Q2 2024 DT Midstream Inc Earnings Call

Good morning and welcome to DT Midstream's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, we'll have a question and answer session. To ask a question, you'll need to press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad.

Operator: for Earnings Conference Call. All participants aren't in a listen-only mode. After this, because your marks will have a question and answer session.

Operator: Earnings Conference call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, we'll have a question and answer session. To ask a question, you'll need to press the star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Todd Lohrmann, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you.

Operator: To ask a question, you'll need to press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

Todd Lohrmann: I would now like to turn the call over to Todd Lohrmann, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

Todd Lohrmann: I would now like to turn the call over to Todd Lohrmann, Director of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Todd Lohrmann: Good morning and welcome everyone. Before we get started, I would like to remind you to read the Safe Harbor Statement on page 2 of the presentation, including the reference to forward-looking state. Our presentation also includes references to non-GAAP financial measures; please refer to the Reconciliations to GAAP contained in the appendix. Joining me this morning are David Slater, President and CEO, and Jeff Jewell, Executive Vice President and CFO. I'll now turn it over to David to start the call. Thanks.

Todd Lohrmann: Good morning and welcome everyone. Before we get started, I would like to remind you to read the Safe Harbor statement on page two of the presentation, including the reference to forward-looking statements. Our presentation also includes references to non-GAAP financial measures.

Todd Lohrmann: Good morning and welcome, everyone.

Speaker Change: Before we get started, I would like to remind you to read the Safe Harbor Statement on page 2 of the presentation.

Speaker Change: including the reference to forward-looking statements.

Speaker Change: Our presentation also includes references to non-GAAP financial measures.

Todd Lohrmann: Please refer to the reconciliations to GAP contained in the appendix.

Speaker Change: Please refer to the Reconciliations to GAP contained in the appendix.

Todd Lohrmann: Joining me this morning are David Slater, President and CEO, and Jeff Jewel, Executive Vice President and CFO.

Speaker Change: Joining me this morning are David Slater, president and CEO , and Jeff Jewell, executive vice president and CFO .

David Slater: I'll now turn it over to David to start the call. Thanks, Todd, and good morning everyone, and thank you for joining. During today's call, I'll touch on our financial results, provide an update on the latest commercial activity, and construction progress on our growth initiatives.

David J. Slater: Thanks, Todd, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. During today's call, I'll touch on our financial results, provide an update on the latest commercial activity, and construction progress on our growth initiatives. I'll then close with some commentary on gas market fundamentals before turning it over to Jeff to review our financial performance and outlook. So, with that, we had another strong quarter, and the business continues to perform in line with our full-year plan. We are reaffirming our 2024 Adjusted EBITDA Guidance Range and our 2025 Adjusted EBITDA Early ELIC Range.

Speaker Change: I'll now turn it over to David to start the call. Thanks, Todd, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining.

David J. Slater: During today's call, I'll touch on our financial results, provide an update on the latest commercial activity, and construction progress on our growth initiatives.

David Slater: I'll then close with some commentary on gas market fundamentals before turning it over to Jeff to review our financial performance and outlook. So with that, we had never a strong quarter. And the business continues to perform in line with our full-year plan. We are reaffirming our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance range and our 2025 adjusted EBITDA early ELIC range. Our construction and commercial teams are making great strides in advancing our backlog of organic growth projects, positioning the company for continued success. This morning, we are pleased to announce that our lead phase three expansion was placed in service early and on budget, increasing capacity for a 1.7 to 1.9 BCF per day.

Speaker Change: I'll then close with some commentary on gas market fundamentals before turning it over to Jeff to review our financial performance and outlook.

Speaker Change: So, with that, we had another strong quarter, and the business continues to perform in line with our full-year plan. We are reaffirming our 2024 Adjusted EBITDA Guidance Range and our 2025 Adjusted EBITDA Early ELIC Range.

David J. Slater: Our construction and commercial teams are making great strides in advancing our backlog of organic growth projects, positioning the company for continued success. This morning, we are pleased to announce that our LEED Phase 3 expansion was placed into service early and on budget, increasing the capacity from 1.7 to 1.9 BCF per day and further expanding our Haynesville system's wellhead to water connectivity. As a reminder, this expansion is underpinned by long-term take-or-pay contracts and leverages incremental looping and compression, providing reliable, timely access to growing Gulf Coast LNG demand.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Our construction and commercial teams are making great strides in advancing our backlog of organic growth projects, positioning the company for continued success.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: This morning, we are pleased to announce that our LEED Phase 3 expansion was placed into service early and on budget, increasing the capacity from 1.7 to 1.9 BCF per day, and further expanding our Haynesville system's wellhead-to-water connectivity.

David Slater: And further expanding our Haynesville systems well had the water connectivity. As a reminder, this expansion was underpinned by long-term take-or-pay contracts and leverages incremental looping and compression, providing reliable, timely access to growing Gulf Coast and LNG demand. We continue to be active discussions for a lead phase for expansion with strong recognition by producers of the coming demand starting next year. And the long-term value for production access to Gulf Coast markets. Sticking with our Haynesville system, we've also executed agreements to connect three producers that are located in East Texas. Further expanding and diversifying the supply access of our system.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: As a reminder, this expansion was underpinned by long-term take-or-pay contracts and leverages incremental looping and compression, providing reliable, timely access to growing Gulf Coast LMG demand.

David J. Slater: We continue to be in active discussions for Elite Phase 4 expansion, with strong recognition by producers of the coming demand starting next year and the long-term value for production access to Gulf Coast markets. Sticking with our Haynesville system, we've also executed agreements to connect three producers that are located in East Texas. Further expanding and diversifying the supply access that we're enjoying, these agreements with private producers are underpinned by long-term contracts with sizable acreage dedications and include all of the delivery point flexibility of the system, including potential access to leasing.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We continue to be in active discussions for Elite Phase 4 expansion.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: with strong recognition by producers of the coming demand starting next year.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: and the long-term value for production access to Gulf Coast markets.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Sticking with our Haynesville system, we've also executed agreements to connect three producers that are located in East Texas, further expanding and diversifying the supply access of our system.

David Slater: These agreements with private producers are underpinned by long-term contracts with sizeable acreage dedications and include all of the delivery points flexibility of the system, including potential access to lead.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: These agreements with private producers are underpinned by long-term contracts with sizable acreage dedications and include all of the delivery point flexibility of the system, including potential access to LEAP.

David Slater: Turning to our energy transition platform, our carbon capture and sequestration project in Louisiana continues to progress as planned. The third-party evaluation of the class five test well was recently completed, and the results confirm the formation suitability for CO2 sequestration. We've commenced a more detailed engineering design of the system and injection site and are awaiting the final Class 6 well permit requirements from the Louisiana DEENR. We are very happy with how the project is progressing, and it remains on track for a second half of 2024 FID.

David J. Slater: Turning to our energy transition platform, our carbon capture and sequestration project in Louisiana continues to progress as planned. A third-party evaluation of the Class V test well was recently completed, and the results confirm the formation's suitability for CO2 sequestration.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Turning to our energy transition platform, our carbon capture and sequestration project in Louisiana continues to progress as planned.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: The third-party evaluation of the Class V test well was recently completed, and the results confirm the formation's suitability for CO2 sequestration.

David J. Slater: We've commenced a more detailed engineering design of the system and Injection Site and are awaiting the final Class 6 well permit requirements from the Louisiana DENR. We are very happy with how the project is progressing, and it remains on track for the second half of 2024 FID. This morning, we're also excited to announce that earlier this month, we reached an agreement to advance a new clean fuels gathering project. This project consists of the acquisition of an existing treating plant and the build out of a new gas gathering system, which will gather fugitive coal mine methane from acreage dedicated by a producer. This new project is right in our wheelhouse and is expected to provide significant tax credit and environmental benefits, leveraging the producer's development and operational experience and our gathering, treating, and tax credit expertise.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We've commenced a more detailed engineering design of the system.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: and Injection Site, and are awaiting the final Class 6 well permit requirements from the Louisiana DENR.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We are very happy with how the project is progressing and it remains on track for a second half of 2024 FID.

David Slater: This morning we were also excited to announce that earlier this month we reached an agreement to advance a new clean fuels gathering project. This project consists of the acquisition of an existing treating plant and the build out of a new gas gathering system which will gather fugitive coalmine methane from acreage dedicated by a producer. This new project is right in our wheelhouse and is expected to provide significant tax credit and environmental benefits, leveraging the producer's development and operational experience and our gathering, treating, and tax credit expertise. We are excited about our entry into this emerging and growing clean fuels space through the advancement of this opportunity from our project backlog and will keep you updated as it progresses.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: This morning we're also excited to announce that earlier this month we reached an agreement to advance a new clean fuels gathering project.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: This project consists of the acquisition of an existing treating plant and the build-out of a new gas gathering system.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: which will gather fugitive coal mine methane from acreage dedicated by a producer.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: This new project is right in our wheelhouse and is expected to provide significant tax, credit, and environmental benefits, leveraging the producer's development and operational experience, and our gathering, treating, and tax credit expertise.

David J. Slater: We are excited about our entry into this emerging and growing clean fuel space through the advancement of this opportunity from our project backlog, and we'll keep you updated as it progresses. Finally, I wanted to take a moment to address the natural gas market fundamentals. In spite of the choppiness in the short-term market, which is trading on weather, our portfolio has remained very durable, and we continue to be bullish on the need for natural gas infrastructure in the long term.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We are excited about our entry into this emerging and growing clean fuel space through the advancement of this opportunity from our project backlog, and we'll keep you updated as it progresses.

David Slater: Finally, I wanted to take a moment to address the natural gas market fundamentals. In spite of the choppiness in the short-term market, which is trading on weather, our portfolio has remained very durable and we continue to be bullish on the need for natural gas infrastructure in the long term. We are nearing the next wave of new LNG demand growth, which will increase the call on natural gas production in 2025, and are pleased to see some fee gas deliveries to these new facilities already starting. We fully expect that growing LNG demand will underpin the gas market over the next decade, especially along the Gulf Coast corridor, which can be served directly via our Hainesville system.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Finally, I wanted to take a moment to address the natural gas market fundamentals.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: in spite of the choppiness in the short-term market.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: which is trading on weather. Our portfolio has remained very durable.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: And we continue to be bullish on the need for natural gas infrastructure in the long term. We are nearing the next wave of new LNG demand growth, which will increase the call on natural gas production in 2025.

David J. Slater: We are nearing the next wave of new LNG demand growth, which will increase the demand for natural gas production in 2025, and are pleased to see some feed gas deliveries to these new facilities already starting. We fully expect that growing LNG demand will underpin the gas market over the next decade, especially along the Gulf Coast Corridor, which can be served directly via our Haynesville system. Beyond this new demand from LNG, we continue to be highly focused on advancing power demand-related gas infrastructure opportunities across our footprint as new large industrial loads such as data centers emerge.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: and are pleased to see some feed gas deliveries to these new facilities already starting. We fully expect that growing LNG demand will underpin the gas market over the next decade, especially along the Gulf Coast Corridor, which can be served directly via our Haynesville system.

David Slater: Beyond this new demand from LNG, we continue to be highly focused on advancing power-demand-related gas infrastructure opportunities across our footprint, as new large industrial loads such as being foremost considerations for many of these facilities. Natural gas fire power generation will be needed to provide stable and predictable base load energy. We anticipate this power demand growth will require incremental pipeline and natural gas storage infrastructure, creating growth opportunities for DTM, and we are currently engaged in early stage commercial discussions with six potential projects across our network. While not all of these opportunities may advance, we are excited about the prospect to serve this emerging demand growth.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Beyond this new demand from LNG, we continue to be highly focused on advancing power demand related gas infrastructure opportunities across our footprint as new large industrial loads such as data centers emerge.

David J. Slater: With speed to market and reliability being foremost considerations for many of these facilities, NAFERGAS firepower generation will be needed to provide stable and predictable baseload energy. We anticipate this power demand growth will require incremental pipeline and natural gas storage infrastructure, creating growth opportunities for DTM. And we are currently engaged in early stage commercial discussions with six potential projects across our network. While not all of these opportunities may advance, we are excited about the prospect of serving this emerging demand growth.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: With speed to market and reliability being foremost considerations for many of these facilities, natural gas firepower generation will be needed.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: to provide stable and predictable baseload energy.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We anticipate this power demand growth will require incremental pipeline and natural gas storage infrastructure, creating growth opportunities for DTM.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: And we are currently engaged in early-stage commercial discussions with six potential projects across our network.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: While not all of these opportunities may advance, we are excited about the prospect that served this emerging demand growth.

David Slater: So in summary, I am very pleased with how our team has performed in this challenge short-term commodity market as we continue to commercialize growth opportunities from our project backlog.

David J. Slater: So, in summary, I am very pleased with how our team has performed in this challenged short-term commodity market as we continue to commercialize growth opportunities from our project backlog. I'll now pass it over to Jeff to walk you through our quarterly financials and outlook.

Speaker Change: So, in summary, I am very pleased with how our team has performed in this challenged short-term commodity market as we continue to commercialize growth opportunities from our project backlog.

Jeffrey Jewell: I will now pass over Jeff to walk through our quarterly financials and outlook. Thanks, David, and good morning, everyone. In the second quarter, we delivered overall adjusted EBITDA of $248 million, representing a $3 million increase from the prior quarter. Our pipeline segment results were 3 million below the first quarter, reflecting higher firm revenue from Leap and our Washington storage complex, offset by lower seasonal revenues from our pipeline joint ventures. Gathering segment results were 6 million greater than the first quarter, reflecting lower-based business EBITDA due to the timing of producer plans and a planned maintenance outage at one of our Haynesville treating plants.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: I'll now pass it over to Jeff to walk you through our quarterly financials and outlook.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Thanks David, and good morning everyone. In the second quarter, we delivered overall adjusted EBITDA of $248 million, representing a $3 million increase from the prior quarter. Our pipeline segment results were $3 million below the first quarter, reflecting higher firm revenue from LEAP and our Washington storage complex, offset by lower seasonal revenues from our pipeline joint venture. Gathering segment results were $6 million greater than the first quarter, reflecting lower base business EBITDA due to the timing of producer plans and a planned maintenance outage at one of our Haynesville treating plants. Offset by favorable one-time items of approximately $10 million, which were initially expected to be recorded in the fourth quarter.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Thanks David and good morning everyone. In the second quarter, we delivered overall adjusted EBITDA of $248 million, representing a $3 million increase from the prior quarter.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Our pipeline segment results were 3 million below the first quarter.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: reflecting higher firm revenue from LEAP and our Washington storage complex.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: offset by lower seasonal revenues from our pipeline joint ventures.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Gathering segment results were 6 million greater than the first quarter.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Reflecting lower base business EBITDA due to the timing of producer plans and a planned maintenance outage at one of our Haynesville treating plants.

Jeffrey Jewell: Offset by favorable one-time items of approximately 10 million, which were initially expected to be recorded in the fourth quarter. Operationally, total gathering volumes across both the Haynesville and Northeast averaged approximately 2.9 billion cubic feet a day in the second quarter, with volumes down in both regions compared to the prior quarter. In the Northeast, second quarter volumes reflected the impact of planned producer curtailments, partially offset by the continued ramp up in production on the Ohio Utica system. And in the Haynesville, second quarter volumes were lower due to the timing of producer activity and the impact of the treating planned maintenance outage.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Offset by favorable one-time items of approximately $10 million.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Operationally, total gathering volumes across both the Haynesville and northeast averaged approximately 2.9 billion cubic feet a day in the second quarter, with volumes down in both regions compared to the prior quarter. In the Northeast, second quarter volumes reflected the impact of planned producer curtailment. Partially offset by the continued ramp-up in production on the Ohio Utica system. And in Haynesville, second quarter volumes were lower due to the timing of producer activity and the impact of the treating plant planned maintenance outage.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: which were initially expected to be recorded in the fourth quarter.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Operationally, total gathering volumes across both the Haynesville and Northeast averaged approximately 2.9 billion cubic feet a day in the second quarter.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: with volumes down in both regions compared to the prior quarter.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: In the Northeast, second quarter volumes reflected the impact of planned producer curtailments.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Partially offset by the continued ramp-up in production on the Ohio Utica system.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: And in the Haynesville, second quarter volumes were lower due to the timing of producer activity and the impact of the treating plant planned maintenance outage.

Jeffrey Jewell: As we previously noted, our 2024 plan and guidance assumes that gathering volumes and base business adjusted EBITDA would be lower in the second and third quarters, with a ramp expected in the fourth quarter, driven by incremental contributions from our new projects and a more constructive market environment for producers. We are confident in our full-year outlook, and we are reaffirming our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance range and our 2025 adjusted EBITDA early outlook, reflecting our strong start and confidence in the balance of the year. We have increased our committed capital in 2024 and 2025 to reflect new projects reaching FID, with approximately 330 million committed in 2024 and approximately 180 million committed in 2025.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: As we've previously noted, our 2024 plan and guidance assumes that gathering volume and base business adjusted EBITDA would be lower in the second and third quarters, with a ramp expected in the fourth quarter, driven by incremental contributions from our new projects and a more constructive market environment for producers. We are confident in our full-year outlook and are reaffirming our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance range and our 2025 Adjusted EBITDA Early Outlook, reflecting our strong start and confidence in the balance of the year.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: As we've previously noted, our 2024 plan and guidance assumes that gathering volumes and base business adjusted EBITDA would be lower in the second and third quarters.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: with a ramp expected in the fourth quarter.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: driven by incremental contributions from our new projects and a more constructive market environment for producers.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We are confident in our full-year outlook and are reaffirming our 2024 Adjusted EBITDA guidance range.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: and our 2025 Adjusted EBITDA Early Outlook.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: reflecting our strong start and confidence in the balance of the year.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We've increased our committed capital in 2024 and 2025 to reflect new projects reaching FID, with approximately $330 million committed in 2024 and approximately $180 million committed in 2025. This committed growth capital includes initial payments associated with our new Clean Fuels Gathering Project, with the expectation that there will be additional expenditure forthcoming to build incremental project facilities in 2024 and 2025, as well as potential contingent payments due to the seller over the next several years subject to the achievement of project milestones.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We've increased our committed capital in 2024 and 2025 to reflect new projects reaching FID, with approximately $330 million committed in 2024 and approximately $180 million committed in 2025.

Jeffrey Jewell: This committed growth capital includes initial payments associated with our new clean fuels gathering project, with the expectation that there will be additional spend forthcoming to build incremental project facilities in 2024 and 2025, as well as potential contingent payments due to the seller over the next several years, subject to the achievement of project milestones. We will provide additional detail on the project in the coming quarters as the team finalizes scope and works to advance the project. Following our successful commercialization and commitment to new projects, we are updating our 2024 growth capital guidance range to 330 million to 375 million.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: This committed growth capital includes initial payments associated with our new Clean Fuels Gathering Project.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: with the expectation that there will be additional spend forthcoming to build incremental project facilities in 2024 and 2025.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: as well as potential contingent payments due to the seller over the next several years subject to the achievement of project milestones.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We will provide additional detail on the project in the coming quarters as the team finalizes the scope and works to advance the project. Following our successful commercialization and commitment to new projects, we are updating our 2024 growth capital guidance range to $330 million to $375 million. The high end of our guidance range is unchanged, and we continue to expect to spend within free cash flow in 2024 and 2025. We are committed to preserving the strength of our balance sheet and achieving an investment-grade credit rating.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We will provide additional detail on the project in the coming quarters as the team finalizes scope and works to advance the project.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Following our successful commercialization and commitment to new projects, we are updating our 2024 Growth Capital Guidance Range to $330 million to $375 million.

Jeffrey Jewell: The high end of our guidance range is unchanged, and we continue to expect to spend within free cash flow in 2024 and 2025. We are committed to preserving the strength of our balance sheet and achieving an investment-grade credit room. and we had very productive meetings with the rating agencies in May, with recent positive actions from two of the agencies positioning us to potentially receive an upgrade to investment grade later this year. Finally, today we also announced the declaration of our second quarter dividend of 73.5 cents per share, unchanged from the prior quarter.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: The high end of our guidance range is unchanged.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: and we continue to expect to spend within free cash flow in 2024 and 2025.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We are committed to preserving the strength of our balance sheet and achieving an investment-grade credit rating.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: And we had very productive meetings with the rating agencies in May, with recent positive actions from two of the agencies positioning us to potentially receive an upgrade to investment grade later this year. Finally, today we also announce the declaration of our second quarter dividend of 73.5 cents per share, unchanged from the prior quarter. We remain committed to growing the dividend 5% to 7% per year in line with our long-term adjusted EBITDA growth. I'll now pass it back over to David for his closing remarks.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: And we had very productive meetings with the rating agencies in May, with recent positive actions from two of the agencies positioning us to potentially receive an upgrade to investment grade later this year.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Finally, today we also announce the declaration of our second quarter dividend of 73.5 cents per share, unchanged from the prior quarter.

Jeffrey Jewell: We remain committed to growing the dividend 5% to 7% per year in line with our long-term adjusted EBITDA growth.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: We remain committed to growing the dividend 5-7% per year in line with our long-term adjusted EBITDA growth.

David Slater: I'll now pass it back over to David for closing remarks. Thanks, Jeff. So in summary, we are very pleased with our progress this year and our family confident in our full-year guidance for 2024 and early-elec range for 2025. Our short-cycle growth investments continue to track on budget and on schedule, which will contribute meaningful growth over the next two years. Our approach to capital allocation remains thoughtful and disciplined, with our focus on spending within cash flow over the balance of a five-year plan and achieving an investment-grade credit rating.

David J. Slater: Thanks, Jeff. So, in summary, we are very pleased with our progress this year and are feeling confident in our full-year guidance for 2024 and early elk range for 2025. Our short-cycle growth investments continue to track on budget and on schedule, which will contribute meaningful growth over the next two years. Our approach to capital allocation remains thoughtful and disciplined, with our focus on spending within cash flow over the balance of a five-year plan and achieving an investment-grade credit rating.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: I'll now pass it back over to David for closing remarks.

David J. Slater: Thanks, Jeff. So, in summary, we are very pleased with our progress this year and are feeling confident in our full-year guidance for 2024 and early elk range for 2025.

David J. Slater: Our short cycle growth investments continue to track on budget and on schedule, which will contribute meaningful growth over the next two years.

David J. Slater: Our approach to capital allocation remains thoughtful and disciplined, with our focus on spending within cash flow over the balance of a five-year plan and achieving an investment-grade credit rating.

David Slater: As we look across the portfolio, we continue to see significant growth opportunities with our strategically located asset footprint building torque as new LNG and power demand increase the call on natural gas and through the emergence of our energy transition platform.

David J. Slater: As we look across the portfolio, we continue to see significant growth opportunities, with our strategically located asset footprint, building torque as new LNG and power demand increase the call on natural gas, and through the emergence of our energy transition platform.

David J. Slater: As we look across the portfolio, we continue to see significant growth opportunities.

David J. Slater: With our strategically located asset footprint, building torque as new LNG and power demand increase the call on natural gas and through the emergence of our energy transition platform.

Operator: We can now open up the line for questions. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster.

Operator: As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Jeremy Tonet from J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

David J. Slater: We can now open up the line for questions.

Speaker Change: As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster.

Jeremy Tonet: Our first question comes from Jeremy Tanay from JP Morgan. Please go ahead and align this open.

Speaker Change: Our first question comes from Jeremy Tonet from JP Morgan. Please go ahead, your line is open.

David Slater: Hi, good morning. Good morning, Jeremy.

Jeremy Bryan Tonet: Morning, Jeremy.

Jeremy Bryan Tonet: I want to dive in a little bit more, if I could, with regard to potential projects, I think six that you're talking about, that could support logistics for data center opportunities if I had that right there. Just wondering if you could provide a bit more detail on what the scale and scope of these projects might look like as far as timing of online or size, or is this a FERC process to come online? Just wondering if you can share any additional details on the potential scope there. I'm assuming that this is in Ohio.

Jeremy Tonet: I want to dive in a little bit more, if I could, with regards to potential projects. I think six that you're talking about that could support logistics for data center opportunities.

Speaker Change: Hi, good morning. Morning, Jeremy.

Jeremy Bryan Tonet: I want to dive in a little bit more if I could with regards to potential projects, I think six that you're talking about, that could support logistics for data center opportunities, if I had that right there. Just wondering if you could provide a bit more detail on what the scale and scope of these projects might look like as far as timing of online or size or is this a FERC process to come online? Just wondering if you can share any incremental details on the potential scope there. I'm assuming that this is in Ohio.

Jeremy Tonet: If I had that right there, just wondering if you could provide a bit more detail on what the scale and scope of these projects might look like as far as timing of online or size or is this a FERC process to come online just wondering if you can share any incremental details on the potential scope there. I'm assuming that this is in Ohio.

David Slater: Yeah, thanks for the question, Jeremy. We're really excited about the number of opportunities that we're actually in a commercial dialogue on right now. And you're correct; they're all driven by this incremental power demand that is underpinned predominantly by data center development. But I think there's also just a growing demand for gas fire generation. A lot of the conversations have been around the data centers recently, but I think there's just an underlying growth and strength in power demand, gas fire power demand in these regions.

David J. Slater: Yeah, thanks for the question, Jeremy. You know, we're really excited about the number of opportunities that we're actually in a commercial dialogue on right now. And you're correct, they're all driven by this incremental power demand that is underpinned predominantly by data center development. But I think there's also just a growing demand for gas-fired generation.

Speaker Change: Yeah, thanks for the question Jeremy. You know, we're really excited about the number of opportunities that we're actually in a commercial dialogue on right now.

David J. Slater: So a lot of the conversations have been around the data centers recently, but I think there's just an underlying growth and strength. So, you know, I'd love to get into more detail, but we are under some confidentiality agreements with a lot of these conversations, so I'm gonna have to just keep it at a high level. I would say that these are predominantly lateral-type opportunities into these locations. There could be some incremental opportunities on the mainlines that spawn from this, but you know we view all of this as very supportive to the whole network in terms of just building new demand and connecting it to the existing infrastructure.

Speaker Change: growing demand for gas fire generation. So a lot of the conversation has been around the data centers recently, but I think there's just an underlying growth and strength in power demand, gas fire power demand, in these regions.

David Slater: So you know, I'd love to get into more detail, but Jeremy, we are under some confidential agreements with a lot of these conversations. I'm going to have to just keep it at a high level. I would say that these are predominantly lateral type-ups. and all of these opportunities into these locations. There could be some incremental opportunity on the main lines that spawn from this. But, you know, we view all of this as very supportive to the whole network in terms of just building new demand and connecting it to the current infrastructure.

Speaker Change: But, you know, we view all of this as very supportive to the whole network in terms of just building new demand and connecting it to the current infrastructure.

David Slater: But I think I'm going to stop there just in terms of the disclosure right now. As I said in my opening remarks, you know, lots of conversations going on, you know, like always. Not all of them will commercialize. But I feel really confident our commercial teams are adding average on commercialization. So, as they progress and as we can be more transparent, we'll certainly provide that color.

David J. Slater: But I think I'm going to stop there just in terms of the disclosure right now. As I said in my opening remarks, you know, lots of conversations going on. Like always, not all of them will commercialize, but I feel really confident in our commercial team's batting average on commercialization. So as they progress and as we can be more transparent, we'll certainly provide that color.

Jeremy Tonet: Got it. Makes sense.

Jeremy Bryan Tonet: Got it. It makes sense.

Jeremy Tonet: We eagerly await more details there.

Jeremy Tonet: Pivoting to the new Queen Fuels Gathering Project, was just wondering if you might be able to share any more on what this looks like. Is this on or adjacent to your existing footprint? Is this in Pennsylvania? I imagine for a fugitive coal mine, methane, or could this be out West?

David J. Slater: We eagerly await more details there. Pivoting to the new Queen Fuels Gathering project, I was just wondering if you might be able to share any more on what this looks like. Is this on or adjacent to your existing footprint? Is this in Pennsylvania, I imagine, for a fugitive coal mine and methane, or could this be out west? Just kind of curious, I guess, how you see the scale of this potential business over time.

Speaker Change: Pivoting to the new Queen Fuels Gathering project, I was just wondering if you might be able to share any more on what this looks like.

Speaker Change: On or adjacent to your existing footprint, is this in Pennsylvania, I imagine, for a fugitive coal mine, methane, or could this be out west? Just kind of curious, I guess, how you see the scale of this potential business over time.

Jeremy Tonet: Just kind of curious, I guess, how you see this scale of this potential business over time?

David J. Slater: Sure, Jeremy, so let's just start at the highest level. This is fugitive coal bed methane capture, and I think, as we all know, methane is the most damaging greenhouse gas, so it has a very positive environmental benefit. So, locationally, it's in and around what I'll call our existing footprint, and I'll just leave it there. And again, we just closed this transaction. This is a subsequent event conversation that we're having right now for the quarter.

David Slater: Sure, Jeremy.

David Slater: So, let's just start at the highest level. This is fugitive coal bed methane capture. And I think, as we all know, methane is the most damaging greenhouse gas. So, it has a very positive environmental benefit. So, locationally, it's in and around what I'll call our existing footprint.

Speaker Change: Sure Jeremy, so let's just start at the highest level. This is fugitive coal bed methane capture and I think as we all know methane is the most damaging greenhouse gas so it has a very positive environmental benefit.

Speaker Change: So

David Slater: And I'll just leave it there. And again, we just close this transaction. This is a subsequent event conversation that we're having right now for the quarter.

David J. Slater: So we'll provide more detail, probably third quarter or year end, as we scope out the complete development plan and can lay out more of the specifics and details for you. But I just want to say at the highest level that the demand for clean fuels in the country is growing at a very rapid pace. Many states are developing clean fuel standards.

David Slater: So, we'll provide more detail probably through quarter or year end as we scope out the complete development plan and can lay out more of the specifics and details for you. But I just say at the highest level, the demand for clean fuels in the country, we believe, is growing at a very rapid pace. Many states are developing clean fuel standards. So, this product, we believe, will be an eye-to-man going forward. And this kind of lands right in our wheelhouse in terms of our core competencies. You know, we understand how to gather; we understand how to treat.

Speaker Change: We'll provide more detail probably third quarter or year-end as we scope out the complete development plan.

Speaker Change: and can lay out more of the specifics and details for for you.

Speaker Change: But I just say at the highest level, the demand for clean fuels in the country, we believe, is growing at a very rapid pace. Many states are developing clean fuel standards.

David J. Slater: So this product, we believe, will be in high demand going forward, and this kind of lands right in our wheelhouse in terms of our core competencies. You know, we understand how to collect, we understand how to treat, and we have a lot of experience in tax monetization within companies. We've found a really good partner to work with that is complementary to our skill set, and we believe there's a future runway of growth opportunities in front of this. Step number one is to commercialize this, and step number two will be to look for incremental opportunities beyond this.

Speaker Change: So this product, we believe, will be in high demand going forward.

Jeremy Bryan Tonet: Got it. Very helpful. I'll leave it there. Thanks.

Speaker Change: And this kind of lands right in our wheelhouse in terms of our core competencies. You know, we understand how to gather, we understand how to treat, and we have a lot of experience in tax monetization in the company. So

David Slater: And we have a lot of experience and tax monetization in the company. So, we found a really good partner to work with that is complementary to our skill set. And we believe there's a future runway of growth opportunities in front of this. Step number one is to commercialize this. Step number two will be to look for incremental opportunities beyond this. Got it.

Speaker Change: We found a really good partner to work with that is complementary to our skill set, and we believe there's a future runway of growth opportunities in front of this. Step number one is to commercialize this.

Speaker Change: Step number two will be to look for incremental opportunities beyond this.

Jeremy Tonet: Very helpful. I'll leave it there. Thanks.

Michael Blum: Our next question comes from Michael Bloom from Wells Fargo. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker Change: Got it. Very helpful. I'll leave it there. Thanks.

Michael Jacob Blum: Our next question comes from Michael Blum from Wells Fargo. Please go ahead; your line is open.

Speaker Change: Our next question comes from Michael Blum from Wells Fargo. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Michael Jacob Blum: Thanks, good morning everyone. I wanted to go back to your commentary on producer expectations in the Haynesville for the rest of the year. You're expecting a rebound by the fourth quarter. I'm wondering, though, if you're hearing any change yet in producers either messaging to you or just activity levels as we sort of are here now past, you know, the midpoint of the year.

Michael Blum: Thanks, everyone. I wanted to go back to your commentary on producer expectations on the Haynesville for the rest of the year. You're expecting a rebound by the fourth quarter. I'm wondering if you're hearing any change yet in producer either messaging to you or just activity levels as we sort of are here now past, you know, midpoint.

Michael Jacob Blum: Thanks. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to go back to your commentary on producer

Michael Jacob Blum: Expectations on the Haynesville for the rest of the year, you're expecting a rebound by the fourth quarter.

Michael Jacob Blum: I'm wondering though if you're hearing any change yet in producer either messaging to you or just activity levels As we sort of are here now past, you know midpoint of the year

David J. Slater: Sure, I'll address that, Michael. And a good question. It feels as if we're having a bit of a double dip in short-term prices here this summer, and we were seeing quite a nice recovery there a month or so ago. We seem to be back down in the trough at the moment, certainly very attuned to what EQT said publicly on their call earlier. So I think we're just being, we're taking a very cautious approach to Q3 and the balance of the year, just given how sensitive this market is right now around price until we see that incremental demand really pick up later this year and next year.

David Slater: I'll address that, Michael, and a good question. It feels as if we're having a bit of a double dip in the short-term price here this summer. We were seeing quite a nice recovery there a month or so ago, and we seem to be back down in the trough at the moment. Certainly, we're just being, we're taking a very cautious approach to cutery and the balance of the year, just given how sensitive this market is right now around price. Until we see that incremental demand really pick up later this year and next year. As I said in my opening remarks, we're seeing really good early signals of some fee gas showing up on these new facilities.

Michael Jacob Blum: Sure, I'll address that Michael and good question. It feels as if we're having a bit of a double dip in the short-term price here this summer and we were seeing quite a nice recovery there a month or so ago and

Michael Jacob Blum: We seem to be back down in the trough at the moment.

Michael Jacob Blum: certainly very attuned to what EGT has said publicly on their call earlier.

Michael Jacob Blum: So I think we're just being, we're taking a very cautious approach to Q3 and the balance of the year just given how sensitive this market is right now around price until we see that incremental demand really

Michael Jacob Blum: pick up later this year and next year. As I said in my opening remarks, you know, we're seeing really good early signals of some feed gas showing up on these new facilities.

David J. Slater: As I said in my opening remarks, we're seeing really good early signals of some feed gas showing up on these new facilities. But again, until those facilities are up and running and that demand is locked in, for lack of a better word, I think we're gonna be in this choppy short-term market that seems to be trading on the weather forecast as it changes day to day. So we need to get through the summer, get ourselves into the fall, where we see a clear line of sight into the winter and see these incremental demands picking up on the system here in North America. That's sort of how we're guiding our results, we see that fourth quarter pickup and then get into a much more constructive price environment in 2025 and beyond.

Michael Blum: But again, until those facilities are up and running and that demand is locked in, for lack of a better word, I think we're going to be in this choppy, short-term market that seems to be trading on the weather forecast as it changes day to day. So we need to get through the summer. There's cells into the fall where we see a clear line of sight into the winter and see these incremental demands picking up on the system here in North America. And that's sort of how we're guiding our results: we see that fourth quarter pickup and then getting into a much more constructive price environment in 2025 and beyond.

Michael Jacob Blum: But again until until those facilities are up and running and that demand is locked in for lack of a better word

Speaker Change: I think we're going to be in this choppy, short-term market that seems to be trading on the weather forecast as it changes day-to-day.

Speaker Change: We need to get through the summer, get ourselves into the fall where we see a clear line of sight into the winter, and see these incremental demands picking up on the system here in North America.

Speaker Change: So, that's sort of how we're guiding our results, is we see that fourth quarter pickup, and then getting into a much more constructive price environment in 2025 and beyond.

Michael Blum: Great, appreciate all that.

David J. Slater: Great. I appreciate all that. And then I wanted to ask about a project that you, I believe you announced it last quarter, this project, this interconnect project into Mountain Valley Pipeline. I'm wondering if you have any updates there. Does that spur any additional interest from other producers who maybe want to access Mountain Valley via your

Michael Blum: And then I wanted to ask about a project that you, I believe, you announced at last quarter this project, this interconnect project into Mountain Valley Pipeline. I wanted to go in the updates there. Does that spur any additional interest from other producers who maybe want to access Mountain Valley via your system? Yeah, so I think once we announced that transaction, which was anchored, which had an anchor customer underpinning it, we've opened up the opportunity to other shippers on our Appalachian network there. And we're in an active dialogue with those shippers to the extent that they want to participate.

Speaker Change: Great, I appreciate all that. And then I wanted to ask about a project that you...

Speaker Change: I believe you announced it last quarter, this project, this InterConnect project into Mountain Valley.

Speaker Change: pipeline. I wonder if you have any updates there. Does that spurring any like additional interest from other producers who maybe want to access Mountain Valley via your system?

David J. Slater: Yeah, so I think once we announced that transaction, which was anchored, which had an anchor customer underpinning it, we've opened up the opportunity to other shippers on our Appalachian network there. And we're in an active dialogue with those shippers, to the extent that they want to participate, if they do. Michael, that would result in, you know, an upsizing of the project. We're not at that point to announce it yet, but as you'd expect, we're actively working on it with a group of our existing customers.

Speaker Change: Yeah, so I think once we announced that transaction which was anchored, which had an anchor customer underpinning it,

Michael Jacob Blum: Great. Thank you so much.

Speaker Change: We've opened up the opportunity to other shippers on our Appalachia network there and we're in an active dialogue with those shippers to the extent that they want to participate. If they do,

David Slater: If they do, Michael, that would result in an, you know, an up sizing of the project. We're not at that point to announce it yet, but you know, as you'd expect, we're actively working that with a group of our existing customers.

Speaker Change: Michael, that would result in a, you know, an upsizing of the project.

Speaker Change: We're not at that point to announce it yet but you know as you'd expect we're actively working that with a group of our existing customers.

Michael Blum: Great.

Michael Blum: Thank you so much.

Speaker Change: See you next time.

John Mackay: Our next question comes from John McCuy from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Michael Jacob Blum: Great. Thank you so much.

John Ross Mackay: Our next question comes from John Mackay from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

John Mackay: Your line is open. Hey, good morning. Thank you for the time.

Speaker Change: Our next question comes from John Mackay from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead, your line is open.

John Ross Mackay: Hey, good morning. Thank you for the time.

John Mackay: I wanted to go back to David, your comments around kind of volumes into the back half of the year and then into 25. You know, we have the EBITDA guidance range unchanged for the year. I guess just curious how much of that remaining range, I guess, is that gathering sensitivity? Is there anything else in the portfolio that you're watching on?

John Ross Mackay: Hey, good morning. Thank you for the time. I wanted to go back to, David, your comments around kind of volumes into the back half of the year and then into 25. You know, we have the EBITDA guidance range unchanged for the year. I guess just curious how much of that remaining

David J. Slater: I wanted to go back to, David, your comments around volumes into the back half of the year and then into 2025. You know, we have the EBITDA guidance range unchanged for the year. I guess I'm just curious how much of that remaining range is gathering sensitivity? Is there anything else in the portfolio that you're watching? And then more broadly, could you just kind of remind us what your contracting position looks like in terms of MVC support into the back half of the year as well?

Speaker Change: range, I guess, is that gathering sensitivity. Is there anything else in the portfolio that you're watching on? And then more broadly, can you just kind of remind us what your contracting position looks like in terms of kind of MVC support into the back half of the year as well? Thanks.

David Slater: And then more broadly, if you do just kind of remind us what your contracting position looks like in terms of kind of MVC support into the back half of the year as well. Thank you. Yeah, a great question, John. So I'll start by saying, you know, we're halfway through the year and we're in a really good position right now, halfway in in terms of achieving our guidance. And I'm just going to reflect back on the previous comments I made around price that we're taking a cautious approach. We see this price double-dipped phenomenon happening, and it's happening real-time.

David J. Slater: Yeah, great question, John. So I'll start by saying we're halfway through the year, and we're in a really good position right now, halfway through, in terms of achieving our guidance. And I'm just going to reflect back on the previous comments I made around price. I think we're taking a cautious approach. We see this price double dip phenomenon happening, and it's happening in real time.

Speaker Change: Yeah, great question John .

Speaker Change: So I'll start by saying, you know, we're halfway through the year and we're in a really good position right now, halfway in in terms of achieving our guidance.

Speaker Change: And I'm just going to reflect back on the previous comments I made around price. I think we're taking a cautious approach. We see this price double dip phenomenon happening and it's happening real time. So we're taking a cautious approach for the balance of the year.

David J. Slater: So we're taking a cautious approach for the balance of the year. I think, as you're aware, or as investors are aware, we have significant MVCs that underpin our gathering segment, which really protects the downside. And I think for us, the rest of the year is gonna be all about that incremental molecule that is likely driven around the price structure that lays out for the balance of the year. We're highly confident in hitting our guidance.

David Slater: So we're taking a cautious approach for the balance of the year. I think, as you're aware or as the investors are aware, we have significant MVCs in underpinter gathering segments, which really protects the downside. And I think for us, the rest of the year is going to be all about that incremental molecule that likely is driven around the price structure that lays out for the balance of the year. We're highly confident in hitting our guidance. But in terms of that incremental molecule, which is incremental revenue, it's really going to be, I think, price driven for the second half of the year.

Speaker Change: I think as you're aware, or as the investors are aware, we have significant MVCs that underpin our gathering segment.

Speaker Change: which really protects the downside, and I think for us, the rest of the year is going to be all about that incremental molecule.

Speaker Change: that likely is driven around the price structure that lays out for the balance of the year. We're highly confident in hitting our guidance.

David J. Slater: But in terms of that incremental molecule, which is the incremental revenue, it's really going to be price-driven for the second half of the year. And again, we've taken a cautious approach to just sitting tight with the guidance range as laid out.

Speaker Change: But in terms of that incremental molecule, which is the incremental revenue, it's really going to be, I think, price driven for the second half of the year. And again, we've taken a cautious approach to just sitting tight with the guidance range as laid out.

David Slater: And again, we've taken a cautious approach to just sitting tight with the guidance range as laid out.

John Mackay: All right, that's for us. Thank you. Maybe, and then taking that next step into 2025 as we see this demand finally start to step up. I guess how much of that incremental quality comes from the Haynesville versus, you know, supply from elsewhere, being able to make its way into the state. Yeah, I think for us, the interconnectivity that we have with that incremental demand, we're connected directly connected to the locations that that demand procure supply from, which is predominantly Gillis. So we feel real good about our system being built, being in service, that incremental demand is going to show up.

John Ross Mackay: All right, that's fair. Thank you. Maybe and then taking the next step into 2025, as we see this demand finally start to step up, I guess, how much of that incremental demand do you think comes from Haynesville versus, you know, supply from elsewhere being able to make its way into the state?

Speaker Change: All right, Spiro, thank you. Maybe taking that next step into 2025, as we see this demand finally start to step up, I guess how much of that incremental call do you think comes from the Haynesville versus, you know, supply from elsewhere being able to make its way into the state?

David J. Slater: Yeah, I think for us, the interconnectivity that we have with that incremental demand, we're connected, directly connected to the locations that that demand procures supply from, which is predominantly Gillis. So we feel really good about our system being built and being in service.

Speaker Change: Yeah, I think for us, the interconnectivity that we have with that incremental demand, we're connected, directly connected to the locations that that demand procures supply from, which is predominantly Gillis.

Speaker Change: So we feel real good about our system being built, being in service, that incremental demand is going to show up.

David J. Slater: That incremental demand is gonna show up. We're going to have the ability to serve that incremental demand directly and on time. And I think that'll be our advantage, and we feel really confident about that in 2025. And I'd say some of the things that we've announced today would be proof points to that confidence. Those three new producers, private producers, that we're serving and going to do some work for to bring them online next year, I think are looking at the same fundamentals that I just described.

David Slater: We're going to have the ability to serve that incremental demand directly and timely. And I think that will be our advantage, and we feel really confident about that in 2025.

Speaker Change: We're going to have the ability to serve that incremental demand directly and timely, and I think that'll be our advantage, and we feel really confident about that in 2025. And I'd say some of the items that we've announced today

John Mackay: And I'd say some of the items that we've announced today would be proof points to that confidence. Those sure new producers, private producers that we're serving and going to do some work for to bring them online next year. I think they're looking at the same fundamentals that I just described. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Speaker Change: would be proof points to that confidence. Those three new producers, private producers, that we're serving and going to do some work for to bring them online next year, I think are looking at the same

John Ross Mackay: I appreciate that. Thank you.

Speaker Change: fundamentals that I just described.

Keith Stanley: Our next question comes from Keith Stanley from Wolf Research. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Keith T. Stanley: Our next question comes from Keith Stanley from Wolf Research. Please go ahead; your line is open.

Speaker Change: I appreciate that. Thank you.

Speaker Change: Our next question comes from Keith Stanley from Wolfe Research. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Keith T. Stanley: Hi, good morning. I want to follow up on that last question's line of thought. You know, you have some big competitors coming on and looking more likely to get built now with leg and NG3. Are you seeing reduced demand at all near term for incremental leap expansions, or are you seeing the connectivity of the system still driving a lot of near-term demand even with some competing projects likely moving forward?

Keith Stanley: Hi.

Keith Stanley: Good morning. I want to follow up on that last question's line of thought. You know, you have some big competitors coming on and looking more likely to get built now with Leg and NG3.

Keith T. Stanley: Hi, good morning. I want to follow up on that last question's line of thought.

Speaker Change: You know, you have some big competitors coming on and looking more likely to get built now with WEG and NG3.

David Slater: Are you seeing that reduce demand at all near term for incremental leap expansions, or are you seeing the connectivity of the system still driving a lot of near term demand, even with some competing projects likely moving forward? Yeah, Keith, I think, you know, I think those projects moving forward. I think they're in service timing is, I think, early as late 25. So again, I think this next wave of demand washes through the market will be there in front of their capacity being available. So I think that gives us an advantage. Again, I think what we announced today with those three new producers accessing the system has recognized that advantage.

Keith T. Stanley: Are you seeing that reduced demand at all near-term for incremental LEAP expansions or are you seeing the connectivity of the system still driving a lot of near-term demand even with some competing projects likely moving forward?

David J. Slater: Yeah, Keith, I think, you know, I think those projects are moving forward. I think their in-service timing is, I think, earliest, late 25.

Keith T. Stanley: Yeah, Keith, I think, you know, I think those projects moving forward...

Speaker Change: I think their in-service timing is, I think, earliest, late 25. So again, I think this next wave of demand that washes through the market will be there in front of their capacity being available.

David J. Slater: So again, I think this next wave of demand, which washes through the market, will be there in front of their capacity being available. So I think that gives us an advantage. Again, I think what we announced today with those three new producers accessing the system has recognized that advantage. Obviously, we're working to commercialize our Phase 4 LEAP expansion, and I feel highly confident that we're going to do that. So again, we're trying to take advantage of that situation that's playing out in the market right now and capturing another wave of expansion in front of those other two projects being constructed and completed and brought into service late 25, perhaps beyond, depending on their schedules.

Speaker Change: So I think that gives us an advantage. Again, I think...

Speaker Change: What we announced today with those three new producers accessing the system recognize, have recognized that advantage. Obviously we're working to

David Slater: Obviously, we're working to commercialize our phase four leap expansion and feel highly confident that we're going to do that. So again, we're trying to take advantage of that situation that's playing out in the market right now and capturing another wave of expansion in front of those other two projects being constructed and completed and brought into service late 25, perhaps beyond depending on their schedules.

Speaker Change: commercialize our Phase 4 LEAP expansion and feel highly confident that we're going to do that.

Speaker Change: So again, we're trying to take advantage of that situation that's playing out in the market right now and capturing another wave of expansion in front of those other two projects being constructed and completed.

Speaker Change: and brought into service, you know, late 25, perhaps beyond, depending on their schedules.

Keith Stanley: That's helpful.

Keith T. Stanley: that's helpful. The second question I just...

Keith Stanley: Second question, I just want to go back. So you point to over 1.3 billion of projects in the backlog through 2027. You're making progress on that. It seems like you have good visibility to hit your growth targets through that 2027 period.

David J. Slater: I want to go back. So you point to over 1.3 billion projects in the backlog through 2027. You're making progress on that. It seems like you have good visibility to hit your growth targets through that 2027 period. So given that, how are you viewing M&A these days as a way to maybe further boost growth? Is it on the back burner because of what you have organically in front of you? Or do you see acquisitions as a tool to maybe even enhance the growth rate over the next few years?

Speaker Change: That's helpful. Second question, I just...

Speaker Change: I want to go back. So, you point to over 1.3 billion of projects in the backlog through 2027. You're making progress on that. It seems like you have good visibility to hit your growth targets through that 2027 period.

David Slater: So given that, how are you viewing M&A these days as a way to maybe further boost growth, visit on the back burner because of what you have organically in front of you, or do you see acquisitions as a tool to maybe even enhance the growth rate over the next few years? Yeah, Keith, the way I would describe it is our long-term growth guide of 5-7, so-called 6% growth rate at the midpoint. That organic backlog of projects fuels that growth rate. We do not require M&A to deliver that growth rate, and it's kind of looked at our track record since we spun.

Speaker Change: So, given that, how are you viewing M&A these days as a way to maybe further boost growth? Is it on the back burner because of what you have organically in front of you? Or do you see acquisitions as a tool to maybe even enhance the growth rate over the next few years?

David J. Slater: Yeah, Keith, the way I would describe it is our long-term growth guide, five to seven, so called six, 6% growth rate at the midpoint. That organic backlog of projects fuels that growth rate. We do not require M&A to deliver that growth rate. And it's kind of look at our track record since we spawned.

Speaker Change: Yeah, Keith, the way I would describe it is our long-term growth guide of 5 to 7, so-called 6% growth rate at the midpoint.

Speaker Change: That organic backlog of projects fuels that growth rate. We do not require M&A to deliver that growth rate, and it's kind of a look at our track record since we spun.

David J. Slater: We have been fueling that type of growth rate consistently since we started the organic operation, so we feel highly confident in our ability to hit that growth rate with purely organic activity. So you kind of alluded to it at the end of your question. M&A, for us, is really about option value. And it has the potential to be an accelerant to that underlying growth rate. You know, and it would have to clearly make economic sense if those opportunities presented themselves. And that's kind of how we think about it at the highest level.

David Slater: We have been fuelling that type of growth rate consistently since we spun through the organic opportunities. So we feel highly confident in our ability to hit that growth rate with purely organic activities. So you kind of alluded to it at the end of your question. M&A for us is really option-value, and it has a potential to be an accelerant to that underlying growth rate. And it would have to make clearly make economic sense if those opportunities present themselves. And that's kind of how we think about it at the highest level.

Speaker Change: We have been fueling that type of a growth rate consistently since we've spawned through the organic opportunities.

Speaker Change: So we feel highly confident in our ability to hit that growth rate with purely organic activities.

Speaker Change: So you kind of alluded to it at the end of your question. M&A for us is really option value and it has the potential to be an accelerant to that underlying growth rate.

Speaker Change: You know, and it would have to make, you know, clearly make economic sense if those opportunities presented themselves. And that's kind of how we think about it at the highest level.

Keith Stanley: Thank you.

Operator: As a reminder to ask a question, please press star followed by one.

Spiro Michael Dounis: As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star followed by one. Our next question comes from Spiro Dounis from Citi. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Speaker Change: Thank you.

Spiro Dounis: Our next question comes from Spiro Dunez from City.

Speaker Change: As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star followed by one.

Spiro Dounis: Please go ahead. Your line is open. Thanks Operator.

Speaker Change: Our next question comes from Spiro Dounis from Citi. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Spiro Michael Dounis: Thanks, Operator. Good morning, team.

Spiro Dounis: What do you think? Maybe go back to the $1.3 billion backlog. Just curious, if you have any sense of directionally, maybe where you think that goes up here. Is that kind of a nice study state to maintain? Obviously, we want to have around data centers and power to memory broadly. So curious if there's an acceleration in that backlog actually gets even higher over time. And what kind of projects do you think start to fill us from here?

Spiro Michael Dounis: Thanks, Operator, Community Team. We have to go back to that $1.3 billion backlog.

Spiro Michael Dounis: Just curious, if you have any sense of directionally, maybe where you think that goes from here. Is that kind of a nice steady state you hope to maintain? You know, obviously, a lot of chatter around data centers and power to them more broadly. So, curious if there's an acceleration and that backlog actually gets even higher over time, and what kind of projects you think start to fill it from here?

Spiro Michael Dounis: Maybe to go back to that $1.3 billion backlog, just curious if you have any sense of directionally maybe where you think that goes from here. Is that kind of a nice steady state you hope to maintain? You know, obviously, a lot of chatter around data centers and power to them being broadly secure. I'm just curious if there's an acceleration in that backlog actually gets even higher over time and what kind of projects you think start to fill it from here.

David Slater: Yeah, Spiro, that's an interesting question. I think the fundamentals in the market right now, the way the market is evolved in the last six months with sort of this more robust, powered demand forecast in front of us that is driving, you know, everyone expects it's going to drive incremental gas infrastructure. You know, that certainly has the ability, over time, if that persists, to create a more robust environment for midstream investments. So I tend to agree with that point that you're making that there could be potential tailwinds in the market here that are developing that could over time make that, you know, backlog more robust.

David J. Slater: Yeah, Spiro, that's an interesting question. I think the fundamentals in the market right now, the way the market has evolved in the last six months, and the more robust power demand forecast in front of us that is driving, you know, everyone expects it's going to drive incremental gas infrastructure. You know, that certainly has the ability, over time, if that persists, to create a more robust environment for midstream investors.

Spiro Michael Dounis: Yeah Spiro, that's an interesting question. I think, I think the fundamentals in the market right now, the way the market has evolved in the last six months with

Spiro Michael Dounis: sort of this more robust power demand forecast in front of us that is driving, you know, everyone expects it's going to drive incremental gas infrastructure.

Spiro Michael Dounis: You know, that certainly has the ability over time, if that persists, to create a more robust environment for midstream investments.

David J. Slater: So I tend to agree with that point that you're making, that there could be potential... (inaudible) That's a pretty, we're a moderate-sized company, and we have a pretty robust opportunity set in that emerging space. I suspect all of the other midstream companies have similar opportunity sets that they're pursuing. So it does feel like there could be a more robust underpinning fundamentally that's entering this space right now. So I think that's something to watch here over the next 6 to 12 months. Does this persist?

Spiro Michael Dounis: tailwinds in the market here that are developing that could over time make that, you know, backlog more robust. I think it's early days. I mean, we talked about the opportunities that we're pursuing. We've been around long enough to know that you don't win all the opportunities, but

David Slater: I think it's early days. I mean, we talked about the opportunities that we're pursuing. We've been around long enough to know that you don't win all the opportunities, but that's a pretty, we're a modernized company and we have a pretty robust opportunity set in that emerging space. I suspect all of the other midstream companies have similar opportunity sets that they're pursuing. So it does feel like there could be a more robust underpinning, fundamentally, that's entering in the space right now. So I think that's something to watch over the next six to twelve months that this persists.

Spiro Michael Dounis: We're a moderate-sized company and we have a pretty robust opportunity set in that emerging space. I suspect all of the other midstream companies have similar opportunity sets that they're pursuing.

Spiro Michael Dounis: So it does feel like there could be a more robust underpinning fundamentally that's entering in this space right now.

Spiro Michael Dounis: So I think that's something to watch here over the next 6 to 12 months. Does this persist?

David J. Slater: Companies like us and others start to commercialize some of these opportunities and lock them in. But it's certainly an area that we're spending a lot of time focusing on, and again, really is complementary to our skill set and our existing asset base. It's a very focused area for us right now, Spiro.

David Slater: New companies like us and others start to commercialize some of these opportunities and lock them in. But it's certainly an area that we're spending a lot of time focusing on. And again, really is complementary to our skillset and our existing asset base. So it's a very focused area for us right now.

Spiro Michael Dounis: Do companies like us and others start to commercialize some of these opportunities and lock them in?

Spiro Michael Dounis: But it's certainly an area that we're spending a lot of time focusing on, and again, really is complementary to our skill set and our existing asset base.

Spiro Dounis: So, girl. Got it. Understood.

Spiro Michael Dounis: Got it, understood. Second question, going back to the new East Texas gathering, you did mention the potential to come on and leave, and so, maybe a simple question here. Curious, is there enough space on the line now to accommodate all those volumes, or does that sort of..., further support phase four expansion? And I guess I'm curious, what other options do your customers have? I guess they could price it more locally, but maybe just walk us through the dynamics of why it would make sense for these volumes to eventually make the leap.

Spiro Michael Dounis: It's a very focused area for us right now, Spiro.

Spiro Dounis: The second question, going back to the news, East Texas gathering. You did mention the potential to come on to lead. And so maybe it supports us near curious.

Speaker Change: Got it, understood. Second question going back to the new East Texas Gathering, you did mention the potential to come on to leave and so maybe a simple question here, curious is there enough space on the line now to accommodate all those volumes or does that sort of...

David Slater: Is there enough space on the line now to accommodate all those volumes, or does that sort of further support of face for expansion? And I guess you're curious: what are the options your customers have? I guess they could price more locally, but maybe swap us to the dynamics of why it would make sense for these volumes to eventually get to lead. Yeah, that's a great question. So the way those current contracts are structured, they have full access to all of our delivery point flexibility and the entire needs of those systems. Predominantly, they're using, in your words, the local delivery points or in-basin delivery points, but they also have access to lead delivery points.

Speaker Change: for the support of phase four expansion. And I guess I'm curious, what other options do your customers have? I guess they could price more locally, but maybe just walk us through the dynamics of why it would make sense for these volumes to eventually get the leap.

David J. Slater: Yeah, that's a great question. So the way those current contracts are structured, they have full access to all of our delivery point flexibility in the entire Hainesville. Predominantly, they're using, in your words, the local delivery points or in-basin delivery points, but they also have access to... delivery points. That $400 million a day, as this volume ramps up, would potentially underpin an expansion if it ended up on primary lead delivery points.

Speaker Change: Yeah, that's a great question.

Speaker Change: So the way those current contracts are structured, they have full access to all of our delivery point flexibility in the entire Haynesville system.

Speaker Change: Predominantly they're using, in your words, the local delivery points or in-basin delivery points, but they also have access to LEAP.

David Slater: That 400 million a day, as the volume ramps, would, if it ended up on primary lead delivery points, it would potentially underpin an expansion on lead.

Speaker Change: Delivery Points.

Speaker Change: That $400 million a day as this volume ramps would, if it ended up on primary LEAP delivery points, it would potentially underpin an expansion on LEAP.

Spiro Dounis: Perfect. I'll leave it there for today.

Spiro Michael Dounis: Perfect. I'll leave it there for today. Thank you, gentlemen.

Sunil Sibal: Thank you, gentlemen. Our next question comes from Sunil Sebal from Seaport Global Security. Just go ahead; your line is open.

Speaker Change: Perfect. I'll leave it there for today. Thank you, gentlemen.

Sunil K. Sibal: Our next question comes from Sunil Sibal from Seaport Global Security. Please go ahead; your line is open.

Speaker Change: Our next question comes from Sunil Sibal from Seaport Global Security. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Sunil Sibal: Yeah, hi, good morning, everybody, and thanks for the clarity on the call. So I just wanted to develop on the clean fuels opportunity a little bit there. So things like you get an initial payment in the second half, and then the project really kicks in in 2025. I was curious, you know, if you could quantify this a little bit, you know, going forward in 2025 or, you know, forward years, how should we think about this opportunity? Is this resulting in discussions with other clients also in the region, which could help grow their set?

Sunil K. Sibal: Hi, good morning everybody, and thanks for the clarification on the call. So I just wanted to dwell on the Clean Fuels opportunity a little bit better. So it seems like you get an initial payment in the second half, and then the project really kicks in in 2025. I was curious if you could quantify this a little bit, you know, going forward to 2025 or, you know, the years ahead. How should we think about this opportunity? Is this resulting in discussions with other clients also in the region, which could help grow this set?

Sunil K. Sibal: Yeah. Hi. Good morning, everybody. And thanks for the clarity on the call. So I just wanted to dwell on the...

Sunil K. Sibal: Clean Fuels opportunity a little bit better. So it seems like you get an initial payment in the second half, and then the project really kicks in in 2025. I was curious, you know, if you could...

Speaker Change: quantify this a little bit you know going forward on 2025 or you know forward years how should we think about this opportunity is this resulting in discussions with other clients also in the region which could help grow the set

David Slater: Yeah, let me touch on that. And again, we're describing a subsequent event activity here. So I'm probably going to be not able to provide as much clarity as you would like here. But all the step back, and maybe reiterate some of my earlier comments, is that the demand for clean fuels in this country is growing rapidly right now. We're seeing more and more clean fuel standards being either implemented or discussed in different jurisdictions to be implemented in the future. So we're viewing this segment of the market as a very early days emerging segment from a demand perspective.

David J. Slater: Yeah, let me touch on that. And again, we're describing a subsequent event activity here. So I'm probably going to be I'm not able to provide as much clarity as you would like here, but I'll just step back and maybe reiterate some of my earlier comments. The demand for clean fuels in this country is growing rapidly right now. We're seeing more and more clean fuel standards being either implemented or discussed in different jurisdictions to be implemented in the future. So we're viewing this segment of the market as a very early days emerging segment from a demand perspective. And there's not a lot of supply.

Speaker Change: Yeah, let me let me touch on that. And again, we're describing a subsequent event activity here. So I'm probably going to be

Speaker Change: I'm not able to provide as much clarity as you would like here, but I'll just step back and maybe reiterate some of my earlier comments.

Speaker Change: The demand for clean fuels in this country is growing rapidly right now. We're seeing more and more clean fuel standards being either implemented or discussed in different jurisdictions to be implemented in the future.

Speaker Change: So we're viewing this segment of the market as a very early days emerging segment from a demand perspective And there's not a lot of supply

David Slater: And there's not a lot of supply. So we spent a lot of time looking at, okay, what are all the areas of opportunity on the supply side to bring this product to market? This particular opportunity fits very nicely within our wheelhouse in terms of geography, in terms of skill set, and our ability to execute well with the partner producer that is looking at this fugitive methane emissions is a very problematic inside their portfolio. So it checks a lot of boxes in terms of strategically doing a lot of good things for all the parties involved.

David J. Slater: So we spent a lot of time looking at, okay, what are all the areas of opportunity on the supply side to bring this product to market? This particular opportunity fit very nicely within our wheelhouse in terms of geography, in terms of skill set, and our ability to execute well with a partner producer that is looking at this fugitive methane emissions is very problematic in their portfolio. So it checks a lot of boxes in terms of strategically doing a lot of good things for all the parties involved, so we'd like to commercialize this particular opportunity, which, as we refine the scope, we'll be able to provide some answers to the questions that you were just asking me in more specifics, but I'm just going to ask you to pause on that, and that'll probably come in a quarter or so.

Speaker Change: So we spent a lot of time looking at, okay, what are all the areas of opportunity on the supply side to bring this product to market?

Speaker Change: This particular opportunity fit very nicely within our wheelhouse in terms of geography, in terms of skill set.

Speaker Change: and our ability to execute well with a partner producer that is looking at this fugitive methane emissions is very problematic inside their portfolio. So it checks a lot of boxes in terms of...

David Slater: So we'd like to commercialize this particular opportunity, which, as we refine the scope, we'll be able to provide some answers to the questions that you are just asking me in more specifics. But I'm just going to ask you to pause on that, and that'll probably come in a quarter or so. But more broadly, we're looking at this as a nice entrepreneur into this segment. And there's lots of opportunities around the country to do similar work with other companies. And we're viewing that as a growth area. It's very early days, and I think as we advance this development, we'll be keeping everybody tuned in.

Speaker Change: which as we refine the scope we'll be able to provide some answers to the questions that you were just asking me in more specifics but I'm just going to ask you to pause on that and that'll probably come in a quarter or so.

David J. Slater: But more broadly, we're looking at this as a nice entry into this segment, and there are lots of opportunities around the country to do similar work with other companies. And we're viewing that as a growth area; it's very early days. And I think as we advance this development, we'll be keeping everybody kind of tuned in. If I could point you to the project backlog, our organic project backlog, we have identified clean fuels as an area that we've been pursuing in that allocation of capital over that five-year plan.

Speaker Change: But more broadly, we're looking at this as a nice entree into this segment and there's lots of opportunities around the country to do similar work with other companies.

Speaker Change: And we're viewing that as a growth area. It's very early days.

Speaker Change: And I think as we advance this development, we'll be keeping everybody kind of tuned in. If I could point you to the project backlog, our organic project backlog, we have identified clean fuels as an area that we've been pursuing.

David Slater: If I could point into the project backlog, our organic project backlog, we had identified clean fuels as an area that we've been pursuing in that allocation of capital over that five-year plan. So we talk about a 20% of the capital going into this energy transition space; you know, part of it's going to go into our carbon capture and storage project in Louisiana. We fully expect another portion of it to go into this clean fuel segment. So very excited, it's just really early days, and as we can put more definition around this for the investors, we fully intend to do that.

David J. Slater: So we talk about 20% of the capital going into this energy transition space. You know, part of it's going to go into our carbon capture and storage project in Louisiana. We fully expect another portion of it to go into this clean fuel sector. So, very excited. It's just really early days, and as we can put more definition around this for the investors, we fully intend to do that.

Speaker Change: in that allocation of capital over that five-year plan. So we talk about 20% of the capital going into this energy transition space.

Speaker Change: You know, part of it's going to go into our carbon capture and storage project in Louisiana. We fully expect another portion of it to go into this clean fuel segment.

Speaker Change: So, very excited. It's just really early days and as we can put more definition around this for the investors, we fully intend to do that.

Sunil Sibal: Okay, thanks for flushing that out. And then I just wanted to clarify one thing with regard to your discussions with rating agencies on credit moves. So once, you know, these moves happen, so that will basically put the whole capital structure on IGF 14. I secured and the unsecured both at Brazil. Yes, nice to know. Yes, so what we've got, you're right, we've got fallaway provisions in our capital structure. And so you're right; you know, it takes some, like two for other rating agencies to get there for that to start triggering. But yes, that's sort of the natural path.

Sunil K. Sibal: Okay, thanks for fleshing that out. And then I just wanted to clarify one thing with regard to your discussions with the rating agencies on credit moves. So once, you know, these moves happen, that will basically put the whole capital structure on an IG footing, either secured and unsecured, both, I presume.

Speaker Change: Okay, thanks for fleshing that out. And then...

Speaker Change: Just wanted to clarify one thing with regard to your discussions with rating agencies on credit moves

Speaker Change: So, once, you know, these moves happen, so that will basically put the whole capital structure on IG footing, either secured and unsecured both, I presume.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Yes. Hey, Sunil.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Yeah, so what we've got, you're right, we've got fallaway provisions in our capital structure. And so you're right, I, you know, it takes some time for the rating agencies to get there for that to start triggering. But yes, that sort of is the natural path, and we've intentionally sort of set the capital structure to be able to do that cleanly when that occurs. And again, a big part of that is going to be the Chesapeake swim, merger, because that's what Fitch is sort of tied to there with that positive watch, and then S&P, or excuse me, Moody's, has got theirs on the positive outlook, which is, again, based around that merger happening.

Speaker Change: Yes. Hey, Snow. Yeah, so what we've got, you're right, we've got fallaway provisions in our capital structure.

Snow: And so you're right, you know, it takes like two of the rating agencies to get there for that to start triggering. But yes, that sort of is the natural path and we've intentionally sort of said

David Slater: And we've intentionally sort of set the capital structure to be able to do that cleanly when that occurs. And again, that big part of that's going to be the Chesapeake swim merger, because that's what fits the sort of tide there is with that positive watch. And then S&P, or excuse me, Moody's has got theirs on the positive outlook, which is again based around that merger occurred.

Snow: The Capital Structure to be able to do that cleanly when that occurs. And again, a big part of that's going to be the Chesapeake SWIN.

Snow: merger because that's what Fitch is sort of tied there's with that positive watch and then S&P or excuse me Moody's has got theirs on the positive outlook which is again based around that that merger occurring

David Slater: Understood. And could you talk a little bit broadly about, you know, how does the IG move helps? DTM, you know, you expect significant, you know, savings in terms of your financing costs. Is more like strategic goal. Yeah, it covers sort of several areas here. You're right. The obvious is around financing costs and those things. But you can see where our debt, our debt's trading pretty close to IG now, but still there's that. It also allows you related to we've got a little bit of money out there for some collateral. You're able to you're able to reclaim that.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: And could you talk a little bit broadly about, you know, how does the IG move help? DTM, you know, you expect significant savings in terms of your financing cost is more like a strategic goal.

Speaker Change: Understood. And could you talk a little bit broadly about, you know, how does the IG move help?

Speaker Change: DTM, you know, you expect significant, you know, savings in terms of your financing cost is more like strategic goal.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: Yeah, it covers sort of several areas, you're right, the obvious is around financing costs and those things, but you can see where our debt is trading pretty close to IG now, but there's that. It also allows you, related to, we've got a little bit of money out there for some collateral; you're able to reclaim that. What it then also helps you with is on the equity side; it opens up your portfolio to investors that are focused on the investment grade sort of portfolio.

Speaker Change: Yeah, it covers sort of several areas. You're right. The obvious is around financing costs and those things, but you can see where our debt's trading.

Speaker Change: Pretty close to IG now, but still there's that. It also allows you related to, we've got a little bit of money out there for some collateral. You're able to reclaim that.

David Slater: But it then also helps you with is on the equity side. It opens up your portfolio to investors that are focused on the investment-grade sort of portfolio. It also opens us up to potential indexes that are also looking for investment grade. And then also then, from a commercial standpoint strategically, it provides sort of there's a halo around investment grade entities. And so again, as a part of the negotiating commercial activity and those kind of things, there's also a positive halo that you get by being an investment grade. So it's across all of those fronts that we see that as a positive move.

Speaker Change: What it then also helps you with is on the equity side, it opens up your portfolio to investors that are focused on the investment grade sort of portfolio. It also opens us up to potential indexes.

Jeffrey A. Jewell: It also opens us up to potential indexes that are also looking for investment grade. And then also, from a commercial standpoint, strategically, it provides sort of a halo around investment grade entities. And so, again, as a part of the negotiating commercial activity and those kind of things, there's also a positive halo that you get by being investment grade. So it's across all of those fronts that we see that as a positive move, and that's why we've been pursuing that for the last several years.

Speaker Change: that are also looking for investment grade.

Speaker Change: and then also then from a commercial standpoint, strategically.

Speaker Change: It provides, it's sort of, there's a halo around investment-grade entities, and so, again, as a part of the negotiating.

Speaker Change: commercial activity and those kind of things, there's also a positive halo.

Speaker Change: that you get by being an investment grade. So, it's across all of those fronts that we see that as a positive move. And that's why we've been pursuing that for the last several years.

David Slater: And that's why we've been pursuing that for the last several years. Got it.

Sunil Sibal: Thank you very much. Thank you.

Sunil K. Sibal: Got it. Thank you very much.

Robert Mosca: Our next question comes from Robert Moska from MusuHo Securities. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Robert Mosca: Our next question comes from Robert Mosca from Mizuho Securities. Please go ahead; your line is open.

Speaker Change: Got it. Thank you very much. Yeah, you bet.

Speaker Change: Our next question comes from Robert Mosca from Mizuho Securities. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Robert Mosca: Hi, good morning everyone. Thanks for squeezing me in. I only have one. Just wondering if we could get your latest thoughts on gas storage along the U.S. Gulf Coast, maybe as we get closer to some of these LNG projects coming online. Is that something that you've been looking at? And maybe more broadly, just the needs for gas storage related to some of these incremental power demand opportunities and what you might be looking at in your footprint.

Robert Mosca: Hi, good morning, everyone. Thanks for squeezing me in. Only have one.

Robert Mosca: Just wondering if we could get your latest thoughts on gas storage along the US Gulf Coast. Maybe as we get closer to some of these LNG projects coming online.

Robert Mosca: Hi, good morning everyone. Thanks for squeezing me in. I only have one. Just wondering if we could get your latest thoughts on gas storage along the U.S. Gulf Coast, maybe as we get closer to some of these.

David Slater: Is that something that you've been looking at and maybe more broadly just the needs for gas storage related to some of these incremental power demand type opportunities and what you might be looking at on your footprint? Sure thing.

Robert Mosca: LNG projects coming online. Is that something that you've been looking at and maybe more broadly just...

Speaker Change: The needs for gas storage related to some of these incremental power demand type opportunities and what you might be looking at on your footprint.

David J. Slater: Sure thing, and good morning, Robert. Not a problem to squeeze you in.

David Slater: Good morning, Robert.

David Slater: Not a problem with squeezing. So storage for us. It really hits. There's multiple opportunities that we view through the lens of our storage portfolio. So first off, here in Michigan, we've been really happy with the re-contracting that we've done this year in that asset. So renewing and extending contracts at higher rates, longer terms in a really strong storage market, which is what is in front of us today. I'd say the other thing again from the highest level is that we have been under investing in storage when you look at the ratio of working capacity in the country to the demand that we have in the country.

Speaker Change: Sure thing, and good morning, Robert. Not a problem to squeeze you in.

David J. Slater: Storage for us, it really hits the spot. There are multiple opportunities that we view through the lens of our storage portfolio. So first off here in Michigan, we've been really happy with the recontracting that we've done this year in that asset. So renewing and extending contracts at higher rates, for longer terms, in a really strong storage market, which is what is in front of us today. And I'd say the other thing, again, from the highest level, is that we have been under-investing in storage. When you look at the ratio of working capacity in the country to the demand that we have in the country, we've been lagging behind in terms of making those investments.

Speaker Change: Storage for us, it really hits, there's multiple opportunities that we view through the lens of our storage portfolio. So first off here in Michigan

Speaker Change: We've been really happy with the recontracting that we've done this year in that asset. So renewing and extending contracts at higher rates, longer terms, in a really strong storage market, which is what is in front of us today.

Speaker Change: I'd say the other thing, again, from the highest level, is that we have been under-investing in storage. When you look at the ratio of working capacity in the country to the demand that we have in the country, we've been lagging behind.

David Slater: We've been lagging behind in terms of making those investments. As more gas fire generation and renewables come on on the electric side, I think that will start to exacerbate that disparity. And in my view, drive the fundamental value of storage here in the back half of the day.

David J. Slater: As more gas fired generation and renewables come on, on the electric side, I think that will start to exasperate that disparity and, in my view, drive the fundamental value of storage here in the back half of the decade. So that's sort of fundamentally what we're seeing with storage in the existing portfolio in terms of incremental growth opportunities. We're obviously looking closely at greenfield opportunities here in Michigan. I'd say that we're not quite at that price level for that to clear the market yet, but we're getting close.

Speaker Change: in terms of making those investments.

Speaker Change: As more gas fire generation and renewables come on, on the electric side, I think that

Speaker Change: will start to exasperate that disparity and, in my view, drive the fundamental value of storage here in the back half of the decade.

David Slater: So that's sort of fundamentally what we're seeing with storage and the existing portfolio. In terms of incremental growth opportunities, we're obviously looking closely at greenfield opportunities here in Michigan. I'd say that we're not quite at that price level for that to clear the market yet, but we're getting close. And then in the Gulf, many of our customers on the Haynesville system that have been inquiring about storage and looking to kind of partner or co-develop storage opportunities. So there's a very clear need, perceived need for more storage to support the energy expansion that's occurred down the Gulf.

Speaker Change: So that's sort of fundamentally what we're seeing with storage in the existing portfolio in terms of incremental growth opportunities.

Speaker Change: We're obviously looking closely at greenfield opportunities here in Michigan. I'd say that we're not quite at that price level for that to clear the market yet, but we're getting close.

David J. Slater: And then in the Gulf, many of our customers on the Haynesville system have been inquiring about storage and looking to kind of partner or co-develop storage opportunities. There's a very clear need, and perceived need, for more storage to support the LNG expansion that's occurred down in the Gulf. So I think that's a very active field right now for a lot of companies, and we're included in those companies. And, again, it's finding the right location, with the right geology, at the right price, and you've got to have the trifecta.

Speaker Change: And then in the Gulf, many of our customers on the Haynesville system have been inquiring about storage and looking to...

Speaker Change: kind of partner or co-develop storage opportunities. So there's a very clear need, perceived need, for more storage to support the LNG

David Slater: So I think that's a very active file right now for a lot of companies, and we're included in those companies. And again, it's finding the right location with the right geology at the right price. And you've got to have the trifecta. And we're working hard on that, and I know why the companies are working hard on that too.

Speaker Change: expansion that's occurred down in the Gulf.

Speaker Change: So I think that's a very active file right now for a lot of companies and we're included in those companies.

Speaker Change: And again, it's...

Speaker Change: finding the right

Speaker Change: Location

Speaker Change: with the right geology at the right price and you got to have the trifecta and you know we're working hard on that and I know other companies are working hard on that too so stay tuned more to come I think there's a general consensus in the market we need more storage

David J. Slater: And, you know, we're working hard on that, and I know other companies are working hard on that too. So stay tuned. More to come. I think there's a general consensus in the market that we need more storage. It's just a matter of clearing, commercially clearing, the market and finding the right projects that can move forward.

Robert Mosca: So stay tuned. More to come. I think there's a general consensus in the market. We need more storage. It's just a matter of clearing commercially clearing the market and finding the right projects that can move forward. Got it. That's that's helpful.

Speaker Change: It's just a matter of commercially clearing the market and finding the right projects that can move forward.

Robert Mosca: Got it. That's helpful. Thanks for the time, everyone.

Operator: Thanks for the time, everyone.

Speaker Change: Got it. That's helpful. Thanks for the time, everyone.

David Slater: We have no further questions.

David J. Slater: We have no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to David Slater for closing remarks.

David Slater: I would like to turn the call back over to David Slater for closing remarks. Well, thank you very much for joining us today, and great questions. We certainly appreciate your interest in D.T. Mystery.

Speaker Change: We have no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to David Slater for closing remarks.

David J. Slater: Well, thank you very much for joining us today and for your great questions. We certainly appreciate your interest in DT Midstream, and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.

David J. Slater: Well, thank you very much for joining us today and great questions. We certainly appreciate your interest in DT Midstream and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.

Operator: And enjoy the rest of your day.

Operator: Thank you.

Operator: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Operator: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may have us connect. Please wait.

Speaker Change: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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