National Fuel Gas Company

on your telephone keypad. I'll now hand over to your host, Natalie Fisher, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Bruno, and good morning. We appreciate you joining us on today's conference call for a discussion of last evening's earnings release. With us on the call from National Fuel Gas Company are Dave Bauer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tim Silverstein, Treasurer and Principal Financial Officer, and Justin Lois, President of Seneca Resources and National Fuel Midstream. At the end of prepared remarks, we will open the discussion to questions. The first quarter fiscal 2024 earnings release and February investor presentation have been posted on our investor relations website. We may refer to these materials during today's call. We would like to remind you that today's teleconference will contain forward-looking statements. While National Fuels expectations, beliefs, and projections are made in good faith and are believed to have a reasonable basis, actual results may differ materially. These statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and you may refer to last evening's earnings release for a listing of certain specific risk factors. With that, I'll turn it over to Dave Bauer.

Thank you, Natalie. Good morning, everyone. Before starting, I'd like to take a moment to welcome Natalie as our new Director of Investor Relations. While she's new to the company, she isn't new to the industry, having worked in PwC's power and utilities practice early in her career. I'd also like to thank Brandon for his hard work over the past three years and wish him well in his new role within our finance organization. Turning to the quarter, last night we reported adjusted operating results of $1.46 per share. It was a fairly routine quarter, one in which we continue to see strong execution across our operations. In our upstream and gathering businesses, production and throughput were up 11% and 15%, respectively, compared to last year. on the strength of several great new wells in the EDA. In addition, the benefit of our disciplined approach to hedging was evident this quarter, with our strong swaps, collars, and firm sales helping to mitigate the impact of lower natural gas prices on earnings and cash flows. At the regulated businesses, we started to see the impact of new delivery rates in our utilities Pennsylvania jurisdiction, which helped contribute to the 12 percent increase in year-over-year utility earnings. Looking forward, our plans remain on track in each of our businesses. In the upstream business, Seneca's transition to the EDA is going smoothly. Results in Tioga County continue to exceed expectations and were the primary reason for the increase in our production guidance range for fiscal 24. We're very excited about the long-term opportunity in this area. At a point in time when many of our peers are moving down the acreage quality spectrum or pursuing M&A to manage depleting inventory, We are in the fortunate position of having many years, well over a decade, of inventory in the EDA that is highly economic. We expect that the ongoing transition to Tioga will be the driver of improving capital efficiency and strong returns for many years to come. Additionally, we have a great hedge book in fiscal 24 and 25 with downside protection well above the forward curve and collars that retain a good portion of the upside. Given the inherent volatility in natural gas prices, we think this is the right approach. Turning to the regulated businesses, settlement discussions and our Supply Corp rate case are ongoing, and I hope to have more to say on that process next quarter. At the utility, last fall we filed a rate case in our New York jurisdiction requesting new rates effective October 1st of this year. Testimony from commission staff and other parties is due next month, and once that's on file, I expect settlement discussions will ensue over the course of the spring and into the summer. Before leaving the utility, a quick word on New York's energy policy. As you all know, downstate politicians and environmental activist groups continue to push an agenda that seeks to electrify everything as soon as possible, including space heating. And they want to do it solely with new renewable generation, despite the high cost and inherent intermittency of wind and solar. Putting the partisan rhetoric to the side, we're at least starting to see a more reasonable approach to the energy transition from some of the policymakers in Albany. In December, the New York Commission issued an order on the plan we submitted in their long-term planning proceeding. Our proposal advocates an all-of-the-above approach to energy that employs enhanced weatherization, hybrid heating solutions, and the use of low- and no-carbon fuels like hydrogen and RNG. The plan balances affordability, reliability, resiliency, and emission reductions, and clearly demonstrates that a standalone gas utility can meet the goals of the Climate Act. As we expected, given the political environment in Albany, the Commission stopped short of approving the plan in full. But it was supportive of many of the most important pillars to our approach, including weatherization and the continued evaluation of hybrid heating and alternative fuels. While it wasn't exactly what we wanted, the level of support we received from the very agency that oversees utility reliability and affordability lends credence to the notion that if policymakers are rational and consider the facts, natural gas utilities can very much be part of a permanent solution that achieves the state's emission reduction goals. Bringing it back to the quarter, in conclusion, while near-term commodity prices are somewhat of a headwind, the longer-term outlook for our business remains strong. We have a deep drilling inventory in one of the most prolific areas in Appalachia and a marketing and hedging portfolio that supports our ability to generate sustained free cash flow. In our regulated businesses, we have line of sight to increasing earnings and the ability to deploy ongoing growth capital. On top of that, we have a strong balance sheet that allows us to be opportunistic in allocating capital. Taking these all together, I believe the outlook for National Fuel is outstanding. With that, I'll turn the call over to Justin.