Earnings Labs

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX)

Q4 2015 Earnings Call· Tue, Jan 26, 2016

$56.72

-2.51%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Freeport-McMoRan Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Kathleen Quirk, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead, ma'am. Kathleen L. Quirk - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: Thank you and good morning. Welcome to the Freeport-McMoRan fourth quarter 2015 earnings conference call. Our results released earlier this morning and a copy of the press release and slides for today's call are available on our website at fcx.com. Our call today is being broadcast live on the Internet, and anyone may listen to the call by accessing our website homepage and clicking on the webcast link for the call. In addition to analysts and investors, the financial press has been invited to listen to today's call and a replay of the webcast will be available on our website later today. Before we begin our comments, we'd like to remind everyone that our press release today and certain of our comments on the call include forward-looking statements and actual results may differ materially. We'd like to refer everyone to the cautionary language included in our press release and presentation materials and to the risk factors described in our Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings. On the call today are Richard Adkerson, Jim Flores, Red Conger's here, Mark Johnson's here, as well as several other senior members of our team. I'll start by briefly summarizing the financial results and then turn the call over to Richard, who will be focusing today's discussion on how we are positioned in our operations and addressing our balance sheet in the current market environment. As…

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Our first question comes from the line of David Gagliano with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

David Francis Gagliano - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead

Okay. I just have a couple of quick questions. First of all, on a near-term basis, there's been some chatter lately about the – in the press, anyway, about the pending export license situation in Indonesia. There's some indication that Indonesia is requiring a deposit towards the smelter construction in order to renew the license for the next six months. And I was wondering if that is correct. And if so, where does that stand? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: The press is accurate in reporting that the Director General in Mining has raised that as a potential condition for getting our export license that there'd be a substantial deposit. We have responded that our view that that's inconsistent with the understanding we had with the government that we had made a commitment to progress the smelter project and we fulfilled that commitment to progress it. We have sites developed for it. We're working with our current partner in the Gresik smelter that we developed in the mid-1990s, that Gresik, Mitsubishi who will work with us as we're going forward. We're working with the contractor to do it. Our position is that we've met our obligations to the government. We developed an engineering procurement contract with Chiyoda, the Japanese engineering firm. And so, we are engaged in discussions with the government about that. And as I said, we have, as Freeport's management, full confidence that we're going to be able to get our export permit extended on mutually agreeable terms with the government.

David Francis Gagliano - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead

Okay. Okay. I'll leave it at that for now. Just a clarification question on some of the numbers this quarter versus the last quarter. Specifically, the idled rig costs, were the $600 million of expected idle rig cost in 2016 and $400 million in 2017, were those numbers previously included in the previous oil and gas CapEx or are those new expected cash outflows? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: No. The cost of the rigs under the plans that we had in place at the third quarter were included in capital expenditures. We are engaged in discussions with the owners of those rigs, the other party to our contracts, in terms of restructuring the terms of the contracts in view of our new plan to idle all three of those rig cost. And what we've included in our estimate of idled rig cost is our expectation as to how these negotiations will be completed. They're not yet completed, but this is our expectation. It involves two things. One, a transfer of the amounts we pay to the drilling contractor under what we believe will be revised terms out of CapEx into idled rig cost. And then, we are taking also out of CapEx the cost of operating those rigs because our plans previously included a continuation of drilling activity. So, we're seeing not new cost, but restructured lower cost as a result of our plan to idle all three of the deepwater rigs.

David Francis Gagliano - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead

Okay. All right. So if CapEx in oil and gas went down, versus December, it went down by $300 million but there was $600 million taken out, am I reading it the wrong way that that implies there's a $300 million increase somewhere else in CapEx or is that not how I should be thinking about that? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: This all reflects our – we've restructured our plans, idle the rig cost, completing the wells that we could complete near-term to keep our production off, and most of those costs are early in 2016. So, it reflects our new plan to complete the wells that were available for completion, to suspend, stop drilling for new activities and what you're seeing is the net impact of those revised plans.

David Francis Gagliano - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead

Okay. Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Yu with Citi. Please go ahead.

Brian Hsien Yu - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Analyst · Brian Yu with Citi. Please go ahead

Yeah. Thanks. Hey, Richard, in the beginning of the call you mentioned about how you had cut back on your copper output last year in response to market conditions and I'm just wondering, on the oil and gas side, with California and the cost laid out, it seems from someone on the outside that it's EBITDA and cash flow negative. Can you talk about those operations specifically and maybe there are other factors that we're not really taking into consideration for why you're continuing to run it? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Well, we're continuing to run it because even with the level of operating cost by constraining capital it is cash flow positive for us and it preserves the asset. Jim, why don't you comment on our strategy and plans for California? James C. Flores - Vice Chairman; President/CEO, Oil & Gas, Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.: Yeah, Brian. That's a correct assessment when you look on historical cost basis and we look on a cost-forward basis of what we're doing on the LOE cost and fuel going down and so forth that we see a 20%, 25% reduction on LOE cost. Granted, we're not making a lot of money at $30 a barrel but we are not losing money in California on an LOE as-produced basis as we go forward through the year. There'll be a quarter where they'll be a negative. There'll be a quarter it will be a positive. So, we'll continue to maintain production out there if oil stays around $30, just to maintain the price upside option as long as it don't cost FCX any money. If oil goes to $20 obviously, you know, sustaining and so forth that would be a different ball game. We'll revisit your issue. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: And Brian, also I want to mention, we have shut in the offshore production in Point Arguello... James C. Flores - Vice Chairman; President/CEO, Oil & Gas, Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.: Yeah. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: ...which we had the ability to do that. And that was high cost. It's not a huge part of our production but it was a high-cost segment of our production.

Brian Hsien Yu - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Analyst · Brian Yu with Citi. Please go ahead

All right. Okay. Apologies, I'm not, as you know, with the oil and gas business but in the presentation slide it says operating costs in California are $33 per barrel. What's the difference between that and LOE? Are there some non-cash items in there? James C. Flores - Vice Chairman; President/CEO, Oil & Gas, Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.: Yeah. LOE and operating costs are basically the same thing. But operating costs also captures development activity like workovers and things of that nature which are production-sustaining operations which help build LOE. If you stop working over every well then you just get down to the base LOE, which is your – all your cost to run the oil fields without any capital investment. So, you drop those development activity and that's before any CapEx. And then, I'm just strictly on the LOE basis, you continue to cost, you manage your chemicals, you manage your trucking, you manage your employee levels and compensation and so forth to where they make sure the oil field continues to produce at least break even. You don't want to lose money producing oil at this point in time. And what Richard talked about in the Point Arguello, so forth, that's in the historical numbers. So, we see a reduction now in the low $20s of LOE by $22 to $22.50 a barrel on California going forward. And that's why $30 a barrel it will justify continuing to produce. Say, at $20 a barrel it would be another story so that – we hope they don't get to that point but you never know. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Essentially, what we have Brian is an operation out there at current levels of oil prices that's close to breakeven. But it is from terms of the value of that asset, it is highly, highly leveraged, of course, to oil prices and relatively small increases in the price of oil results in generating substantial values in that asset. So, it's a great asset for people who have an optimistic view about oil price recoveries, and we're reading more about that in today's marketplace. And so, it's an asset that today we can manage without losing money but preserving that value opportunity either for ourselves and for our buyer of the company.

Brian Hsien Yu - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Analyst · Brian Yu with Citi. Please go ahead

Got it. And then just a good question on the potential copper sales. Are there assets that you would consider kind of core and important to FCX's DNA or is it a situation more or like, perhaps, for the right price and you would consider any operation? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: We would consider any operation and are considering any operation, every one of our assets are. Our objective is to respond to this market condition, respond to our balance sheet situation and find the place of where we can generate the most value to achieve that objective while preserving a business that's going to be valuable for our shareholders as we go forward. So, we are considering – we've talked about Grasberg, where we have this agreement to sell an additional 20% interest in a very valuable asset there, and we're looking at our assets across the board. We're finding that, as I feel, there are people in the marketplace who are taking a longer term view of the copper markets in a positive way. And we're engaged in active discussions with people on a number of alternative overlapping possibilities. I know everyone would like to be more specific now. I would like to be more specific now. The situation has developed in a negative way very quickly and aggressively, and we're responding to it. And we will report to you at a time when we can be more specific. But today, we can't.

Brian Hsien Yu - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Analyst · Brian Yu with Citi. Please go ahead

All right. Thanks and good luck.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Tony Rizzuto with Cowen & Company. Please go ahead. Anthony Rizzuto - Cowen & Co. LLC: Hi, everyone. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Hi, Tony. Anthony Rizzuto - Cowen & Co. LLC: I've got a couple questions here. Richard, my first question is, obviously, you mentioned a big uphill climb and obviously very serious challenges that the company is facing. Is the intention to return FCX to a pure play in copper and gold, ultimately, if you can get out from underneath, all of what you're dealing with right now? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Well, as I said, our strategic focus is around our mining business, so that's going to be the focus. We are looking to see what market opportunities we have available to us with our oil and gas asset to generate value, and we're going to assess how to do that either near term or over time. I mean, we are not going to make irrational decisions based on just current market conditions. But we have a number of interested parties who are anxious to talk with us about how we might go forward with it. But our strategic focus for the company is clear. That was established back in our October timeframe. We talked about restructuring our board. The strategic focus of our company is on our copper and related minerals businesses. Anthony Rizzuto - Cowen & Co. LLC: Okay. And some follow-up questions here. So, from your comments, I mean, it sounds like you're not averse to selling certain mining assets in their entirety. Is that a fair assessment? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: We are going to…

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jeremy Sussman with Clarkson. Please go ahead.

Jeremy Ryan Sussman - Clarkson Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · Jeremy Sussman with Clarkson. Please go ahead

Hi. Thanks very much for taking the question. You talked in your prepared remarks and in the press release, I guess, about the physical copper market being close to imbalance. And you guys have certainly taken some proactive steps and you especially did so, I guess, in the financial crisis when you took down production by a decent amount. On one hand, all of your even higher cost operations are still nicely free cash flow positive. On the other hand, you've got the potential ability, I guess, to influence the market. So how do you sort of balance the two, let's say, if copper prices stay around the $2 range where they're currently at? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Well, Jeremy, you're very accurate in pointing out that we generate cash from our business there, and we need this cash. I mean, we need to reduce our debt levels. So we've adjusted it so far to take out the production that's not cash flow positive or marginally cash flow positive at the $2 level. And so with unit cost consolidated average $1.10 that reflects Grasberg, as Tony pointed out, but you look at our other properties in the Americas, that average is about $1.50 a pound, that generates substantial cash, which is something we need. But if this market deteriorates, if the worst predictions for China are true in terms of its economy shrinking and its demand for copper shrinks, then we have the assets that we'll further adjust to that. But at a $2 price level, we're where we need to be.

Jeremy Ryan Sussman - Clarkson Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · Jeremy Sussman with Clarkson. Please go ahead

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. And just real quickly, you talked about evaluating alternatives for the Oil & Gas business. Again, obviously, maybe even a more difficult environment on Oil & Gas. What are several alternatives that you're looking at in the current environment? Thank you. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Okay. Thanks, Jeremy. What we're looking at is reviewing and canvassing the market. We're making data available, we're making our management team available to discuss our assets to parties that might be interested in buying the business or might be interested in buying assets as part of the business. As you point out, it's a difficult marketplace. And yet, and I was listening to comments coming out of Davos and out of the financial community, this low oil price is ultimately going to have an impact on the level of oil that's being produced globally. It's putting pressure on producers here in the United States, but also producers in countries around the world. So ultimately, low prices will have an impact on supplies. And there are people out there who are making comments about how attractive it is to invest in natural resources at this point in the marketplace. So we're going to find out what the interests are, and it's a wide range of activities. We're not going to do anything dumb with these assets because we know what their values are and what their leverage to prices are. We're going to manage our balance sheet and, again, approach it in a way that creates long-term value for our shareholders.

Jeremy Ryan Sussman - Clarkson Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · Jeremy Sussman with Clarkson. Please go ahead

Thanks very much.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead.

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

Hi. Thanks a lot. Just regarding Tony's question about, and what you were saying, Richard, about the $500,000 a day to $600,000 a day of lease cost, to what degree could you just put that back to Noble and the other contractors? Or do you have to spend that $500,000 a day to $600,000 a day even if the rigs are idle and not pumping? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Okay. Well, let me take that in two steps. First of all, what we have signed are standard contracts for the offshore drilling industry. These are contracts that we had entered into that are similar to contracts that all other operators have entered into. And if you read, you can find that there are a number of other operators who are also idling rigs and doing this. So we can't get out of the contracts. I mean, they are what they are. They're standard. They have obligations that we have entered into. These contractors, as a company, we honor our contracts. So we start with that. We can't just get out of – we can't just...

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

Okay. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: ...not pay them because we want to.

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

Okay. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Now, what we're doing is minimizing the cost, given our contractual obligations. We're doing that, one, by idling the rigs, which involves the spread cost that we incur when the rigs are operating. And two, we're entering into negotiations with the contractor companies to mitigate the near-term cash obligations that we have in ways that we can mutually agree to that's in the benefit of both companies. And we have positive relationships and we want to maintain positive relationships with these contractors. They're very good companies. They're people that are – whoever operates this business in the long run is going to want to have good relationships with them. They want to have good relationships with us. They have very high quality rigs. And so it gives us a basis for talking with them, which they're doing, to try to achieve our objectives in ways that's consistent with their rights under the contract.

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

Okay. Okay. So, I guess, that kind of answers my second question, which was – I mean, in terms of the ability, at one point, if the price of oil does decline more, do you – can you make the decision to just put the business on care and maintenance, so to speak, the oil and gas business on care and maintenance? What kind of – like, what's the analysis there in terms of when you can still perhaps maintain the optionality of the business but not burn as much cash? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: That's what we're doing.

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

Okay. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: In some respect, that's what we're doing right now. I mean, we're taking these drilling rigs and idling them to save cost. We're preserving this inventory of prospects for future drilling when market conditions warrant. We're maximizing cash that we get out of production by bringing on-stream some successful wells that we've drilled to keep our production levels up. We're cutting lease operating expenses that Jim talked about. We're reducing G&A. So we're doing what you call care and maintenance. And as you see, by 2017, we get our CapEx down to $600 million where it was $3 billion plus. So what you're saying this is what we're doing.

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

All right. Okay. And then I was going to say even in extreme scenario where if you can't sell the business, you don't have the ability to place any FCX debt on the oil and gas business and then, say, even declare – file for bankruptcy for the oil and gas business and then you could get rid of some liabilities potentially and also get rid of these idle rig costs and just have again the mining business, which we had in the past. Because my understanding, again, is that all the liabilities are – they are obligations of FCX corporate, right? You can't place liabilities – there are no liabilities that are just on the oil and gas business. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: All right. Just think about this, Chris.

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

Yes. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: There's absolutely no way you can transfer debt to an entity and then declare a bankruptcy for it.

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

Right. Right. Right. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: You just can't do that. And we have a business, since oil and gas business has a lot of value.

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

Right. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: And so – and that value is now owned by FCX as the owner of those assets. And we need to manage FCX's debt level and preserve the values that have been created. Now, the values are less now than they were two-and-a-half years ago because oil price have gone from over $100 to $30, just like our copper assets. The value that we put on ETFI, which is $16 billion reflecting today's market is a lot less than it was when copper prices were $3 or more. So we've got to recognize realities, but in the midst of all – and I said this earlier – in the midst of all of this noise about negative investor sentiment, about commodities in China and global growth, and in the midst of all the concerns about Freeport because of our debt level in Indonesia, we've got a great set of assets underlying this. And that's going to be our salvation and our opportunity to create a recovery and value for the future. That's why I'm still working here. I'm still invested in FCX stock and all of our team is as well. So that's what we're going to do.

Christopher Domenic Mancini - GAMCO Asset Management, Inc.

Analyst · Chris Mancini with Gabelli & Company. Please go ahead

Right. Right. No, I would definitely agree that the mining business has a lot of, lot of value. We like the mining assets a lot. Thanks a lot. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: All right. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Matt Murphy with UBS. Please go ahead.

Matt Murphy - UBS Securities Canada, Inc.

Analyst · Matt Murphy with UBS. Please go ahead

Thanks for taking my question. I have another question on asset sales, an issue people have been consistently asking me about. I agree, on the asset front, there's a lot of value there. But the question is regarding the ability to sell assets as it relates to your bond indentures and any restrictions that might exist on asset sales. Can you provide any thoughts on whether or not that's something you are needing to consider as you evaluate alternatives? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: The bonds were issued as investment-grade rated company and they don't have restrictions. We recently restructured our bank credit facility so that we've agreed that half of any asset sales we have will be used to reduce debt. Practicality of it is we're going to use proceeds from asset sales to reduce debt. I mean, that's just what – that's why we're doing it. So there's not any real restriction now. We'll have to deal with our financial situation going forward. But the whole purpose of asset sales is to reduce debt. We're not going to be restoring investment activities until we solve the balance sheet problem and until market conditions improve.

Matt Murphy - UBS Securities Canada, Inc.

Analyst · Matt Murphy with UBS. Please go ahead

Okay. That makes sense. And you also mentioned just making tough decisions and including, you said, issuing equity. I'm just wondering if there's any thoughts on whether the board would consider another at-the-market equity program. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Well, we're looking at all alternatives. We've completed these last two rounds. It goes without saying, none of us want to issue equity at these levels, none of us want to sell assets in this market, but we have to do what we have to do. And we're looking with our banks at what access to capital market transactions, private market transactions we might have. A lot of this is driven by our progress on our asset sales. And I'm encouraged by the opportunities that are emerging for us. So there's got to be a holistic answer to it, and we have to keep all options open. But at the present time, we're focused on what kind of opportunities we have in the asset sale joint venture arena.

Matt Murphy - UBS Securities Canada, Inc.

Analyst · Matt Murphy with UBS. Please go ahead

Okay. Thanks a lot.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Orest Wowkodaw - Scotia Capital, Inc.

Analyst · Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead

I've got a couple of questions as well. I was wondering if you could quantify what your debt reduction target might be. Or perhaps you can give a range like you're looking to sort of reduce net debt in the sort of $3 billion to $5 billion range or we're just trying to get a sense of how many assets could be sold if the pricing makes sense in this environment. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: $5 billion to $10 billion is our target.

Orest Wowkodaw - Scotia Capital, Inc.

Analyst · Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead

$5 billion to $10 billion. Okay. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: That's not something we won't be able to do in one transaction.

Orest Wowkodaw - Scotia Capital, Inc.

Analyst · Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead

Sure. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: And it's not going to be something we do. I'm not giving you a specific timeframe on it. We're going to make significant progress, I believe, in the first half of the year, but we need to get our debt down over time into that range.

Orest Wowkodaw - Scotia Capital, Inc.

Analyst · Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead

Okay. So, $5 billion to $10 billion through multiple transactions would be your target? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Correct.

Orest Wowkodaw - Scotia Capital, Inc.

Analyst · Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead

Okay. And in terms of your exposure, your financial exposure, if your credit is downgraded from investment grade, I know you're looking at alternatives to posting letters of credit. But could you give us a sense of what your maximum cash exposure would be that would potentially eat into your $4 billion credit line availability? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: We believe we have opportunities to deal with this in a way that would not eat into our line of credit. And we're working on those structures now and I don't want to go because of the state of analysis and considerations, but we've come up with some creative ideas about how to fulfill our obligations, which we will do. We're going to fulfill our obligations to states and the federal government, but we believe we can do it in a way that will preserve our credit facility, the availability on our credit facility.

Orest Wowkodaw - Scotia Capital, Inc.

Analyst · Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead

Well, could you give us a sense that if for some reason those alternatives did not come to fruition what the financial exposure would be from a liquidity perspective? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Okay. It's not so much a specific amount that gets triggered all at one point in time. Kathleen, you want to comment on this? Kathleen L. Quirk - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Executive VP: Yeah. I was going to say, Orest, it's in the $500 million range currently, and it's something that the states review on an ongoing basis along with the company to look at what those ultimate closure obligations are. So it's not a static number, but that's the approximate level currently.

Orest Wowkodaw - Scotia Capital, Inc.

Analyst · Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead

Okay. That's wonderful, thank you. And then just finally, just changing gears in terms of the assets. Can you give us a sense of if water issues are still impacting Grasberg? I know you had sort of alluded to that coming into the fourth quarter. And sort of how you see that playing out through 2016? And I was also wondering about Cerro Verde, whether you have all the water you need there to ramp up the expansion this year. Thank you. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: All right. We'll have Mark Johnson speak about Grasberg. Mark is our executive who's the President of our operations there. So, Mark? Mark J. Johnson - President & Chief Operating Officer – Indonesia: Yeah. The El Niño effect that we talked or hear about so much, it affected us definitely in 2015. That started to relax for us as far as daily rainfall in December. And so far in 2016, we haven't had any constraints with the water. We've had normal rainfall return back, like I said, in mid-December and this continued through January. We don't expect that we're going to see, and none of our numbers include, any sort of constraints because of the lack of water. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: And Red Conger is here who manages our business in the Americas and in Africa, and Red's recently been to Peru, and can talk to you about our water situation there. Harry “Red” Conger - President & Chief Operating Officer – Americas and Africa Mining: Yeah, Orest, in the El Niño pattern, that part of the country is drier than it normally is. This is typically the rainy season there now and it hasn't really started raining yet. We've had a storm or two up in the mountains. The water levels right now in the reservoirs are roughly the same as they were last year, so we don't see a shortage yet. But it needs to rain and it hasn't rained yet. We've not been impacted to this point. So we're cautiously optimistic that we'll still get some rain this year. But to this point, we have not. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: And the water access that we've had for Cerro Verde is coming from this wastewater collection and treatment system that we built for the city of Arequipa. So it's providing a source of water for our expanded operations. The El Niño effect is giving concerns to farmers in the area, and that's caused some, let me say, discussions with us and with the city about our water access. And while we have to deal with that, the long-term solution for water at Cerro Verde has been a very innovative and successful one of working cooperatively with the community in Arequipa.

Orest Wowkodaw - Scotia Capital, Inc.

Analyst · Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead

Okay. So, at this point, it doesn't sound like you're concerned you're going to be water constrained in either operation this year? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: That's correct.

Orest Wowkodaw - Scotia Capital, Inc.

Analyst · Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank. Please go ahead

Okay. Thank you very much. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of John Tumazos with John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead.

John C. Tumazos - John Tumazos Very Independent Research LLC

Analyst · John Tumazos with John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead

Thank you for all your actions and tough work in the tough time. Concerning the $5 billion to $10 billion asset sale target, does that include the proceeds from selling a 10% or 20% slug of Grasberg? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yes.

John C. Tumazos - John Tumazos Very Independent Research LLC

Analyst · John Tumazos with John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead

And other than Grasberg, are there other mining assets for sale with the asset sales focused more on the Oil & Gas assets that are not as positive cash flow generative? Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Well, it does include consideration of potential sales of oil and gas assets whether they're cash flow or not. It considers that. John, the point I was trying to make and I hope I got across is we have a number of alternatives. In fact, we're looking at all of our assets across the company's board to see how can we generate cash to reduce debt and how we can preserve values for long-term shareholders. So every one of our assets are being considered. And we are going to understand the market's interest, we're going to understand where we can find transactions and including potential for capital markets transactions that might involve placements of various types of securities. But we're looking across the board how can we achieve these two goals in the best fashion, how can we deal with our balance sheet, how we can come out of that with a company that can be there with significant cash flows, development opportunities for the long-run business. I know you would like and I would like to know exactly how we're going to do that, but the market is such that I can't tell you right now. But I can tell you, our commitment to it in our across-the-board consideration of alternatives.

John C. Tumazos - John Tumazos Very Independent Research LLC

Analyst · John Tumazos with John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead

Thank you. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Thank you, John.

Operator

Operator

Our final question comes from the line of Lucas Pipes with FBR Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Lucas N. Pipes - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: Hey. Good morning, everybody. So... Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Good morning. Lucas N. Pipes - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: ...I wanted to quickly follow up on Indonesia. And in the press release, you've stated, I believe, that the timing of the capital expenditures continue to be reviewed. And I wondered if you could maybe give us an update on what is encompassed in this review and the potential reductions or options that we could be looking at. Richard C. Adkerson - Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer: Yeah. We've been working very closely with Mark and his team to defer all the capital we can defer, and we've come up with some adjustments to mine plans and restructuring approaches to the long-term development of the resources, and that's reflected in our current plans. We are continuing with our investments to develop the underground ore bodies, the access to them and to prepare the Grasberg block cave for bringing it on stream beginning in roughly 2018 – beginning of 2018. So the review process is that's predicated on our ability to continue to export concentrate. So the current discussions we have about getting an extension for that export is important to those decisions to continue to invest. As I said, we are presently very confident that we are going to get this export permit arranged for us. But if there was any aspects of our work with the Government of Indonesia that would change that, then unfortunately we'd be forced to curtail development activities, curtail employment, take actions to preserve our company. We don't expect that…

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our call for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.