Targa Resources Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
February 15, 2024

There are 16 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Targa Resources Corp. 4th Quarter 2023 Earnings Webcast and Presentation. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

Operator

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Sanjay Lad, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Shannon. Good morning and welcome to the Q4 2023 earnings call for Targa Resources Corp. The 4th quarter earnings release along with the 4th quarter earnings supplement presentation for Targa that accompany our call are available on our website at targaresources.com in the Investors section. In addition, an updated investor presentation has also been posted to our website. Statements made during this call that might include Targa's expectations or predictions should be considered forward looking statements within the meaning of Section of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Speaker 1

Actual results could differ materially from those projected in forward looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ, please refer to our latest SEC filings. Our speakers for the call today will be Matt Molloy, Chief Executive Officer and Jen Kneale, Chief Financial Officer. Additionally, we'll have the following senior management team members available for Q and Pat McDonough, President, Gathering and Processing Scott Pryor, President, Logistics and Transportation and Bobby Muraro, Chief Commercial Officer. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Matt.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Anja, and good morning. 2023 was another record year for Targa, and I would like to recognize and thank our employees for their focus, dedication and execution throughout the year. Some of our highlights for 2023 include record safety performance, record gathering and processing volumes in the Permian, record volumes across our logistics and transportation assets, record adjusted EBITDA of $3,530,000,000 a 22% increase over 2022 while also reducing our share count. Major projects came online on time, on budget and have been highly utilized since start up, ended the year with 90% of our GMP volumes fee based or with fee floor, positive outlook to our current investment grade ratings with each of the 3 agencies and the completion of 2 successful notes offerings and higher year over year return of capital to our shareholders through both an increased common dividend and record common share repurchases. Our performance was particularly strong given Waha natural gas and NGL prices were about 64% 34% lower year over year And we benefited from margin from fee floors in our gathering and processing business across 10 of 12 months, Demonstrating our business is more insulated to downside to downward commodity prices than ever before.

Speaker 2

We also exited 2023 with a lot of volume momentum in the Permian. Our December reported inlet averaged 5,500,000,000 cubic feet per day, a 450,000,000 cubic feet per day improvement from our 3rd quarter average. While our volume ramp materialized later than we forecasted for 2023, we are pleased that we ended the year with December actuals in line with our original guidance expectations for the Permian, providing us with strong momentum in 2024. We expect another year of record financial and operational metrics with full year adjusted EBITDA estimated to be between $3,700,000,000 $3,900,000,000 for 2024. The significant year over year increase in adjusted EBITDA is primarily driven by higher expected Permian gathering and processing volumes and higher expected NGL transport fractionation and export volumes.

Speaker 2

Consensus growth expectations for Permian associated gas in 2024 is about 9% And given our track record of outperforming the basin, we are installing over 400,000,000 cubic feet per day of compression in the first half of twenty twenty four, which will drive increasing volumes through our downstream assets. We currently estimate between $2,300,000,000 $2,500,000,000 of growth capital spending in 2024 as we bring online 2 Permian plants, 3 fractionators and an NGL pipeline, while also spending on projects will come online beyond 2024, including additional Permian plants and fractionation trains. Beyond these projects already announced and under the significant activity we continue to see. Backed by the strength of our outlook and increasing stability of our cash flows, we announced in November, an expectation of a 50% year over year increase to our annualized 2024 common dividend per share. The increased dividend will be recommended to our Board in April for the Q1 of 2024 with payment to shareholders in May.

Speaker 2

We also repurchased a record 374,000,000 of common shares in 2023 and continue to be in position to execute on our opportunistic share repurchase program in 2024. Beyond 2024, we really like our positioning driven by a view of cost advantaged basins like the Permian continuing to be a key supplier of hydrocarbons for decades to come. As we look to 2025, we estimate about $1,400,000,000 of growth capital spending burdened by the next major projects that are not currently board approved but would be necessary to support continued volume growth, including Train 11 and additional Permian G and P plants. With increasing EBITDA in 2025 relative to 2024 and lower estimated growth capital spending, we expect to generate significant free cash flow in 2025. Also, we included in our presentation slides this morning an illustrative buildup of multiyear average spending that would approximate about $1,700,000,000 per year.

Speaker 2

This assumes high single digit gas volume growth in the Permian, requiring us to continue to add infrastructure across our value chain. $1,700,000,000 of capital spending at a 5.5 times multiple would drive over $300,000,000 of EBITDA growth year over year and increasing free cash flow supporting our ability to continue to return an increasing amount of capital to our shareholders. We also included our estimated spending to maintain volumes currently on our system, which we think is helpful in demonstrating the resiliency of our business. Growth capital spending to maintain existing volumes is estimated at around $300,000,000 annually, which is informed by how quickly we're able to rationalize spending in 2020 2021 when we still had strong volume growth across our assets. In a scenario of $300,000,000 of annual growth capital spend, We would be in position to utilize significant free cash flow to continue to return capital to shareholders while maintaining a very strong balance As we look forward, our excitement is our our excitement and our outlook is driven by a few things.

Speaker 2

1st, We have the largest Permian gathering and processing footprint in the industry with several million dedicated acres across Midland and Delaware Basins. That, coupled with an integrated NGL system, positions us nicely to generate high return organic opportunities to invest around $1,700,000,000 annually over a multiyear average, delivering over $300,000,000 of annual EBITDA growth, driving significant free cash flow and positions Targa to continue to meaningfully increase the amount of capital returned to shareholders and deliver significant value to our shareholders over the long term. Let's now discuss our operations in more detail. Starting in the Permian, activity continues to remain strong across our dedicated acreage. 4th quarter inlet volumes averaged a record 5,300,000,000 cubic feet per day, an 11% increase when compared to the Q4 of 2022.

Speaker 2

We brought online significant compression across our Midland, Delaware systems during the 4th quarter, driving a 5% sequential increase in volumes. In Permian Midland, our new $275,000,000 a day Greenwood plant, which commenced operations during the Q4 is already highly utilized. Our next Midland plant, Greenwood II, remains on track to begin operations in the Q4 of 2024 and is expected to be much needed when it comes online. In the Permian, Delaware, activity and volumes across our footprint are also running strong. We brought online our new $275,000,000 a day Wildcat II plant in late Q4 and it's already highly utilized.

Speaker 2

Our Roadrunner II and Bulmoves plants remain on track to begin operations in the 2nd quarters of 2024 and 2025 respectively. As mentioned earlier, we are ordering long lead time items for our next Permian plants to support continued production growth across our footprint. Shifting to our Logistics and Transportation segment, Targa's NGL pipeline transportation volumes were a record 722,000 barrels per day And fractionation volumes were a record 845,000 barrels per day during the Q4. Our Grand Prix NGL deliveries into Mont Belvieu increased 9% sequentially as we benefited from increased supply from our Permian GMP systems and higher third party volumes. The outlook for NGL supply growth from our GMP footprint and 3rd parties remains robust and our DAYTONA NGL pipeline expansion will be much needed to handle growth from our system.

Speaker 2

We have obtained all required permits and have commenced construction on DAYTONA. We now expect the pipeline to begin operations ahead of schedule in early Q4 of this year assuming favorable weather conditions. Our fractionation complex in Mont Belvieu continues to operate near capacity and we expect our Train 9 fractionator to be highly utilized when it commences operations during the Q2 of 2024. The restart of GCF will also provide much needed capacity when it is fully online during the Q2 2024. Our Train 10 fractionator is also expected to be much needed given the anticipated growth in our GMP business and corresponding plant additions and remains on track for the Q1 of 2025.

Speaker 2

As mentioned earlier, we are also ordering long lead items for Train 11 to support continued production growth across our footprint. In our LPG export business at Galena Park, our loadings were a record 13,300,000 barrels month during the Q4 as we benefited from our recently completed expansion, strong market conditions and the Houston Ship Channel allowance of nighttime transits for larger vessels providing strong momentum for 2024. Before I turn the call over to Jen to discuss 4th quarter results in more detail as well as our expectations for 2024, I would like to extend a second thank you to the Targa team for their continued focus on safety and execution while continuing to provide best in class service and reliability to our customers.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Matt. Good morning, everyone. Targa's reported quarterly adjusted EBITDA for the 4th quarter was $960,000,000 a 14% increase over the 3rd quarter. The sequential increase was attributable to higher Permian volumes, which resulted in higher system volumes across our integrated NGL business. Full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA was roughly $3,530,000,000 supported by record financial and operational metrics across the company.

Speaker 3

We spent approximately $2,200,000,000 on growth capital projects and $223,000,000 in net maintenance capital during 2023, largely in line with our previous estimates. In November, we successfully completed a $1,000,000,000 offering of 0.15% coupon senior notes due 2029 and a $1,000,000,000 offering of 6.5% coupon senior notes due 2,034. This allowed us to reduce our term loan borrowings by $1,000,000,000 and enhance our liquidity position. At the end of the 4th quarter, we had $700,000,000 of available liquidity and our net consolidated leverage ratio was approximately 3.6 times well within our long term leverage ratio target range of 3 to 4 times. Also this morning in an announcement that was made public while we were on call, S and P has upgraded us to BBB, reflective of the progress we have made to date and our outlook for the future.

Speaker 3

Turning to our expectations for 2024, we are really excited about that short and longer term outlook. We estimate full year 2024 adjusted EBITDA to be between $3,700,000,000 $3,900,000,000 an 8% increase over 2023 based on the midpoint of our range assuming commodity prices of $1.80 for MMBtu for Waha Natural Gas, dollars 0.65 per gallon for our weighted average NGL barrel and $75 per WTI crude oil barrel. We expect Q1 2024 adjusted EBITDA to be lower than Q4 2023 as volumes across our systems were impacted by very cold winter weather and operating expenses are increasing in anticipation of systems expansions system expansions across both our segments. We expect quarterly adjusted EBITDA to increase sequentially as we move through the year and benefit from increasing volumes across our systems. We estimate $2,300,000,000 to $2,500,000,000 of growth capital spending for 20.24, including the vast majority of spending on Greenwood 2, Bull Moose, Daytona and Train 10.

Speaker 3

Our estimate for net maintenance capital spending is about $225,000,000 reflective of our spending in 2023 and the increased assets that our operations teams are managing. We expect to end 2024 with our leverage ratio comfortably within our long term leverage ratio target range of 3 to 4 times, providing continued flexibility going forward. We are well hedged across all commodities for the balance of 2024 and continue to add hedges for 2025 and beyond. The combination of hedges and fee based margin across our businesses will to provide us with cash flow stability. Our fee floors in our GMP business support our ability to invest across lower commodity price environment while positioning us to benefit from higher commodity prices.

Speaker 3

Relative to our full year 2024 financial guidance, A 30% move higher in commodity prices would increase full year adjusted EBITDA by around $165,000,000 while the 30% decrease would reduce adjusted EBITDA by around $75,000,000 As Matt described earlier, We also provided you with our current view of 2025 growth capital spending and illustrative multiyear buildup across a couple of scenarios. We hope that these are helpful. Our goal in providing them was to highlight some key points. We believe that there will continue to be strong growth in Permian volumes on our system going forward, which is going to drive incremental volumes through our downstream assets, requiring continued investments, which will continue to be at attractive returns, particularly given our efforts around adding fees and fee floors. Downstream projects are larger and spending is lumpier.

Speaker 3

As those projects come online and we benefit from the operating leverage associated with increased available capacity, Our growth capital spending moderates as evidenced by our current expectation of $1,400,000,000 of capital spend in 2025. Across multiple years, we would expect growth capital spend in an environment of continued volume growth to approximate around $1,700,000,000 We are bullish Permian growth going forward, but are often asked the question, how much capital would it take to maintain volumes? And our answer is approximately $300,000,000 This is not a scenario that we anticipate. It is merely intended to be instructive and hopefully helpful in demonstrating the strength of the target value proposition across a downside scenario when the strength of our free cash flow generation and balance sheet would leave us very well positioned. Shifting to capital allocation, our priorities remain the same, which are to maintain a strong investment grade balance sheet to continue to invest in high returning integrated projects and to return amount of capital to our shareholders across cycles.

Speaker 3

As Matt described, underpinned by the strength of our business outlook for 2024 and beyond, We plan to recommend to our Board a 50% increase in the 20.24 annual common dividend, dollars 3 per share, and we to be able to grow our dividend meaningfully thereafter. We also expect to remain in position to continue to execute opportunistically under our share repurchase program. In 2023, we repurchased a Targa record $374,000,000 of common shares at a weighted average price of $76.72 with $41,000,000 repurchased during the Q4. We had about 7 $70,000,000 remaining under our $1,000,000,000 share repurchase program at the end of the 4th quarter. Across our base scenarios, we are continuing to model the ability over time to return 40% to 50% of cash flow from operations to equity holders, providing a framework for thinking through our return of capital proposition looking forward.

Speaker 3

As it relates to taxes based on our estimate for earnings and spending and current tax policy, there is no change to our assumptions that we may be subject federal minimum tax in 20.26 and a full cash taxpayer in 2027. We believe that we continue to offer a unique value proposition for our shareholders and potential shareholders, growing EBITDA, a growing common dividend per share, reducing share count and an excellent short, medium and long term asset outlook, excuse me. Our talented team continues to execute on our strategic priorities and safely operate our assets deliver the energy that enhances our everyday lives, and we are very thankful for the efforts of all of our employees. And with that, I will turn the call back over to Sanjay.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Jen. For the Q and A session, we kindly ask that you limit to one question and one follow-up and we'll enter the Q and A line up if you have additional questions. Shannon, would you please open the line for Q and A?

Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Jeremy Tonet JPMorgan Securities LLC. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Hi, good morning.

Speaker 2

Hey, good morning, Jeremy.

Speaker 4

Hey. Just wanted to start off I guess with the news about 2025 CapEx stepping down so significantly versus 2024 creating a lot of flexibility there as it relates to return to capital. Just wondering if you might be able to provide a little bit more detail as far Thoughts on capital allocation at that point in waiting dividend growth relative to buybacks, just kind of any other any incremental color would be helpful there with that $1,000,000,000 step down in CapEx.

Speaker 3

Good morning, Jeremy. This is Jen. I think that we're really excited about 2025 and the possibilities for Targa and our shareholders, there's really no change to how we are thinking about return of I think part of the excitement that we have around this year, next year and really many years to come is that we believe we offer a really unique value proposition where we will be in position from a significantly increasing amount of free cash flow to meaningfully increase our common dividends per share and to execute under our opportunistic share repurchase program. We published the framework in November that said that we would expect to be in position to return 40% to 50% of cash flow from operations to our shareholders and that's what we're modeling. And as we get into 2025 and beyond that means that there's a lot of incremental that can flow to our shareholders.

Speaker 3

And again, that's really what is underpinning what we think should be a very exciting target story for both our company and our shareholders.

Speaker 4

Got it. Thank you for that. And maybe just pivoting towards LPG exports, a good step up there. Just wondering if you could comment a bit more if the lifting of daylight hour restriction, I think it's planned and we expect the Port Authority to drop the trial moniker not too far down the road here. And just wondering how you think that impacts Targa capacity when the daylight hour restriction is Fully removed then.

Speaker 5

Hey, Jeremy, this is Scott. First off, you're right. 4th quarter was a really nice quarter for us with over 13,000,000 barrels per month, which was a combination of both propanes and butanes across the dock. Certainly, a couple of benefits there that we took to our advantage. 1 was obviously the export expansion project that we had that increased our refrigeration capacity, increased our ability to load vessels faster and we were able to operate through the really the entire Q4.

Speaker 5

So we got the step up with that. The nighttime transits that were lifted are provided another benefit. So the Houston Ship Channel along with the Houston Pilots collaborated together to provide that to the industry as a whole. Targa benefited from that as a result of that. I would say that nominally speaking, we think that that probably provided us about a 5% to 10% benefit.

Speaker 5

It's difficult to really pin that down because there's a variety of factors that play into that. And on top of that, we were able to benefit from spot as a result of those increased liftings. I would like to add that I give a huge thank you to the Houston Pilots and the Houston Ship Channel that provide that change in nighttime transits that they have done very safely, effectively and efficiently, not only benefits Targa, but it really benefits a wide variety of industries along the Houston Ship Channel that help drive Texas economy as well as the U. S. So going forward into 2024, you're right.

Speaker 5

Currently today, it is kind of labeled as a trial period. But I think based upon the success that they've had, The safe operating environment that they've been able to conduct themselves under, we view this really as a long term change and we will continue to benefit from it. We hope to find other ways to optimize around that as we learn more about the nighttime transits and the vessels that are available to move through that process.

Speaker 4

Got it. Okay. So it sounds like there could be upside down the road versus the 5% to 10

Speaker 5

Well, what I would say is, I think that in the Q4, it was not the nighttime transits were not a part of the entire Q4. It really got instituted in November. And I think that we will hopefully find some better ways to optimize around it, again, as we learn more about the program. So It benefited us now and we'll continue to see how that fares for us going forward.

Speaker 2

Yes. It's still early, Jeremy. So I think we're thinking 5% to 10% is a good kind of a good range of upside right now. But is a good kind of a good range of upside right now, but it's still pretty early.

Speaker 4

Got it. That's helpful. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Spiro Dounis with Citi. Your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Thanks, operator. Good morning, team. Wanted to go back to the Permian production quickly. Jen, you had mentioned maybe a slower start to the year and I think that's pretty consistent with what producers are saying. Just curious though as we think about the year as a whole, give us a sense of what Permian production growth is underwriting the guidance?

Speaker 6

And to the extent that it's back What that implies about 2025?

Speaker 3

I think that we're continuing to see a lot of very robust growth on our Permian assets. A couple of important points that I think were mentioned in scripted comments were one that by the time that we got to the end of 20 It did materialize and ended up exceeding expectations at year end. What I was trying to highlight was we did experience some winter weather here thus far to start the year and that will impact our Q1 results. But our operations teams are doing an excellent job of getting excuse me our assets back up and running. So as we think about the balance of this year and beyond, I think you've seen our track record that we outperform the expectations for growth out of the Permian Basin on the gas side and there's nothing that we're seeing that would change that trend in any meaningful way.

Speaker 3

We didn't give a statistic this year for Permian growth relative to what we've provided previously in the past. 1, just because we think that individual operational Statistics are less meaningful than some of the high level corporate information that we give. And I think that our performance in 2023 highlighted that a little bit, right? Our volumes ended up coming in a little bit lower than our initial guidance for the full year average, but again we exited higher than we initially anticipated. So everything is just really setting well for our continued execution across both the Midland and the Delaware Basin and we have a very strong outlook for robust continued growth for as long as we can see.

Speaker 6

Got it. Thanks for that, Jen. Second question, maybe going to 2025. I know you're not providing 25 EBITDA today, but some of the materials did maybe give us some tools on how to help think about that. You guys are pointing to significant growth.

Speaker 6

You've also talked about in the slides, dollars 300,000,000 of annual EBITDA growth with $1,700,000,000 of spending. So I guess if I look back at 2023, 2024 spending over $2,000,000,000 in each of these years, it would seem like as we think about the lease of 20 25, Over $300,000,000 of EBITDA growth would seem like an easy hurdle, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself.

Speaker 2

Yes. I think what I'd say is we feel really good about our position coming out of 2024 and going into 2025. I think 25% is going to set up very well. I think we see significant EBITDA growth in 2025 and frankly beyond 2025. We guided 2.3 to 2.5 of CapEx this year.

Speaker 2

We were about 2.2 last year. So the kind of 5.5 times investment but multiple is a Multiyear average is not you spend a set amount in 1 year, so it results in EBITDA in that year. It's a multiyear average that we think we can do, call it, 5 to times EBITDA on our CapEx. So when you kind of look at what we spent the last couple of years, I think it just sets up for a very strong 2025. We decided not to give EBITDA guidance for 25, but just kind of point you to our historical spending and just the overall volume trajectory that we're seeing across our footprint just going to set up very nice for us in 2025.

Speaker 6

Fair enough. Thanks for that, Matt. Appreciate the time for Dayton.

Speaker 2

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brian Reynolds with UBS. Your line is now open.

Speaker 7

Hi, good morning everyone. Maybe to follow-up on some of the kind of long term EBITDA growth outlook, I think outlined kind of a build multiple around 5.5 times. I think a quarter or 2 ago, you kind of outlined the past 3 years that Some of these projects came in at much lower multiples. So kind of just trying to understand maybe the difference there if you can maybe there's some doses of conservatism in the in the build or whether the commodity has anything to play with that and whether we could maybe see some upside to the EBITDA build multiple? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Sure. No, good question. I mean, really historically, you go back years, we kind of said 5 to 7 times build multiple is kind of what we targeted. We've been able to do better than that. I think that was just kind of some cushion in that 5% to 7%.

Speaker 2

If you look back at the Last 5 years, we've really been kind of closer to a 4 times build multiple. We've had really good volume growth across our system. And the Permian Grand Prix filled up much quicker even than our expectations. We just drove the returns even higher. So I think we've really had some strong performance.

Speaker 2

But I'd say There's really nothing fundamentally different in what we're investing in this year and next year go forward than what we invested in, in the past where we did have a lower investment multiple. I'd say perhaps there's a little bit of conservatism put into that number. But it's not there's not a large delta from commodity prices one way or the other. I'd say we have more commodity price upside given the fee floors that Jen and we've talked about, which could drive that lower if we get some commodity price tailwinds.

Speaker 3

I would just add that I think Brian the conservatism is further highlighted by how highly utilized we think our projects will be that are in progress right now when they come online, which has been really the same playbook that we've benefited from over the last many years. It feels like we're just in time on a number of our assets, which It's great for the finance person in the room because it means that they're very highly utilized at startup and provide significant incremental cash flow very quickly. Makes a little bit tougher for our operations and engineering teams of course as they try to plan. But I think that that's part of the conservatism as well that really is reflective in the 5.5 times versus the realized multiples that you've seen across our footprint.

Speaker 7

Great. Thanks. And maybe as a follow-up to Spiro's questions on just Permian inlet growth. Previously, you kind of gave more of a firm number around 10% in the illustrative guide, you kind of talk high single digits. Maybe just talk about that's kind of your base expectation at this point.

Speaker 7

And then kind of as a follow-up, Has any of the M and A any updated view on some acquisitions in the Midland impacting your thought process there? And then just on the operational hiccups, And as it relates to H2S gas quality issues, how does your system able to manage that sour gas and potentially grow at a higher clip than the rest of the basin? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Okay. Yes, I'll start and then Pat can probably touch on a little bit of this too. I think when you look at our Permian growth the year. We really feel good about where we're starting the year. December was our highest month And it really just sets us up for really good production growth just where we exited 2023 going into 2024.

Speaker 2

So even with relatively modest growth from here, we're going to see a really strong year over year. And that's what we said. Consensus is about 9%. We've typically beat that. But even if we get anywhere around high single digits or a little bit better, I think it So it's up very well, not only for 2024, but 2025.

Speaker 2

And then I'll let Pat speak a little bit to kind of the M and A landscape from E and P customers?

Speaker 8

Yes, there's been a lot of M and A activity over the last 3 to 4 years. So it's not something we're unfamiliar with. And frankly, We don't see a material difference with these new announcements as we've seen in the past. Frankly, we've seen pretty consistent growth across the combined companies relative to our position with the individual companies. The new ones that are coming out, We have meaningful positions with all the parties.

Speaker 8

We have long term contracts with all the parties. We have great relationships with all those producers. If you look at what's been publicly announced by those parties, you wouldn't expect a significant impact to what their expected growth levels are going to be. Frankly, at least on one of the major the bigger mergers, There's you could allow that there's going to be an expectation of incremental growth on our assets on the Midland side of the basin. So There is a lot of activity, a lot going on, but we've benefited from it because we've got great assets, we're reliable, We've got good contracts and we've got good relationships.

Speaker 2

Yes. And just to add to that too, the other part of your question was around gas quality and treating. A lot of the we are spending a lot of capital. We spent last year and this year for additional treating facilities primarily in the Delaware Basin. We're putting in some additional treaters to handle both CO2 and H2S and we're drilling multiple wells to handle that acid gas injection wells and pipelines and connectivity to handle that.

Speaker 2

So I think that really positions us nicely as the Delaware continues to grow and gas quality becomes Another issue that the producer are going to have to deal with, we'll be in really good position to handle that. And most of that capital will be in or the large The lion's share of it will be in kind of by the end of this year.

Speaker 3

And then I think the very last question in your questions It was around whether volumes had rebounded as a result of the impacts of winter storm. And I'm really proud, I think we're all Really proud of the efforts of our operations teams to get volumes back online. So we're close to back to levels that we were seeing before we experienced the extreme weather.

Speaker 7

Great, thanks. Appreciate all the color this morning. Thanks.

Speaker 2

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tristan Richardson with Scotiabank. Your line is now open.

Speaker 9

Hi, good morning, Matt and Jen. Pardon my voice this morning, but really appreciate the CapEx sensitivity you guys laid out and really curious about the flexibility you have in that 'twenty five outlook. Certainly, you talked about that high single digit embedded in that assumption. But you talk about timing that spend in the event producers deviate from that assumption, whether that is deferring a Train 11, timing your plants towards the end of 'twenty five? And then also maybe just about does Greenwood 2 and Bull Moose Coming on in towards the second half of twenty twenty four, is that adequate capacity to sort of support that sort of high single digit inlet for twenty twenty five in the illustrative?

Speaker 2

Yes. So, yes, as we think about 2024 and then going into 2025, we're ordering some long lead time, have some spending for Train 11, which will both in 2024 and 2025. And then we also mentioned there's additional plants, call it, 2 plants, maybe 1 in the Delaware, 1 in the Midland, of additional ordering long lead time and then kind of our base assumption that we're going to need to start spending capital is going to hit our 2024 and 2025 budget. So that's kind of what we have in our budget right now. Sure, if there's even more production growth in the Permian, Could that move that plant timing up a little bit?

Speaker 2

It could move it up a little bit. If it's perhaps on the lower end of the growth ranges, could we push those out? Yes, we could push that out a little bit. Really, the big sensitivities to our CapEx It really tends to be more on the downstream side. Are we going to need when's the next fractionator?

Speaker 2

What about Daytona is coming on, should give us some good runway from an NGL perspective. But when we need more transportation and then export, those are the larger projects that can be a bit lumpier. So I think 25%, a lot of that up and down really could just be around our GMP business and some of the plant timing and related field capital.

Speaker 9

Super helpful. Appreciate it, Matt. And then just a quick follow-up, talking about the 90% fee base now, I mean, that seems like a substantial move from 2023, clearly this is a multi year priority for you guys and has been a game of inches. Are you seeing that big change in 2024 really a function of mix and where which of your producers are growing? Or did you see some substantial kind of recuts or recontracting occur throughout 2023?

Speaker 2

Yes. We've been making steady progress on getting more fee based components, primarily fee floors, but also just fee based GMP business over the last several years. Our commercial team really did a fantastic job in 2023. And I would say there was a step change in just the number of contracts that we were able to get redone. So no, it was a step change late in 'twenty three, which significantly changed our overall downside risk profile and it's done.

Speaker 2

So now we're estimating 90%. You see that on our commodity price sensitivity. We still have some length, so there is some downside. Prices move down. But relative to our overall size of 30% Downside $60,000,000 $70,000,000 that's not much sensitivity.

Speaker 2

That is fundamentally different than where we were really 12, 24 and certainly 36 months ago.

Speaker 9

I appreciate it. Thanks very much, Matt.

Speaker 2

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Theresa Chen with Barclays. Your line is now open.

Speaker 10

Good morning. I have a question following up on Tristan's question related to the fee floors within your G and P segment. Just thinking about the 90% at this point, as you have put in additional fee floors within your POP contracts over time, is the mix of fee based versus POP with B4 within that 90% changing, I. E, Is the incremental fee based contract really putting in fee force for POP or have you exchanged some previous legacy fee based contracts for POP with the floors as you renegotiate. And just really trying to understand the rationale Why your customers would allow you to put in C4s over time?

Speaker 3

This is Jen. It's actually a mix share of what you talked about, but for different reasons. You've seen the percent of our GMP business that is fee based increased largely as a result of acquisition. When we bought Lucid, primarily underpinning the Lucid contracts that we acquired were largely fee based contracts. And so we saw a big step change in the increase of fees generated from our GMP business associated with that acquisition.

Speaker 3

But what our commercial team has been really successful at doing and I would also like to take my hats off to all of them because it's been just a huge effort I think has very meaningful implications for our company is they have gone in and worked with producers To really demonstrate that in order to incentivize Targa to be willing to spend capital and this goes back to 2020. This is an effort that have been building momentum on over the last many, many years. But going back to those conversations, in order for Targa to be willing to continue to invest capital, which you've seen us consistently do over the last many years, we need to make sure that we would get an adequate rate of return in a downside commodity price environment. It's simply just the math and our producers have been very supportive of that construct. So we've gone into existing POP contracts And we've been able to restructure those to put the fee floors in place that again have incentivized us to continue to spend capital even as commodity prices are lower while not giving up the upside to the extent commodity prices rise.

Speaker 3

And so it's really been a mix of we've acquired a lot of fee based assets on the G and and then we've gone in and we've either restructured existing contracts or as new contracts have been put in place by our commercial team, they've been put in place with that fee for structure while also generating returns across our integrated system and the commercial teams have really just done a very good job supporting our producers with what our producers need, but under a construct that also works for us to continue to invest capital.

Speaker 10

That's helpful. Thank you. And then when we think about the long term illustrative CapEx, so going from 1.4 back to The 1.7 on a multiyear basis and thinking through the next lumpy projects in the Downstream segment, in addition to additional Fractionation and export capacity, the eventual looping of the 30 inches segment of Grand Prix, can you talk about At this juncture, with the growth that you have ahead of you and DAYTONA coming online by year end and filling up thereafter, What the cadence of build and spend would be for that 30 inches loop? And how do we get from 1.4 to 1.7 or beyond in the years to come?

Speaker 2

Yes, sure. Good question. So I would say The primary delta from the $1.4 to $1.7 is downstream spending, having multiple facilities and that's really more this year. But really the delta between $1.4 and $1.7 is primarily downstream. 1 of the larger projects that we don't have any meaningful spending on next year is transportation another NGL pipe.

Speaker 2

We have DAYTONA coming on this year. That's going to provide us some good runway. So then how much runway that provides really depends on what the overall growth rate in the Permian and our capture of those NGL barrels to move on on to DAYTONA. So that is something we're thinking about. These pipes take a couple of years to get built and probably even a little bit longer than that.

Speaker 2

So we have to look out 2, 3 years and say when do we need to think about looping that 30 inches segment. There's also available transport out there from some of our competitors. So we can move I think we'll move the lion's share of our volumes on our own pipe. There can be transportation agreements that can be had with some of our competitors as well. So really for us all options are on the table, whether it's us building a 30 down the road or utilizing some excess capacity from some other NGO types.

Speaker 5

Yes. And Matt, I would just add the fact that Our West Leg, we've shown that we can actually operate that above the 600,000 barrel a day nameplate that we have kind of put out there. So that volume along the West Leg, along with volumes that are coming in from the North are all feeding through the 30 inches pipeline. We've got still a lot of operating leverage with the 30 inches pipeline and certainly, DAYTONA provides us a lot of operating leverage going forward for periods of time.

Speaker 10

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Neil Mitra with Bank of America. Your line is now open.

Speaker 11

Hi, good morning. Thanks for all the detail on the CapEx spend. I wanted to follow-up on the last question And the $550,000,000 related mostly to downstream, assuming you're spending about half or a frac each year that leaves about $300,000,000 each year for on average transportation and exports. So first of all, Is there any ability to meaningfully expand Galena Park at this time? Are there land constraints?

Speaker 11

And then second, With the NGL pipe build oversupply, do you see your need for expanding pipe elongated just because you're able to hold your pricing power when others are competing for barrels?

Speaker 5

Hi, Neal. This is Scott. I'll start it off and just say that let's when I first think about the pipe, Recognize that today we utilize 3rd party pipes for volumes that are coming into our Bellevue facility today. And when we think about the growth that we have On the GMP side and the Daytona pipeline, we are not out there fighting for fees relative to fill up our existing capacity and our expected capacity that we would have on DAYTONA. So all of that kind of folds hand in hand with the growth that Pat and his team on the GMP side have relative to transportation.

Speaker 5

Matt alluded to the fact that if there is capacity on industry pipes, we again Because we utilize that today, we can always look for opportunities to utilize that to bridge us to whenever we might need to do a loop around our existing system. As it relates to Galena Park, we have a really good idea of what the next expansion project looks like. And it's a variety of factors from adding refrigeration to adding pipe to adding potential docks and things of that nature. So We're keeping obviously a close eye on what that timing needs to be relative to our growth, again driven by our GMP business, and we'll continue to evaluate that. So, I will say again, the expansion that we had in the Q4 that we're benefiting from today, The nighttime transits, both of those really are hand in hand expansion projects on their own without having to spend a lot of capital.

Speaker 5

So We'll continue to look for ways to debottleneck where possible to get incremental capacity as well. So I think we've got a lot of opportunity and some runway with the existing assets that we have, but we do have space available to expand at Galena Park.

Speaker 11

Perfect. And if I could just follow-up quickly, one of your peers mentioned for their oil outlook in the Permian That almost all of the growth would come out of the Delaware versus the Midland. I know that, you aren't necessarily representative of the overall basin, but Could you just perhaps break out what you're seeing with producer activity between the two bases in the Permian?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, We see growth in the Delaware, but we see significant growth in the Midland as well. So we see growth across both of our footprints, really active producers in both. So on our footprint, we see growth in the Midland and we see growth in the Delaware.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thank you.

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Keith Stanley with Wolfe Research. Your line is now open.

Speaker 2

Hi, good

Speaker 12

morning. One follow-up on DAYTONA, just thinking to next year, 2025. Do you expect volumes on DAYTONA to simply tie to Targa G and P volumes or are there material third party volumes that you're expecting to pick up when the pipeline comes into service?

Speaker 5

Hey, Keith, this is Scott. Would say it's predominantly driven by our GMP footprint as to what we'll be feeding into Daytona. So it is a combination, but I would say the largest proportion share of that is going to be related to our GMP and the additive of the plants that we've already announced and any potential plants going forward.

Speaker 12

Got it. Thanks. And then Jen, wanted to clarify on the cash taxes. So expectation, I think you said full 15% AMT cash tax rate in 2026 and then statutory 21% tax rate in 2027. And then relatedly, how would the house pass legislation, which brings back bonus depreciation potentially impact that outlook?

Speaker 3

We are pretty borderline right now whether we would be subject to the AMT in 2026 or 2027. It's actually pretty So that we're trying to give you a conservative look right now that based on our latest forecast we may be subject to the AMT. And then In that scenario in 2027, we'll have worked our way through our net operating losses and we'd be fully subject to the statutory tax rate. To the extent the existing bill that's moving its way through gets passed and we do see the return of accelerated bonus depreciation that would be a big help to us and that may delay things, call it a year or so based on current forecast. Ultimately, we'd have to see what the final policy is that gets passed, but that would be our early read right now.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of John McKay with Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.

Speaker 13

Hey, thanks for the time. I wanted to go back to the potential export expansions and Maybe this is one for Scott. Appreciated the color. But I guess when you guys are looking high level top down from a strategy standpoint, if you think about The quantity of NGLs coming off your Permian processing footprint and how much of that on a percentage basis moves its way onto the export side. Do you want to be able to hold that percentage going forward?

Speaker 13

Are you comfortable with that percentage dropping? Do you want to increase Just any kind of directional strategy thought would be interesting.

Speaker 2

Yes, sure. Yes. As we think about really from GMP all the way through our dock, we want to make sure we have the capacity to handle the volumes coming from our GMP footprint. And so that's kind of how we think about staging transportation, fractionation and that goes for export as well. We want to make sure we have a good market for our propane propane and butane.

Speaker 2

As Scott mentioned, that's really what we export. So with the expansion that just came on and the nighttime allowance of kind of call it 5% to 10%, I think that gives us some cushion as we go forward and as we see really how much capacity that nighttime opens up for us. That gives us some good cushion before we're going to need another export project. But we are already looking in scoping. And so the timing is kind of to be determined, but we need refrigeration, we need a pipeline, are we looking at dock?

Speaker 2

But those projects are not those really large scale, I'd say, greenfield or brownfield. I kind of view those as more debottlenecking. You have one pinch point you spend a couple of $100,000,000 and you get some excess capacity then you do the next and then you do the next. So those are the things we're kind of looking at over the longer term. But yes, we want to make sure we can handle the volumes coming across our system.

Speaker 13

All right. That's clear. Thank you. Maybe just one last quick one. You mentioned you'd caught up on the compression side.

Speaker 13

Obviously, we've been hearing about tightness in the compression market across the board. One of your peers talked about it as being Potential relative Guardian on growth even going forward from here in the Permian, maybe just your high level thoughts and Whether that actually is a bit of a constraint at this point or it's gotten better versus Q3?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, we Have the issues we talked about last year with really just kind of being behind on our getting the compression all set and getting that all done Last year, we had a lot of compression come on late last year, and then you saw our volumes in Q4 really move up. We have another talk about $400,000,000 a day of compression. So we ordered that it's about a year right now for compressor. So we tried to get ahead of it as we saw we were getting behind last year.

Speaker 2

We've just approved another AFE the other day to order some more inventory to try and get ahead of it and stay for 2025. So part of that does depend on volume growth. When you see a lot of volumes, if it exceeds our forecast, you can end up having some pinch points. But we're trying to be smart, look at the forecast and stay ahead of it.

Speaker 8

Yes. And I think the only thing I'd add, Matt, is lead times have not come down. The lead times are still long, so that problem still exists. We've just gotten out in front of it.

Speaker 13

If I could just ask one follow-up on that Caterpillar announced a capacity expansion on their large engine line, I guess, week or 2 ago. Any initial read on whether that should bring that down from a year to something a little better?

Speaker 2

I have not heard any change in lead times.

Speaker 13

Fair enough. All right. Thank you. Appreciate the time.

Speaker 2

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Blum with Wells Fargo. Your line is now open.

Speaker 14

Thanks. Thanks for squeezing me in. Just wanted to ask if any update on the Apex Permian Gas Pipeline and I'm assuming the $1,700,000,000 run rate does not contemplate that project.

Speaker 15

This is Bobby. We continue to work on all the options to get gas out of the basin, which includes Apex. We've said it before, we'll say it again. Our number one priority is that gas continues to flow out of the basin, So that NGLs can come out of our plants and go down Grand Prix and go across our docks. Last call, I think I talked about the fact that several other projects that fit the parameters that we would want to back have raised our heads And we're working hard on those along with Apex and everything else.

Speaker 15

So, I am every month that passes, I get more encouraged by The work we're doing to make sure that a pipe gets built and comes online 26 ish And I'm confident that something will get done this year, whether that's an Apex or one of the multiple options now we're looking at to increase egress out of the basin. So

Speaker 2

Yes. No, and then Michael on the CapEx part, That is not included in the $1,400,000,000 In any project that goes, we'll evaluate. It doesn't make sense for us to be a partner. So for a partner in it that would increase that CapEx. There's also some of these pipes that will be project financed for the majority of the capital.

Speaker 2

So amount of equity we were to put into it would be relatively small. So it may or may not be project finance, but that is not included in our outlook.

Speaker 3

And I'd just add one last point that in the $1,700,000,000 we have been spending capital in the last couple of years on what I call intra basin Permian residue just to ensure we've got really good redundancy on the residue side between our plants. So to the extent that we're contemplating any of that in the future that will be included in that $1,700,000,000 multiyear outlook, but no major projects.

Speaker 14

Okay. Got it. No, that helps. And then just on FRAC 11 that I guess you're starting to spend a little bit on this year. What's the timing of when that would be in service?

Speaker 14

Thanks.

Speaker 5

Hey, Michael, this is Scott. We've not defined what the timing would be for that in service date. Ordering long lead items gives us some flexibility on what that date needs to be out into the future. We're just finding that Supply chain planning or supply chain issues are creating some issues with certain equipment. And so as a result of that, we can take some small capital dollars to ensure that we can hold whatever date we put out there in the future.

Speaker 5

So we don't have a defined date at this point, but it's certainly something we want to keep on our radar and keep ahead.

Speaker 14

Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Okay. Thanks, Michael.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. I'd now like to hand the call Over to Sanjay Lad for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thanks to everyone that was on the call this morning, and we appreciate your interest in Targa Resources. The IR team will be available for any follow-up questions you may have. Thanks and have a great day.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call.

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Earnings Conference Call
Targa Resources Q4 2023
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