Equitrans Midstream Corporation Common Stock

Good morning. My name is Rob, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Equitrans Midstream Corporation third quarter 2022 results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again press star one. Thank you. Nate Tetlow, Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. You may begin your conference.

Good morning and welcome to the third quarter 2022 earnings call for Equitrans Midstream Corporation. A replay of this call will be available for 14 days beginning this evening. The phone number for the replay is 800-770-2030 or 647- 362-9199, and the conference ID is 6625542. Today's call may contain forward-looking statements related to future events and expectations. Please refer to today's news release and risk factors in ETRN Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2021, and as updated by Form 10-Q's for factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Today's call may contain certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to this morning's news release and our investor presentation for important disclosures regarding such measures, including reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measure. On the call today are Tom Karam, Chairman and CEO Diana Sharletta, President and Chief Operating Officer, Kirk Oliver, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Justin Mackin, Senior Vice President, Gas Systems Planning and Engineering, Brian Petrangria, Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, and Janice Brenner, Vice President and Treasurer. After the prepared remarks, we will open the call to questions. With that, I'll turn it over to Tom.

Thanks, Nate. And good morning, everyone. Today, we reported third quarter results, including a net loss of $504 million, adjusted EBITDA of $259 million, and deferred revenue of $85 million. We also increased our full-year free cash flow guidance. Kirk will provide details on the financial results in a few minutes. Let me start with MVP. Today, we announced an impairment of $583 million, primarily on the basis of the increased timing uncertainty now present in the normal permitting path through the Fourth Circuit Court. Kirk will discuss some of the factors in that analysis in a minute. On that permitting path, we remain actively engaged with all of the agencies since the Fourth Circuit vacated for the second time these permits in early 2022. We are continuing to work with the agencies to produce permits that, when reissued, will exceed all legal standards used by federal courts, as well as this court's unreasonably high bar. That said, based on the hearing conducted by the Fourth Circuit panel last week regarding a challenge to the West Virginia 401 certification, It was evident that the same court panel that has consistently overruled technical conclusions of federal and state regulators more than 10 times again appeared hostile to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's issuance of a permit for MVP. As in any federal permitting project, there remains some uncertainty on the federal agency front regarding timing. As I said, we are engaged with the agencies as they work to develop and refine their proposed schedules for permit issuance. Notwithstanding these uncertainties and our view that this Fourth Circuit panel far exceeds well-established boundaries for agency deference, we will continue pursuing the permitting path available under the existing law. However, Having been under construction since early 2018 and now being roughly 94% complete with total project work, the best path to complete MVP by the second half of 2023 and get off landowner's property, flow natural gas to help lower costs to consumers, while adding to our national and energy security, is for Congress to pass legislation requiring the completion of the project. Through the efforts of Senators Manchin and Capito, energy infrastructure permitting reform legislation has drawn significant bipartisan support, including from representatives of the Biden administration. We remain encouraged by the continued support for permitting reform, and in particular, for MVP's inclusion in that legislation. We urge Congress to act on this bipartisan momentum and pass legislation in the near term. And now, I'll turn it to Diana for the operations update, and then Kirk will discuss the financial results.