S&P Global Ratings anticipates Oklahoma-based crude oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P) company Vital Energy Inc.'s credit measures will improve at a slower pace than we previously forecast due to lower commodity prices and slower than expected debt reduction. Therefore, we revised our outlook on the company to stable from positive and affirmed our 'B' issuer credit rating and 'B' issue-level rating on its senior unsecured debt. Our '4' recovery rating on the senior unsecured debt is unchanged. The stable outlook reflects our view that Vital Energy will maintain appropriate credit measures for the current rating despite anticipated weaker commodity prices, including funds from operations (FFO) to debt of 40%-45%. In addition, we anticipate the company will generate
