SM Energy is an independent oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company focused on onshore U.S. basins. SM Energy acquires, explores, develops, and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs), selling production directly to refineries, midstream companies, and commodity traders. The company has no downstream operations. SM Energy operates across three core areas: the Midland Basin in West Texas (~40% of 2025 production), South Texas/Maverick Basin (~39%), and the Uinta Basin in northeast Utah (~21%), with a DJ Basin position added via the Civitas merger in January 2026. Oil dominates revenue (~82% of production revenue in 2025), making financial performance heavily tied to crude oil prices. Revenue is driven by production volumes multiplied by realized commodity prices, with profitability shaped by capital efficiency, well productivity, and operating costs. SM Energy hedges a portion of production using derivative contracts to limit downside price exposure. Recent growth has been acquisition-driven: SM Energy acquired the Uinta Basin from XCL Resources in October 2024 for ~$2.1B, then merged with Civitas in January 2026 to add the DJ and Delaware basins. SM Energy is currently prioritizing free cash flow toward debt reduction, targeting roughly 1x net debt to adjusted EBITDAX, and plans to divest ~61,000 net acres in South Texas to accelerate deleveraging. Organically, SM Energy focuses on extending lateral lengths, reducing drilling and completion costs, and applying machine learning to well design.