Venture Global, Inc. (VG) 2026 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Venture Global, Inc. second-quarter 2026 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) I will now hand the conference over to Ben Nolan, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Ben, please go ahead.

各位好。感謝各位加入我們，歡迎參加Venture Global, Inc. 2026年第二季財報電話會議。(接線員指示) 現在我將把會議交給投資人關係資深副總裁Ben Nolan。Ben，請開始。

Thank you, Trevor. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Venture Global, Inc.'s second-quarter 2026 earnings call. I'm joined this morning by Mike Sabel, Venture Global's CEO, Executive Co-Chairman and Founder; Jack Thayer, our CFO; and other members of Venture Global's senior management team.

謝謝你，Trevor。各位早安，歡迎參加Venture Global, Inc. 2026年第二季財報電話會議。今天早上與我一同出席的有Venture Global執行長、執行共同董事長暨創辦人Mike Sabel；我們的財務長Jack Thayer；以及Venture Global高階管理團隊的其他成員。

Before I begin, I would like to remind all listeners that our remarks, including answers to your questions, may contain forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from what is described in these statements. I encourage you to refer to the disclaimers in our earnings presentation, which is available on the investors section of our website.

在我開始之前，我想提醒所有聽眾，我們的發言（包括對各位提問的回答）可能包含前瞻性陳述，而實際結果可能與這些陳述所描述者有重大差異。我建議各位參閱我們財報簡報中的免責聲明，該簡報可於我們網站的投資人專區取得。

Additionally, we may include references to certain non-GAAP metrics such as consolidated adjusted EBITDA, which we may refer to simply as EBITDA during this call. A reconciliation of these metrics to the most relevant GAAP metrics, measures can be found in the appendix of the earnings presentation posted on our website.

此外，我們可能會提及某些非GAAP指標，例如合併調整後EBITDA；在本次電話會議中，我們可能簡稱其為EBITDA。這些指標與最相關GAAP指標之間的調節表，可在我們網站所發布之財報簡報附錄中找到。

Finally, the guidance in this presentation is only effective as of today. In general, we will not update guidance until the following quarter and will not update or affirm guidance other than through broadly disseminated public disclosure.

最後，本簡報中的指引僅自今日起生效。一般而言，我們不會在下一季之前更新指引，且除非透過廣泛發布的公開揭露，否則不會更新或確認指引。

I'll now turn the call over to Mike Sabel.

現在我把電話交給Mike Sabel。

Thank you, Ben. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We are pleased to share our second-quarter 2026 results. I will begin the call with an overview of our key accomplishments in the quarter and an update on the business. I will then make some remarks on the LNG industry, before turning over the call to Jack, who will provide a more detailed review of our financial results as well as updated guidance for 2026. Following all prepared remarks, we'll open the call to Q&A.

謝謝你，Ben。各位早安，感謝各位今天加入我們。我們很高興分享2026年第二季的業績結果。我將先概述本季的主要成果並更新業務進展。接著我會就LNG產業發表一些看法，然後把電話交給Jack，他將更詳細檢視我們的財務結果，並提供2026年的最新指引。在所有預先準備的發言結束後，我們將開放問答。

On page 5, you can see some of the highlights for the quarter, including our largest ever quarterly EBITDA of $2.5 billion and significant growth in volumes, revenue, income from operations, net income, and EBITDA year over year. We are increasing our 2026 EBITDA guidance to $8.7 billion to $9.1 billion, from $8.2 billion to $8.5 billion, based on current market outlook for the remainder of the year.

在第5頁，各位可以看到本季的一些重點，包括我們史上最高的單季EBITDA達25億美元，以及出貨量、營收、營業利益、淨利與EBITDA相較去年同期的顯著成長。基於對今年剩餘期間的目前市場展望，我們將2026年EBITDA指引由82億至85億美元上調至87億至91億美元。

Given outsized LNG price volatility related to events in the Middle East, we have maintained a broader-than-usual guidance range than in the past. As we contract the remainder of our expected volumes for the year, we expect to tighten this range following third quarter. Jack will discuss these numbers in greater detail in a moment.

鑑於與中東事件相關的LNG價格波動異常劇烈，我們維持了較以往更寬的指引區間。隨著我們為今年剩餘的預期出貨量完成簽約，我們預期在第三季之後收斂該區間。Jack稍後將更詳細說明這些數字。

Turning to page 6. In the second quarter, we exported 127 cargoes, while maintaining our incredible record of safety. Commercial momentum continued in the second quarter where we executed over 2 MTPA of new or increased LNG offtake agreements with new and existing customers, including TotalEnergies, Vitol, EnBW, and Atlantic-SEE. The market has welcomed Venture Global's ability to offer customers optionality in uniquely contracting short-, medium-, and long-term volumes. I'm also proud to highlight that we exported our 1,000th cargo just four years after Venture Global's first cargo in the first week of March 2022.

接著看第6頁。第二季我們出口了127船貨，同時維持我們卓越的安全紀錄。第二季商業動能持續，我們與新舊客戶簽署超過每年200萬噸（2 MTPA）的新增或增加LNG承購協議，包括TotalEnergies、Vitol、EnBW與Atlantic-SEE。市場對Venture Global能以獨特的合約方式，為客戶提供短期、中期與長期量的彈性選擇，反應熱烈。我也很自豪地強調，我們在Venture Global於2022年3月第一週完成首船出貨後僅四年，就出口了第1,000船貨。

The team has worked tirelessly to make us the safest, most efficient, and best-performing LNG company in the industry, and we now have the track record to prove it. These efforts, along with the investments, innovations, and process improvements we have made to our machines, position Venture Global well to export our next 1,000 cargoes in a fraction of the time. And in just a few years, we should be exporting more than 1,000 cargoes every year.

團隊不懈努力，讓我們成為業界最安全、最高效率、表現最佳的LNG公司，而我們如今也有可證明的實績。這些努力，加上我們對設備所做的投資、創新與流程改善，使Venture Global具備良好條件，能在更短時間內出口下一個1,000船貨。而在短短幾年內，我們每年出口的船貨量應可超過1,000船。

With our continued operational and commercial execution, we are confident in the resiliency of our cash flows. On that basis, the Board has recently approved an increase in our quarterly common dividends to $0.04 per share, a 122% increase. We are pleased to show this dividend growth and reward our shareholders. This quarter, we were very active in optimizing our capital structure and reducing our capital costs. We refinanced several tranches of term loans, bonds, and even preferred equity, which totaled more than $5.3 billion of capital cumulatively and should reduce our annual interest and coupon obligations by more than $100 million.

憑藉我們持續的營運與商業執行力，我們對現金流的韌性充滿信心。基於此，董事會近期核准將我們的季度普通股股利提高至每股0.04美元，增幅達122%。我們很高興展現股利成長並回饋股東。本季我們積極優化資本結構並降低資金成本。我們為多個批次的定期貸款、債券，甚至優先股權進行再融資，累計金額超過53億美元，並可望使我們每年的利息與票息支出減少逾1億美元。

We added a new $1.5 billion term loan against our nine LNG carriers, which have previously been funded by cash. We appreciate our capital partners and the team who has worked tirelessly to bring all these transactions together. Venture Global has now raised or refinanced more than $103 billion of capital. Moving to page 7. Our contracted position for 2026 has increased markedly to over 91% of the portfolio from the 84% previously reported on our first-quarter earnings call in May.

我們以旗下九艘LNG運輸船作為擔保新增了一筆15億美元的定期貸款，而這些船舶先前是以現金出資。我們感謝資本合作夥伴以及不懈努力促成所有交易的團隊。Venture Global迄今已籌資或再融資超過1,030億美元的資本。接著看第7頁。我們2026年的已簽約部位顯著提升，從5月第一季財報電話會議先前揭露的84%提高至投資組合的91%以上。

The 127 cargoes produced in the second quarter were at the high end of our expected production range and we are tightening and raising the midpoint of the cargo range for the full year. While normal seasonality does impact production during warmer months, I do think it is worth noting that we have made operational and capital investments to reduce the adverse impact of summer temperatures, which you can see is demonstrated in our relatively stable production profile.

第二季產出的127船貨位於我們預期產量區間的高端，我們也正在收斂並上調全年船貨區間的中位數。雖然正常的季節性確實會在較溫暖月份影響產量，但我認為值得指出的是，我們已進行營運與資本投資以降低夏季高溫的不利影響，從我們相對穩定的產量曲線即可看出。

Rather than artificially increasing LNG production by deferring maintenance to capitalize on stronger market demand, our solid production performance during the summer months reflects our ongoing focus on innovation and operational improvement. In fact, instead of postponing maintenance, we completed significant planned work during the quarter, including hot gas path inspections on the gas turbines at Calcasieu Pass, activities that would typically require substantial production downtime at most LNG facilities.

我們並未透過延後維修來人為提高LNG產量、以把握更強勁的市場需求；我們在夏季月份的穩健產量表現，反映了我們對創新與營運改善的持續聚焦。事實上，我們不但沒有延後維修，反而在本季完成了大量計畫性工作，包括對Calcasieu Pass的燃氣渦輪機進行熱氣通道（hot gas path）檢查；在多數LNG設施，這類作業通常需要相當可觀的停產時間。

Given our modular configuration and built-in redundancies, the impact of maintenance on our LNG production was inconsequential. Importantly, we are still early in our optimization journey and expect to debottleneck and deliver further enhancements to our output and operational performance over the coming years.

由於我們的模組化配置與內建備援，維修對我們LNG產量的影響微乎其微。重要的是，我們仍處於優化旅程的早期階段，並預期在未來幾年持續消除瓶頸，進一步提升產出與營運績效。

Turning to page 8. Our in-house engineering, procurement and construction team is working hard to safely keep CP2 on time and on budget. Now just over a year from FID, which was July of last year, July 28, the project has roofs raised on all four LNG storage tanks, 16 fabricated liquefaction modules on site and 5 with the gas and steam turbines that made up the power plant on foundations.

接著看第8頁。我們的內部工程、採購與施工團隊正努力工作，以安全方式確保CP2按期且在預算內推進。自FID（最終投資決定）至今剛滿一年多（FID為去年7月28日），該專案四座LNG儲槽皆已完成頂蓋提升（roofs raised），現場已有16個製造完成的液化模組，且其中5個連同構成電廠的燃氣與蒸汽渦輪機已安裝於基礎上。

For those power plants, we are assembling our heat-recovery steam generators, the HRSGs, off-site at our Morgan City facility in Louisiana. We have now built and transported five HRSGs to CP2. You can see one of them arriving and on the barge at CP2 in the picture here, which is no small task as they are nine stories tall and each weighing more than 1,500 tonnes. This is the first time we have built our own HRSGs, which are some of the largest modular HRSGs ever built.

就這些電廠而言，我們正在路易斯安那州Morgan City的廠區於場外組裝餘熱回收蒸汽發生器（HRSG）。我們目前已製造並運送五套HRSG至CP2。各位可在此處圖片看到其中一套抵達並位於CP2的駁船上；這絕非易事，因為它們高達九層樓，每套重量超過1,500公噸。這是我們首次自行建造HRSG，而這些也是史上最大型的模組化HRSG之一。

By taking this scope in-house and managed by our internal EPC team, we have removed one of the major bottlenecks in our construction schedule, which should streamline our timeline to First LNG. On page 9, we have our bolt-on expansions at CP2 and Plaquemines. In May, we filed an application with FERC for the expansion of CP2, which would be entirely within the existing CP2 footprint. We were pleased to receive a prefiling waiver from FERC and have already ordered long-lead equipment such as power modules and liquefaction trains from our long-standing partners at Baker Hughes.

透過將此範疇內部化並由我們的內部 EPC 團隊管理，我們已移除施工進度中的一項主要瓶頸，這應可使我們通往首次 LNG 的時程更為順暢。在第 9 頁，我們展示了 CP2 與 Plaquemines 的附加式擴建。5 月，我們向 FERC 提交了 CP2 擴建申請，該擴建將完全位於現有 CP2 用地範圍內。我們很高興收到 FERC 的預申報豁免，並已向我們長期合作夥伴 Baker Hughes 訂購電力模組與液化列車等長交期設備。

We expect to make a final investment decision on the 10 MTPA expansions in early, with First LNG production at the CP2 expansion in late 2028. For the Plaquemines expansion, you can see the first phase of our bolt-on expansion plans depicted on the slide. As previously disclosed, we expect the first phase to include eight liquefaction trains producing 6.4 MTPA of LNG.

我們預期將於年初就 10 MTPA 的擴建作出最終投資決定（FID），並於 2028 年底在 CP2 擴建項目實現首次 LNG 產出。就 Plaquemines 擴建而言，您可在投影片上看到我們附加式擴建計畫的第一階段。如先前揭露，我們預期第一階段將包含 8 座液化列車，生產 6.4 MTPA 的 LNG。

We filed to permit the full 31 MTPA expansion of Plaquemines to be constructed in multiple phases late last year and are targeting FID in the first half of next year with production from phase one in 2029. To facilitate the expansion of Plaquemines, we expect to build a new pipeline to North Louisiana, called Cloud Connector. And once producing from phase one, our run rate production across all three projects is expected to be approximately 85 MTPA. As you can see on page 10, we currently have around 53 of this 85 MTPA committed under long and medium-term contracts. Notably, 100% of our nameplate capacity across our first three projects is contracted.

我們於去年底提交申請以許可 Plaquemines 全面 31 MTPA 的擴建，該擴建將分多個階段建造；我們目標在明年上半年作出 FID，並於 2029 年由第一階段投產。為促進 Plaquemines 的擴建，我們預期將興建一條通往路易斯安那州北部的新管線，名為 Cloud Connector。且在第一階段投產後，我們三個專案合計的運轉率產量預期約為 85 MTPA。如您在第 10 頁所見，目前這 85 MTPA 中約有 53 MTPA 已透過長期與中期合約承諾。值得注意的是，我們前三個專案的名目產能（nameplate capacity）已 100% 完成簽約。

The additional 32 MTPA available for marketing is comprised of excess capacity and the addition of the CP2 and Plaquemines phase one bolt-on expansions. We continue to maintain a portfolio approach and anticipate contracting the majority of this capacity through both a mix of long-term agreements to support new financing and medium-term contracts designed to enhance returns and retain flexibility. To help understand the portfolio approach I just described and the option value it creates for Venture Global, on page 12 we show the frequency distribution of implied liquefaction fees between the emergence of shale gas into the US market from 2010 to today.

可供行銷的額外 32 MTPA 由超額產能以及 CP2 與 Plaquemines 第一階段附加式擴建所新增的產能所構成。我們持續維持投資組合策略，並預期將透過長期協議（以支持新的融資）與中期合約（旨在提升報酬並保留彈性）的組合，簽約其中大部分產能。為協助理解我剛才描述的投資組合策略及其為 Venture Global 創造的選擇權價值，在第 12 頁我們展示了自 2010 年頁岩氣進入美國市場至今，隱含液化費的頻率分布。

As you can see, after adjusting for the cost of gas as well as conservative shipping and logistics costs, the average liquefaction fee would be over $6 per MMBtu. While that does include several periods of significantly elevated prices, it also includes the COVID-related downturn of 2020. And even adjusting for those, the median fee would still be nearly twice that of a 20-year contract price. And inevitably, those periods of elevated pricing take place a few times a decade. This substantial spread with asymmetric extrinsic option value highlights the premium available for short- and intermediate-term contracts in the LNG market.

如您所見，在扣除天然氣成本以及保守估計的航運與物流成本後，平均液化費將超過每 MMBtu 6 美元。雖然其中包含數段價格顯著偏高的期間，但也涵蓋了 2020 年與 COVID 相關的下行期。即使將上述因素調整後，中位數費率仍接近 20 年期合約價格的兩倍。而且不可避免地，這些價格偏高的期間每十年會出現數次。這種具不對稱外在選擇權價值的顯著價差，凸顯了 LNG 市場中短期與中期合約可取得的溢價。

We believe our contracting approach and balanced portfolio provide downside [protection], with the ability to monetize our available LNG capacity at long-term rates establishing a pricing floor. At the same time, our blended portfolio approach provides flexibility to capture materially better returns on medium-term contracts and remain in a position to harvest outsized returns on shorter-dated contracting during periods of cyclical strength. These consistently higher blended returns influence our capital allocation decisions as we believe retaining and monetizing the additional upside option value from a balanced portfolio dramatically enhances the cash flow and absolute value of our LNG assets.

我們相信，我們的簽約策略與均衡的投資組合可提供下行[保護]，因為我們能以長期費率將可用 LNG 產能變現，從而建立價格底線。同時，我們的混合投資組合策略提供彈性，使我們能在中期合約上取得實質更佳的報酬，並在景氣循環走強期間，仍能透過較短天期的簽約收割超額報酬。這些一貫較高的混合報酬會影響我們的資本配置決策；我們認為，保留並變現來自均衡投資組合的額外上行選擇權價值，能大幅提升我們 LNG 資產的現金流與絕對價值。

Turning to page 13. While LNG supply has, of course, been impacted by the events in the Middle East, demand has been resilient. As you can see, most of the substantial Asian markets have experienced a meaningful rebound in imports following the initial impact of elevated prices for the recent months higher on a year-over-year basis.

接著看第 13 頁。當然，LNG 供給已受到中東事件的影響，但需求仍具韌性。如您所見，多數主要亞洲市場在近期數月因高價的初期衝擊後，進口量已明顯反彈，且年增表現更高。

High temperatures in both Asia and Europe have driven greater power demand and industrial demand from sectors like the fertilizer market has also proven to be inelastic. Importantly, as you can see here, European gas inventories remain well below normal levels, which will likely drive higher winter demand and pricing. In fact, Europe is increasingly approaching a point at which it is exposed to severe winter weather, dangerously exposed, both physically and economically. Now I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Jack Thayer, who will review the quarterly performance, provide an overview of our project performance and discuss our updated financial guidance.

亞洲與歐洲的高溫推升了電力需求，而來自肥料等產業的工業需求也證明具有缺乏彈性（inelastic）的特性。重要的是，如您在此所見，歐洲天然氣庫存仍遠低於正常水準，這很可能推動冬季需求與價格走高。事實上，歐洲正日益接近一個對嚴寒冬季天氣高度暴露的臨界點，無論在實體供應面或經濟面都處於危險暴露狀態。接下來我將把電話會議交給我們的財務長 Jack Thayer，他將回顧本季表現、概述我們的專案進度，並討論更新後的財務指引。

Thank you, Mike, and good morning to those of you on the line. I'll be referring to the Venture Global, Incorporated Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The 10-Q is available on our website and some of the key results are summarized on page 15 of the presentation. During this call, I will highlight results I believe are salient to this audience, and I encourage you to review the entirety of our financial statements in detail.

謝謝你，Mike，也向線上的各位道早安。我將引用 Venture Global, Incorporated 截至 2026 年 6 月 30 日止季度的 Form 10-Q。10-Q 可在我們網站上取得，部分關鍵結果已彙總於簡報第 15 頁。在本次電話會議中，我將重點說明我認為對本聽眾最重要的結果，並鼓勵各位詳閱我們完整的財務報表。

Beginning with revenue. Our top line was $4.6 billion for the second quarter of 2026, a $1.5 billion or 48% increase from the $3.1 billion during the equivalent period in 2025. This increase in revenue was driven by $1.3 billion from higher sales volumes, 466 TBtu in the second quarter of 2026 compared with 329 TBtu in the second quarter of 2025, and $102 million from higher net LNG sales prices.

先從營收談起。我們 2026 年第二季營收為 46 億美元，較 2025 年同期的 31 億美元增加 15 億美元或 48%。營收增加主要來自銷售量提升帶來的 13 億美元：2026 年第二季為 466 TBtu，相較 2025 年第二季的 329 TBtu；另有 1.02 億美元來自 LNG 淨銷售價格上升。

Our income from operations was $2.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, a $1.2 billion or 111% increase from $1.0 billion in the second quarter of 2025. This shift was primarily driven by the higher sales volumes I previously mentioned, augmented by higher LNG sales prices net of the cost of feed gas. Our operating and maintenance costs were $118 million higher, respectively, year over year due to the increased commissioning work at Plaquemines and from more Venture Global-owned ships being in operation. G&A expenses were largely unchanged year over year despite a larger headcount.

我們 2026 年第二季營業利益為 22 億美元，較 2025 年第二季的 10 億美元增加 12 億美元或 111%。此變動主要由前述較高的銷售量所驅動，並受益於扣除原料氣成本後較高的 LNG 銷售價格。我們的營運與維護成本年增 1.18 億美元，主要因 Plaquemines 的試運轉（commissioning）工作增加，以及更多由 Venture Global 自有的船舶投入營運。儘管人員編制增加，G&A（一般及行政）費用年比大致持平。

Our development costs were lower than the same period last year as we were able to capitalize more costs associated with CP2 and our pipeline and bolt-on expansions. Our net income attributable to common stockholders, which we refer to as net income, was $1.3 billion for the second quarter of 2026, a $979 million or 266% increase from the $368 million in the second quarter of 2025. Higher interest expense was offset by favorable changes in interest rate swaps, and income taxes were higher due to an increase in net income.

我們的開發成本低於去年同期，因為我們得以將更多與 CP2 以及我們的管線與附加式擴建相關的成本資本化。歸屬於普通股股東的淨利（我們稱之為淨利）在 2026 年第二季為 13 億美元，較 2025 年第二季的 3.68 億美元增加 9.79 億美元或 266%。較高的利息費用被利率交換（interest rate swaps）的有利變動所抵銷，而所得稅因淨利增加而上升。

Shifting to consolidated adjusted EBITDA, we earned $2.5 billion during the second quarter of 2026, a $1.1 billion or 79% increase from $1.4 billion in the second quarter of 2025. This increase in consolidated adjusted EBITDA was driven chiefly by higher sales volumes as well as higher LNG sales prices net of the cost of feed gas. Our EBITDA margin was 54% for the quarter as higher volumes and better pricing was not accompanied by commensurate increases in costs.

接著看合併調整後 EBITDA。我們在 2026 年第二季達成 25 億美元，較 2025 年第二季的 14 億美元增加 11 億美元或 79%。合併調整後 EBITDA 的增加主要由較高的銷售量所帶動，並受益於扣除原料氣成本後較高的 LNG 銷售價格。本季 EBITDA 利潤率為 54%，因為更高的銷量與更佳的定價並未伴隨相應幅度的成本增加。

Once again, this quarter, our treasury team was busy, refinancing $5.3 billion since our last earnings call. In June, we refinanced $2.25 billion of Venture Global, Inc. senior secured notes, and we raised $1.5 billion in vessel financing. In July, together with our partners at WhiteWater, we repriced the $1.07 billion senior secured Term Loan B. As Mike mentioned earlier, we are expecting our refinancing efforts thus far in 2026 to have saved more than $100 million in annual interest costs and preferred dividend coupons.

本季再次，我們的財務資金團隊相當忙碌，自上次財報電話會議以來已完成53億美元的再融資。6月，我們為Venture Global, Inc.的22.5億美元優先擔保票據進行再融資，並籌措了15億美元的船舶融資。7月，我們與WhiteWater的合作夥伴一同將10.7億美元的優先擔保B期定期貸款（Term Loan B）重新定價。如Mike先前提到的，我們預期截至目前在2026年的再融資努力，將使年度利息成本與優先股股利票息合計節省超過1億美元。

As you see on page 16, we are providing a consolidated adjusted EBITDA guidance range of $8.7 billion to $9.1 billion for 2026, which is up from $8.2 billion to $8.5 billion when we reported in May, and conservatively reflects the current market volatility. This range contemplates a current market liquefaction fee of $12.50 to $13.50 per MMBtu for cargoes remaining to be sold in 2026. This conservative range represents a modest discount to the current TTF and JKM forward-price expectations.

如您在第16頁所見，我們提供2026年合併調整後EBITDA指引區間為87億至91億美元，較我們5月公布時的82億至85億美元上調，並以保守方式反映目前市場波動。此區間假設2026年剩餘待售貨物的當前市場液化費為每MMBtu 12.50至13.50美元。此保守區間相較於目前TTF與JKM遠期價格預期呈現小幅折讓。

On average, if fixed liquefaction fees over the remainder of 2026 increase or decrease by $1 per MMBtu, we expect our consolidated adjusted EBITDA range to adjust accordingly by $180 million to $210 million, reflecting our accelerated pace of contracting and our 91% contracted position.

平均而言，若2026年剩餘期間的固定液化費每MMBtu上升或下降1美元，我們預期合併調整後EBITDA區間將相應調整1.8億至2.1億美元，反映我們加速簽約的步伐以及91%的已簽約部位。

Lastly, before turning it back to Mike, on page 17 we walk through the capital allocation priorities we laid out last quarter: funding expansion, strategic deleveraging, and balance sheet optimization, and return of capital. First, as we discussed, we're making excellent progress, not only in the construction of CP2 but increasingly on the bolt-on additions at both CP2 and Plaquemines, having already made material equity contributions to both expansions.

最後，在把話筒交回給Mike之前，我們在第17頁說明上季提出的資本配置優先順序：擴張資金投入、策略性去槓桿、資產負債表最佳化，以及資本回饋。首先，如我們所討論的，我們不僅在CP2的建設上進展非常順利，也在CP2與Plaquemines兩處的附加擴建（bolt-on additions）上取得愈來愈多進展，且已對兩項擴張做出具實質性的股權出資。

Second, with respect to the balance sheet, I just walked through some of the refinancing measures we have taken. And through July of this year, we have repaid $1.4 billion of debt, including about $1.3 billion of the bridge loan at CP2 and reduced our annual interest and coupon obligations by more than $100 million. With COD of Plaquemines in Q4 and with the start of production of CP2 next year, we anticipate positive developments with respect to our credit ratings.

第二，關於資產負債表，我剛剛已說明我們採取的一些再融資措施。截至今年7月，我們已償還14億美元債務，其中包括約13億美元的CP2過橋貸款，並將年度利息與票息義務降低超過1億美元。隨著Plaquemines於第四季達成商轉（COD），以及CP2於明年開始投產，我們預期信用評等方面將出現正向發展。

Lastly, this morning, we announced a 122% increase in our dividend to $0.04 per quarter. Over the longer term, we believe our portfolio of high-return bolt-on opportunities will remain an attractive avenue for future investments. However, the relative scale of the incremental capital investment is expected to decline compared to our growing cash flows, creating more opportunities for other capital allocation priorities.

最後，我們今天上午宣布將股利提高122%，至每季0.04美元。從較長期來看，我們相信我們的高報酬附加投資（bolt-on）機會組合，仍將是未來投資的具吸引力途徑。然而，相較於我們成長中的現金流，新增資本投資的相對規模預期將下降，從而為其他資本配置優先事項創造更多機會。

Specifically, we plan to continue to retire and refinance higher-cost capital as bonds mature or are callable. We are confident in the resiliency of our cash flows and expect to grow our dividend over time. Additionally, we may also pursue share repurchases as other incremental means of enhancing shareholder value and returns as our capital program matures. I'll now turn the call back over to Mike.

具體而言，隨著債券到期或可被提前贖回，我們計畫持續償還並再融資成本較高的資金。我們對現金流的韌性充滿信心，並預期將隨時間推進提高股利。此外，隨著我們的資本計畫逐步成熟，我們也可能進行庫藏股買回，作為提升股東價值與報酬的其他增量手段。我現在把電話交回給Mike。

Thank you, Jack. At this point, we would like to open up the call for Q&A.

謝謝你，Jack。接下來，我們想開放電話會議進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Manav Gupta, UBS.

(接線員指示) Manav Gupta，瑞銀（UBS）。

Congrats on a good quarter. I just wanted to talk a little bit -- also congratulations on raising the dividend. Those things matter, and your comments on potential share buybacks, so they're all very positive. I wanted to talk a little bit about your guidance raise. Can you help us understand some of the drivers of the guidance raise? Because the way we are thinking about it, sir, is you started the year at a guidance and now this guidance is almost 60% higher than your original guidance. So if you can help us understand drivers of the new guidance raise here.

恭喜本季表現不錯。我也想稍微談一下——同時也恭喜你們提高股利。這些都很重要，再加上你們對潛在庫藏股買回的評論，整體都非常正面。我想談談你們上調指引的部分。能否協助我們理解這次上調指引的一些驅動因素？因為我們的理解是，你們年初給出一個指引，而現在這個指引幾乎比原先高出約60%。所以若能幫助我們理解這次新一輪上調指引的驅動因素，將非常有幫助。

Sure, thanks, Manav. The basis, obviously, of all of it is our -- the execution by the team and the production at our facilities. And so we continue to be confident of the quality of the continued production that we expect for the balance of the year. I made a few comments about how we are able, through significant maintenance activity, continue to produce well. And we highlighted those comments because it really is pure operational demonstration of the uniqueness of the configuration of our facilities where we have multiple gas turbines not embedded directly in large liquefaction trains but in multiple power plants that provide electricity for electrically driven compressors in our liquefaction trains.

當然，謝謝你，Manav。顯然，所有這些的基礎在於我們——團隊的執行力以及我們設施的產量表現。因此，我們仍對今年剩餘期間預期的持續產量品質充滿信心。我也提到一些評論，說明我們如何透過大量維護活動仍能維持良好產出。我們特別強調這點，因為這確實是對我們設施配置獨特性的純粹營運展現：我們有多台燃氣渦輪機，並非直接嵌入大型液化列車（liquefaction trains）中，而是配置在多座發電廠，為液化列車中以電力驅動的壓縮機提供電力。

So it gives us maximum redundancy and availability even through maintenance. So we're pleased to see a demonstration of that execution. We obviously have had a lot of volatility this year in the macro markets for LNG pricing. And the combination of just confidence in production and what we are anticipating conservatively, as Jack said, the market to look like for the remaining of the year, feel good about increasing the absolute level of the cash EBITDA generated for the year, which, on the upper end, moving past $9 billion is something that we're very proud of.

因此，即使在維護期間，也能提供最大的備援與可用性。我們很高興看到這種執行力的展現。今年在LNG定價的宏觀市場方面顯然出現了很大的波動。綜合對產量的信心，以及如Jack所說、我們對今年剩餘期間市場走勢的保守預期，我們對提高今年所產生的現金EBITDA絕對水準感到樂觀；上緣突破90億美元是我們非常自豪的成果。

My second follow-up here is, obviously, the global markets are disrupted. You are one of the few people who's ramping the projects absolutely at the right time, so you can supply more next year. I'm just trying to understand, you have quantified on slide 16, the impact of $1 liquefaction on 2026 EBITDA, $180 million to $210 million. I'm not looking for exact number, but how should we think about this number as things stand? How much would the liquefaction fees $1 movement change 2027 EBITDA? If you could give us some puts and takes on that, that will be very good.

我的第二個追問是，顯然全球市場正受到干擾。你們是少數在恰當時點加速推進專案的人之一，因此明年可以供應更多。我想了解的是，你們在第16頁投影片量化了液化費每變動1美元對2026年EBITDA的影響，為1.8億至2.1億美元。我不是要精確數字，但就目前情況，我們應該如何看待這個數字？液化費每變動1美元，對2027年EBITDA會造成多大變化？如果你們能提供一些利多與利空因素的說明，會非常好。

I think, Manav, on page 23 in the presentation, we actually answer that question for not just '27 but '28 and '29. And do we go to 2030 as well?

Manav，我想在簡報第23頁，我們其實回答了這個問題，不只涵蓋'27，也包括'28與'29。我們也有到2030嗎？

No. We stopped at 2029.

沒有。我們到2029就停止了。

Yes. And so it --

是的。所以它--

$650 million to $700 million for '27?

'27年是6.5億到7億美元？

Yeah. that's a great chart because it shows the magnitude of the growth that's coming just from executing on CP2 and the brownfield expansion at CP2 and the first small expansion at Plaquemines.

對。那張圖表很棒，因為它顯示出僅僅透過執行CP2、CP2的棕地擴建（brownfield expansion），以及Plaquemines的第一個小型擴建，就能帶來的成長幅度。

And importantly, Mike, it contemplates the COD at Plaquemines Phases 1 and 2 as well. So with a greater contracted position, we're still maintaining significant optionality and exposure to the prevailing markets in a positive fashion.

而且很重要的是，Mike，它也納入了Plaquemines第一期與第二期的商轉（COD）。因此，在更高的已簽約部位下，我們仍維持相當大的選擇權與對現行市場的曝險，並以正向方式受益。

Correct. As of now, we remain on schedule for and expect to be for Plaquemines CODs, Phase 1 and Phase 2.

正確。截至目前，我們仍按計畫推進，並預期Plaquemines第一期與第二期的COD將如期達成。

John Mackay, Goldman Sachs.

John Mackay，高盛。

I wanted to pick up on some of the macro comments. Look, I think the disruption in Middle East has gone on longer than we all would have anticipated. I'd be curious to hear from you just how your customer conversations have changed over the past, let's say, couple of months and how that is playing into your view around forward-selling cargoes, either on a kind of prompt basis or maybe out to some of these five-year contracts.

我想接續一些總體面的評論。你看，我認為中東的擾動已經持續得比我們所有人原先預期的更久。我也很好奇想聽你談談，在過去比如說這幾個月裡，你們與客戶的對話究竟有哪些改變，以及這如何影響你們對於前瞻性銷售貨物（cargoes）的看法——不論是偏即期（prompt）的方式，或是延伸到一些五年期合約。

So it's a really interesting question. We obviously are thinking about it every day. If you go back to right before the recent conflict started in the Strait of Hormuz, and if you recall, the net spreads in the market that we are realizing were $5 to $6, closer to $6 net spreads (inaudible) at that point, we are very busy on 20-year contracting activity and discussions. And we have continued to be very busy and are active, and actually a significant number of negotiations on 20-year contract basis.

這真的是個很有意思的問題。我們當然每天都在思考這件事。如果你回到最近這場荷姆茲海峽衝突開始之前，且你還記得的話，當時我們在市場上實現的淨價差是5到6美元，接近6美元的淨價差（聽不清）在那個時間點，我們在20年期簽約活動與討論上非常忙碌。而我們也持續非常忙、持續活躍，事實上在20年期合約基礎上有相當多的談判正在進行。

You've seen us do several billion dollars of five-year deals and we continue to have -- and are active in those discussions as well, and expect to have multiple deals completed between now and the end of the year. Obviously, that's a forward-looking statement. So it's busy. I would say there has been an uptick in interest on the five-year term and less in the last 90 days. So as this conflict has become more difficult to predict, I think there's been a -- I was going to say slight, but maybe a little more than slight uptick in shorter-term contracting interest.

你們也看到我們做了數十億美元的五年期交易，而我們也持續——並且仍然積極參與那些討論，並預期從現在到年底之間會完成多筆交易。顯然，這是前瞻性陳述。所以確實很忙。我會說，對五年期的興趣有所上升，而在過去90天裡（的長期興趣）相對較少。因此，隨著這場衝突變得更難以預測，我認為短期簽約的興趣出現了——我本來想說是些微，但可能不只是些微——的上升。

I appreciate the thoughts there. Second quick one for me, going back to that kind of forward look on the volume outlook and the margin impact. The volume impact is up relative to how you framed it up last quarter. Can you just walk us through that? Is that FID timing? Is that CP2 service timing? What are the puts and takes?

感謝你分享這些想法。我第二個簡短問題，回到你剛才對量的展望以及對利潤率影響的那種前瞻性看法。相較於你們上季的說法，量的影響上修了。你能帶我們走一遍原因嗎？是FID時點嗎？是CP2投產/服務時點嗎？有哪些拉動與抵銷因素？

For the increase in the number of cargoes, is that --

你是指貨物（cargoes）數量的增加，是嗎--

Correct.

對。

I think it's really just as we continue to progress through the later stages of phase one of Plaquemines, our confidence as we continue to operate there gets better. And obviously, we continuously generate massive amounts of process data as well, that supports a lot of our analytics about production -- forward production. And as we described in, I think, in July, we passed our 1,000th cargo.

我認為主要是因為，隨著我們持續推進Plaquemines第一期的後期階段，我們在那裡持續運營的信心也在提升。而且很明顯，我們也持續產生大量的製程數據，這也支撐了我們對產量——未來產量——的許多分析。正如我們在我想是7月所描述的，我們已經完成了第1,000船貨。

So it's just there's a huge increase every month in our operational knowledge that allows us to make those refinements. And that includes having these obviously on planned maintenance that we perform frequently. And as we get through that activity, that also gives us more clarity on what forward production can be. We mentioned a little bit in the comments about increased confidence in warm weather production at Plaquemines, and that's something we're very pleased with. And that's a part of it as well.

所以就是，我們每個月在營運知識上的累積都有巨大的增加，讓我們能做出這些微調。其中也包括我們顯然會頻繁執行的計畫性維護。而當我們完成那些工作後，也能更清楚掌握未來產量可能會是什麼。我們在評論中也稍微提到，對Plaquemines在暖季生產的信心提高了，這點我們非常滿意。這也是其中一部分。

Jean Ann Salisbury, Bank of America.

Jean Ann Salisbury，美國銀行。

Thanks for the new slide around historical distribution of the liquefaction fee and the discussion around the balanced portfolio approach. What is kind of your latest thinking around your ideal steady-state mix of long-term contracts, medium-term contracts and uncontracted in your book? And how far away is it from what your mix looks like today?

謝謝你們新增那張關於液化費歷史分布的新投影片，以及對「平衡投資組合」方法的討論。你們目前對於理想的穩態組合——長期合約、中期合約以及未簽約部位在你們組合中的占比——最新想法是什麼？以及它與你們今天的組合相比，差距有多大？

So our plan and our target is to largely contract, and which we've already done on the nameplate capacity, largely contract all of the excess capacity production on a multiyear basis. And we have several years of commissioning cargoes, both from CP2 and from the bolt-ons that are coming. And those for several years will give us nice exposure to that upside option value that that slide refers to. And so ideally, and we expect to be able to do it, the excess capacity will be largely all contracted on a multiyear basis. Where when you look at the total portfolio, we are overweighted in 20-year contracts.

所以我們的計畫與目標是以簽約為主；而我們也已經在名義產能（nameplate capacity）上做到以簽約為主，並且會在多年期的基礎上，將所有超額產能的產量大多數都簽約出去。而我們有好幾年的試車（commissioning）貨物，來源包括CP2以及即將到來的增建（bolt-ons）。而這些在未來幾年會讓我們很好地暴露在那張投影片所提到的上行選擇權價值之中。因此理想狀態下——而且我們預期能做到——超額產能將大多數以多年期的方式全部簽約。但若看整體投資組合，我們在20年期合約上的比重偏高。

So while we are going to do more 20-year contracts, our emphasis is going to shift more to much shorter contracts for the balance of that portfolio to drive the much higher price. And as the -- that data in that slide, we think, is really fascinating in that it shows -- it really explains a lot of the portion of the market that's occupied by the trading companies that contract and buy from producers and on sell to the market. And when you look at over the course of that time, many of those traders started out as primarily building and producing their own facilities and volumes, and since then have grown bigger businesses and contracting from other producers that are taking the balance sheet risk to build that capacity.

所以，雖然我們還會再做更多20年期合約，但我們的重點會更多轉向更短期的合約，來平衡整體組合並推動更高的價格。而那張投影片中的數據，我們認為非常耐人尋味，因為它顯示——也確實解釋了——市場中由貿易公司所占據的那一部分：他們向生產商簽約與採購，然後再轉售到市場。而當你回顧那段期間，許多交易商一開始主要是自建並生產自己的設施與產量，之後則發展成更大的業務，向其他生產商簽約，而那些生產商承擔資產負債表風險去建造那個產能。

And it's exactly for the map that's shown over the last 16 years here that there's more than double the value over the last 16 years, for having shorter-term contracts than the 20-year contracts. And we think 16 years is a great data set. And we think that that -- some version of that going forward, is going to continue and be reflected in pricing.

而正是因為這裡過去16年所呈現的那張圖：在過去16年裡，採用較短期合約相較於20年期合約，價值高出一倍以上。我們認為16年是一個很好的資料集。我們也認為，未來某種版本的這種情況將會延續，並反映在定價上。

So the combination of us contracting all of our nameplate capacity, which supports investment-grade credit ratings treatment at our projects, but retaining more of the extra production capacity that we have on a shorter than 20-year capacity captures that higher option value and is the right combination of portfolio mix that will maximize the return over time. And it's been the case for the last 16 years and we think it will continue. And I think the behavior and activity of the very large trading market demonstrates that the market thinks that's the case too.

因此，把我們所有名義產能都簽約出去（這有助於我們專案在投資級信用評等上的認定/處理），同時把我們額外的產能以短於20年的期限保留更多，來捕捉更高的選擇權價值——這樣的組合搭配是正確的投資組合結構，能在時間推移中最大化報酬。過去16年一直如此，我們認為未來也會持續。而我想，非常龐大的交易市場的行為與活動也顯示，市場也認為情況確實如此。

That makes sense. And did the Plaquemines phase one bolt-on timing FID move up from just like 2027 to now one-half -- first half of 2027? And what drove that? Was it customer demand?

這很合理。另外，Plaquemines第一期增建（bolt-on）的FID時點，是不是從原本像是2027年，提前到現在所說的2027年上半年？是什麼驅動的？是客戶需求嗎？

We've been, for a while, we've been looking at -- we've been -- we've had our eyes focused on the first half of 2027. We think the customer demand can comfortably support that. And the constraint is not going to be the timing of the offtake contracts.

我們有一段時間一直在看——我們一直把焦點放在2027年上半年。我們認為客戶需求可以很從容地支撐那個時點。而限制因素不會是承購（offtake）合約的時程。

Elvira Scotto, RBC Capital Markets.

Elvira Scotto，RBC資本市場。

I just wanted to follow up on a couple of the questions. I guess the first one, on the expansion projects that you are going to do on CP2 and Plaquemines, what is your targeted contracting strategy there? Is that -- are those expansion projects going to be long-term contracts or mixed?

我想跟進其中幾個問題。我想第一個是，關於你們將在CP2和Plaquemines進行的擴建專案，你們的目標簽約策略是什麼？也就是——那些擴建專案會以長期合約為主，還是混合？

There'll be -- that's a great question. It will be a mix. When you look at the timing that we just described, you'll notice that they come online fairly quickly, because they're true brownfield that benefit significantly from the existing installed facilities, the time from FID to production is much shorter, even faster than what we've been able to achieve to date and may in fact set new records on timing. It gives us extra flexibility on the mix of term that we need for the contracts and doesn't require as many of those to be 20-year contracts.

會是——這是個很好的問題——會是混合。會是混合。當你看我們剛才描述的時程，你會注意到它們上線相當快，因為它們是真正的棕地（brownfield）專案，能顯著受益於既有已安裝的設施，因此從FID到投產的時間更短，甚至比我們迄今能達成的還要更快，且實際上可能在時程上創下新紀錄。這讓我們在合約期限組合上有額外的彈性，也不需要那麼多必須是20年期合約。

So we will do some 20-year contracts, but it'll have more midterm contracts than projects have been able to execute successfully in the past. Generically, the project finance in the LNG business is designed around needing $10 billion to construct facilities and you don't get any revenue or profits for six, seven, eight years on average. And that -- securitizing 20-year contracts and amortizing construction loan bank debt over 20 years is a requirement to make the math work. When you are 18 to 20 months, between FID and production, it's a much different formula and gives you more flexibility in financing and also creates an opportunity to drive much, much more significant returns on capital.

因此我們會簽一些20年期合約，但中期合約的比重會高於過去專案能夠成功執行的程度。一般而言，LNG產業的專案融資模式是以需要100億美元建造設施為前提，而平均要六、七、八年才會開始產生任何營收或利潤。而且——將20年期合約證券化，並把建設貸款的銀行債務在20年內攤還，是讓財務模型成立的必要條件。當你在FID到投產之間只需要18到20個月時，公式就完全不同，能在融資上提供更大的彈性，也創造機會帶來更為顯著的資本報酬。

Great, thank you for that. And then I know you talked about this a little bit, but maybe go into a little bit more detail. You increased your dividend 122% to $0.04 a share. What was the rationale for that increase at this time? And then you talked about your broader capital allocation strategy, but given this increase, how should we think about the dividend going forward?

很好，謝謝你的說明。接著我知道你稍早有提到一點，但也許可以再更詳細一些。你們把股利提高了122%，到每股0.04美元。在這個時間點提高的理由是什麼？另外你也談到更廣泛的資本配置策略，但在這次提高之後，我們應該如何看待未來的股利走向？

A lot of it was largely just we were significantly below the rest of the group on an absolute and a percentage-yield basis. And even after this increase, that's the case. And that's obviously just because we only recently started a dividend. And so it's just part of the catch-up. And our plan is to continue to grow the dividend over time. It's a reflection also of our maturity of our growth in our businesses.

很大一部分原因是，我們無論在絕對金額或殖利率百分比上，都明顯低於同業其他公司。即使在這次提高之後，情況仍然如此。這當然是因為我們最近才開始發放股利。所以這只是追趕進度的一部分。我們的計畫是隨時間持續提高股利。這也反映出我們業務成長逐步成熟。

As we passed $60 billion in assets and we feel good about the progress of turning on CP2 and the -- and a giant increase in the execution of all the 20-year contracts that are associated with CP2, that we can -- we feel very comfortable in absorbing that. As Jack described in his comments, in the future too, that could be combined with not just dividend increases, but also potential share buybacks that obviously will be part of the discussion, as Jack described.

隨著我們的資產規模突破600億美元，而且我們對CP2啟動的進展感到樂觀，並且與CP2相關的所有20年期合約在執行上也大幅提升，我們認為——我們非常有把握可以吸收這樣的股利提升。如Jack在他的評論中所說，未來除了提高股利之外，也可能結合潛在的庫藏股回購；正如Jack所描述的，這顯然會成為討論的一部分。

Zack Van Everen, TPH Research.

TPH Research的Zack Van Everen。

Maybe the first one, we saw Williams sanction a project, the Delta access project. It does appear to be heading the direction of Plaquemines. I was curious if that is going to help feed current or future feed gas, or if your own Cloud Connector pipeline is enough on the pipeline side?

第一個問題，我們看到Williams核准了一個專案——Delta access專案。看起來它似乎是朝Plaquemines的方向前進。我想了解這是否會有助於供應目前或未來的進料天然氣（feed gas），或者你們自有的Cloud Connector管線在管線端就已經足夠？

Jack, do you want to take that question?

Jack，你要回答這個問題嗎？

Sure. So as you surmised, that's headed directly towards our Plaquemines facility, and we would expect that pipeline to connect into our Cloud Connector pipe, and we have capacity on that pipe.

當然。如你所推測的，那條管線確實是直接通往我們的Plaquemines設施，我們預期該管線會接入我們的Cloud Connector管線，而且我們在那條管線上有可用容量。

Got it. Makes sense. And then maybe around that same theme, we've seen a significant increase in power demand and power projects around Texas and Louisiana. How do you guys think about supply contracts with producers, maybe with longer terms, just to make sure you have that, not only the FTE, but also the supply secured for your contracts into the future?

了解。很合理。接著也許延續同一個主題，我們看到德州與路易斯安那州周邊的用電需求與電力專案大幅增加。你們如何看待與生產商簽訂供應合約——也許採用更長的期限——以確保不僅是FTE（固定運輸權），也能確保未來合約所需的供應量？

I'll make some comments. And Jack, if you want to -- if I miss some things, jump in. We're always in the market negotiating and contracting a mixed blend of gas supply, and we do it opportunistically. And so, yeah, we keep a careful watch on that. Our view is that there's plenty of gas to support the domestic demand, both for LNG domestic production and also incremental demand that will layer on in years to come from data centers.

我先補充幾點。Jack，如果我漏了什麼你再補充。我們一直在市場上談判並簽訂不同組合的天然氣供應，並且會把握機會進行。所以，是的，我們會密切留意這一點。我們的看法是，天然氣供給非常充足，足以支撐國內需求，包括LNG的國內生產需求，以及未來幾年資料中心帶來的新增需求。

And we're more focused on the interconnect and transportation and pipeline capacity to access the plentiful gas. And so you've seen us make significant and meaningful investments in this area, and we'll continue to do some of that. And that was part of the long-range planning that you saw play out for us with the significant investment in our nitrogen removal unit at CP2. Several of those large units are sitting on foundations. Last Saturday, I saw the second rolling on the foundations down at CP2.

我們更關注的是互聯、運輸與管線容量，以便取得這些充足的天然氣。因此你也看到我們在這方面做了重大且具實質意義的投資，而且我們會持續投入一部分。這也是你看到我們在CP2的氮去除裝置（nitrogen removal unit）上進行重大投資的長期規劃之一。其中幾套大型設備已經安裝在基座上。上週六我在CP2現場看到第二套正在移上基座。

And in addition, the longer CPX lateral, which approaches 100 miles down to Silsbee and our beautiful Blackfin Pipeline that we partnered with WhiteWater that heads to [Cadie] and our transportation agreements that take us all the way to the Waha. And so it's -- we've been focused on this, I think, a few years ahead of the rest of the market, and feel in a very strong position and continue to -- on a -- spend a significant amount of our time and medium and long-term planning on that front. Jack, do you have some adds?

此外，還有較長的CPX支線（lateral），長度接近100英里，往南到Silsbee；以及我們與WhiteWater合作的漂亮Blackfin管線，通往[Cadie]；還有我們一路延伸到Waha的運輸協議。所以——我們在這方面的投入，我認為比市場其他人早了幾年，並且我們覺得自己處於非常有利的位置；同時也會在中長期規劃上持續投入大量時間與資源。Jack，你要補充嗎？

Just two quick points, Mike. That was a comprehensive answer. First of all, power plants relative to LNG facilities are relatively small consumers of natural gas. I would say roughly less than 10%, relative to an LNG facility for -- is consumed at a power plant. I think the other comment I'd make is the majority of our pipes are intrastate, which allows us to control 100% of the capacity on those pipes, whether it's our own pipes or whether we're contracting for significant capacity on laterals that connect into our facilities.

Mike，我補充兩點就好。你的回答已經很完整了。第一，與LNG設施相比，發電廠對天然氣的消耗量相對較小。我會說大約不到10%，相較於一座LNG設施——發電廠的用氣量就是那樣的量級。第二點是，我們的大多數管線屬於州內管線（intrastate），這讓我們能夠掌控這些管線100%的容量，不論是自有管線，或是我們在連接到我們設施的支線上簽約取得的大量容量。

So the amount of dedicated supply and dedicated delivery that's coming to our facilities, we think, gives us a significant competitive advantage relative to others who are not spending the money to build that dedicated connectivity and are looking to contract on it on a relatively short-term basis, and we'll be more exposed to competing for access to gas over time. We think it's a real strength of our portfolio.

因此，導向我們設施的專用供應與專用交付能力，我們認為相較於其他未投入資金建置這種專用連通性、而是傾向以相對短期方式去簽約取得的人，能帶來顯著的競爭優勢；那些業者隨時間推移會更暴露在爭取天然氣取得權的競爭之中。我們認為這是我們投資組合的一大強項。

Craig Shere, Tuohy Brothers Investment Research.

Tuohy Brothers Investment Research的Craig Shere。

I want to pick up on John's contracting question a bit. I want to confirm that the multiple more deals anticipated by year-end '26 are indeed three to five years. And given that kind of increased hedging through decade-end, could that position you for more of a multiyear guidance and capital allocation outlook by first half '27?

我想延伸一下John關於簽約的問題。我想確認一下，預期在2026年底前會有多筆新增交易，期限確實是三到五年。而在十年期末之前這種更高程度的避險，是否可能讓你們在2027年上半年提供更偏多年度的指引，以及資本配置展望？

So we're uniquely in the market now able to talk to customers about almost any term that customers have need for. Because as we are bringing on Plaquemines to COD, we still retain a large volume of capacity that's not contracted on a 20-year basis. And as CP2 comes online, that's going to increase dramatically. And as you will note from our comments in the presentation today, we have what we think are very attractive schedules for the CP2 and Plaquemines bolt-ons to come on online in '28 and '29 as well.

我們目前在市場上具備獨特優勢，能與客戶討論幾乎任何客戶需要的合約期限。因為當我們推進Plaquemines達到COD（商轉日）時，我們仍保留了相當大的產能，尚未以20年期合約方式簽出。而當CP2上線時，這個量會大幅增加。另外，如你從我們今天簡報的評論中會注意到，我們認為CP2與Plaquemines的擴建（bolt-ons）在2028與2029年上線的時程安排非常具吸引力。

And so it gives us tremendous availability that we think is having material positive impacts on the price of LNG globally and gas. And so yes, we're expecting multiple deals of varied terms this year and next year and the year after, of course. So it's -- we've been waiting and watching progress on our projects to get to this point in our growth that would enable us to have that advantage. And the slide that shows the option value, what numbers -- what page number is the -- I love that. So that's my favorite slide in the deck.

因此我們擁有極大的可用性，我們認為這正對全球LNG與天然氣價格產生實質性的正面影響。所以是的，我們預期今年、明年以及後年都會有多筆不同期限的交易，當然。所以——我們一直在等待並觀察專案進度，直到成長到這個階段，使我們能擁有這樣的優勢。而那張顯示選擇權價值的投影片，頁碼是多少——我很喜歡那張。那是我整份簡報裡最喜歡的一張投影片。

It's slide 12.

這是第 12 張投影片。

Slide 12 that shows the data for the last 16 years on what pricing has looked at on an average and a median basis over that period. it shows that there's tremendous option value in our configuration and execution, which, frankly, I don't think is captured in our value at all. Because we, like the rest of the market, have contracted the nameplate capacity of our production. But because of our configuration and our ability to convert the massive amount of data we generate into process engineering that produces significant extra volumes, gives us that upside option value that over time, long periods of time, have proven extremely valuable and well above the long-term contract prices.

第 12 張投影片顯示過去 16 年在平均值與中位數基礎上，定價表現的數據。它顯示我們在配置與執行上具有巨大的選擇權價值，而坦白說，我認為這完全沒有反映在我們的估值之中。因為我們和市場上其他公司一樣，已經把我們的名目產能以合約方式鎖定。但由於我們的配置，以及我們將所產生的大量數據轉化為製程工程、進而帶來顯著額外產量的能力，讓我們擁有那種上行的選擇權價值；而從長期、很長一段時間的角度來看，這已被證明極具價值，且遠高於長期合約價格。

And as you include just construction cost inflation in projected periods, you have additional floor-price support that's still coming. And that -- we think that that, as I described earlier in my answer, shows up in the behavior of all the trading companies that continue to grow their contracted portfolios. Rather than deploying their balance sheet capacity and capital in building mostly new production capacity, they continue to allocate more of their business and contracting from other producers and on selling it at higher -- much higher prices than the long-term contract prices. And there's a lot of data -- really all the data shows that that, at least in the last 16 years, has been the correct strategy. I answered a lot, more than you asked there. Sorry, Craig, but, in your media training, they tell you to do that. But (inaudible) your question.

而當你把預測期間的建造成本通膨納入考量時，還會有額外的底價支撐持續到來。而且——我們認為，如同我先前在回答中所描述的，這會反映在所有持續擴大其已簽約投資組合的貿易公司行為上。他們不是把資產負債表的承載能力與資本投入到興建大多數新增產能上，而是持續把更多業務配置在向其他生產商採購並簽約，然後以高於——遠高於長期合約價格的價格轉售。而且有很多數據——其實所有數據都顯示，至少在過去 16 年，這一直是正確的策略。我回答得很多，超過你問的。抱歉，Craig，但在媒體訓練裡，他們會告訴你要這樣做。但（聽不清）你的問題。

We agree with the upside not captured in market value, but believe the three to five-year contracting does start to capture that. And to the degree the post-Iran conflict medium-term contracting increases relative to what had been open cargoes relative to what was a shorter-term contracted before, we just felt that, that opens up the opportunity to start thinking about a more clarified multiyear outlook that could help unleash some of that upside we're just talking about.

我們同意市場價值未反映上行空間，但我們認為三到五年的簽約確實開始捕捉到這一點。而且在伊朗衝突之後，中期合約簽約相對於原本的現貨貨物、以及相對於先前較短期的合約占比提高的程度上，我們只是覺得，這開啟了機會去開始思考一個更清晰的多年期展望，可能有助於釋放我們剛才談到的一些上行空間。

Maybe you could kind of provide thoughts on that. But to finish off my second question, some of these figures, I think, are starting to bleed together a bit. You mentioned 6 MTPA medium-term guided contracting. But I think that includes the 1.5 MTPA foundation Calcasieu Pass contracts that includes 1 MTPA rolling off in April '28. So you could be legging into some nice medium-term margin uplift on a variety of levels here.

也許你可以就此提供一些看法。不過為了完成我的第二個問題，其中一些數字我覺得開始有點混在一起了。你提到中期指引簽約為 6 MTPA。但我認為那包含了 Calcasieu Pass 的 1.5 MTPA 基礎合約，其中有 1 MTPA 會在 2028 年 4 月到期。所以你們可能會在多個層面逐步切入一些不錯的中期利差提升。

No. We agree, and we think about it every day as we plan and schedule our investments in growth. I think the first stop in thinking about the -- your comments on the multiyear projection is really what the actual physical production capacity curve looks like.

是的。我們同意，而且在規劃與排程成長投資時，我們每天都在思考這件事。我認為在思考——你對多年期預測的評論時，第一步其實是看實際的實體產能曲線長什麼樣子。

We load roughly, what are we doing, 43 cargoes a month or so today. That's going to more than double as we turn on CP2 and add these bolt-ons in 2, 2.5 years. So that's a massive increase on already a very large LNG production business in a short amount of time to have a doubling in scale. And you can layer on multiple pricing scenarios on top of that. And on page 23, we're trying to show what that looks like.

我們目前大約每個月裝載，現在是在做多少，約 43 船貨/月左右。在 2 到 2.5 年內，隨著我們啟動 CP2 並加上這些附加項目，這個數字將會增加到兩倍以上。所以在很短的時間內，對一個本來就非常龐大的 LNG 生產業務而言，規模翻倍是非常巨大的增長。而你可以在此之上疊加多種定價情境。在第 23 頁，我們試圖展示那會是什麼樣子。

And we're coming upon, as we turn on the facilities, tremendous increase in production capacity. And we think the way the market, meaning the commercial contracting customer market, is executing their portfolio strategies shows that there's a more bullish view than a pessimistic view on expected prices that we believe will drive very nice returns -- very, very nice returns on our investments and produce a lot of increases in cash generation in the next few years.

而且隨著我們啟動這些設施，我們將迎來產能的大幅提升。我們認為市場——也就是商業簽約的客戶市場——在執行其投資組合策略的方式，顯示出相較於悲觀，更偏多的價格預期；我們相信這將推動我們的投資取得非常好的回報——非常、非常好的回報，並在未來幾年帶來大量現金創造的增加。

Wade Suki, Capital One.

Wade Suki，Capital One。

Just kind of curious if you maybe could discuss what might be kind of holding you guys back from maybe narrowing the time line on CP2 startup or moving it forward, what those toggles might be?

我有點好奇，你是否可以談談，可能是什麼因素讓你們還無法把 CP2 啟動的時間表縮窄或提前？有哪些可調整的槓桿？

We're -- I mean, these are very large complex construction projects and have tens of thousands of scopes. And so we're just being disciplined and being conservative. The market, you've seen how we've executed on a timing basis, it's the First LNG for Calcasieu Pass and Plaquemines, was 29 and 30 months, respectively. And so we've done it before, the First LNG train, as you've heard us say and know, that CP2 is going to be the 55th train that we've done. So the teams have executed these configurations a lot now, and it's going extremely well from an execution standpoint. We're just being disciplined and conservative at this point on how we're providing guidance.

我們——我的意思是，這些都是非常大型且複雜的建造專案，包含數以萬計的工作範疇。所以我們只是保持紀律並採取保守作法。市場也看到了我們在時程上的執行表現：Calcasieu Pass 與 Plaquemines 的首船 LNG 分別用了 29 個月與 30 個月。所以我們以前做過；如你們聽我們說過也知道，CP2 將是我們完成的第 55 座液化列車。因此團隊已經多次執行這些配置，從執行角度來看進展非常順利。我們目前在提供指引方面只是保持紀律與保守。

Obviously, we're very careful when we say the second half of next year. In our definition, the second half of next year starts July 1 and goes to December 31 of next year. That's a pretty broad range. But we're being precise in kind of the language. But we're also sprinkling in, and you saw it in the commentary here, the data points about the progress at the site. July 28, just a few days ago, a little less than two weeks ago, was the one-year anniversary at CP2.

顯然，當我們說明「明年下半年」時，我們非常謹慎。依我們的定義，明年下半年是從明年 7 月 1 日到明年 12 月 31 日。那是一個相當寬的區間。但我們在措辭上力求精準。同時我們也穿插提供一些——你在這裡的評論中也看到了——關於工地進度的數據點。7 月 28 日，就在幾天前、不到兩週前，是 CP2 開工滿一年的紀念日。

And most projects after 12 months may still be doing finishing engineering and doing test piles. And we have complete modules sitting on foundations being integrated and having cables pulled. And so CP2, knock on wood, in addition to our focus on safety, is progressing as well as an LNG facility has ever progressed. So we're being disciplined.

而多數專案在 12 個月後可能還在做收尾工程設計、以及打試樁。但我們已經有完整模組放在基礎上進行整合，並且在拉設電纜。因此 CP2（敲敲木頭），除了我們對安全的重視之外，其進度可說是 LNG 設施有史以來最順利的之一。所以我們保持紀律。

We obviously know as the market investors contemplate the next couple of years, the significance of the timing of when CP2 turns on. And so it's certainly tempting for us to provide more detail on it. But for the moment, we're being conservative. But it is going very well.

我們當然知道，當市場投資人思考未來幾年時，CP2 何時投產的時點具有重要意義。因此，我們確實很想提供更多細節。但目前我們仍採取保守作法。不過進展確實非常順利。

Mike, that makes sense. So there's some upside to slide 23, is what you're telling me. Switching gears a little bit, if you don't mind, just to dovetail on some of the prior questions on contracting. And I'm speaking maybe more industry-wide, not taking you guys specifically. But seems to be sort of a lack of fewer longer-term 20-year contracts signed this year just industry-wide, at least from what I've seen.

Mike，這很合理。所以你是在告訴我，第 23 張投影片還有一些上行空間。稍微換個話題，如果你不介意，延續前面一些關於簽約的問題。我可能是從整個產業角度在說，不特指你們。但看起來今年整體產業簽的較少、或說缺乏較多的 20 年長約，至少就我所見是如此。

Yeah.

是的。

I'm just wondering if you could maybe give us a little bit more granularity on what your kind of commercial conversations are like, and to the extent you can sort of parse that out by customer type, region, developed world, developing world? That would be helpful.

我想請問你是否可以更細緻地說明一下，你們目前商務對話大概是什麼樣子；以及在你能夠拆分的範圍內，能否按客戶類型、地區、已開發國家、開發中國家來解析？那會很有幫助。

There definitely is a rhythm to the conversations with customers, not just for us, but the whole market. When you do multibillion-dollar 20-year contracts, they typically happen after years of conversations. And so they very often are -- the timing of concluding those contracts are not being driven by current macro environment, but just the byproduct of multiyear conversations and contract roll-off by utility customers that are doing very long-range planning.

與客戶的對話確實有其節奏，不只是我們，整個市場都是如此。當你在做數十億美元規模的 20 年合約時，通常是在多年對話之後才會發生。因此，這些合約的完成時點往往——並不是由當前的總體環境所驅動，而只是多年期對話的結果，以及公用事業客戶在進行非常長期規劃時，合約到期（roll-off）所帶來的自然產物。

And so you -- sometimes you can't, and you shouldn't read too much into the macro relationship with contract announcements. For us, the contracting activity has remained very steady all the way from last year to today. And we feel really good about the cadence of those conversations and matching up with how we want to continue to contract our portfolio. It's pretty broadly distributed between Europe and Asia. Europe was running a little bit ahead, I think, last year of the pace of Asian contracting. And I think today, the Asian contracting is -- this is very general, has caught up with the number of and level of interest from Europe.

因此你——有時你做不到，而且你也不應該把合約公告與總體關係過度解讀。對我們而言，從去年到今天，簽約活動一直非常穩定。我們對這些對話的節奏，以及與我們希望如何持續為投資組合簽約的匹配度，感覺非常好。這在歐洲與亞洲之間分布相當廣泛。我認為去年歐洲的進度比亞洲簽約步伐略快一些。而我認為今天，亞洲的簽約——這是非常概括地說——已經追上了來自歐洲的興趣數量與程度。

Thank you, again, I appreciate the c

謝謝你，再次感謝，我很感激這個 c

On the demand side, it remains very, very positive. You continue to see periodically new announcements on regas terminals and power plants. China continues to make very, very significant progress in construction of regas terminal capacity that's a very, very significant percentage of the global -- the total global LNG market. And you're starting to see a lot more global announcements of very large-scale data center demand that a large portion of which will be gas-fired electricity.

在需求端，仍然非常、非常正面。你會持續不時看到關於再氣化終端與發電廠的新公告。中國在建設再氣化終端產能方面持續取得非常、非常顯著的進展，而這占全球——整體全球 LNG 市場——的比重非常、非常可觀。而你也開始看到更多全球性的公告，提到超大規模資料中心需求，其中很大一部分將由燃氣發電供應電力。

And so there's still a lot of growth coming internationally in our view on top of the very strong trend being driven by growing global middle class that has the same typical demands that we've seen over decades as the rest of the world that as you start with a lot of coal production capacity and layer more gas on top of it, and we see that strong trend continuing. And new demand on top of it that will be significant in certain markets for data center demand.

因此，在我們看來，國際上仍有大量成長即將到來，這是在由全球中產階級擴大所驅動的非常強勁趨勢之上；他們有著我們數十年來在世界其他地區所見到的典型需求——也就是當你一開始有大量燃煤發電產能，並在其上逐步增加更多天然氣，我們看到這股強勁趨勢仍將延續。此外，還會有新的需求疊加上來，在某些市場中，資料中心需求將相當可觀。

Sunil Sibal, Seaport Global.

Sunil Sibal，Seaport Global。

So I wanted to understand a little bit about the longer-term capital allocation strategy. Obviously, you've raised dividends and I think you also talked about share buybacks. And then you've talked about investment grade at the full consolidated level also in the past. So I was curious, and especially when you look at stock buybacks versus investment-grade ratings, how do you prioritize those two? And then maybe in the context of that, you obviously have the capital structure, some junior debt also. So how do you think about that also in that context?

所以我想更了解一下較長期的資本配置策略。顯然，你們已提高股利，我想你們也談到股票回購。另外，你們過去也談過在完全合併層級維持投資等級。所以我很好奇，特別是當你比較股票回購與投資等級評等時，你們如何在這兩者之間排序優先順序？然後也許在這個脈絡下，你們顯然有資本結構，還有一些次順位債務。那麼在這個脈絡下，你們也如何看待這一點？

So as Jack mentioned in his comments, the growth of our LNG production and how that translates in coming years to increase cash generation, as I described a moment ago, in the next couple of years or so, we'll double from our current production capacity. Even in a pretty broad range of sale contract pricing, we generate a lot of cumulative cash, tens of billions of dollars of cumulative cash, in the next few years. And so it gives us the cash generation that supports continued growth that we've been describing. But it also continue -- it supports investment-grade path at the project level.

正如 Jack 在他的評論中提到的，我們 LNG 產量的成長，以及這在未來幾年如何轉化為現金創造的增加——如我剛才所描述的——在接下來大約幾年內，我們將從目前的產能翻倍。即使在相當寬廣的銷售合約定價區間內，我們在未來幾年仍會產生大量累積現金——累積現金達數百億美元。因此，這為我們提供了現金創造能力，支撐我們持續推進我們一直在描述的成長。但同時它也持續——支撐專案層級走向投資等級的路徑。

And at the parent level, it supports dividend growth and support stock buybacks in the future. It's just the incremental scale of the production, the new production that we've described, is just getting smaller on a relative basis to the scale of our earning assets. We're passing $61 billion, $62 billion of assets. And if you look at -- I think we've added $8 billion plus this year and, year on year basis, around $15 billion, and that general path is going to continue for a few years. So we just start building a big earning asset base that generates a lot of cash. If you look at our absolute levels, we're -- our first -- the first target we loaded was the first week of March 2022. And here we are in 2026 projecting $9 billion of cash EBITDA this year. That's material. So it's just a -- it's a big, big amount of LNG volume.

而在母公司層級，它支撐股利成長，並在未來支撐股票回購。這只是我們所描述的增量規模——新增產量——相對於我們獲利資產規模而言，所占比重正在變小。我們的資產規模正超過 610 億、620 億美元。如果你看——我想我們今年增加了 80 多億美元，而以年對年來看大約增加了 150 億美元，而這樣的一般路徑還會持續幾年。所以我們開始建立一個龐大的獲利資產基礎，能產生大量現金。如果你看我們的絕對水準，我們——我們第一個——第一個目標貨物是在 2022 年 3 月的第一週裝載的。而現在到了 2026 年，我們預估今年現金 EBITDA 為 90 億美元。這很可觀。所以這只是——這是一個非常、非常大的 LNG 量。

Understood. And then on the arbitration on Calcasieu Pass, any update there? Obviously, you can't comment on ongoing arbitrations, but I was curious with what we are seeing in the market. Does that help or does that change your view in any way in the last few months with regard to settling of some of those ongoing arbitrations?

了解。那關於 Calcasieu Pass 的仲裁，有任何更新嗎？顯然你不能評論進行中的仲裁，但我很好奇，從我們在市場上看到的情況來看。這是否有幫助，或在過去幾個月裡，是否以任何方式改變你們對於解決部分進行中仲裁的看法？

So we don't control the schedule of the arbitration processes. Those are controlled away from us. And so we expect resolution of the next one, we thought it would be in the first half of the year -- we still expect it before the end of the year. And then we have -- the next one after that, we have a hearing that begins at the end of November and will extend into next year, again, if we don't settle. You've seen us obviously settle several of them successfully. And we remain open and constructive on settling what remains outstanding. And we remain optimistic on being successful in working through them.

所以我們無法掌控仲裁程序的時程。那些時程並非由我們控制。因此，我們預期下一件的解決——我們原本以為會在上半年——我們仍預期會在年底之前。然後我們還有——再下一件，我們有一場聽證會在 11 月底開始，並將延續到明年，同樣地，如果我們沒有和解的話。你們也看到我們顯然已成功和解了其中幾件。而對於仍未解決的部分，我們仍保持開放且建設性的態度來推動和解。我們也仍對成功處理這些事項保持樂觀。

We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Mike Sabel, CEO, for closing remarks.

我們已到達問答環節的結束。我現在把電話會議交回給執行長 Mike Sabel 作結語。

Thank you, everyone. We appreciate your time this morning and look forward to answering follow-up questions and look forward to seeing many of you in person in coming months.

謝謝各位。感謝大家今天早上的時間，我們期待回答後續問題，也期待在接下來幾個月與許多各位當面見面。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以掛線。