MPLX LP Aktie

Welcome to the MPLX Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. My name is Julie, and I will be your operator for today's call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I will now turn the call over to Brian Worthington. Brian, you may begin.

Welcome to MPLX's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. The slides that accompany this call can be found on our website at mplx.com under the Investors tab. Joining me on the call today are Maryann Mannen, President and CEO; Kris Hagedorn, CFO; and other members of the executive team. We invite you to read the safe harbor statements on Slide 2. We will be making forward-looking statements today. Actual results may differ. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are included here as well as in our filings with the SEC.

With that, I will turn the call over to Maryann.

Thanks, Brian. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. Effective November 1, 2 new independent directors joined the MPLX Board, Michael Dunn and Bruce Niemeyer have strong records of accomplishment in the energy industry, making them outstanding additions, and we're happy to have them join our Board. Delivering on our commitments to return capital, MPLX increased its quarterly distribution by 12.5% for the third consecutive year. The increase is supported by our multiyear track record of delivering mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth and growth projects coming online over the next several years.

Additionally, this increase reflects conviction in the durability of our cash flows and execution of our strategy. MPLX's distribution now equates to an annualized rate of $4.84 per unit. And as also announced this morning, in conjunction with Marathon Petroleum sale of the St. Paul Park and Mandan refineries, MPLX announced the divestiture of midstream assets supporting these refineries for $750 million, representing an EBITDA multiple of approximately 9x. Ensuring the competitive positioning of our portfolio is a strategic commitment, and we expect to redeploy proceeds from the sale to advance MPLX growth plans are in the Permian and Marcellus basins.

In the third quarter, MPLX delivered adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 billion, reflecting 5% growth versus the same period in 2025 -- excluding the impact of the Rockies divestiture in late 2025, MPLX adjusted EBITDA would have grown 7.3% year-over-year for the third quarter. Strong execution across our business and continued progress on the growth strategies across our integrated natural gas and NGL value chains enabled a return of approximately $1.1 billion to our unitholders. During the quarter, the Harmon Creek III complex began operations with 300 million cubic feet per day of gas processing and 40,000 barrels per day of de-ethanization capacity, increasing our Northeast to 8.1 billion cubic feet per day and fractionation capacity to 800,000 barrels a day.

As we continue placing high-return projects into service and increasing utilization across our system, MPLX remains positioned to deliver durable mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth. Natural gas and NGL fundamentals are robust, creating compelling opportunities to support increasing domestic and global demand for U.S. energy. Growing producer activity increasing demand for natural gas-fired power generation and expanding access to global markets support continued investment across our integrated value chains. Our disciplined capital allocation framework remains unchanged. Investments must provide strategic fit, durable demand and attractive risk-adjusted returns.

In the third quarter, MPLX and its joint venture partners announced the FID of the Solitude pipeline system, which, when completed, will provide an additional 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas egress from the Permian Basin. Solitude was 1 of the fastest projects to reach FID in the company's history with strong long-term contracts from shippers bringing the project from commercial to FID in under 90 days supporting our view of long-term production growth in the Permian Basin. Solitude increases MPLX's interest in Permian natural gas long-haul pipeline capacity from 11 billion cubic feet per day to approximately 16 billion cubic feet per day and is expected in service in late 2029.

MPLX is investing over 90% of its $2.9 billion organic growth capital program for 2026 toward natural gas and NGL infrastructure opportunities. Our growth towards the end of the year is supported by this capital investment and efforts to optimize operations. Secretary at One and Harmon Creek II have been increasing throughputs since being placed into service. We see opportunities to further increase processing utilization in the Marcellus Basin and in the Utica, where utilization rose from 73% in the second quarter to 89% in the third quarter. We also anticipate ramping additional sour gas throughput on our Titan 1 plant, which is running at over 150 million cubic feet per day. In addition to these efforts, we are advancing several projects that support our integrated value chain into 2027. The Bay runner pipeline is expected to be placed into service in the fourth quarter, providing additional access to LNG export infrastructure along the Gulf Coast.

We expect volumes to ramp through 2027 to support the end users commissioning and scaling demand. Additionally, the Bango pipeline expansion is expected to come online in the fourth quarter, increasing capacity from 250,000 barrels per day to 300,000 barrels per day and providing additional NGL takeaway capacity from the Permian Basin. The Blackcomb natural gas pipeline began commissioning activities in July. The JV partners continue to progress the pipeline as planned, and Blackcomb is expected to achieve full commercial service in the fourth quarter. In the Delaware Basin, construction is progressing to expand sour gas treating capacity at the Titan complex to over 400 million cubic feet per day expected by year-end. New pipeline connectivity was placed into service between our Titan sour gas complex and our Delaware Basin processing footprint, further enhancing our ability to optimize volumes across our integrated Permian system.

We expect these growth platforms to position MPLX for strong adjusted EBITDA growth in 2027. Our Gulf Coast fractionation and export facilities continue to progress on schedule and on budget. We expect the first 150,000 barrel per day fractionator associated purity pipeline and our 400,000 barrel per day joint venture LPG export facility to enter service in the first half of 2028. Furthermore, the second 150,000 barrel per day fractionator remains scheduled to begin operations in 2029. Through these investments, MPLX continues to strengthen its integrated wellhead-to-water strategy while positioning the partnership to generate durable cash flow growth.

Let me turn the call over to Kris to discuss our operational and financial results for the quarter.

Thanks, Maryann. Slide 8 outlines third quarter operational and financial performance highlights for our crude oil and Products Logistics segment. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased $67 million when compared to the third quarter of 2025. The increase was primarily driven by higher rates across the business units and increased butane blending partially offset by higher operating expenses, including incentive compensation.

Terminal throughput increased 6% year-over-year, primarily driven by higher export volumes. Moving on to Slide 9. Segment adjusted EBITDA and our natural gas and NGL Services segment increased $26 million compared to the third quarter of 2025. The increase was driven by higher volumes, including growth from acquisitions, partially offset by the divestiture of noncore gathering and processing assets in 2025 and higher operating expenses, including incentive compensation. Excluding the impacts of the Rockies divestiture, our natural gas and NGL Services segment adjusted EBITDA has grown 10% year-over-year for the third quarter. Gathering volumes increased 14% year-over-year, driven by strong producer activity across the Utica, Marcellus and Permian Basins. Processing volumes were up 5% year-over-year due to increased production in the Utica and additional processing capacity entering service in the Marcellus and Permian Basins.

Utica gathering and processing volumes rose 19% and 20% year-over-year and remain an area where we anticipate strong producer activity. Our Northeast processing system operated at an impressive 93% utilization in the third quarter, demonstrating the strength of producer activity in the Marcellus and Utica. In the Permian, increased utilization at Secretary One and growing demand, moving through Bango further demonstrates the value of our integrated value chain strategy.

Sour gas treating volumes averaged over 150 million cubic feet per day during the quarter as we continue progressing towards over 400 million cubic feet per day to capacity at Titan by year-end. As additional projects enter service, we remain well positioned to support growing producer activity. The quarter included $77 million of expense associated with incentive compensation, $37 million higher than the third quarter of 2025. Year-to-date, these expenses totaled $167 million, which is $48 million higher than the same time frame last year, impacting our adjusted EBITDA growth by approximately 1% for the year. The increase was driven by charges to the partnership for annual bonus and long-term incentive compensation programs. The programs are a combination of financial and other metrics that include performance relative to peers and linked to its strategic partner, Marathon Petroleum.

Looking ahead, MPLX remains positioned to deliver second half weighted adjusted EBITDA growth in 2026, underpinned by investment ramp investments that are ramping through the balance of the year. While we expect these investments to generate modest cash flow in 2026, we are well positioned to accelerate cash flow growth throughout 2027.

Lastly, we do not expect the sale of the midstream assets associated with the St. Paul Park and Mandan refineries to impact our ability to deliver mid-single-digit growth.

Now let me hand it back to Maryann for some concluding thoughts.

Thanks, Kris. MPLX is executing its strategy with consistency and discipline. Our priorities remain unchanged, operate safely and reliably, grow through high-return investments optimize integrated value chains and returning capital to unitholders. The durability of our cash flows enabled us to increase our quarterly distribution by 12.5% for the third consecutive year. This increase marks the fifth consecutive year of double-digit increases resulting in annualized base distribution growth of greater than 70% over the past 5 years. The divestiture announced today currently presents a headwind to 2027 that was not initially contemplated when other operational metrics were established. We still believe we can deliver mid-single-digit EBITDA growth and are comfortable with annual distribution coverage of 1.3x.

We acknowledge that another year of 12.5% distribution growth may be impacted by the loss of this EBITDA, and we still expect a significant distribution increase in 2027 greater than distributable cash flow growth. In addition to the strong set of organic projects we are developing, we continue with evaluating inorganic opportunities. Our announced divestiture provides an additional $750 million for growth and we remain committed to deploying capital to opportunities that are strategic and deliver strong returns underpinned by the optimization of our value chains and increasing utilization across recently completed investments, MPLX remains on track to deliver durable mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth and we expect even greater EBITDA growth in 2027. Our strategic investments, financial flexibility and strong relationship with MPC continue to differentiate MPLX and support long-term value creation.

Now let me turn the call over to Brian.

Thanks, Maryann. As we open the call for your questions, as a courtesy to all participants, we ask that you limit yourself to 1 question and a follow-up. If time permits, we will reprompt for additional questions. We will now open the call to questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from John Mackay with Goldman Sachs.

Maryann, maybe I'll pick up on kind of the end of your closing remarks there. You guys have been talking a lot about confidence in the second half over first half EBITDA ramp -- maybe just a little more color you can share there and kind of specifically whether you'd expect the Titan expansion to contribute in the fourth quarter?

And then any -- not to ask for too much, but kind of any incremental color you want to give on '27 over '26. I know you sound constructive on it, but maybe any incremental detail, we'd appreciate it.

Thanks for the questions. So let me take the first part, which is the ramp first half to the second half. We have been indicating for the last several quarters that the back half of our year, second half of 2026, -- we expected that growth to be stronger than the first half of the year given the timing of project completions, et cetera. And we remain confident, frankly, in the fact that the fourth quarter we'll see incremental growth over the third.

Let me talk a little bit about why we see that, and then I'll talk about 27 for a bit. As I mentioned even in my prepared remarks, we've got Secretary at 1 continuing to ramp Harmon Creek III that came online in the middle of the year just in the third quarter. It continues to ramp into the fourth quarter as well. We're also seeing opportunity to increase Utica processing utilization. I think I mentioned in my prepared remarks, it rose from 73% in the second quarter to 89% in the third, and we still see opportunity there. Ramping on additional sour gas through our Titan 1 plant. I think the question you asked is whether or not TITAN I would see any incremental volumes? And the answer is no. We expect TITAN 2 to complete at the end of this year, and it will begin its ramp to 400 in 2027.

But certainly, Titan 1 operating well -- as a matter of fact, Greg, Kris and I had the opportunity to visit the Titan facility just a few weeks ago and experience, really, the progress on that asset as well, quite pleased with where we stand and confident in the team's ability to get that TITAN 2 completed by the end of the year.

Then we've got Black home pipeline that began its commissioning in July and that's expected to achieve full commercial service in the fourth quarter as well and then bang, the NGL pipeline, $300 to $400 million in the fourth quarter. So again, we feel pretty confident about that.

And then for 2027, even with the loss of the EBIT from the assets associated with MPC sale, we still expect 2027 EBITDA growth to be stronger than 2026 as many of the projects that we were talking about begin to come into service again. The 1 thing I want to pass to Kris, we talked a little bit about the compensation expense -- and that could be a headwind or a tailwind. Kris talked about it in his remarks, but I just wanted to give him a second to talk about that as well, and then I'll come back in the event you have any other follow-ups.

John, just to elaborate a little bit on what I had in my prepared remarks, emphasizing 2 numbers. When you look at third quarter and you look Q-over-Q versus 2025, our expense was $37 million higher this year than it was in prior year associated with these long-term incentive compensation programs. When you look at 3Q year-to-date versus prior year Q to date, it's about $4 higher than the 2025 year-to-date numbers. So thinking about going to our proxy like information filed in our 10-K, we know that MPLX doesn't really have employees instead, MPC employees are used to serve MPLX arrangements.

And then there's a reimbursement associated with that. That compensation program that all employees participate in is tied to certain financial metrics, but also metrics that are so your first part of your question, John?

No, that's great color. Maybe just a second 1 for me. We obviously saw the joint sale today. Just curious if, Maryann, you can touch on kind of how you see the MPC, MPLX relationship kind of progressing from here? Can you did a joint sale? Could you do a joint acquisition at some point? And then we had some recontracting coming up in early '28. So maybe just kind of pull that into sharing your general thoughts on the state of things.

Yes, sure. Thank you for the follow-up, John. The relationship with MPC and MPLX remains very strong, strategically important, a lot of value there. The decision for MPC to sell the Mandan and St. Paul Park, obviously, resulted in the loss of some EBITDA for MPLX but we remain committed to the basins that we talk about, Permian, Marcellus, our nat gas, NGL strengths and then obviously, Utica increasing our utilization there. These remain strongholds in our growth portfolio. We're confident in the portfolio that we have today.

In terms of the recontracting, I see no reason why MPC and MPLX would not recontract. As you know, we typically look at this 12 to 18 months out. But it would be MPLX and MPC's intent to obviously re-up those contracts. So no change in that strategic relationship at all, John.

The next question comes from Manav Gupta with UBS.

I'm going to cheat a little here. I'm going to ask a question, which I should be asking on the other call, but I'm reasonably sure somebody else might beat me to it. So I'm going to ask you a question why Minnesota and not Dakota refineries. Why were those to not core to MPC? Why was the decision to move ahead with that divestiture along with those midstream assets.

Sure.. So first of all, I want to thank all of the employees of MPC and MPLX critically important. These employees have continued to run all of our assets safely and reliably and we'll continue to do so throughout the rest of the year before that sale occurs. You may remember maybe as far back as August of 2024. One of the messages that I wanted to be sure that I and the rest of the leadership team continue to convey was our commitment to ensure that we had the appropriate portfolio, both at MPC and MPLX for today and the appropriate portfolio for the future. Looking at demand strength, opportunities, et cetera. We felt at this juncture, given the opportunities that we saw and what we believe to be a good valuation and the fact that we were selling to a company that we believed would take good care of the employees and the assets that the proceeds from that could be redeployed to continue to ensure that the portfolio for the future was optimized in an even better fashion than we were currently optimizing today.

So that would be the reason why we made that decision. I hope that helps.

Perfect. My second question is, we have seen some of your peers buy our assets out there, M&A market has been hot I'm trying to understand, is it more a function of the asset package that came in did not fit the MPLX profile? Or was it -- do you think the prices that were out there were a little too high for MPC to make those acquisitions and make the maths fully work? If you could talk a little bit about that.

Yes, certainly. I would say, across both NBC and MPLX -- we continue to look at M&A opportunities that fit our strategic intent, right? They must be able to deliver the value proposition that we have shared with our unitholders and our shareholders. So when you look at the opportunities that we would be evaluating for MPLX, we want to be sure that wellhead to water, our growth of our Permian footprint and the importance of NGL is a strong area of consideration for us. Of course, looking at the utilization in the Utica and obviously, our Marcellus basin as well. We also need to be sure, particularly as we're looking at this, that they fit our returns profiles. In the case of MPLX b, we've said mid-teens returns are critical.

And these opportunities must also be able to deliver our mid-single-digit returns. We will be very disciplined in ensuring that when we put capital to work, both organically and inorganically that we meet those objectives. And that would be on of why I would say whether we have or have not transacted here in the recent past.

The next question comes from Doug Irwin with Citi.

Tim, thanks for the question. Maybe a little bit of a follow-up to Manav's line of question there. Just on the asset sale, curious how quickly you expect to able to redeploy those proceeds and then should we be thinking about the target there as being more organic growth or M&A or maybe a mix of both as far as how you cycle those proceeds?

Yes, certainly. Thanks for the question. So just on the proceeds from the sale of these assets, we think, one, it strengthens our balance sheet position and continues to give us flexibility while we have not talked about our 2027 capital yet, we'll obviously do that on the next earnings call. As you can imagine, there are projects that we are completing our 2 fractionators and our export dock. As a matter of fact, Sean and I were just out there a few weeks ago seeing the progress there. And as I mentioned in my remarks, that will be ready for operations, lease frac 1 in the export dock, no later than 2028.

The completion of TITAN 2 is happening this year. We've got Traverse for 2027. The second fractionator at our Texas City will also be done we've got our Marcellus gathering expansion that will be complete in the first half of '28. IGR pipeline, solid that we just announced and Secretariat. So these are all projects that are currently ongoing. And again, we don't expect 2027 capital to be stronger at this point than what we saw in 2026. As you know, we actually accelerated some, but we'll look to deploy those proceeds as quickly as we can on organic or inorganic opportunities. as we see fit that meets that criteria. I hope that helps, Doug.

Great. Yes, that's helpful. And maybe a follow-up on the asset sale again. You've now announced 2 fairly sizable asset sales in each of the last 2 years. I guess, do you view these as more opportunistic? Or are they maybe kind of part of a broader plan to keep coring up your footprint here around the Northeast.

Yes, I'd say it this way. When you look at the Rockies, as we shared when we decided to do that divestiture we felt that those assets were better placed in the hands of those who had a different capital allocation strategy to those assets, and we wanted to deploy funding their -- funding from that into nat gas and NGL as you have seen us do. In the case of this particular sale, this was really the result of MPC's decision to monetize and to sell those 2 assets -- so really perhaps different rationale. We continue to say that Permian, Marcellus are critical basins for us almost 90%, frankly, of our capital as being put to work in nat gas and NGL.

I mentioned actually in my remarks the speed at which the Solitude pipeline got FID-ed. So these are places where we see particularly when you look at the demand pull coming from LNG, et cetera, places where we see opportunities. Having said that, we are quite pleased with the MPLX asset portfolio. It is operating well. All of our assets are cash flow positive as are the basins where we operate -- and so we remain pleased with the portfolio as it exists today.

The next question comes from Gabe Dowd.

And Maryann was hoping we could maybe just get your perspective on the large Appalachian M&A on the E&P side last week. Just curious how that transaction could maybe impact the business moving forward since it did include 1 of your key customers.

Yes, thanks for the question. First and foremost, I'd say when we look at EQT and range, both of these are long-term existing customers of MPLX with whom we believe we maintain very strong relationships. And frankly, we are absolutely looking forward to continuing to work collectively on that combined set of assets. We don't typically discuss any of the specific terms of our customer contracts. But we can share that we've got durable long-term commitments and strong acreage dedications that extend largely over a decade from 1 of those customers. And we don't expect really to be negatively impacted by the combination. We MPLX strive to be the midstream company of choice to support our producer goals and customers. But anyway, let me pass it to Greg. Greg's got deep customer relationships as well, and he can share a little bit more with respect to the insights in that combination.

Yes. Thanks, Maryann. Gabe, we're -- we were in the very beginning with Range in the Marcellus. I'm proud to say, and we've grown over that goes back almost 20 years. EQT, same 15-year relationship or a little over that. So as we build out the Marcellus and created the position, the integrated position we have with C3+ ethane purity pipelines, all interconnected to third parties. We build out a system that's integrated. And then both of these customers are part of that.

So as we've continued to build out our Liberty gathering system in Washington County that we're going to be expanding along with majors Bill. That sort of ties into the Harmon Creek 3 expansion, our Houston plants, our fractionator and the entire integrated system. So we're running at 93%, 94% even after the Harmon Creek II plant came online, which is our largest yet built. So we continue to have opportunities to grow here, and these are 2 key customers for us that we hope to continue to do that with.

That's helpful. And then a follow-up, given your position on the Permian egress side of things, could you maybe give us your updated thoughts around supply against the expected capacity that should show up by 2030 or so. I think there's pretty close to 20 Bs a day that could come on from an incremental egress standpoint by 2030 versus the supply expectation of just maybe 7 to 8 Bcf a day of growth by then. So can you maybe just talk to the mismatch and are the volume expectations just simply too low will the basin be long pipe for maybe a short period of time? Would love to get your thoughts on that.

Yes, sure, Gabe. I'm going to ask Dave to give you some thoughts, and then I'll come back there with any other follow-up that you might have.

Gabe, great question. So let me step back a little bit. And we've been participating in this basin on egress pipelines for almost 10 years now. And as Maryann's comments stated, we're participating in 6 long-haul pipes now with the most recent being solid recently announced. So moving almost 16 Bcf a day out of the pipe. So your comments are spot on. But as Marianne touched on was Solitude, that pipe was the fastest FID of any of the 6 pipes out of the basin, whether it be to Agile or to Katie. So we're seeing continued strong shipper demand, customer demand in that.

And the other interesting part about Solitude is our partners, all these pipelines are multipartner, as you know, and the partner mix from not only midstream or the producers in the salt pipeline kind of gives you a little bit of view of of how people are thinking about the necessity for capacity going forward. So as we think about it and looking forward, whether it be driven by data centers, power demand generation, but more specifically in the U.S. Gulf Coast by LNG, we continue to see the demand and the need and we see strong customer support and commitment to these long-haul pipes coming out of the basin.

So as we look forward, we will continue through the lens of strict capital discipline, participate in the basin, whether it be in basin G&P with Greg and his team or purchase these long-haul pipelines to get the gas out of the basin into the customers that are actually pulling and wanting the demand there. So we see a strong outlook there. Hopefully, that helps.

The next question comes from Keith Stanley with Wolfe Research.

I appreciate the flexibility on the distribution growth next year. I think it's a prudent move given the asset sale -- the -- you still noted you intend to raise the distribution faster than DCF growth next year. I'm curious if as part of that you'd consider a larger increase in buybacks as a lever that you could use to reduce the unit count and improve your coverage and allow for faster distribution growth if organic growth opportunities don't materialize.

Keith, it's Maryann. Thanks for the question and appreciate your color there. I'm going to pass it to Kris to talk a little bit about buyback and your question, and then I can take any follow-up that you might have.

Keith, and I know you've done the math. But what I would tell you is, first and foremost, our capital allocation strategy is really unchanged. So when you think about us maintaining safe, reliable operations, then distribution growth, then growth capital -- and then your unit buybacks being the last consideration for return of capital to our unitholders. -- that's unchanged. And when you think about buybacks as a tool to help with coverage ratio, it's really -- it takes a lot of money to move that dial as I kind of opened with. So that's not -- it's something that we look at, but it's not something that we've considered at this point.

Understood. That makes sense. Second one, and I apologize in advance for revisiting it. But -- on the whole affiliate relationship, it's pretty shocking just the performance difference between MPC and MPLX this year and obviously, market conditions are driving that. NBC is $12 billion of cash at the MPC level you're selling another $3 billion of assets, you have a lot of free cash flow the rest of the next few quarters. Would the MPLX public float is only $22 billion -- is there any consideration at all to using this unique period of time to simplify the structure and consider maybe buying an MPLX? It would just seem like if you were ever going to do it, this could be the time to do it? Or is it just something you want to keep permanently out there?

Keith. I'm happy to address the question. So as I've mentioned before, we continue to believe that MPC and MPLX, the strategic focus, the relationship is critically important. Having said that, we recognize that our objective with respect to the unitholders of MPLX and the shareholders of MPC is to ensure that we are providing and creating via structure and all other capital allocation that we do that we are creating the optimum value creation for both of those organizations. So of course, we'll always look at structure and to the extent that any changes necessary, we would certainly make any adjustments that would be necessary.

I would tell you, however, and you know this, that our exchange ratio wouldn't be the only criteria, of course, that's not the sole criteria that we would use to consider that.

The next question comes from Theresa Chen with Barclays.

I want to go back to the Northeast customer consolidation, understanding that there should be opportunities for MPLX to grow alongside the combined EQT range entity. But given the greater scale of the customer post close, how should we think about the potential impact on rates and contract economics over time?

Thanks for the question. I'm going to let Greg talk a little bit about that. But again, we believe based on long-term contracting particularly when you look at sort of the decade of that contracting that we're quite optimistic, if you will, of our ability to execute through that. But let me let Greg give you incremental color there.

Thanks, Maryann. Theresa, I mentioned -- as I mentioned previously, we have a long-standing relationship with both Range and EQT. We process gas for both and fractionate for both GATHER 4.1. The infrastructure we build out has been built out over 15 to 20 years. And we have continued to have the ability to incrementally add capacity whether it be in the processing side, fractionation or debottlenecking as we continue to do.

So based on the durability of our contracts, the acreage dedications and the extension of that in a rich area. We feel the contractual situation that we're in, but also the ability to grow incrementally with these customers. And as is the case with any customer and particularly with the combination and with scale, we'll always be open to discuss and be willing to discuss other win-wins.

Arrangements that could help both the producer customers and our growth. So we're interested in continuing to have those discussions.

Our final question today comes from Verathon Reddy with JPMorgan.

It's been a hit on a couple of times during the call, but just curious how you -- with the additional capital redeployment flexibility, how you evaluate the Marcellus Utica growth opportunities versus the Permian and should we think about that as primarily processing additions given what you've mentioned so far, there are other parts of the value chain that you're looking at, at this moment.

This is Greg again. I would say that we continue to see, as indicated by the ramp of our Harmon Creek 3 plant that came online earlier. We are continuing to actually loop pipeline in the Marcellus area, ad compression and debottleneck some of the plants. We're obviously at high utilization near mid-90s, but we do have opportunity to continue to incrementally extract more capacity out of our fleet of plants out there. The NGL prices are really good. Light oil and crude on the Utica side is really good the pricing there. And so we've got a lot of -- you've seen we've almost doubled our volume and utilization in the last 3 years in the Utica.

And we were fortunate we had some capacity that was built out that we're able to grow into. We'll continue to do that in both the Utica and and all those systems are integrated together into fractionation and both liquids and gas takeaway. So I think we will continue to see opportunities there for incremental growth.

Yes. And I just wanted to quickly add as well. This is kind of thinking again about our capital allocation strategy and where do we see the growth -- when we think about the Northeast, you've thought about that. We've always been a just-in-time processing fractionation builder. When Greg and team get to that kind of mid-90s. We're thinking about what's that next expansion project. It's the low to mid-90s, they better start engineering it. So if you think about the Majorsville expansion that's going to be coming online, that's where that comes on just in time.

When you think about the Permian and the Southwest, that's an area where -- as you've seen, there's exponential growth. We just talked about some of the egress that we're expected to see through 2030. But it's also the area that we do just in time. Right? So we're not deploying stranded capital. Rather, we're getting the acreage dedications and the line of sight to the volumes to fill both processing and fractionation as it's scheduled to come online.

Great. And as a follow-up, how would you guys frame the long-term CapEx run rate at this point? Obviously, fundamentally supportive backdrop in '27 has a lot of growth projects coming online. But as you think about longer term, how would you frame that run rate CapEx.

Yes, I'll take that 1 quickly. What I would tell you is when we think about our CapEx, $126 million is an elevated amount. And what we did we pulled forward a lot of capital spend that was associated with some of these big organic projects that we're doing. You think about Secretary to, you think about our wellhead to water on the NGL side of the house. We these are pull forward, not overspend. So it's an important thing to delineate there. This is just -- so thinking about that, right, $27 million likely looks less than $26 million.

When you go longer term, you start thinking 28, you started thinking 29, what I'll remind is that base business continues to get bigger and bigger. So to get to that mid-single-digit EBITDA growth, are going to happen and you require those mid-teens return on either organic or inorganic projects, the amount you have to spend gets bigger and bigger each year. And what I would also tell you is, just like you saw with this year, it won't always be linear, right? You can come in chunks. So that's how I'd probably answer that. Hopefully, that helped.

That was our final question.

All right. Thank you for your interest in MPLX. Should you have more questions or would you want clarification on topics discussed this morning, please contact us, and our team will be available to take your calls. PAUSE Thank you for joining us today.

Thank you for your participation. Participants, you may disconnect at this time.

Welcome to the MPLX Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. My name is Julie, and I will be your operator for today's call.[Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to [ Brian Worthington ]. Brian, you may begin.

Welcome to MPLX's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. The slides that accompany this call can be found on our website at mplx.com under the Investors tab.

Joining me on the call today are Maryann Mannen, President and CEO; Kris Hagedorn, CFO; and other members of the executive team. We invite you to read the safe harbor statements on Slide 2. We will be making forward-looking statements today. Actual results may differ. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are included there as well as in our filings with the SEC. With that, I will turn the call over to Maryann.

Thanks, Brian. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. Our second quarter results reflect the consistent execution of our strategic priorities. MPLX delivered $1.8 billion of adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter, a 5% increase versus the same period last year, more than overcoming the divestiture of the Rockies assets in late 2025.

This enabled a return of over $1.1 billion to our unitholders. 2026 is also a year of execution. We continue to advance high-return projects across our integrated natural gas and NGL value chains. The sequencing of projects entering service gives us confidence in a meaningful increase in EBITDA in the second half of 2026 and next year.

In the Delaware Basin, we placed the Secretariat I processing plant into service in April, and exited the quarter at 86% utilization of our Delaware Basin processing system, demonstrating strong producer demand and operational excellence from our teams. And in August, the Harmon Creek III processing plant is beginning operations in line with our strategy to add processing capacity on a just-in-time basis. This increases our total processing capacity to 8.1 billion cubic feet per day and deethanization capacity to over 800,000 barrels per day.

This plant, along with our associated gathering and compression expansions, extends our ability to meet producer needs in liquids-rich areas and supports long-term throughput growth. As we expand MPLX's core value chains, we are also focused on maximizing utilization of existing assets and optimizing operations.

In the Northeast, Marcellus processing utilization of 96% in the quarter led to record volumes across our system, while strong production activity in the Utica supported processing utilization of 73%.

In the Permian, sour gas treating volumes exceeded 150 million cubic feet per day for the second consecutive quarter as we continue to optimize operations at our Titan treating facility.

As throughputs increase across our gathering and processing assets and additional projects enter service in the second half of the year, MPLX remains positioned to deliver mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth. Natural gas and NGL fundamentals remain robust.

Creating compelling opportunities to support growing global demand for U.S. energy. When we allocate capital, we remain disciplined. There must be strong strategic fit, durable demand and compelling returns. MPLX is investing over 90% of its organic growth capital toward opportunities to meet growing natural gas and NGL infrastructure needs, leveraging our advantaged value chains.

MPLX is increasing its 2026 capital spending outlook by $500 million to $2.9 billion. The increase primarily reflects the accelerated execution of our ongoing Gulf Coast fractionation project, pulling forward capital we previously expected to deploy in early '27.

In July, the Blackcomb natural gas pipeline began commissioning activities. The JV partners continue to progress the pipeline as planned with Blackcomb expected to achieve full commercial service in the fourth quarter. Within our NGL value chain, the expansion of our BANGL Pipeline to 300,000 barrels per day is also expected online in the fourth quarter, providing critical takeaway capacity as in-basin NGL volumes grow. In the Permian's Delaware Basin, which continues to attract strong producer interest, our teams are working to complete the expansion of our sour gas treating system to over 400 million cubic feet per day.

The expansion of this strategic growth platform remains on track to enter service at the end of the fourth quarter, and we anticipate volumes to ramp quickly, supporting our run rate expectations for 2027.

With multiple investments transitioning from construction to operation this year, we are on track to deliver mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth in 2026. While the year-over-year growth from '25 to '26 is more back half weighted, it also positions MPLX for strong adjusted EBITDA growth in 2027.

Against the backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, the strategic importance of U.S. energy infrastructure remains clear. Domestic and global demand for secure, reliable energy continues to grow.

Additionally, international customers are increasingly turning to the United States as a preferred supplier. MPLX is well positioned to respond to our customers' requirements in this growing market. The construction of our Gulf Coast fractionation and export facilities continues to advance on schedule.

We expect the first 150,000 barrel per day fractionator, the 400,000 barrel per day JV LPG export terminal and the associated purity pipeline to be in service in 2028, followed by the second 150,000 barrel per day fractionation in 2029.

Our confidence in the volumes and utilization of our assets reinforces our expectation for durable cash flows that will support MPLX's continued growth.

This positions MPLX to continue reinvesting in the business while supporting the annual distribution increases to unitholders. Now let me turn the call over to Chris to discuss our operational and financial results for the quarter.

Thank you, Maryann. Slide 8 outlines the second quarter operational and financial performance highlights for our Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased $23 million when compared to the second quarter of 2025.

The increase was primarily driven by higher rates across the business units and increased butane blending, partially offset by lower crude pipeline throughputs from planned MPC turnaround activity and the seasonality of planned maintenance and project spending, resulting in higher operating expenses.

MPLX has been strategically investing in butane blending systems throughout our terminal and pipeline network over the past few years. These investments allowed MPLX to blend additional butane volumes and take advantage of strong commodity prices in the quarter, generating over $20 million of additional benefit versus the prior year.

Pipeline volumes increased 4% year-over-year, primarily due to Marathon's planned refining turnaround activities in the Mid-Con region.

Moving on to Slide 9. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased $62 million compared to the second quarter of 2025. The increase was primarily driven by increased volumes, including growth from equity affiliates and acquisitions, partially offset by the divestiture of our Rockies assets in 2025. Excluding the impact of the Rockies divestiture, segment adjusted EBITDA increased $99 million year-over-year. Gathering volumes were up 15% year-over-year, primarily from production growth in the Utica, Permian and Marcellus basins. Processing volumes increased 5% year-over-year, primarily due to increased production in the Marcellus and Permian basins.

Marcellus processing utilization was 96% for the quarter, demonstrating the need for incremental capacity as Harmon Creek III is beginning operations in August. Total fractionation volumes increased 8% year-over-year, primarily due to increased production in the Marcellus.

With the start-up of Secretariat 1 in April, volumes on the BANGL NGL pipeline increased to over 200,000 barrels per day in the second quarter, illustrating the strategic value of our integrated wellhead-to-water strategy.

Sour gas treating volumes in the second quarter exceeded 150 million cubic feet per day as we continue to optimize operations at our Titan treating facility and expand its capacity to handle over 400 million cubic feet per day by the end of the fourth quarter. We are progressing construction of a natural gas pipeline connection to allow sweet gas from our Titan facility to feed into the Secretariat I processing plant. This highlights the value of our recently acquired Delaware Basin system.

Beyond an increasing rig count in the U.S., MPLX is strategically positioned to support additional drilling activity by producer customers. In the Permian Basin, undeveloped acreage in Lea and Eddy Counties in New Mexico was recently leased by current producer customers.

Roughly 40% of this acreage has volumes dedicated to our sour gas treating system, highlighting the geographic advantage of the Titan complex within the Delaware Basin, excuse me. Additionally, the state of Ohio recently awarded leases for undeveloped acreage in Belmont County.

Nearly half of this land is also dedicated to MPLX, and we anticipate additional production in the wet gas window of the Utica will add to higher utilization of our gathering and processing assets in the region with limited capital outlay.

Furthermore, growing production from the Utica has supported recent investments and expansions of MPLX pipeline and Ohio River terminals to serve increasing regional demand. This positions MPLX to continue reinvesting in the business while supporting annual distribution increases to unitholders. Now let me hand it back to Maryann for some concluding thoughts.

Thanks, Kris. Our base business is generating steady and durable growth. And the strategy we have executed over the last several years has positioned MPLX to continue delivering strong results.

Through disciplined capital deployment and optimization of our integrated value chains, we have grown adjusted EBITDA, distributable cash flow and maintained a robust return profile. We are executing our long-term strategy with consistency and discipline.[Audio Gap] Strong financial foundation.

This track record of execution has enabled us to increase our quarterly distribution by 12.5% in each of the last 2 years. We anticipate growing our distribution at this rate again in 2026 and in 2027. We expect to continue growing the distribution supported by durable cash flows, a strong balance sheet and visible growth. While we are delivering our strategic organic growth priorities, we will continue to evaluate inorganic opportunities as they arise to further expand our strategic value chains and grow cash flows.

Underpinned by the optimization of our value chains and throughput ramp across new assets placed into service such as Secretariat I, Harmon Creek III and our sour gas treating operations, MPLX remains on track to deliver sequential growth throughout the year, culminating in mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth in 2026. Now let me turn the call over to Brian.

Thanks, Maryann. As we open the call for your questions, ss a courtesy to our participants we ask to limit yourself to one question and a follow-up.If time permits we will be prompt for additional questions. We will now open the call to questions.

[Operator Instructions] [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from John Kay with Goldman Sachs.

I wanted to talk about the growth cadence for the year. I appreciate the color on the project ramp for second half and the comments around mid-single-digit EBITDA growth for the year.

I think your original kind of comments for the year had been a little higher relative to the '25 growth rate. So I was just wondering if you can kind of talk through some of the puts and takes for the year overall and how to maybe bridge us to our exit rate into fourth quarter of this year.

[Audio Gap] BANGL at 250, and that will go to 300 by the end of the year. Third quarter, Harmon Creek III, as I mentioned, and that came online here just in the beginning of August. So we'll be ramping through that through the third quarter and into the fourth quarter.

And then Bay Runner as well. That's the 2.6 Bcf natural gas supply to LNG facilities in Brownsville. And then fourth quarter, we've got Blackcomb. I mentioned that in my remarks, as you have already talked about.

And then the ramping of the Titan facility, that's Delaware Basin sour gas back into the third quarter and then again in the fourth quarter as we reach the over 400 of processing capacity.

So year-on-year, again, just reiterating, John, that does give us confidence that '26 growth will exceed that of '25.

And frankly, as we think about the sequence, third quarter should be stronger than the second quarter and fourth should be stronger than the third as well. So certainly not trying to convey anything different than we have before. So if for some reason we have, I apologize for that, but we continue to see that growth as we have outlined. Let me pause and see if I've answered your question, John.

I appreciate all the walking through there. My second question is just on the new details on the frac timing and the CapEx pull forward. You guys talked about this a little bit, but maybe you can just walk through kind of some of the new timing expectations for the fracs and how to think about them coming online relative to the export dock and kind of how that's changed from prior.

Yes, certainly. So first and foremost, project remains on budget. So all we're doing here is pulling early spend that we had initiated or expected, excuse me, in 2027 into the back half of 2026. This gives us even higher degree of confidence in the completion on time and obviously gives us the potential for early, but certainly gives us confidence in on-time completion of the frac and the dock. We would expect both the frac and the dock to come online at the same time, but certainly, we would not have the frac come online ahead of the dock.

So we have good confidence in the timing of this project, and we are confident in the fact that all of our assets, as we've been communicating, are full, and we're pleased around that.

Shawn was just there a few weeks ago visiting the site. And so I thought I might let Shawn give you a little bit of color on how that project is progressing through a construction lens.

John, this is Shawn. As Maryann said, I happened to have a chance to be there just a few weeks ago. And as I stood there and saw the 60,000 barrel spheres being constructed and the 600,000 refrigerated tanks for the terminal being constructed, it really just reinforced exactly what Maryann said, the confidence that we'll be online in early 2028.

In addition, I just want to say this, the level of safety that the entire team and the contractors are showing on the site is very visible, really proud of the team to make sure that's first and foremost.

That answers your question...

The next question comes from Manav Gupta with UBS.

I'm trying to get a little more details about the ramp and the completion at Titan and how the overall Permian gas situation is moving ahead with these new pipes opening up.

If the Waha remains in the positive territory, you could see more NGLs come out of Permian, more gas come out of Permian. And if you could, that way, highlight your leverage to the entire Permian gas situation, especially the Titan project.

Certainly, and thanks for the question. So let me start, and then I'll pass to Greg to give you a little more color on the actual progress and details around Titan, and then Dave can give you some further insights into how we're seeing egress out of the Permian.

Hopefully, you've heard we continue to operate the Delaware Basin Delaware Basin sour gas processing system well, a second consecutive quarter where we exceeded 150 a day, and we're continuing to optimize around that, obviously, looking for cost reductions.

This was always intended to be an important platform for us for growth, and we continue to see that. And as you know, you may have heard, we had multiple producer customers expressing interest in the platform, and that obviously opens up opportunities for us to increase utilization.

So pleased on current performance. Back half of the year, as I mentioned earlier, we'll see the escalation of those volumes. And let me pass it to Greg, and he can give you some additional color on how that's operating.

Thanks, Maryann. Manav, I'll just give a little bit of color around the Titan 2 expansion and associated projects and how this ties in. As Mary Anne mentioned, we are continuing to operate at a volume level near the capacity we have. And so we're focused on improving reliability, obviously focused on safety and also on the operating costs and the efficiency that we operate the system with.

In terms of Titan 2, associated with Titan 2 and the actual amine treating capacity expansion, we're also building about 100 miles of pipeline, multiple compression station expansions to provide the hydraulic capacity to fill the plant. And we're also building a pipeline from Titan down to our Secretariat plant to be able to deliver sweet gas, as Maryann mentioned earlier.

So we've got a couple of different connections, including the line to Secretariat into our existing legacy systems. So we truly are integrating the systems together.

And one of the big benefits of this will be actually taking sweet gas to help fill our processing plants, which then in turn, help to fill our BANGL NGL system. We're on schedule and budget on those projects for fourth quarter delivery, including the new Titan expansion.

Manav, this is Dave. Maybe I'll touch on your last question is, do we believe there's incremental takeaway capacity needed for the Permian from a nat gas perspective? And the short answer is yes.

We do believe that. As we all know, U.S. natural gas demand continues to be very strong, underpinned by not only LNG, but also by data center needs. So specifically in the Permian, if you just look June, July, we've seen over 1 Bcf a day of growth to nearly 25 Bcf a day of gas in the Permian.

And that is forecasted to grow to 35 Bcf a day by 2030. So what we see from that forecast is that there is incremental takeaway capacity constraints anticipated in the future.

As you know, we've been very active in numerous long-haul pipelines from Whistler to Matterhorn to Blackcomb and Eiger long-haul pipes out of the Permian, and that's providing over 11 Bcf a day of takeaway capacity.

So even with that and with Blackcomb and Eiger coming online Eiger later this year, fourth quarter this year and Blackcomb second half of 2028, we still believe incremental takeaway capacity is needed. So I think as we look forward, you'll continue to see us evaluate and participate and deploy capital in incremental industry solutions to provide that long-haul takeaway capacity out of the Permian to the U.S. Gulf Coast. So hopefully, more to come.

I hope that addresses your question, Manav.

Absolutely. And a quick update of both Bay Runner Pipeline and the Bay Runner Twin pipeline, if there is any update over those 2 projects.

Manav, the first part of your message cut out. Could you ask the question again? We heard the back half, but would you be able to repeat it?

The Bay Runner pipeline and the Bay Runner Twin pipeline, if there is an update on those 2 projects?

Sure.

Yes, Manav, this is Dave again. So as we recently announced, actually both these projects are supporting our NextDecade LNG facility as they continue to announce their first 3 trains and the subsequent trains, we, along with our partners, have been executing our projects to supply just-in-time capital to support when those are coming online to support the gas to those.

So Bay Runner and then now recently announced Bay Runner 2, which is the conversion from Rio Bravo. And as we do in all our projects, kind of what Shawn touched on earlier, we're always looking at ways to be the most capital efficient and schedule efficient as possible.

So that conversion from Rio Bravo to Bay Runner Twin allows us to run it in the same in the same area and just be more effective and more efficient, and we'll bring that online just in time as we did with Bay Runner to support next decade LNG expansion capacity.

The next question comes from Jeremy Tonet with JPMorgan.

This is Francina on for Jeremy. I just wanted to dig a bit deeper on the inorganic opportunity set that you kind of finished off the prepared remarks with.

Can you kind of describe the opportunity set that you have at hand? And in terms of the strategy itself, would you characterize that more as bolt-ons or a kind of renewed strategy for MPLX via M&A?

Yes, certainly. So when we think about inorganic opportunities, they need to fit our strategic intent. So you've heard us talk about wellhead to water. Dave just really shared with you our view on Permian egress.

Our wellhead-to-water strategy continues to be a very solid platform for us for growth and opportunities longer term, particularly when you look at demand pool. I mentioned nat gas and NGL and frankly, the requirement for reliable, secure energy and the pool on U.S. So that's a place that we continue to lean in.

Also, this needs to meet our hurdles, needs to be able to deliver our mid-teens returns and also has to ensure that we can deliver mid-single-digit growth year-on-year. So we're looking in those opportunities. And then also our JV partners, et cetera, as you've seen us take on Transaction BANGL would be a good example as we increased our ownership assets we know and fit very deeply into our long-term strategy.

So hopefully, that's a helpful response to you as we think about where we would be leaning in strategic fit, nat gas NGL, our wellhead-to-water growth strategy, that's the places where we would be executing.

That's very helpful. And then just looking a bit deeper on kind of the capital allocation priorities, given the pretty robust book of projects coming online in '26 and '27 and the 12.5% kind of distribution increase remaining, how do you see those priorities maybe changing longer term as we exit '26 and into '27?

Thank you, Francina. Yes, what I would tell you is our capital allocation priorities are unchanged. So when we think about the way we allocate capital, first and foremost, it's maintaining that -- maintaining our assets and our current EBITDA level. Secondly, it goes to distribution growth, right?

So we've consistently communicated this 12.5% that we anticipate in both '26 and '27. And next, it's growth.

And that growth can come in the form of organic projects, some of the big ones that we've just went through and the continual evaluation of the inorganic opportunities that set in the basin. So hopefully, that's responsive to your question. But really, I would leave you with our capital allocation priorities are unchanged.

The last question comes from Burke Sansiviero with Wolfe Research.

Are you still targeting at least 1.3x coverage with the 2026 and '27 distribution growth plans? And can this be met solely with organic growth? Or is M&A required to get there?

Yes. Thank you. What I would tell you is absolutely, we continue to target our 1.3 coverage ratio for both '26 and '27 and frankly, beyond. What I would tell you is that from a capital perspective, we believe that our current organic plan gives us confidence -- we have confidence in maintaining that 1.3 coverage.

We've talked about it a few times now on this call. It's the second half growth that is going to give us confidence in 1.26. And then frankly, entering 2027, we're going to have the platform to grow even more. So hopefully, that's responsive. Maryann, you may have something else.

Yes, Burke, I think Chris did it well. Just maybe to reiterate, when we think about 2027 today, as we sit here for all of the things, as Chris mentioned, when you look at the projects coming online that we've put capital to work in the third quarter and the fourth quarter, some of them continue to ramp into 2027 as well. We believe as we sit here today, 2027 growth we have in hand, so to speak, with all of the projects. Now that doesn't mean we're not going to -- that we'll stop looking. We'll continue to evaluate inorganic opportunities. But the goal of 1.3 coverage remains our objective. In 2027, we're not looking for inorganic M&A to be able to meet that. We'll continue to look for it, but we don't need it to meet 2027. We hope that helps.

And historically, the company has stated that they like the current MPC, MPLX structure and argued against the idea of MPC rolling up MPLX at some point. But MPC has outperformed MPLX by a significant amount year-to-date just with the favorable refining backdrop.

It's been a pretty big relative move. So I just wanted to check if the relative performance of the 2 complexes has had any impact on how you're thinking about the affiliate relationship, whether that relates to a roll-up intercompany transactions or affiliate support.

Yes. No, thank you for the question. And of course, we are very glad to see that both MPC and MPLX continue to execute strategic priorities and optimize and execute in the manner in which we have shared -- we expect our performance.

As it relates to the relationship between MPC and MPLX -- we do not see any reason to change that relationship. Right now, there is a tremendous amount of value that's created. As you look at the growth of MPLX year-on-year and the ability for us to continue to grow that distribution for our unitholders, it provides sound cash flow back to MPC.

And that relationship creates value, we think, for both the MPLX unitholder and the MPC shareholders. So that is of importance. There is an important relationship and a strategic relationship between those 2 companies. So we do not see a reason to change that at this time. I hope that helps.

I'm showing no further questions.

Okay. Well, thank you for your interest in MPLX. Should you have more questions or want clarification on the topics discussed this morning, please contact us, and our team will be available to take your calls. Thank you for joining us today.

Thank you for your participation. Participants, you may disconnect at this time.

Welcome to the MPLX First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. My name is Julie, and I will be your operator for today's call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Kristina Kazarian. Kristina, you may begin.

Welcome to MPLX's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. The slides that accompany this call can be found on our website at mplx.com under the Investor tab. Joining me on the call today are Maryann Mannen, President and CEO; Chris Hagedorn, CFO; and other members of the executive team. We invite you to read the safe harbor statement on Slide 2. We will be making forward-looking statements today. Actual results may differ. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are included there as well as in our filings with the SEC. With that, I will turn the call over to Maryann.

Thanks, Kristina. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. MPLX delivered over $1.7 billion of adjusted EBITDA, which enabled a return of over $1.1 billion to our unitholders. 2026 is a year of execution with multiple investments expected to transition from construction to operations and EBITDA generation. With Secretary at ONE coming online in April, Harmon Creek III in the third quarter and the Titan gas treating complex reaching over 400 million cubic feet per day of treating capacity in the fourth quarter. This gives us confidence that year-over-year growth in 2026 will exceed that of 2025.

The underlying fundamentals in natural gas and NGLs remain strong. We see strategic opportunity to support increasing demand for these commodities. As an example, in the Delaware Basin of the Permian we treated over 150 million cubic feet per day of our committed producer sour gas at our recently acquired Titan facility. Our third acid gas injection well in the Delaware Basin is expected to be completed in the third quarter. The expansion of the Titan complex is on schedule. Downstream, the 200 million cubic feet per day Secretary at ONE processing plant has entered service. Last quarter, we announced our intention to further expand our gas processing footprint with Secretary at TWO, an additional 300 million cubic feet per day of capacity expected online in the second half of 2028. Once in service, our total processing capacity in the basin will reach approximately 1.7 billion cubic feet per day. These investments meaningfully strengthen our position in the Delaware Basin, supporting activity in the low-cost sour gas windows and extending the competitiveness of our broader value chain.

The Blackcomb natural gas pipeline continues to progress as planned, and is expected to enter service in the fourth quarter. Demand for firm takeaway capacity is driving expansions on several long-haul natural gas pipelines. Volume commitments from top-tier shippers underscore the competitiveness of our footprint as well as the long-term durability of our natural gas system. Within NGL, the expansion of the BANGL pipeline to 300,000 barrels per day is expected online in the fourth quarter, providing critical takeaway capacity as in-basin NGL volumes grow.

Construction across our Gulf Coast fractionation and export facilities continues to advance on time and on budget. Our fully integrated NGL value chain provides high confidence in the volumes, utilization and durability of cash flow these assets will generate for years to come. Against the backdrop of ongoing geopolitical uncertainty the strategic importance of U.S. energy infrastructure has never been clear. Global demand for secure, reliable energy continues to grow, and the international customers are increasingly more dependent on the United States as a preferred supplier. MPLX is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity.

Our joint venture LPG export terminal is favorably located along the Gulf Coast, providing meaningful, competitive and logistical advantages. In the Marcellus, construction of Harmon Creek III remains on track for a third quarter in-service date increasing our total processing capacity to 8.1 billion cubic feet per day in the Northeast. This project, along with our associated gathering and compression expansion enhances our ability to meet producer needs in liquids-rich areas and supports long-term throughput growth. Beyond 2026, the opportunity set for natural gas and NGLs remains robust. We are deploying 90% of our $2.4 billion organic growth capital plan toward these opportunities which will drive continued mid-single-digit growth.

Now let me turn the call over to Chris to discuss our operational and financial results for the quarter.

Thanks, Maryann. Slide 8 outlines the first quarter operational and financial performance highlights for our Crude Oil & Products Logistics segment. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased $14 million when compared to the first quarter of 2025. The increase was primarily driven by higher rates across the business units, partially offset by lower crude pipeline throughputs. Pipeline volumes decreased 4% year-over-year, primarily due to Marathon's refining turnaround and maintenance activities in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions. Terminal volumes also decreased 4% year-over-year, primarily due to less favorable market dynamics and refining industry turnaround activity in the first quarter.

Moving on to Slide 9. Segment adjusted EBITDA decreased $42 million compared to the first quarter of 2025. 2025 included a onetime $37 million benefit associated with the customer agreement. The decrease was primarily driven by a $45 million impact from divestiture of our noncore gathering and processing assets in 2025, lower natural gas liquids prices and higher operating expenses. These factors offset growth from equity affiliates and increased volumes inclusive of acquisitions.

Excluding the impacts of our noncore Rockies divestiture, gathering volumes were up 10% year-over-year due to production growth in the Utica and Permian, including acquisitions. Processing volumes increased 2% year-over-year, primarily due to increased production in the Marcellus in the Permian. Marcellus processing utilization was 94% for the quarter, demonstrating the need for incremental capacity as Harmon Creek III is positioned to come online on a just-in-time basis in the third quarter. Total fractionation volumes decreased 3% year-over-year, primarily due to lower ethane recovery in the Marcellus as a result of elevated regional gas prices in the first quarter.

Winter Storm in January impacted crude oil and natural gas production volumes resulting in a roughly $13 million headwind to our first quarter results. We would like to extend our gratitude to our teams in the field whose around the efforts for continuous safe and reliable operations at our MPLX assets during the storm. Thank you to our team. Across our business for every $0.05 change in weighted average NGL price, MPLX expects approximately a $20 million annual impact to segment adjusted EBITDA. During the first quarter, to manage this exposure, MPLX executed an economic hedge on 80% of this risk and recognize the negative mark-to-market of $56 million during the quarter. This impact will offset -- be offset by physical gains over the course of 2026.

As a reminder, the first quarter is typically our lowest quarter for project-related expenses. While we expect these expenses in 2026 will be flat versus the prior year, we anticipate a sequential increase of $50 million in the second quarter, reflecting the seasonality of this project-related work. Now let me hand it back to Maryann for some concluding thoughts.

Thanks, Chris. MPLX has a proven history of executing on our commitments and delivering consistent financial performance. Through disciplined capital deployment and optimization of our integrated value chain, we have sustained strong EBITDA growth and maintained a robust return profile. This track record supports our confidence in our ability to continue creating value for unitholders through both organic project execution and reliable capital returns.

Our long-term strategy is straightforward, and we are executing with discipline, operate safely and reliably, grow through high-return investments, optimize our integrated value chains and to maintain a strong financial foundation. The actions we have taken to position MPLX over the last several years are delivering strong results. The strength of our base business continues to deliver steady durable growth as we progress through 2026, we expect the investments we are making to provide a clear path to continued mid-single-digit growth, and we continue to evaluate both organic and inorganic opportunities to drive income generation. With this momentum, we remain confident in our outlook and committed to creating exceptional value for our unitholders.

Now let me turn the call over to Kristina.

Thanks, Maryann. As we open the call for your questions, as a courtesy to all participants, we ask that you limit yourself to 1 question and a follow-up. If time permits, we will reprompt for additional questions. With that, operator, we are ready for questions today. .

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from John Mackay with Goldman Sachs.

Look in the back half of last year, you were talking about considerably higher EBITDA growth for '26 over '25. First quarter was flattish. I understand some of the moving pieces you guys gave on the cost side. And then you've walked us through the project ramp timelines. But could you spend a little bit more time walking us through how we should think about the EBITDA ramp through the year and kind of getting to that maybe above mid-single-digit target you laid out last call? .

And you're correct. And as we were talking about in 2025, we continue to see growth '25, '26, if you let me to look at it first on an annual basis, '25 to '26 growth rate to be stronger than we saw '24 to '25. And as you well said, that growth for us is more back half weighted for 2026 than front half weighted. If you look at it over a 3-year period, our mid-single-digit growth has trended right around that 7.5% range. So I mentioned in a couple of my opening remarks there, Secretary at ONE now in service. And so obviously, we'll see that EBITDA strength coming online throughout the back half of this year. We typically see a 9- to 12-month ramp, we could see that in a little more narrow window as we look at Secretary at ONE. I also talked about Harmon Creek III. That project remains on track to enter service in the third quarter. I think you know this. It's a 300 million cubic feet per day gas processing plant. It also includes construction of a second 40,000 barrel a day DS, and it gives total Northeast gas processing and fractionation capacity to a total of 8.1 and 800,000 barrels a day, respectively, when that project comes online. A few other projects, as you know, will lean in. So the back half of the year, we expect to be stronger clearly than the first half of the year. And we see good line of sight to that, which also continues to give us confidence, frankly, in our 12.5% distribution increase. As you know, we've been talking about that for 2026 as well and 2027. And again, we remain confident in these projects delivering a little bit longer term, as you know, we've got our fractionation '28, '29 coming online and the export dock. That project remains well on track, on budget, as you've heard me say as well. So back half weighted, remain confident, we still expect '26 to be a stronger growth than 2025. Let me pause there, John.

That's clear. Second question for me is just given the disruptions we've seen in the Middle East, we've seen a kind of higher call for U.S. hydrocarbon exports. Could you just kind of remind us your asset position there, kind of what you've been seeing on the commercial side? Maybe if you can walk through Loop, Mount Airy and then, I guess, any incremental comments on the NGL dock under construction would be great.

Yes. I'll pass that to Shawn. He can give you some insights on the export dock as well.

John, sorry, this is Shawn. Thanks for the question. As we look at what's going on in the market dynamics right now and we look at our asset base, Mount Airy is a great example. We're located strategically right next to Garyville and based on some of the market things going on, I think MPC and others will continue to lean into that. So we anticipate that asset utilization will be increasing some. And then also, as you look -- you talked about Loop. MPLX has a share of Loop there. We've seen Venezuelan crude come in. And obviously, some imports and exports are increasing across that asset base there. And as Maryann mentioned on the, I'll say, the export dock and fractionator complex on the Gulf Coast. We're excited as we continue to on track for in-service date of '28 and '29. Again, we're excited that those -- our facilities, our assets are going to be full as we go in service date there.

Our next question comes from Burke Sansiviero with Wolfe Research.

So distribution coverage has been 1.3x over the past 2 quarters. Can you just provide a little bit more color on your confidence in growing the distribution by 12.5% for another 2 years and staying above the -- at or above the 1.3x threshold, seems to imply that cash flows also need to grow 12.5% from here?

Yes, certainly. So when we think about our 12.5% distribution growth both for this year 2026 and 2027, we've set financial metrics for that and one of which is, as you stated, that our coverage doesn't fall below 1.3. So that is our commitment. We look at that, obviously, on an annual basis, of course. But you're absolutely correct. Cash flows would be supportive of that, and we continue to see our ability to do that for '26 and '27.

And buybacks have been somewhat programmatic over the past year at $100 million quarter cadence. Can you just talk to why buybacks went down in Q1 to $50 million? And are you looking to retain more cash from here?

Certainly. So -- what I would say is there really no change in our overall capital allocation strategy. We continue to see opportunities to put capital to work and, therefore, have modified our share buyback program. I want to pass it to Chris because I know he's got a few things that he wants to share as well.

Yes. Thanks, Keith. And I'll say, as Maryann stated, again, no change to our capital allocation methodology or strategy. Distributions will continue to be that primary tool to return capital to unitholders with the unit repurchases really being that more flexible method of returning capital. But what I would also say is we continue to believe that MPLX units trade at a discount. We think this type of a program at this level reflects that belief.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Manav Gupta with UBS.

I have two questions. I'm going to ask them right upfront. So first, can we get an update on the Titan sour complex, what you're seeing in that area? Is the producer activity increasing with higher crude prices in that particular area? And second, I wanted to talk to you about -- a little bit about the local gas markets in Texas. There are more pipelines coming to Agua Dulce, including yours, but then you also have some pipelines like Traverse and BayRunner, which can move gas out of Agua Dulce and help with these opportunities where local prices are depressed. So could you talk about the local gas Texas markets and how MPLX can benefit from the dislocation in prices in various hubs?

In general, first, let me share with you sort of overall progress on Titan. First and foremost, as I mentioned, we were successful in the first quarter treating over 150 million cubic feet per day in the first quarter. As a matter of fact, March was actually -- we saw our absolute strongest performance in the month of March. And no change in our expectations for the completion of Titan II by the end of this year, 2026. So that we will have full run rate EBITDA as we outlined when we talked about the opportunity for North Wind. So we expect that expansion from 150 million to over 400 million cubic feet per day of sour gas treating capacity to be available and consistent. We're seeing a lot of interest from our producers, producer customers in that space, particularly as they are moving their production into that region. I'm going to first pass it to Greg to give you some incremental color on the customers. And then to respond to your question around all of the Texas opportunities as we see all that pipeline, I'm going to ask then Dave to answer your question on that. Thanks, Manav.

Manav, this is Greg. Just a little bit more color on the Titan system. We have been focused daily and weekly on integrated -- integrating that system, increasing reliability, bringing on more volume. We really continue to be excited about the number of rigs that are operating up in the -- this portion of Lea County in the Delaware Basin and the associated gas that comes with it. CO2, H2S sour gas that needs treating. So the demand is definitely there, as Maryann said. In terms of the projects, the scaling this is our other big focus, and that includes Titan II. We recently brought on a new sour gas treater on the north end of the system that we call It's a compressor station as well. That is operating well. And Titan and the multiple pipeline projects that are associated with increasing -- doubling our capacity at Titan. And our fourth well are all in in construction and on schedule for fourth quarter completion. .

So Manav, this is Dave. And maybe I'll touch on -- I'll build on a little bit what Greg talked about and touch on the gas markets and dig a little deep in our overall Permian wellhead-to-water nat gas strategy because I think I'll try to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together for you. So first of all, let me reaffirm a little bit that generally, MPLX is a fee-based business, and we're not taking on the commodity risks within the nat gas markets in the U.S. Gulf Coast. With that said, we think about our strategy, maybe think about 5 major components. So Greg touched on the first one. In-basin gathering process and treating. From their long-haul egress pipelines, and I'll talk about those in a minute. And then connectivity between markets. And then the next is connectivity into demand centers, specifically LNG, but also potentially data centers and power. And then finally is giving our shipper customers optionality and flexibility to all those markets. So -- when you think about the long-haul pipelines, you mentioned Agua Dulce. So from the basin in Agua Dulce, of course, we have Whistler already moving 2.5 Bcf a day, and we have Blackcomb coming in service in the third quarter of this year. And then when you think about the long hauls into the Katy market, of course, we have Matterhorn currently flowing 2.5 Bcf a day, similar to Whistler. And we have Iger coming online in 2028 in the second half of 2028. Those are those 4 main headers, both into Agua Dulce and Katy, which gives our customers that flexibility to those markets. But I think the other piece of the puzzle is Traverse, which is the bidirectional pipe between those two markets, which allows that flexibility. So that's that connectivity between markets. And then you think about you getting it to the end demand centers, specifically LNG and the high growth -- rapid growth in the LNG market. So of course, we got ADCC going into Corpus Christi, and we have the BayRunner wanted to go into next decade, specifically down in Brownsville, those last ones. So when we think about all that, that's really how we're trying to build out -- have been building on and continue to build out our nat gas strategy. With all that said, we also believe that there is the need for incremental egress pipelines out of the basin. So as we look forward, we think and believe that MPLX can continue to play a very active role in supporting those value chain solutions that -- and our strategies necessary to address all that incremental demand in those market opportunities. So hopefully, that gives you a little bit of color on how we're thinking about it.

All right. Thank you. Operator?

I am showing no additional questions. I will turn the call back to Kristina.

Thank you. Thank you for your interest in MPLX. Should you have more questions or would you like clarification on topics discussed this morning, please contact us. Our team will be available to take your calls. Thank you for joining us today.

Thank you for your participation. Participants, you may disconnect at this time.

Welcome to the MPLX Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. My name is Julie, and I will be your operator for today's call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Kristina Kazarian. Kristina, you may begin.

Welcome to MPLX's Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. The slides that accompany the call today can be found on our website at mplx.com under the Investor tab. Joining me on the call today are Maryann Mannen, President and CEO; Chris Hagedorn, CFO; and other members of the executive team. We invite you to read the safe harbor statements on Slide 2.

We will be making forward-looking statements today. Actual results may differ. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are included there as well as our filings with the SEC. As a reminder, in the fourth quarter of 2025, MPLX divested noncore gathering and processing assets, which had a $23 million year-over-year impact on our adjusted EBITDA within our natural gas and NGL Services segment. Additional details on the impact of this divestiture can be found on Page 11 in our earnings release.

With that, I will turn the call over to Maryann.

Thanks, Kristina. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. 2025 was a year of disciplined investment and strong returns. It was our fourth consecutive year achieving a mid-single-digit 3-year adjusted EBITDA growth CAGR. Adjusted EBITDA reached just over $7 billion. The strength across our business gave us confidence to continue our history of returning meaningful capital to our unitholders. We increased our distribution by 12.5%, bringing total returns in 2025 to $4.4 billion. This decision reflects our commitment to return the value we create as we advance MPLX's growth strategy with our unitholders.

Over the past year, we took meaningful steps to position MPLX for the next phase of growth. We deployed $5.5 billion to our natural gas and NGL value chains, primarily focused on the fastest-growing region in the country. We optimized our portfolio through divestitures of noncore assets, ensuring our future capital deployment is aligned with the strongest return opportunities as we build the infrastructure that will fuel tomorrow's energy needs. Together, these investments and portfolio actions create a more resilient and competitive MPLX, one that we believe can continue delivering growth while maintaining our strong track record of returning capital to our unitholders.

Today, we announced our capital plan for 2026. We are planning to invest $2.4 billion as we execute on a robust pipeline of capital projects that support long-term structural growth. The long-term fundamentals for natural gas and NGL demand remain strong. In the U.S., natural gas demand is anticipated to grow over 15% through 2030, driven by the rapid expansion of LNG export capacity and rising power needs, particularly from data centers.

We are also seeing higher gas-to-oil ratios across key shale basins as aging wells produce more associated gas per barrel of oil. This trend is increasing supplies of NGL-rich gas and underscores the strategic importance of our infrastructure in the Permian. Globally, petrochemical demand for ethane and propane are driving increased NGL exports, further reinforcing the strength of the long-term outlook. 90% of our growth capital will be directed towards our natural gas and NGL services segment, where we see some of the most compelling opportunities in the midstream sector.

These projects are concentrated in the Permian and Marcellus, 2 of the most prolific and competitive basins in North America and are expected to generate mid-teens returns when they come into service in 2028 and beyond. These investments reflect our confidence in the long-term fundamentals of the energy market and in MPLX's ability to continue capturing value as these opportunities unfold. Execution of our Permian NGL wellhead-to-water strategy continues to advance. We are integrating the sour gas treating operations we acquired last year into our existing gathering and processing footprint in the Delaware Basin.

Titan treating complex construction continues and is progressing on time and on budget. And by the end of 2026, we expect to be treating more than 400 million cubic feet per day of sour gas. This sour gas complex enhances our treating and blending capabilities and provides an attractive solution for producers who are increasing activity in the low-cost sour gas window of the Delaware. Building on the downstream opportunities created by this platform, today, we announced Secretariat II, a new 300 million cubic feet per day processing plant. Expected to deliver mid-teens returns, the $320 million plant will be our eighth gas processing facility in the Delaware Basin and is expected online in the second half of 2028.

Once in service, our total processing capacity in the basin will reach approximately 1.7 billion cubic feet per day. Further downstream, the BANGL pipeline expansion remains on schedule with incremental capacity expected online in the fourth quarter of this year. Beyond BANGL, we are advancing construction of a 300,000 barrel per day of Gulf Coast fractionation capacity as well as our 400,000 barrel per day LPG export terminal JV. Engineering and construction continues. We have secured key construction permits, reflecting strong regulatory and stakeholder engagement. Site grading is near completion and is being executed with strong safety performance and responsible environmental stewardship.

The LPG export terminal expected online in 2028 will benefit from its advantaged proximity to open water, positioning us to serve growing global markets with greater efficiency. Elsewhere in the Permian, MPLX continues to invest in its integrated natural gas value chain. In November, MPLX, along with its JV partners, announced the expansion of the Eiger Express natural gas pipeline to 3.7 billion cubic feet per day. The expansion demonstrates the record demand for firm takeaway capacity we are seeing across the basin. Construction is also progressing on several long-haul JV pipeline systems.

These investments are underpinned by commitments from the basin's leading producers and will enhance shippers access to multiple premium markets along the Gulf Coast. In the Marcellus, our largest operating region, construction is advancing on the 300 million cubic feet per day Harmon Creek III gas processing and fractionation complex. Upon completion, expected in the third quarter of 2026, our Northeast processing capacity will reach 8.1 billion cubic feet per day and fractionation capacity of 800,000 barrels per day, positioning MPLX to serve growing Marcellus and Utica volumes.

MPLX is also expanding its Marcellus gathering system to meet producer needs through a $450 million project, which will add compression, support well connections and enhance MPLX's Majorsville gas processing complex. The project is expected to deliver mid-teens returns and enter service in the first half of 2028. Our capital deployment strategy positions MPLX for durable long-term growth. We are building the infrastructure system that will support rising North American future energy needs. From new treating and processing capacity to downstream fractionation and export, we plan to deliver on our commitment to create sustainable value for our unitholders.

Now let me turn the call over to Chris to discuss our operational and financial results for the quarter.

Thanks, Maryann. Slide 8 outlines the fourth quarter operational and financial performance highlights for our Crude Oil and Products and Logistics segment. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased $52 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. The increase was primarily driven by a $37 million benefit from a revised FERC tariff issued in November and higher rates, partially offset by higher planned project-related expenses. Pipeline volumes increased 1%, while terminal volumes decreased 2% year-over-year.

Moving to our Natural Gas and NGL Services segment on Slide 9. Segment adjusted EBITDA decreased $10 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 as the divestiture of noncore gathering and processing assets and lower NGL prices more than offset growth from recently acquired assets and higher volumes. After considering the $23 million impact of divesting noncore gathering and processing assets, we actually grew 2.1% year-over-year for the fourth quarter. Gathered volumes increased 2% year-over-year, primarily due to production growth in the Utica.

Processing volumes decreased 1% year-over-year as increased production in the Marcellus was more than offset by the sale of noncore assets. Processing volumes in the Utica have increased 4% year-over-year as producers continue to target this liquids-rich acreage. Marcellus processing utilization was 97% for the quarter, nearing capacity as Harmon Creek II is positioned to come online on a just-in-time basis later this year. Total fractionation volumes decreased 2% year-over-year as higher ethane recoveries in the Marcellus and Utica were more than offset by the sale of the Rockies assets. Within our natural gas and NGL business, recent freezing conditions across the country have impacted crude oil and natural gas production. We have seen minimal impact to our assets, but some producer customers have experienced frozen well pads and equipment, impacting volumes at a few of our facilities in the Permian.

Moving to our fourth quarter financial highlights on Slide 10. Adjusted EBITDA of $1.8 billion increased 2% from the prior year, while distributable cash flow of $1.4 billion decreased 4% over the same time frame due to interest expense associated with incremental debt used to finance recent acquisitions and growth capital. During the quarter, MPLX returned $1.2 billion to unitholders in distributions and unit repurchases. MPLX ended the quarter with a cash balance of $2.1 billion and plans to utilize this cash in alignment with our capital allocation framework. MPLX maintains a solid balance sheet. Looking forward, in March, MPLX has $1.5 billion of 1.75% senior notes maturing, which we intend to refinance. We expect leverage to fall over time as our acquisitions reach full run rate and our organic growth projects are placed into service.

Now let me hand it back to Maryann for some concluding thoughts.

Thanks, Chris. Through disciplined capital deployment, execution and optimization of our integrated value chains, we have achieved a 3-year adjusted EBITDA CAGR of 6.7%. This strong performance enabled us to increase our quarterly distribution by 12.5% for a consecutive year in 2025. We expect this level of distribution growth for 2 more years. MPLX enters 2026 in a position of strength.

Over the past year, we made deliberate investments and portfolio decisions that sharpened our focus and expanded our capabilities. We deployed capital into some of the fastest-growing regions in the country, divested noncore assets and built a more resilient competitive platform. In the second half of this year, we anticipate seeing contributions from the second Titan sour gas treatment plant, Harmon Creek III, the BANGL pipeline expansion, the Bay Runner pipeline and the Blackcomb pipeline.

We expect growth in 2026 to exceed 2025, driven by increased throughput on existing assets and new assets being placed into service. As these assets ramp to full capacity, we anticipate they will also support mid-single-digit EBITDA growth in 2027 as well. We remain confident these investments will enhance our cash flows and enable us to continue returning meaningful capital to our shareholders.

Now let me turn the call over to Kristina.

Thanks, Maryann. As we open the call for your questions, and as a courtesy to all participants, we ask that you limit yourself to one question and a follow-up. If time permits, we'll reprompt for additional questions. Operator, please open the line for questions.

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from John Mackay with Goldman Sachs.

Maryann, I wanted to pull together a couple of points you mentioned. Can you talk a little bit more about your confidence in that mid-teens return target for the project backlog, particularly in the context of maybe lower growth in '25 versus the mid-single-digit overall target going forward? And maybe particularly anything you can share around contract protections, et cetera?

Yes. John, thank you. And certainly, when we think about 2026, and frankly, when we think about any capital investment that we put to work, we continue to use our lens of strict capital discipline and ensure that we are delivering mid-teens returns and that those projects are also supportive of our mid-single-digit growth. As I mentioned from a period or 2 ago, as we look at the growth going forward, it is unlikely that we're going to be able to be completely linear. We're putting capital to work that has EBITDA contribution that's coming online in later years. And then we're also adding in our organic M&A opportunities, projects that come online in the short term in order to be able to deliver that as well.

Let me give you a couple of examples of that. You think about BANGL, the incremental ownership comes online in 2026, incremental EBITDA. I mentioned Secretariat I ramping up through 2026 that will add incremental EBITDA again this year. We've got Bay Runner, as I mentioned, in Blackcomb in service in the fourth quarter contributing to that also. Moving on to the Marcellus, you've got Harmon Creek III also that will be online in the back half of the year. These are some significant projects, again, through that lens, mid-teens returns to support mid-single digits. So that gives us the confidence, as we say that, one, year-on-year, '25 to '26, we should see growth above what we saw in '24 and '25. And we hope that you see that the 2026 capital outlook really signals compelling investment opportunities for us. We think the backdrop, particularly when you look at demand pool, NGL nat gas is extremely supportive. And then frankly, when we look at 2026 exit rate for our sour gas project, we remain confident in our ability to deliver that EBITDA into 2027. And as I mentioned, Gulf Coast project on track for '28 and beyond.

I appreciate all that detail. Maybe drilling in a little bit more. It sounds like you've had some early success on commercializing some of the North Wind kind of synergy projects with Secretariat II. Can you just frame up for us kind of where that process stands? Is there more you can do on capturing some of those volumes coming off that system?

Yes. Certainly, John. Thank you for the question. As you know, when we talked about the acquisition of Northwind or as we call it our Delaware Basin sour gas facility, we felt like it was a critical platform for future growth, particularly when you look at what we consider to be some of the best rock in the Permian and our ability to help producers with treating and processing that. We mentioned at that time that we thought when you looked at the processing contracts now, those had a much shorter duration versus the long-term average 13-year on the treating side.

But on the processing side, we said this could potentially be accelerating our growth as we were able to bring new assets online to address those contract roll-off on the processing side. But I would also tell you that Secretariat II will also help us support our legacy volumes as well. So not only is it supportive of growth beyond the Northwinds platform, but also for our legacy growth. I'm going to ask Greg to give you incremental color on the legacy side.

John, yes, we're really excited about -- we continue to be very excited about the sour gas system that we acquired. I mentioned before that it wraps around our existing legacy system as if we had we have planned and built it. Part of the Titan II expansion, which we're on track, on time and budget to have complete late in the year, allows us to meet our expectations for run rate in 2027, as Maryann mentioned, but it also provides an opportunity to connect this system into our legacy system.

So along with the Titan II project and the compression expansions and the pipelines that we're building to support that uptick in volume, we're also building connecting lines, one on the north end, one from the Titan facility over actually to Secretariat to our [indiscernible] complex and then a middle line. So we'll be able to start offloading when those lines are complete and as Titan capacity ramps up. But we're also -- we see very robust growth continuing in the legacy portion of our system. Some of it on the edge of the sour, some in the suite, but still really robust activity from the drillers. So we upsized Secretariat II. It will be our first 300 million cubic feet per day plant and partly to account for the additional growth we have from both systems.

Our next question comes from Manav Gupta with UBS.

Maryann, I just wanted to ask you, there is a little bit of bearish sentiment on LPG exports generally and fears of overcapacity. But in the last few days, you have had this India-U.S. deal and India is looking to buy a lot more energy from U.S. And I think LPG exports could be a new growth opportunity in that direction. So if you could -- if you have had time and if you could talk a little bit about the new opportunities that open for LPG exports with this India-U.S. trade deal.

Thank you. You're absolutely right. One of the reasons why we continue to look at this opportunity, putting capital to work, we see strong demand for NGL and nat gas, and there is a pull there, obviously, from the growth anticipated from LNG -- and as you mentioned, I think the announcement or the conversations yesterday really are further supportive of the positions that we have and have had really for the last several quarters as we think about some of the capital that we've put to work.

We think market dynamics for global LPG demand remain very strong. There's no doubt about that. And again, as I mentioned, I think the announcement or the conversation yesterday, hard to predict, right, early days there, but it is certainly, I think, supportive. And then when we look at our assets, we're pretty convinced about their capabilities. When they come online, '28, '29, we believe will be full as we have shared with you before. We think we've got a good position when we look at LPG export given our dock, given the partnership that we have and given the potential there for the long term. So we feel very good about that, obviously, as we continue to put capital to work in that space.

Perfect. My quick follow-up here is, look, when we look at organic growth capital, obviously, I think you were at $2.4 billion for '26, you were close to $2 billion last year, but then you did deploy almost $3 billion, $3.5 billion of growth capital through M&A. And I'm trying to understand, would -- if the right opportunities present themselves, would you be open to still bolt-on M&A in 2026? And the question I'm trying to ask is, at the start of the call, you said dividend distribution growth can be 12% for the next couple of years. I'm trying to understand with some good M&A, can that 2 years become 3 years or more, if you could help us understand that?

Yes, certainly, Manav, and thank you for the question. As you know, and similar, as we set out this time last year, we put forth our capital plan, and that capital plan is very specific to the organic projects that we have ongoing. You think about our Gulf Coast fracking terminal, the capital on the Delaware Basin, sour gas. We've got the Marcellus expansion that I mentioned, Secretariat. But we continue to look for M&A opportunities. We look through them through the lens of strict capital discipline. We ensure that they meet our mid-teens returns and also that they are strategically aligned with, one, our nat gas and NGL wellhead-to-water strategy, they fit that strategy.

So when I talk about the 12.5% being for the next 2 years, that meets all of the financial criteria that we've shared. That doesn't mean we don't have an intention of increasing the distribution beyond that. And as you say, it will depend on what that growth is. So as we find those M&A opportunities, we have a balance sheet that's quite strong, we believe, and we would absolutely consider incremental opportunities. And frankly, as you've seen us do in the past, some that are easiest for us and fairly immediately accretive would be our JVs. When we look at take BANGL as an example, there are opportunities that would exist for us to continue to build out our ownership with the JVs that we currently have as a part of our portfolio. I hope that helps.

Our next question comes from Theresa Chen with Barclays.

Maryann, maybe taking the opposite side of the M&A question. Looking at your portfolio optimization actions, which have been fairly consistent through the years, anything would you say you're at in terms of pruning assets that are less strategic across your portfolio to free up capital to pursue additional organic and tuck-in M&A growth?

Theresa, thanks for the question. As you know, we continue to evaluate all of our assets. We say we want to ensure that we have the portfolio for today and the portfolio for the future. All of those basins today are cash flow positive, but we will always look through short term and long term and see whether or not there are owners of those assets, similar as we think about what we just recently did with the Rockies that have a different view on that growth profile so that we can continue to invest in those opportunities in the Marcellus and in the Permian where we believe the most opportunity exists for us. So we'll continue to do that, Theresa, absolutely.

Understood. And given recent consolidation by some of the upstream community, how do these trends affect your growth outlook for your supply push assets and recontracting strategy over time?

So I would tell you, as we look at some of the recent announcements, certainly, those customers have been and will continue to be an important part of our portfolio, specifically when we look at recontracting, if you think about the one that was just announced yesterday, -- and again, it's an early read, but when we look through that in terms of the way that the transaction has been announced and it is structured, we don't see any immediate risk with contract renegotiation, et cetera, from a legal perspective. Absolutely no.

Our next question comes from Keith Stanley with Wolfe Research.

Sorry to beat a dead horse on the growth rate, but I wanted to clarify on 2026. You said it's faster growth than 2025. But would you say it's an above-average growth year in '26 or just faster than '25? And relatedly, is that 2026 growth expectation inclusive of the headwind from the Rockies asset sale?

So thank you for the question, Keith. Yes, it is inclusive of the headwind coming from the Rocky sale, absolutely. And my comment, '24 to '25 growth is stronger than '24 to '25. But I'm not suggesting that it is completely outsized there. It is larger growth. Remember, we are starting from a $7 billion position. So growing that mid-single digit is a range of $450 million to $500 million depending on where you are in your mid-single-digit range. So it is '24 -- excuse me, '25 to '26 stronger than '24 to '25. I hope that helps, Keith.

It does. Second question, I wanted to ask on the FERC index change for the next 5-year period. So that's now a PPI minus 0.6%, I think. Should we think of that as a headwind for your outlook for the liquids business? Or would you say that new inflation adjustment level was expected and already baked into your plans and outlook?

Keith, this is Shawn. Thanks for the question. Although the FERC adder is negative, we did anticipate this, and this is in our plan. So we don't expect it to impact our plan to grow our EBITDA mid-single digits. Let me give additional context also. If you just look at the COPAL segment that we are -- about 33% of the COPAL segment is tied to the FERC. And across all of MPLX, it's about 20%. So it gives you some context of how much that announcement by FERC and the effect with MPLX.

Our next question comes from Elvira Scotto with RBC Capital Markets.

I was wondering if you could provide some additional commentary around the new growth projects, especially in the Marcellus, what you're hearing from producer customers? And then how do you expect Harmon Creek II to ramp?

Yes. So when we talk about Marcellus, first of all, I mentioned that we've got capital this year, and that project will come in service in a few years, right? It's not an immediate contribution in 2026. Mid-teens returns, clearly, producer customers, if you think about the way that we stay connected to our producer customers and just in time, a pretty important project for the long term. It's a compressor station, 30 miles of pipeline, well connections, debottlenecking. And so important as we think about providing that egress for our producer customers. I'm going to give the -- I'll pass it to Greg and have Greg tell you a little bit more about that project.

Yes. We're really excited about the Harmon Creek III project and also the -- we're building a second full-size de-ethanizer as part of that project and some compression and pipe to help feed that. It's in our gathering system in Washington County, PA. If you look at the entire Marcellus, we were at 97% utilization this last quarter. So we're -- and that's a high utilization number, but you put it in context, that's close to 7 billion cubic feet a day that's going through that system.

So it's our largest system. It's nearly full. So it's a great story. When we need to expand and a producer wants to expand, right now, it typically means a new plant or at least major piping and compression to help try to fill whatever existing capacity is there. So we expect Harmon Creek III, which is tied into that system and has great residue takeaway, NGL takeaway capability and the demand that's there for that, to take up that additional capacity will be ramped up and filled on our normal time frame.

Okay. And then just wanted to switch over to capital allocation. Can you maybe talk a little bit about any comments around leverage and distribution coverage, kind of expectations in '26 and '27? And then just as you've become a much bigger company with a much bigger EBITDA base and you have a lot of kind of organic growth opportunity. How should we think about sort of CapEx moving forward?

Thank you. Appreciate that question. So let me start with the capital allocation. What I would tell you is when we think about capital allocation, our philosophy remains unchanged. So you think about the way we've lined that out historically, it has been, first and foremost, maintenance capital, then our distribution growth then our growth capital and then our unit buybacks with that last one always being the one that we would toggle. As we look forward to '26 and '27, even as we talked about, Maryann mentioned the 12.5% distributions over the couple of years, we model that out.

When we think about coverage, we don't see ourselves going on an annual basis below that comfort level of 1.3x. We're obviously also very much watching our leverage and managing to a leverage number that I think we've historically said we're comfortable with that 4.0x. And as we look forward with our capital plans as we sit today, we would not go above that 4x.

Great. And then just on the kind of CapEx how should we think about CapEx kind of going forward, the organic?

Yes. It's a great question. And as we think about CapEx, we think about our growth, what we really have to -- as you said, the EBITDA number keeps getting larger. So as that number grows, the number of organic projects and/or bolt-on M&A has to grow with that EBITDA number. If you continue to target a mid-teens return, right, we can do that math. We know that over time, that number has to grow. So we're actively looking at that on a 5-year really basis and beyond. And we're modeling that EBITDA in as we would see these projects come online.

At this time, I'm showing no further questions.

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Welcome to the MPLX Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. My name is Shirley, and I'll be your operator for today's call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Kristina Kazarian. Kristina, you may begin.

Thank you, Shirley. Welcome to MPLX's Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. The slides that accompany this call can be found on our website at mplx.com under the Investor tab. Joining me on the call today are Maryann Mannen, President and CEO; [indiscernible] Hagedorn, CFO; and other members of the executive team. We invite you to read the safe harbor statements on Slide 2. We will be making forward-looking statements today. Actual results may differ.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ are included there as well as our filings with the SEC. With that, I'll turn the call over to Maryann.

Thanks, Kristina. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. I'd like to take a moment to recognize Mike Hennigan. At the end of the year, Mike will be stepping down as our Executive Chairman. Mike's guidance has been tremendously valuable to our Board, to me and our entire leadership team. We thank him for his service as well as all of his contributions. He will be missed.

Delivering on our commitment to return capital, MPLX increased its quarterly distribution by 12.5% for the second consecutive year. The increase is supported by our multiyear track record of mid-single-digit growth and reflects conviction in our growth outlook from recent capital deployment. Our growing portfolio is expected to support this level of annual distribution increases over the next couple of years.

In the third quarter, MPLX generated adjusted EBITDA of $1.8 billion. Strong performance through the first 9 months has contributed to year-to-date adjusted EBITDA of $5.2 billion, reflecting growth of 4% over the same time frame in the prior year. Distributable cash flows of $1.5 billion, which supported the return of $1.1 billion to unitholders. We are committed to returning capital to unitholders, primarily through a secure and growing distribution, but also through unit repurchases as we believe our equity remains undervalued.

MPLX is optimizing the competitive position of its portfolio as we pursue mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth anchored in the Marcellus and Permian Basins, advancing our strategic commitments. During the third quarter, MPLX closed on 2 strategic acquisitions. First, the remaining 55% interest in the BANGL NGL pipeline system. Full ownership of BANGL and its expansion opportunities enhance our Permian platform as we connect growing NGL production from the wellhead to MPLX's Gulf Coast fractionation facilities and export terminal joint venture currently under construction.

We are progressing the expansion of BANGL from 250,000 to 300,000 barrels per day, which we expect to enter service in the second half of 2026. Second, MPLX closed on the acquisition of a Delaware Basin sour gas treating business, integrating our newly acquired sour gas treating assets with MPLX operations is ongoing. Additionally, we are completing construction of the second amine treating plant at the Titan complex. This will increase sour gas treating capacity from 150 to over 400 million cubic feet per day expected by the end of 2026, driving the returns we expect from the acquisition and expansion.

The sour gas treating capabilities will allow us to capitalize on additional growth opportunities. These sour gas treating assets are adjacent and complementary to our existing natural gas system in the Delaware Basin. They expand MPLX's treating and blending operations, attractive to our current and new customers who are increasing crude drilling activity in the lower-cost sour gas window on the eastern edge of the Northern Delaware Basin. And the asset increase access to natural gas and NGL volumes.

We are advancing our strategic growth objectives in the Permian. Secretariat our seventh processing plant is expected to be online at the end of 2025, bringing total regional capacity to 1.4 billion cubic feet per day and we fully own the BANGL Pipeline system integral to MPLX's Permian NGL chain, which is expected to add incremental EBITDA in 2026. Construction is progressing on schedule and on budget for the first Gulf Coast fractionation facility and LPG export terminal. The location of our LPG dock is advantaged as it will allow vessels to avoid congestion and reduce fuel consumption, lowering cost for shippers.

MPLX will not have direct commodity price exposure as MPC will purchase the LPG production from the fracs and market globally through its marketing business across the new export terminal, demonstrating the strength of our strategic relationship with MPC. The first frac export terminal and purity pipeline are expected to enter service in 2028 with full run rate in late 2029. Within natural gas, MPLX and its partners announced they will construct the Iger Express pipeline having secured firm transportation agreements with investment grade shippers.

Upon completion, expected in mid-2028 the pipeline will transport natural gas from the Permian Basin to the Katy area of Texas. IGR will have connectivity to the Traverse natural gas pipeline which connects supply between Agua Dulce and the Houston area and will provide shippers optionality and access to multiple premium markets on the Gulf Coast, driven by demand pool for LNG exports. The continued build-out of our Permian to Gulf Coast natural gas system enhances that value chain with additional growth opportunities.

Favorable market outlook supports our operations in the Marcellus, Utica and Permian basins, MPLX is positioned for long-term natural gas volume growth in these key operating regions, and we expand our integrated value chains and execute our wellhead-to-water strategy. This year, over 90% of MPLX's total investments are being allocated to opportunities within our natural gas and NGL Services segment. The progress and execution of our strategic commitments give us conviction in the sustainability of our mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth outlook for 2025 and beyond.

Our approach to growth is structured to deliver mid-teens returns on our investments and mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth. We do this by constructing processing facilities on a just-in-time basis, maximizing the utilization of existing assets, optimizing value chains, and strengthening our strategic partnership with MPC. In the Marcellus, our largest operating region, construction of our Harmon Creek processing plant and fractionation facility aligns with producer drilling plans. This new complex will feature a 300 million cubic feet per day gas processing plant and a 40,000 barrel per day de-ethanizer supported by producer commitments.

In the second half of 2026, we anticipate our gas processing capacity in the Northeast will reach 8.1 billion cubic feet per day and fractionation capacity will reach 800,000 barrels per day positioning MPLX to handle growing production from the Utica and Marcellus. As demand for natural gas-powered electricity rises, MPLX is well positioned to support the development plans of its producer customers. In our crude oil and product logistics segment, we are focused on expanding gathering infrastructure, enhancing butane blending at terminals, growing volumes organically and pursuing high-return projects to maximize asset utilization.

With a strong pipeline of organic opportunities, we are well positioned to generate resilient cash flows that underpins our commitment to deliver long-term value and return to capital to unitholders. Now let me turn the call over to Kris to discuss our operational and financial results for the quarter.

Thanks, Maryann. Slide 12 outlines the third quarter operational and financial performance highlights for our Crude Oil & Products Logistics segment. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased $43 million when compared to the third quarter of 2024. The increase was driven by higher rates, partially offset by higher operating expenses. Pipeline volumes were flat, while terminal volumes were down 3% year-over-year. Moving to our natural gas and NGL Services segment on Slide 13. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased $9 million compared to the third quarter of 2024.

As contributions from recently acquired assets and higher volumes were partially offset by higher operating expenses. Gathered volumes increased 3% year-over-year, primarily due to production growth in the Utica. Processing volumes increased 3% year-over-year, primarily from increased production in the Utica and Marcellus. Permian processing volumes increased 9% compared to the second quarter of this year. Processing volumes in the Utica have increased 24% year-over-year, showing the value of the liquids-rich acreage. Marcellus processing utilization was 95% for the quarter, reflecting robust producer activity in the region.

Total fractionation volumes increased 7% year-over-year, primarily due to higher ethane recoveries in the Marcellus and Utica. Moving to our third quarter financial highlights on Slide 14. Adjusted EBITDA of $1.8 billion increased 3% from the prior year, while distributable cash flow of $1.5 billion increased 2% over the same time frame. MPLX returned nearly $1 billion to unitholders and distributions and $100 million in unit repurchases. During the quarter, MPLX issued $4.5 billion in senior notes the proceeds of which were primarily used to fund our acquisition of the Delaware Basin sour gas treating business and to increase cash from the Bango acquisition and associated debt repayment.

MPLX ended the quarter with a cash balance of $1.8 billion and plans to utilize this cash in alignment with our capital allocation framework. MPLX maintains a solid balance sheet with leverage below our comfort level of 4x. Now let me hand it back to Maryann for some concluding thoughts.

Thanks, Kris. Our distribution increase of 12.5% announced last week marked the fourth consecutive year of double-digit increases resulting in annualized base distribution growth of greater than 50% over the past 4 years. Through prudent capital allocation, cost control and operational optimization, MPLX has achieved a 7% compound annual growth rate in both adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow over the past 4 years. Year-to-date, we've returned $3.2 billion to unitholders. As we've stated before, adjusted EBITDA growth at MPLX will not be linear.

We anticipate growth in 2026 and will exceed that of 2025, supported by throughput growth on existing assets and new assets being placed in service. Our growing portfolio is well positioned to sustain this level of annual distribution increases over the next couple of years, and we do not expect MPLX's coverage ratio to fall below 1.3x.

In summary, MPLX is well positioned to capitalize on opportunities that fit our strategic road map as we execute our plan, targeting mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth. As a strategic asset for Marathon and with the distribution increase, MPLX is expected to provide $2.8 billion annually to MPC through its growing distribution. Our unwavering focus on safety and operational excellence strategic growth opportunities and strong financial flexibility enable us to consistently drive cash flow growth. This, in turn, supports our commitment to delivering peer-leading capital returns to unitholders. Now let me turn the call over to Kristina.

Thanks, Maryann. As we open the call for your questions, as the courtesy to all participants, we ask that you limit yourself to a question and a follow-up. If time permits, we will reprompt for additional questions. Sheila, we're ready for questions, please. .

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from John Mackay with Goldman Sachs.

I wanted to start on the EBITDA growth outlook. You guys have done a bunch of projects, M&A this year. Maryann, I was wondering if you could kind of walk us through how you're thinking about the go-forward growth outlook now for EBITDA, both kind of level and duration relative to how you were framing up kind of the similar target of mid-single-digit EBITDA growth at the beginning of the year before we had some of these announcements. .

Yes. Thanks, John. And thanks for your question. So as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, when we look at our growth rate, '24 to '25, and then we look at it also from '25 to '26, we believe '25 to '26 will actually deliver stronger growth than we did '24 to '25. As you know, we've also been talking about our EBITDA growth over a 3-year period. And when we look at that, it's been roughly 7% for the last few years, we see the ability to continue that as we look into 2026 for right now for those acquisitions and other projects that we put into place.

So maybe let me take a minute and talk about how we see that unfolding to address your question of how did we think about it in the beginning of the year, certainly versus how we're looking at it now. When we look at 2026, as an example, a couple of things really begin to come online and increase that growth that I was referring to. So as you know, we mentioned BANGL the incremental 55% ownership will now be additive to 2026 EBITDA targets.

As I mentioned, secretariat will come online at the end of this year, and that ramp up into 2026 will again deliver incremental EBITDA throughout 2026. We'll also have the full rate of Preakness 2 that come that came online in the third quarter of '24. And so we'll have full ramp up as we head into 2026. And then the sour gas investment that we made, as you know, will reach full run rate by the end of 2026 has tightened the next phase of the Titan treatment plant comes online. So we'll see that incremental EBITDA coming from Titan as well.

And then there's a few other projects, as you know. And then heading into '27. We obviously have full rate for Titan consistent with the way that we've shared with you as we talked about the EBITDA potential on that transaction. And then also Ag pipeline, as an example, another project that we just announced that will bring EBITDA into 2027. I'll take you actually to '28 and '29, just for a moment. but in '28, we'll have the first track in the LPG export com online. -- and then obviously heading into full run rate as the second one comes online in '29 as well. So those projects either organic or those acquisitions, I think, supports our ability to continue to grow that mid-single-digit growth. Let me pause there, John and see if I've answered your question.

No. That was great. I appreciate the color. Maybe just as a second question from my side. I would love to hear a little bit more about the power LOI, maybe just steps to converting that, how we think about the opportunity set for you, returns, et cetera? .

Yes. Thank you for that. As you saw, we issued that -- excuse me, a press release this morning and appreciated it is an LOI in this early stage. One, we think the opportunity with [indiscernible] is is important -- critically important for us as we evaluate the opportunity set around data centers and AI. We think for MPC, this obviously creates in-basin demand. And then ultimately, at what we would consider to be a very low cost or no cost transaction here in this early evaluation. -- we will we will provide gas. And then in return, we receive lower cost, reliable power, which, in fact, will get passed on to our producer customers. But time-wise, this is certainly not a 2026 project. It will be beyond 2026, John.

Our next question comes from Manav Gupta with UBS. .

I would like to start by saying, I'm a big fan of Mike Hennigan, but he has left the company in very good hands. So -- congratulations Maryann. My first question to you is can you elaborate a little more on the Permian sour gas opportunity. And it's my understanding you do not need to permit more AGI wells to run this asset at full capacity because that's where the gating factor is? If you could talk a little bit about those things.

Thank you for your question, and we agree with you as it relates to Mike Hennigan. So on the Permian sour gas opportunity, as we shared, we've got about $0.5 billion of incremental capital that gets us to all of the investment economics that we shared. That includes getting the treatment -- the amine treating Titan facility as we call it, from 150 to 400 and the next AGI well. There is no other incremental asset gas injection well necessary to meet the economics on the project as we have outlined for you so far.

Perfect. My quick follow-up here is, as you evaluate all these data center opportunities, would there be more letter of intent or similar nature? And how you're seeing that pipeline? And then the bigger question is, some of your peers have said this opportunity set is so big that we are even open to generating and selling electricity using our natural gas. Is that something which MPLX could be open to if the right opportunity arises or you're more comfortable being the supplier of natural gas but not the generator of electricity, if you could talk about that? .

Yes, of course. Thanks for the question. As you know, when we look at the Northeast, we are handling, touching 10% of U.S. natural gas consumption every day. So our ability to continue to evaluate where in this opportunity set that we can best support our producer customers is a place that we are spending time evaluating, et cetera. Again, this mirror is the first step for us as we continue to evaluate those opportunities. I'm going to pass it to Greg who's been spending quite a bit of time looking at how and where MPLX can continue to pursue opportunities.

Manav, it's a great question. The first, obviously, as Maryann said, being a large player in the midstream business and touching a lot of gas, we aggregate gas at our processing plants. -- similar to interstate pipelines and some of the other projects you've seen. So we certainly have the ability to co-locate similar to the [indiscernible] project where we have a co-located facility and we can sell gas and buy power and increase reliability.

In terms of generating the power, the solar turbines and the Caterpillar reciprocating engines that that constitute most of the prime movers for generation behind the meter are assets that we deploy by the hundreds across our system. So we know how to install, operate and maintain these units running all of our gas compression. And so we have that capability. On the refining side of Marathon, we actually self-generate power at some of the refineries. So we have the capability, but it's a separate business case in terms of moving from providing gas and processing to move into the power generation business. So that's something that we'll keep all options open and continue to look at, talk to a lot of people and see where that goes, if anywhere.

Your next question comes from Theresa Chen with Barclays.

Going back to the Titan complex and the early days of integration after the recent close. As you continue your investment here in the build out, has there been any shift in commercial activity with your customers? Any incremental interest in your services now that you have the set of assets within your portfolio? .

Teresa, thanks for the question. I would tell you, integration with our sour gas acquisition, which we refer to as North Wind has gone very well as we exited the quarter at roughly processing at 150. You may have also heard and we'll echo some of the comments that those producer customers who we are working for in the region have commented on. I think they're pleased with the fact that MPLX now owns this asset. We're working diligently. They were customers of ours in that basin prior and this adds more opportunity for us to continue to work closely with those key customers.

One of the other things that we talked about when we were together the last time was the potential for processing. Some of our contracts are about 2 to 3 years, they're third party. And as we look at the ability to accelerate growth in that region, being able to take on incremental processing would be a place that we would look to grow beyond that integration. The other thing that I would mention is we continue to look at the project, and as I shared with John earlier, passing the look at how EBITDA will grow, we expect to be complete so that by the end of 2026 since we head into EBITDA generation. Those projects will be completed and we'll be able to see the full benefit supporting our customers in the basin.

I look to Greg to see if there's anything else that he wants to add because he's been overseeing the strength of that integration.

Thanks, Maryann. We've been spending most of the time towards the last few weeks of the quarter and then in the early first quarter, integrating the assets and working with producers to ramp up volume. We've had we're integrating people into our existing team in West Texas, and that's going very well, and we're also integrating systems, accounting systems, operating systems and trying to integrate the systems together. And we've got great feedback from our customers. We're meeting with our customers. I think they're excited about our ownership and operation of the system and moving to the next level as we continue to deploy the assets.

TITAN 1 train in the commissioning process late in the quarter and into the prior month and the third train of TITAN 1 and then TITAN 2 Civil and [indiscernible] underway for that plant to come into service latter part of '26.

And then related to the LOI with Mira, Maryann, going back to your comments about how low or no cost is going to be. Can you just frame that up in terms of what would be the nature of any potential CapEx related to this? And is there not so much of like a CapEx or economic moat what position you to win this agreement? And what would position MPLX in your regions of service given the competition out there to win incremental agreements. And with this transaction, specifically, what are the next steps? .

Yes. Thanks, Teresa. Look, I think one of the benefits that we see from this transaction is the potential for in-basin demand, right? The growth on that in-basin demand. So essentially, the way that this LOI will continue to be structured is we will provide gas, I'd like to say, at the tail pipe of our plants. And then in return, so to speak, right, we will have the ability to have lower cost, more reliable power to provide to our producer customers. So again, when I say low or no cost, there really isn't anything that we need to do in order to facilitate that transaction.

In terms of the opportunities there, we're continuing to evaluate how that might go forward. But as we stand right now, this LOI, we think, has the potential to increase in-basin demand.

Our next question comes from Burke [indiscernible] with Wolfe Research.

Just looking at Slide 9. Can you please walk through some of your assumptions for in-basin demand growth and incremental takeaway capacity to underwrite the 10% Marcellus and Utica gas growth through 2030, mainly curious if you expect new greenfield pipelines to be built out of Appalachia.

This is Greg. I'll speak to that. The -- we continue to grow in the Marcellus and the Utica, primarily the Marcellus through incremental plant construction. As you see our Harmon Creek 3 plant in Washington County, PA is in construction and supported by customer contracts. We also have seen growth over the last 12 to 18 months in the Utica as we fill existing capacity in that system that was built years ago and as rigs moved away capacity freed up, but we're filling that capacity. We're at over 70% utilization in the Utica now at 95%, a new high in Marcellus. In spite of being our largest area in processing over 7 Bcf a day of gas of rich gas and liquids that come with that.

So we are -- our customers -- producer customers who own the residue gas back of our plants have commitments and are finding the capacity to exit the basin. There's also in-basin demand growth, both for power generation, both coal to gas power plant, coal to gas switching at power existing plants and then new plants as well as behind the meter, whether data center or other power generation. So I think there's in-basin demand growth. Obviously, MVP coming online was a big adder to takeaway capacity, and we continue to see increases in capacity announced on that system, particularly as the downstream pipeline system is debottlenecked. So we feel that our producers with the positions they have, both in firm capacity and capacity that opens up that maybe other producers don't use have growth, the ability to continue to grow even in the Marcellus where the volumes are high in utilization side.

[Audio Gap]

[Audio Gap] tried to lay out how we see that EBITDA coming to fruition. But certainly, when we look at organic opportunities, we have those that fit our strategic lens, et cetera, we're executing on those gave you a few examples. But we also see the opportunity, again, assuming that those M&A opportunities would meet our strategic rationale provide us that mid-single-digit growth and give us the mid-teens returns, we do see opportunities for incremental M&A to continue to build out mid-single-digit growth. I hope that was your question, Jeremy.

So it sounds like organic alone wouldn't get to mid-single digit, there would need to be acquisitions to get there over a multiyear period. .

Yes. I think that's fair. When you look at the size of our EBITDA, look at if I can rough math for you, just a $7 billion EBITDA, we're approaching $0.5 billion worth of growth. We've shared with you the opportunity set in nat gas and NGL and we'll continue to focus our resources in the Permian. We will also concentrate on the base business. We never lose focus on the base business and including JVs and opportunities there as well. But given the size of that EBITDA growth, likely that we will see inorganic opportunities as well.

Jeremy, this is Chris. I might just add to that as well, though. One thing I do want to note is you've heard about all of these acquisitions we've recently done -- this also provides additional growth opportunities of new organic projects for optimization and growth. So that backlog of what I would call capital projects is going to continue to grow. So we have backlog looking at '26, '27 as we sit today, '28. As Greg and Sean continue to see these assets come online, they're also going to identify more opportunities for more organic projects as we progress.

That's helpful. And if I could get one last one in. Just as far as the distribution growth policy, how should we think about that over time post the 2%, 12.5% raises recently here? .

Yes. Thanks, Jeremy. So as I mentioned, we look at a couple of years and see a path to 12.5% distribution growth for the next couple of years. That's how we're seeing it today. And beyond that, we'll continue to evaluate. But for the next couple of years, in addition to '24 and '25, that's how we see 12.5% distribution growth.

Our final question comes from Michael Blum with Wells Fargo.

Just wanted to go back to a prior comment made about evaluating potentially bringing power to a data center project since you do operate a lot of -- you have a lot of experience operating those anyway. Is that something that you're actively evaluating and then going with potential customers or just more something that's sort of a longer-term potential item?

Yes. We're not -- no intent to mention that we're actively evaluating it really is that we have capability and optionality if it made sense in the future.

Okay. Perfect. And then I just wanted to ask like high level, you could refresh us a little bit I think there's a view out there that crude oil prices are going to be lower for some period of time here. So can you just discuss how that could impact your Logistics segment either positively or negatively? .

This is Shawn. Just on the crude oil and product logistics side of the business, if you look at our volumes continue to be strong. really in all areas. And really, that is anchored and really part of our partnership with Marathon Petroleum. And that's where the 2 together and that partnership continues to give us a really strong foundation. But I think as we look out, a strong -- we continue to see strong demand or strong throughput.

Yes. Michael, this is Kris. You'll remember that on the crude oil and projects logistics side of the business, those contracts with Marathon have significant minimum volume commitments and they're also capacity type arrangements. So if you go back all the way to kind of the COVID year, you'll remember, they didn't really see that big of a dip in what would be probably the most extreme hopefully, we ever see when it comes to EBITDA from that segment. So that segment is very well protected.

I would add -- this is Greg. I would add that from a producer standpoint, we're still seeing strong demand for -- whether it be gas, NGLs or crude oil, we're not seeing changes in plans in terms of producer activity.

All right. Operator, do we have any other questions today?

At this time, I'm showing no further questions. Great. With that, should you have more questions or would you like clarification on the topics discussed this morning, please feel free to reach out. members of our Investor Relations team will be available to make -- take your calls. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you. That does conclude today's conference. We thank you for your participation. At this time, you may disconnect your lines.