John Gatling
Analyst · Scotiabank
Thanks, Jennifer. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Hess Midstream's Third Quarter 2020 Conference Call. Today, I'll review our operating performance and highlights, as we continue to execute our strategy and discuss Hess Corporation's latest results and outlook for the Bakken. Jonathan will then review our financial results. Third quarter results reflect continued strong Bakken performance by Hess Corporation and increased gas capture by Hess Midstream, which drove throughputs above expectations. This along with our continued disciplined approach to managing costs enabled us to exceed our guidance for the third quarter that has allowed us to again raise our full year 2020 guidance. We now expect our 2020 full year adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $725 million to $735 million, which represents a 33% growth year-over-year at the midpoint. We're also reiterating adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2021, where we anticipate an approximate 20% increase from our expected 2020 outperformance. In addition, our targeted annual distribution per share growth of 5% through 2022 remains unchanged validating the strength, stability and visibility of our financial outlook. Focusing in more closely on our third quarter results, gas processing volumes averaged 296 million cubic foot per day and crude terminaling volumes were 141,000 barrels of oil per day. Both approximately flat compared to the second quarter. Third parties contributed approximately 7% of our gas and 9% of our oil volumes in the third quarter, also flat with the second quarter and slightly ahead of expectations at the midpoint of our adjusted EBITDA guidance range. Water gathering volumes averaged 78,000 barrels of water per day in the third quarter, an 18% increase compared to the second quarter, as we continued to capture incremental trucked water into our expanding gathering system. Now turning to Hess upstream highlights. Earlier today, Hess reported strong third quarter production results with Bakken production averaging 198,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, an increase of 21% from the year ago quarter and above guidance of approximately 185,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. During the quarter, Hess continued to leverage Hess Midstream's pipeline and rail terminal system which provides significant export capacity and optionality north and south of the Missouri river to key markets throughout the United States. For full year 2020, Hess forecasts Bakken production to average approximately 190,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, an increase from previous guidance of 185,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Turning to Hess Midstream guidance. As a result of continued strong performance, we have increased our full year throughput guidance for gas gathering and processing. Through the first 9 months of the year, the installation of an additional 40 million cubic foot per day of gas compression capacity has significantly improved our gas capture capability, which helped mitigate the anticipated throughput impact from Hess' rig reduction. Furthermore, we expect to add an approximate 30 million cubic foot per day of additional compression capacity in the fourth quarter with the restart of 2 newly refurbished legacy compressor stations, an innovative solution that created near immediate capacity at a low incremental cost. This highly localized approach is an important component of our strategy to capture more Hess and third-party volumes that enables customers to continue to meet or exceed North Dakota's wellhead gas capture targets, which are increasing to 91% effective November 1, 2020. As a result, we now expect gas gathering volumes to average 315 million cubic foot to 320 million cubic foot per day and gas processing volumes to average 300 million cubic foot to 305 million cubic foot per day for the full year 2020 both increasing 8% at the midpoint compared to previous guidance. Our complete financial and operational guidance is available in our earnings release that was distributed earlier this morning. For the fourth quarter, we expect gas throughputs, which generate approximately 75% of our revenues to be roughly flat compared to the third quarter. Fourth quarter oil and water volumes are expected to decline compared to the third quarter in line with Hess' guidance. The midpoint of our financial guidance also assumes third-party activity remains consistent with the third quarter. Turning to Hess Midstream's Capital program. Our 2020 guidance remains unchanged. Full year 2020 expansion capital is expected to be $250 million comprising of approximately $140 million in gas processing, $25 million in gas compression and $85 million in gathering and well pad interconnects. We continue to make excellent progress on the expansion of the Tioga Gas plant, and as previously announced, expect construction to be complete by the end of 2020. Incremental gas processing capacity is planned to be available in 2021 upon completion of the turnaround during, which time the expanded plant including the residue and natural gas liquids takeaway pipelines will be tied in. Maintenance capital guidance remains unchanged at $10 million. In summary, we continued to demonstrate strong operational and financial performance in a challenging macro environment. We're again increasing volume guidance, enabling us to raise our full year 2020 adjusted EBITDA guidance to be in the range of $725 million to $735 million. In addition, we're reaffirming our 2021 guidance where we expect another year of double-digit adjusted EBITDA growth, a growing distribution per share and with the tie-in of the 150 million cubic foot per day expansion of the Tioga Gas Plant, which creates significant new opportunities for gas capture growth in the basin for years to come. Finally, we want to again emphasize our continued commitment to operating safely and reliably during this unprecedented pandemic. The safety of our workforce and the communities where we operate remains our top priority. I will now turn the call over to Jonathan to review our financial results.