ONEOK, Inc. (OKE) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending June 30, 2023

August 8, 2023 11:00 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the ONEOK Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions].

I would now like to turn the conference over to Andrew Ziola, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Andrew Ziola

Thank you, MJ, and welcome to ONEOK's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call.

We issued our earnings release and presentation after the markets closed yesterday, and those materials are on our website. After our prepared remarks, management will be available to take your questions.

Statements made during this call that might include ONEOK's expectations or predictions should be considered forward-looking statements and are covered by the safe harbor provision of the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934. 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 SEC filings. [Operator Instructions].

With that, I'll turn the call over to Pierce Norton, President and Chief Executive Officer. Pierce?

Pierce Norton

Thanks, Andrew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. On today's call is Walt Hulse, Chief Financial Officer; and Executive Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development; and Kevin Burdick, the Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. Also available to answer your questions are Sheridan Swords, our Senior Vice President, Natural Gas Liquids and Natural Gas Gathering and Processing; and Chuck Kelley, Senior Vice President, Natural Gas Pipelines.

Yesterday, we announced second quarter 2023 earnings and increased our full year 2023 financial guidance. Strength in volumes across our operations, particularly in the Rocky Mountain region and Permian Basin, resulted in higher second quarter results and positive momentum entering the second half of 2023. We continue working toward a successful closing of our pending merger transaction with Magellan while remaining focused on the growth of our legacy assets. Initial activities have begun on 2 NGL pipeline expansion projects. The growth we are seeing across our existing operations is driving the need for these economically attractive projects.

Walt and Kevin will talk more about the early work that we are doing on the Elk Creek and West Texas natural gas liquids toplines.

Regarding our pending acquisition of Magellan Midstream. We've recently accomplished 2 critical milestones toward completing the transaction, including the expiration of the HSR waiting period in June and the filing of the definitive proxy materials with the SEC in July. Proxy mailings are already hitting investors' mailboxes. As we look ahead to the shareholder and unitholder votes on September 21, we're confident that the investors of both companies will see the compelling long-term value proposition this transaction brings with immediate financial benefits and incremental growth through the combination of these 2 companies.