Drilling & Completions | Quarterly / Earnings Reports | Fourth Quarter (4Q) Update | Reserves | Financial Results | Capital Markets | Capital Expenditure | Drilling Activity
Magnolia Oil & Gas Fourth Quarter, Full Year 2021 Results
Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp. announced its financial and operational results for the fourth quarter and full year 2021.
4Q and Full Year 2021 Highlights:
- Magnolia reported fourth quarter and full-year 2021 net income attributable to Class A Common Stock of $150.2 million, or $0.82 per diluted share, and $417.3 million or $2.36 per diluted share, respectively. Fourth quarter and full-year 2021 total net income was $192.1 million and $559.7 million, respectively.
- Adjusted EBITDAX was $260.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2021, with drilling and completions ("D&C") capital of $72.1 million, representing just 28% of quarterly adjusted EBITDAX. Adjusted EBITDAX for the full-year 2021 was $828.9 million with total D&C capital of $231.9 million, also representing 28% of adjusted EBITDAX, and well below our annual spending limit of 55% of EBITDAX.
- Net cash provided by operating activities was $260.5 million during the fourth quarter and $788.5 million during full-year 2021. The Company generated free cash flow(1) of $178.5 million during the fourth quarter and $555.9 million during full-year 2021.
- Total production in the fourth quarter of 2021 grew 15% from the fourth quarter of 2020 to 69.4 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day ("Mboe/d"). Production for full-year 2021 averaged 66.0 Mboe/d representing year-over-year volume growth of 7%.
- Production at Giddings and Other in the fourth quarter of 2021 grew 27% compared to the prior year fourth quarter to 36.0 Mboe/d including year-over-year oil production growth of more than 40%. This was accomplished with asset level D&C spending of around 35% of asset level adjusted EBITDAX, leading to significant free cash flow generation at Giddings. We continue to achieve further operational efficiencies at Giddings including an increase in drilling feet per day, fewer drilling days per well, and an improvement in stimulation stages per day.
- Magnolia added 31.0 MMboe of proved developed reserves, excluding acquisitions and price-related revisions, representing the reserve additions from our 2021 drilling program. These proved developed additions provide an organic proved developed Finding & Development ("F&D") cost of $7.48/boe(3).
- Magnolia repurchased 2.7 million shares during the fourth quarter, reducing the Company's total diluted shares outstanding by 25.3 million shares(4) or approximately 10% compared to the prior year. Magnolia's board recently increased the existing share repurchase authorization by an additional 10 million with 15.8 million Class A Common shares remaining on the current authorization. This action accommodates our ongoing share repurchase plan during the year and is specifically allocated toward open market repurchases.
- Together with the initiation of a dividend payment and our share reduction efforts, Magnolia returned $358 million to its shareholders last year or approximately 65% of full-year 2021 free cash flow and ended the year with $367 million of cash on the balance sheet. The Company remains undrawn on its $450.0 million revolving credit facility, with no debt maturities until 2026 and has no plans to increase its debt levels.
- Magnolia's board recently declared its final semi-annual dividend for 2021 of $0.20 a share payable on March 1, 2022. This final payment is based on Magnolia's full-year 2021 financial results recast using oil prices of $55 per barrel.
Chairman, President and CEO Steve Chazen said: "2021 was a defining year for Magnolia. We achieved several new company records including EBIT margins and earnings per share. We also initiated our first dividend payment during the year and were able to significantly reduce our share count. Perhaps our greatest accomplishment for the year was moving our Giddings asset into full development. The positioning of Giddings toward full development provided a significant improvement in operating efficiencies which resulted in lower overall capital required to grow our total company production. We spent just 28 percent of our EBITDAX on drilling and completing wells, which resulted in year-over-year production growth of 7 percent.
"Our disciplined capital spending and our team's continued focus on managing our costs provided strong pre-tax margins and generated significant free cash flow. During the year, we returned approximately 65 percent of our free cash flow to our shareholders in the form of significant share repurchases and our dividend. We repurchased more than 25 million shares reducing our diluted share count by 10 percent. Notwithstanding the significant return of cash to shareholders, our year-end cash balance nearly doubled from the prior year resulting in zero net debt.
"Our plan for 2022 is expected to build on many of last year's achievements. After adding a second drilling rig during mid-2021, we plan to continue to operate a two-rig drilling program which we expect to generate high single digit full-year production growth. While we continue to limit our capital spending to 55 percent of EBITDAX, our spending percentage would be well-below this level in the current product price environment, providing significant free cash flow. We expect that our free cash flow would be allocated toward areas that would improve the per share value of the company including small, accretive bolt-on oil and gas property acquisitions and repurchasing at least 1 percent of our outstanding shares per quarter. So far this year, we have repurchased 2 million shares. The combination of organic production growth and share reduction is supportive of a growing dividend and Magnolia's double-digit return investment proposition."
Operational Update
Fourth quarter total company production averaged 69.4 Mboe/d, a 3% sequential increase from third quarter levels and growth of 15% from the prior year's fourth quarter. Production grew during the quarter despite spending only 28% of adjusted EBITDAX on drilling and completing wells. Fourth quarter 2021 turn-in lines were more weighted to the Karnes area which resulted in a sequential quarterly production increase of 9% to 33.4 Mboe/d. Giddings and Other production averaged 36.0 Mboe/d which increased 27% from the prior year quarter.
Magnolia continues to operate two drilling rigs and plans to maintain this level of activity for the balance of the year. One rig will continue to drill multi-well development pads in our Giddings area consisting primarily of wells with greater than 7,000-foot laterals and with four wells per pad. The second rig will drill a mix of wells in both the Karnes and Giddings areas, including some appraisal wells in Giddings.
2021 Reserves Replacement and F&D Costs
Magnolia's total proved developed reserves at year-end 2021 were 109.8 MMboe. Excluding acquisitions and price related revisions, the company added 31.0 MMboe of proved developed reserves during the year. Total costs incurred excluding property acquisition costs, exploration expenses and asset retirement obligation costs were $231.9 million in 2021 resulting in organic proved developed F&D costs of $7.48 per boe.
Total 2021 proved reserves increased to 135.4 MMboe from 112.3 MMboe at year end 2020 and replaced 196%(5) of 2021 production. Magnolia books only one year of proved undeveloped reserves and as a result, 81% of its 2021 proved reserves were developed. The proved undeveloped reserves represent what we expect to convert to proved developed producing during 2022.
More Fourth Quarter (4Q) Update News

Apa Corp : Doing More With Less
APA's 2025 narrative was one of operational surprise. The company came in beating production guidance every single quarter while spending below plan, capturing over $300MM in cost savings…

Permian Resources to Grow Production 6% in 2026
Permian Resources exited 2025 as the largest pure-play Delaware Basin operator with ~480,000 net acres and >105,000 net royalty acres. The company averaged 392.6 MBoe/d in 2025, including…

Endeavor Talks 2023 Development Program; Rigs, Frac Crews
Endeavor Energy Resources, announces financial and operating results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, and provides full-year 2023 outlook. Fourth Quarter 2022 (“4Q22”) Highlights…

Crescent Energy 4Q, Full Year 2022 Results; Maintenance Capital for 2023
Crescent Energy Company announced its financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022 as well as its 2023 guidance. 2023 Outlook Crescent's 2023 outlook…

W&T Offshore Fourth Quarter, Full Year 2022 Results; 2023 Guidance
W&T Offshore, Inc. reported operational and financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022, including the Company's year-end 2022 reserve report. Guidance for 2023 was also…
Gulf Coast News

Why $90 Oil Isn’t Bringing Back the Rigs
Higher oil prices are not translating cleanly into a drilling response across U.S. shale, and company disclosures are starting to show why. The issue is not simply capital…

Q1 A&D Transactions Jump to $30B , While Deal Flow Was Down 40%
The first quarter of 2026 has officially defined the "Barbell Era" of American oil and gas. While the total number of deals plummeted by 46% YoY (dropping to…

Wright to U.S. Oil Industry: The Price Signal Is Telling You to Drill
Energy Secretary Chris Wright stood in front of the largest gathering of oil executives in the world this morning and delivered a message that was equal parts market…

An Eagle Ford Team That Cashed Out Is Back for Another Cycle
Houston — January 15, 2026 — Lime Rock Partners, a Houston-based private investment firm specializing in upstream oil and gas, has completed an equity commitment to Athena Energy…

Silver Hill Expands South Texas Footprint with Acquisition of 1776 Energy Assets
Silver Hill Energy Partners has acquired 100 percent of 1776 Energy’s South Texas oil and gas assets, significantly expanding its operated footprint across the Eagle Ford and Austin…