MPLX - Q4 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Welcome to the MPLX fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. My name is Sheila, and I will be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Press Star one on your touchtone phone to enter the queue. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Kristina Kazarian. Kristina, you may begin.

Kristina Kazarian (VP of Finance and Investor Relations)

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to MPLX's fourth quarter 2023 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 Mike Hennigan, Chairman and CEO, Chris Hagedorn, CFO. Also with us is John Quaid, as our CFOs transition into their new roles and other members of the executive team. We invite you to read the safe harbor statements and non-GAAP disclaimer on slide two. It's a reminder that we will be making forward-looking statements during the call and during the question-and-answer session that follows. Actual results may differ materially from what we expect today. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are included there, as well as in our filings with the SEC. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Thanks, Kristina. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our call. I'd like to acknowledge Chris Hagedorn, MPLX's new CFO, joining our call. We look forward to Chris's financial leadership, having served in various roles in the midstream sector, previously being the controller of MPLX and most recently, controller of MPC. 2023 was a strong year as we successfully executed our strategic priorities. Full-year Adjusted EBITDA was $6.3 billion, Distributable Cash Flow was $5.3 billion, and Adjusted Free Cash Flow was $4.1 billion. Our results reflect the continued growth of the partnership and its cash flows. In our L&S segment, strong operational performance and customer demand drove record pipeline throughput and strong growth in terminal throughput, demonstrating the value of our relationship with MPC.

In our G&P segment, we saw record throughput in our gathering, processing and fractionation operations, driven mainly by our assets in the Marcellus and Permian Basins. Our focus on cost management, strong operational performance, and growth from recent capital investments resulted in Adjusted EBITDA growth of nearly 9% and DCF growth of over 7% for the year. In line with our commitment to return capital, the growth of MPLX's cash flows supported the return of $3.3 billion to unitholders through distributions. We've increased our quarterly distribution 10% each of the last two years, which now stands at $3.40 per unit on an annualized basis, and we still have strong distribution coverage of 1.6x. Turning to the macro, the United States continues to be a low-cost producer of energy fuels needed across the globe.

Our expectations on the long-term production outlook in our key basins are unchanged. We expect strong demand for hydrocarbons will support growth across our asset footprint. In our largest basin, the Marcellus, the cost to develop is at the low end of the cost curve and below current commodity prices. In the fourth quarter, process utilization reached 96%, and we expect producer drilling activity to support continued volume growth in the Marcellus. We've seen similar growth rates in the Utica, where processing utilization increased 10% year-over-year. Both basins are seeing wells with longer laterals, which are resulting in higher volumes, highlighting the strength and opportunities we see in our Northeast footprint. In the Permian Basin, crude prices remain attractive and associated gas production continues to grow as producers execute drilling and completion activities.

As part of our Permian growth strategy, we acquired the remaining interest of a gathering and processing joint venture in the Delaware Basin for approximately $270 million at an attractive multiple. This acquisition illustrates our ability to grow the cash flow of the partnership through the lens of strict capital discipline. We're confident in our ability to grow the partnership and are focused on executing the strategic priorities of strict capital discipline, fostering a low-cost culture, and optimizing our asset portfolio, all of which are foundational to the growth of MPLX's cash flows. Turning to our capital plans, today, we announced a capital expenditure outlook of $1.1 billion for 2024. Our plan includes $950 million of growth capital and $150 million of maintenance capital.

We remain committed to capital discipline, and our 2024 growth capital outlook is anchored in the Marcellus and Permian Basins. Our integrated footprints in these basins have positioned the partnership with a steady source of opportunities to expand our value chains, particularly around natural gas and NGL assets. We plan to continue growing these operations through organic projects, investment in our Permian joint ventures, and bolt-on opportunities. In the L&S segment, construction is progressing on the Whistler Agua Dulce to Corpus Christi, or ADCC, natural gas pipeline, which is expected to be in service in the third quarter of 2024. We're also progressing the expansion of the Bengal joint venture NGL pipeline to approximately 200,000 barrels per day, which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.

These projects are largely financed at the JV level. Therefore, our portion of the JV financed capital spending is not reflected in our capital outlook.... In the G&P segment, we're bringing new gas processing plants online to meet increasing customer demand. In the Marcellus Basin, we advanced construction of the Harmon Creek II gas processing plant, which is expected to be online at the end of the first quarter. Similarly, in the Permian Basin, we progressed construction of Preakness II, which is expected to be online early in the second quarter. Additionally, we are building our seventh gas processing plant in the basin, Secretariat, which is expected to be online in the second half of 2025. Once operational, our total processing capacity in the Delaware Basin will be approximately 1.4 billion cubic feet per day.

Outside of these strategic basins, the remainder of our capital plan is mostly comprised of smaller, high return investments targeted at expansion or debottlenecking of existing assets and projects related to expected increased producer activity. While our capital outlook is primarily focused on our L&S and G&P footprint, we will evaluate low carbon opportunities to leverage technologies that are complementary with our asset footprint to create a competitive advantage. Moving to capital allocation, we're optimistic about our opportunities in 2024. First, maintenance capital. We are steadfast in our commitment to safely operate our assets, protect the health and safety of our employees, and support the communities we operate in. Second, we're focused on delivering a secure distribution and expect this will remain our primary return of capital tool. Third, we'll invest to grow the business.

This is both a return on and a return of capital business, and as we look at 2024, our priority is to invest to grow the business at superior returns. After these priorities, we will assess the opportunistic return of capital to unit holders. Recent industry consolidation has not changed our perspectives on the structure of MPLX. MPLX is a strategic investment for MPC, and MPC does not plan to roll up the partnership. Now, let me turn the call over to Chris to discuss our operational and financial results for the quarter.

Chris Hagedorn (CFO)

Thanks, Mike. Slide seven outlines the fourth quarter operational and financial performance highlights for our logistics and storage segments. The L&S segment reported its fourth consecutive quarter of $1 billion adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA increased $110 million when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, primarily driven by higher rates and throughputs, including growth from equity affiliates. Crude pipeline volumes were up 4%, primarily because of refinery maintenance schedules in the prior year. Product pipeline volumes and terminal volumes were flat. Moving to our gathering and processing segment on Slide eight, the G&P segment adjusted EBITDA increased $59 million compared to fourth quarter 2022. This was driven by higher gathering and processing volumes. Total gathered volumes were up 1% year-over-year, primarily due to increased production in the Marcellus in the Southwest.

Processing volumes were up 9% year-over-year, primarily from higher volumes in the Marcellus and the Utica, driven by increased customer demand. Focusing in on the Marcellus, by far our largest basin of G&P operations, we saw year-over-year volume increases of 10% for gathering and 9% for processing, driven by increased drilling and production growth. Marcellus processing utilization reached 96% in the fourth quarter, illustrating the need for our Harmon Creek II facility. Fractionation volumes grew 1% due to higher processed volumes, which were offset by lower ethane recoveries. Moving to our fourth quarter financial highlights on Slide nine, total adjusted EBITDA of $1.6 billion and distributable cash flow of $1.4 billion increased 12% and 9% respectively from prior year.

Turning to our balance sheet on Slide 10, growth of our cash flows has continued to reduce MPLX leverage, which now stands at 3.3x. We believe the stability of our cash flows supports leverage in the range of 4x, and while MPLX has just over $1 billion of notes maturing later this year, we currently do not expect to structurally lower our debt. When evaluating this short-term maturity, we'll consider all opportunities available to us to optimize our cost of debt. MPLX's strong balance sheet, including a year-end cash balance of $1 billion, plus the ability to utilize the intercompany facility with MPC, provides us with financial flexibility to invest in the business and optimize capital allocation. Now, let me hand it back to Mike for some final thoughts.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Thanks, Chris. In closing, MPLX has a strong history of growing the partnership's cash flows by executing strategic priorities, all while maintaining strict capital discipline. We continue to aim for mid-single-digit growth rate over multiple year periods. It's what we believe is appropriate to aim for, given our commitment to capital discipline and the size of our partnership within our capital allocation framework, but this should not be interpreted as annual guidance. As you can see in our results, we've achieved this growth in Adjusted EBITDA and DCF. By deploying capital wisely, controlling our costs, and optimizing operations to get the most out of our assets, we have grown DCF by 7.1% on a four-year compound annual basis.

Our growth tends to come in stairsteps as we develop and bring projects online, and this disciplined approach to growing cash flows creates financial flexibility and underpins our commitment to returning capital to unitholders. We've increased our quarterly distribution 10% each of the last two years, and the business continues to generate free cash flow after distribution of over $800 million annually. So we believe we are in a strong position to continue to consistently grow our distributions. MPLX is a strategic investment for MPC, and as MPLX pursues its growth opportunities, the value of this strategic relationship will be enhanced. We're confident in our growth opportunities and ability, ability to generate strong cash flows. In 2023, we saw total unitholder return of 22%, underpinned by annual Adjusted EBITDA growth of nearly 9% and DCF growth of 7%.

In fact, we have grown EBITDA by nearly $1.2 billion over the last 4 years and have over 7% DCF growth CAGR over the same time frame. By advancing our high return growth projects anchored in the Marcellus and Permian Basins, along with our focus on cost and portfolio optimization, we intend to grow our cash flows, allowing us to reinvest in the business and continue to return capital to unitholders. Now let me turn the call back over to Kristina.

Kristina Kazarian (VP of Finance and Investor Relations)

Thanks, Mike. As we open the call for questions, we ask that you limit yourself to one question plus a follow-up. We may re-prompt for additional questions as time permits. With that, we'll now open the call to questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press Star then One on your touch-tone phone. If you wish to be removed from the queue, please press Star then Two. If you are using a speakerphone, you may need to pick up the handset first before pressing the numbers. Once again, if you have a question, please press Star then One on your touch-tone phone. Our first question will come from John Mackay with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

John Mackay (VP of Equity Research)

Hey, good morning, everyone, and thank you for the time. I just wanted to start on the quarter. I mean, it was pretty strong across the board versus where we were. Just wondering, were there any kind of one-offs in the quarter, or is this a kind of, you know, healthy enough run rate that we can think of MPLX growing off of from here?

Chris Hagedorn (CFO)

Yeah, John, I would say we really did not have any significant one-offs up or down. You'll notice in our Adjusted EBITDA, we did have insurance proceeds, but those were adjusted out, so really nothing significant to point to.

John Mackay (VP of Equity Research)

Fair enough. Thank you. Follow-up. Just on the, you know, CapEx guidance, slightly higher than last couple of years, acknowledging it's, it's only $100 million. But, is that any shift that you're seeing in opportunities, or is that a, a kind of maybe a change in willingness to spend? Maybe you could just kind of frame up, how you got to the 2024 budget versus, you know, maybe 2023 or 2022.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, John, this is Mike. It's a good question. So as you know, we're a service provider, and, you know, at the end of the day, we react to the producer needs, you know, especially on the G&P side of the business. And as I said in the prepared remarks, you know, sometimes it can be a step change. You know, we do have a couple of plants coming on, Harmon Creek II, Preakness II, we got Secretariat coming next year. So, you know, we have a little bit of a growth spurt in processing plant construction, so that's part of it.

But the main reason, though, that we've been spending this, I'll say, roughly around $1 billion a year, is, you know, we have a large enough footprint that we believe over time, that we can generate, you know, better than normal returns and continue to grow. And as I said in my prepared remarks, you know, one of the things we're proud of is, you know, we've grown DCF about 7% consistently over the last four years. And a lot of that has to do with, you know, the term we use is strict capital discipline. You know, continuing to really look for better return projects.

I know for you guys, a lot of times it doesn't come off as, you know, big announcements, but hopefully the results show you that, you know, we're getting good deployment of capital, getting good returns, and like I said, we're kind of proud of, you know, 7% growth for the size of our partnership over a four-year CAGR, hopefully speaks for itself.

John Mackay (VP of Equity Research)

That's clear. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, everyone. Appreciate the time.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

You're welcome, John.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Brian Reynolds with UBS. You may proceed.

Brian Reynolds (Director of Equity Research)

Hi, good morning, everyone. Maybe to start off on the operations in the multi-year mid-single-digit earnings growth cadence. You know, while understanding this is not 2024 earnings guidance, just kind of curious if you can unpack some of the main drivers for earnings growth in 2024 relative to 2023. You know, seems like Marathon throughput volume should be up year-over-year, even with some of the, the 1Q turnaround activity, but curious if you could maybe, you know, unpack some of the other drivers of the base business for the year. Thanks.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Brian, this is Mike again. Yeah, I, I think similar to the, the way John was asking the question is, the way we look at this is we, you know, obviously have a multi-year lens that we're looking at stuff, and we're trying to figure out where is the best way to deploy capital. You know, I keep having this, you know, funny conversation about it's not guidance, but I'm kind of telling you that, you know, we're looking to make sure that we can grow our cash flows consistently year on year. As I just said, you know, it's been 7% for four years in a row. So, so we look at the plan. You know, the team is constantly looking, you know, at organic growth.

We haven't done a lot of M&A, but as you saw, you know, we just recently, you know, bought out a JV partner, and Dave and his team are constantly looking at assets to help the portfolio. So we kind of look at all that together and kind of look out over a couple of years and say: You know, fulfill our goals of continuing to grow the cash flows, because we want to keep, you know, moving that distribution up. You know, we've shown you, you know, 10% the last couple of years. At the end of the day, you know, our lens tends to look out further, compared to what you see, but hopefully, you're seeing it in the results. And let Dave make a couple comments on the market in general.

Dave Heppner (SVP)

Yeah, Brian, this is Dave, as Mike said. So as we think about M&A, and growth, one thing I want to make clear is so growth through M&A for us isn't just buying assets for the fact of buying assets. We look to pursue opportunities, number one, high-quality assets, number two, align with our long-term strategies, and, and number three, allow us to, I'll use the word bolt-on or capture synergies and integration value, along our, our, our value chains, whether it be crude, nat gas, or NGL. So with all that said, that's kind of how we look at it, and the overriding, Mike touched on it, we continue to touch on it through the lens of strict capital discipline, or acceptable risk-adjusted returns.

You know, as we've looked through a lot of the opportunities out there, and there is a lot of activity, it really gets back to we feel we have a lot of high return organic projects to utilize our capital versus some step-out M&A opportunities that we've evaluated up to this point.

Brian Reynolds (Director of Equity Research)

Great, thanks. Appreciate all that color. And I guess maybe through, you know, the broader context of organic growth and, you know, potentially strategic bolt-on M&A, as you alluded to in the prepared remarks. Do you have an updated view on maybe the Corpus market in Bengal? Clearly, it stands for, you know, Mount Belvieu Alternative. So kind of curious if you're if there's other opportunities, maybe downstream, either for further gas or maybe some frack downstreams, outside of Mount Belvieu, that you'd be interested in growing into over time? Thanks.

Dave Heppner (SVP)

Yeah, Brian, this is Dave again. So, you know, we've been, as we just talked about here, you know, we're very public about our plans to expand all of our value chains. And I'll touch on NGL, specifically the Bengal expansion, all the way down to the markets. And as you know, whether we're gonna extend these value chains either independently or via partners, as we have with our JV partners out there, the strategy is really, you know, getting in all the way down to the water and having export optionality. So as you might have heard, you know, in mid-December, MPLX submitted an air permit application for NGL fractionation storage down in the Texas City market.

So you know, that filing, as you would expect, is a step we take as any project manager evaluate optionalities, and through the project development, to submit those permits. So that kind of gives you a view of how we're thinking about it, but, you know, also it doesn't imply that the project has received FID approval, and we're proceeding with it. We'll continue to evaluate all options, as we achieve that value chain build-out, ensure that we're getting the highest and most acceptable rate of return on those investments. So hopefully that gives you a little more color on, you know, the NGL fractionation side of it. Maybe I'll turn over to Shawn to talk a little bit about the Bengal side.

Shawn Lyon (SVP of Logistics and Storage)

Hey, Brian, this is Shawn. Hey, as Dave mentioned, you know, I'll speak to a little bit to the Bengal pipeline there. You know, if you look at Bengal itself, it's really the strength of the partnership that ties the acreage into it. You know, we've got an integrated play, as Dave and Mike have mentioned, with the G&P gas plants, plus other partners that are in it. So we feel really good about the partnership of Bengal that is driving the demand. The other part that we really are pleased with is the capital discipline and the capital efficiency of the Bengal project over time. You know, last year we announced the 200,000 barrels per day expansion. Again, as the volume comes on, we're ready to expand and continue on down that path.

So we feel good about what positioning the pipeline to set up for some of the opportunities that Dave talked about.

Brian Reynolds (Director of Equity Research)

Great, thanks. Appreciate all the commentary this morning. I'll leave it there. Thanks.

Dave Heppner (SVP)

You're welcome, Brian.

Operator (participant)

Our next question will come from Teresa Chen with Barclays. Your line is open.

Theresa Chen (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Good morning. Quick follow-up, related to the Bengal commentary, if I may. Can you just help us walk through the economics behind the expansion? Given that there seems to be quite a bit of Permian NGL capacity coming online between multiple projects, including yours, how do you view the evolution of rates over the next few years, or are you not really susceptible given the integrated strategy?

Shawn Lyon (SVP of Logistics and Storage)

Hey, Teresa, this is Shawn. Hey, you know, good question. I think there's been a lot of, you know, discussion about that. I'll just really speak to, you know, again, our view of Bengal, of how, again, it's really two things: the strength of the partners that really are driving the volume on Bengal, and then also the capital efficiency. And we really feel we're positioned to be, you know, really competitive in that market, so feel really good about that. Again, bringing on the expansion as the volume is there. We know it's there. We've got the integrated, you know, win-win or value with our G&P business and other partners that are attached to Bengal. So we feel good about all those things that is driving it.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Teresa, this is Mike. Can't give you a lot of detail on the economics, but, you know, the capacity is there, so the capital investment is relatively low. You know, we're adding horsepower, as an example. So this is an example of one of those projects where the amount of capital deployed is relatively low. And as Shawn mentioned, you know, we have dedication. We know volumes are going to come, so it fits into, you know, what we call the higher return bucket, you know, compared to, you know, other type of investments. Hope that helps a little bit.

Theresa Chen (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Thank you. And then maybe turning to the residue side. So after Matterhorn begins service this year, there's still a visible need for additional long-haul residue egress out of the basin, right? And thus far, none of the projects under development have moved forward. When do you see residue takeaway becoming a problem, for the basin? And given your interest in Whistler or Matterhorn, what do you view as MPLX's role in the incremental build-out of Permian residue capacity?

Dave Heppner (SVP)

Hey, Teresa, this is Dave. So, I'll, I'll tackle that one. So you touched on a lot of it, and, and Shawn, and, and we have is, as you know, you know, we're, we're participating in those long-haul pipes, whether it be, you know, Whistler that came on originally in 3Q 2021, and then the expansion in, September 2023, whether it be Matterhorn, which will be coming on in 3Q 2024, and subsequent ADCC, which is coming on at the same time frame. So all those are supporting, are participating in the long-haul pipes and that value chain from, from basin, down to, down to the Gulf Coast.

So, you know, as we look forward, number one, we continue to see strong production forecasts out of the Permian, which will continue to you know allow us to evaluate and analyze expansion projects or new projects going forward. With all that said, maybe back to your question, you know, based on our current forecast, you know, we would expect to see after our projects come online that I referenced, probably around the late 2026, early 2027 time frame, the additional you know long-haul expansion capacity is going to be needed based on those forecasts. Hopefully, that helps a little bit.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Teresa, it's Mike. I just wanted to add, aside from the Permian, I think the market is underappreciating the growth potential up in the Marcellus. You know, it's been talked about being in maintenance mode for some amount of time, but if you look recently, you know, there's starting to be a growth spurt occurring up in that area as well. And I think, you know, if people look at it over time, you know, eventually MVP will come online and it's going to unlock some more growth. And I think, you know, that's another area that probably hasn't been appreciated as much. But if you look over even just the last year or the last couple of quarters, you know, in our results in general, you know, the processing volumes have really kicked up compared to where they've been recently.

So aside from the Permian growth, which gets a lot of attention, I think, you know, the Marcellus and also the Utica. Again, Utica was an area that probably was a little less, you know, thought of recently, but it's also, you know, starting to go into a growth mode as well. I'll let Greg give a couple of comments on that because I don't want people to miss that, you know, that thought.

Greg Floerke (EVP and COO)

Yeah. Thanks, Mike. Yeah, this is Greg. Teresa, the, you know, in terms of the volume that we process, well over 6 billion cubic feet a day, which is nearly 6% of the U.S. total gas, is of, of the 9.5 that we process in total was, is in the Marcellus. And, that drove our utilization of our processing plant fleet up to 96%, which is a new record for us. All of that processed gas generated a lot of C3 plus liquids in particular, so that drove our fractionation utilization up to 82% and growing. We have a unique integrated system in the Northeast that's totally different than what we have in the, in the Southwest, in that we have to fractionate our own liquids and then find outlets.

Fortunately, we have outlets to the East Coast for export and as well as into the Midwest through our Cornerstone Pipeline, and we have access for gasoline into Canada, as well as butane into the Midwest. So we have a really good position there. And Harmon Creek II coming online is, you know, much needed at the utilization point we're at now. We've also, as Mike mentioned, brought our Utica utilization up to 49% and growing after a period of time where there wasn't growth, and we see a lot of good tailwinds with new producers moving into Utica and new state land auctions coming up, expected this year. And we have existing capacity, not only the processing plants, but fractionation and liquid and gas pipelines to fill.

So that's leveraging those existing assets and without a lot of new capital is a big focus for us.

Theresa Chen (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Thank you for that detailed answer across multiple regions.

Dave Heppner (SVP)

You're welcome, Teresa.

Operator (participant)

Our next question will come from Jeremy Tonet with JP Morgan. Your line is open.

Jeremy Tonet (Executive Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Hi, good morning.

Dave Heppner (SVP)

Morning, Jeremy.

Jeremy Tonet (Executive Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Just wanted to touch base on the acquisition a little bit more, if I could. If you're able to share a bit more color on on the JV interest acquired. Are these existing assets in the Permian or assets otherwise, that are kind of can be relocated to the Permian? And I guess, you know, just thoughts on the type of synergies that could be captured here, what that could mean for economics.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Jeremy, I'll start. So this particular situation, $270 million to buy out our partner. Obviously, we were the operator of the assets, so we're very familiar with the operations. You know, we know what you know, volumes and contractual dedications we have to it. You know, we said it was an attractive multiple. It was a little under seven, just to give you a flavor as to you know, where the economics of that were. So, you know, these are things that you know, Dave and his team are always talking to our partners about. If there's an opportunity where somebody is willing to you know, get out for you know, for their reasons, and we see it as a good opportunity for us, you know, that's how these transact.

You know, we go into these types of things just looking to be a good partner with all of our JV partners. But there are times when, like, in this case, you know, you know, the partner wanted to exit at a time when we thought it was a good opportunity. So, that's how those kind of play themselves out. You know, we don't count on them, but, you know, when those conversations come up, you know, we're certainly willing to look at it. And then, in general, you know, we, as you know, in this space, we have quite a bit of JVs across our footprint.

So most of the time, we're just trying to work with our partners on how to grow the interest so that both of us or the three of us or however many partners are in it are all getting a win. And that's kind of the way we look at it, you know, from the partnership standpoint. And then, aside from that, you know, our teams are looking, you know, how do we bolt on? Where can we do some you know little bit of capital, you know, organic capital investment such that we can add to it, whether it's a JV asset or just, you know, one of our own assets.

So it's kind of like what I said at the beginning, you know, we're kind of looking out, you know, throughout the year, we're looking at where can we bolt on, where can we add stuff? I know bolt-on isn't sexy, you know, when it comes to the earnings calls, but it's really good returns. So, you know, those are the types of projects we really like.

Jeremy Tonet (Executive Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. That makes sense. And just to clarify, are these assets currently in the Permian, or could they be relocated to the Permian? Just want to make sure it's clear there.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

No, they're in the Permian today. They're in the Delaware.

Jeremy Tonet (Executive Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. And as far as M&A, a lot's been talked about today, but it sounds like you're saying these bolt-ons are more likely than anything larger in nature, is how we should generally think about, you know, potential M&A activity?

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, you know, Jeremy, it's a balance. Obviously, if you're going to get involved in M&A, and to a large extent, you know, if you get into bigger, you know, the returns, you know, are going to be much more competitive, you know, because, you know, a lot of people are going to be involved in that process. You know, the ones that we like better, as long as they continue to be there for us, is, you know, where we can just, you know, organically invest and get a much higher return than the M&A market will typically give you.

As long as we continue to have those, that's why, look, when we announce, you know, our total capital, a large majority of it, we don't talk about on earnings calls or press releases or things like that, because they're smaller projects, but they're much higher returns. So, you know, we tend to favor those just because of the return that they give us. And that's why, you know, some people keep scratching their head a little bit of, you know, how you guys grow in the, the partnership, you know, 7% CAGR over four years, and a lot of it has to do with self-help, things that we're doing internally, these bolt-ons that we're doing, and then occasionally adding, you know, stuff that meets, you know, earnings call discussions, et cetera.

So it's a combination of all those, but what I hope investors are realizing is we're sitting here behind the scenes, looking at it over multiple years and seeing that we think we can, you know, continue to grow the partnership. We have in the back of our head what that means for how we're going to return capital. You know, obviously, it starts with you got to get a return on that capital, and then we think about what's the best way to return it. And that's kind of the internal discussions that we're having all the time.

Jeremy Tonet (Executive Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. Very helpful. Appreciate that. Thank you.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

You're welcome, Jeremy.

Operator (participant)

Next, we will hear from Keith Stanley with Wolfe Research. You may proceed.

Keith Stanley (Director and Senior Analyst)

Hi, good morning. Wanted to follow up on some of the good growth that you saw in the Marcellus and Utica in Q4 and through last year, and some of the positive commentary on 2024. Would you say your integrated footprint across Appalachia is allowing you to take market share over time in that market, and that's part of why you're able to see a little better growth? Or do you see the basin kind of inflecting positively with MVP, and you're just kind of maintaining your market share overall?

Greg Floerke (EVP and COO)

Keith, this is Greg. I would say it's some of both. You know, we have the most extensive integrated footprint in the basin, both across the Utica and the Marcellus. They're interconnected. We have access to multiple fractionation facilities. We have a distributed deethanization plant, so we have a lot of flexibility there. But we also are. It's just good rock. The Utica and the Marcellus basins, in terms of uniformity, are really good, and I think there's some combination of existing producers that are drilling longer laterals that are driving more production per pad.

And then there are, you know, the Utica is a good example of some new producers moving into the region and taking advantage of particularly the light oil and condensate window over there, which brings associated gas and NGLs as well. So really, a combination of both our scale and integration, as well as new production, new producers.

Keith Stanley (Director and Senior Analyst)

Great. Thanks. Second question, I guess, just on the growth outlook, and Mike, you've talked about this a lot already, but the company's investing $1 billion a year of capital. If we're in a world without kind of inflation escalators anymore and assume kind of, you know, flattish commodity prices, is $1 billion a year of capital enough to hit your growth targets, or do you need to continue to find self-help type mechanisms, whether it's costs and efficiency improvements, tuck in M&A, et cetera, in order to hit the growth target. So is $1 billion enough per year, or do you need to find other things to get there as well?

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Keith, it's Mike again. Yeah, it, you know, it's a combination. So you know, what I was saying, if you, if you look at the history, we've been spending around $1 billion, even slightly under the, the last couple of years. And, and recall that, you know, that number also includes that $150 million initial maintenance. So, so we, we take a look at our portfolio, and we try to examine where do we think we have opportunities. And it's really what I was saying to Jeremy's question: It's a combination of all of it. But I think, you know, if you look at the results, you know, 7% over four years, you know, we're about a $6 billion EBITDA business.

So you know, you're looking roughly at about $400 million a year of growth, you know, at that 7%. So we look at, you know, what we have on paper, and we try and think about, you know, how do we get to those kind of levels. That's why I kind of just generically call it mid-single digit, you know, just as a generic number. But we're really thinking for our, our size of partnership, that if we can continue to grow $300 million, $400 million, $500 million, you know, those kind of numbers, we think is sufficient to keep what we think is a very steady growth in return of capital, which we think the market, you know, would like. So we look at all of it.

We look at our self-help, we look at efficiencies, we look at different things that are occurring as far as capital, but up until this point, that's about the level that we've needed to spend to be in that range. To your point, if we thought, you know, at times we need to deploy more capital, you know, that's something that we would have at our hand, you know, at our toolbox, so to speak. So you know, we look at it all. We try and figure out our plan. I know it's probably frustrating for your side of the fence because you don't get to see the multi-year, you know, but that's what we're trying to do.

And it's all to try and show the market that, you know, we're going to continue to grow the cash flows, we're going to continue to increase the distribution, we're going to continue to return capital, and hopefully that, you know, is a good day for investors. You know, last year, we talked about total unit holder return of 22%. We're pretty proud of that, and hopefully, you know, investors have found that to be a good outcome.

Keith Stanley (Director and Senior Analyst)

Thank you.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

You're welcome, Keith.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Michael Blum with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Michael Blum (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Wanted to ask, you know, there's been a lot of M&A consolidation in the upstream space, and I'm wondering if that's had any impact on you, either directly or indirectly. Some of your producer customers maybe are involved in some of those. Just curious if there's, you know, positive or negative or, or, or maybe no impact, but just curious if that's had any impact on you guys.

Greg Floerke (EVP and COO)

This is Greg. I would say that there really has been no impact, or at least no material impact. We have, there is consolidation, but for the most part, we have agreements with, with one party or the other, and in some cases, long-standing agreements. So I would. Yeah, the answer would be really no impact there.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Michael, similarly, on the crude side, you know, there hasn't been anything that we could say directly correlates to that. You know, obviously, we gather in a lot of basins, and whether it's, you know, a single producer or a consolidated producer, it's really the area and the, you know, the dedications that come with that that really impact it, as opposed to who the owner is.

Chris Hagedorn (CFO)

Yeah, and I might add, with one of the recent consolidation activities we saw, we actually did see an uptick in credit profile. So that was actually helpful to us as we thought about our credit profile.

Michael Blum (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Got it. Okay, thanks for that. And then, I know this has been asked on prior calls, but you know, you're sitting there with $1 billion of cash on the balance sheet. You know, you didn't do any buybacks in Q4. It sounds like you're going to maintain the same level of debt, so you're not—it's not going to go away. So just, just maybe just some comments on how you're thinking about maintaining that level of cash and, and what type of, you know, financial flexibility that, that will give you. Thanks.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

I think you hit it on the head with your last comment, Michael. It gives us flexibility. You know, as we started into the year, as I said, we always have a plan in place, but, you know, we had a pretty strong year. We had record throughputs, you know, in the L&S side of the business, as well as the G&P side of the business. You know, EBITDA turned out to be 9% year-on-year growth, so it falls into the category of a good problem to have. Like you said, at the end of the day, we, you know, we spent a little bit of money on the acquisition that we talked about. We deployed capital.

You know, I made the statement that, you know, the last couple of years, we've been generating, you know, roughly about $800 million beyond, you know, our commitment. So it's been a good problem to have. I know people are wondering, you know, what our plan there is, and short term, it's just having that flexibility. You know, we haven't done a lot of buybacks. We've told the market that, you know, we're going to err on the side of distributing through increasing the distribution, which we've done a couple of years in a row. We still think that's our primary tool, is the term that we've used. We've talked on previous calls about, you know, volatility in the equity price.

It's been a factor in some of our decisions, but at the end of the day, it does give us a, you know, a little bit of flexibility, and hopefully, over time, you'll get to see how we deploy it.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. And our final question for today will come from Neil Dingmann with Truist. Your line is open.

Neal Dingmann (Managing Director of Energy Research)

Morning, all. Excuse me. My question is on the Permian that you've talked a bit about. Specifically, seen a little bit, I guess, year-to-date on some weather weakness just in some areas, and wonder if maybe how had an impact there. And then secondly, you know, sounds like, and I just wanna double check, are your longer term, you know, you've got a lot of attractive projects such as, or plans such as Wink to Webster and others. Are those still right on, right on plan?

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

To your first question, Neil, obviously, there's always weather issues that occur every year, but nothing significant compared to what we've seen in the last years. But, you know, certainly, it's the type of thing that we battle at this time of the year in general. But I wouldn't say there's anything major that we needed to discuss. Okay. Yeah.

Shawn Lyon (SVP of Logistics and Storage)

Hey, Neil, this is Shawn. Regarding your question regarding Wink to Webster, you know, we continue to be pleased with the ramp up and the volume we've seen come across at Wink to Webster in 2023. And, you know, likewise, in 2024, we expect to see a little bit of increase, so, you know, going forward. So really pleased with that investment and that JV partnership, going forward in 2024 and beyond.

Neal Dingmann (Managing Director of Energy Research)

Great details. And then just secondly, you guys touched already on the Utica, but I'm just wondering, it looks like you're spending a bit more on the Utica gathering. I'm just wondering, is it perceived growth there, or what's driving this project?

Greg Floerke (EVP and COO)

Yeah, this is Neil, this is Greg. It is perceived growth. We've already seen growth in the Utica. We're filling up existing processing capacity, liquid capacity, transmission and compression. But there is always going to be in areas where we gather additional capital to connect new well pads, which is, you know, a sign of growth from multiple producers. So yeah, that is a sign of more growth, and we're excited to see it.

Neal Dingmann (Managing Director of Energy Research)

Look forward to it. Thank you, all.

Mike Hennigan (Chairman and CEO)

You're welcome, Neil.

Kristina Kazarian (VP of Finance and Investor Relations)

All right. Well, thank you for joining us today, and thank you for your interest in MPLX. Should you have additional questions or would you like clarification on any of the topics discussed today, members of the IR team will be available to take your call.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. That does conclude today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may disconnect at this time.