瓦萊羅能源 (VLO) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Valero Energy Corp's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Homer Bhullar, Vice President, Investor Relations and Finance. Thank you. Please go ahead.

您好，歡迎參加瓦萊羅能源公司 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我很高興向您介紹主持人、投資者關係和財務副總裁 Homer Bhullar。謝謝。請繼續。

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Valero Energy Corporation's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. With me today are Lane Riggs, our CEO and President; Jason Fraser, our Executive Vice President and CFO; Gary Simmons, our Executive Vice President and COO; and several other members of Valero's senior management team.

大家早上好，歡迎參加瓦萊羅能源公司 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。今天與我在一起的有我們的首席執行官兼總裁萊恩·里格斯 (Lane Riggs)； Jason Fraser，我們的執行副總裁兼首席財務官；加里·西蒙斯 (Gary Simmons)，我們的執行副總裁兼首席運營官；以及瓦萊羅高級管理團隊的其他幾名成員。

If you have not received the earnings release and would like a copy, you can find one on our website at investorvalero.com. Also attached to the earnings release are tables that provide additional financial information on our business segments and reconciliations and disclosures for adjusted financial metrics mentioned on this call. If you have any questions after reviewing these tables, please feel free to contact our Investor Relations team after the call.

如果您尚未收到收益報告並想要一份副本，您可以在我們的網站 Investorvalero.com 上找到一份副本。收益發布中還附有表格，提供有關我們業務部門的其他財務信息以及本次電話會議中提到的調整後財務指標的調節和披露。如果您在查看這些表格後有任何疑問，請隨時在電話會議後聯繫我們的投資者關係團隊。

I would now like to direct your attention to the forward-looking statement disclaimer contained in the press release. In summary, it says that statements in the press release and on this conference call that state the company's or management's expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions under federal securities laws. There are many factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations, including those we've described in our earnings release and filings with the SEC.

現在我想請您注意新聞稿中包含的前瞻性聲明免責聲明。總之，它表示，新聞稿和本次電話會議中陳述公司或管理層對未來的預期或預測的陳述屬於前瞻性陳述，旨在涵蓋聯邦證券法的安全港條款。有許多因素可能導致實際結果與我們的預期不同，包括我們在收益報告和向 SEC 提交的文件中描述的因素。

Now I'll turn the call over to Lane for opening remarks.

現在我將把電話轉給萊恩，讓他致開幕詞。

Thank you, Homer, and good morning, everyone. Before we discuss quarterly results, I want to thank Joe Gorder for everything he's done to build upon Valero's 43-year history. Joe steered a repositioning of our strategy and the commitment to shareholder returns through capital discipline, innovation and strong execution.

謝謝你，荷馬，大家早上好。在我們討論季度業績之前，我要感謝 Joe Gorder 在 Valero 43 年曆史的基礎上所做的一切。喬通過資本紀律、創新和強有力的執行力，重新定位了我們的戰略和對股東回報的承諾。

I'm grateful for his leadership and proud of what Valero has accomplished, and I'm honored to build on that foundation as we continue to advance our position as a leading manufacturer of liquid transportation fuels.

我感謝他的領導，並對瓦萊羅所取得的成就感到自豪，我很榮幸能夠在此基礎上繼續提升我們作為液體運輸燃料領先製造商的地位。

Moving on to quarterly results. We are pleased to report solid financial results in the second quarter, underpinned by our strong execution across all of our business segments. Our refineries ran well with throughput capacity utilization of 94% as refinery margins were supported by continued tight product supply and demand balances.

接下來是季度業績。我們很高興在第二季度報告穩健的財務業績，這得益於我們所有業務部門的強勁執行力。我們的煉油廠運行良好，產能利用率為 94%，煉油利潤受到持續緊張的產品供需平衡的支撐。

Product demand was strong with our U.S. wholesale system setting a sales record of over 1 million barrels per day in May and June. We also had a positive contribution from the Port Arthur Coker project, which was started up in early April and is operating well and at full capacity. The new coker has increased the refinery's throughput capacity and enhance its ability to process incremental volumes of heavy crude and residual feedstocks.

產品需求強勁，我們的美國批發系統在 5 月和 6 月創下了每天超過 100 萬桶的銷售記錄。亞瑟港焦化項目也為我們做出了積極貢獻，該項目已於四月初啟動，目前運行良好且滿負荷運轉。新焦化裝置提高了煉油廠的生產能力，並增強了其處理增量重質原油和渣油原料的能力。

Our Renewable Diesel segment set records for operating income and sales volumes in the second quarter, driven by incremental production volumes from Diamond Green Diesel, Port Arthur. The Diamond Green Diesel sustainable aviation fuel project at Port Arthur is progressing on schedule. Plan is expected to have the ability to upgrade 50% of the current 470 million gallon annual renewable diesel production capacity through Sustainable Aviation Fuel or SAF, is expected to be complete in 2025 and has estimated a cost of $315 million, with half of that attributable to Valero.

在亞瑟港鑽石綠柴油產量增量的推動下，我們的可再生柴油部門在第二季度創下了營業收入和銷量記錄。亞瑟港鑽石綠柴油可持續航空燃料項目正在按計劃進展。該計劃預計將能夠通過可持續航空燃料（SAF）升級目前 4.7 億加侖年可再生柴油產能的 50%，預計將於 2025 年完成，預計成本為 3.15 億美元，其中一半歸因於到瓦萊羅。

With the completion of this project, DGD is expected to become one of the largest manufacturers of SAF in the world. These projects expand our long-term competitive advantage, and I want to commend our projects and operations team for their dedication and execution. We also continue to evaluate other opportunities, while maintaining capital discipline and honoring our commitment that all projects meet a minimum return threshold.

隨著該項目的完成，DGD有望成為全球最大的SAF製造商之一。這些項目擴大了我們的長期競爭優勢，我要讚揚我們的項目和運營團隊的奉獻精神和執行力。我們還繼續評估其他機會，同時保持資本紀律並履行我們的承諾，即所有項目均達到最低迴報門檻。

On the financial side, we returned 53% of the adjusted net cash provided by operating activities to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases in the second quarter. And we ended the second quarter with a net debt to capitalization ratio of 18%.

財務方面，我們第二季度通過股息和股票回購將經營活動提供的調整後淨現金的53%返還給股東。第二季度結束時，我們的淨債務與資本比率為 18%。

Looking ahead, we expect low global light product inventories and tight product supply-and-demand balances to continue to support refining fundamentals. Global demand for transportation fuels has recovered substantially with gasoline and diesel demand now comparable to pre-pandemic levels and jet fuel demand continues to increase steadily.

展望未來，我們預計全球輕質產品庫存較低以及產品供需平衡緊張將繼續支撐煉油基本面。全球運輸燃料需求已大幅恢復，汽油和柴油需求現已與大流行前的水平相當，航空燃油需求繼續穩步增長。

In closing, we remain committed to the core strategy that has been in place under Joe's leadership for nearly a decade. Our focus on operational excellence, capital discipline and honoring our commitment to shareholder returns have served us well and will continue to anchor our strategy going forward.

最後，我們仍然致力於在喬的領導下實施近十年的核心戰略。我們對卓越運營、資本紀律和履行對股東回報的承諾的關注使我們受益匪淺，並將繼續鞏固我們的未來戰略。

So Homer, with that, I'll hand the call back to you.

荷馬，這樣我就把電話交還給你。

Thanks, Lane. For the second quarter of 2023, net income attributable to Valero stockholders was $1.9 billion or $5.40 per share compared to $4.7 billion or $11.57 per share for the second quarter of 2022. Second quarter 2022 adjusted net income attributable to Valero stockholders was $4.6 billion or $11.36 per share.

謝謝，萊恩。 2023 年第二季度，瓦萊羅股東應占淨利潤為 19 億美元，即每股 5.40 美元，而 2022 年第二季度為 47 億美元，即每股 11.57 美元。2022 年第二季度調整後，瓦萊羅股東應占淨利潤為 46 億美元，即 11.36 美元每股。

The Refining segment reported $2.4 billion of operating income for the second quarter of 2023 compared to $6.2 billion for the second quarter of 2022. Adjusted operating income was $6.1 billion for the second quarter of 2022. Refining throughput volumes in the second quarter of 2023 averaged 3 million barrels per day, implying a throughput capacity utilization of 94%.

煉油部門報告 2023 年第二季度營業收入為 24 億美元，而 2022 年第二季度為 62 億美元。2022 年第二季度調整後營業收入為 61 億美元。2023 年第二季度煉油吞吐量平均為 3百萬桶/天，意味著產能利用率為94%。

Refining cash operating expenses were $4.46 per barrel in the second quarter of 2023, lower than guidance of $4.60, primarily attributed to lower-than-expected natural gas prices.

2023 年第二季度煉油現金運營支出為每桶 4.46 美元，低於指導值 4.60 美元，主要歸因於天然氣價格低於預期。

Renewable Diesel segment operating income was $440 million for the second quarter of 2023 compared to $152 million for the second quarter of 2022. Renewable Diesel sales volumes averaged 4.4 million gallons per day in the second quarter of 2023, which was 2.2 million gallons per day higher than the second quarter of 2022. The higher sales volumes in the second quarter of 2023 were due to the impact of additional volumes from the start-up of the DGD Port Arthur plant in the fourth quarter of 2022.

2023 年第二季度可再生柴油部門營業收入為 4.4 億美元，而 2022 年第二季度為 1.52 億美元。2023 年第二季度可再生柴油銷量平均每天 440 萬加侖，比 2022 年第二季度每天增加 220 萬加侖高於 2022 年第二季度。2023 年第二季度銷量較高的原因是 DGD 亞瑟港工廠於 2022 年第四季度投產帶來了額外銷量的影響。

The Ethanol segment reported $127 million of operating income for the second quarter of 2023 compared to $101 million for the second quarter of 2022. Adjusted operating income for the second quarter of 2022 was $79 million. Ethanol production volumes averaged 4.4 million gallons per day in the second quarter of 2023, which was 582,000 gallons per day higher than the second quarter of 2022.

乙醇部門報告 2023 年第二季度營業收入為 1.27 億美元，而 2022 年第二季度為 1.01 億美元。2022 年第二季度調整後營業收入為 7900 萬美元。 2023 年第二季度乙醇平均產量為 440 萬加侖/天，比 2022 年第二季度增加了 582,000 加侖/天。

For the second quarter of 2023, G&A expenses were $209 million and net interest expense was $148 million. Depreciation and amortization expense was $669 million and income tax expense was $595 million for the second quarter of 2023. The effective tax rate was 22%.

2023 年第二季度，一般管理費用為 2.09 億美元，淨利息費用為 1.48 億美元。 2023 年第二季度折舊和攤銷費用為 6.69 億美元，所得稅費用為 5.95 億美元。有效稅率為 22%。

Net cash provided by operating activities was $1.5 billion in the second quarter of 2023. Excluding the unfavorable change in working capital of $1.2 billion in the second quarter and the other joint venture member share of DGD's net cash provided by operating activities, excluding changes in its working capital, adjusted net cash provided by operating activities was $2.5 billion.

2023 年第二季度經營活動提供的淨現金為 15 億美元。不包括第二季度運營資本 12 億美元的不利變化以及 DGD 經營活動提供的淨現金中其他合資企業成員所佔的份額，不包括其營運資金、調整後經營活動提供的淨現金為25億美元。

Regarding investing activities, we made $458 million of capital investments in the second quarter of 2023, of which $382 million was for sustaining the business, including costs for turnarounds, catalysts and regulatory compliance; and $76 million was for growing the business. Excluding capital investments attributable to the other joint venture members share of DGD, capital investments attributable to Valero were $433 million in the second quarter of 2023.

在投資活動方面，我們在 2023 年第二季度進行了 4.58 億美元的資本投資，其中 3.82 億美元用於維持業務，包括周轉、催化劑和監管合規成本； 7600 萬美元用於發展業務。不計入 DGD 其他合資企業成員所佔份額的資本投資，2023 年第二季度瓦萊羅的資本投資為 4.33 億美元。

Moving to financing activities. We returned over $1.3 billion to our stockholders in the second quarter of 2023, of which $367 million was paid as dividends and $951 million was for the purchase of approximately 8.4 million shares of common stock resulting in a payout ratio of 53% of adjusted net cash provided by operating activities.

轉向融資活動。 2023 年第二季度，我們向股東返還超過 13 億美元，其中 3.67 億美元作為股息支付，9.51 億美元用於購買約 840 萬股普通股，派息率為調整後淨現金的 53%由經營活動提供。

Last week, we announced a quarterly cash dividend on common stock of $1.02 per share payable on September 5, 2023, to holders of record at the close of business on August 3, 2023. With respect to our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $9 billion of total debt, $2.3 billion of finance lease obligations and $5.1 billion of cash and cash equivalents.

上週，我們宣佈於 2023 年 9 月 5 日向 2023 年 8 月 3 日收盤時記錄在案的股東派發普通股季度現金股息，每股 1.02 美元。總債務為 90 億美元，融資租賃債務為 23 億美元，現金及現金等價物為 51 億美元。

The debt-to-capitalization ratio net of cash and cash equivalents was 18% as of June 30, 2023. And we ended the quarter well capitalized with $5.4 billion of available liquidity, excluding cash.

截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日，扣除現金和現金等價物後的債務與資本比率為 18%。本季度結束時，我們資本充足，可用流動資金為 54 億美元（不包括現金）。

Turning to guidance. We expect capital investments attributable to Valero for 2023 to be approximately $2 billion, which includes expenditures for turnarounds, catalysts and joint venture investments. About $1.5 billion of that is allocated to sustaining the business and the balance to growth.

轉向指導。我們預計 2023 年瓦萊羅的資本投資約為 20 億美元，其中包括扭虧為盈、催化劑和合資企業投資的支出。其中約 15 億美元用於維持業務，其餘用於增長。

For modeling our third quarter operations, we expect Refining throughput volumes to fall within the following ranges: Gulf Coast at 1.77 million to 1.82 million barrels per day; Mid-Continent at 450,000 to 470,000 barrels per day; West Coast at 240,000 to 260,000 barrels per day; and North Atlantic at 435,000 to 455,000 barrels per day.

為了對我們第三季度的運營進行建模，我們預計煉油吞吐量將落在以下範圍內：墨西哥灣沿岸為每天 177 萬桶至 182 萬桶；中大陸產量為 450,000 至 470,000 桶/日；西海岸每天 240,000 至 260,000 桶；北大西洋的產量為每天 435,000 至 455,000 桶。

We expect Refining cash operating expenses in the third quarter to be approximately $4.70 per barrel. With respect to the Renewable Diesel segment, we expect sales volumes to be approximately 1.2 billion gallons in 2023. Operating expenses in 2023 should be $0.49 per gallon, which includes $0.19 per gallon for noncash costs such as depreciation and amortization.

我們預計第三季度煉油業務現金運營支出約為每桶 4.70 美元。對於可再生柴油領域，我們預計 2023 年銷量約為 12 億加侖。2023 年的運營費用應為每加侖 0.49 美元，其中包括每加侖 0.19 美元的非現金成本，例如折舊和攤銷。

Our Ethanol segment is expected to produce 4.4 million gallons per day in the third quarter. Operating expenses should average $0.39 per gallon, which includes $0.05 per gallon for noncash costs such as depreciation and amortization.

我們的乙醇部門預計第三季度每天生產 440 萬加侖。運營費用平均為每加侖 0.39 美元，其中包括每加侖 0.05 美元的非現金成本，例如折舊和攤銷。

For the third quarter, net interest expense should be above $145 million, and total depreciation and amortization expense should be approximately $690 million. For 2023, we expect G&A expenses, excluding corporate depreciation, to be approximately $925 million.

第三季度的淨利息支出應超過 1.45 億美元，總折舊和攤銷費用應約為 6.9 億美元。 2023 年，我們預計 G&A 費用（不包括公司折舊）約為 9.25 億美元。

That concludes our opening remarks. Before we open the call to questions, please adhere to our protocol of limiting, each turn in the Q&A to 2 questions. If you have more than 2 questions please rejoin the queue as time permits to ensure other callers have time to ask their questions.

我們的開場白就到此結束。在我們開始提問之前，請遵守我們的限制協議，每次問答僅限 2 個問題。如果您有兩個以上的問題，請在時間允許的情況下重新加入隊列，以確保其他來電者有時間提問。

(Operator Instructions) Today's first question is coming from Manav Gupta of UBS.

（操作員指令）今天的第一個問題來自UBS 的Manav Gupta。

Guys, I just want to quickly start with and congratulate Gary for the promotion and the new role and all our best wishes are with you.

伙計們，我只想快速開始並祝賀加里的晉升和新職位，我們衷心祝愿你們。

The first question I have for you is that, when we look at DGD, you guys have a track record of bringing projects online before time. So is there a possibility a year down the line, you could take a look at it and say, we would like to have similar upgrades possible at DGD 1 and 2 to make more sustainable aviation fuel on a go-forward basis?

我要問你們的第一個問題是，當我們審視 DGD 時，你們有提前上線項目的記錄。那麼一年後是否有可能，您可以看一下並說，我們希望在 DGD 1 和 2 中進行類似的升級，以在未來的基礎上生產更可持續的航空燃料？

Yes. Manav, this is Eric. Obviously, that is a possibility because those are cookie-cutter units, and we could do the exact same project at St. Charles that we are currently underway at Port Arthur. It's too early to talk about any numbers or commitment, but yes, so it's definitely something we're looking at and something that we could do.

是的。馬納夫，這是埃里克。顯然，這是有可能的，因為這些都是千篇一律的單位，我們可以在聖查爾斯做與我們目前在亞瑟港正在進行的完全相同的項目。現在談論任何數字或承諾還為時過早，但是，是的，所以這絕對是我們正在考慮的事情，也是我們可以做的事情。

Good. The second question here is the DOE data is telling us whatever it is, and there are obviously some concerns around demand out there, but the cracks are telling us a completely different story. The cracks are telling us the demand for products is remarkably strong. So just wondered if you could highlight some of the -- what you're seeing in terms of demand in various regions?

好的。第二個問題是，美國能源部的數據告訴了我們一切，顯然人們對需求存在一些擔憂，但裂縫告訴我們一個完全不同的故事。這些裂縫告訴我們對產品的需求非常強勁。所以想知道您是否可以強調一下您在不同地區的需求方面所看到的一些情況？

Yes, Manav, this is Gary. We do believe that the DOE is understating gasoline demand. But even their data is showing on a 4-week average basis gasoline demand up about 3%. But if you look at our numbers, of course, Lane mentioned we had record volumes in both May and June of over 1 million barrels a day. We're seeing gasoline sales in our system up 14% year-over-year, up 22% from pre-pandemic levels.

是的，馬納夫，這是加里。我們確實認為能源部低估了汽油需求。但他們的數據也顯示，4 周平均汽油需求增長了約 3%。但如果你看看我們的數據，萊恩提到，我們在 5 月和 6 月的產量都創下了每天超過 100 萬桶的紀錄。我們看到我們系統中的汽油銷量同比增長 14%，比大流行前的水平增長 22%。

Gasoline inventory year-over-year is down 7.5 million barrels. So it's trending at the low end of the 5-year average range. Typically, this time of year, you have an open arb to ship barrels from Europe into the United States. But with inventory low in Europe, that arb is closed, which is hindering imports, and we see strong export demand from the U.S. Gulf Coast into South America.

汽油庫存同比減少 750 萬桶。因此，它的趨勢處於 5 年平均範圍的低端。通常，每年的這個時候，您都會有一個開放的套利平台將桶從歐洲運送到美國。但由於歐洲庫存較低，套利被關閉，這阻礙了進口，而且我們看到從美國墨西哥灣沿岸到南美洲的出口需求強勁。

So the fundamentals around gasoline look very good. Diesel inventory is up 6 million barrels, but continues to trend below the 5-year average range. Diesel inventory is flat, where historically, this time of year, we start to see diesel building. Again, while the DOE reflects weaker diesel demand year-over-year, it looks like the weekly data is continually being revised up.

因此，汽油的基本面看起來非常好。柴油庫存增加 600 萬桶，但仍低於 5 年平均水平。柴油庫存持平，從歷史上看，每年的這個時候，我們開始看到柴油庫存增加。同樣，雖然美國能源部反映出柴油需求同比疲軟，但每週數據似乎正在不斷上調。

So although we certainly had picked it, we had a weaker heating oil season, diesel demand looks fairly similar to last year. So we moved forward a lot of encouraging signs around diesel, where we saw weaker tonnage index in the second quarter, the June data reflects that the tonnage index is picking back up. We'll start to see more agricultural demand as we get into harvest season and more heating oil demand as we get into colder weather.

因此，儘管我們確實選擇了它，但取暖油季節較弱，柴油需求看起來與去年相當相似。因此，我們在柴油方面出現了許多令人鼓舞的跡象，我們看到第二季度噸位指數走軟，6 月份的數據反映出噸位指數正在回升。隨著收穫季節的到來，我們將開始看到更多的農業需求，隨著天氣變冷，我們將開始看到更多的取暖油需求。

Continue to see very good export demand from the U.S. Gulf Coast into South America. Some of that has fallen off as we've replaced some supply with Russian barrels, but largely been replaced with more export demand from the U.S. Gulf Coast into Europe. Jet demand also picking up and had a positive impact on overall distillate supply/demand balances. So the distillate demand looks up 10% year-over-year. It looks pretty strong. All the airlines are reporting very strong demand. Jet trading at a $0.10 per gallon premium in the U.S. Gulf Coast on a rent-adjusted basis today. So yes, the fundamentals look very, very good.

從美國墨西哥灣沿岸到南美洲的出口需求將繼續保持良好。由於我們用俄羅斯桶替代了部分供應，其中一些供應已經減少，但很大程度上被美國墨西哥灣沿岸向歐洲的更多出口需求所取代。噴氣式飛機需求也有所回升，並對整體餾分油供需平衡產生積極影響。因此，餾分油需求看起來同比增長 10%。看起來相當強大。所有航空公司都報告需求非常強勁。今天，美國墨西哥灣沿岸的噴氣式飛機交易價格按租金調整後每加侖溢價 0.10 美元。所以，是的，基本面看起來非常非常好。

The next question is coming from John Royall of JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的約翰·羅亞爾。

So my first 1 was just on the coker. It sounds like you're running full now and the start-up went as planned. But maybe you can just go through any puts and takes around profitability? I know heavy dips have come in, for example, the diesel cracks are improving recently. And -- should we think about there being a structurally higher Gulf Coast capture now? And any way to think about quantifying that?

所以我的第一個就是在焦化爐上。聽起來你現在已經滿員了，啟動也按計劃進行了。但也許你可以只考慮盈利能力方面的看跌期權和看跌期權？我知道已經出現了嚴重的下滑，例如，柴油裂紋最近正在改善。而且——我們現在是否應該考慮墨西哥灣沿岸的捕獲量在結構上更高？有什麼方法可以考慮量化這一點嗎？

John, this is Greg Bram. So as Lane mentioned, the coker started up in April. And I think it's probably worth noting the project and operating teams did a great job bringing that unit online safely without incident. And that's after we accelerated the schedule last year to be in a position to capture value from that project here in 2023.

約翰，這是格雷格·布拉姆。正如萊恩提到的，焦化廠於四月份啟動。我認為值得注意的是，項目和運營團隊做得很好，使該設備安全上線，沒有發生任何事故。那是在我們去年加快了進度，以便能夠在 2023 年從該項目中獲取價值之後。

We've ramped it up to full capacity over the course of the quarter, and it's running well and median expectations. And I think with that, you can take kind of the guidance we've given in the past and think about where the market is today and adjust accordingly. I don't think we have really a new or different view because the project is really doing what we expected it to do.

我們在本季度已將其提升至滿負荷，並且運行良好，符合中值預期。我認為，這樣一來，您就可以藉鑑我們過去給出的指導，思考當今的市場狀況並進行相應調整。我認為我們並沒有真正的新的或不同的觀點，因為該項目確實在做我們期望它做的事情。

Great. And then maybe along the same lines, it would be great to get your thoughts on heavy and medium sour diffs from here with OPEC+ cutting and the second round of the STR release is now over. What are your thoughts on whether we'll see a widening from here on mediums and heavies or will we likely stay in the current environment where from a sour diffs perspective?

偉大的。也許沿著同樣的思路，很高興能從這裡了解您對 OPEC+ 減產和第二輪 STR 發布現已結束的重度和中度酸度差異的看法。您對我們是否會看到中型和重型產品的範圍擴大，或者從酸澀的差異角度來看我們是否會留在當前環境中有何看法？

Yes, this is Gary. I think we have seen the discounts widen back out some as we've moved throughout the third quarter. I think there's some reason for optimism as we head into fall turnaround season, had 2 and 3, you'll see some decreased demand for heavy sour crude, which will help the differential some.

是的，這是加里。我認為隨著我們在整個第三季度的發展，我們已經看到折扣有所擴大。我認為，隨著我們進入秋季周轉季節，有一些樂觀的理由，在第 2 和第 3 個季度，您會看到對重質高硫原油的需求有所下降，這將有助於差異化。

I think we'll see some more production growth out of Western Canada as they come out of maintenance season, which would put more barrels back on the market. Should continue to see a ramp-up in Chevron production from Venezuela heading into the U.S. Gulf Coast.

我認為，隨著維護季節的結束，我們將看到加拿大西部的產量進一步增長，這將使更多的石油重新投放市場。從委內瑞拉進入美國墨西哥灣沿岸的雪佛龍產量應該會繼續增加。

And then finally, there's some seasonal factors which should help the discounts as well. High sulfur fuel oil for power burn will begin to wind down seasonally, which will put more high sulfur fuel on the market, help the discounts there. And then as we transition into winter weather, you would expect to see higher natural gas prices, which changes the economics for some refineries around the world that have been processing medium and heavy sour crews, which have helped the discounts as well.

最後，一些季節性因素也應該有助於折扣。用於電力燃燒的高硫燃料油將開始季節性減少，這將導致市場上出現更多的高硫燃料油，從而有助於那裡的折扣。然後，當我們進入冬季天氣時，您會看到天然氣價格上漲，這改變了世界各地一些一直在加工中型和重質酸船員的煉油廠的經濟狀況，這也有助於折扣。

The next question is coming from Theresa Chen of Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的Theresa Chen。

On the SAF front, would you mind giving an update on the Navigator BlackRock CCS project? And how is the permitting and right-of-way procurement process going?

在 SAF 方面，您介意介紹一下 Navigator BlackRock CCS 項目的最新情況嗎？許可和通行權採購流程進展如何？

Theresa, it's Rich. I'll start out by saying that the Navigator project is progressing. They've got parallel proceedings in front of each of the state's respective utility boards and/or counties and the regulatory proceedings in Iowa are taking longer than they anticipated.

特蕾莎，是里奇。首先我要說的是 Navigator 項目正在取得進展。他們在各州各自的公用事業委員會和/或縣面前進行了並行訴訟，而愛荷華州的監管程序花費的時間比他們預期的要長。

And so Navigator is not expecting regulatory approval until the back half of 2024, which will naturally push their timeline back. And they've not announced -- and they haven't given any update on a new start-up schedule. So...

因此，Navigator 預計要到 2024 年下半年才能獲得監管部門的批准，這自然會推遲他們的時間表。他們還沒有宣布——也沒有提供新的啟動時間表的任何更新。所以...

And in terms of additional SAF opportunities in the DGD facilities, Eric, can you just opine a bit more on how would you think about like the key hurdles and it would take to cross to commercialize additional FIDs?

就 DGD 設施中的額外 SAF 機會而言，Eric，您能否多談談您如何看待關鍵障礙以及將額外 FID 商業化需要克服的問題？

Yes. I think what I would say about SAF is the airlines are still in very much an educational phase of this. What they're still trying to wrestle with is I think there is a good understanding of it's going to come from RD. They're starting to understand the credit markets and how they work. But as you know, all of these SAF demands, a lot of them are voluntary from the carriers and as well as because it's voluntary, they've got options on, do they want to accept allocation, do they want to accept -- which model do they want to operate under, where in the world do they want to run these barrels?

是的。我認為，關於新加坡武裝部隊，我想說的是，航空公司仍處於這方面的教育階段。他們仍在努力解決的問題是，我認為 RD 對此有很好的理解。他們開始了解信貸市場及其運作方式。但正如你所知，所有這些 SAF 要求，其中很多都是運營商自願提出的，而且因為這是自願的，他們有選擇，他們是否願意接受分配，他們是否願意接受——哪個他們想在什麼模式下運作，他們想在世界的哪個地方運行這些桶？

And I think the learning that everyone is working through right now is conventional jet is a fungible product. And so the SAF will naturally move into fungible markets, just like jet fuel does. But as airlines wants the specific molecule at their particular location, particular airport, even at the airports, it then becomes a fungible product.

我認為每個人現在都在學習傳統噴氣式飛機是一種可替代產品。因此，新加坡武裝部隊自然會進入可替代市場，就像噴氣燃料一樣。但由於航空公司希望在其特定地點、特定機場，甚至在機場使用特定分子，因此它就成為可替代產品。

So all of that becomes a conversation of, okay, how do you then take that sort of real-life logistics and apply it into these policies and goals and how do you want to set up a commercial deal with that?

因此，所有這些都變成了一個對話，好吧，你如何將這種現實生活中的物流應用到這些政策和目標中，以及你想如何與之建立商業協議？

So there's still a lot of details being worked through on how this will physically move into the market. And then as a result of that, how it will price. So I think airlines are still -- we're still working through a lot of those details. I don't see any drop in interest or demand. We see demand still growing strongly through 2030. So I think there's still a lot of upside in this outlook. I think it's -- but we have to work through these commercial details and logistical details.

因此，關於如何將其實際推向市場，還有很多細節正在研究中。因此，它將如何定價。所以我認為航空公司仍然——我們仍在研究很多細節。我沒有看到興趣或需求有任何下降。我們預計到 2030 年需求仍將強勁增長。因此我認為這一前景仍有很大的上升空間。我認為是——但我們必須解決這些商業細節和後勤細節。

The next question is coming from Doug Leggate of Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Doug Leggate。

Gary, perhaps I could pick on you a little bit given your recent good news. Congrats from me as well. But diesel, a couple of months ago, the world was coming to an end in terms of consensus expectations. And today, we're back at winter-tight premiums for distillate cracks. So I know you touched on it already in some of your comments.

加里，鑑於你最近的好消息，也許我可以對你挑剔一點。我也表示祝賀。但就柴油而言，幾個月前，就共識預期而言，世界末日即將到來。今天，我們又回到了冬季緊縮的餾分油裂縫溢價。所以我知道您已經在一些評論中提到了這一點。

But can you maybe speak to what you're seeing that's driving that strength? And I want to address specifically what you're seeing in Asia as it relates to trading. Our understanding is Chinese exports are down and maybe that's creating some tightness globally. So I'm just wondering if you can offer any perspective as to why the split is as strong as it is today?

但您能談談您所看到的推動這種力量的因素嗎？我想具體談談您在亞洲看到的與交易有關的情況。我們的理解是，中國出口下降，這可能在全球範圍內造成了一些緊張。所以我只是想知道你是否可以提供任何觀點來解釋為什麼分裂如此嚴重？

Yes. I think you definitely saw as China ramped up and they didn't have the domestic demand keep up with that initially, you saw a lot of Chinese exports. Some of those barrels were making their way into Europe.

是的。我想你肯定看到，隨著中國的崛起​​，他們的內需跟不上最初的步伐，你看到了很多中國的出口。其中一些桶正在進入歐洲。

And then you had some trade flows that needed to rebalance with the Russian sanction. So initially, we saw a decreased demand from Latin America and so diesel was starting to back up in the U.S. But as trade flows have rebalanced, the Russian barrels that are making their way into Latin America that gap has largely been filled by increased demand from Europe.

然後，一些貿易流量需要通過俄羅斯的製裁來重新平衡。因此，最初，我們看到拉丁美洲的需求下降，因此美國的柴油開始回升。但隨著貿易流量的重新平衡，進入拉丁美洲的俄羅斯石油桶的缺口很大程度上被來自拉丁美洲的需求增加所填補。歐洲。

So if you look for -- in our system in the second quarter of last year, our export is pretty comparable to the second quarter of this year. However, last year, 95% of our volume went to Latin America, 5% to Europe. Second quarter of this year, we had 60% of our exports go to Latin America with 40% to Europe. So you're starting to just see a big pull of diesel from the U.S. Gulf Coast into Europe. We thought in the second quarter and thus far in the third quarter that's continuing into (inaudible) that's the real difference.

因此，如果你在我們去年第二季度的系統中查找，我們的出口與今年第二季度相當。然而，去年我們 95% 的銷量銷往拉丁美洲，5% 銷往歐洲。今年第二季度，我們的出口有60%銷往拉丁美洲，40%銷往歐洲。因此，您開始看到大量柴油從美國墨西哥灣沿岸流入歐洲。我們認為，在第二季度以及迄今為止的第三季度，這將持續到（聽不清），這才是真正的區別。

So I hope this isn't a second question. This is kind of a clarification question. So are you suggesting that Russian exports are starting to -- they're starting to slow, which I think was the expectation. Is that -- am I reading your comments correctly?

所以我希望這不是第二個問題。這是一個澄清問題。那麼你是否認為俄羅斯的出口開始放緩，我認為這是預期的。那是——我正確地閱讀了你的評論嗎？

You know what? We have seen Russian exports slow. I don't know if that's just maintenance activity occurring in Russia, what's driving it. But we have seen some of the South American demand that we feel like we lost the Russian barrels that those countries are back inquiring for supply from us again.

你知道嗎？我們看到俄羅斯出口放緩。我不知道這是否只是俄羅斯發生的維護活動，是什麼推動了它。但我們看到了南美的一些需求，我們感覺我們失去了俄羅斯的石油桶，而這些國家又再次向我們詢問供應。

Okay. My follow-up is on capture rates. And it seems to us -- I mean, refining looked in line with consensus for this quarter. The (inaudible) with pretty weak capture in the Mid-Con and North Atlantic. So I'm curious if you can walk us through whether that's transitory, if there was anything specific in the quarter and how you see it trending so far in the third quarter? Whoever wants to take that.

好的。我的後續行動是捕獲率。在我們看來，我的意思是，煉油看起來符合本季度的共識。 （聽不清）在中部地區和北大西洋的捕獲相當弱。因此，我很好奇您是否可以向我們介紹一下這是否是暫時的，本季度是否有任何具體情況，以及您如何看待第三季度迄今為止的趨勢？誰想拿走那個。

Yes, Doug, this is Greg. So as you mentioned, overall capture rates were pretty consistent with what we'd expect from a 1Q to 2Q move. I should mention from the earlier question. In the Gulf Coast, the coker was a positive impact, with the new coker on capture rates in the Gulf.

是的，道格，這是格雷格。正如您所提到的，總體捕獲率與我們對第一季度到第二季度變化的預期非常一致。我應該從之前的問題中提到。在墨西哥灣沿岸，焦化裝置產生了積極的影響，新的焦化裝置提高了墨西哥灣的捕獲率。

As you mentioned in the Mid-Con, lower there, primarily due to turnaround activity, and you can see that in our lower throughput rates in second quarter versus the first quarter. And then in the North Atlantic, we tend to always see a seasonal shift in the value of Canadian distillates up in that market strong in the winter and then coming off in the spring and summer time.

正如您在中期報告中提到的，較低，主要是由於周轉活動，您可以從第二季度與第一季度相比較低的吞吐量中看到這一點。然後在北大西洋，我們往往會看到加拿大餾分油價值在冬季強勁的市場中出現季節性變化，然後在春季和夏季下降。

So that was one of the effects we saw there. Then the one that was a bit more unique to this particular period was just higher cost for [St crude] coming out of Canada, primarily impacted by some maintenance and also the wildfires they had up there.

這就是我們在那裡看到的效果之一。然後，這個特定時期比較獨特的一點是來自加拿大的[聖原油]的成本較高，主要受到一些維護以及那裡發生的野火的影響。

And how is that trending into Q3?

第三季度的趨勢如何？

Yes, we're starting to see it moderate a bit, but it will take some time. That usually is not just a very short, short-term effect, but we expect that it will start to improve.

是的，我們開始看到它有所緩和，但這需要一些時間。這通常不僅僅是一個非常短暫的影響，但我們預計它會開始改善。

The next question is coming from Paul Sankey of Sankey Research.

下一個問題來自桑基研究中心的保羅·桑基。

My congratulations to Gary. Can you just keep going a little bit with the outages. On the OPEC cuts, can you talk a little bit about the impact that you've been having on markets from your perspective? The Mexican explosion was another obvious one, just a commentary on how disruptive the crude market is from a buyer's point of view right now? And I got you on Russia, you seem to more or less address that already through Doug.

我祝賀加里。你能繼續處理一下停電嗎？關於歐佩克減產，您能從您的角度談談對市場的影響嗎？墨西哥爆炸是另一個明顯的例子，只是從買家的角度來看原油市場的破壞性有多大？我向您介紹了俄羅斯，您似乎已經通過道格或多或少地解決了這個問題。

Yes. So certainly, the big move in the crude market has been the OPEC+ production cuts, 4.5 million barrels a day off the market. And I think you're seeing that as global oil demand picks up, and those barrels are not yet back on the market, you're seeing flat price trend higher, and you've definitely seen it in the quality differentials as well.

是的。因此，原油市場的重大舉措無疑是 OPEC+ 減產，市場每天減產 450 萬桶。我認為你會看到，隨著全球石油需求的回升，而這些石油尚未回到市場上，你會看到價格趨於走高，而且你也肯定在質量差異中看到了這一點。

But in addition to the OPEC+ cuts, there were a number of other issues that we mentioned. We had maintenance in Canada on the wildfires in Canada, the platform fire in Mexico. You kind of went from a seller out of the SBR to a buyer into the SBR. So all of those things had a significant impact on the quality differentials in the second quarter, and we're seeing some of those things start to reverse as we move into the third quarter.

但除了 OPEC+ 減產之外，我們還提到了許多其他問題。我們在加拿大對加拿大的野火和墨西哥的平台火災進行了維護。你有點從 SBR 的賣家變成了 SBR 的買家。因此，所有這些事情都對第二季度的質量差異產生了重大影響，隨著進入第三季度，我們看到其中一些事情開始逆轉。

Got it. And then on the outages in Refining. Can you talk a bit -- I mean there was reports of lots of different things happening, not least because of the heat in Texas. Could you talk a bit about anything that happened with you guys in the quarter, but also how the industry perhaps was perhaps throughput was a bit distorted by various units being down and stuff?

知道了。然後是煉油廠的停電。你能談談嗎——我的意思是有報導稱發生了很多不同的事情，尤其是因為德克薩斯州的炎熱天氣。您能否談談本季度發生的事情，以及該行業的吞吐量如何因各種單位的停機等而有點扭曲？

Paul, this is Greg. I don't know that we can speak a whole lot to what was going on elsewhere. Our operations were very good for the quarter. Good mechanical availability in line with kind of our typical first quartile type of performance. So the weather has had just a very modest impact on any of our operations.

保羅，這是格雷格。我不知道我們是否可以談論其他地方發生的事情。我們本季度的運營情況非常好。良好的機械可用性符合我們典型的第一四分位數類型的性能。因此，天氣對我們的任何運營的影響都非常有限。

Got it. And then just finally, a quick one. The 14% you talked about wholesale up is obviously you're taking market share. It seems to be driven by your renewable fuels, right? Is that -- how do we explain the difference between your strength of sales versus the overall market being way below that?

知道了。最後，快點。你所說的批發14%顯然是你正在奪取市場份額。它似乎是由可再生燃料驅動的，對吧？那是——我們如何解釋你們的銷售實力與遠低於此的整體市場之間的差異？

No. That wouldn't include really what we're talking about on renewables. That would be strictly our U.S. wholesale volumes. I think some of it was due to rationalization that occurred in the industry that allowed us to be more competitive, but we've gone through and in many locations, renegotiated terminal agreements that just allow us to be more competitive in some regions, where we haven't been historically and capture additional market share.

不，這並不包括我們正在談論的可再生能源。這嚴格來說是我們在美國的批發量。我認為部分原因是行業內發生的合理化使我們更具競爭力，但我們已經在許多地方重新談判了終端協議，這只是讓我們在某些​​地區更具競爭力，在這些地區，我們歷史上從未有過並佔領額外的市場份額。

The next question is coming from Ryan Todd of Piper Sandler.

下一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 Ryan Todd。

Maybe a question on the renewable diesel side. I mean can you talk -- obviously, a very strong performance in the quarter. Can you talk about sales in the quarter, which were, I mean, stronger than we had expected? Also had a very strong capture rate, which was much improved. And certainly, I think some benefit from [fat] pricing there. But can you talk about sales? What are the drivers there, implications as we look toward the back half of this year, both on sales and the kind of margin and capture on the renewable resource side?

也許是關於可再生柴油方面的問題。我的意思是，您能談談嗎？顯然，本季度的表現非常強勁。您能談談本季度的銷售情況嗎？我的意思是，該季度的銷售情況比我們預期的要強？還有非常強的捕獲率，提升了很多。當然，我認為那裡的[高]定價會帶來一些好處。但你能談談銷售嗎？當我們展望今年下半年時，其中的驅動因素是什麼？對可再生資源方面的銷售、利潤率和捕獲量的影響是什麼？

Yes. We definitely had -- there's always some timing of ships in our numbers for the quarter, but we do also have the unit running above its original design capacity. So we are running higher rates at DGD 3 as well as seeing strong sales throughout the world as we move into a lot of production moving into Canada with its new CFR that went live in July, and then there's other states that are coming on beyond California. So overall, yes, we did see increased sales due to the combination of some timing of ships and then obviously, we're running above design rates.

是的。我們確實有——本季度我們的數量中總是有一些船舶的時間安排，但我們也確實有該裝置的運行超出了其原始設計能力。因此，我們在 DGD 3 上運行了更高的價格，並且隨著我們將大量生產轉移到加拿大，其新的 CFR 於 7 月上線，並且在加利福尼亞州以外的其他州也開始生產，我們看到了全球的強勁銷售。 。因此，總的來說，是的，由於船舶的某些時間組合，我們確實看到了銷量的增加，而且顯然，我們的運行速度高於設計速度。

And on the on the margin capture side. Any general comments on what you're seeing, I mean, headline indicators have been falling, but your capture was much improved?

在邊際捕獲方面。對你所看到的有什麼一般性評論嗎？我的意思是，標題指標一直在下降，但你的捕獲量卻大大提高了？

Yes. The margin -- on the margin capture side, we definitely saw fat price is lower in the second quarter. We saw waste oils become advantaged again. So that improves a lot of our capture rate. If we talk a little bit about RINs and LCFS, those have been pretty much as expected. LCF market has been relatively flat. The EPA came out with its new RIN outlook, and it was largely unchanged.

是的。利潤——在利潤獲取方面，我們確實看到第二季度脂肪價格較低。我們看到廢油再次成為優勢。這樣就大大提高了我們的捕獲率。如果我們稍微討論一下 RIN 和 LCFS，這些都幾乎符合預期。 LCF市場一直相對平淡。 EPA 發布了新的 RIN 展望，基本沒有變化。

So -- but overall, that's mostly a product. Gary mentioned, we've seen strong ULSD demand. That's the basis of the formula plus, I would say, more attractive fat prices, as you already mentioned.

所以——但總的來說，這主要是一種產品。加里提到，我們看到了 ULSD 的強勁需求。這是公式的基礎，加上，我想說，正如您已經提到的，更具吸引力的脂肪價格。

And maybe on a different note, with the start-up of the Port Arthur Coker and the capital rolling off from that in terms of growth CapEx, you obviously have the SAF projects underway, but what types of projects might compete for growth capital going forward? Is it more likely to be incremental SAF capacity? Are there things on the refining side that you're looking at, whether it's something to increase octane production or anything like that on the margin side that can compete for capital as you think about the next couple of years?

也許換個角度來說，隨著亞瑟港焦化廠的啟動以及資本支出在增長資本支出方面的不斷減少，顯然 SAF 項目正在進行中，但哪些類型的項目可能會爭奪未來的增長資本？是否更有可能是增量 SAF 容量？您正在關注煉油方面的一些事情，無論是增加辛烷產量的事情，還是在您考慮未來幾年時可以爭奪資本的利潤方面的類似事情？

Yes. This is Lane. So you can really expect us to continue to look to optimize and look at opportunities around our existing assets. We've been doing that. Some of them aren't big or flashy, but in cumulative, they'll have an effect on our overall performance, and we continue to gate those, just like we always have.

是的。這是萊恩。因此，您確實可以期望我們繼續優化現有資產並尋找機會。我們一直在這樣做。其中一些並不大或華麗，但累積起來，它們會對我們的整體表現產生影響，我們會像往常一樣繼續控制它們。

And then there is other side of the business, our renewable side. We are looking at the potential to always to gain and develop innovative projects that are sort of in the transportation fuel space that leverage our operations excellence and our project execution capabilities.

然後還有業務的另一面，即我們的可再生能源方面。我們正在尋找始終獲得和開發運輸燃料領域創新項目的潛力，這些項目利用我們的卓越運營和項目執行能力。

The next question is coming from Joe Laetsch of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Joe Laetsch。

Great. So I want to go back to capture rate here. So we noticed just on the West Coast Refining margins were really strong during the quarter. Could you just touch on some of the drivers here and how we should think about the setup for the third quarter?

偉大的。所以我想回到這裡的捕獲率。因此，我們注意到本季度西海岸煉油利潤率非常強勁。您能否談談這裡的一些驅動因素以及我們應該如何考慮第三季度的安排？

Yes, this is Greg. So on the West Coast, we had great operations out there. But there really, the thing to note there is Benicia has a very, very high gasoline yield in terms of its product mix. So when gasoline is very strong relative to distillate products out in the West Coast, we see strong capture rates out there driven by Benicia's yield. That's the primary factor you saw in the second quarter.

是的，這是格雷格。因此，在西海岸，我們開展了出色的業務。但實際上，值得注意的是，就其產品組合而言，貝尼西亞的汽油產量非常非常高。因此，當西海岸的汽油相對於餾分油產品非常強勁時，我們會看到貝尼西亞產量推動了強勁的捕獲率。這是你在第二季度看到的主要因素。

Great. That's helpful. And then just -- my second one is just on OpEx and just the drivers of higher OpEx in third quarter versus 2Q. Is that on the nat gas side? Or how should we think about that?

偉大的。這很有幫助。然後，我的第二個問題是關於運營支出，以及第三季度與第二季度相比更高運營支出的驅動因素。是在天然氣那邊嗎？或者說我們應該如何思考這個問題？

Let me -- this is Lane. It's really driven by slightly a higher outlook for natural gas in the third quarter than the second quarter.

讓我——這是萊恩。這實際上是由於第三季度天然氣前景略高於第二季度所致。

The next question is coming from Roger Read of Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的羅傑·里德。

Yes. Congrats to everybody on there for the new roles here. I'd like to hit the diesel question a slightly different way. Last winter, we saw pretty unusually warm weather throughout Northern Hemisphere. So going back, I think you addressed this on the last call, but what do you think the missing demand was last year from a weather standpoint. And so when we think about the upcoming winter and we always just model normal weather. So what will we potentially be looking at from a demand step up?

是的。祝賀在座的每個人擔任新角色。我想以稍微不同的方式來解決柴油問題。去年冬天，我們在整個北半球看到了異常溫暖的天氣。回想一下，我認為您在上次電話會議中解決了這個問題，但從天氣的角度來看，您認為去年缺失的需求是什麼？因此，當我們考慮即將到來的冬天時，我們總是只是模擬正常的天氣。那麼，隨著需求的增加，我們可能會看到什麼？

Roger, we have modeled that, but I don't have the number in front of me, and I don't want to give you a bad number, but we can follow up with you with Homer and get you the number we had on heating oil demand.

羅傑，我們已經對此進行了建模，但我面前沒有這個號碼，而且我不想給您一個錯誤的號碼，但我們可以通過 Homer 與您聯繫，並為您提供我們的號碼取暖油需求。

Okay. That's helpful. The other is, we have, I think somebody mentioned earlier, seeing diesel move back up over gasoline. Can you give us an idea of how you've run in terms of being max diesel or I should say, max distillate or max gasoline as we've been coming through this summer?

好的。這很有幫助。另一個是，我想前面有人提到過，我們看到柴油價格回升到高於汽油價格。您能否告訴我們，今年夏天我們在最大柴油或我應該說最大餾分油或最大汽油方面的表現如何？

Roger, we've been mostly in max gasoline mode, but we've been watching that movement between those 2 products. And we'll make that shift when we start to see that kind of swing cut drive us back the other way.

羅傑，我們大部分時間都處於最大汽油模式，但我們一直在關注這兩種產品之間的變化。當我們開始看到這種搖擺式削減將我們推向另一個方向時，我們就會做出轉變。

One of the things maybe just to keep in mind is on that swing cut, as you keep that heavier part of the gasoline and the gasoline pool, it pulls in more butane into the blend pool. And when you look at where butane prices are currently that's really attractive to get as much butane in the blend as you can.

也許要記住的一件事是在擺動切割中，當你保留汽油和汽油池中較重的部分時，它會將更多的丁烷吸入混合池中。當您查看目前丁烷的價格時，就會發現在混合物中獲得盡可能多的丁烷確實很有吸引力。

Yes, NGLs are definitely help in or hurt depending on which side of the argument you're on there.

是的，NGL 肯定會帶來幫助或造成傷害，具體取決於您站在爭論的哪一邊。

The next question is coming from Paul Cheng of Scotiabank.

下一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Paul Cheng。

Congratulations to everyone with a new role. Lane, I have 2. I apologize because I joined late, so if my question has already been addressed, just let me know and I will look at the transcript. Two questions. First, with the heavy oil discount and medium sour, it's also come down [mass discount], it doesn't seem like it's really made that attractive today.

祝賀大家擔任新角色。萊恩，我有 2 個。我很抱歉，因為我加入得晚，所以如果我的問題已經得到解決，請告訴我，我會查看成績單。兩個問題。首先，隨著重油折扣和中酸，它也下降了[大量折扣]，今天看起來並沒有那麼有吸引力。

Is it really profitable for you guys to run those barrels? And if it is not, is there any way that -- for you to further minimize? What is the minimum that you have to run?

你們經營這些桶真的有利可圖嗎？如果不是，有什麼辦法可以進一步減少嗎？你至少要跑多少？

The second question is that in the (inaudible) is there any reason why the margin capture drop so severely from -- in the second quarter, I mean not just comparing to the first quarter, but comparing to the last couple of years that you've been running, say, call it 100%, 95% to maybe 120%. And so is there any particular reason or there is some one-off unique circumstances that we are seeing?

第二個問題是，（聽不清）第二季度的利潤率下降如此嚴重，我的意思是不僅與第一季度相比，而且與過去幾年相比，有什麼原因嗎？一直在運行，比如說，稱之為 100%、95% 甚至 120%。那麼，是否有任何特殊原因或我們看到了一些一次性的獨特情況？

Paul, Mr. Bram is going to answer that.

保羅，布拉姆先生將回答這個問題。

Paul, I'll start with the first 1 on the different crudes. If I understood your question, we see incentive to run the heavy grades as well as the lights right now. The advantage for heavy crudes narrowed quite a bit as we got into the quarter. As Gary mentioned, those differentials start to move back out that will increase the incentive to move -- to continue to process the heavy grades.

保羅，我將從不同原油的第一個開始。如果我理解你的問題，我們認為現在有動力運行重等級和燈光等級。隨著進入本季度，重質原油的優勢大幅縮小。正如加里提到的，這些差異開始縮小，這將增加繼續處理高等級的動力。

The medium sours have probably been the one that have been least attractive, and we would need to see those be -- have a wider discount to the light sweet grades before we would start to make a shift there. On your question -- your capture rate question...

中酸可能是最沒有吸引力的一種，在我們開始轉向那里之前，我們需要看到它們比淡甜等級有更大的折扣。關於你的問題——你的捕獲率問題......

Actually, before we go into the capture, can I ask that how much that you can maybe further minimize on the medium sour?

實際上，在我們開始捕獲之前，我可以問一下，您可以進一步減少中酸的量嗎？

Yes, we can minimize quite a bit. Paul, one thing to keep in mind is there's different parts of the country, different parts of even the Gulf Coast region, where the medium sours particular grades will still be attractive to run it and we'll process those. In the places where that medium grade is not as attractive, the easiest way to think about it is, in a lot of cases, we can -- can run a combination of heavy and lights to essentially kind of mirror what a medium grade looks like, but do that at a lower cost than buying the medium sour crude itself.

是的，我們可以減少很多。保羅，要記住的一件事是，該國的不同地區，甚至墨西哥灣沿岸地區的不同地區，中酸特定等級的運行仍然具有吸引力，我們將對其進行處理。在中等等級不那麼有吸引力的地方，最簡單的思考方式是，在很多情況下，我們可以——可以運行重型和輕型的組合，以基本上反映中等等級的外觀，但這樣做的成本比購買中質含硫原油本身要低。

Okay. That will do. And...

好的。這樣就可以了。和...

Okay. And then your capture rate, was that around the North Atlantic...

好的。然後你的捕獲率是在北大西洋周圍......

North Atlantic. That's right.

北大西洋。這是正確的。

Yes. Yes, Paul, primarily, the one thing that was unique about the second quarter was the higher crude cost and again, driven by higher prices for Syncrude out of Canada, both maintenance and wildfire-related, that was probably the thing that caused kind of that region to look different this quarter than it would typically for a second quarter period.

是的。是的，保羅，主要是，第二季度的獨特之處是原油成本上漲，並且再次受到加拿大 Syncrude 價格上漲的推動，包括維護和野火相關，這可能是造成某種程度的影響的原因。該地區本季度的情況將與第二季度的通常情況有所不同。

But Syncrude is probably represent 20% at most for your entire North Atlantic input, right?

但 Syncrude 可能最多只佔整個北大西洋輸入的 20%，對嗎？

No, it's much higher than that, Paul.

不，這比那要高得多，保羅。

Probably, it's much higher? So that Quebec city is really winning that much Syncrude?

或許，它要高得多？那麼魁北克市真的贏得了那麼多 Syncrude 嗎？

Yes. Our Quebec refinery runs a combination of Canadian crudes and then waterborne crudes that we bring up from the Gulf Coast.

是的。我們的魁北克煉油廠既生產加拿大原油，又生產從墨西哥灣沿岸開采的水生原油。

The next question is coming from Nitin Kumar of Mizuho Securities.

下一個問題來自瑞穗證券的尼廷·庫馬爾。

I just want to start with, can you comment on the recent EPA decision to deny RFS favors for small refiners? And how does that look for your ethanol business, I think you mentioned volumes were flat, but can you talk a little bit about pricing for ethanol?

首先，您能否對 EPA 最近拒絕向小型煉油廠提供 RFS 優惠的決定發表評論？這對你們的乙醇業務來說怎麼樣，我想你們提到銷量持平，但是你們能談談乙醇的定價嗎？

This is Rich Walsh. I can talk of, I guess, a little bit about the EPA decision. And then when it comes to pricing, I'll hand it back off to Eric Honeyman. I mean we don't have any small refinery exemptions in play. And so it's -- it's a bit of a nonfactor for us. I mean really not a lot more to share on it in that regard.

這是里奇·沃爾什。我想我可以談談美國環保局的決定。然後說到定價，我會把它交還給埃里克·霍尼曼。我的意思是，我們沒有任何小型煉油廠的豁免。所以這對我們來說有點無關緊要。我的意思是，在這方面確實沒有太多可分享的了。

Yes. And then as far as the commercial impact of that, it's a bit -- we see the same thing, a bit of a nonevent and we really don't know the compliance posture of those small refiners. So it's not -- we don't see a big impact to any of our businesses on the small refinery exemption.

是的。就其商業影響而言，我們看到了同樣的事情，有點無關緊要，而且我們真的不知道那些小型煉油廠的合規狀況。所以，我們認為小型煉油廠豁免不會對我們的任何業務產生重大影響。

Sorry, what I was actually referring to is on your commercial side, whether you were seeing any improved demand for ethanol because those guys don't have the exemption. I guess I'll ask a different question as well.

抱歉，我實際上指的是商業方面，您是否看到對乙醇的需求有所改善，因為這些人沒有豁免。我想我也會問一個不同的問題。

Just on the sustaining CapEx, you mentioned $1.5 billion for this year. Are you seeing anything on the regulatory front that could increase that or increase the intensity of your sustaining CapEx in the future thinking of things like stringent particular emission standards or anything like that?

就持續資本支出而言，您提到今年的資本支出為 15 億美元。您是否看到監管方面的任何事情可能會增加未來的持續資本支出強度，例如嚴格的特定排放標准或類似的事情？

This is Lane. When you look at our history on our sustaining capital and some of these things, we are actually ahead of our competitors looking like flare gas recovery and some of these sort of things. So with respect to regulatory capital, we're in good shape, and we're still willing to stick with our $1.5 billion of sustaining. On average, that doesn't mean it can ebb and flow really with turnaround timing.

這是萊恩。當你看看我們在維持資本和其中一些事情上的歷史時，我們實際上領先於我們的競爭對手，比如火炬氣回收等一些事情。因此，就監管資本而言，我們狀況良好，我們仍然願意堅持 15 億美元的維持資金。平均而言，這並不意味著它會隨著周轉時間而真正起伏不定。

The next question is coming from Neil Mehta of Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的尼爾·梅塔。

Lane, Gary and Joe, if you're on the line, congratulations to each of you. And that's kind of where I want to start. I mean, Lane, that over the last couple of years, the strategic vision has been very clear and consistent. We would just love your perspective as you step into this new role. What are the 2 or 3 things that you're most focused on to take Valero to the next level?

萊恩、加里和喬，如果你們在線，恭喜你們。這就是我想開始的地方。萊恩，我的意思是，在過去幾年中，戰略願景非常清晰且一致。當您進入這個新角色時，我們非常高興您的觀點。為了讓 Valero 更上一層樓，您最關注的 2 或 3 件事是什麼？

Thanks, Neil. So I mean, Joe and I really -- I worked with Joe on the strategy for the last 9 years. Obviously, Joe and I go way back before that. So it's not like -- I've been a part of the current strategy that's been successful. I don't think you should expect us to deviate substantially from where we've been strategically.

謝謝，尼爾。所以我的意思是，喬和我真的——在過去的 9 年裡，我和喬一起制定了戰略。顯然，喬和我早在那之前就已經認識了。所以這並不是——我參與了當前成功的戰略。我認為你不應該期望我們會大大偏離我們的戰略目標。

In terms of my areas of focus. I think the first area of focus is just making sure everybody understands exactly that, right? We are -- we have a -- we've been very successful in our execution, maintaining our operations excellence, our ability to execute squarely and be great executor of the projects. And I want to make sure that, that continues.

就我關注的領域而言。我認為第一個重點領域是確保每個人都完全理解這一點，對嗎？我們——我們有——我們在執行方面非常成功，保持了我們的卓越運營，我們有能力正確執行並成為項目的出色執行者。我想確保這種情況繼續下去。

And I want to make sure that we stay disciplined, we stay predictable, and those are all the things that I think I can even make sure that's going on for the foreseeable future. With that, I'm going to inflict Joe, keep working in this innovative project space, look for our opportunities to spend some of our strategic capital and in some of these opportunities that are around our assets, whether it's Diamond Green or SAF or some of the other things that we obviously have done been ahead of everybody else and we think we can continue to be that company.

我想確保我們保持紀律，保持可預測性，這些都是我認為我什至可以確保在可預見的未來持續發生的事情。有了這個，我要讓喬繼續在這個創新項目領域工作，尋找機會花費我們的一些戰略資本，以及一些圍繞我們資產的機會，無論是 Diamond Green、SAF 還是其他資產。在我們所做的其他事情中，我們顯然領先於其他所有人，我們認為我們可以繼續成為那樣的公司。

And then the follow-up is just around return of capital. And just maybe you could provide an update. It was another quarter where you were able to return cash in excess of sort of the brackets that you talked about historically. And how are you thinking about with the stock having done well here more recently, continuing to lean into the buyback versus reinvest back in the business and talk about the dividend as well.

然後後續就是圍繞資本回籠了。也許你可以提供更新。這是另一個季度，您能夠返還的現金超過了您歷史上談到的範圍。您如何看待該股票最近在這裡表現良好，繼續傾向於回購而不是重新投資於業務並談論股息。

Yes. I don't think there's any revisiting of our approach to capital (inaudible) really strong performance. And I'm sorry, with regard to like buybacks and dividend, we're going to continue our same approach as well. As far as going above our long-term target of 40% to 50% return to shareholders, historically, to back before the pandemic, we had been at the high end or above our target range pretty regularly.

是的。我認為我們不會重新審視我們的資本方法（聽不清）真正強勁的表現。很抱歉，對於回購和股息等問題，我們也將繼續採用相同的方法。至於高於我們 40% 至 50% 股東回報率的長期目標，從歷史上看，在大流行之前，我們經常處於高端或高於我們的目標範圍。

As in last year, we got back to the 45% midpoint of our range, while at the same time getting our debt back down to pre-pandemic levels and building cash. So we got ourselves back in the good posture that we were comfortable with. And we'd also said with that accomplished, we'd be at the midpoint or above going forward.

與去年一樣，我們回到了區間 45% 的中點，同時將債務降至大流行前的水平並積累了現金。所以我們回到了我們感到舒服的良好姿勢。我們還說過，如果完成了這一點，我們將處於中點或以上。

In the second quarter, like you said, we were up above our 50% range. We had a 53% payout. Year-to-date, we're at 52% payout. So this year, we've clearly trended above 50%. And going forward, as in the past, as I said back before COVID, this was an unusual circumstance for us, we won't hesitate to pay out above the upper end of the range for the year, where we think that's the best use of our excess cash under the circumstances.

正如您所說，第二季度我們的增長率超出了 50% 的範圍。我們支付了 53%。今年迄今為止，我們的支付率為 52%。所以今年，我們的趨勢明顯超過 50%。展望未來，正如我在新冠疫情之前所說的那樣，這對我們來說是一個不尋常的情況，我們會毫不猶豫地支付高於今年範圍上限的費用，我們認為這是最好的用途在這種情況下我們多餘的現金。

And on the dividend, we continue to have the same approach to it. We want our dividend to be positioned. We want our yield to be positioned competitive versus our peers. We wanted to be growing and sustainable through the cycle. So that continues to be our approach on the dividend. That's how we'll set it and then the buybacks will continue to serve as a flywheel to round out our return to get us to our targets.

在股息方面，我們繼續採取相同的方法。我們希望我們的股息能夠定位。我們希望我們的產量與同行相比具有競爭力。我們希望在整個週期中保持增長和可持續發展。因此，這仍然是我們對股息的態度。這就是我們的設定方式，然後回購將繼續充當飛輪，以完善我們的回報，使我們實現目標。

The next question is coming from Jason Gabelman of Cowen.

下一個問題來自 Cowen 的 Jason Gabelman。

First, I want to ask on the renewable fuel standard as well and the outlook for RIN prices and the impact of the business. There's a decent amount of concern that there's going to be an oversupply of RINs next year, and that has implications both for Diamond Green Diesel as well as on Refining and the ability to capture some of the pass-through of the RIN cost in the crack. So I was wondering if you have any comments around your RIN outlook as it relates to impacts to both of those segments given some risk to RIN prices moving lower next year? And I have a follow-up.

首先，我想問一下可再生燃料標準以及 RIN 價格的前景以及對業務的影響。人們非常擔心明年 RIN 供應過剩，這對鑽石綠柴油和煉油以及在裂縫中捕獲部分 RIN 成本轉嫁的能力都有影響。因此，我想知道您對 RIN 前景是否有任何評論，因為它涉及到對這兩個細分市場的影響，因為明年 RIN 價格存在下降的風險？我有一個後續行動。

Yes, this is Eric. On the RIN prices, the EPA held the ethanol requirement of 15 billion gallons, which as we've seen over the last several years, is beyond the blend wall, which means the D4 RIN will be used to fulfill that obligation. Given our outlook, we don't see a big change in RINs, RIN prices or RIN supply. We see that as relatively business as usual.

是的，這是埃里克。關於 RIN 價格，EPA 規定了 150 億加侖的乙醇需求，正如我們在過去幾年中看到的那樣，這一需求超出了混合壁壘，這意味著 D4 RIN 將用於履行該義務。鑑於我們的前景，我們認為 RIN、RIN 價格或 RIN 供應不會發生重大變化。我們認為這相對正常。

I mean, I guess, if I could just push back a little bit. There is a lot of new renewable diesel capacity coming online next year. So it does seem like there's going to be a lot more RIN supply. I don't know if that enters into your thought process as you look out next year?

我的意思是，我想，如果我能退一步的話。明年將有大量新的可再生柴油產能上線。因此，RIN 供應量似乎確實會增加。我不知道您明年展望時是否會考慮這一點？

Yes. If you -- we're not going to speak on everyone else's projects, but we do see that a lot of the RD projects are taking longer to come up and their projects are being slowed down. So our outlook is the expected growth curve of RD is not going to be as aggressive as a lot of predictions.

是的。如果你——我們不會談論其他人的項目，但我們確實看到許多研發項目需要更長的時間才能完成，而且他們的項目正在放緩。因此，我們的前景是 RD 的預期增長曲線不會像許多預測那樣激進。

Okay. I appreciate that. And then my follow-up is just going back to the outlook on cracks. And I think a lot of investors have been surprised at the strength we're seeing in cracks and so kind of 2 parts to this one. Do you think the kind of hotter-than-normal weather globally has supported diesel demand at all?

好的。我很感激。然後我的後續行動只是回到對裂縫的展望。我認為很多投資者都對我們在裂縫中看到的力量感到驚訝，而這個裂縫分為兩部分。您認為全球比平常更熱的天氣是否支撐了柴油需求？

You've already mentioned that you're not going to comment on refining operations of your peers in the warm weather. So wondering if there's been a demand impact, though, from the hot weather? And then the second part is, can you talk about just given you mentioned inventory, product inventories are low. The path forward to rebuilding those, given the global capacity seems to be running all out. How does the world restock gasoline and diesel, which are at or below historical levels?

您已經提到，您不會對同行在溫暖天氣下的煉油作業發表評論。那麼想知道炎熱的天氣是否對需求產生了影響？第二部分是，你能談談剛才提到的庫存嗎，產品庫存很低。鑑於全球能力似乎已耗盡，重建這些設施的道路似乎已經耗盡。世界如何補充處於或低於歷史水平的汽油和柴油庫存？

Yes, Jason, this is Gary. I don't know that we can see that the warmer weather has caused a significant change in diesel demand. I think where inventories are low in the United States, we're seeing the same thing globally, low diesel inventories and a pull from the United States into -- especially into Europe, very high as a result of low inventories globally.

是的，傑森，這是加里。不知道大家能否看到，天氣轉暖導致了柴油需求的顯著變化。我認為，在美國庫存較低的地方，我們在全球範圍內也看到了同樣的情況，柴油庫存較低，而且由於全球庫存較低，美國的柴油庫存量非常高，尤其是歐洲。

Moving forward, I don't know really where the path is in terms of restocking the inventory. If you look, we're 35 million barrels below the 5-year average. Last year at this time, we were 35 million barrels below the 5-year average. So we really aren't making a dent in it. If you look going forward, yes, there's new refining capacity coming online, but when you look at the stated nameplate capacity of that new refining capacity and you look at the estimates of global oil demand growth, it doesn't look like a significant impact on the supply-demand balances going forward.

展望未來，我真的不知道補充庫存的道路在哪裡。如果你看一下，我們的產量比 5 年平均水平低 3500 萬桶。去年這個時候，我們的產量比 5 年平均水平低 3500 萬桶。所以我們確實沒有在這方面有所作為。如果你展望未來，是的，有新的煉油產能上線，但當你查看新煉油產能的銘牌產能以及全球石油需求增長的估計時，它看起來並沒有產生重大影響關於未來的供需平衡。

The next question is coming from Matthew Blair of Tudor, Pickering, Holt.

下一個問題來自都鐸、皮克林、霍爾特的馬修·布萊爾。

Do you have any thoughts on the expected impact on RD margins in 2025, when the BTC converts to a PTC? As we look at it, it appears the dollar per gallon subsidy would go down with the PTC. But then, it seems like you might be helped out by just less competition from foreign RD imports. Does that make sense on your end and is there anything else you would add there?

您對 2025 年 BTC 轉換為 PTC 時對 RD 利潤率的預期影響有何想法？從我們的角度來看，每加侖補貼的美元金額似乎會隨著 PTC 的減少而下降。但是，外國研發進口產品的競爭減少似乎可能會對您有所幫助。這對你來說有意義嗎？你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes, I think you've got that surrounded. The one thing I would add is when you go to a carbon intensity basis for the PTC, that will advantage Diamond Green Diesel because we run the lowest CI feedstocks. So whatever the PTC becomes, we will still have the highest capture of PTC versus our peers. So there's no doubt that it becomes a fraction of a dollar based on CI, but we'll still have the most advantaged platform.

是的，我想你已經被包圍了。我要補充的一件事是，當您採用 PTC 的碳強度基礎時，這將有利於鑽石綠柴油，因為我們使用 CI 最低的原料。因此，無論 PTC 變成什麼樣子，與同行相比，我們仍然擁有最高的 PTC 捕獲率。因此，毫無疑問，基於 CI，它變成了幾分之一美元，但我們仍然擁有最有優勢的平台。

Great. And then on the ethanol side, is an alcohol to jet SAF projects still a long-term possibility? And could you -- if so, could you compare that to what you're doing currently at DGD? Like how did the 2 production techniques compare in terms of capital cost, operating cost, scale and do airlines distinguish between the 2 different types of fuel?

偉大的。那麼在乙醇方面，用乙醇噴射 SAF 項目是否仍然是長期的可能性？如果是的話，您能否將其與您目前在 DGD 所做的事情進行比較？比如這兩種生產技術在資本成本、運營成本、規模方面如何比較，航空公司是否區分這兩種不同類型的燃料？

Yes, I think -- yes, that's a lot of questions there. Well, what I would say is -- so the first question of is there a pathway to take ethanol into jet fuel. The answer is yes, post sequestration. That is -- it does allow ethanol to become a viable feedstock into that market. It's way too early to talk about numbers and capital and all of that from a project standpoint. But if you look at it from the airline standpoint, they do see that the first barrel of SAF that they will get ratably will be RD based.

是的，我認為——是的，這裡面有很多問題。嗯，我想說的是——所以第一個問題是有沒有辦法將乙醇轉化為噴氣燃料。答案是肯定的，封存後。也就是說，它確實使乙醇成為該市場的可行原料。從項目的角度來看，現在談論數字和資本以及所有這些還為時過早。但如果你從航空公司的角度來看，他們確實看到他們將獲得的第一桶 SAF 將基於 RD。

There is -- as that conversion goes through the RD markets, the next barrel could be from an ethanol source. But that's, that like you said, that's much further out there on the timeline.

隨著這種轉化通過研發市場，下一桶可能來自乙醇。但正如你所說，這在時間線上要遙遠得多。

So yes, and then if you look at in terms of is the technology there? And is there a capability there? And will airlines differentiate between the 2? Again, probably too soon to tell. But from a fuel standpoint, there's no difference between an ethanol-based barrel versus an RD based barrel from a SAF standpoint. But a lot of work to be done first on how RD will price SAF into the market, and then these are all much further down the timeline.

所以是的，然後如果你看看技術是否存在？那裡有能力嗎？航空公司會區分兩者嗎？再說一次，現在下結論可能還為時過早。但從燃料的角度來看，從 SAF 的角度來看，基於乙醇的桶與基於 RD 的桶之間沒有區別。但首先要做的還有很多工作，即 RD 如何將 SAF 定價到市場中，然後這些工作的時間都將推遲。

At this time, I'd like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Bhullar for closing comments.

現在，我想將發言權交還給 Bhullar 先生以供結束髮言。

Thanks, Donna. Appreciate everyone joining us today. And please feel free to contact the IR team if you have any follow-up questions. Have a great day. Thanks, everyone.

謝謝，唐娜。感謝今天加入我們的所有人。如果您有任何後續問題，請隨時聯繫 IR 團隊。祝你有美好的一天。感謝大家。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and enjoy the rest of your day.

女士們、先生們，感謝您的參與。今天的活動到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，享受剩下的一天。