CVR Partners

fourth quarter 2023 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Richard Roberts, Financial Planning and Analysis in Investor Relations. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Thank you, Christine. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate your participation in today's call. With me today are Mark Pytosh, our Chief Executive Officer, Dane Newman, our Chief Financial Officer, and other members of management. Prior to discussing our 2023 fourth quarter and full year results, let me remind you that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements, as that term is defined under federal securities laws. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. You are cautioned that these statements may be affected by important factors set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our latest earnings release. As a result, actual operations or results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except to the extent required by law. This call also includes various non-GAAP financial measures. The disclosures related to such non-GAAP measures, including reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, are included in our 2023 fourth quarter earnings release that we filed with the SEC in Form 10-K for the period and will be discussed during the call. Let me remind you that we are a variable distribution MLP. We will review our previously established reserves, current cash usage, evaluate future anticipated cash needs, and may reserve amounts for other future cash needs as determined by our General Partners Board. As a result, our distributions, if any, will vary from quarter to quarter due to several factors, including but not limited to operating performance, fluctuations in the prices received for finished products, capital expenditures, and cash reserves that are necessary or appropriate by the board of directors of our general partner. With that said, I'll turn the call over to Mark Pytosh, our chief executive officer.

Mark. Thank you, Richard. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. The summary financial highlights for the fourth quarter of 2023 included net sales of $142 million, net income of $10 million, EBITDA of $38 million, and the Board of Directors declared a fourth quarter distribution of $1.68 per common unit, which will be paid on March 11, 2024, to unit holdings and record at the close of the market on March 4. For the full year 2023, we reported EBITDA of $281 million and distributions of $17.80 per common unit. Our facilities operated extremely well for the year, with ammonia utilization rates of 99%, and 100% at Coffeyville and East Dubuque, respectively. In 2023, we set a new annual record for UAN production volumes at Coffeyville, along with new records for monthly production volumes of both the Hmong and UAN at East Dubuque. We are also proud to report continued improvement in our environmental and safety metrics in 2023, with only one environmental event for the entire year and zero Tier 1 process safety incidents. For the fourth quarter of 2023, our consolidated ammonia plant utilization was 94%. This resulted in combined ammonia production of 205,000 gross tons, of which 75,000 net tons were available for sale. Combined UAN production was 306,000 tons. During the quarter, we sold approximately 320,000 tons of UAN at an average price of $241 per ton, and approximately 98,000 tons of ammonia, average price of $461 per ton. Relative to the fourth quarter of 2022, UAN and ammonia sales volumes were higher, primarily due to strong demand for nitrogen fertilizers in the fall, driven by favorable weather conditions and lower fertilizer pricing relative to the past two years. Fourth quarter prices for UAN ammonia declined approximately 47% and 52%, respectively, relative to the prior year period. Following the reset of nitrogen fertilizer prices in the summer of 2023, we saw an increase in pricing in the fall, particularly for ammonia, driven by strong demand for application after the harvest. While grain market conditions have softened recently at current fertilizer price levels, we believe farmer economics remain attractive, and we expect to see continued strong demand for the upcoming spring planting season, which I will discuss further in my closing remarks. I will now turn the call over to Dane to discuss our financial results.