Matador Resources Company press release

Matador Resources Company Reports First Quarter 2026 Results, Increases Production Guidance and Reaffirms Existing Capital Spending

2026-05-06

NYSE - New York Stock Exchange · Oil · Natural Gas · Natural Gas Liquids · United States · Corporate Finance

Matador Resources Company (NYSE: MTDR) (“Matador” or the “Company”) today reported financial and operating results for the first quarter of 2026 and updated full-year 2026 production guidance. A slide presentation summarizing the highlights of this release is included on the Company’s website at www.matadorresources.com on the Events and Presentations page under the Investor Relations tab.

Management Summary Comments

Joseph Wm. Foran, Matador’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, commented, “Matador is pleased to report a strong start to 2026. First quarter results exceeded the midpoint of our prior oil production guidance by 3%, and we have paid down over $350 million on our reserve-based lending (“RBL”) facility since year-end. Our capital spending during the quarter finished in line with previous guidance estimates that focused on operational efficiencies, increasing reserves, and cost saving initiatives. In light of these improvements and increased commodity pricing, estimated adjusted free cash flow for the full year 2026 will be approximately $1.1 to $1.2 billion (assuming strip oil and natural gas pricing as of early May 2026) compared to adjusted free cash flow for full year 2025 of $437 million, excluding land and seismic costs.

“Consequently, these first quarter results, combined with continued coordination between Matador and San Mateo’s upstream and midstream businesses, all provide an improved outlook for full-year 2026. Accordingly, we are increasing our production guidance estimates while reaffirming our previous cost per completed lateral foot, lease operating expense and estimated full-year capital budget guidance. During this past quarter, we began construction on a new San Mateo water recycling facility, finished drilling operations on our first Woodford exploratory well, and brought two additional Matador upstream net wells to sales, outperforming our February guidance. We also remain focused on expanding our 10 to 15 year high-quality inventory, which we consider critical for present and future growth. For instance, since early 2023, we have added over 800 net engineered locations, adding seven to eight years of inventory to our asset base and available inventory in both new and established areas of activity.

Exceeding Expectations and Outstanding Performance

“In our February 2026 earnings press release, we identified certain strategic priorities for the year that included improved capital efficiency and profitability, RBL reduction, balance sheet fortification, inventory expansion, and midstream value realization. We are pleased to report that we believe we made significant progress on all those objectives in the first quarter as specified in this report and reflected in our financial statements, earnings releases and annual report.

Quarterly Production

“Matador’s first quarter 2026 average daily total production of 207,594 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE), consisting of 120,277 barrels of oil per day and 523.9 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, exceeded the upper end of our production guidance. This first quarter 2026 production represented a 5% increase as compared to the first quarter of 2025 production. This production outperformance was achieved notwithstanding the impact of negative Waha natural gas pricing, including approximately 3,000 BOE per day of related elective shut-ins and approximately 4,000 BOE per day of weather-related well shut-ins associated with Winter Storm Fern. Our audited total proved oil and natural gas reserves grew to 667.0 million BOE at December 31, 2025, a 9% increase, from 611.5 million BOE at year end 2024, driven by consistent production, operational and geologic outperformance.

Production Outperformance

“The primary drivers of this production outperformance were: (1) strong early performance of newer wells turned to sales during the first quarter which exceeded initial expectations by approximately 2,600 barrels of oil per day, (2) the flow assurance of our production, provided by the San Mateo and Matador midstream assets, and the dedicated efforts of our field and office staff, despite severe weather associated with Winter Storm Fern, (3) additional wells turned-in-line associated with management’s decision to accelerate activity in the second half of 2025 and (4) delayed third-party midstream maintenance expected in the first quarter that shifted into the second quarter resulting in approximately 2,000 BOE per day.

“Another benefit of Matador’s outperformance in production, coupled with our strategic land acquisition strategy and development plan and the ongoing, geoscience driven, subsurface resource exploration, is that it provides a level of well production consistency that stands in positive contrast to the well degradation challenges occurring across our industry. According to Enverus’ publicly available data, reviewing corporate well productivity since 2021, Matador delivered an approximate 8% improvement in its 12-month cumulative normalized oil volumes in 2024 as compared to 2021. This performance was significantly better than the peer average reviewed in the data showing a decline of approximately 9%, with the lowest-performing operator seeing productivity declines as much as 40% over the same time period in the Delaware Basin.

Capital Spending and Operational Savings

“In alignment with our production and reserve growth that has resulted in Matador’s growth since its inception in 1983 with $270,000 in initial capital to its present market capitalization of close to $8 billion, the execution of our operations team continues to deliver consistently favorable financial results in line with our capital budget, as evidenced by the reaffirmation of our current operating and capital spending plan. Most notably, our guidance remains intact despite inflationary pressures in oilfield services and market volatility following geopolitical events related to the war in Iran. While these events drove immediate increases in diesel and related costs, Matador was able to partially mitigate these impacts by utilizing electric and hybrid-electric fracturing fleets—reducing completion related diesel consumption by over 90%. Matador further demonstrated our operational expertise and efficiency, by adapting to changes in market conditions and further enhancing various operational money-saving innovations, such as multi-well completions (simul- and trimul-frac), drilling wells faster and associated cost reductions and operational artificial intelligence integration.

"These completion innovations (and strategic vendor partnerships that support them) have allowed us to maintain our full-year drilling and completion cost guidance of $805 per completed lateral foot down to $785 at the low end of full-year cost per completed lateral foot guidance. Without these efficiencies and diesel reduction capabilities, recent fuel inflation would have the potential to increase well costs $30 to $50 per completed lateral foot. In addition to savings from reduced diesel usage, Matador partnered with San Mateo and our wholly-owned midstream infrastructure to source field-produced natural gas for completion operations, repurposing natural gas that would otherwise be sold into a negative Waha pricing environment. These capital expenses were further reduced by $90,000 to $100,000 per well, under current market conditions, by using produced natural gas as compared to truck delivered compressed natural gas.

Land and Finding Costs

“Complementing our production and operational improvements, Matador’s land team continued to expand our high-quality inventory of engineered drilling locations through its disciplined ‘brick-by-brick’ land acquisition strategy. Since January 1, 2023, Matador has added over 800 net engineered drilling locations to its inventory through a combination of selective transactions, bolt-on acquisitions and working interest additions. These quality land acquisitions, together with three consecutive years of meaningful proved reserves growth, operating efficiencies, and reduced well costs, all contributed to an estimated reduction in future finding and development costs for Matador’s proved undeveloped reserves from $10.98 per BOE in 2024 to $10.34 per BOE in the most recent year-end audited reserves report in 2025.

Integrated Midstream Operations

“San Mateo helped to deliver continuing favorable operating and financial results throughout the first quarter of 2026, further enhancing the value and usefulness of San Mateo and Matador’s respective (but coordinated) efforts across midstream and upstream operations. By providing essential gathering, natural gas processing, oil transportation, produced water handling services, and quick responses to adverse weather conditions, San Mateo ensures and provides critical flow assurance for both Matador and its third-party customers. This ‘producer-first’ mindset was exemplified during Winter Storm Fern. Despite severe regional weather challenges, Matador and San Mateo’s operational resilience, and special individual staff efforts, allowed natural gas plant processing volumes to exceed other Delaware Basin natural gas processors by as much as 20%, based on public disclosures regarding volumes processed during the storm at other processing plants in the Delaware Basin when compared to pre-storm natural gas processing volumes.

“San Mateo and Matador’s wholly-owned midstream infrastructure also supports Matador’s water recycling efforts, with treated produced water from those assets accounting for over 30% of total recycled water used in the first quarter of 2026. To further increase future revenues and to reduce costs, San Mateo continues to invest in produced water recycling infrastructure to facilitate sales for completion operations to both Matador and third-party customers, underscoring the seamless coordination required to maintain reliable, efficient and cost-effective service to its third-party customers and to Matador teams.

Commodity Prices

“Matador’s first quarter 2026 average realized natural gas price, excluding hedging, was $0.64 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), compared to the first quarter 2025 average realized natural gas price of $3.56 per Mcf. This 82% difference reflected the recent collapse of Waha prices, to which we believe our exposure will be largely solved by the completion of the Hugh Brinson pipeline enabling Matador to sell our gas at Henry Hub prices rather than current Waha prices. Matador’s marketing team responded by selectively increasing its third-party natural gas purchase activity, generating net sales of purchased natural gas of $38.4 million during the first quarter of 2026 (a Company quarterly record) compared to $36.0 million from the sale of purchased gas during the fourth quarter of 2025. Together, purchased natural gas sales for these two most recent quarters contributed approximately $75 million of additional cash flow to help mitigate the declines in Waha prices for gas sales in that market.

Hugh Brinson Effect

“As previously disclosed, Matador has secured, at zero capital expense, 500,000 million British thermal units (MMBtu) per day of firm natural gas transportation on Energy Transfer’s new Hugh Brinson pipeline, which Energy Transfer expects will begin flowing natural gas during the third or fourth quarter of 2026 and to be fully in-service by year-end 2026. The Hugh Brinson pipeline, transporting natural gas through north Texas data center corridors, is expected to provide Matador access to the historically more favorable Henry Hub markets along the Louisiana Gulf Coast and to other opportunities such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants and export terminals along this pipeline route. This Henry Hub access should reduce—substantially, if not entirely—Matador’s exposure to Waha pricing from Matador’s natural gas marketing program. Given this access to the Hugh Brinson pipeline and the Henry Hub market places, Matador estimates that it will then be able to add approximately $90 million annually in increased natural gas revenue for each $0.50 per MMBtu increase that Matador is able to achieve in its average realized natural gas price.

Financial Strength and Balance Sheet Stewardship

“Driven by strong cross-functional execution and a more robust financial performance, due in part to better pricing, Matador successfully deleveraged its RBL during the first quarter of 2026. We anticipate a full repayment of all RBL borrowings later this month, a milestone that increases our liquidity to $2.2 billion, based on our current elected commitment of $2.25 billion and the further potential borrowing base capacity currently of up to $3.25 billion. This strong liquidity position enables us to capitalize on a number of varied and diverse value-creating opportunities. These include possible fixed dividend increases, disciplined land acquisitions, strategic midstream opportunities, and other value optimization measures.

“We appreciate enormously our 19-member bank group, led by PNC Bank, and their credit committees for their continued recognition of Matador’s asset quality and cash flow and for their ongoing support of our strategic initiatives. Furthermore, we expect that the opportunistic timing of our recent senior unsecured notes issuance with maturity in 2034—and the resulting interest savings of $4.3 million per year—combined with Matador’s sustained free cash flow and disciplined capital allocation, will enable the full repayments under the RBL to the bank group this month. Together, these actions have improved the Company's weighted average debt maturity profile and fortified our overall liquidity position.

Closing Thoughts

“Matador’s first quarter 2026 results reflect—in our view—the strength and consistency of our operating plan, the quality of our asset base, the usefulness of our growing midstream business and the dedication of our board, employees in the office and the field, and various service providers to increase the value of Matador and San Mateo. During the quarter, we exceeded our prior production guidance, positioned Matador to pay off its RBL balance in its entirety, advanced our ‘brick-by-brick’ land acquisition strategy and continued to grow and increase San Mateo and Matador’s capabilities, opportunities and asset base. As we move further into 2026, we remain focused on the strategic priorities set forth in February and intend to continue managing Matador and San Mateo with a long-term perspective through periods of near-term volatility and geopolitical disruptions. We thank our shareholders, bondholders, staff, service providers and directors for their continued support and look forward to discussing these results in greater detail on our conference call tomorrow morning, and we are excited about the outlook for the year ahead of us.”

All references to Matador’s net income, adjusted net income, Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted free cash flow reported throughout this earnings release are those values attributable to Matador Resources Company shareholders after giving effect to any net income, adjusted net income, Adjusted EBITDA or adjusted free cash flow, respectively, attributable to third-party non-controlling interests, including in San Mateo. Matador owns 51% of San Mateo. For a definition of adjusted net income, adjusted earnings per diluted common share, Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted free cash flow and reconciliations of such non-GAAP financial metrics to their comparable GAAP metrics, please see “Supplemental Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.

Full-Year 2026 Guidance Update

Effective May 6, 2026, Matador increased its full-year 2026 guidance range for oil production and total BOE production as set forth in the table below. Notably, Matador is increasing its full-year 2026 production guidance ranges without changing its 2026 capital expenditure guidance, reflecting Matador’s improving capital efficiency. Matador now expects to achieve in 2026 a 3.5% increase in oil production, 11% total D/C/E and midstream CapEx reduction and a similar amount of net lateral footage turned to sales of ~1.25 million net lateral feet, as compared to 2025.

| Guidance Metric | Prior Full-Year 2026 Guidance Range | New Full-Year 2026 Guidance Range | | Oil Production, Bbl per day | 122,000 to 124,000 | 123,000 to 125,000 | | Natural Gas Production, MMcf per day | 525.0 to 545.0 | No Change | | Total Oil Equivalent Production, BOE per day | 209,500 to 215,000 | 210,500 to 216,000 | | Total operating expenses per BOE (1) | $30.00 to $31.00 | $31.00 to $33.00 | | Current income taxes (% of pretax income) | 0% to 0.5% | 0% to 1% | | D/C/E CapEx (2) | $1.35 to $1.44 billion | No Change | | Midstream CapEx (3) | $100 to $110 million | No Change | | Total CapEx | $1.45 to $1.55 billion | No Change | | (1) Includes estimated non-cash operating expenses in 2026 of $15.50 to $15.80 per BOE for DD&A and $0.20 to $0.30 per BOE for non-cash G&A expenses, respectively. | | | | (2) Capital expenditures associated with drilling, completing and equipping wells. | | | | (3) Includes Matador’s share of estimated capital expenditures for San Mateo and other wholly-owned midstream projects. | | |

Operational and Financial Update

First Quarter 2026 Oil, Natural Gas and Total BOE Production

As summarized in the table below, Matador’s total BOE production averaged 207,594 BOE per day in the first quarter of 2026, which was a 5% year-over-year increase from an average of 198,631 BOE per day in the first quarter of 2025 and 2% better than the midpoint of Matador’s expected first quarter production guidance of 203,000 BOE per day. The better-than-expected oil and natural gas production was primarily due to (1) outperformance of Matador’s new wells that were turned to sales in the quarter and (2) the deferral of expected scheduled maintenance on a third-party treatment plant from March until April. Matador had estimated this scheduled maintenance would reduce first quarter 2026 volumes by ~2,000 BOE per day (60% oil). The Company turned to sales 36 net operated wells in the first quarter, including 25 net operated wells turned to sales in late February and in March. The two additional net operated wells relative to expectations were pulled forward from the second quarter and turned to sales late in March and did not contribute significantly to first quarter production.

| Production | Q1 2026 Average Daily Volume | Q1 2026

Guidance

Range | Difference | YoY (1) | | Total, BOE per day | 207,594 | 201,000 to 205,000 | +2% Better than Guidance | +5% | | Oil, Bbl per day | 120,277 | 115,500 to 117,500 | +3% Better than Guidance | +5% | | Natural Gas, MMcf per day | 523.9 | 515.0 to 525.0 | +1% Better than Guidance | +4% | | (1) Represents year-over-year percentage change from the first quarter of 2025. | | | | |

First Quarter 2026 Realized Commodity Prices

The following table summarizes Matador’s realized commodity prices during the first quarter of 2026, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2025.

| | Sequential (Q1 2026 vs. Q4 2025) | | YoY (Q1 2026 vs. Q1 2025) | | | | | | | | | | Realized Commodity Prices | Q1 2026 | | Q4 2025 | | Sequential Change | | Q1 2026 | | Q1 2025 | | YoY Change | | Oil Prices, per Bbl | $72.83 | | $58.89 | | +24% | | $72.83 | | $72.38 | | +1% | | Natural Gas Prices, per Mcf | $0.64 | | $0.91 | | -30% | | $0.64 | | $3.56 | | -82% |

First Quarter 2026 Operating Expenses

For the first quarter of 2026, operating expenses per BOE of $31.05 per BOE were at the high end of Matador’s expected 2026 guidance range of $30.00 to $31.00 per BOE, primarily due to the significant increase in oil prices since our February earnings report, which caused taxes other than income (TOTI) to be significantly above expectations. Otherwise, lease operating expenses (LOE), transportation and processing expenses (TP), depletion and depreciation and amortization expense (DD&A) were all better than expected on a per unit of production basis. General and administrative expenses (G&A) were higher than expected primarily due to the value of employee stock awards that are settled in cash, which are remeasured at each quarterly reporting period according to accounting rules. These cash-settled stock award amounts increased due to the fact that Matador’s share price increased 49% from $42.44 at the end of 2025 to $63.18 at the end of the first quarter of 2026.