Scorpio Tankers Inc.

Hello, and welcome to the Scorpio Tankers Incorporated first quarter 2022 conference call. I would now like to turn the call over to James Doyle, head of corporate development and investor relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you for joining us today. Welcome to the Scorpio Tankers first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. On the call with me today are Emanuele Loro, chief executive officer, Robert Bugbee, President, Cameron Mackey, Chief Operating Officer, Brian Lee, Chief Financial Officer. Earlier today, we issued our first quarter earnings press release, which is available on our website, ScorpioTankers.com. The information discussed on this call is based on information as of today, April 28, 2022, and may contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainty. Actual results may differ materially from those sent forth in such statements. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, you should review our forward-looking statement disclosure in the earnings press release issued today, as well as Scorpio Tankers SEC filings, which are available at scorpiotankers.com and sec.gov. Call participants are advised that the audio of this conference call is being broadcasted live on the Internet and is also being recorded for playback purposes. An archive of the webcast will be made available on the investor relations page of our website for approximately 14 days. We will be giving a short presentation today. The presentation is available at scorpiotankers.com on the investor relations page under reports and presentation. The slides will also be available on the webcast. After the presentation, we will go to Q&A. For those asking questions, please limit the number of questions to two. We want all our analysts to have a chance to ask a question. If you have an additional question, we are more than happy to answer it, but please rejoin the queue. Now, I'd like to introduce our Chief Executive Officer, Emanuele Loro.

Thank you, James. Good morning and afternoon to everyone. I'd like to start by saying that our sympathies and thoughts go out to all those impacted by conflicts around the world. The times in which we live are particularly uncertain and the level of tragedy that the world is experiencing is far beyond anybody's imagination. As far as our business is concerned, when we last spoke, I said that our top priority was to position the company to create shareholders' value in an improving market and for the next tanker cycle. This remains very much the case, and we felt that the best way to do this is through improving our balance sheet. And in order to do that, since January, we have announced the sale of 18 vessels. These sales increase liquidity, reduce overall debts, and are a demonstration of the discount our shares trade relative to an ever-improving NAV. In the first half of the year, we will reduce our debt by more than $500 million through vessel sales and scheduled amortization. with a fleet potentially averaging $25,000 a day TCE in the second quarter, should that be the TCE for the second quarter, the company could finish the quarter with $450 million in liquidity. And this would result in a reduction in debt of over $730 million in the first half of the year. Last quarter, we said that The catalyst is simple. Supplying incremental oil demand with inventory growth is not sustainable in the long term. The timing less so, but the inflection point was near. And this became apparent at the end of the first quarter when the reopening of the global economy from the COVID-19 pandemic increased the demand for refined products, for seaborne exports, and... rates on our vessels have reflected that. So the mismatch between the supply and demand of refined products and the improving rate environment was apparent prior as well, but further exasperated by the conflict in Ukraine. Our thesis has not changed, but we're certainly more optimistic given the growing demand and increasing dislocation between producers and consumers. Refined products demand is expected to increase each quarter as the pandemic eases, and given historical low inventories, refinery runs and seabourn exports will need to increase to meet demand. This will provide a constructive environment for product anchor rates. Product anchor rates increase significantly at the end of the quarter, remain at elevated levels today. We're pleased with our second quarter guidance and excited that the thesis is finally starting to play out. Given our positive outlook, we have no plans to sell additional vessels, but we will continue to reduce our leverage naturally through scheduled amortization and opportunistically through vessel refinancings. That said, with a healthy liquidity position and significant operating leverage of the company, in a sustained rate environment, we will be looking to returning capital to shareholders in the most value-creating way. For example, by looking to employ our $250 million security repurchase program. There are several reasons to suggest that a sustained rate environment will continue. And I would like to ask James to tell us why through our slides. James?