National Fuel Gas Company

Hello and welcome to the National Fuel Gas Company first quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call. My name is Harry and I'll be coordinating your call today. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion of the call with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. During the presentation, you can register a question by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind, please press star followed by two to exit the queue. I will now hand the call over to Natalie Fisher, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Harry, and good morning. We appreciate you joining us on today's teleconference 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 Chief Financial Officer, and Justin Lois, President of Seneca Resources and National Fuel Midstream. At the end of today's prepared remarks, we will open the discussion to questions. The first quarter fiscal 2026 earnings release and January investor presentation have been posted on our investor relations website. We may refer to these materials during today's calls. We would like to remind you that today's teleconference will contain forward-looking statements. While National Fuel's 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. I want to start by taking a moment to recognize the fantastic job by our operations team who are braving incredibly challenging winter weather conditions. As you'd expect, our systems are holding up extremely well with minimal operational disruptions at Seneca and no significant issues on our transmission and distribution systems. Thank you to everyone for your hard work. I really appreciate it. Moving to our results. The first quarter was a solid start to the fiscal year with adjusted earnings per share of $2.06, right in line with our expectations. Our integrated upstream and gathering business continues to perform well with higher production and natural gas prices driving a 29% increase in adjusted EBITDA compared to the prior year. Our regulated businesses also delivered strong results, driven in part by our three-year rate settlement at our New York utility and our pipeline modernization tracker at our Pennsylvania utility. Overall, we're pleased with our first quarter results, which provide a great foundation for the balance of the year. Looking ahead, the outlook for natural gas is as strong as it's ever been, with demand at all-time highs. On top of that, there's a growing need for LNG feed gas and new baseload power generation, most of which will be produced using natural gas. And from a policy perspective, there's a rising tide of bipartisan support for an all-of-the-above approach to energy. Against that positive backdrop, our focus remains on operational excellence and the continued growth of national fuel. At our integrated upstream and gathering segment, we continue to expand Seneca's inventory and significantly improve capital efficiency, which is on track for a 30% gain since 2023, far outpacing our peers. Well results from our Lower Utica program in Tioga County remain among the basin's best. And success in delineating the upper Utica over the last couple years has essentially doubled our core Tioga inventory estimate. We'll remain disciplined in how we leverage our integrated operations as we develop this region over the coming decades. Our upper and lower Utica co-development tests will offer critical insights to guide our long-term strategy. And Justin will speak more to this later in the call. Switching to our pipeline business, our near-term expansion projects are progressing well. The Tioga Pathway project is moving forward according to schedule. We received our notice to proceed from FERC earlier in the month, and we'll begin tree clearing the next few weeks. Additionally, our shipping port lateral project has now received all its required permits, keeping it on track for a late calendar 2026 in the service day. Beyond these two projects, we're seeing increasing interest in other expansion opportunities across our systems, And I'm optimistic we'll have additional projects to talk about in the coming year. Before leaving the pipeline business, one quick comment on rate making. Supply Corporation expects to file a rate case later this year to recover costs related to our modernization program and general expense inflation since our last rate increase two years ago. I'll keep you up to date on our plans with respect to timing as we move through the fiscal year. Turning to the utility business, yesterday our Pennsylvania division filed a new rate case that requests an approximately $20 million increase in rates. In addition to addressing general cost inflation, the case will reset our modernization tracking mechanism, which will allow us to maintain the cadence of that program. If approved, customer bills will go up by about 11%, which is below the rate of inflation we've seen over the three years since we last increased delivery rates. Customer affordability has been and always will be a top priority for us. We currently have the lowest rates in Pennsylvania and fully expect we'll maintain that position after this case. We're the lowest cost provider in New York as well. The utility is in year two of a three-year rate settlement that extends through the end of fiscal 2027. Even with the increases approved as part of that settlement, our delivery rates are still the lowest in the state. In fact, over the last 20 years, the rate of increase in our customer bills is well below the rate of inflation. And with a cost that's three and a half times more affordable than electricity, natural gas is unquestionably the fuel of choice for space heating in western New York. New York policymakers are increasingly in favor of an all-of-the-above approach to energy. The state's energy plan, the final version of which was published in December, acknowledges the difficulty in meeting the targets required by the Climate Act and emphasizes the need for continued investment in natural gas infrastructure to support New York energy demand. Further, the state has agreed to delay implementation of the All Electric Buildings Act pending resolution of ongoing litigation. The delay is expected to last at least one year and could be permanent if the court rules in the industry's favor. We've long advocated that an all the above approach to energy is the most effective way to both reduce emissions and maintain the affordability and reliability of energy supplies. I'm encouraged to see policy makers begin to move in that direction. Lastly, at utility, we're making great progress on our acquisition of CenterPoints Ohio LDC, which remains on track to close in the fourth quarter of calendar 26. With respect to financing, in December, we completed a well-executed $350 million private placement of common stock, which satisfies our equity need for the transaction. With respect to regulatory approvals, both the HSR and Public Utility Commission of Ohio notice filings were made earlier this month. And the National Fuel and CenterPoint teams are working closely to ensure a smooth transition for customers and employees. We're really excited about this transaction and the value creation opportunity it offers. Tim will have more details on the acquisition and our financing plans later in the call. Bringing it all together, it's an exciting time to be in the natural gas industry. National Fuel has a unique set of integrated assets in the most prolific gas region of the country. Add to that a strong investment-grade balance sheet, and we are very well positioned to help develop the resource and build the infrastructure needed to serve the growing demand for natural gas. With that, I'll turn the call over to Tim.