威廉斯 (WMB) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to Williams' third quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this call may be recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Danilo Juvane. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，歡迎參加威廉斯 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）謹此提醒，此通話可能會被錄音。我現在想把電話轉給 Danilo Juvane。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us and for your interest in the Williams' Companies. This morning, we released our earnings press release and the presentation that our President and CEO, Alan Armstrong, will kick off in a moment.

謝謝大家，大家早安。感謝您加入我們並感謝您對威廉斯公司的興趣。今天早上，我們發布了收益新聞稿，以及我們的總裁兼執行長艾倫·阿姆斯特朗（Alan Armstrong）稍後將開始的演講。

Also joining us on the call are John Porter, our Chief Financial Officer; Micheal Dunn, our Chief Operating Officer; and Chad Zamarin, our Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategic Development. In our presentation materials, you'll find the disclaimer related to forward-looking statements. This disclaimer is important and integral to our remarks, and you should review it.

我們的財務長 John Porter 也參加了電話會議。鄧恩 (Micheal Dunn)，我們的營運長；以及我們的企業策略發展執行副總裁 Chad Zamarin。在我們的簡報資料中，您會找到與前瞻性陳述相關的免責聲明。此免責聲明對於我們的言論非常重要且不可或缺，您應該仔細閱讀。

Also included in our presentation materials are non-GAAP measures that we reconcile to generally accepted accounting principles. And these reconciliation schedules appear at the back of today's presentation materials. So with that, I'll turn it over to Alan Armstrong.

我們的簡報資料中也包括我們與公認會計原則一致的非公認會計準則衡量標準。這些調節表出現在今天示範資料的後面。因此，我將把它交給艾倫·阿姆斯特朗。

Great. Well, thanks, Danilo, and thank you all for joining us today. A lot of positive updates to walk through with you this morning as we delivered another record quarter of adjusted EBITDA, driven primarily by our natural gas transportation expansions and Gulf Coast storage acquisition.

偉大的。好的，謝謝達尼洛，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。今天早上我們將與您一起了解許多積極的更新，我們的調整後 EBITDA 又創歷史新季度紀錄，這主要是由我們的天然氣運輸擴張和墨西哥灣沿岸存儲收購推動的。

In fact, our better-than-planned execution on growth projects and higher-than expected performance on acquisitions along with core business strength gives us the confidence to once again raise our guidance midpoint for 2024, which John will detail in his remarks.

事實上，我們對成長項目的執行優於計劃、高於預期的收購業績以及核心業務實力，使我們有信心再次提高 2024 年指導中點，約翰將在演講中詳細介紹這一點。

The returns of our projects and acquisitions have been strong enough to overcome what has been a very challenging natural gas price environment and fairly impactful hurricane season, so very pleased to see the way our entire portfolio responded in this environment.

我們的專案和收購的回報足夠強勁，足以克服極具挑戰性的天然氣價格環境和影響相當大的颶風季節，因此非常高興看到我們整個投資組合在這種環境下的反應方式。

In fact, a recent Wells Fargo note on midstream return supports our view that Williams has delivered one of the best cash returns on invested capital in the sector, generating a 22.9% return for the 2018 through '23 period, nearly double the sector median of 11.9%.

事實上，富國銀行最近一份關於中游回報的報告支持了我們的觀點，即威廉斯在該行業的投資資本方面實現了最佳現金回報之一，在2018 年至23 年間實現了22.9% 的回報率，幾乎是該行業中位數回報率的兩倍。

Now looking here at slide 2, I'll start by noting that the strong cash returns expected within the suite of our recently completed projects, will lead to visible five-year EBITDA CAGR of over 7% at the midpoint of our 2025 guidance, all without equity issuance and while improving our credit metrics during this period.

現在看投影片2，我首先要指出的是，我們最近完成的一系列專案預計將帶來強勁的現金回報，這將導致我們2025 年指導中位數的5 年EBITDA 複合年增長率超過7%，所有在此期間不發行股票，同時改善我們的信用指標。

Additionally, this pace of growth has been right into the headwinds of low gas prices and production curtailments this year. The drivers of growth for next year are clear and fully contracted. These include the following projects where the CapEx and construction risk is behind us.

此外，這種成長速度也遇到了今年低油價和減產的不利因素。明年的成長動力清晰且全面收縮。其中包括以下項目，我們已經擺脫了資本支出和建設風險。

And in fact, in August, we placed Transco's Regional Energy Access into full service ahead of schedule and under budget, ensuring clean and reliable natural gas is available to serve the Northeast region for the upcoming winter heating season.

事實上，今年 8 月，我們提前在預算範圍內將 Transco 的區域能源接入全面投入服務，確保在即將到來的冬季供暖季節為東北地區提供清潔可靠的天然氣。

We were also successful in placing a portion of the Southside reliability enhancement project and service as well as completing our MountainWest Uinta Basin expansion. And in the deepwater, we've completed all of our construction for the very large well project, and we are excited to see Shell begin ramping up production in December.

我們也成功完成了 Southside 可靠性增強專案和服務的一部分，並完成了 MountainWest Uinta Basin 的擴建。在深水區，我們已經完成了超大型油井專案的所有建設，我們很高興看到殼牌在 12 月開始提高產量。

And as we mentioned on our last call, there are now two new fields on our Discovery system that started up in the third quarter. Chevron's large anchor development and Beacon's Winterfell five-well program are all fully connected and will help drive a large increase in EBITDA in 2025 as these programs also begin to ramp up. Beyond these drivers for '25, we already have a total of 5.3 Bcf a day of contracted gas pipeline projects that will drive a high rate of growth for the next five years.

正如我們在上次電話會議中提到的，我們的 Discovery 系統現在有兩個新字段，已於第三季啟動。雪佛龍的大型錨開發案和 Beacon 的臨冬城五井計畫完全相連，隨著這些計畫也開始加速，將有助於推動 2025 年 EBITDA 大幅成長。除了 25 年的這些驅動因素之外，我們已經擁有每天 5.3 Bcf 的合約天然氣管道項目，這將推動未來五年的高速成長。

These include the following, first, on Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, or SSE, we filed the FERC application for its 1.6 Bcf a day expansion of existing Transco capacity in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

其中包括以下內容：首先，在東南供應增強項目(SSE) 中，我們向FERC 提交了申請，要求將弗吉尼亞州、北卡羅來納州、南卡羅來納州、喬治亞州和阿拉巴馬州現有的Transco 產能每天擴大1.6 Bcf。

SSE is a fully contracted and will provide a record EBITDA contributions from a Williams transmission project that demonstrates how valuable contracted capacity is going to continue to be in the next wave of demand growth that we are just now starting to see the benefits of. And as we mentioned before, this singular project will generate EBITDA greater than our entire Northwest pipeline system.

SSE 是一家完全承包的公司，將從威廉斯輸電項目中獲得創紀錄的 EBITDA 貢獻，這表明合約容量在下一波需求成長中將繼續具有多麼有價值，而我們剛開始看到其中的好處。正如我們之前提到的，這個單一項目將產生比我們整個西北管道系統更大的 EBITDA。

And in fact, by itself, SSE would be the equivalent to the 10th largest long-haul pipeline in our nation on its expected EBITDA contribution alone. This project is a good representation of some of the amazing growth opportunities that will continue to drive growth well into the future.

事實上，僅就其預期 EBITDA 貢獻而言，SSE 就相當於我國第十大長途管道。該項目很好地體現了一些令人驚嘆的成長機會，這些機會將繼續推動未來的成長。

Utilities across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast markets have come out saying they missed their growth targets for power generation, and we are extremely well positioned to serve these customers with projects like SSE, starting at Station 165 and delivering volumes south as they take advantage of the new supplies coming in from Mountain Valley Pipeline.

大西洋中部和東南部市場的公用事業公司表示，他們未能實現發電成長目標，我們完全有能力透過 SSE 等專案為這些客戶提供服務，從 165 號站開始，向南輸送電力，因為他們利用新的供應來自山谷管道。

Moving down the list, we received our FERC order certificate from the MountainWest Overthrust Westbound expansion, and that is a project that will add approximately 325,000 dekatherms of fully contracted firm transportation service on this MountainWest system by the fourth quarter of '25 and we began construction on several key projects, including our Louisiana Energy Gateway Gathering System, where we were pleased to receive the FERC order in late September that confirm this system is exempt from FERC's jurisdiction, so we are full steam ahead with an expected in-service date in the second half of next year.

往下看，我們收到了來自 MountainWest Overthrust Westbound 擴建項目的 FERC 訂單證書，該項目將在 2025 年第四季度在此 MountainWest 系統上增加約 325,000 dekatherms 的完全承包的公司運輸服務，我們開始施工包括我們的路易斯安那州能源網關收集系統在內的幾個關鍵項目，我們很高興在9 月下旬收到FERC 的訂單，確認該系統不受FERC 的管轄，因此我們正在全力推進預計的投入使用日期明年下半年。

Construction is also well underway on Transco's Commonwealth Energy Connector project in Virginia and I'm pleased to announce that we've entered into binding agreements with three new expansion projects on the Northwest pipeline, recently totaling roughly 260 million cubic feet a day of firm capacity.

Transco 位於維吉尼亞州的聯邦能源連接器項目的建設也在順利進行，我很高興地宣布，我們已經與西北管道的三個新擴建項目簽訂了具有約束力的協議，最近的固定產能總計約為每天2.6 億立方英尺。

These are small projects, but individually, but very strong in terms of the collective returns that these projects will generate, so really nice to see the very strong signs of growth showing up now in the Intermountain region on both Northwest and on our MountainWest acquisition.

這些都是小型項目，雖然是單獨的，但就這些項目將產生的集體回報而言非常強勁，所以很高興看到現在西北地區的山間地區和我們收購的MountainWest 地區都出現了非常強勁的增長跡象。

For some time now, we've talked about just how attractive the current macro environment is in supporting the long-term growth in our businesses as the line of sight to LNG exports, coal to gas switching, industrial reshoring and data center demand becomes clearer and clearer.

一段時間以來，我們一直在談論當前的宏觀環境對於支持我們業務的長期成長有多麼有吸引力，因為液化天然氣出口、煤改氣、工業回流和資料中心需求的視線變得更加清晰更清晰。

The recently signed precedent agreements for an expansion of the existing Dalton Lateral that will serve Northern Georgia is a great example of this. Just like SSE, this is another project that leverages off of our existing system to provide high returns and demonstrates the path we are on to deliver many more fully contracted transmission projects that will provide attractive earnings growth beyond the end of this decade.

最近簽署的擴大現有道爾頓橫向管道（將為喬治亞州北部提供服務）的先例協議就是一個很好的例子。就像SSE 一樣，這是另一個利用我們現有系統提供高回報的項目，並展示了我們正在交付更多完全承包的輸電項目的道路，這些項目將在本十年末提供有吸引力的盈利增長。

And finally, we recently signed commercial agreements with Lakeland Electric, a Florida-based utility who we will partner with in the development of a 75-megawatt solar farm. The project, which will be designed and built by Williams is cited on land that's been owned by Williams for decades and that was unsuited for traditional real estate development, but it is an ideal site for solar and energy production in an area that has got a tremendous amount of demand growth.

最後，我們最近與佛羅裡達州的一家公用事業公司 Lakeland Electric 簽署了商業協議，我們將與該公司合作開發一個 75 兆瓦的太陽能發電廠。該項目將由威廉斯設計和建造，該項目位於威廉斯擁有數十年的土地上，該土地不適合傳統的房地產開發，但它是該地區太陽能和能源生產的理想場所。 。

Our list of prospects beyond these newly contracted deals continues to grow fast and the environment for demand-driven projects, it's much better than the environment that has driven the 22.9% cash return on invested capital and the over 7% CAGR of growth across our business.

除了這些新簽訂的交易之外，我們的前景清單繼續快速成長，需求驅動型專案的環境比推動我們的投資資本現金回報率達到 22.9% 以及整個業務複合年增長率超過 7% 的環境要好得多。

So we really want to stress that while we've had a great run here in the last five years of growth, the environment that is in front of us right now and the kind of opportunities we're seeing is much stronger than what we've seen in the period that's generated these kind of opportunities.

因此，我們真的想強調，雖然我們在過去五年的成長中取得了巨大的進步，但我們現在面臨的環境和我們看到的機會比我們想像的要強大得多。類機會的時期。

So we are really excited to be able to deliver up against the demand that is growing very rapidly in the space we're in right now. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to John to walk through the third quarter financials. John?

因此，我們非常高興能夠滿足我們目前所處領域快速成長的需求。接下來，我將把它交給約翰來介紹第三季的財務狀況。約翰？

All right. Thanks, Alan. Starting here on slide 3 with a summary of our year-over-year financial performance, beginning with adjusted EBITDA, we saw about a 3% year-over-year increase where once again, for the third quarter, in spite of low natural gas prices, our resilient business continue to grow even as producer customers continued significant temporary production reduction measures.

好的。謝謝，艾倫。從幻燈片 3 開始，我們總結了我們的同比財務業績，從調整後的 EBITDA 開始，我們看到第三季度同比增長約 3%，儘管天然氣價格較低儘管生產商客戶繼續採取重大臨時減產措施，但我們的彈性業務仍持續成長。

And we also saw a greater hurricane impact for the third quarter of 2024 versus 2023. As we see on the next slide, our adjusted EBITDA growth was driven by strong growth from our large-scale natural gas transmission and storage businesses, including the favorable effects of our recent acquisitions, but also unfavorably impacted by asset sales.

我們也發現 2024 年第三季的颶風影響比 2023 年更大。正如我們在下一張幻燈片中看到的，我們調整後的EBITDA 成長是由我們的大型天然氣傳輸和儲存業務的強勁成長所推動的，包括我們最近收購的有利影響，但也受到資產銷售的不利影響。

And of course, we don't include gains from asset sales and our adjusted performance metrics, adjusted EPS, adjusted EBITDA, or available funds from operations, and we did have a $127 million gain in the third quarter of 2024 from the sale of our Aux Sable interest and about $130 million of gains last year on the sale of the Bayou Ethane system.

當然，我們不包括資產出售和調整後的業績指標、調整後的每股收益、調整後的EBITDA 或來自營運的可用資金的收益，而且我們在2024 年第三季確實從出售我們的資產中獲得了1.27 億美元的收益。

Year to date, our adjusted EBITDA is now up about 5%. And year over year, you see that adjusted EPS growth is lagging our adjusted EBITDA and AFFO growth and that delta is due primarily to a step-up in non-cash depreciation expense from our recent acquisitions.

今年迄今為止，我們調整後的 EBITDA 成長了約 5%。與去年同期相比，您會發現調整後的每股盈餘成長落後於我們調整後的 EBITDA 和 AFFO 成長，而增量主要是由於我們最近收購的非現金折舊費用增加。

But again, looking to 2025, we would see the delta in growth rates close back up as the non-cash depreciation charge flattens back out. For third quarter, available funds from operations AFFO growth was about 4.5% and 4% year to date.

但同樣，展望 2025 年，隨著非現金折舊費用趨於平緩，我們將看到成長率的增量回升。第三季度，來自 AFFO 營運的可用資金成長約為 4.5%，年初至今為 4%。

But looking through 2025, we see a five-year CAGR of 7%. Also, you see our 3Q dividend coverage based on AFFO was a very strong 2.22 times on a dividend that grew just over 6% over prior year and 2.33 times coverage year to date. And our debt to adjusted EBITDA was 3.75 times, in line with our expectations for 2024 before dropping back down in 2025, the guidance of 3.6 times or better.

但展望 2025 年，我們預期五年複合年增長率為 7%。此外，您還可以看到，我們基於 AFFO 的第三季度股息覆蓋率非常強勁，為 2.22 倍，股息比上一年增長了 6% 以上，而年初至今覆蓋率為 2.33 倍。我們的債務與調整後 EBITDA 比率為 3.75 倍，符合我們對 2024 年的預期，然後在 2025 年回落，即 3.6 倍或更好的指導值。

So before we move to the next slide and dig a little deeper into our adjusted EBITDA growth for the quarter, we'll provide an update to our financial guidance. We are pleased to increase the midpoint of our adjusted EBITDA, $125 million, from the original guidance of $6.95 billion to now $7.075 billion, reflecting a new range of $7 billion to $7.15 billion.

因此，在我們轉到下一張投影片並更深入地了解本季調整後的 EBITDA 成長之前，我們將提供財務指導的最新資訊。我們很高興將調整後 EBITDA 的中點提高到 1.25 億美元，從最初指導的 69.5 億美元提高到現在的 70.75 億美元，反映了 70 億美元到 71.5 億美元的新範圍。

Additionally, as we mentioned before in our prior calls this year, based on our improved 2024 adjusted EBITDA outlook and other changes, we see our key per share metrics, adjusted EPS and AFFO per share coming in at the high end of their ranges for 2024.

此外，正如我們之前在今年的電話會議中提到的，根據我們改進的2024 年調整後EBITDA 前景和其他變化，我們認為我們的關鍵每股指標、調整後每股收益和AFFO 每股將達到2024年範圍的高端。

So we've now shifted the 2024 guidance for those metrics to midpoint of $1.88 and $4.35, respectively and we see improvement in the leverage guidance from 3.85 times to 3.8 times. Finally, we are reaffirming our 2025 financial guidance as originally issued, but we plan to provide an update when we release our full year 2024 results in February.

因此，我們現在已將這些指標的 2024 年指導值分別調整為 1.88 美元和 4.35 美元的中點，並且我們看到槓桿指導值從 3.85 倍提高到 3.8 倍。最後，我們重申最初發布的 2025 年財務指引，但我們計劃在 2 月發布 2024 年全年業績時提供更新。

So again, very pleased with the financial performance of the company for 2024 and our ability to raise guidance even though it looks like 2024 Henry Hub natural gas prices will likely be around 15% lower than the January 1 strip prices that we set our business plan on this year. So let's turn to the next slide and take a little closer look at those third quarter results.

再次強調，我們對該公司 2024 年的財務業績以及我們提高指導的能力感到非常滿意，儘管看起來 2024 年亨利中心天然氣價格可能比今年為我們制定業務計劃的 1 月 1 日帶鋼價格低 15% 左右。因此，讓我們翻到下一張投影片，仔細看看第三季的業績。

Walking now from last year's $1.652 billion to this year's $1.7 billion, we start with our transmission in Gulf of Mexico businesses, which improved $76 million or just over 10% due to the combined effects of a full quarter contribution from the Hartree Gulf Coast storage acquisition, which is delivering as expected, following a flawless integration effort, higher Transco revenues, including from the Regional Energy Access project.

現在，從去年的16.52 億美元增長到今年的17 億美元，我們從墨西哥灣的輸電業務開始，由於收購Hartree 墨西哥灣沿岸存儲的整個季度貢獻的綜合影響，該業務增加了7600 萬美元，即略高於10%經過完美的整合工作，Transco 的收入（包括來自區域能源接入項目的收入）按預期實現了更高的收入。

Now in the Gulf of Mexico, we saw total hurricane-related impacts of about $10 million unfavorable there, and segment growth was also unfavorably impacted about $9 million by last year's Bayou Ethane divestiture. The Northeast G&P business was flat versus last year and also basically flat in total against our original 2024 plan.

現在在墨西哥灣，我們看到與颶風相關的總損失約為 1000 萬美元，去年 Bayou Ethane 剝離也對部門成長造成了約 900 萬美元的不利影響。Northeast G&P 業務與去年持平，整體與我們最初的 2024 年計畫持平。

We've seen volumetric underperformance in the dry gas systems with some offset from rate escalations on those same systems, and we've seen growth in our rich gas systems, which has also provided a strong favorable offset. The 3Q Northeast results also reflected the sale of our interest in Aux Sable on August 1, 2024.

我們已經看到乾氣系統的體積表現不佳，但這些系統的費率升級在一定程度上抵消了這一影響，而且我們也看到了富氣系統的增長，這也提供了強有力的有利抵消。Northeast 第三季業績也反映了我們於 2024 年 8 月 1 日出售 Aux Sable 權益的情況。

Shifting now to the West, which increased $15 million, benefiting from the DJ transactions that we completed in the fourth quarter of 2023. Segment performance was also favorably impacted by higher NGL services results, including higher Overland Pass pipeline volumes were low natural gas prices have supported greater ethane recoveries.

現在轉向西方，受益於我們在 2023 年第四季完成的 DJ 交易，該地區增加了 1500 萬美元。NGL 服務業績的提高也對分部業績產生了有利影響，其中包括陸口管道運輸量的增加，因為天然氣價格較低，支持了乙烷回收率的提高。

Overall, West gathering volumes were lower as a result of those temporary producer reductions primarily in the dry gas Haynesville area. And then you see the $12 million lower marketing results, and those were in line with our business plan for the third quarter.

整體而言，由於主要是海恩斯維爾乾氣地區生產商臨時減產，西部集油量下降。然後您會看到行銷業績減少了 1200 萬美元，而這些結果符合我們第三季的業務計劃。

Our upstream joint venture operations included in our other segment were down about $23 million from last year due primarily to lower realized prices. So again, it was a third quarter that was in line with our business plan, proving once again our ability to grow our business in spite of a tough natural gas pricing environment the impact of Gulf of Mexico storms and portfolio asset sales. And with that, I'll turn it back to Alan.

我們其他部門的上游合資業務比去年減少了約 2,300 萬美元，這主要是由於實現價格較低。因此，第三季再次符合我們的業務計劃，再次證明，儘管天然氣定價環境嚴峻，受到墨西哥灣風暴和投資組合資產銷售的影響，我們仍有能力發展業務。說到這裡，我會把它轉回給艾倫。

Okay. Well, thanks, John. So just a few closing remarks before we turn it over to your questions. I'll start by emphasizing what a truly compelling story we've been able to share with you this morning. Despite the low natural gas price environment we're in, we've exceeded our own financial expectations each quarter this year.

好的。嗯，謝謝，約翰。在我們轉交你們的問題之前，請先做幾句結束語。首先我要強調我們今天早上與大家分享的一個真正引人入勝的故事。儘管我們所處的天然氣價格較低，但今年每季我們都超越了自己的財務預期。

And our teams continue to excel in executing large-scale expansion projects to serve the growing natural gas demand that is really ramping up both in this year and as we look to the future, certainly. Not only do we have a clear line of sight to a full roster of projects that are in execution, but we continue to commercialize vital, high-return projects across our footprint.

我們的團隊繼續在執行大型擴建項目方面表現出色，以滿足今年和我們展望未來不斷增長的天然氣需求。我們不僅對正在執行的完整項目清單有清晰的認識，而且我們繼續將我們足跡中重要的高回報項目商業化。

And don't forget, this is an issue that I think people are probably missing as they think about the forecast of our business right now that we've been able to deliver these in the face of quite a bit of production curtailment on our systems, which really does provide a loaded spring as a very strong catalyst for earnings growth as natural gas prices rebound.

不要忘記，我認為人們在考慮我們的業務預測時可能會忽略這個問題，因為我們已經能夠在系統大量生產削減的情況下交付這些產品隨著天然氣價格反彈，這確實提供了一個負載春天，作為盈利成長的非常強大的催化劑。

So really, the environment we're seeing today is a very strong long-term bullish position for natural gas is all of the demand that we're connecting on our transmission systems will begin to pile up. But our gathering systems are really going to get a big pull-through when that demand comes on.

事實上，我們今天看到的環境對天然氣來說是一個非常強勁的長期看漲立場，我們在傳輸系統上連接的所有需求都將開始堆積。但當需求出現時，我們的收集系統確實會得到很大的推動。

And importantly, very little capital required on our part because a lot of it is just production curtailment or drilling without the producers turning it into line on existing pads. So a pretty powerful catalyst that sits out there when we do see the call on this gas to support all the growing demand we're seeing.

重要的是，我們需要的資金很少，因為其中許多只是減產或鑽探，而生產商沒有將其投入現有墊片的生產線。因此，當我們確實看到對這種天然氣的需求來支持我們所看到的所有不斷增長的需求時，就會出現一個非常強大的催化劑。

So all of this activity does underscore the accelerating demand for natural gas transmission capacity in the United States, particularly in the growing regions where we operate. We are confident in the role our valuable natural gas infrastructure will play in meeting both today's energy demand as well as the projected growth from power generation reshoring of energy-intensive manufacturing and LNG exports.

因此，所有這些活動確實凸顯了美國對天然氣輸送能力的需求不斷增長，特別是在我們業務不斷增長的地區。我們對我們寶貴的天然氣基礎設施將在滿足當今的能源需求以及能源密集型製造業發電回流和液化天然氣出口的預計增長方面發揮的作用充滿信心。

As the most natural gas-centric energy infrastructure provider with access to the most prolific US basins, Williams is the best positioned to serve steadily increasing domestic needs for clean and affordable energy while also helping unlock vast US reserve for the global market. In closing, we've built a business that is delivering record profitability and strong financial returns in the present, but is positioned for even faster growth in the future. And with that, we'll open it up for your questions.

作為最以天然氣為中心的能源基礎設施提供商，威廉斯能夠進入美國最多產的盆地，最有能力滿足國內對清潔和負擔得起的能源穩步增長的需求，同時幫助為全球市場釋放大量的美國儲備。最後，我們建立的業務目前正在提供創紀錄的獲利能力和強勁的財務回報，但未來將實現更快的成長。接下來，我們將開放它來回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Jeremy Tonet, JPMorgan Securities.

（操作員指示）Jeremy Tonet，摩根大通證券。

Thanks for all the commentary on the call on the gas macro situation. I wanted to come back to that a little bit, if I could, just as far as producer conversations at this point, expectations into 2025. How much of an uptick possibly could you see here if it's price supportive?

感謝您對天然氣宏觀形勢電話會議的所有評論。如果可以的話，我想稍微回顧一下這個問題，就目前製作人的對話以及對 2025 年的期望而言。如果價格有支撐的話，您可能會看到多少上漲？

And then I just wanted to put a fine point, I guess. There's open space on some of your pipes. Just what type of operating leverage do you see in an environment where maybe some of the second or third tier basins have a higher call on them and you wouldn't have to spend much money but the pipes could fill up?

然後我想我只是想提出一個要點。您的某些管道上有開放空間。在某些二線或三線流域的要求較高且您不必花太多錢但管道可能會填滿的環境中，您會看到什麼類型的營運槓桿？

Yeah. I'll hit the last part of that, and then ask Michael to hit the question of what kind of response we could see on our gathering systems. On the pipes, I would just say, our systems for the most part, are completely loaded up, but the ability to expand our existing systems through addition of interconnects between pipes like MountainWest and Northwest Pipeline, which we've got some projects that take advantage of the combination of those assets are a way that we're eking out some additional capacity out of the systems.

是的。我將討論最後一部分，然後請麥可回答我們可以在收集系統上看到什麼樣的回應的問題。在管道方面，我只想說，我們的系統大部分都已完全滿載，但是能夠透過在 MountainWest 和西北管道等管道之間添加互連來擴展我們現有的系統，我們有一些項目需要這些資產組合的優勢是我們從系統中獲得一些額外容量的一種方式。

And in general, obviously, a lot of these systems have the ability to be expanded at a pretty low cost. And so a recent project that we just did this quarter adds compression in the Clay Basin area on Northwest Pipeline and get some more very critical capacity in between the Williams and the Opal and Kern River markets, which obviously is in demand these days.

顯然，總的來說，許多此類系統都能夠以相當低的成本擴展。因此，我們本季剛完成的一個最近項目增加了西北管道粘土盆地地區的壓縮，並在威廉斯、蛋白石和克恩河市場之間獲得了一些更關鍵的容量，這顯然是當今的需求。

And so that's just an example, pretty small amount of capital relative to the value of that project, and those are the kind of things that are occurring in the West right now. And Michael, I'll turn it over to you to talk about the gathering operating leverage.

這只是一個例子，相對於該項目的價值來說，資本的數額相當小，而這些正是西方目前正在發生的事情。邁克爾，我將把它交給你來談論收集營運槓桿。

Jeremy, there's definitely a lot of opportunity to increase production on the producer end coming into 2025, and it will certainly be somewhat price responsive. We have about 4 Bcf per day right now that is either shut in from what was originally flowing or ducts or wells that have been complete drilled and completed, but aren't flowing and have been connected to our systems.

Jeremy，到 2025 年，生產商端肯定有很多增加產量的機會，而且肯定會對價格產生一定的影響。我們現在每天大約有 4 Bcf，這些水要么是從最初流動的水源中關閉的，要么是已經完全鑽探和完成但沒有流動並已連接到我們的系統的管道或井。

And so that's between the Marcellus and the Haynesville. So there's definitely an opportunity to increase some gathering volumes through our systems as prices rebound. And we've actually seen some of the curtailments come off and the producers are now flowing gas that has been once curtailed earlier this summer.

這就是馬塞勒斯河和海恩斯維爾河之間的情況。因此，隨著價格反彈，肯定有機會透過我們的系統增加一些收集量。事實上，我們已經看到一些削減的情況已經結束，生產商現在正在供應今年夏天早些時候曾被削減的天然氣。

So we are encouraged by the opportunity to be able to increase the volumes pretty rapidly through our systems. In some of these is just the operation of turning about, to bring on some of these volumes very quickly. So it can respond very quickly when prices do rebound, which we expect them to do. There's going to be some demand growth next year on the power generation side.

因此，我們對能夠透過我們的系統快速增加產量的機會感到鼓舞。其中一些只是旋轉操作，以非常快地帶來其中一些卷。因此，當價格確實反彈時，它可以非常迅速地做出反應，而這正是我們所期望的。明年發電方面的需求將會增加。

We've seen that over the last several years, the year-over-year growth from power generation and I don't see that deciding at all with all the coal plants that have been taken offline, still even with this growing power demand markets that we're seeing in virtually all of our markets. And I am encouraged by that.

我們已經看到，在過去的幾年裡，發電量逐年增長，但我認為，即使電力需求市場不斷增長，所有已關閉的燃煤電廠也不會做出這樣的決定。看到了這一點。我對此感到鼓舞。

Maybe pivoting to the industry at large, Williams has done some bolt-ons in recent years, nicely adding to the portfolio. We have seen broadly in the industry entity consolidation steadily continue. Just wondering how Williams thinks about industry consolidation in the future? Would entity level consolidation ever makes sense? Or you see more bolt-ons? Or there's not really attractive opportunity there?

也許是轉向整個行業，威廉斯近年來做了一些補充工作，很好地豐富了產品組合。我們廣泛地看到產業實體整合正在穩定地持續。只是想知道威廉斯如何看待未來的產業整合？實體層面的整合有意義嗎？或者你看到更多的螺栓？或者那裡沒有真正有吸引力的機會？

Yeah, certainly, that has been a driver of growth for a lot of players in the space. We've been very fortunate to have a lot of organic growth within our mix. And obviously, that's always what we're comparing when we look at any kind of acquisition, and obviously, we do look at acquisitions on a pretty steady basis.

是的，當然，這一直是該領域許多參與者的成長動力。我們非常幸運，能夠在我們的組合中實現大量有機成長。顯然，當我們考慮任何類型的收購時，這始終是我們所比較的，而且顯然，我們確實在相當穩定的基礎上考慮收購。

But really the hurdle that we always have to overcome there is the amount of growth that we have in our base business. And frankly, that is a process of constantly updating it these days with the level of growth that's accelerating, it's pretty hard to keep up with, frankly, seems like as soon as we get one plan done, it's outdated with the kind of growth we're seeing in other areas.

但實際上，我們始終必須克服的障礙是我們基礎業務的成長量。坦白說，這是一個隨著成長水準不斷加速而不斷更新的過程，很難跟上，坦白說，似乎一旦我們完成了一項計劃，它就已經過時了，我們的成長速度已經過時了。

So that's really the -- I think the issue from a Williams perspective is just the very strong growth that we have off of our own business and to the degree that's not fully valued in our stock makes that acquisitions tough things to do.

所以這確實是——我認為從威廉斯的角度來看，問題在於我們自己的業務成長非常強勁，而且我們的股票沒有充分估值，這使得收購變得困難。

So the good news is we have a lot of capacity and that capacity that we're growing as our EBITDA grows so rapidly and that is providing for us to be able to do bolt-on transactions on assets that we think are kind of where the puck is going, our acquisitions on storage, a great example of that, where we kind of got ahead of the market a little bit on where that is going.

因此，好消息是，我們擁有大量產能，而且隨著 EBITDA 增長如此之快，我們的產能也在不斷增長，這使我們能夠對我們認為屬於此類資產的資產進行補充交易。在儲存領域的收購就是一個很好的例子，我們在發展方向上領先市場一點。

And that has turned into a very solid performance for us. And in fact, it's one of the things that helped us overcome the low gas price environment we've had this year. So I would just say, I think bolt-ons will continue for us, and we'll be continuing to think about where the puck is going and acquisitions that will be strategic for us down the road. So that's kind of the way I see things in our space right now.

這對我們來說已經變成了非常可靠的表現。事實上，這是幫助我們克服今年低油價環境的因素之一。所以我只想說，我認為我們將繼續進行補充，我們將繼續思考冰球的走向以及對我們未來具有戰略意義的收購。這就是我現在看待我們空間中事物的方式。

Praneeth Satish, Wells Fargo.

普拉尼思‧薩蒂什，富國銀行。

Obviously, there's a lot of demand from data centers, power generation. I guess with all the increased competition for pipeline space and capacity, are you seeing upward pressure on rates as existing contracts come up for renewals? Is there an opportunity to kind of increase the rates there? And then secondly, are you seeing opportunities to shift more capacity from your cost of service or recourse rates to negotiated rates at higher rates as this competition intensifies?

顯然，資料中心和發電有很大的需求。我想隨著管道空間和容量的競爭日益激烈，您是否會看到由於現有合約需要續約而導致費率上行的壓力？有機會提高那裡的費率嗎？其次，隨著競爭的加劇，您是否看到了將更多容量從服務成本或追索費率轉移到更高費率的協商費率的機會？

Yeah, it's a great question. The challenge on that front for us is that any capacity that exists on our system is super precious and people know that relative to the cost of new capacity. And so we always like to tell the story the last time we had any capacity come available the only way anybody can distinguish themselves for the existing cost of service already built capacity. The only way anybody can distinguish themselves in the bid for that is on term, and the term for that was 84 years.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。我們在這方面面臨的挑戰是，我們系統中存在的任何容量都非常寶貴，人們知道相對於新容量的成本而言這一點。因此，我們總是喜歡講述上次我們有任何容量可用時的故事，這是任何人能夠在已建成容量的現有服務成本方面脫穎而出的唯一方式。任何人能夠在競標中脫穎而出的唯一方法就是任期，而任期是 84 年。

So that's what we're seeing is a lengthening of term when they would become available. We don't really have the ability to price that up if it was already in that original base capacity that was offered to our utilities. And so that gets offered out when -- if anything does get turned back, which is very readily -- actually a really old story. I think that was like five years ago now.

這就是我們所看到的，它們可用的期限會延長。如果它已經處於向我們的公用事業公司提供的原始基本容量中，我們實際上沒有能力為其定價。因此，如果確實有什麼事情被逆轉，這是很容易的，那麼它就會被提供，這實際上是一個非常古老的故事。我想那已經是五年前的事了。

So it's not very often, we do see capacity turn back because people appreciate how incredibly valuable and the money that capacity is. So unfortunately, I don't see a whole lot of opportunity to price that up. I do think the opportunity for us is to combine the expansions along our existing system where we have great leverage.

因此，我們確實看到容量回升的情況並不常見，因為人們欣賞容量的價值和金錢。不幸的是，我沒有看到很多提高價格的機會。我確實認為我們的機會是將現有系統的擴展結合起來，我們擁有很大的影響力。

Dalton Lateral expansion is a great example of that. We built that, we knew that it probably could have some expansion opportunity down the road when we build that. And so we built that in a way that, that expansion, and so when that expansion opportunity comes along, very high return opportunity because of the relatively low cost to build that expansion relative to the value of that new capacity. And that's the kind of things we're going to continue to see is the relatively low cost expansions along our existing system, which are driving very high returns.

道爾頓橫向擴展就是一個很好的例子。我們建造了它，我們知道當我們建造它時，它可能會有一些擴展機會。因此，我們以這樣的方式進行擴張，因此當擴張機會出現時，回報機會非常高，因為相對於新產能的價值而言，擴張的成本相對較低。我們將繼續看到的是，我們現有系統的成本相對較低的擴張，將帶來非常高的回報。

And just looking at the opportunity set in front of you, it's large, it seems like it gets larger each quarter. And it seems like there's potentially billions of dollars of spending here on gas expansions at good returns over the next few years.

只要看看擺在你面前的機會，它就很大，而且似乎每個季度都在變得更大。未來幾年，這裡似乎有可能花費數十億美元用於天然氣擴張，並獲得良好的回報。

I guess how are you thinking about the potential to increase CapEx spending over the next few years if you kind of sanction some of these projects? And would you consider moving closer to kind of a free cash flow neutral after dividends stands to capture more of these opportunities?

我想如果您批准其中一些項目，您如何看待未來幾年增加資本支出的潛力？在股息抓住更多這些機會之後，您是否會考慮接近自由現金流中性？

Yeah. No. I mean the challenge is when you're doing sub-four multiple projects, you just keep expanding out your capacity. So that's a very high-class problem.

是的。不。我的意思是，挑戰在於，當您進行四個以下的多個專案時，您只需不斷擴展您的能力。所以這是一個非常高階的問題。

But in fact, we're really not chewing up capacity when you're doing projects that have that kind of expansion, especially as these high-return projects, if you were having to load the ship up and you're having to wait for four years for those to come through, that would be one thing, but things like the Deepwater are coming on now, things like regional energy access are coming on now. These are very high-return projects.

但事實上，當你做具有這種擴張的項目時，尤其是這些高回報項目，如果你必須裝載船並且你必須等待對於那些要經歷四年的事情來說，這是一回事，但像深水這樣的事情現在正在發生，像區域能源取得這樣的事情現在正在發生。這些都是非常高回報的項目。

And so we've kind of already got the train rolling there, and it's pretty hard to chew up capacity when you're generating those kind of returns on projects. And so that's really the picture for us that is a very high-class problem to have is that we're continuing to generate so much incremental capacity with these high-return projects.

因此，我們已經讓火車開動了，當你在專案上產生這樣的回報時，很難消化產能。因此，這對我們來說確實是一個非常高級的問題，我們正在透過這些高回報項目繼續產生如此多的增量產能。

Indraneel Mitra, Bank of America.

Indraneel Mitra，美國銀行。

I wanted to put a finer point on maybe the shut-ins and delay turn in lines that you're seeing. I think last quarter, you said between the Northeast and the Haynesville, there's about 2 Bcf a day between the two combined. Wondering how that's trending in the third quarter now that we have similar gas prices to where we are in the second quarter?

我想對您所看到的停工和延遲交接線路進行更詳細的說明。我想上個季度，您說東北部和海恩斯維爾之間，兩者之間每天大約有 2 Bcf。想知道第三季的趨勢如何，因為我們的汽油價格與第二季相似？

Yeah. We're at about 4 Bcf today between the Marcellus and the Haynesville about three of that is in the Marcellus BCF in the Haynesville and the shut-ins in the Northeast is about one-third of that, yeah that's been shut in. It's about a 50-50 mix as the Haynesville or -- sorry, it was -- we're now in the Haynesville, it's primarily ducts and delayed tills in the Haynesville.

是的。今天，馬塞勒斯(Marcellus) 和海恩斯維爾(Haynesville) 之間的空氣流量約為4 Bcf，其中大約有3 個是在海恩斯維爾(Haynesville) 的馬塞勒斯BCF，而東北部的關閉大約是其中的三分之一，是的，已經關閉了。海恩斯維爾大約是 50-50 的混合，或者——抱歉，是——我們現在在海恩斯維爾，主要是海恩斯維爾的管道和延遲收銀台。

So most of the gas in the Haynesville has come back online. But in the Northeast, it's still (inaudible) of gas up there about 25% in the Northeast instead of one-third is shut in today. So seeing some of that come back online. I think you saw EQT has announced that they had brought all their gas back online. So we are seeing some producers respond as prices have rebounded a bit there in the Northeast.

所以海恩斯維爾的天然氣大部分已經恢復正常。但在東北部，仍然有（聽不清楚）天然氣，東北部大約有 25% 的天然氣關閉，而不是今天的三分之一。所以看到其中一些重新上線。我想您已經看到 EQT 宣布他們已將所有天然氣恢復上線。因此，我們看到一些生產商做出了反應，因為東北地區的價格略有反彈。

My second question, SSE obviously went to market first and delivering market to the southeast utilities. Now you have a lot of peers proposing projects to go from essentially Louisiana with an endpoint to Georgia. I know it's early in the process with SSE, but over the longer term, how do you see Transco competing for additional Southeast demand going forward, and where you have an advantage or disadvantage versus your peers and competing for some of that load?

我的第二個問題，上證所顯然是先入市，為東南公用事業輸送市場。現在，有許多同行提出了從路易斯安那州出發，終點為喬治亞州的計畫。我知道與 SSE 的合作還處於早期階段，但從長遠來看，您如何看待 Transco 未來爭奪東南部額外需求的競爭，以及與同行競爭部分負載時，您在哪些方面具有優勢或劣勢？

Yeah, good question. The SONAT project that Kinder announced recently, a lot of that is effectively a bigger distribution system in Georgia and hits a lot of the southern markets and South Central markets that Transco is not positioned in. So the Transco court runs through Atlanta and cap and up through the northeast part of Georgia.

是的，好問題。Kinder 最近宣布的 SONAT 項目，其中很大一部分實際上是在喬治亞州建立一個更大的分銷系統，並觸及 Transco 未定位的許多南部市場和中南部市場。因此，Transco 法院穿過亞特蘭大和蓋帽，向上穿過喬治亞州東北部。

And so a lot of the projects that we're capturing are going to be the large-scale power generation projects. And I think the SONAT system that, that expansion is positioned to deliver a more distributed gas into the south and central parts of Georgia as it's configured. So I think from our perspective, we like where we're positioned, but our big high-pressure transmission system that can access gas out of the Appalachia is super critical.

因此，我們正在捕獲的許多項目將是大型發電項目。我認為 SONAT 系統的擴展旨在按照其配置向喬治亞州南部和中部地區輸送更分散的天然氣。因此，我認為從我們的角度來看，我們喜歡我們所處的位置，但我們能夠從阿巴拉契亞獲取天然氣的大型高壓傳輸系統非常關鍵。

And I do think that, that's a bit of the station that's going to occur here is where the supply is coming from and what that availability. So if you think about Marcellus and Utica supplies capable of serving both the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast markets, from that area, and then you think about the Mississippi Crossing project that Kinder has proposed to supply the SONAT system, that's more going to be Haynesville based supplies.

我確實認為，這裡將發生的一點是供應的來源和可用性。因此，如果您想到 Marcellus 和 Utica 的供應能夠從該地區服務於大西洋中部和東南部市場，然後您想到 Kinder 提議提供 SONAT 系統的密西西比渡口項目，那麼更多的是海恩斯維爾為基礎的供應品。

And so that's really the difference between those two projects. I think certainly, Transco has the ability to distribute Haynesville production as well. But in terms of those two projects, that was the major distinction there is kind of where the supply was sourced on.

這就是這兩個項目之間的真正區別。我認為 Transco 當然也有能力分銷海恩斯維爾的產品。但就這兩個項目而言，主要差異在於供應來源。

Yeah. I would add, Alan, to that. A lot of these projects that are being proposed coming over from the Haynesville is going to pile up a lot of gas, Station 85, which is actually going to be beneficial for us to expand transfer the north of that area as well. So that will be a benefit to us to paint those projects, given an FID.

是的。艾倫，我想補充一點。許多從 Haynesville 過來的項目都會在 85 號站堆積大量天然氣，這實際上也有利於我們擴大該地區北部的運輸。因此，考慮到最終投資決定，對這些項目進行粉刷對我們來說是有好處的。

Manav Gupta, UBS.

馬納夫古普塔，瑞銀集團。

My question relates to slide 20. I could not help, but notice two more additions at the bottom Wild Trail Project and Dalton Lateral expansion. Can we get some more details about these two new additions on the slide deck?

我的問題與幻燈片 20 相關。我忍不住，但注意到底部狂野小徑項目和道爾頓橫向擴展中又增加了兩個內容。我們能否獲得更多關於幻燈片中這兩個新增內容的詳細資訊？

Yeah. The Wild Trail project is one of the ones that Alan mentioned on the Northwest Pipeline system. This is a project to move gas, basically grow the White River Hub, which is the Four Corners area up to the Opal market area in Southwest Wyoming. It can also move capacity from White River hub down to the Four Corners area as well as the way it's been proposed.

是的。Wild Trail 專案是艾倫提到的西北管道系統專案之一。這是一個輸送天然氣的項目，主要是發展懷俄明州西南部懷特河中心（四個角落地區到蛋白石市場地區）的發展。它還可以按照提議的方式將容量從白河樞紐轉移到四個角落地區。

It's a greenfield compressor station in Northeast Utah, which will give us a lot of opportunity to increase our deliverability and takeaway from the Clay Basin storage facility, which is on the MountainWest system, but it has an interconnect to Northwest Pipeline and Northwest Pipeline has capacity in Clay Basin. So a great opportunity to have connectivity to storage there and also move gas to markets in the Four Corners area here as well as Southwest Wyoming and a very efficient capital project. It's a greenfield compressor facility.

這是猶他州東北部的一個新建壓縮機站，這將為我們提供很多機會來提高我們的交付能力和克萊盆地儲存設施的外賣量，該儲存設施位於MountainWest 系統上，但它與西北管道有互連，並且西北管道有容量在粘土盆地。因此，這是一個連接那裡的儲存設施並將天然氣輸送到這裡的四個角落地區以及懷俄明州西南部市場的絕佳機會，也是一個非常高效的資本項目。這是一個新建的壓縮機設施。

We'll be a 7(c) application to the FERC. So that process take between 1 year and 1.5 years to get permits or something like that and about a year for construction ultimately are going to be filed. As far as the other projects that we have for the Naughton conversion, that is a coal plant in Southwest Wyoming that is partially converted to gas usage from coal and our project there is to expand that further for the other two units that are moving from coal to gas over the next several years.

我們將向 FERC 提出 7(c) 申請。因此，這個過程需要 1 年到 1.5 年的時間才能獲得許可或類似的東西，最終需要大約一年的時間才能提交施工申請。就我們諾頓改造的其他項目而言，這是懷俄明州西南部的一家燃煤電廠，部分改造為煤炭天然氣使用，我們的項目將進一步擴大該項目，以適用於其他兩個從煤炭轉向天然氣的機組未來幾年將轉向天然氣。

So a very capital-efficient project there, basically metering, modifications, and then something like capacity that the shipper has taken on. And same with the Stanfield South project, metering modifications and those last two projects, which we have prior notice at FERC. So typically, those are a much quicker process.

因此，這是一個非常資本高效的項目，基本上是計量、修改，然後是托運人承擔的容量之類的事情。斯坦菲爾德南計畫、計量修改和最後兩個項目也是如此，我們已事先向 FERC 發出通知。因此，通常情況下，這些過程要快得多。

And then he asked about the Dalton Lateral.

然後他詢問了道爾頓側線的情況。

Yeah. So the Dalton Lateral is near Atlanta. So it's just west of Atlanta. It was built about six years ago. It's a 115-mile long lateral. It's a partnership with AGL, so we're 50% partners on that with them. And this project would be really a fairly simple scope. It's about 23 miles of [24 inch loop]. It's a brownfield compression, just over 40,000 horsepower and then greenfield, about 40,000 horsepower on that lateral.

是的。所以道爾頓側線位於亞特蘭大附近。所以它就在亞特蘭大以西。它大約是六年前建造的。這是一條 115 英里長的支線。這是與 AGL 的合作夥伴關係，因此我們與他們有 50% 的合作關係。這個項目實際上是一個相當簡單的範圍。大約有23英里[24吋循環]。這是一個棕地壓縮，略高於 40,000 馬力，然後是綠地壓縮，在該側大約有 40,000 馬力。

So from a scope standpoint, fairly simple, and the 2029 in-service date is what we're contemplating now, that's based on the desired in-service date from the customers that we're talking to. We have an open season that closes today for the remainder of that capacity, but we have an anchor shipper already in place for 460 million a day. We believe we could reasonably expand that to 500 million cubic feet per day or a little higher, depending on how the open season turns out that like I said, will close today.

因此，從範圍的角度來看，相當簡單，我們現在正在考慮 2029 年的投入使用日期，這是基於我們正在交談的客戶期望的投入使用日期。我們的開放季節將於今天結束，剩餘的運力將關閉，但我們已經有一個固定托運商，每天可處理 4.6 億件貨物。我們相信，我們可以合理地將其擴大到每天 5 億立方英尺或更高一點，這取決於開放季節的結果，就像我所說的，將於今天結束。

A quick follow-up here is your balance sheet is in a good position. Any strategic priority to further simplify the JV structures, whether it's Brazos, Blue Racer, anything on that front?

快速跟進是您的資產負債表處於良好狀態。是否有進一步簡化合資企業結構的策略優先事項，無論是 Brazos、Blue Racer 還是這方面的任何項目？

Yeah, this is Chad. We continue to look at whether or not it makes sense to tuck in JV interest. Alan mentioned the capacity that we have, bolt-ons. We like those kinds of transactions because we know those assets, they come with low risk and high kind of integration capabilities.

是的，這是查德。我們將繼續研究持有合資企業權益是否有意義。艾倫提到了我們擁有的附加能力。我們喜歡這類交易，因為我們了解這些資產，它們具有低風險和高整合能力。

But it really is, also, as Alan mentioned, just a matter of capital allocation, making sure that those tuck-ins work from a returns perspective. So yes, we continue to kind of look at how we can optimize the portfolio. You saw that earlier in the year when we did the Discovery acquisition with P66 and bought in that interest, while at the same time, we sold our small interest in Aux Sable.

但正如艾倫所提到的，這實際上只是一個資本配置的問題，確保這些投入從回報的角度發揮作用。所以，是的，我們會繼續研究如何優化投資組合。今年早些時候，我們收購了 Discovery，並購買了 P66 的權益，同時我們出售了 Aux Sable 的少量權益。

So we will continue to look at those, but they'll have to compete with the attractive kind of organic growth projects that we're seeing.

因此，我們將繼續關注這些項目，但它們必須與我們所看到的有吸引力的有機成長項目競爭。

Theresa Chen, Barclays.

特蕾莎·陳，巴克萊銀行。

Maybe turning back to the macro. Alan, with the tailwinds behind you and the environment in front of you, following the election results, what are your views on how the Trump victory impacts your business and what it means for the energy infrastructure industry in general?

也許回到宏觀。艾倫，順風在後，環境在前，選舉結果出來後，您對川普的勝利如何影響您的業務以及對整個能源基礎設施行業意味著什麼有何看法？

Yeah. I would say probably first and most tangible that we would expect, particularly if the House goes Republican and even with the Senate Republican is a very favorable tax outcome, particularly a bonus appreciation will be a very huge positive to what we have in guidance and in plan right now.

是的。我想說的可能是我們所期望的首先也是最切實的，特別是如果眾議院變成共和黨，即使參議院是共和黨，這也是一個非常有利的稅收結果，特別是獎金升值將對我們的指導和實施產生非常巨大的正面影響。

So I would say that's probably from our vantage point, as we look at in the immediate term, most impact to us financially. In terms of how that will drive the macro environment, boy, we have so much growth we're trying to address right now. I think it's just going to be a piling on of that perhaps if the economy continues to expand.

所以我想說，從我們的角度來看，這可能對我們的財務影響最大。就這將如何推動宏觀環境而言，我們現在正在努力解決如此多的成長問題。我認為，如果經濟繼續擴張，這可能會不斷增加。

Certainly very hopeful with the more Republican control at the permitting issue finally gets dealt with in a durable and meaningful way. And I think that would be beneficial for really all industries, certainly beneficial for the power industry as well as the energy infrastructure business and probably -- hopefully, removing some restraints in that. It's not going to be a simple task, and I don't want to underestimate the challenge that, that's going to present to get that done.

當然，我們非常希望共和黨對許可問題的更多控制最終能夠以持久且有意義的方式解決。我認為這實際上對所有行業都有好處，當然對電力行業以及能源基礎設施業務也有利，並且可能 - 希望消除其中的一些限制。這不會是一項簡單的任務，我不想低估完成這項任務所面臨的挑戰。

But certainly a lot more positive about that occurring with Republican control of both the executive branch and legislative branch. So I would say, certainly, a very optimistic point of view as it relates to that in terms of freeing up infrastructure build.

但對於共和黨控制行政部門和立法部門所發生的情況來說，肯定要積極得多。因此，我當然會說，這是一個非常樂觀的觀點，因為這與釋放基礎設施建設有關。

But I think as an investor looking at us right now, thinking about the impact of taxes, which we've had quite a bit of curtailment of our outlook associated with that and quite a bit of reserve held back and coverage on our dividend. Because of that, that could be a pretty meaningful change for us. So that's probably the thing we're most keeping our eyes on at this point.

但我認為，作為一名投資者，現在正在關注我們，考慮稅收的影響，我們對與此相關的前景進行了相當大的削減，並保留了相當多的準備金和對我們的股息的覆蓋。正因為如此，這對我們來說可能是一個非常有意義的改變。所以這可能是我們目前最關注的事情。

And turning to the fundamentals. At this point in the fourth quarter, would you be able to provide some color on your gas marketing activities, how that's trending and what your expectations are from here?

並轉向基本面。在第四季度的這個時候，您能否提供一些有關您的天然氣行銷活動的資訊、趨勢如何以及您的期望是什麼？

Yeah, sure. This is Chad. A lot of our marketing activity takes place in the first quarter of the year. And so winter is certainly something we're well set up to take advantage of if we see volatility or dislocations, but we have seen less volatility this year than in the prior couple of years.

是的，當然。這是乍得。我們的許多行銷活動都發生在今年第一季。因此，如果我們看到波動或錯位，我們肯定會充分利用冬季，但今年的波動性比前幾年要小。

And so I would say, are sitting and expect positive results here for the remainder of the year, but also are well set up for if we see a winter event or volatility, but primarily, we see the results of the marketing business show up in the first quarter of the following year.

因此，我想說，我們正在等待今年剩餘時間的積極成果，但也為如果我們看到冬季事件或波動做好了準備，但首先，我們看到行銷業務的結果出現在隔年第一季。

John Mackay, Goldman Sachs.

約翰麥凱，高盛。

You guys mentioned you're kind of tracking in line with your 5% to 7% kind of longer-term growth rate. Alan, you've also been talking about opportunities to maybe beat that going forward. Can you just spend a minute or two talking about what you're looking for specifically that could have you come revisit that target? What we should be looking for from here?

你們提到你們正在追蹤 5% 到 7% 的長期成長率。艾倫，您也一直在談論未來可能會戰勝這項挑戰的機會。您能否花一兩分鐘談談您正在尋找的具體內容，以便您重新審視該目標？我們該從這裡尋找什麼？

Yeah, great question, John. Well, I would certainly say as we look in the longer term, the higher returns on these projects and large amount of new projects that are showing up as opportunities for us right now would drive that. We're obviously not going to call that until we've got that business contracted that will drive that growth.

是的，很好的問題，約翰。好吧，我當然會說，從長遠來看，這些項目的更高回報以及目前為我們帶來機會的大量新項目將推動這一趨勢。顯然，在我們簽訂了能夠推動成長的業務合約之前，我們不會這麼稱呼它。

But just the large amount of stuff we already have that's contracted. Now is a bit unusual to have this much growth contracted already without the benefit of other growth that would come on. And so if you kind of roll the clock back on that and you think about the acquisitions we've done, we do not have any bolt-on acquisitions or anything like that built into our growth, even though we'll have plenty of capacity to generate on that. So that's one thing I would highlight.

但我們已經擁有的大量東西都是承包的。現在增長如此之大的收縮卻沒有帶來其他增長的好處，這有點不尋常。因此，如果你回顧一下這一點，想想我們已經完成的收購，我們沒有任何補強收購或類似的東西來促進我們的成長，儘管我們將擁有充足的產能以此為基礎產生。這是我要強調的一件事。

Said another way, we've already got the business contracted that will help drive that kind of growth already. And so the capacity and new opportunities that have not identified themselves over a horizon are the kind of things that will drive that growth.

換句話說，我們已經簽訂了有助於推動這種成長的業務合約。因此，尚未確定的能力和新機會將推動這種成長。

Additionally, we really don't have built in the loaded spring that you heard Michael talk about in terms of a lot of this production springing back on. That's a very large catalyst for us. And so those are probably the things that are pretty evident to us as a team right now is converting a lot of the opportunity that we're looking at right now to contracted business in a way that we would start to include it in our guidance and our growth.

此外，我們確實沒有內置加載彈簧，您聽到邁克爾談論過很多此類產品的彈回。這對我們來說是一個非常大的催化劑。因此，這些可能是我們作為一個團隊現在非常明顯的事情，正在將我們現在正在尋找的許多機會轉化為合約業務，我們將開始將其納入我們的指導和我們的成長。

And just as a quick follow-up, now that you've had the benefit of a few more of these conversations over the past couple of months, could you maybe just frame up what some of these data center opportunities are actually looking like? Is behind the meter part of the conversation?

作為快速跟進，既然您在過去幾個月中已經從更多此類對話中受益，您是否可以概括一下這些資料中心機會的實際情況？儀表後面是談話的一部分嗎？

What's willingness for them to kind of give you guys returns that look better than what we've seen before? Maybe just anything on kind of how those conversations have progressed versus what we're -- maybe wondering what they could look like at the beginning of the year?

他們有什麼意願帶給你們比我們以前看到的更好的回報？也許只是關於這些對話的進展和我們現在的情況的任何事情——也許想知道今年年初它們會是什麼樣子？

Yeah. Well, I would say it is certainly a mix of both behind the meter and a lot of conversion. I mean if you look at some of the IRPs that are out there right now, you look at Duke's latest IRP that's got approved for 9 gigawatts of gas-fired generation in their market.

是的。嗯，我想說，這肯定是儀表後面和大量轉換的組合。我的意思是，如果你看看現在的一些 IRP，你會看到杜克大學最新的 IRP，該 IRP 已在其市場上獲得了 9 吉瓦燃氣發電的批准。

We're dealing with the large power generators in the MountainWest region right now and some very big numbers that they're talking about for power generation demand. Both -- and in terms of -- if you stack on to that, the coal conversion like you saw with Naughton, we're seeing with Jim Bridger, the number gets to be very large when you stack on both the conversion and you stack the growth on top of that.

我們現在正在處理西部山區地區的大型發電機以及他們正在談論的一些非常大的發電需求數字。就兩者而言，如果你把煤炭轉化放在一起，就像你在諾頓看到的那樣，我們在吉姆·布里傑那裡看到的，當你同時疊加轉換和疊加時，這個數字會變得非常大。

These numbers are getting very large and a lot of that is being built up to serve data center load in those areas. The governors of a lot of states that we work with are really starting to pound the table with their planning commissions and making sure that they're not left behind on having enough power in the regions because that's becoming a key issue, and so we're working with the states and trying to make sure that a lot of them are very concerned that they're not being left behind in these opportunities.

這些數字變得非常大，其中許多正在建設中，以服務這些地區的資料中心負載。與我們合作的許多州的州長確實開始與他們的規劃委員會進行談判，並確保他們不會在各地區擁有足夠的權力方面落後，因為這正在成為一個關鍵問題，所以我們正在與各州合作，並努力確保他們中的許多人都非常擔心自己不會在這些機會中被拋在後面。

So I would say on the grid opportunity, they are really bottling, the Dalton Lateral expansion is another one of those projects that's ultimately being driven by that kind of growth. And frankly, just reshoring of industrial and manufacturing because stuffs that used to be done in places like Europe and the energy costs have just driven those businesses back to the US.

所以我想說，關於電網機會，他們確實在裝瓶，而道爾頓橫向擴張是最終由這種增長推動的另一個項目。坦白說，只是工業和製造業的回流，因為過去在歐洲等地進行的工作以及能源成本剛剛迫使這些企業回流到美國。

So I think the low-cost energy we have here is driving a lot of that home. And then finally, though, on the behind the meter, a lot of very detailed discussions going on with a lot of players that you would expect on that front. And some of that is just for us to just provide the gas, and some of that is in joint ventures where we would help provide the power generation in whole on that.

所以我認為我們這裡擁有的低成本能源正在推動很多人回家。最後，在幕後，與許多玩家進行了很多非常詳細的討論，正如你所期望的那樣。其中一些只是我們提供天然氣，還有一些是在合資企業中，我們將幫助提供整體發電。

Our focus, obviously, is in getting the gas transportation business out of that. But there's a number of very detailed discussions going on where we would provide more than that. and particularly in areas where we have the land and the infrastructure already set up that can help support data centers.

顯然，我們的重點是讓天然氣運輸業務擺脫困境。但目前正在進行許多非常詳細的討論，我們將提供更多內容。特別是在我們已經建立了可以幫助支持資料中心的土地和基礎設施的地區。

So it's pretty much across the board in terms of opportunity. And it's hard for us to predict, frankly, exactly how much of that will actually hit because this is kind of a new area for us. So in terms of where we started at the first of the year to where we are now, I would say it has gotten much more concrete and more positive than where we started at the first of the year for sure.

因此，就機會而言，這幾乎是全面的。坦白說，我們很難準確預測其中的實際影響有多大，因為這對我們來說是一個新領域。因此，就我們從年初開始到現在的情況而言，我想說，它肯定比我們年初開始的地方更加具體和積極。

Keith Stanley, Wolfe Research.

基思‧史丹利，沃爾夫研究公司。

I wanted to ask on LEG. Can you remind us how much of the capacity has take-or-pay commitments at this point? And were you surprised by some of your competitors moving forward just because now we're going to have three large Haynesville greenfield pipes getting built at the same time?

我想在LEG上問。您能否提醒我們，目前有多少產能是照付不議的？您是否對一些競爭對手的前進感到驚訝，僅僅因為現在我們將同時建造三個大型海恩斯維爾綠地管道？

First of all, the vast majority of our capacity is contracted on that. In fact it, is take-and-pay contracting that we've done on that. And in terms of the other project, I'm not too terribly surprised if you look at the balance of where gas is going to have to come from and particularly gas that can meet the LNG specs and low nitrogen specs that are going to be required.

首先，我們的絕大多數產能都是在這方面簽訂的。事實上，我們在這方面所做的是照收付費合約。就另一個項目而言，如果您考慮天然氣來源的平衡，特別是能夠滿足所需的液化天然氣規格和低氮規格的天然氣，我並不會感到太驚訝。

I'm not too terribly surprised just because of how much demand growth we're seeing that's going to have to come from somewhere, and it's starting to mount up pretty big. So I'm not too terribly surprised by that, frankly. I don't know how well contracted those other projects are.

我並不太感到驚訝，只是因為我們看到需求成長必須來自某個地方，而且已經開始成長得相當大。所以坦白說，我對此並不太感到驚訝。我不知道其他項目的承包情況如何。

I assume they're well contracted like ours is. But if they're not, I would be surprised. But assuming they're well contracted, I think it's just a sign that people know that there's gas for this incremental demand is going to have to come from somewhere.

我想他們和我們一樣都有很好的合約。但如果他們不是，我會感到驚訝。但假設它們簽訂了良好的合同，我認為這只是一個跡象，表明人們知道這種增量需求的天然氣必須來自某個地方。

Yeah, this is Chad. I'd also add that the Haynesville historically was plumbed to move gas to the East and Northeast. And so there's even going to be volumes that will want to move existing volumes that will want to move south to the LNG markets.

是的，這是查德。我還要補充一點，海恩斯維爾歷史上曾被管道輸送天然氣到東部和東北部。因此，甚至會有一些產量想要將現有的產量轉移到液化天然氣市場。

But to Alan's first point, I mean, models, not ours, but even third-party models are showing over 10 Bcf a day of growth out of the Haynesville by the early 2030s to meet LNG demand. And so that's a lot of gas that's going to need to find its way to those LNG markets.

但對於艾倫的第一點，我的意思是，模型（不是我們的模型，但即使是第三方模型）也顯示，到2030 年代初，海恩斯維爾每天的增長量將超過10 Bcf，以滿足液化天然氣需求。因此，需要找到進入液化天然氣市場的大量天然氣。

The second question, I'm not sure if I missed this or not, but on Regional Energy Access, any update on where things are in seeking a temporary certificate from FERC and any next steps or time line you're watching for from the DC circuit?

第二個問題，我不確定我是否錯過了這一點，但關於區域能源獲取，有關向 FERC 尋求臨時證書的進展情況的任何更新，以及您正在從華盛頓特區關注的任何後續步驟或時間表電路？

Yeah. I think all the filings have been made in regard to the DC circuit actions, and we made our application for a temporary certificate as well. And so we're awaiting FERC action on that. But as of now, we're flowing gas. The pipeline is operational and all that work is complete from a mechanical standpoint, we're just waiting for the legal action to take place.

是的。我認為所有關於直流電路動作的備案都已經完成，我們也申請了臨時證書。因此，我們正在等待 FERC 對此採取行動。但到目前為止，我們正在輸送天然氣。管道已投入運行，從機械角度來看，所有工作都已完成，我們只是在等待法律行動的發生。

And I would say I was pretty encouraged by the response that FERC provided in regard to our renewing request with the DC circuit. And it looks like FERC is very firmly standing behind their decision, and we're very confident, ultimately, that we'll have a certificate to operate REA.

我想說的是，FERC 對我們更新直流電路請求的回應讓我深受鼓舞。看起來 FERC 非常堅定地支持他們的決定，我們非常有信心最終獲得營運 REA 的證書。

Robert Catellier, CIBC.

羅伯特·卡泰利爾，CIBC。

I'd like you to comment on how the significant growth profile you have ahead of you will influence the dividend growth policy. Where do you see yourself having enough balance sheet capacity to handle what's in front of you here?

我希望您評論一下您面前的顯著成長狀況將如何影響股息成長政策。您認為自己有足夠的資產負債表能力來處理您面前的事情嗎？

Yeah, Rob. We certainly will have just because, again, as I mentioned earlier, these projects are so high return that really not -- and now we've kind of got -- that train has started now as these big Deepwater projects come on, the regional energy access. A lot of these transmission projects that we've been investing in previously kind of prime the pump, if you will, for these high-return projects.

是的，羅布。我們當然會得到，因為，正如我之前提到的，這些項目的回報是如此之高，以至於現在我們已經得到了——隨著這些大型深水項目的啟動，區域性項目已經啟動了。 。如果你願意的話，我們之前投資的許多輸電項目都為這些高回報項目啟動了幫浦。

Once we're on that, we really are not chewing up a whole lot of capacity because we're generating so much EBITDA growth at the same time. So no concern at all about needing to pull back the dividend at all. In fact, I would say it's probably the other way around just because we're trying to figure out exactly what we will do with the excess capacity and capital that we have available. So yeah, that has not come on our radar screen. I'll put it that way.

一旦我們做到了這一點，我們實際上就不會消耗大量產能，因為我們同時產生瞭如此多的 EBITDA 成長。因此，根本不用擔心需要撤回股利。事實上，我想說，情況可能恰恰相反，因為我們試圖弄清楚我們將如何利用我們現有的過剩產能和資本。是的，這還沒有出現在我們的雷達螢幕上。我會這樣說。

And then I want to go back to the presidential administration question, what might change here. Speculative, obviously, but one of the things we could speculate about is we might be adding growth on growth. So that tends to inflation risk arguably. So how are you protecting yourselves and your project returns from the potential of inflation risk?

然後我想回到總統政府的問題，這裡可能會發生什麼變化。顯然，這是投機性的，但我們可以猜測的一件事是，我們可能會在成長的基礎上增加成長。因此，這可能會導致通膨風險。那麼，您如何保護自己和您的專案回報免受潛在通膨風險的影響？

Yeah. It's a good question. Our gathering business, we build that in automatically to the contracts. And if you think -- if you look at the operating margin that we make on these projects, it's a very high operating margin. And so the real driver for the rate is the capital that we initially invest and we absolutely build in, we are very conservative when we're estimating to make sure that we either know what that inflation risk is going to be or we lock it in and the price of steel and inflationary impacts like that.

是的。這是一個好問題。我們的採集業務，我們自動將其納入合約中。如果你想一想，如果你看看我們在這些項目上獲得的營業利潤率，你會發現這是一個非常高的營業利潤率。因此，利率的真正驅動因素是我們最初投資的資本，並且我們絕對建立了資本，當我們進行估計時，我們非常保守，以確保我們要么知道通膨風險是什麼，要么將其鎖定以及鋼鐵價格和通脹影響等。

So I would say the capital risk is really where our risk would be not so much our operating leverage. The other thing I would tell you is that the way that our rates work within our pipeline, obviously, we file those rate cases every five years.

所以我想說，資本風險其實是我們的風險而不是我們的營運槓桿。我要告訴你的另一件事是，我們的費率在我們的管道內運作的方式，顯然，我們每五年提交一次費率案例。

So unlike a lot of competitors in the space that haven't filed a rate case in a long time because they're over earning, we're in a position to capture that inflation adjustment and our rates just because of the way that we're set up in the business. And so really not too big of a risk to us other than the capital side risk, and that's a matter of making sure when we set our estimates that we take that into account.

因此，與該領域的許多競爭對手由於收入超額而長期沒有提交費率案件不同，我們能夠捕捉到通膨調整和我們的費率，只是因為我們的方式重新設立業務。因此，除了資本方面的風險之外，對我們來說實際上並沒有太大的風險，這是確保我們在製定估計時考慮到這一點的問題。

Last question. I'm just curious with respect to your storage position, given how much you've done in recent years, should there be a medium to large size acquisition in the storage area, how important would that be to you from a strategic point of view?

最後一個問題。我只是對你們的儲存位置感到好奇，考慮到你們近年來做了多少工作，如果在儲存領域進行中型到大型收購，從戰略角度來看這對你們來說有多重要？

You're saying if somebody else acquired --

你是說如果別人獲得了--

Yeah, while there was something for sale that had some pretty significant scale.

是的，雖然有一些待售的東西規模相當大。

Yeah. I mean, I think, obviously, it just depends on the price and how well it fits into our strategy. So we're very bullish storage right now, but we also realize that we're kind of in a very sweet spot right now where the pricing has been such that only kind of brownfield expansions are being supported from our perspective, but yet much higher margins than what we've been acquiring the assets at.

是的。我的意思是，我認為，顯然，這僅取決於價格以及它與我們策略的契合程度。因此，我們現在非常看好存儲，但我們也意​​識到，我們現在處於一個非常有利的位置，從我們的角度來看，定價已經達到了只支持棕地擴張的程度，但價格卻要高得多利潤率高於我們收購資產的利潤率。

So kind of in a nice spot right there. So we've been in -- we've watched the storage cycles before. And I think as bullish as we are, on the demand for storage. We don't want to see it get overbuilt in a way that it would decrease that pricing over time either. So that's the thing we're keeping our eye on that.

就在一個不錯的地方。所以我們之前已經觀察過儲存週期。我認為，我們對儲存的需求同樣樂觀。我們也不希望看到它過度建設，從而隨著時間的推移而降低定價。這就是我們正在關注的事情。

Yeah. And I think it's important to note that not all storage is created equal. If you think about what we focused on, Clay Basin in the Rockies is really an important storage asset to bridge against critical markets between West demand and East production, NorTex and the Dallas-Fort Worth area and that power complex.

是的。我認為值得注意的是，並非所有儲存都是一樣的。如果你想想我們關注的重點，落基山脈的克萊盆地確實是一個重要的儲存資產，可以在西部需求和東部生產、NorTex 和達拉斯-沃斯堡地區以及電力綜合體之間的關鍵市場之間架起橋樑。

The Gulf Coast storage transaction, our ability to integrate those assets with Transco for both injection and deliverability, so we will look at storage, but not all storage is created equal. And so we're constantly looking for. As Alan mentioned earlier, what might be next and what might be needed? And is there something that fits kind of the fundamental setup.

墨西哥灣沿岸存儲交易，我們有能力將這些資產與 Transco 整合以進行注入和交付，因此我們將專注於存儲，但並非所有存儲都是平等的。所以我們一直在尋找。正如艾倫之前提到的，接下來可能會發生什麼以及可能需要什麼？是否有一些東西適合基本設定。

Zack Van Everen, TPH & Company.

Zack Van Everen，TPH & Company。

Just going back to the question around Haynesville pipelines and LEG with those additional projects being announced, is there still a need or a want to potentially expand LEG in the future?

回到關於海恩斯維爾管道和 LEG 的問題，隨著這些額外項目的宣布，未來是否仍然需要或想要擴大 LEG？

Yeah, I would say there's definitely an opportunity to do that. As Chad talked about earlier, there is an expectation that Haynesville production would grow by 10 Bcf over the next decade or so or even quicker depending upon the LNG appetite there.

是的，我想說肯定有機會這樣做。正如乍得早些時候談到的，預計海恩斯維爾的產量將在未來十年左右增加 10 Bcf，甚至更快，具體取決於那裡的液化天然氣需求。

So I think there's definitely an opportunity to economically expand the LEG project either by additional compression or by looping a portion of the projects so that's certainly not foreclosed by anybody that's entering market today.

因此，我認為肯定有機會透過額外壓縮或循環部分項目來經濟地擴展 LEG 項目，這樣肯定不會被今天進入市場的任何人取消贖回權。

And then maybe one on Transco with SSE ongoing right now, can you remind us, is there a certain amount of time you have to wait just with respect to those customers before you announce another large project along the main line? Or are you able to do that if the appetite is there?

然後，也許 Transco 和 SSE 的一個項目正在進行中，您能否提醒我們，在您宣布沿主線的另一個大型項目之前，您是否需要等待一定的時間才能與這些客戶聯繫？或者如果有胃口你能做到嗎？

Yeah. I would just say the Dalton Lateral is a great example. That comes right off of that capacity and is within the path of that. And so that's a great example of something that has no overlap whatsoever with the capacity that we're building there, yet it's still along in that same region.

是的。我只想說道爾頓橫向就是一個很好的例子。那是從那個能力而來的，並且在那個能力的路徑之內。因此，這是一個很好的例子，它與我們在那裡建立的能力沒有任何重疊，但它仍然在同一地區。

So I'd say I think this issue has been a little bit overblown, and perhaps from my own comments on the topic, it is an issue when you talk about permitting, it is an issue once you file, and once you're down the road on if you're doing something within that same work area that would have environmental impact, that is a risky proposition to add another project on top of that because they might get combined from a permitting standpoint and drag the other.

所以我想說，我認為這個問題有點被誇大了，也許從我自己對這個主題的評論來看，當你談論許可時，這是一個問題，一旦你提交，這是一個問題，一旦你失望了如果您在同一工作區域內做一些會對環境產生影響的事情，那麼在此基礎上添加另一個項目是一個冒險的提議，因為從允許的角度來看，它們可能會合併並拖累另一個項目。

And so we're very sensitive to that because we have customers that are very dependent on us delivering these projects on time, and we take that very seriously and particularly Duke has been very clear with us about not putting any risk on timing for that because they do need that gas so badly. So we're going to protect our customers' interest in that regard and not put things at risk.

因此，我們對此非常敏感，因為我們的客戶非常依賴我們按時交付這些項目，我們非常認真地對待這一點，特別是杜克大學已經向我們明確表示不會在時間上冒任何風險，因為他們確實非常需要這種氣體。因此，我們將保護客戶在這方面的利益，而不是讓事情面臨風險。

But it doesn't mean you can't expand the pipeline in that area. It just means that you're doing it within the same regions of impact, like if you were to expand to lose or try to make a loop larger than you originally called for or expanded it into a wet land, those are the kind of things that could drive a project and have it combine back to another.

但這並不意味著您不能擴大該領域的管道。這只是意味著您在相同的影響區域內進行操作，例如如果您要擴展以丟失或嘗試製作一個比您最初要求的更大的循環或將其擴展為濕地，這些就是這樣的事情這可以推動一個項目並將其組合回另一個項目。

And those are the things that were sensitive. It certainly does not mean that we can't expand the pipeline while another project start an expansion of that pipeline while projects going on. It's just not in the same work zone.

這些都是敏感的事情。這當然並不意味著我們不能在另一個專案在專案進行期間開始擴展該管道時擴展管道。只是不在同一個工作區而已。

And I would say the key to that, though, is making sure you have distinct supply and demand customers identified, and I've got a great example where the sell-side reliability enhancement project and the Commonwealth Energy Connector are really in the same corridor where we're actually installing compression at the same site for both of those projects, but they were separate and distinct projects, FERC evaluated and analyzed them separately but allowed us to do those projects simultaneously, if you will.

不過，我想說的關鍵是確保您確定了不同的供需客戶，我有一個很好的例子，其中賣方可靠性增強項目和聯邦能源連接器實際上位於同一個走廊我們實際上在同一地點為這兩個項目安裝壓縮，但它們是獨立且不同的項目，FERC 分別評估和分析它們，但允許我們同時進行這些項目（如果您願意的話）。

Yeah. I don't think we see any commercial opportunities that we're not going to be able to commercialize because of the concern of stacking projects. I think we've done a really good job of filling kind of the commercial activity on the first phase of SSE and we don't expect to be deferring commercial opportunities because of the project. It looks like -- we believe that the commercial pace of kind of the next wave of opportunities will fit well within kind of the time line needed to navigate through the permitting process.

是的。我認為我們不會因為擔心堆疊專案而看到任何無法商業化的商業機會。我認為我們在上交所第一期的商業活動方面做得非常好，我們預計不會因為該專案而推遲商業機會。看起來——我們相信下一波機會的商業步伐將很好地適應通過許可流程所需的時間線。

Neal Dingmann, Truist.

尼爾‧丁曼，真理主義者。

This is Jack Wilson on for Neal. Just a quick question around near medium-term flexibility around Transco. Are there scenarios where small data center-driven pipes could relatively soon be tapped into? And will this require much change to compression or other equipment?

這是尼爾的傑克威爾森。我想問一個關於 Transco 近中期靈活性的簡單問題。是否存在可以相對較快地利用小型資料中心驅動管道的場景？這是否需要對壓縮或其他設備進行很大的改變？

I mean the answer to your question is yes. We have areas that we could make relatively small direct expansions of Transco, and we are looking at a few of those. So the answer is yes, we can do that very dependent on size and scale of the facility that we're looking at and so that's really the -- if you're talking about one of the hyperscale facilities, that's a completely different setup than somebody that's looking for 180 megawatt or 200 megawatt kind of facility. So those kind of facilities, we certainly can accommodate.

我的意思是你的問題的答案是肯定的。我們可以在一些領域對 Transco 進行相對較小的直接擴張，我們正在研究其中的一些。所以答案是肯定的，我們可以根據我們正在研究的設施的大小和規模來做到這一點，所以這確實是——如果你談論的是超大規模設施之一，那是一個完全不同的設置有人正在尋找180 兆瓦或200 兆瓦類型的設施。因此，我們當然可以容納這些設施。

Thank you. That's all the time we have for questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to Alan Armstrong for closing remarks.

謝謝。這就是我們提問的時間。我想將電話轉回給艾倫·阿姆斯特朗，讓他作結束語。

Okay. Well, thank you all for your interest. I really appreciate the plugging in. We are really excited about the environment we're going into and really paying close attention to what happens here with the House as it relates to tax benefit as well as perhaps some pretty comprehensive permitting reform that would provide for a lot of expansion of infrastructure here in the US that we think we'd be a beneficiary of.

好的。好的，謝謝大家的注意。我真的很感謝插入。我們對我們即將進入的環境感到非常興奮，並且非常密切關注眾議院發生的事情，因為它涉及稅收優惠，或許還有一些相當全面的許可改革，這些改革將為這裡的基礎設施大量擴張提供條件我們認為我們會成為美國的受益者。

So excited about where we are today and really excited to see what the future holds for our own forecast as we see some of these changes roll suit. So thank you for joining us today.

我們對今天的處境感到非常興奮，也很高興看到我們自己的預測的未來，因為我們看到了其中的一些變化。感謝您今天加入我們。

Thank you for your participation. This does conclude the program, and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

感謝您的參與。這確實結束了程序，您現在可以斷開連接。大家，祝你有美好的一天。