CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus supplement, including documents incorporated by reference, contains forward-looking statements, which involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our: future performance; business strategy; future operations (including drilling plans and capital plans); estimates and projections of revenues, losses, costs, expenses, returns, cash flow, and financial position; reserve estimates and our ability to replace or increase reserves; anticipated benefits of strategic transactions (including acquisitions and divestitures); and plans and objectives of management (including plans for future cash flow from operations and for executing environmental strategies) are forward-looking statements. When used in this prospectus supplement or documents incorporated by reference therein, the words “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future,” “guidance,” “intend,” “may,” “model,” “outlook,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions (including the negative of such terms) as they relate to us are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Although we believe that the expectations and assumptions reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, they involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and, in many cases, beyond our control. Accordingly, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and our actual outcomes could differ materially from what we have expressed in our forward-looking statements.
Factors that could cause our outcomes to differ materially include (but are not limited to) the following:
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Changes in supply and demand levels for oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids, and the resulting impact on the price for those commodities;
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the impact of public health crises, including epidemic or pandemic diseases such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and any related company or government policies or actions;
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actions taken by the members of OPEC and Russia affecting the production and pricing of oil, as well as other domestic and global political, economic, or diplomatic developments;
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changes in general economic, business or industry conditions, including changes in foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates, and inflation rates;
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regional supply and demand factors, including delays, curtailment delays or interruptions of production, or governmental orders, rules or regulations that impose production limits;
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federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives relating to hydraulic fracturing, including the effect of existing and future laws and governmental regulations;
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restrictions on the use of water, including limits on the use of produced water and a moratorium on new produced water well permits recently imposed by the Texas Railroad Commission in an effort to control induced seismicity in the Permian Basin;
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significant declines in prices for oil, natural gas, or natural gas liquids, which could require recognition of significant impairment charges;
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changes in U.S. energy, environmental, monetary and trade policies;
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conditions in the capital, financial and credit markets, including the availability and pricing of capital for drilling and development operations and our environmental and social responsibility projects;
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challenges with employee retention and an increasingly competitive labor market due to a sustained labor shortage or increased turnover caused by the COVID-19 pandemic;
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changes in availability or cost of rigs, equipment, raw materials, supplies, oilfield services;
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changes in safety, health, environmental, tax, and other regulations or requirements (including those addressing air emissions, water management, or the impact of global climate change);
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security threats, including cybersecurity threats and disruptions to our business and operations from breaches of our information technology systems, or from breaches of information technology systems of third parties with whom we transact business;