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Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET)
Q4 2023 Earnings Call
Feb 14, 2024, 4:30 p.m. ET
Summary:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
CEO Sheds Light on Financial Performance and Growth Strategies
Operator
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Energy Transfer fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator instructions] Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tom Long.
Please go ahead.
Tom Long — Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to the Energy Transfer fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. I’m also joined today by Mackie McCrea and other members of the senior management team who are here to help answer your questions after our prepared remarks. Hopefully, you saw the press release we issued earlier this afternoon as well as the slides posted to our website. As a reminder, we will be making forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Impressive Financial Results
For the full year 2023, we generated adjusted EBITDA of $13.7 billion, which is up 5% over 2022 and is a partnership record. DCF attributable to the partners of Energy Transfer, as adjusted, was $2 billion compared to $1.9 billion for the fourth quarter of 2022. Operationally, we moved record volumes across all of our segments for the year ended 2023, which included record volumes on our legacy assets before including contributions from assets acquired in 2023.
On January 25, we announced a quarterly cash distribution of 31.5 cents per common unit or $1.26 on an annualized basis. This distribution represents an increase of 3.3% from 30.5 cents paid in the fourth quarter of 2022. Last year, Energy Transfer’s senior unsecured credit rating was upgraded by Standard & Poor’s to BBB with a stable outlook. Fitch has also upgraded Energy Transfer’s senior unsecured credit rating to BBB with a stable outlook. This continued third-party acknowledgment reiterates the emphasis we have placed on balancing growth while improving our balance sheet and reducing our leverage.
Strategic Financial Decisions
As of December 31, 2023, the total available liquidity under our revolving credit facilities was approximately $3.56 billion. During the fourth quarter of 2023, we spent approximately $380 million on organic growth capital. In January 2024, we issued $3 billion of aggregate principal amount of senior notes and $800 million of junior subordinated notes and used the proceeds to refinance existing indebtedness and for general partnership purposes. In addition, proceeds were used to redeem all of our outstanding Series C and Series D preferred units. We completed this redemption on February 9, and we expect to redeem all of our outstanding Series E preferred units by May of 2024.
Achievements Across Segments
For the NGL and refined products segment, in 2023, we loaded more than 61 million barrels of ethane out of Nederland and nearly 27 million barrels of ethane out of Marcus Hook. We continue to export more NGLs than any other company and maintained approximately 20% market share of worldwide NGL exports. In the midstream segment, adjusted EBITDA was $674 million compared to $632 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. We saw record throughput this quarter, primarily as a result of the addition of the Crestwood assets and higher volumes from existing customers in the Permian.
