Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Michael Ure: Yes. I think what you’ve seen, Zach, as time has gone on, after we’ve repurchased 15% of the company using the buybacks, we obviously still believe that that’s a strong tool for us. But it’s intended to be utilized when we see sort of disconnections from a market perspective. We’ve seen a much more healthy market as of late, which is why we’ve focused more on the distribution as a whole. You did see that at — in the middle of the quarter and then subsequent to quarter end, we actually repurchased a fair amount on the debt side to again make sure that we achieve the leverage threshold that we’re focused on for year-end 2024 as well as to see some arbitrage opportunities relative to the rate on that debt relative to the cash rate that we’re able to receive.

And so if things continue as has occurred, we would intend to continue to focus on those areas, continued distribution growth to unitholders and then leverage opportunities that might exist as we progress and continue to achieve the free cash flow targets that we’ve talked about.

Zach Van Everen: Perfect. That makes sense. And then maybe just one, I think you guys touched on this last quarter, but you do still have some — maybe what would be considered non-core assets, whether that’s in Utah or Southwest Wyoming. Are you still looking at holding on to those? Or how do you see the M&A markets for some of those kind of non-core assets you guys still have.

Michael Ure: Yes. So I would remove you to opt from that. I think that we very much see our operations there with has been core to us. The equity method investments have, however, we definitely continue to look at opportunities that we can optimize around those assets. They obviously have value to us however, if someone is willing to pay a value that’s greater to them than what it is that we value them at and we’ll continue to divest over time. Our posture around those have been pretty consistent over the past 4 to 5 years and would expect that, that would continue as long as we hold them.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Manav Gupta from UBS.

Manav Gupta: Just on the CapEx front. Once you do get the North Loving plant up and running, then what would be a good CapEx cadence for maybe on a run rate basis for 2025 months North Loving does come online?

Michael Ure: Yes. So the direction that we would give is that if the current activity levels sort of remain where we’re at, we’d probably look to 2022 as a pretty good guide in terms of what expected capital should be? Should we not have those kind of larger projects, i.e., building out a plant. And that was, give or take, in the $0.5 billion range from a capital perspective.

Manav Gupta: Perfect. And a quick follow-up. And as I understand company should be conservative. You did beat strong and you’re guiding towards the top end of the range. What can be the blue sky scenario here, which could get you above the top end of the range as the year progresses?

Michael Ure: We have continued outperformance from a volume perspective, if we’re able to continue to see the operational efficiencies on the cost side that we’ve been able to drive through really for many years now, but really continue to reap the benefits altogether. That in addition to adding new opportunities out there throughout the year is where we would expect that, that could potentially drive us above the high end of the range.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Ure I turn the call back over to you.

Michael Ure: Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for joining. We look forward to speaking to you in 3 months’ time.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.

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