NYSE:DTM DT Midstream Q3 2024 Earnings Report $95.09 -0.49 (-0.51%) As of 02:10 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast DT Midstream EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.90Consensus EPS $0.95Beat/MissMissed by -$0.05One Year Ago EPS$0.94DT Midstream Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$248.00 millionExpected Revenue$242.64 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$5.36 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/ADT Midstream Announcement DetailsQuarterQ3 2024Date10/29/2024TimeBefore Market OpensConference Call DateTuesday, October 29, 2024Conference Call Time9:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsDT Midstream's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, April 29, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 9:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q1 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)SEC FilingEarnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by DT Midstream Q3 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrOctober 29, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 12 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the DT Midstream Third Quarter 20 24 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Session. Thank you. Operator00:00:24I'd now like to turn the call over to Todd Lorman, Director of Investor Relations. You may begin. Speaker 100:00:33Good morning, and welcome, everyone. Before we get started, I would like to remind you to read the Safe Harbor statement on Page 2 of the presentation, including the reference to forward looking statements. Our presentation also includes references to non GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the reconciliations to GAAP contained in the appendix. Joining me this morning are David Slater, President and CEO and Jeff Jewell, Executive Vice President and CFO. Speaker 100:01:07I'll now turn it over to David to start the call. Speaker 200:01:13Thanks, Todd, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. During today's call, I'll touch on our financial results, provide an update on the latest commercial development activity and progress on our growth initiatives. I'll then close with some observations on the overall gas market before turning it over to Jeff to review our financial performance and outlook. So turning off, we had another strong quarter operationally and the team continues to commercialize new organic projects that support our future growth. Our strong year to date performance is enabling us to increase our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $950,000,000 to $980,000,000 We are also reaffirming our 2025 adjusted EBITDA early outlook range. Speaker 200:02:03By continuing to advance projects from our organic project backlog and leveraging the scale from our existing integrated asset platforms, we are well positioned for continued growth in 2025 beyond. Our track record of strong performance was also recognized earlier this month by Finch Ratings, who upgraded us to investment grade, a strategic goal that we have had since we spun the company in 2021. This morning, we are excited to announce that we have reached a final investment decision on a LEAP Phase 4 expansion, which will increase capacity by 2 0 9 cubic feet per day and further expand our integrated wellhead to water system to the LNG corridor. Our premier Haynesville system has established itself as the leader in both overall capacity and interconnectivity. This expansion, which we expect will be completed in the first half of twenty twenty six, increases total LEAP capacity from 1.9 to 2.1 Bcf per day via incremental compression and looping and is underpinned by long term demand based contracts with 2 new customers. Speaker 200:03:17This project highlights our Haynesville system's ability quickly serve our customers' growing needs with right sized, capital efficient and timely expansions and also signals the demand for takeaway capacity out of the Haynesville to serve Gulf Coast and LNG markets as the basin shifts back into growth mode. This morning, we are also pleased to announce that we are upsizing our previously disclosed project connecting to the Mountain Valley pipeline on our Stonewall system, which will increase the capacity of the strategic Appalachian Basin interconnect and provide our customers with additional access to the growing mid Atlantic markets. This project, which is anchored by a long term agreement with a large privately held producer, increases outlet capacity on Stonewall by 100,000,000 cubic feet per day is underpinned by a demand based contract to protect project economics, and we expect to have this project in service in the first half of 2026. In addition to the projects that have reached FID, we remain in a number of active discussions to commercialize new power and data center opportunities across our network. And we will keep you updated as these opportunities advance. Speaker 200:04:38Turning to our carbon capture and sequestration projects in Louisiana. As we mentioned on our Q2 call, we have validated the storage formation and are confident in the geological suitability of the site. The team continues our pre FID detailed engineering design of the storage well, CO2 pipeline and related facilities. We are still waiting regulatory clarification and guidance from the Louisiana DENR for Class 6 permit application, which we expect will be received prior to the end of the year. We continue to be disciplined in our execution of this project, minimizing capital deployment until we reach a final investment decision, a milestone that we now expect will come in the first half of twenty twenty five. Speaker 200:05:28Finally, I'd like to take a moment to address the natural gas market fundamentals. We've continued to see choppiness in the short term market, but our portfolio has remained very durable. We are seeing supportive signals recently with the storage surplus beginning to work off and inventories moving towards the 5 year average. And we expect that growing LNG demand beginning in 2025 will provide a more constructive environment for gas producers. In the long term, we expect natural gas demand to continue to grow, driven by the expanding LNG export market, increased power and data center demand and from industrial and commercial onshoring, all of which will support high utilization and further development of natural gas infrastructure, with DTM's strategically located asset footprint being well positioned to serve this growing demand. Speaker 200:06:24So in summary, I'm very pleased with the continued performance from our team as we continue to commercialize growth opportunities from our project backlog and prepare for the demand ramp in 2025 and beyond. I'll now pass it over to Jeff to walk you through our quarterly financials and outlook. Speaker 300:06:44Thanks, David, and good morning, everyone. In the Q3, we delivered overall adjusted EBITDA of 241,000,000 dollars representing a $7,000,000 decrease from the prior quarter. Our pipeline segment results were $3,000,000 greater than the 2nd quarter, reflecting a full quarter contribution from our LEAP Phase 3 expansion, which was placed in service in June. Gathering segment results decreased by $10,000,000 compared to the 2nd quarter, a result in line with the 2nd quarter when adjusted for favorable one time items of approximately $10,000,000 that did not repeat in the Q3. Operationally, total gathering volumes across both the Haynesville and the Northeast averaged approximately 2,900,000,000 cubic feet a day in the 3rd quarter, with volumes up slightly in the Haynesville compared to the prior quarter, while lower in the Northeast primarily due to the lower volumes on our Appalachia gathering system. Speaker 300:07:51In the Q4, we expect a ramp in gathering volumes compared to the Q3, as well as incremental maintenance expense. As David mentioned in his opening remarks, following our strong year to date performance and considering our expectations for the Q4, we are raising our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $950,000,000 to $980,000,000 In addition, we are reaffirming our 2025 adjusted EBITDA early outlook and plan to provide our formal 2025 guidance on our year end call. We are also raising our distributable cash flow guidance range to $670,000,000 to $700,000,000 due to lower interest and cash taxes. Our 2024 committed growth capital remains unchanged with approximately $330,000,000 committed and we are increasing our 2025 committed capital to reflect new projects reaching FID with approximately $310,000,000 committed. This increase in 2025 committed growth capital is driven by new projects reaching FID, including our new LEAP Phase 4 expansion, upsize of our Stonewall MVP interconnect and build out of our clean fuels gathering facilities. Speaker 300:09:24We are reducing our full year 2024 growth capital guidance range to $330,000,000 to $350,000,000 which represents a $25,000,000 reduction in the high end of our range. This reduction is driven by timing of growth projects and we continue to expect to spend within free cash flow in 2024 2025. We are committed to preserving the strength of our balance sheet and we are very pleased to be upgraded to an investment grade credit rating by Fitch rating earlier this month. In addition to the upgrade from Fitch, we also remain on positive outlook with Moody's. Within the quarter, we further optimized our balance sheet through the issuance of $800,000,000 in new project level debt at Millennium Pipeline and we use the proceeds to pay off the full $400,000,000 balance on our term loan. Speaker 300:10:23At the end of the quarter, our on balance sheet leverage was 2.8 times with our proportional leverage at 3.7 times And we now have no debt maturities for 5 years. Finally, today we also announced the declaration of our 3rd quarter dividend of $0.735 per share, unchanged from the prior quarter. We remain committed to growing the dividend at 5% to 7% per year in line with our long term adjusted EBITDA growth. I'll now pass it back over to David for closing remarks. Speaker 200:11:04Thanks, Jeff. So in summary, we are very pleased with how the year is continuing to progress and are feeling confident in our increased guidance for 2024 and early LEC range for 2025. Our short cycle growth investments continue to track on budget and on schedule, which will contribute meaningful growth over the next 2 years. Our approach to capital allocation remains thoughtful and disciplined with our focus on spending within cash flow over the balance of our 5 year plan and growing our dividend in line with our EBITDA. As we look across the portfolio, we continue to see significant growth opportunities enabled by the scale of our strategically located and integrated asset footprint and through the emergence of our energy transition platform. Speaker 200:11:52We can now open up the line for questions. Operator00:11:56Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Your first question comes from the line of Jeremy Tonet from JPMorgan. Your line is open. Speaker 200:12:15Hi, good morning. Good morning, Jeremy. Speaker 400:12:18Hi. Just wanted to kind of follow-up on the guidance increase for this year. And I know you're not going to update 25 at this juncture, but just any high level thoughts on forward read throughs on that? And as focus starts to shift to 2026 early look, can you talk about operating leverage across the asset base as the macro improves? Speaker 200:12:42Sure, Jeremy. So I'd say, first off, I'd just say the portfolio has been incredibly durable this year as we've kind of gone through the commodity cycle. So we're very happy with how the year has played out and it's allowed us to increase the guidance as we are navigating into Q4. As you kind of alluded to, we'll sit tight on making any adjustments to 2025 until we get to the end of the year and get better information from our core customers in terms of their activity levels. But I'd say some of the items that we announced today feel encouraging in terms of signaling 2025 at least in the Haynesville, a renewed interest in growing volumes again as I think the market clearly is seeing incremental demand coming. Speaker 200:13:37And I think our LEAP Phase 4 announcement is somewhat of a derivative of that sentiment in the market. And again, if you look at how we filled in our 2025 growth capital, that's a very encouraging position. It really is cementing in our growth trajectory for the next couple of years as we've FID projects and have a full slate of opportunity that we're going to execute on next year that's already contracted and sort of kind of in hand, if I can say it that way. So that's giving me some optimism as I look forward and reflect on our growth aspirations and what I'll call incremental commercial opportunity that's coming to us across the portfolio. Speaker 400:14:31Got it. That's helpful there. Thanks. And speaking about incremental opportunities, I think Louisiana connectivity specifically into Henry Hub is an item of concern I think for maybe some on the customer side and the producers looking to get there. It seems like there might not be enough connectivity into Hub and that could lead to wider basis. Speaker 400:14:53Just wondering if you subscribe to this view and what opportunities this could present for DTM? Speaker 200:15:00Great question, Jeremy. I think that's why we've been so adamant with our Haynesville network. And it's really our premier network now in terms of its interconnectivity both on the supply side and on the demand side. And I can say with confidence today that we're the most interconnected kind of wellhead to water system in the Haynesville period. And we've been hearing what you said very clearly from all of our customers and having that robust downstream connectivity so that those customers can take advantage of market opportunities, whether it's industrial opportunities along the Gulf Coast or directly to the LNG markets along the Gulf Coast. Speaker 200:15:51That's been kind of foundational to our build out over the last 3 years of the entire system. So it's clearly something that our anchor customers are watching closely and they want to have infrastructure that can take advantage of those market opportunities and be a first mover. Speaker 400:16:15Got it. Thank you for that. I'll leave it there. Operator00:16:20Your next question comes from the line of Michael Blum from Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Speaker 500:16:26Thanks. Good morning, everyone. You've been talking about these 6 potential data center projects. I'm wondering if you can give us a sense of timing and how these are opportunities are developing. I believe they're all behind the meter solutions. Speaker 500:16:45I'm just wondering does that make the regulatory process faster or more onerous? Just trying to get a little more color on what's going on. Speaker 200:16:54Sure. And good morning, Michael. Yes, so those opportunities that we previously discussed continue to advance this quarter and they continue to move forward. We're in very detailed active discussions with a number of those. So it's moving in the right direction. Speaker 200:17:14It's not advanced enough to say we have a commercial agreement yet, But it's definitely moving in the right direction. The underpinning of these power opportunities, as I think we've talked about on previous calls, speed is a critical consideration in the site development plans. So to the extent that you can put infrastructure in the ground under more favorable regulatory treatment, I think that's a key consideration in site viability. And so that detail has not been lost on us as a developer and looking for opportunity to do what I'll call intrastate development opportunities when those are feasible and are aligned with the regulatory construct. So yes, I think that's part of the equation as these developers are trolling for different site locations and ultimately will be part of the decision making when they commercialize the site. Speaker 500:18:27Got it. Thanks for that. And then, just wanted to ask about Northeast volumes. They've been trending slightly lower the last few quarters. Can you speak to what you're seeing there? Speaker 500:18:39And then your comment that Q4 you're expecting a ramp in volumes. Can you just clarify, is that referring to Haynesville or also Appalachia or both or? Thanks. Speaker 200:18:50Yes. I think we've been saying this all year that we're kind of expecting sort of a saucer, a T saucer profile for the year in our volumes. We've definitely seen those volumes dipping in both basins in Q2 and Q3. Haynesville has been remarkably resilient for us, which has been very encouraging. And yes, I do expect to see some modest recovery in Q4 in both the North and the South. Speaker 200:19:25And I think our attention is more focused on that exit rate coming out of this year and going into next year. Again, with a general thesis that we're hearing from a lot of our customers that there'll be a much more constructive market shaping up for 2025 for our producer customers. Speaker 500:19:49Thank you. Operator00:19:53Our next question comes from the line of Theresa Chek from Barclays. Your line is open. Speaker 600:20:00Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. On the data center power demand fund, putting the competitive process aside, can you just remind us how should we bookend the size and scope of these projects? And how much can this move the needle relative to your base assets? Speaker 200:20:20Sure. Great question, Theresa. I think as we've discussed in the past, these we're looking at these primarily as lateral opportunities into these site locations. And the analogy that I've used in the past is our Birdsboro project where we built a lateral off Texas Eastern to a power plant. So call it between $50,000,000,000 and $100,000,000,000 CapEx investment range depending on the distance of the lateral. Speaker 200:20:53And again, for us, given our size, that's very right sized for us in terms of an investment opportunity driving growth in our plan. So that's kind of how we're thinking about it. And again, it also put additional load on the what I'll call the interstate backbone system. And as we're thinking about it, we're really just thinking about that lateral opportunity right now, but it also puts resilience and durability into the pipeline assets as well as these become long term markets that will be served off that infrastructure. So it's got a knock on effect across the entire portfolio. Speaker 200:21:40So I'll stop there. Hopefully that was helpful, Theresa. Speaker 600:21:44Thank you. And then on the heels of the Fitch upgrade, can you just provide additional color on your credit outlook in general and next steps with Moody's? Speaker 300:21:54Yes, hi, Theresa. Yes, so where we are like you mentioned, Fitch has upgraded us. Moody's is on positive outlook and S and P is on neutral. So, what we're seeing is again the positive momentum with both of them. And they're reviewing the merger that just, of course, happened with Swin and Chesapeake. Speaker 300:22:13So we're still on the same path probably before the end of the year or into the Q1 that they sort of make their determinations on what they're going to do related to us. But we're thinking that probably 2 of the 3 before the end of the year. Speaker 600:22:30Perfect. Thank you. Operator00:22:34Your next question comes from the line of John Mackie from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Speaker 500:22:41Hey, good morning. Thanks for Speaker 700:22:42the time. I wanted to go back to the gas macro and the production ramp a little bit. I appreciate the comments on kind of towards the year end recovery. Speaker 200:22:53I guess I'd just be curious if Speaker 700:22:54you could flush that out a little bit and talk a little bit about when you think we might get back to the production peaks that we saw almost a year ago and then maybe when we can start to break through that really kind of a view on when we'll really need production to ramp above those year end 2023 levels? Thanks. Speaker 200:23:14Yes, that's the $1,000,000 question, John, that you're asking. And I wish I had a more insightful answer to that question. I think we're somewhat patiently waiting as well with our key customers as they get into their year end planning cycle for 2025. I think a lot of this is a function of how the weather plays out across North America this winter. Again, the forecast we're looking at kind of a 10 year average is what we're seeing. Speaker 200:23:50If that plays out, I think that in combination with demand showing up in 2025 incremental demand showing up in 2025 will be a constructive backdrop for producers generally across North America. Specifically as it relates to the Haynesville, we're down about 2 Bcf a day from the peak. My personal view is that some of that just has to come back for a number of reasons. One is you've got a couple of LNG facilities coming online next year that are truly incremental demand that really does need to be served out of the Haynesville basin. And you've got 2 other companies building significant pipeline infrastructure that's expected to be in service towards the end of next year, perhaps early 2026. Speaker 200:24:41And again, those anchor shippers are going to want to be drilling into that capacity when it arrives. So all that leads me to believe that 2025 is going to be a more constructive year for producers in the Haynesville and we should be seeing volume ramps. The timing and trajectory I think is TBD and I think we're as curious as you are as we get to the end of the year and get better information. Speaker 700:25:08Definitely appreciate the thoughts. Maybe just a quick follow-up, could you just remind us where Nexus sits in terms of potential expansion capacity? What opportunities there could look like from a cost or timing perspective? I know it probably goes back to some of the conversations we've had earlier in this call, but kind of specific update on Nexus would be great. Speaker 200:25:33Yes. I'll summarize Nexus kind of into 2 categories is about 2 years ago, we did an open season there looking to expand. We had very favorable response. What we elected to do is to, what I'll call optimize the system hydraulically. And you've probably seen a couple of different regulatory filings at the FERC where we've upsized the physical capacity of the system without really doing any capital investment. Speaker 200:26:06And that was really just having 4 or 5 years of experience under our belt since we built it, really reassessing the engineering design based on how it's actually being used. We're able to increase capacity. And I'm going to just round the numbers to make it simple about $100,000,000 a day. So that was kind of step number 1 and that's kind of behind us now. Step number 2, will be to really look at a capital driven expansion and that would be next up for NEXUS and it's likely a compression expansion and that's likely in the $100,000,000 to $200,000,000 a date range. Speaker 200:26:44So more to come on that is, John, as we advance that further, but that's the update on NEXUS. Speaker 500:26:52All right. Speaker 700:26:53Thanks very much. Appreciate it. Speaker 500:26:54You're welcome. Operator00:27:01Your next question comes from the line of Keith Stanley from Wolfe Research. Your line is open. Speaker 800:27:07Hi, good morning. So last time with Q4 earnings, you gave new details on the project backlog and the medium term growth target of 5% to 7%. I want to confirm, is that something you plan to update again with Q4 earnings? And any color you'd give on puts and takes to the backlog and 5 year outlook since you provided it earlier this year? Speaker 200:27:33Sure. And Keith, yes, that's kind of our play is that on the year end call, we'll kind of do a refresh. We won't be changing. I'll just tell you right now, we won't be changing the long term outlook that we're highly confident in that long term outlook and nothing as we sit here today is changing that. But yes, we'll provide more granularity around the backlog and more of the details around a bunch of things that were in the backlog last year. Speaker 200:28:02We've just been meticulously commercializing. So yes, you should expect a refresh backlog, likely some new things get dropped into that backlog. And again, we'll just continue to run the disciplined execution play that we've been doing since we spun the company. It's just working our way through that backlog, commercializing those opportunities, driving that organic growth rate and moving the company forward. So that's what you should expect on the year end call. Speaker 800:28:35Great. Thanks for that clarification. The second question, just going back to the data centers and I know this is pretty fresh still, but how has the Supreme Court's decision to not stay the EPA 111D that sets a utilization cap on new gas plants impacted your discussions, if at all, with data center customers? Is that something customers want clarity on for that rule? Or are they comfortable knowing they might need a carbon capture solution at some point? Speaker 200:29:12Yes. I think most of the counterparties are looking at that and saying that's got to be dealt within the lower court. And I think that's kind of what the Supreme Court said is we're not going to touch it yet because it's still being adjudicated in the lower court and depending on how that plays out, they may be back at it again or not. Right now, we're not seeing that as driving behavior at the moment. I think everybody is watching it and paying attention to it. Speaker 200:29:45But we're not seeing a change, the nature or the velocity of the conversations that we're having regarding these opportunities. Thank you. Operator00:29:58Your next question comes from the line of Spiro Dounis from Citi. Your line is open. Speaker 900:30:04Thanks, operator. Good morning, team. First question, maybe just start with the CapEx outlook. It looks like 2025 is kind of filling up nicely here. But Jeff, you talked about staying free cash flow positive in 2024 and 2025. Speaker 900:30:17So just curious how you're thinking about the headroom from here to add more projects next year? And maybe if you could provide a sense of what types of projects you're looking to get over the line in the next quarter or 2? Speaker 200:30:30Hey, Spiro. Good morning. And let me take a crack at that and Jeff, you can jump in if you need to fill in the blanks. So number 1, we've been really clear with operating inside our free cash flow over the 5 year plan. I mean, that's just sort of one of those financial boundaries that we've put in place. Speaker 200:30:55In terms of 2025, getting a good chunk of that CapEx deployment executed and contracted really puts high confidence in our growth rate over the next couple of years. So that's a real positive sign. The commercial team has been doing just a wonderful job over the last 6 months getting after that backlog and commercializing those opportunities. Again, I'm going to kind of move back to the answer that I gave Keith, which is we'll refresh that backlog for you on the year end call. So we're not going to do that on this call. Speaker 200:31:40But suffice it to say that we continue to see significant organic opportunities presenting themselves across our footprint. And so you'll see that refreshed on the year end call. And again, we are long organic opportunities, not short organic opportunities. And I think that's a great place to be in, in this current market environment. Jeff, I don't know if you want to add anything to that. Speaker 1000:32:09No, David, no, I think that's spot on Spero. Our financial policies are not changing. I think that's the bottom line. Speaker 900:32:18Got No, that's great. Second question, kind of on this topic still. David, you just mentioned a sort of long, organic sort of growth backlog there. Just curious how you're thinking about the relative attractiveness here on the M and A side. You have that strong backlog, of course, organically, but hard to ignore the equity currency here. Speaker 900:32:38So just curious, are there any asset candidates out there that maybe didn't make sense a year ago that suddenly look a little more attractive now? Speaker 200:32:46Yes, good question. I think maybe I'll just kind of refresh what we've said publicly in the past about M and A is, number 1, we're focused on very disciplined strategy execution. And our investment thesis has been really clear and consistent since we spun the company, which is we're a pure play gas only midstream company with no commodity exposure in the portfolio, highly durable cash flows, highly contracted portfolio with significant demand based contracts that underpin the entire company. So that strategy is the guiding light or the North Star on any opportunities that would come our way and present themselves. So that's how we think about it in terms of M and A. Speaker 200:33:41And I'd say on the flip side, our job and our goal for you and all of our investors is to run a high quality midstream company. And that gets obviously reflected in stock price and that also gets reflected in any interest that anybody would have in the company. So I mean those are our guiding principles and I don't see any of that changing. We're going to be very consistent in our execution and we won't surprise anybody with any moves that would be inconsistent with that strategy. Speaker 900:34:20That's great color. I'll leave it there. Thank you, gentlemen. Speaker 200:34:24Thanks, Spiro. Operator00:34:27Your next question comes from the line of Robert Moskow from Mizuho Securities. Your line is open. Speaker 1100:34:34Hi, good morning, everyone. So now that Chesapeake and Swin is closed, just wondering if there's any updated outlook on commercial puts and takes with expand and whether you're expecting any shifts in production that could potentially benefit your acreage? And on LEAP Phase 4, were those customers you mentioned, was that related to the Blue Union expansion announced last quarter? Speaker 200:34:58Hey, good morning, Rob. Yes, you got a couple of questions in there. I'll try to unpack that. So first off, let's start with expand. Firstly, I'd like to publicly congratulate them for closing the merger and we're really excited about working with them going forward. Speaker 200:35:17They're going through what I'll call post close integration activity right now. Just to give a little color and I'm sure they'll provide an update tomorrow on their call, but we plan to be sitting down with them here in the near term to go through all those questions that you asked, Rob. So again, we're patiently waiting for them to get through what I'll call the post close activity, so we can sit down and have those conversations. That being said, I'm highly confident that the acreage that we gather for them is premium acreage in their portfolio in Haynesville. And what I mean by that, it's literally the most economic rock in the basin. Speaker 200:36:01So that's the gravity that I think guides their capital allocation decisions and ultimately it's their decisions. But that's the gravity that I look at in terms of our investments around that acreage is that it's really good acreage and they have just a wonderful acreage position in the basin and we're a big part of that in terms of the infrastructure to move that to market. So look forward to working with them just like we have for over a decade. We have a very close relationship with them and our key people that we've worked with will also be the key people we will continue to work with going forward in the new entity. So feel real positive about that. Speaker 200:36:49I'll say no more. We'll let them talk about it publicly tomorrow and I'm sure we'll be able to give you a better update on the other side of their public disclosures. So that's that one. I'm sorry, Rob, I'm trying to remember you had another question related to LEAP, I believe, in our customers on LEAP. Speaker 1100:37:10Yes, yes. Sorry, Dave. Just wondering if that's in any way related to the Blue Union expansion that you announced last quarter? Speaker 200:37:17That's probably a good you said it, I didn't say it. So that's probably a safe assumption. We have been cognizant with our customers. And as you would expect, all the customers on the network are competing for the same markets at the end of the network. So we've been very respectful and when those customers don't want to be publicly disclosed, we don't. Speaker 200:37:40But yes, the what I'll call wellhead to water network and the interconnectivity of the network and the ability of the network to customized to our customers' needs. That's been a very attractive feature of our network. And I think we're harvesting that as we continue to announce these expansions even coming through a very, what I would call, challenged year in the Haynesville. We continue to see growth. So very encouraged by that. Speaker 200:38:24We'll task our commercial team to start working on LEAP Phase 5 and get after the next tranche of capacity that we can compete for. Speaker 1100:38:35Got it. That's very helpful. And maybe last one for me is, it seems like the CCS project, maybe the expectation for FID was pushed out a couple of quarters. Just anything to call out there? Speaker 200:38:50No, I think the only thing I'll call out is we continue to be really meticulous in our execution and control the controllables that we are accountable for. We're obviously working collaboratively with the Louisiana DENR and encouraging them to move along, if I can use those words. But yes, we're in a what I'll call regulatory holding pattern waiting on them to complete their application requirements. My sense is that they're trying to be very judicious and create highly durable regulatory orders so that these projects can move forward with what I'll call clear sailing once you kind of move through the regulatory process. So we're obviously in close contact with them. Speaker 200:39:48It hasn't changed during service date, but we are in patiently waiting for Louisiana to move things along. Speaker 1100:39:59Now, understood. Thanks for the time everyone. Speaker 200:40:03Thank you, Rob. Operator00:40:05And that concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to David Slater for closing remarks. Speaker 200:40:13Well, thank you again everybody for your participation in the call and for joining us. We certainly appreciate your interest and support of DT Midstream and have a great day. Operator00:40:24This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallDT Midstream Q3 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) DT Midstream Earnings HeadlinesDT Midstream price target lowered to $102 from $107 at BarclaysApril 11, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comDT Midstream (DTM) Gets a Hold from BarclaysApril 11, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comIs it CRAZY to still want reliable profits, despite this market?Larry Benedict, the acclaimed "Market Wizard," is calling an emergency briefing now... The same Larry who – while everyone else watched their retirement get cut in half in 2008... Performed 103% better than the market. And the one who crushed the market by 4X during the COVID meltdown.April 16, 2025 | Brownstone Research (Ad)DT Midstream upgraded to Overweight from Hold at US Capital AdvisorsApril 9, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comDT Midstream (NYSE:DTM) Has More To Do To Multiply In Value Going ForwardApril 5, 2025 | uk.finance.yahoo.comDT Midstream price target raised to $115 from $102 at UBSMarch 27, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comSee More DT Midstream Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like DT Midstream? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on DT Midstream and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About DT MidstreamDT Midstream (NYSE:DTM), together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Pipeline and Gathering. The Pipeline segment owns and operates interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines, storage systems, and natural gas gathering lateral pipelines. This segment also engages in the transportation and storage of natural gas for intermediate and end-user customers. The Gathering segment owns and operates gas gathering systems. This segment is involved in the collection of natural gas for delivery to plants for treating, to gathering pipelines for further gathering, or to pipelines for transportation; and provision of associated ancillary services, including compression, dehydration, gas treatment, water impoundment, water transportation, water disposal, and sand mining. It serves natural gas producers, local distribution companies, electric power generators, industrials, and national marketers. 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There are 12 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the DT Midstream Third Quarter 20 24 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Session. Thank you. Operator00:00:24I'd now like to turn the call over to Todd Lorman, Director of Investor Relations. You may begin. Speaker 100:00:33Good morning, and welcome, everyone. Before we get started, I would like to remind you to read the Safe Harbor statement on Page 2 of the presentation, including the reference to forward looking statements. Our presentation also includes references to non GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the reconciliations to GAAP contained in the appendix. Joining me this morning are David Slater, President and CEO and Jeff Jewell, Executive Vice President and CFO. Speaker 100:01:07I'll now turn it over to David to start the call. Speaker 200:01:13Thanks, Todd, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. During today's call, I'll touch on our financial results, provide an update on the latest commercial development activity and progress on our growth initiatives. I'll then close with some observations on the overall gas market before turning it over to Jeff to review our financial performance and outlook. So turning off, we had another strong quarter operationally and the team continues to commercialize new organic projects that support our future growth. Our strong year to date performance is enabling us to increase our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $950,000,000 to $980,000,000 We are also reaffirming our 2025 adjusted EBITDA early outlook range. Speaker 200:02:03By continuing to advance projects from our organic project backlog and leveraging the scale from our existing integrated asset platforms, we are well positioned for continued growth in 2025 beyond. Our track record of strong performance was also recognized earlier this month by Finch Ratings, who upgraded us to investment grade, a strategic goal that we have had since we spun the company in 2021. This morning, we are excited to announce that we have reached a final investment decision on a LEAP Phase 4 expansion, which will increase capacity by 2 0 9 cubic feet per day and further expand our integrated wellhead to water system to the LNG corridor. Our premier Haynesville system has established itself as the leader in both overall capacity and interconnectivity. This expansion, which we expect will be completed in the first half of twenty twenty six, increases total LEAP capacity from 1.9 to 2.1 Bcf per day via incremental compression and looping and is underpinned by long term demand based contracts with 2 new customers. Speaker 200:03:17This project highlights our Haynesville system's ability quickly serve our customers' growing needs with right sized, capital efficient and timely expansions and also signals the demand for takeaway capacity out of the Haynesville to serve Gulf Coast and LNG markets as the basin shifts back into growth mode. This morning, we are also pleased to announce that we are upsizing our previously disclosed project connecting to the Mountain Valley pipeline on our Stonewall system, which will increase the capacity of the strategic Appalachian Basin interconnect and provide our customers with additional access to the growing mid Atlantic markets. This project, which is anchored by a long term agreement with a large privately held producer, increases outlet capacity on Stonewall by 100,000,000 cubic feet per day is underpinned by a demand based contract to protect project economics, and we expect to have this project in service in the first half of 2026. In addition to the projects that have reached FID, we remain in a number of active discussions to commercialize new power and data center opportunities across our network. And we will keep you updated as these opportunities advance. Speaker 200:04:38Turning to our carbon capture and sequestration projects in Louisiana. As we mentioned on our Q2 call, we have validated the storage formation and are confident in the geological suitability of the site. The team continues our pre FID detailed engineering design of the storage well, CO2 pipeline and related facilities. We are still waiting regulatory clarification and guidance from the Louisiana DENR for Class 6 permit application, which we expect will be received prior to the end of the year. We continue to be disciplined in our execution of this project, minimizing capital deployment until we reach a final investment decision, a milestone that we now expect will come in the first half of twenty twenty five. Speaker 200:05:28Finally, I'd like to take a moment to address the natural gas market fundamentals. We've continued to see choppiness in the short term market, but our portfolio has remained very durable. We are seeing supportive signals recently with the storage surplus beginning to work off and inventories moving towards the 5 year average. And we expect that growing LNG demand beginning in 2025 will provide a more constructive environment for gas producers. In the long term, we expect natural gas demand to continue to grow, driven by the expanding LNG export market, increased power and data center demand and from industrial and commercial onshoring, all of which will support high utilization and further development of natural gas infrastructure, with DTM's strategically located asset footprint being well positioned to serve this growing demand. Speaker 200:06:24So in summary, I'm very pleased with the continued performance from our team as we continue to commercialize growth opportunities from our project backlog and prepare for the demand ramp in 2025 and beyond. I'll now pass it over to Jeff to walk you through our quarterly financials and outlook. Speaker 300:06:44Thanks, David, and good morning, everyone. In the Q3, we delivered overall adjusted EBITDA of 241,000,000 dollars representing a $7,000,000 decrease from the prior quarter. Our pipeline segment results were $3,000,000 greater than the 2nd quarter, reflecting a full quarter contribution from our LEAP Phase 3 expansion, which was placed in service in June. Gathering segment results decreased by $10,000,000 compared to the 2nd quarter, a result in line with the 2nd quarter when adjusted for favorable one time items of approximately $10,000,000 that did not repeat in the Q3. Operationally, total gathering volumes across both the Haynesville and the Northeast averaged approximately 2,900,000,000 cubic feet a day in the 3rd quarter, with volumes up slightly in the Haynesville compared to the prior quarter, while lower in the Northeast primarily due to the lower volumes on our Appalachia gathering system. Speaker 300:07:51In the Q4, we expect a ramp in gathering volumes compared to the Q3, as well as incremental maintenance expense. As David mentioned in his opening remarks, following our strong year to date performance and considering our expectations for the Q4, we are raising our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $950,000,000 to $980,000,000 In addition, we are reaffirming our 2025 adjusted EBITDA early outlook and plan to provide our formal 2025 guidance on our year end call. We are also raising our distributable cash flow guidance range to $670,000,000 to $700,000,000 due to lower interest and cash taxes. Our 2024 committed growth capital remains unchanged with approximately $330,000,000 committed and we are increasing our 2025 committed capital to reflect new projects reaching FID with approximately $310,000,000 committed. This increase in 2025 committed growth capital is driven by new projects reaching FID, including our new LEAP Phase 4 expansion, upsize of our Stonewall MVP interconnect and build out of our clean fuels gathering facilities. Speaker 300:09:24We are reducing our full year 2024 growth capital guidance range to $330,000,000 to $350,000,000 which represents a $25,000,000 reduction in the high end of our range. This reduction is driven by timing of growth projects and we continue to expect to spend within free cash flow in 2024 2025. We are committed to preserving the strength of our balance sheet and we are very pleased to be upgraded to an investment grade credit rating by Fitch rating earlier this month. In addition to the upgrade from Fitch, we also remain on positive outlook with Moody's. Within the quarter, we further optimized our balance sheet through the issuance of $800,000,000 in new project level debt at Millennium Pipeline and we use the proceeds to pay off the full $400,000,000 balance on our term loan. Speaker 300:10:23At the end of the quarter, our on balance sheet leverage was 2.8 times with our proportional leverage at 3.7 times And we now have no debt maturities for 5 years. Finally, today we also announced the declaration of our 3rd quarter dividend of $0.735 per share, unchanged from the prior quarter. We remain committed to growing the dividend at 5% to 7% per year in line with our long term adjusted EBITDA growth. I'll now pass it back over to David for closing remarks. Speaker 200:11:04Thanks, Jeff. So in summary, we are very pleased with how the year is continuing to progress and are feeling confident in our increased guidance for 2024 and early LEC range for 2025. Our short cycle growth investments continue to track on budget and on schedule, which will contribute meaningful growth over the next 2 years. Our approach to capital allocation remains thoughtful and disciplined with our focus on spending within cash flow over the balance of our 5 year plan and growing our dividend in line with our EBITDA. As we look across the portfolio, we continue to see significant growth opportunities enabled by the scale of our strategically located and integrated asset footprint and through the emergence of our energy transition platform. Speaker 200:11:52We can now open up the line for questions. Operator00:11:56Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Your first question comes from the line of Jeremy Tonet from JPMorgan. Your line is open. Speaker 200:12:15Hi, good morning. Good morning, Jeremy. Speaker 400:12:18Hi. Just wanted to kind of follow-up on the guidance increase for this year. And I know you're not going to update 25 at this juncture, but just any high level thoughts on forward read throughs on that? And as focus starts to shift to 2026 early look, can you talk about operating leverage across the asset base as the macro improves? Speaker 200:12:42Sure, Jeremy. So I'd say, first off, I'd just say the portfolio has been incredibly durable this year as we've kind of gone through the commodity cycle. So we're very happy with how the year has played out and it's allowed us to increase the guidance as we are navigating into Q4. As you kind of alluded to, we'll sit tight on making any adjustments to 2025 until we get to the end of the year and get better information from our core customers in terms of their activity levels. But I'd say some of the items that we announced today feel encouraging in terms of signaling 2025 at least in the Haynesville, a renewed interest in growing volumes again as I think the market clearly is seeing incremental demand coming. Speaker 200:13:37And I think our LEAP Phase 4 announcement is somewhat of a derivative of that sentiment in the market. And again, if you look at how we filled in our 2025 growth capital, that's a very encouraging position. It really is cementing in our growth trajectory for the next couple of years as we've FID projects and have a full slate of opportunity that we're going to execute on next year that's already contracted and sort of kind of in hand, if I can say it that way. So that's giving me some optimism as I look forward and reflect on our growth aspirations and what I'll call incremental commercial opportunity that's coming to us across the portfolio. Speaker 400:14:31Got it. That's helpful there. Thanks. And speaking about incremental opportunities, I think Louisiana connectivity specifically into Henry Hub is an item of concern I think for maybe some on the customer side and the producers looking to get there. It seems like there might not be enough connectivity into Hub and that could lead to wider basis. Speaker 400:14:53Just wondering if you subscribe to this view and what opportunities this could present for DTM? Speaker 200:15:00Great question, Jeremy. I think that's why we've been so adamant with our Haynesville network. And it's really our premier network now in terms of its interconnectivity both on the supply side and on the demand side. And I can say with confidence today that we're the most interconnected kind of wellhead to water system in the Haynesville period. And we've been hearing what you said very clearly from all of our customers and having that robust downstream connectivity so that those customers can take advantage of market opportunities, whether it's industrial opportunities along the Gulf Coast or directly to the LNG markets along the Gulf Coast. Speaker 200:15:51That's been kind of foundational to our build out over the last 3 years of the entire system. So it's clearly something that our anchor customers are watching closely and they want to have infrastructure that can take advantage of those market opportunities and be a first mover. Speaker 400:16:15Got it. Thank you for that. I'll leave it there. Operator00:16:20Your next question comes from the line of Michael Blum from Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Speaker 500:16:26Thanks. Good morning, everyone. You've been talking about these 6 potential data center projects. I'm wondering if you can give us a sense of timing and how these are opportunities are developing. I believe they're all behind the meter solutions. Speaker 500:16:45I'm just wondering does that make the regulatory process faster or more onerous? Just trying to get a little more color on what's going on. Speaker 200:16:54Sure. And good morning, Michael. Yes, so those opportunities that we previously discussed continue to advance this quarter and they continue to move forward. We're in very detailed active discussions with a number of those. So it's moving in the right direction. Speaker 200:17:14It's not advanced enough to say we have a commercial agreement yet, But it's definitely moving in the right direction. The underpinning of these power opportunities, as I think we've talked about on previous calls, speed is a critical consideration in the site development plans. So to the extent that you can put infrastructure in the ground under more favorable regulatory treatment, I think that's a key consideration in site viability. And so that detail has not been lost on us as a developer and looking for opportunity to do what I'll call intrastate development opportunities when those are feasible and are aligned with the regulatory construct. So yes, I think that's part of the equation as these developers are trolling for different site locations and ultimately will be part of the decision making when they commercialize the site. Speaker 500:18:27Got it. Thanks for that. And then, just wanted to ask about Northeast volumes. They've been trending slightly lower the last few quarters. Can you speak to what you're seeing there? Speaker 500:18:39And then your comment that Q4 you're expecting a ramp in volumes. Can you just clarify, is that referring to Haynesville or also Appalachia or both or? Thanks. Speaker 200:18:50Yes. I think we've been saying this all year that we're kind of expecting sort of a saucer, a T saucer profile for the year in our volumes. We've definitely seen those volumes dipping in both basins in Q2 and Q3. Haynesville has been remarkably resilient for us, which has been very encouraging. And yes, I do expect to see some modest recovery in Q4 in both the North and the South. Speaker 200:19:25And I think our attention is more focused on that exit rate coming out of this year and going into next year. Again, with a general thesis that we're hearing from a lot of our customers that there'll be a much more constructive market shaping up for 2025 for our producer customers. Speaker 500:19:49Thank you. Operator00:19:53Our next question comes from the line of Theresa Chek from Barclays. Your line is open. Speaker 600:20:00Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. On the data center power demand fund, putting the competitive process aside, can you just remind us how should we bookend the size and scope of these projects? And how much can this move the needle relative to your base assets? Speaker 200:20:20Sure. Great question, Theresa. I think as we've discussed in the past, these we're looking at these primarily as lateral opportunities into these site locations. And the analogy that I've used in the past is our Birdsboro project where we built a lateral off Texas Eastern to a power plant. So call it between $50,000,000,000 and $100,000,000,000 CapEx investment range depending on the distance of the lateral. Speaker 200:20:53And again, for us, given our size, that's very right sized for us in terms of an investment opportunity driving growth in our plan. So that's kind of how we're thinking about it. And again, it also put additional load on the what I'll call the interstate backbone system. And as we're thinking about it, we're really just thinking about that lateral opportunity right now, but it also puts resilience and durability into the pipeline assets as well as these become long term markets that will be served off that infrastructure. So it's got a knock on effect across the entire portfolio. Speaker 200:21:40So I'll stop there. Hopefully that was helpful, Theresa. Speaker 600:21:44Thank you. And then on the heels of the Fitch upgrade, can you just provide additional color on your credit outlook in general and next steps with Moody's? Speaker 300:21:54Yes, hi, Theresa. Yes, so where we are like you mentioned, Fitch has upgraded us. Moody's is on positive outlook and S and P is on neutral. So, what we're seeing is again the positive momentum with both of them. And they're reviewing the merger that just, of course, happened with Swin and Chesapeake. Speaker 300:22:13So we're still on the same path probably before the end of the year or into the Q1 that they sort of make their determinations on what they're going to do related to us. But we're thinking that probably 2 of the 3 before the end of the year. Speaker 600:22:30Perfect. Thank you. Operator00:22:34Your next question comes from the line of John Mackie from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Speaker 500:22:41Hey, good morning. Thanks for Speaker 700:22:42the time. I wanted to go back to the gas macro and the production ramp a little bit. I appreciate the comments on kind of towards the year end recovery. Speaker 200:22:53I guess I'd just be curious if Speaker 700:22:54you could flush that out a little bit and talk a little bit about when you think we might get back to the production peaks that we saw almost a year ago and then maybe when we can start to break through that really kind of a view on when we'll really need production to ramp above those year end 2023 levels? Thanks. Speaker 200:23:14Yes, that's the $1,000,000 question, John, that you're asking. And I wish I had a more insightful answer to that question. I think we're somewhat patiently waiting as well with our key customers as they get into their year end planning cycle for 2025. I think a lot of this is a function of how the weather plays out across North America this winter. Again, the forecast we're looking at kind of a 10 year average is what we're seeing. Speaker 200:23:50If that plays out, I think that in combination with demand showing up in 2025 incremental demand showing up in 2025 will be a constructive backdrop for producers generally across North America. Specifically as it relates to the Haynesville, we're down about 2 Bcf a day from the peak. My personal view is that some of that just has to come back for a number of reasons. One is you've got a couple of LNG facilities coming online next year that are truly incremental demand that really does need to be served out of the Haynesville basin. And you've got 2 other companies building significant pipeline infrastructure that's expected to be in service towards the end of next year, perhaps early 2026. Speaker 200:24:41And again, those anchor shippers are going to want to be drilling into that capacity when it arrives. So all that leads me to believe that 2025 is going to be a more constructive year for producers in the Haynesville and we should be seeing volume ramps. The timing and trajectory I think is TBD and I think we're as curious as you are as we get to the end of the year and get better information. Speaker 700:25:08Definitely appreciate the thoughts. Maybe just a quick follow-up, could you just remind us where Nexus sits in terms of potential expansion capacity? What opportunities there could look like from a cost or timing perspective? I know it probably goes back to some of the conversations we've had earlier in this call, but kind of specific update on Nexus would be great. Speaker 200:25:33Yes. I'll summarize Nexus kind of into 2 categories is about 2 years ago, we did an open season there looking to expand. We had very favorable response. What we elected to do is to, what I'll call optimize the system hydraulically. And you've probably seen a couple of different regulatory filings at the FERC where we've upsized the physical capacity of the system without really doing any capital investment. Speaker 200:26:06And that was really just having 4 or 5 years of experience under our belt since we built it, really reassessing the engineering design based on how it's actually being used. We're able to increase capacity. And I'm going to just round the numbers to make it simple about $100,000,000 a day. So that was kind of step number 1 and that's kind of behind us now. Step number 2, will be to really look at a capital driven expansion and that would be next up for NEXUS and it's likely a compression expansion and that's likely in the $100,000,000 to $200,000,000 a date range. Speaker 200:26:44So more to come on that is, John, as we advance that further, but that's the update on NEXUS. Speaker 500:26:52All right. Speaker 700:26:53Thanks very much. Appreciate it. Speaker 500:26:54You're welcome. Operator00:27:01Your next question comes from the line of Keith Stanley from Wolfe Research. Your line is open. Speaker 800:27:07Hi, good morning. So last time with Q4 earnings, you gave new details on the project backlog and the medium term growth target of 5% to 7%. I want to confirm, is that something you plan to update again with Q4 earnings? And any color you'd give on puts and takes to the backlog and 5 year outlook since you provided it earlier this year? Speaker 200:27:33Sure. And Keith, yes, that's kind of our play is that on the year end call, we'll kind of do a refresh. We won't be changing. I'll just tell you right now, we won't be changing the long term outlook that we're highly confident in that long term outlook and nothing as we sit here today is changing that. But yes, we'll provide more granularity around the backlog and more of the details around a bunch of things that were in the backlog last year. Speaker 200:28:02We've just been meticulously commercializing. So yes, you should expect a refresh backlog, likely some new things get dropped into that backlog. And again, we'll just continue to run the disciplined execution play that we've been doing since we spun the company. It's just working our way through that backlog, commercializing those opportunities, driving that organic growth rate and moving the company forward. So that's what you should expect on the year end call. Speaker 800:28:35Great. Thanks for that clarification. The second question, just going back to the data centers and I know this is pretty fresh still, but how has the Supreme Court's decision to not stay the EPA 111D that sets a utilization cap on new gas plants impacted your discussions, if at all, with data center customers? Is that something customers want clarity on for that rule? Or are they comfortable knowing they might need a carbon capture solution at some point? Speaker 200:29:12Yes. I think most of the counterparties are looking at that and saying that's got to be dealt within the lower court. And I think that's kind of what the Supreme Court said is we're not going to touch it yet because it's still being adjudicated in the lower court and depending on how that plays out, they may be back at it again or not. Right now, we're not seeing that as driving behavior at the moment. I think everybody is watching it and paying attention to it. Speaker 200:29:45But we're not seeing a change, the nature or the velocity of the conversations that we're having regarding these opportunities. Thank you. Operator00:29:58Your next question comes from the line of Spiro Dounis from Citi. Your line is open. Speaker 900:30:04Thanks, operator. Good morning, team. First question, maybe just start with the CapEx outlook. It looks like 2025 is kind of filling up nicely here. But Jeff, you talked about staying free cash flow positive in 2024 and 2025. Speaker 900:30:17So just curious how you're thinking about the headroom from here to add more projects next year? And maybe if you could provide a sense of what types of projects you're looking to get over the line in the next quarter or 2? Speaker 200:30:30Hey, Spiro. Good morning. And let me take a crack at that and Jeff, you can jump in if you need to fill in the blanks. So number 1, we've been really clear with operating inside our free cash flow over the 5 year plan. I mean, that's just sort of one of those financial boundaries that we've put in place. Speaker 200:30:55In terms of 2025, getting a good chunk of that CapEx deployment executed and contracted really puts high confidence in our growth rate over the next couple of years. So that's a real positive sign. The commercial team has been doing just a wonderful job over the last 6 months getting after that backlog and commercializing those opportunities. Again, I'm going to kind of move back to the answer that I gave Keith, which is we'll refresh that backlog for you on the year end call. So we're not going to do that on this call. Speaker 200:31:40But suffice it to say that we continue to see significant organic opportunities presenting themselves across our footprint. And so you'll see that refreshed on the year end call. And again, we are long organic opportunities, not short organic opportunities. And I think that's a great place to be in, in this current market environment. Jeff, I don't know if you want to add anything to that. Speaker 1000:32:09No, David, no, I think that's spot on Spero. Our financial policies are not changing. I think that's the bottom line. Speaker 900:32:18Got No, that's great. Second question, kind of on this topic still. David, you just mentioned a sort of long, organic sort of growth backlog there. Just curious how you're thinking about the relative attractiveness here on the M and A side. You have that strong backlog, of course, organically, but hard to ignore the equity currency here. Speaker 900:32:38So just curious, are there any asset candidates out there that maybe didn't make sense a year ago that suddenly look a little more attractive now? Speaker 200:32:46Yes, good question. I think maybe I'll just kind of refresh what we've said publicly in the past about M and A is, number 1, we're focused on very disciplined strategy execution. And our investment thesis has been really clear and consistent since we spun the company, which is we're a pure play gas only midstream company with no commodity exposure in the portfolio, highly durable cash flows, highly contracted portfolio with significant demand based contracts that underpin the entire company. So that strategy is the guiding light or the North Star on any opportunities that would come our way and present themselves. So that's how we think about it in terms of M and A. Speaker 200:33:41And I'd say on the flip side, our job and our goal for you and all of our investors is to run a high quality midstream company. And that gets obviously reflected in stock price and that also gets reflected in any interest that anybody would have in the company. So I mean those are our guiding principles and I don't see any of that changing. We're going to be very consistent in our execution and we won't surprise anybody with any moves that would be inconsistent with that strategy. Speaker 900:34:20That's great color. I'll leave it there. Thank you, gentlemen. Speaker 200:34:24Thanks, Spiro. Operator00:34:27Your next question comes from the line of Robert Moskow from Mizuho Securities. Your line is open. Speaker 1100:34:34Hi, good morning, everyone. So now that Chesapeake and Swin is closed, just wondering if there's any updated outlook on commercial puts and takes with expand and whether you're expecting any shifts in production that could potentially benefit your acreage? And on LEAP Phase 4, were those customers you mentioned, was that related to the Blue Union expansion announced last quarter? Speaker 200:34:58Hey, good morning, Rob. Yes, you got a couple of questions in there. I'll try to unpack that. So first off, let's start with expand. Firstly, I'd like to publicly congratulate them for closing the merger and we're really excited about working with them going forward. Speaker 200:35:17They're going through what I'll call post close integration activity right now. Just to give a little color and I'm sure they'll provide an update tomorrow on their call, but we plan to be sitting down with them here in the near term to go through all those questions that you asked, Rob. So again, we're patiently waiting for them to get through what I'll call the post close activity, so we can sit down and have those conversations. That being said, I'm highly confident that the acreage that we gather for them is premium acreage in their portfolio in Haynesville. And what I mean by that, it's literally the most economic rock in the basin. Speaker 200:36:01So that's the gravity that I think guides their capital allocation decisions and ultimately it's their decisions. But that's the gravity that I look at in terms of our investments around that acreage is that it's really good acreage and they have just a wonderful acreage position in the basin and we're a big part of that in terms of the infrastructure to move that to market. So look forward to working with them just like we have for over a decade. We have a very close relationship with them and our key people that we've worked with will also be the key people we will continue to work with going forward in the new entity. So feel real positive about that. Speaker 200:36:49I'll say no more. We'll let them talk about it publicly tomorrow and I'm sure we'll be able to give you a better update on the other side of their public disclosures. So that's that one. I'm sorry, Rob, I'm trying to remember you had another question related to LEAP, I believe, in our customers on LEAP. Speaker 1100:37:10Yes, yes. Sorry, Dave. Just wondering if that's in any way related to the Blue Union expansion that you announced last quarter? Speaker 200:37:17That's probably a good you said it, I didn't say it. So that's probably a safe assumption. We have been cognizant with our customers. And as you would expect, all the customers on the network are competing for the same markets at the end of the network. So we've been very respectful and when those customers don't want to be publicly disclosed, we don't. Speaker 200:37:40But yes, the what I'll call wellhead to water network and the interconnectivity of the network and the ability of the network to customized to our customers' needs. That's been a very attractive feature of our network. And I think we're harvesting that as we continue to announce these expansions even coming through a very, what I would call, challenged year in the Haynesville. We continue to see growth. So very encouraged by that. Speaker 200:38:24We'll task our commercial team to start working on LEAP Phase 5 and get after the next tranche of capacity that we can compete for. Speaker 1100:38:35Got it. That's very helpful. And maybe last one for me is, it seems like the CCS project, maybe the expectation for FID was pushed out a couple of quarters. Just anything to call out there? Speaker 200:38:50No, I think the only thing I'll call out is we continue to be really meticulous in our execution and control the controllables that we are accountable for. We're obviously working collaboratively with the Louisiana DENR and encouraging them to move along, if I can use those words. But yes, we're in a what I'll call regulatory holding pattern waiting on them to complete their application requirements. My sense is that they're trying to be very judicious and create highly durable regulatory orders so that these projects can move forward with what I'll call clear sailing once you kind of move through the regulatory process. So we're obviously in close contact with them. Speaker 200:39:48It hasn't changed during service date, but we are in patiently waiting for Louisiana to move things along. Speaker 1100:39:59Now, understood. Thanks for the time everyone. Speaker 200:40:03Thank you, Rob. Operator00:40:05And that concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to David Slater for closing remarks. Speaker 200:40:13Well, thank you again everybody for your participation in the call and for joining us. We certainly appreciate your interest and support of DT Midstream and have a great day. Operator00:40:24This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by