Robin Fielder
Analyst · Mizuho. Please go ahead
Thanks, Jack. Yesterday afternoon we reported strong quarterly results with adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow of $433 million and $335 million respectively with a coverage ratio of 1.2. Adjusted EBITDA does not include $12 million of cash received during the quarter due to the revenue recognition accounting standard. For the remainder of the year, we anticipate a similar run rate EBITDA impact from our cost of service contracts as it relates to revenue recognition, which we expect to total approximately $40 million for the year.Operationally, gas throughput increased by more than 75 million cubic feet per day quarter-on-quarter. This increase was primarily driven by higher throughput from our equity interest assets in the Delaware Basin and from our Wyoming assets. Additionally, our total gas throughput grew more than 9% year-on-year driven by our Delaware and DJ Basin assets.Turning to liquids. Our DJ Oil Complex throughput increased by 9,000 barrels per day as our system achieved record volumes at our centralized oil stabilization facility. We also continue to benefit from solid performance across our portfolio of equity investments and growth from our long-haul crude pipelines. Our liquids gross margin of $1.85 per barrel was higher-than-expected due to the timing of distribution payments from equity investments. Once normalized, this margin would have been in line with the first quarter and with our expectations.Construction at our Latham gas processing plant and the DJ Basin is progressing well with Train I expected to be online near the end of the third quarter and Train II around year-end. I also want to highlight our recent commercial success in the DJ Basin where we re-contracted processing capacity at our second Latham train with a third party, resulting in a higher value, longer-term contract, which retained a 100% of the valuable minimum volume commitments or MVCs. Both processing trains are fully subscribed and fully underwritten by MVCs.Next, as we announced with our earnings last night, we have updated our 2019 guidance. Before I get into the drivers of the changes, I want to say that despite our lower guidance we remain confident in the near and long-term potential of our best-in-class portfolio in the Delaware and DJ Basins. As we've highlighted previously a significant portion of our assets are underpinned by a long-term fee-based contract portfolio, which includes significant MVC and cost of service protections. While these features do not insulate us from everything upstream or downstream of our systems, they safeguard our returns on capital invested in servicing these contracts, many of which have over a decade of life remaining.The full year adjusted EBITDA decreased relative to our original guidance announced last November can be grouped into three categories. The largest driver is lower throughput, mainly associated with our Delaware Basin assets. Some of our customers have experienced a combination of issues including higher than normal field downtime due to weather, power outages, as well as shut-ins related to simultaneous operations.While our facilities continue to experience good run time, these impacts are reflected in our revised guidance. In addition, several producers provided revised forecast, partially related to the timing of wells being delivered to our systems, which impacted forecast for the back half of the year.Second, our legacy Wyoming assets continue to realize lower margins due to the significant decrease in NGL and natural gas pricing relative to when our budget was set in late 2018. In total, this represents $38 million of full year EBITDA.With the continued growth of our fee-based DJ and Delaware Basin assets, the EBITDA contribution from these and other assets that have direct commodity exposure will continue to decline over time.For the first half of 2019 and excluding equity investments, only 7% of our gas volumes and none of our liquids volumes were directly exposed to commodity prices. Similarly, we continue to benefit from the diversification provided by our growing portfolio of fee-based equity interest investments.And third, the revenue recognition impact related to revised cost of service contract assumptions has reduced annual EBITDA by approximately $30 million. However, this does not impact our distributable cash flow for 2019 as we expect to receive this amount in cash.Offsetting these lower EBITDA impacts, we are expected to benefit from favorable operating expenses at multiple assets including at our West Texas and DJ Basin Complexes, as well as higher distributions from our equity investment portfolio.Before we open the call to questions, I want to address a few additional items. In July, we completed an amendment to our term loan facility, which increased commitments by $1 billion to $3 billion in total, extended the maturity date to the end of next year, and modified the mandatory prepayment provisions. This amendment provides Wes significant financial flexibility and increased liquidity.We appreciate that you may have questions related to the closing of the Anadarko and Oxy merger. At this time, integration and transition discussions are well under way and we plan to share any relevant updates after the close of the merger, which is expected to occur shortly after the Anadarko shareholder vote on August 8th.As always, we appreciate all of your continued support. And with that operator, I'd like to open the lines for questions.