埃克森美孚 (XOM) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to this Exxon Mobil Corporation First Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. Today's call is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加埃克森美孚公司 2022 年第一季度財報電話會議。今天的電話正在錄音。

At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to the Vice President of Investor Relations, Mrs. Jennifer Driscoll. Please go ahead, ma'am.

在這個時候，我想把電話轉給投資者關係副總裁詹妮弗·德里斯科爾夫人。請繼續，女士。

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our first quarter earnings call. We appreciate your interest in ExxonMobil. Joining me today are Darren Woods, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Kathy Mikells, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

大家，早安。歡迎來到我們的第一季度財報電話會議。感謝您對埃克森美孚的關注。今天加入我的是我們的董事長兼首席執行官達倫·伍茲；以及我們的高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Kathy Mikells。

The slides and our prerecorded remarks were made available on our Investors section of our website earlier this morning along with our news release. In a minute, Darren will provide opening comments and reference a few slides from that presentation, then we'll conduct a question-and-answer session. We expect to conclude the call by about 9:30 a.m. Central Time.

幻燈片和我們預先錄製的評論已於今天早上早些時候與我們的新聞稿一起在我們網站的投資者部分提供。稍後，Darren 將提供開場評論並參考該演示文稿中的幾張幻燈片，然後我們將進行問答環節。我們預計在中部時間上午 9:30 左右結束通話。

Let me encourage you to read our cautionary statement, which is on Slide 2. Please note, we also provided supplemental information at the end of our earnings slides, which are posted on the website.

讓我鼓勵您閱讀我們在幻燈片 2 上的警告聲明。請注意，我們還在網站上發布的收益幻燈片末尾提供了補充信息。

Now I'll turn the call over to Darren Woods.

現在我將把電話轉給達倫伍茲。

Good morning, and thanks for joining us today. As we laid out at our most recent Investor Day, our goal is to sustainably grow shareholder value through the execution of our strategic priorities seen on this slide. As we think about recent events, our job has never been clearer or more important. The need to meet society's evolving needs reliably and affordably is what consumers and businesses across the globe are demanding and what we delivered this quarter.

早上好，感謝您今天加入我們。正如我們在最近的投資者日中所闡述的那樣，我們的目標是通過執行我們在這張幻燈片上看到的戰略重點來可持續地增加股東價值。當我們考慮最近發生的事件時，我們的工作從未如此清晰或更重要。可靠且經濟地滿足社會不斷變化的需求是全球消費者和企業的要求，也是我們本季度實現的目標。

First, we continue to build our competitively advantaged production portfolio, bringing new barrels to market today, driven in part by the high-value investments we continue to progress through the pandemic-driven downturn in prices. A prime example of the benefits of our continued investments is Guyana. This quarter saw the successful start of Liza Phase 2. Production is ramping up ahead of schedule and is expected to reach capacity of 220,000 barrels of oil per day by the third quarter this year. Combined with Liza Phase 1, it will bring our total production capacity in Guyana to more than 340,000 barrels per day.

首先，我們繼續建立具有競爭優勢的生產組合，今天將新桶推向市場，部分原因是我們在大流行導致的價格低迷中繼續取得進展的高價值投資。我們持續投資的好處的一個典型例子是圭亞那。本季度，麗莎二期工程順利開工。產量正在提前增加，預計到今年第三季度將達到每天 220,000 桶石油的產能。結合 Liza 第一階段，它將使我們在圭亞那的總產能達到每天 340,000 多桶。

Our third project, Payara, is running ahead of schedule with startup now likely by year-end 2023. Yellowtail, the fourth and largest project to date on the Stabroek block, received government approval of our development plan, is on schedule to start up in 2025.

我們的第三個項目 Payara 正在提前運行，現在可能會在 2023 年底啟動。Yellowtail 是 Stabroek 區塊迄今為止的第四個也是最大的項目，我們的開發計劃已獲得政府批准，預計將在2025 年。

Further adding to our portfolio, we have made 5 new discoveries this year that have increased the estimated recoverable resources to nearly 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

進一步增加我們的投資組合，我們今年發現了 5 個新發現，使估計的可採資源量增加到近 110 億桶石油當量。

Turning to the U.S., we continue to grow production in the Permian Basin. In March, we produced about 560,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day, on pace to deliver a 25% increase versus 2021. Looking forward, we're also growing our globally diverse portfolio of low-cost, capital-efficient LNG developments.

談到美國，我們繼續在二疊紀盆地增加產量。 3 月份，我們每天生產約 560,000 桶石油當量桶，與 2021 年相比增長 25%。展望未來，我們還將擴大全球多元化的低成本、資本效率高的液化天然氣開發組合。

In Mozambique, the 3.4 million ton per year Coral South floating LNG production vessel is being commissioned after arriving on site in January. Coral South is on budget with the first LNG cargo expected in the fourth quarter.

在莫桑比克，這艘年產 340 萬噸的 Coral South 浮式 LNG 生產船於 1 月抵達現場後投入使用。 Coral South 的第一批液化天然氣貨物預計將在第四季度進行。

In addition to investing in high-value opportunities in our existing businesses, we are also advancing opportunities in our Low Carbon Solutions business. During the quarter, we announced plans to build a large-scale hydrogen plant in Baytown, Texas. We anticipate the facility will have the capacity to produce up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day. Combined with carbon capture, transport and storage of approximately 10 million metric tons of CO2 per year, this facility will be a foundational investment in the development of a Houston CCS hub, which will have the potential to eliminate 100 million metric tons of CO2 per year and represents a meaningful step forward in advancing accretive, low-carbon solutions. We also reached a final investment decision to expand another important carbon capture and storage project at our helium plant in Wyoming. In addition, we received the top certification of our management of methane emissions at our Poker Lake development in the Permian. We're the first company to achieve this certification for natural gas production associated with oil.

除了在現有業務中投資高價值機會外，我們還在低碳解決方案業務中推進機會。在本季度，我們宣布了在德克薩斯州貝敦建造大型氫氣工廠的計劃。我們預計該設施將有能力每天生產多達 10 億立方英尺的氫氣。結合每年約 1000 萬噸二氧化碳的碳捕獲、運輸和儲存，該設施將成為休斯頓 CCS 中心開發的基礎投資，該中心將有可能每年消除 1 億噸二氧化碳並代表在推進增值的低碳解決方案方面向前邁出了有意義的一步。我們還做出了最終投資決定，在懷俄明州的氦工廠擴建另一個重要的碳捕獲和儲存項目。此外，我們在二疊紀的 Poker Lake 開發項目中獲得了甲烷排放管理的最高認證。我們是第一家獲得與石油相關的天然氣生產認證的公司。

At the end of the first quarter, we implemented a series of organizational changes to further leverage the scale and integration of the corporation, improve the effectiveness of our operations and better serve our customers. We combined our Downstream and Chemical operations into a single Product Solutions business. This new, integrated business will be focused on developing high-value products, improving portfolio value and leading in sustainability.

第一季度末，我們實施了一系列組織變革，以進一步發揮公司的規模和整合作用，提高運營效率，更好地服務客戶。我們將下游和化工業務合併為單一的產品解決方案業務。這項新的綜合業務將專注於開發高價值產品、提高投資組合價值和引領可持續發展。

As a result of these changes, our company is now organized along three primary businesses: Upstream, Product Solutions and Low Carbon Solutions. These three businesses are supported by corporate-wide organizations, including projects, technology, engineering, operations, safety and sustainability.

由於這些變化，我們公司現在圍繞三個主要業務進行組織：上游、產品解決方案和低碳解決方案。這三項業務得到了公司範圍內的組織的支持，包括項目、技術、工程、運營、安全和可持續性。

Before I cover our financial results, I want to provide a perspective on the market environment.

在介紹我們的財務業績之前，我想提供一個關於市場環境的觀點。

In the first quarter, a tight supply-demand environment, primarily due to low investment levels during the pandemic, contributed to rapid increases in prices for crude, natural gas and refined products. Clearly, the events in Ukraine have added uncertainty to what was already a tight supply outlook. Brent rose by about $22 per barrel or 27% versus the fourth quarter.

第一季度，主要由於大流行期間投資水平較低的供需環境緊張，導致原油、天然氣和成品油價格快速上漲。顯然，烏克蘭的事件給本已緊張的供應前景增加了不確定性。與第四季度相比，布倫特原油每桶上漲約 22 美元或 27%。

Today, natural gas prices remain well above the 10-year historical ranges driven by tight global market conditions and ongoing European supply concerns. The same tight supply-demand factors have also pushed refining margins near the top of the range.

今天，受全球市場緊張和持續的歐洲供應擔憂推動，天然氣價格仍遠高於 10 年曆史範圍。同樣的供需緊張因素也將煉油利潤率推至區間頂部附近。

Chemical margins in Asia have fallen sharply with product prices lagging the steep increases in feed and energy cost. In our case, the U.S. ethane feed advantage provided a significant positive offset versus this global view.

由於產品價格落後於飼料和能源成本的急劇上漲，亞洲的化學品利潤率急劇下降。在我們的案例中，美國的乙烷進料優勢與這種全球觀點相比提供了顯著的正向抵消。

With that market environment as the backdrop, let me turn to our first quarter financials.

以這種市場環境為背景，讓我談談我們的第一季度財務狀況。

Earnings totaled $8.8 billion, excluding an identified item, the after-tax charge associated with Sakhalin-1. As you know, we are discontinuing our Sakhalin-1 operations in Russia, which represented less than 2% of our total production last year, about 65,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day, and about 1% of our corporate operating earnings. As the operator, our priority continues to be the health and safety of our people and the protection of the environment. Of course, we remain in full compliance with all U.S. sanctions and are closely coordinating with the U.S. administration.

收入總計 88 億美元，不包括一項已確定的項目，即與 Sakhalin-1 相關的稅後費用。如您所知，我們將停止在俄羅斯的 Sakhalin-1 業務，該業務僅占我們去年總產量的不到 2%，每天約 65,000 桶石油當量，約占公司營業收入的 1%。作為運營商，我們的首要任務仍然是員工的健康和安全以及環境保護。當然，我們仍然完全遵守美國的所有製裁措施，並與美國政府密切協調。

Turning to structural savings. We continue to drive further efficiencies, now delivering more than $5 billion of annual savings versus 2019.

轉向結構性儲蓄。我們繼續提高效率，與 2019 年相比，現在每年節省超過 50 億美元。

CapEx totaled $4.9 billion for the quarter, in line with our full year guidance of $21 billion to $24 billion.

本季度資本支出總額為 49 億美元，符合我們 210 億至 240 億美元的全年指引。

Cash flow from operations was $14.8 billion, maintaining our strong balance sheet.

運營現金流為 148 億美元，維持了我們強勁的資產負債表。

Our debt-to-capital ratio remains in the low end of our 20% to 25% target range, while our net debt-to-capital ratio dropped to about 17%.

我們的債務與資本比率仍處於 20% 至 25% 目標範圍的低端，而我們的淨債務與資本比率降至 17% 左右。

We returned $5.8 billion to shareholders, of which about 2/3 was in the form of dividends and the remainder share repurchases, consistent with our previous program.

我們向股東返還了 58 億美元，其中約 2/3 以股息的形式，其餘的股票回購，與我們之前的計劃一致。

We said during our corporate plan update in December that we expect to repurchase $10 billion of our shares. This morning, we announced an increase to the program, up to $30 billion in total through 2023. This move reflects the confidence we have in our strategy, performance we are seeing across our businesses and the strength of our balance sheet.

我們在 12 月的公司計劃更新中表示，我們預計將回購 100 億美元的股票。今天早上，我們宣布將該計劃增加至 2023 年，總額將高達 300 億美元。這一舉措反映了我們對戰略的信心、我們在業務中看到的業績以及資產負債表的實力。

Before I leave you with a few key takeaways, let me share one other decision we made this month with respect to our workforce.

在我向您介紹一些關鍵要點之前，讓我分享一下我們本月就員工隊伍做出的另一項決定。

Continually investing in our people and maintaining a strong culture are core strategic priorities and essential to achieving our long-term objectives. As part of that effort, we are tripling the number of employees eligible for stock grants by bringing in high-performing employees at earlier stages of their careers. Our goal is to increase our people's ownership in the company and, importantly, in our financial and operating results.

持續投資於我們的員工並保持強大的文化是核心戰略重點，對於實現我們的長期目標至關重要。作為這項努力的一部分，我們通過在職業生涯早期引進表現出色的員工，將有資格獲得股票贈款的員工人數增加三倍。我們的目標是增加員工對公司的所有權，更重要的是，增加我們的財務和經營業績。

Secondly, in June, we will implement a 3% off-cycle compensation adjustment in the U.S. to maintain competitiveness. Our compensation and benefits programs are a key element of our total value proposition that enables us to continue to attract and retain the best talent in the industry.

其次，6月份我們將在美國實施3%的非週期薪酬調整，以保持競爭力。我們的薪酬和福利計劃是我們總價值主張的關鍵要素，使我們能夠繼續吸引和留住業內最優秀的人才。

Let me leave you with a few key takeaways.

讓我給你一些關鍵的要點。

We had a strong first quarter, and I'm proud of the organization's progress. The impact of weather on the Upstream volumes and derivatives and timing impacts in the Downstream obscured a strong underlying performance. We anticipate an absence of these impacts and strong refining margins will position us very well in the second quarter.

我們第一季度表現強勁，我為該組織的進步感到自豪。天氣對上游交易量和衍生品的影響以及下游的時間影響掩蓋了強勁的潛在表現。我們預計，如果沒有這些影響，那麼強勁的煉油利潤率將使我們在第二季度處於非常有利的地位。

We are making outstanding progress on our high-value growth developments in Guyana, the Permian and LNG. Our new Corpus Christi chemical complex is up and running ahead of schedule and generated positive earnings and cash flow in its first quarter of operations.

我們在圭亞那、二疊紀和液化天然氣的高價值增長開發項目上取得了顯著進展。我們新的科珀斯克里斯蒂化工園區已提前啟動並運行，並在其第一季度運營中產生了正收益和現金流。

We have strengthened the balance sheet and are creating value for shareholders through an attractive dividend and increased share repurchases.

我們加強了資產負債表，並通過有吸引力的股息和增加股票回購為股東創造價值。

We are advancing hydrogen, biofuels and other low-carbon solutions, consistent with our intention to lead in the energy transition, leveraging our competitive advantages of scale, integration and technology.

我們正在推進氫、生物燃料和其他低碳解決方案，這與我們引領能源轉型的意圖相一致，利用我們在規模、集成和技術方面的競爭優勢。

Finally, we are evolving our organization from a holding company to an operating company to better serve our customers' evolving needs and grow long-term shareholder value.

最後，我們正在將我們的組織從一家控股公司發展為一家運營公司，以更好地滿足客戶不斷變化的需求並增加長期股東價值。

Before we take your questions, I want to acknowledge the very real impact the high prices are having on families all around the world. You may recall that we anticipated this in 2020 with industry investment levels well below those required to offset depletion. That's why we worked so hard to preserve our capital expenditures during the depths of the pandemic, ensure that additional production was available to meet the eventual recovery in demand. Today, that long-term focus is paying off with growing production of industry-advantaged supply.

在我們回答您的問題之前，我想承認高價對世界各地家庭的真實影響。您可能還記得，我們預計 2020 年會出現這種情況，行業投資水平遠低於抵消消耗所需的水平。這就是為什麼我們在大流行最嚴重的時期如此努力地保護我們的資本支出，確保有額外的產量來滿足最終的需求復蘇。如今，隨著行業優勢供應的產量不斷增長，這種長期關注正在得到回報。

We are continuing to focus on the fundamentals through ongoing investment in advantaged projects and low-emission initiatives to ensure that we can continue to meet the critical needs of people all around the world reliably and importantly well into the future.

我們將繼續通過對優勢項目和低排放計劃的持續投資來關注基本面，以確保我們能夠在未來繼續可靠且重要地滿足世界各地人們的關鍵需求。

Thank you, Darren.

謝謝你，達倫。

One last piece of housekeeping I wanted to mention is that ahead of the segment reporting change next quarter, we plan to provide you annual and quarterly information for the past 5 years using the new reporting segments to assist you with your modeling. We plan to post the new data on our website around mid-June.

我想提到的最後一點是，在下個季度的分部報告更改之前，我們計劃使用新的報告分部為您提供過去 5 年的年度和季度信息，以幫助您進行建模。我們計劃在 6 月中旬左右在我們的網站上發布新數據。

(Operator Instructions) And with that, operator, please provide the instructions and then open the phone lines for the first question.

（操作員說明）然後，操作員，請提供說明，然後打開第一個問題的電話線。

Thank you, Mrs. Driscoll. (Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from the line of Phil Gresh with JPMorgan.

謝謝你，德里斯科爾夫人。 （操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Phil Gresh。

So I guess my question is a little bit of a two-part question then. The buyback, $30 billion over 2 years. Previously, you talked about, I think, $10 billion mostly in 2022. So should we assume the $30 billion essentially ratable, $15 billion this year? And then if that's the case, it still seems like there's a lot of excess cash potentially building up at the strip prices. So how do you think about any excess cash, debt reduction, et cetera, given where the leverage is versus targets now?

所以我想我的問題是一個由兩部分組成的問題。回購，2年300億美元。之前，您談到，我認為 100 億美元主要在 2022 年。那麼我們是否應該假設 300 億美元基本上是可估價的，即今年的 150 億美元？如果是這樣的話，看起來仍然有很多多餘的現金可能以帶鋼價格累積。那麼，考慮到現在的槓桿率與目標之間的關係，您如何看待任何多餘的現金、減少債務等？

Great. Thanks very much. So look, we don't know exactly how long the strong market conditions that we're seeing today are going to persist. And we've learned some pretty tough liquidity lessons during the pandemic, so our cash balance has been building a bit. You would see that it was $11 billion as we ended the quarter. So you should expect, with the backdrop of these strong market conditions, that even with the higher buyback program that we announced this morning, we would be building our cash in the near term potentially between $20 billion to $30 billion over time. And so that really addresses our need for flexibility in what's an incredibly uncertain environment and ensuring that we'll continue to appropriately invest in the business and sustain the share repurchase program that we talked about through 2023.

偉大的。非常感謝。所以看，我們不知道我們今天看到的強勁市場狀況將持續多久。而且我們在大流行期間學到了一些非常艱難的流動性教訓，因此我們的現金餘額一直在增加。當我們結束本季度時，你會看到它是 110 億美元。因此，您應該期望，在這些強勁的市場條件的背景下，即使我們今天早上宣布了更高的回購計劃，我們將在短期內積累我們的現金，隨著時間的推移可能在 200 億至 300 億美元之間。因此，這確實滿足了我們在極其不確定的環境中對靈活性的需求，並確保我們將繼續適當地投資於業務並維持我們談到的到 2023 年的股票回購計劃。

In terms of just how to think about the pace of the program, it's up to $30 billion through the end of 2023. We obviously got $2.1 billion done in this quarter. You should think about us looking to get up to a ratable pace and that roughly, we'd be looking to get $15 billion done a year, again looking to sustain the program kind of more consistently over this 2-year period. So that's how I would think about kind of roughly where we see our cash balance and just looking to maintain a lot of flexibility in what's a pretty uncertain environment.

就如何考慮該計劃的步伐而言，到 2023 年底將達到 300 億美元。我們顯然在本季度完成了 21 億美元。您應該考慮一下我們希望達到一個可評價的速度，並且大致而言，我們希望每年完成 150 億美元，再次希望在這 2 年期間更一致地維持該計劃。所以這就是我會如何粗略地考慮我們看到我們的現金餘額的方式，並且只是希望在一個非常不確定的環境中保持很大的靈活性。

And we did learn some real lessons during the pandemic. We used to try and hold our cash balance, call it, between $3 billion and $5 billion and run a lot of commercial paper. And when the pandemic hit, that was quite problematic for the company. So we're going to be a little bit more conservative here in the near term.

在大流行期間，我們確實學到了一些真正的教訓。我們曾經試圖保持我們的現金餘額，稱之為 30 億至 50 億美元，並運行大量商業票據。當大流行來襲時，這對公司來說是個很大的問題。因此，在短期內，我們將在這裡變得更加保守。

Your next question comes from the line of Jeanine Wai with Barclays.

您的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Jeanine Wai。

Our question is related broadly to your global gas opportunities. Can you talk about how you see the evolution of the U.S. market? And how do you see certified gas playing a role in U.S. supply?

我們的問題與您的全球天然氣機會廣泛相關。您能談談您如何看待美國市場的演變嗎？您如何看待認證天然氣在美國供應中的作用？

And I guess do you intend to really look for a global outlet for a portion of your U.S. gas? And we understand that Golden Pass, that provides a great opportunity to capture the spread, but maybe are you thinking about some other opportunities besides Golden Pass?

我猜你真的打算為你的一部分美國天然氣尋找全球出口嗎？我們知道黃金關口，這提供了一個很好的機會來捕捉傳播，但也許你在考慮除了黃金關口之外的其他機會？

You're welcome, Jeanine, and it's good to hear from you again. Just maybe a broad comment on the LNG business.

不客氣，珍妮，很高興再次收到您的來信。也許只是對液化天然氣業務的廣泛評論。

Obviously, as we're seeing across each of our sectors, the pandemic had a pretty profound effect with respect to deferring, delaying capital spend and, therefore, additional capacity coming on. And as the pandemic has subsided and demand has recovered, we're seeing very tight markets. And seeing that play out really around the world, obviously a significant impact. And then with the Ukraine and the situation there, that has added a significant additional level of uncertainty around supply. And so I think a very dynamic market and a very high-priced market.

顯然，正如我們在每個行業看到的那樣，大流行對推遲、延遲資本支出產生了相當深遠的影響，因此，額外的產能也隨之而來。隨著大流行的消退和需求的恢復，我們看到市場非常緊張。看到這種情況在世界範圍內真正發揮作用，顯然會產生重大影響。然後是烏克蘭和那裡的局勢，這增加了供應方面的額外不確定性。所以我認為這是一個非常有活力的市場和一個非常高價的市場。

And what we've seen in response to that is basically very full capacity utilization all around the world, maximizing the amount of LNG moving. Obviously, we've got our Coral LNG starting up later this year, which will help contribute and ease some of that tightness.

我們所看到的對此的回應基本上是世界各地的產能利用率非常高，最大限度地增加了液化天然氣的運輸量。顯然，我們將在今年晚些時候啟動我們的 Coral LNG，這將有助於緩解和緩解一些緊張局勢。

And then you mentioned Golden Pass, which is an important leg of our strategy of making sure that we have access to LNG supplies that we can -- to supply demand all around the world. And that's a very important part of our strategy in LNG going forward, is making sure that we've got barrels that we can then move and trade in the marketplace and move across the different regional demand centers.

然後你提到了 Golden Pass，這是我們確保我們能夠獲得液化天然氣供應的戰略的重要一環——以滿足全世界的需求。這是我們未來液化天然氣戰略的一個非常重要的部分，確保我們有桶，然後我們可以在市場上移動和交易，並在不同的區域需求中心移動。

And so I think we're going to continue to look for opportunities in LNG. It's an important part of the portfolio. We've got opportunities in PNG that we're progressing. Obviously, additional investments in -- on Mozambique are in the future as well. And so I think it'll be a very important foundational layer of supply and a really important part of our overall business offering.

所以我認為我們將繼續尋找液化天然氣的機會。這是投資組合的重要組成部分。我們在巴布亞新幾內亞有機會，我們正在取得進展。顯然，未來還會對莫桑比克進行額外投資。所以我認為這將是一個非常重要的基礎供應層，也是我們整體業務產品的一個非常重要的部分。

And I would just add. You asked a little bit about that top rating that we got on methane management in Poker Lake in the Permian. And we would say we really see a market over time building for lower-emission products, and that really plays into that. And we would certainly hope that we'd also start to see a premium on those lower-emission products, right? And we'd say that's consistent across our business, but we definitely are looking to play into that going forward.

我只想補充。你問了一點關於我們在二疊紀撲克湖的甲烷管理中獲得的最高評價。我們會說，隨著時間的推移，我們真的看到了低排放產品的市場，這確實起到了作用。我們當然希望我們也開始看到那些低排放產品的溢價，對吧？我們會說這在我們的業務中是一致的，但我們肯定希望在未來發揮作用。

Yes. I would just add to that. Obviously, that would be a benefit, but it's certainly not the main driver with respect to making sure that our operations have very low emissions and very low ethane emissions. And so that's a core part of our commitment in running these facilities. And to the extent the market pays a premium for that, that's an advantage that we're -- we'll look to take advantage of.

是的。我只想補充一點。顯然，這將是一個好處，但它肯定不是確保我們的運營具有極低排放和極低乙烷排放的主要驅動力。因此，這是我們運營這些設施的承諾的核心部分。在市場為此支付溢價的情況下，這是我們的優勢 - 我們將尋求利用。

Your next question comes from the line of Devin McDermott with Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Devin McDermott。

I wanted to ask about the structural cost reduction goals. You continue to make good progress there. But the question is, can you add a little bit of color around what you're seeing on just broad cost, inflation, labor and otherwise and how, if at all, that, that impacts some of those goals and targets over time?

我想問一下結構性成本降低目標。你繼續在那裡取得良好的進展。但問題是，你能否在你所看到的廣泛成本、通貨膨脹、勞動力和其他方面加上一點色彩，以及隨著時間的推移如何影響其中一些目標和指標？

Sure. So I'll start out with just saying we feel good about the progress that we're continuing to make. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had said we've gotten to about $5 billion in structural cost savings relative to 2019. We're now at $5.4 billion. So I'd say overall, we feel really good about that progress.

當然。所以我首先要說我們對我們繼續取得的進展感覺良好。在第四季度末，我們曾表示，與 2019 年相比，我們已經節省了約 50 億美元的結構性成本。我們現在的成本為 54 億美元。所以我想說，總的來說，我們對這一進展感覺非常好。

Obviously, we have now put in place the new organizational structure, which should drive incremental efficiencies on top of just driving better operations, faster speed to market, better deployment, faster deployment of resources to the highest opportunities across the company.

顯然，我們現在已經建立了新的組織結構，除了推動更好的運營、更快的上市速度、更好的部署、更快地將資源部署到整個公司的最高機會之外，它還應該提高效率。

We're not immune to inflation, obviously, and we would see a fair amount of both energy and feedstock inflation coming through the business in certain areas that put a little bit of pressure on margins. Overall, in terms of how we're managing that, it flows through two parts of the operations. So one is on CapEx. We feel really good about where we're at there because during the pandemic, we really took the opportunity to extend contracts on work that was coming forward. So I'd say while the shorter-cycle work programs obviously have some inflationary pressure, the teams are working really hard to offset that.

顯然，我們不能免受通貨膨脹的影響，我們會看到相當多的能源和原料通貨膨脹在某些領域通過業務來對利潤率造成一點壓力。總體而言，就我們如何管理它而言，它貫穿於運營的兩個部分。所以一個是資本支出。我們對自己所處的位置感覺非常好，因為在大流行期間，我們真的藉此機會延長了即將開展的工作的合同。所以我想說，雖然較短週期的工作計劃顯然有一些通脹壓力，但團隊正在努力抵消這一壓力。

Overall, I'd say we really try and lever master service agreements, self-manage kind of procurement. We utilize a diverse set of global contractors across the globe in trying to really manage inflation. So through the quarter right now, I'd say we're doing a pretty good job of offsetting it, but it's obviously something that we're watching really closely.

總的來說，我想說我們真的在嘗試利用主服務協議、自我管理的採購方式。我們在全球範圍內利用多元化的全球承包商來嘗試真正管理通貨膨脹。所以現在整個季度，我想說我們在抵消它方面做得很好，但這顯然是我們正在密切關注的事情。

I would just emphasize a point that Kathy made. But I think one worth remembering, that this longer-term view that we took during the pandemic in trying to maintain a low investment, we also recognize that as economies recovered and demand picked up, that we would potentially see inflation. And so we were very focused on, in anticipation of that, trying to lock in some of the pricing and savings during the low points that we could then take advantage of early on in a recovery, which is [big].

我只想強調凱西提出的一點。但我認為值得記住的是，我們在大流行期間試圖保持低投資的這種長期觀點，我們也認識到，隨著經濟復甦和需求回升，我們可能會看到通貨膨脹。因此，我們非常專注於預期這一點，試圖在低點鎖定一些定價和節省，然後我們可以在復甦的早期利用這些優勢，這是[大]。

And maybe the final point I would make is with the new organization, it's working hard and our leadership team is working hard to offset inflation and (inaudible) job with that. And we think we've got a pretty good handle here certainly in the short term. Obviously, we'll see how the market develops.

也許我要說的最後一點是新組織，它正在努力工作，我們的領導團隊正在努力抵消通貨膨脹和（聽不清）工作。而且我們認為我們在短期內肯定會在這里處理得很好。顯然，我們將看到市場如何發展。

Our next question will come from the line of Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題將來自高盛的 Neil Mehta。

I have -- a question we wanted to focus on was around Downstream. And Darren, you know the refining business really well given your leadership role there over the years. And so I'd love you to kind of characterize how you're seeing the crack and refining market environment, which is obviously extraordinarily strong, and then put that in the context of the quarter, which was softer in Downstream. But to your point, I think a lot of that was timing effects, and it feels like things should sequentially move in the right direction as you move into 2Q. So the big-picture question around the refining macro and then tie it into how you're thinking about the sequential move in your earnings power from here.

我有一個我們想要關注的問題是關於下游的。達倫，鑑於您多年來在煉油業務中的領導作用，您非常了解煉油業務。因此，我希望您能描述一下您如何看待裂變和精煉的市場環境，這顯然非常強勁，然後將其放在下游較為疲軟的季度背景下。但就你的觀點而言，我認為其中很大一部分是時間效應，當你進入第二季度時，感覺事情應該依次朝著正確的方向發展。因此，圍繞精煉宏觀的宏觀問題，然後將其與您如何考慮從這裡開始的盈利能力的連續變化聯繫起來。

Sure. Yes, I may -- if I can start. And I feel like we're going to be a little bit of a broken record with respect to the anchoring a lot of what we're seeing in the market today across our sectors with the pandemic.

當然。是的，我可以——如果我可以開始的話。而且我覺得我們將打破記錄，因為我們今天在市場上看到的很多東西都錨定在大流行的各個行業。

And you'll recall, as we were going through that very deep down cycle where demand for fuels products dropped significantly, there was a lot of refinery rationalization. In fact, refineries were shutting down at a much, much higher rate than historical averages, 4x if not higher. And so you had a lot of capacity coming out of the marketplace.

你會記得，當我們經歷燃料產品需求顯著下降的非常深的下行週期時，煉油廠進行了很多合理化。事實上，煉油廠的關閉速度比歷史平均水平高得多，如果不是更高的話，是 4 倍。所以你有很多來自市場的容量。

There were new facilities that were planned or in progress primarily in the Middle East and out in Asia. Those got deferred and delayed because of the crunch.

主要在中東和亞洲以外地區計劃或在建新設施。由於緊縮，那些被推遲和延遲。

And so you've got, I think, this period of time where you've taken a lot of capacity out and new capacity that was planned or in progress has been deferred and delayed. And so we've got a period with lower supply. And then, of course, as demand has picked up, that has led to this very tight market and the higher margins that we're seeing.

因此，我認為，在這段時間裡，您已經淘汰了大量產能，而計劃或正在進行的新產能已被推遲和延遲。所以我們有一個供應減少的時期。然後，當然，隨著需求的回升，這導致了這個非常緊張的市場和我們所看到的更高的利潤率。

What's compounded that then is the important role that Russia plays in supplying markets around the world. And with the uncertainty associated with that supply and potential impacts of additional sanctions, that's put, I think, additional concern and anxiety in the marketplace, which is leading to a very, very high-margin environment, one, frankly, that I don't think is a sustainable one and, two, good for economies around the world. So I think we're in a bit of a very tight time frame.

更複雜的是，俄羅斯在供應全球市場方面發揮的重要作用。我認為，由於與供應相關的不確定性以及額外制裁的潛在影響，這讓市場更加擔憂和焦慮，這導致了一個非常、非常高利潤的環境，坦率地說，我不這樣做。 t think是一個可持續的，第二，對世界各地的經濟有好處。所以我認為我們的時間框架有點緊。

And as you've talked about the first quarter, obviously we saw that evolve over the first quarter with kind of rising margins in January, February, March and now into April, very high margins. And so I think that's something that we're going to see for quite some time, certainly here this year and into next, depending on obviously where -- or how demand plays out.

正如你所說的第一季度，顯然我們看到第一季度的變化在 1 月、2 月、3 月和現在到 4 月的利潤率有所上升，利潤率非常高。所以我認為這是我們將在相當長的一段時間內看到的東西，肯定會在今年和明年出現，這取決於顯然在哪裡 - 或者需求如何發揮作用。

Final point I'll make, which you touched on, is you're right, this quarter reflects that ramp-up of margins. So you're not really seeing the healthy market that we're experiencing right now in the first quarter results. That will, I think, manifest itself second quarter. And then some of the timing impacts we expect to see unwind, maybe I'll let Kathy just touch on those.

我要說的最後一點，你提到的，你是對的，本季度反映了利潤率的上升。因此，您並沒有真正看到我們目前在第一季度業績中所經歷的健康市場。我認為，這將在第二季度表現出來。然後我們期望看到的一些時間影響會放鬆，也許我會讓凱西談談這些。

Sure. I'm happy to do that. And just to add a stat, our March refining margin was about $4 higher than the average in the quarter. So that's kind of reflecting that ramp-up that Darren just mentioned.

當然。我很高興這樣做。再補充一個統計數據，我們 3 月份的煉油利潤率比本季度的平均水平高出約 4 美元。所以這有點反映了達倫剛剛提到的那種增長。

And then obviously, in our prepared script, you would have seen us talk a fair amount to timing impacts that impacted profitability in Downstream for the quarter. I think everybody understands the mark-to-market on open derivatives, so I won't talk about that. But we had another $590 million of other timing differences. About $400 million of that was also tied to derivatives. We had $200 million in that associated with cargoes where the derivatives actually closed in March, and then they reversed when the physical deliveries occurred in April. So I'd say the way you should think about that is we took a $200 million bad guy in March, and we will see a $200 million good guy in April.

然後顯然，在我們準備好的腳本中，您會看到我們談論了影響本季度下游盈利能力的時間影響。我想每個人都了解開放衍生品的按市值計價，所以我不會談論這個。但我們還有 5.9 億美元的其他時間差異。其中約 4 億美元也與衍生品有關。我們有 2 億美元與衍生品在 3 月實際關閉的貨物相關，然後在 4 月實物交割時發生逆轉。所以我想說你應該考慮的方式是我們在 3 月份拿了一個 2 億美元的壞人，我們將在 4 月看到一個 2 億美元的好人。

We also had $200 million associated with settled derivatives that we just used to ensure pricing of our refinery crude runs is ratable, right? The way you should think about that is it's kind of a wash over time. Sometimes, that pricing mechanism gives us a positive in a quarter, sometimes it gives us a negative in a quarter. Over time, it's just a wash.

我們還有 2 億美元與結算衍生品相關，我們只是用來確保煉油廠原油運行的定價是可評估的，對嗎？您應該考慮的方式是隨著時間的流逝。有時，這種定價機制在一個季度給我們帶來積極影響，有時在一個季度給我們帶來負面影響。隨著時間的推移，它只是一個洗滌。

And then the last impact that we talked about was just commercial pricing lag, right? And the way I would think about that is we were in a steep-rising price environment over the quarter. And so we had pricing that was a little bit lagging. If we're in a stable environment, that pricing will catch up. If pricing kind of turns to a downward curve, then we'd actually get a little bit of a benefit. So that's how I think about it as you're trying to model the evolution into the second quarter here. The bottom line is obviously, we're carrying a lot of positive momentum as we stand here today.

然後我們談到的最後一個影響只是商業定價滯後，對嗎？我的想法是，我們在本季度處於急劇上漲的價格環境中。所以我們的定價有點滯後。如果我們處於穩定的環境中，那麼定價將會趕上。如果定價有點轉向下降曲線，那麼我們實際上會得到一點好處。這就是我的想法，因為你試圖在這裡對第二季度的演變進行建模。很明顯，當我們今天站在這裡時，我們正承載著很多積極的勢頭。

Next, we'll go to Doug Leggate with Bank of America.

接下來，我們將與美國銀行一起前往 Doug Leggate。

Let me, first of all, thank the Investor Relations team for the better presentation of results. So thanks for that, Jennifer. But I'm also -- we're losing a question here, so I'll temper the enthusiasm. But I'm kidding.

首先，讓我感謝投資者關係團隊更好地展示了結果。所以謝謝你，詹妮弗。但我也 - 我們在這裡失去了一個問題，所以我會緩和一下熱情。但我在開玩笑。

So guys, my question, Darren and Kathy, is on your balance sheet. Darren, going back some years, I guess a couple of years ago, you talked about don't expect Exxon to go back to the days of 0 net debt. We're going to have a more efficient balance sheet. I just wonder if you can frame that for us today than what we should expect that to look like because, obviously, that speaks to go-forward cash distributions, buybacks, cash on hand, the whole thing, and, obviously, dividend policy. So that was my question for today, guys.

所以伙計們，我的問題，達倫和凱西，在你們的資產負債表上。達倫，回到幾年前，我猜幾年前，你談到不要指望埃克森美孚回到零淨債務的時代。我們將擁有更有效的資產負債表。我只是想知道你今天是否可以為我們制定這個框架，而不是我們應該期望的樣子，因為很明顯，這涉及到未來的現金分配、回購、手頭現金，整個事情，顯然還有股息政策。這就是我今天的問題，伙計們。

Yes. Thank you, Doug, and I appreciate your compliments to the IR team. I know they've been working hard to make sure that they're improving the transparency and giving you the information that you need to help understand what we're doing here and the business results that we're achieving.

是的。謝謝你，Doug，感謝你對 IR 團隊的稱讚。我知道他們一直在努力確保他們正在提高透明度並為您提供所需的信息，以幫助您了解我們在這裡所做的事情以及我們正在實現的業務成果。

I think to your point on the balance sheet, and you'll remember what we started back in 2018 was this countercyclical approach where we lean on the balance sheet during the depths, made those investments with the -- with an eye on the fundamentals and the expected recoveries and to take advantage of the ups with investments in facilities in the ground and then reinvest and lean into the down cycles. And I would tell you generally speaking, that continues to be an ambition of ours, and part of our strategy is to try to drive the countercyclical investment approach, which is -- has worked out very well for us and is paying off in today's market. But that's, I would say, one philosophy. Obviously, it is tempered by just the availability of cash and how deep and high the swings in this commodity cycle are.

我認為你在資產負債表上的觀點，你會記得我們在 2018 年開始採用這種反週期方法，我們在深淵期間依靠資產負債表，進行這些投資 - 著眼於基本面和預期的複蘇，並通過投資地面設施來利用上升，然後再投資並進入下降週期。我會告訴你一般來說，這仍然是我們的雄心壯志，我們戰略的一部分是嘗試推動逆週期投資方法，這對我們來說效果很好，並且在今天的市場上得到了回報.但我想說，這是一種哲學。顯然，現金的可用性以及這個大宗商品週期的波動幅度和幅度都會緩和它的影響。

And so I think part of that balance sheet -- and I want to toss it to Kathy here in a minute to let her make some comments on it, but part of that is just going to be a function of where you're at in the cycle and how severe that cycle is. And so there will be periods, I think, where you see some movement in both cash and how the balance sheet is structured and based on where we're at and where the revenues are.

所以我認為是資產負債表的一部分——我想馬上把它扔給凱西，讓她對此發表一些評論，但其中一部分將取決於你所處的位置週期以及該週期的嚴重程度。因此，我認為，在某些時期，您會看到現金和資產負債表的結構以及基於我們所處的位置和收入的位置的一些變化。

And I would also tell you, though, that it's not -- what's not going to change is being very focused on making sure that any investment that we make is advantaged across the cycle. You'll recall my definition of disciplined investing is not an absolute level but more of making sure that anywhere you spend money, that you're convinced that you'll be the low-cost supplier with an advantage versus the rest of the industry. That will be successful as you move through the cycle. Kathy?

不過，我還要告訴你，事實並非如此——不會改變的是非常專注於確保我們所做的任何投資在整個週期中都是有利的。你會記得我對紀律投資的定義不是一個絕對的水平，而是更多地確保你在任何地方花錢，你確信你將成為與行業其他人相比具有優勢的低成本供應商。當你通過這個週期時，這將是成功的。凱西？

Yes. And then the only thing that I would add to that, Doug, because occasionally, I get the question of why don't you just go and kind of pay off all of the debt you have as a priority, and I'd say we're really comfortable with the level of debt that we have. And obviously, our gross debt-to-cap is at the lower end of the range that we talked about. And we said we're going to carry a little bit of a higher cash balance, just reflective of the volatility that we've really seen in the market. So that's how I think you should think about it. But we're very comfortable with our level of debt and just being able to kind of manage at that level through the cycle.

是的。然後我唯一要補充的是，道格，因為偶爾，我會問你為什麼不去優先償還所有債務，我會說我們'對我們的債務水平感到非常滿意。顯然，我們的總債務上限處於我們討論的範圍的下限。我們說我們將持有更高的現金餘額，這反映了我們在市場上真正看到的波動。所以這就是我認為你應該考慮的方式。但我們對我們的債務水平感到非常滿意，並且能夠在整個週期中以這種水平進行管理。

Next, we'll go to Stephen Richardson with Evercore ISI.

接下來，我們將介紹 Evercore ISI 的 Stephen Richardson。

Another question on the Downstream, if I could, Darren. I wonder if I could ask on the circular polymer efforts and some of the things you're talking about in terms of recycling in the plastics business. There's -- I guess the question is the overall approach between mechanical and molecular recycling and how are you seeing that market evolve. And is this conversion of existing facilities or new reactors? And then also, what are your expectations for the returns in that business kind of through cycle?

如果可以的話，關於下游的另一個問題，達倫。我想知道我是否可以詢問有關循環聚合物的努力以及您在塑料行業回收方面所談論的一些事情。有 - 我想問題是機械和分子回收之間的整體方法，以及你如何看待這個市場的發展。這是對現有設施還是新反應堆的改造？然後，您對該業務在整個週期中的回報有何期望？

Sure. Yes. Thank you, Stephen. I think you touched on, I think, a really important part of our strategy as we look at going forward not only in the plastics and plastics recycling but also in biofuels. And I think what people have thought about with respect to our refining footprint and the size of that footprint is that as fuels -- the traditional fuels demand declines, that those assets become disadvantaged.

當然。是的。謝謝你，斯蒂芬。我認為您談到了我們戰略的一個非常重要的部分，因為我們不僅在塑料和塑料回收方面，而且在生物燃料方面也向前發展。我認為人們對我們的煉油足跡和足跡規模的看法是，隨著燃料——傳統燃料需求的下降，這些資產變得不利。

And frankly, given the integration that we have with those facilities, if you think about our chemicals and refining facilities integrated, which are now reflected in our Product Solutions business, the fact that we've got base stocks and lubricant facilities integrated with those, we -- they are fairly robust platforms with large scale and low cost. And what we see is the opportunity that as demand shifts, to convert those facilities to produce more lower-emissions fuels for biofuels and to utilize existing equipment for advanced recycling in plastics. And that's what you've seen us do in Baytown with conversion of some of our heavy cracking facilities on the refining side used to recycle waste plastic.

坦率地說，考慮到我們與這些設施的整合，如果您考慮我們的化學品和煉油設施的整合，這現在反映在我們的產品解決方案業務中，事實上我們已經將基礎油和潤滑油設施與這些設施整合在一起，我們——它們是相當強大的平台，規模大，成本低。我們看到的是隨著需求的變化，將這些設施轉化為生產更多低排放燃料用於生物燃料，並利用現有設備進行先進的塑料回收利用的機會。這就是我們在貝敦所做的，我們在精煉方面改造了一些用於回收廢塑料的重型裂解設施。

And we've got pretty ambitious plans in that space. We like what we see there. It gives products that have all the same attributes as virgin products but obviously without the same -- with the ability to recycle the waste. And so we like the molecular recycling. That's where we're focusing. We think we can bring an advantage there with, one, our facilities; but two, our technology; and then three, with our marketing organization with respect to the marketing of those products.

我們在這個領域有非常雄心勃勃的計劃。我們喜歡我們在那裡看到的東西。它提供了與原始產品具有所有相同屬性但顯然沒有相同屬性的產品——具有回收廢物的能力。所以我們喜歡分子回收。這就是我們關注的地方。我們認為我們可以通過我們的設施在那裡帶來優勢；但第二，我們的技術；然後三，與我們的營銷組織就這些產品的營銷有關。

So feel generally good about that. We've got plans to drive that advanced recycling to 500,000 metric tons by 2026. Should have 30,000 metric tons in place by the end of this year. So I think in total, we like what we see there.

所以總體感覺不錯。我們計劃到 2026 年將先進的回收量提高到 500,000 公噸。到今年年底應該有 30,000 公噸。所以我認為總的來說，我們喜歡我們在那裡看到的東西。

The market today is interested in those products and there is a premium out there. So I -- right now, I think that looks pretty attractive. I suspect with time, that may -- the market will stabilize, but we think it's going to be a pretty healthy market for some time to come.

今天的市場對這些產品很感興趣，而且那裡有溢價。所以我 - 現在，我認為這看起來很有吸引力。我懷疑隨著時間的推移，這可能 - 市場會穩定下來，但我們認為未來一段時間它會是一個相當健康的市場。

Next, we'll go to Jason Gabelman with Cowen.

接下來，我們將和 Cowen 一起去 Jason Gabelman。

I wanted to ask a question about your international gas footprint and the maintenance cadence because it seems like you've mentioned in the slides that gas production is going to be higher than it typically is in 2Q and 3Q, but you do have higher scheduled maintenance. So I'm wondering if any of that maintenance is in the European gas footprint. And then more broadly, if you're seeing in the industry in Europe more tempered declines from European gas into the summer just given where prices are and if you expect that to be a feature of the market moving forward.

我想問一個關於您的國際天然氣足跡和維護節奏的問題，因為您似乎在幻燈片中提到天然氣產量將高於 2Q 和 3Q 的通常水平，但您確實有更高的定期維護.所以我想知道是否有任何維護在歐洲天然氣足跡中。然後更廣泛地說，如果你在歐洲的行業中看到從歐洲天然氣到夏季的更緩和的下降，只是考慮到價格所在，如果你預計這將成為市場向前發展的一個特徵。

Yes. I think you've touched on the point that we made in our second quarter outlook with respect to seasonality, which historically we've seen, going into the second quarter, a significant drop in demand for gas. And given where the markets are at today and the level of inventories around the world, our expectation is we're not going to see the same level of demand change quarter-on-quarter, and we tried to indicate that in our outlook to suggest that we will see the same level of seasonality going forward.

是的。我認為你已經談到了我們在第二季度展望中關於季節性的觀點，從歷史上看，我們已經看到，進入第二季度，天然氣需求顯著下降。鑑於今天的市場狀況和全球庫存水平，我們的預期是我們不會看到相同水平的需求環比變化，我們試圖在我們的展望中表明這一點我們將看到未來相同水平的季節性。

I think, and as I said earlier in response to Jeanine's question, we do see this market being fairly tight here in the short term. Obviously, the industry is working hard to supply that, but it will -- the time cycle on investments and bringing additional supply on is fairly long, particularly in the context of where demand is at today and the tightness in the marketplace. So I think that's going to continue to be with us for a while.

我認為，正如我之前在回答珍妮的問題時所說，我們確實看到這個市場在短期內相當緊張。顯然，該行業正在努力提供這一點，但它會 - 投資和帶來額外供應的時間週期相當長，特別是在當今需求和市場緊張的背景下。所以我認為這將繼續伴隨我們一段時間。

And as you move -- as demand declines, I think we'll see supplies start to move into inventory and -- so that purchases will move from meeting current demand out in the marketplace to meeting the demand to fill inventory to make sure that inventories are well positioned; as we move through the summer and then back into the fall and into the winter season, that the markets are well supplied.

隨著你的移動——隨著需求下降，我認為我們會看到供應開始進入庫存，並且——因此採購將從滿足市場當前需求轉向滿足需求以填補庫存以確保庫存位置優越；當我們度過夏季，然後又回到秋季和冬季時，市場供應充足。

And then the final point I'd make there is obviously, with what's happening in Ukraine, there is a wildcard there that I think most economists and governments around the world are going to make sure that they're trying to mitigate the potential implications of that supply disruption by having good inventory levels.

然後我要說的最後一點顯然是，對於烏克蘭正在發生的事情，我認為那裡有一張通配符，我認為世界上大多數經濟學家和政府都將確保他們正在努力減輕潛在影響良好的庫存水平會導致供應中斷。

All right. Next, we'll go to Sam Margolin with Wolfe Research.

好的。接下來，我們將與 Wolfe Research 一起前往 Sam Margolin。

Question on -- actually, just a longer-term sort of capital allocation question in the context of what's become kind of conventional wisdom that NOCs around the world are very interested in accelerating activity here and bringing new resource to market, but the majority of NOCs, with the exception of a few, rely on foreign investment and partners like ExxonMobil, and the industry on the independent operator side has framed a stable spending view over the long term, which has been something that's been very helpful for investors to have that multiyear CapEx range. So I'm just wondering, your perspective on how that squares, if the industry is going to get pulled into the imperative of NOCs to spend more and do more or if you think these steady ranges of CapEx are achievable even within that context.

關於 - 實際上，只是一個長期的資本分配問題，在什麼已經成為一種傳統智慧的背景下，世界各地的 NOC 對加速這裡的活動並將新資源推向市場非常感興趣，但大多數 NOC ，除少數外，依賴外國投資和埃克森美孚等合作夥伴，獨立運營商方面的行業已經形成了長期穩定的支出觀，這對投資者擁有多年的投資非常有幫助資本支出範圍。因此，我只是想知道，您對這方面的看法，如果該行業將被拉入 NOC 的必要性以增加支出和做更多的事情，或者您是否認為即使在這種情況下也可以實現這些穩定的資本支出範圍。

Sure. I'm happy to take that, Sam. So first of all, I would just remind you that we do have CapEx guidance that's out there, obviously, for this year. It's '21 to 24. And we've talked about kind of through 2027 a range of $20 billion to $25 billion. Now within that, we always try to leave ourselves a little bit of room, understanding that there's these opportunities that can come up in the future. And obviously, we've made some investments in the type of opportunities that you're talking about in the past. And by the way, Golden Pass is a JV that we have with foreign investment that sits behind it as well. So I'd say we don't feel any particular pressure.

當然。我很樂意接受，山姆。所以首先，我只想提醒你，我們確實有今年的資本支出指導。現在是 21 到 24 年。我們已經談到到 2027 年的範圍是 200 億到 250 億美元。現在，在這其中，我們總是試圖給自己留一點空間，了解未來可能會出現這些機會。顯然，我們已經在您過去談論的那種機會類型上進行了一些投資。順便說一句，Golden Pass 是我們與外國投資建立的合資企業。所以我想說我們沒有感到任何特別的壓力。

I just reference back to what Darren said earlier, which is, we spend capital when we have confidence behind the projects and the returns that those projects are going to offer, right? And we're, I'd say, very, very disciplined at pressure-testing those projects to make sure they're resilient across a, I'd say, wide set of market environment given the cyclicality that we have in the business. So we feel great about the opportunities that stand in front of us right now.

我只是參考了 Darren 之前所說的，也就是說，當我們對項目和這些項目將提供的回報有信心時，我們就會投入資金，對嗎？而且，我想說，考慮到我們業務的周期性，我們在對這些項目進行壓力測試時非常非常自律，以確保它們在我想說的廣泛的市場環境中具有彈性。因此，我們對現在擺在我們面前的機會感到非常高興。

Obviously, we've got low cost of supply barrels that we're investing in, be it Guyana or the Permian, Brazil. Darren mentioned the LNG projects that we're moving forward which we feel really good about. Obviously, we've got, in the Product Solutions space, investments that we continue to make to support growth in high-value products, right, and to keep, I'd say, optimizing our Downstream circuit. So we feel good about that.

顯然，我們投資的供應桶成本很低，無論是圭亞那還是巴西二疊紀。 Darren 提到了我們正在推進的液化天然氣項目，我們對此感覺非常好。顯然，在產品解決方案領域，我們繼續進行投資，以支持高價值產品的增長，對，並保持，我想說，優化我們的下游電路。所以我們對此感覺很好。

If there's opportunities where we feel like there's a good return to be earned, we'll certainly look at potentially participating in those opportunities. But we're going to be very disciplined in our approach, as you should expect from us.

如果有機會讓我們覺得可以獲得良好的回報，我們肯定會考慮參與這些機會。但是，正如您應該對我們期望的那樣，我們將在我們的方法中非常自律。

Yes. And I would just add to that, Sam, if you look at the work we've been doing with our organization, the changes that we've made in the structure, consolidation of capabilities across the corporation, one of the changes we announced on April 1 was a technology organization that combines the technical skills and capabilities and the engineering capabilities across the corporation. We've seen really good results doing that in the projects area.

是的。山姆，我想補充一點，如果你看看我們一直在為我們的組織所做的工作，我們在結構上所做的改變，整個公司的能力整合，我們宣布的改變之一April 1 是一個技術組織，結合了整個公司的技術技能和能力以及工程能力。我們已經在項目領域看到了非常好的結果。

We think we've got a real opportunity in the technology area to realize similar benefits in terms of effectiveness on top of whatever efficiencies that might come from that work. And I would say that effectiveness and that concentration of technology and really getting the organization to focus on where we can add unique value and grow competitive advantage is going to be a really important part of continuing to be a valued partner with NOCs and others all around the world.

我們認為我們在技術領域有一個真正的機會，可以在該工作可能帶來的任何效率之上實現類似的效率方面的好處。我想說的是，效率和技術的集中以及真正讓組織專注於我們可以增加獨特價值和增強競爭優勢的地方，將成為繼續成為 NOC 和其他各方的重要合作夥伴的一個非常重要的部分世界。

Our strategy here is to make sure that we're a central partner, that when NOCs and other resource holders are -- want somebody who can effectively and efficiently develop the resource and doing it in a sustainable manner, that the first name to come to mind is ExxonMobil and that we bring those unique capabilities. And I would tell you I have enormous confidence that that's what's going to happen, that the things that we can see in the pipeline, the opportunities that we have in front of us to become more effective at what we do, I think, are huge. And I'm looking forward just to then leveraging the business opportunities in the future.

我們這裡的策略是確保我們是一個核心合作夥伴，當 NOC 和其他資源持有者 - 想要一個能夠有效和高效地開發資源並以可持續的方式進行開發的人時，第一個出現的名字記住的是埃克森美孚，我們帶來了這些獨特的能力。我會告訴你，我非常有信心，這就是即將發生的事情，我們可以在管道中看到的事情，我們面前的機會讓我們在我們所做的事情上變得更加有效，我認為，是巨大的.我期待著在未來利用商機。

Our next question will come from the line of Biraj Borkhataria with RBC.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Biraj Borkhataria 和 RBC。

I had a question on Guyana. The fourth FPSO which you just sanctioned was a large one, 250,000 barrels a day. I was just wondering, in your base case plans, are you assuming a similar size for the later FPSOs at that rate?

我有一個關於圭亞那的問題。你剛剛批准的第四艘 FPSO 很大，每天 250,000 桶。我只是想知道，在您的基本情況計劃中，您是否以該速率為後來的 FPSO 假設了類似的尺寸？

And if I could add a quickie second question. A few days ago, there was an announcement from the DOE around additional export capacity from Golden Pass. I was wondering if you could just help me understand whether that was just an administrative thing, whether that was you sort of relooking at the project or is there some kind of future proofing ahead of debottlenecking there?

如果我可以添加一個快速的第二個問題。幾天前，美國能源部發布了關於 Golden Pass 增加出口能力的公告。我想知道您是否可以幫助我了解這是否只是一個管理問題，您是在重新審視項目還是在消除瓶頸之前有某種未來的證明？

Yes, sure. On Guyana, Biraj, I would tell you that, as you know, we are having tremendous success with respect to discoveries there and in the characterization of that resource. And I would just say that our teams have been very focused on making sure we have a good characterization of that resource, which will then be a really important part of how we choose to develop that resource in a cost-effective way to make sure that the cost of supply and obviously the returns for those projects lead the industry. And so as we look at that, these bigger production facilities make a lot of sense when you have the resource to support them because it brings your unit cost down, brings down your cost of supply.

是的，當然。在圭亞那，比拉傑，我會告訴你，如你所知，我們在那裡的發現和對該資源的表徵方面取得了巨大的成功。我只想說，我們的團隊一直非常專注於確保我們對該資源有良好的表徵，這將成為我們選擇以具有成本效益的方式開發該資源的一個非常重要的部分，以確保供應成本和這些項目的回報顯然引領行業。因此，當我們看到這一點時，當您有資源支持它們時，這些更大的生產設施就很有意義，因為它可以降低您的單位成本，降低您的供應成本。

As we look at extending those developments in other areas of the resource base, it will be a function of what we find, but I would say we would lean towards these larger developments, and we'll obviously lean towards extending some of the current developments that we have and taking advantage of whatever synergies we might have with those facilities.

當我們考慮在資源基礎的其他領域擴展這些開發時，這將取決於我們的發現，但我想說我們將傾向於這些更大的開發，我們顯然會傾向於擴展當前的一些開發我們擁有並利用我們可能與這些設施產生的任何協同作用。

And so I wouldn't say there's a single recipe here. It's really tailoring the recipe to make sure that it's optimized for the development opportunities that we've got in front of us. And that's going to evolve as we better characterize the resource base.

所以我不會說這裡只有一個食譜。它真的是在調整配方，以確保它針對我們面前的發展機會進行了優化。隨著我們更好地描述資源基礎，這將會發展。

And I will just say with respect to Golden Pass, that project and the work that we're doing there, we feel good about the progress that we're making and we're on schedule. The concept there is not changing.

我只想說關於 Golden Pass，那個項目和我們在那裡所做的工作，我們對我們正在取得的進展感覺很好，我們正在按計劃進行。那裡的概念沒有改變。

Next, we'll go to Roger Read with Wells Fargo.

接下來，我們將與富國銀行一起前往 Roger Read。

Maybe to come back a little bit to the Guyana question, and I was -- wanted to clarify one thing there. And then maybe just sort of a contrast to your Permian operations given Permian production is higher today, but Guyana resource is probably larger.

也許回到圭亞那的問題，我想澄清一件事。然後可能只是與您的二疊紀作業形成對比，因為今天二疊紀的產量更高，但圭亞那的資源可能更大。

As we think about the 11 billion barrels of resource, is that a -- should we assume that's exclusively oil at this point? I mean that's been kind of our baseline given the type of production coming out.

當我們考慮 110 億桶資源時，我們是否應該假設此時僅是石油？我的意思是，鑑於即將推出的產品類型，這是我們的基準。

And then how should we think about the long-term gas situation there, the opportunity? And when I said versus the Permian, I'm kind of thinking about those two as we look to the middle and latter part of the decade.

那麼我們應該如何看待那裡的長期天然氣形勢，機會呢？當我說與二疊紀相比時，當我們展望這十年的中後期時，我有點想到這兩者。

Yes. I would say the resource is a mix. And then depending on where you're at within the Stabroek block, that mix changes.

是的。我會說資源是混合的。然後根據你在 Stabroek 街區的位置，這種組合會發生變化。

Our development priorities is weighted towards liquid. So I think what you'll see in our plans and the way we talk about it is there's a bias towards liquid today. And then with time, we'll see how those developments evolve. We're doing some things with the government of Guyana to bring gas onshore to help deliver more cost-efficient and environmentally better power to the people of Guyana and give them a much lower-cost energy source and a much cleaner energy source. And so there is some development gas in that space.

我們的發展重點是液體。所以我認為你會在我們的計劃中看到以及我們談論它的方式是今天存在對流動性的偏見。然後隨著時間的推移，我們將看到這些發展如何演變。我們正在與圭亞那政府做一些事情，將天然氣帶到陸上，以幫助為圭亞那人民提供更具成本效益和環境更好的電力，並為他們提供成本更低的能源和更清潔的能源。因此，該領域存在一些發展氣體。

So -- but I would say generally, liquids are weighted. And obviously, as we move through the field and run the economics, we'll develop the resources that optimize capital and grow returns.

所以 - 但我一般會說，液體是加權的。顯然，隨著我們在該領域的發展和經濟運行，我們將開發優化資本和增加回報的資源。

Our next question will come from the line of Ryan Todd with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Ryan Todd 和 Piper Sandler。

Good. Maybe one on capital allocation. As we think about your capital budget, so it's not just for this year but over the next few years in the range that you have within those budgets. Is that -- should we think about that range as primarily driven by timing? Or should we -- is there a possibility that higher commodity prices -- should we think about maybe pushing towards the higher end of the range through some combination of inflation? Or are there opportunities in the portfolio to deploy a little additional organic capital, whether it's on short or mid-cycle infill drilling, tieback opportunities? Does the higher commodity price open up the door to a little extra capital deployment opportunity there?

好的。也許是關於資本配置的。當我們考慮您的資本預算時，不僅是今年，而且在接下來的幾年中，您在這些預算範圍內。那是——我們應該認為這個範圍主要是由時間驅動的嗎？或者我們是否應該 - 是否有可能更高的商品價格 - 我們是否應該考慮通過某種通脹組合推動價格區間的高端？或者投資組合中是否有機會部署一些額外的有機資本，無論是短期還是中期加密鑽井，回接機會？較高的商品價格是否為那裡提供了一些額外的資本配置機會？

Yes, I'll just start off and then pass it to Kathy for any additional comments. But I would -- I think the short answer is no. And I think we have tried to emphasize looking through the cycles, looking at the long term and making sure that the investments that we make are robust to the whole of the cycle. You'll remember we were investing pretty heavily when prices were down in anticipation of longer-term fundamentals. I would say while we're in a very tight market today, we're not going to let that distract us from our focus of making sure that we have low cost of supply, industry-leading advantaged projects. And so that remains the focus.

是的，我將開始，然後將其傳遞給 Kathy 以獲取任何其他意見。但我會 - 我認為簡短的回答是否定的。我認為我們已經試圖強調審視週期，著眼於長期，並確保我們所做的投資對整個週期都是穩健的。您會記得，當價格因預期長期基本面而下跌時，我們進行了大量投資。我想說的是，雖然我們今天處於非常緊張的市場中，但我們不會讓這分散我們的注意力，以確保我們擁有低成本、行業領先的優勢項目。所以這仍然是重點。

On the short-cycle stuff, I think to the extent that we stay within our competitively advantaged approach and the manufacturing processes that we set and the boundaries that we set with respect to the facilities that we've built and pre-invested in, we'll continue to optimize around that. But we're not going to go outside of that broader strategy of the long-ball game that we're playing in the Permian and international space.

在短週期的事情上，我認為只要我們保持在我們的競爭優勢方法和我們設定的製造流程以及我們對我們已經建造和預先投資的設施設定的界限內，我們將繼續圍繞這一點進行優化。但我們不會超出我們在二疊紀和國際空間進行的長球比賽的更廣泛戰略。

Yes. And I would say certainly, timing over what's a relatively long-term period is something that we're trying to give a little flexibility for. I'd actually point to what we talked about on the Payara, Guyana project. Originally, we said that was going to start up in 2024, and now we're saying we think it's likely it'll start up at the end of 2023. So that would be an example of we have initial planning that we do. But obviously, accelerating projects if we can bring them in, in a shorter time frame and obviously on or under budget is something we're always focused on.

是的。我肯定會說，在相對較長的時期內進行時間安排是我們試圖給予一點靈活性的事情。我實際上會指出我們在圭亞那的 Payara 項目上所討論的內容。最初，我們說它將在 2024 年啟動，現在我們說我們認為它很可能會在 2023 年底啟動。所以這將是我們有初步計劃的一個例子。但顯然，如果我們能夠在更短的時間框架內、明顯在或低於預算的情況下引入項目，加速項目是我們一直關注的事情。

Next, we'll go to Paul Cheng with Scotiabank.

接下來，我們將與豐業銀行一起前往 Paul Cheng。

So first -- hopefully, that I also won't use my quota. I just want to complement IR for the new format on the call as well as the increased disclosure. Really appreciate.

所以首先- 希望我也不會使用我的配額。我只是想在電話會議上補充 IR 的新格式以及增加的披露。萬分感激。

I have to apologize first because I want to go back into the inflation question. Kathy, on -- if we're looking out for your next several years, do you have a number you can share? What percent of your CapEx is pretty much that have some pretty fixed pricing? And what percent is going to be subject to the inflation factor?

我必須先道歉，因為我想回到通脹問題。凱西，關於 - 如果我們正在尋找你接下來的幾年，你有一個可以分享的數字嗎？您的資本支出中有多少百分比具有相當固定的定價？百分之多少會受到通貨膨脹因素的影響？

And also in your presentation, you talked about the 3% off-cycle compensation adjustment. Could you quantify that, how big is that number, for us?

在您的演講中，您還談到了 3% 的非週期補償調整。你能量化一下，這個數字對我們來說有多大？

Sure. So overall, I think we talked a little bit about inflation on CapEx and the fact that certainly, in the near term, we're feeling pretty good because we did a lot of work during the pandemic. So we had paused some projects, and during the pandemic, we did a lot of work to actually put the contracts in place like finish the engineering and put the contracts in place at a point where I'd say there were some deflationary pressures in the market. So as it relates to our overall capital projects, we feel pretty good over the next couple of years.

當然。因此，總的來說，我認為我們談到了資本支出的通貨膨脹以及事實上，在短期內，我們感覺非常好，因為我們在大流行期間做了很多工作。所以我們暫停了一些項目，在大流行期間，我們做了很多工作來實際落實合同，比如完成工程，並將合同落實到我認為美國存在一些通縮壓力的地步。市場。因此，由於它與我們的整體資本項目有關，我們在接下來的幾年裡感覺很好。

And obviously, strategically, the timing of when we do the engineering, when we go out to procurement, is something that we're always looking at and taking into consideration. And then I mentioned the fact that doing our own procurement globally to make sure that we're getting globally competitive bids is something else we do. We do spend a lot of money over the years as we're looking forward on the boats associated with the Guyana development. And again, we approach that in a really strategic manner so that we're managing those projects to the lowest cost, getting the specific design that we need. So that's how I would really discuss what's happening with regard to inflation.

顯然，從戰略上講，我們何時進行工程設計，何時進行採購，是我們一直在關注和考慮的事情。然後我提到了這樣一個事實，即在全球範圍內進行我們自己的採購以確保我們獲得具有全球競爭力的投標是我們所做的另一件事。多年來，我們確實花了很多錢，因為我們期待著與圭亞那發展相關的船隻。再一次，我們以一種真正戰略性的方式處理這個問題，以便我們以最低的成本管理這些項目，獲得我們需要的特定設計。所以這就是我真正討論通貨膨脹的方式。

Yes. I would just add that the salary action that we announced this morning we're taking won't be material in the analysis that you're doing, Paul. Our intention would be to continue to deliver on the efficiencies, I mean, at the term that we had projected in our plan.

是的。我只想補充一點，我們今天早上宣布的薪水行動在你所做的分析中並不重要，保羅。我們的意圖是繼續提高效率，我的意思是，按照我們在計劃中預測的期限。

Next, we'll go to Manav Gupta with Crédit Suisse.

接下來，我們將與瑞士信貸一起前往 Manav Gupta。

I mean, a very quick question here is, at the start of the call, you indicated that Asian Chemical margins are kind of below mid-cycle. And I just want to understand generally, when crude moves up, there is support for commodity prices. So there's two equations going on here. Some capacity coming on, but crude is also moving up. So do you expect the margins to remain below mid-cycle for some time? Or do you think that higher crude could actually push up the ethylene margins and stuff in the non-U.S. region on a go-forward basis?

我的意思是，一個非常簡單的問題是，在電話會議開始時，您表示亞洲化工的利潤率略低於週期中期。我只是想大致了解一下，當原油上漲時，商品價格會受到支撐。所以這裡有兩個方程。一些產能正在增加，但原油也在上漲。那麼您是否預計利潤率會在一段時間內保持在周期中期以下？還是您認為原油價格上漲實際上會推高非美國地區的乙烯利潤和其他東西？

Sure. Yes, I think it's an unusual time we've got in the chemical market just because we see a level of dislocation between what's happening in Asia and what we see happening in the Atlantic basin. I think we made reference in the comments that our North America footprint in Chemical and the ethane advantage that we have has actually helped to mitigate this broader downturn that we're seeing with the global chemical markets, which are heavily weighted to -- or weighted towards the downturn that we're seeing in Asia.

當然。是的，我認為這是我們進入化工市場的不尋常時期，因為我們看到亞洲正在發生的事情與大西洋盆地發生的事情之間存在一定程度的錯位。我認為我們在評論中提到，我們在化學領域的北美足跡和我們所擁有的乙烷優勢實際上有助於緩解我們在全球化學市場中看到的這種更廣泛的低迷，這些市場對 - 或加權走向我們在亞洲看到的衰退。

And I think as you look at crude prices coming up and the marginal supply in olefins being liquids, cracker and naphtha feed, that as that crude price goes up, your feed goes up, your naphtha feed goes up. And so you've got cost increases on your feed. And because of some of the logistics constraints and the ability to kind of connect the market's demand is somewhat dislocated and so you've got oversupply in a market like China, where you see some of the demand coming off with the lockdowns and logistics constraints, so I think you've got -- we're in a unique period right now where you're seeing some regional imbalances and inability to close those imbalances through logistics and transportation.

我認為，當你看到原油價格上漲以及烯烴的邊際供應是液體、裂解裝置和石腦油原料時，隨著原油價格上漲，你的原料就會上漲，你的石腦油原料也會上漲。所以你的飼料成本增加了。而且由於一些物流限制以及連接市場需求的能力有些混亂，因此在中國這樣的市場出現供過於求的情況，您會看到一些需求因封鎖和物流限製而減少，所以我認為你已經 - 我們現在處於一個獨特的時期，你會看到一些區域不平衡並且無法通過物流和運輸來消除這些不平衡。

Difficult to say how long it's going to last. But I think ultimately, as markets open up, we'll see those equilibrate with -- again, I think if crude remains high, my suspicion is that ethane and ethane cracking will continue to be advantaged. And then that will obviously move as crude prices move with respect to gas prices.

很難說它會持續多久。但我認為最終，隨著市場的開放，我們將看到那些與 - 同樣，我認為如果原油價格保持高位，我懷疑乙烷和乙烷裂解將繼續受益。然後，隨著原油價格相對於天然氣價格的變化，這顯然會發生變化。

Your next question comes from the line of Lucas Herrmann with Exane.

您的下一個問題來自 Lucas Herrmann 與 Exane 的對話。

I just wanted to return to Golden Pass, if I might, and a couple of aspects to the question.

如果可以的話，我只是想回到黃金山口，以及這個問題的幾個方面。

The first is just can you expand on the marketing approach and how you intend placing volume? It's a very large project, but it's a project which, to the best of my knowledge, has very little by way of contracts at this time. So to what extent yourself and your partner, QP, will -- how you'll be looking to market products.

首先是您能否擴展營銷方法以及您打算如何投放數量？這是一個非常大的項目，但據我所知，這個項目目前幾乎沒有合同。因此，您和您的合作夥伴 QP 將在多大程度上 - 您將如何尋找營銷產品。

And just can you give us some indication on the phasing of the start-up of the three trains? I presume when you talk about 2024 startup, that's the first train. I guess I'd expect 4 to 6 months or so between the start-up of each subsequent train, but any guidance you can give there would be helpful.

您能否就三列火車的啟動分階段給我們一些指示？我想當你談到 2024 年的創業時，那是第一班火車。我想我預計每輛後續列車的啟動之間需要 4 到 6 個月左右的時間，但您可以提供的任何指導都會有所幫助。

Sure, yes. Yes, to start on the back end of your question, you're right, train 1 is -- we expect to start up in 2024 and then the remaining trains in 2025. And what -- the strategic drive behind that investment and that supply point was really getting a global -- a balanced global footprint with respect to LNG supply. So that Golden Pass facility gives us an anchor point within the Americas to take advantage of the U.S. gas market and the developments that we've seen there and the supply potential that we see in U.S. gas. And so that forms a really important anchor supply point.

當然，是的。是的，從你的問題的後端開始，你是對的，火車 1 是——我們預計將在 2024 年啟動，然後在 2025 年啟動剩餘的火車。以及——投資和供應背後的戰略驅動力重點是真正實現全球性——在液化天然氣供應方面實現平衡的全球足跡。因此，Golden Pass 設施為我們在美洲提供了一個錨點，以利用美國天然氣市場以及我們在那裡看到的發展以及我們在美國天然氣中看到的供應潛力。這樣就形成了一個非常重要的錨供應點。

And we intend to use that with a bit of the trading business that we're growing in LNG and use it as an ability to trade and oftentimes bridges -- some of our other LNG projects are being developed to bridge and supply between those projects that allow us to optimize and make commitments for projects with flexibility in terms of using Golden Pass as a supply point and then to also just trade in the spot market. So I think it's going to give us a lot of flexibility to supplement our longer-term contracts for our bigger projects but to also participate in the spot market.

我們打算將其與我們在液化天然氣中發展的一些貿易業務一起使用，並將其用作貿易能力，並經常架起橋樑——我們正在開發一些其他液化天然氣項目，以在這些項目之間架起橋樑和供應讓我們可以靈活地優化項目並做出承諾，將 Golden Pass 用作供應點，然後也可以在現貨市場上進行交易。所以我認為這將給我們很大的靈活性來補充我們更大項目的長期合同，同時也參與現貨市場。

So there's no intent to contract some of the volume in what could be a very constructive market for pricing over the next 2, 3 years for those who have supply coming on this near term?

因此，對於那些近期有供應的人來說，在未來 2、3 年的定價可能是一個非常有建設性的市場中，沒有打算收縮部分數量？

I would tell you that the LNG organization is going to basically develop that portfolio in a way that they think maximizes the value of it. So I wouldn't take anything off the table. I'm just -- I'm suggesting that it's -- we've got a lot of optionality and flexibility, and the expectation is the LNG business and the individual running that take advantage of that flexibility to maximize the value is how I would characterize it.

我會告訴你，液化天然氣組織將基本上以他們認為最大化其價值的方式開發該投資組合。所以我不會從桌面上拿走任何東西。我只是 - 我建議它 - 我們有很多可選性和靈活性，並且期望是液化天然氣業務和利用這種靈活性來最大化價值的個人運營是我的方式表徵它。

And it looks like we have time for one more question, so we'll take that from Neal Dingmann with Truist Securities.

看起來我們還有時間再問一個問題，所以我們將從 Truist Securities 的尼爾丁曼那裡得到這個問題。

And my question is on the Permian. Just wondering, I'm currently seeing you all running somewhere around 16 rigs and 5 spreads. I'm just wondering, will this continue to be around the level of activity needed in order to achieve that -- I think, your goal around that 25% year-over-year Permian growth plans? And I was just also wondering if you could talk about maybe just broadly the degree of inflation you're just currently seeing there.

我的問題是關於二疊紀的。只是想知道，我目前看到你們都在運行大約 16 台鑽機和 5 個價差。我只是想知道，這是否會繼續圍繞實現這一目標所需的活動水平——我認為，你的目標是圍繞二疊紀年同比增長 25% 的計劃？我也想知道你是否可以大致談談你目前看到的通貨膨脹程度。

Yes. I would tell you that the plan that we had and we've talked about with respect to the Permian specifically is somewhere between 10 and 12 rigs and then 6 to 8 frac crews, something like that. And we're basically, I think, in line with that plan right now. And part of that is making sure that we're -- the developments that we're pursuing are consistent with the base infrastructure, the technology and the capital efficiency approaches that we've built into that development that tends to drive what we're doing there.

是的。我會告訴你，我們已經討論過的關於二疊紀的計劃是在 10 到 12 台鑽機之間，然後是 6 到 8 名壓裂人員，類似的。我認為，我們現在基本上符合該計劃。其中一部分是確保我們 - 我們正在追求的發展與我們在發展中建立的基礎基礎設施、技術和資本效率方法一致，這些發展往往會推動我們的發展在那裡做。

I think what -- and Kathy has touched on we, again, had anticipated the market recovery and some of the tightness and so had developed some contracting strategies and partnering with suppliers to try to mitigate that impact. That's paying off. We're seeing that advantage here in the Permian. Eventually, that obviously will roll off.

我認為 - 凱西再次提到我們已經預見到市場復甦和一些緊張，因此制定了一些合同戰略並與供應商合作以試圖減輕這種影響。那是有回報的。我們在二疊紀看到了這種優勢。最終，這顯然會滾落。

Some of the consumables and some of the labor tightness that we're seeing in the Permian, obviously that's starting to impact us as well. So we are seeing inflationary pressures. The expectation is that we'll continue to grow as the work activity opens up and as some of the logistics constraints get resolved. And we're basically -- we've challenged the team to try to manage that and to make sure that as we look at progressing development and grow that production, that we're doing it in a constructive way and not undermining the cost of supply or the advantaged position of those barrels, where they sit in the supply -- cost of supply curve for the industry.

我們在二疊紀看到的一些消耗品和一些勞動力緊張，顯然這也開始影響我們。因此，我們看到了通脹壓力。期望隨著工作活動的開展和一些物流限制得到解決，我們將繼續增長。我們基本上 - 我們已經挑戰團隊嘗試管理它，並確保當我們著眼於正在進行的開發和增加生產時，我們正在以一種建設性的方式來做這件事，而不是破壞成本供應或這些桶的優勢地位，它們在供應中所處的位置——該行業的供應成本曲線。

So I think we're going to -- this disciplined approach that you -- we've talked about is not so much a -- the spend but in terms of efficiency and making sure that everything -- that every dollar we spend there is productive. And the challenge for that team is to make sure we don't lose productivity and the capital that we're spending.

所以我認為我們將——你——我們談到的這種有紀律的方法——與其說是——支出，不如說是在效率方面，並確保一切——我們在那里花費的每一美元富有成效的。該團隊面臨的挑戰是確保我們不會失去生產力和我們正在花費的資金。

Thanks, Darren, and thanks, everybody, for your time and for your questions this morning. We appreciate that. We will post a transcript of the call on our Investor website early next week. Have a great weekend. Thanks.

謝謝，達倫，謝謝大家，今天早上的時間和問題。我們對此表示讚賞。我們將在下周初在我們的投資者網站上發布電話會議記錄。週末愉快。謝謝。

That does conclude today's conference. We thank everyone again for their participation.

今天的會議到此結束。我們再次感謝大家的參與。