Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Tidewater Renewables Q4 financial results conference call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, March 14, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Ray Kwan. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Operator. Good morning. On the call with me today is Jeremy Baines, Tidewater Renewables Chairman and CEO, Brian Moran, Chief Legal Officer. Before we get started, I would like to note that today's call is being recorded for the benefit of individual shareholders, the media, and other interested parties who may want to review the call at a later time. A recording of today's conference call will be available through Cision. This morning, we reported results for the full year ended December 31, 2023. A copy of our news release, financial statements, and MD&A may be accessed on SEDAR+ or our website. Before passing the call over to Jeremy, I'll remind you that some of the comments made today may be forward-looking in nature and are based on Tidewater's current expectations, judgments, and projections.
Forward-looking statements we express today are subject to risk and uncertainties, which can cause actual results to differ from expectations. Further, some of the information provided refers to non-GAAP measures. To know more about these forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures, please see the company's various financial reports, which are available on our website or on SEDAR+. With that, I'll pass it off to Jeremy to discuss some highlights from the quarter.
Thank you, Ray. Good morning, and thank you for joining our Q4 2023 conference call. As I approach my 2-month anniversary, I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the Tidewater team. Constructing and commissioning Canada's first standalone renewable diesel facility was not easy, but with our collective efforts, we overcame our initial operating challenges, and the facility has been operating at design capacity for almost a month now. Our priority is to maintain a high utilization at the HDRD complex. This allows us to optimize returns, maximize free cash flow, and help our customers meet their long-term ESG goals. Accordingly, we have secured purchasers for the HDRD complex's operating emission credit production through the second quarter of 2024. This is a significant inflection point in the company's strategy. The facility will generate a lot of free cash flow as we move forward.
Our primary focus is on our current operations. However, I also see the importance of looking ahead. In 2023, Tidewater Renewables completed a feasibility assessment for an expansion of its renewable fuels facilities. In 2024, we are in the process of completing front-end engineering and design on a 6,500-barrel-a-day sustainable aviation fuel project. To secure expertise and access to blending fuels, Tidewater Renewables and Tidewater Midstream have entered into a joint development agreement whereby both parties have the right to participate in up to 50% of the SAF project upon a final investment decision. The front-end engineering and design and regulatory applications are expected to be completed in 2025 and will be fully funded through the sale of capital emission credits. The SAF facility is expected to utilize many of the same processes and draw upon the expertise our team has acquired from constructing and operating the HDRD Complex.
In parallel, there is significant work underway on the commercial aspects of this project, including initial strong interest in offtake arrangements with major airlines. As a management team, we will approach this project methodically with an emphasis on commercial and financial viability. Finally, I am pleased to announce that Jeff Hamilton has joined our board of directors, bringing 25 years of experience as a business leader and strategic advisor to Tidewater Renewables. His previous roles included senior leadership positions at Bank of America Securities and J.P. Morgan. He is currently the founder and CEO of Longwing Capital Advisors, where he provides strategic and financial advisory services to businesses focused on energy, clean tech, and renewables. Mr. Hamilton holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.
I will now turn the call over to Tidewater Renewables' Chief Financial Officer to walk through our financial results.
Thanks, Jeremy. During the fourth quarter, Tidewater Renewables reported Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 10.7 million, down from CAD 14.5 million reported in the third quarter of 2023. The decrease is primarily the result of a CAD 6.6 million realized financial hedging loss due to lower soybean prices, but partially offset by Adjusted EBITDA contributed from the HDRD complex. From the period from commencement of operations on November 7th to December 31st, 2023, the HDRD complex has contributed approximately CAD 3.3 million of Adjusted EBITDA. During this time, the utilization rate was approximately 56%. I should emphasize that this Adjusted EBITDA was affected by higher feedstock costs purchased earlier in the year, startup costs, and our fixed operating overhead. With declines in vegetable oil pricing and strong demand for renewable fuels and credits, we remain optimistic about the 2024 HDRD Adjusted EBITDA generation.
In 2024, we expect the HDRD complex to achieve an average throughput of 2,400-2,600 barrels per day, or 80%-87% utilization, inclusive of an expected average throughput of 1,800-2,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2024. That is indicative of an 85%-95% utilization Q2 forward, the top end of which is roughly consistent with the conventional Prince George refineries' utilization. With the production at the HDRD complex stabilizing, we are now looking to strengthen our financial position. We are currently in discussions with our capital providers to extend or refinance our credit facilities. As previously communicated, our top priority for 2024 is debt reduction. Finally, total capital expenditures, including maintenance capital for the fourth quarter, were CAD 31.7 million compared to CAD 76.8 million in the same period last year.
This spending was offset by CAD 7.2 million of capital emission credits in the fourth quarter and CAD 21.6 million of additional capital emission credits expected in the first quarter of 2024. At this point, I will turn the call back to Jeremy to wrap things up.
Thanks, Ray. As mentioned, the launching of the HDRD Complex's commercial operations signifies a major step change in renewables business and more broadly for the Canadian energy transition. With that, I will ask the operator to open the call to Q&A.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the number two. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from the line of Nick Boychuk from Cormark Securities. Your line is open.
Thanks, Jeremy. Welcome to the team. Ray, good to see you again. First question, guys, just on the production profile. So I think the fuels that we were seeing from HDRD and the co-processing units came in a little bit higher than I was anticipating, but it seems like pricing might have been a little bit light. Can you kind of comment on what you're seeing on the commodity price itself, BC diesel prices that you're realizing, and then also on the LCFS credits? And as it relates to the pre-sold credits as well, if there's any discount you've taken and how we should be thinking about that relative to the posted price that we're seeing from the province.
Sure. So in terms of our diesel pricing, our diesel pricing is priced off PG Rack price. So that's publicly available on various websites, so you can look at that. And so that fluctuates with, obviously, New York Harbor diesel prices as well as WTI and supply and demand locally as well too. So that's kind of the pricing that occurred in the fourth quarter. In terms of LCFS and CFR pricing, LCFS pricing in Q4 was actually pretty robust, I think, in general. If you look at historical Q4 data from the BC LCFS website, it's ranged from $450-$520 in terms of the average BC LCFS in terms of pricing. And then in addition to that, for CFR, we've seen ranges in terms of pricing. So that's anywhere between close to $150-$240 bucks a credit there.
So I think from Q4, for us specifically, co-processing units were really strong. I think for the HDRD, I think in general, that was more impacted on the feedstock costs versus actually on the pricing side of things, just given the fact that we were delayed and we had to basically process through some of the higher feedstock costs that we purchased in kind of Q3 of last year.
Okay, thanks. How should we be thinking about the feedstock mix and what you're looking at for the remainder of 2024? Have you now worked through that higher cost material and are now looking at more of a kind of a spot price, less than 50% that you've hedged, or how should we be thinking about that?
Yeah, so there's still some, I guess, premium that we do have to pay through Q1, but actually, it's coming down closer to market. And so you're going to see, hopefully, when we present Q1 results, a lot stronger in terms of EBITDA generation from HDRD as well as from the co-processing units as well too. And then your second part of that question, just to repeat that, Nick?
Just confirming that you're still hedged for about 50% of the feedstock costs on the soy that I think was roughly around, call it, $0.60 a pound or something in that range.
It is, yeah. So nothing's changed on that.
Okay, got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Cole Pereira from Stifel. Your line is open.
Hi, morning all, and welcome, Jeremy. Can you guys just talk about the confidence level you have that you're past all the major operational issues with the facility and anything that you're really doing differently over the past few months to kind of mitigate that risk?
Yeah, Cole, thanks for the question. Yeah, definitely, we believe we are past the commissioning phase of the project. The final step in the project was getting the hydrogen compressors working properly. The final fix has really been the original valves that were put into the compressors just had too much lift in them. And we have gotten the proper valves now figured out and run. The compressors have been running well since the last week of February. And we've also done a bunch of online analytical testing with some equipment that we've hooked up to them. And the forces that are taking place are much more appropriate. So we feel like we're past it. We can run at 3,000. We've demonstrated that. And we feel that we'll have normal refinery-type reliability go forward.
Just under probably 2,000 barrels a day on average in the first two months or for the first quarter. We should be close to design the rest of the year.
Okay, got it. Thanks. And on the new SAF JV, I mean, you talked about an FID likely in 2025. Can you just talk about potentially what you think the cost of this asset would be and when you think it could potentially come in service? Or is that still all fairly up in the air?
It's going to be a material project. A throughput of approximately 6,500 barrels a day. Significant work will be done. The reason we're doing the FEED study is that we need to get a proper Class III Capital Cost Estimate so we can get to an FID. So I don't want to speculate on the cost of it. That FEED study is being done by a very reputable global engineering firm. It's fully funded by the capital credits we have. Then probably just as important as that, we are doing a significant amount of work around commercial arrangements that would build a project with the right risk-return profile. We've had really significant interest in it from major airlines and other fuel users.
And projects of this time, I think you can use. I think we will do better than what we did with HDRD from a construction time schedule. We've learned a lot doing that. And a lot of those learnings are going into our FEED study. So you can use sort of that timeline. And really, the goal is to sort of hit the market as the regulations for SAF in British Columbia kick in and start to ramp up.
Okay, great. That's all for me. Thanks. I'll turn it back.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Robert Kwan from RBC. Your line is open.
Hey, good morning. Maybe I'll just continue here on the SAF project. So can you just talk about the timeline you mentioned, but I just wonder some of the lessons you did learn from the HDRD project and how you would pursue SAF, partly just as you think about where your debt levels may also be when you start and what happens if the FEED funding exceeds the credits that the government's given you.
Great questions. Lots of learnings, obviously, from the HDRD facility. Number one is starting out with a very robust front engineering and design study and as well making sure the regulatory work is progressed and done properly. There were some design elements of HDRD that have caused some of the startup issues. And those are being incorporated. And we will make sure that we don't get bit by those. It's a fairly similar process to HDRD with a few changes to be able to get to the SAF standards. So we think we've got a really good handle on being able to deliver and scale up those learnings that we did have. As far as FID of the project, obviously, there will need to be significant commercial underpinnings.
We are also exploring the various options available to these green projects available from the various infrastructure government organizations and potentially looking for some credit of different backstopping as well in order to secure cash flows. From an investment point of view, given the timing and the amount of cash flow we'll be generating at HDRD and as well as our partner at Midstream, those progress payments over a few years, we think we'll be able to do it within the existing organization. But we have had significant inbound interest in partners and potential off-takers who are interested in investing. We feel like the number one thing we need to do is do the feed study right and get the commercial underpinnings right. Then we will, before we go FID, we'll make sure we've got the capital in order to execute on it.
As far as the feed study, I think that was your other question. How do we make sure we don't overspend on that? We have gotten capital credit grants from the BC government. We have also entered into a put agreement for the forward sale of those to ensure the price of those credits. So we are managing the engineering firm tight to make sure they hit the hours and time and cost that they've represented to us. And we think we've got a pretty good risk profile on ensuring we bring that in on budget.
That's great. If I can just finish with a couple of questions here on hedging. The first is just the realized loss on the derivatives. I think it was CAD 6.6 million in the quarter. How much of that was not related to Q4? And then just looking forward, you've sold the operating credits through Q2. Can you just talk about the strategy in terms of how you want to monetize credits? Because is there a risk that you're going to get caught short here if you have forced downtime?
So I just want to clarify that question a little bit, Robert, the first one. So we have booked in our balance sheet, the mark-to-market on the soybean hedge. We realized CAD 6 million of that as it went through the income statement in Q4. It's not clear to me what your question is. Sorry.
Yeah, so I think in prior quarters, you had been overhedged because you expected the facility to be up and running at full. So because the drop in the price, some of that was hedging actual soybean consumption, but some of that was hedging stuff that you just didn't produce. So you were just overhedged there. Was that a factor in Q4?
Yeah. So essentially, we were hedged 50% in Q4 of total capacity-wise. And we averaged, I think, just for the quarter, if you take a calendar day, Robert, just under around 1,000 barrels a day for the quarter for HDRD. So we were overhedged relative to how much production we brought on in the Q4 here.
So about two-thirds, i.e., is that right? So your numbers would have been about $4 million better if you'd just hedged as ran?
Yeah, if you want to put it that way. And then.
Just on the operating credit strategy?
Yeah, just on the operating credits, there's no minimum or maximum volume. It's just guaranteed fixed price based on how much we produce.
Okay, that's perfect. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Robert Catellier from CIBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Hi, can you just walk us through the process to renewing the credit? It looks like you're pretty tight on liquidity, notwithstanding the credits you expect to monetize in Q1. Just give us the outlook there.
Yeah, thanks, Rob. Great question. Yeah, as you can see, it was very tight at year-end. But just given the fact that the HDRD Complex has been stabilizing in terms of overall production, we've been operating at 3,000 barrels a day for the last couple of weeks. So it's been pretty positive. Liquidity is improving day by day. And I think the big thing is we will receive or we have received the Capital Emission Credits for Q1. So it's around CAD 21.6 million. So from a liquidity, it's improving. From a renewal of our credit facility, those discussions are still ongoing with our capital providers. I would indicate that they are all supportive of this facility and as well as the general energy transition role that we play, I think, overall.
Our hope is that we could finalize an extension of this facility here over the next couple of months.
Okay. As you've acknowledged, without giving any quantification, SAF is obviously a big ticket. What are your thoughts on bringing a third-party partner, not just a lender, but an equity partner?
It's probably a little bit early to speculate on that. Obviously, we will evaluate it as we go. It will depend on how things progress over the next year and a half when we will get to the point to make an FID decision. I would say we're not averse to it, but we also feel like it's a very, very good project. We are going to make sure that the commercial underpinnings provide the right risk-return profile so that we will ensure that we can attract the capital to make that investment if everything comes together the way we think it will. It's a little bit early. I would say we're not averse. But right now, with everything we're seeing, we may not need that partner.
Okay. When you look forward here just where the market is for SAF and where PGR is, can we assume you'll be looking at sites other than PGR for the SAF project?
At this point, we are looking at opportunities. But we actually think there's a very strong case for the facility to be done in the PG area. There are some attractive locations in conjunction with the existing refineries. And the ability to blend the Jet A-1 fuel with the SAF is very important for the end product that needs to get to market. So we actually think there's a lot of advantages to having it located near the HDRD and conventional refinery. There's also very good logistics for feedstock coming through there. And it's a straight shot, easy to get to the end market in British Columbia.
My pipe or by rail and road?
Rail. Rail.
Okay. Yeah. Thanks, guys.
All right. Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to Jeremy Baines for closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us on the call. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me or the team if you have any further questions. Thank you.
Thank you, presenters. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.