Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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We’ve been seeing RD moving to states like Texas and Illinois and Colorado, where they have tax abatement and tax reduction programs. And I think traders believe that the U.S. harvest is looking good. And if you remember last year, in Argentina, they had a drought. And this year, we expect a more normal crop level condition. And then finally, what a lot of traders and folks have on their minds is SAF or renewable jet. And as those incentives make more sense to produce renewable jet, you’ll see some of this RD that’s being produced move away and become SAF. So we’re expecting about 200,000 barrels a day of RD at the end of this year, but we will see some of that RD in the future become renewable jet.

Manav Gupta: Thank you. That was very detailed, and I think the key is the flexibility part which you expressed. My quick follow-up here is, in your opening comments, you said you are more than a refiner, and yes, you have a very strong Marketing and Specialties business. Can we have some visibility, on the near and medium-term, how that business is looking, both in Europe and in the U.S., if you could elaborate a little bit on the near-term outlook for that business? Thank you.

Brian Mandell: Hey, Manav, it’s Brian again. So I’ll say we had a really strong quarter in the third quarter. In fact, it was our fourth best quarter on record. Q2 and Q3 are usually stronger seasonally than Q1 and Q4. And as you remember, starting 2019, we’ve added a lot of retail to our retail joint ventures in the U.S. We’re up to 700 retail stores now, and they performed really well this quarter. We’re also focused on what we’ve called the last-mile strategy internally, which is getting Rodeo complex RD to the market, directly to the market, and getting that value chain value at Phillips 66. We’ve seen product volumes in our businesses relatively flat, but we continue to optimize those volumes through higher-value distribution channels.

So as a reminder, we have a wholesale business, we have a branded or franchise business, and then we have a retail business. And the branded or franchise business and the retail business, those margins are significantly higher than the wholesale margins. And then finally, on the lubricants base oil business, it continues to perform really well. So I’d say, for Q4, we think that earnings will be in-line with our normal Q4 mid-cycle expectations.

Mark Lashier: Yes. Manav, I would just add over the top that Brian and his team have been just quietly and consistently executing their last-mile strategy and this opportunity to invest a fairly small amount of capital to get very high returns and to enhance our exposure to retail margins in a very accretive way. And it’s – you’re seeing the value show up, and you’re seeing a consistent performance there that we really appreciate.

Manav Gupta: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you, Manav. Doug Leggate from Bank of America. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Doug Leggate: Thanks. Good morning, everybody. And appreciate all the updates this morning. Mark, I wonder if I could try the disposal question again. I just want to be clear where you guys are in this process. Have you internally identified the assets for sale? I just wanted to be clear on that. And maybe what your expectations are of time line? I don’t think that’s been touched on, and I’ve got a quick follow-up on Refining.

Mark Lashier: The answer to the first question is yes. The answer to the second question is, it really is a function of the market appetite. We understand the value that these assets provide us, and they provide good value. So we’ve got to find willing buyers that have a greater affinity for those assets than we do. And so we’re not in any rush. We’re not performing any fire sale, but we believe there is opportunities out there in the market today to execute that plan.

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