Chevron Corporation

Good morning. My name is Katie and I will be your conference facilitator today. Welcome to Chevron's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session and instructions will be given at that time. If anyone should require assistance during the conference call, please press star then zero on your touchtone telephone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference call over to the General Manager of Investor Relations of Chevron Corporation, Mr. Jake Spearing. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Katie. Welcome to Chevron's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. I'm Jake Spearing, General Manager of Investor Relations. Our Chairman and CEO, Mike Wirth, and CFO, Emer Bonner, are on the call with me today. We will refer to the slides and prepared remarks that are available on Chevron's website. Before we begin, Please be reminded that this presentation contains estimates, projections, and other forward booking statements. Reconciliation of non-GAAP measures can be found in the appendix to this presentation. Please review the cautionary statement on slide two. Now, I'll turn it over to Mike.

Thanks, Jake, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Chevron continues to deliver strong operational performance, maintain cost and capital discipline, and consistently return cash to shareholders. First quarter marked nine consecutive quarters with adjusted earnings over $5 billion and adjusted ROCE above 12%. During the quarter, we also returned $6 billion in cash to shareholders, the eighth straight quarter over $5 billion. We also grew production more than 10% from the same quarter last year and announced final investment decisions to grow our renewable fuels and hydrogen businesses. Earlier this month, we announced our third Future Energy Fund. focused on venture investments in lower carbon technologies. The merger with Hess is advancing and we intend to certify substantial compliance with the FTC second request in the coming weeks. We believe that a preemption right does not apply to this transaction and are confident this will be affirmed in arbitration. We expect the proxy for the Hess shareholder vote to be mailed in April with a special meeting date in late May. This strategic combination creates a premier energy company with world-class capabilities and assets to deliver superior shareholder value, and we look forward to bringing the two companies together. At TCO, we achieved startup of WPMP this month, with the first inlet separator and pressure boost compressor in service, and conversion of the first metering station to low pressure now complete. Later this quarter, we expect a second pressure boost compressor online, and a third gas turbine generator to provide power to the Tenge's grid. Metering station conversions are planned through the remainder of the year as additional pressure boost compressors start up, keeping the existing plants full around planned SGI and KTL turnarounds. We continue to make significant progress on FGP and expect to have additional major equipment ready for operations in the third quarter. Cost and schedule guidance remain unchanged, with FGP expected to start up in the first half of 2025. Now, over to Emer to discuss the financials.