Gibson Energy Inc. (TSX:GEI)
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May 1, 2026, 4:00 PM EST
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Earnings Call: Q3 2021

Nov 1, 2021

Operator

Good morning. My name is Pam, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to Gibson Energy's Q3 2021 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, please press star then the number two. Thank you. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Mark Chyc-Cies, Vice President, Strategies, Planning, and Investor Relations. Mr. Chyc-Cies, please go ahead.

Mark Chyc-Cies
VP of Strategies, Planning, and Investor Relations, Gibson Energy

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us on this conference call discussing our Q3 2021 operational and financial results. On the call this morning from Gibson Energy are Steve Spaulding, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Sean Brown, Chief Financial Officer. Listeners are reminded that today's call refers to non-GAAP measures and forward-looking information. Descriptions and qualifications of such measures and information are set out in our continuous disclosure documents available on SEDAR. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Steve.

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

Thanks, Mark. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm pleased to say we delivered another strong quarter, both operationally and financially. As is important, we also made progress on the commercial front, and we continue to advance ESG and sustainability at Gibson. Looking briefly at our financial results, infrastructure adjusted EBITDA of CAD 104 million was slightly above our expectations and includes a partial contribution from the DRU. On the marketing side, adjusted EBITDA of CAD 16 million was within our outlook range we provided. Our payout of 72% remains near the bottom of our target range of 70%-80%. Leverage of 3.2 is within our 3-3.5 target range. Our balance sheet remains very strong, including being fully funded for all capital.

On an operational front, we noted on our last call during the Q3 , we completed the construction of the DRU on schedule within our initial capital range. We continue to be in that startup phase and have line of sight producing fully on-spec product by the end of the year. The DRU has been operating around nameplate capacity for the past few weeks, and we're loading trains of neat bitumen. Our customer is moving this crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Importantly, we understand they're seeing really strong pricing on their product, and the refinery customers are seeing meaningful improvement in refinery runs versus Dilbit. The diluent continues to see strong pricing advantage versus Dilbit at Hardisty, all furthering DRU competes head-to-head with pipelines. Proving out the cost competitiveness of the DRU really should help us with discussions with additional phases. The DRU requires a complicated set of agreements.

Given we're already in November, to the extent we are successful in securing additional customers, the timeline would definitely be in 2022. On the tankage front, we're very pleased to announce the sanction of a new tank at Edmonton during the quarter. With this tank, we welcome a new investment-grade energy customer to our Edmonton terminal. We continue to be in discussions with other TMX shippers. We believe Gibson is very well-positioned to support shippers on TMX and optimize producer netback and meet stream requirements for them. While we generally provide our 2022 capital budget in December, I will reiterate our target is to deploy between CAD 150 million and CAD 200 million per year.

While tankage will remain certainly a big portion of this, it will also likely include projects such as incremental DRU phases, expansions under the MSA with Suncor at Edmonton, and potential renewable diesel facility. What hasn't changed is we still expect our capital projects will remain within our 5x-7x EBITDA build multiple range, which means we'll continue to generate very attractive risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. Shifting to ESG, we took another major step a couple of weeks ago with our net zero by 2050 commitment. This is in addition to our preexisting 2025 and 2030 climate change targets, which include reducing our overall emissions intensity by at least 20% and eliminating our Scope 2 emissions by 2030. The focus for us in setting the net zero target was to have a credible path.

Through the applications of existing technologies already in commercial use in North America, we were able to address 90% of our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. We see the potential for further technology and cost improvements to emerge over time. This is important. Our net zero target will not impair our ability to secure growth opportunities. Also, all investments, including energy transition-related opportunities, will need to meet our existing internal return hurdles. To put our efforts on ESG and sustainability front, we are very pleased to see the company continues to be recognized, including through the recent MSCI upgrading us to AAA. This is the highest rating in our sector, and we are the only one of three companies globally, and the only company in North America to receive this leadership rating. In all, we believe we have positioned Gibson as a great fit for ESG-minded investors.

We have the lowest carbon intensity of our peers, and the steps we have taken consistently move us forward to strong ESG ratings from all the major agencies. Again, we feel we had another strong quarter and remain very well-positioned going forward. Our infrastructure business remains solid, with our run rate increasing with the startup of the DRU. We continue to sanction new growth within our target 5x-7x build multiple, and we remain focused on deploying CAD 150 million-CAD 200 million per year in capital. The progress we're making on ESG and sustainability continues to distinguish us from our peers. I will now pass the call over to Sean, who will walk you through our financial results in more detail. Sean?

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Thanks, Steve. As Steve mentioned, another solid quarter from a financial perspective, especially for our Infrastructure segment. Infrastructure adjusted EBITDA of CAD 104 million was slightly ahead of our expectations when taking into account our CAD 100 million run rate in the H1 of the year and adjusting it for the payment of the remaining term of the rail loading contract last quarter, as well as the partial contribution from the DRU this quarter. In terms of the drivers of the slight outperformance, we saw an increase in third-party revenues at our terminals related to a recent recontracting, and the contribution from the DRU was a bit higher than forecast. Marketing adjusted EBITDA of CAD 16 million was within our outlook range.

We continued to see opportunities on the crude marketing side, although they were a bit more limited relative to the Q2 , and the contribution from Moose Jaw was also slightly lower, driven partly by asphalt margins narrowing through the quarter. However, we are noticing the drilling fluids market strengthening. In terms of our outlook for marketing, we would expect Q4 to come in a bit lower than our Q3 result at between CAD 5 million and CAD 10 million in Adjusted EBITDA. This range is reflective of winter asphalt demand at Moose Jaw, as well as our strategy to store product in the winter quarters.

Also, given our conservative approach to the marketing business, where we seek to hedge the exposure to the underlying commodity prices with financial instruments, with crude prices continuing to rise, that has led to unrealized losses that will need to be realized in the Q4 . It's important to note that we are realizing an offsetting gain on the physical inventory that these financial instruments are hedging. However, the financial impact in the Q4 is a bit outsized, in part due to just how much commodity prices have moved, as well as some of the physical gains being realized in either prior or subsequent quarters. Despite the increase in crude prices and differentials, it remains a fairly challenging environment for our crude marketing business.

While the marketing segment is able to earn sufficient margin to cover their fixed costs, the current environment and the outlook for the key drivers of profitability within this business in the near future likely requires some measures of events or catalysts to arise for the marketing segment as a whole to reach our CAD 80 million-CAD 120 million long-term run rate over a 12-month period. On that basis, given what we are seeing right now and absent any events or increased volatility, we'd expect that 2022 could be at or somewhat below the bottom end of our long-term run rate of CAD 80 million for the full year. That's fine, as we don't rely on marketing to deliver our strategy.

Finishing up the discussion of the results, let me quickly work down the distributable cash flow. Interest costs were CAD 13 million, CAD 1 million above the Q3 of 2020. Replacement capital of CAD 8 million was above the CAD 4 million incurred in the Q3 of 2020, as we were catching up on work in the H2 of this year, following a reduced rate of replacement capital projects over the last number of quarters as the COVID pandemic limited the number of projects we could safely execute. For the full year, we continue to expect replacement capital to be between CAD 25 million and CAD 30 million. Taxes of CAD 5 million this quarter were CAD 3 million higher than the Q3 of 2020, largely due to higher infrastructure and marketing earnings this quarter.

Also, lease payments were slightly lower in the current quarter relative to the Q3 of last year, as we continue to actively reduce the number of leased rail cars in our marketing segment. On a trailing 12-month basis, for the first time in a while, both adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow increased relative to the prior quarter as we posted a stronger quarter in both infrastructure and marketing segments than we are rolling off. As a result, our payout ratio decreased slightly to 72%, which is still at the bottom end of our 70%-80% target range. Our debt to adjusted EBITDA remained flat to the Q2 at 3.2x, which is in the bottom half of our 3x-3.5x target.

Also, I would note that on a trailing twelve-month basis, given the growth of our infrastructure cash flows and lower marketing contribution, both our adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow would be over 90% infrastructure-weighted. On an infrastructure only basis, our leverage would be 3.5x and our payout ratio would be approximately 67%, where we would seek to be below 4x and 100% respectively under our financial governing principles. Clearly, our dividend is firmly underpinned and while always strictly a board decision that is considered once per year at the February meeting, there's certainly room for Gibson to continue its steady, modest dividend growth. Speaking further to our financial position, we continue to maintain a fully funded position for all our capital with ample cushion for additional projects.

At the end of the quarter, we are CAD 185 million drawn on our CAD 750 million credit facility with CAD 67 million of cash on the balance sheet. We also have CAD 115 million of unutilized capacity on our CAD 150 million bilateral demand facilities, implying about CAD 750 million in available liquidity relative to a CAD 150 million-CAD 200 million per year capital program target. In that sense, very much years of running room. In summary, a solid quarter. Results from the infrastructure segment were slightly ahead of our forecast, though the environment remains challenging for our marketing segment.

From a financial perspective, we remain in a very strong financial position, being within both our leverage and payout target ranges, remaining fully funded with ample commit cushion and with significant available liquidity. We continue to be of the view that our business offers a strong total return proposition to investors with visibility to continued growth in our high-quality infrastructure cash flows and an attractive growing dividend, all while maintaining a very strong balance sheet and financial position. At this point, I will turn the call over to the operator to open it up for questions.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a three-tone prompt acknowledging your request, and your questions will be polled in the order they are received. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before pressing any keys. One moment for your first question. Your first question comes from Rob Hope with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Rob Hope
Director of Equity Research, Scotiabank

Morning, everyone. First question's on Moose Jaw as kinda your largest emitter source right now. We have additional clarity on the federal level for politics and kind of potential support for renewable diesel projects there. What’s the path forward for Moose Jaw in terms of kinda the decarbonization plan as well as looking at some renewable fuels there?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

Thank you for that question, Rob. You know, we have a team that is looking at all the different opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint at Moose Jaw. I would say we have four different projects that we're evaluating to reduce that plan. Then if you look at our first release on metrics as far as 2025 and 2030, a lot of them were targeted for Moose Jaw because it is our largest emitter. We have a project underway right now that reduces our carbon footprint quite substantially on Scope 1. We continue to look at additional opportunities there. We feel very comfortable we'll be able to meet that with economic projects going forward.

Rob Hope
Director of Equity Research, Scotiabank

Appreciate that. Then just switching over to Edmonton. We, you know, had the tank secured during the quarter, and let's assume Trans Mountain in service, you know, mid 2023. When do you need to sign on the dotted line to get tankage in service for that start date? Kind of, are we seeing conversations accelerate there?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

You know, we're talking to four different customers there right now. You know, we'd hope to sign within early spring because that's when we can start building the rings. You know, we're into winter now. Whether or not it's now or April, doesn't make a big difference because it's really about constructing the rings for those tanks.

Rob Hope
Director of Equity Research, Scotiabank

All right. Appreciate the color. I'll jump back in the queue. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Robert Kwan with RBC. Please go ahead.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Great. Good morning. Just on, maybe starting on the Edmonton side of things, and following on that, what's the visibility on expansion at Edmonton terminal just around the Suncor agreement? You know, what do you think you can deploy capital-wise, and what's the pace you think of that spend?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

Good morning, Robert. You know, right now we have the one project under construction. I would say that's gonna be spotty over the next five years off and on. I can't see any real capital besides that project right now in next year. Going forward, we believe we'll continue to have projects there, especially with this energy transition plan and fuels transitions going on.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Got it. Just on the DRU startup, you talked about being on spec by the end of December. What do you need to do just to kind of get that product on spec? Is that really the gating factor at this point, in terms of getting, you know, a second or a third contract to underpin the expansion and just your c ommentary that if that comes together, it's kind of definitely a 2022 event.

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

Yeah. Thank you for that question, Robert. You know, we're making a neat bitumen. Actually, when you look at the boiling points and everything, it is dead on spec. When it gets down to the U.S. Gulf Coast, you know, to a refiner, you know, it's not off spec at all to a U.S. refiner. What it is entrained vapor or little bubbles in the crude that increases the flashpoint temperature. With that, we're putting in a steam ring and a couple of more trays, and that we hope to have that completed by end of December. We're quite confident in this because this is something we do at our Moose Jaw facility today.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Got it. What's the capital that's required to get to that?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

That's all part of our agreement with our contractor on kind of guaranteed service. We don't see any capital coming out of this.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Perfect.

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

It's not very substantial at the end of the day. It's not substantial.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Got it. Okay. If I can just finish with a small question probably for Sean. How should we think about cash actually coming out of the Hardisty partnership, especially just kind of versus what you're actually booking into EBITDA?

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Yeah. No, thanks for that, Rob. It's a good question. The way it works is that we actually book the EBITDA as it's earned, as you might expect. Then, at the end of each quarter, partnership gets together and then formulaically distributes that cash out. You would have actually seen in this quarter a bit of a lag between the EBITDA that was booked versus the cash. Now, we had other offsets to that when you work down to distributable cash flow. It probably wasn't as visible. Going forward, given that's just a one quarter lag, you won't actually see that again. From a purely, given the take or pay, every quarter is gonna be quite ratable here.

You know, that is the dynamic you would have seen this quarter, where we booked the EBITDA, we didn't actually see the cash in our distributable cash flow. We'll see that in the subsequent quarter and because we won't see that dynamic again now that it's up and running.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Okay. For example, I think you booked a little over CAD 4 million into EBITDA, roughly speaking, that will then show up in cash flow next quarter?

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Yep. Yep.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Jumping ahead in time.

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

That'll show up in cash in the next quarter. Absolutely.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Okay. Is there any expectation that anything's gonna come out of Joliet? Or do we need to see business conditions improve before you see cash coming out?

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Yeah. I mean, a small amount, I would say, out of Joliet.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Okay.

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Nothing material.

Robert Kwan
Global Head of Energy Transition Research, RBC Capital Markets

Perfect. Thank you.

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Thanks, Rob.

Operator

Your next question comes from Andrew Kuske with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.

Andrew Kuske
Managing Director and Head of Canadian Research, Credit Suisse

Thank you. Good morning. Maybe if we could just focus a little bit on the DRU. It's obviously you've validated the project in the market. You know, I'd say we've always thought that that had very compelling economics, but you've got the anchor, it's up and running. Could you maybe just give us some color on what happens with the second increment of the DRU? You know, should it proceed, do the anchor's costs effectively tilt down, but you deliver more attractive economics on the second leg to yourself?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

With our anchor tenant being that they were an anchor tenant, if we do contract a second DRU, there is substantial improvement in the economics, right? A large majority of that improvement goes to that anchor tenant for being that anchor tenant. It is better than the first economics, but not by as much as you would think.

Andrew, I mean, I think subsequent to that, you don't have that same dynamic. If you think about additional phases, as Steve said, second customer, you know, you don't see as much of a benefit because of the fact that, as Steve said, they help backstop that first phase. Subsequent phases to that, you don't have that same dynamic. We see, you know, tremendously better economics, to the extent that it goes beyond that 100,000 barrels a day of inlet capacity.

Andrew Kuske
Managing Director and Head of Canadian Research, Credit Suisse

That, that's very helpful. If you could maybe just give us some color around the tone of conversations with people now that you've really validated the concept, the project, you're shipping barrels all the way to the south, and just the appetite for people to, you know, engage and to, you know, explore the expansion opportunity.

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

Yeah, I mean, I was with my commercial team down in Houston, and we were talking to a lot of the big U.S. refiners there that are running this. They're very, very pleased with this product. You know, the neat bitumen, it allows them to. They do blend that neat bitumen, but they blend it with a, you know, a like a WTI or something. They don't blend it or WTI or WTL, West Texas Light. They're not blending it with that condensate, you know, like Mont Belvieu natural gasoline, which causes kind of like a dumbbell crude. Dilbit's kind of a dumbbell crude, which makes refinery runs not optimal.

They can blend this neat bitumen and really improve the refinery runs. I think there's gaining excitement along the U.S. Gulf Coast with this product. With that, we believe, you know, we're gaining some momentum too around contracting the DRU next year.

Andrew Kuske
Managing Director and Head of Canadian Research, Credit Suisse

Okay. That's helpful. If I may just sneak in one more. Obviously, we've seen a couple, you know, positive budget announcements out of the Canadian E&Ps, but as we really head into the full thrust of budget season in December Yeah. How do you think that translates through your business because you've seen volumes lift across your systems? Just how do you think about the positivity into 2022?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

Yeah. I mean, that quick response is more around the conventional systems, both in the U.S. and in Canada. You know, they're not a large portion of our business overall. Even if we did see maybe a 20% uptick in that, it's nothing substantial because that total business is less than 5% of our total EBITDA.

Andrew Kuske
Managing Director and Head of Canadian Research, Credit Suisse

Okay. Thank you very much.

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

You know, as far as the long run, you know, if we're able to do brownfield expansions in the oil sands, I think that's a great opportunity, you know, for potential tankage at Hardisty now that Line 3 is totally in service.

Andrew Kuske
Managing Director and Head of Canadian Research, Credit Suisse

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Your next question comes from Robert Catellier with CIBC. Please go ahead.

Robert Catellier
Energy Infrastructure Analyst, CIBC

Yeah, just to follow up on the DRU here. I wonder if you could discuss the interplay of the Enbridge Mainline contracting with the producer or the customer behavior. In other words, do you think you need a resolution as to what the Mainline contracting might look like and what the allocations to specific refiners might be before they'd be willing to commit to capacity at the DRU?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

You know, thank you, Robert, for that question. That's an interesting question. When you look at mainline contracting versus transport versus DRU, you know, DRU in the current environment is actually better than mainline all the way to the U.S. Gulf Coast. When you look at the increase in a neat bitumen or a DRUbit sale along the Gulf Coast versus Dilbit, and you look at the uptick of condensate versus Dilbit here. You know, you got that 35%-40% of condensate that you're taking out of the stream, and you're getting, I believe today, WTI +$3 or +$4 versus -$15 to -$16 on the Dilbit.

that economics, when you look at all this, when you put everything together, today, the DRU actually is better than the pipeline, and it provides a different type of service and a different type of reliable offtake.

Robert Catellier
Energy Infrastructure Analyst, CIBC

Yeah. That's what I thought. What you're saying previously in your comments to other questions is that the DRU performance in terms of meeting spec is there already. It's just a question really of the customer getting confident with the process and spending more time with it to get the confidence they need to you know to contract.

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

That's correct, Robert.

Robert Catellier
Energy Infrastructure Analyst, CIBC

Thank you. Yeah. Then, just last one here quickly. Obviously, you've done a lot on the ESG front and have a good path forward on the emissions, early days. There was a commentary about, you know, putting in place a cap on emissions for the oil and gas industry. How do you look at that given you're already sort of the front of pack, lowest emissions intensity, but what do you think it means for business development in terms of the impact that cap might have on your customers?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

You know, we've been thinking about that for a while. Obviously, you know, after the announcement yesterday, you know, we did get together and talk a little bit about it. Overall, I think the oil sands producers have been kind of front-footed here, right? They've been thinking about this solution for the last couple of years, and looking at the different opportunities in which they can reduce their carbon footprint. I think that solution is gonna be solved by our producers, especially in the oil sands. Then, you know, whether or not CCS is viable, which I think it will be.

You get the tertiary recovery and the CO2 in the tertiary recovery, and we're starting to see those type of opportunities start to pick up. We think Canada is gonna be one of the lowest carbon producers in the world and one of the people that the world relies on to produce reliable, low carbon fuels. We'll be there to support it.

Robert Catellier
Energy Infrastructure Analyst, CIBC

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have any questions, please press star one. Your next question comes from Patrick Kenny with National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.

Patrick Kenny
Managing Director and Research Analyst, National Bank Financial

Thank you. Good morning, guys. Just maybe back to Hardisty, Steve. You mentioned Line 3 being in service, and I know it's still early days, but operationally, just wanted to confirm if you're seeing overall tankage being sufficient for customers, or, you know, do you see a need for an extra tank or two as volumes through Hardisty continue to ramp up, this being outside of another tank to support the next phase of DRU?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

Good morning, Patrick. I think we've said this in the past, if we didn't see you know, we contracted really around that tank, Line 3, really a couple of years ago. A lot of the tanks that are in service today are for production that is this Line 3 production. I don't know that Line 3 going to Service is going to impact us in the short term. I think in the long term it'll impact us, you know, as these brownfield SAGD opportunities are developed.

Patrick Kenny
Managing Director and Research Analyst, National Bank Financial

Got it. Great. Then just on marketing, Sean, you mentioned the fixed cost component. Just curious if you've fully right-sized the cost structure there for the business or if there's more that can be done through 2022 just to help hold that CAD 80 million base level. Also maybe below the EBITDA line, you know, if there's more that can be done to, say, reduce the lease payments for that business to help support free cash flow.

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Yep. No, thanks for that, Pat. I think as you would have seen, I mean, on the lease side, our marketing group has actually been actively reducing our leases. So you would have seen those lease payments already go down last year, and then they've come down again this year. You know, on the fixed co-fixed cost side, you know, it really depends on, you know, what we're talking about there. But, you know, what that is our marketing business takes those commitments and then optimizes around those commitments. To actually earn their margin, you need some of those commitments to make it.

I mean, like anything, especially in an environment that's, you know, somewhat more challenging for them right now, you know, they are looking at all commitments they have and make sure that they still make sense in this current environment. Nothing to point to right now. I think, you know, the position they have is one that they think that still makes sense, and gives them the best opportunity to not only earn margin in what is a more challenging environment right now, but if the marketing environment recovers to then get back to a period of where, you know, potentially can make more outsized profits.

Patrick Kenny
Managing Director and Research Analyst, National Bank Financial

Got it. Sorry if I missed it, Sean, but being a month into Q4 here, any near-term guidance on the contribution for Q4?

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

We came out and in my prepared remarks, it was CAD 5 million-CAD 10 million.

Patrick Kenny
Managing Director and Research Analyst, National Bank Financial

Got it. Thank you.

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Lower than this quarter. You know, a couple factors that we talked about in the prepared remarks there. You know, we are in the winter season for Moose Jaw. Drilling hasn't really picked up like it has in other years to offset that as much. Another factor being just with the rise in crude here, we do have you know some financial positions that offset physical gains.

Patrick Kenny
Managing Director and Research Analyst, National Bank Financial

Perfect. Appreciate it.

Operator

Your next question comes from Matthew Weekes with iA Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Matthew Weekes
Equity Research Analyst, iA Capital Markets

Hi. Thanks. All my questions have actually been answered at this point, so I'll just put myself back in the queue. Thanks.

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Thank you, Matthew.

Operator

Your next question comes from Ben Pham with BMO. Please go ahead.

Ben Pham
Energy Infrastructure Analyst, BMO Capital Markets

Hey, good morning, guys. I'm just wondering, I know you've kept to your base strategy, one or two tanks a year, DRU phase two, use marketing profits to buy back stock or if you had excess profits. I'm just curious, are you evaluating or the board evaluating any other sort of different capital allocation strategies, whether it's asset sales or debt restructuring, M&A? Like, is there anything else that you're looking at to maybe bridge this valuation discount on your shares? Let me start this, and then I'm gonna let Sean kind of wrap it up. You know, this time each year, we do take a hard look at our strategy. You know, what is our strategy looking forward?

Steve Spaulding
President and CEO, Gibson Energy

We'll look at all of those things, you know, as far as any kind of change in our strategy. I think we've been exceptionally good at executing the strategy that we laid out in 2018, you know, and we'll look at, you know, how do we need to tweak that strategy going forward. Sean?

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Yeah, I mean, I couldn't agree more. I mean, certainly we are not complacent. We're doing everything we can to try and maximize value. I mean, just some of the specific items you talked about there, and I think to the extent that we have an ability to deploy capital at 5x-7x under long-term contracts with investment-grade counterparties, I think if you look across the energy infrastructure sector, those are some of the most attractive capital deployment opportunities in the space. We'll obviously continue to do that and maximize that. You know, outside of that, we do have the NCIB. That's something that, you know, we expect that we will be active in over time. That certainly is a tool in the toolkit.

You know, asset sales, as you would know, we have already really largely rationalized our portfolio. You know, we did that through since Steve joined in 2017 and, you know, through the execution of our strategies, there's not a lot on that side. Then M&A, as we've talked about, is something that we always evaluate. Now, there's always gonna be a competition for capital as you think about M&A. And when you're deploying capital in a fashion that I talked about earlier, that bar or the hurdle rate for that M&A is extremely high. But that's still something that we're always investigating, you know, is there M&A opportunities out there that we think will be additive to the strategy?

The short answer is yes, we are investigating, you know, all of the above, as a management team and with the board, but that quite frankly isn't all that different than any year, as Steve talked about earlier. You know, on the debt restructuring side, there's really not a lot to be done there either. I mean, as you'd be well aware, Ben, you know, with our move to investment grade, we have completely cleaned up our old legacy sub-investment grade capital structure. We would have, you know, amongst the lowest coupon and amongst the longest weighted average tenor in our peer space. You know, never complacent, but still, unfortunately, there's not a lot more we can squeeze out of that, out of that one there. Again, always investigating, certainly.

Ben Pham
Energy Infrastructure Analyst, BMO Capital Markets

Okay. That's great context. I wanna follow up, too, with when you think about even M&A or even new investments, would you consider even heading out of the crude business, whether it's gas processing or I know you've touched on the DRU, for example. Any thoughts of even heading outside of it? You know, those are things that we'll definitely discuss with the board, you know. You know, those types of strategies are, you know, the board is definitely gonna need to weigh in on anything like that. Those are board decisions. We are taking a hard look at our strategy going forward.

Sean Brown
CFO, Gibson Energy

Yeah. I think one thing then is that, you know, cash flow quality, we understand very much why people invest in Gibson, and part of it is the quality of cash flow as you see through our core infrastructure business. You know, that will remain part of the strategy moving forward. You know, we've got financial governing principles that include, you know, the level of take or pay we have, you know, fixed fee for service, you know, investment grade counterparties, and we're gonna stay true to those as we think about sort of evolution of the strategy as well, though.

Ben Pham
Energy Infrastructure Analyst, BMO Capital Markets

Okay. That's great. Thank you.

Operator

There are no further questions. Please proceed.

Mark Chyc-Cies
VP of Strategies, Planning, and Investor Relations, Gibson Energy

Well, let me take this opportunity to thank everyone for joining us on our 2021 third quarter conference call. Again, just wanna note that we have made certain supplementary information available on our website, gibsonenergy.com. If you have any further questions, please reach out to us at investor.relations@gibsonenergy.com. Thank you, and thanks for your support for Gibson.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great day.

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