PBF Energy Inc (PBF) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the PBF Energy Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions) Please note this conference is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 PBF Energy 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議和網絡廣播。 （操作員說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Colin Murray of Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.

現在我很高興將發言權交給投資者關係部的科林·穆雷 (Colin Murray)。先生，您可以開始了。

Thank you, Debbie. Good morning, and welcome to today's call.

謝謝你，黛比。早上好，歡迎參加今天的電話會議。

With me today are Matt Lucey, our President and CEO; Tom Nimbley, our Executive Chairman; Karen Davis, our CFO; and several other members of our management team. Copies of today's earnings release and our 10-Q filing, including supplemental information are available on our website.

今天和我在一起的有我們的總裁兼首席執行官馬特·盧西 (Matt Lucey)；湯姆·寧布利 (Tom Nimbley)，我們的執行主席；凱倫·戴維斯，我們的首席財務官；以及我們管理團隊的其他幾位成員。今天的收益報告和我們的 10-Q 報告的副本，包括補充信息，可在我們的網站上獲取。

Before getting started, I'd like to direct your attention to the safe harbor statement contained in today's press release. Statements in our press release and those made on this call that express the company's or management's expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions under federal securities laws. There are many factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations, including those we described in our filings with the SEC.

在開始之前，我想請您注意今天新聞稿中包含的安全港聲明。我們的新聞稿中以及本次電話會議中表達公司或管理層對未來的期望或預測的聲明均為前瞻性聲明，旨在涵蓋聯邦證券法的安全港條款。有許多因素可能導致實際結果與我們的預期不同，包括我們在向 SEC 提交的文件中描述的因素。

Consistent with our prior periods, we'll discuss our results today, excluding special items. In today's press release, we described the special items included in our quarterly results. The cumulative impact of these special items increased second quarter net income by an after-tax amount of approximately $729 million or $5.59 per share. And this relates primarily to the gain realized on the formation of the St. Bernard Renewables equity method investment.

與我們之前的時期一致，我們今天將討論我們的結果，不包括特殊項目。在今天的新聞稿中，我們描述了季度業績中包含的特殊項目。這些特殊項目的累積影響使第二季度淨利潤增加了約 7.29 億美元或每股 5.59 美元。這主要與聖伯納德可再生能源公司權益法投資的形成所實現的收益有關。

Also included in today's press release is further guidance related to our 2023 operations. For any questions on these items or follow-up questions, please contact Investor Relations after today's call. For reconciliations of any non-GAAP measures mentioned on today's call, please refer to the supplemental tables provided in today's press release.

今天的新聞稿還包括與我們 2023 年運營相關的進一步指導。如果對這些項目有任何疑問或後續問題，請在今天的電話會議後聯繫投資者關係部。有關今天電話會議中提到的任何非公認會計原則措施的調節，請參閱今天新聞稿中提供的補充表格。

I'll now turn the call over to Tom Nimbley.

我現在將把電話轉給湯姆·寧布利。

Thanks, Colin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call.

謝謝，科林。大家早上好，感謝您加入我們的通話。

Refiners follow the markets and respond to consumer demand. We continue to hear calls for higher refining utilization, and see a market supported by low inventories and sustained customer demand. Crude differentials narrowed over the quarter. It is common to have narrow crude dist during peak summer runs.

煉油商緊隨市場並響應消費者需求。我們不斷聽到提高煉油利用率的呼聲，並看到低庫存和持續的客戶需求支撐著市場。本季度原油差異收窄。在夏季高峰運行期間，原油管道狹窄是很常見的。

The narrows is amplified by the production policies of OPEC Plus and to a lesser degree, recent SBR restocking activity. We believe crude markets are near the peak of the narrowness and would expect crude dists to relax post summer, as the industry heads into full turnarounds that are forecasted to be higher than seasonal norms.

歐佩克+的生產政策以及最近的丁苯橡膠補充庫存活動在較小程度上放大了這一幅度的縮小。我們認為，原油市場已接近窄幅峰值，預計夏季過後原油供應將放鬆，因為該行業將進入全面復甦，預計將高於季節性正常水平。

PBF's refining system is well positioned to manage these market dynamics. We have a complex conversion, ample reforming capacity, shorten asset and our long-life octane. We like our yield profile and that puts the company in an advantageous position.

PBF 的煉油系統能夠很好地管理這些市場動態。我們擁有復雜的轉化、充足的重整能力、縮短資產和長壽命的辛烷值。我們喜歡我們的收益率狀況，這使公司處於有利地位。

Refinery margins remained well above historical mid-cycle, and we have seen a recent rebound from the relative lows experienced during the second quarter. I say relative because those lows were still above mid-cycle. A key theme for 2023 is the recovery in the demand for jet fuel and gasoline, partially offset by a decline in distillate demand as industrial production has slowed.

煉油廠利潤率仍遠高於歷史週期中期，而且我們最近看到從第二季度經歷的相對低點反彈。我說相對是因為這些低點仍高於週期中期。 2023 年的一個關鍵主題是航空燃油和汽油需求的複蘇，但由於工業生產放緩導致餾分油需求下降，部分抵消了需求的複蘇。

Diesel inventories are up, yet still remained below 5-year averages. However, at this time of the year, we expect to see distillate inventories building into the coming agricultural season and winter. The fact that we are not seeing this normal seasonal activity provides some support for potentially stronger distillate markets ahead.

柴油庫存有所增加，但仍低於五年平均水平。然而，在每年的這個時候，我們預計餾分油庫存將在即將到來的農業季節和冬季增加。事實上，我們沒有看到這種正常的季節性活動，這為未來可能走強的餾分油市場提供了一些支持。

The markets will continue to be volatile. Predicting the timing of and the future moves in the commodity markets is challenging. At the same time, we are seeing stable to growing demand for our products at our refinery gates, thereby continuing the call for high utilization from our assets.

市場將繼續波動。預測商品市場的時機和未來走勢具有挑戰性。與此同時，我們看到煉油廠對我們產品的需求穩定增長，因此繼續要求我們的資產得到高利用率。

With that, I will turn the call over to Matt.

這樣，我會將電話轉給馬特。

Thanks, Tom. Before commenting on the quarter, I thought I'd take a moment to give you my perspective of the company that I take on the role of CEO.

謝謝，湯姆。在評論本季度之前，我想花點時間向大家介紹一下我對我擔任首席執行官的公司的看法。

First, I can say with absolute confidence that today, PBF is in its strongest position ever as an operating company. As I reflect on PBS time as an operating company, which began 2010, I break our history into 3 distinct periods.

首先，我可以絕對有信心地說，今天，PBF 作為一家運營公司處於有史以來最強大的地位。當我回顧 PBS 作為一家運營公司（從 2010 年開始）的歷史時，我將我們的歷史分為三個不同的時期。

The first 5 years from '10 to '14, we set the foundation of the company and established our refining platform. The second 5 from '15 to '19, we focused on growth. We doubled our refining capacity, increased our logistics footprint and geographic diversification.

'10年到'14年的前5年，我們奠定了公司的基礎，建立了我們的煉油平台。從 15 年到 19 年的第二個 5 年，我們專注於增長。我們將煉油能力提高了一倍，擴大了物流足跡和地域多元化。

The 3 years from '20 to '22, we navigated the most volatile marketplace oil markets ever experienced, maintaining consistent, safe and reliable operations through the lows allowed us to fully capitalize on the robust market recovery to generate record financial performance, which brings us to today.

從20 世紀20 世紀到22 世紀22 年間，我們經歷了有史以來最動蕩的市場石油市場，在低谷期間保持一致、安全和可靠的運營，使我們能夠充分利用強勁的市場復甦，創造創紀錄的財務業績，這使我們到今天。

We have repaid over $3 billion in debt, repurchased PBF Logistics and PBF Inventory Intermediation Agreements, reduced our environmental credit payables by about 40% since the beginning of the year, and to the renewable fuels business with a world-class partner in Eni, restart paying a dividend and commenced in executing a share buyback program where we bought about 8% of the shares.

我們已經償還了超過30 億美元的債務，回購了PBF Logistics 和PBF 庫存中介協議，自年初以來將我們的環境信貸應付款項減少了約40%，並與世界級合作夥伴埃尼重啟了可再生燃料業務支付股息並開始執行股票回購計劃，我們購買了約 8% 的股票。

Moving forward, our focus is on capital allocation. Our repositioned balance sheet will buttress the company against future market disruptions, which are inevitable in this cyclical industry or any cyclical industry for that matter.

展望未來，我們的重點是資本配置。我們重新定位的資產負債表將支持公司應對未來的市場混亂，這在這個週期性行業或任何週期性行業中都是不可避免的。

Our goal is to further strengthen our business, cash flows and balance sheet and to work with the rating agencies to highlight these improvements with the intention of eventually becoming an investment-grade company. On that front, we have recently been upgraded by S&P, Moody's and Fitch.

我們的目標是進一步加強我們的業務、現金流和資產負債表，並與評級機構合作突出這些改進，以期最終成為一家投資級公司。在這方面，我們最近獲得了標準普爾、穆迪和惠譽的評級升級。

We will continue to invest and innovate in each of our refineries to maintain and improve our reliability and competitive positioning. We will evaluate growth opportunities that leverage our expertise and large industrial footprint into high-quality business opportunities that diversify our cash flows beyond refining. Similar to the renewable diesel business we developed at Chalmette.

我們將繼續對每個煉油廠進行投資和創新，以維持和提高我們的可靠性和競爭地位。我們將評估增長機會，利用我們的專業知識和龐大的工業足跡轉化為高質量的商業機會，使我們的現金流多元化，超越煉油業務。與我們在查爾梅特開發的可再生柴油業務類似。

Most importantly, we will weigh potential investments in growth against returning capital to shareholders with the goal of maximizing long-term value. By definition, any returns associated with any future potential growth opportunities must be and will be superior to buybacks and dividends.

最重要的是，我們將權衡潛在的增長投資與向股東返還資本，以實現長期價值最大化。根據定義，與任何未來潛在增長機會相關的任何回報都必須並且將會優於回購和股息。

Our process will continue to be rigorous and disciplined and will ensure competition for capital, so that funds will flow to the highest and best use. PBF is committed to driving long-term value for shareholders. This obviously begins with working safely and operating reliably and responsibly.

我們的流程將繼續嚴格、有紀律，並確保資金的競爭，使資金流向最高、最好的用途。 PBF 致力於為股東創造長期價值。顯然，這首先是安全工作、可靠且負責任地運行。

On that note, in the second quarter, our refineries operated reasonably well with system-wide throughput in line with our expectations. We completed a turnaround of the Delaware City coker and minor work on the hydrocracker in Torrance. There will be a larger FCC and outpacing units around in the fourth quarter at Torrance.

在這方面，第二季度我們的煉油廠運營良好，全系統吞吐量符合我們的預期。我們完成了特拉華城焦化廠的檢修工作以及托倫斯加氫裂化廠的小規模工作。第四季度托倫斯將有一個更大的 FCC 和超越單位。

As mentioned in our press release this morning, the St. Bernard renewable joint venture transaction closed in June. We are more than pleased to have gotten to this point and look forward to operating this venture alongside Eni sustainable mobility.

正如我們今天上午的新聞稿中提到的，聖伯納德可再生能源合資企業交易已於 6 月完成。我們非常高興能夠走到這一步，並期待與埃尼可持續交通一起運營這家合資企業。

The operations of SBR are progressing as planned. We successfully started up both the RD unit and the PTU. The facility is running well. We continue to line out operations and we sold our first commercial cargoes in July. We are more than halfway through the year, and market conditions have provided PBF with the opportunity to generate exceptional results.

SBR的運營正在按計劃進行。我們成功啟動了 RD 裝置和 PTU。該設施運行良好。我們繼續安排運營，並於 7 月份出售了第一批商業貨物。今年已過半，市場狀況為 PBF 提供了取得卓越成果的機會。

While the work to maintain the strength of our balance sheet is ongoing, the major efforts to improve it have largely been completed. We will continue to focus on our robust balance sheet with a simplified and transparent capital structure.

雖然維持資產負債表實力的工作仍在進行中，但改善資產負債表的重大努力已基本完成。我們將繼續專注於穩健的資產負債表和簡化且透明的資本結構。

We intend to demonstrate the durability of our transformation and our through-the-cycle financial strength. Our goal is to generate long-term value for our investors through solid operational performance, and disciplined capital allocation.

我們打算展示我們轉型的持久性和整個週期的財務實力。我們的目標是通過穩健的運營業績和嚴格的資本配置為投資者創造長期價值。

With that, I'll turn the call to Karen.

這樣，我就把電話轉給凱倫。

Thank you, Matt. For the second quarter, we reported adjusted net income of $2.29 per share and adjusted EBITDA of more than $560 million. As mentioned at the opening of the call, adjusted net income excludes the gain on the investment in St. Bernard Renewables. We closed on the joint venture partnership at the end of June and going forward, we will account for our 50% interest using the equity method.

謝謝你，馬特。第二季度，我們報告調整後淨利潤為每股 2.29 美元，調整後 EBITDA 超過 5.6 億美元。正如在電話會議開始時提到的，調整後的淨利潤不包括對聖伯納德可再生能源公司的投資收益。我們於 6 月底結束了合資夥伴關係，今後我們將採用權益法核算 50% 的權益。

The fair value of the SBR business was approximately $1.72 billion at closing, excluding working capital. In the second quarter, we recorded a gain of approximately $969 million relating to the formation of the joint venture. The gain represents the difference between the value of the consideration we received, which includes the fair value of our 50% noncontrolling interest in the partnership, plus the cash contributed by our partner, and the carrying value of the related assets we contributed.

截止收盤時，SBR 業務的公允價值約為 17.2 億美元，不包括營運資金。第二季度，我們錄得與成立合資企業相關的約 9.69 億美元收益。收益代表我們收到的對價價值（包括我們在合夥企業中 50% 非控股權益的公允價值，加上我們合作夥伴貢獻的現金）與我們貢獻的相關資產的賬面價值之間的差額。

On June 28, upon closing of the transaction, we received $431 million and on August 2, just yesterday, we received an additional $415 million subsequent to the successful commercial start-up of the PTU in July. In total, PBF has received $846 million relating to its investment in SBR.

6 月 28 日，交易完成後，我們收到了 4.31 億美元；8 月 2 日，也就是昨天，繼 7 月份 PTU 成功商業啟動後，我們又收到了 4.15 億美元。 PBF 總共收到了與 SBR 投資相關的 8.46 億美元。

PBF is entitled to potentially receive up to an additional $30 million of contingent consideration if certain performance conditions are met. While we exclude this onetime gain from the discussion of our second quarter results, this transaction generated real equity value for PBF and holds potential future value through additional opportunities, we look forward to exploring with our new partner, Eni.

如果滿足某些業績條件，PBF 有權獲得最多 3000 萬美元的額外或有對價。雖然我們在討論第二季度業績時排除了這一一次性收益，但這項交易為PBF 帶來了實際股權價值，並通過額外的機會持有潛在的未來價值，我們期待與我們的新合作夥伴埃尼(Eni) 進行探索。

With our results from operations and the cash provided by the successful closing of the SBR equity investment, we continued our work to improve the financial position of the company, strengthen our balance sheet and reward shareholders. We further reduced our outstanding environmental payables by approximately $250 million for a total of approximately $570 million year-to-date.

憑藉我們的經營業績和成功完成 SBR 股權投資所提供的現金，我們繼續努力改善公司的財務狀況，加強我們的資產負債表並回報股東。我們進一步減少了未清環境應付款項約 2.5 億美元，今年迄今總額約為 5.7 億美元。

Our environmental credits payables have now been reduced from over $1.3 billion at the end of last year, to just under $800 million at the end of June. Continuing with our efforts to streamline our balance sheet, in July, we exited our Inventory Intermediation Agreement at a total cost of approximately $270 million, including the cost of repurchasing the inventory and transaction fees. This arrangement had been our highest cost of capital.

我們的應付環境信貸現已從去年年底的 13 億多美元減少到 6 月底的近 8 億美元。我們繼續努力精簡資產負債表，7 月，我們退出了庫存中介協議，總成本約為 2.7 億美元，包括回購庫存的成本和交易費用。這種安排是我們最高的資本成本。

For the first time in our history, the company now owns and controls all of its inventory, a milestone event in the development of PBF. We continue to purchase PBF shares and through today, we have repurchased almost $440 million worth of PBF shares, including $100 million in the second quarter. For the life of the program to date, we have repurchased over 11 million shares and reduced our total share count to just under 124 million shares.

公司歷史上首次擁有並控制其所有庫存，這是 PBF 發展過程中的一個里程碑事件。我們繼續購買 PBF 股票，到今天為止，我們已經回購了價值近 4.4 億美元的 PBF 股票，其中包括第二季度的 1 億美元。迄今為止，在該計劃的有效期內，我們已回購了超過 1100 萬股，並將總股數減少至略低於 1.24 億股。

Our G&A expenses for the second quarter came in at $104 million, which includes our base G&A expense and amounts related to the company's incentive and equity-based compensation plans. For the sake of clarity, PBF's annual base and G&A expense should continue to be in the $200 million to $250 million range.

我們第二季度的一般管理費用為 1.04 億美元，其中包括基本一般管理費用以及與公司激勵和股權薪酬計劃相關的金額。為清楚起見，PBF 的年度基數和一般管理費用應繼續在 2 億至 2.5 億美元範圍內。

Depending on financial and operational performance on top of this, there could be approximately $100 million in incremental G&A expense related to our compensation programs. This incentive component of G&A is variable and dependent on a number of factors, the most important of which is our financial performance. If the company does well, so do our investors and our employees.

除此之外，根據財務和運營績效，與我們的薪酬計劃相關的一般管理費用增量可能約為 1 億美元。 G&A 的激勵部分是可變的，取決於許多因素，其中最重要的是我們的財務業績。如果公司表現良好，我們的投資者和員工也會表現良好。

Consolidated CapEx for the second quarter was approximately $367 million, which includes $260 million for refining, corporate and logistics and approximately $107 million related to SBR. Our refineries should continue to demonstrate durable earnings power, and we are adding diversified earnings streams as SBR comes online.

第二季度的綜合資本支出約為 3.67 億美元，其中包括用於煉油、企業和物流的 2.6 億美元，以及與 SBR 相關的約 1.07 億美元。我們的煉油廠應繼續展現持久的盈利能力，隨著丁苯橡膠上線，我們正在增加多元化的盈利來源。

For the second quarter, SBR was not a contributor to the earnings of our system, as we did not fully start up until July. As of today, we have reached planned throughput rates and expect to continue operating in the 20,000 barrel per day range. We have previously mentioned our EBITDA per gallon expectations on a steady-state basis, but we do not expect to reach that run rate until we receive all of the required regulatory approvals for our pathways and products, which could be into the first half of 2024.

第二季度，SBR 並未對我們系統的盈利做出貢獻，因為我們直到 7 月份才完全啟動。截至今天，我們已達到計劃吞吐量，並預計繼續在每天 20,000 桶的範圍內運營。我們之前曾提到過在穩態基礎上的每加侖EBITDA 預期，但在我們的途徑和產品獲得所有所需的監管批准之前，我們預計不會達到該運行率，這可能會在2024 年上半年進行。

We ended the quarter with over $1.5 billion in cash and approximately $1.44 billion of gross debt. We continue to focus on the strength of our balance sheet and ensuring that the needs of the business are satisfied. We believe our sector-leading balance sheet needs or exceeds many investment-grade credit metrics, and we will continue to exercise balance sheet discipline and sound financial policy.

本季度末，我們擁有超過 15 億美元的現金和約 14.4 億美元的總債務。我們繼續關注資產負債表的實力並確保滿足業務需求。我們相信，我們行業領先的資產負債表需要或超過許多投資級信用指標，我們將繼續實行資產負債表紀律和健全的財務政策。

Operator, we have completed our opening remarks, and we'd be pleased to take questions.

接線員，我們已經完成了開場白，我們很樂意回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Roger Read with Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自富國銀行的羅傑·里德（Roger Read）。

I guess let's -- well, first off, Matt, congrats on CEO and all. But can we take a hard look at the diesel markets and your comments, right? So diesel demand has been relatively weak, diesel inventories haven't done anything very extraordinary in terms of building. And as we look to the fall and winter, let's say, even a normalized economy next year on the industrial side, what's your view of the ability to deliver enough diesel into the market, and what this may mean for margins going forward?

我想我們——好吧，首先，馬特，祝賀首席執行官和所有人。但我們可以仔細看看柴油市場和您的評論嗎？因此，柴油需求一直相對疲軟，柴油庫存在建設方面並沒有起到任何非常顯著的作用。當我們展望秋季和冬季時，即使明年工業方面的經濟正常化，您對向市場提供足夠柴油的能力有何看法，這對未來的利潤率意味著什麼？

I'll start and maybe pass it over to Tom, who made a couple of comments on that I think are on point.

我將開始並可能將其傳遞給湯姆，他對此發表了一些我認為很重要的評論。

Diesel was a bit softer. But we also, you bring it back to last year, it's the same pattern we've seen maybe in sort of longer duration. But gasoline was much stronger than -- in the first part of the year than diesel. As a result, we made more gasoline and the diesel yield decline. There's always unintended consequences.

柴油稍微軟一些。但我們也把它帶回到去年，這與我們在更長的持續時間內看到的模式相同。但今年上半年，汽油的表現比柴油強得多。結果，我們生產了更多的汽油，而柴油產量下降了。總會有意想不到的後果。

And so you're exactly right. Over the last couple of weeks, we've seen a tremendous rebound in the diesel crack. And that's partially because at this time of the year, we're still well below historical norms for diesel inventories. And so the market has to create the incentive to make the diesel going into the agricultural season and weather turning.

所以你是完全正確的。過去幾週，我們看到柴油裂解價出現大幅反彈。部分原因是在每年的這個時候，我們的柴油庫存仍遠低於歷史正常水平。因此，市場必須創造激勵機制，使柴油進入農季和天氣轉變。

So I have no doubt that we'll be able to -- the marketplace will figure out a way to make the diesel to provide the marketplace with sufficient diesel. But all these questions always come back to the same answer, which is refined capacity is tight. Supply is coming on, but that supply is needed. And so we view it as being very constructive and the marketplace is reasonably well to be -- exceed what is historical norms for mid-cycle margins. Tom, you have?

因此，我毫不懷疑我們將能夠——市場將找到一種製造柴油的方法，為市場提供足夠的柴油。但所有這些問題總是回到同一個答案，那就是精煉能力緊張。供應即將到來，但供應是必需的。因此，我們認為這是非常有建設性的，而且市場相當好——超過了中期利潤率的歷史標準。湯姆，你有嗎？

I mean, Matt, the only thing I would add really is kind of coming, we still have to get through the turnaround season, which is active and long and -- seemingly right, just the beginning days of hurricane season. So probably a little bit of premium built into it right now in terms of getting it through there. But ultimately, the market will be -- and the industry will be switching yields actively over the next several weeks and months as we basically enter into winter gasoline season and distillate certainly expected to maintain market position.

我的意思是，馬特，我唯一要補充的是，我們仍然必須度過好轉季節，這個季節活躍且漫長，而且似乎是正確的，只是颶風季節的開始。因此，為了順利通過，現在可能會內置一些溢價。但最終，隨著我們基本上進入冬季汽油季節，並且餾分油肯定會保持市場地位，因此市場將在未來幾周和幾個月內積極調整產量。

Okay. And then just to pivot to the comments about it -- pursuing an IG rating and the inventory change -- can -- is there a way you can quantify for us or give maybe a couple of key points of what changes for PBF with the change in the inventory control, and then if you are able to achieve an IG rating, how we should think about that as sort of a quantifiable bottom line impact, if you can?

好的。然後只是轉向有關它的評論 - 追求 IG 評級和庫存變化 - 可以 - 有沒有一種方法可以為我們量化，或者給出 PBF 隨變化而變化的幾個關鍵點在庫存控制中，然後如果你能夠達到IG 評級，我們應該如何將其視為一種可量化的底線影響（如果可以的話）？

Yes. So in regards to the Inventory Intermediation Agreement and Karen mentioned this, if you go back in our history, when we first began we had suppliers of crude on the East Coast and the suppliers and off-takers of products. We had suppliers of crude in the Mid-Con for our 3 refineries.

是的。因此，關於庫存中介協議，凱倫提到了這一點，如果你回顧我們的歷史，當我們剛開始時，我們在東海岸有原油供應商以及產品的供應商和承購商。我們在中部地區為我們的 3 家煉油廠提供原油供應商。

And so this is a moment for the company, which just happened last -- actually earlier this week when it was finally extinguished completely where the company is properly capitalized. There's no -- the financings in which they are, they're not bad. But it's simply just the fact that the company didn't have the proper capitalization to own it all. Now we do, which I think is a good thing. It dramatically simplifies our balance sheet. It makes it much more transparent. We own the inventory as opposed to renting it and it sort of buried within the balance sheet.

因此，對於該公司來說，這是一個時刻，這實際上是在本週早些時候發生的，當時它最終在公司資本充足的情況下完全消失了。沒有——他們的融資狀況還不錯。但這只是一個事實，即該公司沒有足夠的資本來擁有這一切。現在我們做到了，我認為這是一件好事。它極大地簡化了我們的資產負債表。它使它更加透明。我們擁有庫存，而不是租賃它，它有點隱藏在資產負債表中。

It lowers our costs because the Intermediation Agreement you are paying essentially an interest rate was our highest cost of capital. But as I said, it just demonstrates that not only properly capitalized, but now that we own it, and it's paid for debt free, it deepens the keel of the company.

它降低了我們的成本，因為您支付的中介協議本質上是利率，這是我們最高的資本成本。但正如我所說，它只是表明，不僅資本充足，而且現在我們擁有它，而且還清償了債務，它加深了公司的龍骨。

So it's more wherewithal that we can utilize in terms of liquidity going forward. And so I think it was absolutely the right thing for us to do. Those structures served us incredibly well over the last 12 years. We're appreciative of the partners that we work with to have them. But where we are in our life cycle right now, it made the most sense to move on, and we're pleased to do it.

因此，我們可以在未來的流動性方面利用更多的資金。所以我認為這對我們來說絕對是正確的事情。這些結構在過去 12 年里為我們提供了令人難以置信的良好服務。我們感謝與我們合作的合作夥伴擁有這些。但就我們現在所處的生命週期而言，繼續前進是最有意義的，我們很高興這樣做。

In regards to investment grade, we're not doing that for any other reason, then we think it will increase the value of our company on a number of fronts. Obviously, it lowers your cost of capital. But in this business, working capital is incredibly important. And so it increases the open credit with counterparties, you're talking about 1 million barrels a day of crude being purchased and when at $85 crude, open credit is critically important.

關於投資評級，我們這樣做不是出於任何其他原因，那麼我們認為這會在多個方面增加我們公司的價值。顯然，它降低了您的資金成本。但在這個行業中，營運資金非常重要。因此，它增加了與交易對手的開放信貸，每天購買 100 萬桶原油，而當原油價格為 85 美元時，開放信貸至關重要。

And so to improve our standing with counterparties adds value. You improve your insurance costs. So costs across the organization go down, but also you potentially improve your shareholder base, and you attract new shareholders as you become a stronger and stronger company. So I do think it's incredibly important, and it's something that it's a goal that we're chasing. I think we have a lot of merit to our argument. And it's slowly being recognized. We did just get upgraded.

因此，提高我們在交易對手中的信譽會增加價值。您可以提高保險費用。因此，整個組織的成本會下降，但你也有可能改善你的股東基礎，並且隨著你成為一家越來越強大的公司，你會吸引新的股東。所以我確實認為這是非常重要的，也是我們正在追求的目標。我認為我們的論點有很多優點。而且它正在慢慢被認可。我們確實剛剛升級。

But for our industry and for what we do, I think it is important, and I think it will add tremendous value to our shareholders.

但對於我們的行業和我們所做的事情來說，我認為這很重要，而且我認為它將為我們的股東增加巨大的價值。

Great. Good quarter and we'll catch you on the next one.

偉大的。很好的季​​度，我們會在下一個季度與您見面。

Thanks, Roger.

謝謝，羅傑。

Our next question comes from the line of Doug Leggate with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自 Doug Leggate 與美國銀行的對話。

Tom, great to hear you on the call. Matt, I think you've been pretty clear about the different life stages of PBF through its life cycle. But I wonder if I could -- just touch on how you see the portfolio today. Is there anything that you would shift at this point, anything you would change any way you want to be that you're not -- and I guess what's behind my question is the joint venture you have now is going to generate some RINs, I assume.

湯姆，很高興聽到你打電話。 Matt，我認為您已經非常清楚 PBF 整個生命週期的不同生命階段。但我想知道我是否可以——談談你今天如何看待這個投資組合。在這一點上，有什麼是你會改變的嗎？有什麼是你會以你想要的方式改變的，但你不是——我想我的問題背後的原因是，你現在擁有的合資企業將產生一些RIN，我認為。

But it remains a sizable headwind for the company. So when you see the likes of Valero with its ethanol business and other ways to mitigate the RIN exposure. I'm just curious if that's on your mind as to how you address your obligations going forward?

但這對該公司來說仍然是一個巨大的阻力。因此，當您看到 Valero 等公司及其乙醇業務和其他減輕 RIN 暴露的方法時。我只是好奇你是否也有這樣的想法，如何履行你未來的義務？

So I'll go backwards. And unfortunately, way too much of my time has been focused on RIN mitigation. It's a far away, far and away, the best way to mitigate RINs is to manufacture renewable diesel, which we're now doing. And so that it is a milestone event for the company.

所以我會向後走。不幸的是，我太多的時間都花在了 RIN 緩解上。這是一個很遙遠的事情，減輕 RIN 的最佳方法是生產可再生柴油，我們現在正在這樣做。因此，這對公司來說是一個里程碑事件。

And not only where we have half the entity. So half the RINs are ours, but we're set up to as not an obligated party. So we'll procure their share of RINs as well, which is good access simply to acquiring the RINs.

不僅是我們擁有一半實體的地方。因此，一半的 RIN 是我們的，但我們不是義務方。因此，我們也會購買他們的 RIN 份額，這對於獲取 RIN 來說是一個很好的途徑。

But I would quibble with the idea that investing in ethanol is necessarily a good hedge against RIN volatility. The long and short of it and what makes it difficult is the way the program is administered; the beneficiaries are entities that trade at a much higher multiple than refiners. So it's a difficult task to take on that well, I'm just going to buy my way through the RIN market because much of that benefit will flow to wholesale marketers that retail businesses that trade at different valuations in refining.

但我對投資乙醇必然是對抗 RIN 波動的良好對沖手段這一觀點持懷疑態度。總而言之，最困難的是該計劃的管理方式。受益者是交易倍數遠高於煉油商的實體。因此，這是一項艱鉅的任務，我只是想通過 RIN 市場進行購買，因為大部分收益將流向批發營銷商，以及在煉油領域以不同估值進行交易的零售企業。

So I don't think there's any glorying going that way. But we -- like I said, we're now manufacturing 500 million RINs a year, and that dynamically changes our position. And so we look forward to operating SBR safely and reliably and delivering those RINs.

所以我認為這樣做沒有任何榮耀。但正如我所說，我們現在每年生產 5 億個 RIN，這動態地改變了我們的地位。因此，我們期待安全可靠地運行 SBR 並交付這些 RIN。

In regards to our portfolio, I talked a little bit of our history. If you go back to the last cycle, 2010 to 2019, I would oversimplify the cycle by comparing it to residential real estate, which was location, location, location and everything else was secondary or not important. It didn't really matter what your size was, what your complexity was, your ability -- process our grades.

關於我們的投資組合，我談了一些我們的歷史。如果你回到上一個週期，2010年到2019年，我會通過將其與住宅房地產進行比較來過度簡化這個週期，即位置、位置、位置，其他一切都是次要的或不重要的。你的規模、複雜程度、能力並不重要——處理我們的成績。

It was, are you near the crew renaissance and do you have access to cheap crude for a whole host of reasons, I think our portfolio, which we put together very specifically on the back of complexity and access to coastal markets. Our portfolio, I think, is much better positioned going forward.

我認為我們的投資組合是基於復雜性和進入沿海市場的機會而專門組合在一起的。我認為，我們的投資組合未來的定位要好得多。

Well, why is that? I think there's been a number of closures in the industry, and that impacts everyone. I'm not sure it impacts anyone as directly as it does PBF. As you look at where the closures have occurred, they happen to be all our neighbors on the East Coast, PES. You could see that from Paulsboro to a lesser extent, certainly not our neighbor, but come by chance in Hovensa or direct East Coast participants.

嗯，這是為什麼呢？我認為該行業已經發生了很多倒閉事件，這對每個人都有影響。我不確定它對任何人的影響是否像 PBF 一樣直接。當您查看關閉地點時，您會發現它們恰好是我們在東海岸 PES 的所有鄰居。您可以在較小程度上從保羅斯伯勒（Paulsboro）看到這一點，當然不是我們的鄰居，而是偶然在霍文薩（Hovensa）或直接東海岸參與者中看到的。

And when you go to the Gulf Coast, it was really the Eastern edge of the Gulf Coast, where Chalmette and the Lynn shutdown, which are neighbors to Chalmette. And there, you have not only benefits from less refined products being produced, but also on crude procurement because they're buying very similar crude to us.

當你去墨西哥灣沿岸時，那確實是墨西哥灣沿岸的東部邊緣，查爾梅特和林恩關閉的地方，它們是查爾梅特的鄰居。在那裡，您不僅可以從生產的精煉程度較低的產品中受益，還可以從原油採購中受益，因為他們購買的原油與我們非常相似。

And then you go out to the West Coast, Marathon, Martinez, Scott, San Maria is down, and Phillips 66 announced yesterday that Rodeo will be converting in the first quarter. So all direct and local competitors to Martinez. So I think the closures impact us directly, but stepping back more broadly than that, you have obviously the disruption in Europe, which natural gas is now a major headwind for the refining sector in Europe.

然後你去西海岸，馬拉松、馬丁內斯、斯科特、聖瑪麗亞都下降了，菲利普斯 66 昨天宣布 Rodeo 將在第一季度轉換。因此，所有直接和當地的競爭對手都轉向馬丁內斯。因此，我認為關閉對我們有直接影響，但從更廣泛的角度來看，歐洲顯然受到了乾擾，天然氣現在是歐洲煉油行業的主要阻力。

You obviously fire boilers and heaters with natural gas, but you also desulfurize your products with hydrogen that comes from natural gas. And so if you're paying 4 or 5x natural gas than we are in the U.S., that's a big headwind and a big competitive advantage for us. And obviously, you have the disruption from the Russian-Ukraine ground war, and that creates other distortions that I think accrued to the benefit of our coastal refining network.

顯然，您使用天然氣來燃燒鍋爐和加熱器，但您也使用天然氣中的氫氣對產品進行脫硫。因此，如果您支付的天然氣價格是美國的 4 或 5 倍，這對我們來說是一個很大的阻力，也是一個很大的競爭優勢。顯然，俄羅斯-烏克蘭地面戰爭造成了乾擾，這造成了其他扭曲，我認為這些扭曲有利於我們沿海煉油網絡的利益。

And then obviously, something we talked about for years and years and years was IMO, and it became move when the pandemic struck, but it is now the law to see. And I -- its impact is embedded in everything else. As we look forward, we've got our footprint. We're very, very pleased. We're very pleased. We're just at the beginning stages with Eni and SBR and then we're looking to get into new businesses like hydrogen, we're working with the federal government. I think the company is very well positioned to be potential hydrogen hub going forward.

顯然，在我看來，我們討論了很多年，很多年，當大流行來襲時，它就變成了行動，但現在這是法律。而我——它的影響融入到其他一切之中。展望未來，我們已經留下了足跡。我們非常非常高興。我們非常高興。我們與埃尼和 SBR 的合作剛剛處於起步階段，然後我們正在尋求進入氫等新業務，我們正在與聯邦政府合作。我認為該公司非常有能力成為未來潛在的氫中心。

And so we've got our refining footprint. We've got our renewable footprint that is established and potentially growing. And there are other opportunities with our industrial footprint that I think we'll be able to capitalize on.

這樣我們就有了煉油足跡。我們已經建立了可再生能源足跡，並且有可能不斷增長。我認為我們的工業足跡還有其他機會可以利用。

Very thorough answer. I guess my follow-up is a quick one on the West Coast. It seems to me last December; I think we saw $100 cracks at one point when refineries went down for maintenance. Obviously, Rodeo is still too close and you're going to have your FCC off-line, as you pointed out.

非常徹底的答案。我想我的後續行動是在西海岸進行的。對我來說，這似乎是去年十二月；我認為，當煉油廠停工維護時，我們曾經看到過 100 美元的裂縫。顯然，Rodeo 距離仍然太近，您的 FCC 將會離線，正如您所指出的。

I guess my question is, how do you see the dynamics in the West Coast now? It seems to me we're back to sort of 2005 type volatility, incremental imports setting the incremental price. I'm just curious if you can characterize how, you see the West Coast dynamic going forward, and I'll leave it there.

我想我的問題是，您如何看待西海岸現在的動態？在我看來，我們又回到了 2005 年類型的波動，增量進口決定了增量價格。我只是好奇你是否能描述一下西海岸未來的動態，我就留在那裡。

Yes, I think it's going to be very tight. And you went through some of the reasons. I'll ask Paul Davis to comment. He works in California every day.

是的，我認為會非常緊張。你也經歷了一些原因。我會請保羅·戴維斯發表評論。他每天都在加州工作。

Actually, Doug, I would say you probably nailed it, right? The market is going to have to price a steady flow of imports as we have experienced refineries shutting down, and we have more in pending that are going to shut down.

事實上，道格，我想說你可能已經成功了，對吧？市場將不得不對穩定的進口量進行定價，因為我們經歷了煉油廠的關閉，而且還有更多煉油廠即將關閉。

The gasoline markets on the West Coast, including the whole pad are short, it's going to have to price accordingly, and you're going to see a lot of volatility going forward. That's what we see.

西海岸的汽油市場（包括整個墊區）很短缺，因此必須相應地定價，並且您將看到未來的大幅波動。這就是我們所看到的。

That was kind of our take as well.

這也是我們的看法。

Our next question comes from the line of John Royall with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的約翰·羅亞爾 (John Royall)。

So my first one is on working capital. Can you talk about any working capital builds you're seeing from the start-up of SBR, and we don't see it in the release, but I assume there was an overall headwind in 2Q. So any of that reverse in the second half? Or just should we be thinking about kind of more ordinary course seasonality for working capital in 2H?

所以我的第一個是關於營運資金的。您能否談談您從 SBR 啟動以來看到的任何營運資金建設，我們在發布中沒有看到它，但我認為第二季度存在總體阻力。那麼下半場有什麼逆轉嗎？或者我們是否應該考慮下半年營運資金的更普通的季節性？

Thanks, John. Thanks for the question. Yes, in the second quarter, there was a build of inventory related to SBR. In fact, it was $75 million, which was contributed to the partnership. Going forward, all of that working capital requirement will be within the SBR joint venture. So I think you should see in the future return to more normalized working capital.

謝謝，約翰。謝謝你的提問。是的，第二季度，與 SBR 相關的庫存有所增加。事實上，這 7500 萬美元是為合作夥伴關係貢獻的。展望未來，所有營運資金需求都將由 SBR 合資企業承擔。因此，我認為您應該看到未來營運資金將回歸更加正常化。

Great. And then on throughput, I think you cut guidance for the full year. Can you talk a little bit about the drivers there? Was it just turnaround dragging a little bit beyond plan in 1H? Or anything with 2H there?

偉大的。然後在吞吐量方面，我認為您削減了全年指導。您能談談那裡的司機嗎？是否只是 1H 的轉變稍微超出了計劃？或者有 2H 的東西嗎？

No, I don't think anything specific. We do have a big turnaround in Q4 at Torrance, the cat (inaudible) will be down for probably 50 days. So that will certainly impact throughput there.

不，我不認為有什麼具體的。我們在托倫斯的第四季度確實有一個重大轉變，貓（聽不清）將關閉大約 50 天。所以這肯定會影響那裡的吞吐量。

Our next question comes from the line of Manav Gupta with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的馬納夫·古普塔 (Manav Gupta)。

I just have one question, guys. You have 2 complex refining assets on the West Coast. Both of them can process a lot of heavy sour crude barrels. There's a new pipe, which we can debate if it opens up in 1Q next year or 2Q, but that will deliver close to 500,000 barrels of WCS on the West Coast.

我只有一個問題，伙計們。您在西海岸擁有 2 處複雜的煉油資產。兩者均可加工大量重質含硫原油桶。有一條新管道，我們可以討論它是否在明年第一季度或第二季度開放，但這將向西海岸輸送近 500,000 桶 WCS。

I just want to understand how PBF can benefit for it. And if you can help us out a little bit by quantifying it, that would be absolutely great.

我只是想了解 PBF 如何從中受益。如果你能通過量化它來幫助我們一點，那就太好了。

Well, I do think it is a tremendously positive story for our West Coast operations, not only bringing new crude into the marketplace. But that crude has to be priced to get to Asia for the U.S. and for our California system. It can be loaded on foreign flagships and we're dramatically cheaper to deliver it, to Torrance and to Martinez.

嗯，我確實認為這對於我們的西海岸業務來說是一個非常積極的故事，不僅將新原油帶入市場。但這些原油必須定價才能運往亞洲供美國和加州系統使用。它可以裝載在外國旗艦機上，而且我們將其運送到托倫斯和馬丁內斯的價格要便宜得多。

You're absolutely right. Our kit out there, we can process the most heavy, the most sour grades of crude out there. And so we're incredibly well positioned to be able to take that crude, we believe it will be at an economic advantage. And we're working diligently right now to figure out what most we can run and how we can increase that number, and so we're actively working in advance of whenever it is, but it is starting out next year that we'll be able to capitalize on the best way we can.

你是絕對正確的。我們的套件可以加工最重、最酸的原油。因此，我們處於非常有利的位置，能夠獲得這些原油，我們相信這將具有經濟優勢。我們現在正在努力弄清楚我們最多可以運行什麼以及如何增加這個數量，因此我們正在積極提前工作，但從明年開始我們將能夠利用最好的方式。

Manav, this is Tom O’Malley. We put a little time in the room. But it's an interesting crude because, yes, it's a sour heavy crude, but it has day one in it to ship it. And that is not by and large. So we are looking at trying to figure out how to make sure we debottleneck, expand our ability to handle products from that crude at the top of the tower, and we actively have the team working on that, and we can see it as a terrific opportunity for the company.

馬納夫，我是湯姆·奧馬利。我們在房間里呆了一點時間。但這是一種有趣的原油，因為，是的，它是一種含硫重質原油，但它有第一天的運輸時間。總體而言，情況並非如此。因此，我們正在考慮如何確保我們消除瓶頸，擴大我們處理塔頂原油產品的能力，我們積極讓團隊致力於此，我們可以將其視為一個了不起的公司的機會。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Blair with Tudor, Pickering & Holt.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Matthew Blair 與 Tudor、Pickering & Holt 的對話。

I guess starting out on refining. Could you talk a little bit about the capture rates in the East Coast in the second quarter? Seemed a little low. Was that due to the planned turnaround at the Del City coker? And I guess, what would you expect for Q3 here?

我想從精煉開始。您能談談第二季度東海岸的捕獲率嗎？看起來有點低。這是因為德爾城焦化廠計劃進行檢修嗎？我想，您對第三季度有何期望？

Yes, you have it right. The coker impacted -- 2 aspects, the coker turnaround, which went into the second quarter certainly impacted capture rates on the East Coast, but also crude differentials are narrowed. And hopefully, the (inaudible) is upon us. And Tom and Paul can comment on that.

是的，你說得對。焦化裝置的影響有兩個方面，進入第二季度的焦化裝置的轉變肯定影響了東海岸的捕獲率，但原油差異也縮小了。希望（聽不清）就在我們身邊。湯姆和保羅可以對此發表評論。

We expect crude differentials to now in Del City and Paulsboro have a clean run in regards to turnarounds going forward. Paul, any other comments?

我們預計德爾城和保羅斯伯勒的原油差異在未來的扭虧為盈方面將有一個乾淨的運行。保羅，還有其他意見嗎？

No, I think that's right. We have a pleased slide on work, and we think we're peaking on the light heavy spreads on crude. So when we take a look at September, October programs are they're a little more advantageous than July and August.

不，我認為這是對的。我們的工作業績下滑，我們認為原油的輕重利差已經達到頂峰。所以當我們看一下九月、十月的課程時，它們比七月和八月的課程更有優勢一些。

Sounds good. And then could you help us understand a little bit more on your expectations for RD profitability in the back half of this year? I think you mentioned that some of the pathways for I presume like RINs and LCFS might not come through until the first half of '24. But it sounds like you're still selling cargoes.

聽起來不錯。那麼您能否幫助我們更多地了解一下您對今年下半年研發盈利能力的預期？我想你提到過，我認為 RIN 和 LCFS 等一些途徑可能要到 24 年上半年才能實現。但聽起來你還在賣貨物。

I guess 1 question is, is there an opportunity to simply put that R&D into storage and wait for the pathways to fully monetize it? And then I guess second question is, what kind of rough EBITDA range might you expect? And does that $1.25 to $1.50 long-term target still hold?

我想有一個問題是，是否有機會簡單地將研發投入存儲並等待途徑將其完全貨幣化？然後我想第二個問題是，您預計 EBITDA 的粗略範圍是多少？ 1.25 至 1.50 美元的長期目標是否仍然有效？

Right. So I would characterize it in 3 different buckets. Absolutely, to answer your question, we believe long-term profitability in RD will settle out between $1 and $1.50. You said $1.25 and $1.50, it's in that range, whether it's $1 to $1.50 or $1.25 to $1.50.

正確的。所以我會用 3 個不同的類別來描述它。當然，為了回答你的問題，我們相信 RD 的長期盈利能力將在 1 美元到 1.50 美元之間。你說1.25美元和1.50美元，它都在這個範圍內，無論是1美元到1.50美元還是1.25美元到1.50美元。

I would characterize the current market is a bit softer than that for a whole host of reasons. But the current market, and if you want to call this the second half of '23, that's fine. If you're fully optimized and getting the full benefit of the LCFS credits, it's probably $0.75 to $1 at the moment. EBITDA margin per gallon.

我認為，出於多種原因，當前市場比以前要軟一些。但就目前的市場而言，如果你想將其稱為 23 世紀下半年，那也沒關係。如果您已完全優化並獲得 LCFS 積分的全部好處，目前價格可能為 0.75 美元到 1 美元。每加侖 EBITDA 利潤。

But what happens when you begin operations, you get an arbitrary low carbon score essentially, and that's suboptimized to what our reality is as we have a full pretreatment facility, and we'll be able to run all the low carbon feeds that are available.

但是，當你開始運營時，你基本上會得到一個任意的低碳分數，這與我們的現實情況相比是次優的，因為我們擁有完整的預處理設施，並且我們將能夠運行所有可用的低碳飼料。

So the sort of temporary debit you will (inaudible) say and that runs for 6 to 9 months from the time we begin operations. That's nothing PBF-specific, that's for any new entrant into the marketplace. And so for the remainder of this year, maybe early into next year, you'd probably take $0.25 off what the current market is. So call that $0.50 to $0.75 a gallon of EBITDA.

因此，您會（聽不清）所說的那種臨時藉記，從我們開始運營之日起持續 6 到 9 個月。這與 PBF 無關，適用於任何新進入市場的人。因此，在今年剩餘時間裡，也許到明年初，您可能會比當前市場價格便宜 0.25 美元。因此，我們稱其為每加侖 0.50 至 0.75 美元的 EBITDA。

Obviously, the markets are dynamic, and things can change quickly. That's the current outlook. I don't think there's any incentive to store diesel, we'll be selling actively as we go through the year.

顯然，市場是動態的，事情可能會迅速變化。這就是目前的前景。我認為沒有任何動力儲存柴油，我們將在今年積極銷售柴油。

Our next question comes from the line of Paul Sankey with Sankey Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Sankey Research 的 Paul Sankey。

Matt, I'm sure you're delighted to be free of Tom. Matt, you gave an interesting little historical perspective early in the call. And one thing that's always struck me about PBF is you've consistently surprised by your willingness to buy major assets. Now that you're at 1 million barrels a day capacity and you're obviously highly pursuing the investment-grade rating.

馬特，我相信你很高興擺脫湯姆的束縛。馬特，你在電話會議初期提出了一個有趣的歷史觀點。 PBF 一直讓我印象深刻的一件事是，您購買主要資產的意願一直令人驚訝。現在您的產能達到了每天 100 萬桶，並且您顯然非常追求投資級評級。

How do you think about cost of capital, future acquisitions, cash return, are you going to pursue a dividend policy of growth? Is there any potential for special dividends? Or do you think it will be a buyback with a lot less on the acquisition front now you fill dates?

您如何看待資本成本、未來收購、現金回報，您是否會追求增長的股息政策？是否有可能派發特別股息？或者您認為現在您填寫日期後，這將是一次回購，收購方面的金額要少得多？

Okay. There's a couple of things there. One, I do think there was tremendous benefits to getting to scale. I think we have scale. One small example, when we are 3 refineries, we didn't have much of a refining organization, with the 3 plant managers reported into executive management. Now we have a Head of Refining. We've got a whole organization under that's help support it. So our access to expertise and operational excellence improves as we got scale.

好的。那裡有一些事情。第一，我確實認為擴大規模有巨大的好處。我認為我們有規模。舉一個小例子，當我們有 3 家煉油廠時，我們沒有太多的煉油組織，3 名工廠經理向執行管理層報告。現在我們有一位煉油主管。我們有一個完整的組織來幫助支持它。因此，隨著規模的擴大，我們獲得專業知識和卓越運營的機會也會隨之增加。

But to your point, we have scale. As I said in my remarks, the rigor that we will take at looking at all uses of capital going forward, whether it's for potential expansion in or out of refining, we'll all be analyzed together and compared and everything will always be brought back to our alternative, which always exists in buying back our shares or dividends. And up until this point, we've been very, very focused on debt reduction. Obviously, that's sort of extended to the Inventory Intermediation Agreement, which we just took out.

但就你而言，我們有規模。正如我在發言中所說，我們將嚴格審視未來資本的所有用途，無論是用於煉油領域的潛在擴張還是煉油領域以外的潛在擴張，我們都將一起進行分析和比較，一切都會被帶回來我們的選擇總是存在於回購我們的股票或股息。到目前為止，我們一直非常非常關注債務削減。顯然，這有點延伸到我們剛剛簽署的庫存中介協議。

We've been paying down environmental credits. We've demonstrated a fairly aggressive buyback program, and we're coming up on the anniversary next quarter of restarting the dividend. And so every day, it's my job, and I've got a team with me that works every day to figure out our best uses of capital going forward. There is no need to get bigger. And so everything will be an opportunity, and we'll weigh it against our alternative.

我們一直在償還環境信貸。我們已經展示了相當積極的回購計劃，並且我們即將迎來下個季度重新啟動股息的周年紀念日。所以每一天，這都是我的工作，我有一個團隊每天都在努力找出我們未來資本的最佳用途。沒有必要變大。因此，一切都將是一個機會，我們將權衡它與我們的選擇。

Got it. That's what I kind of thought you would say, frankly. The -- and by the way, Tom, that was a joke. I didn't hear you well (inaudible) the Valero laugh is much harder regardless of top average is, but more you guys...

知道了。坦率地說，這就是我認為你會說的。順便說一句，湯姆，那是個笑話。我沒聽清你們的聲音（聽不清），無論最高平均水平如何，瓦萊羅的笑聲都要困難得多，但你們更多......

They're much more generous.

他們要慷慨得多。

Can you -- you have a fantastic insight to global markets of oil. Could you just talk a little bit, is my follow-up, obviously, could you just talk about -- I mean we just had Saudi across the headlines saying that they're going to extend cuts into September.

您對全球石油市場有深刻的洞察力嗎？你能簡單說一下嗎？顯然，這是我的後續行動，你能簡單談談嗎——我的意思是，我們剛剛看到沙特登上頭條新聞，稱他們將把減產延長到 9 月份。

Could you talk a bit about trade flows, first, crude, how it's impacting you, big moves in Canadian diffs and then product flows, whether or not the additional mega capacity that we're seeing in Asia has perhaps less cost impact or a huge question, but I'd be very interested by your answer.

您能否談談貿易流，首先是原油，它對您有何影響，加拿大差價的重大變動，然後是產品流，無論我們在亞洲看到的額外巨型產能是否對成本影響較小或巨大問題，但我對你的回答很感興趣。

Paul, it's a great question. We'll go backwards on it. I think the capacity additions, they're real, but they're not going to be imminent. It's going to take some time, to be able to get those huge refineries find out. There will be some offset chance for the U.S. There certainly will be with Rodeo going down. And whatever happens with LyondellBasell, if they continue to say -- do as they say and look to exit that business, and down in the Gulf Coast. That would obviously not only have a product impact, but it would also have an impact on crude supply because they run a fair amount of WCS.

保羅，這是一個很好的問題。我們將回顧這一點。我認為容量的增加是真實的，但不會立即發生。需要一些時間才能讓那些大型煉油廠發現這一點。美國將會有一些抵消的機會，隨著牛仔競技表演的下降，肯定會出現這種情況。無論利安德巴塞爾發生什麼，如果他們繼續說——按照他們說的去做，並尋求退出該業務，並進入墨西哥灣沿岸。顯然，這不僅會對產品產生影響，還會對原油供應產生影響，因為他們運行了大量的 WCS。

So I think we're certainly going to watch that. Ultimately, those refineries will get up speed. But at the same time, they're mostly in Asia, the population growth in the world is going to be mostly in Asia. And those refineries are being built predominantly down the road, making sure those confidence are self-sufficient by themselves.

所以我認為我們肯定會關注這一點。最終，這些煉油廠將加快速度。但與此同時，它們主要在亞洲，世界人口增長將主要在亞洲。這些煉油廠主要建在路上，以確保這些煉油廠能夠自給自足。

In terms of trade flows, I think the expert in this room and our team on watching what's been happening with Russia, et cetera, and even the new refiners coming on as Tom and -- Tommy, you have -- anything you would add?

在貿易流動方面，我認為這個房間裡的專家和我們的團隊正在關注俄羅斯等國正在發生的事情，甚至新的煉油廠正在以湯姆和 - 湯米，你有 - 你有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. I mean, let me pull along with that, I mean, I think it's really kind of the developments that really happen related to the OPEC cuts, right, Atlantic Basin, long crude, Pacific Basin, short crude. So the OPEC cuts have had a more dramatic effect upon the refineries in Asia starting to see an increased trade flow basically barrels leaving the Atlantic Basin, particularly on lights, right?

是的。我的意思是，讓我繼續說下去，我的意思是，我認為這確實是與歐佩克減產有關的事態發展，對吧，大西洋盆地，多頭原油，太平洋盆地，空頭原油。因此，歐佩克減產對亞洲煉油廠產生了更為顯著的影響，亞洲煉油廠開始看到貿易流量增加，基本上是離開大西洋盆地的石油，特別是在燈光下，對嗎？

I mean the Western African programs in the prior months, which were sort of softer, and we're moving sloshing around the Atlantic Basin are now starting to get pulled to the east. And I think that's probably the biggest change we've seen, which is not uncommon, but that's the change that's most apparent in front of us today.

我的意思是前幾個月的西非計劃有點軟，我們在大西洋盆地周圍晃蕩，現在開始被拉向東部。我認為這可能是我們見過的最大的變化，這並不罕見，但這是今天我們面前最明顯的變化。

Yes. Anything on Canada? And I'll leave it there.

是的。有什麼關於加拿大的嗎？我會把它留在那裡。

I don't think anything that hasn't already been mentioned on the call.

我認為電話會議中沒有提到任何事情。

Obviously, it's tightened up significantly. It looks like it's winding out a little bit, but I agree with Tom. We're going to see the big move there will happen when the trans pipeline gets on board.

顯然，它已經明顯收緊了。看起來有點結束了，但我同意湯姆的觀點。當運輸管道投入使用時，我們將看到那裡將會發生重大變化。

Our final question comes from the line of Ryan Todd with Piper Sandler.

我們的最後一個問題來自 Ryan Todd 和 Piper Sandler。

Maybe just a follow-up on Paul's earlier question on the use of cash. I mean, you've made material progress year-to-date reducing your environmental liabilities as well as staying active in the buyback market.

也許只是保羅之前關於現金使用問題的後續。我的意思是，今年迄今為止，您在減少環境責任以及在回購市場上保持活躍方面取得了實質性進展。

How much further on the environmental liabilities, how much lower would you like to get that before you feel like you're in a normalized place? And then with the cash in hand, particularly from -- I mean, both your organic free cash flow and the cash in hand from closing Eni deal. I guess you mentioned about being aggressive on the buyback. Is there room to lean in even more on the buyback? Or how do you view the kind of the appropriateness of that, I guess, I would say.

在您感覺自己處於正常狀態之前，您希望環境責任進一步降低多少？然後是手頭的現金，特別是來自——我的意思是，你的有機自由現金流和完成埃尼交易後的手頭現金。我猜你提到過要積極回購。回購還有進一步傾斜的空間嗎？或者你如何看待這種適當性，我想，我會說。

Sure. Ryan, with respect to environmental liabilities, we are at 800 now, down from 1.3, and we would see ourselves getting to a range of, say, 200 to 400 by the middle of next year and would call that 200 to 400 range, normal, more normal.

當然。 Ryan，就環境責任而言，我們現在從 1.3 下降到 800，我們預計到明年年中我們會達到 200 到 400 的範圍，並稱 200 到 400 的範圍為正常範圍，比較正常。

And then with respect to the Eni proceeds, we've long been talking that the balance sheet is our first priority, but the list of cleanup items is decreasing. We talked about taking in the Inventory Intermediation Agreement continuing to reduce the environmental liabilities.

然後，關於埃尼的收益，我們長期以來一直在談論資產負債表是我們的首要任務，但清理項目的清單正在減少。我們談到了加入庫存中介協議以繼續減少環境責任。

There is -- with respect to the balance sheet, the potential that we might refinance our 2025 notes. And then beyond that, it's really weighing as Matt said, the alternatives for excess cash, which includes stock buybacks, but -- and everything else has to compete against that return.

就資產負債表而言，我們有可能為 2025 年票據進行再融資。除此之外，正如馬特所說，多餘現金的替代方案確實很重要，其中包括股票回購，但是——其他一切都必須與回報競爭。

Great. And then maybe just one last quick one. OpEx came in really strong performance on operating expenses there on the refining business came in lower than expectations. Can you talk about some of the drivers there, and how sustainable some of those are as we look through the second half of the year?

偉大的。然後也許只是最後一個快速的。煉油業務的運營支出表現非常強勁，運營支出低於預期。您能否談談其中的一些驅動因素，以及我們展望今年下半年時其中一些因素的可持續性如何？

Yes. The biggest driver, no question about is natural gas prices. And so I know there was a lot of concentration on OpEx early in the year, and that was primarily on the back of much higher natural gas prices. Natural gas prices come down or OpEx comes in.

是的。毫無疑問，最大的推動因素是天然氣價格。所以我知道今年年初運營支出非常集中，這主要是由於天然氣價格大幅上漲。天然氣價格下降或運營支出增加。

With that, that concludes the call today. We appreciate everyone's participation, and we look forward to speaking to you next time. Thank you.

今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝大家的參與，期待下次與您交談。謝謝。

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與，祝您度過美好的一天。