埃克森美孚 (XOM) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to ExxonMobil's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. We appreciate you joining the call today. I'm Marina Matselinskaya, Director of Investor Relations. I'm joined by Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO; and Kathy Mikells, Senior Vice President and CFO.

大家早安。歡迎參加埃克森美孚 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。我們感謝您今天加入電話會議。我是投資者關係總監瑪麗娜·馬瑟林斯卡婭 (Marina Matselinskaya)。董事長兼執行長 Darren Woods 也出席了會議；以及資深副總裁兼財務長凱西‧米克爾斯 (Kathy Mikells)。

This presentation and prerecorded remarks are available on the Investors section of our website. They are meant to accompany the first quarter earnings news release, which is posted in the same location.

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。它們旨在與發佈在同一位置的第一季收益新聞稿一起發布。

During today's presentation, we'll make forward-looking comments, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please read our cautionary statement on Slide 2. 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, which are posted on the website.

在今天的演講中，我們將做出前瞻性評論，這些評論有風險和不確定性。請閱讀我們在投影片 2 上的警告聲明。請注意，我們也在網站上發布的收益幻燈片末尾提供了補充資訊。

And now please turn to Slide 3 for Darren's remarks.

現在請翻到投影片 3，了解 Darren 的演講。

Good morning, and thanks for joining us. Our strategy and the way our people are executing created significant value in the first quarter. We delivered $8.2 billion of earnings and $14.7 billion of cash flow. Even more important, we continue to strengthen the underlying earnings power of the company, which both Kathy and I will discuss in more detail on today's call.

早安，感謝您加入我們。我們的策略和員工的執行方式在第一季創造了巨大的價值。我們實現了 82 億美元的利潤和 147 億美元的現金流。更重要的是，我們繼續增強公司的潛在獲利能力，凱西和我將在今天的電話會議上更詳細地討論這一點。

An important driver of this improved earnings power is our ongoing focus on structural cost savings, which reached $10.1 billion in the quarter versus 2019, furthering our progress towards our goal of $15 billion by 2027. CapEx in the quarter was $5.8 billion, as we continue to invest in advantaged growth projects that will drive future earnings and cash flow. At the same time, we further strengthened our balance sheet, bringing our net debt-to-capital down to 3%, the lowest in more than a decade.

獲利能力提高的一個重要驅動因素是我們持續關注結構性成本節約，與2019 年相比，本季達到了101 億美元，進一步推動我們邁向2027 年150 億美元的目標。 58 億美元，我們繼續投資於將推動未來收益和現金流的優勢成長項目。同時，我們進一步強化了資產負債表，將淨債務資本比率降至 3%，為十多年來的最低水準。

To reward our shareholders, we distributed $6.8 billion in cash, including $3.8 billion in dividends. For all of 2023, ExxonMobil was the third largest total dividend payer in the S&P 500. Only Microsoft and Apple paid more. We also repurchased about $3 billion of shares. Buybacks were temporarily paused until the shareholders of Pioneer voted on the combination of our companies, which they approved on February 7. Post close, we expect buybacks to ramp up to a pace of $20 billion a year.

為了回報股東，我們分配了 68 億美元現金，其中包括 38 億美元股利。 2023 年全年，埃克森美孚是標準普爾 500 指數成分股中第三大股息支付者。我們也回購了約 30 億美元的股票。回購暫時暫停，直到 Pioneer 股東對我們公司的合併進行投票，並於 2 月 7 日批准合併。

Our ongoing success this quarter reflects the intense focus we have had for the past 7 years on improving every aspect of our business. We developed a strategy tied more directly to our core competitive advantages. We reorganized the company to create a group of centralized organizations that fully utilize the significant synergies between our businesses. We set and met ambitious plans to improve the fundamental earnings power of the company. And we established a track record of excellence in execution that is second to none.

我們本季持續的成功反映了我們在過去 7 年裡對改善業務各個方面的高度關注。我們制定了一項與我們的核心競爭優勢更直接相關的策略。我們對公司進行了重組，創建了一組集中的組織，充分利用了我們業務之間的顯著協同效應。我們制定並實現了雄心勃勃的計劃，以提高公司的基本盈利能力。我們在執行方面建立了首屈一指的卓越記錄。

All of this has been critical to laying the foundation for further success, both in the current plan period through 2027 and over a much longer growth horizon, which I will discuss in a few minutes. As covered in the corporate plan update in early December, we expect to generate an additional $12 billion in earnings potential from 2023 to 2027 on a constant price and margin basis. That represents a compounded annual earnings growth rate over the plan period of greater than 10%. The drivers of this additional value are clear. Higher volumes from advantaged assets, mix improvements from the shift to higher-value products and further structural cost reductions.

所有這些對於為進一步成功奠定基礎至關重要，無論是在當前計劃期內（截至 2027 年）還是在更長的增長期內（我將在幾分鐘內討論）。正如 12 月初的公司計畫更新所述，我們預計從 2023 年到 2027 年，在固定價格和利潤率的基礎上，將產生額外 120 億美元的獲利潛力。這意味著計劃期內的複合年盈利增長率超過 10%。這種附加價值的驅動因素是顯而易見的。優勢資產帶來的銷售增加、向高價值產品轉型帶來的組合改進以及結構性成本的進一步降低。

Within Product Solutions, for example, we expect to start up multiple strategic projects between now and the end of 2025, which will drive significant earnings growth through mix improvements. Consider our Singapore Resid Upgrade Project where our industry first technology application will allow us to transform bottom-of-the-barrel molecules into higher value base stocks significantly lifting margins. Our focus on shareholder value extends beyond the work we're doing to drive profitable growth.

例如，在產品解決方案中，我們預計從現在到 2025 年底啟動多個策略項目，這將透過組合改進推動獲利顯著成長。考慮一下我們的新加坡渣油升級項目，我們行業首創的技術應用將使我們能夠將桶底分子轉化為更高價值的基礎油，從而顯著提高利潤。我們對股東價值的關注超出了我們為推動獲利成長所做的工作。

We're also working hard to ensure that the value we've created is not diminished through third-party actions. I'd like to take a moment to highlight a few that occurred in the quarter that attracted some media attention. In Guyana, as the operator of the world's premier deepwater development, we have created tremendous value. We believe the proposed Chevron-Hess transaction and ignoring preemption rights triggered by a change of control, diminishes an element of value due ExxonMobil.

我們也努力確保我們創造的價值不會因第三方行為而減少。我想花點時間重點介紹本季發生的一些引起媒體關注的事件。在圭亞那，作為世界首屈一指的深水開發的營運商，我們創造了巨大的價值。我們認為，擬議的雪佛龍-赫斯交易以及忽略控制權變更引發的優先購買權，會減少埃克森美孚應得的價值要素。

We believe it's critical to defend these rights and fully preserve the value we've created. The arbitration we filed in the quarter seeks to confirm our rights and establish the value of the transaction places on the Guyana asset. This will allow us to fully evaluate options to maximize the value to ExxonMobil and our shareholders. Any responsible management team would do the same.

我們認為，捍衛這些權利並充分保留我們創造的價值至關重要。我們在本季提起的仲裁旨在確認我們的權利並確定圭亞那資產的交易價值。這將使我們能夠充分評估各種方案，以最大限度地提高埃克森美孚和股東的價值。任何負責任的管理團隊都會這麼做。

In the quarter, we also initiated litigation against 2 special interest activists masquerading as investors. These activists borrowed or group funded a nominal amount of shares to resubmit a proposal that in previous years had little shareholder support, which is a violation of the SEC's rules. These activists have publicly admitted they are working to stop production of oil and natural gas and have no interest in earning a financial return.

本季度，我們也對兩名冒充投資者的特殊利益活動人士提起訴訟。這些激進分子借入或集體資助了名義數量的股票，以重新提交前幾年幾乎沒有股東支持的提案，這違反了 SEC 的規則。這些活動人士公開承認他們正在努力停止石油和天然氣的生產，並且沒有興趣獲得經濟回報。

They hijack an important process that gives small shareholders a voice and are undermining the integrity of the system with an agenda that is not in the best interest of our investors or society, which is why we are actively opposing their efforts. Finally, although it attracted less attention, we successfully defended the Pioneer merger against a frivolous lawsuit designed to extract value from ExxonMobil shareholders.

他們劫持了一個賦予小股東發言權的重要流程，並以不符合我們投資者或社會最佳利益的議程破壞了系統的完整性，這就是我們積極反對他們的努力的原因。最後，雖然它引起的關注較少，但我們成功地為先鋒公司的合併辯護，使其免於一場旨在從埃克森美孚股東那裡榨取價值的無聊訴訟。

A plaintiff's lawyer who sued to block the deal has repeatedly abused a legitimate legal process to extort money from companies to have his lawsuit withdrawn. We refused to pay this "merger tax". The court ruled in our favor, finding that filing a lawsuit solely to gain leverage in the settlement negotiation is an improper purpose. Even more important, the court sanctioned the lawyer for operating in bad faith in order him to pay ExxonMobil's legal fees, which will hopefully discourage similar frivolous lawsuits in the future. While results of these efforts may not show up in any discrete quarterly result, they underpin long-term value and demonstrate our strong commitment to doing what's right.

一名原告律師提起訴訟以阻止該交易，他多次濫用合法的法律程序向公司勒索金錢，以撤回訴訟。我們拒絕繳納這筆「合併稅」。法院做出了對我們有利的裁決，認為僅僅為了在和解談判中獲得籌碼而提起訴訟是不正當目的。更重要的是，法院制裁了該律師的惡意行為，以便他支付埃克森美孚的律師費，這有望阻止未來類似的無聊訴訟。雖然這些努力的結果可能不會體現在任何獨立的季度業績中，但它們支撐著長期價值，並表明我們對做正確事情的堅定承諾。

Turning to another area of strong commitment that shows up every quarter, is our focus on functional excellence, a core competitive advantage and a key pillar of our strategy. In Guyana, it's delivering unprecedented success and value creation, reflected in the startup of the Prosperity FPSO last November, ahead of schedule and below cost. As with our 2 previous developments, this cost and schedule performance was industry-leading. The excellence in execution demonstrated in delivering a project continued into its operation.

轉向每個季度都會出現的另一個堅定承諾領域，那就是我們對卓越功能的關注，這是我們的核心競爭優勢和我們策略的關鍵支柱。在圭亞那，它取得了前所未有的成功並創造了價值，這體現在去年 11 月 Prosperity FPSO 的啟動，比計劃提前且低於成本。與我們之前的兩項開發一樣，這種成本和進度性能處於行業領先。在專案交付過程中所展現的卓越執行力一直延續到專案營運中。

With Prosperity, we reached nameplate capacity of 220,000 barrels a day in January, just 2 months after startup and well ahead of the industry average of 15 months. Once our projects are up and running, we continually look for debottlenecking opportunities to increase production. All 3 FPSOs are now producing above their funding basis, helping to drive record gross production in the first quarter, all with an emissions intensity amongst the lowest in our upstream portfolio.

借助 Prosperity，我們在 1 月就達到了每天 22 萬桶的額定產能，即啟動後僅 2 個月，遠遠領先於 15 個月的行業平均水平。一旦我們的專案啟動並運行，我們就會不斷尋找消除瓶頸的機會來增加產量。目前，所有 3 座 FPSO 的產量均高於其融資基礎，有助於推動第一季的總產量創歷史新高，而且所有 FPSO 的排放強度都是我們上游投資組合中最低的。

Looking ahead, we're pleased that our sixth project, Whiptail, has now reached FID with a planned start-up by year-end 2027. It's remarkable to think that within 8 years of first oil, Guyana will have a production capacity of more than 1.3 million barrels per day. Our work in Guyana is delivering tangible benefits for the Guyanese people. The development of Guyana's energy economy drove the highest real GDP growth in the world in 2022. The oil and gas industry is directly supporting thousands of local suppliers and Guyanese workers.

展望未來，我們很高興我們的第六個項目 Whiptail 現已達到最終投資決定，計劃於 2027 年底啟動。每天超過130 萬桶。我們在圭亞那的工作正在為圭亞那人民帶來實質的利益。圭亞那能源經濟的發展推動了2022年全球最高的實際GDP成長。

And our gas-to-energy project will feed a new government-owned power plant with the potential to significantly increase reliability and reduce both the cost of electricity and its greenhouse gas emissions. As I said at CERAWeek last month, I believe Guyana will go down as one of the most successful deep water developments in the history of the industry.

我們的天然氣發電計畫將為一座新的政府擁有的發電廠提供電力，該發電廠預計將顯著提高可靠性並降低電力成本及其溫室氣體排放。正如我上個月在 CERAWeek 上所說，我相信圭亞那將成為該行業歷史上最成功的深水開發之一。

The final point I'd like to make about our upstream business this morning involves our Canada operations. With the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion scheduled to come online May 1, our production from Kearl will have better access to markets in Asia and the U.S. West Coast, which we expect will improve margins and drive higher earnings in future quarters.

今天早上我想就我們的上游業務提出的最後一點涉及我們的加拿大業務。隨著跨山管道擴建計劃於 5 月 1 日上線，我們從 Kearl 生產的產品將能夠更好地進入亞洲和美國西海岸市場，我們預計這將提高利潤率並推動未來幾個季度更高的收益。

Product Solutions also demonstrated excellence in execution this quarter. Overall, we generated record first quarter refining throughput during a period of peak turnaround activity. Thanks to the outstanding work of our team, we maintained strong turnaround cost and schedule performance. The structural improvements made in turnarounds would not have been possible with our decision to create centralized organizations that are now critical elements of our success. We've been able to take our best thinking and experience from across the corporation and apply it to some of our biggest challenges like these very large maintenance events.

產品解決方案本季也展現了卓越的執行力。總體而言，我們在周轉活動高峰期間創造了創紀錄的第一季煉油吞吐量。由於我們團隊的出色工作，我們保持了強勁的周轉成本和進度績效。如果我們決定創建集中式組織，那麼在扭虧為盈中實現的結構性改進是不可能的，而集中式組織現在是我們成功的關鍵要素。我們已經能夠從整個公司汲取最好的想法和經驗，並將其應用於我們面臨的一些最大的挑戰，例如這些非常大的維護活動。

We've eliminated silos, consolidated expertise and narrowed our focus to the challenges and opportunities with the highest value. Our turnaround performance is translating to both structural cost savings and higher throughput, helping us capture more value from the market than peers, especially at a time of historically high refining margins.

我們消除了孤島，整合了專業知識，並將我們的注意力集中在具有最高價值的挑戰和機會上。我們的周轉績效正在轉化為結構性成本節省和更高的產量，幫助我們比同業從市場中獲得更多價值，特別是在煉油利潤處於歷史高點的時期。

Finally, our commitment to execution excellence is delivering significant improvements in our environmental performance. Our methane emissions intensity is down more than 60% since 2016. One of the many steps we took included replacing all 6,000-plus natural gas-driven pneumatic devices in our Permian unconventional operated assets. Disciplined execution is critical to success when markets are weak and margins are low. It pays even bigger dividends when the market environment is constructive as it was in the first quarter for crude and refining.

最後，我們對卓越執行的承諾正在顯著改善我們的環境績效。自 2016 年以來，我們的甲烷排放強度下降了 60% 以上。當市場疲軟且利潤率較低時，嚴格的執行對於成功至關重要。當市場環境像第一季原油和煉油業一樣具有建設性時，它會支付更大的股息。

Crude prices remained roughly flat near the middle of the 10-year range. More recently, the market for crude has tightened with ongoing concerns about the Middle East, putting a floor into prices, which are up more than 10% year-to-date. Natural gas prices move back inside the 10-year range on high inventory and lower demand. Refining margins rose back to the top of the 10-year range as demand grew while industry downtime and global disruptions weighed on supply. Chemical margins were relatively flat as demand growth is being met with new capacity.

原油價格在 10 年區間的中間附近基本持平。最近，由於對中東的持續擔憂，原油市場趨緊，為價格提供了底線，今年迄今為止，原油價格上漲了 10% 以上。由於庫存高和需求下降，天然氣價格回到 10 年區間。隨著需求成長，煉油利潤率回升至 10 年來的最高水平，而產業停工和全球中斷對供應造成壓力。由於新產能滿足了需求成長，化學品利潤率相對持平。

While short-term market conditions are an important context for quarterly results, it's how we position ourselves to leverage the long-term fundamentals that drive sustained shareholder value. I'd like to turn to this for a moment now and plan to spend more time over the year reminding everyone of our attractive growth opportunities that extend well beyond this year and our planned period.

雖然短期市場狀況是季度業績的重要背景，但這是我們如何定位自己以利用長期基本面推動持續股東價值的方式。我現在想談談這個問題，並計劃在今年花更多時間提醒大家我們有吸引力的成長機會，這些機會遠遠超出了今年和我們的計畫期限。

I know there's a view that we're in a declining industry. That view is wrong. People don't fully appreciate the scale of the global energy system. It took many tens of trillions of dollars to build and today takes more than $2 trillion a year to sustain. This doesn't mean we shouldn't address the emissions challenge. In fact, the world needs to do more in a far more serious way to meet society's emission reduction ambitions. But it also means that oil and natural gas will play a much greater role than the market thinks.

我知道有人認為我們正處於一個正在衰退的行業。這種觀點是錯誤的。人們並沒有完全認識到全球能源系統的規模。它花費了數十萬億美元來建造，而如今每年需要超過 2 兆美元來維持。這並不意味著我們不應該應對排放挑戰。事實上，世界需要以更認真的方式做更多的事情來實現社會的減排目標。但這也意味著石油和天然氣將發揮比市場想像的更大的作用。

By 2050, the world is expected to add nearly 2 billion people and the size of the global economy is expected to double from roughly $90 trillion to $180 trillion. Scenarios like IEA Net Zero to see oil demand falling from more than 100 million barrels per day now to 25 million barrels per day in 2050, are not realistic. Even if demand for transportation fuels declined significantly with greater penetration of electric vehicles, the market for petrochemicals is expected to double.

到 2050 年，世界人口預計將增加近 20 億，全球經濟規模預計將翻一番，從約 90 兆美元增加到 180 兆美元。像 IEA 淨零排放這樣認為石油需求從現在的每天 1 億多桶下降到 2050 年每天 2,500 萬桶的情景是不切實際的。即使隨著電動車的普及，運輸燃料的需求大幅下降，石化產品市場也預計仍將翻倍。

While the transition to a lower emissions future will be long, there's no denying, it's happening. The question is, who will capture the value. We believe the same competitive advantages that have underpinned ExxonMobil's success for more than 100 years, will serve as the foundation for building a range of world-class businesses in a lower emissions world.

雖然向低排放未來的過渡將是漫長的，但不可否認的是，它正在發生。問題是，誰將獲得價值。我們相信，支撐埃克森美孚 100 多年來成功的競爭優勢，也將成為在低排放世界中建立一系列世界級企業的基礎。

As I've said many times, we're a technology company at our core. We transform molecules at scale to meet society's needs. The notion that the world can electrify everything is misguided. Molecules will play a dominant role in the energy, materials and products the world needs in 2050 and beyond. At our low carbon solutions spotlight last year, we'll walk you through the opportunity we saw in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and biofuels. Since that time, we've also entered the market for lithium. The total addressable market in these areas going forward is potentially in the trillions of dollars.

正如我多次說過的，我們的核心是一家科技公司。我們大規模改造分子以滿足社會的需求。世界可以使一切電氣化的觀念是錯誤的。到 2050 年及以後，分子將在世界所需的能源、材料和產品中發揮主導作用。在去年的低碳解決方案聚焦上，我們將帶您了解我們在碳捕獲和儲存、氫和生物燃料方面看到的機會。從那時起，我們也進入了鋰市場。未來這些領域的潛在市場總額可能達到數兆美元。

Today, I'd like to mention some of the additional areas we're exploring that have tremendous potential. We discussed each of these opportunities in detail with our Board of Directors during a visit to our Baytown complex in March. The world has become increasingly focused on the challenge of mismanaged plastic waste. The solution requires a sound policy, responsible manufacturing, expanded waste management infrastructure and new technologies like those that underpin our advanced recycling projects.

今天，我想談談我們正在探索的一些具有巨大潛力的其他領域。在三月參觀我們的 Baytown 綜合大樓期間，我們與董事會詳細討論了每一個機會。世界越來越關注塑膠廢棄物管理不善的挑戰。該解決方案需要健全的政策、負責任的製造、擴大的廢棄物管理基礎設施以及支撐我們先進回收項目的新技術。

We have 12 projects in our plants to help us meet the growing demand for processing plastic waste. Our first project at Baytown is one of the largest in North America, with the ability to process 80 million pounds per year of plastic waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill. By breaking down plastic waste into its constituent molecules, our technology significantly widens the range of plastics that can be processed, including hard recycled materials such as potato chip bags and astro turf. We are planning to develop more than 1 billion pounds per year of plastic waste processing capacity by 2027.

我們的工廠有 12 個項目來幫助我們滿足加工塑膠廢物不斷增長的需求。我們在 Baytown 的第一個項目是北美最大的項目之一，每年能夠處理 8000 萬磅的塑膠廢物，否則這些廢物最終會被送往垃圾掩埋場。透過將塑膠廢物分解為其組成分子，我們的技術顯著擴大了可加工的塑膠範圍，包括薯片袋和人造草皮等硬回收材料。我們計劃在 2027 年之前每年開發超過 10 億磅的塑膠廢棄物處理能力。

Another growth area is Proxima, which was showcased at our Product Solutions spotlight last September. With Proxima, we transform lower-value gasoline molecules into a high-performance, high-value resin with numerous commercial applications. In short, Proxima is a new chemistry for an enduring challenge, making materials that are lighter, stronger and more durable with lower GHD emissions.

另一個成長領域是 Proxima，它於去年 9 月在我們的產品解決方案焦點上進行了展示。借助 Proxima，我們將低價值汽油分子轉化為具有眾多商業應用的高性能、高價值樹脂。簡而言之，Proxima 是一種應對持久挑戰的新化學物質，可製造更輕、更強、更耐用且 GHD 排放量更低的材料。

Proxima is up to 4x stronger than steel and 7x lighter, making an excellent replacement for rebar. As a protective coating, it takes one application in 5 minutes to cure versus 2 to 3 applications with 8 hours in between. It has multiple light weighting applications in the automotive sector, and it has half the life cycle emissions of traditional thermoset resin systems. For us, Proxima is an advantaged fuels to Performance Chemicals business that we plan to scale and build into a global brand.

Proxima 的強度比鋼高 4 倍，重量輕 7 倍，是螺紋鋼的絕佳替代品。作為一種保護塗層，塗抹一次需要 5 分鐘即可固化，而塗抹 2 至 3 次則需要 8 小時才能固化。它在汽車領域有多種輕量化應用，其生命週期排放量是傳統熱固性樹脂系統的一半。對我們來說，Proxima 是高性能化學品業務的優勢燃料，我們計劃擴大規模並將其打造成全球品牌。

We see an addressable market of up to 5 million tonnes per year, growing faster than GDP, with earnings potential of $1 billion a year by 2040 and returns above 15%.

我們預計，潛在市場每年可達 500 萬噸，成長速度快於 GDP，到 2040 年，每年的獲利潛力將達到 10 億美元，回報率將超過 15%。

We are also exploring opportunities materials made from carbon which, as the world decarbonizes, will become an increasingly advantaged feedstock. We launched a technology venture about 2 years ago to assess attractive new markets for carbon products. We see opportunities to transform the molecular structure of low-value carbon-rich feeds from refining and petrochemical processes to create high-value products for growing markets. Some of these markets include carbon fiber, polymer additives, battery materials and electrodes for steel production. We are specifically focused on high-value segments with margins of several thousand dollars per ton and growth rates more than double GDP.

我們也正在探索由碳製成的材料的機會，隨著世界脫碳，碳材料將成為越來越有優勢的原料。大約兩年前，我們啟動了一家科技企業，評估碳產品有吸引力的新市場。我們看到了改變煉油和石化過程中低價值富碳原料分子結構的機會，為不斷成長的市場創造高價值產品。其中一些市場包括碳纖維、聚合物添加劑、電池材料和鋼鐵生產電極。我們特別關注每噸利潤數千美元且成長率超過 GDP 兩倍的高價值領域。

One potential opportunity is the carbon materials used in batteries and energy storage solutions. With demand for this segment growing above 10% per year, these carbon materials are expected to be in short supply. Additionally, as the needs for storage solutions evolve, there will be an increasing demand for higher-performance carbon materials. The carbon-rich feedstock available in ExxonMobil's existing businesses coupled with our core technology capabilities and complementary lithium offering positions us to meet the growing demand and deliver product performance improvements required for the battery and energy storage solutions of the future.

一個潛在的機會是用於電池和儲能解決方案的碳材料。隨著該領域的需求每年增長 10% 以上，這些碳材料預計將供不應求。此外，隨著儲存解決方案需求的發展，對高性能碳材料的需求也會不斷增加。埃克森美孚現有業務中提供的富碳原料，加上我們的核心技術能力和互補的鋰產品，使我們能夠滿足不斷增長的需求，並提供未來電池和儲能解決方案所需的產品性能改進。

The last technology I'll touch on today is Direct Air Capture or DAC. For the world to reach Net Zero, negative emissions technologies are going to be needed, none holds greater long-term promise than DAC. The challenges, however, are as big as the opportunity. Atmospheric CO2 is extremely diluted at about 425 parts per million, a massive amount of air has to be processed to remove a single ton of carbon dioxide.

我今天要談的最後一項技巧是直接空氣捕獲或 DAC。為了讓世界實現淨零排放，需要負排放技術，沒有什麼比 DAC 更有長期前景。然而，挑戰與機會一樣大。大氣中的二氧化碳極度稀釋，約百萬分之 425，需要處理大量空氣才能去除一噸二氧化碳。

Today, many technologies are competing to crack the code and make DAC scalable and affordable. Our scientists and engineers are hard at work on this problem. We've launched a pilot project at Baytown that has demonstrated feasibility with the use of a proprietary capture process. Our initial goal is to cut the cost in half, which will still be too expensive, but will help move us down the cost curve. The current market for DAC is tiny, at less than 10,000 tons per year of CO2 captured, but the long-term potential is huge.

如今，許多技術都在競相破解密碼，使 DAC 具有可擴展性且價格實惠。我們的科學家和工程師正在努力解決這個問題。我們在貝敦啟動了一個試點項目，該項目已證明使用專有捕獲流程的可行性。我們最初的目標是將成本削減一半，這仍然太昂貴，但將有助於我們降低成本曲線。目前 DAC 的市場規模很小，每年捕獲的二氧化碳量不到 10,000 噸，但長期潛力巨大。

We are excited that dozens of companies and universities are chasing direct air capture solutions. We wish them all success irrespective of where the breakthrough occurs or who achieves it. ExxonMobil will have an important role to play.

我們很高興看到數十家公司和大學正在尋求直接空氣捕獲解決方案。我們祝福他們全部成功，無論突破發生在哪裡或由誰實現。埃克森美孚將發揮重要作用。

As we've demonstrated, there are a few, if any, companies better positioned than us to globally deploy a molecule technology at scale with attractive returns. People who limit our future to the products and markets we are in today, have lost sight of our past and don't understand our core capabilities or advantages or the future potential they hold.

正如我們所證明的，有一些公司（如果有的話）比我們更有能力在全球範圍內大規模部署分子技術並獲得可觀的回報。人們將我們的未來限制在今天的產品和市場上，他們忽略了我們的過去，不了解我們的核心能力或優勢或它們所擁有的未來潛力。

Consider our Baytown low carbon hydrogen project, which is entering advanced stages of engineering and development. We are not only focused on building the supply side of this new market for low carbon hydrogen, but are also making strong progress in building large-scale demand as demonstrated in our MOUs for offtake of low-carbon ammonia with SK of South Korea and JERA of Japan.

以我們的 Baytown 低碳氫化合物專案為例，該專案正進入工程和開發的高級階段。我們不僅專注於建立這一低碳氫新市場的供應方，而且在建立大規模需求方面也取得了強勁進展，正如我們與韓國 SK 和 JERA 簽署的低碳氨採購諒解備忘錄所證明的那樣日本的。

The last piece required to bring this project in market to life is government policy that maintains a level playing field across all methods of hydrogen production. Without this, we cannot and will not move forward. On the other hand, if incentives are developed to establish a viable technology neutral market, our advantages will allow us to generate attractive returns and invest more, accelerating customers' emissions reduction.

將該項目推向市場所需的最後一步是政府政策，以維持所有氫氣生產方法的公平競爭環境。如果沒有這一點，我們就不能也不會前進。另一方面，如果制定激勵措施來建立可行的技術中立市場，我們的優勢將使我們能夠產生有吸引力的回報並進行更多投資，從而加速客戶的減排。

Over ExxonMobil's entire history and across the globe, we've built industries and value chains where none previously existed. We will continue to do this. In a fast transition, we'll grow earnings and cash flow with accelerated investments in CCS, hydrogen, biofuels and DAC. In a slow transition, we'll grow earnings and cash flow through advantaged investments in our traditional businesses. In irrespective of the transition pace, we'll extend our reach to new high-value markets with innovative new products. Under any scenario, we are convinced that our company is uniquely positioned to play a leading role, meeting the world's essential needs for energy and high-value materials and products.

在埃克森美孚的整個歷史和全球範圍內，我們建立了以前不存在的產業和價值鏈。我們將繼續這樣做。在快速轉型過程中，我們將透過加速對 CCS、氫氣、生質燃料和 DAC 的投資來增加收入和現金流。在緩慢的轉型過程中，我們將透過對傳統業務的優勢投資來增加收入和現金流。無論轉型速度如何，我們都將透過創新的新產品將業務範圍擴展到新的高價值市場。在任何情況下，我們都堅信，我們公司具有獨特的優勢，能夠發揮主導作用，滿足世界對能源和高價值材料和產品的基本需求。

With that, I'll hand it over to Kathy.

這樣，我就把它交給凱西。

Thanks, Darren. We've established a consistent track record of improving the earnings power of our business. Across the company, our teams have been laser-focused on investing in competitively advantaged, low cost of supply, high-return opportunities delivering execution excellence in everything we do and driving additional structural cost improvements.

謝謝，達倫。我們在提高業務獲利能力方面建立了一貫的記錄。在整個公司，我們的團隊一直專注於投資具有競爭優勢、低成本供應、高回報的機會，在我們所做的一切中提供卓越的執行力，並推動額外的結構成本改進。

Our earnings growth over the past 4 years was more than twice the pace of our closest peer. As of year-end 2023, we more than doubled earnings, bringing an incremental $14 billion to our bottom line on a constant price and margin basis versus 2019. As Darren noted, over the next 4 years, we plan to increase earnings potential by an additional $12 billion or a CAGR of more than 10%.

過去 4 年我們的獲利成長速度是最接近同業的兩倍多。截至2023 年底，我們的利潤增加了一倍多，與2019 年相比，以固定價格和利潤計算，我們的淨利潤增加了140 億美元。將獲利潛力增加額外 120 億美元或複合年增長率超過 10%。

Our ability to deliver industry-leading earnings growth reflects our unique competitive advantages, consistent strategy and the differentiated execution capabilities our people bring every single day. We've demonstrated our ability to improve the profitability of the business by reshaping our portfolio, divesting noncore assets, investing in accretive high profit opportunities and driving structural cost savings.

我們實現業界領先的獲利成長的能力反映了我們獨特的競爭優勢、一致的策略以及我們的員工每天帶來的差異化執行能力。我們已經展示了透過重塑投資組合、剝離非核心資產、投資於增值高利潤機會和推動結構性成本節約來提高業務盈利能力的能力。

This quarter, we've included a few additional slides to remind you of the plans we discussed during the corporate plan update last December and to demonstrate the progress we've been making. Going forward, we'll provide you with regular updates on these metrics.

本季度，我們添加了一些額外的幻燈片，以提醒您我們在去年 12 月的公司計劃更新期間討論的計劃，並展示我們所取得的進展。展望未來，我們將定期為您提供這些指標的更新。

The drivers of our expected earnings growth are clear. Additional structural cost savings reductions of over $5 billion versus year-end 2023, higher volumes and more profitable barrels from advantaged assets like Guyana and the Permian in the upstream and execution of strategic projects and product solutions that enhance our product mix driving exceptional growth in high-value products.

我們預期獲利成長的驅動因素是明確的。與2023 年底相比，結構性成本節省額外減少超過50 億美元，上游圭亞那和二疊紀等優勢資產的銷售增加，利潤更高，戰略項目和產品解決方案的執行增強了我們的產品組合，推動了高產油領域的卓越成長。

As I said during the corporate plan update in December last year, to win in our business, we must be a low-cost operator. That means continually finding ways to become even more efficient. With more than $10 billion in structural cost improvements as of the first quarter of 2024, split roughly 50-50 between upstream and product solutions, we're making steady progress towards the incremental $5 billion we're working to deliver by 2027.

正如我在去年12月的企業計畫更新中所說，要贏得業務，我們必須成為低成本營運商。這意味著不斷尋找提高效率的方法。截至 2024 年第一季度，結構性成本改善超過 100 億美元，其中上游解決方案和產品解決方案約佔 50-50 美元，我們正在朝著 2027 年增量 50 億美元的目標穩步前進。

And we are on track to further extend that industry-leading performance. These structural cost savings have not only mitigated the impact of inflation, but have helped to offset the cost of new projects. Our success is meaningfully improving our operating cost and driving higher earnings for both upstream and product solutions.

我們可望進一步擴大業界領先的業績。這些結構性成本節約不僅減輕了通貨膨脹的影響，而且有助於抵消新項目的成本。我們的成功是有意義地降低了我們的營運成本，並為上游和產品解決方案帶來了更高的收入。

In fact, we ended last year with our cash operating expenses, excluding energy cost and production taxes down $4.5 billion versus 2019. We have a clear line of sight to achieve the roughly $1.5 billion in annual savings contained in our plan, and our team has a track record of beating our targets.

事實上，去年我們的現金營運支出（不包括能源成本和生產稅）比2019 年減少了45 億美元。已經超過我們目標的記錄。

We're leveraging our global organizations, including our Global Operations and Sustainability Group and the global business solutions and global supply chain organizations that we stood up last year. These organizations are tasked with realizing savings across all of our businesses. We're optimizing our turnarounds and other scheduled maintenance activities. We're streamlining and automating our order to cash, procure to pay, record to report and our planning processes.

我們正在利用我們的全球組織，包括我們的全球營運和永續發展小組以及我們去年建立的全球業務解決方案和全球供應鏈組織。這些組織的任務是在我們所有的業務中實現節約。我們正在優化我們的周轉和其他定期維護活動。我們正在簡化和自動化我們的訂單到現金、採購到付款、記錄到報告以及我們的規劃流程。

And we're better leveraging the scale of our supply chain to improve the efficiency of our logistics movements, enhance our buying power and lower the level of materials and inventory that we need to run our operations. We have a proven track record and a high level of confidence in our plan, and more importantly, in our team's ability to deliver.

我們更好地利用供應鏈的規模來提高物流運輸的效率，增強我們的購買力並降低我們營運所需的材料和庫存水準。我們擁有良好的業績記錄，對我們的計劃充滿信心，更重要的是，對我們團隊的交付能力充滿信心。

In the Upstream, on a stand-alone basis, we're on track to double earnings potential by 2027 compared to 2019 on a constant price basis, as we reshape our portfolio, divesting noncore assets and growing production from industry-leading assets that offer lower cost of supply, lower life cycle emissions and higher returns. Between 2019 and 2023, we've pruned Upstream's portfolio of nonstrategic assets, including U.S. flowing gas and focused on developing advantaged assets such as Guyana, the Permian, LNG and Brazil.

在上游，就獨立而言，隨著我們重塑我們的投資組合、剝離非核心資產並增加行業領先資產的產量，到2027 年，我們有望在固定價格基礎上將盈利潛力比2019 年翻一番。 2019年至2023年間，我們削減了Upstream的非戰略資產組合，包括美國流動天然氣，並專注於開發圭亞那、二疊紀、液化天然氣和巴西等優勢資產。

For example, since 2019, we've more than doubled production volume in the Permian. In Guyana, we started 2019 with 0 production volumes. This quarter, we delivered more than 600 kbd of gross production. These efforts have resulted in a significant Upstream mix improvement. Our share of total production from advantaged assets has risen from 28% to 44%. We expect to grow Upstream earnings by an additional 50% between 2023 and 2027. That growth is driven by further production mix improvement, incremental cost savings and production growth.

例如，自 2019 年以來，我們二疊紀盆地的產量增加了一倍以上。在圭亞那，2019 年伊始，我們的產量為 0。本季度，我們的總產量超過 600 kbd。這些努力顯著改善了上游組合。我們的優勢資產佔總產量的份額已從 28% 上升至 44%。我們預計 2023 年至 2027 年間上游收益將再成長 50%。

We expect our stand-alone production in 2024 to be about 3.8 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, rising to about 4.2 million oil-equivalent barrels per day by 2027, as growth from advantaged assets more than offset base depletion. Since 2019, we've nearly doubled Upstream unit profitability at constant price from $5 per oil-equivalent barrel to $9 as of the first quarter of 2024. We expect unit profitability to increase to $13 per oil-equivalent barrel by 2027. Unit earnings from our advantaged assets are expected to be $9 per barrel higher than our base portfolio by 2027 at constant prices.

我們預計 2024 年我們的獨立產量將約為每天 380 萬石油當量桶，到 2027 年將增加至每天約 420 萬石油當量桶，因為優勢資產的成長足以抵消基礎消耗。自2019 年以來，截至2024 年第一季度，我們以固定價格計算的上游單位獲利能力幾乎翻了一番，從每桶石油當量5 美元增至2024 年第一季度的9 美元。年，單位獲利能力將增至每桶石油當量13 美元。

Moving to Product Solutions. We're focused on nearly tripling earnings from 2019 to 2027. We're well on our way to achieving that, having more than doubled earnings potential at the halfway mark at the end of last year. As an Upstream, a key driver of our earnings growth is improving our mix. The strategic projects we're executing do just that. Projects like the China Chemical Complex and the renewable diesel project in Strathcona will increase our high-value product volumes, which command a 10% to 25% margin premium. Projects such as our Singapore Resid Upgrade will also improve our mix without increasing overall volumes by converting low-margin products like fuel oil to higher-margin products like base stocks, diesel and chemical feed. This, in addition to structural cost savings, is the key to further growing our earnings.

轉向產品解決方案。我們的目標是從 2019 年到 2027 年將獲利增加近兩倍。作為上游企業，我們獲利成長的關鍵驅動力是改善我們的組合。我們正在執行的戰略項目就是這樣做的。中國化工複合體和 Strathcona 再生柴油專案等專案將增加我們的高價值產品產量，從而帶來 10% 至 25% 的利潤溢價。新加坡渣油升級等項目也將透過將燃料油等低利潤產品轉變為基礎油、柴油和化學飼料等高利潤產品，在不增加總量的情況下改善我們的產品組合。除了結構性成本節省之外，這也是進一步增加我們收入的關鍵。

We have a clear line of sight on the nearly $5 billion in earnings from strategic projects in 2027. Through 2023, we delivered nearly 1/3 of our goal. In 2024, we'll see a full year of earnings benefit from the Beaumont refinery expansion and Permian Crude Venture. On the chart, you can see the annualized first quarter contributions from these and other projects that we brought online since 2019.

我們對 2027 年戰略項目收入近 50 億美元有著清晰的目標。 2024 年，我們將看到博蒙特煉油廠擴建和二疊紀原油創投項目帶來全年收益。在圖表中，您可以看到這些項目以及我們自 2019 年以來上線的其他項目的第一季年化貢獻。

As we highlighted on our earnings call last quarter, 2025 is a big year for strategic project start-ups, which will provide a further large boost in earnings growth. Given the track record of our global projects and centralized technology organizations, we're confident in our ability to execute this plan, which delivers the capacity needed to double high-value product sales. By 2027, we expect high-value products to deliver about 40% of Product Solutions total earnings.

正如我們在上季財報電話會議上所強調的那樣，2025 年對於策略性專案新創公司來說是重要的一年，這將進一步大幅推動獲利成長。鑑於我們的全球專案和集中技術組織的追蹤記錄，我們對執行該計劃的能力充滿信心，該計劃提供了使高價值產品銷售額翻倍所需的能力。到 2027 年，我們預計高價值產品將佔產品解決方案總收入的 40% 左右。

Turning to the quarter, I'll start with a high-level review of sequential earnings. Details by business segments are available in the backup to this presentation. I'm then going to spend a bit of time discussing our earnings year-on-year, which I think better highlights the progress that we're making in the key areas that drive our underlying earnings growth over the medium term. You'll see that we're providing more detail on what impacts our volumes and costs period-to-period to more clearly link our current performance to the earnings growth drivers that I discussed earlier. We provided definitions of these factors and the backup to this presentation.

談到本季度，我將從對連續收益的高層回顧開始。按業務部門劃分的詳細資訊可在本簡報的備份中找到。然後，我將花一些時間討論我們的同比盈利，我認為這更好地突顯了我們在推動中期盈利增長的關鍵領域所取得的進展。您會看到，我們提供了更多有關影響我們的銷量和成本的詳細信息，以便更清楚地將我們當前的業績與我之前討論的盈利增長驅動因素聯繫起來。我們提供了這些因素的定義以及本簡報的備份。

First quarter GAAP earnings were $8.2 billion, excluding identified items, earnings were down $1.8 billion sequentially. Timing effects were $1 billion unfavorable impact this quarter, mostly related to unsettled derivatives mark-to-market impacts consistent with this quarter's increase in oil prices. Other items, largely noncash, were $600 million or $0.15 per share hurt this quarter, driven mainly by noncash impacts from tax and inventory balance sheet adjustments.

第一季 GAAP 收益為 82 億美元，不計已確定項目，收益比上一季下降 18 億美元。本季的時間效應為 10 億美元的不利影響，主要與未解決的衍生性商品按市值計算的影響（與本季油價上漲一致）有關。其他項目（主要是非現金）本季損失了 6 億美元或每股 0.15 美元，主要是由於稅收和庫存資產負債表調整帶來的非現金影響。

Base volumes were lower in the quarter as entitlement impacts fewer days in the quarter and the impact of higher scheduled maintenance were partially offset by growth from advantaged assets and strategic projects. Looking at the first quarter performance versus the same quarter last year, you can clearly see the contributions from growing advantaged assets and executing our strategic projects as well as our underlying structural cost improvements.

本季的基本銷售量較低，因為該季度的權利影響天數較少，並且定期維護增加的影響被優勢資產和策略項目的成長部分抵消。從第一季業績與去年同期相比，可以清楚地看到優勢資產成長、策略專案執行以及基礎結構性成本改善的貢獻。

GAAP earnings of $8.2 billion were down more than $3 billion versus our record first quarter earnings reported last year. The decline was driven by lower industry gas prices and refining and chemical margins, as well as higher maintenance and negative timing impacts from higher oil prices and the noncash expenses that I mentioned earlier.

GAAP 收益為 82 億美元，與去年公佈的創紀錄第一季收益相比，下降了 30 億美元以上。下降的原因是工業天然氣價格和煉油和化工利潤率下降，以及我之前提到的油價上漲和非現金費用導致的維護費用增加和負面時間影響。

We made good progress continuing to improve the underlying earnings power of the business. We saw a strong growth from our advantaged assets like Guyana and projects like the Beaumont refinery expansion, which roughly offset lower base volumes that reflect divestments, entitlements and curtailments in the Upstream and divestments and higher maintenance in energy products. We added $400 million of structural cost savings this quarter, which resulted in an after-tax earnings benefit of $300 million.

我們在持續提高業務的基礎獲利能力方面取得了良好進展。我們看到圭亞那等優勢資產和博蒙特煉油廠擴建等項目實現了強勁增長，這大致抵消了基礎產量的下降，這反映出上游的撤資、權利和削減以及能源產品的撤資和更高的維護。本季我們節省了 4 億美元的結構性成本，從而帶來了 3 億美元的稅後收益。

Now let's turn to the segments to dive further into our performance. In the Upstream, lower gas realizations were partly offset by slightly higher liquid realizations. As Darren mentioned, oil and natural gas prices in the quarter were about at the middle of the 10-year range. Our excellence in execution is delivering results. Higher volumes from advantaged assets more than offset divestment, curtailment and entitlement impacts, contributing $430 million in earnings versus the first quarter last year.

現在讓我們轉向細分市場，進一步深入了解我們的表現。在上游，較低的天然氣實現量被略高的液體實現量所部分抵消。正如達倫所提到的，本季石油和天然氣價格約為 10 年區間的中間。我們卓越的執行力正在交付成果。優勢資產的銷售增加足以抵銷撤資、削減和權益影響，與去年第一季相比貢獻了 4.3 億美元的收益。

In Guyana, we delivered 3 development projects, bringing online over 600 kbd of gross oil production since initial discovery at an industry-leading pace and cost. This quarter, gross production for Payara ramped up to 220 Kbd design capacity well ahead of schedule. We've also announced a new exploration discovery, Bluefin. Earnings also benefited from about $90 million in additional structural cost savings, driven by operational efficiency gains and reduced expenses from divested assets.

在圭亞那，我們交付了 3 個開發項目，自最初發現以來，以業界領先的速度和成本實現了超過 600 kbd 的石油總產量。本季，Payara 的總產量提前達到 220 Kbd 設計產能，遠遠提早。我們還宣布了一項新的勘探發現：藍鰭鮪魚。獲利還受益於約 9,000 萬美元的額外結構性成本節省，這得益於營運效率的提高和資產剝離費用的減少。

Our Kearl operation in Canada is a great example of how we're reducing production costs. Last year, we converted our entire fleet of about 80 heavy haul trucks to a fully autonomous operation. The automation program enables us to capture improvements in truck productivity, further enhance safety of our operations and structurally reduce our operating costs. With this program, Kearl now operates the largest autonomous fleet in our industry and one of the largest autonomous mining fleets in the world. And we continue to look at other opportunities to expand automation across our production footprint.

我們在加拿大的 Kearl 工廠是我們如何降低生產成本的一個很好的例子。去年，我們將整個車隊（由約 80 輛重型卡車組成）轉變為完全自主營運。自動化計劃使我們能夠提高卡車生產率，進一步提高營運安全性，並從結構上降低營運成本。透過該計劃，Kearl 現在運營著我們行業中最大的自主車隊，也是世界上最大的自主採礦車隊之一。我們將繼續尋找其他機會來擴大我們生產範圍的自動化程度。

Kearl's gross production in the first quarter was 277 Kbd, which was a record for a first quarter. 2023 average gross production of 270 Kbd was also a record annual production. Higher expenses of $160 million were driven by an increase in depreciation rates in U.S. unconventional, while other, which is largely noncash, reflects the absence of favorable tax and divestment adjustments last year and inventory adjustments this quarter.

Kearl第一季的總產量為277 Kbd，創下第一季的紀錄。 2023 年平均總產量為 270 Kbd，也是創紀錄的年產量。費用增加 1.6 億美元是由於美國非常規折舊率上升，而其他費用主要是非現金，反映出去年沒有有利的稅收和撤資調整以及本季度的庫存調整。

Timing effects in the Upstream had a negative $120 million impact on the quarter, compared to a negative $490 million impact last year, driven by our mark-to-market position on our derivatives portfolio.

上游的時間效應對本季產生了 1.2 億美元的負面影響，而去年的負面影響為 4.9 億美元，這是由於我們對衍生性商品投資組合按市值計價的頭寸造成的。

In Product Solutions, we're high-grading our portfolio by divesting nonstrategic sites and investing where we have competitive advantages. Energy Products delivered roughly $1.4 billion in earnings in the quarter. Our advantaged configuration and commercial logistics capabilities enabled a dynamic response to the changing macro environment, which saw industry margins decline versus last year, primarily due to additional supply and normalizing trade flows.

在產品解決方案方面，我們透過剝離非策略性地點並投資於我們具有競爭優勢的領域，對我們的產品組合進行了高度評價。能源產品公司本季實現了約 14 億美元的收益。我們的優勢配置和商業物流能力能夠動態應對不斷變化的宏觀環境，產業利潤率較去年下降，主要是由於供應增加和貿易流動正常化。

The strategic projects we executed last year, expanding our Beaumont refinery and completing the Permian Crude pipeline, helped us achieve record first quarter refining throughput and contributed to the $140 million earnings improvement. High-grading our portfolio also means making some tough but necessary choices to improve long-term competitiveness. Divestments in the middle of last year impacted volumes, but also contributed to structural cost savings in the period.

我們去年執行的戰略項目，即擴建博蒙特煉油廠和完成二疊紀原油管道，幫助我們實現了創紀錄的第一季度煉油廠吞吐量，並為盈利增長做出了 1.4 億美元的貢獻。高評級我們的投資組合也意味著做出一些艱難但必要的選擇，以提高長期競爭力。去年年中的撤資影響了銷量，但也有助於該時期的結構性成本節約。

We recently announced additional rationalizations in France and Germany to further strengthen our portfolio. As Darren mentioned, we saw a high level of turnaround activity in the quarter, which is reflected in expenses. We're really proud of our team who delivered best ever execution of our recent slate of turnarounds. As expected in a rising price environment, we saw negative timing effects which are primarily related to the mark-to-market on unsettled derivatives. Last year, the timing impact was favorable as prices were falling at that time. These impacts unwind over time.

我們最近宣佈在法國和德國進行額外的合理化，以進一步加強我們的產品組合。正如達倫所提到的，我們在本季度看到了高水準的周轉活動，這反映在費用上。我們為我們的團隊感到非常自豪，他們在我們最近的一系列扭虧為盈中提供了有史以來最好的執行力。正如預期的那樣，在價格上漲的環境中，我們看到了負面的時間效應，這主要與未結算衍生性商品的以市價計價有關。去年，由於當時價格下跌，時機影響是有利的。這些影響會隨著時間的推移而減弱。

Chemical products earned nearly $800 million this quarter, more than double the result from the prior year period. While global polyethylene and polypropylene margins decreased, we drove a sizable margin increase largely due to our advantaged footprint but also due to increased contributions from Performance Products. Higher earnings from high-value product volumes reflect the many investments we've made over the years.

本季化工產品營收近 8 億美元，是去年同期的兩倍多。儘管全球聚乙烯和聚丙烯利潤率下降，但我們的利潤率大幅成長，這主要歸功於我們的優勢足跡，同時也得益於高性能產品貢獻的增加。高價值產品產量帶來的更高收益反映了我們多年來所做的大量投資。

Gulf Coast growth ventures in Corpus Christi, North American polypropylene and Baton Rouge and our Baytown Chemical expansion, all contribute to this growth. Base volumes increased on the absence of prior period turnarounds, but also on strong reliability in the U.S. Gulf Coast that enabled additional sales when others in the region were negatively impacted by winter storms in January.

墨西哥灣沿岸在科珀斯克里斯蒂、北美聚丙烯和巴吞魯日的成長企業以及我們的貝敦化學擴張都為這一增長做出了貢獻。基本銷量增加的原因是前期沒有出現週轉，而且美國墨西哥灣沿岸地區的可靠性很強，當該地區其他地區受到 1 月份冬季風暴的負面影響時，該地區的銷量得以增加。

Specialty Products continued to deliver consistently strong earnings coming in at $760 million this quarter. Our efforts to grow margins through feed optimization and revenue management were evident this quarter and largely made possible by the differentiated performance of our high-value products. We had a strong contribution from the finished lubricants business, which is celebrating the 50-year anniversary of Mobil 1, our flagship brand.

特種產品本季持續帶來持續強勁的收入，達到 7.6 億美元。本季度，我們透過飼料優化和收入管理來提高利潤率的努力顯而易見，這在很大程度上得益於我們高價值產品的差異化表現。成品潤滑油業務為我們做出了巨大貢獻，該業務正在慶祝我們的旗艦品牌美孚 1 號誕生 50 週年。

Our rigorous focus on structural cost reductions partially offset higher base expenses. The improved earnings power in our businesses translates to strong cash flow and our consistent capital allocation philosophy enables exceptional long-term shareholder returns. We generated $14.7 billion in cash flow from operations and $10.1 billion of free cash flow during the first quarter, and we continue to deploy that capital, consistent with our allocation priorities.

我們對結構性成本削減的嚴格關注部分抵消了較高的基本費用。我們業務獲利能力的提升轉化為強勁的現金流，而我們一貫的資本配置概念可實現卓越的長期股東回報。第一季我們產生了 147 億美元的營運現金流和 101 億美元的自由現金流，並且我們將繼續根據我們的分配優先事項部署這些資本。

First and foremost, our CapEx deployment supports investments in competitively advantaged opportunities that drive long-term earnings and cash flow growth. To sustain growth, we need to be investing now in low cost of supply, high-return, resilient projects. We're doing just that with multiple project startups planned for 2025 and that will contribute nearly $4 billion in earnings potential in 2027 at constant prices and margins. Our cash CapEx for the quarter came in at $5.3 billion.

首先也是最重要的是，我們的資本支出部署支持對具有競爭優勢的機會進行投資，從而推動長期收益和現金流成長。為了維持成長，我們現在需要投資低成本供應、高回報、有彈性的項目。我們正在這樣做，計劃在 2025 年啟動多個專案新創公司，以固定價格和利潤計算，這將在 2027 年貢獻近 40 億美元的獲利潛力。本季我們的現金資本支出為 53 億美元。

Secondly, to stay on the offensive through the commodity cycles, we need to maintain a bulletproof balance sheet. During the first quarter, we repaid $1.1 billion of bond maturities, bringing our debt-to-capital down to 16% and our net debt-to-capital ratio down to 3%. This outstanding balance sheet strength gives us ample optionality to capitalize on attractive opportunities regardless of where the market moves.

其次，為了在大宗商品週期中維持攻勢，我們需要維持穩健的資產負債表。第一季度，我們償還了 11 億美元的債券到期日，使我們的債務與資本比率降至 16%，淨債務與資本比率降至 3%。這種出色的資產負債表實力為我們提供了充足的選擇權，無論市場趨勢如何，我們都可以利用有吸引力的機會。

And finally, strong operational results coupled with a healthy balance sheet, not only provide flexibility to invest through the cycles, but also to consistently return excess cash to our shareholders. We distributed $6.8 billion in the first quarter, including $3.8 billion in dividends. And while we briefly paused share repurchases following the Pioneer S-4 filing in January, we resumed in February and are on track to complete our $17.5 billion stand-alone share repurchase program this year. As a reminder, we intend to increase the pace of the program to $20 billion per year after the Pioneer transaction closes, assuming reasonable market conditions. These distributions matter. They help to drive our industry-leading total shareholder return and over a longer period of time, significantly reduce our share count.

最後，強勁的營運績效加上健康的資產負債表，不僅提供了整個週期投資的靈活性，而且能夠持續向股東返還多餘的現金。第一季我們分配了 68 億美元，其中包括 38 億美元的股息。雖然我們在 1 月提交 Pioneer S-4 備案後短暫暫停了股票回購，但我們在 2 月恢復了股票回購，並有望在今年完成 175 億美元的獨立股票回購計畫。提醒一下，假設市場條件合理，我們打算在 Pioneer 交易完成後將該計劃的步伐加快至每年 200 億美元。這些分佈很重要。它們有助於推動我們行業領先的股東總回報，並在較長一段時間內顯著減少我們的股份數量。

Since we began the program in 2022, we reduced our share count by about 7% and or 8% excluding the shares issued for the Denbury acquisition. Looking ahead, our team's execution excellence, our stellar balance sheet and our extended reach to new high-value, high-growth markets uniquely positions us to grow long-term value.

自 2022 年開始該計劃以來，我們將股份數量減少了約 7% 至 8%（不包括為收購 Denbury 發行的股份）。展望未來，我們團隊卓越的執行力、出色的資產負債表以及對新的高價值、高成長市場的廣泛影響力使我們能夠實現長期價值的成長。

Turning to the second quarter outlook items. We expect seasonal scheduled maintenance to lower upstream volumes by about 40 KOEBD. This does not impact our 2024 full year production guidance, which is 3.8 million oil-equivalent barrels a day. This guidance excludes Pioneer, which we still anticipate will close in the second quarter.

轉向第二季展望專案。我們預計季節性定期維護將使上游產量減少約 40 KEBD。這不會影響我們 2024 年全年產量指引，即每天 380 萬石油當量桶。該指引不包括先鋒公司，我們仍預期該公司將在第二季關閉。

In Product Solutions, we expect lower scheduled maintenance as we exit the peak of the 2024 turnaround season. We expect corporate and financing expenses to total $300 million to $500 million, in line with the first quarter. We also anticipate an unfavorable working capital impact of about $3 billion from seasonal cash tax payments, similar to what we saw in the second quarter of last year.

在產品解決方案中，隨著 2024 年周轉季節高峰期的結束，我們預計定期維護量將會減少。我們預計企業和融資費用總計為 3 億至 5 億美元，與第一季持平。我們也預期季節性現金稅會對營運資本產生約 30 億美元的不利影響，與去年第二季的情況類似。

With that, let me go ahead and turn it back to Darren.

就這樣，讓我繼續把它轉回給達倫。

Thanks, Kathy. I'll leave you with a few key takeaways. Our work to improve the fundamental earnings power of ExxonMobil is continuing a pace. By executing with excellence on our strategy, we expect to grow our earnings potential by an additional $12 billion from 2023 to 2027 at constant prices and margins, a growth rate of more than 10% per year. A significant driver of this earnings growth will be our delivery of additional structural cost savings totaling $15 billion by 2027.

謝謝，凱西。我將給您留下一些關鍵要點。我們正在繼續努力提高埃克森美孚的基本獲利能力。透過卓越地執行我們的策略，我們預計從 2023 年到 2027 年，以固定價格和利潤率計算，我們的獲利潛力將額外增長 120 億美元，每年增長率超過 10%。到 2027 年，我們將節省總計 150 億美元的額外結構性成本，這是獲利成長的一個重要推動力。

In the quarter, we continue to deliver unprecedented success in Guyana, with growing production creating additional value for our shareholders and the Guyanese people. Our strategic projects, which are another important driver of our planned earnings improvement, helped deliver record first quarter refining throughput and strong Performance Chemicals volume growth. And there are more projects planned for start-up in 2025. All of this is without the contribution of Pioneer.

本季度，我們繼續在圭亞那取得前所未有的成功，不斷增長的產量為我們的股東和圭亞那人民創造了額外價值。我們的策略項目是我們計劃獲利改善的另一個重要驅動力，幫助實現了創紀錄的第一季煉油產量和強勁的高性能化學品產量成長。而且還有更多項目計劃在2025年啟動。

With Pioneer, we'll be positioned to drive earnings, cash flow and shareholder distributions even higher. We continue to work constructively with the FTC as they conduct a very thorough review and remain confident that no competition issues should hinder the transaction. We've been working diligently on our integration plans, and we're ready to begin executing day 1 on the significant synergies this combination will create.

透過先鋒，我們將能夠進一步推動獲利、現金流和股東分配。我們將繼續與聯邦貿易委員會進行建設性合作，因為他們進行了非常徹底的審查，並堅信任何競爭問題都不會阻礙交易。我們一直在努力製定我們的整合計劃，並且我們已準備好開始執行這項合併將產生的重大協同效應的第一天。

Looking beyond our plan period and into the future, we see attractive large-scale opportunities to leverage our core capabilities in our existing businesses and in brand-new markets with brand-new products, something our competitors can't do.

展望我們的計劃期和未來，我們看到了有吸引力的大規模機會，可以利用我們現有業務的核心能力以及在全新市場中推出全新產品，這是我們的競爭對手無法做到的。

The success of this company and our unique set of competitive advantages is built on our greatest strength and most important advantage, great people. They are the best team in the business. Able to successfully overcome any challenge. Through their work at ExxonMobil, they are making a positive difference in the world, meeting people's essential needs for energy and products today and far into the future. I'm extremely proud to represent them and cannot thank them enough.

該公司的成功和我們獨特的競爭優勢建立在我們最大的優勢和最重要的優勢——優秀的人才之上。他們是業界最好的團隊。能夠成功地克服任何挑戰。透過在埃克森美孚的工作，他們正在為世界帶來積極的改變，滿足人們今天和未來對能源和產品的基本需求。我非常自豪能夠代表他們，並且非常感謝他們。