Mike Hennigan
Analyst · JPMorgan
Thanks, Gary. As Gary mentioned we’re pleased to report record quarterly financial results with adjusted EBITDA of $716 million and distributable cash flow $619 million. We announced our 21st consecutive increase in our quarterly distribution to 61 in three quarter cents per common unit a 14% increase over the distribution of first quarter last year. We also affirmed our distribution growth guidance of 10% for 2018 and our intent to continue to execute a self-funding model with no expected new units to be issued this year to fund our organic capital investments. The partnership ended the quarter with leverage of 3.8 times well below levels for an investment grade credit profile and strong distribution coverage of 1.29 times. Slide five provides an overview of our logistics and storage segment. Before I cover the quarterly highlights, there continues to be a lot of discussion in the market regarding policy revision no longer allowing MLPs to recover an income tax allowance and cost to service rate filings. I just want to reiterate what we disclosed in our press release issued on March 16, we expect these revisions to have a minimums impact on the partnerships earnings and cash flows. Turning back to our LNS quarterly highlights, we completed the dropdown of our refining logistics assets and fuels distribution services, commissioned the Robinson butane cavern and added two boats and 13 barges to our marine fleet. Further expansion to our fleet are expected later this year. The partnership also completed the first phase of our expansion of the Ozark and Wood River-to-Patoka pipeline systems which delivered cushion crude to Wood River-to-Patoka, this expansion capacity is ramping up as boosters and connections are completed at cushion. The full expansion to 360,000 barrels per day is expected to be available by mid-2018. We’re pleased to bring these projects online which provide additional high-quality fee-based earnings to the partnership as well as logistics solutions and crude optionality to MPC and other market participants. Moving to our gathering and processing segment, Slide 6 provides an overview of our operations in the Marcellus and Utica Shale during the quarter. Gathered volumes increased 46% over the same quarter last year to an average of 2.7 billion cubic feet per day setting a new record for the partnership. Process volumes average approximately 5.1 billion cubic feet per day in the quarter representing a 10% increase over the same quarter last year. While volumes were up versus the first quarter of 2017, there were a couple of factors that resulted in lower processing volume versus the fourth quarter of last year. First, much of this decline was planned as producers temporarily shut in wells that were producing in the fourth quarter in order to safely frac and complete new wells in the vicinity of the existing wells. This frac is common the industry, where you take one step back in order to gain two steps forward in terms of volume levels. We also had a planned shutdown at our Houston complex to complete maintenance and turnaround work in advance of placing our new 200 million cubic feet per day plan in service. In addition to the two planned reductions, we’re also experienced unexpectedly harsh winter conditions in the Northeast that impacted producer volumes and some of our facilities. With these activities behind us, we expect new wells to come online in the second quarter leading to higher volumes in the quarter and continuing the growth trends throughout the year. We have a positive outlook for buying growth in the Northeast. To support this growth, we expect to add 800 million cubic feet per day of incremental capacity during the second half of the year through plant additions at our Sherwood, Majorsville, and Harman Creek complexes. Slide 7 provides a summary of our fractionated volumes in the Marcellus and Utica regions. We produced a record 395,000 barrels a day of ethane and heavier NGLs in the quarter, up 18% over the same quarter last year. During the second half of the year we expect to add 20,000 barrels per day ethane fractionation capacity at both Sherwood and Harmon Creek and 60,000 barrels per day, propane plus fractionation capacity at our Hopedale Complex. These capacity additions will further strengthen our position as the largest fractionator in the Northeast. Moving to our Southwest operations on Slide 8 gathered volumes averaged nearly 1.5 billion cubic feet per day for the first quarter representing a 10% increase over the same quarter last year. Process volumes averaged over 1.3 billion cubic feet per day for the quarter, a 5% increase over first-quarter 2017. We are pleased to report continued progress on our Permian growth strategy, we commenced operations of the 200 million cubic feet per day Argo plant, doubling our processing capacity in the highly prolific Delaware Basin. Construction of the Omega plant in the STACK shale play of Oklahoma continues and is expected to be operational by mid-2018. These midstream assets and joint venture interests expand our footprint in Southwest and provide a partnership growth and diversification of cash flows. Before I turn the call over to Pam I want to take a moment to summarize why we continue to believe MPLX is one of the most attractive investments in the midstream space. First in the logistics and storage segment over the past year, we have acquired from MPC midstream assets and services that are projected to generate $1.4 billion of annual EBITDA for the partnership. These are fee-based earnings streams with almost no commodity sensitivity to them. We have a strong focus on continuing to be a superior midstream service provider at MPC and at the same time, we see an opportunity to attract more third parties to our current assets as well as replace some of the third parties who currently provide logistic services to MPC. On the gathering and processing side, we’ve a solid foundation, particularly in the Northeast, where we are the largest processor and fractionator in the region. We also have a presence in the Permian and STACK and expect to see growth in these regions. We remain bullish on U.S. crude and natural gas production, are enthusiastic about the long runway of investment opportunities for MPLX. With the support of MPC as our sponsor we have the ability to develop incremental infrastructure to support growth across the hydrocarbon value chain, importantly, including export opportunities. We’re executing a self-funding model and intend to finance our approximate $2 billion of organic growth without issuing public equity. Our plan is to fund the growth with retained cash and debt while maintaining an investment-grade credit profile and strong distribution coverage. The future for MPLX is bright. We are one of the premier midstream investment offerings and are well-positioned to deliver long-term sustainable distribution growth to our investors. I will now turn the call over to Pam to cover some financial highlights. Pam?