APA Corporation (APA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome. It is 10:00, and the Annual Shareholders Meeting of APA Corporation is called to order. My name is John Lowe, Chairman of APA's Board of Directors. Before I introduce the members of our Board, I'd just like to thank everyone for attending APA's Virtual Annual Meeting. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. First, some housekeeping items. On the left-hand portion of your screen, you will see today's agenda and the rules of conduct for the meeting. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board of Directors for their service and commitment. And mostly, on behalf of the Board, I'd like to thank and applaud the employees of the company for their dedication, innovation and their many accomplishments this past year. It was really quite an extraordinary year. The nominees for election to the Board of Directors today are: Annell Bay; John Christmann; Juliet Ellis; Charles Hooper, Chansoo Joung; Lamar McKay, Amy Nelson; Dan Rabun; Peter Ragauss; David Stover; and myself, John Lowe. We also have with us today are dear friend, Bill Montgomery, who is retiring as a director after having served on the Board since 2011. Thank you, Bill, for your leadership, wisdom and guidance over these past 10-plus years of service to APA Corporation. At this point, I will turn the formal meeting over to John Christmann, APA's Chief Executive Officer and President.

Thanks, John. Officers available to speak today are Steve Riney, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Anthony Lannie, Executive Vice President and General Counsel; and Raj Sharma, Corporate Secretary and Assistant General Counsel Governance. I appoint Mr. Sharma as secretary of the meeting and Mr. Lannie as parliamentarian for the meeting. Mr. Lannie, was notice of the meeting duly and properly mailed and are the inspectors of election present?

Yes, the proxy statement and notice of annual meeting were mailed to stockholders on April 1, 2022. We have an affidavit to that effect from EQ Shareowner Services and samples of the items mailed. Also available for inspection is a certified list of the stockholders of record as of the close of business on the record date, March 14, 2022, which has been available at the company's headquarters for the past 10 days. As of March 14, 2022, there were 342,181,612 shares of common stock outstanding and eligible to vote at this meeting. A quorum is present and the meeting may proceed with business. Our meeting this morning will be conducted in accordance with the agenda and the rules for conduct of stockholders' meetings, which are available on the left-hand portion of your screen. Jennifer Leno, Nora Dobin; and Jay Schultz have been appointed as inspectors of election to receive the proxies, judge the qualifications of voters, prescribe rules for voting, collect and count the votes, report the results of the ballots and to perform any other duties that may be required. The minutes of the last Annual Meeting of Stockholders held May 27, 2021, are available for inspection. Unless there is an objection, reading of these minutes will be waived. The company did not receive timely notice of any other director nominations by a stockholder as required under its bylaws. Therefore, the nominations are closed.

Items of business numbers 1 through 11 for this year's meeting are the election of directors. The directors elected at this meeting will serve for a period of 1 year starting today and ending on the date of the Annual Meeting in 2023. The nominees were introduced earlier, and I hereby declare them duly nominated. The 12th item of business for this year's meeting is ratification of Ernst & Young LLP as APA's independent auditors for fiscal year 2022. This matter was fully described in the proxy statement provided to all stockholders. The 13th and final item of business for this year's meeting is an advisory nonbinding vote to approve the compensation of APA's named executive officers. This item was discussed in the proxy statement provided to all stockholders. Any shareholder who has not yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by returning to the e-mail with the meeting link clicking on the vote button and following the instructions. Shareholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or Internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action. The next item on the agenda is the preliminary report of the inspector of election. Any ballots collected before the polls close but not reflected in the preliminary report will be reflected in the final report of the Inspector of Election. The polls are now closed. Mr. Lannie, do you have the results?

Yes. The inspectors of election have reported the following results. Each nominee for the office of director of the company has been reelected. The ratification of Ernst & Young as APA's independent auditors for fiscal year 2022 has been approved. The compensation of APA's named executive officers, as disclosed in the proxy statement, has been approved.

I hereby declare that all matters submitted for a vote of the stockholders have been approved. Now if there is no other business to come before the meeting, the formal meeting is adjourned.