Excelerate Energy Inc (EE) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Excelerate Energy Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Bruno, and I will be the operator of today. (Operator Instructions) I will now hand over to your host, Craig Hicks, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

大家好，歡迎來到 Excelerate Energy 第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。我叫布魯諾，我將擔任今天的接線員。 （操作員說明）我現在將交給您的主持人，投資者關係副總裁克雷格希克斯。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Yesterday afternoon, we released our fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings press release, along with the presentation that our President and Chief Executive Officer, Steven Kobos; and our Chief Financial Officer, Dana Armstrong, will speak to this morning.

謝謝大家，早上好。昨天下午，我們發布了第四季度和 2022 年全年收益新聞稿，以及我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Steven Kobos 的演講；我們的首席財務官 Dana Armstrong 將於今天上午發表講話。

I would like to remind everyone that we will be making forward-looking statements on this call that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, and we make no obligation to update or revise them. During the call, we'll also discuss several non-GAAP financial measures. We have provided a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures at the back of the presentation.

我想提醒大家，我們將在本次電話會議上做出前瞻性陳述，其中涉及許多風險和不確定性。我們的實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述中表達的結果存在重大差異，我們沒有義務更新或修改它們。在電話會議期間，我們還將討論幾項非 GAAP 財務措施。我們在演示文稿的後面提供了與最直接可比的 GAAP 財務措施的對賬。

With that, it is my pleasure to pass the call over to Steven Kobos.

有了這個，我很高興將電話轉給 Steven Kobos。

Thanks, Craig, and thank you all for joining us this morning. Excelerate Energy delivered strong financial results in the fourth quarter, has capped off an impressive year as we continued to demonstrate the strength of our business model. Our proven ability to deliver consistent earnings growth across market cycles, gives us even more confidence in our plan to maximize value for shareholders. As this past year has shown, having flexible access to cleaner and more reliable energy has never been so critical. At Excelerate, we play a unique role in delivering essential energy solutions for our customers, while at the same time, supporting the decarbonization efforts of countries across the globe.

謝謝，克雷格，感謝大家今天早上加入我們。 Excelerate Energy 在第四季度取得了強勁的財務業績，隨著我們繼續展示我們商業模式的實力，結束了令人印象深刻的一年。我們在跨市場週期實現持續盈利增長的能力已得到證實，這讓我們對為股東實現價值最大化的計劃更有信心。正如過去一年所表明的那樣，靈活獲取更清潔、更可靠的能源從未如此重要。在 Excelerate，我們在為客戶提供基本能源解決方案方面發揮著獨特的作用，同時支持全球各國的脫碳工作。

Today, we are well positioned to build on this momentum and capitalize on the increased demand for LNG. You're seeing this play out with our recently announced 20-year LNG sales and purchase agreement with Venture Global with the commencement of downstream gas sales in Europe and with the extension of our agreement with the Dubai Supply Authority. Material progress we are making on LNG procurement and downstream gas sales, this syncs well with the timing of our newbuild FSRU order with Hyundai Heavy Industries, and we are currently marketing that ship as part of an integrated infrastructure offering.

今天，我們已做好充分準備，可以在此勢頭的基礎上再接再厲，利用對液化天然氣不斷增長的需求。隨著我們最近宣布與 Venture Global 簽訂為期 20 年的液化天然氣銷售和採購協議，以及在歐洲開始下游天然氣銷售以及我們與迪拜供應管理局的協議延期，您會看到這種情況正在發生。我們在液化天然氣採購和下游天然氣銷售方面取得了實質性進展，這與我們與現代重工的新 FSRU 訂單的時間同步，我們目前正在將該船作為綜合基礎設施產品的一部分進行營銷。

The 2023 financial guidance, which we announced yesterday, Dana is going to cover this in more detail, but it reflects the confidence we have in the business and our value creation strategy. On this morning's call, I want to focus my remarks on our strategic growth outlook and the progress we are making on our commercial opportunities. As a global energy company, we are focused on enhancing energy security and accelerating the transition to a clean energy future. Our strategic goals at Excelerate include operating a profitable and growing fleet of FSRUs, growing our existing regasification business, expanding our downstream gas sales and our customer base in existing markets, while leveraging our global presence to enter new markets and managing a diversified portfolio of LNG supply. We are executing this strategy, and we're doing it in markets across our global footprint.

我們昨天宣布的 2023 年財務指南將對此進行更詳細的介紹，但這反映了我們對業務和價值創造戰略的信心。在今天上午的電話會議上，我想重點談談我們的戰略增長前景和我們在商業機會方面取得的進展。作為一家全球性能源公司，我們專注於加強能源安全和加速向清潔能源未來的過渡。我們在 Excelerate 的戰略目標包括運營盈利且不斷增長的 FSRU 船隊、發展我們現有的再氣化業務、擴大我們的下游天然氣銷售和我們在現有市場的客戶群，同時利用我們的全球影響力進入新市場並管理多元化的液化天然氣組合供應。我們正在執行這一戰略，而且我們正在全球足蹟的市場上這樣做。

Since 2022, this clearly includes Europe, a region that we expect to influence the LNG supply and demand balance through the end of this decade and beyond. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and in response to the increased focus on energy security and the FSRU asset class, we quickly pivoted our near-term commercial focus to Europe. In doing so, we expanded our total addressable market and we rebalanced our customer portfolio to include Finland and Germany, 2 highly rated counterparties. Our charter agreement with Gasgrid Finland commenced on October 1, and we deployed our FSRU Exemplar to the port of Inkoo on December 28. The arrival of the vessel was an important milestone for Finland as it seeks to enhance its energy security. In October 2022, we signed an agreement with the German government to charter our FSRU Excelsior for 5 years. The Germany charter hire commenced at the end of February '23. With our new FSRU presence in Europe, we have an opportunity to expand our gas marketing business in the region.

自 2022 年以來，這顯然包括歐洲，我們預計該地區將在本十年末及以後影響液化天然氣供需平衡。在俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭之後，為了應對對能源安全和 FSRU 資產類別的日益關注，我們迅速將近期的商業重點轉向歐洲。通過這樣做，我們擴大了我們的總潛在市場，並重新平衡了我們的客戶組合，將芬蘭和德國這兩個高評級的交易對手包括在內。我們與 Gasgrid Finland 的包機協議於 10 月 1 日生效，我們於 12 月 28 日將我們的 FSRU Exemplar 部署到 Inkoo 港。該船的抵達對芬蘭來說是一個重要的里程碑，因為它正在尋求加強其能源安全。 2022 年 10 月，我們與德國政府簽署了一項協議，將我們的 FSRU Excelsior 租用 5 年。德國包機租用於 2023 年 2 月底開始。憑藉我們在歐洲的新 FSRU 業務，我們有機會擴大我們在該地區的天然氣營銷業務。

For example, in conjunction with the deployment of the FSRU Exemplar to Finland, Excelerate secured commissioning capacity at the Inkoo terminal. These sales in late '22 and in early '23 represent an important first step towards securing future gas sales opportunities in Finland and the Baltic Sea region. Through our finished gas marketing entity, Excelerate can help bridge the gap between the LNG market and the needs of end users in the region. In the other parts of Europe, we're continuing to look at additional integrated opportunities that will allow us to sell natural gas downstream of our terminals.

例如，結合在芬蘭部署 FSRU Exemplar，Excelerate 確保了 Inkoo 終端的調試能力。 22 世紀末和 23 年初的這些銷售代表了確保芬蘭和波羅的海地區未來天然氣銷售機會的重要的第一步。通過我們的成品氣營銷實體，Excelerate 可以幫助彌合液化天然氣市場與該地區最終用戶需求之間的差距。在歐洲其他地區，我們將繼續尋找更多的綜合機會，使我們能夠在終端下游銷售天然氣。

Now let's turn to South America. In South America, Excelerate currently has 3 of our 10 FSRUs in operation. We have 2 in Brazil and 1 in Argentina. In Brazil, Excelerate has provided regasification services for Petrobras at the Guanabara Bay terminal since 2012. Our FSRU Sequoia has been supporting our gas sales business at the Bahia regasification terminal since December '21.

現在讓我們轉向南美洲。在南美洲，Excelerate 目前有 10 個 FSRU 中的 3 個在運行。我們在巴西有 2 個，在阿根廷有 1 個。在巴西，Excelerate 自 2012 年以來一直在瓜納巴拉灣終端為 Petrobras 提供再氣化服務。自 2012 年 12 月以來，我們的 FSRU Sequoia 一直在支持我們在巴伊亞再氣化終端的天然氣銷售業務。

Turning to Argentina, Excelerate has reliably provided regasification services at the GNL Escobar terminal since 2011. We have also provided regasification services at the Bahia Blanca GasPort terminal in Argentina during multiple winter seasons dating back to 2008. Today, we are pleased to announce that we have secured a new seasonal agreement to provide regasification services at the Bahia Blanca terminal. Our FSRU Excelsior, which is currently being chartered by the German government, will be placed temporarily on a suspension agreement while it is deployed to Bahia Blanca during the Argentina winter. Immediately, after the Argentina winter season, the Excelsior will snap back and resume its original charter with the German government.

談到阿根廷，自 2011 年以來，Excelerate 一直在 GNL Escobar 碼頭可靠地提供再氣化服務。我們還在阿根廷的 Bahia Blanca GasPort 碼頭提供再氣化服務，可追溯到 2008 年的多個冬季。今天，我們很高興地宣布，我們已獲得一項新的季節性協議，在 Bahia Blanca 碼頭提供再氣化服務。我們的 FSRU Excelsior 目前正由德國政府特許，在阿根廷冬季部署到巴伊亞布蘭卡時，將暫時簽訂暫停協議。阿根廷冬季結束後，Excelsior 將立即恢復並恢復其與德國政府的原始包機。

This is going to occur in the third quarter of 2023. Together with Germany, we are being good corporate citizens by deploying the Excelsior to help Argentina. Argentina after all is one of Excelerate's valued markets. Our actions in South America underscore our long-standing commitment to regional energy security, and to meeting the changing energy needs of our customers. Justifiably, Europe dominates energy security headlines. However, South America is also facing significant gas supply disruptions. In the case of South America, this is driven primarily by the rapid decline of Bolivian natural gas sales to both Brazil and Argentina.

這將在 2023 年第三季度發生。我們與德國一起成為優秀的企業公民，部署 Excelsior 來幫助阿根廷。畢竟阿根廷是 Excelerate 的重要市場之一。我們在南美洲的行動凸顯了我們對區域能源安全以及滿足客戶不斷變化的能源需求的長期承諾。毫無疑問，歐洲佔據了能源安全的頭條新聞。然而，南美洲也面臨嚴重的天然氣供應中斷。就南美洲而言，這主要是由於玻利維亞對巴西和阿根廷的天然氣銷售量迅速下降。

In Brazil, we are committed to partnering with Petrobras over the long term to strengthen security of supply. We believe that our continued presence at the Bahia and Guanabara Bay terminals will help ensure reliable and sustainable energy for all Brazilians. Meanwhile, in Argentina, the ongoing support we provide to the country's energy sector strengthens our leadership position in South America and this provides us with attractive development opportunities in one of the most dynamic energy markets in the world.

在巴西，我們致力於與 Petrobras 長期合作，以加強供應安全。我們相信，我們在巴伊亞和瓜納巴拉灣碼頭的持續存在將有助於確保為所有巴西人提供可靠和可持續的能源。與此同時，在阿根廷，我們對該國能源部門的持續支持鞏固了我們在南美洲的領導地位，這為我們在世界上最具活力的能源市場之一提供了極具吸引力的發展機會。

Now let's turn to the Asia Pacific region, or APAC, a region where almost every country with a coastline has plans to introduce or expand LNG usage in their energy mix. Long-term fundamentals for this region remain robust. This is underpinned by rapidly growing economies, large-scale fuel switching to meet net zero targets and in many instances, dwindling domestic gas reserves. LNG is forecast to comprise a significant portion of South and Southeast Asia's energy mix over the long term. Our approach to regional growth will be driven by the development of integrated infrastructure and LNG supply solutions.

現在讓我們轉向亞太地區，該地區幾乎每個擁有海岸線的國家都計劃在其能源結構中引入或擴大液化天然氣的使用。該地區的長期基本面依然強勁。經濟快速增長、為實現淨零排放目標而進行的大規模燃料轉換，以及在許多情況下，國內天然氣儲量的減少都支撐了這一點。從長遠來看，液化天然氣預計將在南亞和東南亞的能源結構中佔據很大一部分。我們的區域增長方法將由綜合基礎設施和液化天然氣供應解決方案的發展推動。

In Bangladesh, LNG quite simply remains an integral part of the country's economy, this is evidenced by the government's recent decision to restart spot LNG purchases. In fact, I'm pleased that Excelerate was successful in selling a spot LNG cargo to Petrobangla just last week. With domestic gas supply declining rapidly, LNG imports need to increase over time to displace those volumes and maintain natural gas as a critical part of Bangladesh's energy mix. In 2023, the government also plans to sign new long-term LNG supply agreements to secure more affordable, reliable and predictable LNG pricing. We are continuing to advance the development of our planned Payra project. Payra has the potential to effectively double Bangladesh's LNG import capacity. In addition to finalizing term sheets with Petrobangla, our team is evaluating financing options and is in discussions with potential partners for the project.

在孟加拉國，液化天然氣仍然是該國經濟不可或缺的一部分，政府最近決定重啟現貨液化天然氣採購就證明了這一點。事實上，我很高興 Excelerate 上周成功地向 Petrobangla 出售了現貨液化天然氣貨物。隨著國內天然氣供應迅速下降，液化天然氣進口需要隨著時間的推移而增加，以取代這些數量並保持天然氣作為孟加拉國能源結構的重要組成部分。 2023 年，政府還計劃簽署新的長期 LNG 供應協議，以確保更實惠、可靠和可預測的 LNG 定價。我們將繼續推進我們計劃中的 Payra 項目的開發。 Payra 有可能有效地使孟加拉國的液化天然氣進口能力翻一番。除了與 Petrobangla 敲定條款清單外，我們的團隊還在評估融資方案，並正在與該項目的潛在合作夥伴進行討論。

A critical part of our downstream strategy is to take a very deliberate and structured approach to sourcing LNG supply. As we gain access to new downstream gas sales markets, we believe that there are benefits from having a diversified LNG supply portfolio. Last month, we took our first step towards achieving this strategic goal when we announced the execution of a 20-year LNG sales and purchase agreement, or SPA, with Venture Global, a top U.S. LNG exporter. Under the terms of the SPA, Excelerate will purchase 0.7 million tonnes per annum of LNG supply for 20 years starting in early '27. This offtake will come from Venture Global's Plaquemines LNG Phase 2 expansion, Plaquemines Phase 2 reached FID earlier this month. This SPA is the first long-term LNG supply agreement in our company's history. This transformational agreement supports our plan to vertically integrate our business and become the virtual pipeline for the world.

我們下游戰略的一個關鍵部分是採取非常慎重和結構化的方法來採購液化天然氣供應。隨著我們進入新的下游天然氣銷售市場，我們相信擁有多元化的液化天然氣供應組合會帶來好處。上個月，當我們宣布與美國最大的液化天然氣出口商 Venture Global 簽署為期 20 年的液化天然氣銷售和採購協議 (SPA) 時，我們朝著實現這一戰略目標邁出了第一步。根據 SPA 的條款，Excelerate 將從 27 年初開始的 20 年內每年購買 70 萬噸液化天然氣供應。此次承購將來自 Venture Global 的 Plaquemines LNG Phase 2 擴建，Plaquemines Phase 2 本月早些時候達到了 FID。該SPA是我公司歷史上第一份長期LNG供應協議。這一轉型協議支持我們垂直整合我們的業務並成為世界虛擬管道的計劃。

I will now turn the call over to Dana, and she's going to walk through our fourth quarter and full year 2022 results and our outlook for '23.

我現在將電話轉給 Dana，她將介紹我們的第四季度和 2022 年全年業績以及我們對 23 年的展望。

Thanks, Steven, and good morning. We are very pleased with Excelerate's performance in the fourth quarter and for the full year of 2022. Our fourth quarter adjusted EBITDAR was $98 million, an increase of $12 million or up about 13% over the previous quarter. The sequential increase was driven by the commencement of the Finland charter and the sale of a partial commissioning LNG cargo into Finland. On a full year basis, adjusted EBITDAR for 2022 was $331 million, well above the high end of our guidance range due to the LNG cargo sale in Finland, and overperformance in Brazil during the fourth quarter. As compared to the prior year, our adjusted EBITDAR was up $40 million, an increase of 14% and primarily due to having a full year of gas sales at the Bahia terminal in Brazil, which was partially offset by LNG marketing and supply activities in 2021 that did not reoccur in 2022, along with higher SG&A to support our transition to a public company structure. We are proud of the success we had during our first year as a public company, which reflects the commitment and dedication of the entire Excelerate team. As of year-end 2022, Excelerate had $517 million of cash and cash equivalents on hand and no outstanding borrowings under our revolver. Our gross leverage ratio was 2.2x at the end of the year compared to 2.5x at the end of the third quarter. On a net debt basis, our leverage ratio was 0.4x.

謝謝，史蒂文，早上好。我們對 Excelerate 第四季度和 2022 年全年的業績感到非常滿意。我們第四季度調整後的 EBITDAR 為 9800 萬美元，比上一季度增加 1200 萬美元或增長約 13%。環比增長是由芬蘭租船合同的開始和向芬蘭出售部分調試液化天然氣貨物推動的。按全年計算，2022 年調整後的 EBITDAR 為 3.31 億美元，遠高於我們指導範圍的上限，這是由於芬蘭的液化天然氣貨物銷售以及第四季度巴西的超常表現。與上一年相比，我們調整後的 EBITDAR 增加了 4000 萬美元，增長了 14%，這主要是由於巴西巴伊亞碼頭全年的天然氣銷售，這部分被 2021 年的液化天然氣營銷和供應活動所抵消這並沒有在 2022 年再次發生，以及更高的 SG&A 以支持我們向上市公司結構的過渡。我們為上市公司第一年取得的成功感到自豪，這反映了整個 Excelerate 團隊的承諾和奉獻精神。截至 2022 年底，Excelerate 手頭有 5.17 億美元的現金和現金等價物，我們的循環貸款下沒有未償還的借款。我們的總槓桿比率在今年年底為 2.2 倍，而第三季度末為 2.5 倍。在淨債務基礎上，我們的槓桿率為 0.4 倍。

Now I would like to provide a few comments on our recently announced amended credit facility. Last week, we announced the closing of a $600 million amended and restated senior secured credit facility, which consists of a refinanced $350 million revolving credit facility and a new $250 million term loan. The amended facility has a 4-year tenure that matures in March 2027, which is an extension from the original maturity of April 2025. We intend to use the net proceeds from the term loan to purchase the FSRU Sequoia, one of the most capable vessels in the industry for $265 million, which is well below the current market value. Last week, we gave notice to the Sequoia's owner regarding our intent to exercise our purchase option. We anticipate purchasing the Sequoia in the second quarter of this year after which Excelerate will no longer incur rental expense for the Sequoia bareboat charter. As a result of the transaction, adjusted EBITDA will increase by about $7 million per quarter, starting in the second quarter and the company will face reporting adjusted EBITDAR for 2023 and moving forward.

現在，我想就我們最近宣布的經修訂的信貸安排發表一些評論。上週，我們宣布關閉一項 6 億美元的經修訂和重述的高級擔保信貸額度，其中包括再融資的 3.5 億美元循環信貸額度和新的 2.5 億美元定期貸款。修改後的貸款期限為 4 年，將於 2027 年 3 月到期，這是原定於 2025 年 4 月到期的期限的延長。我們打算使用定期貸款的淨收益購買能力最強的船舶之一 FSRU Sequoia以 2.65 億美元的價格在該行業中，遠低於當前的市場價值。上週，我們就行使購買選擇權的意圖通知了紅杉的所有者。我們預計在今年第二季度購買 Sequoia，之後 Excelerate 將不再為 Sequoia 光船租賃產生租金費用。作為交易的結果，調整後的 EBITDAR 從第二季度開始每季度將增加約 700 萬美元，公司將面臨 2023 年及未來的調整後 EBITDAR 報告。

With the $250 million term loan, our pro forma total debt as of year-end 2022 would have been $884 million, which is a 2.7x pro forma gross leverage ratio after adjusting for the Sequoia rent impact to EBITDA. This amended credit facility enhances our financial flexibility and supports our near-term growth and development initiatives. The combination of the amended revolver and our cash on hand will provide ample capital to operate our business and pursue strategic growth opportunities. We are committed to maintaining a prudent and disciplined approach to capital investments. This means prioritizing investment opportunities that maximize the returns on our assets, given the increased competition globally for FSRUs and LNG infrastructure. We are currently evaluating additional opportunities to deploy our capital in Europe and other markets across our footprint. Incremental growth CapEx spend in 2023 beyond the $265 million that will be used to purchase the Sequoia, will be disclosed subsequent to the execution of binding agreements. Maintenance CapEx for the year is expected to range between $15 million and $35 million.

有了 2.5 億美元的定期貸款，我們截至 2022 年底的備考總債務為 8.84 億美元，這是在調整紅杉租金對 EBITDA 的影響後的 2.7 倍備考總槓桿率。經修訂的信貸額度增強了我們的財務靈活性，並支持我們近期的增長和發展計劃。修改後的左輪手槍和我們手頭現金的結合將為我們的業務運營和尋求戰略增長機會提供充足的資金。我們致力於對資本投資保持審慎和紀律的態度。鑑於全球對 FSRU 和液化天然氣基礎設施的競爭日益激烈，這意味著優先考慮能夠最大化我們資產回報的投資機會。我們目前正在評估更多機會，以在歐洲和我們業務範圍內的其他市場部署我們的資本。 2023 年超出用於購買紅杉資本的 2.65 億美元的增量增長資本支出將在執行具有約束力的協議後披露。今年的維護資本支出預計在 1500 萬至 3500 萬美元之間。

Now let's turn to our EBITDA guidance for this year. In 2023, we expect to see the full momentum of our European projects coming online as well as the continued solid performance of our existing contracts in the Middle East, South America and Asia Pacific. For the full year, we expect adjusted EBITDA to range between $320 million and $340 million. Our adjusted EBITDA guidance assumes the Sequoia is purchased in April and includes rental expense for the Sequoia only through mid-April. Now that the charter hire for our Germany contract has commenced, our FSRU fleet is fully contracted with 9 vessels on regasification contracts and the Sequoia vessel continuing to service our gas sales business in Brazil. Growth over the prior year will be driven primarily by having a full year of revenue from our Finland charter, along with revenue from our Germany Charter, which commenced in late February. As Steven mentioned earlier, we recently secured a charter to provide seasonal regas services at the Bahia Blanca terminal in Argentina from May 1 to mid-August, which is expected to provide economic uplift beyond our base regas margins this year. We expect our Brazil gas sales margins to be in line or above our 2022 results.

現在讓我們來看看我們今年的 EBITDA 指南。到 2023 年，我們預計將看到我們歐洲項目的全面上線勢頭，以及我們在中東、南美和亞太地區的現有合同的持續穩健表現。對於全年，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 將在 3.2 億美元至 3.4 億美元之間。我們調整後的 EBITDA 指引假設紅杉是在 4 月購買的，並且僅包括紅杉到 4 月中旬的租金費用。現在我們德國合同的租用已經開始，我們的 FSRU 船隊已與 9 艘船簽訂了再氣化合同，紅杉船繼續為我們在巴西的天然氣銷售業務提供服務。與上一年相比的增長主要得益於芬蘭包機的全年收入，以及 2 月下旬開始的德國包機的收入。正如 Steven 之前提到的，我們最近獲得了一份包機，從 5 月 1 日到 8 月中旬在阿根廷的 Bahia Blanca 碼頭提供季節性再氣化服務，預計今年將提供超出我們基本再氣化利潤率的經濟增長。我們預計我們的巴西天然氣銷售利潤率將與我們 2022 年的業績持平或更高。

As a reminder, although the revenues were recognized from gas sales are influenced by LNG prices, the margins for our Brazil gas sales are not impacted by LNG prices under our existing contract structures.

提醒一下，雖然天然氣銷售確認的收入受液化天然氣價格的影響，但根據我們現有的合同結構，我們巴西天然氣銷售的利潤率不受液化天然氣價格的影響。

With that, we'll open up the call for Q&A.

有了這個，我們將打開問答電話。

(Operator Instructions) We have our first question, comes from Devin McDermott from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們有第一個問題，來自摩根士丹利的 Devin McDermott。

So my first one, Steven, you made an interesting point in your prepared remarks about Bangladesh returning to the spot market and buying some LNG. And if we think more broadly high prices over the past year, plus with constrained buying across a lot of more price-sensitive Asia markets, it seems like many of those are starting to come back and participate in spot purchases again and resume some level of demand growth. So my question is, can you talk in a little bit more detail about the Asia Pacific growth opportunity broadly? Are there other markets that you're looking at or other opportunities that you're seeing to further innovate a terminal model there?

所以我的第一個，史蒂文，你在你準備好的關於孟加拉國重返現貨市場併購買一些液化天然氣的評論中提出了一個有趣的觀點。如果我們考慮過去一年更廣泛的高價格，加上許多對價格更敏感的亞洲市場的購買受限，似乎其中許多人開始回來再次參與現貨購買並恢復一定水平需求增長。所以我的問題是，您能否更詳細地談談亞太地區的增長機會？您是否正在尋找其他市場或您看到的進一步創新終端模型的其他機會？

Sure. Thanks for the question, Devin. We remain excited about APAC. Obviously, 2022 was all about the war and the pivot to Europe, but we haven't taken our eye off of APAC. And we are pleased that -- to see these markets reenter as buyers. So it's not to say these are ideal prices for these markets, but they are prices at which it makes sense to enter the market and buy spot cargoes, and that's great for a number of reasons. First, or a couple of them reflect the fact that there really has yet to be demand destruction. You're seeing the appetite to get as much LNG as they can once prices have moderated. And we do think the lessons learned from 2022 in the region in general, are that they need to enter into longer-term pricing, acquire those molecules. Yes, we are active in the region. We do have one of our -- I guess, in fact, our largest office outside of Houston is in Singapore, and we are scouring the region because people are starting to think about what comes next, and I assure everyone that LNG is still vitally part of the mix in APAC.

當然。謝謝你的問題，德文。我們仍然對亞太地區感到興奮。顯然，2022 年的主題是戰爭和轉向歐洲，但我們並沒有將目光從亞太地區移開。我們很高興看到這些市場重新成為買家。因此，這並不是說這些價格是這些市場的理想價格，但它們是進入市場購買現貨貨物的合理價格，出於多種原因，這很好。首先，或其中幾個反映了一個事實，即確實還沒有需求破壞。一旦價格緩和，你就會看到盡可能多地獲得液化天然氣的胃口。我們確實認為該地區總體上從 2022 年吸取的教訓是，他們需要進行長期定價，獲取這些分子。是的，我們在該地區很活躍。我們確實有一個——我想，事實上，我們在休斯頓以外最大的辦事處在新加坡，我們正在該地區進行搜索，因為人們開始考慮接下來會發生什麼，我向大家保證液化天然氣仍然至關重要亞太地區的一部分。

Great. That's helpful and good to hear. And my follow-up is on Bangladesh. It sounds like we're getting closer to the finish line on the Payra FID. I was wondering if you could just walk us through the remaining milestones and expected time line there? And then also, where do we stand on a potential expansion at MLNG?

偉大的。這很有幫助，很高興聽到。我的後續行動是關於孟加拉國的。聽起來我們離 Payra FID 的終點線越來越近了。我想知道您是否可以引導我們完成剩餘的里程碑和預期的時間表？然後，我們對 MLNG 的潛在擴張有何看法？

Sure. The Payra project, I would say everyone wants to hear it, it's at that point where there are lots of lawyers involved. And we're trying to get to the term sheet phase as -- I think never a good thing. But we're trying to get to the phase where we have the term sheet and the hand that lays out the deal. We continue to invest on that project to do the necessary engineering work in the background. We've spent roughly about $5 million to date. We remain bullish on that. So I do think the next thing you're likely to hear would be as soon as we can actually conclude a term sheet with the government. In terms of Moheshkhali or MLNG, our existing project there, it's really about how much LNG the government is securing. We remain in negotiations with them for additional volumes. My comment in the prepared remarks was simply to say that we expect Bangladesh government to enter into long-term contracts in 2023 but I don't want to speak necessarily as to when they will conclude those. Those long-term contracts obviously would likely commence in '26, '27 but they are thinking about it and they understand that to be part of that mix and to secure those volumes that are predictable and affordable that they need to act and they need to act this year.

當然。 Payra 項目，我想說每個人都想听聽，正是在這一點上有很多律師參與其中。我們正在努力進入條款清單階段——我認為這從來都不是一件好事。但我們正在努力進入我們擁有條款清單和製定交易的手的階段。我們繼續投資該項目，以在後台進行必要的工程工作。迄今為止，我們已經花費了大約 500 萬美元。我們仍然看好這一點。所以我確實認為你可能會聽到的下一件事就是我們可以與政府真正達成條款清單。就我們在那裡的現有項目 Moheshkhali 或 MLNG 而言，這實際上是關於政府獲得了多少液化天然氣。我們仍在與他們就額外的數量進行談判。我在準備好的發言稿中只是想說，我們預計孟加拉國政府將在 2023 年簽訂長期合同，但我不想說他們何時會簽訂這些合同。這些長期合同顯然可能會在 26 年、27 年開始，但他們正在考慮，他們明白要成為這種組合的一部分，並確保那些他們需要採取行動的可預測和負擔得起的數量，他們需要今年行動。

Our next question comes from Craig Shere from Tuohy.

我們的下一個問題來自 Tuohy 的 Craig Shere。

First, could you walk us through this German charger suspension in support of the latest Argentine Bahia Blanca deployment. So does this just provide you a temporary higher total return on that FSRU? Or is the German charter basically pushed out? So if it is suspended for 3 months or so, 4 months, then does the 5 years get extended? Or just in that short period, you're just serving a customer when the Germans don't necessarily need it and maybe making an extra dollar or 2?

首先，您能否向我們介紹一下這個德國充電器懸架，以支持最新的阿根廷巴伊亞布蘭卡部署。那麼，這是否只是為您提供了該 FSRU 的暫時更高的總回報？還是德國憲章基本被推開？那麼，如果它被暫停 3 個月左右，4 個月，那麼 5 年是否會延長？或者就在那麼短的時間內，您只是在為德國人不一定需要的客戶提供服務，並且可能多賺一兩美元？

Well, thanks, Craig. I'll let Dana speak to the extra dollar or 2 but we do see this as a win-win-win, win for the German government in terms of it moderates their expense this summer or the southern winter, depending upon where you live, a win for us and further uplift for the Excelsior and obviously, a win for Argentina, as further energy security and balance to their system during their Southern Hemisphere winter. So it is an uplift that we're receiving as part of what we're doing this summer rather than an extension to the charter, but there is definite uplift. What I'd tell everybody out there though is this is nothing new. We have an effort to optimize fleet over the years, we have routinely , I guess, you could call it, borrowed vessels from customers and put it where there was maximum uplift for Excelerate. So you should see that optimizing of the fleet as being part of -- it's just our core approach to business. Anyway, we're very pleased about it because that involved Excelerate cooperating with 2 sovereigns and we are the company that can do that.

好吧，謝謝，克雷格。我會讓 Dana 多花 1 美元或 2 美元，但我們確實認為這是雙贏的，德國政府的勝利是在今年夏天或南部冬天減少他們的開支，這取決於你住在哪裡，我們的勝利和 Excelsior 的進一步提升，顯然，阿根廷的勝利，因為在他們的南半球冬季期間他們的系統進一步的能源安全和平衡。因此，作為我們今年夏天所做工作的一部分，我們收到的是一種提升，而不是對章程的延期，但確實有提升。不過，我要告訴大家的是，這並不是什麼新鮮事。多年來，我們一直在努力優化船隊，我想，你可以這樣稱呼我們，我們經常從客戶那裡借來船隻，並將其放在 Excelerate 最大提升的地方。因此，您應該將車隊優化視為其中的一部分——這只是我們開展業務的核心方法。無論如何，我們對此感到非常高興，因為這涉及 Excelerate 與 2 個主權國家的合作，而我們是能夠做到這一點的公司。

Yes. Craig, just to speak to the economics, you're correct in your assumption that it does provide an uplift. It's a modest uplift. So it will be on suspension for a couple of months, it will return to earning revenue in late Q3 and if we look at what we would have earned in Germany versus what we'll earn for 2023 with the suspension agreement and with the Argentina project, it's going to be roughly a $5 million to $6 million uplift to our EBITDAR by having the seasonal service already. So it's a good new start. And then, of course, we'll start to revenue again in late Q3, with Germany.

是的。克雷格，就經濟學而言，你的假設是正確的，它確實提供了提升。這是一個適度的提升。因此它將暫停幾個月，它將在第三季度末恢復收入，如果我們看看我們在德國的收入與我們在 2023 年通過暫停協議和阿根廷項目的收入相比，通過已經提供季節性服務，我們的 EBITDAR 將增加大約 500 萬到 600 萬美元。所以這是一個好的新開始。然後，當然，我們將在第三季度末與德國再次開始收入。

Great. And can you elaborate -- maybe I missed it, but could you provide a little more color on the overperformance in Brazil in the quarter?

偉大的。你能否詳細說明 - 也許我錯過了它，但你能否提供更多有關巴西本季度超額表現的顏色？

Dana, do you want to take that one?

達娜，你要拿那個嗎？

Yes, I can take that one. Craig, so we renegotiated that contract with Petrobras as we signed that in November of 2022. And under our new contract, we have -- it is similar to the other contract where we're obviously baking in a fixed rate per MMBtu, a fixed capacity fee, regardless of what revenues we're going to generate stable credible margins under the new structure and the new contracts, depending on the volumes they take that rate per MMBtu may fluctuate. So sometimes you may see higher margins when we see lower revenues. We did that new contact structure. So basically, have some -- we see some favorability under the new contract structure that allows us to get more favorable margins even with lower volumes. And so that's what we saw in the fourth quarter.

是的，我可以拿那個。克雷格，所以我們在 2022 年 11 月簽署合同時與巴西國家石油公司重新談判了該合同。根據我們的新合同，我們有 - 它類似於另一份合同，我們顯然以每 MMBtu 的固定費率烘烤，固定容量費，無論我們將在新結構和新合同下產生穩定可靠的利潤率，這取決於他們收取的數量，每 MMBtu 的費率可能會波動。因此，有時當我們看到較低的收入時，您可能會看到更高的利潤率。我們做了那個新的聯繫結構。所以基本上，有一些——我們在新的合同結構下看到了一些優勢，這使我們即使在銷量較低的情況下也能獲得更有利的利潤。這就是我們在第四季度看到的情況。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question is from David Havens from SMBC Nikko.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 SMBC Nikko 的 David Havens。

I want to start on CapEx. And the first question on that being, what have you invested to date in the Payra project as well as Vlora? And then I know you touched a little bit on CapEx in the earlier comments for 2023 but can you kind of give us a little bit more detail or a sense of what '23 CapEx, organic CapEx could look like with the assumption that Payra does begin to move forward, and you get some of those contracts across the goal line?

我想從資本支出開始。第一個問題是，到目前為止，您在 Payra 項目和 Vlora 上投資了什麼？然後我知道你在之前對 2023 年的評論中略微談到了資本支出，但你能不能給我們提供更多的細節，或者在假設 Payra 確實開始的情況下，'23 資本支出、有機資本支出會是什麼樣子？向前邁進，你會在球門線上獲得一些合同嗎？

Well, thanks, David. Dana will be coming to you on this when we get into the specifics. But David, in general, I think, I guess, on -- in the earlier question, I mentioned spend to date, but that's a historical spend, not necessarily this year, last year, or any other year are out of pocket. On Payra to date it's about $5 million, as I said. And frankly, we will be limiting the spend on that. So we do have funding that's enough to really allow us to price and to have a sensible commercial negotiations, we need to, on an informed basis. So that's just kind of skin in the game. I think, Dana, what we alluded to in the prepared remarks were our views on maintenance CapEx for the year. Is that right? And I don't know that we are guiding yet on Payra -- excuse me, or for anything else until definitive agreements are we?

好吧，謝謝，大衛。當我們討論具體細節時，Dana 會來找你。但大衛，總的來說，我想，我想，在之前的問題中，我提到了迄今為止的支出，但這是歷史支出，不一定是今年、去年或任何其他年份都沒有支出。正如我所說，迄今為止，在 Payra 上大約有 500 萬美元。坦率地說，我們將限制這方面的支出。所以我們確實有足夠的資金來真正讓我們定價並進行明智的商業談判，我們需要在知情的基礎上進行。所以這只是遊戲中的一種皮膚。我想，Dana，我們在準備好的發言中提到的是我們對今年維護資本支出的看法。是對的嗎？而且我不知道我們是否在 Payra 上進行指導——對不起，或者在我們達成最終協議之前還有其他事情嗎？

Yes, that's correct, David. So the maintenance CapEx, the $15 million to $35 million that we guided that's dry dock and it's spare parts, vessel equipment, things like that. It doesn't include any growth CapEx. We're not yet guiding on growth CapEx. That's something we want to have a little bit more certainty about before we guide on that. So as Steven said, for Payra, what we spent year-to-date, it's a little bit under $5 million. That's not classified as CapEx. That's just project development spend. And then I've been be in a similar situation with the Vlora project development. We did spend some CapEx, gross CapEx last year on the power barges. But on the big overall Vlora project, just like obviously the gross CapEx, it's something we'll continue to guide on once we have more visibility and more information but we're not going to start capitalizing on either Payra or Vlora or any of our growth projects until we've got more certainty around the projects. So you'll see that built in, in development spend for right now.

是的，沒錯，大衛。所以維護資本支出，我們指導的 1500 萬到 3500 萬美元是乾船塢，它是備件，船舶設備，諸如此類。它不包括任何增長資本支出。我們還沒有指導增長資本支出。在我們對此進行指導之前，我們希望對此有更多的確定性。因此，正如史蒂文所說，對於 Payra，我們今年迄今為止的支出略低於 500 萬美元。這不屬於資本支出。那隻是項目開發支出。然後我在 Vlora 項目開發中遇到了類似的情況。去年我們確實在電力駁船上花費了一些資本支出，總資本支出。但是在整個 Vlora 項目上，就像明顯的總資本支出一樣，一旦我們獲得更多可見性和更多信息，我們將繼續指導它，但我們不會開始利用 Payra 或 Vlora 或我們的任何增長項目，直到我們對項目有更多的確定性。所以你會看到現在內置的開發支出。

All right. Understood. And my follow-up is, as you guys address your need to source LNG, how should we think about the national long-term SPAs that you might sign? And do you have a geographic presence for the origin of that LNG?

好的。明白了。我的後續行動是，當你們解決採購液化天然氣的需求時，我們應該如何考慮你們可能簽署的國家長期 SPA？您在該液化天然氣的來源地有地理分佈嗎？

I'm sorry, what was the last part of that question, David? Do we have a geographic what?

對不起，大衛，這個問題的最後一部分是什麼？我們有地理什麼嗎？

Preference to the origin, whether it be the United States, Qatar, wherever?

對原產地的偏好，無論是美國、卡塔爾還是哪裡？

Sure. Look, we are excited about the opportunity with Venture Global and Plaquemines Phase 2, and the fact that Venture Global took FID on Plaquemines Phase 2 within -- gosh, it was within a couple or 3 weeks of our announcement of the SPA. We're excited about that. We thought it was a good opportunity. We saw low risk to those volumes. They've already executed with the same team before, and we thought it was a good add to our portfolio, the first to add to it. That said, you know very well. We have a global footprint. We have global ambitions. And while we may very well wish to source additional U.S. volumes, we want a diversified LNG supply portfolio, and that's why we remain in continued discussions with suppliers around the world. We are determined that if we build this diversified LNG supply portfolio with strong partners, it doesn't matter wherever those strong partners are. But with strong partners like VG, it's going to allow us to offer more flexible, more cost-effective products to existing and new customers. And based upon the locations, we're somewhat agnostic in geography. I will tell you, in 2021, we sold 4 spot cargoes into Bangladesh, which were all sourced physically from the United States. So there really is no limit to where we can deliver these recently contracted volumes, but we're going to keep our eyes open for opportunities that make sense and are accretive around the world.

當然。看，我們對 Venture Global 和 Plaquemines 第 2 階段的機會感到興奮，事實上 Venture Global 在 Plaquemines 第 2 階段進行了 FID——天哪，這是在我們宣布 SPA 的幾週或 3 週內。我們對此感到興奮。我們認為這是一個很好的機會。我們認為這些交易量的風險很低。他們之前已經與同一個團隊一起執行過，我們認為這是對我們投資組合的一個很好的補充，第一個添加到它。也就是說，你很清楚。我們的足跡遍布全球。我們有全球抱負。雖然我們很可能希望從美國採購更多數量的天然氣，但我們想要多樣化的液化天然氣供應組合，這就是我們繼續與世界各地的供應商進行討論的原因。我們決心，如果我們與強大的合作夥伴建立這種多元化的液化天然氣供應組合，那麼這些強大的合作夥伴在哪裡並不重要。但有了像 VG 這樣強大的合作夥伴，這將使我們能夠為現有和新客戶提供更靈活、更具成本效益的產品。基於位置，我們在地理上有些不可知論。我會告訴你，在 2021 年，我們向孟加拉國出售了 4 批現貨貨物，這些貨物都是從美國實際採購的。因此，我們可以交付這些最近簽訂的合同量的地方確實沒有限制，但我們將睜大眼睛尋找在世界範圍內有意義和增值的機會。

We currently have no further questions. I would like to hand back to our CEO, Steven Kobos, for final remarks. Please go ahead.

我們目前沒有進一步的問題。最後，我想請我們的首席執行官 Steven Kobos 發表最後的評論。請繼續。

Hey, thank you again to everyone who joined on today's call. I'm proud of the progress we have made to date. And I want to thank the entire Excelerate team for making our first year as a public company, a great success. As you've heard today, we are continuing to execute the strategic plan that we presented to investors last year. Although we've achieved several strategic objectives, we know there is still much work to be done. I'm going to look forward to providing you with additional progress updates in the coming months. But until then, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Craig Hicks, our VP of Investor Relations. Thanks again.

嘿，再次感謝參加今天電話會議的所有人。我為我們迄今為止取得的進展感到自豪。我要感謝整個 Excelerate 團隊讓我們成為上市公司的第一年取得了巨大成功。正如您今天所聽到的，我們將繼續執行我們去年向投資者提出的戰略計劃。儘管我們已經實現了幾個戰略目標，但我們知道還有很多工作要做。我期待在接下來的幾個月里為您提供更多的進展更新。但在此之前，如果您有任何疑問，請隨時聯繫我們的投資者關係副總裁 Craig Hicks。再次感謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開線路。謝謝。