Pembina Pipeline Corporation (NYSE:PBA) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

That said, we have consistently tested that against, obviously, the capital investments that we’ve been making. And we’ve got some very attractive returning and very low-risk projects that we’ve been investing in. But we’ve also been opportunistic and stepped into the market and acquired shares from time to time. We obviously did so last year. We did so this year at varying points and we continue to monitor that. I would say that at the moment, our sort of base case is still to continue to use that cash flow towards reducing debt because we think it continues to be an advantage. Obviously, we’ve seen balance sheets and leverage ratios and the demand from investors for that trend down in our sector over time. And so we want to continue to heed that piece from our investors and make sort of strong risk balance decisions on an ongoing basis.

Jeremy Tonet: One last one, if I could. Should we be expecting, I guess, a ’24 look in December or might that wait for a kind of Cedar at this point? And what are the final, I guess, gating items to Cedar and FID at this point? If you could just expand a bit more on that.

Scott Burrows: Why don’t we start with Stu answering the second question and then we’ll circle back to your first one?

Stuart Taylor: Yes. I mean, I think as Scott stated, we’re continuing to push to complete all of the FID deliverables for the Cedar project in 2023. I can assure you that we’re putting our backs into that process. But good responses with the counterparts to complete all of that work. We are — it’s a large project, complex agreements that we’re taking our time and working our way through. Again, we expect it to be completed in 2023. We have to complete all that work prior to kicking them off and going for our project finance. And unfortunately, we’re coming up on year-end at the same time in vacation. So we remain optimistic to complete the FID deliverables for Cedar. And then just it’ll be timing for our project finance process, which may move us into ’24.

Cameron Goldade: Yes. And Jeremy, just turning to your original question, I mean, I think at this stage, we see no reason to sort of move off our typical timeline for sort of the outlook for 2024. So I think you can expect something in — likely in the December timeframe.

Operator: Your next question comes from Robert Catellier from CIBC.

Robert Catellier: Just a clarification on Cedar LNG. It sounds to me that any time pressure you’re facing is related really just to the complexity of the various work streams rather than something in the macro environment like low pricing or anything else or financing availability causing the time pressure. Is that correct?

Cameron Goldade: Yes, that’s our view, Rob. Again, we continue to make great progress and work through the agreements. There’s multiple work streams and they must all line up simultaneous. So it’s the process and we remain confident as — in the support of the project.

Robert Catellier: We saw the contract addition on Peace but what does the risk producer development activity in Northeast BC mean for your Montney growth and demand for Pembina’s infrastructure? If you have those important agreements with key producers, when do you expect those will start to contribute to further demands on your infrastructure?

Scott Burrows: So I’d say from Pembina’s perspective, we continue to be extremely optimistic about Northeast BC, especially as we’re starting to see positive signs towards LNG Phase I completion and obviously, our confidence around Cedar LNG. So we’ve started to look at the system. As we disclosed last quarter and into this quarter, we continue some Northeast BC developments, including expansion of our Northeast BC pipeline, including a new pump station. When we look at the agreements we have with the various producers, most of that volume tends to show up in ’25 and ’26 and then through the rest of the decade. But as we move through the end of this year and into ’24, we are starting to see signs of people preparing for LNG Canada. So we remain optimistic for volume growth in 2024. But a lot of the kind of larger-scale agreements we’ve signed really go into effect in ’25 and ’26.