06:58 AM EDT, 07/03/2025 (MT Newswires) -- NuVista Energy ( NUVSF ) late on Wednesday lowered its guidance for annual production volumes, citing continued delays in commissioning the Pipestone gas plant and other additional work.

Due to the commissioning delays and required work discovered during a gas plant turnaround in the greater Wapiti area, the company now expects annual volumes to average 83,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The impact is approximately 3,500 boe/d due to the Pipestone plant delay and 6,000 boe/d due to the Wapiti turnaround delay. Both third-party facilities are expected to be fully operational by September.

Turnarounds take place once every four years and were planned in the annual budget. However, the Wapiti operator has chosen to proceed with the additional work to set the plant up for a major life extension, increase in throughput and reliability improvement.

NuVista expects 43 new wells to be available for production by the end of the third quarter, setting up for fourth quarter volumes exceeding 100,000 boe/d as planned. As a result of the delays, second-quarter production averaged roughly 73,500 boe/d.

The company also reiterated its commitment to its shareholder returns strategy and expects to continue progressing its share repurchase program despite the reduced outlook in annual production volumes.

At current commodity price levels, NuVista expects to generate $150 million in free adjusted funds flow in the second half of the year, most of which will be directed to the share repurchase program.