speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Secure Energy Quarter 1 2022 Results Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star 0 for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, April 29, 2022. I would like to turn the conference over to Anil Agarwala. VP of Treasury and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

speaker
Anil Agarwala
VP, Treasury and Investor Relations

Thank you, Grant. Welcome to Secure Energy's conference call for the first quarter of 2022. Joining me on the call today is Rennie Amaral, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Alan Grouch, our Chief Operating Officer, and Chad Magus, our Chief Financial Officer. During the call today, we will make forward-looking statements related to future performance, and we will refer to certain financial measures that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and may not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other companies. The forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Secure with respect to future events and are based on certain key expectations and assumptions considered reasonable by Secure. Since forward-looking information addresses future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent assumptions, risks, and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to numerous factors and risks. Please refer to our continuous disclosure documents available on CDAR as they identify risk factors applicable to secure factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements and identify and define our known gap measures. I will now turn the call over to Rennie for his opening remarks.

speaker
Rennie Amaral
President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Anil, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, we will review our financial and operation results for Q1, followed by our outlook for the remainder of the year. The first quarter was another record for Secure, and our results continue to demonstrate the strength and scale of our expanded network and business model. Higher industry activity levels drove increased demand for our customer solutions. Synergies realized, and combined with our ongoing focus on managing costs, resulted in strong performance across our operations and a 200% and 15% year-on-year increase in Q1 adjusted EBITDA to $126 million. We also made significant progress with our deleveraging plan, paying down $90 million in debt, helping to reduce our total debt EBITDA to 2.9 from 3.4 at the end of Q4 2021. We are extremely pleased with the successful progress of the integration with Tervita, which is proceeding ahead of our plan and creating a stronger company. We have achieved $53 million of annualized cost savings, reaching 71% of our $75 million target after just nine months since the closing of the merger. Including savings on our bond refinancing, we have achieved $62 million of run rate pre-cash flow savings. I'm also pleased to report that we're releasing our 2021 report on sustainability next week, demonstrating our commitment to ESG, including putting safety first, minimizing the environmental impacts of our operations, and creating positive relationships with stakeholders in the communities where we live and work. In addition, the report solidifies our targets for water and emissions reductions and lays out our roadmap to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, including reducing GHG emissions intensity by 15% by the end of 2024. We're encouraged by continued strong momentum through our operations with our increased free cash flow generation capabilities and a strengthened balance sheet We remain well positioned to meet our debt reduction targets and at the same time able to capitalize on growth at existing facilities and the continued positive trends of our industry. Chad will now walk us through the key highlights of our Q1 results, then Alan will review our integration plan update and operational highlights, and I will conclude with our outlook for the year.

speaker
Chad Magus
Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Rennie, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Our first quarter results continue to demonstrate the strength of our combined business our ongoing focus on managing costs and overall improvements in the underlying markets. For the first time since the fourth quarter of 2019, we recorded positive net income of $38 million, or $0.12 per share in the first quarter. Funds flow from operations increased 257% to $107 million. We also divested $22 million of non-core assets in the first quarter, which we used towards repaying $90 million of debt, as Rudy mentioned. Our adjusted EBITDA of $126 million increased 215% and on a per basic share basis was $0.41, equating to a 64% increase from the prior year. As realized synergies and increased activity levels in our operating areas led to higher processing and disposal volumes at our midstream infrastructure facilities and landfills and increased demand for services related to drilling and completion activity within the environmental and fluid management segments. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 35% increased from 30% in the first quarter of 2021 due to the positive impact from the cost savings and synergies and increased industry activity levels. As well, our G&A improved to 7% of revenue, excluding oil purchase and resale. In midstream infrastructure, Q1 segment profit margin of 63% increased from 59% in the prior year, largely due to our expanded facility footprint and synergies realized from the merger transaction, as well as higher crude oil pricing and more stable market dynamics, which led to increased drilling completion and production volumes. Higher crude oil pricing in the first quarter also positively impacted recovered oil revenue and increased oil purchase and resale revenue by 163% to $1.4 billion. In environmental and fluid management, Q1 segment profit margin of 27% was consistent with the prior year, strong margin performance was largely due to the positive impact of the combined businesses offset by inflationary pressures most notably in our fluids management business metals prices remain strong in q1 as did demand for our environmental work our positive operating results in sustaining capital spending that was in line with our expectations allowed Secure to generate $100 million of discretionary free cash flow in the first quarter, an increase of 245% compared to the prior year, or 78% on a per share basis. In 2022, our key capital allocation priority will continue to be on debt repayment. Our capital structure consists of no near-term maturities, with the first fixed note maturing in 2025. In addition, we retain a strong liquidity position, with approximately $370 million of availability on our credit facilities maturing in 2024. We are pleased with our balance sheet management since the merger and remain on track to achieve our debt reduction targets and will continue to look for ways to optimize our capital structure as we move forward. I'll now pass it to Alan to provide an update on the integration with Trevita and some operational highlights.

speaker
Alan Grouch
Chief Operating Officer

Thanks, Chad, and good afternoon, everyone. Looking at our operational highlights in Q1, our midstream infrastructure segments saw continued improved oil prices and higher drilling and completion activity, and an overall average rig count of 192 for the quarter. The increased activity that we saw in Q4 continued on in Q1. Water disposal volumes increased 109% from Q1 of 2021, with total volume of water handled of 2.1 million cubic meters. In addition, we saw processing volumes increase 147% from Q1 of 2021, mainly as a result of the merger, improving production levels, and higher waste and processing volumes. Our oil, tourmaline, and pipeline volumes remained steady from Q4 2021 at about 1.2 million cubic meters and up 48% from Q1 of 2021. Overall, a very strong quarter for the midstream processing facilities as they are experiencing increased utilization as higher drilling completion and production volumes from increased activity levels require more treating, processing, and disposal. Our facility utilization continues to trend in the right direction and is now up to 60% in that business. We continue to have lots of capacity to handle additional increases in volume without the need to invest any additional capital. In our environmental and fluid management business also continues to benefit from higher commodity prices and increased activity levels. External landfill volumes were up another 13% sequentially from Q4 and over 40% year over year from Q1 2021 performer volumes as a result of drilling and reclamation activity tailings. We're continuing to see increased demand for drilling and completion services with the fluid management business. Metal recycling continues to benefit from strong commodity pricing as ferrous prices remain high, which has helped drive higher volumes. With regards to our projects business, we're pleased with the progress made on increased abandonment, remediation, and reclamation work from the government stimulus package to help the closure and reclamation of orphan and inactive wells. We have seen revenue in our fluid management business rise almost 20% in Q1 of 2022 compared to Q4 of 21. Specifically, our market share is just over 25% in the quarter, slightly higher than our position in Q1 of last year, and our blend plant continues to run at its full capacity. We continue to expect increased abandonment, remediation, and reclamation activity positively impacting our Canadian operations over the term of the programs. In terms of the federal program, so far $627 million out of the $1 billion allocated to Alberta has been granted. The Alberta program has also been extended by six weeks to February of 2023, similar to the $400 million Saskatchewan program. Saskatchewan has also introduced a program mirroring what the Alberta Energy Regulator has done with targeted spending levels that the companies with retirement obligations must spend. Secure is well positioned in the environmental business segment as the projects team are positioned to bid on additional work and landfills will likely see more volumes as a result of these regulatory changes. We're also extremely pleased with the progress made to date on integration of the two businesses and after nine months we've already realized 53 million or 71% on an annual basis of our 75 million synergies targets. Of the 53 million, approximately 37 million related to corporate overhead and G&A, and the remainder were operational efficiencies and facility rationalizations. To date, we have closed or partially suspended a total of 20 facilities, and we are targeting an additional six to eight suspensions during the remainder of 2022. We are confident on being able to reach the minimum of 75 million of synergies or more by the end of 2022. The focus for cost savings in 2022 will be further on the facility rationalizations and operational optimizations, including increased facility utilization, transportation savings, and operating cost efficiencies. The operational synergies include optimizations and facility rationalizations with the expectation that the synergies will contribute a partial benefit in 2022 with a full run rate of 75 million cost savings in 2023. Additional savings through initiatives such as improving our capital structure as well as minimizing sustaining capital and managing underutilized assets are also expected to provide incremental discretionary cash flow beyond our $75 million cost savings targets. In Q1, we spent a total of $13 million of capital, which included $10 million of sustaining capital, primarily spent on well and facility maintenance, landfill cell expansions, and asset integrity and inspection programs. Our growth capital of $3 million related largely to an expansion of one of our water disposal facilities, which is backstopped by a commercial agreement with an existing customer at that facility. During the quarter, we generated $22 million of proceeds from the disposal of assets. Included in the disposals were some vacant land and some excess equipment that came as a result of the Trita transactions. Additionally, we sold a non-core environmental consulting business, which represented a very small part of our overall project's business. In terms of overall 2022 capital spending, our $45 million growth budget will continue to focus on opportunities to connect producers to existing midstream infrastructure and to further increase volumes and utilization on a long-term basis. With respect to sustaining capital, we continue to expect to spend $55 million in 2022, including three landfill expansions. Our focus remains on customer-backed, longer-life opportunities as we continue to prioritize view levering. I will now turn it back to Rennie to address our outlook for 2022.

speaker
Rennie Amaral
President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Chad. Noah? We are extremely pleased with the results to start the year and the ongoing progress made with the Torvita merger, and we continue to see the benefits we expected from combining the companies. We have a strong deleveraging plan in place, as demonstrated in Q1, and we expect to continue to reduce our debt position this year. Our enhanced scale better positions us to optimize existing assets in operations so that we can add more value to our customers and provide greater optionality in allocating capital through all market environments. Turning to our outlook, the near-term focus will be on continuing to strengthen our business, be leveraging our balance sheet. We anticipate looking to increase returns to shareholders after this is completed. We expect to see continued industry improvement, which will support our strong momentum and drive higher year-over-year discretionary free cash flow in 2022. Current crude oil and natural gas prices should continue to provide significant improvement in overall industry activity in 2022. As we have seen so far this year, macroeconomic factors including significant inflationary pressures, geopolitical risk premium due to the current war in Ukraine, as well as lessening COVID-19 demand impacts are driving the increases in current prices. The current prices and broader economic factors have led to an increased rig count that is expected to continue throughout the year. We also expect to benefit from the fall-in. We expect to see contributions to our adjusted EBITDA from the realization of 75 million of annualized synergies by the end of 2022. We also anticipate increased utilization at midstream processing facilities and landfills as higher drilling, completion and production volumes from increased activity levels require treating, processing and disposal. And finally, higher abandonment, remediation and reclamation activity from the government stimulus package to help fund the closure and inactive wells. In closing, we have significantly strengthened our business and demonstrated the resiliency and efficiencies achieved with our strategy to consolidate capacity in our markets while managing our costs. We remain well positioned to generate strong discretionary free cash flow from our expanded network. Our key priorities remain on operational excellence and efficiencies progressing our ESG initiatives and paying down debt and optimizing the capital structure of our business while leveraging opportunities to grow, provide value for shareholders and customers. With our efforts to date and the continued hard work of our employees, we believe we are well positioned to achieve our priorities during the remainder of 2022. I want to thank all Secure employees that have continued to contribute to our successes. I also want to thank our customers and stakeholders for their continued support and partnership. That concludes our prepared remarks. We would now be happy to take your questions.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a three-tone prompt acknowledging your request, and your questions will be polled in the order that they are received. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star, followed by the two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Our first question comes from Cole Pereira from Stifel. Please go ahead.

speaker
Cole Pereira
Stifel Analyst

Cole Pereira, Stifel, Everyone. So, pretty meaningful step change in midstream EBITDA quarter over quarter. Just wondering if you're able to sort of rank order of magnitude, what drove that between call it synergies, higher activity, any oil trading margins, stuff like that.

speaker
Alan Grouch
Chief Operating Officer

Hey, Cole, it's Alan here. Yeah, no, well, great question. I think the answer is all of the above. I mean, the activity levels we saw in Q1 definitely strengthened from Q4. So robust volumes and activity coming into the facility. we did shut down four facilities. So we moved some volumes, which ultimately resulted in higher utilization at the facilities that we moved the volume to. So the guys did a great job of lowering some of the off costs and getting better efficiency on some of our fixed costs. And with the price of oil, Moving around, there's obviously ARBs that we can take advantage of in our crude oil marketing business, so that also played a role in helping to contribute to a solid performance here in Q1.

speaker
Cole Pereira
Stifel Analyst

Okay, great. That's helpful. Thanks. Just coming back to cost inflation, obviously there's materials exposure in production chemicals in your drilling fluids business, but can you just sort of refresh what the extent of that exposure would be in the midstream segments?

speaker
Alan Grouch
Chief Operating Officer

On production chemicals?

speaker
Cole Pereira
Stifel Analyst

No, sorry, just cost inflation in general.

speaker
Alan Grouch
Chief Operating Officer

Oh, cost inflation. Yeah, in general, we're seeing roughly 10% to 15% increase in cost in our midstream segment. Primarily, that would be related to our electricity, our fuel costs, our chemical costs, and R&M at the plant would be the top four costs. And, you know, partly offset that because you will note that the margins did improve by 4% throughout the quarter. And part of that is the synergies that we've now realized with the closure of 20 facilities and increasing and improving our utilization. And, you know, obviously we, you know, look at how much volume we can flow through the facility will help manage some of your overall costs when you get into chemical and flocculants. And then as we look to inflation for the remainder of the year, we're going to look at how much of our pricing will offset some of the increased inflation that we've seen, the 10% to 15%. But so far, the guys in the field have done a great job managing the offense.

speaker
Cole Pereira
Stifel Analyst

Okay, perfect. And then just going back to shareholder returns quickly. So, I mean, the thoughts from your guys' perspective is, Obviously, the debt targets are well within range before the end of the year. If you do get there, then you start to think about that and maybe some sort of combination of dividend increases and share buybacks.

speaker
Rennie Amaral
President and Chief Executive Officer

The trend line is going in the right direction. Certainly, we want to continue to pay down debt. As we get closer to the end of the year, we'll have a better sense of you know, what the go-forward plan is around, you know, providing that shareholder value and what that looks like. But, you know, I think the way we're looking at it is, you know, debt is number one and everything else is secondary. So, as we get closer to the end of the year, we can start to formulate a plan that probably, you know, it's not one lever or another. There's probably four or five different levers that we have here, but Really, you know, this team, and you saw it in Q1, this team is laser focused on debt reduction. And, you know, we're taking nothing for granted. We don't know what the price of oil or gas is going to do tomorrow. We don't know what's going to happen around the world with the things happening in Ukraine. just laser focused on getting the debt down. And obviously, over the next 16 months or so, we have opportunities to refinance some of that debt. And there's a lot of things we're going to look at to formulate that plan as we go into the end of the year.

speaker
Cole Pereira
Stifel Analyst

Okay, great. That's helpful. Thanks. I'll turn it back.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Your next question comes from Keith Makey from RBC. Please go ahead.

speaker
Keith Makey
RBC Analyst

Hi, thanks, and good afternoon. I guess maybe if we could just start off. I know you've mentioned you plan to release your sustainability report in May 2nd, talking a little bit more about sustainability and roadmap to net zero, but just curious if you can give us a bit more of a preview of of what to expect in that report as you look to release it in the next little bit?

speaker
Rennie Amaral
President and Chief Executive Officer

Well, the good news is that we've tried to put it in a format that you can identify all the great things we're doing. I think everybody gets a little too focused on our carbon intensity and everything revolving around that. But there's a lot of other things that are happening in this world around the S and the G. And so it's outlined in that report in terms of, you know, you saw in our circuit that we want to increase, you know, our females on the board. We're now over 25 different Aboriginal partners giving back to the community. All those things are important to us. And then, you know, setting the ESG goals is great around carbon density, but it's much, much more. And the great thing, Keith, is we're really trying to work hand in hand with our customers to help them achieve some of those ESG goals as well. So, and that's why I like to, you know, I like to, you know, thank our employees who, you know, work tireless day after day in terms of all of this, you know, the safety side of it, are helping out with the communities and the Aboriginal side and are coming to us every day with carbon reduction or emission reduction plans too. So you're going to see all of it in there. And the nice part is it's very open and transparent. And, you know, we're, you know, we were one of the first service companies to put that out. I think it was three or four years ago, and we're committed to that. And, you know, you'll get to see that on Monday. But the entire team has done a great job of not only showing you what we're doing, but we're also showing you where we're going.

speaker
Keith Makey
RBC Analyst

Sounds good. And maybe just on the CapEx, so it looks like most of the growth CapEx, allocation is yet to come. Can you just talk a little bit more about the spread of that CapEx throughout the year and perhaps how locked in the supply chain is as far as completing those projects, having the labor and materials and so forth that you need to be able to complete those projects on time, on budget?

speaker
Alan Grouch
Chief Operating Officer

Yeah, great question. You know, in Q1 we spent 3 million and that primarily was adding that additional infrastructure into a water disposal facility where a customer of ours needed additional capacity. We don't do a lot of capital work in Q2. We've got road bands on. You've got, you know, spring like conditions where it's just hard and more expensive to put in rig mats to construct. But what we're looking at in terms of the back half spend, All the projects in the hopper that we have come with negotiated contracts with our customers, and those take time to get through. But at the same time, they're all very similar in nature, where we're either tying in oil volumes into our existing oil pipelines, or we're tying in water pipelines into our existing infrastructure. You'll see some spend in Q3 and then you'll see a lot more in Q4 because a lot of the pipeline work that we do do, we want to do it when it's cold outside. We can get into some of these locations that are very challenging to get into to be able to connect the customer. And so we'll provide more clarity as we get into Q3 on where we're spending this capital. But the $45 million that we have So allocated to growth capital is still a number that's very solid and more geared toward a kind of acute later half of this year span.

speaker
Rennie Amaral
President and Chief Executive Officer

And Keith, I think it also helps that these are a lot of small projects. We don't have the one big $45 million project. So the risk around inflation and cost increases just isn't there because it's a lot of small projects.

speaker
Keith Makey
RBC Analyst

Got it. Okay, that's it for me. Thanks very much.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Your next question comes from John Gibson from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

speaker
John Gibson
BMO Capital Markets Analyst

Good morning or afternoon, guys, I guess now. There's a lot of facility closures. Thanks for the color on your go-forward plans. Obviously, market dynamics have changed quite significantly since you announced the Teravita acquisition. I'm just wondering if any plans have changed with regard to facility closures or any other synergy plans since you announced the deal.

speaker
Alan Grouch
Chief Operating Officer

Yeah, I mean, there are wins on things that we didn't anticipate. And there are areas where, you know, as we look at the back half of this year and some facility closures, we are very cognizant that we don't want to close a facility where we're going to impact customer service. And, you know, even the four facilities we closed, we had consultation with our customers prior to doing that because we want to make sure we're supporting their needs on the disposal and treating and processing side. So, you know, you're exactly right. In Q3 and Q4, we do have some planned facility rationalizations, and it might not be the full facility. It might just be a service line or a partial shutdown of that location. But we do want to do it in conjunction because, you know, some of the discussions we're having with producers, they're very methodical on how they want to allocate their remaining capital budgets for this year. and some of them have suggested they might add a rig or add a well that they would like to drill. And so we want to make sure from flowback water to completion waters to treating some of the drill waste that we can handle it and they're not transporting it farther away. But I think as we get through Q2 and as our facilities look at some more of these operational efficiencies, we are finding every month different ways we can look at doing and processing some of this waste, and we're actually finding some more savings. So there will be a bit of give and take, but I think we'll understand more in Q3 once we've had some more further discussions with our customers on their plans and activity levels.

speaker
John Gibson
BMO Capital Markets Analyst

Got it. Thanks. I guess to follow on, you know, the $75 million target you originally announced, it looks like you could come above that. And, you know, I mean, kind of following on to your prior comments, you know, what could potentially drive this gain over and above the 75? Is it just, you know, you've gotten into the weeds with Servita and sort of, you know, experience what it's like to run the company or, or other things driving that?

speaker
Alan Grouch
Chief Operating Officer

Yeah, no, there, there are, There are different operational elements. I always use the example of our metal recycling business. We handle metal not only in our midstream group, but even in our projects group as we are reclamating and cleaning up a lot of these old messes. We're seeing a lot of steel that gets migrated now into Red Deer because we actually have the metal recycling hub at which we can then process and ship out. We handle a lot of metal out in Fort Mac same scenario and i think as we look at the numbers of the number of tons that we process and recycle uh we see wins there so so i agree we're going to be over the 75 just based on what we're seeing and well we're well on our way with 53 million already achieved so i i think you will provide more clarity on which areas we're seeing it but these winds are coming up all the time

speaker
John Gibson
BMO Capital Markets Analyst

Great, thanks. Last one for me, just kind of touching on Cole's question around cost inflation, and I'm more looking at your drilling fluids business. I've seen comments from your peers that there were some significant costs in Q1. Were you able to catch up on the cost increases this quarter, or could we see maybe some incremental margins moving forward as pricing takes hold?

speaker
Rennie Amaral
President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, and there's two parts to that, really. But, I mean, it all feeds from – Whether you're getting chemical out of the US or you're getting chemical overseas. If you think back to Q4, the team did a fabulous job of pre-buying some of that chemical so that you saw the little bump in the working capital. That really helped us out in Q1. But also, we had some competitors that ran out of chemicals. you know, team did a fabulous job of being proactive and both from a cost point of view, but actually having the actual inventory on hand. And so going into Q2, You know, that's not going away, the cost impact or future inflation on the chemical side. What I can tell you is the team has been extremely proactive with the customers and really sitting down with customers and sharing that information so they can see exactly what has gone up from a cost point of view. Some of those increases came in March, some of them are going to come in April, so it's kind of a little bit of a mix. John, but I think all in all, the team's doing a fabulous job of staying ahead of it and being very proactive, both with our suppliers, but also with our customers.

speaker
John Gibson
BMO Capital Markets Analyst

Great. Appreciate the color and congrats on the solid quarter. Thanks, John.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Your next question comes from Patrick Kenny from National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.

speaker
Patrick Kenny
National Bank Financial Analyst

Good afternoon. Just curious, given the momentum in the Clearwater program, any update on potentially tapping that market over the near term? And if not today, would you consider building a new gathering pipe into that region, you know, some point down the road, just to bring in some third-party competition while also, you know, optimizing some of your existing assets nearby?

speaker
Alan Grouch
Chief Operating Officer

Yeah, you know, I think the Clearwater's got a lot of attention and secure assets uh has three locations in that general area you know given our our experience and our operating knowledge of not only east kbop but also our corroborate operating gathering system i think Looking at Clearwater, that play as it continues to grow, it needs more infrastructure and it can tie into some of the network up there to help these producers out that they're not trucking these volumes to Edmonton, that they've got a way out that reduces the GHG of putting all this oil on a truck. A lot of the customers up there, they're in other areas that deliver us volume today, so we're in constant discussion with them on how do we help you guys manage some of your costs on moving the oil. Definitely, it's an area where we're paying close attention to just because of the nature of that area and how much volume we're seeing out of it.

speaker
Patrick Kenny
National Bank Financial Analyst

That's great, Alan. Thanks for that. And then On the carbon capture front, any update on potential opportunities across the portfolio, especially on the back of this 37.5% ITC on transportation and storage investments? I'm just curious if this might bring any of your potential projects more to the front burner over the coming months.

speaker
Rennie Amaral
President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, you know, the good news is that on the surface, you know, you know, having something like an ITC instrument makes a lot of sense. There is going to be a huge capital required for, you know, some of these projects. I don't think you'll see us get into the big trunk line space, you know, the TransCanadas and the Enbridges of the world and some of the bigger players will play around that. So, you know, what's the opportunity for us? It's really around... you know, helping the, you know, call it the mid-caps in terms of maybe some aggregations and consolidation and maybe tapping into some of our old reservoirs that we have or wherever there's a fit with both our skill set but also with our network. And, you know, time will tell how that will all play out in terms of those tax credits. You know, we were talking to one of the major... producers and and you know the devil is in the details and and so it's going to take a while for the rules of engagement and and how that might work and and how it's all going to um you know be credited and and actually show up in terms of your economics so it's a great first start but i think we're probably just getting into the first inning of what that might look like and and uh But it's on our radar. It's in our business development offer. And we're trying to find, just trying to find that projects, plural, that fit our wheelhouse and where we truly, we can add value.

speaker
Patrick Kenny
National Bank Financial Analyst

Yeah, early days for sure. But I appreciate the color, Manny. One last housekeeping item, if I could, just looking outside of the base, 75 million of Synergy's. It looks like your lease liabilities on the balance sheet continues to grind lower here post-merger, and even the payments came in a little bit lower here in Q1. So maybe just a refresh on where you expect run rate lease payments to land once you've fully completed the integration.

speaker
Chad Magus
Chief Financial Officer

Hey, Pat. It's Chad. Yeah, good attention to detail there. We have had leases for the combined entity coming off. However, we've been using this last time since the merger to kind of evaluate the fleet of equipment. And there's lots of equipment in those leases. There's lots of office leases in there and some storage leases as well. But we are going to replace some of the heavy equipment, yellow wiring leases that have been falling off. So it's not going to, I guess, keep grinding down at that rate. I think we're going to level out to an annualized number that's in the low, just above $20 million on an annual basis.

speaker
Patrick Kenny
National Bank Financial Analyst

Okay, that's great. Appreciate the color, guys.

speaker
John Gibson
BMO Capital Markets Analyst

Thanks, Patrick. Thanks, Pat.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have a question, please press star followed by one. There are no further questions at this time. Please proceed.

speaker
Rennie Amaral
President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you for being on the conference call today. A tape broadcast of the call will be available on Secure's website. We look forward to providing you with updates on Secure's performance in July after the completion of the second quarter of 2022. Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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