Delek Logistics Partners Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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May 8, 2023

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Welcome to

Speaker 1

the Delek Logistics Partners First Quarter 2023 Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. Would now like to turn the conference over to Rosie Zuklic.

Speaker 1

Please go ahead, ma'am.

Speaker 2

Good morning, and welcome to the Delek Logistics Partners 1st Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Participants on today's call will include Avigal Sorek, President Joseph Israel, EVP, Operations Ruben Spiegel, EVP and Chief Financial Officer and Odeli Tsakasi, SVP, Delek Logistics. As a reminder, this conference call will contain forward looking statements as defined under the federal securities Including without limitation statements regarding guidance and future business outlook. These statements involve risks And uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from our forecast. For more information, please refer to the risk factors discussed in the company's most recently filed annual report on Form 10 ks and quarterly report on Form 10 Q filed with the SEC, along with the press release associated with this call.

Speaker 2

The company assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statements or information, which speak of their respective dates. Before I turn the call over to Abigail, I just want to remind everyone of a reporting change we made last quarter. After the 3 Bear acquisition, we reorganized our business and changed the naming of Delek Permian Gathering to Midland Gathering. The 3 Bear Gathering assets are now referred to as Delaware Gathering. Abigail?

Speaker 3

Thank you, Rosy. Delek Logistics partners started 2023 with another record quarter. Our logistics system ran well contributing to a record EBITDA of over $93,000,000 Delek Logistics continue to deliver a solid operation performance and generating strong cash flow. This is due to investment we have made to develop our assets. As an example, compared with last year, we have more than doubled The volume in the Midland Gathering system.

Speaker 3

In addition, during the quarter, Dett Logistics continued its track record of a safe and reliable operation. As of the end of March, DKL employees and contractors have worked a combined of 4,000,000 man hours with 0 lost time injuries. I'm extremely proud of our employees and contractors who continue to focus on safety and achieve milestones. On April 28, our Board of Directors approved a 4.6% increase in the quarterly distribution to $1.025 per limited partner unit for the Q1. This marks 41 consecutive quarterly distribution increases for the partnership, and we are committed to continuing this trend.

Speaker 3

This increase demonstrates our commitment to our unitholders and our confidence in our business. We continue to be optimistic on the outlook for the midstream business and believe Delek Logistics is well positioned to continue its strong track record of growth. I will now hand it over to Ruben.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Avigal. Total EBITDA for DKL was $93,000,000 for the Q1 of 'twenty three compared with $66,000,000 in the same period in 2022. For the Q1 of 2023, distributable cash flow was $62,000,000 And the DCF coverage ratio was 1.38 times. For the Gathering and Processing segment, EBITDA this quarter was $55,000,000 compared with 32 1,000,000 in the Q1 of 'twenty 2. The increase was primarily driven by strong contribution by the Midland Gathering System as well as Delaware Gathering, which was added in June of 'twenty two.

Speaker 4

Throughput for the Midland Gathering averaged approximately 222,000 barrels per day for the Q1 of 'twenty three. This was up from an average of about 100,000 barrels per day in the Q1 of 'twenty two. The Wholesale Marketing and Terminal Linked segment EBITDA of $22,000,000 for the quarter and was in line with our prior year. The Storage and Transportation segment had EBITDA of $13,000,000 this Q1 compared with $11,000,000 during the same period last year. The increase was primarily from higher utilization and fees.

Speaker 4

And lastly, the investment in Pipeline Joint Venture segment contributed 6 toward the Q1 of 'twenty three compared with $7,000,000 in the Q1 of 'twenty two. The decrease was from lower throughput due to the Delek Tyler refinery turnaround in the Q1 of 'twenty three. Going forward, we expect JV contribution to DKL to revert to normal levels of approximately $8,000,000 a quarter. Moving to capital expenditure, Q1 of 'twenty three capital spending was $36,000,000 of which $33,000,000 was for growth project, namely advancing new connections in the Delaware and Midland gathering system. For 'twenty three, we maintain with our capital outlook of 81,000,000 With that, we can open the call for questions.

Speaker 1

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. And to withdraw your question, please press star then 2. And at this time, we'll pause momentarily to assemble our roster.

Speaker 1

And the first question will come from Justin Jenkins with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Great. Thanks. I think we covered a good bit already on the DK call, but just a couple of high level questions, if I could, probably for Abhagal. First on Permian operations, just with the commodity price moves and rig count changes that we've seen, can we get an update on what you're seeing in the overall Operating environment and what that means for the volume outlook for both of the systems?

Speaker 3

Yes, absolutely, Justin. Thanks for taking the time joining us this call and thank you

Operator

for the question.

Speaker 3

So over the last year, we have seen the Midland total production going up, Call it 10%. And in our area, we've seen it more than doubled. And that's a great trend. And we are extremely happy with the results we are seeing. And we're extremely happy With the relationship we have with the producer and the amount of rigs we see on-site, so it's really encouraging the results and the trend that we are seeing around the rock and around the operation.

Speaker 3

So I think that on the area side of DPG, We got it right. Very happy with the performance that we see on what used to be 3 Bear, now the Delaware area. And that went extremely well for us. That will present, Justin, and you know that a good opportunity and a good way to going forward and keep Increasing the distribution 41 quarters in a row and we have a long way ahead of us to continue that trend.

Speaker 5

Perfect. I guess second one, even more broad than my first question, just how you see Nabigal's decal evolving here in 2023 And maybe what the overall M and A backdrop looks like as well?

Speaker 3

So we have demonstrated in the 3 Bear area that There is a gap between the private market and the public market. We think that DKL as a unit is a great unit to hold because of Distribution because of the how solid it is and because of the consistency we did over that. And I'm sure that we'll find the path forward to keep Bridging those gaps and bring the investors great distribution and great performance going forward. Certainly encouraging and good times.

Speaker 5

Great. Thanks, Abigail. I'll leave it there.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Speaker 1

The next question will come from Doug Irwin with Citi. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Hey, thanks for the question. Just trying to start with the balance sheet maybe. If we kind of look at leverage this quarter, it moves a little bit lower, but the absolute debt level actually increased a bit. Could you maybe just talk about where you see leverage trending throughout the year and maybe give a little context about kind of how much if that is driven by EBITDA growth versus maybe the ability to pay down some debt later this year?

Speaker 3

Yes. Thanks for the question, Doug. I will start and Ruben will continue. So the only reasoning we did draw Some funds for capital project, which was very nice for us with the improvement in the EBITDA. So that was a good decision.

Speaker 3

Going forward towards the year, Doug, we see the leverage Going down and we have a good pathway for that, so we're optimistic on that as well. I don't know, Ruben, if you want to add anything.

Speaker 4

Just a little bit of color, dollars 36,000,000 of CapEx in the Q1 was 45% of our annual plan. And we Say, we expect to stay within that guideline of $81,000,000 So that was one reason why Especially that most of the draw was for growth capital projects. And we do expect the trend of The leverage ratio to continue to go down every quarter.

Speaker 6

Okay, great. That's helpful. Then just one maybe around costs. I know you've outlined kind of a cost reduction initiative at the DK level. Just curious kind of where DKL might fit into that and if you're seeing any kind of potential opportunities for cost reductions at MLP level as well.

Speaker 3

So thanks, and that's a great question. We are looking on all areas of the business, how we can make it more tight and focused and productive. Obviously, DKL is part of that and I'm sure that we'll see some improvement over there as well. Otero, do you want to say anything around it? You are leading that spearhead.

Operator

No, no, for sure. Just to give a little bit color, we do looking on a couple of opportunity to be able to Achieve later the year specifically from efficiencies and also capabilities that we're doing. That's obviously reflected both in the gross margin, but also on the OpEx Make sure that we're doing everything right and safe. So it definitely will be applied. Most of the capital, as Ruben mentioned, was done per million in Q1.

Operator

So as we're going to move forward, we're

Speaker 3

going to see that I'm sorry,

Operator

it was lower, so that's going to be result with also improvement OpEx as well.

Speaker 6

Got it. That's all I had. Thanks for the time.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Speaker 1

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Avigal Sorek for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Yes. So I would like to thank our DKL employees first for the safe and reliable operation. The mark of 4,000,000 hours without lost Time injury is really remarkable, and we are looking forward to hit the 5 now. So first of all, our employees, our investors, Board of Directors and everyone that took the time to join us today for the call, really impressive time to have a Best quarter after best quarter and really enjoying the ride. Thank you so much and we'll see you soon next quarter.

Speaker 1

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
Delek Logistics Partners Q1 2023
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