Kinder Morgan, Inc.

Good afternoon and thank you for standing by and welcome to the first quarter 2026 earnings results conference call. Your lines are in a listen only mode until the question and answer session of today's conference. At that time you may press star followed by the number one to ask a question. Please unmute your phones and state your first and last name when prompted. Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections you may disconnect at this time. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Rich Kinder, Executive Chairman of Kinder Morgan.

Thank you, Michelle. As usual, before we begin, I'd like to remind you that KMI's earnings released today and this call include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as well as certain non-GAAP financial measures. Before making any investment decisions, we strongly encourage you to read our full disclosures on forward-looking statements and use of non-GAAP financial measures set forth at the end of our earnings release as well as review our latest filings with the SEC for important material assumptions, expectations, and risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated and described in such forward-looking statements. Now, in preparing for this investor call, I look back at the text of the introductory remarks I've made over the past several years. Most of what I've said concern the future of natural gas demand and the positive impact it has on midstream energy players like Kendra Morgan. In almost every case, the projections I made turn out to be understated. In other words, the demand for natural gas, driven primarily by growth in LNG feed gas demand, and by increased utilization of natural gas for electric generation, has simply grown faster than we expected. Now, I think events since the last call have made the outlook for growth even more positive. Regarding LNG demand, the recent events in the Middle East will clearly have substantial impact. While the ultimate outcome is certainly not clear at this point, the damage to Qatari liquefaction facilities and continued uncertainty regarding ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will lead to more preference for U.S. sourced LNG. And the predictions for growth in gas-fired electric generation have also increased. In a piece that surfaced just this week, S&P Global Market Intelligence reports that utilities plan to add the staggering number of 153 gigawatts of gas-fired generation capacity in the next several years primarily to serve data centers, with the bulk of this coming online by 2030. Now, this is twice the estimate by the same group of one year ago and reflects plans to build about 210 additional natural gas-fired facilities. Our Kendra Morgan forecast for overall U.S. gas demand now extends through 2031 and estimates demand in that year of 150 BCF a day a growth of about 27% from this year. In short, the natural gas story has legs, and Kendra Morgan's strong start to 2026 that Kim and the team will explain supports that view. While the old saying that rising tide lifts all boats has some applicability to this situation, there will clearly be some players who will benefit more than others from this positive story. I believe that the midstream sector as a whole will be one beneficiary, and it offers a low-risk way to invest in the growth story of natural gas, given the prevalence of long-term throughput agreements with investment-grade credits underpinning the bulk of midstream assets. The Inga Foundation, in a study released in March, estimates that North America needs 70 BCF a day of new gas pipeline capacity by the 2050 timeframe. And I believe Kendra Morgan will fare very well in this environment. Let me tell you why. We have a superb set of assets located in the areas where gas demand is growing dramatically. Our strategy is to concentrate on expanding and extending those assets in an aggressive but disciplined manner. This means we will continue to identify and pursue the myriad of growth opportunities we are currently seeing and once undertaken to complete the resulting projects on time and on budget. Because our cash flow is very strong, we will be able to finance these projects primarily with internally generated cash flow. And I can promise you an intense and unrelenting focus on these unparalleled opportunities. This strategy will enable us to grow our EBITDA and EPS substantially over the coming years as these projects come online while still maintaining a strong balance sheet and growing our dividend. To me, that's a pretty good recipe for success. And with that, I'll turn it over to Kim.

Okay. Thanks, Rich. We had a remarkable first quarter, the best I can remember, with adjusted EPS up 41% and EBITDA growing by 18%. Importantly, every segment delivered growth versus the first quarter of 25, and every segment outperformed our budget. Natural gas drove the most significant share of the outperformance, benefiting from winter storm fern and the extended cold in the Northeast. These results reflect the value of our critical infrastructure and the essential role it plays in serving our customers, especially in periods of high demand. During the quarter, we entered into an agreement to acquire the Monument Pipeline System in Texas for approximately $500 million. These assets are a natural fit with our existing network, supported by long-term contracts and acquired at an attractive multiple. We received early termination of HSR yesterday and expect to close by the end of the month. On full-year guidance, we now expect to exceed our EBITDA budget by more than 3%, excluding any contributions from the Monument acquisition. Most, but not all, of that outperformance is attributable to the first quarter. Given that we are still early in the year we've taken a somewhat conservative approach to our expectations for the year, however, continued outperformance in our gas group and or higher oil prices which benefit our 10% unhedged oil and the CO2 segment could provide upside for the balance of the year. The growth in the overall natural gas market of over 36 BCF since 2016 has driven utilization on our five largest gas pipelines to over 90%. That utilization, combined with the projected growth in the market to approximately 150 BCF a day in 2031, highlight both the need and the opportunity for expansion. Our expansion project backlog increased to $10.1 billion this quarter, up $145 million from the last quarter. We put approximately $230 million of projects in service and added $375 million in new projects, including three data center deals. The backlog multiple remains below six times with an average in-service date of Q1 2028. With respect to our three largest projects, which make up over 50% of the project backlog, We continue to be on time and on budget. Beyond our reported backlog, we're actively advancing a number of identified opportunities. Much of this activity is being driven by power growth, and we expect a meaningful amount of these opportunities to convert into approved projects during 2026. Our performance this quarter demonstrates the strategic positioning of our 78,000 miles of pipeline and 136 terminals and the tightness of energy infrastructure. As we look ahead, we're confident in our ability to complete our $10.1 billion backlog of projects, add to that backlog, and deliver tremendous value to our investors. With that, I'll turn it over to Dax.