CVR Energy Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the CVR Energy Inc. 3rd 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 CBR Energy Third 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 Third 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 to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, are included in our 2023 third 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 third quarter consolidated net income of $354 million. and earnings per share of $3.51. EBITDA for the quarter was $530 million. Our solid results for the quarter were driven by continued strength in gas and diesel crack spreads along with significant decline in the price of RENs at the quarter end. We are pleased to announce the Board of Directors has authorized a special dividend of $1.50 per share This is in addition to the regular dividend, third quarter dividend of 50 cents per share, both of which will be paid on November 20th to shareholders of record at the close of market on November 13th. Our year-to-date declared regular and special dividends total $4 per share. For a total cash return, two shareholders approximately 13%. In our petroleum segment, combined total throughput for the third quarter of 2023 was approximately 212,000 barrels per day, and light product yield was 98% on crude oil processed. Overall, our refineries operated well during the quarter with minimal unplanned downtime. We also completed the repairs to the gasoline hydrotreater, Winnie Wood, which was impacted by a fire in the second quarter. Benchmark crack spreads remained elevated during the third quarter with the Group 3, 2-1-1 averaging $39.10 per barrel. The third quarter average RIN price declined from the second quarter but remained stubbornly high at over $7 per barrel. As we discussed in previous calls, we have filed lawsuits and received a stay in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals related to the denial of Winnie Wood small refinery exemptions for 2020 and 21. And we have recently received a stay for 2022 as well. In early October, we were pleased to have our day in court as we presented oral arguments in front of the Fifth Circuit related to EPA's denial of small refinery exemptions. As we have continuously stated, The RFS regulation was written specifically to protect small refineries like Winniewood from disproportionate economic harm caused by RFS, and we continue to fight for the rights that we believe Winnie was entitled to. Our Winniewood refinery is the poster child for disproportionate economic harm in the industry, as we believe our relative cost of compliance with RFS is higher than almost all other refineries. For the third quarter of 2023, we achieved record throughput rates at the Winnie Wood Renewable Diesel Unit, processing nearly 24,000 barrels, 24,000, 24 million gallons of vegetable oil feedstock in the quarter. The hobo spread widened from the second quarter with increased soybean oil prices. However, we generated another positive, another quarter of positive contribution from the RD unit due to increased throughput volumes and improvement in the California diesel price in the quarter. As a reminder, our renewable diesel business is currently reported in our corporate and other segment. In fertilizer segment, both facilities ran well during the quarter with a consolidated ammonia utilization rate of 99%. Nitrogen fertilizer prices reset in July, after which prices steadily rose through the summer driven by a combination of strong demand and reduced supply, as well as a result of planned and unplanned outages across the industry. We believe market conditions have firmed in the fourth quarter, and we have a good order book on for the fall. Now let me turn the call over to Dane to discuss our financial highlights.