Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY) — Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Thank you, Drew. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in Occidental's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. On the call with us today are Vicki Hollub, President and Chief Executive Officer; Sunil Mathew, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Richard Jackson, President, Operations, U.S. Onshore Resources and Carbon Management; and Ken Dillon, Senior Vice President and President, International Oil and Gas Operations. This afternoon, we will refer to slides available on the Investors section of our website. The presentation includes a cautionary statement on Slide 2 regarding forward-looking statements that will be made on the call this afternoon. We'll also reference a few non-GAAP financial measures today. Reconciliations to the nearest corresponding GAAP measure can be found in the schedules to our earnings release and on our website. I'll now turn the call over to Vicki.

Thank you, Jordan, and good afternoon, everyone. Our teams delivered another quarter of exceptional performance across all of our business segments. Despite weather disruptions and commodity price volatility, resilient operational execution from our teams helped to deliver the highest operating cash flow so far this year. Our strong financial results are a testament to the dedication and capabilities of our teams as well as the premium quality of our assets. I'll begin today by reviewing our third quarter performance and providing highlights from our Oil & Gas business, including the ongoing integration of CrownRock. I'll also give an update on our direct air capture projects and then share the progress on our near-term debt reduction program. Sunil will cover our financial results and fourth quarter outlook, including the increases and full-year guidance for each of our segments, and we'll provide insight on how we're looking at our 2025 capital plans. In the third quarter, our team's commitment and delivery across each of our business units enabled us to generate $1.5 billion of free cash flow before working capital, exceeding guidance in all three segments. Our Oil & Gas segment exceeded the high-end of our production guidance and set a new company record for the highest quarterly U.S. production in our history. This was an outstanding achievement, maybe even more impressive considering there were three hurricanes that impacted our operations across the Gulf of Mexico. This production outperformance was primarily driven by strong new well performance and higher uptime throughout the Permian Basin. Our Midland Basin teams excelled, surpassing production guidance in our recently acquired CrownRock assets and delivering the highest quarterly production in over five years across our legacy Midland Basin assets. Optimum geologic targeting drove drilled well performance supplemented by non-recurring OBO benefits. The Delaware Basin continues to perform at an industry-leading level with our New Mexico performance being instrumental in our third quarter results. Most notably, a sixth well Wolfcamp development project in our tanks field in New Mexico produced an impressive 1.2 million barrels of oil in the first 90 days. In previous earnings calls, we highlighted that Oxy had eight of the top 10 industry wells in the entire Delaware Basin from a six-month cumulative production standpoint. Today, I'm proud to announce that our Rockies team now claims eight of the top 10 DJ Basin wells drilled since 2019, several of which came online in 2024. Such remarkable industry achievements are only possible because our teams relentlessly pursue innovation and excellence. Not only is our onshore development exceeding expectations on well productivity, we're also executing in a more efficient manner. For example, every new well drilled in the third quarter New Mexico development program is utilizing existing infrastructure. As discussed in the past, this significantly enhances project returns and in many cases enables secondary bench developments to deliver stronger returns than our primary benches. We continue to advance our drilling efficiency as evidenced by a 10% improvement in Permian unconventional drilling cycle times relative to last year. In the DJ Basin, we successfully drilled a two-mile lateral in only 80 hours, and our teams reduced third-quarter well cost by 20% compared to the first half of last year. More than just reducing well cost, these improvements also accelerate time to market, allowing us to turn capital dollars into production faster. Our teams continue to make well design and execution improvements with exceptional results. We expect to carry this momentum into 2025. Another factor in our success along with continued well performance leadership and capital efficiency and progression is our team's persistent focus on driving down lease operating expenses across our assets, which ultimately enhances our cash margins. Over the last year, we have mainly reduced our domestic operating expenses on a per well basis. Looking to the fourth quarter, we anticipate continued progress will result in a greater than 20% year-over-year reduction in quarterly BOE per barrel. These steady improvements are driven by several factors including increased uptime, improved CO2 utilization and more recently the integration of low-cost, high-margin CrownRock barrels into our portfolio. Our teams continue to deliver their operational and technical strengths to drive margin expansion for both sides, reducing costs while constructing industry-leading wells. Turning to our Chemicals and Midstream businesses. Occidental outperformed in the third quarter, modestly exceeding guidance while overcoming disrupted Gulf weather. And our midstream segment also had another impressive quarter with our marketing teams once again leveraging natural gas price facilities locations between Baha and the Gulf Coast to deliver value to the company. Our demonstrated leadership and midstream expertise allowed us to optimize transport strategies, effectively bringing both our products and third-party volumes to market even in the first position. I'd like to now share more on the successful addition of CrownRock to our Oxy portfolio since the acquisition closed in early August. We're thoroughly pleased with the integration of assets and more importantly people. We've been highly impressed with the legacy CrownRock culture as well as the stewardship exhibited in running day-to-day operations in a safe, profitable manner. Our focus these first months has been centered on safety, organizational integration and retention of talent and has gone very well. There have been no significant safety incidents dating as far back as the December deal announcement and that's a testament to the CrownRock team's proficiency and professionalism. The combined teams are now sharing best practices and identifying opportunities to enhance field operations through our combined Midland Basin position as well as constructing our 2025 development plan. As Sunil will cover later, we envision a consistent level of investment in this premier Permian asset next year. I want to highlight a few areas where our teams are identifying opportunities for operational improvements and cost efficiencies. The first one I'll mention is leveraging Oxy's supply chain expertise to reduce the cost of materials for construction. We're also evaluating opportunities to leverage our broader Permian frac force and overall resources to accelerate time to market and increase utilization rate. We've spoken in the past about the ample water capacity and network associated with these new assets, and how well they fit with our existing water assets and how they can benefit our legacy business. Recently, we've identified nearly $10 million in expected savings for our singular development plan in the first quarter of 2025 made possible by water integration across assets. We think this opportunity is just the first of many as we leverage shared infrastructure across our combined position. We also see opportunities to enhance base production through improved operability and artificial lift design. Already, we are seeing incremental base production improvements into CrownRock assets. Because of this and stronger than anticipated new well performance, our third quarter production volumes exceeded the expectations that we laid out in August. We're now projecting a 9,000 BOE per day increase to our fourth quarter exit range for these assets. We're still in the early stages of integration, but are very excited about the opportunities ahead. By bringing our teams together, we expect to unlock new value and achieve greater success. Turning now to our low-carbon businesses. I'd like to provide an update on our direct air capture projects. Construction of STRATOS, which will be the largest direct air capture facility in the world is progressing smoothly and to plan. As we have previously shared, we have saved the construction sequence of STRATOS to help integrate the latest advancements, research and development efforts. We've been thoroughly impressed with the infusion of talent, passion and performance coming from the Carbon Engineering team over the last year, driving an innovation cycle that's moving even faster than we anticipated. Collaboration within our technical teams across Oxy paired with this site with the CE Innovation Center have given rise to incredible technological breakthroughs in engineering design innovation, which we will integrate into the continued build-out of STRATOS. The new design will feature fewer air contactors and fewer pellet reactors, which should reduce operating expenses and increase reliability. We expect to bring the initial 250,000 tons per annum load capacity online in mid-2025, with an additional 256,000 tons to phase in during the next year incorporating those improvements. This disciplined approach not only generates value for STRATOS but will benefit and de-risk future DAC builds. We're also advancing our South Texas DAC project and recently achieved a significant milestone with the U.S. Department of Energy awarding this project up to $500 million for the additional DAC facility at the site. This grant could potentially increase by $150 million from the development of an expanded regional carbon network in South Texas. The award is momentous in furthering the commercial scale of DAC in the United States and validates our ability to accelerate the vital carbon management technology. A combination of factors will drive our continued progress in this market and technology and you're seeing them work together now in time. First, our innovative technical teams and continued investment in R&D are enhancing real-world projects. Second, we are leveraging project and operational learning from STRATOS and applying them to enhance future designs. Third, government support and third-party capital are serving as catalysts to accelerate investment in developing DAC technology at climate-relevant scale while also solidifying our leading position in the emerging markets. We're excited about the progress made to date in constructing STRATOS, improving the DAC technology, and driving demand in the voluntary and compliance carbon credit markets. Through the development of STRATOS, we see ourselves taking a leading role to demonstrate to the developing compliance markets that DAC plus geologic storage is a large scale, highly durable and economic tool for addressing climate change. We believe we can help industries like aviation and maritime meet their net-zero goals with DAC, which can also serve as complementary solutions along with sustainable aviation and carbon fuels. Equally as important, CO2 from our DAC can also enable us to produce net-zero oil for our EOR operations, providing resources that the U.S. needs for energy security and energy that the world will continue to need for decades. We also recognize that we are in a pivotal moment for power and utilities in our country, especially with the proliferation of data centers and AI increasing the need for reliable low-cost, low-emissions power. Over the coming decades, we believe Oxy will be equally positioned to contribute to its growing sectors through our equity investments in net power and our ability to provide solutions at scale to meet the increased demand for our carbon dioxide and renewable credits for large scale data centers and power generation. Finally, I want to share with you some of the recent progress we've made in debt reduction. In December, we made a commitment to repaying over $4.5 billion of debt in the 12 months of closing the CrownRock acquisition. Progress in our divestiture program including the closing of Barilla Draw, the sale of a portion of our WES Holdings in the third quarter combined with our continuing strong organic cash flow has put us well ahead of schedule. In fact, during the third quarter, we repaid $4 billion which is nearly 90% of our near-term commitment and that's within just three months of the CrownRock closing. We remain fully committed to achieving our medium-term principal debt target of $15 billion. I'll now hand the call over to Sunil to provide more details about our third quarter financial results, guidance and capital plan.

Thank you, Vicki. In the third quarter, we generated an adjusted profit of $1 per diluted share and a reported profit of $0.98 per diluted share. The difference between adjusted and reported profit was primarily driven by a loss from the sale of certain unoperated U.S. onshore acreage, largely offset by a gain on the sale of common units representing limited partner interest in Western Midstream Partners. As a result of strong operational performance across all business segments, in the third quarter, we generated $1.5 billion of free cash flow before working capital, and we finished the quarter with $1.8 billion of unrestricted cash. The strong free cash flow this quarter reflects our team's ability to translate high-quality assets into impressive financial results despite adverse weather conditions and commodity price volatility. As Vicki mentioned, the success in the third quarter can largely be attributed to new well and base production outperformance in the Permian Basin inclusive of our newly acquired CrownRock assets. While the majority of the outperformance was associated with the company's traded activities, the Permian saw a 6,000 BOE per day uplift associated with non-recurring outside operated volumes due to prior period adjustments. In the Gulf of Mexico, production came in below our third quarter guidance range largely due to unplanned downtime from hurricane-related activity and well workovers. Despite these impacts, our domestic lease operating expenses at $8.68 on a per barrel basis notably outperformed third quarter guidance and are the lowest since the first quarter of 2022. This demonstrates our operational strength and focus on delivering higher-margin barrels over time as illustrated on Slide eight. In the Midstream & Marketing segment, we continue to capture value through optimizing our cash marketing positions out of the Permian Basin. This was a significant catalyst for the segment generating positive earnings on an adjusted basis, approximately $145 million above the midpoint of guidance. As Vicki highlighted, we are raising our full year guidance for each of our business segments as a result of third quarter outperformance and improved expectations in the fourth quarter. In Oil & Gas, we are raising our fourth quarter total company production guidance from last quarter's implied guidance to a midpoint of 1.45 million BOE per day, driven by sustained well performance and operational momentum, coupled with an improved outlook in the Permian. Supporting this, we have increased our full year production guidance for the Permian based on our performance from both our legacy unconventional business and the CrownRock assets. This rate includes an additional 12,000 BOE per day in the fourth quarter, 9,000 of which are coming from our CrownRock assets. We are excited to build on the year-to-date success across our domestic portfolio and expect these positive production trends in the Permian should more than offset the fourth quarter production impact related to the Gulf of Mexico's ongoing well workovers and disruption from hurricane curtailment. Even with an active hurricane season, our OxyChem team was able to overcome the weather disruption and outperform third quarter guidance with pre-tax income of $304 million. Fourth quarter guidance reflects an expected update in caustic soda pricing due to European supply disruptions and represents an increase to full-year guidance for the segment despite seasonal declines in volumes for both BDC and the other products. We are also raising full-year guidance for our midstream and marketing segment as a result of the strong third quarter performance. Our guidance assumes that our marketing teams will capture some natural gas transportation optimization benefits in the fourth quarter, though to a lesser extent than the prior two quarters, given the constraints in Permian gas takeaway. Additionally, our guidance has been adjusted to account for offsea's current ownership in WES after the sale of a portion of our limited partner interests during the third quarter. Capital spent net of non-controlling interest in third quarter of approximately $1.6 million was in line with our expectations and we remain within our previously guided range for 2024 capital. In closing, I want to share an update on how we are approaching our capital program for next year. 2025 will be a pivotal year for our low-carbon ventures and OxyChem businesses as we advance the construction of two major projects that are expected to generate cash flow growth and enhance long-term shareholder value. As Vicki shared, we are well underway with the construction of STRATOS, our first of its kind DAC business. We expect our 2025 low carbon ventures capital budget, net of non-controlling interest contributions, to be approximately $450 million. This represents a $150 million decrease from our 2024 guidance of $600 million. Our OxyChem expansion and modernization is also progressing well, and is expected to reach peak construction activity next year. We anticipate our chemicals capital budget to be approximately $900 million in 2025, an increase of $200 million from this year due to the increase in project activity. The expansion remains on track for completion in mid-2026. In our Oil & Gas business, we anticipate activity levels to be broadly similar to Brazil. Across our CrownRock acreage, we plan to maintain a five-rig program as assets have benefited from stable activity levels in the last few years. Next year's development program will feature targeted adjustments to well spacing along with accelerated production delivery through time-to-market improvements. Overall, we expect single production growth in the mid-single digits from these assets. Considering the recent commodity price volatility, we are evaluating multiple 2025 activity scenarios across the rest of our U.S. Marshalls portfolio. As a result of our higher proportion of short-cycled U.S. onshore activity, we retain considerable capital flexibility within these assets. We look forward to sharing our BPA plan next quarterly earnings call. As Vicki emphasized in our update on our debt reduction progress, we remain dedicated to our core financial priorities. We believe the early success of our deleveraging program leaves us in a great position heading into 2025. We have no remaining 2024 debt maturities and our current unrestricted cash balance is sufficient to cover the remaining $1.5 billion of 2025 debt maturities, the majority of which are not due until the second half of the year. We are comfortable with our debt maturity profile and the capital investments we pursue in 2025 will be strategically guided by a commitment to further deleveraging and strengthening our financial position. I'll now turn the call back over to Vicki.

Thank you, Sunil. Before moving to the Q&A, I'd like to close by recognizing the exceptional performance of our team, delivering value through operational excellence, world-class execution and by driving down costs in a safe and reliable manner. We continue to demonstrate industry-leading performance across our U.S. onshore assets, setting new records for our operations and well performance. Now with the integration of the CrownRock assets, bolstering our Permian footprint, our combined teams are enthusiastically unlocking operational efficiencies to enhance our margins. Our diversified portfolio across oil and gas, midstream and chemicals continues to deliver strong returns. And I'm proud of the achievements we've made across our low-carbon businesses. I see demonstrated leadership and proven capability in carbon management through our EOR operations and we are making great progress delivering our strategy of pioneering DAC at scale. With that, we'll now open the call for questions. And as Jordan mentioned, Richard Jackson and Ken Dillon are with us today for the Q&A session.

Thank you. Vicki, I hope you can hear me okay. The line is a little choppy today, but hopefully, you can understand my question. The operational performance is quite extraordinary and I think you never really laid out synergies with CrownRock. Obviously, they seem to be showing up. But I guess my question is, there seems to be a nervousness certainly in the market around the commodity outlook and you guys, I guess, have some big decisions as Sunil laid out whether you accept the growth or whether you slow down the program, which obviously has got capital implications. So I'm wondering, first of all, if you could, I know you don't want to give us numbers today, but just give us your thoughts on the macro in a world that clearly does not need any more oil. That's my first question. My follow-up, if I may, is on disposals. You obviously have a lot of options and you also have laid out this $1.35 billion of chemicals and low-carbon spending next year. So I guess my question is, we're trying to understand what the deleveraging capacity of the portfolio is you own NET Power, 48%, you obviously own WES and you've got the roll-off, I assume, of that capital after 2025. So just give us your thoughts on what the pace of deleveraging could look like and what the options are to achieve that, as we go into perhaps a softer commodity backdrop?

Thank you, Doug. I'll start with the macro perspective. Our leadership team reviews the macro environment weekly, assessing all fundamentals such as activity levels, supply and demand, inventory, and external factors that could affect prices and operations. We acknowledge the potential risks to prices in 2025, and predicting prices is challenging. Historically, very few have accurately forecasted prices in this volatile environment, especially with the fluctuations in oil prices being unprecedented. However, we anticipate an improvement in 2026, largely due to decreasing growth rates in the U.S. and Brazil, while other non-OPEC countries help alleviate the current surplus. The main uncertainties at the moment are Iran and Russia. Therefore, we believe it's wise to prepare for this situation proactively, learn from past experiences, and not be caught off guard. Our current plan, which we will recommend to our Board, aligns with what Sunil outlined as conservative. This involves maintaining current activity levels in the CrownRock area while slightly reducing capital in other oil and gas sectors, meaning no significant growth for the rest of our oil and gas portfolio. CrownRock will benefit just from sustaining rig activities and improving efficiencies since it's generally easier to reduce activity than to increase it. Our teams have developed plans for various price scenarios, including strategies for scaling back activity if necessary. If prices increase, which we do not anticipate, we will not raise our capital expenditures beyond our current discussions and will only react if prices trend downwards significantly. We are prepared to act quickly, as we demonstrated during the pandemic, and we recognize the importance of allocating capital to our business at this time. The CrownRock project is projected to be completed in 2026 and will generate an additional $325 million in cash flow. In this high-volatility oil price environment, we believe our OxyChem and Middle East gas projects, along with our production-sharing contracts, provide stable cash flow that may not be fully recognized elsewhere. Regarding capital expenditure, we have a systematic approach in place, allowing us to adjust our cost structure as necessary. On the synergy front, we are already starting to see robust synergies at CrownRock. Addressing your question on deleveraging, we possess a vast portfolio in the Permian and various marketing opportunities. Looking ahead, we have numerous options at our disposal and will remain flexible to adapt to any market conditions, ensuring we have plans ready for any scenario.

Doug, this is Richard. I'm happy to discuss some recent updates on our CrownRock integration, as I've noticed there have been several questions on this topic. It's been going very well since the close, and that’s a testament to the team that has been managing it over the past year. They have delivered strong operational performance, which has contributed to our Q3 and Q4 outperformance. I appreciate their efforts. As Vicki mentioned, the teams are also exploring potential synergies. To highlight a few, we always start with our sub-surface activities, and as we plan for next year, we have a solid program for the five rigs focused on familiar horizons, but we are also looking into some de-spacing strategies. We'll share more details in the next call, but our goal is to enhance recovery per dollar spent. Supply chain is another area of focus, as they've contributed significantly. With a balanced operational portfolio between the Delaware and Midland Basin, we are identifying opportunities. One key example is our frac ore utilization; we can optimize what we call white space, which is the period between completing a well and mobilizing the frac unit. We are aiming for over 20% improvement in that white space next year. This efficiency could reduce our DUC levels from around 22 to 15, adding barrels without incurring additional costs. I'm pleased with that progress. Regarding the water example Vicki mentioned, our South Curtis Ranch development will utilize the nearby Nail Ranch facility that CrownRock had, generating $10 million in value there. Finally, we are beginning our best of the best workshops, which will incorporate not only Oxy's strengths but also leverage what the Oxy Rock team brings to our overall operations. The Midland Basin team is targeting over 10% cost improvement next year, thanks to these synergies. We believe this is significant and will surpass what we could achieve independently.

Yes. Thank you. Good morning. One thing we noticed in the results last night, it was a discussion on the sell side call, was the oil mix in the Permian here. And I know there has been a lot of moving parts, right? CrownRock comes in, some things go out. But, as you think about the go forward drilling program, what is the right way for us to think about that? Q3 a bit of a kind of a blip to the downside and then back up where you were or are we seeing a, I don't know if the right term is structural change, but maybe a change in the resource base that you have there?

Hi, Roger. You cut out over the last couple of sentences. Sorry about that. Would you mind repeating it?

Yes. Sorry about that. I just said last night with the results and then on the sell side call, there were discussions and questions about the percentage of oil produced out of the Permian. And I was just trying to understand, we had a lot of moving parts this quarter with the addition of CrownRock and then some assets sold as well. And as you look at the go forward, how should we think about that oil mix? It was kind of 58%, 59% this quarter 55%. Just, it's not a huge difference, but we're all watching those small changes and trying to figure out what they mean.

Can you take that, Richard?

Yes. Hey, Roger, I'll try to help that a little bit. I think, to start the question, I think moving forward, we're going to try to do what we can to help guide to that and help you understand what that means. A couple of things I would point to, one is increased secondary benches, especially in the Delaware. We moved year-on-year 2023 to '24, I think we went from about 20% secondary benches to 40%. But like Vicki mentioned in our script and we highlighted in the slides, that's adding a lot of value for us, even though there are a little more NGLs associated with that, the value being able to take those 2 existing facilities is quite accretive on a return basis. And so we're doing more of that blend between our primary and secondary benches, taking advantage of that existing infrastructure. So from a go forward, one, we'll try to help. But two, I think what you're seeing in the second half sort of leveling off, and you can see it in the third quarter and fourth quarter implied percentage on that. So hopefully, that helps, and we'll do what we can to show that. Probably the one other point I want to mention on that, we did, from a pure volume basis on oil, I just wanted to reiterate the strong performance of the team that was a beat on oil. So that's a plus 5% from the Permian on overall oil volume. So I understand the percentages but also want to give kudos to the team in terms of the delivery on that.

Yes. I didn't mean to suggest any issues with total production; I was simply trying to understand the various factors involved. I have another question, which I believe has been somewhat addressed. Regarding the goals for debt reduction, let's set aside fluctuations in oil prices since that will certainly affect CapEx and other aspects. If we consider the forward curve and project where you expect to be in 12 to 18 months, how do you view the balance sheet? What would you consider a successful outcome from your perspective?

We think we've already had some significant success over the $4 billion, but we do believe that even in a lower price environment, we're going to have some cash flow. We're still going to have some divestitures. We'll still make progress in 2025 regardless of where prices will be. And that's our target. Our target is to continue our debt reduction through the year regardless of what it takes to do that.

Yes, Vicki, I had a macro question for you. I think you've mentioned that over the next few years, you expect shale to mature and while it may not decline, the resource might taper off, and we will need to focus on exploration. However, this earnings season has shown consistent beats in productivity and oil volumes, not just from your company but across the industry, and I would like to know your perspective on how this might have changed your view on the macro situation and the ongoing resilience of supply despite a declining U.S. rig count. Your macro perspective would be appreciated.

I believe we will continue to improve efficiency in the Permian Basin. The Permian will keep providing results, and while we may see volume declines, I expect to reach a plateau within the next three to five years due to declines in other basins. The secondary benches available for development in the Permian, specifically in the Delaware and Midland Basins, will contribute to this growth. The increases from the Permian will offset declines from other areas in the near term, helping us achieve a larger peak than we currently experience before plateauing. This timeframe is about three to five years away, as we are still tapping into the reservoirs and have many wells yet to complete. However, with weaker prices, I anticipate that what we previously thought might be a peak in three years will be pushed further out. There will likely be less growth in the Permian in 2026 compared to what we projected for 2025. Nevertheless, productivity in the Permian, as indicated, will continue to rise. This basin will keep delivering results for us.

Thanks, Vicki. That's great color. And then, just going back to the DAC, and as you think about bringing on Unit 1 by the middle of next year, what are the sort of the gating items, the critical path items to get it into service? And what are you really focused on around the start-up from an engineering standpoint? And then in light of the election, has anything changed about the way you think about the economics of this business, or is your view on this independent of the subsidy environment?

I'm going to take that first one first, and then Ken is going to go through the milestones and what he's looking at seeing with respect to construction. But I will say that, in weaker prices and in the scenario we see today, I think that DAC is going to be one of those businesses for us that kind of fits in the same category as our chemicals business and our gas business in the Middle East. I think DAC is going to be a value creator and a cash flow generator for us for a long time. We have work to do in the near-term. But in the long-term, what's happening with respect to support for DAC is pretty amazing and taking advantage of that. But because of what we're able to do here we apply innovation, even as we're building the first stack, it's very encouraging from a commercial standpoint. So we're already working down on the cost curve. We're already looking at opportunities for improvements in DAC too. So we do believe that the commerciality is still there for these units and the market is getting stronger all the time. So we're still excited and encouraged about where we are with respect to commerciality. Ken?

Good afternoon. The DAC project is doing very well. The first phase is nearly 90% completion now and this includes the first two capture trains, which should be mechanically complete by the end of the year as well as the central processing areas. So all the major equipment is there; loop checks have been done ongoing at the moment. The central processing size for 500,000 tons, which will support the additional two capture trains when they come online between mid-2025 and mid-2026. So overall, if you take both together, the project is about 70% of capacity. Since the CE purchase, our engineers have been working closer than ever. There are many cost-out ideas that we continue to work with Richard asked if we could see what the project team could easily incorporate into STRATOS. On the slide, you've seen physical changes that Vicki mentioned earlier resulting in fewer reactors and also smaller air contactors with a 30% reduction. What you can see, which goes to your point, is all the savings in the piping, the number of valves, the instruments that have all been eliminated. This also makes it much simpler to build. And there's also a massive improvement in the air contractor construction method going forward by using modules, which will have the build time for the air contactors. Future developments we plan to see 10% to 15% savings from these modifications and could see additional improvements taking it past 20%, also with reduced OpEx maintenance and improved safety. The team at Worley has been key to being able to adapt on the fly in engineering and procurement. In fact, Chris Ashton, the Worley CEO was at the site to meet with his team recently and show support for the project. Overall, the teams are working incredibly well together as the project is on schedule.

And then I'll just follow up with your question about the election results and the impact that will have. I think the election of our next President is going to be very positive for our industry, especially for this, our direct air capture. The reality is that I believe he understands better than anybody our need for energy independence here in the United States. He understands the industry. He understands how it plays in geopolitical politics. He knows what we're trying to accomplish and what we're doing. And he also understands the part that our direct air capture will play in helping with that energy independence and security. So I believe that the funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that the DOE has already awarded will be dispersed as per the agreement such as for our DAC 2, because we built on the King Ranch. We do expect to get the $500 million with the potential for $650 million. We also believe that 45Q will continue to have bipartisan support because the deal benefits 1) helping companies to decarbonize the carbon reduction credits from us, 2) but also the recovery of additional reserves from our domestic reservoirs. The next administration clearly supports that as well, and he understands that that's something that's necessary. Getting oil on reservoirs you already have is the best possible way to provide affordable gas and gasoline to our country. And it's impossible to be a superpower without ample supply of liquid fuels. The use of CO2 for ancillary recovery as I mentioned is a big part of what makes it so important for the country. And some people don't understand that process. I won't take the time to go into how it works. But just helping people to understand, and again, one of the key aspects is that the CO2 injected into reservoirs leads to the incremental oil that it generates. We just don't have enough CO2 to use in the reservoirs here. We don't have enough organic CO2. So that is necessary to achieve the incremental CO2 that we need. And then, going from DAC to NET Power, and Doug had mentioned 40% ownership of NET Power to make our DACs emission-free, we'll initially and probably throughout use some amount of solar, but we'll also need to build the NET Power, which is a means to generate electricity by combusting gas with oxygen. That creates water and CO2. CO2 drives the turbine to create the electricity. It also captures CO2 as a part of the process. That is incremental CO2 from that power that can also be used in EOR or to make products. So, we're developing what I believe are two of the technologies that the world really needs to address not only the companies that want to decarbonize and to help them but also to get additional oil and extend our country's energy needs. So that's where we stand in this. We're pretty confident about where we are and how that's going to play out with this election.

Hi, good morning. Sunil, I think you might have already addressed this, but I want to clarify my understanding. This year, based on the fourth quarter CapEx, your total CapEx is approximately $7.1 billion, which is about $200 million higher than your previous midpoint guidance. Is that all related to CrownRock, or is it because you're performing better in the Permian? Looking ahead to next year, is CrownRock's capital still projected at $900 million? PMIC seems to be estimating an incremental $500 million. So, how much of the incremental CapEx for next year is attributed to CrownRock? That's my first question. For my second question, regarding the gas-oil ratio, there was about a 2% drop in the Permian from the second to third quarter. Was that a one-off event, or is it entirely driven by CrownRock? It seems like the gas-oil ratio in the fourth quarter is relatively similar to the third quarter, so I want to confirm if this is indeed driven by CrownRock.

Okay. Paul, if I understand your question correctly, your first question was about what caused the increase in the full year guidance for 2024. Is that right?

That's correct. And also correspondingly that from '24 to '25 CrownRock, what is the incremental CapEx that we should assume?

Okay. With respect to your first question, yes, all the incremental CapEx for the full year of 2024 is related to CrownRock. So what we have disclosed in the last earnings call was this will be around $400 million and that is for the five months that we're operating from. So with respect to what the capital would be for next year, like I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we are planning a five-rig program for next year, and we are still working the details around what the capital would be, but we expect it somewhere in the $900 million to $950 million range. And so, with respect to your second question, that was on the GOR for Permian, correct?

Yes, I can begin, and Sunil can assist with any other macro questions. The Permian is seeing growth in unconventional resources, particularly in the Rockies and Permian regions. This significant production increase, along with a lower oil cut mix, is one factor. However, a larger aspect is our secondary operations, which I mentioned earlier. In our first year, the oil cut is notably lower for our secondary benches, but the value is higher, and we aim to emphasize that. To your point, the growth in CrownRock contributes to the overall growth in unconventional resources, which is driving that oil percentage. We anticipate that percentage will continue into next year as we develop various areas that may influence changes over time. We will do our best to guide you on that so you can understand and monitor it. I hope that clarifies things.

Yes, good afternoon. A couple of questions here. Just back on the Permian, you mentioned raising the percentage of secondary zone development in the Delaware from 20% to 40%, if I heard correctly. Where does that figure go in '25? And then as you look at the Midland side of the basin with the CrownRock assets, could you step-up the percentage? Where is that percentage currently? And can you step it up in '25 as well?

Yes. Thank you. So I think a similar percentage on the overall Permian in terms of primary and secondary benches, I think we did sort of a level set utilizing these existing infrastructure facilities for that. So I don't expect that to largely change at least with activity levels, as we are currently operating. Obviously, we adjust down or up depending on what our final program is. That could change a bit, but I think that will be very similar. From a CrownRock perspective, our base plan for those five rigs next year is really what we call 85% primary benches. And so while we see some opportunities in secondary benches, the program that's been put together is very de-risked, and we did that really to be able to perform operationally. So we've tried to get out in front of sort of those operational plans. So the Spraberry, Wolfcamp A and B, those are the primary zones that we're looking at next year. If we see an opportunity to improve on that, we obviously would change, but that's the going-in plan for next year.

Good morning. I wanted to see if you could discuss your thoughts on what you view as more normalized CapEx in Chemicals? You mentioned that you'll spend about $900 million next year given some projects. And what you think about more normalized CapEx? And what does the growth CapEx you're spending next year do to the earnings power of that segment?

In OxyChem, pretty much the special projects we were running about $300 million. And so that's what we expect to be able to get back down to those battlegrounds and the couple of pipeline projects we just had.

With respect to the earnings power like as Vicki mentioned in her prepared remarks and later, we expect around $325 million uplift once we complete the project, and the project is expected to be completed in mid-2026. And this is finally driven by the expansion in capacity of around 80%. And this assumes around mid-cycle of 40%.

All right. That's helpful. Just one question on the Rockies. It looks like from your disclosure that you have sold some properties in the Rockies. Looks like the Powder River Basin. Just give us a sense of future thoughts on the Powder and what exactly you've divested there?

In the Powder River, we acquired the entire region as part of the Anadarko acquisition. Early on, we recognized that the southern part of the Powder River Basin was the most contiguous and offered the greatest potential for value. Therefore, we decided to sell the northern portion of that area to Anschutz, as it was better suited for their development plans. This approach allowed us to maintain a focused strategy and consistently monitor sub-surface opportunities where we can optimize and create value. We believe this transaction was beneficial for both parties and enables us to concentrate on the area that we anticipate will generate significant value for us in the future.

I want to thank you all for your questions and for joining our call today. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you.