Under current commodity pricing conditions, W&T intends to focus on generating free cash flow which can be used toward debt reduction and additional accretive acquisitions. The Company’s preliminary capital expenditure budget for 2021 is expected to be in the range $30 million to $60 million, which excludes opportunistic acquisitions of oil and gas properties from third parties. W&T has significant flexibility to adjust its spending up or down at any time since it has no long-term rig contracts or drilling obligations. Furthermore, the lower decline profile of the Company’s producing asset base allows reductions in capital expenditures without significantly impacting near-term production levels.

W&T’s overall inventory of drillable projects remains strong and currently the 2021 capital program will be focused on lower-risk, high-return projects. Additionally, in 2021, the Company expects to spend about $17 to $21 million on asset retirement obligations (“ARO”) compared to $3.3 million spent on ARO in 2020.

W&T forecasts its full year 2021 production to be in the range of 38,000 to 42,000 Boe/d, above the fourth quarter 2020 rate of 38,261 Boe/d, but modestly lower than full year 2020 average production of 42,046 Boe/d.

KeyFacts Energy: W&T Offshore US Gulf of Mexico country profile