CVR Energy Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the CVR Energy, Inc. second quarter 2023 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Richard Roberts, Vice President of FP&A and IR. Thank you, Mr. Roberts. You may begin.

Thank you, Camilla. Good afternoon, everyone. We very much appreciate you joining us this afternoon for our CVR Energy second quarter 2023 earnings call. With me today are Dave Lamp, our Chief Executive Officer, Dane Newman, our Chief Financial Officer, and other members of management. Prior to discussing our 2023 second quarter results, let me remind you that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements as that term is defined under federal securities laws. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. You are cautioned that these statements may be affected by important factors set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our latest earnings release. As a result, actual operations or results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except to the extent required by law. This call also includes various non-GAAP financial measures. The disclosures related to such non-GAAP measures, including reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, are included in our 2023 second quarter earnings release that we filed with the SEC and form 10-Q for the period and will be discussed during the call. With that said, I'll turn the call over to Dave.

Thank you, Richard. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining our earnings call. Yesterday, we reported second quarter consolidated net income of $168 million. and earnings per share of $1.29. EBITDA for the quarter was $300 million. Our solid results for the quarter were driven by continued strength in gasoline and diesel crack spreads. We are pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has authorized a special dividend of $1 per share. This is in addition to the regular second quarter dividend of 50 cents per share, both of which will be paid on August 21st to shareholders of record at the close of the market on August 14th. Our annualized dividend yield, excluding special dividends, is approximately 5.5% based on yesterday's closing price and remains best in class among the independent refiners. In our petroleum segment, combined total throughput for the second quarter of 2023 was approximately 201,000 barrels per day and light product yield was 100% on crude oil process. We completed the planned coker turnaround at Coffeyville in early April, and we currently do not have any additional turnarounds planned for the remainder of the year. Although we experienced a fire at the gasoline hydrotreater at Winniewood during the quarter, the impact to operations at the plant was minimal, and we were able to run the refinery without problems. the hydro-treater in operation by consuming sulfur credits. We expect to have the hydro-treater repaired and back in service in the next week. Benchmark crack spreads remained elevated during the second quarter, with Group 3-211 averaging $32.03 per barrel. RIN prices declined slightly from the first quarter, but remained stubbornly high at over $7 per barrel. Last month, EPA continued down their ridiculous and misguided path, once again denied petitions for small refinery exemptions, including Winnie Wood's petition for 2022. We've already filed lawsuits. and received a stay from the Fifth Circuit related to the denial of the Winnie Wood small refinery exemption for 2017 through 2021. And we expect to challenge this most recent denial in court very soon. As we have continually stated, the RFS regulation was written specifically to protect small refineries like Winnie Wood from disproportionate economic harm caused by the RFS regulation. And we will continue to fight for our rights that we believe Winniewood is entitled to. We completed a second catalyst change at the Winniewood Renewable Diesel Unit in April, and we processed approximately 18 million gallons of vegetable oil feedstock in the second quarter. We also switched catalyst providers with the most recent change, and so far we are seeing an increase in renewable diesel yields. The hobo spread improved slightly from the first quarter, And despite the lower throughput volumes, we once again saw improved results relative to the previous quarter. As a reminder, our renewable diesel business is currently reported in our corporate and other segment. In the fertilizer segment, both facilities ran well during the quarter with a consolidated ammonia utilization rate of 100%. Fertilizer prices continued to decline during the second quarter, although we sold more than 40% of our second quarter volume in the first quarter at higher prices. We recently completed both the summer fill and fall prepaid ammonia ordering from customers. We have a good order book heading into the fall. Now let me turn the call over to Dane to discuss our financial highlights. Thank you, Dave, and good afternoon, everyone.