EnLink Midstream, LLC

Greetings and welcome to the NLINC Midstream Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in 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, Brian Brungardt, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you, Mr. Brungard. You may begin.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to NLINC's third quarter of 2023 earnings call. Participating on the call today are Jesse Aranivas, Chief Executive Officer, Delanca Simon, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, and Ben Lamb, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Walter Pinto, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, is also in the room to answer any questions during the Q&A session. We issued our earnings release and presentation after the markets closed yesterday, and those materials are on our website. A replay of today's call will also be made available on our website at investors.nlink.com. Today's discussion will include forward-looking statements, including expectations and predictions within the meaning of the federal securities laws. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise. Actual results may differ materially from our projections. And a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ can be found in our press release, presentation, and SEC files. This call also includes discussions pertaining to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions of these measures, as well as reconciliation of comparable GAAP measures, are available in our press release and the appendix of our presentation. We encourage you to review the cautionary statements and other disclosures made in our press release and our SEC filings. including those under the headings risk factors. We'll start today's call with a set of brief prepared remarks by Jesse, Delanca, and Ben, and then leave the remainder of the call open for questions and answers. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Jesse Aranibas.

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our third quarter 2023 results. As I sit here today, I'm impressed at the solid execution driving another record year of adjusted EBITDA. Despite the volatility we've seen in the commodity markets, our assets have been very resilient, benefiting from a diverse set of customers. We entered the year forecasting the midpoint of $1.355 billion for adjusted EBITDA, and we remain on pace to achieve this midpoint. For the quarter, we generated $342 million of adjusted EBITDA, driven by robust activity behind our Permian system, which saw another record quarter of gathered volume. InLink's strong execution and disciplined approach are driving returns for our investors. During the quarter, we continue to execute on our unit buyback program and have executed approximately $160 million of our board-authorized $200 million for the year. Since early 2022, we have repurchased over 7% of the units outstanding through our consistent buyback activity. We discussed on our last call our unique position to benefit from the energy transformation, a world in which the energy mix will continue to include hydrocarbons complemented with CCS while adding newer, cleaner sources of energy like hydrogen and other renewable fuels. Since our last update, we continue to see signs that suggest a growing need for additional energy In particular, natural gas. Last month, the EIA announced that the US exports of natural gas, both pipeline and export LNG, set a record high in the first half of 2023, with an average of 20.4 BCF a day, or an increase of 4% compared to the first half of 2022. Since the Bean Pass LNG came online in 2016, the U.S. became a natural gas exporter in 2017. Said another way, we have witnessed a growth of over threefold in the past seven years. According to data by the International Group of LNG Importers, global import capacity is set to expand by 16% or 23 BCF a day by the end of 2024. as an increasing number of countries are relying on imported LNG to help meet their growing energy demands. In the first seven months of 2023, three countries, Germany, the Philippines and Vietnam, began importing LNG for the first time. Antigua, Australia, Cyprus and Nicaragua are expected to start importing LNG by the end of 2024. In total, It's expected that 55 countries will have LNG regasification terminals online by the end of 2024. In addition, the United States recently took over the spot for the largest LNG exporter with an average of 11.6 BCF a day in the first half of 2023. The U.S. now exports approximately 1 BCF a day more than Australia and or gutter. According to the EIA's recent International Energy Outlook 2023, as global energy demand increases, global energy-related CO2 emissions are expected to increase through 2050. In most cases that the EIA examined, the growth in non-fossil fuel-backed resources like nuclear and renewables is not sufficient to reduce global energy-related CO2 emissions under current laws and regulations. Said shortly, the world cannot rely solely on adoption of renewable energy, but will require an all-of-the-above approach, including CCS, to meet their emissions reduction goals. To sum it up, we're excited at how we can be an active participant through the energy transformation. Our assets are uniquely positioned to provide both the supply of natural gas and natural gas liquids to local demand centers. as well as export markets, while also aiding industrial emitters' efforts to reduce their own carbon emissions through our CO2 transportation business. With that, I'll turn it over to Dilanka to provide an overview of an update of our commercial opportunities.