Trey Karlovich
Analyst · Baird. Your line is now open
Great. Thanks Mike. I am going to start with the refinancing. Obviously, this was a very significant transaction for the partnership. First, I would like to thank our NGL team for all their efforts in pulling this transaction together. It was a – like I said, it was a significant accomplishment. As we discussed on our last earnings call, the extension of our credit facility has been our top priority due to the significant amount that was outstanding on the facility, about $1.7 billion plus $140 million in letters of credit and the near-term maturity of the debt, which went current in October and matured later in 2021. We were working closely with our relationship banks to effectuate a short-term extension into 2023. However, we were not able to meet certain terms and requirements of some of the lenders. We evaluated several alternatives to complete the extension, including asset sales, minority interest investments in our assets, private capital transactions, among others. Ultimately, we made the determination that a refinancing of the entire credit facility would be the best outcome for all stakeholders as it provided a complete solution to near-term maturities and will allow the business operations to recover and grow following COVID, NOPEC, and our recent Mesquite and Hillstone acquisitions as well as the settlement with Extraction. This refinancing pushed $2 billion of maturities that were coming due between now and June 2023 out to February of 2026. It also provided over $200 million of needed incremental liquidity today as we are managing higher commodity prices and a ramp up in demand and activity associated with the COVID recovery. This refinancing obviously came with a cost. Our interest costs will be higher over the next few years. And as Mike noted, our distributions will be temporarily suspended until our leverage is reduced, but we believe this was the best outcome for all stakeholders, considering some of the alternatives we were faced with and the impact of near-term maturity and tight liquidity was happening on our operations. This new structure provides the partnership with significant flexibility especially once our leverage is reduced to under 4.75x as long as liquidity remains over certain levels and no significant debt maturities are due within 90 days. The elimination of financial covenants will also enable the management team to focus on executing our business plans over the near-term to grow our cash flows and earnings of our established asset base. We currently have minimal capital expenditure needs or requirements over the next few years, which also fits well within this new financial structure. All capital expenditures will either be funded with cash flows from operations or possibly on the ABL and any significant CapEx or acquisition opportunities that arise will be specifically self-financed. Ultimately, this refi provided the partnership with a full solution to its financing needs and we appreciate the bank group that supported us through this transaction as well as the investors that participated in the notes offering. Our goal is to de-lever our balance sheet and provide the business with flexibility to maximize returns to the benefit of all stakeholders. We will be highly focused on reducing debt and continuing to extend maturities over the coming quarters. Moving to our results for the quarter, I would like to point out a few of the items that impacted the quarter specifically. As we noted on the last call, the Poker Lake connection came online on October 1, a significant milestone for our Water Solutions business and water volumes in the Northern Delaware Basin continued to grow. Extraction diverted significant volumes from Grand Mesa in our crude oil segment as both parties work towards the ultimate settlement and new contractual arrangement that Mike covered. And we completed additional note repurchases of various discounts through the quarter as well. Overall, our adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $125 million and has totaled $354 million year-to-date. With the impact of these items, our total leverage at 12/31/2020 ended up just over 6x. Some additional color on the crude oil segment, the crude oil segment reported approximately $26 million of adjusted EBITDA this quarter and $122 million year-to-date. Grand Mesa volumes averaged only 69,000 barrels per day this quarter, with the largest decrease due to the Extraction barrels being diverted. We have estimated the fiscal 2021 impact from the Extraction bankruptcy to be $45 million, which includes the lower volumes, revised rates, the write-off of minimum volume deficiencies and legal costs for defending our contracts. We received $35 million for our remaining unsecured claims in January. This amount will not be recognized in fiscal 2021 adjusted EBITDA. As a result of the bankruptcy and the global settlement with Extraction, we wrote off our intangible assets associated with legacy transportation agreements. This also required us to evaluate the goodwill associated with the Crude Logistics segment for an impairment. We wrote-off $384 million of goodwill and intangible assets during this quarter as a non-cash charge for earnings. Third quarter adjusted EBITDA for this segment also includes the write-off of approximately $6 million related to previously invoiced minimum volume deficiencies to extract. We are expecting improved earnings from this segment on a go-forward basis as we transition to the new supply agreement with Extraction and see increased activity from other producers in the DJ Basin. We also expect to benefit from the higher crude oil prices in the current market. Moving to Water, the Water Solutions adjusted EBITDA was $66 million for the quarter and has totaled $184 million year-to-date. Total produced water volumes averaged 1.4 million barrels per day during the quarter with an increase in the Northern Delaware Basin driven by the new Poker Lake deliveries. Delaware Basin volumes now represent 86% of total portfolio volumes and over 97% of the Delaware Basin volumes are on our pipeline system. Eagle Ford and DJ Basin volumes remain challenged by the lower crude oil prices, rig counts and completions coupled with production declines during the quarter. We are starting to see increased activities in these basins in the current commodity price environment, but continue to expect a slower recovery of volumes in those areas of operations. We received an average disposal fee of $0.61 per barrel for the quarter, a slight decrease driven by the new Poker Lake volumes. Skim oil volumes averaged 2,000 barrels per day during the quarter and we recovered about 14 basis points from our disposal of water. Again, Poker Lake volumes have impacted our recoveries as they contain minimal skim oil. Operating expenses was another highlight with reductions realized in the prior quarter carried into the third quarter and we averaged $0.27 per barrel for the quarter. We expect this cost per barrel to continue to decline as we add incremental pipeline barrels and capture the efficiencies of the scale on our system as well as some of the items Mike mentioned earlier. Finally, going to Liquids and Refined Products, adjusted EBITDA for this segment totaled $42 million this quarter and $75 million year-to-date. Product margins remain in line with our expectations during the quarter and volumes continue to be impacted by weaker demand through COVID. We have seen some increased product pricing in the recent months and several cold snaps should benefit our wholesale propane business demand. This segment remains in line with our expectations for the year and we expect it to perform better as demand picks up for motor fuels and blending stocks and a recovery in macroeconomic environment. Our corporate costs remain in line with expectations as well and included the one-time legal cost associated with our defense of the Extraction bankruptcy of approximately $5 million year-to-date. Our growth CapEx totaled approximately $5 million for the quarter and $44 million year-to-date. As previously mentioned, we have minimal growth capital expenditure requirements going forward and we believe we can service our producer customers, utilizing our existing pipeline system and interconnect and disposal of assets. We continue to manage our maintenance CapEx as well, which was about $6 million during the quarter and has totaled $22 million year-to-date. Our combined capital expenditures has totaled $66 million as Mike mentioned and is still expected to come in below the $100 million guidance for the full year. Mike also covered our initial guidance for fiscal ‘22 at $100 million to $125 million for growth, acquisitions and maintenance expenditures. A portion of these expenditures would be dependent on successfully securing additional acreage dedications in the Delaware. Finally, we have covered some of the highlights and expectations related to each of our segments going into next year. We initiated adjusted EBITDA guidance for next year between $570 million and $600 million. This guidance includes assumptions around increased produced water volumes, crude volumes transported on Grand Mesa by Extraction and other DJ Basin producers, commodity prices remaining at reasonable levels or higher, and a recovery in demand for refined products and natural gas liquids. In summary, this was a very significant 3 to 4-month period for the partnership as we resolved several unknowns, including Extraction and near-term debt maturities and positioned the partnership for future success. This has been an unprecedented time for all of us and we appreciate your continued support. That concludes our prepared remarks. And we will now open the line up for questions.