Robert Kwan: All right, so in short, you don’t expect any rating agency actions off of the change today?
Joel Hunter: No, we can’t speak to the agencies obviously, but based on our discussions, they are very pleased with some of the things that we’ve accomplished this year. You think about where we started the year, with our priorities being $5 billion of asset sales. We completed $5.3 billion. Advancing major projects like CGL, having that mechanically complete Southeast gateway, moving along, and still continued strong operational and financial results. So we’ve hit on all of our priorities for the year and that’s not lost on them.
Robert Kwan: That’s great. Thank you very much.
Francois Poirier: Yes, again, Robert, just want to underscore the increase in our capital program was, because part of the benefit of merging our gas businesses, is that we’re looking holistically at our portfolio and where there’s opportunities, to bundle work together to deliver it at a lower cost, and more efficiently, we’re going to do that. And that’s the decision we made. That’s the visibility that having an integrated gas business affords us. And so Coastal GasLink, we’re delivering on our outcome $5 billion of assets on plan as well. So, this is really about doing more work in 2023, than we were planning on doing, as opposed to any inflationary impacts on our projects or FX driving us – driving the capital. However, our U.S. dollar program is our U.S. dollar program, so there’s no inflationary effect, because of foreign exchange translation rate, and the rating agencies are aware of that.
Robert Kwan: Got it. Thanks, Francois.
Francois Poirier: Yes.
Operator: Our next question comes from Jeremy Tonet of JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Jeremy Tonet: Hi, good morning.
Joel Hunter: Good morning.
Francois Poirier: Good morning, Jeremy
Jeremy Tonet: Just wanted to start off with the asset sale program, if you could turn back there for a minute. With regards to the $3 billion being discussed, is there the chance that it could be a number larger than that? And if so, what would be the number of that? If you think about asset sale or capital recycling in the future, is it largely just function of rates of return that could be garnered through incremental new growth projects relative to what returns are lost on assets sales? I just wondered if you could give us holistically, more thoughts on how the asset sale program works at this point?
Francois Poirier: Thanks, Jeremy. As I said before, we’re going to stick to the $3 billion here in 2024. We’re not going to be looking to one transaction to realize the proceeds. We’ll be looking to multiple transactions to do that. I think it’s a good practice for us, on an ongoing basis to have the discipline, to mark our assets to market and rotate capital, to the extent that creates value for our shareholders. So beyond the $3 billion, you could see us selectively over time if we have an opportunity to invest capital to proactively ahead of time monetize assets that we think are more mature or where we see some value. So, it is going to be an ongoing tool in our toolkit. But for 2024, the focus is on $3 billion.
Jeremy Tonet: Got it. That’s helpful there. Thanks. And just looking forward to the Analyst Day, wondering if you could provide any thoughts at this juncture as far as, you know, key updates that we should be looking for, or any other thoughts you could share at this point?
Francois Poirier: I would say wait and see. Look, our goal here going forward is returning to no surprises. Just execute well, live within our means, demonstrate project execution excellence, demonstrate operational excellence, and we’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished here in 2023. We’ll be talking to you about what our 2024 priorities will be, but trust me, they will be around balance sheet integrity, operational excellence, and project execution excellence. And it shouldn’t be any more exciting than that, if I’m honest, Jeremy.
Jeremy Tonet: That is helpful. Thank you very much. I’ll leave it there.
Francois Poirier: You bet.
Operator: Our next question comes from Robert Catellier of CIBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Robert Catellier: Hi, good morning. I wonder if you could describe the agreement TC Energy entered into with the SI-LSM’s LNG partnership to work on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project. And what the company’s appetite is like to undertake another major project like that and how that might fit within your deleveraging goals.
Francois Poirier: Thanks Robert, It’s Francois. I’ll take that one. Look, we have a permitted path. We recognize there is value in that path. We’ve been asked by the SI-LSM’s Group to preserve those permits. That is our contractual obligation. We’re happy to do that, first of all, because it’s an opportunity to create value for our indigenous partners. Secondly, it’s an opportunity to create value for our customers. And as we increase egress out of the basin, it increases value for our NGTL system. Those are all things that are to the benefit of TC Energy. I want to be very clear, however, that we are resolute around our $6 billion to $7 billion. And to the extent we cannot fit our PRGT project or any project for that matter within our portfolio, number one, and number two, to manage to have less large ambitious projects going forward, To the extent we can’t fit a project like PRGT within those, there won’t be any allocation of capital.
Robert Catellier: Okay, that’s pretty clear. And then just wanted to move on, a question for Joel here. Just how do you see hybrids fitting in to your funding plan, both in 2023, as well as reaching your 2024 goals, sort of your appetite there and what you’re seeing in the market.
Joel Hunter: Yes, thanks Rob. So as we think about hybrids, we’re not seeing anything, we don’t have any plans in the near term. We’re running, you know, close to that 15% cap as it relates to our capital structure for this year and into 2024. As we do see the balance sheet grow post 2024, there will be capacity for future hybrid issuance. But as we think about our 4.75 target for next year, you know, it doesn’t contemplate any additional hybrids in that plan at this point in time. Where we will look to hybrids those is we’ll work, you know, in conjunction with the liquids team here, or I guess the South Bow team, as we call it now, to look at their capital structure where there might be a need for them there. As it relates to pricing right now, it’s kind of in the high eights, so it’s about 200 basis points back of where we would issue tenure, senior unsecured at this point in time.
Robert Catellier: Okay. Thank you.
Operator: Our next question comes from Ben Pham of BMO. Please go ahead.
Ben Pham: All right. Thanks. Good morning. With the Coastal GasLink project not complete, does that open up a wave in you NGTL opportunities at post-2025 time frame?
Francois Poirier: Thanks, Ben. I’ll ask Greg to take that one.
Greg Grant: Yes, sure. Thanks Benefit, for the question. As you’re aware we have done a substantial, hello no carry on, as you’re aware we’ve done a substantial build on the NGTL system over the last few years. We delivered 1.3 Bcf last year. Similarly, we are going to add about the same this year. Just to shout out to the team that was talked about earlier, but on time and on budget performance again this year. So great opportunity there. Going forward, however, I would say you should see a more normalized level of spend on NGTL. We think we’re set up for the next few years with the expansions that we’ve already done. And we’re doing a lot of work through project focus and optimizing the system, to see what extra capacity we can get out of the existing assets without capital. But we’re in a great spot, to handle the expansions going forward.
