Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the AltaGas Q1 2022 financial results conference call. My name is Miranda, and I will be your conference operator today. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. If you have any difficulties hearing the conference, please press Star then zero for operator assistance. After the remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, this conference call is being broadcast live on the Internet and recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Adam McKnight, Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Mr. McKnight.
Thanks, Miranda, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for AltaGas' Q1 2022 financial results conference call. Speaking on the call this morning will be Randall Crawford, President and Chief Executive Officer, and James Harbilas, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We're also joined here this morning by Randy Toone, Executive Vice President and President of our Midstream business, Blue Jenkins, Executive Vice President and President of our Utilities business, and Jon Morrison, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development. We're proceeding on the basis that everyone has taken the opportunity to review the press release and our Q1 results. Similar to previous quarters, we have published an earnings summary presentation that you can find on our website.
The presentation walks through the quarter and highlights some of the key variances and non-recurring items that we would assume would be helpful for the market to understand. As always, today's prepared remarks will be followed by an analyst question-and-answer period, and I'll remind everyone that we will be available after the call for any follow-up or detailed modeling questions that you might have. As for the structure of the call, we'll start with Randall Crawford providing some comments on our financial performance and progress on our strategic priorities, followed by James Harbilas providing a more detailed walkthrough of our Q1 financial results, near-term outlook, and 2022 guidance. We'll leave plenty of time at the end for Q&A. Before we begin, I'll also remind everyone that we will refer to forward-looking information on today's call.
This information is subject to certain risks and uncertainties as outlined in the forward-looking information disclosure on slide two of our investor presentation, which can be found on our website and more fully within our public disclosure filings on both SEDAR and EDGAR. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Randy.
Thank you, Adam, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to be here today to discuss our Q1 results. Once again, our team delivered strong operational and financial results as we continue to execute our strategic plan and near-term priorities, putting us on solid footing to deliver on our 2022 guidance and longer-term growth plans. Our utilities and midstream segments continue to deliver stable and predictable results as we focus on safely and reliably connecting our customers to affordable sources of energy, the importance of which continues to be highlighted during this period of energy insecurity. The far-reaching geopolitical implications arising from unfortunate events that continue to transpire in Eastern Europe illuminate the importance of energy independence and diversity.
The critical role that the energy sector plays in fueling the global economy and keeping society moving forward in a sustainable way continues to shine a light on the need for ethically produced and secure North American supply growth to meet the rising global demand for affordable energy. As a result, the macro environment for energy fundamentals continues to strengthen as the tightening supply and demand picture is beginning to drive a supply response. We are fortunate in Canada and the United States to have the access to abundant sources of energy, and it is imperative that investment in critical energy infrastructure continues as we transition to the energy sources of the future in a sustainable way.
AltaGas is well-positioned to support the continued development of critical energy resources such as the Montney and to a lesser extent, the Marcellus Shale, to facilitate the best outcomes for our customers in Canada, the U.S., and Asia. The views that have been taken by the opponents of MVP are unfortunate and have caused significant delays to the completion of the pipeline. The pipeline creates the opportunity for Marcellus producers to accelerate the development of their acreage and introduce significant new quantities of natural gas to East Coast gas utilities and electric generators, the benefits of which will be passed on to consumers domestically and abroad, with lower prices during this period of high energy prices.
We take great pride that our critical infrastructure and operations, including our leading West Coast export platform and significant gas distribution networks, support better global environmental outcomes that align with lower carbon and lower emissions future that is upon us. As we look ahead, I am extremely excited about the position of our company and the increasingly constructive energy demand fundamentals as the global economy continues its recovery. We remain steadfast in our strategy and are firmly committed to leverage our strategically positioned utilities and midstream assets, both with significant growth opportunities. With that backdrop, I would like to touch upon some highlights of AltaGas' Q1 . This quarter, we achieved normalized earnings per share of CAD 1.02 and normalized EBITDA of CAD 574 million, both of which were in line with our expectations.
Our results are further evidence that our strategy and diversified business model are working. Our regulated utilities continue to demonstrate stable and predictable results, delivering the critical energy that our customers need during the peak winter season, while providing stable and predictable financial results for our shareholders. For the quarter, normalized EBITDA was CAD 408 million, up approximately 10% year-over-year. This strong year-over-year growth is supported by the continued investment in our networks to improve the safety and reliability of our system, reduce long-term operating costs, and deliver improved environmental outcomes, all of which provide better outcomes for our stakeholders. We continue to advocate for our customers and focus on affordability. Ensuring our customers have access to safe, reliable, and affordable energy remains a top priority, particularly during periods of rising energy prices like we're experiencing today.
On April 4th, Washington Gas filed an application to increase rates in the District of Columbia by $53 million. The rate case also seeks to drive forward a number of initiatives to help our utility in the district achieve our climate goals. These initiatives include a climate progress adjustment, which is designed to promote energy efficiency measures that reduce customer demand and consumption, and a climate action recovery tariff to fund company-initiated climate measures to reduce emissions. We are also asking the district to expand support for low-income customers to alleviate the impact of rising energy prices and rate increases on our most vulnerable population. In our integrated midstream segment, we continue to provide our customers with safe and reliable connectivity to premium markets for North American LPGs, providing the best netbacks for our customers while delivering diversity of supply and supporting energy security in Asia.
Our fractionation and liquids handling volumes increased by 14% year-over-year in the Q1 , and we exported nearly 88,000 barrels a day of LPGs to Asia on 14 VLGCs despite lingering logistics challenges in the early part of the quarter associated with the devastating floods that took place in late 2021. With rail operations back to normal and a successfully supply recontracting cycle completed in April, we are well-positioned to meet our 2022 export target of 97,000 barrels a day. We are proud of the role that AltaGas is playing to support global energy security through the supply and export of safe and reliable source LPGs to global markets. We continue to focus on optimizing our platform and existing assets to maximize facility utilization and drive increased returns on our invested capital.
Investments in our midstream business will continue to be centered around our global export platform to provide North American producers and aggregators with the best markets for propane and butane while providing diversity of critical LPG supply, which contributes to energy security in Asia. In summary, with another strong start to the year, we continue to execute our strategic plan and deliver on our near-term priorities, which keeps us right on track with our 2022 guidance ranges. Looking ahead, we remain very constructive on the path forward for our company and the role we will continue to play in delivering safe, reliable, and affordable energy to various end markets to the benefit of all of our stakeholders as we continue this journey.
In closing, I'm proud of the growing role that AltaGas plays in supporting North American energy independence, access to affordable, diverse energy sources, and our ability to export affordable butane and propane LPGs to the world. With that, I will turn the call over to James to review the financial results in more detail.
Thank you, Randy, and good morning, everyone. As Randy mentioned, we are very pleased with our Q1 2022 financial results and the strong start to the year. During the Q1 , we achieved normalized EPS of CAD 1.02 compared to CAD 1.29 in the same quarter of last year, representing a decrease of 21% year-over-year. I want to remind everyone on the call that in the Q1 of 2021, the U.S. experienced extreme weather conditions and market volatility, which led to larger than expected profits in our U.S. transportation and storage business, which we subsequently monetized in April 2021. As such, year-over-year normalized EBITDA for the Q1 of 2022 was impacted negatively by approximately CAD 115 million of lost income associated with the divestiture of this business last year.
Normalized EBITDA for the quarter came in at CAD 574 million, compared to CAD 674 million in the same quarter last year. Normalized FFO was CAD 462 million in the quarter, compared to CAD 583 million for the same quarter last year. Turning to our segmented results for the Q1 , normalized EBITDA in the midstream business came in at CAD 174 million, compared to CAD 304 million in the Q1 of 2021, which included the previously mentioned contribution from the US storage business in the Q1
The quarter also included year-over-year growth in our global exports platform, albeit at a slightly slower pace than otherwise would have been the case due to some carryover effects of the devastating flood, flooding and rail outages on the West Coast that occurred during the Q4 of 2021. Despite these headwinds, global exports generated CAD 81 million in normalized EBITDA during the quarter, representing 16% growth year-over-year, driven by strong export volumes of nearly 88,000 barrels of combined propane and butane to Asia. RIPET exported approximately 53,000 barrels per day of propane in the Q1 on eight ships, and Ferndale exported approximately 35,000 barrels per day of combined butane and propane on six ships. AltaGas' fractionation and liquids handling volumes increased 14% year-over-year, driven mainly by strong throughput at our North Pine and Harmattan facilities.
We continue to have a healthy hedge position at our midstream platform with approximately 41% of global export volumes tolled or hedged for the balance of the year. This includes an average FEI to North American financial hedge price of just over $10 per barrel. We also have 77% of our frack exposed volumes hedged for the remainder of 2022 at $34.58 per barrel. Our hedge position is slightly lower relative to our typical position for this time of year, which we expect will increase over the coming months. With the NGL recontracting season behind us, we have good visibility on our export volumes for the balance of the year.
Normalized EBITDA for the utilities business was $408 million in the Q1 of 2022, compared to $371 million in the comparable quarter of last year. The 10% year-over-year increase was driven by higher asset optimization in the quarter, ongoing ARP spending and customer growth, partly offset by higher operating costs. WGL reported normalized EBITDA of $298 million in the Q1 , up 8% year-over-year, driven mainly by the positive impacts of the Maryland and D.C. rate cases, continued ARP investments and asset optimization offset by higher O&M. SEMCO and ENSTAR's combined normalized EBITDA was $88 million in the Q1 , up $6 million from the same period last year due to higher customer usage and customer growth, partially offset by higher operating and personnel costs.
Finally, the retail business generated CAD 21 million in normalized EBITDA, up CAD 8 million year-over-year due to higher gas prices and favorable margins, and the timing impact of swap gains between the first and Q2 of 2022. The latter of which has the effect of pulling profits into the Q1 of 2022 from the Q2 . As a result, we expect to give some of this benefit back in the coming quarters. The corporate and other segment reported a normalized EBITDA loss of CAD 8 million compared to a CAD 1 million loss in the same quarter of 2021.
The CAD 7 million year-over-year decrease to normalized EBITDA was driven by the combination of higher corporate expenses, which were primarily related to employee incentive plans as a result of AltaGas's strong corporate performance and rising share price and costs related to a planned spring outage at the Blythe Energy Center in California. Looking ahead, we continue to focus on delivering durable and growing EPS and FFO per share while lowering leverage ratios over time. We are maintaining our 2022 guidance ranges, including normalized EPS of CAD 1.80-CAD 1.95, normalized EBITDA guidance of CAD 1.5 billion-CAD 1.55 billion, and the 2022 capital plan of approximately CAD 995 million. With that, I will turn it over to the operator to open the call for questions.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We will now conduct a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star then the number two. There will be a brief pause while we compile the Q&A roster. One moment please. Your first question will come from Dariusz Lozny with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. Thank you very much for taking my question. Just wanted to touch on the midstream and the export volume plan for the rest of the year briefly. It sounded like you guys are quite confident in achieving the 97,000 average. Can you maybe just discuss a little bit, do you expect there to be any seasonality in that with one quarter perhaps higher than another? Or, any flex that there might be in that plan to potentially account for weather or maybe other unforeseen disruptions for the balance of the year?
Hello, it's Randy Toone. Yeah, we have seasonality in our exports. In Q2 and Q3, we do bring in a lot of product via pipeline into Ferndale, so we can move more product out of Ferndale in those two quarters and then less in Q4. So you'll see higher volumes Q2 and Q3, and then a little bit less in Q4.
Okay, excellent. Sorry, maybe just if you can briefly touch on, I assume there is some degree of flex in that plan because, for instance, in Q1, there was a little bit of, I guess, carryover from severe weather. In the event that there are other like, sort of unforeseen, circumstances for the balance of the year, I assume despite that, you would still be confident in hitting that 97,000. I just wanna confirm that, please.
Yes. Yeah. We're confident we're gonna meet the 97,000 barrels. You know, there's always some sort of potential weather effects, but those are short-lived, so.
This is Randall Crawford. Thank you for the question. I'll just add that, you know, this has been one of our best years from a supply procurement. When you look at you know, our core competencies and really the credibility that we've built in the marketplace in Asia and the core competencies that I believe is quite unique. Again, we're able to, you know, maximize these logistics as we've done and optimize them. We believe that, you know, managing these two ports, that we have the right competencies in place, built the credibility and that's gonna position us well for continued growth. We're very confident in hitting our numbers going forward.
Okay, excellent. Thank you very much for that added color. Sorry, just one more, maybe now on the utilities, if I can, just in brief. Could you comment maybe on how you're tracking as far as earned ROEs at WGL specifically? It seems like maybe in Q4, there was a little bit of a, you guys might have fallen a little bit short of the target of achieving your authorized returns, but then there was this nice step up here in Q1. Curious how you're looking there as far as the authorized returns or, excuse me, the earned returns.
Yeah. I mean, we said that we've made steady progress relative to those ROEs and where we were sitting at the end of Q1 on a trailing twelve-month basis is probably about 60-70 basis points short. Sorry, it's James here. If I add in asset optimization, then we're obviously a little closer to those returns. You know, we said consistently that for us to get to the allowed returns, the one jurisdiction that we're tracking a little bit behind in is D.C. We've filed a rate case that Randy referred to to take into consideration the considerable rate base investments we've made in D.C. to improve customer service and obviously to have our current cost structure reflected in rates to customers.
That'll help us close the gap to ROE at WGL.
Yeah. I'll just add to James' comments. D.C. is more of a catch up, right? When I look at that as an anomaly, as James pointed out, and with the rate-based growth and cost. You know, we continue, as I said in my prepared comments, we continue to drive down leaks and keeping costs under control. We do this because in the capital plan, it's the right thing to do and it's proactive, and the investments are paying off very well for our customers. Thank you for the question.
Yep, absolutely. Thank you, guys. I'll pass it along here.
Your next question will come from Linda Ezergailis from TD Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you. I'm wondering if you can help us understand a little bit how your contracting philosophies are continuing to evolve with global exports. You've proven out the facility with your customers, and yet there's some evolving geopolitical developments that might accelerate contracting. Can you give us a sense of whether you expect to increase your level of contracting or if you're more comfortable leaving it more open? Also how your thoughts are evolving on the potential for expansions and maybe optimizing the facilities in terms of how you use them.
Hi, Linda, this is Randy. Thank you for the question. Take the first from a strategic standpoint, and I think everyone knows that our strategy is centered around optimizing, as you mentioned, maximizing the existing capacity and really positioning the platform, you know, for expansion. As I mentioned earlier, it's our core competencies to move the product, liquefy it, fill the VLGCs, and really enabling seamless delivery of North American supply to Asian markets. That's what is positioning us for success, and that we've continued to develop those core competencies and how to get product from Alberta, Canada, and British Columbia to Asia. I mentioned that. From the standpoint of the market, right? We're seeing, you know, robust demand, both on the demand side and on the supply side. We continue to build that credibility going forward.
I think that we're well-positioned to continue to expand. It's really that unique position in the platform that's going to continue to allow us. If you think about this, Linda, we've talked about it, right? We've been proactive in arranging the ships. We contractually will control our VLGCs, and we view this as a catalyst too, to extend, you know, AltaGas' reach of its export facilities. That's gonna position us for opportunities to contract longer term demand and really a catalyst for expansion. You know, I see it as a virtual direct pipeline from North America to Asia. It's those attributes that are positioning us quite well for that. We're regularly discussing and looking for opportunities with partners to expand those capabilities and working.
I think, you know, to the other point that you had raised, I think more on open positions and strategies, right? I think James touched on this in his comments, but, you know, we've established a sort of floor as we continue to layer in hedges targets to meet our expectation. As we see trends, we continue to do so, and we optimize those. Hedging a base amount, layering in hedges, as the fundamentals continue to change. Overall, you know, our view is that we're bullish at this time. That gives you some general view, I hope, as to, you know, we're feeling confident in our ability to meet our targets and expand going forward.
Thank you. As a follow-up question, maybe if you can help us understand a little bit more about your D.C. utilities application. For the U.S., $40 million revenue increase, if you get everything that you ask for, how much would income go up year-over-year? Maybe can you help us break down the requested increase into different buckets beyond rate base investments and capital returns?
Hi, Linda, this is Blue. If we got everything we asked for, what you will see in the application is we would get CAD 48 million, I'm rounding, in new revenues. The CAD 5 million that make up the delta between the CAD 48 million and the CAD 53 million we filed is part of an annual rollover of our accelerated pipeline program. That's already in. We would just codify it as part of the rate case.
Linda, this is Randy. The majority of the drivers I mentioned in my comments about the investments we've made in driving down operating costs is really driven primarily by rate base, you know, sort of the pre-pandemic dollars and such that we put in, and the investments that we have made. That's the real driver largely in the case.
Is there any change in depreciation or returns or anything like that?
Sure. We didn't change the depreciation rates, but return on equity. Blue, do you-
Yeah, we requested a slightly higher rate in the filing than we currently have.
I believe it's. I looked at it.
Yeah, we're at 9.2% or 9.25% in D.C. I don't recall right off the top of my head. 9.25%, and we requested, I think, 10.3% is what's in the case.
Thank you. I'll jump back in the queue.
You bet.
Your next question will come from Robert Hope with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Morning, everyone. Just regarding the comments about having a very successful kind of supply procurement year. You know, how have the conversations with your producer customers kind of changed over the last six months with the stronger commodity price environment, you know, which could kind of increase your utilization at your, we'll call it, like, your gas plants as well as your North Pine facility there? You know, are we seeing increasing demand for those assets? Kinda how are you looking at expansions there?
Yeah, I'll let Randy Toone comment. I'll just make a overall comment. You saw in the results the significant increase that we've had in our fractionation utilizations. You see, you're seeing ample supply come to the market, and then we're seeing increased throughput at these facilities. I think that's, you know, that supply response is, you know, happens to dovetail perfectly with our core competencies on the export platform. Randy, do you wanna add any more color to that?
Sure. Yeah, we have seen an increase in our fractionation volumes in Northeast BC. We're probably at the max capacity at North Pine, so we are evaluating further expansion there. There has been a slowdown in there with the Blueberry River First Nations court case. We also have seen an increase in frac volumes coming into the Fort, and you know, we have been successful in securing supply for this year out of the Fort. We do believe that the LPG volumes are gonna grow in Western Canada, which supports our export programs.
All right. Thanks for that. Then maybe just a little bit of a follow-up question. You know, looking at Q1, 2022 versus Q1, 2021, on the midstream side, you know, lower NGL marketing margins were called out as a, you know, a headwind for the quarter. You know, can you maybe touch a little bit more on that? Is that just more of a function of the very strong Q1, 2021? Or were there some you know, specific dynamics in Alberta that kinda didn't allow you to fully realize the value of the barrel?
Yeah. Rob, it's James here. It was definitely the former. I mean, if we look at Q1 2021, obviously our U.S. storage and transportation business benefited significantly from price dislocation. And we had some cheap supply on the NGL domestic marketing side that we were able to move into those markets during some very, very strong pricing. And that contributed significantly. It was roughly about a $30-$35 million tailwind in Q1 2021 that obviously we didn't experience in Q1 2022. It wasn't something specific to the Alberta market. It was just really having product that had a low cost base in inventory, and we were able to take advantage of price dislocation in the market in Q1 2021.
Thank you.
Your next question will come from Robert Catellier from CIBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, everybody. If I'm not mistaken, you received a B.C. environmental assessment certificate to expand REEF. I'm wondering at this point, what the gating items are there. Is it, is there anything sort of in the conditions of that certificate, or is it really just dependent on customer demand and securing the appropriate level of contracting?
Robert Hope, it's Randy Toone calling. The BC permit is great to see progress on that project, but we still are waiting for the federal approval, which we expect here in the summer. It also still we need to FID the project, so we're still working on de-risking the project in both commercially and you know, looking at capital and that sort of thing.
Okay.
I just wanted to go back to the Robert conversation again in the hedging. It's understandable that your hedging levels are low until you know where you stand on supply for the contract here. Now that you know that, it sounds like you're relatively bullish and might have a view of maybe leaving a little bit more open, but you know with the high prices being where they are and seemingly it was partly driven by geopolitical tension. Wouldn't you be more inclined to take advantage of these high prices and hedge more of the exposure?
Hey, Rob, it's James here. Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, if you look at the hedge book now, we're highly hedged for Q2 as we head into Q2. When we look at the balance of the year and we look at the curve, there is backwardation in the curve. That's why our hedge position is a lot lower now relative to where it's been historically. We expect that backwardation to flatten out and when we start to see that trend.
We will probably start to layer in hedges at that point. We have certainty around the supply side. We just like to see the backwardated end of the curve come up a little bit before we start to lock in some of that profitability.
Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. Last question from me, I guess for Randy too here is whether, you know, what updates do you have really when dealing with respect to timing for any resolution with the Blueberry River First Nation, and what impacts it might have on producer activity?
Yeah. We have seen a slowdown in BC with some of the E&P folks that don't have permits in place already. We have heard encouraging messaging coming from the government and the Treaty 8 members that the resolution is coming soon, within the next few months. You know, I think what we've heard is the Treaty 8 members want. They support activity levels. They just wanna have more of a say. We have a very strong relationship with them as well. We do think that that's gonna, you'll see more on that in the next couple of months, I think.
Okay. Thank you.
Your next question will come from Ben Pham with BMO. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks. Good morning. My first question is on inflation, and I'm wondering really your ability to pass through inflation. You've seen input costs increase on the wage side. Is anything directional in inflation that is impacting your business?
Yeah. Ben, it's Blu. A couple of comments I'll make. You know, as you know, and of course, you know, costs are up across, you know, many, many items. We're fortunate in the sense that last year we were able to extend most of our union contracts, and so we fixed most of those in for terms, so we had line of sight on what that looked like. We've also had a pretty good term contracting strategy through our contractors that do a lot of work for us, so that's helped us hold the line a bit on cost as well.
Of course, in our products, you know, our steel and meters and those type of things, we also have some term contracts, and we had, you know, we took advantage of the opportunities along the way to stock a bit more, if you will, as we go. For 2022, you know, while we're certainly seeing the pressures, we don't see a lot of impact there. You know, there are certainly some items, you know, in the variable cost type of components. You get into paving and those type of issues. You know, those costs are certainly up, but we are pretty well protected by our term contract strategy to date.
Great.
Ben, it's James here. I wouldn't mind just tackling that question from the organization as a whole as well. Obviously, on the midstream side, we've got a high degree of EBITDA that comes from fee for service and take or pay contracts and obviously contracts that also have inflation indexing. We're able to cover inflationary pressures on a large chunk of our revenue that way. Obviously from an interest standpoint because obviously inflation does have an impact on interest rates. We're in a period here where we don't have a lot of maturities coming due in 2022.
We've got a CAD 500 million MTN that comes due at the end of the year, but we have plenty of liquidity where we can take advantage of lower interest rates on the facility that are almost equivalent to the interest rate on the maturing MTN. And then the last thing I'll say is just on capital. You know, we're in a period of pretty light capital on the midstream side, which doesn't really come under a lot of inflationary pressure. On the ARP side of the CapEx program and the utilities, we still get to continue to collect that through rate riders. We're just basically flowing that through to the rate riders.
Okay. Great. Maybe back to Blu. I'm wondering on the regulatory filing side, you had the D.C. recently and if you're benefiting from some of the other jurisdictions from recent rate bumps. Like, what is your expectation on how often you need to come back? Is it every two years to reduce that regulatory lag? Then the other question is what about the ARP programs expiring in 2023? That is that more filings in 2023 or do you need to start thinking ahead of that?
Good questions, Ben. Let me take the accelerated programs first. As you note, we have a program. Michigan carries through 2025, so that one's got a bit more runway. The Virginia program, the current program, ends in 2022, but we filed for a 5-year extension. We're fairly optimistic based on the commission or the commission staff response to the commission that that's gonna turn out very, very well. Now, as a reminder, we filed almost CAD 900 million request for a 5-year program, so that's a very sizable term program. We expect to get a large percentage of that. The Maryland program ends at the end of 2023, so we will file late this year or early next in terms of extending that program.
D.C.'s program ends in 2023, so same schedule. We'll file late this year or early next on extending that program. We believe that we've shown really good progress, as Randy highlighted earlier. Our progress on leaks and our ability to execute those programs and what it's meant for the long-term cost benefit to our customers, we think that's a good story, so we're optimistic those will continue. To your other point, in terms of what's our cadence of filing, it's a function, of course, of, you know, what's occurring in the greater marketplace. So I wouldn't tell you we have a pre-planned cadence of filing. We look at our capital. We look at our ability to recover those accelerated pipeline projects. We've done a really
Good job over the last couple of years of holding our manageable cost fairly flat. If we continue to do that obviously gives us some flexibility in filing. You know, D.C., as Randy mentioned, we've just had such a large capital investment there over the term, it was time for us to file again. But I would tell you, we're very focused on our cost and ensuring that we balance the needs of meeting the regional commitments to both our customers and other stakeholders, as well as managing the cost to our customers. We're very thoughtful about that.
Okay. That's great. Maybe one last one, maybe this one's for you, James, is how do you think with the FX rate here? Do you typically hedge out that FX when you see opportunities like this, where the US dollar is moving up?
No, I mean, we've looked at this in the past, and we don't hedge from a translational standpoint. I mean, we do consider hedging on transactions at certain times to be able to lock in profitability on U.S. dollar denominated revenue where we've got CAD input costs, but not from a translational standpoint. If I look at it in the context of our EPS and our debt ratios, we don't get impacted greatly at that level just because of the fact that we've got a large U.S. dollar revenue base and cost base as well, right? We do get to translate the numerator and the denominator at the same rate, then we don't have as much of an impact.
The last point I'll make is that, you know, at current FX rates, that's pretty much in line with what we had when we rolled out our guidance, so we wouldn't expect it to be a headwind or a tailwind relative to our guidance ranges that we've provided at the EBITDA level.
Yeah. All right. Thank you very much.
Your next question comes from Patrick Kenny with National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning. Just had a couple of follow-ups on the potential site B expansion next to REEF. Wondering what level of ownership you'd be comfortable taking on at this site. Are you thinking, you know, a similar 70/30 JV structure, like you have at REEF, or perhaps more 50/50 with Vopak on this one? Also, you know, sounds like there's a likely update coming with respect to the circa CAD 900 million dollar budget, but curious how you might be inclined to finance your share of the investment balance sheet versus project financing, especially in light of, you know, trying to achieve a bump in your credit rating sooner than later.
Well, I appreciate the question. This is Randy. I'll answer the first part, and I'll leave James to talk about the second. I mean, we, you know, are proud to work with our partner, Vopak, and we've been partners and we regularly discuss these opportunities to expand that partnership and its capability. As we look forward in this project, we'll ultimately determine whether it's 50/50 or such. That may be where that goes if we go forward and such. We're talking and working on a lot of other expansion opportunities as well. As these things start to crystallize, we'll have a better idea on how much that will be and the percentages. James, I'll let you comment on the debt financing.
Yeah. Hi, Patrick, it's James here. From a financing standpoint, look, I mean, at the end of the day, it's we still haven't FID-ed the project, but we would consider on-balance sheet financing. We would even consider project financing. I think it's still too early to tell. At the end of the day, I think we've done a great job, recycling capital in the past to be able to fund CapEx programs. If we look at our platform as it exists today, we've always said that we can dial capital up and down between the two segments depending on needs and returns.
We would expect to be able to fund this the way we've funded our CapEx programs currently, and that's through funds from operations and incremental drawings on our facilities, which would generate incremental EBITDA and maintain or improve our leverage ratios.
Okay, that's great. Thanks for that. Then with respect to this expansion, you know, adding other products such as methanol, refined products to your exports platform, just wanted to get your thoughts on how you see this diversification, you know, potentially influencing commercial discussions with customers, as more of an integrated offering with REEF and Ferndale. Then also, I guess, you know, how adding these new products to your portfolio might impact or fit with your overall ESG strategy.
Well, I think Patrick, thanks for the question. You know, when we look at what's what we've done recently in terms of our experience by adding Ferndale and butane to our product mix has obviously added a lot of optionality and a lot of value to our customers, both in Asia as well as our producers. I mean, it's a little early or premature to look at exactly what products, because at the same time, we could very well look at products on the renewable side of the business as well, you know, such as ammonia and other factors in the long run. Again, we'll evaluate all of those impacts.
Overall, I think the strong demand for energy and overall being short energy in the world, I think presents a critical need and opportunity for expansion.
Okay, perfect. Last one for me. I'm just wondering with respect to your Petrogas footprint at Fort Saskatchewan and your storage JV with ATCO there, now that we're starting to see some progress on the carbon sequestration front, whether or not you guys have any direct or indirect plans to participate in the development of the carbon capture network in the industrial heartland area or perhaps at any other upstream processing asset within your portfolio?
Hey, it's Randy Toone. Yeah, we see the partnership with ATCO in the Heartland as a valuable partnership going forward. You know, those are salt caverns, and so they're not necessarily used for carbon, but we do believe that, you know, products like hydrogen in the future would be well suited for that. We are, you know, looking for future opportunities there. At our Harmattan facility, you know, it's Harmattan's one of our larger emitters, and we are looking at potential carbon capture there and potentially participating in some of the government's incentives to work that project.
Okay. Appreciate that. I'll leave it there. Thanks, guys.
Your next question will come from Robert Kwan from RBC. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. Just you have some more time now to digest the MVP. So I'm just wondering if you've got some general thoughts on the deleveraging plan and more specifically, there's been some additional, you know, movement on LDC M&A in the U.S. Just wondering, you know, whether that or even just rates moving higher has created an additional sense of urgency to look at monetizing to get that leverage down.
Hey, Robert. It's James here. I'm gonna defer the LDC M&A question to Randy, but I'll deal with the leverage question. You know, I think we've been pretty consistent in our approach to deleveraging and, you know, I don't think we can lose sight of the significant strides we've already made and the fact that we've come out of numerous rating cycles where we've had our ratings confirmed, and most recently by Fitch, a BBB and S&P, a BBB-. So we are gonna experience some additional deleveraging in Q2 as we've closed the sale of our non-operated interest in northeastern BC. So that's gonna take that down by another CAD 225 million, roughly from our Q1 2022 exit rate.
You know, we continue to think as a result of that, we can be patient in order to maximize value on MVP. Obviously, the partnership is currently contemplating next steps and a revised in-service date. That could be 2023. We'll wait and see once the consortium has landed on a path forward there. You know, absent the asset sale, we still feel confident that we can get to our targets with respect to leverage that we've laid out, and that's through organic investment and organic growth in our EBITDA. It will take a little longer absent that asset sale, but we do feel that we can still get there. MVP continues to be one that's gonna be non-core for us.
We just have to continue to be patient with it to maximize that value. I feel that the balance sheet is in pretty good shape here for us to be able to continue to make organic investments.
Robert, this is Randy. James answered that. I'll just add, you know, in that context from an asset sales point, you know, we're on track to meet our debt-to EBITDA goals. We are continuing though to, as we have been as a disciplined management team, opportunities to sell non-core or non-growth assets. We continue to always look at that capital recycling overall, but we're approaching it in a very disciplined manner. We have significant growth opportunities ahead of us. I would say when it comes to selling assets, it's not solely for metrics as such as it is that we're targeting, but rather that we're looking more to reinvesting funds into the growth opportunities going forward.
Got it. Just on guidance, you touched, I think, James, earlier on the FX, but are there any incremental headwinds or tailwinds since the Q4 call that you wanted to highlight with respect to the guidance range or where you'd be in the guidance range or should say?
Yeah, sure. I mean, look, I mean, we feel comfortable with the range at 1,500-1,550 with the midpoint at 1,525. If I look at some of the headwinds, though, that we've had relative to the guidance that we rolled out, there's two primary ones. One was obviously the buyout of our non-operated investment in northeastern BC and obviously the delay of MVP. We had some small EBITDA in the back half of the year related to MVP. If I add those two up, that's CAD 20 million of headwinds. You know, that being said, those headwinds were offset by strong performance in our retail business and our asset optimization business within the utilities. That was a result of strong commodity prices.
You know, we'll give some of that back in retail. That performance on asset optimization and retail is what helped offset the headwinds on MVP and the buyout of the northeastern BC 50% interest that we had. When I kinda take a step back and I take all of that into consideration, that's why we feel comfortable with the range.
Got it. If I can just finish with a last one here on Petrogas. Can you just talk about the performance during the quarter? I don't know if it's a good kinda signal, but non-controlling interest expense was down. Is that indicative of Petrogas being a little weaker in the quarter? Is there something else to be thinking about?
Yeah. I touched on it a little bit in earlier questions. If I look at Q1 of 2021, we had very strong results on the NGL domestic marketing side of the business, which was Petrogas predominantly, and it was about CAD 30 million-CAD 35 million. That's what would have increased the NCI in Q1 of 2021 relative to Q1 of 2022. That was concentrated within the Petrogas platform in terms of that performance.
Okay. That cheap inventory where you put it into different markets with Petrogas pretty much completely.
You got it.
Okay, that's great. Thank you.
Thank you.
The last question comes from Andrew Kuske with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning. Question really is around your capital program, and I think ballpark figures, you're 20% midstream, 80% utilities. You know, should you proceed on the expansion projects and the expansion potential for your export business, you know, how do you think those numbers land just on the proportionality between the two businesses?
Well, I'll tell you, Andrew, that it. I think that as we look forward, right, we've given our guidance on our rate-based growth, and Blue and the team are executing well, there. We talked a good bit about the accelerated pipeline and the real benefits that we're driving to the customer. Over time, right, that, you know, we'll continue to have some flexibility around the spending and the utility as we move forward, as we continue to improve the integrity of the system. I think James touched on it in terms of our ability to dial down and up in terms of our CapEx. We take all of those into account as we look at the timing of the projects and such.
again, that's just part of us as a growth company moving forward. When we get some specifics on the project, we'll be able to give you more, you know, detail as we go forward. At this point, we feel very confident in our flexibility to fund the great opportunities we have in the organic growth platform.
I do appreciate that. I guess maybe conceptually, do you think of the midstream business as being able to build assets? You know, let's pick a range of, say at a 5-8 multiple build, but it's worth north of 10, just for argument's sake. The utilities business, you know, more stable but, you know, rate-based driven with, you know, an ROE kind of framework. Do you? Is that sort of how you conceptualize the capital allocation to get, like, the value lift when you bring on a midstream asset and, you know, utilities business sort of chugs along in a de-risked fashion?
Yeah. Andrew, it's James here. I mean, look, the build multiple that you touched on roughly 5-8 times is very consistent with what we rolled out when we hosted our investor day back in December. Those are the type of build multiples we are looking at. You know, the only thing I'll add to Randy's comments, and we've said this in the past, is that when we look at the utility CapEx program, that's typically much more linear for us, and as you talked about, subject to the regulated returns, and a big chunk of that is collected through rate riders.
We've always said that midstream goes through a much lumpier profile, for lack of a better word, just given the fact that we build out capacity and then we fill up that latent capacity, and then we see another wave of growth. That's what I think we're on the precipice of here, with some of these projects that could move forward in the coming years.
Appreciate that. If I could sneak one final one in. You know, how do you think about just some of the, you know, LDC trades that we've seen in the market and the valuations they've carried and the potential to monetize, you know, a portion of an asset to effectively, you know, liberate capital and get a high valuation as a marker versus the complexity that that might bring to the structure?
Yeah, I think, Andrew, thank you for the question. I again, as we look forward, you know, and I mentioned this on the last call about the underlying intrinsic value of these assets, which is why we, you know, are investing in our utilities going forward. I think that's something that we've been excited about and people recognizing that intrinsic value on a going forward basis. Again, I don't wanna comment on any specific, you know. When we look at capital recycling, we're not so much focused on illuminating that value because I think that's starting to be demonstrated going forward, but it's more from a business standpoint of how we continue to fund what we believe is just significant opportunities for strong organic growth, well above our cost of capital.
Okay. That's great. Thank you very much.
This concludes the Q&A portion of today's call. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. McKnight.
Thanks, Miranda. Thank you everyone once again for joining our call today, and for your interest in AltaGas. As a reminder, we will be available after the call for any follow-up questions that you might have. That concludes our call this morning. I hope everybody enjoys the rest of their day, and you may now disconnect your phone lines.