values for midstream are now, and have historically been, significantly higher than for upstream. Sort of more than double.
For example, current gas gathering and processing midstream companies are trading in 8x-13x forward EBITDA compared to independent E&P companies trading at 3x-4.5x . As a result of the consolidation in midstream that has occurred, there are not very many choices for investors to participate in the midstream equity or debt. There's a lot of appetite. Since 2015, Matador has built the value of its midstream assets from nearly $0 to over $1.5 billion, as midstream throughput and EBITDA rose to record levels in 2025. Matador's midstream group has found innovative ways to grow. Examples of smart growth are the 2022 acquisition of the Prado plant, now renamed the Marlin plant, and its subsequent contribution for cash incentives and other attractive terms to the San Mateo joint venture in late 2024. That was a remarkable deal. Next slide, please.
The Marlin plant expansion came online in second quarter 2025 on time and on budget, which is no small thing and really not that common. Significantly increasing San Mateo's total gas processing capacity. Third-party midstream revenues also increased in 2025, including from working interest owners in Matador's operated wells, diversifying its revenue base. There are many advantages for Matador to own and operate an embedded, integrated midstream business. First, flow assurance for it and its other customers' equity production. Second, significant free cash flow distributed back to Matador to grow the company's E&P base and repay debt incurred in E&P acquisitions. Third, good opportunities to add blue-chip third-party customers looking for reliable alternatives. On this point, in 2025, San Mateo's processing plants achieved an uptime of over 99%. That's right, 99%. The rest of the basin's operators were in the 80s.
As Todd pointed out to me today, sometimes during periods of bad weather or other incidents, there was a 20% improvement in Matador over the others. That's due to the fact that during periods of bad weather and temporary shutdowns of others' midstream facilities, our staff are incredibly dedicated and customer-focused. Fourth, the added potential to raise capital to use from new sources. Matador continues to carefully evaluate a wide range of strategic options to create additional value for you, our shareholders, in light of the recent positive developments of the company and in the sector. All I can say is it's exciting times. I have the benefit to participate in the board meetings as well as being chair of the marketing and midstream committee. What's impressed me the most is the outward-looking perspective maintained by the midstream leaders and staff.
Like all exceptional teams, they seek to recognize situations and market patterns that can create tailwinds or headwinds and move nimbly to anticipate and take advantage. Each person brings a unique perspective to help create value. All the teams bring an integrated approach, knowing success will need coordinated involvement from several different functions, ranging from midstream construction and operation, production, marketing, measurement, and commercial dealmaking. I've spent much of my career at Shell in the sector, and Matador's focus on efficient teamwork and continuous improvement has been among the very best I've seen in the buildup and operation of a safe and outstanding value-added midstream business. Thank you for your time and interest. Now I'm going to introduce Joseph Foran, founder, chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, and Christopher Calvert, Chief Financial Officer, to give you a financial update.
Thank you, Susan, and thank you for being a part of the board, particularly all your experience and expertise in midstream. It fulfills a vital role. I'd like to introduce now Christopher Calvert, who is our Chief Financial Officer and formerly Chief Operating Officer. Christopher?
Thank you, Joseph. I actually get a little sentimental watching Ray's presentation of all the amazing things the operations team is doing and continues to do. I think Glenn Stetson, recognized as the new Chief Operating Officer, I think you will still see a lot of amazing things to come out of that group. Moving forward, if I can get my clicker to work here, or Mack can help me. We've seen this slide. A lot of great metrics on this slide, a lot of growth, a lot of managed growth, maintaining a strong balance sheet. One thing I'd like to focus on, really what's behind this slide. If you look at acreage, we have over 212,000 net acres in the basin that's been built from really a small position back in the very beginning.
What's not on here, Ray talked about the federal lease sale of over 5,000 net acres that were acquired in a very strategic manner, in a manner that has San Mateo connectivity that allowed us to ascribe value to this deal from a San Mateo perspective. Very contiguous, like Ray said, a lot of potential operational efficiencies that come with that, and potential reserves that are not accounted for in our numbers. On top of that, we've previously disclosed that Matador has been the first operator to explore a Woodford test in the state of New Mexico. While drilling completion operations have been done on this well, we are in early time. We're excited what we see. Once again, none of these results, no reserves have been added, no inventory has been ascribed to this potential upside from a Woodford test.
Susan just mentioned the benefits of San Mateo. We have 900 millions of pipe that, like we've said, was grown from nothing. I think what is behind this slide, and Susan just touched on it, is the uptime from the operations excellence that we have in the field. You hear Joseph, he has said kind of the anecdote of people sleeping in trucks and working through winter. What I would encourage you all to do after we break, we have a lot of staff here. Take time to listen and talk to them. Hear their sleeping-in-the-truck stories because I think every single person, as I look into the crowd, we all have one. I think that's something that's very unique to Matador. When you think through the idea of sleeping in trucks, it's a cultural idea that Bryan A. Erman talked about.
It's something that comes from Joseph, from Van, from Billy Goodwin, that we live every day. I think back, it wasn't very long ago, although I think, the gray hairs tell a different story. I think when I started my career, it was Cliff Humphreys and I, who heads up the completions group, to where we met, we bonded. It was the sleepless nights fracking the first wells in southeast New Mexico, where it would be 2:00 A.M. and we would be in a frac van solving problems, learning efficiencies. I would encourage you to reach out and talk to the staff because it's not an anecdote. It's not a one-time thing to where we were sleeping in trucks to provide uptime during a winter storm. It's something that we live by.
I think, Billy, you will probably call us the spoiled generation that has Starlink and leather seats and internet, whereas I think for you it was probably payphones and coins in Suriname or wherever it was. I think, I hope Joseph, Van, Billy, I hope you're proud of something that not only have you pushed, but it continues to be a part of the organization today. It's something that is behind all of these slides, all of these metrics, it's something that I think we're all very proud of. As you look forward I'll see if I can get it. I keep pushing the button. Mack, maybe you can help me. Here we go. What better way to highlight that belief to live the culture? It is shareholder alignment, and that starts from the top, it works all the way down, like Joseph said.
90 members of the staff. 90 members of the staff, that's almost 20%, 25% of the staff with their own money are putting their money where their mouth is. They believe in the story. They believe in the culture. They believe in the future. I think that's something that's unique to us, let alone the 90 people buying. You have the ESPP program that Joseph spoke to. I think this slide in and of itself speaks. We go on the road a lot. Michael Frenzel, Mack, Hannah Rhodes, myself, to tell the story. Joseph and I have laughed. If you had to boil it down to one slide, this could potentially be it. You want to have a management team that is aligned with the story, that believes in what it is. You look.
This slide shows Form 4 reporters, board members, executive team, zero sales, purchases in the green. All of our peers, not only in the red, but magnitudes below where we are. It would be very hard for us if we're on the road selling the stock, selling the idea, if we were on the other end of the scale on this spectrum, because it would be very hard to say, "Look, I don't have personal alignment with the shareholders." I think for us, that's something that we can be very proud of. It's something that we look forward to. You heard Ray, Tim, Susan, Joseph. We like the future. It's onward and upward, it's a story that we're very proud to tell. I thank you guys for taking the time to come to this.
Joseph, I'll pass it back to you for closing remarks. Thank you guys for the time.
Thank you, Christopher. Christopher is off to a good start. They're on the road every week. Our landmen are on the road every week looking for deals, looking for opportunities. They don't stay in the office. I think that's a difference. That's sometimes putting up with plane delays and plane cancellations. They're out there finding shareholders, finding people to do business, finding people to do trades. I think they all deserve a recognition. Will our landmen who travel every week, would you please stand? Now, would our engineers and geologists please stand who put together these prospects? Our division order and land administration people, please stand. Right. In there, I particularly want to recognize Yvonne Hovsepian. Yvonne, will you please stand?
This is the person least ready to volunteer to stand. Yvonne and I have worked together for over 36.5 Years. Yes. We've never lost a lease during that for failure to have the rentals paid or some other mistake. That deserves a special hand. If I've left out a group, our accounting group, again, does a terrific job. Would the accounting group please stand? One reason I'm asking them to stand is they're all Matador shareholders, too. We have over 95% participation in the employees' shareholder purchase plan. All of them are taking some money out of their paycheck each time to invest in Matador stock. I think that's the way we are, it's working.
Being a public company, I can't say all the things that are going to work. This should be a real exciting year for us. I look forward to being with you next year. Finally, all those who have traveled from outside Dallas city limits to come to this meeting, would you all please stand? We'll be around. Again, we are open if y'all want to visit Matador sometime, please do so. If you've got young kids and they are in Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts and want to have a tour, we'll accommodate them, too. We're always looking for future shareholders. With that, unless there's a motion from the floor, that concludes the meeting. Anything else? Motion been made, seconded. Hearing no discussion, move to immediate vote. All those in favor say, "Aye.
Aye.
Motion carries. I just ask all of you to think about coming back next year for the meeting and seeing the fruits of what you've seen up here. Everything from what Christopher was outlining, we were doing drilling, and from Hollywood. I'm looking forward to his video again. It's just a great feeling of camaraderie, everybody pitching together, and we think we have the best shareholder group. We've appreciated your support and think we're making progress, and that everybody's got ideas and everybody's a shareholder. We really appreciate you all, and know that we've been paying a dividend. I've discovered that I can write you all the letters, nice letters, talking about our progress and everything, but it seems to have more credibility when I put a check in there.
We review the dividend policy every meeting, and it's been a volatile business, but it looks like it's stabilizing and some of these things come through. We'll be raising the dividend again. We want to be a company that steadily raises the dividend, and if you look at the future revenues, they look like they're in our favor. I can't tell you exactly when, but hang on. The dividend is 3% now. We want to get it to 4%. Thank you all. The lawyers will take me aside and beat me up for making a statement like that. Heck, you deserve it. You need to know, and I'm hoping you'll come visit me in Leavenworth. With that, we'll conclude the meeting and do the follow-up.
Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to come, and please know how much we appreciate you.