恩橋 (ENB) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Enbridge Incorporated Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. My name is Abby, and I will be your operator for today's call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this conference is being recorded.

女士們，先生們，歡迎來到 Enbridge Incorporated 2022 年第四季度財務業績電話會議。我叫艾比，我將是您今天電話的接線員。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在錄製此會議。

I will now turn the call over to Rebecca Morley, Director, Investor Relations. Rebecca, you may begin.

我現在將電話轉給投資者關係總監 Rebecca Morley。麗貝卡，你可以開始了。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Enbridge Inc. Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2022 Earnings Call. My name is Rebecca Morley, and I'm a Director on the Investor Relations team. Joining me this morning are Greg Ebel, President and CEO; Vern Yu, Chief Financial Officer and President of New Energy Technologies and the heads of each of our business units: Colin Gruending, Liquid Pipelines; Cynthia Hansen, Gas Transmission and Midstream; Michele Harradence, Gas Distribution and Storage; and Matthew Akman Renewable Power.

謝謝。早上好，歡迎來到 Enbridge Inc. 2022 年第四季度和年終收益電話會議。我叫 Rebecca Morley，是投資者關係團隊的主管。今天早上和我一起的是總裁兼首席執行官 Greg Ebel；新能源技術首席財務官兼總裁 Vern Yu 以及我們每個業務部門的負責人：Colin Gruending，液體管道； Cynthia Hansen，天然氣傳輸和中游； Michele Harradence，天然氣分配和儲存；和 Matthew Akman 可再生能源。

As per usual, this call is being webcast, and I encourage those listening on the phone, to follow along the supporting slides. We'll try to keep the call roughly to 1 hour. And in order to answer as many questions as possible, we'd appreciate you limiting your questions to 1, plus a single follow-up as necessary. We'll be prioritizing questions from the investment community. So if you're a member of the media, please direct your inquiries to our communications team, who will be happy to respond.

與往常一樣，此電話會議正在網絡廣播中，我鼓勵那些在電話中收聽的人按照支持的幻燈片進行操作。我們會盡量將通話時間控制在 1 小時左右。為了盡可能多地回答問題，我們希望您將問題限制在 1 個以內，並在必要時進行一次跟進。我們將優先考慮來自投資界的問題。因此，如果您是媒體的一員，請將您的問題直接發送給我們的溝通團隊，他們將很樂意回复。

As always, our Investor Relations team will be available following the call for any additional questions. On to Slide 2, where I'll remind you that we'll be referring to forward-looking information on today's presentation and in the Q&A. By its nature, this information contains forecasts, assumptions and expectations about future outcomes, which are subject to the risks and uncertainties outlined here and discussed fully in our public disclosure filings. We'll also be referring to non-GAAP measures as summarized below.

與往常一樣，我們的投資者關係團隊將在接到電話後回答任何其他問題。在幻燈片 2 上，我會提醒您，我們將在今天的演示文稿和問答中提及前瞻性信息。就其性質而言，此信息包含對未來結果的預測、假設和預期，這些預測、假設和預期受此處概述的風險和不確定性的影響，並在我們的公開披露文件中進行了充分討論。我們還將參考非 GAAP 措施，如下所述。

With that, I'll turn it over to Greg Ebel.

有了這個，我會把它交給 Greg Ebel。

Well, thank you very much, Rebecca, and good morning, everyone. I'm excited to be here today, to review our fourth quarter and our record full year 2022 financial results. It was another solid quarter and year. So let me start off by doing a recap of our accomplishments in 2022, including, as you'll see on this slide, our Saint Nazaire project, this is France's first operational offshore wind farm, and it came into service in November on time and on budget at approximately EUR 2.4 billion.

非常感謝你，麗貝卡，大家早上好。我很高興今天能來到這裡，回顧我們的第四季度和我們創紀錄的 2022 年全年財務業績。這是又一個穩定的季度和年度。因此，讓我首先回顧一下我們在 2022 年取得的成就，包括，正如您將在這張幻燈片上看到的，我們的聖納澤爾項目，這是法國第一個運營的海上風電場，它於 11 月準時投入使用，預算約為 24 億歐元。

It's providing 480 megawatts of electricity, enough to provide 700,000 people of electricity every year. I'll also spend a few minutes discussing some of the key strategic advancements, from our 4 core franchises. And then Vern will walk you through the financial performance and outlook. And then I'll come back and close it a little bit on what you can expect to hear at our upcoming Investor Day. And of course, the Enbridge team is here to address any questions at the end. Before we get into the highlights, let me spend a minute or 2 sharing why I'm excited to be leading this great company moving forward. For me, it starts with the people. As Chairman, I had a great opportunity to get to know many of the Enbridge team, that I've not previously known. And in the last few months, I've met with employees at all levels across the business.

它提供480兆瓦的電力，足以每年為70萬人提供電力。我還將花幾分鐘時間討論我們 4 個核心特許經營權的一些關鍵戰略進步。然後 Vern 將帶您了解財務業績和前景。然後我會回來稍微結束一下您在即將到來的投資者日上可能會聽到的內容。當然，Enbridge 團隊最後會在這裡解決任何問題。在我們進入重點之前，讓我花一兩分鐘分享一下為什麼我很高興能夠領導這家偉大的公司向前發展。對我來說，它始於人。作為董事長，我有很好的機會認識了安橋團隊的許多成員，這是我以前不認識的。在過去的幾個月裡，我會見了公司各個級別的員工。

Their passion is evident in their delivery of life giving energy that people depend on, and they do it every day, safely and reliably. I have no debt. We will build on this legacy deliver top-tier performance and continue to grow this great company. And like many of you, I'm passionate about the energy industry. We all know it is the backbone of our society. Access to safe, secure affordable energy supports economic development and well-being. Today, the sector is at an inflection point. We must support the transition to lower carbon future, while at the same time, ensuring we are delivering safe, secure and affordable energy.

他們的熱情體現在他們提供人們賴以生存的能量方面，他們每天都在安全可靠地這樣做。我沒有債務。我們將在此傳統的基礎上提供一流的業績，並繼續發展這家偉大的公司。和你們中的許多人一樣，我對能源行業充滿熱情。我們都知道它是我們社會的支柱。獲得安全可靠的負擔得起的能源支持經濟發展和福祉。今天，該行業正處於拐點。我們必須支持向低碳未來過渡，同時確保我們提供安全、可靠和負擔得起的能源。

Enbridge is right at the center of it. We are uniquely positioned to lead in the energy transition and continue to deliver reliable energy to our customers. As this slide demonstrates, we have an extensive asset footprint that allows us to realize synergies across our 4 core franchises. Our business is highly diversified and is underpinned by low-risk commercial frameworks. Our franchises are largely demand pulled, and we serve the best markets across North America and increasingly in Europe. And we've demonstrated over our history and ability to adapt, wisely allocate capital and capitalize on evolving market fundamentals, growing our natural gas franchise, investing more than 2 decades ago, in what were then the emerging renewable energy technologies of wind and solar.

Enbridge 就位於它的中心。我們具有獨特的優勢，可以引領能源轉型，並繼續為我們的客戶提供可靠的能源。正如這張幻燈片所示，我們擁有廣泛的資產足跡，使我們能夠在 4 個核心特許經營權之間實現協同效應。我們的業務高度多元化，並以低風險商業框架為基礎。我們的特許經營權主要受需求拉動，我們服務於北美最好的市場，並越來越多地服務於歐洲。我們已經證明了我們的歷史和適應能力，明智地分配資本和利用不斷變化的市場基本面，擴大我們的天然氣特許經營權，在 2 多年前投資當時新興的風能和太陽能可再生能源技術。

Our balance sheet is in great shape, and we have good visibility to cash flow growth. Combined, this will allow us to continue to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to our shareholders through all market cycles. And allow us to build on our tremendous track record of steadily growing our dividend. I'm excited by the passion of our people, the strength of our company, and by the investment opportunities that we have in front of us, both on the conventional and lower carbon fronts.

我們的資產負債表狀況良好，我們對現金流增長有很好的了解。結合起來，這將使我們能夠在所有市場週期中繼續為我們的股東提供強勁的風險調整後回報。並讓我們在穩步增加股息的巨大記錄基礎上再接再厲。我對我們員工的熱情、公司的實力以及擺在我們面前的傳統和低碳領域的投資機會感到興奮。

So let's move to our 2022 highlights. The year was indeed another solid one for Enbridge. We continue to lead on safety and reliability. In total, we invested over $1 billion on the integrity of our systems. Our balance sheet is in great shape, BBB+ rated and comfortably within our debt-to-EBITDA range of 4.7x. We placed $4 billion of growth capital into service and secured an additional $8 billion of new capital projects, including investing in liquefaction through our investment in the wood fiber LNG project. And we continue to be good stewards of capital, releasing close to $2 billion of asset value from our regional oil sands assets and DCP Midstream.

因此，讓我們轉到 2022 年的亮點。對於 Enbridge 來說，這一年確實又是一個堅實的一年。我們繼續在安全性和可靠性方面處於領先地位。我們總共在系統完整性方面投入了超過 10 億美元。我們的資產負債表狀況良好，評級為 BBB+，並且處於我們 4.7 倍的債務與 EBITDA 比率範圍內。我們將 40 億美元的增長資本用於服務，並獲得了另外 80 億美元的新資本項目，包括通過我們對木纖維液化天然氣項目的投資來投資液化。我們繼續做好資本管家，從我們的區域油砂資產和 DCP Midstream 中釋放了近 20 億美元的資產價值。

That brings us to $11 billion in capital recycling to help fund, high-grade opportunities since 2018. We made great progress on our ESG goals, increasing diversity, establishing new indigenous partnerships and advanced mission reductions across the business. Now let's spend a few minutes on key accomplishments of each of our businesses, starting with liquids. Our liquids business delivered record utilization in 2022 with the Line 3 replacement project being put into service in late 2021.

自 2018 年以來，這使我們獲得了 110 億美元的資本回收，以幫助資助優質機會。我們在 ESG 目標、增加多樣性、建立新的本土夥伴關係和推進整個企業的使命削減方面取得了巨大進展。現在讓我們花幾分鐘時間談談我們每項業務的主要成就，從液體開始。隨著 3 號線更換項目於 2021 年底投入使用，我們的液體業務在 2022 年實現了創紀錄的利用率。

Our main line is running full. Average daily throughput was 2.96 million barrels a day for 2022. And February and January of 2023, we'll exceed that as we hustle to move every barrel we can for our customers. We continue to have constructive dialogue with our customers on its successor mainline incentive tolling agreement. As you know, these discussions take time, and we're working with a subgroup of shippers to land on a new framework, once agreed upon. We would then take it to the broader shipper group for a vote on the proposed agreement, before filing it with the CER. Now, should we be unable to come to an agreement that we're fully ready, to file the cost of service with the CER, which would actually reduce our risk and make us even more utility like.

我們的主線已滿。 2022 年的平均日吞吐量為 296 萬桶。到 2023 年 2 月和 1 月，我們將超過這一數字，因為我們會竭盡全力為客戶搬運每一桶。我們繼續與我們的客戶就其後續幹線激勵收費協議進行建設性對話。如您所知，這些討論需要時間，一旦達成一致，我們正在與托運人小組合作以製定新框架。然後，在將其提交給 CER 之前，我們會將其提交給更廣泛的托運人團體，以對擬議的協議進行投票。現在，如果我們不能就我們已經完全準備好達成協議，向 CER 提交服務成本，這實際上會降低我們的風險並使我們更加實用。

It's important to note that we've been factoring the impact of TMX into our financial and operational outlook, for a long time. We expect the mainline will remain well utilized once TMX is in service, and we're talking to our shippers about the impact of TMX, and it will be accounted for in either commercial tolling outcome. In addition, we expect to see growth in the basin between now and 2030. As the basin grows, our system will fill back up. In 2022, we extended our light oil strategy by increasing ownership to 68.5% in the Gray Oak pipeline through multiple transactions and increased Cactus II pipeline ownership to 30%, both of which help connect the Permian Basin to our Ingleside terminal.

值得注意的是，長期以來，我們一直將 TMX 的影響納入我們的財務和運營前景。我們預計，一旦 TMX 投入使用，主線仍將得到充分利用，我們正在與我們的托運人討論 TMX 的影響，並將在任一商業收費結果中加以考慮。此外，我們預計從現在到 2030 年流域內會出現增長。隨著流域的增長，我們的系統將重新填滿。 2022 年，我們通過多次交易將 Gray Oak 管道的所有權增加到 68.5%，並將 Cactus II 管道的所有權增加到 30%，這兩者都有助於將二疊紀盆地連接到我們的 Ingleside 終端，從而擴展了我們的輕油戰略。

We sanctioned another 2 million barrels of storage at Ingleside, which will unlock already built docs loading capacity for further export. I think, we're starting to see and to create a real value-added super system out of the Permian region for our customers. Beyond having the ability to move product, for our customers on 2 pipelines. We have the #1 export terminal and the capacity to let them access premium markets for their oil. We also advanced several exciting low-carbon opportunities, including the development of a hydrogen ammonia plant at the Ingleside terminal and the JV with Oxy Clean (sic) [Low] Carbon Ventures, to develop a carbon capture hub in Corpus Christi.

我們在 Ingleside 批准了另外 200 萬桶的存儲空間，這將釋放已經建成的文檔裝載能力以供進一步出口。我認為，我們開始在二疊紀地區為我們的客戶看到並創建一個真正的增值超級系統。除了能夠為我們的客戶提供 2 條管道的產品移動能力。我們擁有排名第一的出口終端，並有能力讓他們的石油進入優質市場。我們還提出了幾個令人興奮的低碳機會，包括在 Ingleside 碼頭開發氫氨廠，以及與 Oxy Clean (sic) [Low] Carbon Ventures 的合資企業，以在科珀斯克里斯蒂開發碳捕獲中心。

I think there are some really exciting times coming for our Gulf Coast, connected liquid assets. These low carbon opportunities on the Gulf, complement our CCS plans in Alberta, where we are leading the development of the Wabamun Carbon Hub with close to 4 million tons of CO2 already secured for sequestration. And we're advancing our self-power strategy with 7 projects in construction at our pump stations, with more on the way.

我認為我們墨西哥灣沿岸的相關流動資產將迎來一些真正激動人心的時刻。海灣地區的這些低碳機會補充了我們在艾伯塔省的 CCS 計劃，我們正在領導 Wabamun Carbon Hub 的開發，已經確保封存近 400 萬噸二氧化碳。我們正在推進我們的自供電戰略，在我們的泵站建設了 7 個項目，還有更多項目正在建設中。

Lastly, we executed a landmark transaction with 23 indigenous communities in Northern Alberta, selling roughly 11% stake in the regional pipeline and storage assets. With this transaction, we've strengthened our relationship with neighboring indigenous communities and serve a strong value for reinvestment. We see this as an ideal framework for future partnerships and as a tool to recycle capital. More on that, and our Gulf Coast retail plans at Enbridge Day in March. Moving to gas transmission. We had another excellent year. Our systems were highly utilized, in particular during the winter storm Elliott. We continue to demonstrate our reliability by reversing the flow of our Texas Eastern system, to supply much-needed gas to the U.S. Northeast. The net swing of close to 3 Bcf, was instrumental to avoiding potentially devastating impacts to our customers and underlines our competitive advantage in serving customers in changing environments.

最後，我們與阿爾伯塔省北部的 23 個土著社區進行了一項具有里程碑意義的交易，出售了大約 11% 的區域管道和存儲資產股份。通過此次交易，我們加強了與鄰近土著社區的關係，並為再投資提供了強大的價值。我們將此視為未來合作夥伴關係的理想框架和回收資本的工具。更多信息，以及我們在 3 月 Enbridge Day 的墨西哥灣沿岸零售計劃。轉向天然氣輸送。我們又度過了一個美好的一年。我們的系統得到了高度利用，尤其是在冬季風暴 Elliott 期間。我們繼續通過扭轉德克薩斯東部系統的流動來證明我們的可靠性，以向美國東北部供應急需的天然氣。接近 3 Bcf 的淨波動有助於避免對我們的客戶造成潛在的破壞性影響，並突顯出我們在不斷變化的環境中為客戶提供服務的競爭優勢。

During the year, we also achieved positive rate settlements on the TETCO and BC Pipeline systems. And further underpinning the value of our pipeline system, all contracts up for renewal in 2022 were successfully recontracted. We placed $900 million into service, including modernization projects and our Vito offshore pipeline system. Our natural gas export strategy continued to play out as we began construction on our Venice extension projects serving Plaquemines LNG. In addition, our investment in wood fiber LNG has helped spur new investment along our BC Pipeline system, where we secured another $4.8 billion of expansions on T-North and T-South.

在這一年中，我們還實現了 TETCO 和 BC 管道系統的正利率結算。為了進一步鞏固我們管道系統的價值，所有 2022 年續籤的合同都已成功續簽。我們投入了 9 億美元用於服務，包括現代化項目和我們的 Vito 海上管道系統。隨著我們開始建設服務於 Plaquemines LNG 的威尼斯擴建項目，我們的天然氣出口戰略繼續發揮作用。此外，我們對木纖維液化天然氣的投資幫助刺激了我們 BC 管道系統的新投資，我們在 T-North 和 T-South 又獲得了 48 億美元的擴建。

As you will recall, these projects earn under a cost of service framework. And given that they consist of brownfield construction, on existing right of ways, they have considerably lower capital cost risk. Overall, we see tremendous potential for North American LNG to meet global demand for secure lower carbon energy. And we're engaging with governments in the United States and Canada to advocate for permitting reforms to support development.

您會記得，這些項目是在服務成本框架下賺錢的。鑑於它們由棕地建設組成，根據現有的通行權，它們的資本成本風險要低得多。總體而言，我們看到北美液化天然氣在滿足全球對安全的低碳能源需求方面的巨大潛力。我們正在與美國和加拿大政府合作，倡導允許改革以支持發展。

We also further reduced our exposure to commodity prices by decreasing our economic interest in DCP and in favor of a higher interest in the Gray Oak pipeline that is highly contracted. This was another good example of recycling capital, to lower volatility and better risk/reward investments.

我們還通過降低對 DCP 的經濟利益並支持對高度收縮的 Gray Oak 管道的更高興趣，進一步降低了我們對商品價格的敞口。這是循環資本的另一個很好的例子，以降低波動性和更好的風險/回報投資。

Turning to our gas utility. They had another strong year with approximately 46,000 new customers added. We put $1.2 billion of expansion capital into service in 2022, which supports the continued growth of our rate base there. And we filed a new incentive rate application for the period 2024 to 2028. We have a long track record of working under incentive rate mechanisms that provide quality, safe service and predictable rates for our customers while also allowing us to achieve our premium return within the return parameters set annually by the LEB. Michele will have more to say on this important initiative at our Enbridge Day in March. Our Dawn Hub and transmission systems continued to perform well, particularly in December, as winter storm Elliott, retaliate on North American markets. Our integrated Dawn storage hub was able to reliably provide gas to the market, which helped to stabilize prices.

轉向我們的天然氣公用事業。他們又迎來了強勁的一年，增加了大約 46,000 名新客戶。我們在 2022 年投入了 12 億美元的擴張資本，以支持我們在那裡的利率基礎的持續增長。我們還提交了 2024 年至 2028 年期間的新獎勵率申請。我們在獎勵率機制下工作有著長期的記錄，這些機制為我們的客戶提供優質、安全的服務和可預測的費率，同時也使我們能夠在每年由 LEB 設置的返回參數。米歇爾將在 3 月份的安橋日就這一重要舉措發表更多意見。我們的 Dawn Hub 和傳輸系統繼續表現良好，尤其是在 12 月，因為冬季風暴 Elliott 對北美市場進行了報復。我們集成的 Dawn 存儲中心能夠可靠地向市場提供天然氣，這有助於穩定價格。

In fact, just before Christmas, it was able to deliver a record 6.1 Bcf of gas to the market in a single day. The distribution team continues to progress our R&D strategy with 2 new projects sanctioned, bringing the total to 8 in service or under construction in Ontario. We're also seeing encouraging performance from the 2% injection of hydrogen into the gas stream in Markham, which serves 3,600 customers with low carbon or lower carbon natural gas. While we are still studying the impacts, we are also exploring the merits of extending this strategy to more customers. Looking at our Renewables business, 2022 was a pivotal year for that segment.

事實上，就在聖誕節前夕，它能夠在一天內向市場輸送創紀錄的 6.1 Bcf 天然氣。分銷團隊繼續推進我們的研發戰略，批准了 2 個新項目，使安大略省在役或在建項目總數達到 8 個。我們還看到，萬錦市向氣流中註入 2% 的氫氣取得了令人鼓舞的業績，該市為 3,600 名客戶提供低碳或低碳天然氣。在我們仍在研究影響的同時，我們也在探索將此策略擴展到更多客戶的優點。看看我們的可再生能源業務，2022 年是該領域的關鍵一年。

We placed the first 4 offshore wind projects into service in France on time and hit the EUR 2.4 billion budget, quite an accomplishment in this market. We have 3 self-powered solar projects in service and another 10 under construction, which will produce 113 megawatts of power for our liquids and Gas Transmission businesses. Lowering Scope 2 emissions, and we acquired a top renewable developer in North America, dry global energy. The acquisition brings near-term cash flow from the sale of 3.9 gigawatts of advanced projects over the next couple of years. And the power team has over 3 gigawatts of new development in progress that we expect to enter service between 2025 and 2028 with more beyond that time frame.

我們在法國按時將首批 4 個海上風電項目投入使用，預算達到 24 億歐元，在這個市場上取得了相當大的成就。我們有 3 個自供電太陽能項目在役，另有 10 個在建，將為我們的液體和氣體傳輸業務生產 113 兆瓦的電力。降低範圍 2 排放，我們收購了北美頂級可再生能源開發商 dry global energy。此次收購帶來了未來幾年出售 3.9 吉瓦先進項目的近期現金流。電力團隊正在進行超過 3 吉瓦的新開發，我們預計將在 2025 年至 2028 年之間投入使用，超出該時間範圍的還會有更多。

The 3 gigawatts represents $3 billion to $5 billion of potential growth capital investment for Enbridge. Our combined expertise will help us accelerate our North American onshore renewables strategy, taking advantage of the incentives announced in the Inflation Reduction Act. So really fine 2022 for all the business units, which translated into record financials and sets us up for future growth.

3 吉瓦意味著 Enbridge 有 30 億至 50 億美元的潛在增長資本投資。我們的綜合專業知識將幫助我們加速北美陸上可再生能源戰略，利用《降低通貨膨脹法案》中宣布的激勵措施。 2022 年對所有業務部門來說都非常好，這轉化為創紀錄的財務狀況，並為我們未來的增長做好了準備。

So let me now turn it over to Vern, who will walk you through those financial results and outlook.

現在讓我把它交給弗恩，他將向您介紹這些財務結果和前景。

Thanks, Greg, and good morning, everyone. A strong fourth quarter capped off a record year for us. We exceeded the midpoint of our DCF guidance range, and we finished at the top end of our EBITDA guidance range. Strong operational performance resulted in a 6% increase in EBITDA and a 7% increase in DCF per share quarter-over-quarter.

謝謝，格雷格，大家早上好。強勁的第四季度為我們創紀錄的一年畫上了句號。我們超出了 DCF 指導範圍的中點，並且達到了 EBITDA 指導範圍的上限。強勁的運營業績導致 EBITDA 環比增長 6%，每股 DCF 環比增長 7%。

Our full year EBITDA increased by 11% over 2021, and our DCF per share was up 9%. During the quarter, we saw record mainline volumes of 3.1 million barrels per day. Export volumes at Ingleside continue to grow throughout the year, and we continue to enhance our U.S. Gulf Coast footprint with increased ownership in Gray Oak and Cactus II. Gas transmission utilization remained high, and we have increased our revenues with the recent rate case settlements at Texas Eastern and at the BC Pipeline.

我們全年的 EBITDA 比 2021 年增長了 11%，每股 DCF 增長了 9%。在本季度，我們看到創紀錄的每天 310 萬桶的干線運輸量。 Ingleside 的出口量全年持續增長，我們通過增加 Gray Oak 和 Cactus II 的所有權來繼續擴大我們在美國墨西哥灣沿岸的足跡。天然氣傳輸利用率仍然很高，我們增加了收入，最近在 Texas Eastern 和 BC Pipeline 達成了費率案件和解。

Q4 also benefited with a full quarter of operations from our T-South and Spruce Ridge expansions. The utility was up, with strong customer growth rate escalations and some slightly colder weather. The renewables business was down slightly in the quarter due to lower U.S. wind resources, the timing of annual operating expenses, which was partially offset by strong European power prices. Energy Services remained challenged in the quarter due to tight basis differentials and backwardation. But as a reminder, we expect Energy Services to return to profitability this year. The quarter also benefited from a stronger U.S. dollar. DCF in the quarter reflected higher distributions from our Alliance and Gray Oak joint ventures, offset by higher interest expense, cash taxes and the annual timing of maintenance capital.

第四季度還受益於我們 T-South 和 Spruce Ridge 擴展的整個季度運營。公用事業上升，客戶增長率強勁上升，天氣略微變冷。可再生能源業務在本季度略有下降，原因是美國風能資源減少，年度運營支出的時間被強勁的歐洲電價部分抵消。由於緊縮的基差和現貨溢價，能源服務在本季度仍然面臨挑戰。但提醒一下，我們預計能源服務今年將恢復盈利。該季度還受益於美元走強。本季度的 DCF 反映了我們的 Alliance 和 Gray Oak 合資企業的更高分配，被更高的利息支出、現金稅和維護資本的年度時間安排所抵消。

Let's take a moment now to remind ourselves on how we've built a business that's resilient in all market cycles. The financial markets continue to be extremely volatile. Inflation is driving central banks to raise rates stoking the potential of a recession. Enbridge continues to be well positioned to navigate through these risks. Our low-risk business model is built on minimizing our exposure to market price volatility, and provides us contractual protection against any of these movements. We have a proven track record of meeting our guidance, despite volatile market conditions. This resiliency is once again demonstrated in our 2023 outlook.

現在讓我們花點時間提醒自己，我們是如何建立在所有市場週期中都具有彈性的企業的。金融市場繼續極度動盪。通貨膨脹正在推動央行提高利率，從而加劇經濟衰退的可能性。 Enbridge 繼續處於有利地位，可以應對這些風險。我們的低風險商業模式建立在最大限度地減少我們對市場價格波動的風險敞口的基礎上，並為我們提供了針對任何這些變動的合同保護。儘管市場環境動盪，但我們在實現指引方面擁有良好的記錄。這種彈性在我們的 2023 年展望中再次得到體現。

Let's move to that now. We are reaffirming our 2023 guidance that we provided last November. We expect the business to perform strongly in 2023 with high utilization across all of our systems. And we will benefit from the capital we placed into service in 2022, and the additional capital that we placed into service this year. Rising interest rates are a modest headwind in 2023, but this has already been reflected in our guidance. We entered the year with approximately 10% of our debt in floating rates. We're also substantially hedged on foreign exchange. So we're well protected here as well.

讓我們現在開始。我們重申去年 11 月提供的 2023 年指南。我們預計該業務將在 2023 年表現強勁，我們所有系統的利用率都會很高。我們將受益於我們在 2022 年投入使用的資本，以及我們今年投入使用的額外資本。利率上升是 2023 年的適度不利因素，但這已經反映在我們的指引中。我們以大約 10% 的浮動利率債務進入了這一年。我們還對外匯進行了大量對沖。所以我們在這裡也受到了很好的保護。

Our 2023 dividend increase of 3.2% marks our 28th consecutive annual dividend increase. And our dividend payout remains in the middle of our target range. We continue to prioritize the balance sheet and are targeting to exit 2023 in the lower half of our 4.5 to 5x debt-to-EBITDA range. At Enbridge Day, we'll provide more detail on our medium-term growth outlook, so please join us for that. I'm now going to move on to our secured growth program.

我們 2023 年的股息增長 3.2% 標誌著我們連續第 28 年增加股息。我們的股息支付仍處於目標範圍的中間。我們繼續優先考慮資產負債表，目標是在我們 4.5 至 5 倍債務與 EBITDA 範圍的下半部分退出 2023 年。在 Enbridge Day，我們將提供有關中期增長前景的更多詳細信息，因此請加入我們。我現在要繼續我們的安全增長計劃。

Today, our secured capital program sits at $18 billion. We had $4 billion capital enter into service in 2022, which will drive cash flow growth in 2023 and beyond. We also added $8 billion to our growth capital program last year, where the majority of this capital comes into service between 2026 and 2028. Our $5 billion to $6 billion of annual investment capacity allows us to fund these projects under an equity self-financing model. Going forward, we have ample investment capacity for more organic growth, tuck-in M&A, debt repayment and share buybacks. So with that, let's move to capital allocation. It all starts with the balance sheet strength and financial flexibility, recycling capital into new opportunity is just one part of our strategy to keep our leverage in check.

今天，我們的擔保資本計劃為 180 億美元。我們有 40 億美元的資本在 2022 年投入使用，這將推動 2023 年及以後的現金流增長。去年，我們還向增長資本計劃增加了 80 億美元，其中大部分資本在 2026 年至 2028 年之間投入使用。我們每年 50 億至 60 億美元的投資能力使我們能夠在股權自籌資金模式下為這些項目提供資金.展望未來，我們有足夠的投資能力實現更多的有機增長、併購、債務償還和股票回購。因此，讓我們轉向資本配置。這一切都始於資產負債表的實力和財務靈活性，將資本回收到新的機會只是我們控制槓桿的戰略的一部分。

Our balance sheet doesn't require us to do so, but we will continue to opportunistically evaluate future asset sales at attractive valuations. We continue to return capital to shareholders sustainably. We pay out about 65% of our distributable cash flow as a dividend. And as you know, we have a long record of growing that dividend. We renewed our $1.5 billion normal course issuer bid, which allows us to opportunistically repurchase shares. Buybacks will, of course, compete with any other capital allocation opportunities, but they will also act as a benchmark for our business developers.

我們的資產負債表並不要求我們這樣做，但我們將繼續以有吸引力的估值機會主義地評估未來的資產銷售。我們繼續以可持續的方式向股東返還資本。我們支付了約 65% 的可分配現金流作為股息。如您所知，我們在增加紅利方面有著長期的記錄。我們更新了 15 億美元的正常發行人出價，這使我們能夠有機會回購股票。當然，回購將與任何其他資本配置機會競爭，但它們也將作為我們業務開發人員的基準。

We will prioritize low capital intensity and utility-like investments and then deploy any remaining investment capacity to the next available option. All of these opportunities fit our low-risk business model, exceed our risk-adjusted hurdle rates have a strong strategic fit and align with our ESG goals. The bottom line is we continue to be focused on maximizing shareholder value. Let me finish off with an ESG update. I'm truly proud of our ESG accomplishments in 2022. Most of all, by the work we've done on the indigenous reconciliation. We released our indigenous reconciliation action plan in September, which articulates and tracks our commitment and progress with their indigenous stakeholders.

我們將優先考慮低資本密集度和類似公用事業的投資，然後將任何剩餘的投資能力部署到下一個可用選項。所有這些機會都符合我們的低風險業務模式，超過我們的風險調整後最低收益率，具有很強的戰略契合度，並符合我們的 ESG 目標。底線是我們繼續專注於最大化股東價值。讓我以 ESG 更新結束。我為我們在 2022 年取得的 ESG 成就感到由衷的自豪。最重要的是，我們在土著和解方面所做的工作。我們在 9 月發布了土著和解行動計劃，該計劃闡明並跟踪了我們與土著利益相關者的承諾和進展。

Through the East West Tie Line, the Wabamun Carbon hub and the Aii Regional Oil Sands equity partnership, we are setting the standard for economic participation with our indigenous partners. We see further opportunities to continue to develop more of indigenous partnerships on both sides of the border. We're finding innovative ways to reduce our GHG emissions, in order to executing on our solar cell power strategy, that supports both of our liquids and gas businesses.

通過東西聯絡線、Wabamun Carbon 樞紐和 Aii 區域油砂股權合作夥伴關係，我們正在為與本土合作夥伴的經濟參與製定標準。我們看到了進一步的機會，可以繼續在邊界兩邊發展更多的本土夥伴關係。我們正在尋找減少溫室氣體排放的創新方法，以執行支持我們的液體和氣體業務的太陽能電池戰略。

On governance, we're honored that Pamela L. Carter has been elected our first female Chairperson. Finally, we issued another sustainably-linked bond in the fourth quarter, bringing our total sustainability-linked financings to over $4 billion. With that, I'll turn it back to Greg.

在治理方面，我們很榮幸 Pamela L. Carter 當選為我們的第一位女性主席。最後，我們在第四季度發行了另一隻與可持續發展相關的債券，使我們與可持續發展相關的融資總額超過 40 億美元。有了這個，我會把它轉回給格雷格。

Well, thanks very much, Vern. And as we mentioned earlier, we're really looking forward to spending time with you, at our Investor Days coming up in Toronto and New York in March. You will hear that those days from our business unit leaders on the prospects for each of their businesses.

好吧，非常感謝，弗恩。正如我們之前提到的，我們真的很期待在 3 月份在多倫多和紐約舉行的投資者日與您共度時光。在那些日子裡，您會從我們的業務部門領導那裡聽到關於他們每項業務的前景的信息。

They'll be providing you with views on the following questions: What are the near and long-term fundamentals of the business? How will we continue to drive efficiencies? How we grow our 4 businesses and invest in new energy technologies, while leveraging our existing business positions horizontally across the enterprise? How are we progressing on our ESG goals? In addition, you'll hear from myself and the team about the positive positioning of our business, our strategic priorities, our capital allocation discipline and our medium-term financial outlook.

他們將就以下問題向您提供意見：業務的近期和長期基本面是什麼？我們將如何繼續提高效率？我們如何發展我們的 4 項業務並投資新能源技術，同時橫向利用我們在整個企業中的現有業務地位？我們的 ESG 目標進展如何？此外，您會從我本人和團隊那裡聽到關於我們業務的積極定位、我們的戰略重點、我們的資本分配紀律和我們的中期財務前景。

We hope to see you there and look forward to a great discussion. Before we take questions, let me wrap up by saying that over the last decade, Al Monaco and the senior leadership team have transformed Enbridge to be the leading energy delivery company. Building off that strength, we've entered 2023 with a solid plan and a committed team to continually -- continue safely and reliably delivering energy across North America and beyond for our customers and our investors. 2022 was an inflection point for our industry and policymakers. As energy security and high commodity prices from underinvestment in energy was put under the spotlight. The need for both conventional and lower carbon solutions to meet the growing demand for global energy will be critical, as will our ability to deliver both in an economic and environmentally sustainable way for our customers, our investors and stakeholders at large.

我們希望能在那裡見到您，並期待進行精彩的討論。在我們提問之前，讓我總結一下，在過去十年中，Al Monaco 和高級領導團隊已經將 Enbridge 轉變為領先的能源輸送公司。憑藉這種實力，我們已經進入 2023 年，並製定了堅實的計劃和一支敬業的團隊，以持續 - 繼續安全可靠地在北美及其他地區為我們的客戶和投資者提供能源。 2022 年是我們行業和政策制定者的轉折點。由於能源安全和能源投資不足導致的高商品價格成為人們關注的焦點。對滿足全球能源日益增長的需求的傳統和低碳解決方案的需求將至關重要，我們以經濟和環境可持續的方式為我們的客戶、投資者和廣大利益相關者提供服務的能力也將如此。

Our business model is resilient, and our low-risk value proposition should make us your first choice, energy investment opportunity. We will demonstrate that at Enbridge Day and show you how we will bridge to the energy future by meeting the needs of today, tomorrow and beyond. Thank you for joining us today. And now let's open up the lines for your questions.

我們的商業模式具有彈性，我們的低風險價值主張應該使我們成為您的首選，能源投資機會。我們將在 Enbridge Day 展示這一點，並向您展示我們將如何通過滿足今天、明天和未來的需求來通往能源的未來。感謝您今天加入我們。現在讓我們打開你的問題線。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And we will take our first question from Robert Kwan with RBC Capital Markets.

我們將從 RBC Capital Markets 的 Robert Kwan 那裡回答我們的第一個問題。

Greg, I guess, first question here for you, just around the Mainlines here. Have you changed the company's priorities, even, if it's nuance, just part of a potential deal? And specifically, as you think about transitioning the business over time, is there a desire to push for higher depreciation to both manage the residual value of the mainline as well as releasing additional capital to rotating to lower-carbon infrastructure?

格雷格，我猜，第一個問題在這裡問你，就在主線附近。你有沒有改變公司的優先事項，即使是細微差別，只是潛在交易的一部分？具體來說，當您考慮隨著時間的推移轉變業務時，是否希望推動更高的折舊以管理主線的剩餘價值以及釋放額外的資本以轉向低碳基礎設施？

Well, Robert, first of all, and Colin is on the line here, too. But maybe I'll start. Yes, I would not see the Mainline negotiations as anything about changing the priorities of the company. As I've tried to speak to the investment community day in conference, and we'll talk about this in March. I wouldn't read that into it. I mean, look, by strong belief continues to be that from a North American perspective, it's about going through and out and the liquids business is part of that obviously and a critical component. That will remain from a Western Canadian perspective as we serve those customers, not only in Canada but also their desires to go south.

好吧，羅伯特，首先，科林也在線。但也許我會開始。是的，我不會將 Mainline 談判視為改變公司優先事項的任何事情。正如我試圖在會議上的投資社區日發言一樣，我們將在 3 月份討論這個問題。我不會把它讀進去。我的意思是，看，從北美的角度來看，堅定的信念仍然是，它是關於經歷和走出去的，而液體業務顯然是其中的一部分，也是一個關鍵組成部分。當我們為這些客戶提供服務時，從加拿大西部的角度來看，這將保持不變，不僅在加拿大，而且還有他們去南方的願望。

And as we talked about a little bit in the opening comments, from the perspective of the Gulf Coast, we're building what I think is a really great super system there. So I don't think, it's a it's an either/or, it's an and. So I definitely don't see the Mainline negotiations has changed in any way in the priorities. This is a great business that earns about $9 billion in EBITDA and will continue to be the backbone of the corporation, which does not take away from the other business units. But specifically, Colin, do you want to speak to some of the comments and questions from Robert?

正如我們在開場評論中談到的那樣，從墨西哥灣沿岸的角度來看，我們正在那裡建立一個我認為非常棒的超級系統。所以我不認為，它是一個非此即彼，它是一個和。所以我絕對不認為 Mainline 談判的優先級有任何改變。這是一家偉大的企業，其 EBITDA 收入約為 90 億美元，並將繼續成為公司的支柱，不會從其他業務部門中奪走。但具體來說，科林，你想談談羅伯特的一些評論和問題嗎？

Sure, Greg. Thanks for the question, Robert. Maybe just to build on Greg's comments, and I'll give you as much color as I can, on the negotiations. It's obviously premature, as big into it too much and it would be disrespectful to our counterparties. But here's what I can tell you -- and Robert, you've been around in the company industry for a while and you'll recognize that we've evolved through incentive tolling for 27 years now, 7 vintages starting back, right, in the '90s. And each one of those arrangements matured build on the previous one added new features, typically added not too many subtractions, but added new features around risk and reward around speaking to ways we can maximize value for industry, right?

當然，格雷格。謝謝你的問題，羅伯特。也許只是基於 Greg 的意見，我會盡可能多地告訴你談判的內容。這顯然為時過早，因為太過分了，這對我們的交易對手是不尊重的。但這是我可以告訴你的——羅伯特，你在公司行業已經有一段時間了，你會認識到我們已經通過激勵收費發展了 27 年，從 7 個年份開始，對，在90 年代。每一個成熟的安排都建立在前一個的基礎上，增加了新的功能，通常不會增加太多的減法，而是增加了圍繞風險和回報的新功能，圍繞著我們可以為行業實現價值最大化的方式，對吧？

These -- just to recap a little bit, these have included initially cost envelopes, then it evolved to batch quality. It evolved to connectivity. And increasingly now, it's including ESG stewardship and defense of the system and advocacy. Will we add new features to this one. Likely could include items like you're talking about. We're very mindful of the dynamic you surface there.

這些 - 只是稍微回顧一下，這些包括最初的成本信封，然後它演變為批量質量。它演變為連通性。現在，它越來越多地包括 ESG 管理和系統防禦以及宣傳。我們會為此添加新功能嗎？可能包括您正在談論的項目。我們非常注意你在那裡表現出的動態。

And in light of increasing industry risk. So I'd say an incentive arrangement here remains the shippers preference. That's why we're negotiating it. I'll add our bid-ask on the toll component of the arrangement has narrowed meaningfully. But I want to caution that we're not there yet. We've made progress, but we're not there yet, and we may not get there. And obviously, we've advanced and fully prepared the alternative cost link -- cost of service pass-through model, which should be equally acceptable to us. We don't have comments on time line. I don't think that's helpful, but we are making progress. And either outcome here will be competitive for our customers and investors. So I don't know, I probably over answered that, Robert, but it is a good question.

鑑於行業風險不斷增加。所以我想說這裡的激勵安排仍然是托運人的偏好。這就是我們談判的原因。我將添加我們對安排的通行費部分的買賣已經有意義地縮小。但我想提醒的是，我們還沒有到那一步。我們取得了進展，但還沒有，而且我們可能達不到。顯然，我們已經推進並充分準備了替代成本鏈接——服務成本轉嫁模型，我們應該同樣可以接受。我們對時間線沒有評論。我認為這沒有幫助，但我們正在取得進展。對於我們的客戶和投資者來說，這兩種結果都將具有競爭力。所以我不知道，羅伯特，我可能回答過度了，但這是個好問題。

Great. I appreciate the color. If I could just finish on capital allocation or capital recycling. You had a good amount of activity in 2022. I'm just wondering, how active do you intend to be both on monetization front as well? Just on acquisitions, it's not new that you're focusing on tuck-ins, but the annual disclosures very specifically no tuck-ins. Just some thoughts as well as to how you might be approaching larger deals? Or is it really the focus on tuck-ins when it comes to M&A.

偉大的。我很欣賞這種顏色。如果我能完成資本配置或資本回收。你們在 2022 年有很多活動。我只是想知道，你們打算在貨幣化方面有多活躍？就收購而言，你關注收買並不新鮮，但年度披露非常明確地沒有收買。只是一些想法以及您可能如何處理更大的交易？還是在併購方面真正關注的是收買。

Yes. Well, first and foremost, I think the reason why we can even consider those types of things, Robert, is that strong focus on the capital allocation starts with the maintenance of our balance sheet and the equity sales financing model.

是的。好吧，首先，我認為我們甚至可以考慮這些類型的事情的原因是，羅伯特，對資本配置的強烈關注始於我們資產負債表和股權銷售融資模型的維護。

And all that, of course, ultimately ends up in being able to increase that dividend on a steady basis. But you've seen us recycle capital over the last 4, 5 years, $10 billion plus. That allows us, as well as some of the capacity on the balance sheet to go out and do tuck-ins. We'll continue to look at those. And the next thing is for the company, the size of Enbridge, with the self-equity financing model and the balance sheet capacity, we -- tuck-ins for us are pretty substantial deals.

當然，所有這一切最終都以能夠穩定地增加股息而告終。但是你已經看到我們在過去 4、5 年中回收了 100 億美元以上的資金。這使我們以及資產負債表上的一些能力能夠走出去並投入。我們將繼續關注這些。接下來是公司，Enbridge 的規模，擁有自有股權融資模式和資產負債表能力，我們 - 對我們來說是非常重要的交易。

I mean we would refer to Ingleside, as a tuck-in. From that perspective. And as you know, it's in the $3 billion range and look at the opportunities that then it created. Frankly, the management team, great job in getting a solution over the many years to DCP, and it leads to Gray Oak and then leads to Cactus and some of the opportunities. And I would even argue to the work we're now doing in the early stages with Oxy and pieces like that. So I think, you can continue to watch for that, continue to see us look at tuck-ins. I don't think we explicitly said in our 2023 guidance, we wouldn't do that. That is part of the core of what we are able to do now.

我的意思是，我們會把 Ingleside 稱為“塞進”。從那個角度來看。正如你所知，它在 30 億美元的範圍內，看看它當時創造的機會。坦率地說，管理團隊多年來在為 DCP 找到解決方案方面做得很好，它導致了 Gray Oak，然後導致了 Cactus 和一些機會。我什至會反對我們現在在早期階段使用 Oxy 和類似的作品所做的工作。所以我認為，您可以繼續關注這一點，繼續看我們看內褲。我不認為我們在 2023 年指南中明確表示，我們不會那樣做。這是我們現在能夠做的核心工作的一部分。

And you should expect to continue to see that in a smart stuff that we can fit in, and they can add incremental value, not just to the business that maybe it's coming to, but also that horizontal perspective of some of those tuck-ins. And that includes on the new energy technology side. Look, Matthew and the team bringing in Tri Global Energy, that's a great example. And a little variety of opportunities. And I know all the business units are looking at those types of things, again, driven by the strong balance sheet and the ability to equity self-finance.

而且你應該期望繼續在我們可以適應的智能產品中看到這一點，它們可以增加增量價值，不僅是對可能即將到來的業務，而且還包括其中一些融入的橫向視角。這包括在新能源技術方面。看，Matthew 和引入 Tri Global Energy 的團隊就是一個很好的例子。還有一些機會。而且我知道，在強大的資產負債表和股權自籌資金能力的推動下，所有業務部門都在關注這些類型的事情。

We will take our next question from Jeremy Tonet with JPMorgan.

我們將接受 JPMorgan 的 Jeremy Tonet 的下一個問題。

Good morning, and all the best in retirement, Greg, looking forward to working with you, going forward here. Just wanted to pivot towards, I guess, WCSB and expansion, really specifically construction risk going forward. We see a lot of projects out there. We see issues that cost overrun and we see pressure on the contractors, there is the strength of those companies. And so just wondering, as you look at expansions with T-South, how do you think about addressing project cost risk, given the dynamics and what we've seen in the basin so far?

早上好，退休後一切順利，格雷格，期待與你一起工作，在這裡繼續前進。我想只是想轉向 WCSB 和擴展，特別是未來的建設風險。我們在那裡看到了很多項目。我們看到了成本超支的問題，我們看到了承包商的壓力，還有那些公司的實力。所以只是想知道，當你看到 T-South 的擴張時，你如何考慮解決項目成本風險，考慮到動態和我們迄今為止在流域看到的情況？

Yes. Look, it's a great question. And we're obviously very much focused on it. As you know, we're not new to building projects, but this is an interesting environment. Several things that I think probably put us in a bit of a unique situation particularly in Western Canada. So the projects that were just secured last year. First of all, they're on existing right of way. That is an important issue that cannot be underestimated in terms of us understanding what we're doing. And remember, we've been through one company or another have been running that system since 1950-ish-type time frame with lots of expansions. Secondly, they're split up over a long period of time, right? So you're talking about brownfield projects, of which the capital is spent over multiple years, and much of it not for several years ahead.

是的。看，這是一個很好的問題。我們顯然非常關注它。如您所知，我們對構建項目並不陌生，但這是一個有趣的環境。我認為有幾件事可能使我們處於一種獨特的境地，尤其是在加拿大西部。所以去年剛剛獲得的項目。首先，他們在現有的通行權上。就我們理解我們正在做的事情而言，這是一個不可低估的重要問題。請記住，自 1950 年代以來，我們經歷過一家或另一家公司一直在運行該系統，並進行了大量擴展。其次，他們在很長一段時間內分手了，對吧？所以你說的是棕地項目，其中的資金會花費多年，而其中大部分不會在未來幾年內花費。

So unless you believe there's going to be a very long time period of inflationary pressure on us. I think really, we should be in a good spot from a -- from an inflationary perspective. And then, of course, these are brownfield projects. I think it's very different when you're building brand-new projects. And this will go -- this was very similar to the whole system. Where there is a greenfield project, it's not a linear project.

因此，除非您認為我們將面臨很長一段時間的通脹壓力。我真的認為，從通貨膨脹的角度來看，我們應該處於有利地位。然後，當然，這些都是棕地項目。我認為當你構建全新的項目時，情況會大不相同。這將繼續下去——這與整個系統非常相似。哪裡有綠地項目，它就不是線性項目。

So Cynthia and the team from a wood fiber perspective, obviously, that's a big project, but not a massive project and it's not a linear project and one that's been worked for the better part of 20 years, and now coming to a good fruition. So I'd say not just in Western Canada, this is something we're focused on, on all fronts. I know the power team is focused on that, obviously, right across North America, this is something that we're hypersensitive too. But I like our positioning from the perspective, as I said, existing right of ways, largely brownfield. Our timing and capital spend should put us in a better spot than maybe some others are dealing with right today.

因此，從木纖維的角度來看，辛西婭和團隊顯然是一個大項目，但不是一個龐大的項目，也不是一個線性項目，並且已經工作了 20 年的大部分時間，現在取得了良好的成果。所以我想說的不僅僅是在加拿大西部，這是我們在各個方面都關注的事情。我知道電力團隊專注於此，顯然，就在整個北美，這也是我們非常敏感的事情。但正如我所說，從現有通行權（主要是棕地）的角度來看，我喜歡我們的定位。我們的時機和資本支出應該使我們處於比今天其他一些人正在處理的更好的位置。

Got it. Got it. That's helpful. And just want to pivot towards, I guess, floating interest rate exposure. It seems like there's some locking in for this year. But just thinking on a longer-term basis, is there any thoughts to kind of terming out more of that and reducing the amount of exposure to floating rates at a given point in time?

知道了。知道了。這很有幫助。我想只是想轉向浮動利率敞口。今年似乎有一些鎖定。但只是從更長遠的角度考慮，是否有任何想法可以在給定的時間點終止更多的浮動利率並減少浮動利率的風險敞口？

Yes. Good question, Jeremy. I'll turn to Vern for that. The other thing I probably should have mentioned, as you know, it's not the case in every location, but definitely in Western Canada, we are under a cost of service structure, too, which is definitely different than a lot of other people in terms of their contract structures and infrastructure. But Vern, do you want to speak to the floating rate debt issue.

是的。問得好，傑里米。我會求助於 Vern。我可能應該提到的另一件事，如你所知，並非每個地方都是如此，但在加拿大西部肯定是這樣，我們也處於服務成本結構之下，這在條款上肯定與許多其他人不同他們的合同結構和基礎設施。但是弗恩，你想談談浮動利率債務問題嗎？

Okay. Thanks, Greg. Jeremy, as you know, we run our debt book with percentage of floating rate debt, in each and every year. And over the long run, we create shareholder value by having some floating rate debt out there.

好的。謝謝，格雷格。傑里米，如你所知，我們每年都用浮動利率債務的百分比來管理我們的債務賬簿。從長遠來看，我們通過發行一些浮動利率債務來創造股東價值。

Our target is to run between 10% to 20% of the book and floating rates. And as you've seen, obviously, interest rates go up, we've gone to the shorter or the smaller end of that target range. We're highly hedged on new issuances as well. So there is obviously some interest rate exposure, but we'll carefully manage that. And I think you're right, there is some value in the shape of the curve right now, and that will be part of how we manage our debt portfolio as we go forward because, obviously, in today's market, a 5- or 10-year bond is actually cheaper than floating rate debt. So you raised a good point.

我們的目標是在賬面利率和浮動利率的 10% 到 20% 之間運行。正如你所看到的，顯然，利率上升，我們已經達到了該目標範圍的更短或更小的一端。我們也對新發行的股票進行了高度對沖。因此，顯然存在一些利率風險，但我們會謹慎管理。我認為你是對的，現在曲線的形狀有一些價值，這將成為我們未來管理債務組合的一部分，因為很明顯，在今天的市場上，5 或 10年期債券實際上比浮動利率債券便宜。所以你提出了一個很好的觀點。

We will take our next question from Rob Hope with Scotiabank.

我們將接受來自豐業銀行的 Rob Hope 的下一個問題。

Maybe keeping with the BCC. Can you comment on the deferral of the tea open season just given the commentary on producers are reevaluating their long-term plans, is this commodity price driven or is this blueberry driven? Can you maybe add a little bit of color there?

也許與密件抄送保持一致。鑑於有關生產商正在重新評估其長期計劃的評論，您能否評論茶葉開放季節的推遲，這是商品價格驅動還是藍莓驅動？你可以在那裡添加一點顏色嗎？

Sure. Cynthia is here. So maybe I'll ask Cynthia to chime in here.

當然。辛西婭來了。所以也許我會請辛西婭在這裡插話。

Yes. Thanks, Rob. I would say that it would be an opportunity for our customers to step back and confirm how they want to approach this. So it is both the Blueberry and they may be looking at the inflationary pressures. But our West Coast customers, when they asked us to postpone us to the second half of the year. It's basically just to allow them to assess what their development plans are and their Gas Transportation requirements. So with that Blueberry decision, I think it's great that we're able to continue to progress. We're going to see more certainty. Certainty is always something that we'd like to see in that space.

是的。謝謝，羅布。我想說這將是我們客戶退後一步並確認他們想要如何處理這個問題的機會。所以藍莓和他們可能都在關注通脹壓力。但是我們的西海岸客戶，當他們要求我們將我們推遲到下半年時。這基本上只是讓他們評估他們的發展計劃是什麼以及他們的天然氣運輸要求。因此，有了 Blueberry 的決定，我認為我們能夠繼續取得進步真是太好了。我們將看到更多的確定性。確定性始終是我們希望在該領域看到的東西。

We've always had some, as Greg had mentioned, long relationships with the indigenous people in that area, but our customers now will have this opportunity to really look at how the Blueberry decision is going to allow them to continue to develop. So it's a combination of both.

正如格雷格提到的那樣，我們一直與該地區的土著人民有著長期的關係，但我們的客戶現在將有機會真正了解 Blueberry 的決定將如何讓他們繼續發展。所以這是兩者的結合。

Great. And then, Greg, you've been in the Chair, I guess, just over 40 days now. Can you give us an update on where you are on your 90-day plan, what you've been focusing on so far and what changes you've made?

偉大的。然後，Greg，我猜你擔任主席的時間才剛剛超過 40 天。您能否向我們介紹一下您的 90 天計劃的進展情況、到目前為止您關注的重點是什麼以及您做出了哪些改變？

Sure. So several things, obviously, getting the books closed for the year-end. I just finished the Board meeting, all good on that front. But I've really been spending time a, seeing investors, seeing a lot of investors, getting out and seeing our employees, I've sat down with every Vice President of the company, I think, for at least an hour to get their views on where things are and also huge employee groups as well.

當然。很明顯，有幾件事讓年底結賬。我剛剛結束了董事會會議，在這方面一切都很好。但我真的一直在花時間見投資者，見很多投資者，走出去見我們的員工，我和公司的每一位副總裁坐下來，我想，至少一個小時，讓他們對事物的位置以及龐大的員工群體的看法。

I spent a lot of time, and this is going to be a big focus of mine with policymakers, too. Look, permitting is a huge issue. We set this off the front. But, both Canada and the United States, this is an issue, and we're not really answering the call from sustainability of fuel perspective globally, and we can do that in North America and look after ourselves well, helping the rest of the world.

我花了很多時間，這也將成為我與決策者的一大關注點。看，許可是一個大問題。我們把它放在前面。但是，加拿大和美國，這是一個問題，我們並沒有真正從全球燃料可持續性的角度響應號召，我們可以在北美這樣做，照顧好自己，幫助世界其他地區.

So I'm going to spend a lot of time on that front. I think you'll hear in March, and I'll ask you to wait till then, kind of some of the priorities going forward. But again, I would not expect to see a significant change on the key areas, right? So the liquids business, we chatted about that as well. The gas business, look, the LNG side of things is absolutely a focus of mine, both here in Canada, but also in the Gulf Coast in the United States. Those opportunities are big, and we've got to continue to do that. And then as well on the renewable side of things, how are we going to continue to grow out that business. We bought Tri Global. We've got to focus on that and make sure that the results we expect to that come in, in the next few years as well as advancing our RNG, or CCUS, and in the longer term, some of the hydrogen opportunities, that are out there.

所以我會在這方面花很多時間。我想你會在三月份聽到，我會請你等到那時，一些未來的優先事項。但同樣，我不希望在關鍵領域看到重大變化，對嗎？所以液體業務，我們也聊過。天然氣業務，看，液化天然氣方面絕對是我的重點，無論是在加拿大這裡，還是在美國墨西哥灣沿岸。這些機會很大，我們必須繼續這樣做。然後在事物的可再生方面，我們將如何繼續發展該業務。我們買了 Tri Global。我們必須專注於此，並確保我們期望的結果在未來幾年內出現，同時推進我們的 RNG 或 CCUS，從長遠來看，一些氫機會，即在那裡。

And I will not forget the Gas Distribution business. I love the Gas Distribution business. I've been there to see employees there as well. That is a growing business. And it is -- frankly, there is no future without natural gas. I don't care what anybody says. That's the reality of the situation. And obviously, having a Gas Distribution business is an important element of that. So that's been my focus. We'll come out in March. I have -- I'll say, I pushed some authorities down to people to make decisions so that we can move a little quicker. I think that's going to be critical, making sure that we can react to our customers, but also the needs of investors going forward and really starting to look at -- look, I think we're in a good position for '23 where we're going to go in '24, '25 and '26, and look forward to chatting with you about that in March.

我不會忘記天然氣配送業務。我喜歡天然氣配送業務。我也去過那裡看員工。這是一項不斷發展的業務。坦率地說，沒有天然氣就沒有未來。我不在乎別人怎麼說。這就是現實情況。顯然，擁有天然氣分銷業務是其中的一個重要因素。所以這一直是我的重點。我們將在三月出來。我已經 - 我會說，我將一些權力下放到人們做出決定，以便我們可以更快地採取行動。我認為這將是至關重要的，確保我們能夠對我們的客戶做出反應，同時也確保投資者向前發展並真正開始關注的需求 - 看，我認為我們在 23 年處於有利地位我將在 24 年、25 年和 26 年參加，並期待在 3 月份與您討論此事。

We will take our next question from Theresa Chen with Barclays.

我們將在巴克萊銀行接受 Theresa Chen 的下一個問題。

I'm curious as to your longer-term strategy on the liquid side for the U.S. Gulf Coast, given the series of acquisitions over time. Do you see more to do to short your portfolio there? What is your general outlook?

考慮到隨著時間的推移進行的一系列收購，我很好奇你在美國墨西哥灣沿岸的流動性方面的長期戰略。你認為做空你的投資組合還有更多工作要做嗎？你的總體看法是什麼？

Yes. Well, Colin and I will speak about this in March, but the short answer is absolutely. Again, I think you can just see, since the acquisition of Ingleside, just a little bit over a year or so ago. We've continued to kind of move the ball forward on that front. As I said, I think the future both on the Canadian side and the U.S. side is through and out of the continent. We have got to be a bigger player on the Gulf Coast. And I think we're set up to do that. So if you'll give us a few weeks, we'll see you, and we'll talk through this.

是的。好吧，科林和我將在 3 月份討論這個問題，但簡短的回答是絕對的。再一次，我想你可以看到，自收購 Ingleside 以來，大約一年多前。我們繼續在這方面向前推進。正如我所說，我認為加拿大方面和美國方面的未來都在非洲大陸之外。我們必須成為墨西哥灣沿岸地區更大的參與者。我認為我們已經準備好這樣做了。所以如果你能給我們幾週的時間，我們會再見，我們會討論這個問題。

So I think it's pretty exciting. Actually what's going down there, which does not, and I want to be clear just not take away from anything that what's going on in Western Canada as well. Particularly on the oil side, look, there's a lot of discussion about gas.

所以我認為這非常令人興奮。實際上那裡發生了什麼，沒有發生什麼，我想澄清的是，不要忽視加拿大西部正在發生的任何事情。特別是在石油方面，有很多關於天然氣的討論。

But I think as China reopens, and we have -- and not enough money has been spent on restocking, if you will. The reserves on the oil front and on many commodity fronts. I think, that's going to lead to some real opportunities and people being real careful with capital, which is the right thing to do. But as we go through the year, I think you'll start to see more upward pressure on the price of oil, particularly in the international markets. And let's see, 3 to 6 months from now, where China is on the reopening economy is a little softer here, but outside of North America, I think you're starting to see a little bit of green shoots going on and that's going to lead longer term to the need for more infrastructure on the Gulf Coast from my perspective. So we'll chat more about that, but that's my general comments.

但我認為隨著中國重新開放，我們已經——如果你願意的話，沒有足夠的錢用於補貨。石油方面和許多商品方面的儲備。我認為，這將帶來一些真正的機會，人們對資本非常謹慎，這是正確的做法。但隨著這一年的過去，我認為你會開始看到石油價格面臨更大的上行壓力，尤其是在國際市場上。讓我們看看，從現在開始的 3 到 6 個月後，中國在重新開放經濟方面會有所放緩，但在北美以外，我認為你會開始看到一些萌芽，這將會從我的角度來看，從長遠來看，墨西哥灣沿岸需要更多的基礎設施。因此，我們將就此進行更多討論，但這是我的一般評論。

We will take our next question from Robert Catellier with CIBC Capital Markets.

我們將接受來自 CIBC Capital Markets 的 Robert Catellier 的下一個問題。

You partially answered this with respect to your answer to Robert Kwan, but I'm wondering if in the current cost environment, including inflation and higher interest rates, -- is that causing you to change your approach for rate request specifically risk sharing? Or is it more a matter of just ensuring proper tools are reflected, so that you're covering your proper cost and maybe more frequent rate cases. So maybe you can answer it more on the gas side given your prior comments on liquids.

關於您對 Robert Kwan 的回答，您部分回答了這個問題，但我想知道在當前的成本環境中，包括通貨膨脹和更高的利率，是否會導致您改變利率請求的方法，特別是風險分擔？或者更重要的是確保反映適當的工具，以便您支付適當的成本和可能更頻繁的費率案例。因此，鑑於您之前對液體的評論，也許您可以在氣體方面更多地回答這個問題。

Sure. I'll let Cynthia chime in here, too. But I think the answer to that is also yes. I mean we -- it was 20 years plus from the time we had a Texas Eastern rate case. And now we -- those muscles have been toned again. So I think we're getting good at that. I think, our customers recognize some of those costs. And the same thing on the distribution side of things, too. So maybe Cynthia and then maybe, Michelle, you can both speak to that issue.

當然。我也會讓 Cynthia 插話。但我認為答案也是肯定的。我的意思是我們 - 從我們有德克薩斯東部利率案例開始已經 20 年多了。現在我們——那些肌肉再次得到鍛煉。所以我認為我們在這方面做得很好。我認為，我們的客戶認識到其中的一些成本。在事物的分佈方面也是如此。所以也許辛西婭，然後也許，米歇爾，你們都可以談談這個問題。

Sure -- for our gas systems, we have done a number of rate cases recently, 2 very successful settlements just last year, both with Tax Eastern system and the BC pipes. And we continually look at when is the right time to go in to a rate case settlement. And we look at all those things, Robert. So it is our cost our capital costs, the interest rates, all of those costs come into that. We do have that opportunity, as Greg was mentioning to go back on a regular basis. So this is just part of our standard approach to making sure that we're getting the right return for the investments that we're making in the assets that we have. So you'll continue to see us go back when the time is right based on what the experience is. So with just having settled though, both Texas Eastern and the BC system. It will be a couple of years before we go back on those. But that's just a continual part of our approach now as we go forward.

當然——對於我們的天然氣系統，我們最近完成了一些費率案例，僅在去年就完成了 2 次非常成功的和解，均涉及 Tax Eastern 系統和 BC 管道。我們會不斷研究何時是進行費率案件和解的合適時機。我們看看所有這些事情，羅伯特。所以這是我們的成本，我們的資本成本，利率，所有這些成本都包含在內。正如格雷格提到的那樣，我們確實有機會定期回去。因此，這只是我們確保我們對我們擁有的資產進行的投資獲得正確回報的標準方法的一部分。所以你會繼續看到我們根據經驗在適當的時候回去。因此，雖然剛剛安頓下來，但德州東部和 BC 系統。我們將在幾年後重新討論這些問題。但隨著我們前進，這只是我們現在方法的一個持續部分。

Right. So really is a good question of timing and costs as opposed to changing something fundamental on the risk sharing.

正確的。因此，與改變風險分擔的基本內容相比，時間和成本確實是一個很好的問題。

Right. So when we go into those settlements, Robert, we do have those conversations about what the experiences have been. And we also look at what the right approach is for us to have in that risk environment. So the framework is flexible, and we continue to create that balance both for us and for our customers.

正確的。因此，當我們進入這些定居點時，羅伯特，我們確實會就這些經歷進行對話。我們還研究了在這種風險環境中我們應該採用的正確方法。因此，該框架是靈活的，我們將繼續為我們和我們的客戶創造這種平衡。

And there's some of that risk and Michelle, maybe just some commentary on your filing of the -- at the OEB and how you're looking at that?

並且存在一些風險，米歇爾，也許只是對您在 OEB 提交的文件的一些評論以及您如何看待它？

Sure. You got Greg. And Robert, at the OE, it's a little more formulaic and structured. We go typically every 5 years now what's unique here is it's the first rebasing application for both of the legacy utilities in about 10 years because we've been operating under the mergers framework for the last 5 years.

當然。你有格雷格。而羅伯特，在 OE，它更公式化和結構化。我們現在通常每 5 年進行一次，這裡的獨特之處在於它是大約 10 年來對這兩個遺留公用事業的第一個 rebase 應用程序，因為我們在過去 5 年中一直在合併框架下運營。

But -- so a very heavy lift to get that in and it was in by the end of last year, which has us well on track to have new rates that will be effective for the first of January. And we're quite confident that we'll move forward with our performance-based regulatory model, in a manner that is as effective as what we've seen in the past, and that really does allow us to continue to earn while we're driving our efficiencies, we pass those savings on to the customers.

但是 - 這是一個非常沉重的提升，它是在去年年底之前完成的，這使我們有望獲得將於 1 月 1 日生效的新利率。而且我們非常有信心，我們將以一種與過去所見一樣有效的方式推進基於績效的監管模式，這確實讓我們能夠在我們繼續盈利的同時在提高我們的效率的同時，我們將這些節省的成本回饋給了客戶。

And then post 2024, after we rebase, we'd expect some very attractive returns using that formulaic incentive rate setting mechanism.

然後在 2024 年之後，在我們重新調整基準之後，我們預計會使用該公式化的激勵率設定機制獲得一些非常有吸引力的回報。

Yes. Most of our programs or most of our assets have some element of inflation tracking. And I think that's important. It's not instantaneous, Rob, but we shouldn't forget that because in this environment, I think that's unique. And we are looking at things and both on the gas side and definitely on the gas utility side, like depreciation.

是的。我們的大多數程序或我們的大部分資產都具有通貨膨脹跟踪的某些元素。我認為這很重要。這不是瞬間的，羅布，但我們不應該忘記這一點，因為在這種環境下，我認為這是獨一無二的。我們正在研究天然氣方面的事情，當然還有天然氣公用事業方面的事情，比如折舊。

So if people have a view on risk, so do we -- and so we'll continue to push those forward. In some cases, that even means looking at thicker equity components as well. So all those are on the table. And I think we've got constructive mechanisms both you get your opponents. But from the customers, but even regulators. Again, back to gas infrastructure is absolutely critical despite what you see sometimes in the papers.

因此，如果人們對風險有看法，我們也有——所以我們將繼續推動這些。在某些情況下，這甚至意味著還要考慮更厚的股票成分。所以所有這些都在桌面上。而且我認為我們有建設性的機制，你有你的對手。但來自客戶，甚至是監管機構。再一次，回到天然氣基礎設施是絕對重要的，儘管你有時會在報紙上看到。

Okay. That's very helpful. And then just a follow-up question on your Mainline discussion. As I'm inferring from your comments that obviously, every negotiation takes on a life of its own and has its own character. But Greg, I'm wondering if you can comment, when do you -- when will you know when it makes sense to file a cost of service application. What has to happen for you to make that decision?

好的。這很有幫助。然後只是關於您的 Mainline 討論的後續問題。正如我從您的評論中推斷的那樣，很明顯，每一次談判都有自己的生命和特點。但是格雷格，我想知道你是否可以評論，你什麼時候 - 你什麼時候知道什麼時候提交服務成本申請是有意義的。必鬚髮生什麼情況才能做出該決定？

Well, first of all, as Colin said, look, I don't think creating artificial time frames on these things, is a wise idea. It's not because it is an artificial time frame. We obviously, continue to serve our customers. We want to get the solution as soon as possible. But I'd say, if we came to a point where, as Colin pointed out, we just weren't making progress, then we already prepared and willing to go down that cost of service rent. But as long as there is some progress, and as long as there is goodwill between the parties, that doesn't seem like the way to go, and that's where we are right now.

好吧，首先，正如科林所說，看，我不認為在這些事情上創造人為的時間框架是一個明智的想法。這不是因為它是一個人為的時間框架。顯然，我們將繼續為我們的客戶服務。我們希望盡快得到解決方案。但我要說的是，如果我們到了一個地步，正如科林指出的那樣，我們只是沒有取得進展，那麼我們已經準備好並願意降低服務租金成本。但只要有一些進展，只要雙方之間存在善意，這似乎就不是可行的方法，而這正是我們現在所處的位置。

So I understand the frustration sometimes on this. But I can assure you, Colin and the team. And our customers are very focused on this issue, and there is, again, good report between the players and trying to reach a solution. We may not get there, but we shouldn't create a false deadline to be able to pull that off. Colin, or, if you want to chime in, please do so.

所以我理解有時對此感到沮喪。但我可以向你保證，科林和團隊。我們的客戶非常關注這個問題，玩家之間也有很好的報告，並試圖達成解決方案。我們可能達不到目標，但我們不應該為了能夠實現這一目標而設定虛假的截止日期。 Colin，或者，如果你想插話，請插話。

No. It's well said.

不，說得好。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And we will take our next question from Praneeth Satish with Wells Fargo.

我們將接受富國銀行 Praneeth Satish 的下一個問題。

I wanted to touch on the gas storage business. It seems like the value of storage is going up with the winter storms and some of the supply low gas prices that we're seeing. I guess are you seeing any positive traction in storage rates? And then maybe can you remind us how much of your gas storage is third parties versus used by your utility?

我想談談儲氣業務。似乎存儲的價值隨著冬季風暴和我們看到的一些供應低油價而上漲。我想您是否看到存儲率有任何積極的推動力？然後也許你能提醒我們你的儲氣量有多少是第三方的，有多少是你的公用事業公司使用的？

Sure. I think, both Michelle and Cynthia can speak a little bit. But I -- first of all, we have huge storage position, both on the Gulf Coast. Let's not forget, and in, obviously, central part of the continent, so several hundred Bcf. I think it's -- there's a variety of reasons why you're seeing an increase in the value.

當然。我想，Michelle 和 Cynthia 都會說一點。但我 - 首先，我們在墨西哥灣沿岸擁有巨大的存儲位置。別忘了，很明顯，在大陸的中部，有幾百 Bcf。我認為這是——你看到價值增加的原因有很多。

I don't know if I want to give you the specific rates, and I'll let Cynthia decide where I do it. But we're seeing markedly higher rates for recontracting. And LNG is playing a critical component of this. I've been waiting for this for a long time, but big ambient temperature swings are relevant issues for storage. And then also just things like, obviously, your standard winter and regional differentials are important, too. But Michelle, I don't know if -- well, maybe I'll turn to you, Cynthia, because I definitely see storage as one of those growth areas for us as well.

我不知道我是否想給你具體的費率，我會讓辛西婭決定我在哪裡做。但我們看到重新簽約的比率明顯更高。液化天然氣在其中發揮著關鍵作用。我已經等了很長時間了，但是大的環境溫度波動是存儲的相關問題。然後，很明顯，您的標準冬季和地區差異也很重要。但是米歇爾，我不知道是否 - 好吧，也許我會求助於你，辛西婭，因為我肯定也將存儲視為我們的增長領域之一。

Yes, Greg, I don't think I'll get specific, as to what our renewal rates are, but we have seen a lot of opportunities to continue to look, whether it's recontracting with the existing customers, and we've had a lot of inbound interest from others. And as you said, Greg, a lot of that ties into both the incremental draw now for exports and creating some stability for that, as well as just the volatility that you're starting to see. So it has been good. Our teams are continuing to have lots of conversations, and we're seeing strong recontracting rates.

是的，格雷格，我想我不會具體說明我們的續約率是多少，但我們已經看到了很多繼續尋找的機會，無論是與現有客戶重新簽訂合同，而且我們已經很多來自其他人的入境興趣。正如你所說，格雷格，這在很大程度上與現在出口的增量抽取和為此創造的穩定性以及你開始看到的波動有關。所以一直很好。我們的團隊繼續進行大量對話，我們看到了強勁的續約率。

Yes. And so on the U.S. side, on the Gulf Coast, all that would be third party. Michelle on the utility side, how much is of the storage would be for you guys announced to be third party?

是的。因此，在美國方面，在墨西哥灣沿岸，所有這些都是第三方。公用事業方面的米歇爾，你們宣布成為第三方的存儲空間是多少？

Yes, Greg, it roughly breaks down to about 2/3 sites that's reserved for our rate base and then about 1/3 that is unregulated. And I do have to say and give that our Dawn storage hubs across states, they've performed incredibly well through some of these really challenging winter conditions we've seen. And in fact, what we're seeing is a trend towards some really propping things up in the mid-continent over the holidays when we saw extreme weather across North America. They were flowing into the Ontario market for certain. They were backstopping things into the Mid-Continent, out towards the Northeast. I mean, we've added a lot of flexibility into that storage system. We've invested over $100 million in the last 10 years to increase the ratability and performance out of it, and it's absolutely stepping up to do that. We're also seeing longer-term contracts being signed up for that in regulated storage and certainly our unregulated storage, this year is sold out for 2023.

是的，格雷格，它粗略地分解為大約 2/3 的網站是為我們的費率基礎保留的，然後大約 1/3 是不受監管的。我不得不說，我們在各州的 Dawn 存儲中心，在我們所見過的一些非常具有挑戰性的冬季條件下，它們的表現非常出色。事實上，當我們看到整個北美的極端天氣時，我們看到的是假期期間一些真正支撐中部大陸事情的趨勢。他們肯定會流入安大略市場。他們正在支持東西進入中部大陸，向東北方向發展。我的意思是，我們為該存儲系統增加了很多靈活性。在過去的 10 年裡，我們已經投資了超過 1 億美元來提高它的可評價性和性能，而且它正在加緊努力做到這一點。我們還看到在受監管的存儲中籤署了長期合同，當然還有我們不受監管的存儲，今年 2023 年已經售罄。

Yes, that's great. And more -- when you get these big swings in weather as well, let's not forget, you got -- if you move Texas Eastern in both directions, now there's a different need where that storage is and how customers drop on that. So just to be clear, storage contracts are still short, right? So storage contracts would be typically 2 to 5 years. So when we say they're getting longer, that means they're no longer spot. But still, that's a great spot for us to be in. So a good question.

是的，那太好了。還有更多——當你的天氣也出現這些大波動時，別忘了，你得到了——如果你在兩個方向上移動德州東部，現在存儲的位置和客戶如何使用它就會有不同的需求。所以要明確一點，存儲合同仍然很短，對嗎？因此，存儲合同通常為 2 至 5 年。所以當我們說它們變長時，這意味著它們不再是斑點。但是，這仍然是我們進入的好地方。所以這是一個很好的問題。

Very helpful. And then just switching gears with your leverage now down to 4.5x 4.7x I think it's the lowest it's been in a very, very long time. I guess what is the right leverage for your business as you look out over the next few years? And -- are you going to keep driving that lower? Or are you hitting a point where you could potentially pivot more of that free cash flow back to -- either back into the business or to equity holders?

很有幫助。然後換檔，你的槓桿率現在降至 4.5 倍 4.7 倍，我認為這是很長一段時間以來的最低水平。我想，在您展望未來幾年時，您的業務的正確槓桿是什麼？而且 - 你會繼續降低嗎？或者你是否達到了可以將更多自由現金流轉回的地步 - 回到業務或股權持有人？

And then just tied to that, how do you think about leverage in the context of ESG recognizing the more oil-weighted asset base?

然後與此相關，您如何看待 ESG 識別更多石油加權資產基礎的槓桿作用？

Well, you've asked a great question. I think we're quite comfortable where we are in the debt-to-EBITDA range. You have to remember that lots of our assets are highly regulated with highly regulated capital structures. So there's a limit on how far we can push debt-to-EBITDA down. But being in the lower half of the range provides us tons of flexibility, to allocate capital to all kinds of great stuff, more organic growth, tuck-in M&A, share buybacks and potentially a slightly lower leverage. But I think we're happy where we're at, and we'll continue to try to be around this point in the debt-to-EBITDA range.

嗯，你問了一個很好的問題。我認為我們在債務與 EBITDA 的範圍內感到很舒服。你必須記住，我們的許多資產都受到高度監管的資本結構。因此，我們可以將債務與 EBITDA 的比率降低到什麼程度是有限度的。但處於該範圍的下半部分為我們提供了極大的靈活性，可以將資本分配給各種偉大的東西、更多的有機增長、併購、股票回購以及可能略低的槓桿率。但我認為我們很高興我們所處的位置，我們將繼續努力在債務與 EBITDA 範圍內保持這一點。

Yes, I think the nice thing, and it's really important that I think our U.S. investors sometimes miss, and we maybe need to do a better job in the U.S. rating agencies. Again, to Vern's point, when you got 65% debt required by regulation in the utility and not too dissimilar number on all the gas pipes in Canada, that's going to, by definition, give us a little larger number.

是的，我認為這是一件好事，而且我認為我們的美國投資者有時會錯過這一點非常重要，我們可能需要在美國評級機構中做得更好。同樣，對於 Vern 的觀點，當公用事業部門的監管要求有 65% 的債務，而加拿大所有煤氣管道的債務並沒有太大差異時，根據定義，這會給我們一個更大的數字。

But as Vern says, the way it's structured now and the way our DCF kind of comes through, you've got $5 billion to $6 billion of investment capacity annually, that we can handle with the self-equity financing model and the balance sheet without making any negative change to our balance sheet. That's a really strong position and goes back to some of the comments about things like tuck-ins as well. So we're in a good spot right now.

但正如 Vern 所說，它現在的結構方式以及我們 DCF 的實現方式，你每年有 50 億到 60 億美元的投資能力，我們可以通過自有股權融資模型和資產負債表來處理，而無需對我們的資產負債表做出任何負面改變。這是一個非常有力的立場，並且可以追溯到一些關於塞入等事情的評論。所以我們現在處於一個很好的位置。

And we will take our next question from Linda Ezergailis with TD Securities.

我們將從道明證券的 Linda Ezergailis 那裡回答下一個問題。

Just a follow-up question on the Mainline to give us some more context around how this is progressing. In terms of the sticking points potentially. Is everything still at play and being traded off? Or are there a number of items largely settled such as potentially like duration and off ramps with just a few sticking points. Can you comment on what might be more versus less contentious. And would one of the sticking points, still potentially be trading off competing customer priorities?

只是主線上的一個後續問題，可以為我們提供更多有關進展情況的背景信息。就潛在的癥結而言。一切仍在發揮作用並正在權衡取捨嗎？或者是否有許多項目基本上已經解決，例如可能只有幾個癥結點的持續時間和下坡道。你能評論一下什麼可能更有爭議嗎？癥結之一是否仍可能是權衡競爭客戶的優先事項？

Linda, it's a good question. I'll let Colin jump in here. But until the negotiation is done, I don't think it's fair for us to kind of throw one-offs and assume we know exactly where the other side is so it's done. But Colin, with that, maybe you'd like to chime in?

琳達，這是個好問題。我會讓科林跳進來。但在談判完成之前，我認為我們一次性地假設我們確切地知道對方在哪裡所以就完成了，這對我們來說是不公平的。但是科林，也許你想插話？

Yes, I agree. I can appreciate your curiosity here, Linda. But yes, I don't think it's appropriate to kind of tick or pull those apart. More to come, and we'll advance this as expeditiously as appropriate. And I know I should mention, too, that we've got, right, our Enbridge Day approaching in 3 weeks. I'd like probably to manage your expectations that we may not have finality or much more color on this by then. Negotiations will continue actively likely through that period. And remember, too, there's a vote that's required by industry. So -- yes. I appreciate the question. Sorry, I can't help you too much more at this time.

是的我同意。琳達，我很感激你的好奇心。但是，是的，我認為將它們打勾或分開是不合適的。未來還會有更多，我們將酌情盡快推進。而且我知道我也應該提到，我們已經知道，我們的 Enbridge 日將在 3 週後臨近。我想可能會管理您的期望，即到那時我們可能還沒有最終結果或更多顏色。在此期間，談判可能會繼續積極進行。還要記住，行業需要投票。所以——是的。我很欣賞這個問題。抱歉，這個時候我幫不了你太多。

No, I understand. And given the importance to the basin, it's good that everyone's taking a thoughtful process. Just as a quick follow-up more from a financial lens. Right now, you've got a bit less than 2% of cash flow at risk. Can you -- you commented on interest rate exposure, you got some foreign exchange exposure. Can you talk about maybe where you are on commodity prices? And your services business continues to lose money. Like what is -- is there a strategic value there? What's the outlook for that? And how might that business evolve over time?

不，我明白。考慮到盆地的重要性，每個人都經過深思熟慮是件好事。就像從財務角度快速跟進一樣。現在，您面臨風險的現金流量不到 2%。你能不能——你評論了利率風險，你有一些外匯風險。你能談談你對商品價格的看法嗎？而您的服務業務繼續虧損。就像是 - 那裡有戰略價值嗎？前景如何？隨著時間的推移，該業務將如何發展？

Yes. Linda, as you saw last year, we traded our DCP position for different larger position than Gray Oak, and that materially reduces the amount of commodity price risk we have in our business.

是的。琳達，正如你去年看到的那樣，我們將 DCP 頭寸換成了比灰橡樹更大的頭寸，這大大降低了我們業務中的商品價格風險。

We still have some residual commodity price risk within the Gas Transmission business, primarily associated with Alliance not stable. We have some cost associated risk with power prices in liquids and the Gas Transmission business. But really, that's pretty much all the commodity -- out rate for commodity price risk we have in a very, very large organization. So there is a pretty de minimis amount of commodity price risk across all of our businesses. With respect to Energy Services, I think we've talked about in the past that it gives us a good lens on basis differentials, which generally drive pipeline development.

我們在輸氣業務中仍然存在一些剩餘的商品價格風險，主要與不穩定的聯盟有關。我們有一些與液體電力價格和天然氣傳輸業務相關的成本風險。但實際上，這幾乎就是所有商品——我們在一個非常非常大的組織中面臨的商品價格風險。因此，我們所有業務的商品價格風險都非常低。關於能源服務，我認為我們過去曾討論過它為我們提供了一個很好的基礎差異鏡頭，這通常會推動管道開發。

So it's good to continue to have a foot in that door to understand what our customers are seeing, both in natural gas and crude oil. I think we talked about previously that, yes, 2022 was a very tough year for that business. effectively, there was no basis differential across many pipeline systems. And in the crude oil markets, prices were backwardated pretty much for the entire year. So going forward, we're going to see some contracts roll off at Energy Services. Some commitments will go away, and we expect the business to return to profitability this year. So it's a long-winded answer, but hopefully, I think gets you a little hint.

因此，繼續涉足這扇門以了解我們的客戶在天然氣和原油中看到的情況是件好事。我想我們之前談到過，是的，2022 年對該行業來說是非常艱難的一年。實際上，許多管道系統之間沒有基礎差異。在原油市場，全年的價格幾乎都是逆差。因此，展望未來，我們將看到 Energy Services 的一些合同取消。一些承諾將消失，我們預計該業務今年將恢復盈利。所以這是一個冗長的答案，但希望我能給你一點提示。

No, no, I think well said and obviously, staying completely within all the regulatory confines I think it's a fair focus we're taking a look at and how Energy Services entitled help create more value for the customers and making sure that they understand all the capabilities back and forth. So definitely something to look at. I appreciate that.

不，不，我認為說得好，顯然，完全保持在所有監管範圍內，我認為這是我們正在關注的一個公平焦點，以及能源服務如何幫助為客戶創造更多價值並確保他們理解所有來回的能力。所以絕對值得一看。我很感激。

We will take our next question from John Mackay with Goldman Sachs.

我們將接受來自高盛的約翰·麥凱的下一個問題。

Thanks for the time at risk of again the answer that just wait for Toronto. I just wanted to follow up on Theresa's question on the Permian strategy. I mean is there any interest at this point of reaching further back and owning, let's say, something on the gathering side? And then similarly, kind of just staying in the Permian. Now that you have bigger stakes in both the big Corpus pipes, just any interest in potentially expanding those sooner rather than later?

感謝您再次冒著風險等待多倫多的答案。我只是想跟進 Theresa 關於二疊紀戰略的問題。我的意思是，目前是否有興趣進一步回溯並擁有，比方說，收集方面的東西？然後類似地，只是停留在二疊紀。既然你在兩個大型 Corpus 管道中擁有更大的股份，是否有興趣盡快擴大這些管道？

Sure. Look, never say never, but having just got out of a major gathering system on the other side on the NGL side. I think our focus and what we're really getting is big pipes and tied to the export side of things. So Colin, you may want to add to this, I guess, if it was really going to -- we saw incremental value on that the export side of doing that, that something be open to. But at this point, I think the way we're building this out is bigger pipes and figuring out ways to really serve customers on that front. But Colin, you may want to add to that.

當然。看，永遠不要說永遠，但剛剛從 NGL 一側的另一側的主要收集系統中出來。我認為我們的重點和我們真正得到的是大管道，並與事物的出口方面聯繫在一起。所以科林，你可能想補充一點，我想，如果它真的要 - 我們看到這樣做的出口方面的增量價值，那就是開放的東西。但在這一點上，我認為我們正在構建它的方式是更大的管道，並找出在這方面真正為客戶服務的方法。但是科林，你可能想補充一點。

Yes, yes, I agree on the gathering point, less interested there for sure. And -- but exclamation marks, behind the export strategy. And I think it's becoming quite clear that the Corpus egress point out of the Permian is quite attractive. And we're building out and up from there, but only so far.

是的，是的，我同意集合點，當然對那裡不太感興趣。並且 - 但感嘆號，在出口戰略的背後。而且我認為很明顯，二疊紀的 Corpus 出口點非常有吸引力。我們正在從那裡開始建設，但僅限於此。

We're -- it's initially an acquisition, a tuck-in acquisition strategy here, where we're deploying risk-adjusted returns versus bill that are relatively attractive given build risks? And then synergies along the integration value chain, and potential expansions here. So yes, that's the strategy in a nutshell, building out a light oil strategy to complement the top-notch heavy one that we've got for the north.

我們 - 它最初是一項收購，這裡的收購戰略，我們正在部署風險調整後的回報與考慮到構建風險相對有吸引力的賬單？然後是整合價值鏈的協同效應，以及潛在的擴張。所以，是的，簡而言之，這就是戰略，制定輕油戰略，以補充我們為北方提供的一流重油戰略。

All right. That's helpful. I know we're top of the hour. I'll just ask one more quickly, and it's probably an easy answer. Any change in LNG export appetite that you're seeing either from your partners or kind of potential customers, given the pullback in global prices recently?

好的。這很有幫助。我知道我們是最重要的。我會盡快再問一個，這可能是一個簡單的答案。鑑於最近全球價格回落，您從合作夥伴或潛在客戶那裡看到的液化天然氣出口需求有何變化？

No, I think people are looking at this from a long-term perspective. Again, I'll go back to -- there is no future without natural gas. And I think parties -- one thing I'd say only come back 5 or 6 years because there was a more practical approach to energy transition 5 years ago, we seem to get batten happy on the fact of plentiful fuel and stuff like that. And I think people are realizing, unfortunately, due to the situation in Europe and elsewhere that North America's energy is needed abroad.

不，我認為人們正在從長遠的角度看待這個問題。再一次，我回到——沒有天然氣就沒有未來。而且我認為派對 - 我會說的一件事只會在 5 或 6 年內回歸，因為 5 年前有一種更實用的能源轉型方法，我們似乎對充足的燃料和類似的東西感到高興。不幸的是，我認為人們正在意識到，由於歐洲和其他地方的局勢，北美的能源在國外是需要的。

And the only way to do that is through exports. So definitely don't see any pullback on the LNG side. And these players on that side are have a much -- they've got a very long-term focus on the price of the commodity and who they're serving. So I see -- I think their use of the quantity prices move up and down. And -- but they've got that long-term focus as do we -- and so I don't think you'll see any pullback on that side. The biggest challenge in LNG continues to be permitting issues, right? And so some of our customers in the Gulf Coast, they need some real help out of the FERC. And of course, appear that's always an issue as well. So permitting, permitting, permitting, not commodity, commodity, commodity.

而做到這一點的唯一方法是通過出口。所以絕對不會看到液化天然氣方面有任何回調。那邊的這些參與者有很多——他們非常長期地關注商品的價格和他們服務的對象。所以我看到 - 我認為他們使用數量價格上下移動。而且——但他們和我們一樣有長期的關注點——所以我認為你不會在這方面看到任何回調。液化天然氣的最大挑戰仍然是許可問題，對嗎？因此，我們在墨西哥灣沿岸的一些客戶需要 FERC 的一些真正幫助。當然，看起來這也是一個問題。所以許可，許可，許可，而不是商品，商品，商品。

We will take our last question from Ben Pham with BMO.

我們將接受 Ben Pham 和 BMO 的最後一個問題。

Going back to the Mainline. I was wondering if you -- do you go to cost of service or your following cost of service, how long does it take to head that through the regulatory process?

回到主線。我想知道你是否 - 你會考慮服務成本或你的後續服務成本，通過監管流程需要多長時間？

Colin, I'll leave that to you. I know we -- it's not -- it's less short than the negotiations. I can tell you that.

科林，我會把它留給你。我知道我們 - 它不是 - 它沒有談判那麼短。我可以告訴你。

Yes, that's right, Ben. And I think we've got some gas charts on some standing IR presentations where we've compared to contrast process and time line. I'd refer either those. But yes, generally, we would file a cost of service -- and by the way, the application is ready to go here. So if we need to pivot, we can quickly. But it is a longer process. It would take into probably late 2024, I think probably to get clarity on that. So yes, it's another thing to consider in the mix of our alternative.

是的，沒錯，本。而且我認為我們在一些常設 IR 演示文稿中有一些氣體圖表，我們將這些圖表與對比過程和時間線進行了比較。我會參考那些。但是，是的，一般來說，我們會提交一份服務成本——順便說一句，申請已經準備好在這裡了。所以如果我們需要轉向，我們可以很快。但這是一個較長的過程。它可能需要到 2024 年底，我想可能會弄清楚這一點。所以是的，在我們的替代方案組合中要考慮的是另一件事。

Okay. And then maybe a follow-up on that is, in your prepared remarks, you mentioned hypothetically cost of service, move more towards utilities, derisk cash flows. Is there maybe -- if that does happen, do you think it's warranted to move to an earnings per share guidance metric? And do you think that you can actually potential take on a bit more leverage from a credit rating standpoint?

好的。然後也許是後續行動，在你準備好的發言中，你提到了假設的服務成本，更多地轉向公用事業，降低現金流的風險。是否有可能 - 如果確實發生這種情況，您認為有必要轉向每股收益指導指標嗎？從信用評級的角度來看，您是否認為您實際上有可能承擔更多的槓桿作用？

Well, I think look, I don't see the leverage piece being in that calculation. Yes, maybe on the EPS, something we'll give some thought to look, I'm very focused on -- the team is focused on delivering our cash earnings, right? It's all about cash all the time, and it should be. And so we really haven't crossed that rubicon. Let's continue to see the negotiations move forward. As Colin said, we're ready to go on cost of service and you're exactly right. That makes it even more utility like. So either is possible, but we're not going to cross the EPS comment today.

好吧，我想看，我沒有看到槓桿部分在那個計算中。是的，也許在 EPS 上，我們會考慮一下，我非常關注 - 團隊專注於提供我們的現金收入，對嗎？一切都與現金有關，而且應該如此。所以我們真的沒有越過那個rubicon。讓我們繼續看談判向前推進。正如科林所說，我們已準備好繼續研究服務成本，您說得完全正確。這使它更像實用程序。所以兩者都有可能，但我們今天不會越過 EPS 評論。

Okay. Got you. And then maybe one last one. Offshore wind markets have seen significant dislocation. Do you think it's better to buy offshore wind assets now than build just with the CapEx risk that you're -- that the industry is seeing?

好的。明白了然後也許是最後一個。海上風電市場出現了嚴重的混亂。您是否認為現在購買海上風電資產比僅僅利用行業所看到的資本支出風險進行建設更好？

Well, Matthew said, they aren't happy that he's getting the questions. So I'll turn it over to him.

好吧，馬修說，他們不高興他提出問題。所以我會把它交給他。

Thanks, Ben, for the question. We're really happy with our offshore wind position right now. There is a lot of moving parts over there right now in terms of -- I think some of the players are -- there's a little bit of a dose of reality coming in with some of the inflation impacts and time lines.

謝謝，本，提出這個問題。我們現在對我們的海上風電位置非常滿意。就目前而言，那裡有很多活動部件——我認為一些參與者是——隨著一些通貨膨脹的影響和時間線的出現，一些現實出現了。

We're in a great position because we've got the project we just brought into service. We've got 2 others in service. And then we've got a couple under construction that it's never easy, but are going quite well now also. And then some in development that are advancing nicely and also have contracts attached to them. So we're not rushing into acquisitions in the offshore space, but it's something been that we always watch and certainly, opportunistically, we'd look at that. But right now, we're really happy with the position we have there.

我們處於有利地位，因為我們已經完成了剛剛投入使用的項目。我們還有 2 個在服役。然後我們有幾個正在建設中，這從來都不容易，但現在也進展順利。然後一些正在開發中的進展順利，並且還附有合同。因此，我們並不急於在離岸領域進行收購，但這是我們一直在關注的事情，當然，我們會機會主義地關注這一點。但是現在，我們對我們在那裡的位置非常滿意。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call over to Rebecca Morley for final remarks.

女士們，先生們，問答環節到此結束。我現在將把電話轉給 Rebecca Morley 做最後的評論。

Great. Thank you, and we appreciate your ongoing interest in Enbridge. As always, our Investor Relations team is available following the call for any additional questions that you may have. Once again, thank you, and have a great day.

偉大的。謝謝，我們感謝您對 Enbridge 的持續關注。與往常一樣，我們的投資者關係團隊會在接到電話後隨時為您解答您可能有的任何其他問題。再次感謝您，祝您有美好的一天。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We appreciate your participation. This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect.

謝謝你們，女士們，先生們。感謝您的參與。今天的會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。