Aris Water Solutions Inc (ARIS) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Aris Water Solutions Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎來到 Aris Water Solutions 2022 年第四季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, David Tuerff, Senior Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations for Aris Water Solutions. Thank you. You may begin.

我現在想把會議轉交給你的主持人，Aris Water Solutions 財務和投資者關係高級副總裁 David Tuerff。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Good morning, and welcome to the Aris Water Solutions Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. I am joined today by our President and CEO, Amanda Brock; our Founder and Executive Chairman, Bill Zartler; and our CFO, Stephan Tompsett.

早上好，歡迎來到 Aris Water Solutions 2022 年第四季度收益電話會議。今天，我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Amanda Brock 加入了我的行列；我們的創始人兼執行主席 Bill Zartler；以及我們的首席財務官 Stephan Tompsett。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that in this call and the related presentation, we will make forward-looking statements regarding our current beliefs, plans and expectations, which are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from results and events contemplated by such forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，在本次電話會議和相關的演示中，我們將就我們當前的信念、計劃和期望做出前瞻性陳述，這些陳述並不是對未來業績的保證，並且會受到一些因素的影響已知和未知的風險和不確定性以及可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述中預期的結果和事件存在重大差異的其他因素。

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Please refer to the risk factors and other cautionary statements included in our filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I would also like to point out that our investor presentation and today's conference call will contain discussion of non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe are useful in evaluating our performance.

請注意不要過分依賴前瞻性陳述。請參閱我們不時向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含的風險因素和其他警示性聲明。我還想指出，我們的投資者介紹和今天的電話會議將包含對非 GAAP 財務措施的討論，我們認為這對評估我們的業績很有用。

These supplemental measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our earnings release and the appendix of today's accompanying presentation. I'll now turn the call over to our Founder and Executive Chairman, Bill Zartler.

不應孤立地考慮這些補充措施或替代根據美國公認會計原則編制的財務措施。與最直接可比的 GAAP 措施的對賬包含在我們的收益發布和今天隨附的演示文稿的附錄中。我現在將電話轉給我們的創始人兼執行主席 Bill Zartler。

Thank you, David, and thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning. 2022 marked another year of tremendous progress for the company. We grew both volumes and adjusted EBITDA for the year by more than 20% over 2021. We continue to expand our footprint backed by long-term contracts with premier operators in the core of the Permian Basin.

謝謝你，大衛，也感謝大家今天早上加入我們。 2022 年標誌著公司取得巨大進步的又一年。與 2021 年相比，我們今年的銷量和調整後 EBITDA 均增長了 20% 以上。在與二疊紀盆地核心地區的主要運營商簽訂長期合同的支持下，我們繼續擴大我們的足跡。

Over the course of last year, the company further established itself as a leader in water infrastructure solutions as evidenced by our strategic comprehensive water management agreement with Chevron and our collaborative beneficial reuse efforts alongside ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Chevron. I'm excited to continue this momentum in 2023 and well beyond.

去年，公司進一步確立了自己在水基礎設施解決方案領域的領先地位，我們與雪佛龍簽署的全面水資源管理戰略協議以及我們與康菲石油公司、埃克森美孚和雪佛龍的合作有益再利用工作就是明證。我很高興能在 2023 年及以後繼續保持這種勢頭。

Looking at the market for '23, we see steady growth from our largest customers, though, as several have communicated publicly slower growth than forecasted 6 months ago. As our system expands and covers more ground, we also see additional contracting opportunities with our current and other operators. Capital discipline and shareholder returns remain the core priority for both us and our customers, and no one has been immune to inflationary pressure on operating and capital budgets. For us, that made steady volume growth alongside customers could have extended inventory runway in top-tier dedicated acreage, which we are connected to and is reflected in our CapEx for 2023.

縱觀 23 年的市場，我們看到我們最大客戶的穩定增長，儘管有幾家公開表示增長低於 6 個月前的預測。隨著我們系統的擴展和覆蓋範圍的擴大，我們也看到了與我們現有和其他運營商簽訂合同的更多機會。資本紀律和股東回報仍然是我們和我們客戶的核心優先事項，沒有人能倖免於運營和資本預算的通脹壓力。對我們而言，這與客戶一起實現穩定的銷量增長可能會擴大頂級專用面積的庫存跑道，我們與之相關並反映在我們 2023 年的資本支出中。

We also believe that we are at the forefront of solutions for the beneficial reuse of produced water. We began by recycling produced water for the oil and gas industry's own water-intensive operations and believe we can continue to expand our services into other industrial uses. Amanda will elaborate further on our position and efforts in this sector. We also believe we are positioned to be a natural consolidator of the fragmented private and operator-owned oilfield water infrastructure industry and adjacent opportunities treating complex water for other verticals outside of the oil and gas industry.

我們還相信，我們處於采出水有益再利用解決方案的前沿。我們首先為石油和天然氣行業自身的水密集型業務回收采出水，並相信我們可以繼續將我們的服務擴展到其他工業用途。 Amanda 將進一步闡述我們在該領域的立場和努力。我們還相信，我們的定位是成為分散的私人和運營商擁有的油田水基礎設施行業的自然整合者，以及為石油和天然氣行業以外的其他垂直行業處理複雜水的相鄰機會。

We have a proven track record, public equity currency, flexible balance sheet and a platform that can be efficiently scaled through M&A. In 2022, we evaluated several transactions, but none other than our acquisition of Delaware Energy's assets met our key cash flow and earnings accretion targets. We see future opportunities for consolidation and remain focused on strategic fit, complementary capabilities and financial discipline. While we're excited about our ample growth opportunities this year, we remain primarily focused on realizing further operational efficiencies, their asset footprint, blue-chip customers and unparalleled team, I'm excited for ARIS' growth in 2023 and beyond.

我們擁有可靠的業績記錄、公共股權貨幣、靈活的資產負債表和可以通過併購有效擴展的平台。 2022 年，我們評估了幾筆交易，但除了收購特拉華能源公司的資產外，沒有其他交易達到了我們的關鍵現金流和收益增長目標。我們看到了未來的整合機會，並將繼續專注於戰略契合、互補能力和財務紀律。雖然我們對今年充足的增長機會感到興奮，但我們仍然主要關注實現進一步的運營效率、他們的資產足跡、藍籌客戶和無與倫比的團隊，我對 ARIS 在 2023 年及以後的增長感到興奮。

With that, I'll turn it over to Amanda.

有了這個，我會把它交給阿曼達。

Thank you, Bill. Our business delivered significant growth in 2022 with full year volumes up 36% and adjusted EBITDA up 24% year-over-year. But as we previously announced, the fourth quarter fell short of our expectations, and we have not yet realized the full earnings potential of our infrastructure. We were impacted more than we anticipated by continued high-cost inflation, severe weather and changes in customer activity as well as lower skim oil revenue.

謝謝你，比爾。我們的業務在 2022 年實現了顯著增長，全年銷量增長 36%，調整後 EBITDA 同比增長 24%。但正如我們先前宣布的那樣，第四季度未達到我們的預期，我們尚未充分發揮基礎設施的盈利潛力。持續的高成本通貨膨脹、惡劣的天氣和客戶活動的變化以及脫脂油收入下降對我們的影響超出了我們的預期。

Some of these factors were beyond our control, but we are taking steps to continue to address what is within our control. We began to mitigate the impact of inflation on controllable expenses in the fourth quarter, making sequential progress in our adjusted operating margin of $0.01 a barrel versus the third quarter. However, we did not make progress on costs as quickly as we had wanted. For our core produced water business, we saw downhole disposal operating costs stabilize in the fourth quarter as we focused on controllable costs.

其中一些因素超出了我們的控制範圍，但我們正在採取措施繼續解決我們控制範圍內的問題。我們在第四季度開始減輕通貨膨脹對可控費用的影響，與第三季度相比，我們調整後的營業利潤率連續上升至每桶 0.01 美元。然而，我們並沒有像我們希望的那樣迅速在成本方面取得進展。對於我們的核心采出水業務，我們看到井下處理運營成本在第四季度穩定下來，因為我們專注於可控成本。

However, we also saw the impact of lower skim oil revenue on operating margins due to lower skin recoveries and lower oil price in the fourth quarter. We have made improvements in how we capture skim oil and are now seeing increases in oil recovered. In our water recycling and sourcing business, we continue to be challenged by elevated costs, particularly power, equipment rental and pumping costs in areas where we do not have permanent power and are using diesel generators and renting pumps.

然而，我們也看到了由於第四季度較低的皮膚回收率和較低的油價而導致的較低脫脂油收入對營業利潤率的影響。我們已經改進了我們捕獲脫脂油的方式，現在發現石油回收量有所增加。在我們的水回收和採購業務中，我們繼續面臨成本上升的挑戰，尤其是在我們沒有永久電力並使用柴油發電機和租用水泵的地區的電力、設備租賃和泵送成本。

We have projects underway to reduce these expenses. To provide some context, we grew our recycled produced water volumes by nearly 2.5x versus 2021 and significantly increased the number of active facilities, and it has taken time to adjust the way we operate and move water for a more complex network.

我們正在進行一些項目來減少這些費用。為了提供一些背景信息，與 2021 年相比，我們將回收的采出水量增加了近 2.5 倍，並顯著增加了活躍設施的數量，並且需要時間來調整我們的運營方式和為更複雜的網絡輸送水。

We have 3 fundamental challenges impacting our sourcing margins. The first is related to industry supply challenges and extended lead times for key components for our newer reuse facilities. We are renting equipment in the interim, leading to higher operating expenses. We expect these components such as rental pumps and tankage to be replaced by permanent capital equipment over the course of 2023, reducing operating costs by approximately $3.2 million on an annualized basis.

我們面臨 3 個影響我們採購利潤率的基本挑戰。第一個與行業供應挑戰和我們較新的再利用設施的關鍵組件的交貨時間延長有關。我們在此期間租用設備，導致運營費用增加。我們預計這些組件（例如租賃泵和儲罐）將在 2023 年期間被永久性資本設備取代，從而每年減少約 320 萬美元的運營成本。

Second, we are waiting on public utilities to connect our new and reuse facilities to line power. Prior to making these line power connections, we have had to incur rental and diesel fuel costs for temporary generators. We anticipate these connections should be made over the course of 2023, reducing operating costs by approximately $4.4 million on an annualized basis once complete.

其次，我們正在等待公用事業將我們的新設施和再利用設施連接到線路電源。在進行這些線路電源連接之前，我們不得不為臨時發電機支付租金和柴油費用。我們預計這些連接應在 2023 年完成，完成後每年可減少約 440 萬美元的運營成本。

Finally, we've seen lower inlet quality water in some of our newer operating areas, particularly in Lea County, which has resulted in increased costs related to higher levels of chemical treatment needs to achieve specifications required under our contracts. We are implementing improvements to our chemical dosing systems, working with our customers on the quality of water they are sending us and how to manage toward quality more cost effectively.

最後，我們發現一些較新的運營區域的進水水質較低，尤其是在 Lea 縣，這導致與更高水平的化學處理需求相關的成本增加，以達到我們合同要求的規格。我們正在對我們的化學加藥系統進行改進，與我們的客戶合作改善他們輸送給我們的水的質量，以及如何以更具成本效益的方式管理水質。

In addition to focusing on our controllable expenses, we are also implementing projects to become more capital efficient. As we look at our expansion program for disposal wells, we have recently redesigned our facility configurations and expect to save approximately $2.5 million per disposal well on average and the incremental operating cost savings. As we connect to new customer locations, we are also increasing the size of our trunk lines to provide additional capacity in future years.

除了專注於我們的可控開支外，我們還在實施項目以提高資本效率。當我們審視我們的處置井擴建計劃時，我們最近重新設計了我們的設施配置，預計每個處置井平均節省約 250 萬美元，並增加運營成本。當我們連接到新的客戶地點時，我們也在增加干線的規模，以在未來幾年提供額外的容量。

Turning to our outlook for this year. Lower fourth quarter completion activity on our acreage slowed our volume growth in early 2023, but we are already beginning to see produced water volumes ramp in the past several weeks. While we are seeing produced water volumes flat to slightly down in the first quarter of 2023 versus the fourth quarter of 2022, we anticipate growing produced water volumes 15% to 20% overall in 2023.

談談我們對今年的展望。我們種植面積的第四季度完工活動減少，減緩了我們在 2023 年初的產量增長，但我們已經開始看到過去幾週的采出水量增加。雖然我們看到 2023 年第一季度的采出水量與 2022 年第四季度持平或略有下降，但我們預計 2023 年采出水量總體增長 15% 至 20%。

In contrast, while produced water volumes are growing, we anticipate incrementally lower completion schedules from some of our larger customers, consistent with recent revisions to their production forecast for the Permian. This lower level of completion activity is expected to reduce the amount of our produced water which is recycled, which will in turn impact us in 3 ways.

相比之下，雖然采出水量在增長，但我們預計一些大客戶的完工進度會逐漸降低，這與他們最近對二疊紀產量預測的修訂一致。這種較低水平的完工活動預計會減少我們回收的采出水量，這反過來會在 3 方面影響我們。

First, we will see lower total margins in our water sourcing due to reduced customer activity. Second, because we are not recycling as much, we will dispose of more volumes down hole incurring additional operating expenses. Third, with reduced recycling, less disposal capacity has opened up, and we are not able to take as much higher-margin interruptible volumes because our available disposal capacity is required for our contracted values.

首先，由於客戶活動減少，我們的水源總利潤將下降。其次，因為我們沒有回收那麼多，我們將在井下處理更多的體積，從而產生額外的運營費用。第三，隨著回收減少，處置能力減少，我們無法獲得利潤率更高的可中斷容量，因為我們的合同價值需要我們可用的處置能力。

Now turning to Delaware Energy. While we have now connected the primary disposal well to our system, upgrade to the assets we acquired are currently behind schedule due to supply chain issues related to the procurement of tubing. These delays are impacting our performance in the first half of the year with volumes approximately 35% below where we had anticipated. We expect our upgrades and full integration to be completed by the second quarter and should see an increase in sustained volumes as this work wraps up. We believe annualized EBITDA will still be in line with our original expectation of $11 million to $13 million per year for the second half of the year.

現在轉向特拉華能源。雖然我們現在已經將初級處理井連接到我們的系統，但由於與油管採購相關的供應鏈問題，我們收購的資產的升級目前落後於計劃。這些延遲影響了我們今年上半年的業績，銷量比我們的預期低了約 35%。我們預計我們的升級和全面整合將在第二季度完成，並且隨著這項工作的結束，銷量應該會持續增長。我們相信年化 EBITDA 仍將符合我們最初預期的下半年每年 1,100 萬至 1,300 萬美元。

While substantial efforts are underway to maximize returns in our core produced water handling and recycling business, we are very encouraged by the progress we are making, leading collaborative industry efforts on beneficial reuse of produced water. We're excited to announce that ExxonMobil has joined our previously announced strategic agreement with Chevron and Conoco Pillar to pilot and implement technology to treat produced water for beneficial reuse. We are now in the execution phase and expect to have the primary pilots associated with this program completed by Q1 2024.

雖然我們正在努力使我們的核心采出水處理和回收業務的回報最大化，但我們對我們正在取得的進展感到非常鼓舞，我們在采出水的有益再利用方面引領行業協作努力。我們很高興地宣布，埃克森美孚加入了我們之前宣布的與雪佛龍和康菲石油的戰略協議，以試驗和實施技術來處理采出水以實現有益再利用。我們現在正處於執行階段，預計在 2024 年第一季度完成與該計劃相關的初步試點。

In the interim, we are actively looking at opportunities to commercialize the beneficial reuse of treated produced water in verticals outside of oil and gas. Additionally, last month, we announced the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Alliance for Water Innovation selected Aris pilot as the only known project focused on the treatment of produced water using desalination technologies to receive a federal funding grant.

在此期間，我們正在積極尋找機會，將經過處理的采出水在石油和天然氣以外的垂直領域的有益再利用商業化。此外，上個月，我們宣布美國能源部和國家水資源創新聯盟選擇 Aris 試點作為唯一已知的專注於使用脫鹽技術處理采出水的項目，以獲得聯邦資助。

We also recently completed a 6-month agricultural study with Texas A&M, which successfully used treated produced water for irrigation of cotton and rye. We are excited to share that this project also quantified and confirmed the significant potential for carbon sequestration in the rye, cotton and their associated routes. We are now beginning to evaluate how we can partner with other stakeholders to develop full-scale projects in this area.

我們最近還與 Texas A&M 完成了一項為期 6 個月的農業研究，該研究成功地將處理過的采出水用於棉花和黑麥的灌溉。我們很高興與大家分享，該項目還量化並證實了黑麥、棉花及其相關路線中碳封存的巨大潛力。我們現在開始評估我們如何與其他利益相關者合作以開發該領域的全面項目。

In addition, we recognize that raw produced water contains various concentrations of minerals such as lithium and bromine and other inorganic compounds such as ammonia, that may have commercial value and are exploring and assessing the feasibility of various extractive technologies. On the sustainability front, we are also pleased to announce that we successfully exceeded the 2022 sustainability performance target of our sustainability link notes.

此外，我們認識到原采出水含有不同濃度的礦物質，如鋰和溴以及其他無機化合物，如氨，可能具有商業價值，並正在探索和評估各種提取技術的可行性。在可持續發展方面，我們也很高興地宣布，我們成功超過了可持續發展鏈接說明中的 2022 年可持續發展績效目標。

Our recycled produced water exceeded 70% of total water volumes sold versus our sustainability target of 60%. In conclusion, while the fundamentals of our produced water business remains strong, we recognize we have more work to do in managing our reuse costs. The Aris team remains focused on optimization of our operating costs, capital efficiency and selectively pursuing additional growth opportunities where we feel we can invest capital at attractive returns.

我們回收的采出水超過了總售出水量的 70%，而我們的可持續發展目標為 60%。總之，雖然我們采出水業務的基本面依然強勁，但我們認識到在管理再利用成本方面還有更多工作要做。 Aris 團隊仍然專注於優化我們的運營成本、資本效率，並有選擇地尋求我們認為可以以有吸引力的回報投資資本的額外增長機會。

With that, I'll turn it over to Steve to discuss our financial results and financial outlook for 2023.

有了這個，我將把它交給史蒂夫來討論我們 2023 年的財務業績和財務前景。

Thank you, Amanda. We recorded adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of $36.1 million, up 1% from the fourth quarter of 2021, but down 9% sequentially from the third quarter of 2022. The sequential decline was largely due to the volumetric miss and operating cost pressures we've previously communicated. We were also negatively impacted by lower skim volumes and lower realized skin pricing by approximately $1.6 million as compared to the third quarter of 2022. For capital, we invested approximately $147 million during the year, in line with expectations and guidance.

謝謝你，阿曼達。我們錄得第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 3610 萬美元，比 2021 年第四季度增長 1%，但比 2022 年第三季度環比下降 9%。環比下降主要是由於我們的體積損失和運營成本壓力之前交流過。與 2022 年第三季度相比，我們還受到了較低的脫脂量和較低的實際皮膚定價約 160 萬美元的負面影響。在資本方面，我們在這一年投資了約 1.47 億美元，符合預期和指導。

Looking forward to 2023 for produced water, volumes as expected have begun the year slightly down and should average 925,000 to 135,000 barrels per day for the first quarter, so we expect year-over-year volumes to average 1.01 million to 1.04 million barrels per day. Our forecast assumes higher-margin spot volumes are a lower percentage of our overall volumes relative to 2022 as a result of lower recycled volumes that we will look to capture short-term opportunities as geography and contracted customer activity allows, which could drive this number higher. As we evaluate our results sequentially in the first quarter of 2023 versus the fourth quarter of last year, it's worth bearing in mind that there are 2 fewer days in the first quarter relative to the fourth, which impacts us by approximately $800,000.

展望 2023 年的采出水，今年年初的預期產量略有下降，第一季度平均每天應為 925,000 至 135,000 桶，因此我們預計同比平均產量為每天 101 萬至 104 萬桶.我們的預測假設與 2022 年相比，由於回收量較低，利潤率較高的現貨量占我們總銷量的百分比較低，我們將尋求在地理和合同客戶活動允許的情況下抓住短期機會，這可能會推高這一數字.當我們按順序評估 2023 年第一季度與去年第四季度的業績時，值得注意的是，第一季度比第四季度少了 2 天，這對我們的影響約為 800,000 美元。

For 2023 revenue, produced water rates are expected to increase approximately $0.02 to $0.04 per barrel on average, excluding the impact of skin pricing due to contract mix and CPI escalators in our contracts, which go into effect over the first half of the year. We expect adjusted operating margin for produced water, excluding skin to be relatively flat year-over-year as these revenue increases will offset approximately $2.5 million of additional well maintenance expense, which is planned to take place throughout the year.

對於 2023 年的收入，采出水費率預計平均每桶增加約 0.02 美元至 0.04 美元，這不包括由於合同組合和我們合同中的 CPI 扶梯而導致的皮膚定價的影響，這些費用將於今年上半年生效。我們預計調整後的采出水運營利潤率（不包括表皮）同比持平，因為這些收入增長將抵消計劃全年發生的約 250 萬美元的額外油井維護費用。

We see potential upside for margins to improve above these levels if we are able to increase our rate of recycling relative to our forecast or accelerate some of our cost savings initiatives. For skim oil, we have made some operational adjustments to address the shortfall we experienced in the fourth quarter and forecast recoveries of approximately 0.09% of produced water volumes for the year as compared to 0.08% in the fourth quarter. While overall skim oil well volumes are expected to increase year-over-year, revenue from skim is forecasted to be down as we assume an average realized price of approximately $68 per barrel as compared to $86 per barrel in 2022.

如果我們能夠相對於我們的預測提高回收率或加快我們的一些成本節約計劃，我們認為利潤率有可能提高到這些水平之上。對於脫脂油，我們進行了一些運營調整以解決我們在第四季度遇到的短缺，並預測全年采出水量的回收率約為 0.09%，而第四季度為 0.08%。雖然整體脫脂油井產量預計將同比增加，但由於我們假設平均實現價格約為每桶 68 美元，而 2022 年為每桶 86 美元，因此預計脫脂收入將下降。

It is worth noting that relative to our outlook, a 0.01% increase in annual skim recoveries equates to approximately $2 million of EBITDA and a $1 per barrel change in annual skim pricing impacts EBITDA by approximately $325,000. For the Water Solutions business, our expectations are for slightly lower completion activity from our customers in 2023, resulting in volumes of 360,000 to 370,000 barrels of water per day for the first quarter and 375,000 to 395,000 barrels of water per day for the year.

值得注意的是，相對於我們的前景，年度脫脂回收率增加 0.01% 相當於約 200 萬美元的 EBITDA，年度脫脂定價每桶 1 美元的變化會影響 EBITDA 約 325,000 美元。對於 Water Solutions 業務，我們預計 2023 年客戶的完工活動將略有減少，導致第一季度每天的水量為 360,000 至 370,000 桶，全年每天為 375,000 至 395,000 桶。

We believe revenue for reuse, water and groundwater will grow $0.02 to $0.05 per barrel on average in 2023, which should offset some of the increase in operating expenses, which continued from the second half of 2022. We have several initiatives underway to drive improvements, as Amanda mentioned, but our outlook assumes reuse in sourcing total adjusted operating margin will be down approximately 5% to 10% year-over-year.

我們認為，到 2023 年，再利用、水和地下水的收入平均每桶將增長 0.02 美元至 0.05 美元，這應該會抵消從 2022 年下半年開始持續的運營支出的部分增長。我們正在採取多項舉措來推動改進，正如 Amanda 提到的，但我們的展望假設在採購中的再利用總調整後營業利潤率將同比下降約 5% 至 10%。

Our outlook also assumes we recycle approximately 20% of all produced water inlet barrels. So to the extent we increase that rate, we could see additional margin as a 1% change in our recycle rate equates to approximately $1 million of EBITDA, including downhole OpEx savings. So taken together, we're forecasting $33 million to $35 million of adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter and $150 million to $170 million of adjusted EBITDA for the full year. This outlook reflects the strength in our core produced water handling volumes, which continue to exhibit consistent growth, offset by the impact of inflation, lower skin pricing and lower rates of recycling.

我們的展望還假設我們回收了大約 20% 的所有采出水進水桶。因此，在我們提高該比率的範圍內，我們可以看到額外的利潤率，因為我們的回收率變化 1% 相當於大約 100 萬美元的 EBITDA，包括井下運營支出節省。因此，我們預計第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 3300 萬至 3500 萬美元，全年調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.5 億至 1.7 億美元。這一前景反映了我們核心采出水處理量的實力，繼續呈現持續增長，但被通貨膨脹、較低的皮膚定價和較低的回收率的影響所抵消。

Turning to capital, for 2023, we forecast $110 million to $120 million in growth capital, which is weighted towards the first half of the year. This capital is primarily related to existing contracts and includes required connections to new well pads, expansions of key sections of trunk lines and 6 new disposal wells. We also plan to spend $16 million to $18 million for high-return nonrecurring system optimization investments to drive the operating margin improvements previously mentioned as well as approximately $3 million to $4 million for onetime capital associated with new accounting software implementation, SOX compliance and office space.

談到資本，我們預測 2023 年將有 1.1 億至 1.2 億美元的增長資本，這將集中在今年上半年。這筆資金主要與現有合同有關，包括所需的新井場連接、主幹線關鍵部分的擴建和 6 個新處理井。我們還計劃花費 1600 萬到 1800 萬美元用於高回報的非經常性系統優化投資，以推動前面提到的營業利潤率的提高，併計劃花費大約 300 萬到 400 萬美元用於與新會計軟件實施、SOX 合規性和辦公空間相關的一次性資本.

We also have $11 million to $13 million for maintenance capital to ensure asset integrity and system availability. Taken together, capital expenditures are forecasted to be between $140 million and $155 million for the full year, including $45 million to $55 million in the first quarter, excluding the impact of working capital. Our growth capital spending generally has a 6- to 9-month lag between investment and revenue, so we have good visibility to grow in produced water volumes and realizing the benefit of our capital program in the second half of 2023 and early 2024 as additional wells are connected and our system optimization investments deliver anticipated operating cost reductions.

我們還有 1100 萬至 1300 萬美元的維護資金，以確保資產完整性和系統可用性。綜合考慮，預計全年資本支出在 1.4 億美元至 1.55 億美元之間，其中第一季度為 4500 萬至 5500 萬美元，不包括營運資金的影響。我們的增長資本支出在投資和收入之間通常有 6 到 9 個月的滯後時間，因此我們很清楚地看到采出水量的增長，並在 2023 年下半年和 2024 年初實現我們的資本計劃作為額外井的好處連接在一起，我們的系統優化投資可實現預期的運營成本降低。

Looking at our balance sheet and credit profile. We ended the year with a debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio of 3.0 at the midpoint of our target range and have no debt maturities until 2025. In the fourth quarter, we utilized a portion of our revolver to fund working capital and growth CapEx and have approximately $150 million available into our credit facility as of today.

查看我們的資產負債表和信用狀況。年底時，我們的債務調整後 EBITDA 比率為 3.0，處於我們目標範圍的中點，並且在 2025 年之前沒有債務到期。在第四季度，我們利用部分循環資金為營運資本和增長資本支出提供資金，以及截至今天，我們的信貸額度大約有 1.5 億美元可用。

Finally, we recently announced our sixth consecutive dividend of $0.09 per share, which will be paid on March 29 to shareholders of record as of March 17.

最後，我們最近宣布連續第六次派發每股 0.09 美元的股息，將於 3 月 29 日支付給截至 3 月 17 日登記在冊的股東。

With that, I'll turn it over to Amanda to wrap up.

有了這個，我會把它交給阿曼達來總結。

Thanks, Steve. While the fourth quarter fell short of our expectations, we're proud of the team's performance across 2022. We have continued to grow. We provided safe, reliable service to premier operators. We exceeded our sustainability goals. We led collaborative industry efforts to further beneficial reuse we manage through our unprecedented inflationary pressures.

謝謝，史蒂夫。雖然第四季度沒有達到我們的預期，但我們為團隊在 2022 年的表現感到自豪。我們在繼續成長。我們為主要運營商提供安全、可靠的服務。我們超越了我們的可持續發展目標。我們領導了行業的協作努力，以通過我們前所未有的通貨膨脹壓力來管理我們管理的進一步有益的再利用。

We are highly focused on operational improvements and continue to work towards improving our operating margins, both through cost reduction initiatives and pricing increases. We expect our adjusted EBITDA to increase significantly in the back half of 2023 as we realize the benefit of our cost optimization efforts, the full impact of the Delaware Energy acquisition and CPI-linked escalation in our revenue rates. We also see continued growth into 2023 and beyond with existing customers and through additional business development efforts.

我們高度關注運營改進，並繼續通過降低成本和提高價格來提高我們的運營利潤率。我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 將在 2023 年下半年大幅增加，因為我們意識到成本優化工作的好處、特拉華能源收購的全面影響以及與 CPI 相關的收入率上升。我們還看到 2023 年及以後與現有客戶的持續增長以及通過額外的業務發展努力。

While Aris has been a growth company since inception, we will remain selective as we evaluate new growth opportunities and work towards becoming free cash flow positive. With that, we will take questions.

雖然 Aris 自成立以來一直是一家成長型公司，但在評估新的增長機會並努力實現自由現金流為正時，我們將保持選擇性。有了這個，我們將提出問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of John Mackay with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 John Mackay 與 Goldman Sachs 的對話。

I appreciate all the new detail on some of the specific OpEx savings that you're kind of working through. I'm just trying to think from your perspective now looking at it, we've been talking about some of these margin headwinds for a couple of quarters now. Just wondering if you could spend a little more time talking kind of the milestones we should be watching for to -- for you guys to actually start to hit some of these margin improvements that we're waiting for from here and maybe if you could just comment overall kind of how comfortable you are on the guide right now.

我很欣賞您正在努力實現的一些特定運營支出節省的所有新細節。我只是想從你的角度來思考，現在我們已經討論了幾個季度以來的一些利潤逆風。只是想知道你是否可以多花一點時間談談我們應該關注的里程碑——讓你們真正開始實現我們在這裡等待的一些利潤率改善，也許你們可以評論您現在對指南的總體感覺。

We'll have Steve take you through the list. We have been committed to sharing more details so you are able to track our progress.

我們將讓史蒂夫帶您瀏覽清單。我們一直致力於分享更多細節，以便您能夠跟踪我們的進展。

I think if you look across the year, what you heard Amanda speak to in regards to some of the rental equipment and electrical, we think that's all going to be addressed in the first half of this year. So, we really think that in the second half of the year, you're going to see that improvement in operating margin. In sum, it’s about a penny and a half per barrel across all volumes. So, we should see improvement across the second half of the year relative to the first.

我想如果你回顧一下這一年，你聽到阿曼達談到的一些租賃設備和電氣設備，我們認為這一切都將在今年上半年得到解決。所以，我們真的認為在今年下半年，你會看到營業利潤率的提高。總而言之，所有捲的價格約為每桶 1.5 美分。因此，我們應該看到下半年相對於上半年有所改善。

Likewise, with Delaware Energy, we should have all that work done by the second quarter. So, we'll see a step up in Delaware Energy volumes and resulting units as well. I think the other piece of this, from a revenue standpoint on CPI, we have different contracts coming in January, April, and July. And so, by July, we'll have the benefit of all the CPI escalators. So, that's really where we're going to see a differentiation between first half and second half.

同樣，對於特拉華能源公司，我們應該在第二季度完成所有工作。因此，我們將看到特拉華能源的數量和由此產生的單位也有所增加。我認為另一方面，從 CPI 的收入角度來看，我們在 1 月、4 月和 7 月有不同的合同。因此，到 7 月，我們將受益於所有 CPI 自動扶梯。所以，這真的是我們將看到上半場和下半場之間的區別的地方。

John, the other thing that we're going to see, and we are tracking is obviously power. When we IPOed, we were working on getting power to all of our SWDs, and we were able to be successful. At this point, we've got over 18 booster pumps out in the field, moving water, both for produced water disposal, as well as related to our reuse. Working with Exxon, a little bit out of our control, but we are now on the schedule. That schedule may slip slightly, but we are able to work throughout the first half to get connected to line power. So, we will be able to report back what we've actually connected. And as we've explained, that impact of just getting that line power connected is approximately $4.4 million. So, it is meaningful, and we are pushing them as hard as we can.

約翰，我們將要看到的另一件事，我們正在追踪的顯然是力量。當我們首次公開募股時，我們正在努力為我們所有的 SWD 供電，並且我們取得了成功。此時，我們已經在現場安裝了超過 18 個增壓泵，用於輸送水，既用於處理產出水，也用於我們的再利用。與埃克森美孚的合作，有點超出我們的控制，但我們現在在日程上。該時間表可能會稍微推遲，但我們能夠在整個上半年工作以連接到線路電源。因此，我們將能夠報告我們實際連接的內容。正如我們所解釋的，僅連接線路電源的影響就約為 440 萬美元。所以，這是有意義的，我們正在盡我們所能地推動他們。

Looking forward to kind of seeing that unfold this year. Maybe just as a follow-up, on the completions outlook, just curious if you could spend a little more time walking through that one as well. How much of that is - is it kind of leaning on one customer slowing down more than others? Is it more of a kind of impact of seeing kind of higher interruptible volumes in ‘22? So, kind of the year-over-year moderation and activity isn't actually as high as it could be. And then maybe last, just lower completions this year, what does that mean for ‘24 potentially?

期待在今年看到這種情況的發生。也許只是作為後續行動，關於完成的前景，只是好奇你是否可以花更多的時間來完成那個。其中有多少 - 它是否有點依賴於一個客戶比其他客戶放慢速度更多？在 22 年看到更高的可中斷量是否更像是一種影響？因此，年復一年的節制和活動實際上並沒有達到應有的水平。然後也許是最後，今年的完成率較低，這對 24 潛在意味著什麼？

So, we have guided that we expect our completion outlook to be lower, and you're right, that doesn't turn impact interruptible volumes because when we do recycle, we open up capacity to bring interruptible volumes. I think in terms of leaning on our customers, it's really understanding their forecasts, and we have very large customers, and we are impacted by one large customer in particular that has reduced their forecast and outlook. But again, this is a short cycle business. So, we may see changes as the year progresses, but what we are sharing at this point is our best estimation of where the forecast is right now. It is a function of geography. So, it is a function of where customers are moving their frac crews, and we are continuing to just stay on top of that, but some of this is out of our control.

因此，我們已經指導我們預計我們的完成前景會更低，而且你是對的，這不會影響可中斷的容量，因為當我們進行回收時，我們會打開容量來帶來可中斷的容量。我認為就依靠我們的客戶而言，這真的是了解他們的預測，我們有非常大的客戶，我們尤其受到一個大客戶的影響，他們降低了他們的預測和前景。但同樣，這是一個短週期業務。因此，隨著時間的推移，我們可能會看到變化，但我們此時分享的是我們對當前預測位置的最佳估計。它是地理的函數。因此，這是客戶將他們的壓裂工作人員轉移到哪裡的功能，我們將繼續保持領先地位，但其中一些是我們無法控制的。

Our next question comes from the line of Spiro Dounis with Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Spiro Dounis。

Amanda, you mentioned in your closing remarks just around being a little bit more selective around growth going forward. And I think the release also pointed to maybe a path towards being free cash flow positive. Curious if you’d just expand on those remarks a little bit, and if that's a sort of a slight shift and maybe being more discerning about growth projects than you have been in the past. And when it does come to the free cash flow outlook and getting to that positive point, you guys talked about this in a lot of different ways on the call so far, but it sounds like ‘23 exit rates should be much stronger than current levels. Also sounds like we could see a sort of meaningful drop off in CapEx after some of these one-off items occur sort of later in ‘23. So, is it sort of crazy to think that ‘24 could be that inflection point on cash flow, or is it still a little bit further out than that?

阿曼達，你在結束語中提到要對未來的增長更有選擇性。而且我認為該發布還指出了一條通往自由現金流為正的道路。很好奇你是否只是稍微擴展這些評論，如果這是一種輕微的轉變，並且可能比你過去對增長項目更加挑剔。當談到自由現金流前景並達到積極點時，你們到目前為止在電話會議上以很多不同的方式討論了這個問題，但聽起來 23 年的退出率應該比當前水平強得多.在 23 年晚些時候出現一些一次性項目之後，聽起來我們可能會看到資本支出出現某種有意義的下降。那麼，認為 24 年可能是現金流的拐點是不是有點瘋狂，或者它還比那個更遠一點？

Great question. Something we talk about an awful lot. So, you're right. We do see the exit rate at the end of this year. I mean, Q4 to Q4, we see 26% increase in produced water volume. So, our core business and our volume story, continues to be just very strong. We sort of see exiting again in accordance with our current forecast of sort of over $180 million in EBITDA. Selective growth, I mean, this is really a function as a midstream company where you've got fixed rates and where you have some CPI, and you know in our case, some of our CPI escalated the caps. We are going to become more discerning. Nobody anticipated inflation, but we have now seen the impact inflation can have on margin degradation.

很好的問題。我們經常談論的事情。所以，你是對的。我們確實看到了今年年底的退出率。我的意思是，從第四季度到第四季度，我們看到產水量增加了 26%。因此，我們的核心業務和銷量故事繼續非常強勁。根據我們目前對超過 1.8 億美元的 EBITDA 的預測，我們有點看到再次退出。選擇性增長，我的意思是，這實際上是一家中游公司的功能，在那裡你有固定利率和一些 CPI，你知道在我們的案例中，我們的一些 CPI 提高了上限。我們將變得更加敏銳。沒有人預料到通貨膨脹，但我們現在已經看到通貨膨脹對利潤率下降的影響。

So, the projects we want to be looking at are going to have to really achieve a certain return threshold and really be additive to our system. So, we are going to be a little more selective, as you said. In terms of free cash flow, again, we understand the importance of this. We do see CapEx coming down. Growth CapEx came down this year by about $25 million. We do see some of the projects that we are doing this year impact EBITDA in ‘24. There's always that delay. We believe that CapEx will be down next year. And in terms of free cash flow, on the basis of our current outlook, current forecast, looking at the operating margin improvements and efficiencies that we expect to achieve, we do at this point see that early 2024 should be that infection point.

因此，我們想要關注的項目必須真正達到一定的回報門檻，並且真正成為我們系統的補充。因此，正如您所說，我們將更具選擇性。在自由現金流方面，我們再次理解這一點的重要性。我們確實看到資本支出下降。增長資本支出今年下降了約 2500 萬美元。我們確實看到我們今年正在進行的一些項目會影響 24 年的 EBITDA。總是有這種延遲。我們相信明年的資本支出將會下降。在自由現金流方面，根據我們目前的展望和預測，看看我們預期實現的營業利潤率改善和效率，我們確實認為 2024 年初應該是那個感染點。

Second question, just wanted to touch on M&A as well. Came up in some of those prepared remarks. You mentioned that you've all been sort of evaluating several targets last year, but none quite hit that hurdle rate. Curious how you'd characterize the M&A market now. Has it softened a bit where maybe you can get more alignment on price? Just curious how you're thinking about that today.

第二個問題，我也想談談併購。出現在一些準備好的評論中。你提到去年你們都在評估幾個目標，但沒有一個能完全達到這個目標。想知道您現在如何描述併購市場的特徵。它是否有所軟化，也許您可以在價格上更加一致？只是好奇你今天是怎麼想的。

So, again, very disciplined. We talked about that last year. We would've liked to have done a deal last year, but it wasn't for the lack of opportunity. It was for the product and the price did not sort of achieve what we wanted. But I'm going to have Bill address that in terms of this year because it is a strong pipeline.

所以，再次，非常有紀律。我們去年談過這個。我們本來希望去年能達成協議，但這並不是因為缺乏機會。這是為了產品，價格並沒有達到我們想要的。但我將讓比爾在今年解決這個問題，因為它是一個強大的管道。

Well, I mean, I think that the integration and consolidation of the upstream industry has led the efforts across, whether it's midstream or services, and the realization between private and public markets in terms of what these assets and businesses are worth, I think is beginning to get more apparent. And I think that to the extent opportunities reveal themselves, the recognition of where valuations ought to be now where everyone may have expected these things to be over the last several years, but where the market says they're worth today, and hopefully there's some consolidation opportunities and having a public currency which allows sellers to continue to achieve upside in the public stocks as the market valuations rebound over time, is more than likely what we see happening in the midstream space.

好吧，我的意思是，我認為上游行業的整合和整合引領了跨越的努力，無論是中游還是服務，以及私人和公共市場之間在這些資產和業務價值方面的實現，我認為是開始變得更加明顯。而且我認為，就機會本身而言，現在應該認識到估值應該在過去幾年中每個人都可能期望這些東西的位置，但市場表示它們今天的價值，希望有一些隨著市場估值隨著時間的推移反彈，合併機會和擁有允許賣家繼續在公共股票中實現上漲的公共貨幣，我們很可能在中游領域看到發生的情況。

Our next question comes from the line of Samantha Hoh with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Samantha Hoh。

I was wondering, maybe we can just stay on the M&A topics for just a little bit. Are you guys still going to focus on like midstream targets? Or not midstream, I'm sorry, Permian targets. Any sort of information you can share in terms of how you're thinking about like maybe by geography or customer mix in terms of how you're targeting potential M&A opportunities and how you might fund that transaction?

我在想，也許我們可以稍微停留在併購話題上。你們還會專注於中游目標嗎？或者不在中游，對不起，二疊紀目標。關於您如何看待潛在併購機會以及如何為該交易提供資金的地理或客戶組合，您可以分享任何類型的信息？

So, we've been -- again, pretty consistent that if you are in this space, the Permian is a great place to be. We certainly have looked and will continue to look at other basins where fundamentals may support the type of growth and returns we want to see. So, it is - geography is very important in our analysis, but we're not only looking sort of at the midstream space. As we sort of explained before, we will look at sort of some of the adjacencies in sort of water treatment, which may not be geography-specific, but as it relates to our core business, we look for things that are accretive, that strategically makes sense with our system where we can potentially use underutilized capacity of the targets, and where we can potentially bring in more reuse opportunity and more effectively utilize the volumes across the systems.

所以，我們一直——再一次，非常一致地認為，如果你在這個空間裡，二疊紀是一個很棒的地方。我們當然已經並將繼續關注其他基本面可能支持我們希望看到的增長和回報類型的盆地。所以，它是 - 地理在我們的分析中非常重要，但我們不僅在尋找中游空間。正如我們之前解釋過的那樣，我們將研究水處理領域的一些鄰接關係，這可能不是特定於地理位置的，但因為它與我們的核心業務相關，所以我們尋找具有增長性、戰略性的東西對我們的系統有意義，我們可以潛在地使用未充分利用的目標容量，並且我們可以潛在地帶來更多重用機會並更有效地利用系統中的捲。

And then a segue to the beneficial reuse initiative. I was just wondering if the pilot, the field pilot that you guys are planning on rolling out in the first quarter of next year, and can you maybe talk about it in terms of the size of that pilot? Is that going to be sort of like a small scale field trial, and then you have to go back into the engineering room and really try to scale that up over time?

然後繼續進行有益的重用計劃。我只是想知道試點，你們計劃在明年第一季度推出的現場試點，你能談談試點的規模嗎？這是否有點像小規模的現場試驗，然後你必須回到工程室並真正嘗試隨著時間的推移擴大規模？

It actually is a series of pilots. We have set it aside at our (inaudible) SWD. And working with Chevron, with Exxon, with Conoco, is just an amazing lineup of talent and capabilities and sharing all of those costs with them. We will be piloting a series of different technologies at scale. So, all of these technologies have either been tested out in the field before, or with some of the more promising ones, it's coming off some bench testing, but we will be looking at different technologies throughout this entire year and early next year for the ability to scale up robust lower costs, and then taking into consideration the geography we're in to make sure that they are energy efficient, et cetera.

它實際上是一系列飛行員。我們已將其擱置在我們的（聽不清）SWD 中。與雪佛龍、埃克森美孚和康菲石油公司合作，是一個驚人的人才和能力陣容，並與他們分擔所有這些成本。我們將大規模試驗一系列不同的技術。因此，所有這些技術之前都已經在現場進行過測試，或者與一些更有前途的技術一起進行了一些台架測試，但我們將在全年和明年初研究不同的技術能夠擴大穩健的低成本，然後考慮我們所處的地理位置以確保它們具有能源效率，等等。

So, series of pilots, and after these pilots, we will then determine which technologies we wish to use for pre-treatment, for treatment, for polishing post-treatment, because remember, what we are trying to do is lower cost of recycling and treating produced water for different applications. So, if you're doing it for hydrogen, you've got to get very clean water. What we've proven with this agricultural program is, you don't have to have as clean as you'd have to do for hydrogen.

因此，一系列試點，在這些試點之後，我們將確定我們希望將哪些技術用於預處理、處理、拋光後處理，因為請記住，我們正在努力做的是降低迴收成本和為不同的應用處理采出水。所以，如果你正在為氫氣做這件事，你必須得到非常乾淨的水。我們通過該農業計劃證明的是，您不必像使用氫氣那樣清潔。

So, complex, happy to talk about it in more detail because you know I can talk about it forever, and very, very encouraged by what we are seeing, and working at the same time this year with ag, with industry, to find ways to commercialize this, because we've got this huge feedstock of water that once we know how to cost effectively treat it, this feedstock can be used by multiple industries for different applications.

所以，很複雜，很高興能更詳細地談論它，因為你知道我可以永遠談論它，並且對我們所看到的以及今年與 ag 和行業同時工作的情況感到非常非常鼓舞，以尋找方法將其商業化，因為我們擁有大量的水原料，一旦我們知道如何以經濟有效的方式處理它，這種原料就可以被多個行業用於不同的應用。

Just to piggyback on that, is that being expense out of G&A right now, or is there some component of growth CapEx going into this initiative?

順便說一下，這是現在 G&A 的費用，還是增長資本支出的某些組成部分進入了這一計劃？

What we've done in our financial statements is, we've broken this out into R&D. So, it's a separate line item. So, you have that visibility into it. So, it doesn't flow through CapEx, and you'll see through these partnerships we've established, the capital burden on the company is fairly low.

我們在財務報表中所做的是，我們將其分解為研發。所以，這是一個單獨的項目。所以，你有它的可見性。所以，它不會通過資本支出流動，你會通過我們建立的這些合作夥伴關係看到，公司的資本負擔相當低。

And Sam, I would challenge just anybody to achieve what we've achieved on the budget we've achieved it, and we'll continue to work this year. And we have now the benefit of significant cost-sharing by these strong partners who are also funding independent grants. But now, we grant that we receive - we’ll not only be funded by the DOE, but Exxon is also funding a portion of that grant, and that grant's going to really sort of focus on diesel, we've got others where we'll be focusing on brine and looking at extractive technologies to see whether or not they're commercially viable.

山姆，我會挑戰任何人來實現我們在預算中取得的成就，我們將在今年繼續努力。我們現在受益於這些強大的合作夥伴分擔大量成本的好處，這些合作夥伴也在資助獨立贈款。但是現在，我們承認我們收到的——我們不僅會得到美國能源部的資助，而且埃克森美孚也資助了這筆贈款的一部分，而且這筆贈款將真正集中在柴油上，我們還有其他地方' 將專注於鹽水並研究提取技術，看看它們是否具有商業可行性。

(Operator Instructions). Our next question comes from the line of Praneeth Satish with Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）。我們的下一個問題來自 Praneeth Satish 與 Wells Fargo 的對話。

I just wanted to go back to the guidance for produced water volumes. I think you're projecting 17% growth at the midpoint. I guess I'm trying to determine how much of this growth is tied to existing customers and their drilling plans versus potentially adding new customers and gaining market share. Is there any way to kind of break that out?

我只想回到采出水量的指導。我認為你預計中點增長 17%。我想我正在嘗試確定這種增長中有多少與現有客戶及其鑽井計劃相關，而不是潛在地增加新客戶並獲得市場份額。有什麼辦法可以解決這個問題嗎？

I would say the overall majority of this is for existing customers and existing contracts. So, we have pretty good confidence in the forecast based on the information we have from our producers today. So, it's not predicated upon new business development opportunities.

我想說的是，其中大部分是針對現有客戶和現有合同的。因此，根據我們今天從生產商那裡獲得的信息，我們對預測很有信心。因此，它並不是基於新的業務發展機會。

Praneeth, in terms of additional markets, share and gaining market share, you know that we have a very robust business development effort. So, we are constantly expanding, working with customers, with tuck-in. So, that will continue, but that is not what is really reflected in these growth numbers. And I think in the earnings presentation, we really talk about the fact that 87 - well, in ‘22, 87% of our produced water handling volumes were under these long-term fee-based contracts, and we expect to see that trend this year.

Praneeth，就其他市場、份額和獲得市場份額而言，你知道我們有非常強大的業務發展努力。因此，我們不斷擴展，與客戶合作，融入其中。因此，這將繼續下去，但這並不是這些增長數字中真正反映的。而且我認為在收益報告中，我們真的在談論這樣一個事實，即 87 - 好吧，在 22 年，我們 87% 的采出水處理量是根據這些長期收費合同簽訂的，我們預計今年會看到這種趨勢年。

And then I was wondering if you could just maybe give us an update on your capital return philosophy. I think originally there was an intent to kind of grow the dividend in step with cash flow growth, and I'm just wondering if that's still the case.

然後我想知道您是否可以向我們介紹一下您的資本回報理念。我認為最初有一種意圖是隨著現金流的增長而增加股息，我只是想知道情況是否仍然如此。

I think as we look forward, from a project return standpoint, we continue to achieve attractive returns on the project level. Certainly, has been impacted by capital and operating inflation costs, but we think the volume ramp and the free cash flow that Amanda alluded to earlier, is going to put us in a position next year that we'll be able to recommend to the board dividend increases once we achieve the free flow positive status. So, I think that's something that's certainly on our radar, something we'd like to deliver shareholders, and then we intend to.

我認為，在我們展望未來的時候，從項目回報的角度來看，我們將繼續在項目層面實現有吸引力的回報。當然，受到資本和運營通脹成本的影響，但我們認為 Amanda 早些時候提到的銷量增長和自由現金流將使我們明年能夠向董事會推薦一旦我們達到自由流動的積極狀態，股息就會增加。所以，我認為這肯定是我們關注的事情，我們希望向股東提供的東西，然後我們打算這樣做。

Our next question comes from line of Selman Akyol with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Selman Akyol 與 Stifel 的合作。

Just a couple quick ones. Just going back to Delaware Energy Services, you talked pretty confidently about achieving integration, I guess, in the second quarter. Maybe you could elaborate on that a little bit, exactly why you're so confident in that. Have you got everything that you needed in order to do it now? Is it just a function of hooking up? Any additional color there would be helpful.

只是幾個快速的。回到特拉華能源服務公司，你非常自信地談到了在第二季度實現整合。或許你可以詳細說明一下，究竟為什麼你對此如此有信心。您現在是否已準備好執行此操作所需的一切？只是挂機的功能嗎？任何額外的顏色都會有所幫助。

And I guess then the second question for me is just in terms of interruptible volumes, could you just remind us, I guess, maybe the profitability difference between interruptible, and then as well as maybe what's assumed for - or what's embedded in guidance for that?

我想我的第二個問題只是關於可中斷的數量，我想你能不能提醒我們，也許是可中斷的盈利能力差異，然後可能是假設的 - 或者指導中嵌入的內容？

I'll start with on Delaware, and then I'll have Steve take the interruptible. So, on Delaware Energy, we are confident that this will be a second half of the year. It really relates to supply chain issues. We have connected to most of the SWDs that we are going to connect to. This is a function of ordering tubing and getting the tubing in and the coatings on the tubing, most likely more information than you need, but we have line on site of timing. Once we have it in hand, we can go back in on the upgrades and get those completed. So, we have a schedule and we anticipate second half of the year on an annualized basis, we will deliver that $11 million to $13 million in EBITDA that we expected.

我將從特拉華州開始，然後讓史蒂夫接手可中斷任務。因此，在特拉華能源公司，我們有信心這將是今年下半年。它確實與供應鏈問題有關。我們已經連接到我們將要連接的大多數 SWD。這是訂購管子、放入管子和管子上的塗層的功能，很可能比您需要的信息更多，但我們有現場時間安排。一旦我們掌握了它，我們就可以重新進行升級並完成這些升級。因此，我們有一個時間表，我們預計今年下半年按年化計算，我們將交付我們預期的 1100 萬至 1300 萬美元的 EBITDA。

In terms of interruptible, we're about $0.10 a barrel more profitable with those. It's purely incremental, relative to what we have in the forecast, we're able to grow it. I think in terms of last year, and we have this on Slide 13 of the presentation, we were about 13% of spot volumes last year. Our current forecast has that down about 9% this year. So, to the extent we're able to grow that, that would give us the additional margin.

就可中斷而言，我們每桶的利潤大約增加 0.10 美元。它純粹是增量的，相對於我們在預測中所擁有的，我們能夠增長它。我認為就去年而言，我們在演示文稿的幻燈片 13 上有這個，去年我們的現貨交易量約為 13%。我們目前的預測是今年下降約 9%。因此，在我們能夠增長的範圍內，這將為我們提供額外的利潤。

So, I think it is a doubling effect on that. So, there is a point at which we fill up excess capacity, but it also can replace water that we're recycling, and we use that to fill in when recycling and use the capacity we're being paid for twice. So, interruptible does deliver outsized margins.

所以，我認為這是一個加倍的效果。所以，有一點我們會填補過剩的產能，但它也可以替代我們正在回收的水，我們在回收時用它來填補，並使用我們支付的兩倍的產能。因此，可中斷確實帶來了巨大的利潤。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question-and-answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Ms. Brock for any final comments.

謝謝。女士們，先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。最後請布羅克女士發言。

Thank you. Want to thank everybody for joining the call today. We also want to sort of thank all our employees for their hard work in ‘22, the hard work that is still ahead of us. We are very focused on delivering results. We also want to thank our customers for their trust, for working with us every day, our suppliers, and hoping they're going to speed up now that we seem to be moderating on CPI, our shareholders. We look forward to updating you all in Q2. Have a great day.

謝謝。感謝大家今天加入電話會議。我們還想感謝所有員工在 22 年所做的辛勤工作，這些工作仍在我們面前。我們非常注重交付成果。我們還要感謝我們的客戶的信任，感謝他們每天與我們合作，我們的供應商，並希望他們能夠加快速度，因為我們似乎正在緩和我們的股東 CPI。我們期待在第二季度為大家更新。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。