PBF Energy Inc.

Welcome to the PBF Energy First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants have placed in a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for questions following management premiered remarks. If any of you need assistance during the conference, please press star zero on 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, Abby. Good morning and welcome to today's call. With me today are Matt Lucey, our President and CEO, 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 a 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 these items increased fourth quarter results by an after-tax amount of approximately $900,000, or one cent per share, primarily related to a change in the fair value of contingent consideration associated with the Martinez acquisition and our share of St. Bernard Renewables LLC lower cost or market inventory adjustment, which were partially offset by an adjustment to the gain on the formation of SPR. Also included in today's press release is further guidance information related to our expectations for the second quarter throughput. For any questions on these items or follow-up questions, please contact Investor Relations after the call. For reconciliations of any non-GAAP measures mentioned on today's call, please refer to the supplemental table provided in today's press release. I'll now turn the call over to Matt.

Thank you, Colin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. While the markets early in the quarter reflected somewhat typical seasonal weakness, industry maintenance and increasing consumer demand through the quarter helped strengthen the markets as we progressed from the mild winter into spring. With that backdrop, Toledo and Delaware City refineries underwent significant turnarounds beginning in late February and in early March. We completed the Toledo turnaround in mid-April. The Delaware City FCC is in the midst of startup today. Despite the impact of the turnaround in Toledo, we did benefit from attractive Syncrude pricing, which improved our capture rate in the quarter. That said, SIN crew differentials have now normalized. Operations at Chalmette were as planned with no significant issues during the quarter. We do have a turnaround plan for the fourth quarter at Chalmette. Our west coast refining system was impacted by the carryover of issues from Q4. Capture rates were negatively impacted by higher price inputs flowing through the system. Turnaround work has begun at Martinez on the hydrocracker and other associated units. We expect to complete this work in the second quarter and should have a clear operational runway for the remainder of the year for the West Coast. We continue to see strength in demand for our products across all operating regions and inventories remain tight. We entered the quarter in a net cash position. The completion of our balance sheet transformation in 2023 provides PBF with the ability to deliver shareholder returns across market cycles and the flexibility to take advantage of market opportunities should they appear. We continue to demonstrate our commitment to returning cash to shareholders with approximately $125 million of share repurchases in the first quarter. In addition, Our board of directors approved the payment of our regular quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share. Longer term, we continue to be constructive on the global refining market. Global capacity, including new additions, and refined product demand remain tightly balanced. New capacity additions are needed to keep pace with growing global demand and offset capacity shutdowns and conversions. Geopolitics and the associated disruptions in historic trade flows continue to create tension in the market that is accruing to the U.S. refiners, specifically coastal U.S. refiners such as PBF. In this environment, PBF should continue generating strong earnings, free cash flow, and promoting long-term value for our shareholders. Before turning the call over to Karen, I'd like to take an opportunity to publicly introduce and welcome our new head of refining, Mike Bukowski. Our previous head of refining, Steve Steech, is set to enjoy a well-deserved retirement after a long and successful career. Mike joins us with over 30 years of refining experience, and we are excited that he's bringing his deep expertise and new perspectives to PBF Operations. Our focus remains on the safe and reliable operations of all our assets, and we believe Mike will help us to elevate our performance across the system. With that, I'll turn it over to Karen.