埃克森美孚 (XOM) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Exxon Mobil Corporation's Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Webcast. Today's call is being recorded.

大家早安，歡迎收看埃克森美孚公司 2023 年第四季財報網路廣播。今天的通話正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Jennifer Driscoll. Please go ahead, ma'am.

我現在想把電話轉給詹妮弗·德里斯科爾女士。請繼續，女士。

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to ExxonMobil's Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. We appreciate you joining the call today. I'm Jennifer Driscoll, Vice President of Investor Relations. I'm joined today by Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO; and Kathy Mikells, Senior Vice President and CFO. This presentation and prerecorded remarks are available on the Investors section of our website. They're meant to accompany the fourth quarter earnings news release, which is posted in the same location. Shortly, Darren will give you an overview of our 2023 performance. Then we'll take your questions.

大家，早安。歡迎參加埃克森美孚 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。我們感謝您今天加入電話會議。我是投資者關係副總裁珍妮佛‧德里斯科爾。今天，董事長兼執行長 Darren Woods 也加入了我的行列。以及資深副總裁兼財務長凱西‧米克爾斯 (Kathy Mikells)。本簡報和預先錄製的評論可在我們網站的投資者部分取得。它們是與第四季度收益新聞稿一起發布的，該新聞稿發佈在同一位置。稍後，Darren 將向您概述我們 2023 年的表現。然後我們將回答您的問題。

In conjunction with our recent announcement about acquiring Pioneer Natural Resources, we've included additional information about the transaction on Slide 2. Please be aware that this presentation is not intended to be a solicitation of any vote or approval.

結合我們最近關於收購 Pioneer Natural Resources 的公告，我們在幻燈片 2 上提供了有關該交易的更多資訊。請注意，本簡報無意徵求任何投票或批准。

During today's call, we'll make forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to our cautionary statement on Slide 3. You can find more information on the risks and uncertainties that apply to any forward-looking statements in our SEC filings on our website. Note that we also provided supplemental information at the end of our earnings slides, including an overview of full year results, which are posted on the website.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性聲明，這些聲明存在風險和不確定性。請參閱投影片 3 上的警示聲明。您可以在我們網站上的 SEC 文件中找到有關適用於任何前瞻性聲明的風險和不確定性的更多資訊。請注意，我們也在收益幻燈片的末尾提供了補充信息，包括發佈在網站上的全年業績概述。

And now I'll turn it over to Darren.

現在我將把它交給達倫。

Good morning, and thanks for joining us. I want to start with the theme of the quarter, which, frankly, has been a theme of the year, excellence in execution. Whether it's operating our facilities, building projects, deploying technologies, trading, marketing, sales, supply chain or any of our other activities. The men and women of ExxonMobil are setting and holding themselves to very high standards as they execute their responsibilities. Their hard work and commitment drove the strong results we reported today, and are the foundation of our success.

早安，感謝您加入我們。我想從本季的主題開始，坦白說，這也是今年的主題：卓越執行力。無論是營運我們的設施、建設項目、部署技術、貿易、行銷、銷售、供應鏈或我們的任何其他活動。埃克森美孚的員工在履行職責時設定並要求自己達到非常高的標準。他們的辛勤工作和奉獻精神推動了我們今天報告的強勁成果，也是我們成功的基礎。

At the end of the day, it's all about our people that make the difference and are delivering industry-leading results and nothing is more important than the safety of our people. Keeping them safe requires intense focus and relentless discipline, 24 hours a day, every single day. For many years, we've outperformed industry benchmarks for workplace safety. Over the last several years, we've been implementing improved systems for managing both personnel and process safety, leveraging best practices from across our company and industry, our own and others.

歸根結底，我們的員工能夠帶來改變並提供領先業界的成果，沒有什麼比員工的安全更重要的了。確保他們的安全需要每天 24 小時全神貫注和堅持不懈的紀律。多年來，我們在工作場所安全方面的表現一直優於行業基準。在過去的幾年裡，我們一直在實施改進的系統來管理人員和流程安全，利用我們公司和行業、我們自己和其他人的最佳實踐。

These efforts are paying off with continued improvements in the number and severity of incidents. The discipline needed to consistently deliver industry-leading safety performance manifest itself in all of our work. We see it in our project teams. We're delivering large capital projects at top quintile performance on cost and schedule. We see it in the reliability of our operations, where we achieved record performance in both the Upstream and refining.

這些努力正在取得成效，事件數量和嚴重程度不斷改善。始終如一地提供業界領先的安全績效所需的紀律體現在我們的所有工作中。我們在我們的專案團隊中看到了這一點。我們正在以最高五分之一的成本和進度交付大型資本項目。我們在營運的可靠性中看到了這一點，我們在上游和煉油方面都取得了創紀錄的表現。

We see it in our environmental performance, where we set several new records. And we see it in the successful management of the transformational reorganizations we've made over the last several years. Results are clear by any measure, 2023 was an outstanding year. We delivered $36 billion of earnings, strong cash flows and a 15% return on capital employed. Our strategy introduced in 2018, coupled with consistently strong execution is delivering results that lead industry across a range of metrics, including earnings and cash flow growth, total shareholder distributions and total shareholder returns since 2019, the baseline year of our plans.

我們在環境績效中看到了這一點，創造了多項新紀錄。我們在過去幾年進行的轉型重組的成功管理中看到了這一點。無論以何種標準衡量，結果都是顯而易見的，2023 年都是出色的一年。我們實現了 360 億美元的盈利、強勁的現金流和 15% 的已用資本回報率。我們於2018 年推出的策略，加上一貫強勁的執行力，自2019 年（我們計劃的基準年）以來，在一系列指標上取得了領先行業的成果，包括盈利和現金流增長、股東總分配和股東總回報。

On a constant price basis, we more than doubled earnings in 2023 versus 2019, demonstrating the improved earnings power of the company. The growth and profitability reflects significant progress in high grading our portfolio of assets through advantaged projects, divestment of less strategic operations and significant cost reductions.

以固定價格計算，我們 2023 年的獲利比 2019 年成長了一倍多，這表明公司獲利能力有所提高。成長和獲利能力反映了我們透過優勢項目、剝離非策略性業務和大幅降低成本，在高等級資產組合方面取得的重大進展。

During the year, our divestments generated more than $4 billion of cash proceeds. We also announced 2 value-accretive acquisitions. Denbury, which closed in November, provides opportunities to profitably accelerate our low carbon solutions business with a compelling end-to-end customer decarbonization offer. Pioneer, which is expected to close in the second quarter, will further differentiate our advantaged Upstream portfolio. The synergies will create significant shareholder value and accelerate Pioneer's net zero ambitions by 15 years to 2035.

年內，我們的資產剝離產生了超過 40 億美元的現金收益。我們也宣布了兩項增值收購。 Denbury 於 11 月關閉，透過引人注目的端到端客戶脫碳產品，為加速我們的低碳解決方案業務的盈利提供了機會。 Pioneer 預計將於第二季關閉，將進一步區分我們優勢的上游產品組合。這些綜效將創造巨大的股東價值，並將先鋒公司的淨零目標提前 15 年至 2035 年。

In 2023, we made significant advances in a number of innovative solutions. We entered the lithium business, where we see an opportunity to supply approximately 1 million electric vehicles per year by 2030. With economically advantaged production, it has a much smaller environmental impact than today's supply. In the carbon capture and storage space, we recently completed the construction of a pilot plant to further develop a unique proprietary technology, which has the potential to significantly lower the cost of direct air capture.

2023 年，我們在多項創新解決方案方面取得了重大進展。我們進入了鋰業務，我們看到了到 2030 年每年供應約 100 萬輛電動車的機會。憑藉經濟優勢的生產，它對環境的影響比今天的供應要小得多。在碳捕獲和儲存領域，我們最近完成了一個試點工廠的建設，以進一步開發獨特的專有技術，該技術有可能顯著降低直接空氣捕獲的成本。

We also launched Proxima, a thermoset resin with a high value in use for coatings, infrastructure, automotive parts and wind power made from low-value components used in gasoline. We also took a further step in reducing cost, leveraging scale and improving effectiveness with the formation of 3 new centralized organizations, global supply, trading and Global Business Solutions. This change provides additional opportunities to grow deep expertise across a broad portfolio of critical business capabilities.

我們還推出了 Proxima，這是一種由汽油中使用的低價值成分製成的熱固性樹脂，可用於塗料、基礎設施、汽車零件和風力發電。我們也透過成立 3 個新的集中組織（全球供應、貿易和全球業務解決方案），在降低成本、利用規模和提高效率方面邁出了進一步的步伐。這項變更提供了額外的機會，可以在廣泛的關鍵業務能力組合中培養深厚的專業知識。

Today, we're convinced that no other company can match the depth and breadth of development opportunities that ExxonMobil offers. It's no surprise that for the 11th year in a row, we were recognized as the most attractive U.S. employer in the industry for engineering students. This is another key competitive advantage. Our plan for 2024 remains anchored in our existing strategy, building on a world-class execution and the performance we delivered last year.

今天，我們確信沒有其他公司能夠與埃克森美孚提供的發展機會的深度和廣度相媲美。毫不奇怪，我們連續 11 年被評為該行業對工程專業學生最具吸引力的美國雇主。這是另一個關鍵的競爭優勢。我們的 2024 年計畫仍以現有策略為基礎，以世界一流的執行力和去年的業績為基礎。

We set a high bar for ourselves across all aspects of the business, from safety to operational excellence to financial performance and have confidence in our team's ability to consistently deliver. For 2024, we expect to invest $23 billion to $25 billion to grow our portfolio of advantaged low cost of supply assets, further shift our product mix towards higher value, higher margin performance products and reduce emissions, both our own and others. Our plan also continues to structurally reduce costs to achieve $15 billion in structural cost savings through 2027. We have opportunities to enhance supply chain efficiency, further improve maintenance and turnarounds, modernize data management and simplify business processes.

我們在業務的各個方面為自己設定了很高的標準，從安全到卓越營運再到財務績效，並對我們團隊持續交付的能力充滿信心。到2024 年，我們預計投資230 億至250 億美元來擴大我們的優勢低成本供應資產組合，進一步將我們的產品組合轉向更高價值、更高利潤率的產品，並減少我們自己和其他人的排放。我們的計劃也繼續從結構上降低成本，到 2027 年實現 150 億美元的結構性成本節約。我們有機會提高供應鏈效率，進一步改善維護和周轉，實現資料管理現代化並簡化業務流程。

In Low Carbon Solutions, we'll continue the integration of Denbury and look to add additional customers to our U.S. Gulf Coast network. As we noted during the corporate plan update in December, we're now pursuing more than $20 billion of lower emission opportunities, evenly split between reducing our own emissions and reducing third-party emissions. Overall, our portfolio of low-carbon investments is expected to generate returns of approximately 15%.

在低碳解決方案方面，我們將繼續整合登伯里，並尋求為我們的美國墨西哥灣沿岸網路添加更多客戶。正如我們在 12 月的公司計畫更新中指出的那樣，我們現在正在尋求超過 200 億美元的降低排放機會，其中包括減少我們自己的排放量和減少第三方排放量。總體而言，我們的低碳投資組合預計將產生約 15% 的回報。

Our upstream portfolio will be further transformed when we closed on the transaction with Pioneer. By combining the capabilities of our 2 companies and leveraging the advances we've made in technology, we expect to recover more resource more efficiently with lower emissions. We'll provide more detail about this compelling combination at our spotlight event following the close. Our results in 2023 once again demonstrated the strength of our strategy.

當我們完成與先鋒的交易後，我們的上游產品組合將進一步轉變。透過結合我們兩家公司的能力並利用我們在技術方面的進步，我們期望以更低的排放更有效地回收更多資源。我們將在閉幕後的聚光燈活動中提供有關這一引人注目的組合的更多詳細資訊。我們2023年的業績再次證明了我們策略的力量。

As I reflect on the past year, I have tremendous pride in what our people accomplished and a strong level of confidence in our continued ability to lead in the years ahead. Finally, I want to thank our shareholders for their continued confidence and support.

當我回顧過去的一年時，我對員工所取得的成就感到無比自豪，並對我們在未來幾年繼續保持領先的能力充滿信心。最後，我要感謝我們的股東一直以來的信任與支持。

Now I'll turn it back to Jennifer.

現在我會把它轉回給珍妮佛。

Thank you, Darren. Now let's move to our Q&A session. (Operator Instructions).

謝謝你，達倫。現在讓我們進入問答環節。 （操作員說明）。

With that, operator, let's open the line for our first question.

那麼，接線員，讓我們開始回答第一個問題。

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Neil Mehta of Goldman Sachs.

（操作員指示） 第一個問題來自高盛的 Neil Mehta。

Congrats on the strong results. My question was around the structural cost savings. So we're at $9.7 billion versus 2019 and targeting $15 billion by 2027. Can you talk about the progression over the next couple of years? What are the key buckets and milestones we should be watching out for as it relates to those cost savings?

祝賀取得強勁的成果。我的問題是關於結構性成本節約。因此，與 2019 年相比，我們的目標是 97 億美元，目標是到 2027 年達到 150 億美元。您能談談未來幾年的進展嗎？我們應該關注哪些與節省成本相關的關鍵目標和里程碑？

Sure. Thanks, Neil. Good to hear from you again. Maybe just start with a little bit of perspective. If you think about where we have been driving efficiencies and what lies behind the improvements in structural costs. We've made tremendous changes in the organization, and we've been doing that each successive year sequenced with respect to what needs to come first, second and third to make sure that we can effectively manage that.

當然。謝謝，尼爾。很高興再次收到你的來信。也許只是從一點觀點開始。如果您想一想我們在哪些方面提高了效率，以及結構性成本改善背後的原因是什麼。我們已經在組織中做出了巨大的改變，我們每年都按照需要優先、第二和第三的順序進行這些改變，以確保我們能夠有效地管理這些變化。

We're still in the early stages of taking advantage of all the changes that we've made going back in time with our global technology organization, with our product solutions organization that frankly, brought refining together with our marketing and then together with chemical. And so a lot of restructuring, a lot of opportunities in all the organizations see a path to significantly improved effectiveness in executing the business. And to your point, a significant path to efficiencies.

我們仍處於利用我們的全球技術組織和我們的產品解決方案組織所做的所有變革的早期階段，坦白說，我們將煉油與我們的行銷結合在一起，然後與化學結合在一起。因此，所有組織中的大量重組和大量機會都看到了顯著提高業務執行效率的途徑。就您而言，這是提高效率的重要途徑。

On top of that, we just launched our Global Supply Chain organization. We just launched our Global Business Solutions organization and our Trading organization. So they're early in their process and all of them have seen significant opportunities for efficiency. So I would say the $9.7 billion is a reflection of the hard work coming from the reorganizations that we've done, and we're early in that, and then we've got additional reorganizations to take advantage of.

最重要的是，我們剛剛推出了全球供應鏈組織。我們剛剛推出了全球商業解決方案組織和貿易組織。因此，他們處於流程的早期階段，並且所有人都看到了提高效率的重要機會。所以我想說，97 億美元反映了我們已經完成的重組所付出的艱苦努力，而且我們還處於早期階段，然後我們還有更多的重組可以利用。

That $15 billion that you referred to is not a target. It is in our plans. And the plans reflect what the organizations are working on. So what are some of the areas. We've seen a lot of benefit today by a centralized approach to enhancing our maintenance and our turnaround processes. We've taken a lot of cost out with respect to that. We see an opportunity to bring further cost reductions there. The supply chain organization brings a huge opportunity. In the past, we had very fragmented supply chain organizations across all of our businesses. We've now consolidated all that. We see a lot of opportunities to bring together our data and our processes and harmonize those and do those consistently across all of the organization and then a lot of continuing optimization within the base business, taking advantage of the new construct and learning from 1 another. That's a huge part of the go-forward reduction.

你提到的150億美元並不是一個目標。這是我們的計劃。這些計劃反映了各組織正在進行的工作。那麼有哪些領域呢？今天，透過集中式方法來增強我們的維護和周轉流程，我們已經看到了許多好處。我們在這方面已經節省了大量成本。我們看到了進一步降低成本的機會。供應鏈組織帶來了巨大的機會。過去，我們所有業務的供應鏈組織都非常分散。我們現在已經整合了所有這些。我們看到了許多機會將我們的數據和流程整合在一起並協調它們，並在整個組織中一致地執行這些操作，然後在基礎業務中進行大量持續優化，利用新的構建並相互學習。這是未來減少的很大一部分。

So I would just tie all that to the ongoing change and the fact that we now have a good line of sight across all of our organizations around the best way to do things in the most efficient ways to do things.

因此，我將所有這些與正在進行的變革以及我們現在在所有組織中圍繞以最有效的方式做事的最佳方式擁有良好的視線這一事實聯繫起來。

I'll hand it over to Kathy, if there's anything to add to that.

如果有什麼需要補充的，我會把它交給凱西。

The only other thing I would add is how we're looking to leverage technology to both drive incremental efficiencies. But as importantly, to drive effectiveness. So things like how we use artificial intelligence and chat box and our customer care centers, right, which gives our customers better service. And obviously, that drives efficiency for the company, how we use predictive analytics and things like driving maintenance turnarounds to top kind of quintile type performance or similarly how we use those predictive analytics in our drilling and fracking centralized operation here in Houston.

我要補充的唯一一件事是我們如何利用科技來提高效率。但同樣重要的是，要提高效率。例如我們如何使用人工智慧、聊天框以及我們的客戶服務中心，這為我們的客戶提供了更好的服務。顯然，這提高了公司的效率，我們如何使用預測分析以及推動維護週轉達到最高五分位數類型的性能，或者類似地我們如何在休士頓的鑽井和壓裂集中作業中使用這些預測分析。

So bringing together our information technology organization with our engineering and research organization will just further enhance, I think, how overall, we, as a technology company fundamentally try to use technology to both drive efficiency but obviously, to drive value in the business.

因此，我認為，將我們的資訊技術組織與我們的工程和研究組織結合在一起，將進一步增強我們作為一家技術公司從根本上嘗試使用技術來提高效率，但顯然也提高了業務價值。

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

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Doug Leggate。

Darren, 2018 was a long time ago, obviously, and a lot has changed since you pushed the doubling of cash flow from '25 to '27, including much greater and perhaps faster progress in Guyana. So I guess my question is where do you -- where would you suggest we are in 2024 in moving towards a doubling of cash flow target? And specifically, what should we read about your CapEx comments in terms of the timing of Guyana as part of that target?

達倫，顯然，2018 年已經是很久以前的事了，自從您將現金流量從 25 年推動到 27 年以來，發生了很多變化，包括圭亞那取得了更大、或許更快的進展。所以我想我的問題是，您建議我們在 2024 年實現現金流量目標翻倍的目標是什麼？具體來說，就圭亞那作為該目標一部分的時間表而言，我們應該了解您對資本支出的評論？

Yes, Doug. Thanks for the question. Maybe I'll start with the back end of your question around the CapEx. And I mean it should be clear. Hopefully, it's clear. We've provided guidance in a range in CapEx to give you a perspective of when we start the year based on the plans that we put together the previous year where we think we're going to end up at our spend across the year. Obviously, as we're going through the business, each of the businesses are clear on their objective to find value-accretive opportunities and to capture those as quickly as possible. So we've got an ongoing process.

是的，道格。謝謝你的提問。也許我會從你關於資本支出的問題的後端開始。我的意思是它應該很清楚。希望一切都清楚了。我們提供了一系列資本支出指南，以便您根據我們上一年制定的計劃，了解我們何時開始今年的支出，我們認為我們全年的支出將達到預期。顯然，當我們審查業務時，每個企業都明確了自己的目標，即尋找增值機會並儘快抓住這些機會。所以我們有一個持續的過程。

If we see an opportunity that we weren't aware of or at the time of putting together the plan. We're not constraining our activities based on some artificial number or the guidance that we've put out, we're very focused on making sure that it's going to be an effective use of capital that we can efficiently execute what's required for that capital and then that there's value behind it and there's an advantage in it.

如果我們看到一個我們沒有意識到或在製定計劃時沒有意識到的機會。我們不會根據一些人為的數字或我們發布的指導來限制我們的活動，我們非常注重確保資本的有效利用，以便我們能夠有效地執行該資本所需的內容然後它背後有價值並且有優勢。

So that's how we're managing. What we talked about in the release with respect to our CapEx in 2023 reflects just that incremental optimizations as we're going through the year. And my view is we'll continue to do that as we go forward into the planned years. Obviously, we've given you some guidance that we believe reflect where we'll end up. But as we the opportunities we're very focused on it. I think the short term, what we've done with Guyana, you're seeing today in Payara, when we brought that online, and frankly, in January, well ahead of our plans reached nameplate capacity. And part of that was around the optimization of the drilling and making sure that we had what we needed to bring that up quickly.

這就是我們的管理方式。我們在新聞稿中談到的 2023 年資本支出的內容反映了我們這一年的增量優化。我的觀點是，隨著我們進入計劃的年份，我們將繼續這樣做。顯然，我們已經為您提供了一些指導，我們相信這些指導反映了我們最終的結果。但當我們抓住機會時，我們非常關注它。我認為從短期來看，我們在圭亞那所做的事情，你今天在 Payara 看到了，當時我們將其上線，坦率地說，在一月份，遠遠超出了我們的計劃達到銘牌容量。其中一部分是圍繞鑽井的最佳化，並確保我們擁有快速啟動所需的資源。

In terms of the broader objective to get to 2027, I mean, we're on that plan, and we're actually delivering the value that we laid out in 2018. So I feel really good about the progress we've made. We noted in the release that if you look at just from 2019, the year before the pandemic, the advances that we've made in the business, we -- on a flat price, take margin, take price out of it, we've doubled the earnings capacity of the corporation from 2019 to 2023.

就實現 2027 年的更廣泛目標而言，我的意思是，我們正在執行該計劃，並且我們實際上正在實現我們在 2018 年制定的價值。因此，我對我們所取得的進展感到非常滿意。我們在新聞稿中指出，如果你看看 2019 年，即大流行前一年，我們在業務上取得的進步，我們——以固定價格，獲取利潤，從中獲取價格，我們從2019 年到2023年，公司的獲利能力增加了一倍。

We've grown earnings at a compounded annual basis by 40%, greater than 40%. We've grown cash flow from operations, almost 20%, greater than 15%. So I think significant progress. We've demonstrated that the work that we're doing the projects that we've put in place, the reorganizations that we've executed, the cost that we're cutting out of the business are all driving us towards this improved valuation. And frankly, the plans we have going forward are going to continue to do that. So the targets that we've laid out, what we communicated in our December company plan release, basically, those are plans, and we feel that we're right on track, if not slightly ahead of delivering on those.

我們的年複合收益成長了 40%，超過 40%。我們的營運現金流成長了近 20%，甚至超過 15%。所以我認為取得了重大進展。我們已經證明，我們正在進行的專案、我們已經執行的重組、我們從業務中削減的成本都在推動我們提高估值。坦白說，我們未來的計劃將繼續這樣做。因此，我們制定的目標，我們在 12 月公司計劃發布中傳達的內容，基本上，這些都是計劃，我們認為我們正在走上正軌，即使不是稍微提前實現這些目標。

Kathy, anything to add to that?

凱西，還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. I mean, Doug, I'll just try to ground kind of back to those numbers a little bit more, just so you understand that -- on an earnings basis, we actually more than doubled earnings on, again, that constant price basis that we used in our corporate plan, which Darren is referring to in the numbers that he just mentioned. So I would absolutely say we are ahead of our plan. In terms of what it is that we're achieving. And it's that earnings improvement that is flowing through to cash flow.

是的。我的意思是，道格，我會嘗試更多地回歸到這些數字，這樣你就明白了——在盈利的基礎上，我們實際上在固定價格基礎上的盈利增加了一倍多，我們在公司計劃中使用了這一點，達倫在他剛才提到的數字中提到了這一點。所以我絕對會說我們提前了我們的計劃。就我們正在取得的成就而言。獲利的改善正在轉化為現金流。

And so as you think about cash flow, our earnings expectation in the corporate plan in terms of doubling it out to 2027, it's well ahead of doubling it. And then those earnings just flow through to the cash flow growth. So I would describe us as being ahead of plan in terms of where we stand today and feeling very good about the future.

因此，當你考慮現金流時，我們在公司計劃中的盈利預期是到 2027 年將其翻倍，這遠遠領先於翻倍。然後這些收益就會流入現金流成長。因此，我認為我們目前的狀況超出了計劃，並且對未來感覺非常好。

The next question is from Devin McDermott of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的德文·麥克德莫特。

So I've gotten some inbound this morning on the 2023 spending. And Darren, you kind of alluded to it in your response to the prior question, you're able to pull forward some CapEx for Guyana and Permian in 4Q. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the drivers of that type of efficiencies that you're seeing and what specifically you're able to accelerate? And then how that influences your outlook for spending and production in both -- for both assets in 2024?

今天早上我收到了一些關於 2023 年支出的資訊。達倫，您在回答先前的問題時提到了這一點，您可以在第四季度為圭亞那和二疊紀地區提前一些資本支出。我想知道您是否可以多談談您所看到的此類效率的驅動因素以及您能夠具體加速哪些方面？那麼這將如何影響您對 2024 年這兩種資產的支出和生產的展望？

Well, if you think about -- sure, Devin, you think about the complexity of what the organizations are dealing with and in particular, the Upstream that as we -- as you go through the course of the year, and they're drilling and they're collecting data, and we're seeing the production. We've got a real-time optimization loop that takes the experience that we've had and build it back into our go-forward plan. So it is a very dynamic process. And we've got -- to Kathy's point, a lot of -- we're using a lot of technology to make sure that we're learning from all the data that we're collecting as we go and that we're adjusting our plans to optimize value.

好吧，如果你想想——當然，德文，你會想想這些組織正在處理的事情的複雜性，特別是我們——當你經歷這一年的過程時，他們正在鑽探他們正在收集數據，我們正在看到生產情況。我們有一個即時優化循環，可以利用我們所擁有的經驗並將其重新建構到我們的前進計劃中。所以這是一個非常動態的過程。在凱西看來，我們正在使用大量技術來確保我們能夠從我們收集的所有數據中學習並進行調整我們的價值優化計劃。

I would tell you, the organization understands it has an obligation to drive value and define the value opportunities and to make sure that when we decide to spend money that we know that spend is going to be productive spend and that we're going to be efficient in executing that spend. And beyond that, they're not constrained. If they find that we're going to hit a constraint or we're going to hit something that's not incorporated in the plans, we have a conversation about that. So I would tell you, it is a very well-controlled process.

我想告訴你，組織明白它有義務推動價值並定義價值機會，並確保當我們決定花錢時，我們知道支出將是富有成效的支出，並且我們將有效執行該支出。除此之外，他們不受限制。如果他們發現我們將遇到限制，或者我們將遇到計劃中未包含的內容，我們會就此進行對話。所以我想告訴你，這是一個控制得非常好的過程。

Your point about capital coming forward in the fourth quarter, I would tell you the decisions that we made that led to going a little above the guidance weren't made in the fourth quarter. Those were made as we were going through the year with a recognition that if we took some of the steps as we were going through the year that as we got to the end of the year, those numbers would grow and potentially but up on -- slightly above the guidance. And we made the decisions as we were going. And it's a very dynamic process. So I think that's how I would think about it, that we're going to continue doing that going forward.

關於第四季資本的觀點，我想告訴你，我們做出的導致略高於指引的決定並不是在第四季做出的。這些是在我們度過這一年時制定的，我們認識到，如果我們在這一年中採取一些步驟，那麼到年底時，這些數字將會增長，而且有可能會上升——略高於指導意見。我們邊走邊做決定。這是一個非常動態的過程。所以我想這就是我的想法，我們將繼續這樣做。

Obviously, the Permian, we continue to learn with the technologies that we're bringing in there, the techniques that we keep evolving. So my expectation is we'll continue to adjust as we go to maximize the value of the production and what we're learning through the technologies that we're deploying. And then with Guyana, don't underestimate the complexity of these reservoirs and the challenges the organization has. So as they're drilling and gaining information, we're optimizing that as we go as well. And if we see an opportunity to advance the development and bring it forward and bring NPV with that, we'll take that.

顯然，在二疊紀，我們繼續學習我們引入的技術，以及我們不斷發展的技術。因此，我的期望是，我們將繼續進行調整，以最大限度地提高產品的價值以及我們透過正在部署的技術所學到的知識。然後，對於圭亞那，不要低估這些水庫的複雜性以及該組織面臨的挑戰。因此，當他們鑽探和獲取資訊時，我們也在不斷優化。如果我們看到一個機會來推動發展並推進它並帶來淨現值，我們就會抓住這個機會。

And so I would just tell you, it's hard to predict because what are you going to learn? I mean, if we knew that now, it wouldn't be learning, we know it would be able to be built into the plan. So it's hard to really predict the learning piece of it. Anything to add, Kathy?

所以我只想告訴你，這很難預測，因為你要學到什麼？我的意思是，如果我們現在知道這一點，那就不會是學習，我們知道它將能夠納入計劃中。所以很難真正預測其中的學習內容。有什麼要補充的嗎，凱西？

I'd just say, if you look at the specifics of what we delivered as a result of actually spending a little bit more on CapEx. I think you see that just goes hand in hand to how we drive value for shareholders. So in the Permian, we had guided to 600,000 kind of oil equivalent barrels. We came in at 620,000. In Guyana, we had said 380,000, we came in at 390,000, right? And you think about where we're at in Guyana today, and we've got prosperity, the third boat, which is in the Payara development already up to nameplate capacity as we stand here today. And that's because we made the decision to drill more wells to ensure that we could get that boat up to capacity as quickly as possible in our organization absolutely delivered on that. So those were the right economic decisions that drove value for our shareholders.

我只想說，如果你看看我們在資本支出上實際花費更多的結果所交付的具體內容。我想你會發現這與我們如何為股東創造價值是密切相關的。所以在二疊紀，我們已經指導了60萬桶石油當量。我們進來的時候有 62 萬人。在圭亞那，我們說的是 380,000，我們進來的是 390,000，對吧？你想想我們今天在圭亞那所處的位置，我們已經有了繁榮號，第三艘船，在 Payara 開發區，當我們今天站在這裡時，它已經達到了銘牌容量。這是因為我們決定鑽更多的井，以確保我們能夠盡快讓這艘船達到最大容量，而我們的組織絕對做到了這一點。因此，這些都是正確的經濟決策，為我們的股東帶來了價值。

Great. Yes. I agree the strategy is certainly yielding great results.

偉大的。是的。我同意這項策略肯定會產生巨大的成果。

Yes.

是的。

The next question is from John Royall of JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的約翰·羅亞爾。

So my question is on Payara. You've expressed some confidence that you can ultimately get above the nameplate as you have on the first 2 platforms. Should we expect kind of a continuous ramp towards a higher number? Or does it run closer to nameplate for a period of time? And then further on what happens kind of more in a step change?

所以我的問題是關於 Payara 的問題。您已經表達了一定的信心，相信您最終可以像在前兩個平台上一樣超越銘牌。我們是否應該預期數字會持續上升？或者在一段時間內它是否更接近銘牌？然後進一步發生什麼進一步的變化？

Yes, thanks for the question. I think just to maybe step back and talk a little bit about the process. Organization does its best to design the projects for the capacities that we want to deliver. And then as they hand the -- the projects group hands that off to the operating group, they're obviously as we begin operation, testing to see where we are with respect to constraints. And every -- the advantage that we have here is that we've tried to stick to some consistent design, this design one, build many concept, we've tried to, to the extent possible, maintain consistency from boat to boat.

是的，謝謝你的提問。我想也許可以退後一步，談談這個過程。組織盡最大努力根據我們想要提供的能力來設計專案。然後，當專案組將其交給營運小組時，他們顯然會在我們開始營運時進行測試，以了解我們在限制方面的情況。我們在這裡擁有的優勢是，我們試圖堅持一些一致的設計，這種設計，建立了許多概念，我們試圖盡可能地保持船與船之間的一致性。

Obviously, as the subsurface and the complexity of the developments change, we have to make adjustments. So it's not quite a cookie-cutter approach, but we try to maintain a level of consistency one, because that keeps your capital cost down. But two, it allows us to take the learnings from the previous boats and apply it to the one we just start up, advance things faster to do things quicker. And a great example for prosperity is how quickly we manage to bring that unit up and get flaring down and get to nameplate capacity. That was -- we did that essentially at record times, which is a reflection of the fact that the organization as they've been bringing these units, these production units online that they're learning and then taking those learnings and forwarding it to the next boat.

顯然，隨著發展的地下和複雜性的變化，我們必須做出調整。因此，這並不是一種千篇一律的方法，但我們盡力保持一定程度的一致性，因為這可以降低您的資本成本。但第二，它使我們能夠從之前的船隻中吸取經驗教訓，並將其應用到我們剛剛啟動的船隻上，更快地推進事情，更快地做事。繁榮的一個很好的例子是我們能夠以多快的速度將裝置啟動並停止燃燒並達到銘牌容量。那是——我們基本上是在創紀錄的時間內做到了這一點，這反映了這樣一個事實：組織將這些單位、這些生產單位帶到網上，他們正在學習，然後將這些知識轉發給下一艘船。

So my expectation is you'll see us move faster and faster as we go. Difficult to predict exactly what that ramp-up looks like or the step changes, if you will, because it will be a function of what they bring into -- what the next constraint that they overcome to make sure that we can continue to run those facilities safely within all the operating limits, but at the same time, maximize their value. And so I would say, take the previous ramp-ups as a basis and then our expectation is the organization will find ways to do it even better.

所以我的期望是你會看到我們前進的速度越來越快。如果你願意的話，很難準確預測加速會是什麼樣子或步驟會發生變化，因為這將是他們帶來的東西的函數 - 他們克服的下一個約束是什麼，以確保我們可以繼續運行這些設施在所有運行限制內安全運行，但同時最大化其價值。所以我想說，以先前的提升為基礎，我們的期望是組織會找到做得更好的方法。

And then if you don't mind, I'm just going to add because I know everybody is now going to be modeling, look I don't know how that's going to look like for the year. So this is just a reminder that at some point in the second half, we're working on the gas to energy project, right, and laying the pipeline down to bring that gas from Liza 1 and Liza 2 onshore to basically kind of plug it into the power plant that ultimately will drive down cost for consumers in Guyana, and we will be taking Liza 1 and Liza 2 off-line for a period of time as we kind of hook them up to that pipeline. So that's just a reminder that we'll have a little bit of downtime at some point in the second half.

如果你不介意的話，我只想補充一下，因為我知道現在每個人都會成為模特，我不知道今年會是什麼樣子。所以這只是提醒我們，在下半年的某個時候，我們正在進行天然氣能源項目，對吧，鋪設管道，將 Liza 1 和 Liza 2 的天然氣輸送到陸上，基本上可以堵住它進入發電廠，最終將降低圭亞那消費者的成本，我們將讓Liza 1 和Liza 2 離線一段時間，因為我們將它們連接到該管道。所以這只是提醒我們，我們在下半場的某個時候會有一些休息時間。

The next question is from Bob Brackett of Bernstein Research.

下一個問題來自伯恩斯坦研究公司的鮑伯‧布拉克特。

At the risk of oversimplifying, if I think about 2023, it was a very strategy-focused year, Denbury, Pioneer, Lithium. If I look at 2025, it's a major project delivery year. 2024, is this a year of execution? Or could there be some level of strategic interesting moves that we should think about?

冒著過度簡化的風險，如果我想想 2023 年，那是非常注重策略的一年，Denbury、Pioneer、Lithium。如果我看2025年，這是一個重大專案交付年。 2024年，這是行刑之年嗎？或者我們應該考慮某種程度的有趣的策略舉措？

Yes. Bob, I would just say you have oversimplified it. I would start with every year as a year of execution. And I think it's the fact that we have managed, maybe in comparison to some of our peers to make it look easy and have executed, I think, at a higher level. Make no mistake, the organization that is continues to be a real challenge across all of our operations. And I think the men and women of ExxonMobil have done an outstanding job of consistently executing to a very high standard, as I said in my prepared remarks. So I don't want to take anything away from that. And I also don't want to suggest that we, for a minute, take that for granted or take our eye off of that ball. And so that's job number one.

是的。鮑勃，我只想說你把它過於簡單化了。我將從每年作為執行年開始。我認為事實是，也許與我們的一些同行相比，我們已經做到了這一點，使其看起來很容易，而且我認為，我們已經在更高的水平上執行了。毫無疑問，現在的組織仍然是我們所有營運中的真正挑戰。正如我在準備好的發言中所說，我認為埃克森美孚的員工在始終如一地執行非常高的標準方面做得非常出色。所以我不想從中拿走任何東西。我也不想建議我們暫時認為這是理所當然的，或是把我們的注意力從那個球上移開。所以這是第一位的工作。

And even in bringing these projects online, that is -- takes a tremendous amount of focus and discipline from an execution standpoint. So that is job one. And then obviously, the strategy that is also an emphasis every year. It's just as we've always talked about, it's really a function of can we find the right opportunities, the right equation that brings value to our shareholders. And if it's M&A, it's got to be 1 plus 1 has to equal 3 or more. If it's a project, it's got to be advantaged. It's got to position ourselves in the very far left-hand side of the cost of supply curve.

即使將這些項目上線，從執行的角度來看，也需要大量的關注和紀律。這就是工作一。顯然，這項戰略也是每年的重點。正如我們一直在談論的那樣，這實際上取決於我們是否能找到合適的機會，以及為股東帶來價值的正確方程式。如果是併購，就必須是1加1等於3或更多。既然是項目，就一定有優勢。它必須將自己定位在供給成本曲線的最左邊。

And so we've laid out what we know of and what we see ahead of us, certainly in the capital standpoint. But as the organization continues to execute and continues to look for ways to translate the strategy into bottom line value, we find new opportunities and then we don't hesitate to go after those if they meet our criteria with respect to the advantages and they're within our ability to effectively execute.

因此，我們已經列出了我們所知道的以及我們所看到的未來​​，當然是從資本的角度來看的。但隨著組織繼續執行並繼續尋找將策略轉化為底線價值的方法，我們會發現新的機會，如果它們符合我們的優勢標準，我們會毫不猶豫地追求這些機會。我們有能力有效執行。

So I wouldn't say 2024, there's any different emphasis than there was in 2023. The project piece of it, frankly, that's the way the projects have been developed and kind of the work that's required to deliver those has led to that 2024 year of execution. But I wouldn't read more into that than just the scheduling of the projects.

所以我不會說 2024 年，與 2023 年有任何不同的重點。坦白說，專案部分就是專案的開發方式以及交付這些專案所需的工作類型，這些工作導致了 2024 年的執行。但除了專案的日程安排之外，我不會對此進行更多了解。

The next question is from Ryan Todd of Piper Sandler.

下一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 Ryan Todd。

Great. Maybe if I could ask 1 with the Denbury deal now closed. Can you talk about what we might see over the course of the next year or 2, particularly on the carbon capture business? Should we start to see announcements or notable signs of acceleration or efforts on that side?

偉大的。也許我可以問 1 登伯里的交易現在已經結束了。您能否談談我們在未來一兩年內可能會看到什麼，特別是在碳捕獲業務方面？我們是否應該開始看到這方面的公告或顯著的加速或努力跡象？

Yes, sure. I think the Denbury acquisition, just maybe a slight update on that first is we brought -- we closed it. We've been going through the integration process. And frankly, continue to be very pleased with what we see as the opportunities to integrate that with the work we're doing around our low carbon solutions business and carbon capture. So we see huge potential in terms of linking together all the opportunities to reduce emissions high concentration emissions along the U.S. Gulf Coast and along that pipeline system. So the team is doing a lot of work around developing the business there, a lot of work with potential customers around how we can help capture their missions and a lot of work around the operations and improving and growing the capacity of that pipeline.

是的，當然。我認為對登伯里的收購，也許只是我們帶來的一個小小的更新——我們完成了它。我們一直在經歷整合過程。坦白說，我們仍然對我們所看到的將其與我們圍繞低碳解決方案業務和碳捕獲所做的工作相結合的機會感到非常高興。因此，我們看到了將所有機會結合起來減少美國墨西哥灣沿岸和管道系統沿線高濃度排放的巨大潛力。因此，團隊正在圍繞開發業務做大量工作，與潛在客戶進行大量工作，圍繞如何幫助他們完成任務，以及圍繞營運以及改進和提高管道容量進行大量工作。

So all that's ongoing. My expectation is with time when we -- as we negotiate the opportunities with customers, we'll see more and more deals that bring emissions into that pipeline. That's certainly the plan. But I would tell you, we're very focused on building this business for the long term. If you think about what we're trying to do there with respect to addressing the risk of climate change and significantly reducing emissions for third parties. That's a business that doesn't exist today anywhere in the world.

所以這一切都還在進行中。我的期望是，隨著時間的推移，當我們與客戶談判機會時，我們將看到越來越多的交易將排放帶入該管道。這當然是計劃。但我想告訴你，我們非常注重長期發展這項業務。如果您考慮我們在解決氣候變遷風險和大幅減少第三方排放方面正在努力做的事情。這是當今世界任何地方都不存在的業務。

We're trying to make sure that as the first mover here that we established a very strong foundation for a business that we expect to be around for decades to come. And so my guidance to the team is, while we want to move quickly to reduce emissions and to get customers in to grow the volume of emissions we're reducing. We don't want to do that and sacrifice the value opportunity here. And so we're striking that balance. And I think what you'll see happen is we'll bring on customers and grow that business in a way that is value accretive and generates the returns that we need for the capital in that business.

我們正在努力確保，作為這裡的先驅，我們為我們期望在未來幾十年內持續存在的業務奠定了非常堅實的基礎。因此，我對團隊的指導是，我們希望迅速採取行動減少排放，並讓客戶參與增加我們正在減少的排放量。我們不想這樣做並犧牲這裡的價值機會。所以我們正在尋求這種平衡。我認為您將看到的情況是，我們將吸引客戶並以增值的方式發展業務，並產生我們該業務資本所需的回報。

We'll go next to Biraj Borkhataria with RBC.

接下來我們將與 RBC 一起前往 Biraj Borkhataria。

I had a question on gas realizations because they were just well ahead of at least what we had modeled using the kind of rules of FUM and the portfolio mix you put out before. So is it just a case of the trading contribution coming into that number? Or is there something else driving that? And then just 1 quick clarification on the underlying cash flow from operations. Again, that was ahead of where the earnings beat would have suggested it would have been. So is there anything one-off in nature in the CFFO number that we should be aware of for 4Q?

我有一個關於天然氣實現的問題，因為它們至少遠遠領先於我們使用 FUM 規則和您之前提出的投資組合進行建模的情況。那麼這只是交易貢獻達到這個數字的情況嗎？還是有其他因素在推動這一點？然後簡單澄清一下營運的基本現金流。這再次超出了盈利預期所暗示的水平。那麼，第四季度的 CFFO 數據中是否存在我們應該注意的一次性情況？

Yes, I'll let Kathy address the cash flow thing. And I'll just say from a gas realization standpoint, I don't think there's anything unique in terms of what was realized as we went through the quarter. Obviously, we've been growing our trading business, and that is going to manifest itself and our results, we're going to see that in our energy business. We're going to see that in our gas businesses. So that will continue to kind of -- and as volatility changes and opportunities in the market change, we'll see that kind of ebb and flow.

是的，我會讓凱西解決現金流問題。我只想說，從天然氣實現的角度來看，我認為本季的實現沒有任何獨特之處。顯然，我們一直在發展我們的貿易業務，這將體現在我們的能源業務中，我們將在我們的能源業務中看到這一點。我們將在天然氣業務中看到這一點。因此，這種情況將繼續下去——隨著市場波動性的變化和機會的變化，我們將看到這種潮起潮落。

But we expect to see with time a continued growth, structural improvement in the earnings with the work that we're doing in the trading space. And then I think quarter-on-quarter, we're going to see changes in mix as we move across the quarters, and so we'll see some variation there. But I don't -- I wouldn't put anything structurally other than the trading work that we've been doing into our realizations. And I'll hand it to Kathy for any other comments on that and the cash flow.

但我們預期隨著時間的推移，我們在交易領域所做的工作將帶來收益的持續成長和結構性改善。然後我認為，按季度計算，隨著季度的變化，我們將看到組合的變化，因此我們會看到一些變化。但我不會——除了我們一直在做的交易工作之外，我不會將任何結構性的東西納入我們的實現中。我會將其交給凱西，以徵求對此和現金流的任何其他評論。

Yes. And so I'll just speak specifically to cash flow from operations, and I think you're referencing the quarter, but I'm happy to talk about the quarter and the year. Our cash flow from operations, if you look at the quarter was $13.7 billion. If you exclude working capital, we would have been at $15.9 billion. Your mentioning a beat relative to the street. And so was there anything unusual going on?

是的。因此，我將專門談論營運現金流，我認為您指的是季度，但我很高興談論季度和年度。如果你看看這個季度，我們的營運現金流為 137 億美元。如果排除營運資金，我們的資產將達到 159 億美元。你提到了相對於街道的節拍。那麼有什麼不尋常的事情發生嗎？

As I look at people's models, I think sometimes they struggle to get depreciation and amortization, right? So that's the only thing I'm going to speak to. And when we enter the quarter where we're taking impairments then we get an increase kind of in terms of the noncash add back that flows through to cash flow from operations, and we obviously took an impairment in the quarter. So that's my best guess as to anything that might be nuanced otherwise, no, nothing particularly unusual going on.

當我觀察人們的模型時，我認為有時他們很難獲得折舊和攤銷，對吧？所以這是我要說的唯一事情。當我們進入計提減損的季度時，我們會發現流向營運現金流的非現金加回有所增加，而且我們顯然在該季度提列了減損。所以這是我對可能有細微差別的任何事情的最佳猜測，不，沒有什麼特別不尋常的事情發生。

The next question is from Sam Margolin with Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Sam Margolin。

I'd like to come back to CapEx, if possible, just because when the organization is performing so well as it is, there's -- it feels like there's always going to be opportunities to pull something forward or for people throughout the organization to kind of pursue their incentives and spend a bit more. And obviously, this is something that's been a topic in the industry for a long time.

如果可能的話，我想回到資本支出，因為當組織表現得如此出色時，感覺總是有機會推動某些事情向前發展，或者讓整個組織的人們都能夠做出貢獻。追求他們的激勵並多花一點錢。顯然，這是長期以來業界的一個話題。

And so particularly like as we look at your Permian results, it looks like you're '23 wells are still improving and everything is getting better. So I guess the question is, how do we think about this with respect to your planning when it feels like there's always going to constantly be opportunities for you to add kind of nickels and dimes to CapEx to do some quick hit high-return opportunities.

特別是當我們查看你們的二疊紀結果時，看起來你們的 23 口井仍在改善，一切都在變得更好。所以我想問題是，當你感覺總是有機會在資本支出中增加一些鎳幣和一毛錢來實現一些快速獲得高回報的機會時，我們如何考慮你的計劃。

Sam, I would -- I guess I'd take exception to the characterization that you've laid out there. It's not a function of the organization throwing additional nickels and dimes. We have pretty focused work programs to drive value here. And frankly, any discussion about spending additional money or making additional investments above and beyond what we plan for has to come to the management committee. And so we've got pretty tight controls around making sure we understand what's the value proposition, how unique is the value proposition.

薩姆，我想——我想我會對你在那裡描述的特徵表示異議。這並不是組織投入額外金錢的結果。我們有非常集中的工作計劃來推動這裡的價值。坦白說，任何關於花費額外資金或進行超出我們計劃的額外投資的討論都必須提交給管理委員會。因此，我們有非常嚴格的控制，以確保我們了解價值主張是什麼，價值主張有多獨特。

This is not something we just turn loose to the organization, and they start throwing on money as and when they see the opportunities to do that. So that's -- I think the characterization that it's hard to hang on to this. I would think I would point to the success that we've had to date where we've delivered what is a very accretive advantaged set of capital projects.

這不是我們隨便交給組織的事情，當他們看到有機會這樣做時，他們就開始投入資金。所以我認為很難堅持這一點。我想我會指出我們迄今為止所取得的成功，我們已經交付了一組非常增值的優勢資本項目。

I think our track record demonstrates that we are not about going after volume or going after marginal investment opportunities. These things have to be unique. The hurdle to get into the capital plan is pretty high. We have -- if you look across the industry, we have a clear understanding of cost of supply. We know where we sit on the cost of supply curve. We know as new projects or opportunities come forward, we look at those in terms of where they sit from a competitive standpoint. They have to have a structural advantage. They have to be robust and resilient to the bottom cycle conditions. If you lay all those conditions on it's a fairly tight funnel that people have to get their spend through and that doesn't change. That has not changed.

我認為我們的業績記錄顯示我們並不是追求數量或邊際投資機會。這些東西必須是獨一無二的。進入資本計畫的門檻相當高。如果你縱觀整個產業，我們對供應成本有清楚的了解。我們知道我們處於供應成本曲線的哪個位置。我們知道，隨著新項目或機會的出現，我們會從競爭的角度來看待它們。他們必須擁有結構性優勢。它們必須堅固耐用，能夠適應底部循環條件。如果你把所有這些條件都放在上面，那就是一個相當嚴格的管道，人們必須透過他們的支出，而這一點不會改變。這一點沒有改變。

And so I would just say, if we spend additional money, that money is going to deliver more than what was in the base plan, frankly, because it's on the margin. And I'll come back to at the end of the day, we're not judging ourselves by basing -- by hitting some number that we've -- or guidance that we've given from a year ago, we're judging ourselves on the ability to generate advantaged projects.

所以我只想說，如果我們花更多的錢，坦白說，這筆錢將比基本計劃中提供的更多，因為它是邊際的。我會在一天結束時回過頭來，我們不是根據——通過達到我們已經達到的某個數字——或我們一年前給出的指導來判斷自己的，我們是在判斷我們自己有能力產生優勢項目。

And again, I'd just point you to the results that we're delivering. To grow earnings on a compounded basis of twice what the nearest competitor has done or to grow cash flow from operations at twice what the next nearest competitor has done, doesn't come from investing in things that don't have the advantage that I just talked about. So I think our track record and the results that we're delivering demonstrate that the approach that we've taken here is working, and we're not going to vary off of that approach.

再說一遍，我只想向您指出我們正在交付的結果。要實現利潤的複合成長是最接近的競爭對手的兩倍，或者營運現金流的成長是最接近的競爭對手的兩倍，這並不是來自於對那些不具備我剛剛提到的優勢的事物進行投資。討論過。因此，我認為我們的記錄和我們正在提供的結果表明我們在這裡採取的方法是有效的，我們不會改變這種方法。

I'd just add 1 more comment, and that is we almost take for granted how many projects we've actually been able to pull forward and deliver either on time or ahead of time. And Payara is a great example of that. It was originally targeted to actually start up in 2024, and we were able to pull it forward. We were then able to pull forward incremental well drilling in order to get that FPSO up to operating nameplate capacity in an extraordinarily short amount of time.

我只想再補充一條評論，那就是我們幾乎理所當然地認為我們實際上已經能夠按時或提前推進並交付多少項目。帕亞拉就是一個很好的例子。它最初的目標是在 2024 年實際啟動，我們能夠將其推進。然後，我們能夠推進增量鑽井，以便在極短的時間內使 FPSO 達到銘牌上的運作容量。

I'd say this is 1 of the areas that really differentiates ExxonMobil from other companies are top, really top performance and execution and pulling projects forward is always a positive economic decision, right, because we're going to end up getting the benefit of the profits from those projects sooner or later. So very much a decision that's aligned with driving value, which is what sits behind all of our decision-making.

我想說，這是埃克森美孚與其他公司真正區別開來的領域之一，那就是頂級、真正頂級的績效和執行力，推動專案前進始終是一個積極的經濟決策，對吧，因為我們最終將受益於這些項目遲早會帶來利潤。因此，這個決定在很大程度上與驅動價值一致，這就是我們所有決策背後的原因。

The next question is from Jason Gabelman of TD Cowen.

下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Jason Gabelman。

I first wanted to get your take on the outlook for the chemicals market going forward. 2023 was a bit of a trough year, some of the industry participants are saying maybe we're getting close to turning the corner and that would be meaningful given all the underlying investments that Exxon has made in the Chemicals business. So just wondering your view on kind of for market improvement and seeing the full force of some of those investments come through?

我首先想了解您對化學品市場未來前景的看法。 2023 年是有點低谷的一年，一些行業參與者表示，也許我們即將迎來轉機，考慮到埃克森美孚在化學品業務方面進行的所有基礎投資，這將是有意義的。那麼，只是想知道您對市場改善的看法，並看到其中一些投資的全部力量得到體現？

Sure, Jason. Yes, I think I would concur with your characterization of 2023 as being kind of at the bottom of the trough. It was definitely a challenging year. Well below, I think, the bottoms of previous cycles. But I would say that, and we're quite proud of the fact that investments that we brought on were earnings in cash positive in the bottom of the cycle, which, frankly, is exactly in line with -- I was just talking about the strategy that we have and the criteria that we require or projects that they have to be robust to bottom-of-cycle conditions.

當然，傑森。是的，我想我會同意你對 2023 年的描述，認為 2023 年正處於低谷底部。這絕對是充滿挑戰的一年。我認為，遠低於之前週期的底部。但我想說的是，我們感到非常自豪的是，我們進行的投資在周期底部實現了現金正收益，坦率地說，這完全符合——我剛才談到的我們擁有的戰略以及我們要求的標準或項目，它們必須對週期底部的條件保持穩健。

And in the Chemical business, we definitely demonstrated that the projects -- the new projects that we've bought on -- brought on that had some run time in them, our earnings and cash positive even in these very challenging conditions. So think like many others in the chemical industry, we'd like to see us come out of the trough. And when we do, our expectation is the capital that we've brought on, we'll obviously be performing even better with better margins.

在化學業務中，我們明確地證明了這些項目——我們購買的新項目——帶來了一些運行時間，即使在這些非常具有挑戰性的條件下，我們的盈利和現金也是積極的。因此，像化學工業的許多其他人一樣，我們希望看到我們走出低谷。當我們這樣做時，我們的期望是我們帶來的資本，我們顯然會表現得更好，利潤率更高。

I would say as well, with respect to turning points, we have seen some -- we certainly saw in the fourth quarter some slight improvements. There's still a lot of capacity that's come on out there. We're still seeing a reasonably good growth, particularly for ExxonMobil in our performance product category, we have set some pretty aggressive targets to grow our high-performance, high-value chemical products, and we're seeing that happen.

我還要說，關於轉折點，我們已經看到了一些——我們當然在第四季度看到了一些細微的改進。那裡仍然有很多容量。我們仍然看到相當好的成長，特別是對於埃克森美孚在我們的高性能產品類別中，我們設定了一些相當積極的目標來發展我們的高性能、高價值化學產品，我們正在看到這種情況的發生。

So we feel really good about the pipeline and the development of our sales. And then the question is, when does the broader industry turn and you start to see margins improve. My expectation is 2024 might be marginally better than 2023, but we're not expecting significant change in the vector, but more of a gradual 1 as we work our way through all the supply that's come on in the recent years and some of the supply that will come on in 2024 and 2025.

因此，我們對通路和銷售發展感到非常滿意。那麼問題是，更廣泛的行業什麼時候會轉變，你開始看到利潤率提高。我的預期是 2024 年可能會比 2023 年稍微好一點，但我們預計向量不會發生重大變化，而是隨著我們努力解決近年來出現的所有供應和部分供應，更多的是漸進的 1這將在2024 年和2025 年實現。

So I think it will be a gradual recovery, but frankly, 1 that we feel very comfortable with based on the advantages that we have with our capacity, the advantages that we have with our footprint and the flexibility we have to optimize on feed and products. So we're positioned for this kind of market. I think the results demonstrate that, and we're going to ride it and see where the market goes.

因此，我認為這將是一個逐步的復甦，但坦白說，1 基於我們的產能優勢、我們的足跡優勢以及我們必須優化飼料和產品的靈活性，我們對此感到非常滿意。所以我們就是針對這樣的市場進行定位的。我認為結果證明了這一點，我們將順勢而為，看看市場走向何方。

The next question is from Paul Cheng of Scotiabank.

下一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Paul Cheng。

Darren and Kathryn, I want to ask about the trading operation. I think it seems like it's a very good trading year for you and a lot of your peers in Europe. Can you help us to maybe quantify that what is the trading benefit for the year, whether in terms of millions of dollars in terms of improvement in the return? And what did that -- do you think that is repeatable. And after more than the last 2 or 3 years, what have you learned, is there anything that you would do differently going forward in your trading operation and whether you see the first quarter optimization opportunity set similar to what you're seeing in the fourth quarter? Or is it getting worse or getting better?

達倫和凱瑟琳，我想問一下交易操作的狀況。我認為對於您和您的許多歐洲同行來說，今年似乎是一個非常好的交易年。您能否幫助我們量化今年的交易收益是多少，是否以數百萬美元的回報改善來衡量？那是做什麼的——你認為這是可以重複的嗎？ And after more than the last 2 or 3 years, what have you learned, is there anything that you would do differently going forward in your trading operation and whether you see the first quarter optimization opportunity set similar to what you're seeing in the fourth四分之一?還是變得更糟或變得更好？

Yes. Thank you, Paul. I'll give you a perspective and then let Kathy build on that. And maybe just to go back in time a little bit, we talked about the trading opportunity within ExxonMobil for quite some time. I think there is some skepticism out there as to whether we could actually build that business. But the foundation of our trading operations is a function of the global footprint that we have, the span of the businesses that we have, the integrated nature of the businesses that we have that we felt like gave us a physical footprint and presence in markets all around the world to effectively trade on and to build a business from that footprint and obviously, the perspectives and insights that come with operating that footprint in those mix of businesses.

是的。謝謝你，保羅。我會給你一個觀點，然後讓凱西在此基礎上進一步發展。也許只是回顧過去，我們討論了埃克森美孚內部的交易機會相當長一段時間。我認為人們對我們是否能夠真正建立這項業務持懷疑態度。但我們貿易業務的基礎是我們所擁有的全球足跡、我們所擁有的業務的跨度、我們所擁有的業務的綜合性質的函數，我們認為這給了我們在市場上的實際足跡和存在感。在世界各地有效地進行貿易並從該足跡中建立業務，顯然，在這些業務組合中運營該足跡所帶來的觀點和見解。

And that I would say as we've grown our trading capability on that premise, optimizing our assets, building on our assets that it has proven to be very effective at that strategy is bearing out and that we see continued opportunity to grow that. And I think as we've talked about here, we were going to take a very measured approach, and we weren't in a hurry, we weren't going to rush through this. We're going to make sure that what we do is structurally sound that we're not -- and that we're managing the risk as well as capturing the rewards, and we've been doing that.

我想說的是，隨著我們在此前提下提高了我們的交易能力，優化了我們的資產，建立了我們的資產，事實證明，該策略非常有效，並且我們看到了持續增長的機會。我認為正如我們在這裡討論的那樣，我們將採取一種非常謹慎的方法，我們並不著急，我們不會倉促完成這件事。我們將確保我們所做的事情在結構上是健全的，而我們並非如此——並且我們在管理風險的同時獲得回報，我們一直在這樣做。

So 2023, I think, was off of the highs we saw in 2022 because of where the market's at, but still reflected, I think, very solid contributions based on the capabilities of the organization that we've been building, and we've got more to do there. My expectation is that you will see improved trading results embedded in our businesses because frankly, those -- that trading organization's objective is to enhance the value of the business is we're not -- we don't want a trading organization that's competing against the base business. We want a trading organization that's working with the base business to optimize value for the corporation, and they're doing that and those earnings accrue to the businesses that they're trading on behalf of.

因此，我認為2023 年，由於市場所處的位置，我們在2022 年看到的高點有所下降，但我認為，基於我們一直在建立的組織的能力，仍然反映出非常堅實的貢獻，而且我們已經那裡還有更多事要做。我的期望是，您會看到我們業務中的交易結果得到改善，因為坦白說，那些——貿易組織的目標是提高業務價值，但我們不是——我們不希望有一個與競爭對手競爭的貿易組織基礎業務。我們想要一個與基礎業務合作以優化公司價值的貿易組織，他們正在這樣做，而這些收入將歸於他們所代表的企業。

But I'm very pleased with what we saw in 2023. Obviously, the market and volatility is going to have a function -- will function heavily or play a heavy function year-on-year in terms of what we actually deliver. But structurally, we've got a really sound base that we're growing, and I think we're going to continue to see improvement in that space. Kathy, anything to add?

但我對 2023 年所看到的情況感到非常滿意。顯然，市場和波動性將發揮作用——就我們實際交付的成果而言，將發揮重要作用或同比發揮重要作用。但從結構上講，我們已經擁有了一個正在發展的非常堅實的基礎，而且我認為我們將繼續看到該領域的改進。凱西，有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. The only other thing that I'd add to that is if you looked at our trading results on a year-on-year basis. Now in upstream, we were lapping kind of a big mark-to-market gain in 2022, right? So that impacted our results. And I've mentioned time and time again that quarterly results, especially as a result of that movement in mark-to-market will kind of ebb and flow and sometimes we get price timing nuances in the quarter. As we came to the end of this year, those price timing nuances that we saw in the third quarter had fully unwound by the fourth quarter. So I think we start the year overall in a pretty good place.

是的。我要補充的唯一另一件事是，如果您按年查看我們的交易結果。現在在上游，我們在 2022 年取得了巨大的按市值計算的收益，對嗎？這影響了我們的結果。我一次又一次提到季度業績，特別是因為以市價計價的變動會有所起伏，有時我們會在本季度得到價格時機的細微差別。隨著今年年底的臨近，我們在第三季度看到的價格時機的細微差別在第四季度已完全消除。所以我認為我們今年總體上處於一個非常好的位置。

Kathryn, is there a number you can share in terms of what's the contribution for trading for the year?

凱瑟琳，您能分享一下今年交易貢獻的數字嗎？

No, we don't disclose that. And I think actually, all our peers have a pretty high sensitivity to just -- competitive sensitivity in terms of disclosing that number. But I think, Darren put overall things into a good context, which is last year was record earnings for the company, and it was record trading earnings. And so we had a strong result this year in trading, but it was down a bit on a year-over-year basis. And then I mentioned specifically in upstream that we were lapping favorability in terms of mark-to-market favorable gain in 2022.

不，我們不會透露這一點。我認為實際上，我們所有的同行都對披露這個數字的競爭敏感度非常高。但我認為，達倫把整體情況放在了一個良好的背景下，去年公司的獲利創紀錄，交易收益也創紀錄。因此，我們今年的交易成績不錯，但比去年同期略有下降。然後我在上游特別提到，我們在 2022 年按市值計算的有利收益方面表現出色。

The next question is from Neal Dingmann of Truist.

下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Neal Dingmann。

My question is on the Permian, specifically, your continued record production to play. It appears, at least from what I'm seeing going forward, your pro forma Permian activities are likely to continue trending higher. And I'm just wondering maybe, Darren, how you'd respond to maybe the critics who suggest all U.S. companies should instead maintain flat production in order to, I guess, a tease, Saudi and the others maybe more so.

我的問題是關於二疊紀，特別是關於你們繼續播放的唱片製作。看來，至少從我所看到的未來​​來看，預計二疊紀活動可能會繼續走高。達倫，我只是想知道，也許你會如何回應那些建議所有美國公司應該保持產量持平的批評者，我想，沙烏地阿拉伯和其他國家可能更是如此。

Yes, thanks for the question. No, I would just tell you, there's -- we're not going to run the business to a piece, an external member out there. I think the way we look at it is, can we find -- it comes back to every dollar that we choose to invest and spend -- do we see a return? Are we convinced that we're effectively spending that money, and we're spending it efficiently. That's the criteria that we're using. That's the plans that we've built. We expect to grow our volumes in 2024 to about 650 KBD. And then we're going to continue that growth through to the targets that we've laid out in 2027 of about 1 million barrels a day, close to 1 million barrels a day. So that's the plan that we have. We're executing to that plan. And as we've said before, year-on-year, it's not straight ratable growth. It will be lumpy growth, but over time, it will average about 13%.

是的，謝謝你的提問。不，我只是告訴你，我們不會讓外部成員來全面經營業務。我認為我們看待這個問題的方式是，我們能否找到——我們選擇投資和支出的每一美元——我們能看到回報嗎？我們是否確信我們正在有效地花這筆錢，並且我們正在有效地花它。這就是我們正在使用的標準。這就是我們所製定的計劃。我們預計 2024 年產量將增加至約 650 KBD。然後我們將繼續這種增長，直至 2027 年制定的每天約 100 萬桶、接近 100 萬桶的目標。這就是我們的計劃。我們正在執行該計劃。正如我們之前所說，同比增長並不是直接的可比增長。這將是一個起伏不定的成長，但隨著時間的推移，平均成長率將達到 13% 左右。

And we haven't seen anything to date that would say that's going to change, obviously, as we bring Pioneer in into the fold, we'll bring their production in and look to kind of optimize across that portfolio that both companies have. And as we've said before, that once we close on that, we'll come back out and have a spotlight where we share what the implications of bringing these 2 companies together and the impact on our Permian production.

到目前為止，我們還沒有看到任何事情表明這種情況會發生變化，顯然，當我們將先鋒納入其中時，我們將引入他們的生產，並尋求對兩家公司擁有的產品組合進行優化。正如我們之前所說，一旦我們結束了這一點，我們就會回來並成為焦點，我們將分享這兩家公司合併的影響以及對我們二疊紀生產的影響。

The next question is from Lucas Herrmann of BNP Paribas.

下一個問題來自法國巴黎銀行的盧卡斯·赫爾曼。

Yes. And I have the opportunity to talk with you. Following on from the Permian question, actually, Darren, when you were asked about the pace of growth in 2024 in the Permian, I think at the time of the capital budget release, one of the comments you made was a desire to build, drilled uncompleted wells. And I just wondered whether you could talk a little bit around the concept of building inventory, why the need, why put more wells into inventory. Is it very simply adding flexibility to the business in order to maintain the production profile going forward? Or what's the thinking?

是的。我有機會和你談談。繼二疊紀問題之後，實際上，達倫，當您被問及 2024 年二疊紀的增長速度時，我認為在資本預算發佈時，您發表的評論之一是渴望建設、鑽探未完井。我只是想知道你是否可以談談建立庫存的概念，為什麼需要，為什麼要把更多的油井納入庫存。為了維持未來的生產狀況，是否只是單純地增加業務彈性？或者有什麼想法？

Sure. I'm happy to do that. And you remember correctly, we did say we were going to build some more DUCs. And I would think about that and you use the right word inventory, like any inventory that we have in the business, which is if you're optimizing what is a pretty complex system of drilling and fracking and managing simultaneous ops and how you schedule all that and how it interfaces with each other and the planning piece of it. You want to have a little bit of inventory that allows you to continue at a pace and manage around some of the complexities and potential conflicts that you have in developing the acreage.

當然。我很高興這樣做。你沒記錯的話，我們確實說過我們將建造更多的 DUC。我會考慮這一點，你使用正確的庫存一詞，就像我們在業務中擁有的任何庫存一樣，也就是說，如果你正在優化一個相當複雜的鑽井和壓裂系統，管理同步操作以及如何安排所有操作以及它如何相互互動以及它的規劃部分。您希望擁有一點庫存，以便您能夠繼續保持一定的節奏並管理開發區域時遇到的一些複雜性和潛在衝突。

And you'll recall that what we are doing in the Permian and the Delaware, in particular, is this manufacturing approach where we're laying out the spines and then executing like a manufacturing organization down that. And so it is a very paste and continuum of act of work and production. And so there are constraints that you hit as you're doing that consistently across all that acreage and having some DUCs available to us allows us to when we run into an issue with what we're doing in the immediate vicinity, we have some other opportunities to continue the production. So it's -- we use it like any other inventory.

你會記得，我們​​在二疊紀和特拉華州所做的，特別是這種製造方法，我們佈置脊柱，然後像製造組織一樣執行。因此，這是一個非常連續的工作和生產行為。因此，當您在所有面積上持續這樣做時，會遇到一些限制，並且擁有一些可用的 DUC 使我們能夠在我們在附近所做的事情遇到問題時，我們還有其他一些繼續生產的機會。所以我們像使用其他庫存一樣使用它。

Obviously, the trick is to get that inventory level right. You don't want a bunch of capital sitting there that isn't earning its return. This, we think we've got to an optimized level that allows us to keep a very efficient I'd say, manufacturing process running versus a focus on production and production process.

顯然，關鍵是要保持正確的庫存水準。你不希望大量資本坐在那裡卻無法獲得回報。我們認為我們已經達到了一個最佳化水平，可以讓我們保持非常有效率的製造流程運行，而不是專注於生產和生產流程。

We have time for 1 more question. Our final question will be from Jeoffrey Lambujon from Tudor, Pickering & Company.

我們還有時間回答 1 個問題。我們的最後一個問題將來自 Tudor, Pickering & Company 的 Jeoffrey Lambujon。

Going back to carbon capture. I was interested in the comment earlier on about the pilot plan and the potential to lower the cost of direct air capture. I imagine there are limitations on what you can share, just given as you mentioned the proprietary nature of the tech here. But with other key players in the energy space, particularly on the service side, exploring new technologies for this. I just thought it would be great to get any commentary you can speak to on key learnings so far from this pilot plant and the magnitude of potential savings, where you see the most opportunity to improve the cost structure and what kind of capital investment that I guess the Low Carbon Solutions business overall might evolve over the near term?

回到碳捕獲。我對之前有關試點計劃以及降低直接空氣捕獲成本的潛力的評論很感興趣。我想你可以分享的內容是有限的，就像你在這裡提到的技術的專有性質一樣。但與能源領域的其他主要參與者，特別是在服務方面，正在為此探索新技術。我只是認為，如果您能夠就迄今為止從該試點工廠獲得的主要經驗和潛在節省的規模獲得任何評論，您將看到改善成本結構的最大機會以及我需要進行什麼樣的資本投資，這將是一件很棒的事。你猜低碳解決方案業務在短期內可能會整體發展嗎？

Yes, sure. I think you rightly so pointed out to proprietary nature. So I will limit some of the details of what we're talking about there. But maybe just from a broader context standpoint, we're convinced that carbon capture is going to play a really important role in helping society meet its ambitions to get to net zero or to make certainly significant reductions in carbon emissions. We think it makes a lot of sense to -- rather than tear up and throw away the existing infrastructure and the industries that we have in place that are intensive energy users that we find a way to deal with the problem, which is the emissions.

是的，當然。我認為您正確地指出了專有性質。因此，我將限制我們正在討論的一些細節。但也許從更廣泛的角度來看，我們相信碳捕獲將在幫助社會實現淨零排放或顯著減少碳排放的目標方面發揮非常重要的作用。我們認為，我們找到一種方法來解決排放問題，而不是拆除和丟棄現有的能源密集基礎設施和產業，這是很有意義的。

And so I think carbon capture plays a role there. The technology that we have to date, frankly, wasn't developed for this application. It has a use and can be deployed today for high concentration streams. But as you move down the emissions profile and get to lower and lower concentrations of CO2 streams, the existing technologies challenge. And so it becomes very expensive for every ton of carbon that you reduce. And so the challenge is use the existing technology today for these high concentrations streams where you can make the economics work, but then find a lower cost method to deploy for these less concentrated streams that still make it economic.

所以我認為碳捕獲在那裡發揮了作用。坦白說，我們迄今為止所擁有的技術並不是針對此應用程式開發的。它有用途，現在可以部署用於高濃度流。但當排放量下降並達到越來越低的二氧化碳流濃度時，現有技術面臨挑戰。因此，每減少一噸碳，其成本就變得非常昂貴。因此，面臨的挑戰是，將現有技術用於這些高濃度流，既可以實現經濟性，又可以找到一種成本較低的方法來部署這些濃度較低的流，同時仍具有經濟性。

So that's been the challenge that we're working on, recognizing that the existing technology was designed for a different purpose. We need a new technology here, and we're trying to take advantage of material science development, things that have happened with materials, with now structures. There's a lot of advances in technology since the existing technology was developed. And so there's a question of how can we better capture CO2 by using advances in the existing technology. We think we've come up with an opportunity to potentially do that, but it's early days like all these technology developments.

這就是我們正在努力解決的挑戰，並認識到現有技術是為不同的目的而設計的。我們在這裡需要一項新技術，我們正在努力利用材料科學的發展，以及材料和現在的結構所發生的事情。自從現有技術開發以來，技術已經取得了許多進步。因此，存在一個問題：我們如何利用現有技術的進步來更好地捕捉二氧化碳。我們認為我們已經找到了實現這一目標的機會，但與所有這些技術發展一樣，現在還處於早期階段。

And so we built a pilot plant and we'll see and test out some of these new capabilities and test the cost effectiveness of capture. I would say the first -- our first step, we're looking to get about a cost reduction of about half but I would tell you that's still not enough. But if we can see a significant step change in that cost or path to that cost reduction, that gives us hope that we can then continue to advance that and get it back, get it down to something that is more competitive and then economic to deploy across the world. And if we can crack that, as I've said many times before, the holy grail in addressing emissions is direct air capture.

因此，我們建立了一個試點工廠，我們將觀察和測試其中一些新功能，並測試捕獲的成本效益。我想說的是，我們的第一步，我們希望將成本降低大約一半，但我會告訴你這還不夠。但是，如果我們能夠看到成本或降低成本的途徑發生重大變化，那就給我們帶來希望，我們可以繼續推進這一目標並將其恢復，將其降低到更具競爭力且部署起來更經濟的東西世界各地。如果我們能解決這個問題，正如我之前多次說過的那樣，解決排放問題的聖杯就是直接空氣捕獲。

And the challenge for the industry is to find ways to do that more cost effectively. And frankly, we're at the very early stages of the technology and the technology development. So whether we're successful or somebody else is successful, I feel like this is an area worth exploring. And I think our technology companies have got some great ideas. We know how to scale things, know how to optimize, not only materials but processes and bringing all that together to see if we can make a step change here is the objective. And it's too early to judge how successful we'll be, but I certainly feel like we've got the capabilities and should be working hard to try to make advance this year.

該行業面臨的挑戰是找到更具成本效益的方法。坦白說，我們正處於技術和技術開發的早期階段。所以無論我們成功或其他人成功，我覺得這是一個值得探索的領域。我認為我們的科技公司有一些很棒的想法。我們知道如何擴展事物，知道如何優化，不僅是材料，還有流程，並將所有這些結合在一起，看看我們是否可以在這裡做出一步改變，這是我們的目標。現在判斷我們會取得多大成功還為時過早，但我確實覺得我們有能力，並且應該努力努力，爭取今年取得進步。

Thanks, everybody, for joining our call today and for the questions you asked. We'll post a transcript of the Q&A session on our investor website later this week or early next week. Have a nice weekend, everybody. And with that, we'll turn it back to the operator to conclude our call.

感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議並提出問題。我們將在本週晚些時候或下週初在我們的投資者網站上發布問答環節的文字記錄。祝大家週末愉快。這樣，我們會將其退還給接線員以結束我們的通話。

This concludes today's call. We thank everyone again for their participation.

今天的電話會議到此結束。我們再次感謝大家的參與。