ONEOK, Inc. (OKE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome. I'm John Gibson, Chairman of the Board of ONEOK, Inc., and it's my pleasure to welcome you to the ONEOK 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I now call this meeting to order. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are holding this year's annual meeting as a virtual meeting via the web. It is our intention to conduct today's meeting in accordance with the agenda and rules and procedures posted on the virtual meeting website. Please note that following the adjournment of the meeting, there will be an opportunity for you to submit questions online via the meeting site. The polls will open for voting after all the proposals have been presented. I remind you that statements made during our annual meeting that include ONEOK expectations or predictions should be considered forward-looking statements and are covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ, please refer to our SEC filings. Before proceeding to the business of the meeting, let me introduce your Board. Brian Derksen, retired Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte U.S., Dallas, Texas; Julie Edwards, retired Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Southern Union Company and former Chief Financial Officer, Frontier oil, Houston, Texas; Mark W. Helderman, retired Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager of Sasco Capital, Inc. Westlake, Ohio; Randy Larson, retired Chief Executive Officer of TransMontaigne Partners LP, Tucson, Arizona; Steve Malcolm, retired Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Williams Companies, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Jim Mogg, retired Chairman of the Board of DCP Midstream GP, LLC, Hydro, Oklahoma; Pattye Moore, retired Chairman of the Board of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and former President, Sonic Corporation, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; Eddie Rodriguez, President, Strategic Communications Consulting Group, El Paso, Texas; Gerald B. Smith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Smith Graham & Co., Houston, Texas; and Terry Spencer, President and Chief Executive Officer, ONEOK, Inc. On behalf of all ONEOK shareholders, I thank you for your service on the Board. Patrick W. Cipolla, Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Compliance and Ethics and Corporate Secretary of ONEOK, Inc., will serve as Secretary for this meeting. Daniel Loeffler, Vice President of EQ Shareholder Services, our independent stock transfer agent, has been appointed as inspector of election for this meeting. Mr. Cipolla will now report on the mailing of the notice of this meeting and the presence of a quorum.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Notice of this meeting, accompanied by a proxy statement covering the matters to be acted upon at this meeting, a proxy card and the company's 2020 annual report were first mailed on April 7, 2021, to each shareholder of record as of March 29, 2021. A list of shareholders entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting has been available for viewing at the corporate headquarters for the past 10 days and is available for viewing by appointments. At the record date, 445,533,877 shares of ONEOK common stock were issued and outstanding. We are informed by the inspector of election that the count of shares immediately prior to this meeting shows that a majority of shares of ONEOK common stock outstanding at the record date are represented at this meeting in person or by proxy. Mr. Chairman, a quorum is therefore present.

Thank you, Mr. Cipolla. I hereby declare a quorum is present and that this meeting is duly convened for the purpose of conducting such business as may properly come before it. On behalf of the Board of Directors of ONEOK, I express my appreciation to all shareholders participating today and all shareholders who return their proxies. At today's meeting, we are asking our shareholders to vote on the following 3 proposals. Proposal #1 is the annual election of 11 directors to serve for a 1-year term expiring at the company's annual meeting of shareholders in 2022. The nominees for the 11 director seats as set forth in the proxy statement for this meeting are Brian L. Derksen, Julie H. Edwards, John W. Gibson, Mark W. Helderman, Randall J. Larson, Steven J. Malcolm, Jim W. Mogg, Pattye L. Moore, Eduardo A. Rodriguez, Gerald B. Smith and Terry K. Spencer. Proposal #2 is the ratification of the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for ONEOK Inc. for the year ending December 31, 2021. Proposal #3 is the annual advisory vote on the compensation paid to the named executive officers as described in the proxy statement for today's meeting. I'll now move for shareholder approval of these 3 proposals. Polls are now open. I would like to point out that those of you who have previously returned proxies, have authorized the persons named in the proxy to vote your shares as instructed on all proposals coming before the meeting, and you do not need to take any further action. If any shareholder who has not submitted a proxy or wishes to revoke a previously voted proxy and recast their vote, you may do so by clicking on the voting button on the meeting website and follow the instructions. Since all shareholders have now had the opportunity to vote, I declare the polls closed. The inspector of election will now count the votes. While the inspector is completing the tabulation of the votes, I would like to make a few comments concerning the company's announcement yesterday of Terry Spencer's decision to retire later this year, and the election of Pierce Norton to succeed Terry as President and CEO of ONEOK, effective June 28, 2021. First, the Board of Directors and I would like to thank Terry for his leadership as our CEO these past 7 years, and his dedication to ONEOK these last 2 decades. Under Terry's leadership, the company has experienced tremendous growth and success even through unprecedented challenges and is well positioned for years to come. I also want to thank Julie Edwards and the other independent directors for the work they have done, executing our succession process. It was a challenge to navigate this process in the midst of a pandemic and with the recusal of myself and the other ONE Gas directors, but Julie led a very effective process with the same degree of diligence and professionalism that we have seen her demonstrate for years. And finally, I want to congratulate Pierce Norton on his election. I have seen Pierce's leadership when he was an executive at ONEOK. I watched him grow as the CEO of ONE Gas, and I'm excited to see him bring his talents and abilities back to ONEOK. Now I'll ask Terry to share some remarks and provide an update on the company's performance.

Thank you, John. Good morning, and welcome to ONEOK's annual Meeting of Shareholders. Thank you for joining us today and for your continued trust and investment in our company. Before I begin my comments, I want to address the company's announcement yesterday of my retirement as an employee of ONEOK on September 30 of this year, after 20 years of service to the company. First, I want to thank the many ONEOK employees for their hard work and unwavering dedication during my time with the company. I also want to thank our Board of Directors for their steadfast support during my service as the CEO. It is the interaction with my management team, employees, directors, investors, industry associates and key stakeholders that I will miss. I also want to congratulate Pierce Norton on his new role. His deep energy industry experience and his proven track record as an exceptional CEO and leader will serve him well as he returns to ONEOK as its Chief Executive Officer. I have known Pierce for the better part of 4 decades and worked closely with him during his prior 10 years here at ONEOK. His extensive operational and commercial expertise in the midstream and sound business judgment will be a great asset to the company. It has been an honor to serve as the President and CEO of ONEOK over the past 7 years, and it is with great pride and appreciation that I reflect on the remarkable growth of the company during these past 2 decades. With that, I will now highlight the company's 2020 performance. A review of 2020 was included in the proxy statement and the annual report, which were distributed to investors in advance of today's meeting. These include detailed information on ONEOK's 2020 financial and operational performance, and I encourage you to review them if you have not already done so. The global pandemic made 2020 a challenging and extraordinary year for the world, our country and our industry. However, our large integrated business remained a critical link in delivering natural gas and natural gas liquids to consumers as the economies continue to recover. More than 10% of the U.S. natural gas production is reliant upon ONEOK's infrastructure to get to market. In March of last year, many of our employees began working remotely to reduce exposure to COVID 19. While this presented new challenges, our focus on operating our network of assets safely, reliably and in an environmentally responsible way did not waver nor did our commitment to returning value to investors. We demonstrated capital stewardship throughout the year by completing our remaining active capital growth projects on time and on budget, including the Arbuckle II pipeline and extension, the Demicks Lake II natural gas processing facility, the MB-4 fractionator, expansions of the West Texas NGL pipeline system and the Bakken NGL pipeline lateral. These projects provide us with significant capacity to benefit from future supply growth at lower capital investment levels. We maintained our dividend and financial strength amid uncertainty early in the pandemic, and we remain committed to best practices in the area of environmental, social and governance. In 2020, ONEOK was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the first time, where we currently are the only North American energy company included in the group of global sustainability leaders. ONEOK was also included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the second consecutive year. ONEOK's solid first quarter 2021 results provide positive momentum as volumes on our systems and our outlook for 2021 continue to strengthen, supporting the increase to our financial guidance we announced in April. Our guidance expectations support our view of earnings growth, a strengthening balance sheet and improving dividend coverage this year. ONEOK's earnings growth in 2021 is not dependent on increased rig activity or increasing commodity prices, although we have seen both this year. The opportunities available to us are from a robust drill, but uncompleted well inventory, increased natural gas capture and rising gas-to-oil ratios in the Williston Basin and increasing ethane demand. This opportunity for earnings growth without the need for significant investment is unique to ONEOK and to our strategic assets in key operating areas. While our expectations for 2021 aren't based on it, increasing producer activity and strengthening energy markets have further enhanced our view of 2021 and are setting up to provide positive momentum into 2022. Indications from several of our producers in the Williston Basin point increasing activity in the second half of 2021, particularly in Dunn County. In response to this, we've resumed construction on our Bear Creek processing plant expansion and expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of this year. Once complete, we will have approximately 1.7 Bcf per day of processing capacity in the basin, and we'll be able to grow our volumes with minimal capital as producer activity levels increase. Our sustainability, renewables and operations teams continue to collaborate and develop opportunities that will complement our extensive midstream assets and expertise. They're focusing on opportunities to lower our greenhouse gas emissions, while enhancing profitability, further strengthening the vital role we expect to play in a low carbon economy. Opportunities under evaluation include the further electrification of compression assets, potential carbon capture and storage projects, sourcing renewable energy for operations and other longer-term investments, such as hydrogen transportation and storage. And as always, we'll remain disciplined in our capital approach as we develop these opportunities. Demand for the products we transport remain strong. The pandemic and recent weather events have further highlighted the importance of natural gas. NGLs and the many end-use products they help create, which all play a vital role in helping us lead safer and healthier lives. Our ability to transport these products safely and responsibly to markets is key to their ultimate end use. Winter storm Uri once again proved our ability to do that, even in the most extreme conditions. We wouldn't be in a strong position we are in today if it weren't for our employees. Whether they continue to work at our facilities or remotely, we thank them for their hard work and dedication to our company and for staying focused and connected with each other. I'd also like to thank our Board of Directors for their continued guidance and counsel. In 2020, we saw changes to our Board with Gary Parker retiring in December after 29 years of commitment and service to our company. We also welcomed Gerald Smith back as a member of our Board. We thank Gary and all our Board members for their support as our company continues to focus on meeting the needs of our customers and shareholders. And finally, thank you, our investors, for your continued trust and investment in ONEOK. Thank you.

Mr. Cipolla, will you please report on the results of the voting?

Mr. Chairman, we've been provided the preliminary report of the inspector of election as follows: each of the 11 Director nominees has been elected to the Board of Directors and each of the other 2 proposals has been approved by the required vote of the ONEOK shareholders.

Thank you, Mr. Cipolla. Because no one has submitted any additional business for this meeting in accordance with the provisions of our bylaws, there is no other business to come before this meeting. I once again express my appreciation to the shareholders who attended this meeting and to those who submitted their proxies prior to the meeting. And I now declare this annual meeting of Shareholders concluded. We are now ready for any shareholder questions that have not been previously addressed in Mr. Spencer's remarks or are not disclosed in our public documents. Hearing none, that concludes the Q&A session. Thank you very much for attending. And operator, you may now disconnect.