西方石油 (OXY) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to Occidental's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

下午好，歡迎參加西方石油公司 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Neil Backhouse, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁尼爾·巴克豪斯 (Neil Backhouse)。請繼續。

Thank you, Drew. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in Occidental's Second Quarter 2023 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，德魯。大家下午好，感謝您參加西方石油公司 2023 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；羅布·彼得森，高級副總裁兼首席財務官；理查德·傑克遜（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. We'll also reference a few non-GAAP financial measures today. Reconciliations to the nearest corresponding GAAP measure can be found in the schedules to our earnings release and on our website.

今天下午，我們將參考我們網站投資者部分提供的幻燈片。該演示文稿在幻燈片 2 上包含了有關今天下午電話會議上將做出的前瞻性陳述的警告聲明。今天我們還將參考一些非公認會計準則財務指標。您可以在我們的收益發佈時間表和我們的網站上找到與最接近的相應 GAAP 衡量標準的調節表。

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

我現在將電話轉給 Vicki。維琪，請繼續。

Thank you, Neil, and good afternoon, everyone. There are 3 things I'd like to drive home today. First, our portfolio of assets continue to set the table for record results. Second, our teams outperformed last quarter's and last year's excellent operational metrics. And I want to make sure our investors see how that flows to the bottom line. Third, our strategic and operational improvements continue to support our ability to take actions to drive even better shareholder returns.

謝謝尼爾，大家下午好。今天我想開車回家有三件事。首先，我們的資產組合繼續創造創紀錄的業績。其次，我們的團隊表現優於上季度和去年的出色運營指標。我想確保我們的投資者了解這如何影響利潤。第三，我們的戰略和運營改進繼續支持我們採取行動推動更好的股東回報的能力。

I'll begin with the portfolio. We had the highest quality and most complementary assets that Oxy's ever had. They are a unique blend of short-cycle, high-return shale assets in the Permian and the Rockies along with lower decline, solid return conventional reservoirs in the Permian, GoM and our international assets. 60% of our oil and gas production is from shale reservoirs and 40% from conventional. More than 80% of our production is in the United States. The international oil and gas assets that we operate are in only 3 countries, Oman, Abu Dhabi and Algeria. Our worldwide full year 2023 production mix is expected to be approximately 53% oil, 22% NGLs and 25% gas and 70% of the gas is in the United States.

我將從作品集開始。我們擁有 Oxy 所擁有的最高質量和最具互補性的資產。它們是二疊紀和落基山脈的短週期、高回報頁岩資產以及二疊紀、墨西哥灣低遞減、穩定回報的常規油藏和我們的國際資產的獨特組合。我們 60% 的石油和天然氣產量來自頁岩油藏，40% 來自常規油氣藏。我們 80% 以上的生產都在美國進行。我們經營的國際石油和天然氣資產僅分佈在阿曼、阿布扎比和阿爾及利亞這三個國家。到 2023 年，我們的全球全年生產結構預計將約為 53% 石油、22% 液化天然氣和 25% 天然氣，其中 70% 的天然氣產自美國。

Our conventional oil and gas assets, along with OxyChem provides support during low price cycles while the shale assets provide the opportunity for growth during moderate and high price cycles, and the flexibility to adjust activity levels quickly if needed. This combination of assets has generated record cash flows for Oxy over the last couple of years versus the cash flow generated by the portfolio that we previously had in a similar price environment from 2011 to 2014. The midstream business provides flow assurance and has done so with exceptional performance during catastrophes and emergencies. The low carbon ventures business will help Oxy and others decarbonize at scale in a way that provides incremental value to our shareholders. To summarize, we have a deep and diverse portfolio, providing the cash flow resilience and sustainability necessary to support our shareholder return framework throughout the commodity cycles.

我們的傳統石油和天然氣資產以及 OxyChem 在低價週期提供支持，而頁岩資產在中等和高價格週期提供增長機會，以及在需要時快速調整活動水平的靈活性。與我們之前在2011 年至2014 年類似價格環境下的投資組合所產生的現金流量相比，這種資產組合在過去幾年中為Oxy 創造了創紀錄的現金流量。中游業務提供了流量保證，並通過以下方式實現了這一點：在災難和緊急情況下表現出色。低碳企業業務將幫助 Oxy 和其他公司大規模脫碳，為我們的股東提供增量價值。總而言之，我們擁有深入而多樣化的投資組合，提供了在整個商品週期中支持我們的股東回報框架所需的現金流彈性和可持續性。

Let's shift now to operational excellence. Strong second quarter operational performance exceeded the midpoint of our production guidance by 42,000 BOE per day, enabling us to again raise full year production guidance. In the Rockies, outperformance was driven by improved base production and new well performance, along with higher-than-expected nonoperated volumes and the receipt of accumulated royalties. Our Rockies teams drilled 32% faster on a foot per day basis than they did in the first quarter. The team's diligent work set several new Oxy records, including company-wide record of drilling over 10,400 feet of lateral in only 24 hours. Just 10 years ago, it took the industry an average of 15 days to drill 10,400 feet.

現在讓我們轉向卓越運營。第二季度強勁的運營業績超出了我們每日產量指導值的中點 42,000 桶油當量，使我們能夠再次提高全年產量指導值。在落基山脈，業績優異的原因是基礎產量的提高和新油井的表現，以及高於預期的非作業量和累計特許權使用費的收入。我們的落基山脈團隊每天的鑽探速度比第一季度快了 32%。該團隊的勤奮工作創造了 Oxy 的多項新記錄，包括僅 24 小時內鑽探超過 10,400 英尺橫向鑽探的全公司記錄。就在 10 年前，該行業平均需要 15 天才能鑽探 10,400 英尺。

Our Permian production delivered higher operability and better-than-expected new well performance, particularly in our 2 new drilling space units in New Mexico, top spot and precious. Our Delaware completions team shattered Oxy's previous record for continuous frac pumping time by nearly 12 hours for a total of 40 hours and 49 minutes. Four years ago, the same job would have taken about 84 hours. 40 hours back then was unthinkable, but our teams have made this a reality. We expect that the efficiencies generated by advancements in drilling and completions pumping will result in lower cost and reduce time to market.

我們的二疊紀生產提供了更高的可操作性和優於預期的新井性能，特別是在我們位於新墨西哥州的兩個新鑽井空間單位中，位居榜首且珍貴。我們的特拉華完井團隊將 Oxy 之前的連續壓裂泵送時間記錄縮短了近 12 小時，總計 40 小時 49 分鐘。四年前，同樣的工作大約需要 84 小時。 40 個小時在當時是不可想像的，但我們的團隊讓這成為了現實。我們預計，鑽井和完井泵送技術進步所帶來的效率將降低成本並縮短上市時間。

Offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, we safely completed seasonal maintenance activities focused on asset integrity and longevity. Excluding the impact of this planned maintenance, we delivered higher base production and benefited from improved uptime performance across multiple platforms. Internationally, our teams continued to deliver strong results. The Al Hosn expansion came online 2 months earlier than planned, as a result of great teamwork with our partner, ADNOC. This means that together, we have now successfully expanded the plan in stages from 1 Bcf a day to 1.45 Bcf a day or a very small incremental capital investment.

在墨西哥灣近海，我們安全地完成了注重資產完整性和壽命的季節性維護活動。排除此次計劃維護的影響，我們實現了更高的基礎產量，並受益於跨多個平台的正常運行時間性能的提高。在國際上，我們的團隊繼續取得優異的成績。由於與我們的合作夥伴 ADNOC 的良好團隊合作，Al Hosn 擴建項目比計劃提前 2 個月投入使用。這意味著，我們現在已經成功地將該計劃從每天 1 Bcf 擴大到每天 1.45 Bcf，或者說增量資本投資非常小。

In Oman Block 65, we drilled a near-field exploration well, which delivered 6,000 BOE per day and a 24-hour initial production test, and it is now on production to sales in less than a month from completion. This was our highest Oman initial production test in the decade, and we continue to show the benefits of our subsurface characterization techniques worldwide. We were awarded the block in 2019 and in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, we are positive about opportunities in the country where we are the largest independent producer. OxyChem also outperformed during the second quarter due to greater-than-expected resilience in the price of caustic soda and reductions in feedstock prices. OxyChem is one of our valuable differentiators. It provides rich diversification to our high-quality asset portfolio by consistently generating quarterly free cash flow which provides a balance of our oil and gas business throughout the commodity cycle.

在阿曼65區塊，我們鑽了一口近田探井，日產量6000桶油當量，並進行了24小時的初步生產測試，目前建成後不到一個月就實現了生產銷售。這是我們十年來最高的阿曼初始生產測試，我們將繼續在全球範圍內展示我們的地下表徵技術的優勢。我們於 2019 年獲得了該區塊，並與能源部合作，我們對這個國家的機會持積極態度，我們是最大的獨立生產商。由於燒鹼價格的彈性超出預期以及原料價格的下降，OxyChem 在第二季度的表現也優於預期。 OxyChem 是我們寶貴的差異化因素之一。它通過持續產生季度自由現金流，為我們的優質資產組合提供豐富的多元化，從而在整個商品週期中保持我們的石油和天然氣業務的平衡。

Now I'd like to talk about how our focus on operational excellence is enhancing our portfolio and extending our sustainability to maximize near- and long-term shareholder returns. Oxy's wells are getting stronger and are supported by our deep inventory, which continues to get better. In the Permian, we have improved well productivity in 7 of the last 8 years. And with the application of our proprietary subsurface modeling, we're starting to see the same results in the DJ Basin, where improved well designs have delivered reserves at roughly 20% less cost. The improved well design has resulted in about 25% improvement in single well 12-month cumulative volumes over the last 5 years. And we are on pace to significantly exceed that rate in 2023.

現在我想談談我們對卓越運營的關注如何增強我們的投資組合併擴展我們的可持續性，以最大限度地提高近期和長期股東回報。 Oxy 的油井正在變得越來越強大，並得到我們豐富的庫存的支持，而且庫存還在繼續改善。在二疊紀，我們在過去 8 年中有 7 年提高了油井產能。通過應用我們專有的地下建模，我們開始在 DJ 盆地看到相同的結果，改進的井設計已以大約 20% 的成本降低了儲量。改進的井設計使過去 5 年單井 12 個月累計產量提高了約 25%。我們有望在 2023 年大幅超過這一速度。

In addition, our teams are continuing to advance our modeling expertise, which has led to upgrades of secondary benches to top-tier performers. This was the key for our -- sorry, 212% U.S. organic reserves replacement ratio last year. Let me try to make that point again. Last year, because of these upgrades to our secondary benches to our top-tier benches, we were actually able to replace our production by 212% with reserve adds. Secondary bench upgrades are progressing in 2023. Overall, in 10 of the last 12 years, we have replaced 150% to 230% of our annual production. The only exceptions being in 2015 with a price downturn in 2020 with a pandemic.

此外，我們的團隊正在繼續提高我們的建模專業知識，這導致二級工作台升級為頂級表演者。這是我們——抱歉，去年美國有機儲量替代率為 212% 的關鍵。讓我再次嘗試闡述這一點。去年，由於我們的二級工作台升級為頂級工作台，我們實際上能夠通過增加儲備來替代 212% 的產量。二級工作台升級將於 2023 年取得進展。總體而言，在過去 12 年中的 10 年中，我們更換了年產量的 150% 至 230%。唯一的例外是 2015 年價格下跌，2020 年受疫情影響。

Converting lower-tier benches to top tier will further extend our ability to achieve high production replacement ratios. Not only are we adding more reserves than we are producing each year, we're adding the reserves at a finding and development cost that is lower than our current DD&A rate, which will drive DD&A down and earnings up. Our differentiated portfolio and the strong results delivered by our teams provided support for execution of our 2023 shareholder return framework. During the second quarter, we generated significant free cash flow, repurchased $425 million of common shares and have now completed approximately 40% of our $3 billion share repurchase program. Common share repurchases, along with our dividend enabled additional redemptions of the preferred equity. To date, we've redeemed approximately $1.2 billion of preferred equity.

將低層工作台轉換為高層工作台將進一步增強我們實現高生產替代率的能力。我們不僅增加的儲量比每年生產的儲量還要多，而且我們增加儲量的發現和開發成本低於我們目前的 DD&A 費率，這將推動 DD&A 下降和收益上升。我們的差異化投資組合和團隊取得的強勁業績為我們 2023 年股東回報框架的執行提供了支持。第二季度，我們產生了大量自由現金流，回購了 4.25 億美元的普通股，目前已完成 30 億美元股票回購計劃的約 40%。普通股回購以及我們的股息使得優先股得以額外贖回。迄今為止，我們已贖回約 12 億美元的優先股。

I'll now turn the call over to Rob.

我現在將把電話轉給羅布。

Thank you, Vicki, and good afternoon, everyone. During the second quarter, we posted an adjusted profit of $0.68 per diluted share on a reported profit of $0.63 per diluted share. Difference between our adjusted and reported profit was primarily driven by impairments for undeveloped noncore acreage and deferred tax impacts from the Algeria production sharing contract or PSC renewal, partially offset by an environmental remediation settlement.

謝謝你，Vicki，大家下午好。第二季度，我們公佈的調整後每股攤薄利潤為 0.68 美元，報告利潤為每股攤薄利潤 0.63 美元。我們調整後利潤與報告利潤之間的差異主要是由於未開發非核心面積的減值以及阿爾及利亞生產共享合同或產品分成合同續簽帶來的遞延稅影響造成的，但部分被環境修復和解協議所抵消。

In the second quarter, strong operational execution enables over $1 billion of free cash flow for working capital despite planned maintenance activities across several of our oil and gas businesses. Following nearly $1 billion of preferred equity redemptions and premiums, $445 million of settled common share repurchases and approximately $350 million related to LCVs investment in net power, we concluded the second quarter with approximately $500 million of unrestricted cash. We experienced a positive working capital change during the second quarter primarily driven by reductions in commodity prices and fewer barrels in shipment over quarter-end. Interest payments on debt are generally paid semiannually in the first and third quarters, which also contributes to a positive second quarter working capital change.

儘管我們的多個石油和天然氣業務計劃進行維護活動，但第二季度強勁的運營執行力為營運資金提供了超過 10 億美元的自由現金流。繼近10 億美元的優先股贖回和溢價、4.45 億美元的已結算普通股回購以及與LCV 淨電力投資相關的約3.5 億美元之後，我們在第二季度結束時擁有約5 億美元的非限制性現金。我們在第二季度經歷了積極的營運資本變化，主要是由於大宗商品價格下降和季末出貨量減少所致。債務利息通常在第一和第三季度每半年支付一次，這也有助於第二季度營運資本的積極變化。

During the second quarter, we made our first U.S. federal cash tax payment this year of $210 million and state taxes of $64 million, which were netted out of working capital. We anticipate a similar federal cash taxes we made in subsequent quarters this year, those state taxes are paid annually. Our second quarter effective tax rate increased from the prior quarter due to a modest change in our income jurisdictional mix. The proportion of international income, which is subject to a higher statutory tax rate grew during the second quarter. We are therefore guiding to a minimum adjusted effective tax rate of 31% for the third quarter as we expect our effective tax rate going forward will be more closely aligned with the second quarter rate.

第二季度，我們繳納了今年第一筆美國聯邦現金稅，​​金額為 2.1 億美元，州稅為 6,400 萬美元，這些稅款均從營運資本中扣除。我們預計今年後續幾個季度將徵收類似的聯邦現金稅，​​這些州稅每年繳納。由於我們的收入司法管轄區組合發生了適度變化，我們第二季度的有效稅率較上一季度有所增加。第二季度，適用較高法定稅率的國際收入比例有所上升。因此，我們預計第三季度的最低調整後有效稅率為 31%，因為我們預計未來的有效稅率將與第二季度的稅率更加接近。

I will now turn to our third quarter and full year guidance. As Vicki just discussed, our technical and operational excellence continues to drive outperformance across our oil and gas businesses. This enables us to raise our full year production guidance midpoint to just over 1.2 million BOE per day in anticipation of a strong exit to the year. Rockies outperformance serves the largest catalyst to our full year production guidance raised and is also a primary driver of the slight change to our full year oil mix guidance. Reported production in Rockies is expected to reduce to its lowest point this year in the third quarter before beginning to grow in the fourth quarter.

我現在將談談我們的第三季度和全年指導。正如 Vicki 剛才所討論的，我們卓越的技術和運營能力繼續推動我們的石油和天然氣業務取得優異的業績。這使我們能夠將全年產量指導中點提高至略高於每天 120 萬桶油當量，以應對今年的強勁退出。落基山脈的優異表現是我們上調全年產量指引的最大催化劑，也是我們全年石油結構指引略有變化的主要推動力。據報導，落基山脈的產量預計將在第三季度降至今年的最低點，然後在第四季度開始增長。

In the Gulf of Mexico, we were guiding slightly lower production in the third quarter compared to the second quarter due to a contingency for seasonal weather. The third quarter weather contingency as well as planned maintenance opportunities brought forward to reduce overall downtime are expected to result in our highest domestic operating costs on a BOE basis this year when normalizing to less than $9.50 per BOE in the fourth quarter. Internationally, we expect higher production compared to the first half of 2023 due to plant turnaround and expansion project timing ? Al Hosn as well as impacts from various international production sharing contracts. As we have previously mentioned, the increased international production will be slightly offset by the new Algeria PSC, which decreased reported production, but the reduction in imported barrels is not expected to have a material impact on operating cash flow.

在墨西哥灣，由於季節性天氣的意外情況，我們預計第三季度的產量略低於第二季度。第三季度的天氣意外情況以及為減少總體停機時間而提前進行的計劃維護機會預計將導致我們今年以 BOE 為基準的國內運營成本最高，第四季度正常化至每 BOE 低於 9.50 美元。在國際上，由於工廠周轉和擴建項目的時機，我們預計產量將高於 2023 年上半年 ? Al Hosn 以及各種國際生產共享合同的影響。正如我們之前提到的，國際產量的增加將被新的阿爾及利亞產品分成合同略微抵消，該合同減少了報告的產量，但進口桶的減少預計不會對經營現金流產生重大影響。

Overall, the first half of 2023 was characterized by strong production in Gulf of Mexico, Permian and Rockies, with latter 2 businesses also benefiting from nonrecurring production events. We have better anticipated wells and time-to-market momentum year-to-date, which we expect it to be benefiting from in the second half of the year, the third quarter will be the only quarter in the year where production average is below 1.2 million BOE per day. Reduced production is mainly driven by the previously mentioned weather contingency implies to the Gulf of Mexico. The decrease in third quarter production will likely result in total company production and is lower in the second half of the year when compared to the first.

總體而言，2023 年上半年的特點是墨西哥灣、二疊紀和落基山脈生產強勁，後兩項業務也受益於非經常性生產事件。今年迄今為止，我們對油井和上市時間動力有更好的預期，我們預計下半年將受益，第三季度將是今年唯一產量低於平均水平的季度每天 120 萬桶油當量。產量減少主要是由於前面提到的墨西哥灣天氣意外事件造成的。第三季度產量的下降可能會導致公司總產量下降，下半年產量將低於上半年。

However, the change in expected production does not represent a shift in our volume trajectory. We anticipate fourth quarter production will be similar to the first 2 quarters of 2023, and we expect to enter 2024 with a strong production cadence. Furthermore, our full year guidance implies our fourth quarter output of approximately 53%, largely due to improved GoM production (inaudible) weather contingency.

然而，預期產量的變化並不代表我們產量軌蹟的變化。我們預計第四季度的產量將與 2023 年前兩個季度相似，並且我們預計將以強勁的生產節奏進入 2024 年。此外，我們的全年指引意味著我們第四季度的產量約為 53%，這主要是由於 GoM 產量（聽不清）天氣意外事件的改善。

Shifting now to OxyChem. As anticipated in original guidance, we continue to see weakening in the PVC and caustic soda pricing during the second quarter. However, our full year guidance remains unchanged at a pretax income midpoint of $1.5 billion which will represent our third highest pretax income ever in another strong year for OxyChem. We also expect our chemicals business to return to a more normalized seasonality compared to recent years, meaning that the fourth quarter will represent the lowest earnings for the year. As we have mentioned on previous calls, the fourth quarter is typically not a reliable roll forward for the year ahead through the inherent seasonality in the business. We revised our full year guidance from midstream and marketing due to expected market changes over the second half of this year.

現在轉向 OxyChem。正如最初指導中的預期，我們繼續看到第二季度 PVC 和燒鹼定價走軟。然而，我們的全年指引保持不變，仍為 15 億美元的稅前收入中點，這將是 OxyChem 又一個強勁年份中第三高的稅前收入。我們還預計，與近年來相比，我們的化學品業務將恢復到更加正常的季節性，這意味著第四季度將是全年盈利最低的季度。正如我們在之前的電話會議中提到的，由於業務固有的季節性，第四季度通常不是來年可靠的前滾。由於預計今年下半年的市場變化，我們從中游和營銷方面修訂了全年指引。

The margins generated by shipping crude from Midland to the U.S. Gulf Coast are expected to compress further following the annual FERC tariff revision, which has increased our pipe cost approximately $2.55 a barrel. Over the same period, the price we market long-haul capacity is expected to decrease. Additionally, we anticipate fewer gas market opportunities as spreads across multiple basins have continued to narrow and find opportunities generated in the first quarter. Also, pricing for sulfur produced at Al Hosn is expected to soften in the second half of the year.

在 FERC 年度關稅修訂後，從米德蘭向美國墨西哥灣沿岸運輸原油所產生的利潤預計將進一步壓縮，這使我們的管道成本增加了約 2.55 美元/桶。同期，我們市場上的長途運力價格預計會下降。此外，我們預計天然氣市場機會將會減少，因為多個盆地的價差持續縮小，並發現第一季度產生的機會。此外，Al Hosn 生產的硫磺價格預計將在今年下半年走軟。

Capital spending during the quarter was approximately $1.6 billion. We expect capital to decrease slightly in the third quarter with a more pronounced reduction in the fourth quarter. The expected decrease was primarily driven by reduced working interest and gross activity in the Permian, which is in alignment with our original business plan. We anticipate receiving $350 million during the fourth quarter associated with the second quarter (inaudible) settlement. While this settlement will drive our -- report it overhead down, our full year guidance to overhead expense on an adjusted basis remains unchanged.

本季度的資本支出約為 16 億美元。我們預計第三季度資本將小幅減少，第四季度減少更為明顯。預期下降主要是由於二疊紀盆地的工作興趣和總活動減少，這與我們最初的業務計劃一致。我們預計第四季度將收到與第二季度（聽不清）結算相關的 3.5 億美元。雖然這項和解將推動我們的管理費用下降，但我們對調整後的管理費用的全年指引保持不變。

Turning now to shareholder returns. As Vicki mentioned, we further advanced our shareholder return framework during the second quarter through the repurchase of $425 million of common shares, which enabled additional preferred equity redemptions. After a strong start in the first quarter, we triggered the redemption of over $520 million of preferred equity in the second quarter. Year-to-date, we've been approximately $1.2 billion or 12% of preferred equity that was outstanding at the beginning of the year with 10% premium payments to the preferred equity holder of approximately $117 million. Preferred equity redemptions to date have resulted in elimination of over $93 million of annual preferred dividends.

現在轉向股東回報。正如 Vicki 提到的，我們在第二季度通過回購 4.25 億美元的普通股進一步推進了股東回報框架，從而實現了額外的優先股贖回。繼第一季度強勁開局後，我們在第二季度觸發了超過 5.2 億美元的優先股贖回。年初至今，我們已向優先股持有人支付了約 12 億美元或 12% 的優先股，其中 10% 的溢價約為 1.17 億美元。迄今為止，優先股贖回已導致取消超過 9300 萬美元的年度優先股股息。

As of August 2, rolling 12-month common shareholder distributions totaled $4.08 per share. Due primarily to the concentration of share repurchase in the third quarter of 2022, coupled with the current commodity price curve, it is likely that the cumulative distributions will fall below the $4 per common share during the third quarter. If we drop below the $4 redemption trigger, our ability to begin redeeming the preferred equity, again, will heavily be influenced by commodity prices. The EPI prices would likely need to be higher than what the forward curve presently indicates for us to remain above the trigger for the remainder of 2023.

截至 8 月 2 日，滾動 12 個月普通股股東分配總額為每股 4.08 美元。主要由於股票回購集中在2022年第三季度，加上當前的大宗商品價格曲線，第三季度的累計分配很可能會跌至每股普通股4美元以下。如果我們跌破 4 美元的贖回觸發點，我們開始贖回優先股的能力將再次受到大宗商品價格的嚴重影響。 EPI 價格可能需要高於遠期曲線目前所顯示的價格，才能在 2023 年剩餘時間內保持在觸發點之上。

Even if we aren't able to continue redeeming the preferred equity for a period of time, we remain committed to our shareholder term program, including our $3 billion share purchase program. Our basic common share count is at the lowest since the third quarter of 2019, resulting in per share earnings and cash flow accretion to our common shareholders. Sustained efforts to significantly deleverage over the past several years have improved our credit profile, culminating a return to investment-grade status when the Fitch ratings upgraded Oxy in May. We believe that our investment grade credit range reflect our exceptional operations, diversify the high-quality asset portfolio and our commitment to pay down debt as it matures. Our second quarter results and our full year guidance demonstrates solid progression towards another strong year for Oxy. We look forward to reporting on additional progress as the year advances.

即使我們在一段時間內無法繼續贖回優先股，我們仍然致力於我們的股東期限計劃，包括我們的 30 億美元股票購買計劃。我們的基本普通股數量處於 2019 年第三季度以來的最低水平，導致我們普通股股東的每股收益和現金流增加。過去幾年持續大幅去槓桿化的努力改善了我們的信用狀況，並最終在 5 月份惠譽上調 Oxy 評級時恢復到投資級狀態。我們相信，我們的投資級信貸範圍反映了我們卓越的運營、優質資產組合的多元化以及我們在債務到期時償還債務的承諾。我們的第二季度業績和全年指引表明，Oxy 正在邁向又一個強勁的一年。我們期待著隨著時間的推移報告更多進展。

I will now turn the call back over to Vicki.

我現在將把電話轉回給 Vicki。

Thank you, Rob. Before closing today, we'd like to briefly mention 2 low carbon ventures announcements that we made this week. We were glad to announce that Japan's ANA Airlines became the first airline in the world to sign a carbon dioxide removal credit purchase agreement from our subsidiary, 1.5. We're excited about that and happy to work with them. We're also pleased to announce a first-of-its-kind agreement with our long-standing partners, ADNOC, to evaluate investment opportunities in direct air capture and carbon dioxide sequestration hubs in the U.S. and the UAE. With this agreement, we intend to develop a carbon management platform that will accelerate our shared net zero goals. We have many exciting developments taking place in LCV, and we look forward to providing you a more comprehensive update towards the end of this year.

謝謝你，羅布。在今天結束之前，我們想簡要提及本週我們發布的兩項低碳企業公告。我們很高興地宣布，日本全日空航空公司成為世界上第一家與我們的子公司 1.5 簽署二氧化碳清除積分購買協議的航空公司。我們對此感到很興奮，也很高興與他們合作。我們還很高興地宣布與我們的長期合作夥伴 ADNOC 達成首個此類協議，以評估美國和阿聯酋直接空氣捕獲和二氧化碳封存中心的投資機會。通過這項協議，我們打算開發一個碳管理平台，以加速我們共同的淨零目標。我們在輕型商用車領域取得了許多令人興奮的進展，我們期待在今年年底為您提供更全面的更新。

With that, we will now open the call for questions.

現在，我們將開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Doug Leggate with Bank of America.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自美國銀行的 Doug Leggate。

Vicki, I wonder if I could focus on productivity which your latest slide deck is showing -- you refer to it as the wedge wells with a quite frankly, stunning step-up in performance relative to prior years. My question, I guess, is the repeatability of that and the impact on how you think about your strategy? Because to summarize, you've suggested you would not seek to grow production meaningfully, if I'm interpreting that correctly. But this productivity would suggest that either you're going to grow production as you did with your step-up in guidance or you're going to cut your capital budget to hold the production at a flatter level. So I'm curious, are you prepared to take the production? Or is it going to get more capital efficient with lower CapEx?

Vicki，我想知道我是否可以專注於您最新的幻燈片所展示的生產力——您將其稱為楔形井，坦率地說，相對於前幾年，性能有了驚人的提升。我想我的問題是它的可重複性以及對你如何看待你的策略的影響？因為總而言之，如果我的解釋正確的話，您已經建議您不會尋求有意義的產量增長。但這種生產率表明，要么你將按照指導方針的提高來增加產量，要么你將削減資本預算以將產量保持在較平穩的水平。所以我很好奇，你準備好拍攝了嗎？或者它會通過降低資本支出來提高資本效率嗎？

Well, we intend to keep our capital plan as we had it or at least the activity plan as we had it. I can tell you, Doug, I'm incredibly impressed with what our teams have done. I've been in this industry for a very long time, and I've seen a lot of extensive work done to model conventional reservoirs over the years. And when we started our shale development, some thought it was more of a statistical play where you just go drill a 100 wells and maybe 25% of them would be really good, and 75% would be okay. But we took the time in 2014 to step back and say that we were going to put together a team that could do the kind of work that needs to be done in shale. It's much more complex than conventional. So we really focused on trying to make sure that we put together a team that could do the most sophisticated work on the subsurface possible, and they've done incredibly well.

好吧，我們打算保留我們原來的資本計劃，或者至少保留我們原來的活動計劃。道格，我可以告訴你，我們團隊所做的事情給我留下了深刻的印象。我在這個行業工作了很長時間，多年來我看到了為傳統油藏建模所做的大量工作。當我們開始頁岩氣開發時，有些人認為這更像是一種統計遊戲，你只需要鑽 100 口井，也許其中 25% 的井會非常好，75% 的井也還可以。但我們在 2014 年退一步說，我們將組建一個團隊，可以完成頁岩氣領域需要完成的工作。它比傳統的要復雜得多。因此，我們真正專注於努力確保我們組建了一支能夠在地下完成最複雜工作的團隊，而且他們做得非常好。

And I would say, in the past 2 to 3 years, I was thinking that we were getting close to plateauing on our learnings and what we can do. But the teams continue to surprise me, continue to go beyond what I thought we would ever be able to do in this industry with respect to not only understanding the subsurface as well as we do, but also being able to understand how to get the most oil out of it. And -- so where we are today is, I've now asked the teams to stop talking about it. We for years, we're sharing things that we were doing, and we've shared some things on the slides in the slide deck, but they had prepared a lot more to share with you today, to highlight and map out the pathway that we're using to get to where we are. But it's just too important to our company, it's -- and to our shareholders to keep that proprietary because this is something that's pretty phenomenal, I think.

我想說，在過去的兩到三年裡，我認為我們的學習和我們能做的事情已經接近穩定狀態。但這些團隊繼續讓我感到驚訝，繼續超越我認為我們在這個行業能夠做到的事情，不僅像我們一樣了解地下，而且能夠了解如何獲得最大收益油從裡面出來。而且 - 所以我們今天的處境是，我現在要求團隊停止談論它。多年來，我們一直在分享我們正在做的事情，並且我們在幻燈片中的幻燈片上分享了一些內容，但他們今天準備了更多內容與您分享，以突出顯示並規劃出實現這一目標的途徑。我們用它來到達我們現在的位置。但這對我們公司和我們的股東來說太重要了，不能保留該專有權利，因為我認為這是非常了不起的事情。

And now we're taking this, and we're going to apply it to the Permian -- I mean to the Powder River Basin. We're using it. They've done incredibly well in the Permian. We've also taken learnings from the team in the DJ and moved those through the Permian. So we're sharing ideas across business units. The next one will be the Powder River basin, where while we did take an impairment on some noncore areas, we are excited about the Powder River. And I think Richard will say a little bit more about that later. But the Southern Powder River is, we're seeing good results there. And our appraisal team is beginning to work in the northern part of the Powder River. And we're going to take it also the same sort of concept about how to do it, we want to take to other areas within Oxy. And we think that by using a similar methodology with what our phenomenal team in the Gulf of Mexico has been able to do, they've done amazing things in terms of being able to see below-the-salt and to improve our success rate there.

現在我們正在採取這一點，我們將把它應用到二疊紀——我的意思是應用到保德河盆地。我們正在使用它。他們在二疊紀表現得非常好。我們還從 DJ 團隊中汲取了經驗，並將其運用到了二疊紀。因此，我們正在跨業務部門分享想法。下一個將是保德河盆地，雖然我們確實對一些非核心地區造成了損害，但我們對保德河感到興奮。我想理查德稍後會對此多說一些。但在南保德河，我們在那裡看到了良好的結果。我們的評估團隊已經開始在保德河北部地區開展工作。我們也將採用同樣的概念來指導如何做到這一點，我們希望將其帶到 Oxy 的其他領域。我們認為，通過使用與我們在墨西哥灣的傑出團隊所做的類似的方法，他們在能夠看到鹽下並提高我們在那裡的成功率方面做出了驚人的事情。

But I think you put this subsurface team for our shale development, but the approach they take, the methodology that they use with the ideas that our GoM team has generated and start really exploring the various strengths, I think we take this and apply it to conventional reservoirs and applying this to conventional with the expertise that we have working those conventional reservoirs today, I think that there would be even more cross flow of learnings from conventional to shale and shale and conventional.

但我認為你把這個地下團隊用於我們的頁岩開發，但他們採取的方法、他們使用的方法以及我們 GoM 團隊產生的想法並開始真正探索各種優勢，我認為我們將其應用於常規油藏，並利用我們今天在這些常規油藏中所擁有的專業知識將其應用到常規油藏中，我認為從常規油藏到頁岩油以及頁岩油和常規油藏的學習將會有更多的交叉流動。

I think it's beyond what anybody in the industry that I've seen or heard about it is doing today. So with that said, to get back to your question on capital and production, we're going to execute our program, looks like it is going to result in a production increase, and we're happy with that. We never said that we didn't want to grow. We just don't want growth to be the target. But the target is value creation. And that value creation comes from doing the developments when we're ready to do them at the pace that generates the most net present value. And our teams are doing that, and they're doing it incredibly well. So we'll take what we're getting here.

我認為這超出了我今天所看到或聽說過的業內任何人所做的事情。話雖如此，回到你關於資本和生產的問題，我們將執行我們的計劃，看起來它將導致產量增加，我們對此感到滿意。我們從來沒有說過我們不想成長。我們只是不希望增長成為目標。但目標是創造價值。當我們準備好以產生最大淨現值的速度進行開發時，就會創造出價值。我們的團隊正在這樣做，而且做得非常好。所以我們將採取我們在這裡得到的東西。

I've got a very quick follow-up, and it's kind of hard that -- something we've talked about before, which is the legacy Anadarko portfolio. We know it dips in the second and perhaps the third quarter. My question is, when you rebound out of the fourth quarter as is ordinarily the case in that profile, have you lost any production capacity? Do you -- what do you think the production capacity is today? And presumably, those are the highest margin assets in your portfolio. I just wonder if you could confirm that so we can anticipate what happens to earnings and cash flow in Q4?

我有一個非常快速的跟進，這有點困難——我們之前討論過，這是阿納達科的遺留投資組合。我們知道它會在第二季度甚至第三季度下降。我的問題是，當你從第四季度反彈時，就像通常的情況一樣，你是否失去了任何產能？您認為現在的產能是多少？想必，這些是您的投資組合中利潤率最高的資產。我只是想知道您是否可以證實這一點，以便我們可以預測第四季度的盈利和現金流會發生什麼？

Yes. The legacy Anadarko assets in the Texas, Delaware are really, really top tier. We had -- when we were working to do the acquisition, we knew that they were really good. We thought they would come in and be almost equal to our Southeast New Mexico, and I'm going to get myself in trouble here. I think they were, I thought, for a while better than Southeast New Mexico. I think I happen to say that in the hallway one day, and the Southeast New Mexico team decided they would prove me wrong on that. So I would say that Southeast New Mexico and Texas Delaware are both incredibly important to us. They are very high quality, and they're both a part of our program going forward. Richard, you had something to add?

是的。阿納達科在德克薩斯州和特拉華州的遺留資產確實非常頂級。當我們努力進行收購時，我們知道它們真的很棒。我們以為他們會進來並幾乎與我們新墨西哥州東南部持平，而我會在這裡給自己帶來麻煩。我認為他們在一段時間內比新墨西哥州東南部要好。我想有一天我碰巧在走廊上說了這句話，新墨西哥州東南部的團隊決定他們會證明我在這一點上是錯的。所以我想說，新墨西哥州東南部和德克薩斯州特拉華州對我們來說都非常重要。它們的質量非常高，而且都是我們未來計劃的一部分。理查德，你有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. Maybe just to help add on to that when we talk about assets in the portfolio and even legacy Anadarko. I think the Rockies trajectory, while very strong in the first half of the year, I think what's impressive, we talked about knowing we would decline kind of through the first half of the year and then grow. And I think if you see our guide for 3Q and then implied guide for 4Q, that not only was the first half better, but the second half was better as well. And while the new wells are certainly core, how do we think about deploying capital and creating the efficiency, I'd like to also recognize all the team that works on our base production.

是的。也許只是為了在我們談論投資組合中的資產甚至遺產阿納達科時幫助補充這一點。我認為落基山脈的軌跡雖然在上半年非常強勁，但我認為令人印象深刻的是，我們談到知道我們會在今年上半年有所下降，然後增長。我認為，如果您看到我們的第三季度指南，然後隱含的第四季度指南，那麼不僅上半年更好，下半年也更好。雖然新井肯定是核心，但我們如何考慮部署資本和創造效率，我還要感謝所有致力於我們基地生產的團隊。

I think the Rockies is a great example of being able to rethink our surface infrastructure, they've been able to kind of lead the industry, I think, in some of these tankless designs, but they've migrated to more efficient bulk and test. They've been able to think about artificial lift earlier, things like gas lift earlier in the cycle of the well. And a lot of that beyond creating the most EUR per dollar spent is really helping our production. And so when you look year-on-year, that base production is another one that I think we're really proud of from the teams.

我認為落基山脈是能夠重新思考我們的地面基礎設施的一個很好的例子，我認為，在其中一些無罐設計中，他們已經能夠引領行業，但他們已經遷移到更高效的散裝和測試。他們已經能夠更早地考慮人工舉升，例如在油井循環的早期進行氣舉。除了創造每美元支出最多的歐元之外，還有很多確實有助於我們的生產。因此，當你逐年觀察時，我認為我們團隊真正感到自豪的另一個是基礎生產。

No doubt, it's the Permian and the Rockies and the Rockies actually applying artificial intelligence to their pumps up there, which has been very, very impressive as well as the management of the gas lift in the Permian, Texas and New Mexico. So these are exciting things for us, and we're -- we have to definitely gets kudos to the teams. They've gone above and beyond expectations.

毫無疑問，二疊紀、落基山脈和落基山脈實際上將人工智能應用到了那裡的泵上，這非常非常令人印象深刻，二疊紀、德克薩斯州和新墨西哥州的氣舉管理也非常令人印象深刻。所以這些對我們來說是令人興奮的事情，我們一定要為團隊贏得榮譽。他們已經超出了預期。

The next question comes from Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的尼爾·梅塔。

Yes. (inaudible) to start off on the return of capital. Just curious on your thoughts on the commodity price level or the oil price level at which you believe you can get back to taking out the preferred. And just in the absence of that, how aggressive can you be around buying back stock?

是的。 （聽不清）從資本返還開始。只是好奇您對大宗商品價格水平或石油價格水平的看法，您認為在該水平上您可以重新選擇優先股。如果沒有這種情況，你能多麼積極地回購股票？

Well, certainly, we have the capability at almost any price environment. There's a lower limit to where we would probably not do much share repurchases at $60. But at $70, we could continue a common share purchase program. And certainly, at $75 and above, we've got the cash to do both. But what we feel like with our current shareholder framework is that share repurchases are a big part of that because our -- in common share repurchases because what we're really trying to do is we're trying to create value per share for our investors. And to create value per share, it not only means that we need to grow production a bit. Again, that's with the cash flow is the main thing we're trying to grow when we're growing production, and that's an outcome of our capital program.

嗯，當然，我們有能力應對幾乎任何價格環境。我們可能不會進行太多股票回購的下限是 60 美元。但如果價格為 70 美元，我們可以繼續實施普通股購買計劃。當然，如果價格在 75 美元及以上，我們就有足夠的現金來完成這兩件事。但我們對當前股東框架的感覺是，股票回購是其中的重要組成部分，因為我們的普通股回購是因為我們真正想做的是為投資者創造每股價值。為了創造每股價值，這不僅意味著我們需要稍微增加產量。再說一次，現金流是我們在增加產量時試圖增長的主要因素，這是我們資本計劃的結果。

So this year, we will get incremental earnings growth from our incremental volumes, but also developing our reserves at the lower cost, like we've talked about and like I talked about in the script and like we've been talking about here, what the teams are doing that's so important is to develop reserves, replace our production every year by at least 130% to [150%] And again, we've seen years up to 230%, where the DD&A or the funding and development cost is $6 or less in some cases. And we were able to do that with the DD&A rate of what we have today versus that, that's creating value for our shareholders, creating earnings. And then the last thing is to couple with the cash flow growth and income growth from the volume creation and the reduced cost of those binding and development reserves is to buy back shares. And especially given the fact that we feel we're very undervalued right now.

因此，今年，我們將從增量中獲得增量收益增長，同時也會以較低的成本開發我們的儲備，就像我們在劇本中談到的那樣，就像我們在這裡討論的那樣，什麼團隊正在做的事情非常重要，那就是開發儲備，每年將我們的產量替換至少130% 到[150%] 並且，我們已經看到多年來高達230%，其中DD&A 或資金和開發成本是在某些情況下，6 美元或更少。我們能夠通過我們今天的 DD&A 率來做到這一點，這為我們的股東創造了價值，創造了收益。最後一件事是與現金流增長和收入增長相結合，這些增長來自於銷量的創造，以及這些綁定和發展儲備成本的降低，那就是回購股票。特別是考慮到我們現在感覺自己的價值被嚴重低估。

So share repurchases, whether or not it triggers the preferred is really important to us. But in the near term, what we'll do is we will probably wait a little period of time here to watch what's going to happen with the macro. And if the macro plays out the way we expect, we should be able to do both to buy common and to get back at some point within the next few months to doing both buying not only common, but triggering the preferred, it could take into next year before we're able to get a program going. But we do believe that we can at $75 or above, have a program that will do that.

因此，股票回購，無論是否觸發優先股，對我們來說都非常重要。但在短期內，我們要做的可能是在這裡等待一段時間，看看宏觀經濟會發生什麼。如果宏觀經濟按照我們預期的方式發展，我們應該能夠同時購買普通股，並在未來幾個月內的某個時候不僅購買普通股，而且觸發優先股，這可能需要考慮明年我們才能啟動一個計劃。但我們確實相信，只要 75 美元或以上，我們就可以擁有一個可以做到這一點的程序。

I'll just add that part of the challenge that we have is that our program last year was very back-end weighted. We did $2.4 billion of share repurchases concentrated across the second half of the year of $1.8 billion of that just in the third quarter alone. And so it's the pace at which we were able to retire shares last year, matched up against the commodity prices that we have this year, that's really making it difficult to stay with the 4 consistently. So if you look back to last year, gas pricing, we realized over $7 in Q3, oil prices were over $95 realized in Q3. And so that's the big change year-over-year that we're seeing.

我只想補充一點，我們面臨的部分挑戰是我們去年的計劃非常注重後端。我們進行了 24 億美元的股票回購，集中在下半年，其中僅第三季度就回購了 18 億美元。因此，去年我們能夠收回股票的速度與今年的大宗商品價格相匹配，這確實使得我們很難始終保持在 4 的水平上。因此，如果你回顧去年的天然氣定價，我們在第三季度實現了超過 7 美元，石油價格在第三季度實現了超過 95 美元。這就是我們所看到的逐年巨大變化。

And then the follow-up is congrats on getting the Al Hosn gas expansion on this year. Just would love any perspective or thoughts on your Middle East business and how we should think about the incremental cash flow associated with the asset that just came online?

接下來是祝賀今年 Al Hosn 天然氣擴建項目。只是希望對您的中東業務有任何看法或想法，以及我們應該如何考慮與剛剛上線的資產相關的增量現金流？

The Al Hosn project getting to the 1.45 Bcf a day had very little capital, is definitely a good project for us. And with -- just having gotten that back on, we expect that the certainly, the production looking good towards the rest of this year from Al Hosn and also the fact that we were in Oman, able to get an exploration well that was record setting for us online and to production in less than a month was another good sign for healthy production coming out of the Middle East. We do have incremental opportunities in Oman for additional wells that are similar to that in Block 65. So -- and this year, this past year, in Safah field on the north Oman.

Al Hosn 項目每天的產量為 1.45 Bcf，資金很少，對我們來說絕對是一個好項目。剛剛恢復過來，我們預計 Al Hosn 今年剩餘時間的生產肯定會很好，而且我們在阿曼，能夠獲得創紀錄的勘探井對於我們來說，在不到一個月的時間內上線並投入生產是中東健康生產的另一個好兆頭。我們在阿曼確實有更多機會增加與 65 區塊類似的油井。今年，去年，在阿曼北部的 Safah 油田。

We've set the production records there, and that's a field that's been in operation for over 40 years. So we're still finding new things to do there. And also, when I talk about innovation and subsurface modeling and with -- and Richard brought up the guys that are working really hard base maintenance, on base production. I want to mention, too, that there's been quite a bit of innovation coming out of Oman as well, one being a process called Oxy jetting, where we go into -- you can do it in new wells or existing wells to go in and jet through the formation and with proprietary process we use there and get incremental production, and that's part of the reason that we were able to achieve record production from that area this year.

我們在那裡創造了生產記錄，該油田已經運營了 40 多年。所以我們仍然在那裡尋找新的事情要做。而且，當我談論創新和地下建模時，理查德提到了那些在基地生產方面非常努力地進行基地維護的人。我還想提一下，阿曼也出現了很多創新，其中之一是一種稱為氧氣噴射的工藝，我們可以在新井或現有井中進行這種操作，然後再進入通過地層噴射並通過我們在那裡使用的專有工藝獲得增量產量，這也是我們今年能夠在該地區實現創紀錄產量的部分原因。

So a lot of good things happening in our Middle East operations, and we're as I mentioned in my script, focused on 3 countries, and we feel like it is best not to be spread over a lot of countries, but to -- we like the fact that we are here in the U.S. and 3 countries internationally, and we'll focus on being the best we could be in those areas and eliminate or minimize distractions from anything else.

因此，我們的中東業務發生了很多好事，正如我在腳本中提到的，我們專注於 3 個國家，我們認為最好不要分佈在很多國家，而是——我們喜歡這樣一個事實，即我們在美國和國際上的三個國家，我們將專注於在這些領域做到最好，並消除或盡量減少其他任何事情的干擾。

The next question comes from Neal Dingmann with Truist.

下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Neal Dingmann。

My question is on the Gulf of Mexico. Your production and incremental operations at GoM continue to look quite solid. I was just wondering how would you classify just current opportunities today in the Gulf? And could we see any notable change in activity there in the coming quarters?

我的問題是關於墨西哥灣的。您在 GoM 的生產和增量運營看起來仍然相當穩健。我只是想知道您如何對海灣地區目前的機會進行分類？我們能否在未來幾個季度看到那裡的活動發生任何顯著變化？

I would say that I have -- my thoughts about the Gulf of Mexico have actually changed a bit over the past year. Originally, when we made the acquisition, our plan was just to keep production flat and use the cash flow to invest elsewhere. I do believe now, again, based on the technical excellence of our teams working at and the fact that artificial intelligence, I believe, is going to be -- advanced data analytics, I believe, is going to be a game changer for the Gulf of Mexico. And I believe our team has the capability and expertise to optimize the use of those tools. So I think that not this year or next year, but I do believe that looking forward in the next 3 to 5 years, the Gulf of Mexico could become more of a growth area for us rather than just a cash generator.

我想說的是，在過去的一年裡，我對墨西哥灣的想法實際上發生了一些變化。最初，當我們進行收購時，我們的計劃只是保持生產平穩，並利用現金流投資其他地方。我現在再次相信，基於我們工作團隊的卓越技術，以及我相信人工智能將——我相信，先進的數據分析將改變海灣地區的遊戲規則墨西哥。我相信我們的團隊有能力和專業知識來優化這些工具的使用。因此，我認為不是今年或明年，但我確實相信，展望未來 3 到 5 年，墨西哥灣可能更多地成為我們的增長區域，而不僅僅是現金產生器。

I agree. I like the opportunities there. And then secondly, just -- you talked around this already, but maybe just a little more detail on your slide now on the DJ, maybe about just well spacing and completion design there. I'm just wondering, have your thoughts -- you guys have been ramping that up. And I'm just wondering, as you have been ramping up, have the thoughts on space or completion design has changed going forward? I think like in recent months, I believe gas and other pads are, what about 12-well spacing. So I'm just wondering if there's any thoughts to change any of that?

我同意。我喜歡那裡的機會。其次，您已經討論過這個問題，但也許現在在 DJ 上的幻燈片上有更多細節，也許只是關於井間距和完井設計。我只是想知道你們的想法——你們一直在加大力度。我只是想知道，隨著您的不斷進步，未來對空間或竣工設計的想法是否發生了變化？我認為最近幾個月，我相信氣體和其他墊是，12 孔間距怎麼樣。所以我只是想知道是否有任何想法可以改變這一點？

Yes. Great. This is Richard. I'll try to take a few pieces of that. I mean very excited about the DJ, like I described, but the new well performance in the base. But I would say consistent with really what we've done across our reservoir positions and especially in the unconventional. It really starts with the challenge on the subsurface in terms of all the things you described, spacing, how many wells per DSU. And I think the teams continue to look at those opportunities. And as we noted, really thinking about less, I think moving from 18 to 8 to 12 wells per section allows us to deliver the same EUR for less cost. And I think just like we've done in the Permian, that's the right recipe. We have been able to use completions and really frac intensity to kind of turn up the lever to help capture those reserves without having to drill additional wells.

是的。偉大的。這是理查德.我會嘗試從中摘取一些。我的意思是對 DJ 非常興奮，正如我所描述的，但基地的新表現也很令人興奮。但我想說的是，這與我們在油藏位置、特別是非常規領域所做的事情是一致的。它實際上始於地下的挑戰，涉及您所描述的所有事項、間距、每個 DSU 有多少口井。我認為團隊會繼續尋找這些機會。正如我們所指出的，真正考慮更少，我認為將每個部分的井數從 18 口改為 8 口至 12 口，可以讓我們以更低的成本提供相同的歐元。我認為就像我們在二疊紀所做的那樣，這是正確的方法。我們已經能夠利用完井和真正的壓裂強度來提高槓桿，以幫助捕獲這些儲量，而無需鑽探額外的井。

So we've gone up to 1,500 pounds per foot, which is up about 30%, I think from our prior designs. As we think about spacing and inventory, the thing I would say is not every drill spacing unit is the same. So the geology changes, the development sequencing changes. And so there'll be areas where that may be different. I think just to kind of contrast a little bit, we highlighted the performing DSUs in the Delaware Basin, those are actually opportunities where we added wells per section. And we were able to do that again by looking at the unique kind of attributes of that drill spacing unit against the reservoir. And we're cautious with that, but we've been able to have real success, both horizontally and vertically adding those wells where it's warranted. But just the last maybe a couple of points in the DJ, again. It's sort of a holistic design that the operation's team's put together.

因此，我們將每英尺的承重提高到了 1,500 磅，我認為與我們之前的設計相比，增加了約 30%。當我們考慮間距和庫存時，我想說的是並非每個鑽孔間距單位都是相同的。所以地質發生了變化，開發順序也發生了變化。因此，有些領域可能會有所不同。我認為，為了稍微對比一下，我們強調了特拉華盆地的 DSU，這些實際上是我們在每個部分添加井的機會。通過觀察鑽距單元相對於儲層的獨特屬性，我們能夠再次做到這一點。我們對此持謹慎態度，但我們已經取得了真正的成功，無論是水平還是垂直增加了那些有保證的井。但最後可能是 DJ 的幾點。這是運營團隊整合的整體設計。

They have done a lot to reduce time to peak production. So eliminating those surface constraints where they can really allow those wells to optimally flow. And then as Vicki described, longer term, these wells go from gas lift to plunger lift and being able to use analytics to not only be quicker in terms of our optimization, but actually predict failure mechanism so that we can deploy operations teams quicker. These are the type of things that just really excite us about how our teams approach really adding production at the right cost.

他們做了很多工作來縮短達到高峰生產的時間。因此，消除那些表面限制，真正可以讓這些井實現最佳流動。然後，正如Vicki 所描述的，從長遠來看，這些井從氣舉轉向柱塞舉升，並且能夠使用分析不僅可以更快地進行優化，而且可以實際預測故障機制，以便我們可以更快地部署運營團隊。這些事情讓我們非常興奮，因為我們的團隊如何以正確的成本真正增加產量。

The next question comes from Michael Scialla with Stephens.

下一個問題來自邁克爾·夏拉和斯蒂芬斯。

You talked pretty extensively about the improving well productivity, and I know a lot of companies have been talking about service costs softening here. Looks like 2024 consensus estimates right now, anticipate you're going to spend about 4% more next year than you did this year to keep production flat with the current level. So I know it's too early to give guidance for '24, but just want to get your view on that outlook.

您廣泛談論了提高油井生產率，我知道很多公司一直在談論服務成本的軟化。目前看起來像是 2024 年的共識估計，預計明年您將比今年多花費 4% 左右，以保持產量與當前水平持平。所以我知道現在給出 24 年的指導還為時過早，但只是想听聽您對這一前景的看法。

What we're seeing is we're seeing some things start to plateau in terms of cost. We're seeing labor being still a bit tight. But there's also around labor though, we're not seeing as many people wanting to change jobs. It's just a matter of getting the skills that we need in the field, and that's where the big challenge is, to get truckers to drive trucks, and people to do the welding and those kinds of field jobs are so important to us. But I would think that what -- we're not -- while we're not seeing any reduction -- much reduction in service company costs, we don't expect that. But I don't think we've settled on expecting any kind of increase next year.

我們看到的是，我們看到一些事情在成本方面開始趨於穩定。我們發現勞動力仍然有點緊張。但在勞動力方面，我們沒有看到那麼多人想換工作。這只是獲得我們在該領域所需的技能的問題，這就是最大的挑戰所在，讓卡車司機駕駛卡車，讓人們進行焊接，這些現場工作對我們來說非常重要。但我認為，雖然我們沒有看到服務公司成本有任何減少，但我們並沒有預期會出現這種情況。但我認為我們還沒有確定明年會有任何增長。

And I can add maybe just a few. I agree with Vicki. I mean, we're, one, really pleased with the efficiency of our operations. That's always our focus. And so really, the rigs we've added over the last 1.5 years, we've highlighted some of the kind of individual goals, but we're seeing productivity just from reducing nonproductive time, improved kind of efficiency of the operations continue. But as we think about going into next year, OCTG, seeing some relief, but that generally lags, sand kind of similar, and fuel, obviously is a component, which has been lower for us. So we're seeing those types of things come in a little bit lower. But we've got really, the opportunity to continue to work with the fleet we have.

我可以補充一些。我同意維基的觀點。我的意思是，我們對我們的運營效率非常滿意。這始終是我們的焦點。事實上，我們在過去 1.5 年裡添加的鑽機，我們強調了一些個人目標，但我們看到生產力只是通過減少非生產時間來實現的，運營效率的提高仍在繼續。但當我們考慮進入明年時，OCTG 會看到一些緩解，但通常會滯後，沙子類似，而燃料顯然是一個組成部分，對我們來說較低。所以我們看到這些類型的東西有點低。但我們確實有機會繼續與我們現有的機隊合作。

We're a pretty steady operational pace at this point, which is very different to where we've been in the last couple of years. And so for us, it's really an opportunity to kind of utilize the resources we have and really get that optimization down. So if we look next year, that's going to continue to be the challenge. We hope there's some pricing that can benefit both operator and service company as we look at longer term, but we're really anxious to keep working on the efficiency.

目前我們的運營節奏相當穩定，這與過去幾年的情況非常不同。因此，對我們來說，這確實是一個利用我們擁有的資源並真正實現優化的機會。因此，如果我們展望明年，這將繼續成為挑戰。從長遠來看，我們希望有一些定價可以讓運營商和服務公司都受益，但我們真的很渴望繼續提高效率。

And Michael, this is Neil. I just wanted to add. We'll always encourage our coverage group not to rely too much on consensus for whatever time period. As you know, the further out it goes, the more sale data that can be in there. So just continue to have the conversations with us, and we'll guide at the appropriate time.

邁克爾，這是尼爾。我只是想補充一下。我們將始終鼓勵我們的報導小組無論在什麼時期都不要過度依賴共識。如您所知，距離越遠，其中的銷售數據就越多。因此，請繼續與我們對話，我們將在適當的時間提供指導。

Got you. I guess just summing all that up, though, I guess based on those numbers that would suggest you'd need to spend more to keep production flat. Is it fair to say that feels conservative based on what you know today?

明白你了。不過，我想只是總結一下所有這些，我想根據這些數字，我想您需要花費更多來保持生產平穩。根據您今天的了解，可以公平地說這感覺保守嗎？

I would say we don't know that because we're continuing to get more barrels. I mean just look at the graphs where our teams are getting more production from the wells for either the same or lower cost. We're doing both. We're increasing efficiencies of execution while also getting more recovery out of the wells. So I don't think I'd be prepared to say that we'd have to spend more capital just to stay flat. We'll look at that. And again, the efficiencies that are being gained, I think we have to take all that into account. And we'll -- we're starting to look at some of that now, but I'm a bit impressed with what we've been able to do with the dollar to spend because I think that we still have for our wedge production, the lowest capital intensity on a per barrel basis in the industry, I believe, at least the last time we checked it. Now we haven't done that number in a couple of months. So we probably need to check that again to know for sure.

我想說我們不知道這一點，因為我們正在繼續獲得更多的桶。我的意思是只要看一下圖表，我們的團隊就能以相同或更低的成本從油井中獲得更多產量。我們兩者都在做。我們正在提高執行效率，同時也提高油井的採收率。因此，我認為我不會準備說我們必須花費更多資金才能保持平穩。我們會看看這個。再說一遍，我認為我們必須考慮到正在提高的效率。我們現在就開始考慮其中的一些，但我對我們能夠用美元做的事情印象深刻，因為我認為我們仍然有用於楔子生產的資金我相信，至少在我們上次檢查時，該行業每桶資本密集度是最低的。現在我們已經幾個月沒有完成這個數字了。所以我們可能需要再次檢查才能確定。

Appreciate the detail on that. The one to follow up on your agreement with ADNOC. Does that cover Stratos? And do you have any sense for what kind of capital the company is looking to spend with you at this point?

欣賞這方面的細節。負責跟進您與阿布扎比國家石油公司達成的協議的人。這包括 Stratos 嗎？您是否知道公司目前希望與您一起花費甚麼樣的資本？

It doesn't cover Stratos, but it does cover other things, and it could cover things that we currently have today, not -- probably not the first deck at the King Ranch. But what we had done is we put together a work group that worked with ADNOC to talk about what the possibilities are for direct air capture and sequestration here in the United States versus Abu Dhabi. And the big focus was to try to help each of us to achieve the goals that we've set out. And ADNOC just set another goal for themselves to get to net zero, I think, by 2045. So they're on a mission. They have a goal, and we also do and we -- given the fact that we collaborated on making and building the what is now the largest -- and what was it, even at the time, the largest ultra-sour gas processing plant in the world. There were several companies that walked away from that they didn't want to try to attempt that.

它不包括斯特拉托斯，但它確實包括其他東西，它可以包括我們目前擁有的東西，而不是——可能不是國王牧場的第一層甲板。但我們所做的是組建了一個工作組，與阿布扎比國家石油公司合作，討論在美國與阿布扎比進行直接空中捕獲和封存的可能性。重點是努力幫助我們每個人實現我們設定的目標。我認為 ADNOC 剛剛為自己設定了另一個目標，即到 2045 年實現淨零排放。所以他們肩負著一項使命。他們有一個目標，我們也有一個目標，而且我們 - 考慮到我們合作製造和建造了現在最大的工廠 - 即使在當時，它也是美國最大的超酸性氣體加工廠世界。有幾家公司放棄了他們不想嘗試的嘗試。

So we have a track record of working with ADNOC to do difficult things or to do things that are different. The sulfur recovery units in Al Hosn are serial numbers 1 through 4. So that's -- that was a bold step for us. And now we're taking this bold step to go into looking to help each other, and also to help our shareholders because the way we're doing this is in a way that it's not going to be a cost for us over time. It's going to be -- it's going to deliver returns and ADNOC is focused on that as well. So we have a very similar objectives around all of how we're doing this. And so the work team now will continue and start looking at sites here in the U.S. and the UAE and pick the one that gives us the best chance to ensure that right out of the gate, we're starting with a good project.

因此，我們擁有與阿布扎比國家石油公司合作做困難事情或做不同事情的記錄。 Al Hosn 的硫回收裝置的序列號為 1 至 4。所以這對我們來說是一個大膽的一步。現在，我們正在採取這一大膽的步驟，尋求互相幫助，同時也幫助我們的股東，因為我們這樣做的方式隨著時間的推移不會給我們帶來成本。它將帶來回報，阿布扎比國家石油公司也關注這一點。因此，我們在做這件事的所有方面都有非常相似的目標。因此，工作團隊現在將繼續並開始在美國和阿聯酋考察地點，並選擇最有機會確保我們一開始就開展一個良好項目的地點。

The next question comes from Roger Read with Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的羅傑·里德。

I guess I'd like to follow up on some of the carbon capture. We saw a transaction occur, I guess, now about a month ago, on conventional sort of CO2 EOR. And I was wondering, as you look at your own operations there, anything you can look at or examining along those lines? Or have you had any inquiries from others about trying to expand the opportunity there?

我想我想跟進一些碳捕獲的情況。我猜，大約一個月前，我們看到了一項關於傳統 CO2 EOR 的交易。我想知道，當你審視自己在那裡的業務時，你可以沿著這些思路觀察或檢查什麼？或者其他人是否曾向您詢問過如何擴大那裡的機會？

I can't comment too much on what's happened. But I will say that there's probably not any carbon capture or CO2 EOR things that are happening in the U.S. or even worldwide that we don't follow very closely, one of which we had followed probably for a few decades or at least a couple of decades. But when we look at it, we -- and Richard can build on this. So we have now structured what we're doing so that we can focus on the things that we do best. And the things, as we've talked about in this call, the things that we do best are: one, understanding the subsurface.

我無法對所發生的事情發表太多評論。但我要說的是，在美國甚至全世界範圍內發生的任何碳捕集或二氧化碳 EOR 事件，我們可能都沒有密切關注，其中之一我們可能已經關注了幾十年或至少幾十年。幾十年。但當我們審視它時，我們和理查德可以在此基礎上繼續發展。因此，我們現在已經構建了我們正在做的事情，以便我們可以專注於我們最擅長的事情。正如我們在這次電話會議中談到的，我們最擅長的事情是：第一，了解地下。

And since we have used CO2 for EOR for almost 50 years, what we're doing now is just a different way, a different kind of reservoir to put the CO2 into. So a different type of modeling, but all the same work goes into it and all the same the same techniques and approach go into looking at how we handle the CO2 and how we get it sequestered, whether it's in an EOR reservoir in the Permian or elsewhere or whether it's in a saline reservoir. So that part of it is our expertise. We don't really feel the need to own pipelines because pipeline returns are generally not the kind of returns that we can get with our dollars invested in either the upstream business or shale business or conventional. So what we want to do is make sure that our capital dollars are going to the things that we do best.

由於我們使用二氧化碳進行 EOR 已近 50 年，因此我們現在所做的只是採用不同的方式，將二氧化碳放入不同類型的儲層中。因此，這是一種不同類型的建模，但所有的工作都是相同的，並且同樣的技術和方法都用於研究我們如何處理二氧化碳以及如何將其封存，無論是在二疊紀的EOR 油藏中還是在其他地方或是否在鹽水庫中。所以這部分是我們的專業知識。我們並不真正覺得有必要擁有管道，因為管道回報通常不是我們投資於上游業務、頁岩業務或傳統業務所能獲得的回報。因此，我們要做的就是確保我們的資本投入到我們最擅長的事情上。

We've partnered with midstream companies in the sequestration hubs that we've developed. And again -- but we do have as you mentioned and referred to significant infrastructure. We do have 2,500 miles of CO2 pipeline in the Permian. We're operating there 13 CO2 processing plants. And so we have the basis to do a lot of work and a lot of sequestration in the Permian, where I think the Permian as a whole, I think the capacity is estimated to be large enough to sequester all of the emissions from the United States for 28 years, and we have a big footprint in the Permian. There are multiple zones we can not only implement CO2 for EOR, but for a straight sequestration. So we're doing partnerships that give us the best return in collaborating because there's going to be a lot of capital required for these projects over time, and we don't want all of that capital coming from Oxy. Obviously, we want other companies doing what they do best to. Richard, do you want to comment on some of the sequestration hubs?

我們在我們開發的封存中心與中游公司合作。再說一次，但我們確實有您提到的重要基礎設施。我們在二疊紀確實有 2,500 英里的二氧化碳管道。我們在那裡運營著 13 個二氧化碳加工廠。因此，我們有基礎在二疊紀做大量工作和大量封存，我認為二疊紀作為一個整體，我認為容量估計足以封存來自美國的所有排放28年來，我們在二疊紀留下了巨大的足跡。在多個區域，我們不僅可以使用二氧化碳進行 EOR，還可以直接封存。因此，我們正在建立合作夥伴關係，以便在合作中為我們帶來最佳回報，因為隨著時間的推移，這些項目將需要大量資金，而我們不希望所有資金都來自 Oxy。顯然，我們希望其他公司做他們最擅長的事情。理查德，您想對一些隔離中心發表評論嗎？

Sure. I mean -- yes, just build a minute. I think even especially in our Permian EOR or Permian position, we continue to work many carbon capture opportunities. We continue to think because of that legacy position we have, especially in the subsurface that that's going to present economic and real opportunity for us and emitters in terms of being able to capture and retire the CO2. In terms of the Gulf Coast, I know we talked about it before, but I want to reiterate, like Vicki said, be very focused on the sequestration of the subsurface piece of that. That's really as we learned where we could best add value, it's around that position, and we have our hubs that are going in the Gulf Coast.

當然。我的意思是——是的，請花一分鐘時間。我認為，即使是在我們的二疊紀 EOR 或二疊紀位置，我們也會繼續開發許多碳捕獲機會。我們繼續認為，由於我們擁有的傳統地位，特別是在地下，這將為我們和排放者提供捕獲和回收二氧化碳的經濟和真正的機會。就墨西哥灣沿岸而言，我知道我們之前討論過，但我想重申，就像維基說的那樣，要非常關注地下部分的封存。這確實是我們了解到的最能增加價值的地方，就在這個位置周圍，我們的樞紐位於墨西哥灣沿岸。

We've got several of our Class 6 wells that are permitted and moving well through the process, may have up to 6 by the end of the year. We're drilling strat wells really in every hub continuing to be prepared as we think these capture projects are going to be put together and come online over the next few years. So we really think we're positioned to be the low-cost kind of sequestration, certainly providing security around the CO2 because of our history. So great partnerships with midstream companies we've announced before, and they're an important piece, but we're really focused on that, both in the Permian and in the Gulf Coast around really developing that subsurface for sequestration.

我們已經獲得了幾口 6 級油井的許可，並且進展順利，到今年年底可能會達到 6 口。我們正在每個中心鑽探地層井，繼續做好準備，因為我們認為這些捕集項目將在未來幾年內整合併上線。因此，我們確實認為我們的定位是低成本封存，由於我們的歷史，當然可以為二氧化碳提供安全保障。我們之前已經宣布與中游公司建立良好的合作夥伴關係，它們是重要的一部分，但我們真正關注的是二疊紀和墨西哥灣沿岸的地下封存開發。

The next question comes from Paul Cheng with Scotiabank.

下一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Paul Cheng。

Vicki and the team, with the improvement that you're seeing in DJ, what should we expect from the activity and the production trajectory for the next several years? I mean, in the past that I think with the limitation on the inventory or there maybe concern about regulatory, that production for you has been on the decline. Should we assume that the decline will continue, but at a slower pace or that you think you may be able to do better than that? That's the first question.

Vicki 和團隊，隨著 DJ 的進步，我們對未來幾年的活動和製作軌蹟有何期望？我的意思是，在過去，我認為由於庫存的限製或可能對監管的擔憂，你們的產量一直在下降。我們是否應該假設下降將繼續，但速度會較慢，或者您認為您可以做得更好？這是第一個問題。

Okay. I'll turn that over to Richard. Richard's been actually looking at that more closely.

好的。我會把它交給理查德。理查德實際上一直在更仔細地研究這個問題。

Sure. Yes. Let me just kind of walk you through where we were this year. Obviously, we were significantly underinvested in the last couple of years coming out of the downturn, really focusing capital on the shortest cycle. We really restored capital back to the Rockies this year back to more sustaining levels, but the teams continued to outperform. And so what really has happened this year is a shallower decline in the first half of the year. We had expected growth in the second half of the year, but the growth is actually a bit better. So if you look at kind of where we're at first half to second half, I think we're growing about 6,000 barrels a day. So the -- in terms of rigs, we're running capable -- been running 2, capable for 3. And we continue to work on these well improvements to see really how that asset and that production competes for capital in our portfolio going into next year. But I think really the -- sort of the capital that you're seeing deployed in the Rockies this year takes us from a decline into really a flat to moderate -- low-end growth.

當然。是的。讓我向您介紹一下我們今年的情況。顯然，在走出低迷時期的過去幾年裡，我們的投資嚴重不足，真正將資本集中在最短的周期上。今年我們確實將落基山脈的資本恢復到了更可持續的水平，但球隊的表現仍然出色。因此，今年真正發生的情況是上半年下降幅度較小。我們本來預計下半年會有增長，但實際上增長要好一些。因此，如果你看看我們上半年到下半年的情況，我認為我們每天的產量約為 6,000 桶。因此，就鑽機而言，我們正在運行 2 台，能夠運行 3 台。我們將繼續致力於這些井的改進，以真正了解該資產和生產如何在我們的投資組合中競爭資本。明年。但我認為，你今年在落基山脈部署的那種資本確實使我們從衰退轉向了平緩至溫和的低端增長。

Rich, can we assume that that's the minimum that you will be able to do for the next several years that led to maybe modest growth?

Rich，我們是否可以假設這是您在未來幾年能夠做的最低限度的事情，從而可能帶來適度的增長？

Look, the teams have continued -- we challenge everybody, but I think the Rockies team has really done a great job on this. Getting upfront in terms of land development, permits, really getting the midstream position in place to be able to do more. But again, it needs to fit our capital allocation. So they do high returns even at lower gas prices. These are very competitive returns. I would call them a bit longer cycle than the, say, the Delaware in Texas, but they also have a bit lower decline. And so for us, they fit really well. We'll have capability to do more, but it really needs to fit the sort of cash flow outcome that the company needs as we put capital together for next year. But we can do more as that fits.

看，球隊仍在繼續——我們挑戰每個人，但我認為落基山脈隊在這方面確實做得很好。在土地開發、許可方面取得先機，真正獲得中游地位，以便能夠做更多的事情。但同樣，它需要適合我們的資本配置。因此，即使天然氣價格較低，他們也能獲得高回報。這些都是非常有競爭力的回報。我認為它們的周期比德克薩斯州的特拉華州更長一些，但它們的下降幅度也稍低一些。所以對我們來說，它們非常適合。我們將有能力做更多的事情，但它確實需要符合公司在明年籌集資金時所需的現金流結果。但我們可以做更多適合的事情。

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 go back to Stratos, the first DAC plant in Texas. You've made some progress in contracting some of the offtake there. I was wondering if you could just talk at a higher level on the demand that you're seeing for offtake from that DAC facility? And then I think signing offtake was one of the key factors driving some of the ranges in capital spending for lower carbon ventures this year. Could you just talk about where we're trending within that range as well?

所以我想回到 Stratos，德克薩斯州的第一家 DAC 工廠。你們在簽訂部分承購合同方面取得了一些進展。我想知道您是否可以在更高的層面上談談您所看到的 DAC 設施承購的需求？然後我認為簽約承購是推動今年低碳企業資本支出範圍的關鍵因素之一。您能否談談我們在該範圍內的趨勢？

Yes, great. I'll start with the CDR sales. I think as we've continue to talk about, we really believe in the market and believe that really the formation and sales are following kind of our expectations. I mean, clearly pleased with strategic, strong strategic customers like A&A that recognize really the fit of our product, which is a CDR into a larger aviation decarbonization. So while there -- we think about broadly sustainable aviation fuels, we feel like CDRs fit well into that market.

對，很好。我將從 CDR 銷售開始。我認為，正如我們繼續討論的那樣，我們真的相信市場，並且相信產品的形成和銷售確實符合我們的預期。我的意思是，顯然對像 A&A 這樣的戰略性、強大的戰略客戶感到滿意，他們真正認識到我們產品的適合性，即 CDR 到更大的航空脫碳中。因此，儘管我們考慮了廣泛可持續的航空燃料，但我們認為 CDR 非常適合該市場。

So if you look at some of the equivalents on probably a better marked market in terms of sustainable aviation fuels, those may range $800 to $1,000 a ton we believe we're going to settle into that market well. Really, the key for us, though, as we continue to talk, is driving the innovation and cost down in DAC. And so we remain focused not only the construction parts going on in Permian with Stratos, but also in our King Ranch development, but very pleased with the progress carbon engineering makes with their innovation center. So I didn't want to talk about just the market because we do believe that cost down is important for us to make this affordable long term. The other mark I'll give you, just in terms of thinking about kind of sales and how the CDRs fit on the price ranges, I think in April European Parliament put together some things around requiring 2% SAF mix starting in 2025 and some of those penalties are $550 per ton of CO2. So when you look at how we can compete directly offset that at a lower cost. We think that's another mark that really helps us think about how we can be competitive.

因此，如果你看看可持續航空燃料方面可能更明顯的市場上的一些同類產品，價格可能在每噸 800 至 1,000 美元之間，我們相信我們將很好地融入該市場。事實上，正如我們繼續討論的那樣，對我們來說關鍵是推動 DAC 的創新和成本降低。因此，我們不僅關注 Stratos 在二疊紀的建設部分，還關注 King Ranch 的開發，但對碳工程及其創新中心取得的進展感到非常滿意。因此，我不想只談論市場，因為我們確實相信，降低成本對於我們讓這種長期負擔得起的產品非常重要。我要給你的另一個標記是，就考慮銷售類型以及 CDR 如何適應價格範圍而言，我認為歐洲議會在 4 月份就要求從 2025 年開始使用 2% SAF 組合製定了一些要求，以及這些罰款為每噸二氧化碳550 美元。因此，當你看看我們如何才能以更低的成本直接競爭時，就可以抵消這一點。我們認為這是另一個真正幫助我們思考如何保持競爭力的標誌。

Great. And then just on the lower carbon spending in your plan this year, I think the offtake and the ability to finance off balance sheet was one of the swing factors. Can you just give us an update on that process as well?

偉大的。然後就今年計劃中的低碳支出而言，我認為承購和資產負債表外融資的能力是搖擺因素之一。您能否向我們介紹一下該流程的最新情況？

Yes. No, I think -- look, we remain optimistic that we're going to have good partners as we think about financing this long term. We've been strong in our ability to be able to carry the near term, but we understand longer term that we need financial partners that come into this with us, and we continue to make progress. Just to talk about the capital, we've stayed with the range $200 million to $600 million for the year. And really, that reflects that room to bring in that capital partnership by the end of the year.

是的。不，我認為——看，我們仍然樂觀地認為，在我們考慮長期融資時，我們將擁有良好的合作夥伴。我們的短期能力很強，但我們知道從長遠來看，我們需要金融合作夥伴與我們一起參與進來，我們將繼續取得進展。就資本而言，我們今年的資金規模維持在 2 億至 6 億美元之間。實際上，這反映了在年底之前引入資本合作夥伴關係的空間。

Yes. And I would say, Devin, I appreciate your interest and we will have a bit more of an update in November. I want to give anybody to thinking it's some sort of major announcement, it's not. It's just an update just like what Richard gave now because things are continuing to change with respect to demand for CDRs and that sort of thing. So we'll give you a little more of that in November.

是的。我想說，Devin，我感謝您的關注，我們將在 11 月提供更多更新。我想讓任何人認為這是某種重大公告，但事實並非如此。這只是一個更新，就像理查德現在所做的那樣，因為對 CDR 的需求以及諸如此類的事情在不斷變化。因此，我們將在 11 月份為您提供更多內容。

Yes. I think construction progress, I should say, we're about 23%, I think, to date. So we'll have more construction progress. We think we can point more to the market. And just kind of follow-up on that deep dive we had last year kind of giving some updates on how these pieces come together.

是的。我認為到目前為止，施工進度約為 23%。這樣我們就會有更多的建設進展。我們認為我們可以更多地針對市場。這只是我們去年進行的深入研究的後續行動，提供了有關這些部分如何組合在一起的一些更新。

(Operator Instructions) The next comes from Scott Gruber with Citigroup.

（操作員說明）下一個來自花旗集團的斯科特·格魯伯（Scott Gruber）。

Yes. Just had one question, just following up on that last point. The ADNOC MOU is quite encouraging. But whether it's ADNOC or another partner? In terms of just thinking about making that equity investment in DAC, do the partners that you're talking with, do they want to see the learnings from Stratos manifest into lower capital and operating costs, DAC 2 or DAC 3 to pull the trigger on an investment? Or do you sense that just showcasing progress in constructing Stratos and getting it up and running would be sufficient to attract equity funding into the program?

是的。只是有一個問題，只是跟進最後一點。 ADNOC諒解備忘錄非常令人鼓舞。但到底是阿布扎比國家石油公司還是其他合作夥伴呢？就考慮對 DAC 進行股權投資而言，與您交談的合作夥伴是否希望看到 Stratos 的經驗體現在降低資本和運營成本、DAC 2 或 DAC 3 上投資？或者您是否認為僅僅展示 Stratos 的構建以及啟動和運行方面的進展就足以吸引股權融資進入該計劃？

I would say with ADNOC, they know our track record of building major projects and they know Ken Dillon well, who's actually manages our major projects. So they've seen us and how we not only -- we're innovative in how we built Al Hosn, but we were also innovative in this just recent expansion to expand the plant by almost 50% with probably spend way under 10% is -- was phenomenal. And so I think that ADNOC will be prepared to move forward with us sooner than waiting on what happens with Stratos. I think they all understand that technologies go through a cost down. There's never been a technology that's worked and been adopted in large way without having gone through the same kind of thing that we'll go through with our direct air capture.

我想說的是，對於阿布扎比國家石油公司，他們了解我們建設重大項目的記錄，而且他們很了解肯·狄龍，他實際上管理著我們的重大項目。所以他們看到了我們，我們不僅在建造 Al Hosn 方面具有創新性，而且在最近的擴建中也具有創新性，將工廠擴大了近 50%，而支出可能遠低於 10%。 ——太棒了。因此，我認為 ADNOC 將準備好與我們一起推進，而不是等待 Stratos 的進展。我想他們都明白技術會降低成本。從來沒有一種技術能夠在沒有經歷過我們直接空氣捕獲所經歷的同樣的事情的情況下發揮作用並被廣泛採用。

Yes. And the only thing I would add, I mean, there definitely is different capital, I think as we're able to move down that cost down over the next decade. We really like to partner with strategics like ADNOC or others that can be a part of not only the near term, but the long term. But obviously, we want to get the right value and set up the right economics for both parties as we bring them in. And so I think, of course, long term, as we bring costs down, the market forms, we expect that to open really capital, and that's a big part of our ability to scale development. And so to answer your question, yes, I do think that changes -- presents more opportunities over time.

是的。我唯一要補充的是，我的意思是，肯定有不同的資本，我認為我們能夠在未來十年內降低成本。我們非常喜歡與阿布扎比國家石油公司或其他公司等戰略合作夥伴合作，這些合作夥伴不僅可以成為短期的一部分，而且可以成為長期的一部分。但顯然，我們希望在引進雙方時獲得正確的價值並為雙方建立正確的經濟效益。所以我認為，當然，從長遠來看，隨著我們降低成本，市場形成，我們預計開放真正的資本，這是我們規模化發展能力的重要組成部分。因此，回答你的問題，是的，我確實認為隨著時間的推移，變化會帶來更多機會。

Yes. One final comment on it is, partnering with ADNOC, we know their capabilities and expertise, too. So we know what they bring to the table. And so that's the other exciting aspect of this is having their knowledge and their experience, their expertise combined with ours, to do whichever we do or a combination of both the CCUS and the direct air capture.

是的。最後一點是，與阿布扎比國家石油公司合作，我們也了解他們的能力和專業知識。所以我們知道他們會帶來什麼。因此，另一個令人興奮的方面是，將他們的知識和經驗、他們的專業知識與我們的專業知識相結合，來完成我們所做的任何事情，或者將 CCUS 和直接空氣捕獲相結合。

The next question comes from David Deckelbaum with TD Cowen.

下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 David Deckelbaum。

I'm going to try to ask one perfect question. I was curious, you mentioned before, obviously, with the curve where it is now, you need to see it a bit higher to start prosecuting more preferred redemptions. Does the cash flow priority change given the fact that it's harder to achieve that milestone in the coming quarters? Or should we expect sort of a similar pace or distribution or free cash via buybacks sort of irrespective of where the curve is in the back half of this year? And does it change how you think about capital allocation, perhaps into next year relative to sustaining capital versus growth capital?

我將嘗試問一個完美的問題。我很好奇，你之前提到過，顯然，按照現在的曲線，你需要看到它更高一點才能開始執行更多的首選贖回。鑑於在未來幾個季度實現這一里程碑變得更加困難，現金流優先級是否會發生變化？或者，無論今年下半年的曲線在哪裡，我們是否應該期望通過回購實現類似的速度或分配或自由現金？它是否會改變您對資本配置的看法，也許會改變到明年相對於維持資本與增長資本的看法？

I would say that we're not going to execute a large growth program in our upstream oil and gas business. So -- but I will say that our intent is to keep a moderate capital spend, what we consider to be something similar to the activity level that we have on a whole year basis, not the second half, take the second half of this year and project it into next year is what our oil and gas activity level would be. But what we want to do is we just want a program that delivers the best returns at present value. So that doesn't mean that we're going to take our capital framework right now and dramatically change it. Share repurchases is a part of that.

我想說的是，我們不會在上游石油和天然氣業務中執行大規模的增長計劃。所以，但我要說的是，我們的目的是保持適度的資本支出，我們認為這與我們全年而不是下半年的活動水平類似，以今年下半年為例並將其預測到明年我們的石油和天然氣活動水平將會是多少。但我們想要做的是，我們只想要一個能夠以現值提供最佳回報的計劃。因此，這並不意味著我們現在就要採用我們的資本框架並對其進行大幅改變。股票回購是其中的一部分。

And that's -- it's an important part of that. And what we do will depend on the macro. But from the -- what -- I would say what we see with the macro now, I wouldn't discount our ability to do both, to repurchase common shares whilst also being able to redeem some of the preferred next year because I do see a better price environment, I believe, than what some realize it's going to be. So I think there are a lot of reasons pointing to a pretty good environment. So I wouldn't discount it yet. I do believe that we'll have the opportunity to do both, but share repurchases will always be a part of our framework.

這就是——這是其中的重要組成部分。我們做什麼將取決於宏觀。但從——我想說的是，我們現在在宏觀上看到了什麼，我不會低估我們回購普通股的能力，同時也能夠在明年贖回一些優先股，因為我確實看到我相信，這是一個比某些人想像的更好的價格環境。所以我認為有很多原因表明環境非常好。所以我還不會打折。我確實相信我們將有機會兩者兼而有之，但股票回購將永遠是我們框架的一部分。

The other thing I'll add, David, too, is in 2023, because our share repurchase program is thus far, far more ratable in our concentration and purchases last year. We're creating a foundation for 2024. We don't have as many slugs to overcome with us that necessitate spikes in oil prices or whatever to get there. So we are laying the groundwork for next year even as we continue to buy share repurchases this year, whether or not we're retiring preferred along with it or not.

David，我還要補充的另一件事是在 2023 年，因為迄今為止，我們的股票回購計劃在我們去年的集中度和購買方面更加值得關注。我們正在為 2024 年奠定基礎。我們沒有那麼多需要克服的困難，而這些困難需要油價飆升或其他什麼才能實現這一目標。因此，我們正在為明年奠定基礎，即使我們今年繼續購買股票回購，無論我們是否會隨之優先退休。

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。我想將會議轉回給 Vicki Hollub 進行閉幕致辭。

I would just like to say thank you all for joining us, and have a great day.

我只想感謝大家加入我們，祝您有美好的一天。

The 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。