西方石油 (OXY) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to Occidental's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jeff Alvarez, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

下午好，歡迎參加西方石油公司 2022 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此事件正在記錄中。我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係副總裁 Jeff Alvarez。請繼續。

Thank you, Jason. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in Occidental's Second Quarter 2022 Conference Call. On the call with us today are Vicki Hollub, President and Chief Executive Officer; Rob Peterson, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Richard Jackson, President, Operations, U.S. Onshore Resources and Carbon Management.

謝謝你，傑森。大家下午好，感謝您參加西方石油公司 2022 年第二季度電話會議。今天與我們通話的是總裁兼首席執行官 Vicki Hollub； Rob Peterson，高級副總裁兼首席財務官； Richard Jackson，美國陸上資源和碳管理運營總裁。

This afternoon, we will refer to slides available on the Investors section of our website. The presentation includes a cautionary statement on Slide 2 regarding forward-looking statements that will be made on the call this afternoon.

今天下午，我們將參考我們網站投資者部分的幻燈片。該演示文稿包括幻燈片 2 上關於將在今天下午的電話會議上做出的前瞻性陳述的警示性聲明。

I'll now turn the call over to Vicki. Vicki, please go ahead.

我現在將把電話轉給 Vicki。維姬，請繼續。

Thank you, Jeff, and good morning or good afternoon, everyone. We achieved a significant milestone in the second quarter as we completed our near-term debt reduction goal and activated our share repurchase program. At the beginning of this year, we established a near-term goal of repaying an additional $5 billion of debt, before further increasing the amount of cash allocated to shareholder returns. The debt we completed in May brought the total debt repaid this year to over $8 billion, surpassing our target at a quicker pace than we had originally anticipated. With our near-term debt reduction goal accomplished, we initiated our $3 billion share repurchase program in the second quarter and have already repurchased more than $1.1 billion of shares.

謝謝你，傑夫，大家早上好或下午好。我們在第二季度實現了一個重要的里程碑，我們完成了近期減債目標並啟動了我們的股票回購計劃。今年年初，我們制定了額外償還 50 億美元債務的近期目標，然後進一步增加分配給股東回報的現金數額。我們在 5 月份完成的債務使今年償還的債務總額超過 80 億美元，以比我們最初預期的更快的速度超過了我們的目標。隨著我們近期減債目標的實現，我們在第二季度啟動了 30 億美元的股票回購計劃，並且已經回購了超過 11 億美元的股票。

The additional allocation of cash to shareholders marks a meaningful progression of our cash flow priorities as we have primarily allocated free cash flow to debt reduction over the last few years. Our efforts to improve the balance sheet remain ongoing, but our deleveraging process has reached a stage where our focus is expanding to go to additional cash flow priorities.

向股東額外分配現金標誌著我們現金流優先事項的有意義的進展，因為我們在過去幾年中主要將自由現金流分配給債務減免。我們改善資產負債表的努力仍在繼續，但我們的去槓桿過程已經到了一個階段，我們的重點正在擴大到更多的現金流優先事項。

This afternoon, I'll cover the next phase of our shareholder return framework and second quarter operational performance. Rob will cover our financial results as well as our updated guidance, which includes an increase in our full year guidance for OxyChem.

今天下午，我將介紹下一階段的股東回報框架和第二季度的運營業績。 Rob 將涵蓋我們的財務業績以及我們更新的指導，其中包括增加我們對 OxyChem 的全年指導。

Starting with our shareholder return framework. Our ability to consistently deliver outstanding operational results, combined with our focus to improve our balance sheet, have positioned us to increase the amount of capital returned to shareholders. Considering current commodity prices expectations, we expect to repurchase a total of $3 billion of shares and reduce gross debt to the high teens by the end of this year. Once we have completed the $3 billion share repurchase program and reduced our debt to the high teens, we intend to continue returning capital to shareholders in 2023 through a common dividend that is sustainable at $40 WTI as well as through an active share repurchase program. The progress we are making in lowering interest payments through debt reduction, combined with managing the number of shares outstanding, will enhance the sustainability of our dividend and position us to increase our common dividend at the appropriate time. While we expect future dividend increases to be gradual and meaningful, we do not anticipate the dividend returning to its prior peak.

從我們的股東回報框架開始。我們始終如一地提供出色的經營成果的能力，加上我們對改善資產負債表的關注，使我們能夠增加返還給股東的資本金額。考慮到當前的大宗商品價格預期，我們預計到今年年底將回購總額為 30 億美元的股票並將總債務減少到十幾歲。一旦我們完成了 30 億美元的股票回購計劃並將我們的債務減少到十幾歲，我們打算在 2023 年通過可持續的 40 美元 WTI 的共同股息以及積極的股票回購計劃繼續向股東返還資本。我們在通過減債降低利息支付方面取得的進展，加上管理已發行股票的數量，將提高我們股息的可持續性，並使我們能夠在適當的時候增加我們的共同股息。雖然我們預計未來的股息增長將是漸進且有意義的，但我們預計股息不會恢復到之前的峰值。

Given our focus on returning capital to shareholders, it is possible that we may reach a point next year [return] to over $4 per share to common shareholders over a trailing 12-month period. Reaching and maintaining returns to common shareholders above this threshold will require us to begin redeeming their preferred equity concurrently with returning additional cash to common shareholders.

鑑於我們專注於向股東返還資本，明年我們可能會在過去的 12 個月內達到向普通股股東返還超過每股 4 美元的水平。達到並維持高於此門檻的普通股股東回報將要求我們開始贖回他們的優先股，同時向普通股股東返還額外的現金。

I want to be clear about 2 things. First, reaching the $4 per share threshold is the potential outcome of our shareholder return framework, not a specific target. Second, if we begin redeeming the preferred equity, this does not mean there is a cap on returns to common shareholders as cash would continue to be returned to common shareholders above $4 per share.

我想澄清兩件事。首先，達到每股 4 美元的門檻是我們股東回報框架的潛在結果，而不是具體目標。其次，如果我們開始贖回優先股，這並不意味著對普通股股東的回報有上限，因為現金將繼續返還給普通股股東，超過每股 4 美元。

In the second quarter, we generated $4.2 billion of free cash flow before working capital, our highest quarterly free cash flow to date. Our business has all performed well, and we delivered production from continuing operations of approximately 1.1 million BOE per day, in line with the midpoint of our guidance and with total company-wide spending of capital of $972 million.

在第二季度，我們在營運資本之前產生了 42 億美元的自由現金流，這是我們迄今為止最高的季度自由現金流。我們的業務都表現良好，我們每天的持續運營產量約為 110 萬桶油當量，符合我們指導的中點，全公司總資本支出為 9.72 億美元。

OxyChem reported record earnings for the fourth consecutive quarter with EBIT of $800 million, as the business continued to benefit from robust pricing and demand in the caustic, chlorine and PVC markets. Last quarter, we highlighted the Responsible Care and Facility Safety Awards that OxyChem received from the American Chemistry Council.

OxyChem 連續第四個季度公佈了創紀錄的收益，息稅前利潤為 8 億美元，因為該業務繼續受益於苛性鹼、氯和 PVC 市場的強勁定價和需求。上個季度，我們重點介紹了 OxyChem 從美國化學委員會獲得的責任關懷和設施安全獎。

OxyChem's accomplishments continue to be acknowledged. In May, the U.S. Department of Energy honored OxyChem as a Better Practice Award winner, which recognizes companies for innovative and industry-leading accomplishments in energy management. OxyChem received the recognition for incorporating an engineering, training and development program that led to process changes, resulting in energy savings that reduced CO2 emissions by 7,000 metric tons annually. It's achievements like this that make me so proud to announce the modernization and expansion of one of OxyChem's key plants, which we'll detail in just a minute.

OxyChem 的成就繼續得到認可。 5 月，美國能源部將 OxyChem 評為“最佳實踐獎”獲得者，該獎項旨在表彰在能源管理方面取得創新和行業領先成就的公司。 OxyChem 因整合工程、培訓和開發計劃而獲得認可，該計劃導致工藝變化，從而節省能源，每年減少 7,000 公噸的二氧化碳排放量。正是這樣的成就讓我如此自豪地宣布了 OxyChem 的一個關鍵工廠的現代化和擴建，我們將在稍後詳細介紹。

Turning to oil and gas. I'd like to congratulate the Gulf of Mexico team in celebrating first oil from the new discovery field, Horn Mountain West. The new field was successfully tied back to the Horn Mountain spar using a 3.5-mile dual flow line. The project came in on budget and more than 3 months ahead of schedule. The Horn Mountain West tieback is expected to eventually add approximately 30,000 barrels of oil production per day and is an excellent example of our ability to leverage our assets and technical expertise to bring new production online in a capital-efficient manner.

轉向石油和天然氣。我要祝賀墨西哥灣團隊慶祝新發現的 Horn Mountain West 油田首次開採石油。新油田使用 3.5 英里的雙流線成功地與霍恩山晶石相連。該項目按預算完成，比計劃提前了 3 個多月。預計 Horn Mountain West 回接項目最終將每天增加約 30,000 桶石油產量，這是我們利用資產和技術專長以資本高效的方式實現新生產上線的一個很好的例子。

I'd also like to congratulate our Al Hosn and Oman teams. Al Hosn achieved a recent production record following the first full plant shutdown as a part of a planned turnaround in the first quarter. Oxy's Oman team celebrated a record high daily production at Oman North Block 9, which has been operated by Oxy since 1984. Even after almost 40 years, Block 9 is still breaking records with strong base production and new development ledge performance, supported by a successful exploration program.

我還要祝賀我們的 Al Hosn 和阿曼團隊。作為第一季度計劃周轉的一部分，Al Hosn 在首次全面關閉工廠後實現了最近的生產記錄。 Oxy 的阿曼團隊在 Oxy 自 1984 年開始運營的阿曼北部 9 號區塊慶祝了創紀錄的日產量。即使在近 40 年後，9 號區塊仍然以強勁的基礎產量和新的開發平台性能打破記錄，並得到了成功的支持勘探計劃。

We have also been active in capturing opportunities to leverage our deep inventory of U.S. onshore assets. When we announced our Midland Basin JV with EcoPetrol in 2019, I mentioned how excited we were to be working with one of our strongest and longest-standing strategic partners. The JV has worked exceptionally well for both partners, with Oxy benefiting from incremental production and cash flow from the Midland Basin with minimal investment. We are fortunate to collaborate with a partner who has extensive expertise and with whom we share a long-term vision. This is why I'm equally excited this morning to announce that Oxy and EcoPetrol have agreed to enhance our JV in the Midland Basin and expand our partnership to cover approximately 20,000 net acres in the Delaware Basin. This includes 17,000 acres in the Texas Delaware that we'll utilize with infrastructure.

我們還積極抓住機會，利用我們在美國境內資產的豐富庫存。當我們在 2019 年宣布與 EcoPetrol 建立米德蘭盆地合資企業時，我提到我們很高興能與我們最強大、歷史最悠久的戰略合作夥伴之一合作。合資企業對雙方的合作都非常出色，Oxy 以最少的投資從米德蘭盆地的增量生產和現金流中受益。我們很幸運能與擁有廣泛專業知識並與我們有著共同長期願景的合作夥伴合作。這就是為什麼我今天早上同樣興奮地宣布，Oxy 和 EcoPetrol 已同意加強我們在米德蘭盆地的合資企業並擴大我們的合作夥伴關係，以覆蓋特拉華盆地約 20,000 英畝的淨面積。這包括我們將用於基礎設施的德克薩斯特拉華州的 17,000 英畝土地。

And in the Midland Basin, Oxy will benefit from the opportunity to continue development with an extension to the capital carry through the end of this agreement in the first quarter of 2025. In the Delaware Basin, we have the opportunity to bring forward the development of high-quality acreage that was further out in our development plans, while benefiting from an additional capital carry of up to 75%. In exchange for the carried capital, EcoPetrol will earn a percentage of the working interest in the JV asset.

在米德蘭盆地，Oxy 將受益於繼續發展的機會，將資本延伸到 2025 年第一季度結束本協議。在特拉華盆地，我們有機會推進在我們的發展計劃中更進一步的優質土地，同時受益於高達 75% 的額外資本利差。作為附帶資本的交換，EcoPetrol 將獲得合資資產中一定比例的工作權益。

Last month, we reached an agreement with Sonatrach in Algeria to enter into a new 25-year production-sharing agreement that will roll Oxy's existing licenses into a single agreement. The new production-sharing agreement renews and deepens our partnership with Sonatrach, while providing Oxy with the opportunity to add reserves and continue developing a low-decline cash-generating asset with long-standing partners.

上個月，我們與阿爾及利亞的 Sonatrach 達成了一項新的 25 年生產共享協議，該協議將把 Oxy 的現有許可證整合到一個單一協議中。新的生產共享協議更新並深化了我們與 Sonatrach 的合作夥伴關係，同時為 Oxy 提供了增加儲量並繼續與長期合作夥伴一起開發低下降現金產生資產的機會。

Even with 2022 expected to be a record year for OxyChem, we see a unique opportunity to expand OxyChem's future earnings and cash flow generating capabilities by investing in high-return project. On our fourth quarter call, we mentioned the FEED study to explore the modernization of certain Gulf Coast chlor-alkali assets and diaphragm to membrane technology. I'm pleased to announce our Battleground plant, which is adjacent to Houston Ship Channel in Deer Park, Texas as one of the sites that we will modernize. Battleground is Oxy's largest chlorine and caustic soda production facility with ready access to both domestic and international markets.

儘管 2022 年預計將是 OxyChem 創紀錄的一年，但我們看到了通過投資高回報項目來擴大 OxyChem 未來收益和現金流產生能力的獨特機會。在我們第四季度的電話會議上，我們提到了 FEED 研究，以探索某些墨西哥灣沿岸氯鹼資產和隔膜到膜技術的現代化。我很高興地宣布，我們的 Battleground 工廠位於德克薩斯州迪爾公園的休斯頓航道附近，是我們將進行現代化改造的工廠之一。 Battleground 是 Oxy 最大的氯和苛性鈉生產設施，可隨時進入國內和國際市場。

The project is being undertaken in part to respond to customer demand for chlorine, chlorine derivatives and certain grades of caustic soda that we can produce with newer technology. It will also result in increased capacities for both products. The project is expected to increase cash flow through improved margins and higher product volumes, while lowering the energy intensity of the products produced. The modernization and expansion project will commence in 2023, with a capital investment of up to $1.1 billion, spread over 3 years.

該項目的實施部分是為了滿足客戶對氯、氯衍生物和某些等級的苛性鈉的需求，我們可以使用更新的技術生產這些產品。它還將導致兩種產品的容量增加。預計該項目將通過提高利潤率和增加產品數量來增加現金流，同時降低所生產產品的能源強度。現代化和擴建項目將於 2023 年開始，資本投資高達 11 億美元，為期 3 年。

During construction, existing operations are expected to continue as normal, with the improvements expected to be realized in 2026. The expansion is not a prospective build as we have structurally advanced contracts and internal derivative production to consume the incremental chlorine volume, while caustic volumes will be contracted by the time the new capacity comes online.

在建設期間，現有運營預計將繼續正常進行，預計將在 2026 年實現改進。擴建不是預期的建設，因為我們在結構上已提前簽訂合同和內部衍生產品以消耗增加的氯量，而苛性鹼量將在新容量上線時簽約。

The Battleground project represents the first sizable investment we've made in OxyChem since the construction and completion of the 4CPe plant, an ethylene cracker that were completed in 2017. This high-return project is just one of several opportunities we have to grow OxyChem's cash flow over the next few years. We are conducting similar FEED studies for additional chlor-alkali assets and plan to communicate the results when complete.

Battleground 項目是自 2017 年建成的乙烯裂解裝置 4CPe 工廠建設和竣工以來，我們在 OxyChem 進行的第一筆大規模投資。這個高回報項目只是我們增加 OxyChem 現金的幾個機會之一未來幾年的流量。我們正在對其他氯鹼資產進行類似的 FEED 研究，併計劃在完成後傳達結果。

I'll now turn the call over to Rob, who will walk you through our second quarter results and guidance.

我現在將把電話轉給 Rob，他將向您介紹我們的第二季度業績和指導。

Thank you, Vicki, and good afternoon. In the second quarter, our profitability remained strong, and we generated a record level of free cash flow. We announced an adjusted profit of $3.16 per diluted share and a reported profit of $3.47 per diluted share, with the difference between the 2 numbers primarily driven by gains in early debt extinguishment and positive mark-to-market adjustments. We were pleased to be able to allocate cash to share repurchases in the second quarter. To date, we have purchased over 18 million shares as of Monday, August 1, for approximately $1.1 billion for a weighted average price below $60 per share.

謝謝你，維姬，下午好。在第二季度，我們的盈利能力依然強勁，我們創造了創紀錄的自由現金流。我們宣布調整後的每股攤薄利潤為 3.16 美元，報告的每股攤薄利潤為 3.47 美元，這兩個數字之間的差異主要是由於早期債務清償的收益和積極的市值調整所致。我們很高興能夠在第二季度分配現金進行股票回購。迄今為止，截至 8 月 1 日星期一，我們以約 11 億美元的價格購買了超過 1800 萬股股票，加權平均價格低於每股 60 美元。

Also, during the quarter, approximately 3.1 million publicly traded warrants were exercised, bringing the total number exercised to almost 4.4 million with 11.5 million -- 111.5 million remaining outstanding. As we said, when the warrants were issued in 2020, the cash proceeds received will be applied towards share repurchases to mitigate potential dilution to common shareholders. As Vicki mentioned, we are excited to enhance and expand our relationship with EcoPetrol in the Permian Basin. JV amendment closed in the second quarter with an effective date of January 1, 2022. To maximize this opportunity, we intended to add an additional rig late in the year to support the JV development activity in the Delaware Basin. The additional activity is not expected to add any production until 2023, as the first Delaware JV wells will not come online until next year.

此外，在本季度，約 310 萬份公開交易認股權證被行使，使行使總數達到近 440 萬份，其中 1150 萬份 - 1.115 億份未償還。正如我們所說，當認股權證在 2020 年發行時，收到的現金收益將用於股票回購，以減輕對普通股股東的潛在稀釋。正如 Vicki 所提到的，我們很高興能在二疊紀盆地加強和擴大我們與 EcoPetrol 的關係。合資公司修正案於第二季度結束，生效日期為 2022 年 1 月 1 日。為了最大限度地利用這一機會，我們打算在年底增加一個額外的鑽井平台，以支持特拉華盆地的合資公司開發活動。預計額外的活動要到 2023 年才能增加任何產量，因為特拉華合資企業的第一口井要到明年才能投產。

Similarly, the JV amendment is not expected to have any meaningful impact on our capital budget this year. We expect the Delaware JV and the enhanced Midland JV and to allow us to maintain or even lower industry-leading capital intensity in the Permian in 2023 onwards. We will provide further details when we provide 2023 production guidance.

同樣，預計合資公司修正案不會對我們今年的資本預算產生任何有意義的影響。我們預計特拉華合資公司和增強後的米德蘭合資公司將使我們能夠在 2023 年之後保持甚至降低二疊紀行業領先的資本密集度。我們將在提供 2023 年生產指導時提供更多詳細信息。

Given that January 1, '22 effective date and related working interest transferred to our JV partner in the Midland Basin, we have adjusted our full year Permian production guidance down slightly. Separately, we are reallocating a portion of the capital we earmarked for the OBO spending this year to our operated Permian assets. Reallocating capital operating activity will provide more certainty in our West delivery for the second half of 2022 and the start of 2023, while also delivering superior returns given our inventory quality and cost control. While the timing of this change has a slight impact on our 2022 production due to activity relocation in the second half of the year, the benefit of developing resources that we operate is expected to result in even stronger financial performance going forward. The updated activity slide in the earnings presentation appendix reflects this change.

鑑於 22 年 1 月 1 日生效日期和相關工作權益轉移給我們在米德蘭盆地的合資夥伴，我們已將全年二疊紀生產指導略微下調。另外，我們正在將今年指定用於 OBO 支出的部分資金重新分配給我們運營的二疊紀資產。重新分配資本運營活動將為我們在 2022 年下半年和 2023 年初的西部交付提供更多確定性，同時鑑於我們的庫存質量和成本控制，還可以提供卓越的回報。儘管由於下半年的活動搬遷，這一變化的時機對我們 2022 年的生產產生了輕微影響，但開發我們經營的資源的好處預計將導致未來的財務業績更加強勁。收益報告附錄中更新的活動幻燈片反映了這一變化。

The shift in OBO capital, combined with the JV working interest transfer as well as various short-term operability matters all contributed to a slightly lowering our full year Permian production guidance. The operability impacts are primarily related to third-party issues, such as downstream gas processing interruptions on our EOR assets and other unplanned disruptions at third parties. For 2022, company-wide full year production guidance remains unchanged, as the Permian adjustment is fully offset by high production in the Rockies and the Gulf of Mexico.

OBO 資本的轉移，加上合資公司工作權益的轉移以及各種短期可操作性問題，都導致我們略微下調了我們的全年二疊紀生產指導。可操作性影響主要與第三方問題有關，例如我們 EOR 資產的下游天然氣處理中斷以及第三方的其他計劃外中斷。 2022 年，全公司全年生產指導保持不變，因為二疊紀調整完全被落基山脈和墨西哥灣的高產量所抵消。

Finally, we note that our Permian production delivery remains very strong, with a growth of approximately 100,000 BOE per day when comparing the fourth quarter of 2021 through our implied production guidance for the fourth quarter of 2022. We expect production in the second half of 2022 to average approximately 1.2 million BOE per day, which is notably higher than the first half of the year. Higher production in the second half of the year has always been an expected outcome of our 2022 plan, in part due to ramp-up activities and scheduled turnarounds in the first quarter.

最後，我們注意到我們的二疊紀產量交付仍然非常強勁，通過我們對 2022 年第四季度的隱含生產指導，與 2021 年第四季度相比，每天增長約 100,000 桶油當量。我們預計 2022 年下半年生產日均約120萬桶油當量，明顯高於上半年。下半年的更高產量一直是我們 2022 年計劃的預期結果，部分原因是第一季度的增產活動和計劃的周轉。

Company-wide third quarter production guidance includes continued growth in the Permian, but considers the potential for tropical weather impacts in the Gulf of Mexico, combined with third-party downtime and production decline in Rockies given our lower activity set as a result of relocating a rig to the Permian.

公司範圍內的第三季度生產指導包括二疊紀的持續增長，但考慮到墨西哥灣熱帶天氣影響的可能性，再加上第三方停機時間和落基山脈的產量下降，因為我們因搬遷而導致活動減少鑽機到二疊紀。

Our full year capital budget remains unchanged. But as I mentioned in our previous call, we expect capital spending to come in near the high end of our range of $3.9 billion to $4.3 billion. Certain areas that we operate in, especially the Permian, continue to experience higher inflationary pressures than others. To support activity into 2023 and address the regional impact of inflation, we are reallocating $200 million of capital to the Permian. We believe our company-wide capital budget is sized appropriately to execute our 2022 plan, as the additional capital for the Permian will be reallocated from other assets that have been able to generate higher-than-expected capital savings.

我們全年的資本預算保持不變。但正如我在之前的電話會議中提到的，我們預計資本支出將接近我們 39 億美元至 43 億美元範圍的高端。我們經營的某些地區，尤其是二疊紀地區，繼續承受比其他地區更高的通脹壓力。為了支持到 2023 年的活動並解決通貨膨脹的區域影響，我們正在向二疊紀重新分配 2 億美元的資金。我們相信，我們公司範圍內的資本預算規模適當，可以執行我們的 2022 年計劃，因為二疊紀的額外資本將從能夠產生高於預期資本節約的其他資產中重新分配。

We are raising our full year domestic operating expense guidance to $8.50 per BOE, which accounts for higher-than-expected labor and energy costs, primarily in the Permian, as well as continued upward pricing pressure on our WTI index CO2 purchase contracts in the EOR business. OxyChem continues to perform well, and we have raised our full year guidance to reflect the exceptional second quarter performance as well as a slightly better than previously expected second half of the year. We still see the potential for market conditions to dampen from where we are today due to inflationary pressures, though the long-term fundamentals continue to remain supportive, and we expect third and fourth quarters to be strong by historical standards.

我們將全年國內運營費用指引上調至每桶油當量 8.50 美元，這導致勞動力和能源成本高於預期，主要是在二疊紀，以及我們在 EOR 中 WTI 指數 CO2 採購合同的價格持續上漲壓力商業。 OxyChem 繼續表現良好，我們提高了全年指導以反映第二季度的出色表現以及略好於先前預期的下半年。儘管長期基本面繼續保持支撐，我們仍然認為市場狀況可能會因通脹壓力而從目前的水平減弱，我們預計第三和第四季度將按歷史標準衡量強勁。

Turning back to financial items. In September, we intend to settle $275 million of notional interest rate swaps. The net liability or cash outflow required to sell these swaps will be around $100 million of the current interest rate curve. Last quarter, I mentioned that as WTI averages $90 per barrel in 2022, we would expect to pay approximately $600 million in U.S. federal cash taxes. Oil prices continue to remain strong, increasing the possibility that WTI may average even higher price for the year. If WTI average $100 in 2022, we would expect to pay approximately $1.2 billion in U.S. federal cash taxes.

回到金融項目。 9 月，我們打算結算 2.75 億美元的名義利率掉期。出售這些掉期所需的淨負債或現金流出約為當前利率曲線的 1 億美元。上個季度，我提到，由於 WTI 在 2022 年的平均價格為每桶 90 美元，我們預計將支付大約 6 億美元的美國聯邦現金稅。油價繼續保持強勁，增加了 WTI 年度平均價格甚至更高的可能性。如果 2022 年 WTI 的平均價格為 100 美元，我們預計將支付大約 12 億美元的美國聯邦現金稅。

As Vicki mentioned, year-to-date, we repaid approximately $8.1 billion of debt, including $4.8 billion in the second quarter, exceeding our near-term goals of paying $5 billion in principal this year. We have also made meaningful progress towards our medium-term goal of reducing gross debt to the high teens. We began repurchasing shares in the second quarter, further advancing our shareholder return framework as part of our commitment to return more cash to shareholders. We intend to continue allocating free cash flow towards the share repurchases until we complete our current $3 billion program.

正如 Vicki 所說，年初至今，我們償還了大約 81 億美元的債務，其中包括第二季度的 48 億美元，超過了我們今年支付 50 億美元本金的近期目標。我們在實現減少青少年總債務的中期目標方面也取得了有意義的進展。我們在第二季度開始回購股票，進一步推進我們的股東回報框架，作為我們向股東返還更多現金的承諾的一部分。我們打算繼續將自由現金流分配給股票回購，直到我們完成目前的 30 億美元計劃。

During this period, we will continue to view debt retirement opportunistically and we'll likely retire debt concurrently with share repurchases. Once our initial share repurchase program is complete, we intend to allocate free cash flow towards reducing the face value of debt to the high teens, which we believe will accelerate our return to investment grade. When we reach this stage, we intend to reduce the impetus of our allocation of free cash flow from primarily reducing debt by including initial items in our cash flow priorities. We continue to make incremental progress towards achieving our goal of returning to investment grade.

在此期間，我們將繼續機會主義地看待債務償還，我們可能會在回購股票的同時償還債務。一旦我們的初始股票回購計劃完成，我們打算將自由現金流分配給降低青少年債務的面值，我們相信這將加速我們回歸投資級別。當我們達到這個階段時，我們打算通過將初始項目包括在我們的現金流優先級中來減少我們分配自由現金流的動力，主要是減少債務。我們繼續在實現我們返回投資級別的目標方面取得進展。

Since our last earnings call, Fitch has signed a positive outlook to our credit ratings. All 3 of the major credit rating agencies rate our debt as 1 notch below investment grade, with Moody's and Fitch having assigned positive outlooks. Over time, we intend to maintain mid cycle levered at approximately 1x debt-to-EBITDA or below $15 billion. We believe this level of leverage will be appropriate for our capital structure as we will enhance our equity returns, while strengthening our ability to return capital to shareholders throughout the commodity cycle.

自上次財報電話會議以來，惠譽簽署了對我們信用評級的正面展望。所有 3 家主要信用評級機構都將我們的債務評級為低於投資級別 1 個等級，穆迪和惠譽都給予了正面的展望。隨著時間的推移，我們打算將中期槓桿率維持在大約 1 倍的債務/EBITDA 或低於 150 億美元。我們相信這種槓桿水平將適合我們的資本結構，因為我們將提高我們的股權回報，同時加強我們在整個商品週期內向股東返還資本的能力。

I'll now turn the call back over to Vicki.

我現在將電話轉回給 Vicki。

We're now prepared to take your calls.

我們現在準備接聽您的電話。

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from John Royall from JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自摩根大通的 John Royall。

So can you talk about the various moving pieces in the CapEx guidance? I know that you raised the Permian number, but kept the total the same. So what are the areas that were the source of funds for that raise? And then any early look into some of the moving pieces for next year with this new FID for Chems and then the change in structure with EcoPetrol? Just anything you can give us on kind of the puts and takes going into next year would be helpful.

那麼你能談談資本支出指南中的各種活動嗎？我知道你提高了二疊紀的數量，但總數保持不變。那麼，那次籌集資金的來源是什麼？然後對明年的新 FID for Chems 的一些動態部分進行早期研究，然後是 EcoPetrol 的結構變化？您可以在明年的看跌期權中提供給我們的任何東西都會有所幫助。

I'll let Richard cover the changes in the CapEx, and then I'll follow up with the additional part of that question.

我會讓理查德介紹資本支出的變化，然後我會跟進該問題的附加部分。

John, this is Richard. Yes, so a few moving pieces as we look across the U.S. onshore. And as we look at it, a couple of things occurred during the year. I think, first, from an OBO perspective, we had a wedge assumed in our production plan. And early in the year, that became a bit slower in terms of delivery. And so we went ahead and made the move to reallocate some of that capital into our operated, which did a few things.

約翰，這是理查德。是的，當我們縱觀美國陸上時，有一些動人的部分。在我們看來，這一年發生了幾件事。我認為，首先，從 OBO 的角度來看，我們在生產計劃中假設了一個楔子。今年年初，在交付方面變得有點慢。因此，我們繼續採取行動，將部分資金重新分配到我們的運營中，這做了一些事情。

One, it secured that production wedge for us, but it also added resources for the back half of the year to give us some continuity on the back half of the year. We like that we did that. As Rob mentioned in his comments, these are high-return projects that are very good. So that was a good move. And then securing some of those resources early in the year in terms of rigs and frac core has played out well in terms of our timing to manage inflation and improve performance as we hit this ramp-up for the back half of the year.

一，它為我們確保了生產楔子，但它也為下半年增加了資源，使我們在下半年有一些連續性。我們喜歡我們這樣做。正如 Rob 在他的評論中提到的，這些都是非常好的高回報項目。所以這是一個很好的舉措。然後在今年年初在鑽井平台和壓裂核心方面確保其中一些資源在我們管理通貨膨脹和提高績效的時機方面發揮了很好的作用，因為我們在今年下半年達到了這一增長。

The other piece of that, so step 2 is really reallocation from Oxy. And so part of that is coming from LCV. We can talk in more detail on that if we need to. But that's really -- as we hit the back half of the year, we look to be coming in closer to midpoint for low carbon ventures. That's really just more certainty around the direct air capture development in some of the CCUS hub work that we've got in place. And so that, plus, I think, some other savings around the rest of Oxy, really contributed to that balance.

另一部分，所以第 2 步實際上是從 Oxy 重新分配。因此，其中一部分來自 LCV。如果需要，我們可以更詳細地討論。但這確實是——當我們進入今年下半年時，我們希望接近低碳企業的中點。在我們已經到位的一些 CCUS 中心工作中，這實際上只是圍繞直接空氣捕獲開發的更多確定性。因此，另外，我認為 Oxy 其餘部分的其他一些節省確實促成了這種平衡。

So if you think about that extra [200], I'd say 50% of that is really around activity adds. So we were a bit front-end loaded in our plan for the year. That allows us to take that capital and keep continuity, especially across drilling rigs, which will give us optionality as we go into 2023.

因此，如果您考慮額外的 [200]，我會說其中 50% 確實是圍繞活動添加。所以我們在今年的計劃中有點前端加載。這使我們能夠利用這筆資金並保持連續性，尤其是在鑽井平台上，這將使我們在進入 2023 年時擁有選擇權。

And then the other piece is really around inflation. We've seen that pressure on that. We've been able to mitigate a large piece of that. But we've outlooked an additional 7% to 10% sort of outlook compared to plan on the year. We've been able to again make up an incremental 4% of that in operation savings. So pleased with the progress against that. But we did start to see some inflationary pressures come up. And so that capital helps address that uncertainty, I would call it, for the rest of the year.

然後另一部分實際上是圍繞通貨膨脹。我們已經看到了這種壓力。我們已經能夠減輕其中的很大一部分。但與今年的計劃相比，我們預計前景將增加 7% 至 10%。我們已經能夠在運營節省中再次彌補 4% 的增量。對此進展感到非常滿意。但我們確實開始看到一些通脹壓力出現。因此，在今年餘下的時間裡，資本有助於解決這種不確定性。

I would say, on capital for 2023, it's still way too early for us to determine what that would be. But the EcoPetrol JV would fit into the resources allocation, and we'll compete with the capital within that program.

我想說，就 2023 年的資本而言，我們現在確定它是什麼還為時過早。但 EcoPetrol JV 將適合資源分配，我們將在該計劃中與資本競爭。

Okay. Great. And then switching over to chemicals. If you guys could just talk a little bit about the fundamentals in that business. Coming off a very strong 2Q, but a big step down in guidance for the second half. So if you could just give some color on the source of the strength in 2Q and what you see changing in the second half?

好的。偉大的。然後切換到化學品。如果你們能談談該業務的基本面。經歷了非常強勁的第二季度，但下半年的指導大幅下降。所以，如果你能對第二季度的力量來源和你在下半場看到的變化給出一些顏色？

Sure, John. I would say conditions in both the vinyls and caustic soda business that are largely the ones that determine how we perform overall. In Chemicals, they were obviously very favorable in the second quarter. And when we see both conditions -- both businesses and favorable points, you have the significant earnings impact leading to the record performance we had in the second quarter.

當然，約翰。我想說乙烯基和苛性蘇打業務的條件很大程度上決定了我們的整體表現。在化工方面，他們在第二季度顯然非常有利。當我們看到這兩種情況時——無論是業務還是有利點，你都會對收益產生重大影響，從而導致我們在第二季度取得創紀錄的業績。

If you go into the third quarter, I would say, the extreme tightness that we've been experiencing for quite some time in the Vinyls business has become more manageable. And that's really from improved supply and some softening in the domestic market, while conditions in the caustic soda business remain very strong and continue to improve. I would say the macroeconomic conditions are still indicative that when you look at interest rates, housing starts, GDP, they're kind of trading unfavorably, which is why we talked about a softer second half relative to the first half. But we're also entering a very unpredictable time of the year being the latter part of the third quarter here in terms of weather, which can certainly upset supply or demand either way. And so this is -- it's very difficult to look out very far as we enter the very beginning of the hurricane season or the peak of hurricane season.

如果你進入第三季度，我想說的是，我們在乙烯基業務中經歷了相當長一段時間的極度緊張已經變得更加易於管理。這實際上是由於供應改善和國內市場疲軟，而燒鹼業務的狀況仍然非常強勁並繼續改善。我想說，宏觀經濟狀況仍然表明，當您查看利率、房屋開工率、GDP 時，它們的交易有點不利，這就是為什麼我們談到下半年相對於上半年疲軟的原因。但就天氣而言，我們也進入了一年中一個非常不可預測的時期，即第三季度的後半部分，這肯定會擾亂供需。所以這是 - 當我們進入颶風季節的開始或颶風季節的高峰時，很難看得很遠。

And the other thing I would say that has impacted the business a bit that we're trying to incorporate into the outlook is the Chinese shutdowns related to COVID, sort of the no COVID tolerance policies is backing up their demand in terms of needs for chemicals and pushing other Asian chemicals into other parts of the world, including impacting exports from the U.S. And so there's a bit of a softening there effect. But again, these are all things that can be modified relatively in a short basis if something were to change in either of those.

我要說的另一件事對我們的業務產生了一些影響，我們正試圖將其納入前景中，那就是中國與 COVID 相關的停工，某種不容忍 COVID 的政策正在支持他們對化學品的需求並將其他亞洲化學品推向世界其他地區，包括影響美國的出口，因此那裡的影響有所減弱。但同樣，如果其中任何一個發生變化，這些都是可以在短期內相對修改的事情。

But because of that, macroeconomic trends and our normal seasonal declines you would see in the fourth quarter in the business, we are projecting a softer second half of the year onto the first half of the year. But again, what we're projecting is quite strong by historical standards. Even the guidance for the third quarter as it is now would have been historically a decent year in many years for the Chemicals business, let alone a quarter.

但正因為如此，宏觀經濟趨勢和我們在第四季度看到的業務正常的季節性下降，我們預計今年上半年將疲軟。但同樣，按照歷史標準，我們的預測是相當強大的。即使是現在的第三季度指引，從歷史上看，對化學品業務來說也是多年以來不錯的一年，更不用說一個季度了。

Overall, when we look at business on PVC, we're still seeing growth year-over-year. Domestic demand is up almost 6% through June. And PVC demand, including exports from the U.S., total demand is up about 4.5%. The chlorine side of the business, we're still seeing growth of 3% to 4% this year. All the market sectors remain strong. There's still a lot of pent-up demand, as you can imagine, coming off of the last 2 years. But those are all areas in durable goods, et cetera, where we can see impact from interest rates, inflation, disposable income, et cetera. So again, part of it is just trying to forecast what that might look like, doing the same anybody else is doing right now, trying to gauge the depth of a potential recession and the impact on demand. But overall, still a very favorable conditions in the business, but just not as favorable as they were in the second quarter.

總體而言，當我們查看 PVC 業務時，我們仍然看到同比增長。到 6 月份，國內需求增長了近 6%。而 PVC 需求，包括來自美國的出口，總需求增長約 4.5%。氯業務方面，今年我們仍然看到 3% 到 4% 的增長。所有市場板塊均保持強勁。正如你可以想像的那樣，在過去的兩年中，仍有很多被壓抑的需求。但這些都是耐用品等領域，我們可以看到利率、通貨膨脹、可支配收入等的影響。因此，其中一部分只是試圖預測可能會是什麼樣子，就像其他人現在正在做的那樣，試圖衡量潛在衰退的深度以及對需求的影響。但總體而言，業務狀況仍然非常有利，但不如第二季度那麼有利。

The next question is from Raphaël DuBois from Societe Generale.

下一個問題來自法國興業銀行的 Raphaël DuBois。

The first one is related to Algeria. Now that you have signed this 25-year contract extension, I was wondering if you could maybe give us some better color on what is the production potential for Algeria and whether there is a change in the mix between liquids and gas that we should be expecting?

第一個與阿爾及利亞有關。既然您已經簽署了這份 25 年的續約合同，我想知道您是否可以給我們一些更好的信息，說明阿爾及利亞的生產潛力是什麼，以及我們應該期待的液體和氣體之間的混合是否發生變化?

Currently, under the agreement that we signed, we're still -- we'll be producing basically oil production with associated gas. And primarily from the fields, we've already been developing just expanding those out. So I'd say that from the standpoint of our production outlook currently, it's going to be -- look a little bit lower next year than it looks this year because of the structure of the contract. But our cash flow is going to be approximately the same. So it's just based on the terms. And we have a lot of potential, we believe, in the existing fields to continue to develop those out. So the remaining reserves that we'll be able to add as a result of just the contract extension will be about 100 million barrels.

目前，根據我們簽署的協議，我們仍然——我們將主要生產石油和伴生氣。主要來自這些領域，我們已經在開發只是擴展這些領域。所以我想說，從我們目前的生產前景的角度來看，由於合同的結構，明年看起來會比今年看起來要低一些。但我們的現金流將大致相同。所以它只是基於條款。我們相信，在現有領域中，我們有很大的潛力繼續開發這些領域。因此，僅由於合同延期，我們能夠增加的剩餘儲量約為 1 億桶。

Other than that, there's a lot of potential for further evaluation. So we've included the 3D seismic survey as a part of the evaluation, so that we can start to better increase our recoveries from those conventional sales because they're all relatively low decline and supported with gas injection and potentially ultimately some CO2 injection.

除此之外，還有很多進一步評估的潛力。因此，我們將 3D 地震勘測作為評估的一部分，這樣我們就可以開始更好地提高我們從這些常規銷售中的回收率，因為它們的降幅都相對較低，並得到了注氣和可能最終注入一些二氧化碳的支持。

Gas is not a part of what we're developing over there yet, but could be in the future, should there be an opportunity for us to find it commercially competitive with the other projects that we have internally.

天然氣還不是我們在那裡開發的一部分，但將來可能會出現，如果我們有機會發現它與我們內部擁有的其他項目具有商業競爭力的話。

Great. And my follow-on question would be about chemicals. This Battleground CapEx project that you have announced, you said earlier that you would have more plans that you will consider for modernization. When could we hear about the next one to be modernized? And could you maybe remind us of the capacity of Battleground so that we can have a feel for the CapEx intensity of such project and what we could be expecting going forward for other projects.

偉大的。我的後續問題將是關於化學品的。你宣布的這個戰場資本支出項目，你之前說過你將有更多的計劃來考慮現代化。我們什麼時候可以聽到下一個要進行現代化改造的消息？您能否提醒我們 Battleground 的容量，以便我們了解此類項目的資本支出強度以及我們對其他項目的預期。

Sure, Raphael. So we have talked about potential conversions beyond the Battleground project. So at this point, we've made the decision to move forward with the Battleground conversion. As indicated in the remarks, we will continue to operate the facility throughout the construction process. There may be some short periods where we'd take very short outages for important connections between existing infrastructure in the facility. We're confident, throughout that process, we can build inventory and continue to build product with no impact on our customers. And so as you think about the Battleground process, you should not assume any loss of sales or margin during the actual project itself.

當然，拉斐爾。因此，我們已經討論了 Battleground 項目之外的潛在轉換。所以在這一點上，我們已經決定推進戰場轉換。如備註所示，我們將在整個施工過程中繼續運營該設施。可能會有一些短時期，我們會為設施中現有基礎設施之間的重要連接進行非常短的中斷。我們有信心，在整個過程中，我們可以建立庫存並繼續生產產品，而不會影響我們的客戶。因此，當您考慮“戰場”流程時，您不應假設在實際項目本身期間出現任何銷售或利潤損失。

So when you look at the other facilities, once we convert the Battleground facility, we already have membrane technology and polyramics, which is a non-asbestos type diaphragm technology, at our Wichita and Geismar facilities. And we're in the process right now of making a conversion change at our [Wichita] facility to polyramics. So the announced project, that will not only convert Battleground but increase its capacity by 8%, we'll only leave our Convent Ingleside facilities utilizing asbestos diaphragms. And we'll begin the conversion studies on those as we get further underway with the actual Battleground conversion. We'll do them sort of in series together. We won't wait for one to be completed to make a decision on the other, but we'll sort of stagger them together. But obviously, what we're going to do with those facilities isn't as pertinent as to moving forward the Battleground project right now.

因此，當您查看其他設施時，一旦我們對 Battleground 設施進行了改造，我們的威奇托和蓋斯馬設施就已經擁有了膜技術和非石棉型隔膜技術 polyramics。我們現在正在我們的 [Wichita] 工廠進行轉換更改為 polyramics。因此，宣布的項目不僅將改造 Battleground，而且將其容量增加 8%，我們將只保留使用石棉隔膜的 Convent Ingleside 設施。隨著實際戰場轉換的進一步進行，我們將開始對這些轉換研究。我們將把它們串聯起來。我們不會等待一個完成後再對另一個做出決定，但我們會將它們錯開排列。但很明顯，我們要對這些設施做的事情並不像現在推進戰場項目那樣相關。

And so from a capital intensity standpoint, we don't provide individual capacities of our facilities. But what I would say though is that the amount -- cost of $1.1 billion that we've included in the slide deck, I would not use that as a proxy necessarily that -- for the other 2 facilities. The facilities are all individually unique, not only from different sizes and capacities in the facilities, but they all have different equipment associated inside and outside, battery limits. They have different conversions that will go along with them.

因此，從資本密集度的角度來看，我們不提供我們設施的單個容量。但我要說的是，我們在幻燈片中包含的 11 億美元的成本，我不會將其用作其他兩個設施的代理。這些設施都是獨一無二的，不僅因為設施的大小和容量不同，而且它們的內部和外部都有不同的設備，電池限制。他們有不同的轉換，將伴隨他們。

In addition that, at this stage, as we mentioned, the Battleground facility expansion is determined also with existing contractual obligations we've secured for the chlorine side of the business, the derivative side of the business moving into the project. We're not expanding the project, hoping to get additional demand for those molecules are already sold in the future. At this time, we don't have needs to expand either our Convent facility or Ingleside facility. So at this stage, if we were to proceed with an FID decision on one of those, it would simply be a conversion of process change. And so it would be difficult to take that and certainly wouldn't multiply that number times 3 and come up with a number for those other 2 projects to be included in that.

此外，在這個階段，正如我們所提到的，Battleground 設施的擴建也取決於我們為氯業務的現有合同義務，業務的衍生業務進入項目。我們沒有擴大項目，希望將來對那些已經售出的分子有更多的需求。目前，我們不需要擴建 Convent 設施或 Ingleside 設施。所以在這個階段，如果我們要對其中一個進行 FID 決定，那將只是流程變更的轉換。所以很難接受這個數字，當然也不會將該數字乘以 3 並為其他 2 個項目提供一個數字。

And so as we get further along with the Battleground project, we'll start sharing ideas on subsequent changes in the future. But this time, the only decision we made is to actually move forward with Battleground 1.

因此，隨著我們進一步推進 Battleground 項目，我們將開始就未來的後續變化分享想法。但這一次，我們做出的唯一決定是實際推進《戰地 1》。

Raphael, this is Jeff. I'd add one thing to what Rob said. The EBITDA number we've provided would be, the way I'd look at that is more of a mid-cycle EBITDA, not at current pricing or current marketing conditions. So you can use that for your estimates.

拉斐爾，這是傑夫。我會在 Rob 所說的基礎上添加一件事。我們提供的 EBITDA 數字在我看來更像是一個中期 EBITDA，而不是當前的定價或當前的營銷條件。所以你可以用它來做你的估計。

The next question comes from Devin McDermott from Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的德文麥克德莫特。

So I wanted to ask on low carbon ventures. One of the moving pieces in the cap guidance this year was LCV spend coming in toward the midpoint. I was wondering if you could just talk a little bit more broadly about the progress you've been making towards some of the milestones that you set forth earlier this year. And as part of that, the Inflation Reduction Act that's recently been introduced has some supportive language in there for carbon capture and also direct air capture. So can you talk about if that were to move forward, how that might impact the cadence of investment over the next few years?

所以我想問一下低碳企業。今年上限指導中的一個變動因素是 LCV 支出接近中點。我想知道你是否可以更廣泛地談談你在今年早些時候提出的一些里程碑方面所取得的進展。作為其中的一部分，最近推出的《減少通貨膨脹法案》在其中包含一些支持碳捕獲和直接空氣捕獲的語言。那麼，您能否談談如果要向前發展，這將如何影響未來幾年的投資節奏？

Devin, I'll start, and then pass it over to Richard. And while we're on the Inflation Reduction Act, I just want to cover a little bit more about what's in there. There's a lot of things in there, ranges from alternative fuels to renewable energy, EVs, hydrogen, methane, emission reduction and carbon capture use and sequestration. But some of the things that impact us are the -- on federal land, oil and gas royalty rates increasing, increased minimum bid rates for leases, increases in annual rental rates, but not excessively, and increasing bond requirements, also offshore royalty rate increases. And one of the good things is that it does require oil and gas lease sales ahead of granting right of ways to wind and solar. It requires royalties in oil and gas produced, whatever it's used for, unless it's played for safety reasons or used for the benefit of the lease.

德文，我先開始，然後把它交給理查德。雖然我們正在製定《減少通貨膨脹法案》，但我只想多介紹一下其中的內容。那裡有很多東西，從替代燃料到可再生能源、電動汽車、氫氣、甲烷、減排和碳捕獲的使用和封存。但影響我們的一些事情是——聯邦土地、石油和天然氣特許權使用費率提高、租賃最低投標率提高、年租金提高但不過分，以及債券要求的增加，以及離岸特許權使用費率的提高.一件好事是，它確實需要在授予風能和太陽能使用權之前進行石油和天然氣租賃銷售。它要求對所生產的石油和天然氣收取特許權使用費，無論其用途如何，除非出於安全原因或出於租賃利益而使用。

But one of the interesting things about the act is that it reinstates the Lease Sale 257 from the Gulf of Mexico, in which we had gotten some key leases. And so that's really important for us as a company. The other thing is that it requires the resumption of the scheduled lease sales for the GoM from 2017 to 2022.

但該法案的一個有趣之處在於，它恢復了墨西哥灣的 257 號租賃，我們在其中獲得了一些關鍵租約。所以這對我們公司來說真的很重要。另一件事是，它需要從 2017 年到 2022 年恢復 GoM 的預定租賃銷售。

And with respect to carbon capture, which is probably the most impactful to us, is there are a lot of things around the enhancement to 45Q. And when you look at the Gulf of Mexico benefit to us and you look at the requirements for the methane emissions and emission reductions and that sort of thing, which are things we already were doing, this is turning into for us a net very positive bill should it get passed.

關於碳捕獲，這可能對我們影響最大，圍繞 45Q 的增強有很多事情。當你看到墨西哥灣對我們的好處時，你會看到甲烷排放和減排的要求以及諸如此類的事情，這些都是我們已經在做的事情，這對我們來說變成了一個非常積極的淨法案它應該通過嗎？

So I'll turn it over to Richard, so he can give you a little more color on what the CCUS enhancements are.

所以我會把它交給Richard，這樣他就可以為您提供更多關於CCUS 增強功能的信息。

Yes. Devin, let me start with just a few kind of progress points on both our direct air capture and CCUS, and then get a couple of specifics on, like Vicki said, how this can potentially help our development plans.

是的。德文，讓我從我們的直接空氣捕獲和 CCUS 的一些進展點開始，然後像 Vicki 所說的那樣獲得一些細節，這將如何潛在地幫助我們的發展計劃。

I think from direct air capture, the critical pieces are continuing to move well. I think from a technology and engineering standpoint, we were able to finish FEED. We're on track and plan to begin construction by the end of this year. And we're really taking that feed and working hard on putting together specific bid packages and being very thoughtful about the supply chain behind that as we go into the end of the year. So we're spending time with that.

我認為從直接空中捕獲來看，關鍵部分繼續順利移動。我認為從技術和工程的角度來看，我們能夠完成 FEED。我們正在按計劃進行，併計劃在今年年底前開始建設。我們真的在接受這些提要，並努力將具體的投標包放在一起，並在我們進入年底時對背後的供應鏈進行非常周到的考慮。所以我們花時間在這方面。

From a market support, continue to have very strong support from the carbon dioxide removals in terms of the sequestered CO2 offtakes. And so continue to see good movement on that. Obviously, the policy support couples with that to help really backstop our development plan. And then in terms of capitalization, as we continue to derisk, we are thoughtful on how to think about capitalization not only for Plant One but beyond and continue to see and know that those partnerships will be meaningful.

從市場支持來看，就封存的二氧化碳排放量而言，二氧化碳清除量繼續得到非常強大的支持。因此，繼續看到這方面的良好進展。顯然，政策支持與此相結合，有助於真正支持我們的發展計劃。然後在資本化方面，隨著我們繼續冒險，我們正在考慮如何不僅為一號工廠考慮資本化問題，而且繼續看到並知道這些合作夥伴關係將是有意義的。

And so really, on that piece, for the end of the year, again, looking to start construction, finish detailed engineering and then work our innovation work streams. We've got our innovation center with carbon engineering going, seeing really good progress there, lots of pieces in learning, again, for Plant One. But I think one of the things we picked up in that facility is really thinking about how do you continue to reduce the cost to capture for the life of a plant. And so it provides lots of opportunity for that.

所以真的，在那件作品上，在今年年底，再次開始建設，完成詳細的工程，然後開展我們的創新工作流程。我們的創新中心正在開展碳工程，在那裡看到了非常好的進展，還有很多學習內容，再一次，對於一號工廠。但我認為我們在該設施中獲得的其中一件事是真正考慮如何繼續降低植物生命週期內的捕獲成本。因此，它為此提供了很多機會。

Just briefly on the CCUS hubs, we continue on our 3 really focused areas on the Gulf Coast. We've been able to secure now over 100,000-acre target for space development. Very pleased with that. Lots of great engagement with emitters. And then we had the announcements, I think we picked up on the last quarter with our midstream partnerships to be able to retrofit or think about moving that CO2 efficiently within those hubs. So that goes well, expect more updates on both of those as we go into the year. Lots of dynamics, I'd say, over the last quarter. And so we'll put that into plans for 2023 and beyond that we'll communicate.

簡單介紹一下 CCUS 樞紐，我們將繼續關注墨西哥灣沿岸的 3 個真正重點領域。我們現在已經能夠獲得超過 100,000 英畝的空間開發目標。對此非常滿意。與發射器的大量互動。然後我們發布了公告，我認為我們在上個季度與我們的中游合作夥伴合作，以便能夠改造或考慮在這些樞紐內有效地轉移二氧化碳。所以一切順利，期待在我們進入這一年時對這兩個方面有更多的更新。我想說，上個季度有很多動態。因此，我們會將其納入 2023 年及以後的計劃中，我們將進行溝通。

So just lastly on the -- in terms of some of the policy that plays our way. I think for us, we think about that, we communicated it in our LCV update. It's really an acceleration capability for us. It gives certainty in some of the revenue to allow us to build this development, which is good because the important part of making this business work is really on us. We've got to improve the technology. We've got to lower the cost, and we've got to develop our manufacturing and project development success.

最後，就我們所採用的一些政策而言。我認為對我們來說，我們會考慮這一點，我們在 LCV 更新中傳達了這一點。這對我們來說確實是一種加速能力。它提供了一些收入的確定性，使我們能夠建立這種發展，這很好，因為使這項業務運作的重要部分真的在我們身上。我們必須改進技術。我們必須降低成本，我們必鬚髮展我們的製造和項目開發成功。

And so having certainty to be able to accelerate that development plan, we believe, allows us to reduce those costs quicker and it creates a sustainable business sooner. And so when you look at both a business and emissions reduction over the next several years, we think this could be complete very meaningful. Longer runway to be able to develop that scale is contemplated in the language. Obviously, increased value support, that aligns with a lot of CCUS work done collectively around the world to kind of pick what needs to happen to create this catalyst. And so very thoughtful alignment there.

因此，我們相信，確定能夠加速該發展計劃，可以讓我們更快地降低這些成本，並更快地創造一個可持續發展的業務。因此，當您同時考慮未來幾年的業務和減排時，我們認為這可能是非常有意義的。語言中考慮了能夠發展這種規模的更長跑道。顯然，增加了價值支持，這與世界各地共同完成的許多 CCUS 工作相一致，以挑選需要發生的事情來創造這種催化劑。那裡的調整非常周到。

And then the final thing is, I think, importantly, recognition for all sources. So point source from industrial or power sector emissions, but carbon removals and direct air capture specifically recognized. And then for the collective CCUS community, recognition of small and large sources, I think, is important. And so they were very inclusive to capture both the small and large. And that's good for us and what we're doing, but that's good for other developers. And so I think it really does create the economies of scale that we hope and plan for to make this commercially successful.

然後最後一件事是，我認為，重要的是，對所有來源的認可。因此，點源來自工業或電力部門的排放，但碳清除和直接空氣捕獲得到了特別認可。然後對於集體CCUS 社區，我認為對大小來源的認可很重要。所以他們非常包容地捕捉大小。這對我們和我們正在做的事情都有好處，但這對其他開發人員也有好處。因此，我認為它確實創造了我們希望併計劃實現的規模經濟，以使其在商業上取得成功。

And just to conclude on that, I'd say that the federal leasing, onshore, offshore, the methane emission reductions in carbon capture, while we talked about what it does for Oxy, this is very good for our industry. Lots of companies will benefit from this. It will provide jobs and it will help the country meet the goals that the President has set out for emission reduction.

總結一下，我想說聯邦租賃，陸上，海上，碳捕獲中的甲烷排放減少，而我們談到它對 Oxy 的作用，這對我們的行業非常有利。許多公司將從中受益。它將提供就業機會，並將幫助該國實現總統制定的減排目標。

A lot of positives to look forward to there. My second question is just on inflation. You mentioned in the prepared remarks that you've been able to take some steps to offset inflationary pressure. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more on the underlying inflationary trends and also the offset initiatives that you have in place?

有很多積極的地方值得期待。我的第二個問題只是關於通貨膨脹。你在準備好的評論中提到，你已經能夠採取一些措施來抵消通脹壓力。我想知道你是否可以多談談潛在的通脹趨勢以及你所採取的抵消舉措？

Yes. We had originally assumed $250 million for our 2020 -- based on our 2020 actuals, that incremental of $250 million this year. Our current assessment is $350 million to $450 million. And unfortunately, for Richard, it's all falling in his area. But they're dealing with it very well. I'll pass it to him to give you the details.

是的。我們最初假設 2020 年為 2.5 億美元——根據我們 2020 年的實際情況，今年增加了 2.5 億美元。我們目前的評估是 3.5 億至 4.5 億美元。不幸的是，對於理查德來說，這一切都在他的範圍內。但他們處理得很好。我會把它轉給他，讓他告訴你細節。

Yes. Perfect. Thanks, Vicki. Yes, just to walk through that, I mean, a couple of things. Certainly, we have seen that 7% to 10% incrementally for us this year. But in our base plan, we had assumed a 2% offset, and we're now up to 6%. And so part of our strategy, and I'll talk through a couple of pieces on this whole thing, was securing quality resources.

是的。完美的。謝謝，維姬。是的，我的意思是說幾件事。當然，今年我們已經看到了 7% 到 10% 的增量。但在我們的基本計劃中，我們假設了 2% 的抵消，現在我們達到了 6%。因此，我們戰略的一部分，我將通過幾個部分來討論整個事情，就是確保優質資源。

If we get into the production cadence for the second half of the year, that delivery schedule and performance is very important. And so working with the right vendors to secure that has been important for us. But let me just rattle off a few. Like most people, OCTG has seen some of the highest sort of inflationary pressures. We work with 1 key supplier and 1 distributor for that. And so when we think about sort of inflation, you think about what is the supply security and then what is the pricing. In the supply security, we feel good out a year and really have worked that hard over this year. Developing in core areas like we do gives us a lot of ability to do that. And in pricing, we secure out about 6 months. And so we feel good going into the end of the year and then into 2023, that we're timing that fairly well in terms of how that looks.

如果我們進入下半年的生產節奏，那麼交付時間表和性能非常重要。因此，與合適的供應商合作以確保這一點對我們來說很重要。但是，讓我簡單地說幾句。像大多數人一樣，OCTG 經歷了一些最高的通脹壓力。為此，我們與 1 家主要供應商和 1 家分銷商合作。因此，當我們考慮某種通貨膨脹時，您會考慮什麼是供應安全，然後是定價。在供應安全方面，我們一年感覺很好，今年真的很努力。像我們一樣在核心領域進行開發使我們有很多能力做到這一點。在定價方面，我們保證了大約 6 個月的時間。所以我們感覺很好，進入今年年底，然後進入 2023 年，我們的時間安排得相當好。

Rigs and frac core, as I mentioned earlier, securing some of those operated resources. Shifting the OBO dollars allowed us to get in front of that and get, again, the right rigs and frac cores for that. We're contracted with a little over 50% of our rigs through the first part of next year. And our frac core's similar as we look out. And so feel good about that, but we've really narrowed again to the core frac and rig providers that we feel like can secure performance.

正如我之前提到的，鑽機和壓裂核心保護了其中一些運營資源。轉移 OBO 資金讓我們能夠走在前面，並再次為此獲得正確的鑽機和壓裂岩芯。到明年上半年，我們與 50% 以上的鑽井平台簽訂了合同。我們的壓裂核心與我們所看到的相似。所以對此感覺很好，但我們真的再次縮小到我們認為可以確保性能的核心壓裂和鑽機供應商。

And then finally saying, again, we've worked a lot on that. I think, one, we've gone to more integrated frac providers, and they continue to help us on logistics and sand supply. But then our sand supplier, our logistics facility in Aventine has allowed us to get ahead on that. And so we feel like supply is secured, and most of our price is secured through the second half of the year. So those have been the big areas that have moved up for us. It has definitely been drilling and completion focused facilities has seen a lot less, 5% OpEx, a lot less as well. So hopefully, that provides some detail in terms of what we've been doing.

最後再說一遍，我們在這方面做了很多工作。我認為，一，我們已經找到了更綜合的壓裂供應商，他們繼續在物流和沙子供應方面為我們提供幫助。但是後來我們的沙子供應商，我們在 Aventine 的物流設施使我們能夠在這方面取得領先。所以我們覺得供應是有保障的，我們的大部分價格在下半年都有保障。因此，這些都是為我們提升的大領域。以鑽井和完井為重點的設施肯定少了很多，運營支出為 5%，也少了很多。所以希望這能提供一些關於我們一直在做的事情的細節。

The next question comes from Doug Leggate from Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Doug Leggate。

Vicki or Rob, I wonder if I could go back to the discussion around potentially being a bit more aggressive than a $4 cash return in 2023? And I guess my question is, where do you see the, I guess, the flexibility regarding trying to pay down the preference burden, I guess, the $10 billion, versus continuing to pay down debt? What's the trade-off between those 2, if you could try and frame it for us? I guess I'm trying to understand how much more than $4 per share you'd be prepared to go?

Vicki 或 Rob，我想知道我是否可以回到關於 2023 年可能比 4 美元現金回報更具侵略性的討論？而且我想我的問題是，我想，在嘗試償還優先權負擔（我猜是 100 億美元）與繼續償還債務方面，您在哪裡看到了靈活性？如果您可以嘗試為我們構建它，那麼這兩者之間的權衡是什麼？我想我想知道你準備好多少超過每股 4 美元？

Doug, it really depends on the macro. Right now, we're really trying to -- we can't even forecast from 1 hour to the next or even 1 minute to the next what prices are going to be. So a lot of our strategy around the preferred would depend on the macro because of -- as you know, the terms of the deal are challenging if not planned out in a way that enables you to take advantage of the trigger point. So currently, we're really trying to assess what the macro will look like, and we're going to be prepared to make the best value decision, whether that's continued debt reduction along with preferred and along with common.

道格，這真的取決於宏觀。現在，我們真的在努力——我們甚至無法預測從 1 小時到下一個甚至 1 分鐘到下一個價格將是多少。因此，我們圍繞首選的許多策略將取決於宏觀，因為-如您所知，如果沒有以使您能夠利用觸發點的方式進行計劃，交易條款將具有挑戰性。因此，目前，我們真的在努力評估宏觀的情況，我們將準備做出最有價值的決定，無論是繼續減債、優先減債還是普通減債。

But right now, the reality is that from our capital framework, we have always had a priority to reduce debt. We'll continue to do that. And we'll do that at a faster pace than the maturities. We just don't know how fast we'll do it. And with respect to the preferred, it really depends on what we see getting through the end of this year and looking into next year what the macro will be, whether the recession, if there is one, will be short or long or deep, and what the other opportunities may look like from a debt perspective, and that could depend on what inflation does.

但現在，現實情況是，從我們的資本框架來看，我們一直優先考慮減少債務。我們將繼續這樣做。我們將以比到期更快的速度做到這一點。我們只是不知道我們能做到多快。至於首選，這真的取決於我們在今年年底看到的情況以及對明年宏觀情況的展望，經濟衰退（如果有的話）是短的還是長的還是深度的，以及從債務的角度來看，其他機會可能是什麼樣的，這可能取決於通貨膨脹的影響。

I appreciate the answer, Vicki. And I'm going to stay with you, if I may, as a quick follow-up. So before things got crazy over the last couple of years, you had talked about low single-digit growth in production. And of course, the priorities all changed with the balance sheet. So as you kind of get line of sight to the balance sheet and back to perhaps where you want it to be, what are you thinking now in terms of what happens to the growth element of prioritizing in terms of where you relatively prioritize capital? And I'll leave it there.

我很欣賞這個答案，維姬。如果可以的話，我會留在你身邊，作為快速跟進。因此，在過去幾年事情變得瘋狂之前，您曾談到生產的低個位數增長。當然，優先事項都隨著資產負債表而改變。因此，當您看到資產負債表並回到您想要的位置時，您現在如何考慮在您相對優先考慮資本的地方優先考慮的增長要素會發生什麼？我會把它留在那裡。

Well, the good thing is what we see that we have today is a great opportunity, and that is that we don't have to grow our cash flow right now. And we have an opportunity because of the valuation of our stock right now to continue to make that a key part of our value proposition going forward. We'll do a little bit of dividend increase. We'll certainly mature our debt faster than what the current schedule is in terms of maturities because we want to accelerate that. But we'll also buy back a significant volume of shares, or at least we hope to over the next few years. And we don't feel the need to grow production until we get beyond that point because we feel like one of the best values right now is investment in our own stock.

好吧，好消息是我們看到我們今天擁有的是一個很好的機會，那就是我們現在不必增加我們的現金流。由於我們現在的股票估值，我們有機會繼續將其作為我們未來價值主張的關鍵部分。我們會增加一點股息。我們肯定會比目前的到期時間表更快地到期我們的債務，因為我們希望加快這一進程。但我們也會回購大量股票，或者至少我們希望在未來幾年內回購。在我們超越這一點之前，我們並不覺得有必要增加產量，因為我們覺得現在最好的價值之一就是投資我們自己的股票。

The next question comes from Neal Dingmann from Truist.

下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Neal Dingmann。

Vicki, maybe just to follow on that last one. On M&A, are you saying that sort of given the current upstream, midstream OxyChem, you'll likely stand pat with either you don't really obviously need to divest anything and still the best spend on the money is in livestock, would it be fair to say the biggest M&A might be coming from the low carbon area?

Vicki，也許只是為了跟進最後一個。關於併購，你是說考慮到當前的上游、中游 OxyChem，你可能會接受要么你真的不需要剝離任何東西，而且最好的錢花在牲畜上，會不會是這樣？公平地說，最大的併購可能來自低碳領域？

Yes, I think that the only M&A that we see that would make sense for us is what we have been doing, and that's just to get bigger in the areas that we are. So increasing our working interest and/or trading acres for bolt-ons to where we are right now in the resources business and in the EOR business. So we have opportunities to do that. We picked up a little bit offshore. So that's -- those are the kind of M&A.

是的，我認為我們看到的唯一對我們有意義的併購就是我們一直在做的事情，而這只是為了在我們所在的領域變得更大。因此，增加我們的工作興趣和/或交易面積，以補充我們目前在資源業務和 EOR 業務中的位置。所以我們有機會這樣做。我們在海上撿了一點。這就是——那些是併購的類型。

So we're not talking big M&A here. That's not something that we feel like we need to do. But with respect to low carbon ventures, that is a bit of a different story because we're growing a business there. And the -- what we're doing there is looking for technologies that fit within our strategy and that support our strategy. We're not going to take the shotgun approach, where we're putting dollars into 100 different little small tech companies. We're looking for technologies that make our strategy better. And where we find those, we're going to make equity investments when we feel it's a part of what we want to build ultimately.

所以我們在這裡不是在談論大併購。這不是我們覺得我們需要做的事情。但就低碳企業而言，情況有點不同，因為我們正在那裡發展業務。而且 - 我們在那裡所做的是尋找適合我們戰略並支持我們戰略的技術。我們不會採取霰彈槍的方式，我們將資金投入 100 家不同的小型科技公司。我們正在尋找使我們的戰略更好的技術。在我們找到這些的地方，當我們認為這是我們最終想要建立的東西的一部分時，我們將進行股權投資。

I think the team has spent with just about $200 million, they have gotten us into 2 technologies I really think are revolutionary. One is NetPower, which generates electricity at a fairly low cost, lower than a traditional gas plant with carbon capture. So this -- NetPower technology generates electricity, but also captures the emissions. So there are no emissions and no volatile organics or anything like that. So NetPower is really important for us.

我認為團隊只花了大約 2 億美元，他們讓我們接觸到了兩種我認為是革命性的技術。一個是 NetPower，它以相當低的成本發電，低於具有碳捕獲功能的傳統天然氣發電廠。所以這 -- NetPower 技術產生電力，但也捕獲排放。所以沒有排放，也沒有揮發性有機物或類似的東西。所以 NetPower 對我們來說真的很重要。

And then direct air capture. Back to NetPower, it's going to be revolutionary, I believe, for the electric power generation industry around the world. So that's the technology that's critically important. Direct air capture is, too. And we're looking at some other technologies. There are a few things that we're putting money into that we believe has a real chance to improve our business. And those are -- that's the way we kind of look at investments and low carbon opportunities.

然後直接空氣捕獲。回到 NetPower，我相信，對於全球發電行業來說，這將是革命性的。這就是至關重要的技術。直接空氣捕獲也是如此。我們正在研究其他一些技術。我們正在投入一些資金，我們認為這些事情確實有機會改善我們的業務。這些就是——這就是我們看待投資和低碳機會的方式。

Okay. And then one last for either Robert or Jeff maybe. Just on the preferred, has there been any conversation about maybe just direct repurchase of those given obviously the same firm mind. Obviously, a lot of equity in the company. I'm just wondering, is there -- or is that just going to be sort of, I guess, buying back as you would your debt and all?

好的。然後可能是羅伯特或傑夫的最後一個。就首選而言，是否有任何關於可能只是直接回購那些顯然具有相同堅定態度的人的對話。很明顯，公司有很多股權。我只是想知道，是否存在 - 或者我猜這只是有點像你的債務和所有東西一樣回購？

It's really going to be a part of a more comprehensive evaluation as we go forward. So we'll look at that as time passes, and we'll certainly keep you guys updated. But what we intend to do is make the best value decision and proceed with the capital framework that we've laid out.

隨著我們的前進，這確實將成為更全面評估的一部分。因此，隨著時間的推移，我們會關注這一點，我們一定會及時通知你們。但我們打算做的是做出最佳價值決策，並繼續我們制定的資本框架。

The next question comes from Jeanine Wai from Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊的 Jeanine Wai。

Our first question, I guess, maybe heading back on cash returns and a follow-up to a couple of the other questions. The plan for 2023-plus now is to retire debt maturities as they come due. We're looking at your debt schedule, and there's really nothing more than like $2 billion coming due in any one year, so super manageable until 2030. You've got cash building on our model to, call it, like $12 billion on strip by the end of the year. So lots of options. You had some helpful comments on the macro governors on how you're going to allocate capital over the next year or 2. Do you have an updated view on your reserve cash level? We realize there's a lot of reasons to hold cash above that, but that's always a helpful number for us.

我想，我們的第一個問題可能是現金回報和其他幾個問題的後續問題。現在的 2023 年及以上計劃是在到期債務到期時將其退還。我們正在查看您的債務時間表，實際上任何一年都不會超過 20 億美元，因此在 2030 年之前非常易於管理。您已經在我們的模型上積累了現金，稱之為 120 億美元到今年年底。這麼多選擇。您對宏觀調控者提出了一些有用的評論，說明您將如何在未來一兩年分配資本。您對儲備現金水平有更新的看法嗎？我們意識到有很多理由持有高於此金額的現金，但這對我們來說始終是一個有用的數字。

Yes. Before I pass that to Rob for the answer to that question, I just want to say that you're right about our debt maturities. So we expect this year to be able to lower our debt based on what we see from the macro by another $2 billion to $2.5 billion, which would get us close to $18 billion. Then to get us down to the $15 billion that Rob mentioned in his script is that we would have -- those maturities would come due, all of them, before August, end of August of 2025. We don't want to wait 3 years to get our debt down to $15 billion. So we would expect to, assuming the macro allows, to cut that considerably. We do want to get to the $15 billion sooner rather than later. So we'll fit that in. And that is still a priority for us. I'll pass it to Rob now for the other question.

是的。在我將其傳遞給 Rob 以回答該問題之前，我只想說您對我們的債務到期日的看法是正確的。因此，我們預計今年能夠根據我們從宏觀上看到的情況將我們的債務再降低 20 億至 25 億美元，這將使我們接近 180 億美元。然後，為了讓我們降到 Rob 在他的劇本中提到的 150 億美元，我們將擁有這些到期日，所有到期日都將在 2025 年 8 月下旬之前到期。我們不想等待 3 年將我們的債務降至 150 億美元。因此，假設宏觀允許，我們希望大幅削減。我們確實希望盡快達到 150 億美元。所以我們會適應它。這仍然是我們的首要任務。我現在將它傳遞給 Rob 來回答另一個問題。

Yes, Jeanine. And so certainly based on what Vicki just said and the fact we'll target, we should be able to do well beyond $1.9 billion that we have for the balance of the year on the share repurchase program, assuming the macro is consistent or relatively consistent to the strip prices right now. And part of targeting that will be some of the maturities you listed off. So -- but we've been able to opportunistically balance between short- and long-term debt maturities. As we move on year-to-date, it's about 45%. In the current decade, about 55% later in the [date] (inaudible). And so we continue to be opportunistic between knocking out near-term maturities, including ones that are higher interest rate coupon ones now because of the way they've come down with interest rates, but also achieving discount on longer-dated bonds. So you can expect that mix to stay together.

是的，珍妮。因此，當然根據 Vicki 剛才所說的以及我們的目標事實，假設宏觀是一致的或相對一致的，我們應該能夠在今年餘下的 19 億美元的股票回購計劃中做得很好到現在的帶鋼價格。目標的一部分將是您列出的一些到期日。所以 - 但我們已經能夠在短期和長期債務到期之間進行機會平衡。年初至今，這一比例約為 45%。在當前十年中，大約 55% 在 [日期] 之後（聽不清）。因此，我們繼續在淘汰近期到期的債券（包括那些現在因為利率下降的方式而具有較高息票利率的債券）和實現較長期債券的折扣之間保持機會主義。所以你可以期待這種組合保持在一起。

As far as cash reserves, certainly with a very manageable debt maturity profile, we've been holding higher cash levels historically. We ended last year about $2.5 billion. I think we'd be comfortable with something closer to $1.5 billion by the end of this year, providing another certainly $1 billion of cash to work with this year just from the reduction on reserves.

就現金儲備而言，當然還有非常易於管理的債務到期情況，我們在歷史上一直持有較高的現金水平。我們去年結束了大約 25 億美元。我認為，到今年年底，我們會接受接近 15 億美元的資金，僅通過減少準備金，今年就可以再提供 10 億美元的現金。

Okay. Great. That's very helpful. Maybe if we could turn to operations and the Permian. You probably provided some really helpful color on the Q3 Permian guide in your prepared remarks. And the implied 4Q Permian guidance calls for, I think we calculated 12% increase quarter-on-quarter to hit the midpoint. And it sounds like from your comments, there are some third-party stuff that's going on that may come back online in Q4, which will help. But any comments that you have around kind of how you try to stack the deck in your favor on execution in Q4 in the Permian, that would be really helpful just because I think a lot of people are looking at the Permian at the end of the year and trying to figure out implications for next year.

好的。偉大的。這很有幫助。也許我們可以轉向運營和二疊紀。您可能在準備好的評論中為 Q3 二疊紀指南提供了一些非常有用的顏色。而隱含的四季度二疊紀指導要求，我認為我們計算出環比增長 12% 以達到中點。從您的評論中聽起來，有些第三方正在發生的事情可能會在第四季度重新上線，這將有所幫助。但是你有任何關於你如何在二疊紀第四季度的執行中嘗試堆疊甲板的評論，這將非常有幫助，因為我認為很多人在二疊紀結束時都在關註二疊紀年，並試圖找出對明年的影響。

Yes. I appreciate it. Well, there are a few pieces. You're exactly right was we thought about sort of this building security in our production delivery for the year. There are several pieces that were important to us. If I go back even to where we started and entered the year from a rig count perspective, we've added -- if you go back to second half of '21, we went from about 11.5 rigs to the first half of this year over 15, to second half of the year at 19. And so being able to secure those operated rigs early to get the performance was really important to us.

是的。我很感激。嗯，有幾塊。你說得對，我們在今年的生產交付中考慮了這種建築安全。有幾件對我們很重要。如果我從鑽機數量的角度回到我們開始並進入這一年的地方，我們已經補充說——如果你回到 21 年下半年，我們從大約 11.5 台鑽機到今年上半年15 歲，到下半年 19 歲。因此，能夠及早保護那些操作的鑽機以獲得性能對我們來說非常重要。

So same thing in the back half of this year. If I look at first half versus second half, we look to add about 78 more wells online compared to the first half. So a tremendous step-up in activity. We're able to utilize our frac cores more efficiently with the development plans that we've put together. We're adding 1 additional in the second half of this year, but we're really creating much more smooth operations with what we've done and transition with that OBO capital.

今年下半年也是如此。如果我看上半年與下半年相比，我們希望與上半年相比在線增加約 78 口井。因此，活動的巨大進步。通過我們制定的開發計劃，我們能夠更有效地利用我們的壓裂岩芯。我們將在今年下半年再增加 1 個，但我們確實在利用我們所做的工作和利用 OBO 資本進行過渡來創造更加順暢的運營。

And I guess the pieces I'd point to, what's been important to us operationally is, again, back to performance. Most of the capital for the second half of the year and the production deliveries in the Delaware, we have about 80% of those wells that are coming online are Third Bone Springs to Wolfcamp A. So it derisks a lot in terms of that production delivery. We've added lateral length. We're 1,000-foot longer compared to last year to when we look at the second half of this year.

而且我想我要指出的部分，對我們來說在操作上很重要的是，再次回到性能。今年下半年的大部分資金和特拉華州的生產交付，我們有大約 80% 的即將上線的油井是第三骨泉到 Wolfcamp A。所以它在生產交付方面風險很大.我們增加了橫向長度。與今年下半年相比，我們比去年長了 1000 英尺。

Our 24-hour IP is about 14% better than the first half of last year. And so all of that has added in terms of derisking the second half of the year. Drilling completion efficiencies improved. Our feet per day is up quarter-to-quarter about 10%. Our nonproductive time is reduced about 7% in the Delaware. And so what we've seen as we've added these rigs, we've been able to work as an operational team, the performance continues to improve. And we're looking at the second half of the year expecting about a 10% time-to-market improvement with those operations. So put a lot of pieces in place in the first half of this year, now we just need to go execute. But really, the plan has been built to achieve that production growth you noted, and we're well on our way.

我們的 24 小時 IP 比去年上半年好 14% 左右。因此，所有這些都增加了下半年的風險。鑽井完井效率提高。我們每天的腳每季度增長約 10%。我們在特拉華州的非生產時間減少了約 7%。因此，我們在添加這些鑽機時所看到的，我們已經能夠作為一個運營團隊工作，性能繼續提高。我們正在關註今年下半年，預計這些業務的上市時間將縮短 10%。所以今年上半年放了很多東西，現在我們只需要執行。但實際上，該計劃旨在實現您提到的產量增長，我們正在順利進行。

The final question comes from Neil Mehta from Goldman Sachs.

最後一個問題來自高盛的 Neil Mehta。

The first question is just the path to investment grade. Can you provide any color in terms of the milestones that you're getting to in order to achieve that? How are -- how should the investment community think about timing recognizing it's out of your control? And what would getting to investment grade mean to your business?

第一個問題只是投資等級的路徑。你能提供任何顏色來說明你要達到的里程碑嗎？投資界應該如何考慮時機，認識到它超出了你的控制範圍？獲得投資級別對您的業務意味著什麼？

Yes, Neil. Sure. So year-to-date, as we mentioned, we paid $8.1 billion of debt, certainly far beyond the $5 billion initial target we established for the year. And included in that, in the second quarter, we knocked out [60%] of what I would call the annual risk associated with our 0 coupon bonds. That was occurring every October. If you look back to July of last year -- or June of last year, we retired almost $15 billion of debt. So very meaningful progress on the debt reduction side of it.

是的，尼爾。當然。因此，正如我們所提到的，今年迄今為止，我們償還了 81 億美元的債務，當然遠遠超出了我們當年設定的 50 億美元的初始目標。其中包括，在第二季度，我們消除了 [60%] 我稱之為與我們的 0 息債券相關的年度風險。每年十月都會發生這種情況。如果你回顧去年 7 月——或去年 6 月，我們償還了近 150 億美元的債務。所以在減債方面取得了非常有意義的進展。

But in addition to the debt reduction, all 3 agencies have their own other metrics. I'll call them, the [return IG]. And so they're all sitting, as we discussed, 1 notch below. Our forecast that we have internally have us exceeding the majority of these criteria before the end of the year or, in many cases, we're actually ahead of now on the last 12-month basis. But the conversation we've been having with the agencies would suggest, I just want you to get more comfortable, that in a different oil price environment, and all of the agencies have long-term oil prices well below current oil prices, that they would be comfortable that we would not slip back into being a high-yield type credit.

但除了債務減少之外，這三個機構都有自己的其他指標。我會打電話給他們，[返回 IG]。正如我們所討論的，他們都坐在下方 1 個檔位。我們的預測是，我們內部有我們在今年年底之前超過了這些標準中的大多數，或者在許多情況下，我們實際上在過去 12 個月的基礎上超過了現在。但我們一直在與這些機構進行的對話表明，我只是想讓你更舒服，在不同的油價環境中，所有機構的長期油價都遠低於當前油價，他們如果我們不會重新成為高收益類型的信貸，那會很舒服。

But again, like I said, take something like Moody's, for example, they want to look at retained cash flow to adjusted debt to be greater than 40% and essentially the retained cash flow exclusive preferred dividends. But the adjusted debt does include half of the Berkshire. So the Berkshire does factor into that. And so we're well ahead of that forecast. And even we're adjusting for Moody's price forecast relative to ours.

但是，就像我說的那樣，以穆迪為例，他們希望看到調整後債務的保留現金流量大於 40%，並且基本上保留現金流量不包括優先股股息。但調整後的債務確實包括伯克希爾的一半。所以伯克希爾確實考慮到了這一點。所以我們遠遠超過了這個預測。甚至我們也在調整穆迪相對於我們的價格預測。

And in the case of Fitch, I'll give you an example. They also look at our sort of mid-cycle funds flow from operation it just covered [supposed] 5.5x. The preferred is excluded from the funds flow, but it's included in interest expense. We're going to be well over 5.5x certainly this year by year-end. And so I think on a lot of these statistics, we are passing through these very rapidly, probably much more -- certainly rapidly than we suspected or the agencies suspected. We're having very constructive conversations with them and making sure that the decisions we're making are contributing towards that.

在惠譽的情況下，我會給你一個例子。他們還研究了我們剛剛覆蓋 [假設] 5.5 倍的運營中的周期中期資金流。優先股不包括在資金流中，但包含在利息費用中。今年到年底，我們肯定會超過 5.5 倍。所以我認為在很多這些統計數據中，我們正在非常迅速地通過這些數據，可能比我們懷疑或機構懷疑的要快得多。我們正在與他們進行非常有建設性的對話，並確保我們所做的決定有助於實現這一目標。

As you said, we don't have ultimate control over when that occurs, but comfortably looking at all of the various metrics that they've thrown at us relative to our financial policy and metrics. I feel confident that we would be in good stead with all those toward the end of the year. We have a gap with S&P's expectations on reported debt, but that's really the only one that we're going to have a significant gap in right now. But certainly with Fitch and Moody's, I'm confidence on those 2 agencies that what they've laid out for us explicitly on terms of metrics, that we can meet this before the end of the year.

正如您所說，我們無法最終控制何時發生這種情況，但可以輕鬆地查看他們向我們提出的與我們的財務政策和指標相關的所有各種指標。我相信我們會在年底前與所有這些人相處得很好。我們與標準普爾對報告債務的預期存在差距，但這確實是我們目前唯一存在重大差距的地方。但對於惠譽和穆迪來說，我對這兩家機構充滿信心，他們在指標方面明確為我們制定的內容，我們可以在今年年底之前實現這一目標。

In the interest of time, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Vicki Hollub for any closing remarks.

由於時間關係，我們的問答環節到此結束。我想把會議轉回給 Vicki Hollub 做閉幕詞。

Just want to thank you all for your participation in our call today, and have a good day. Thanks.

只想感謝大家今天參加我們的電話會議，祝您有美好的一天。謝謝。

Conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。