MPLX LP

Welcome to the MPLX First Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. My name is Amber, and I will be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. Press star 1 on your touchtone phone to enter the queue. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Christina Kazarian. Christina, you may begin.

Thanks so much. Good morning and welcome to the MPLX first quarter 2021 earnings conference call. The slides that accompany this call can be found on our website at MPLX.com under the investor tab. Joining me on the call today are Mike Hennigan, chairman, president, and CEO, Pam Beal, CFO, and other members of the executive team. We invite you to read the safe harbor statements and the non-GAAP disclaimer on slide two. It's a reminder that we will be making forward-looking statements during the call and during the question and answer session that follows. Actual results may differ materially from what we expect today. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are included there as well as in our filings with the SEC. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

Thanks, Christina. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. Earlier today, we reported adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2021 of $1.4 billion. Despite lingering challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and headwinds in the business environment, we were able to grow earnings on a year-on-year basis. As we mentioned last quarter, we expect an impact to our L&S business from the renewal of the marine contracts and equipment rate adjustments. Additionally, our GMP results also reflect some impacts from the severe winter weather, including higher energy costs and lower volumes. We continue to identify opportunities to structurally lower our costs and drive efficiencies in the business, and our reported operating expenses for the quarter continue to trend down. We are also maintaining strict capital discipline to efficiently execute our growth plans on a high-return portfolio of investments. Our focus on strict capital discipline combined with growing EBITDA has allowed the business to generate excess cash after self-funding our distribution and capital programs. We remain committed to prioritizing the return of capital with over $900 million returned to unit holders this quarter through distributions and unit purchases. Furthermore, we believe our earnings growth combined with the desire to hold debt flat will result in a reduction in leverage over time. As we look ahead for 2021, we expect to generate excess cash after capital investments and distributions as we had planned to do. The availability of COVID-19 vaccines provides hope for the return of global transportation fuel demand and economic recovery. Even though many uncertainties still exist, the world's need for reliable, affordable, and responsibly produced energy remains important. We believe we can continue to meet this need through our strategies that will allow us to successfully adapt to the evolving energy landscape by shaping our asset portfolio to meet the challenges and opportunities created by the energy evolution. If you look at slide four, I'd like to provide some comments on our commitment to ESG. Last quarter, we discussed the importance of setting objectives for the organization to drive continuous improvement on ESG. Our commitment to sustainability positions us to deliver strong results in this space, including lowering the carbon intensity of our operations and products, improving energy efficiency, and conserving natural resources while using innovative technologies to do it. We've established a program to lower methane emissions at our natural gas gathering and processing business that includes a goal of reducing our methane emissions intensity to 50% below 2016 levels by the year 2025. Our broader vision of sustainability emphasizes delivering essential energy products and services to the world in ways that create share value for all our stakeholders. Now let me turn the call over to Pam to discuss our operational and financial results.