EQT Corp (EQT) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the EQT Q3 2022 Quarterly Results Conference Call. My name is Harry, and I'll be ordinating your call today. (Operator Instructions). I would now like to hand over to Cameron Horwitz, Managing Director of Investor Relations and Strategy to begin. Cameron, please go ahead when you're ready.

歡迎參加 EQT 2022 年第三季度季度業績電話會議。我的名字是哈利，今天我將主持你的電話會議。 （操作員說明）。我現在想請投資者關係和戰略董事總經理 Cameron Horwitz 開始。卡梅倫，準備好後請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you for joining our third quarter 2022 earnings results conference call. With me today are Toby Rice, President and Chief Executive Officer; and David Khani, Chief Financial Officer. The replay for today's call will be available on our website beginning this evening. In a moment, Toby and Dave will present their prepared remarks with a question-and-answer session to follow. An updated investor presentation has been posted to the Investor Relations portion of our website, and we will reference certain slides during today's discussion.

早上好，感謝您參加我們的 2022 年第三季度收益結果電話會議。今天和我在一起的是總裁兼首席執行官托比賴斯；和首席財務官 David Khani。從今晚開始，我們的網站將提供今天電話會議的重播。稍後，Toby 和 Dave 將介紹他們準備好的評論以及隨後的問答環節。更新的投資者演示文稿已發佈到我們網站的投資者關係部分，我們將在今天的討論中參考某些幻燈片。

I'd like to remind you that today's call may contain forward-looking statements. Actual results and future events could materially differ from these forward-looking statements because of the factors described in yesterday's earnings release, in our investor presentation and the Risk Factors section of our Form 10-K and in subsequent filings we make with the SEC. We do not undertake any duty to update forward-looking statements.

我想提醒您，今天的電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述。實際結果和未來事件可能與這些前瞻性陳述存在重大差異，因為昨天的收益發布、我們的投資者介紹和我們的 10-K 表格的風險因素部分以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的後續文件中描述的因素。我們不承擔任何更新前瞻性陳述的義務。

Today's call may also contain certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our most recent earnings release and investor presentation for important disclosures regarding such measures, including reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

今天的電話會議還可能包含某些非公認會計原則的財務措施。請參閱我們最近的收益發布和投資者介紹，了解有關此類措施的重要披露，包括與最具可比性的 GAAP 財務措施的對賬。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Toby.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給托比。

Thanks, Cam, and good morning, everyone. The energy macro landscape remains volatile as the world continues to grapple with the structural undersupply of natural gas. Thanks to American-sourced LNG, Europe has done a commendable job refilling its storage over the past few months. But those thinking that the singular goal is making it through winter failed to understand the scale of the problem at hand. Any doubt that the European energy crisis is going to be multiyear in duration, ended a few weeks ago with the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

謝謝，Cam，大家早上好。隨著世界繼續努力應對天然氣的結構性供應不足，能源宏觀格局仍然不穩定。多虧了美國採購的液化天然氣，歐洲在過去幾個月裡完成了一項值得稱道的補充其儲存的工作。但那些認為唯一目標是度過冬天的人卻無法理解當前問題的嚴重性。任何懷疑歐洲能源危機將持續多年的任何疑問都在幾週前隨著北溪管道的破壞而結束。

Domestically, natural gas production has increased as of late, which is helping to ensure the U.S. has the energy it needs to meet demand this winter. That said, electricity prices in many parts of the country will remain extremely elevated, highlighting the continued challenges we face connecting natural gas supply with demand due to a lack of pipeline infrastructure.

在國內，天然氣產量最近有所增加，這有助於確保美國擁有滿足今年冬天需求所需的能源。儘管如此，該國許多地區的電價仍將處於極高水平，突顯出由於缺乏管道基礎設施，我們在連接天然氣供需方面面臨持續挑戰。

As many of you know, since unveiling our unleashed U.S. LNG campaign in March, we have been on a relentless mission to educate policymakers on the driving factors limiting U.S. producers' ability to meet the critical energy needs of consumers, both domestically and abroad. The social pain caused by crippling energy prices around the world is unacceptable to us at EQT. The U.S. has the recoverable resources necessary to single-handedly double the global LNG market, providing both energy security and meaningful decarbonization through the replacement of foreign coal.

正如你們許多人所知，自 3 月份推出我們發起的美國液化天然氣運動以來，我們一直在堅持不懈地向政策制定者宣傳限制美國生產商滿足國內外消費者關鍵能源需求能力的驅動因素。全球能源價格暴跌所造成的社會痛苦是我們殷拓公司無法接受的。美國擁有使全球液化天然氣市場翻倍所需的可回收資源，通過替代外國煤炭提供能源安全和有意義的脫碳。

While recent setbacks around permitting reform have been unfortunate, we continue to believe the U.S. public's overwhelming desire for additional natural gas production and infrastructure will be heard. To help ensure that this is the case, we recently spearheaded the launch of a new coalition, the Partnership to Address Global Emissions, or PAGE Coalition. PAGE brings together responsible energy producers, leading climate advocates and labor groups to advocate for the infrastructure that is critically required to increase production and exports of U.S. natural gas to lower global emissions, reduce inflation and provide energy security to America and our allies.

儘管最近圍繞許可改革的挫折令人遺憾，但我們仍然相信美國公眾對增加天然氣生產和基礎設施的強烈願望將會被聽到。為了幫助確保這種情況，我們最近率先發起了一個新的聯盟，即全球排放合作夥伴關係或 PAGE 聯盟。 PAGE 匯集了負責任的能源生產商、領先的氣候倡導者和勞工團體，以倡導增加美國天然氣生產和出口以降低全球排放、降低通貨膨脹並為美國和我們的盟友提供能源安全所必需的基礎設施。

PAGE provides another avenue for EQT to help progress truly sustainable energy solutions that are required to have a meaningful impact on lowering global emissions, while simultaneously providing a tool to end the global energy crisis that is bringing unnecessary pain to consumers around the world.

PAGE 為 EQT 提供了另一條途徑，以幫助推進真正可持續的能源解決方案，這些解決方案需要對降低全球排放產生有意義的影響，同時提供一種工具來結束給全球消費者帶來不必要痛苦的全球能源危機。

Turning to the third quarter. It was an active one at EQT as we announced the bolt-on acquisition of Tug Hill and XcL Midstream. As highlighted in our conference call last month, this deal checks all of the boxes of our guiding M&A principles, has significant industrial logic given direct offset to our existing leasehold in West Virginia and brings over 11 years of core inventory that immediately competes for capital inside EQT's portfolio.

轉眼到第三季。當我們宣布補強收購 Tug Hill 和 XcL Midstream 時，這是 EQT 的一個活躍項目。正如我們上個月的電話會議所強調的那樣，這筆交易檢查了我們併購指導原則的所有內容，具有重要的工業邏輯，直接抵消了我們在西弗吉尼亞州的現有租賃權，並帶來了超過 11 年的核心庫存，可立即在內部競爭資本殷拓的投資組合。

The acquisition drives accretion on free cash flow per share, NAV per share, lowers our cost structure and derisks our business, all while maintaining our investment-grade balance sheet. The acquisition implies, we are paying a sub-$3 per million Btu long-term natural gas price, underscoring the attractive risk-adjusted return profile for our shareholders.

此次收購推動了每股自由現金流和每股資產淨值的增長，降低了我們的成本結構並降低了我們的業務風險，同時保持了我們的投資級資產負債表。此次收購意味著，我們以低於每百萬英熱單位 3 美元的長期天然氣價格支付，突顯了我們股東具有吸引力的風險調整後回報狀況。

Given the low-cost nature of Tug Hill's assets, we expect our corporate NYMEX free cash flow breakeven to drop from approximately $2.30 to $2.15 per million Btu on a pro forma basis, which adds further resiliency to our free cash flow profile through all parts of the commodity cycle. As a reminder, we did not bake in any synergies when underwriting this deal, but we highlighted $80 million of per annum potential and additional subsequent work by our teams suggest the opportunity for further upside largely due to greater confidence in water system integration benefits.

鑑於 Tug Hill 資產的低成本性質，我們預計我們的公司 NYMEX 自由現金流盈虧平衡點將在備考基礎上從每百萬英熱單位約 2.30 美元降至 2.15 美元，這進一步增加了我們通過所有部分的自由現金流狀況的彈性。商品週期。提醒一下，我們在承銷這筆交易時沒有產生任何協同效應，但我們強調了每年 8000 萬美元的潛力，我們團隊的額外後續工作表明，由於對水系統整合效益的更大信心，有進一步上漲的機會。

We continue to expect the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of this year and look forward to providing pro forma guidance after closing. Concurrent with the Tug Hill acquisition announcement, we raised our year-end 2023 debt reduction target by $1.5 billion to $4 billion, and doubled our stock buyback authorization to $2 billion. We've made material progress towards our debt reduction goals with $830 million of debt retired year-to-date.

我們繼續預計該交易將在今年第四季度完成，並期待在完成後提供備考指導。在宣布收購 Tug Hill 的同時，我們將 2023 年底的債務削減目標提高了 15 億美元至 40 億美元，並將我們的股票回購授權增加了一倍至 20 億美元。我們在實現減債目標方面取得了實質性進展，今年迄今已償還了 8.3 億美元的債務。

On the buyback front, while securities laws prohibited us from repurchasing stock for a significant amount of the quarter due to the Tug Hill transaction, we have been active, post deal announcement, repurchasing 3.6 million shares for approximately $150 million since mid-September. Recall, we repurchased roughly 10 million shares in Q1 at an average price of around $23 per share and effectively retired 5.7 million shares through our convertible note repurchases in Q2 at an implied share price of $37 per share.

在回購方面，雖然由於 Tug Hill 交易，證券法禁止我們在本季度的大部分時間回購股票，但我們在交易公告後一直很活躍，自 9 月中旬以來以約 1.5 億美元的價格回購了 360 萬股股票。回想一下，我們在第一季度以每股約 23 美元的平均價格回購了大約 1000 萬股股票，並通過我們在第二季度以每股 37 美元的隱含股價通過可轉換票據回購有效地收回了 570 萬股股票。

Combined with our activity over the past few weeks, we have now reduced our fully diluted share count by more than 19 million shares this year at a weighted average price of $31 per share. Looking ahead, we still have approximately $1.6 billion remaining on our buyback authorization, providing significant dry powder to repurchase our shares at an extremely attractive valuation. We will also look to redeploy cash savings from retiring debt, repurchasing shares and our realization of Tug Hill synergies into additional base dividend growth moving forward.

結合我們過去幾週的活動，我們今年以每股 31 美元的加權平均價格將完全稀釋後的股票數量減少了超過 1900 萬股。展望未來，我們仍有約 16 億美元的回購授權剩餘，為以極具吸引力的估值回購我們的股票提供了大量乾粉。我們還將尋求將來自退休債務、回購股票和我們實現 Tug Hill 協同效應的現金儲蓄重新部署到未來的額外基礎股息增長中。

Also in the third quarter, we announced a collaboration with the state of West Virginia, Battelle, GTI Energy and Allegheny Science & Technology to form the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, or ARCH2. Appalachia is ideally suited to lead the charge in clean hydrogen production in the United States given abundant, low-cost, low emissions natural gas, interconnected infrastructure and storage, existing transportation networks and proximity to major end-use markets.

同樣在第三季度，我們宣布與西弗吉尼亞州、Battelle、GTI Energy 和 Allegheny Science & Technology 合作組建阿巴拉契亞地區清潔氫中心或 ARCH2。鑑於豐富、低成本、低排放的天然氣、相互連接的基礎設施和儲存、現有的交通網絡以及靠近主要最終用途市場，阿巴拉契亞非常適合在美國引領清潔氫氣生產。

The ARCH2 team is comprised of entities with operations across the Appalachian region, expanding the hydrogen value chain as well as technology organizations, consultants, academic institutions, community organizations and NGOs that will provide the commercial and technical leadership for the development and build-out of the hub. Coalition plans to apply for the DOE's Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub funding opportunity, which seeks to provide $8 billion in federal funding to accelerate the deployment of U.S. hydrogen technologies and contribute to decarbonizing multiple sectors, while enabling regional and community benefits. We plan to submit our concept paper to the DOE this winter and our full application by next spring, with final DOE hub selection expected in the fall of 2023.

ARCH2 團隊由在阿巴拉契亞地區開展業務、擴展氫價值鏈的實體以及技術組織、顧問、學術機構、社區組織和非政府組織組成，他們將為氫能的開發和擴建提供商業和技術領導力樞紐。 Coalition 計劃申請 DOE 的區域清潔氫中心資助機會，該機會旨在提供 80 億美元的聯邦資金，以加速美國氫技術的部署，並為多個部門的脫碳做出貢獻，同時使區域和社區受益。我們計劃在今年冬天向 DOE 提交我們的概念文件，並在明年春天之前提交我們的完整申請，最終的 DOE 樞紐選擇預計在 2023 年秋季進行。

During preparation of the concept paper and full application, EQT and the rest of the ARCH2 coalition will design the hydrogen hub and develop projects that span the hydrogen value chain from production through transportation and storage, all the way to end use. For the funding opportunity announcement issued by the Department of Energy in September, the winning hub teams will be awarded between $500 million and $1 billion, which can help subsidize all the projects included in the application.

在準備概念文件和全面應用期間，EQT 和 ARCH2 聯盟的其他成員將設計氫樞紐並開發跨越氫價值鏈的項目，從生產到運輸和儲存，一直到最終使用。對於能源部 9 月發布的資助機會公告，獲勝的樞紐團隊將獲得 5 億至 10 億美元的獎勵，這有助於資助申請中包含的所有項目。

In terms of EQT capital commitments, we do not anticipate incurring any significant spending related to ARCH2 until the latter part of this decade. The ARCH2 announcement comes at an ideal time as the world is demanding cheaper, more reliable and cleaner energy, and we believe the use of EQT's extremely low emissions natural gas to create clean hydrogen can act as a strategic foundation for America's transition towards decarbonization. Our participation in ARCH2 is just one of many pillars across our broader new venture strategy, which is designed to uniquely position EQT and forging new paths and opening new markets as we progress into a lower carbon future.

就 EQT 的資本承諾而言，我們預計在本十年後期之前不會發生與 ARCH2 相關的任何重大支出。 ARCH2 的發布恰逢世界需要更便宜、更可靠和更清潔的能源，我們相信使用 EQT 極低排放的天然氣來生產清潔氫氣可以作為美國向脫碳過渡的戰略基礎。我們參與 ARCH2 只是我們更廣泛的新風險戰略的眾多支柱之一，該戰略旨在獨特地定位 EQT，並在我們邁向低碳未來的過程中開闢新道路和開闢新市場。

Turning to operations. As shown in Slide 11 of our investor deck, our shift to combo development in 2019 as new management took over EQT has resulted in multiyear well productivity improvements. Our 18-month lateral normalized recoveries are up almost 45% since 2019, which is greater than 2x the productivity increase experienced across broader Appalachia over the same period. This outperformance has been largely driven by the implementation of our evolved well design and mitigation of parent-child effects through large-scale combo development.

轉向運營。如我們投資者資料的幻燈片 11 所示，隨著新管理層接管 EQT，我們在 2019 年轉向組合開發，這導致多年的油井生產力提高。自 2019 年以來，我們 18 個月的橫向標準化採收率增長了近 45%，這是同期更廣泛的阿巴拉契亞地區生產力增長的 2 倍以上。這種優異表現主要是由於我們實施了改進的油井設計和通過大規模組合開發減輕親子效應。

While our underlying well productivity has been strong, multiple third-party and logistical constraints this year have led to almost 30% less wells turned in line versus our original plan, pushing activity into 2023. These third-party constraints, along with water restrictions due to drought conditions in parts of the basin, negatively impacted our 2022 production by more than 150 Bcfe or 7% compared with our original volume expectations.

雖然我們的潛在油井生產力一直很強勁，但今年的多個第三方和後勤限制導致與我們原計劃相比減少了近 30% 的井數，將活動推至 2023 年。這些第三方限制以及由於水資源限制導致的由於盆地部分地區的干旱條件，與我們最初的產量預期相比，對我們 2022 年的產量產生了超過 150 Bcfe 或 7% 的負面影響。

Strong well productivity and great work by EQT's team to optimize field operations have helped to buffer the impact and clawed back almost 50 Bcfe of this volume impact. The net effect is our full year 2022 production is trending to the low end of our prior guidance range, while our full year 2022 CapEx is also trending towards the lower end of our prior outlook. While third-party challenges have been disappointing this year, they also underscore the opportunity we have in front of us to integrate the Tug Hill and XcL assets to maintain greater control over infrastructure build-out, facilitating more pipeline connectivity and enable additional operational flexibility across our asset base moving forward.

EQT 團隊在優化現場作業方面的強大油井生產力和出色工作有助於緩衝影響並收回近 50 Bcfe 的這種體積影響。淨效應是我們 2022 年全年的產量趨向於我們先前指導範圍的低端，而我們 2022 年全年資本支出也趨向於我們先前展望的低端。儘管今年第三方的挑戰令人失望，但它們也凸顯了我們面前的機會，可以整合 Tug Hill 和 XcL 資產，以保持對基礎設施建設的更大控制，促進更多管道連接，並實現更多的運營靈活性。我們的資產基礎向前發展。

Shifting to market dynamics. We were very pleased to see EQT added to the S&P 500 earlier this month. We view inclusion in this index as another testament to our premier asset base, success of our modern, digitally enabled operating model and the overall sustainability of our business. I want to thank all of our employees for their hard work evolving EQT into a world-class organization that competes with the top companies across all segments of the economy.

轉向市場動態。我們很高興看到本月早些時候 EQT 被納入標準普爾 500 指數。我們將納入該指數視為我們一流的資產基礎、我們現代數字化運營模式的成功以及我們業務的整體可持續性的又一證明。我要感謝我們所有員工的辛勤工作，他們將 EQT 發展成為一個世界級的組織，與所有經濟領域的頂級公司競爭。

I'll wrap up by saying that despite EQT's stock performing reasonably well on a year-to-date basis, we believe the market has now remotely begun to reflect the intrinsic value of our business or relative quality versus peers. We are at a unique point in time as the North American natural gas market is in the process of an unprecedented structural shift as it is debottlenecked through LNG, and the world is increasingly recognizing the role natural gas will play in providing affordable, reliable and low-carbon energy for decades to come.

最後我想說的是，儘管 EQT 的股票在年初至今的表現相當不錯，但我們相信市場現在已經開始遠程反映我們業務的內在價值或相對於同行的相對質量。我們正處於一個獨特的時間點，因為北美天然氣市場正處於前所未有的結構轉變過程中，因為它通過液化天然氣消除了瓶頸，而且世界越來越認識到天然氣將在提供負擔得起的、可靠的和低成本方面發揮的作用- 未來幾十年的碳能源。

EQT is among the best positioned companies in the world to benefit from this secular trend, underpinned by our capital-efficient asset base, unrivaled depth and quality of inventory and declining midstream fees. We believe these characteristics combine to create a superior value proposition for investors and will ultimately be reflected in our share performance as these factors are converted into durable free cash flow that we can compound over time.

殷拓是世界上最能從這一長期趨勢中受益的公司之一，這得益於我們具有資本效率的資產基礎、無與倫比的庫存深度和質量以及不斷下降的中游費用。我們相信這些特徵結合起來為投資者創造了卓越的價值主張，最終將反映在我們的股票表現中，因為這些因素轉化為我們可以隨著時間的推移而復合的持久自由現金流。

I'll now turn the call over to Dave.

我現在將把電話轉給戴夫。

Thanks, Toby, and good morning, everyone. I'll briefly summarize our third quarter results before discussing our balance sheet, hedging and guidance updates.

謝謝，托比，大家早上好。在討論我們的資產負債表、對沖和指導更新之前，我將簡要總結我們的第三季度業績。

Sales volumes for the third quarter were 488 Bcfe, which was modestly below the midpoint of our guidance range. As Toby mentioned, third-party and logistical constraints put a governor on our activity during the quarter, limiting our TILs to just 16, versus our guidance range of 22 to 32. Our adjusted revenues for the quarter were $1.7 billion or $3.41 per Mcfe, and our total per unit operating costs were $1.42. As a result, our operating margin was $1.99, about $0.90 or 85% higher than last year.

第三季度的銷量為 488 Bcfe，略低於我們指導範圍的中點。正如托比所說，第三方和後勤限制使我們在本季度的活動受到限制，將我們的 TIL 限制在 16 個，而我們的指導範圍為 22 到 32 個。我們本季度的調整後收入為 17 億美元或每 Mcfe 3.41 美元，我們的單位運營成本總額為 1.42 美元。因此，我們的營業利潤率為 1.99 美元，比去年高出約 0.90 美元或 85%。

Capital expenditures were $349 million, below the low end of our guidance range largely due to lower-than-expected completion activity. Adjusted operating cash flow was $940 million and free cash flow was $591 million, bringing our total year-to-date free cash flow to approximately $1.7 billion. Our free cash flow also reflected a basis differential of $1.02 per Mcfe, wider than our guidance of $0.80 to $0.90 per Mcfe due to wider local differentials and an unplanned outage on the NEXUS system.

資本支出為 3.49 億美元，低於我們指導範圍的低端，主要是由於完成活動低於預期。調整後的經營現金流為 9.4 億美元，自由現金流為 5.91 億美元，使我們年初至今的總自由現金流達到約 17 億美元。我們的自由現金流還反映了每 Mcfe 1.02 美元的基差，高於我們對每 Mcfe 0.80 美元至 0.90 美元的指導，這是由於更大的本地差異和 NEXUS 系統的計劃外中斷。

Our capital efficiency for the quarter came in at $0.72 per Mcfe, which was a 4% sequential quarterly improvement resulting from lower capital spending. On Slide 26, we highlight our capital efficiency has averaged $0.70 per Mcfe on a year-to-date basis, which is 35% below the gas peer group average despite the third-party issues impacting the timing of our production this year.

我們本季度的資本效率為每 Mcfe 0.72 美元，這是由於資本支出減少導致的 4% 的季度環比改善。在幻燈片 26 中，我們強調我們的資本效率在年初至今平均為每 Mcfe 0.70 美元，這比天然氣同行平均水平低 35%，儘管第三方問題影響了我們今年的生產時間。

Turning to the balance sheet. At the end of the third quarter, our trailing 12-month net leverage stood at 1.3x, down 0.3 turns from the prior quarter. To fund the Tug Hill and XcL acquisition, we raised $2.25 billion of debt, which is leverage neutral to our existing profile. This is comprised of raising $1 billion of senior notes and $1.25 billion of term loans, with strong support from both our banks and our institutional investors. Despite a challenging credit environment, we priced our 2 tranches of senior notes at 175 to 200 basis point spread to respected treasuries with further tightening in the secondary market. This enabled us to lower funding cost and implement efficient repayment terms.

轉向資產負債表。在第三季度末，我們過去 12 個月的淨槓桿率為 1.3 倍，比上一季度下降 0.3 倍。為了資助 Tug Hill 和 XcL 的收購，我們籌集了 22.5 億美元的債務，這對我們現有的形象來說是中性的。這包括籌集 10 億美元的優先票據和 12.5 億美元的定期貸款，並得到我們銀行和機構投資者的大力支持。儘管信貸環境充滿挑戰，但隨著二級市場進一步收緊，我們以 175 至 200 個基點的利差將兩批優先票據定價為與受人尊敬的國債的利差。這使我們能夠降低融資成本並實施有效的還款條款。

We see the successful debt financing as another testament to the underlying credit quality of our business and value the support we receive from our banks and bondholders. As highlighted with the deal announcement, we raised our year-end '23 debt reduction target from $2.5 billion to $4 billion, which will take our gross pro forma debt down to approximately $3.5 billion. With our debt trading below par due to the Fed raising rates, we have even more principal purchasing power. Once we achieve our absolute debt target, we will have a bulletproof balance sheet with leverage of 1 to 1.5x using a conservative $2.75 per MMBtu NYMEX gas price. We have already executed $830 million of debt reduction goal this year and expect to make material additional progress over the coming quarters given the robust projected free cash flow generation.

我們將成功的債務融資視為我們業務基本信用質量的又一證明，並重視我們從銀行和債券持有人那裡獲得的支持。正如交易公告所強調的那樣，我們將 23 年年底的債務削減目標從 25 億美元提高到 40 億美元，這將使我們的備考債務總額降至約 35 億美元。由於美聯儲加息，我們的債務交易低於面值，我們擁有更多的本金購買力。一旦我們達到我們的絕對債務目標，我們將擁有一個槓桿為 1 到 1.5 倍的防彈資產負債表，使用保守的每 MMBtu NYMEX 汽油價格 2.75 美元。我們今年已經執行了 8.3 億美元的減債目標，並且鑑於預計產生的強勁自由現金流，預計在未來幾個季度將取得實質性的額外進展。

Looking at liquidity, we ended the quarter with approximately $2.6 billion, comprised of an essentially undrawn credit facility and $88 million of cash. Two positive liquidity items to point out. First, we replaced approximately $180 million of letters of credit with surety bonds during the quarter. And second, we received $196 million from Equitrans Midstream subsequent to quarter end, as we exercise our option to receive cash in lieu of a portion of near-term fee release.

從流動性來看，我們在本季度結束時約有 26 億美元，其中包括基本未動用的信貸額度和 8800 萬美元的現金。需要指出兩個積極的流動性項目。首先，我們在本季度用擔保債券替換了大約 1.8 億美元的信用證。其次，我們在季度末之後從 Equitrans Midstream 收到了 1.96 億美元，因為我們行使選擇權以接收現金來代替部分近期費用釋放。

Now moving over to hedging. As mentioned on our Tug Hill acquisition call, we added to our legacy hedge book in the third quarter, taking our hedge volumes from 50% to 60% next year through the purchase of deferred premium puts with an average strike price of $4.65 per MMBtu. We've also executed on the majority of our plan to hedge 60% of Tug Hill's production next year through the combination of deferred premium puts and collars with an average floor price of $5.53 per MMBtu and an average ceiling of $10.80 per MMBtu.

現在轉向對沖。正如我們在 Tug Hill 收購電話中提到的那樣，我們在第三季度增加了我們的傳統對沖賬簿，通過購買平均執行價格為每 MMBtu 4.65 美元的遞延溢價看跌期權，我們明年的對沖量從 50% 增加到 60%。我們還執行了大部分計劃，通過將遞延溢價看跌期權和平均底價為每 MMBtu 5.53 美元和平均上限為每 MMBtu 10.80 美元的套期保值組合來對沖明年 Tug Hill 60% 的產量。

On a pro forma basis, we have approximately 60% of our 2023 production hedge, with floors at an average strike price of $3.30 and approximately 45% covered with ceilings at an average strike price of $5.65 per MMBtu. We remain unhedged for 2024, and we'll be looking for opportunities to begin building out our hedge position.

在備考基礎上，我們有大約 60% 的 2023 年生產對沖，平均執行價格為 3.30 美元，約 45% 的平均執行價格為每 MMBtu 5.65 美元。我們在 2024 年仍然沒有對沖，我們將尋找機會開始建立我們的對沖頭寸。

Turning to guidance. As Toby mentioned, the third-party and logistical constraints have reduced our planned 2022 TILs by approximately 30% versus our original outlook. Strong underlying well performance and field optimization have mitigated the impact to 2022 sales volumes, which are now expected to be 1,925 to 1,975 Bcfe or roughly in line with the lower end of our prior guidance range. We are also lowering our full year capital expenditure guidance to $1.4 billion to $1.475 billion, excluding acquisitions to reflect the lower TIL count.

轉向指導。正如托比所提到的，第三方和後勤方面的限制使我們計劃的 2022 年 TIL 與我們最初的預期相比減少了大約 30%。強勁的潛在油井性能和油田優化減輕了對 2022 年銷量的影響，目前預計銷量為 1,925 至 1,975 Bcfe，或大致符合我們先前指導範圍的下限。我們還將全年資本支出指引下調至 14 億美元至 14.75 億美元，不包括收購以反映 TIL 數量減少。

While we're in the midst of the budgeting process for 2023, our supply chain contracting strategy puts us in a strong access and cost position given our multiyear sand and frac crew contracts. We plan to give more fulsome details once we provide 2023 guidance, but we expect EQT to experience inflationary impacts that are at the lower end of broader industry ranges for next year.

雖然我們正處於 2023 年的預算過程中，但鑑於我們的多年砂和壓裂人員合同，我們的供應鏈合同戰略使我們處於有利的准入和成本地位。我們計劃在提供 2023 年指導後提供更多詳細信息，但我們預計 EQT 將在明年經歷處於更廣泛行業範圍低端的通脹影響。

Given our structurally superior hedge position next year, we expect our 2023 free cash flow to expand by approximately 90% year-over-year at recent strip pricing prior to the effect of Tug Hill, and after factoring in cash taxes, providing differentiated free cash flow per share growth to our shareholders.

鑑於我們明年結構上優越的對沖頭寸，我們預計在 Tug Hill 影響之前最近的剝離定價以及考慮現金稅後，我們 2023 年的自由現金流將同比增長約 90%，提供差異化的自由現金流向我們股東的每股增長。

I'll now turn the call back over to Toby for some concluding remarks.

我現在將電話轉回給 Toby 做一些總結性發言。

Thanks, Dave. To conclude today's prepared remarks, I want to reiterate a few key points. One, the pending Tug Hill and XcL acquisition underscores our disciplined M&A strategy, adding low-risk bolt-on assets to our business with clear industrial logic, a compelling valuation, material cost structure accretion and the opportunity to capture meaningful synergies.

謝謝，戴夫。在結束今天準備好的發言之前，我想重申幾個要點。一，待定的 Tug Hill 和 XcL 收購突顯了我們嚴謹的併購戰略，為我們的業務增加了低風險的附加資產，具有明確的行業邏輯、令人信服的估值、材料成本結構增加以及獲得有意義的協同效應的機會。

Two, we have returned approximately $1.5 billion of capital to shareholders this year, including almost $600 million of share repurchases and convertible note retirements at an average price of $31 per share. And our updated capital returns framework on the back of the Tug Hill deal provides material room for additional shareholder returns moving forward.

第二，今年我們向股東返還了大約 15 億美元的資本，其中包括近 6 億美元的股票回購和可轉換票據退市，平均價格為每股 31 美元。在 Tug Hill 交易背後，我們更新的資本回報框架為進一步的股東回報提供了實質性空間。

Three, our move to combo development has driven significant well productivity gains since we took over EQT in 2019. And this tailwind, along with our team's optimization efforts, has allowed us to ameliorate the impact of third-party constraints this year.

第三，自 2019 年我們接管 EQT 以來，我們轉向組合開發的舉措推動了油井生產力的顯著提高。這種順風，加上我們團隊的優化工作，使我們能夠在今年減輕第三方限制的影響。

Four, the ARCH2 hydrogen hub collaboration has the potential to lay the foundation for the next leg of decarbonization efforts at EQT, taking advantage of differentiated access to vast low-cost, low emissions natural gas in Appalachia.

第四，ARCH2 氫樞紐合作有可能為 EQT 的下一階段脫碳工作奠定基礎，利用阿巴拉契亞地區大量低成本、低排放天然氣的差異化獲取。

And finally, we were honored to join the S&P 500 earlier this month and see our inclusion in the index representing another significant milestone on EQT's journey to becoming the operator of choice for all stakeholders.

最後，我們很榮幸在本月早些時候加入標準普爾 500 指數，並看到我們被納入該指數是 EQT 成為所有利益相關者首選運營商之旅的又一個重要里程碑。

I'd now like to open the call to questions.

我現在想打開提問電話。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question today is from the line of Arun Jayaram of JPMorgan Chase.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Arun Jayaram。

One of the early things from earnings has been some of the midstream issues that we've seen in the Appalachia Basin. You guys talked about it in Range and Antero as well. So I was wondering if you could maybe describe what you're seeing in terms of -- on the ground in terms of the general constraints? And maybe specific to EQT, when do you anticipate to get resolution on some of the issues that did affect your TIL count this year?

收益的早期成果之一是我們在阿巴拉契亞盆地看到的一些中游問題。你們在 Range 和 Antero 也談到了它。所以我想知道你是否可以根據一般限制來描述你所看到的？或許具體到 EQT，您預計什麼時候會解決今年影響您的 TIL 計數的一些問題？

So one thing I think that's worth noting is the waterline issues have been resolved. The pipelines have been fixed. And so those issues are behind us. Some of the supply chain issues that we face with some other third-party vendors, I think those issues will be nagging at us, but we're doing everything we can to build a more flexibility into our program. I'd say all of these impacts together largely are behind us, and I think we should be back on pace by mid-'23 with that 2 Tcf a day run rate production base.

所以我認為值得注意的一件事是水線問題已經解決。管道已修復。所以這些問題已經過去了。我們與其他一些第三方供應商面臨的一些供應鏈問題，我認為這些問題會困擾我們，但我們正在盡一切努力為我們的計劃建立更多的靈活性。我想說所有這些影響在很大程度上都已經過去了，我認為我們應該在 23 年中期以每天 2 Tcf 的生產基地恢復步伐。

Got it. Got it. So for -- you've highlighted $150 billion prior to some of the optimization work, where you clawed back $50 million. If the buy side consensus has been around on a stand-alone basis, call it, 2 Tcfe of production next year, do you think that you can get to a range similar to that, just given you are likely going to have some -- I don't know if they're DUCs, but you may have some tailwinds from some of those wells that are in progress? But just general thoughts on output next year as maybe as some of those constraints get better.

知道了。知道了。因此，在一些優化工作之前，您已經突出顯示了 1500 億美元，在那裡您收回了 5000 萬美元。如果買方的共識是獨立存在的，稱之為，明年產量為 2 Tcfe，你認為你能達到類似的範圍嗎，只是考慮到你可能會有一些——我不知道他們是否是 DUC，但您可能會從一些正在進行的井中獲得一些順風？但只是對明年產出的一般想法，因為其中一些限制可能會變得更好。

Yes, Arun, I think the answer there will be dependent on how much we can beat the baseline operational efficiencies that we have baked into our program, and then also looking for other optimization efforts within the system that's in front of us that would be additive to what our base plan is.

是的，Arun，我認為答案將取決於我們能在多大程度上超越我們已經融入我們的程序的基線運營效率，然後還要在我們面前的系統中尋找其他可以附加的優化工作我們的基本計劃是什麼。

So I think -- I mean, the punchline is, the team has shown the ability to claw back and we're still fighting for every (inaudible) and every MCF, and we think there could be an opportunity for us to get there, but it will be dependent on those actions.

所以我認為 - 我的意思是，關鍵是，團隊已經展示了反擊的能力，我們仍在為每一個（聽不清）和每一個 MCF 而戰，我們認為我們可能有機會到達那裡，但這將取決於這些行動。

And our next question comes from the line of Umang Choudhary of Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Umang Choudhary。

I just wanted to follow up on the question from Arun. I understand that you're working through our budget and that you had fewer TILs this year. How does that -- like given that TILs is probably going to have an impact to your first half '23 production, I would love your preliminary thoughts on 2023 activity. Should we expect activity levels to go back for the legacy asset to keep it flat to around 90 to 100 wells per year? Or would it be higher next year as you try to grow production sequentially to exit this -- next year?

我只是想跟進 Arun 的問題。我了解您正在完成我們的預算，並且您今年的 TIL 減少了。那是怎麼回事 - 就像考慮到 TIL 可能會對你 23 年上半年的生產產生影響，我希望你對 2023 年活動的初步想法。我們是否應該期望遺留資產的活動水平恢復到每年大約 90 到 100 口井的水平？或者明年會更高，因為你試圖按順序增加產量以退出這個 - 明年？

Yes, Umang. So yes, I'd say the activity set should be fairly normal for a normal year. It's just the timing of when the wells will come online. So the bucket of wells that got pushed out in '22 have about a 5-month lag time of bringing them online due to the water issues that we had. And so that's why we'll get back to sort of that $500 million plus run rate by midyear. But the activity set overall should be, I'll call it standard fairly to normal per year.

是的，烏芒。所以是的，我會說活動集對於正常的一年應該是相當正常的。這只是井何時上線的時機。因此，由於我們遇到的水問題，在 22 年推出的一桶井有大約 5 個月的延遲時間才能將它們上線。這就是為什麼我們將在年中恢復到 5 億美元以上的運行率。但是總體上的活動設置應該是，我會稱其為每年相當正常的標準。

Got it. That's really helpful. And then my second question was really on the LNG strategy. Any update and any update on the discussions which you're having with the LNG customers as it comes to diversifying your hub exposure to international markets?

知道了。這真的很有幫助。然後我的第二個問題是關於液化天然氣戰略的。關於您與液化天然氣客戶進行的討論，您是否有任何更新和更新？

Yes. Conversations are still progressing across the LNG value chain from LNG developers, marketers and buyers. I'd say the desire for bringing more LNG to this world has continued to strengthen, and we're having some pretty good conversations. But we'll come back when we have anything that materializes into something material.

是的。液化天然氣開發商、營銷商和買家在整個液化天然氣價值鏈上的對話仍在進行中。我想說為這個世界帶來更多液化天然氣的願望繼續加強，我們正在進行一些非常好的對話。但是，當我們有任何東西可以具體化為某種物質時，我們會回來的。

Our next question is from the line of Neal Dingmann of Truist.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Neal Dingmann。

If I could just circle back on the infrastructure. I was just trying to get a sense, Toby, you talked about maybe just the degree of the curtailment between the different issues. I know you mentioned the water has already been rectified. Just trying to find, I guess, number one, what other issues were involved.

如果我能回到基礎設施上。我只是想弄明白，托比，你談到的可能只是不同問題之間縮減的程度。我知道你提到水已經被糾正了。我想，我只是想找出第一，涉及哪些其他問題。

And then secondly, with obviously the XcL Midstream coming on, how much will that and some other things you all have done help to sort of the situation going forward?

其次，隨著 XcL Midstream 的到來，你們所做的這些以及其他一些事情對未來的形勢有多大幫助？

Yes. So outside of the waterline issues that have been repaired, getting access to some equipment. There's been some longer lead times that's sort of the supply chains that we talked about. Then with all of this, we've got backup plans. And our flexibility to execute on those backup plans has been challenged because of some weather, and we experienced some drought conditions that wouldn't allow us to get fracs at the operational efficiency that we needed. And so that's sort of the x factor that is driving sort of the weather impacts that we laid out on that chart.

是的。因此，在已修復的水線問題之外，可以使用一些設備。有一些較長的交貨時間，這就是我們談到的供應鏈。然後，有了所有這些，我們就有了備用計劃。由於某些天氣，我們執行這些備份計劃的靈活性受到了挑戰，並且我們經歷了一些乾旱條件，這使我們無法以所需的運營效率獲得壓裂。這就是驅動我們在該圖表上列出的天氣影響的某種 x 因素。

Got it. Okay. And then just a follow-up. Could you talk -- I'm looking at that slide, I forget which one is that shows, with 4 rigs are running. When you look now at the Northeast PA, Utica, Southwest West Virginia, Marcellus, is there any 1 or 2 areas that, from a returns, that stand out? Or are they -- just wondering like these days, if you were to rank those, how do you think about the 4? Are they all sort of equally return basis these days in the ballpark?

知道了。好的。然後只是跟進。你能談談嗎——我在看那張幻燈片，我忘了是哪一張，有 4 個鑽機正在運行。當您現在查看賓夕法尼亞州東北部、尤蒂卡、西弗吉尼亞州西南部、馬塞勒斯時，是否有任何 1 或 2 個區域從回報中脫穎而出？還是他們——就像這些天一樣想知道，如果你要對它們進行排名，你如何看待第 4 名？這些天在球場上，他們都是一樣的回報基礎嗎？

Yes. Neal, I'd say with the best returns coming from Southwest Pennsylvania, the work that we've done to reduce costs in West Virginia have made those more competitive from a returns perspective. And then I'd also say over in the Utica, some of the science work that we've done primarily widening spacing. No surprise has shown increased recoveries per foot makes those returns more attractive.

是的。尼爾，我想說的是賓夕法尼亞州西南部帶來的最佳回報，我們在西弗吉尼亞州為降低成本所做的工作從回報的角度來看，使它們更具競爭力。然後我還要說在尤蒂卡，我們所做的一些科學工作主要是擴大間距。毫不奇怪，每英尺的回收率增加會使這些回報更具吸引力。

So our ultimate goal is to sort of get to a place where we can improve the economics across all inventory. We're seeing that right now. And so I think as we drive our schedule, it's really going to be dependent on the surface factors, number of wells, lateral lengths, combo development, and so that's sort of what drives the schedule on the makeup of it. I would say one of the things we look at is a board that shows the returns across every single project, and we are driving to drill our best acreage and our best wells first, and over 80% of our schedule is factoring on the projects that are in the top quartile of our inventory base.

因此，我們的最終目標是達到一個可以改善所有庫存經濟性的地方。我們現在看到了。所以我認為，當我們推動我們的日程安排時，它實際上將取決於地表因素、井數、橫向長度、組合開發，這就是推動日程安排的因素。我想說我們看的一件事是顯示每個項目的回報的董事會，我們正在努力首先鑽探我們最好的種植面積和最好的井，我們超過 80% 的日程安排都考慮到了位於我們庫存基礎的前四分之一。

No. The improved ops is obvious from the previous owner.

不，改進的操作從以前的所有者那裡是顯而易見的。

And our next question is from the line of David Deckelbaum.

我們的下一個問題來自 David Deckelbaum。

I know you've discussed a lot about this, but maybe if you could revisit just the original plan in '22 versus '23. I'm trying to get a sense of some of the moving parts. Obviously, the 30% fewer TILs this year. But is there any capital benefit from any wells that would be a process that we've benefit 2023?

我知道您已經對此進行了很多討論，但也許您可以重新審視 22 年與 23 年的原始計劃。我試圖了解一些活動部件。顯然，今年 TIL 減少了 30%。但是，任何井是否有任何資本收益，這將是我們在 2023 年受益的過程？

The benefit of moving wells back in '23, I mean, I guess, to argue maybe just to bring some of the service cost environment, we do hope that service cost will abate a little bit. But that could be one of the benefits right now. We'd like to have these volumes today with the current price (inaudible). We're pushing to get ahead of that (inaudible).

在 23 年將油井移回的好處，我的意思是，我想，也許只是為了帶來一些服務成本環境，我們確實希望服務成本會降低一點。但這可能是現在的好處之一。我們希望今天以當前價格（聽不清）擁有這些數量。我們正在努力超越這一點（聽不清）。

To say the other thing is if you noticed in Slide 11, (inaudible) the ability to pull things back with the (inaudible). So that was a cycle of improvement that we were able to beat out (inaudible). That cycle time improvement will carry forward cycle with our well bore. So -- and so we'll get some of that benefit. (inaudible) and they told you put forward.

另一件事是，如果您在幻燈片 11 中註意到（聽不清）用（聽不清）將事情拉回來的能力。所以這是一個我們能夠擊敗的改進週期（聽不清）。循環時間的改進將在我們的井眼中推進循環。所以 - 所以我們會得到一些好處。 （聽不清）他們告訴你提出。

Okay. And then I guess just to follow up on that, I guess, as we think of '23, I suppose if you're thinking about like a balanced program between sort of core Western Pennsylvania versus West Virginia, Northeast PA, I guess should we see that kind of percentage of completions moving back to what we would have seen on sort of a geographic blend in '21, '22, ex maybe the additions with Tug Hill? Or I guess would that activity be kind of shifted away from Northeast PA back into Western region?

好的。然後我想只是為了跟進這一點，我想，當我們想到 23 年時，我想如果你正在考慮像賓夕法尼亞州西部核心與賓夕法尼亞州東北部西弗吉尼亞州之間的平衡計劃，我想我們應該看到那種完成百分比回到我們在 21 年和 22 年的地理融合中所看到的，也許是 Tug Hill 的增加？或者我想這種活動會從賓夕法尼亞州東北部轉移到西部地區嗎？

Yes. I think our mix that we do a good baseline to start (inaudible) move forward. I would say one of the other things that will help with Tug Hill coming on board, this will just increase our flexibility to be able to make up for any operational (inaudible) better.

是的。我認為我們的組合是我們做了一個很好的基線來開始（聽不清）向前推進。我想說的另一件事將有助於 Tug Hill 的加入，這只會增加我們的靈活性，以便能夠更好地彌補任何運營（聽不清）。

Okay. And if I could just sneak one in. Just in any way, the delay that you saw in '22, that delay your program understanding around sort of this enhanced completion design that you all have talked about kind of earlier in the year?

好的。如果我可以偷偷溜進去。無論如何，你在 22 年看到的延遲，延遲了你對今年早些時候你們都談到的這種增強完成設計的程序理解？

Yes. We were hoping to get better insight and clarity on path forward with our science. These delays and some of the TILs has happened on some of our science projects. So yes, insight has probably been pushed back, I'd say, 4 to 6 months on the science as well.

是的。我們希望在我們的科學前進的道路上獲得更好的洞察力和清晰度。這些延遲和一些 TIL 已經發生在我們的一些科學項目中。所以是的，洞察力可能被推遲了，我想說，科學方面的時間也推遲了 4 到 6 個月。

And our next question is from the line of Scott Hanold of RBC Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 RBC Capital Markets 的 Scott Hanold。

I'm going to add a couple of questions. And I think you might have answered part of it in that last set of answers, but it sounded like there was some choppiness in this line that was hard to hear. But just to clarify, it sounds like Tug Hill, you don't anticipate any of these midstream issues to impact Tug Hill once you get that as part of EQT. And also as part of that, can you give us a sense of how much of the relative well outperformance, underlying well performance, benefited EQT over the last, say, quarter or so?

我要補充幾個問題。而且我認為您可能在最後一組答案中已經回答了部分問題，但是聽起來這行中有些斷斷續續的聲音很難聽到。但澄清一下，這聽起來像 Tug Hill，一旦您將其作為 EQT 的一部分，您不會預計任何這些中游問題會影響 Tug Hill。作為其中的一部分，您能否讓我們了解在過去的一個季度左右，相對良好的表現、潛在的良好表現有多少使 EQT 受益？

Sure. I think one thing that's very helpful with the Tug Hill assets is the fact that we will control and operate the Midstream. That's going to give us much more operational control and the ability to mitigate any issues. As far as production uplift is concerned, I mean, that's been -- the majority of the productivity gains has been well performance and also increasing keeping, I'd say, peer-leading production uptime.

當然。我認為對 Tug Hill 資產非常有幫助的一件事是我們將控制和運營中游。這將給我們更多的操作控制和緩解任何問題的能力。就生產提升而言，我的意思是，大部分的生產力提升都是良好的表現，而且還增加了保持同行領先的生產正常運行時間。

Some of the other benefits that have come out of this in these efforts to enhance our ability to produce and meet schedule, there have been some best practices identified that will be incorporated and allow us to accelerate some volumes in short in the cycle times on our base development plans going forward to the future. So there is a bright side of dealing with these.

在這些努力提高我們生產和滿足計劃的能力的過程中產生的其他一些好處，已經確定了一些最佳實踐，這些實踐將被納入，使我們能夠在我們的周期時間內加快一些產量基地未來發展規劃。因此，處理這些問題有好的一面。

Got it. And then my follow-up is on the shareholder return plan. Obviously, you guys have had previously talked about doubling the buyback pace. And you've got a pretty good authorization out there, $1.6 billion, and I think that goes through 2023, along with the debt reduction. Is the goal here to really kind of eat through that authorization given your free cash flow profile over the next year? So should we expect you trying to utilize that as aggressively as possible? And with the buybacks, if you can clarify exactly how much was done in the third quarter, too?

知道了。然後我跟進的是股東回報計劃。顯然，你們之前曾談到過將回購速度加倍。而且你已經獲得了相當不錯的授權，16 億美元，我認為這將持續到 2023 年，以及債務減少。考慮到您明年的自由現金流狀況，這裡的目標是否真的會通過該授權？那麼我們是否應該期望您盡可能積極地利用它？對於回購，您是否也可以明確說明第三季度完成了多少？

Yes. So I mean I think given where the stock is trading today and the fact that our -- we can buy back our debt at pretty attractive levels, we're going to be aggressive towards fulfilling the optimizations that we have in front of us on both aspects of that. Khani, did you have the number specifically in 3Q?

是的。所以我的意思是我認為考慮到今天股票的交易情況以及我們可以以相當有吸引力的水平回購我們的債務這一事實，我們將積極實現我們面前的優化方面。 Khani，你有專門在 3Q 的號碼嗎？

I think the number was close to probably $75 million, I think, or...

我認為這個數字可能接近 7500 萬美元，我認為，或者......

We've got $150 million (inaudible) in September. So...

我們在 9 月份獲得了 1.5 億美元（聽不清）。所以...

But I think he's asking just for 3Q versus 4Q. So I think it's about -- roughly half was done in the third quarter, maybe a little bit more, and then a touch was done in the fourth quarter. And obviously, we'll probably do -- we'll obviously do more in the fourth quarter.

但我認為他只要求 3Q 與 4Q。所以我認為大約是 - 大約一半是在第三季度完成的，也許更多一點，然後在第四季度完成了一些接觸。顯然，我們可能會這樣做——我們顯然會在第四季度做得更多。

Our next question is from the line of John Abbott of Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 John Abbott。

Toby, I want to go back to a question that Neal had asked a little bit earlier about XcL Midstream optimization. And what I'm trying to understand is -- yes, I understand this is going to allow you to optimize your program on the water side. But what is the ability to -- on that extent on your existing asset base? You do have dedication. So is it really on the Tug Hill assets? Are there other assets that you already have that you couldn't optimize on? How does that kind of work?

Toby，我想回到 Neal 早些時候提出的關於 XcL Midstream 優化的問題。我想要理解的是——是的，我知道這將允許你在水邊優化你的程序。但是，在您現有的資產基礎上，有什麼能力？你確實有奉獻精神。那麼它真的在 Tug Hill 資產上嗎？您是否還有其他無法優化的資產？這種方法是如何工作的？

Yes. On the water side, pretty tremendous opportunity. As you guys know, we've been building out our water network in West Virginia to connect that water network to the Tug Hill assets. It's a very short jump to put some water infrastructure in place to connect those 2 systems. This is going to allow us to manage/produce water pretty much across north -- the western half of West Virginia. The benefits on the completion side and surety on water delivery, the benefits on recycling, the benefits on just the logistics of handling produced water are very clear and a big part of the synergies that we're counting on.

是的。在水方面，相當巨大的機會。如你們所知，我們一直在西弗吉尼亞州建設我們的供水網絡，以將該供水網絡連接到 Tug Hill 資產。建立一些水利基礎設施來連接這兩個系統是一個非常短暫的跳躍。這將使我們能夠在北部——西弗吉尼亞州的西半部——管理/生產水。完成方面的好處和供水的保證、回收的好處、處理采出水的物流的好處是非常明顯的，並且是我們所依賴的協同效應的重要組成部分。

So outside of the water, having the -- on the gathering side of things, being able to connect the Tug Hill system to some points we have in Ohio, that will streamline some of our gathering systems and that will lead to some synergies as well. So the good thing with midstream, I think the synergies that you're going to identify are typically pretty low risk. And so it's nice to see that we've got a complementary asset base that we can translate into synergies.

因此，在水之外，擁有 - 在事物的收集方面，能夠將 Tug Hill 系統連接到我們在俄亥俄州的一些點，這將簡化我們的一些收集系統，這也將產生一些協同作用.所以中游的好處是，我認為你要確定的協同效應通常風險很低。所以很高興看到我們有一個互補的資產基礎，我們可以轉化為協同效應。

That's very, very helpful. And then for the second question, it's going to be on the new ventures. I mean you discussed hydrogen here and you are exploring other opportunities. What is the willingness to spend -- what is your appetite to spend more on the new venture front at this point in time?

這非常非常有幫助。然後對於第二個問題，它將是關於新企業的。我的意思是你在這裡討論了氫，你正在探索其他機會。花錢的意願是什麼——你在這個時候對新的風險投資有什麼興趣？

Yes, that's a great question. I think Slide 7, we put a chart out there that I think really frames up how we think about this. When we think about new ventures, this is to help the energy transition that is taking place in the world. And the way that we look at energy transition is really in 2 parts.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。我認為幻燈片 7，我們在那裡放了一張圖表，我認為它真正體現了我們對此的看法。當我們考慮新企業時，這是為了幫助世界上正在發生的能源轉型。我們看待能量轉換的方式實際上分為兩部分。

Number one, what can the United States do to continue to reduce emissions within its borders. But the most important question is, what can the United States do to reduce emissions outside of our borders.

第一，美國可以做些什麼來繼續減少其境內的排放。但最重要的問題是，美國可以做些什麼來減少我們境外的排放。

Unleash U.S. LNG fits in the category of what the United States can do it to lower emissions outside of our borders. That is the biggest green initiative on the planet. When we do that, we are going to be creating a surplus of natural gas in the United States. While slated for exports, it's going to create a number of opportunities where we can use natural gas to decarbonize the United States and ultimately move from gas to lower to zero carbon energy sources like hydrogen, like carbon capture.

Unleash U.S. LNG 屬於美國可以採取的措施來降低我們境外的排放量。這是地球上最大的綠色倡議。當我們這樣做時，我們將在美國創造過剩的天然氣。雖然計劃用於出口，但它將創造許多機會，我們可以利用天然氣使美國脫碳，並最終從天然氣轉向低碳能源，如氫，如碳捕獲。

And so while those concepts right now, I think, are a little bit unsure on what the profitability of those look like, we will invest modestly in those, I'd say, more zero carbon technologies. This is going to allow us to achieve our higher purpose of lowering emissions in the United States. But before we would put any dollars -- significant dollars there, we need to understand the profitability of those.

因此，雖然我認為現在這些概念對它們的盈利能力有點不確定，但我們將適度投資於那些，我想說，更多的零碳技術。這將使我們能夠實現降低美國排放的更高目標。但在我們投入任何資金之前——大量資金投入其中，我們需要了解這些資金的盈利能力。

So really the dollars that we're doing inside the U.S. borders are really driven by the pilots to get an understanding of what the returns would look like, and then we can bring it back to our capital allocation framework and see if this is the best use of our dollars. But we're definitely going to be leading on framing up what the type of returns perspective look like, specifically around hydrogen. And to have this coalition, this ARCH2 hub, is really going to position EQT to be very efficient with our time and dollars.

因此，我們在美國境內所做的美元實際上是由飛行員驅動的，以了解回報的情況，然後我們可以將其帶回我們的資本分配框架，看看這是否是最好的使用我們的美元。但我們肯定會帶頭制定回報觀點的類型，特別是圍繞氫。擁有這個聯盟，這個 ARCH2 中心，真的會讓 EQT 非常高效地利用我們的時間和金錢。

Our next question comes from the line of Noel Parks of Touhy Brothers.

我們的下一個問題來自 Touhy Brothers 的 Noel Parks。

A couple of things. I wondered -- and probably you touched on this already. With Tug Hill, now that you're a couple of months down the road since the announcement, could you just talk about sort of where they stood as far as their drilling and completion procedures? And also, any insight you have on sort of what they had done themselves on sort of parent-child mitigation practices?

有幾件事。我想知道——你可能已經談到了這一點。對於 Tug Hill，現在距離宣布還有幾個月的時間，你能談談他們在鑽井和完井程序方面的立場嗎？此外，您對他們在親子緩解實踐方面所做的事情有任何見解嗎？

Yes. I think the Tug Hill team has done a really good job with that asset base. So I think it's going to be -- really confident we're going to be able to at least replicate the success that they've put out there. I also am optimistic in thinking that our drilling and completions teams will be able to showcase operational efficiency gains, like what we've done in the Alta assets. And that's simply a function of having access to the best technology, the best crews that certainly is going to give us some tailwinds in doing that.

是的。我認為 Tug Hill 團隊在該資產基礎上做得非常好。所以我認為這將是 - 非常有信心我們將能夠至少複製他們在那裡取得的成功。我還樂觀地認為，我們的鑽井和完井團隊將能夠展示運營效率的提升，就像我們在 Alta 資產中所做的那樣。這只是獲得最好的技術的一個功能，最好的工作人員肯定會給我們帶來一些順風。

What was the second part of that question, Budd?

巴德，那個問題的第二部分是什麼？

Just about parent-child...

只是親子關係...

Yes. As far as the development approach with the Tug Hill team, and this is one of the things we look at when we're looking at acquisitions is -- are we -- is this asset going to be suitable for large-scale combo development and Tug Hill assets are. Because the Tug Hill team was intelligent and adopting full pad development, so there's not a lot of child wells that we have to move around. They fully develop their pads, which is a great development program that sets us up for combo development.

是的。至於與 Tug Hill 團隊的開發方法，這是我們在考慮收購時所關注的事情之一——我們是否——這項資產是否適合大規模的組合開發？ Tug Hill 的資產是。因為 Tug Hill 團隊很聰明，並且採用了全墊板開發，所以我們不必移動很多子井。他們充分開發了他們的墊子，這是一個偉大的開發計劃，為我們的組合開發做好了準備。

Great. And just turning to the hydrogen hub project. I'm just wondering, do you have any thoughts at this point as far as what maybe the technology, the valuation process might be as far as hydrogen generation? I'm mindful, of course, that you have the relationship you struck with Bloom Energy and then -- so their fuel cell technology is being just one example.

偉大的。而只是轉向氫樞紐項目。我只是想知道，你現在有什麼想法，就技術而言，估值過程可能是氫的產生嗎？當然，我注意到你與 Bloom Energy 建立了關係，然後——所以他們的燃料電池技術只是一個例子。

So at this stage, do you have any thoughts on what direction you might go, whether you're to be looking at casting a wide net of technologies to look at? Or you have a pretty good idea of what sort of acts you'd like to head down?

所以在這個階段，你有沒有想過你可能會走向什麼方向，你是否正在考慮投下一個廣泛的技術網絡來看待？或者你很清楚你想要什麼樣的行為？

Yes. I think the most exciting technology is technology that produces hydrogen and a solid form of carbon. And so we'll be testing some of that technology. But just standard technology that we know to make hydrogen today, if you compare that with carbon capture, we can generate hydrogen sub-$1.50 per kilogram. Right now, we look at hydrogen, the issues there are -- really 2 issues before getting big adoption of hydrogen.

是的。我認為最令人興奮的技術是產生氫氣和固態碳的技術。所以我們將測試其中的一些技術。但只是我們今天知道的製造氫氣的標準技術，如果你將其與碳捕獲進行比較，我們可以產生低於每公斤 1.50 美元的氫氣。現在，我們看看氫，存在的問題——在氫被大量採用之前確實存在兩個問題。

The first one is the cost for hydrogen. While we can make this stuff pretty cheaply when you throw in the cost for transportation and the actual infrastructure it takes to move hydrogen, you're looking at around $20 per million Btu. Why would the world choose that energy when they can buy natural gas for a price that's significantly less than that. But what's really amazing is to think about when we unleash U.S. LNG, we will be creating an opportunity to rebuild 50 Bcf a day of new infrastructure in this country. And when we build that infrastructure, we can build it hydrogen ready.

第一個是氫氣的成本。雖然當您將運輸成本和運輸氫氣所需的實際基礎設施考慮在內時，我們可以非常便宜地製造這些東西，但您每百萬英熱單位的成本約為 20 美元。當他們可以以遠低於此的價格購買天然氣時，為什麼世界會選擇這種能源。但真正令人驚奇的是，當我們釋放美國液化天然氣時，我們將創造機會在這個國家每天重建 50 Bcf 的新基礎設施。當我們建造該基礎設施時，我們可以為它建造氫氣。

And that means Unleash U.S. LNG can underwrite a significant portion that is necessary to achieve the hydrogen economy of the future in this country. And if we can do that, then the feasibility of hydrogen becomes that much more attainable and something that we're -- is a really nice benefit of unleashing U.S. LNG, lowering emissions around the world is going to help us lower emissions within our borders.

這意味著 Unleash U.S. LNG 可以為實現該國未來的氫經濟所必需的很大一部分提供承保。如果我們能做到這一點，那麼氫的可行性就會變得更加容易實現，而我們正在——釋放美國液化天然氣的一個非常好的好處，降低世界各地的排放量將幫助我們降低我們境內的排放量.

The second aspect of hydrogen that needs work is creating demand for this stuff. And so this is really the chicken and the egg. People haven't used hydrogen because it's not -- people aren't making it and people aren't making it because people aren't using it. This hub with having this group of hydrogen producers and hydrogen consumers working together is going to allow us to get past that chicken and the egg issue. And I think it's going to be a really great example of the collaboration necessary to make these exciting zero carbon solutions a reality. More to come.

需要工作的氫的第二個方面是創造對這種東西的需求。所以這真的是雞和蛋。人們沒有使用氫氣，因為它不是——人們沒有製造它，人們沒有製造它是因為人們沒有使用它。這個由氫生產商和氫消費者共同合作的中心將使我們能夠克服先有雞還是先有蛋的問題。我認為這將成為使這些令人興奮的零碳解決方案成為現實所必需的合作的一個很好的例子。更多即將到來。

Our next question is from the line of Daniel Lungo from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Daniel Lungo。

I just want to make sure that I have the debt reduction well understood. So you guys have done $830 million to date. Next year between the term loan, the convertibles and the (inaudible), that gets you up to about $3 billion of debt reduction. Is the plan for the other $1 billion to just come from buybacks in the secondary market or a tender offer? Or is there some debt repayment that I'm missing in that calculation?

我只是想確保我對減少債務有充分的了解。到目前為止，你們已經完成了 8.3 億美元。明年在定期貸款、可轉換債券和（聽不清）之間，您可以減少約 30 億美元的債務。其他 10 億美元的計劃是僅來自二級市場的回購還是要約收購？還是我在計算中遺漏了一些債務償還？

Yes. So no between the term loans and the convertible notes, that's about a little over $2 billion, and we'll just figure out how we get the remaining piece, whether it's open market tender or whatever, we'll get to our targets. As you know, there's not a lot of friction in this environment as the Fed is raising rates and our principal values keep coming down as a result of it. So we'll be able to achieve our targets, I think, fairly efficiently.

是的。因此，定期貸款和可轉換票據之間沒有，大約超過 20 億美元，我們將弄清楚我們如何獲得剩餘的部分，無論是公開市場招標還是其他，我們都會達到我們的目標。如您所知，在這種環境下沒有太多摩擦，因為美聯儲正在加息，我們的主要價值因此而不斷下跌。因此，我認為，我們將能夠相當有效地實現我們的目標。

Yes. And then in terms of if natural gas prices -- say, we have a warm winter and they're a lot lower than what strip is, would you dial back on the share buyback protect the debt repayment? Or would it be a mix of the 2 and you just wouldn't get to $4 billion reduction by the end of '23? How are you thinking of which is more important for cash flow, which is the first use for cash flow?

是的。然後就天然氣價格而言——比如說，我們有一個溫暖的冬天，而且它們比什麼情況下要低很多，你會撥回股票回購來保護債務償還嗎？或者它會是兩者的混合，而到 23 年底你不會減少 40 億美元？您如何考慮哪個對現金流更重要，哪個是現金流的第一個用途？

Yes. I would say we have cushion here because (inaudible) because our principal values have come down and our bond debt. So I'd just say we'll -- if for some reason, we have to make that choice, that's going to be more of a game plan decision.

是的。我想說我們在這裡有緩衝，因為（聽不清）因為我們的主要價值和我們的債券債務已經下降。所以我只想說我們會 - 如果出於某種原因，我們必須做出那個選擇，那將更像是一個遊戲計劃決定。

Got you.

得到你。

That's right. We'll take a balanced approach to that and look at the value of our stock and look at the debt and where it's trading and make the best decision.

這是正確的。我們將對此採取平衡的方法，查看我們股票的價值，查看債務及其交易地點，並做出最佳決定。

Yes. I mean the other thing to also think about is we have so much free cash flow even beyond '23 that we have to think about how we use that as well.

是的。我的意思是還要考慮的另一件事是，即使在 23 年之後，我們也有如此多的自由現金流，我們也必須考慮如何使用它。

Yes, it's not a question. If you guys manage to get there by year-end '23. But got you. Sounds good.

是的，這不是一個問題。如果你們設法在 23 年底前到達那裡。但是得到了你。聽起來不錯。

(Operator Instructions) And next question is from the line of Kevin MacCurdy of Pickering Partners.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自 Pickering Partners 的 Kevin MacCurdy。

I think all the questions and the delayed turn lines have been answered. So shifting gears a little bit. We noticed in the financials, there was a more positive impact from lower midstream than we anticipated. Can you talk about the financial impact of that heading forward and maybe any strategic plans for that asset?

我想所有的問題和延遲的轉彎線都得到了解答。所以稍微換檔。我們在財務方面注意到，中下游的積極影響比我們預期的要大。您能否談談該計劃的財務影響以及該資產的任何戰略計劃？

Yes. So as you know, we own 35% of that system. And what happens is we get a rebate effectively from the -- that doesn't hit our unit cost, it comes in as other, basically. And that's just the function of as prices go up, our unit costs go up in that system, but then we get a rebate in this other area. And so that's how it works. So effectively, the unit costs are really netted down.

是的。如您所知，我們擁有該系統的 35%。發生的事情是我們有效地從 - 這不會影響我們的單位成本，它基本上是作為其他的。這只是價格上漲的作用，我們的單位成本在那個系統中上升，但是我們在另一個領域得到了回扣。這就是它的工作原理。如此有效地，單位成本確實被扣除了。

Right now, we don't have any plans to sell it. I mean every once in a while, we get approached by outside buyers. But right now, as you can imagine, we've made 2 acquisitions subsequent to Chevron, and they both had midstream. And so just know that midstream helps us control operations and lower our costs. And so the desire to sell midstream is probably low on our list.

目前，我們沒有任何出售它的計劃。我的意思是每隔一段時間，我們就會被外部買家接洽。但現在，正如你可以想像的那樣，我們在雪佛龍之後進行了 2 次收購，而且他們都有中游。所以只要知道中游有助於我們控制運營並降低成本。因此，在我們的名單上，中游銷售的願望可能很低。

Great. And so the impact of Laurel Midstream, I think it was around $25 million this quarter. Is that a good run rate heading forward? Or was that driven just by the higher commodity prices that we saw in 3Q?

偉大的。因此，Laurel Midstream 的影響，我認為本季度約為 2500 萬美元。這是一個良好的運行速度前進嗎？還是僅僅是因為我們在第三季度看到的商品價格上漲？

By the higher commodity prices. So it's -- so our unit costs go up tied to M2, and then we get the 35% rebate effectively through our ownership. So you got to look at MCX, that will be (inaudible) determined.

受商品價格走高。所以它 - 所以我們的單位成本與 M2 掛鉤，然後我們通過我們的所有權有效地獲得 35% 的回扣。因此，您必須查看 MCX，這將是（聽不清）確定的。

Our next question comes from the line of Paul Diamond of Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗的 Paul Diamond。

Just a quick one. I wanted to circle back on the budgeting process for 2023. I know you guys noted that you expect to be on kind of the lower end of the broader industry range. But that broader industry range has been a bit of a moving target. Could you give a bit of clarity on kind of where you guys see that going into that budgeting process and into next year?

只是一個快速的。我想回顧一下 2023 年的預算流程。我知道你們指出，你們希望處於更廣泛行業範圍的低端。但更廣泛的行業範圍一直是一個移動的目標。您能否說明一下你們在預算過程和明年的哪些方面看到了這種情況？

Yes. I think the industry range is somewhere between 10% and 20% inflation, so we should probably be at the lower end. And it is a moving target a little bit because, obviously, we don't have everything 100% locked up. And so we do have spot exposure to some commodities and things. So -- but if you look at steel pricing has come down, you look at some of the commodities have come down, you -- I think inflation in some of the equipment looks like it's slowing down.

是的。我認為行業範圍在 10% 到 20% 的通貨膨脹率之間，所以我們可能應該處於低端。它是一個移動的目標，因為很明顯，我們並沒有 100% 鎖定所有內容。所以我們確實對一些商品和事物有現貨。所以 - 但是如果你看看鋼鐵價格已經下降，你看看一些商品已經下降，你 - 我認為一些設備的通貨膨脹似乎正在放緩。

So I think we feel good about what we have contracted and kind of what the outlook for the open stuff is that should put us in a position. As you know, we invested in our sand infrastructure that reduce the last mile to -- last-mile delivery. You see we invested in the water system, which you can see how critical that is and when we took that into the Tug system. So we'll continue to reduce the inflationary impacts. And then obviously, we'll see what the new well design looks like for, we'll call it, the second half of '23 into '24?

因此，我認為我們對我們已經簽訂的合同以及開放內容的前景感到滿意，這應該使我們處於有利位置。如您所知，我們投資了我們的沙子基礎設施，將最後一英里減少到最後一英里的交付。您會看到我們投資了供水系統，您可以看到這是多麼重要，以及我們何時將其納入拖輪系統。因此，我們將繼續減少通脹影響。然後很明顯，我們將看到新井設計的樣子，我們稱之為 23 年下半年到 24 年？

Understood. And actually, just drilling down a bit deeper on that. Is there any particular area you guys have seen through the budgeting process and the conversations thus far that -- what's the area you're least comfortable with? Any area that's given you a particular concerns or anything you've noted?

明白了。實際上，只是深入研究一下。你們有沒有通過預算流程和迄今為止的對話看到任何特定的領域——你們最不喜歡的領域是什麼？有什麼領域讓您有特別的擔憂或您注意到了什麼？

Yes. It's a big focus for us has been the areas that we've seen the most dramatic increase in cost to date, which has been on the steel side of things. So we'll continue to focus on that.

是的。對我們來說，迄今為止我們看到成本增長最為顯著的領域是我們的一個重點，這一直是在鋼鐵方面。因此，我們將繼續關注這一點。

And we have no further questions. It would be my pleasure to hand back to Toby Rice for any closing remarks.

我們沒有進一步的問題。我很高興回到 Toby Rice 做任何結束語。

Thanks, everybody, for joining us on this quarterly call. The world is certainly more volatile, but one thing that's consistent is our asset performance continues to show improvements. Our cost structure continues to decline. We have a free cash flow profile that's going to allow us to essentially retire our market cap and achieve our long-term leverage targets in the near term. And we've got a good track record doing some really smart consolidated deals on the consolidation front that's driven accretion and value creation for shareholders.

謝謝大家加入我們的季度電話會議。世界肯定更加動盪，但始終如一的一件事是我們的資產表現繼續顯示出改善。我們的成本結構繼續下降。我們有一個自由現金流狀況，這將使我們能夠從根本上消除我們的市值並在短期內實現我們的長期槓桿目標。而且，我們在合併方面進行了一些非常明智的合併交易，這些交易推動了股東的增值和價值創造。

And with our Unleash U.S. LNG campaign and the strengthening desire for cheap, reliable, clean energy that is going to be American-made natural gas, I think is going to present a pretty exciting and compelling opportunity for sustainable growth for our shareholders, and we're really excited about the future. And we'll talk to you guys next quarter. Thank you.

隨著我們的 Unleash U.S. LNG 活動以及對廉價、可靠、清潔能源（將成為美國製造的天然氣）的強烈需求，我認為這將為我們的股東提供一個非常令人興奮和引人注目的可持續增長機會，我們'對未來感到非常興奮。我們將在下個季度與你們交談。謝謝你。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。謝謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開線路。