PBF Energy Inc.

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the PBF Energy First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants have been placed in listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions following management's prepared remarks. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero from your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Colin Murray of Investor Relations.

Sir, you may begin. Thank you, Rob. Good morning and welcome to today's call. With me today are Tom Nimley, our CEO, Matt Lucey, our President, Karen Davis, our CFO, and several other members of our management team. Copies of today's earnings release and our 10-Q filing, including supplemental information, are available on our website. Before getting started, I'd like to direct your attention to the Safe Harbor Statement contained in today's press release. Statements in our press release and those made on this call that express the company's or management's expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions under federal securities laws. There are many factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations, including those we describe in our filings with the SEC. Consistent with our prior periods, we will discuss our results today, excluding special items. In today's press release, we described the non-cash special items included in our quarterly results. The cumulative impact of the special items increased first quarter net income by an after-tax amount of $13 million, or approximately 10 cents per share, related primarily to net changes in the fair value of contingent consideration. Also included in today's press release is guidance information related to our second quarter operations. For any questions on these items or follow-up questions, please contact Investor Relations after today's call. For reconciliations of any non-GAAP measures mentioned on today's call, please refer to the supplemental tables provided in today's press release. I'll now turn the call over to Tom.

Thanks, Colin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. Before commenting on the quarter and providing some market thoughts, I want to take a moment to discuss yesterday's announcement on the next phase of PBF's life cycle. As of July 1st, I will be assuming the role of executive chairman of the board, and Matt Lucey will become PBF's next chief executive officer. Leading PBF over the last decade has been an honor, privilege, and a rewarding challenge. The company has never been in better shape, and it is time to turn the future over to Matt and the rest of the executive team. I will continue to serve PBF as executive chairman and work with Matt to develop the strategy for the company's future growth and identify other value-enhancing initiatives. I would also like to thank the employees of PBF without whom none of our successes would be possible. Thank you. Regarding results, the first quarter was another strong quarter for PBF. We continued strengthening our balance sheet, rewarding shareholders, and finish the quarter with more cash than debt. The safety and reliability of our operations remain our first and top priority, but it is closely followed by maintaining our firm's financial footing. Refiners follow the markets and respond to consumer demands. We continue to hear calls for higher refining utilization and see a market supported by low inventories and sustained customer demand. The winter of 22-23 was a mild one in the Northern Hemisphere. Henry Hub U.S. natural gas futures started the year at $4.50 per million BTUs, and it ended the quarter at $2 per million. European natural gas prices fell as well, but still commend a premium to U.S. natural gas prices of six to seven times, providing domestic refiners with a competitive advantage. Crude differential was narrowed over the quarter, The OPEC Plus production cuts are expected to be somewhat supportive for medium and heavy grades, which may further compress differentials. Although having narrowed, differentials remain wider than historical patterns. Similarly, despite recent declines, refinery margins also remain well above mid-cycle, but have moderated from the distant lead to 22 levels. A key theme for 2023, is recovery in demand for jet fuel and gasoline, supported by a stronger summer driving season. In brief, we are experiencing a tremendous amount of volatility in the broader market at intervals of increasing frequency. This makes it challenging to predict the timing of and future moves in the commodity markets. At the same time, we are seeing stable to growing demand for our products at our refinery gates which continues the call for higher utilization from our assets. We expect volatility-driven market dislocations will continue to generate strong returns for our business. With that, I will turn the call over to Matt.