Tetra Technologies Inc (TTI) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning and welcome to TETRA Technologies Third Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please also note that this event is being recorded today. I will now turn the conference over to Rigo Gonzalez, Manager of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

早安，歡迎參加 TETRA Technologies 2023 年第三季業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）另請注意，今天正在錄製此事件。我現在將會議交給公司財務和投資者關係經理 Rigo Gonzalez。請繼續。

Thank you, Joe. Good morning and thank you for joining TETRA's Third Quarter 2023 Results Call. The speakers for today's call are Brady Murphy, Chief Executive Officer; and Elijio Serrano, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，喬。早安，感謝您參加 TETRA 2023 年第三季業績電話會議。今天電話會議的發言人是執行長布雷迪墨菲 (Brady Murphy)；塞拉諾 (Elijio Serrano)，財務長。

I would like to remind you that this conference call may contain statements that are or may be deemed to be forward looking, including projections, financial guidance, profitability and estimated earnings. These statements are based on certain assumptions and analysis made by TETRA and are based on several factors. These statements are subject to several risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the company. You're cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

我想提醒您，本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述或可能被視為前瞻性陳述，包括預測、財務指導、獲利能力和預期收益。這些陳述是基於 TETRA 所做的某些假設和分析，並基於多個因素。這些陳述受到多種風險和不確定性的影響，其中許多風險和不確定性超出了公司的控制範圍。請注意，此類陳述並不能保證未來業績，實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中的預測有重大差異。

In addition, in the course of the call, we may refer to EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA gross margins, free cash flow, net debt, net leverage ratio, liquidity, returns on net capital employed or other non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to yesterday's press release or to our public website for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest GAAP measures. These reconciliations are not a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP and should be considered within the context of our complete financial results for the period. In addition to our press release announcement, we encourage you to also refer to our 10-Q that we filed yesterday as well.

此外，在電話會議過程中，我們可能會參考 EBITDA、調整後 EBITDA、調整後 EBITDA 毛利率、自由現金流、淨債務、淨槓桿率、流動性、淨資本回報率或其他非 GAAP 財務指標。請參閱昨天的新聞稿或我們的公開網站，以了解非公認會計原則財務指標與最接近的公認會計原則財務指標的調節表。這些調節表不能取代根據公認會計原則準備的財務信息，應在我們當期完整財務業績的背景下考慮。除了我們的新聞稿之外，我們鼓勵您也參考我們昨天提交的 10-Q。

I will now turn it over to Brady.

我現在將把它交給布雷迪。

Thanks, Rigo. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to TETRA's third quarter 2023 earnings call.

謝謝，里戈。大家早安，歡迎參加 TETRA 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。

Our third quarter delivered solid financial results in our base business with adjusted EBITDA of $26.1 million, the highest third quarter since the third quarter of 2015, while significantly advancing our strategic initiatives. Because of the second quarter seasonal peak in our Northern European industrial chemicals business, the underlying strength of our business is highlighted by our year-on-year growth and our progression from the first quarter.

我們的基礎業務第三季度取得了穩健的財務業績，調整後的 EBITDA 為 2,610 萬美元，這是自 2015 年第三季以來最高的第三季度，同時顯著推進了我們的策略舉措。由於我們的北歐工業化學品業務第二季度出現季節性高峰，我們業務的潛在實力透過我們的同比增長和較第一季的進步得以凸顯。

Year-on-year, we grew revenue 12% and adjusted EBITDA by 40%. Compared to the third quarter of 2023, we grew revenues 4% -- first quarter, sorry, of 2023, we grew revenue 4% and adjusted EBITDA by 27%. Our 2023 year-to-date adjusted EBITDA of $83 million already well exceeds our full year 2022 adjusted EBITDA of $78 million. As of the end of the third quarter, our trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA was $103 million.

與去年同期相比，我們的營收成長了 12%，調整後的 EBITDA 成長了 40%。與 2023 年第三季相比，我們的營收成長了 4%——抱歉，2023 年第一季度，我們的營收成長了 4%，調整後的 EBITDA 成長了 27%。我們 2023 年迄今調整後 EBITDA 為 8,300 萬美元，已遠超過 2022 年全年調整後 EBITDA 7,800 萬美元。截至第三季末，我們過去 12 個月的調整後 EBITDA 為 1.03 億美元。

Furthermore, as of September 2023, our trailing 12 months return on net capital employed or RONCE, a non-GAAP measure, was 20.7%, highlighting our focus on driving returns above our cost of capital to enhance shareholder value. I'll provide additional color on our overall Q3 performance but first, I would like to highlight a historical milestone for the company.

此外，截至2023 年9 月，我們過去12 個月的已動用淨資本回報率或RONCE（一項非公認會計原則衡量標準）為20.7%，這突顯了我們致力於將回報率提高到資本成本之上，以提高股東價值。我將對我們第三季的整體表現提供更多信息，但首先，我想強調公司的一個歷史里程碑。

As a reminder, on June 26 of this year, TETRA announced that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company for the purpose of pulling respective brine mineral rights in Arkansas Smackover Formation. This was done in support of an application for a 6,138 acre brine production unit with the Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission, or AOGC, for the purpose of bromine and lithium extraction from the brine. In September, the unit application was unanimously approved by the AOGC giving TETRA and our partner the rights to develop and produce the brine for bromine production and future lithium production once the lithium royalty is established by the AOGC.

值得提醒的是，今年6月26日，TETRA宣布與一家財富500強公司的間接全資子公司簽署了一份諒解備忘錄，旨在收回各自在阿肯色州Smackover地層的滷水礦權。這樣做是為了支持向阿肯色州石油天然氣委員會 (AOGC) 申請建造佔地 6,138 英畝的鹽水生產裝置，用於從鹽水中提取溴和鋰。 9 月，該裝置申請獲得了 AOGC 的一致批准，一旦 AOGC 確定了鋰特許權使用費，TETRA 和我們的合作夥伴就有權開發和生產用於溴生產和未來鋰生產的鹽水。

With this approval, the binding terms of our MOU have become effective, and TETRA and our partner have entered into a joint venture negotiations for operating and joint development agreements relating to the development of the brine unit with the anticipation of having these agreements in place by the end of the year or early in 2024.

在獲得批准後，我們的諒解備忘錄的約束性條款已生效，TETRA 和我們的合作夥伴已就與鹽水裝置開發相關的營運和聯合開發協議進行了合資談判，預計這些協議將在2019 年落實到位。年底或 2024 年初。

In addition, we did the data gathering and sampling operations for the second test well with results yielding lithium measurements in the upper Smackover as high as 646 milligrams per liter or 35% higher than the first test well, which was located on the southern end of the unit that we reported in September of 2022, and bromine values of 5,890 milligrams per liter, which are in line with the first test well.

此外，我們對第二個測試井進行了資料收集和採樣操作，結果顯示，Smackover 上游的鋰含量高達 646 毫克/公升，比位於南端的第一個測試井高出 35%。我們在2022 年9月報告的單位，溴值為5,890 毫克/公升，與第一口測試井相符。

These strong concentration results, along with the very positive porosity and well testing data, are being used to update the lithium and bromine resource report for our approved brine unit, which we plan to complete in our release shortly. The updated resource report will update the estimated volumes, lithium and bromine in our unit, and we'll classify those between measured, indicated and inferred.

這些強大的濃度結果，以及非常積極的孔隙度和試井數據，正被用來更新我們批准的鹽水裝置的鋰和溴資源報告，我們計劃很快在我們的發布中完成該報告。更新後的資源報告將更新我們裝置中的鋰和溴的估計量，我們將它們分類為測量值、指示值和推斷值。

Moving back to our third quarter business results. Our Completion Fluids & Products segment continues to see the benefit of strong industrial chemicals margins as well as the offshore and deepwater market recovery. We executed a moderate-sized TETRA CS Neptune job in the U.K. sector of the North Sea for a deepwater super major operator, the first TETRA CS Neptune job for this customer. The segment year-on-year revenue growth was 24% with adjusted EBITDA up 42%.

回到我們第三季的業務業績。我們的完井液和產品部門繼續受益於強勁的工業化學品利潤以及海上和深水市場的復甦。我們在英國北海海域為一家深水超級大型業者執行了一項中等規模的 TETRA CS Neptune 作業，這是該客戶的第一個 TETRA CS Neptune 作業。該部門營收年增 24%，調整後 EBITDA 成長 42%。

The recovery in growth in the offshore market that we've been forecasting is well supported by Rystad report, which highlights that for the first time since 2014, the average contract duration for high-spec drillships has surpassed 12 months and committed utilization for ultra-deepwater rigs is approximately 90%.

我們一直預測的海工市場成長復甦得到了 Rystad 報告的有力支持，該報告強調，自 2014 年以來，高規格鑽井船的平均合約期限首次超過 12 個月，並承諾使用超深水鑽井平台約佔90 %。

In line with this data point, our pipeline of deepwater opportunities for offshore completion fluid projects continues to grow. And although the overall activity trend is upward, because deepwater completions for TETRA can be as much as 5 to 10x the value of a non-deepwater well, our revenues will experience fluctuations depending on the overall number of customer deepwater wells completed in a given quarter.

根據這個數據點，我們用於海上完井液計畫的深水機會持續成長。儘管整體活動趨勢呈上升趨勢，但由於 TETRA 的深水完井價值可能是非深水井價值的 5 至 10 倍，因此我們的收入將根據特定季度內完成的客戶深水井總數而出現波動。 。

For example, although the deepwater rig count has remained consistent in the Gulf of Mexico, the number of deepwater completions is down in the second half of '23 compared to the first half with nine jobs completed compared to 15 in our record set in Q2. This is driven by the timing of our customers' well drilling operations versus completion activity which, depending on the project, can be separated by months.

例如，儘管墨西哥灣的深水鑽井平台數量保持穩定，但與上半年相比，23 年下半年深水完工數量有所下降，完成了 9 個作業，而我們在第二季度創下的記錄為 15 個。這是由我們客戶的鑽井作業與完井活動的時間決定的，根據專案的不同，這可能會相隔數月。

For this reason, as deepwater continues to ramp up, it's important to look at TETRA Completion Fluids & Products over a longer time horizon than quarter-by-quarter. Year-to-date, TETRA Completion Fluids & Products are up 16% on revenue and 59% on adjusted EBITDA without mark-to-market losses.

因此，隨著深水開發的不斷增加，以比按季度更長的時間範圍來審視 TETRA 完井液和產品非常重要。今年迄今為止，TETRA 完井液和產品的收入增長了 16%，調整後的 EBITDA 增長了 59%，沒有出現按市值計算的損失。

I'm also pleased with the results of the 2023 Completion Fluids offshore supplier analysis reported by Kimberlite International Oilfield Research. TETRA ranked -- remained ranked as the top supplier in the Gulf of Mexico for product quality and overall performance. Kimberlite is an international oil and gas market research and consulting company that uses data collected from one-on-one interviews with operators to assess market trends and establish performance benchmarks for oilfield equipment and service providers. This report indicated that TETRA continues to receive the highest customer loyalty rating as measured by the Net Promoter Score.

我也對金伯利國際油田研究報告的 2023 年完井液海上供應商分析結果感到滿意。 TETRA 排名－在產品品質和整體效能方面仍被評為墨西哥灣頂級供應商。 Kimberlite 是一家國際石油和天然氣市場研究和諮詢公司，利用與營運商進行一對一訪談收集的數據來評估市場趨勢，並為油田設備和服務提供商建立績效基準。該報告表明，根據淨推薦值衡量，TETRA 繼續獲得最高的客戶忠誠度評級。

In the third quarter, we were awarded a multiyear multi-well contract extension with one of the most active deepwater super majors in the Gulf of Mexico further validating our market position and strength in the region.

第三季度，我們獲得了與墨西哥灣最活躍的深水超級巨頭之一的多年期多井合約延期，進一步驗證了我們在該地區的市場地位和實力。

Our chemicals business also posted a strong quarter as manufacturing utilization and production volumes remain strong. Our TETRA chemicals Europe business recently entered into a distribution agreement with European-based GC Rieber, focusing on calcium chloride extracted from fly ash with no CO2 emissions. This agreement will provide us with incremental volumes of sustainable and more environmental-friendly calcium chloride to supply to our network of customers.

由於製造利用率和產量保持強勁，我們的化學品業務也錄得強勁的季度業績。我們的 TETRA 化學品歐洲業務最近與歐洲的 GC Rieber 簽訂了分銷協議，重點關注從飛灰中提取的氯化鈣，不排放二氧化碳。該協議將為我們提供增量的可持續且更環保的氯化鈣，以供應給我們的客戶網路。

In our Water & Flowback Services segment, we continued the strong momentum by focusing on margin enhancement by achieving adjusted EBITDA margin of 19%, which was our fourth consecutive quarter of margin expansion and within our previously announced year-end 2023 adjusted EBITDA margin target. Year-over-year, our U.S. revenue was relatively flat, even though the U.S. onshore average rig count was down nearly 15% and active frac fleets down nearly 5% from the third quarter of last year. Sequentially, our U.S. activity was also flat as demand for our products and services has remained resilient in this slight downturn.

在水和回流服務領域，我們專注於提高利潤率，實現了19% 的調整後EBITDA 利潤率，繼續保持強勁勢頭，這是我們連續第四個季度實現利潤率擴張，並且符合我們之前宣布的2023年年底調整後EBITDA 利潤率目標。與去年同期相比，我們在美國的收入相對持平，儘管美國陸上平均鑽機數量較去年第三季下降了近 15%，活躍壓裂船隊下降了近 5%。因此，我們在美國的活動也持平，因為在這次小幅下滑中，對我們產品和服務的需求仍然保持彈性。

Our target to have the engineering -- our engineering completed for our first produced water desalination plant for beneficial reuse applications in on track for year end or early in 2024. In parallel to the engineering design work, we were in commercial discussions with one of the largest North American shale producers for their beneficial reuse projects in multiple unconventional basins and expect to have our first project awarded shortly. We continue to see strong customer interest and regulatory support for bringing a solution to market, not only to reduce the volume of freshwater fracking operations, but also reducing the number of disposal-related seismicity events and bringing a valuable resource to local communities and industries.

我們的目標是在年底或 2024 年初完成第一個產水淡化廠的工程，以實現有益的再利用應用。在工程設計工作的同時，我們與其中一家公司進行了商業討論北美最大的頁岩生產商在多個非常規盆地的有益再利用項目，預計我們的第一個項目很快就會獲獎。我們繼續看到客戶對將解決方案推向市場的強烈興趣和監管支持，不僅可以減少淡水壓裂作業量，還可以減少與處置相關的地震活動的數量，並為當地社區和行業帶來寶貴的資源。

Finally, in the third quarter, we received notice from Standard Lithium exercising the lithium extraction option in the identified acreage outside of the approved brine unit, consistent with our 2017 agreement. Based on the assumptions in Standard Lithium's preliminary feasibility study of their Southwest Arkansas project, which includes a base case production of 30,000 tonnes per year of battery-quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate or LHM, with a long-term selling price of $30,000 per metric ton of LHM, TETRA's illustrative royalties would be $22.5 million per year based on our 2.5% royalty on gross lithium revenues without any investments required by TETRA. From this study, Standard Lithium is targeting construction in 2025 and commencing production in 2027.

最後，在第三季度，我們收到了標準鋰業的通知，根據我們 2017 年的協議，在批准的鹽水裝置之外的確定區域行使鋰提取選項。基於標準鋰公司對其西南阿肯色州項目的初步可行性研究中的假設，該項目包括每年生產 30,000 噸電池級氫氧化鋰一水合物或 LHM，長期售價為每噸 30,000 美元LHM，TETRA 的說明性特許權使用費將為每年2,250 萬美元，基於我們對鋰總收入的2.5% 的特許權使用費，而TETRA 不需要任何投資。根據這項研究，Standard Lithium 的目標是 2025 年建造並於 2027 年開始生產。

Now I'll turn it over to Elijio to provide some additional commentary, and we'll open it up for questions.

現在我將把它交給 Elijio 提供一些額外的評論，我們將開放它以供提問。

Thank you, Brady. Completion Fluids & Products segment revenue was $73 million, representing an increase of 24% year-on-year. Sequentially, revenue decreased $25 million, reflecting a seasonal decline in our Northern Europe industrial calcium chloride business in addition to two large deepwater projects that we expected in the third quarter that did not materialize. Adjusted EBITDA margins, excluding unrealized losses on investments, was 30.2% and our second consecutive quarter above 30% without the benefit of any large CS Neptune projects.

謝謝你，布雷迪。完井液和產品部門營收為7,300萬美元，較去年同期成長24%。隨後，收入減少了 2500 萬美元，反映出我們北歐工業氯化鈣業務的季節性下滑，以及我們預計在第三季度未能實現的兩個大型深水項目。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率（不包括未實現的投資損失）為 30.2%，在沒有任何大型 CS Neptune 專案受益的情況下，我們連續第二季超過 30%。

These margins reflect a vertically integrated business model that we have that has significant leverage to higher volumes, the value of our long-term supply agreements that protect us during inflationary periods and our strong market position that allow us to pass along price increases.

這些利潤率反映了我們擁有的垂直整合的業務模式，該模式對增加產量具有顯著的槓桿作用，在通貨膨脹時期保護我們的長期供應協議的價值，以及使我們能夠轉嫁價格上漲的強大的市場地位。

We have not yet seen a ramp-up in activity for our PureFlow long-duration battery storage electrolyte. Our main customer for PureFlow recently received a conditional award for a Department of Energy loan that is expected to support them as they ramp up production in 2024. In the meantime, all available zinc bromide fluids are being directed towards high-pressure deepwater wells.

我們尚未看到 PureFlow 長效電池儲存電解液的活動增加。我們 PureFlow 的主要客戶最近獲得了能源部的有條件貸款，預計該貸款將為他們在 2024 年提高產量提供支援。同時，所有可用的溴化鋅流體都將用於高壓深水井。

Water & Flowback Services revenue improved 3% year-on-year and was flat sequentially despite the pullback in the U.S. onshore drilling and completion activity. Adjusted EBITDA margins improved by 13% year-on-year and by 4% quarter-on-quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margins further improved by 60 basis points from 18.4% in the second quarter to 19% in the third quarter of 2023, which is the highest adjusted EBITDA margin since the fourth quarter 2018 and is consistent with the goals we set earlier this year. We remain focused on operational efficiencies, margin expansion and returns on capital.

儘管美國陸上鑽井和完井活動有所減少，但水和返排服務收入較去年同期成長 3%，較上季持平。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率年增 13%，季增 4%。調整後EBITDA 利潤率從第二季度的18.4% 進一步提高60 個基點至2023 年第三季度的19%，這是自2018 年第四季度以來調整後EBITDA 利潤率的最高水平，與我們今年早些時候時候設定的目標一致。我們仍然關注營運效率、利潤擴張和資本回報。

In October, we sold 1 of the 3 early production facilities in Argentina to the operator for an amount between $5 million and $6 million with the full payment received in October. TETRA will continue to operate and maintain the EPF on behalf of the operator for a fixed monthly fee. We are also currently in the process of expanding that same EPF to process greater volumes of oil and are in discussions with the same operator to potentially construct 1 to 3 additional facilities in the future. The sale of the EPF will be reflected in our fourth quarter results that are low margin as we unwind the net book value associated with the assets. However, the key thing here is the cash inflow will fully recover in our original investment with a very attractive return on capital.

10 月份，我們以 500 萬至 600 萬美元的價格將阿根廷 3 個早期生產設施中的 1 個出售給營運商，並於 10 月份收到全額付款。 TETRA 將繼續代表營運商營運和維護 EPF，每月收取固定費用。我們目前還在擴建同一 EPF，以處理更多的石油，並正在與同一營運商進行討論，以期在未來建造 1 至 3 個額外設施。 EPF 的出售將反映在我們第四季度的業績中，隨著我們減少與資產相關的帳面淨值，利潤率較低。然而，這裡的關鍵是我們原始投資的現金流入將完全恢復，資本回報率非常有吸引力。

Cash flow from operating activities was $14 million in the third quarter of 2023 compared with cash flows from operating activities of $2.1 million in the third quarter of 2022 and compared to $28.4 million in the second quarter of 2023. Adjusted free cash flow from continued operations was $7.1 million. Working capital at the end of the first quarter was $110 million and represents a slight increase over the second quarter due to a temporary build in inventory.

2023 年第三季經營活動現金流為 1,400 萬美元，而 2022 年第三季經營活動現金流為 210 萬美元，2023 年第二季為 2,840 萬美元。調整後的持續經營自由現金流為710 萬美元。第一季末的營運資金為 1.1 億美元，由於臨時庫存增加，較第二季略有增加。

At the end of the third quarter, unrestricted cash of $34 million and availability under our credit revolver was $73 million. Liquidity at the end of the third quarter was $107 million. Net debt at the end of the third quarter was $125 million. Our net leverage ratio further improved to 1.4x, down from nearly 2x just 9 months ago. In addition, based on Friday's closing prices, our holdings in Standard Lithium and CSI Compressco combined for a total market value of approximately $9.5 million, and our investment in CarbonFree is currently valued at approximately $6.6 million. Combined, these investments totaled almost $16 million.

截至第三季末，我們的信用循環貸款下的無限現金為 3,400 萬美元，可用金額為 7,300 萬美元。第三季末的流動性為1.07億美元。第三季末的淨債務為 1.25 億美元。我們的淨槓桿率進一步提高至 1.4 倍，低於 9 個月前的近 2 倍。此外，根據週五收盤價，我們持有的 Standard Lithium 和 CSI Compressco 的總市值約為 950 萬美元，我們對 CarbonFree 的投資目前估值約為 660 萬美元。這些投資總計近 1600 萬美元。

Finally, we anticipate strong cash from operating activities and adjusted free flow in the fourth quarter, driven from the cash proceeds from the EPF sales and working capital improvements. Total year 2023 cash from operating activities is expected to be between $70 million and $79 million, while adjusted free cash flow is expected to be between $35 million and $40 million. This translates to free cash flow between $15 million and $20 million in the fourth quarter driven by improvements in working capital, plus the cash proceeds from the seller EPF I previously mentioned.

最後，我們預計第四季度的營運活動和調整後的自由流動將帶來強勁的現金，這得益於 EPF 銷售和營運資本改善的現金收益。 2023 年經營活動產生的現金總額預計將在 7,000 萬美元至 7,900 萬美元之間，調整後的自由現金流預計將在 3,500 萬美元至 4,000 萬美元之間。這意味著第四季度的自由現金流在營運資金改善以及我之前提到的賣方 EPF 的現金收益的推動下達到 1500 萬至 2000 萬美元。

Our goal coming into this year was to improve the balance sheet and generate $30 million to $40 million of free cash flow to position us to begin developing and invest in our assets of bromine and lithium in Arkansas. I would suggest that we are on plan to achieve this objective. The expected $35 million to $40 million this year of free cash flow is after investing over $14 million in 2023 on test wells, reservoir analysis, engineering studies, all preparing us for a final investment decision in 2024.

我們今年的目標是改善資產負債表並產生 3,000 萬至 4,000 萬美元的自由現金流，使我們能夠開始開發和投資取決於阿肯色州的溴和鋰資產。我建議我們正在計劃實現這一目標。今年預計的自由現金流為3,500 萬至4,000 萬美元，這是在2023 年在測試井、油藏分析、工程研究上投資超過1,400 萬美元之後得出的，所有這些都為我們在2024 年做出最終投資決策做好了準備。

We have also built up liquidity of almost $125 million when taking into account our marketable securities and have improved our net leverage ratio to 1.4x. Shortly, we will refinance our $163 million term loan to extend the maturity and create even more liquidity.

考慮到我們的有價證券，我們還建立了近 1.25 億美元的流動性，並將我們的淨槓桿率提高至 1.4 倍。很快，我們將為 1.63 億美元的定期貸款進行再融資，以延長期限並創造更多流動性。

When you combine the improvements in the balance sheet and liquidity with the MOU with Saltwerx and the joint venture arrangements we are finalizing with them, and as a reminder, Saltwerx is a full subsidiary of our well-capitalized Fortune 500 company, one will appreciate that we have neatly positioned ourselves to begin developing our Arkansas bromine and lithium assets without diluting our shareholders.

當您將資產負債表和流動性的改善與與Saltwerx 的諒解備忘錄以及我們正在與他們敲定的合資企業安排結合起來時，請注意，Saltwerx 是我們資本雄厚的財富500 強公司的全資子公司，人們會感激這一點我們已經做好了準備，開始開發阿肯色州的溴和鋰資產，而不會稀釋我們的股東權益。

Our focus is shareholder value creation by generating strong returns on capital from our based business, leveraging our base business to generate cash to invest in bromine and lithium without diluting our shareholders.

我們的重點是透過我們的基礎業務產生強勁的資本回報來創造股東價值，利用我們的基礎業務產生現金來投資溴和鋰，而不稀釋我們的股東。

I'll turn this back to Brady for closing comments before we open the line for call.

在我們打開通話線路之前，我會將其轉回布雷迪以徵求結束意見。

Thank you, Elijio. I think we'll open up for Q&A, and then we'll have some closing comments.

謝謝你，艾利吉奧。我想我們將進行問答，然後我們將發表一些結束語。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question will come from Martin Malloy with Johnson Rice.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將由馬丁·馬洛伊和約翰遜·賴斯提出。

My first question is on the deepwater activity outlook. And could you give us some perspective maybe basin by basin, North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil in terms of your thoughts on '24 outlook and maybe Neptune -- the number of Neptune projects?

我的第一個問題是關於深水活動的前景。您能否給我們一些觀點，也許是逐個盆地、北海、墨西哥灣、巴西，關於您對 24 世紀展望以及海王星（海王星項目數量）的看法？

Sure. So it's a little early for 2024 until we see customers' budgets that we expect to see over the coming months. But in general, we feel very good about our position in the key markets that -- where we expect to see growth. Brazil, certainly being one of them. North Sea, obviously, a second one for us and in Gulf of Mexico.

當然。因此，在我們看到我們預計在未來幾個月內看到的客戶預算之前，2024 年還為時過早。但總的來說，我們對我們在關鍵市場的地位感到非常滿意，我們預計這些市場會出現成長。巴西當然是其中之一。顯然，北海是我們和墨西哥灣的第二個海。

We expect to see growth in each of those -- in those markets and our market position, we think, is strong in each of those markets to benefit from that growth. But in terms of specific numbers at this point, it's a little premature for us to talk about that.

我們預計這些市場中的每一個都會出現成長，而且我們認為，我們在這些市場中的市場地位都很強，可以從這種成長中受益。但就目前的具體數字而言，我們現在談論這個還為時過早。

We're really excited about the -- now pretty much quarter-on-quarter, we're seeing CS Neptune jobs in the North Sea. And again, as a reminder, those jobs typically a bit -- they are quite a bit smaller, medium to smaller-size jobs compared to the big water Gulf of Mexico jobs. But we are tracking several projects that we expect to materialize in 2024 for Neptune, obviously, both in the North Sea on a continuous basis and also in the Gulf of Mexico.

我們真的很興奮——現在幾乎每個季度我們都在北海看到 CS Neptune 的工作機會。再次提醒一下，與墨西哥灣的大型水域工作相比，這些工作通常要小得多，是中型到小型的工作。但我們正在追蹤預計在 2024 年為海王星實現的幾個項目，顯然，無論是在北海還是在墨西哥灣。

And Marty, I remind everybody, we made three key investments at the end of last year and early this year. We expanded our storage and blending capacity in the Gulf of Mexico and in Brazil. And then we picked up a tuck-in acquisition in the North Sea. We've also positioned inventory into each of those key markets. So I would suggest that we prepare ourselves to take advantage of the ramp-up in deepwater activity.

我提醒大家，馬蒂，我們在去年底和今年年初進行了三項關鍵投資。我們擴大了墨西哥灣和巴西的儲存和混合能力。然後我們在北海進行了一次收購。我們還將庫存配置到每個關鍵市場。因此，我建議我們做好準備，利用深水活動的增加。

Great. And then for my follow-up, I wanted to ask about the desalinization technology that you have. And I think I heard you say that with this first customer, there could be multiple basins involved. I was wondering if you could maybe give us some additional color in terms of the level of customer interest here.

偉大的。然後我想問你們擁有的海水淡化技術。我想我聽到你說，對於第一個客戶，可能涉及多個盆地。我想知道您是否可以就客戶的興趣程度向我們提供一些額外的資訊。

Sure. Yes. I mean, it's a tremendous customer interest. We have been partnering with a major U.S. North America shale producer as we've gone down this journey. As we've mentioned before, we have two different solutions, one for what we call low selenide produced water, and then one for high selenide, which the lower TDS water, salinity water is with our Hyrec partnership with our proprietary pretreatment solution.

當然。是的。我的意思是，這是巨大的客戶興趣。在我們踏上這段旅程的過程中，我們一直與美國一家主要的北美頁岩生產商合作。正如我們之前提到的，我們有兩種不同的解決方案，一種用於我們所說的低硒化物採出水，另一種用於高硒化物水，即TDS 較低的水、鹽度水，是我們與Hyrec 合作的專有預處理解決方案。

And then for the higher salinities like Permian Basin, which is obviously a larger overall market with our KMX relationship, again, with our pretreatment proprietary solution.

然後對於二疊紀盆地等鹽度較高的地區，透過我們的 KMX 關係，這顯然是一個更大的整體市場，同樣，透過我們的預處理專有解決方案。

So the engineering on both of those is progressing very well. We're still on target to either have it wrapped up by end of the year or potentially bleed into the first part of 2024, but we -- this is very important for us to get this right. But we have a very supportive customer that is working with us and the regulatory authorities making very good progress on getting the regulatory authorities to not only create beneficial reuse water but be able to use it in various applications in both the Permian Basin and as I mentioned, and in South Texas project.

因此，這兩方面的工程進展非常順利。我們的目標仍然是在今年年底前完成，或者可能會在 2024 年上半年完成，但我們——這對我們做好這件事非常重要。但我們有一個非常支持我們的客戶，他們正在與我們合作，監管機構在讓監管機構不僅創造有益的回用水，而且能夠將其用於二疊紀盆地的各種應用方面取得了很大進展，正如我所提到的，以及南德克薩斯州計畫。

And our next question will come to Stephen Gengaro with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題將由 Stifel 的 Stephen Gengaro 提出。

I think a couple of things. One is, Elijio, you talked about the -- I think it's a couple of jobs that sort of didn't show up in the quarter that you had expected. When we think about the fourth quarter, how should we think about progression? And will 1 or 2 of those jobs positively impact the fourth quarter?

我認為有幾件事。一個是，Elijio，你談到了——我認為有幾個工作崗位沒有出現在你預期的季度中。當我們思考第四季時，我們該如何看待進展？其中一、兩個工作崗位會對第四季產生正面影響嗎？

Yes. So Stephen, we tried to highlight in our comments, as deepwater jobs become a bigger and bigger portion of our revenue, we are going to see some quarter-to-quarter fluctuation. As I mentioned, we did 15 deepwater completions in the Gulf of Mexico in our record set in Q2 and then in Q3. I mean, the rig count hasn't changed. The amount of activity hasn't changed. It's really more of a scheduling issue. And remember, these deepwater jobs are worth 5 to 10x more revenue to TETRA than a non-deepwater job. So they move the needle in terms of the number of jobs that get executed.

是的。因此，史蒂芬，我們試圖在評論中強調，隨著深水工作在我們收入中所佔的比例越來越大，我們將看到一些季度與季度的波動。正如我所提到的，我們在墨西哥灣完成了 15 次深水完井，創下了第二季和第三季的紀錄。我的意思是，鑽機數量沒有改變。活動量沒有改變。這實際上更多的是一個日程安排問題。請記住，這些深水作業為 TETRA 帶來的收入是非深水作業的 5 到 10 倍。因此，他們在執行的作業數量方面取得了進展。

We did have one job that was very unique that was actually canceled because of the dry hole, which is very rare as you probably know, in a development campaign. Unfortunately, that well is not going to come back. But that's a pretty rare example of when a job would get canceled.

我們確實有一項非常獨特的工作，但實際上由於乾洞而被取消，正如您可能知道的那樣，這在開發活動中非常罕見。不幸的是，那口井不會再回來了。但這是工作被取消的罕見例子。

When we think about the fourth quarter, I would think of it in terms of -- right now, I think we're going to be closer to kind of the Q3 activity levels that we saw in terms of overall deepwater completion activity relative to the record set in Q2. But again, that's why we feel -- you really need to look at TETRA's business over a longer horizon now because of these -- the timing of these deepwater jobs. That is starting to include Brazil. It's going to start to include more deepwater jobs in the Eastern Hemisphere as well.

當我們考慮第四季度時，我會考慮——現在，我認為我們將更接近第三季度的活動水平，即整體深水完井活動相對於第三季度的活動水平。第二季度創紀錄。但同樣，這就是為什麼我們覺得——你現在真的需要從更長遠的角度來看待 TETRA 的業務，因為這些——這些深水工作的時機。這開始包括巴西。東半球也將開始包括更多的深水工作。

Okay. Great. And when we think about the water side, I mean, it was impressive that your performance was as good as it was, given what's going on in U.S. land with a little bit of a, we think, a short-term lull on activity. But when you think about that business, and it's hard for us to sort of separate out the impact of what you're doing now in Argentina, can you give us a sense for sort of how much of that business is U.S. land? And maybe a couple of the -- do you think that the outperformance relative to U.S. land activity levels is sustainable?

好的。偉大的。當我們想到水方面時，我的意思是，考慮到美國土地上正在發生的事情，我們認為，活動有一點短期的平靜，你們的表現和以前一樣好，令人印象深刻。但是，當您考慮這項業務時，我們很難區分您現在在阿根廷所做的事情的影響，您能否讓我們了解該業務中有多少是美國土地？也許還有一些——您認為相對於美國土地活動水平的優異表現是可持續的嗎？

The Argentina business is in the mid-$20 million a year revenue range with three early production facilities. Q4 is clearly going to be different because we're selling as a one-off opportunity, the early production facility. And the operating fee on a monthly basis to continue to operate the facility will decline. But the vast majority of our business is U.S. shale play, highly concentrated in the Permian Basin, where we think we've got a strong presence and with the SandStorm technology and the water chemistry that we're using on the water side, we think those have represented competitive advantages and that we have been able to gain market share without deteriorating pricing is evident from the margin improvement that we've seen.

阿根廷業務年收入約 2,000 萬美元左右，擁有三個早期生產設施。第四季顯然會有所不同，因為我們將早期生產設施作為一次性機會出售。並且繼續運營該設施的每月運營費將會下降。但我們的絕大多數業務是美國頁岩油開採，高度集中在二疊紀盆地，我們認為我們在那裡擁有強大的影響力，並且憑藉 SandStorm 技術和我們在水側使用的水化學技術，我們認為這些都代表了競爭優勢，我們能夠在不降低價格的情況下獲得市場份額，從我們看到的利潤率改善中可以明顯看出。

Got it. And if you don't mind one more for me. When we think about the strength in your Fluids business, obviously, we talked about the deepwater side. And when you think about raw material supply, demand, usage of bromine, the potential ramp in PureFlow in 2024 and then sort of the development of the bromine opportunities, how should we triangulate all that around your supply, your margins and maybe the CapEx needs you may have in '24?

知道了。如果你不介意再給我一份的話。當我們考慮你們流體業務的實力時，顯然我們談論的是深水業務。當您考慮原材料供應、需求、溴的使用、2024 年 PureFlow 的潛在增長以及溴機會的發展時，我們應該如何圍繞您的供應、利潤率以及可能的資本支出需求對所有這些進行三角測量你可能有'24？

Yes. So Stephen, as you know, we have a long-term supply agreement with one of the producers in Arkansas. But our demand well exceeds that contract. We have been fortunate to get spot bromine price that have been fairly attractive this year relative to prior year. Some of that is just driven by the kind of the global bromine market which, because of China's economy being down, et cetera, those prices have come down and there's more material available.

是的。史蒂芬，如您所知，我們與阿肯色州的一家生產商簽訂了長期供應協議。但我們的需求遠遠超出了合約。我們很幸運能夠獲得與去年相比今年相當有吸引力的現貨溴價格。其中一些只是由全球溴市場的類型推動的，由於中國經濟衰退等原因，這些價格已經下降，並且有更多的材料可用。

But we expect that to be a fairly short-lived window for us to be able to acquire the volumes at the price that we need for bromine, which again, is another reason why by 2026, we really want to have our own supply coming online to keep pace with the -- our oil and gas business as well as the projections from Eos.

但我們預計這將是一個相當短暫的窗口，讓我們能夠以所需的價格獲得溴，這也是我們真正希望在 2026 年上線自己的供應的另一個原因與我們的石油和天然氣業務以及Eos 的預測保持同步。

And our next question will come from Tim Moore with EF Hutton.

我們的下一個問題將來自 EF Hutton 的 Tim Moore。

Congratulations on the hearing outcome last month with the Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission. It's also nice to see -- yes. I mean, it was great. I was watching that online. It was nice to see the multiyear multi-well Gulf of Mexico contract extension. And I really appreciated Elijio's crystal clear's comments about having enough liquidity to provide equity dilution because I'm sure a couple of investors were thinking about that a year ago, but it's very clear now you don't have to issue equity.

祝賀阿肯色州石油和天然氣委員會上個月的聽證會結果。很高興看到——是的。我的意思是，這太棒了。我在網路上看的。很高興看到墨西哥灣多井多年合約延期。我真的很欣賞 Elijio 關於擁有足夠的流動性來提供股權稀釋的清晰評論，因為我確信一些投資者一年前就在考慮這一點，但現在很明顯你不必發行股權。

So I just want to follow up on one update that Elijio already mentioned, about the buyout of the one Argentina early production facility. Just out of curiosity, and if you look back the last 9 months or so, how were the EBITDA contributions or even the past year from the facilities compared to maybe what you expected? And when do you think next year, another 1 or 2 could come online? Is there -- is it be next summer or next fall?

因此，我只想跟進 Elijio 已經提到的一項最新情況，即關於買斷阿根廷一家早期生產設施的情況。只是出於好奇，如果您回顧過去 9 個月左右的時間，這些設施的 EBITDA 貢獻甚至過去一年與您的預期相比如何？您認為明年什麼時候會再有 1 到 2 個上線？有嗎——是明年夏天還是秋天？

So the EBITDA contributions are significantly higher than our base water management and flowback business because they're more capital intensive and obviously, we're only making the investment to achieve a return on capital. Now after the first two, we indicated to the market that we will continue to build and operate early production facilities, but we were not going to fund the CapEx on behalf of the customers. We believe that our CapEx will be better served by directing it to our investments in Arkansas that we think have a significantly longer tail to it.

因此，EBITDA 貢獻明顯高於我們的基礎水管理和回流業務，因為它們的資本密集度更高，而且顯然，我們只是為了實現資本回報而進行投資。現在，在前兩次之後，我們向市場表明，我們將繼續建造和營運早期生產設施，但我們不會代表客戶為資本支出提供資金。我們相信，透過將其用於我們在阿肯色州的投資，我們的資本支出將得到更好的服務，我們認為這些投資的尾部要長得多。

We expect that by maybe the back end of next year, we could add a fourth EPF because remember, even though we sold this early production facility, we will continue to operate on behalf of the customer. We just won't get the income associated with the capital invested, but we will continue to get income associated with people and maintenance of that facility. So we're dropping to two owned EPF and one client-owned EPF that we're providing people and equipment, and we'll probably add another one late next year or the year after that.

我們預計，也許到明年年底，我們可以添加第四個 EPF，因為請記住，即使我們出售了這個早期的生產設施，我們仍將繼續代表客戶營運。我們只是不會獲得與投資資本相關的收入，但我們將繼續獲得與人員和設施維護相關的收入。因此，我們將減少到兩個自有的 EPF 和一個客戶擁有的 EPF，由我們提供人員和設備，並且我們可能會在明年年底或後年增加另一個。

Great. That makes a lot of sense, Elijio. And maybe would be helpful is -- I don't want to put any words in your mouth. Brady gave some comments maybe on a little bit of a time for this. But if we're switching gears maybe to the bromine and lithium carbonate equivalent development projects, you're making a lot of progress there. There'll be the FEED study completed soon and then the preliminary economic assessment.

偉大的。這很有道理，埃利吉奧。也許會有幫助的是──我不想把任何話塞到你嘴裡。布雷迪可能會在一段時間內對此發表一些評論。但如果我們可能轉向溴和碳酸鋰等價開發項目，那麼您就會在那裡取得重大進展。 FEED 研究很快就會完成，然後是初步的經濟評估。

When do you think -- maybe you can just talk us through kind of the milestones and rough timing when you think maybe if everything goes well and contracts are signed, could you start building some of the infrastructure December next year?

你什麼時候想——也許你可以告訴我們一些里程碑和大致的時間安排，當你想如果一切順利並且合約簽署時，你可以在明年 12 月開始建設一些基礎設施嗎？

Well, we certainly feel the construction will start well before that, Tim. So timing-wise, the way we see things playing out, first, now that our binding terms of our MOU go into effect with the unit approval, we are in negotiations with our partner for the joint venture operating agreements, responsibilities, et cetera, between the partners. That's a critical issue. We like to think we can have that done if not by the end of the year or early in 2024.

嗯，我們當然認為施工會在那之前開始，提姆。因此，就時間安排而言，我們看待事情發展的方式，首先，現在我們的諒解備忘錄的約束性條款隨著單位批准而生效，我們正在與我們的合作夥伴就合資經營協議、責任等進行談判，夥伴之間。這是一個關鍵問題。我們認為，即使不是在今年年底或 2024 年初，我們也可以做到這一點。

In the next couple of weeks, we expect to have our resource report completed. Again, that will quantify the amount of bromine and lithium in our Evergreen unit, which will be an important milestone. The FEED study, we're anticipating to have completed for lithium, plus/minus 10% from a detailed engineering in the first quarter. And then from that time point, obviously, we'll be working with our respective Boards, both our Board and our JV partner's Board's for an FID decision point.

在接下來的幾週內，我們預計將完成資源報告。同樣，這將量化我們 Evergreen 裝置中溴和鋰的含量，這將是一個重要的里程碑。我們預計鋰的 FEED 研究將在第一季完成，與詳細工程相比增加/減少 10%。顯然，從那時起，我們將與我們各自的董事會（我們的董事會和合資夥伴的董事會）合作，以製定最終決策決定。

But in parallel to all of that, we're looking at all the long lead items that we would need to account for, if we were to start early on this project and understand what those long lead items would look like. Obviously, we've not made any decision on investment on those long lead items, but we're going to be taking a careful and close look at that as we finish up the year as well. So that's kind of the timing of things. But we would certainly be thinking about starting construction well before second half of 2024.

但同時，如果我們要儘早開始該專案並了解這些長交付專案會是什麼樣子，我們就會考慮需要考慮的所有長交付專案。顯然，我們還沒有對這些長期項目的投資做出任何決定，但我們將在今年結束時仔細仔細地考慮這一點。這就是事情的時機。但我們肯定會考慮在 2024 年下半年之前開始建造。

And Tim, our shareholder base is not -- does not have a mining background or a large construction background. So I think it's important to keep reiterating the process and the steps of what we've achieved to get there because we want to make a decision with as much data to manage the risk of such projects.

提姆，我們的股東基礎沒有採礦背景或大型建築背景。因此，我認為不斷重申我們實現這一目標的過程和步驟非常重要，因為我們希望利用盡可能多的數據來做出決策來管理此類專案的風險。

And again, just to make sure that everybody's on board, a quick recap is last year, we published a preliminary economic assessment on the bromine project and that was after drilling one test well, and we laid out in our investor presentation the expected economics on bromine by itself. This year, we've just now completed the second test well. And from there, we're going to be able to move from inferred resources, which is the least defined category. And shortly, we'll publish measured and indicated volumes of bromine and lithium.

再說一次，為了確保每個人都參與進來，快速回顧一下去年，我們在鑽了一口測試井之後發布了對溴項目的初步經濟評估，我們在投資者介紹中列出了預期的經濟效益溴本身。今年，我們剛剛很好地完成了第二次測試。從那裡，我們將能夠從推斷的資源中轉移，這是定義最少的類別。很快，我們將發布溴和鋰的測量值和指示值。

And then from there, we can evolve it to move toward the economic assessment on the lithium side once we complete the engineering study. So there's a series of methodical steps and gates we're going through to get to a final investment decision, and we're going to stick to that discipline to make sure that we manage the risk and fully outline everything that's required to get this done.

然後，一旦我們完成工程研究，我們就可以將其發展到鋰的經濟評估。因此，我們需要經歷一系列有條不紊的步驟和關口才能做出最終的投資決策，我們將堅持這項原則，以確保我們管理風險並全面概述完成這項工作所需的一切。

Now as part of that, we expect that between last year and this year, we will have spent $19 million of cash to do that, some of which we shared with our joint venture partner. But the cash flow number that I talked about earlier are after spending $19 million over the last couple of years, which tells you how strong the base business is performing, setting us up to invest in Arkansas.

作為其中的一部分，我們預計從去年到今年，我們將花費 1,900 萬美元現金來實現這一目標，其中一些是我們與合資夥伴共享的。但我之前談到的現金流數字是在過去幾年花費了 1900 萬美元之後得出的，它告訴你基礎業務的表現有多強勁，使我們能夠在阿肯色州進行投資。

Great. Well, Brady and Elijio, that was very helpful color on the details and the timing of everything. I just had one more question since my desalination question already got asked. One question that I had was just maybe jump ahead on bromine-related products that seems like if things go well, that production will probably come on a little bit before lithium.

偉大的。嗯，布雷迪和埃利吉奧，這對細節和所有事情的時間安排非常有幫助。因為我的海水淡化問題已經被問到了，所以我還有一個問題。我的一個問題是，溴相關產品的生產可能會提前一些，如果進展順利，生產可能會比鋰更早。

How far in advance would you start having discussions with potential customers to maybe offtake supply tied to those prime lease in bromine? Would that start next summer? Or do you have to wait more, and you have things in place?

您會提前多久開始與潛在客戶討論，以承購與溴的主要租賃相關的供應？那會從明年夏天開始嗎？或者您還需要等待更多時間，並且您已經準備好了東西嗎？

Yes. Tim, I think we're well ahead of you on your projected time lines for some of this stuff because clearly, Eos, we see as a key offtake provider, and we're having great discussions with them in terms of meeting their new Z3 ramp-up battery demand. So that's one for sure. We have another PureFlow customer that we're in discussions with, that we've not announced publicly. So that's part of this demand requirement for bromine.

是的。蒂姆，我認為我們在這些東西的預計時間表上遠遠領先於您，因為顯然，Eos，我們將其視為關鍵的承購提供商，並且我們正在與他們就滿足他們的新Z3 進行深入的討論電池需求增加。所以這是肯定的。我們正在與另一位 PureFlow 客戶進行討論，但我們尚未公開宣布。這是溴需求的一部分。

But on the oil and gas side, we are also having some kind of longer-term offtake discussions as well because we've never had our own bromine supply. These are new discussions for us. But now that we'll be completely integrated from the bromine supply all the way to the end products, these are discussions that are pretty meaningful for us with -- on the oilfield services side as well.

但在石油和天然氣方面，我們也在進行某種長期承購討論，因為我們從未擁有自己的溴供應。這些對我們來說是新的討論。但現在我們將從溴供應到最終產品完全整合，這些討論對我們來說非常有意義——在油田服務方面也是如此。

That's Terrific. I always like it when companies exceed my own expected time line. So thanks, Brady. And that's great to hear.

真了不起。當公司超出我自己的預期時間線時，我總是喜歡它。所以謝謝，布雷迪。很高興聽到這個消息。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question will come from Stephen Gengaro with Stifel.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題將由 Stifel 的 Stephen Gengaro 提出。

Two follow-ups for me. The last couple of quarters, and I know there were some circumstances you guided, and I was wondering if you had a view of the current consensus, which is around $27 million in EBITDA for the fourth quarter?

我的兩個後續行動。在過去的幾個季度中，我知道您指導了一些情況，我想知道您是否對當前的共識（第四季度 EBITDA 約為 2700 萬美元）有何看法？

Yes. So Brady mentioned earlier that on the water flowback side, we believe that we can stay approximately at the levels that we're at, assuming that there's no material pullback at the end of the year that we've seen historically, even though the last couple of years, we're not there.

是的。因此佈雷迪之前提到，在水回流方面，我們相信我們可以大致保持在目前的水平，假設今年年底不會出現我們歷史上看到的實質回調，即使最後一次幾年了，我們不在了。

The fourth quarter is really going to depend on timing of some of the big projects that we have anticipated whether they straddle Q4 and Q1 is to be seen. And it's hard to predict with some of the big projects that we have out there.

第四季度實際上將取決於我們預計的一些大型專案的時間安排，這些專案是否會跨越第四季度和第一季。我們現有的一些大型專案很難預測。

Got it. That makes sense. And then just a final one for me is when -- you've reduced leverage a lot, and I know there's differences clearly in the business model. But a lot of the, at least, oil service peers have been ultra focused on free cash flow generation and returning capital. I understand you guys have a use for that capital as far as investment.

知道了。這就說得通了。對我來說最後一個問題是——你已經大大降低了槓桿率，而且我知道商業模式中存在明顯的差異。但至少許多石油服務同業都非常關注自由現金流的產生和資本回報。我知道你們可以利用這筆資金來投資。

But when you think about free cash generation, is there a measure we should use when we think about free cash flow conversion relative to EBITDA? Or any kind of guidelines you could put around how you think about free cash generation on an annual basis as I look out to next year?

但是，當您考慮自由現金產生時，當我們考慮相對於 EBITDA 的自由現金流轉換時，我們是否應該使用某種衡量標準？或者，當我展望明年時，您可以提出任何關於您如何看待每年免費現金生成的指導方針？

Yes. I would suggest, Stephen, that in 2022 and 2023, those were significant investment period for us, especially on the onshore side. We were building up capacity in the Permian Basin. We built three EPF in Argentina. And then on the fluid side, we expanded blending and storage capacity in Argentina -- I mean, sorry, in Brazil. We did that in the Gulf of Mexico, and then we did a small tuck-in acquisition in the North Sea.

是的。史蒂芬，我建議，2022 年和 2023 年對我們來說是重要的投資時期，特別是在陸上。我們正在二疊紀盆地建造產能。我們在阿根廷建造了三個 EPF。然後在流體方面，我們擴大了阿根廷的混合和儲存能力——對不起，我的意思是在巴西。我們在墨西哥灣做到了這一點，然後我們在北海進行了一次小型收購。

I would suggest that the last 2 years were heavy investment periods. We're going to pull back on those to accelerate free cash flow to direct toward the bromine and lithium assets in Arkansas. I would expect that in the coming years, free cash flow will be in the $40 million range from the base business to help us invest in Arkansas without diluting shareholders.

我認為過去兩年是大量投資的時期。我們將撤回這些資金，以加速自由現金流，直接流向阿肯色州的溴和鋰資產。我預計，未來幾年，基礎業務的自由現金流將在 4000 萬美元左右，以幫助我們在不稀釋股東權益的情況下投資阿肯色州。

And this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Murphy for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給墨菲先生做總結發言。

Well, thank you. In closing, we're very pleased with our third quarter results as the best EBITDA third quarter that we've had in 8 years since 2015. I'm very, very pleased with where our two businesses stand, Water & Flowback as well as our Completion Fluids & Products heading into 2024. And clearly, very pleased with the major milestones that we continue to achieve and the strategic opportunities that the company has and the partnerships that we're developing along the way. So we'll keep you posted. But thank you all very much for your participation today.

嗯，謝謝。最後，我們對第三季的業績感到非常滿意，因為這是我們自 2015 年以來 8 年來最好的 EBITDA 第三季。我對我們​​兩個業務的現狀非常非常滿意：水和回流以及我們的完井液和產品即將進入2024 年。顯然，我們對我們繼續實現的主要里程碑、公司擁有的策略機會以及我們一路發展的合作關係感到非常滿意。所以我們會及時通知您。但非常感謝大家今天的參與。

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。您現在可以斷開連線。