Share Price is a Reflection on Management
Buybacks do reduce the float with 700 million shares roughly, you could spend your next 1.3 billion in doing buybacks, but buy back in and of themselves do not establish the share price.
Shares trade based on the basis of assets quality, confidence in management, performance, efficiency, growth plan, business practices and risk management.
The number of shares is only one component in determing value and the are a lot of intangebles. Risk management is likely $2 dollars a share to the downside. Very low dividend, and reluctant to return meaningful capital to shareholder in a more significant manner.
Everyone knows in the patch, that prices will not be this high forever.
I do not advocate for buying back your shares while you have these high cash flows because they will not last forever. Opportunistic buybacks is the way TOU describes it, only not this long drawn out process, where management does a high five, but really have very little impact on the shareholders in terms of value creation.
Its a lot easier and cheaper to add 10% to the production than it would be be to reduce the share float by 10% and you would get way more value for your dough.
IMHO