Phillips 66

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Q1 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptApril 29, 2026

Operator

Welcome to the first-quarter 2026 Phillips 66 earnings conference call. My name is Rob, 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.

Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Sean Maher, Vice President, Investor Relations and Chief Economist.

Sean, you may begin.

Sean Maher

Hello, everyone. Good morning, and thank you for joining Phillips 66 first-quarter 2026 earnings conference call.

Participants on today's call will include Mark Lashier, Chairman and CEO; Kevin Mitchell, CFO; Don Baldridge, Midstream and Chemicals; Rich Harbison, Refining; and Brian Mandell, Marketing and Commercial. Today's presentation can be found on the Investor Relations section of the Phillips 66 website, along with supplemental financial and operating information.

Slide 2 contains our safe harbor statement. We will be making forward-looking statements during today's call.

Actual results may differ materially from today's comments. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are included here as well as in our SEC filings.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Mark.

Mark Lashier

Thank you, Sean. Geopolitical events in the Middle East drove unprecedented commodity price volatility during the quarter.

To put this in context, March was the first month that price moves in major crude oil, refined product, and European natural gas benchmarks all exceeded the 95th percentile. In the face of this volatility, we remained focused on operational excellence.

Our team is executing safely and reliably. The majority of our assets are in the US.

We have pipeline connectivity to some of the lowest-cost and most reliable hydrocarbon corridors in the world. This positions us to reliably supply energy to support global demand.

Due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a significant amount of global refining and petrochemical capacity is down. We, however, continue to operate at high utilization, supplying products to our customers.

Additionally, we have global placement optionality through our commercial organization. This quarter has seen a significant and favorable shift in market fundamentals.

First, the importance of US-sourced hydrocarbons has increased due to a need for diversification and access to reliable supply. Second, unplanned downtime in global refining assets has reduced inventories and will support margins.

Finally, reduced petrochemical production globally due to downtime and higher naphtha prices has reduced inventories and will also support margins. As a reminder, 80% of CPChem's capacity is on the US Gulf Coast with competitive ethane feedstock.

Recent global events show the importance of reliable domestic energy supply. Our Western Gateway pipeline project will address long-term refined products needs, improve supply flexibility, and increase reliability for the West Coast markets.

We're excited about the future due to our strong asset footprint, culture of operating excellence, and attractive fundamental outlook across all of our businesses. Anchored by the strength of our balance sheet, we're confident in our ability to navigate market volatility and capture opportunities.

Brian will now share more on slide 4 about how our commercial organization is one of our competitive advantages.

Brian Mandell

Thanks, Mark. We have a strong commercial organization with six offices across the globe.

Our business enhances our asset footprint by optimizing feedstocks, delivering products into the marketplace, and capturing value. We capitalize on geographic dislocations and turn volatility into opportunity.

With our expertise in global market dynamics, we're ahead of the game. We have an asset-backed trading model and can leverage our physical footprint to take advantage of opportunities.

We trade over 6 million barrels of liquid hydrocarbons every day. This creates optionality and economic value.

Markets are fluid right now, and volatility is likely to persist into next year. Recent disruptions have created multiple opportunities.

For example, we move Bakken crude oil to our Beaumont terminal on the US Gulf Coast, and then, leveraging the Jones Act waiver, to our Bayway refinery. We displace international crudes with domestic grades into our refining system and sold the international barrels into tight overseas markets.

We placed gasoline from our US Gulf Coast commercial blending facilities into the West Coast using the Jones Act waiver. We leveraged our global footprint to deliver LPGs and naphtha produced at our Sweeny hub to global petrochemical customers around the world.

Commercial performance is included in the results of our operating segments, enhancing their margins and improving market capture. Moving to slide 5, the recent shock to the global energy system has been universal.

Refining capacity has been damaged, logistics have shifted, arbitrage routes have changed. We are watching these and other signposts closely to capture additional value.

The differentials between global indices and physical markets have spiked, and forward markets are heavily backwardated. This dynamic reflects tight global crude oil balances.

The outlook for product markets looks even tighter, and we expect refining margins to be constructive through the remainder of the year. Our market analysis, commercial capabilities, and global footprint enable us to optimize the flow of molecules around our system.

Our team maximizes the margin uplift across our value chains. Here are two examples of how we are optimizing our system.

First, we've added two dozen originators around the globe. They speak the language, they know the culture, and they know how to source deals that unlock more value and optionality, providing long-term access to key global markets.

Second, we've tripled our vessels on time charter in the past two years, securing roughly half of our waterborne crude slate. The global tanker fleet has become tight with limited spot availabilities and a large share of sanctioned vessels.

This has caused freight rates to increase to historic levels. By locking in our freight rates early, we reduce the cost of crude to our refineries.

We optimize around our refineries, pipelines, and terminals to ensure that we're leveraging every molecule and driving additional value from our fundamental knowledge of the global markets. Backed by world-class assets, we find opportunity in volatility to deliver greater shareholder value.

Now, I'll turn the call over to Kevin.

Kevin Mitchell

Thank you, Brian. On slide 6, first-quarter reported earnings were $207 million, or 51 cents per share.

Adjusted earnings were $200 million, or 49 cents per share. As a result of a sharp increase in commodity prices during the first quarter, the company's financial results were impacted by mark-to-market losses of $839 million related to short derivative positions used as economic hedges to manage price risk on certain physical positions.

We had a use of operating cash flow of $2.3 billion. Operating cash flow excluding working capital was approximately $700 million.

Capital spending for the quarter was $582 million. We returned $778 million to shareholders, including $269 million of share repurchases and $509 million of dividend payments.

We increased the quarterly dividend 7% on an annualized basis. I will now cover the segment results on slide 7.

Total company adjusted earnings were $200 million. Midstream results decreased mainly due to lower volumes largely due to impacts from Winter Storm Fern, lower margins associated with customer recontracting, and accelerated depreciation associated with a Permian Basin gas plant.

In Chemicals, results increased mainly due to higher polyethylene margins. Across Refining, Marketing and Specialties, and Renewable Fuels, results decreased mainly due to mark-to-market impacts.

In Corporate and Other, the pretax loss increased primarily due to the inclusion of costs associated with the decommissioning and redevelopment of the idled Los Angeles refinery site. Slide 8 shows cash flow for the quarter.

We started the quarter with a $1.1 billion cash balance. Cash from operations excluding working capital was approximately $700 million.

There was a $3 billion use of working capital, mainly reflecting an inventory build and an increase in cash collateral on derivative positions, partly offset by the net benefit in our payables and receivables positions associated with rising commodity prices. We funded $582 million of capital spending and returned $778 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.

Our commitment to return greater than 50% of net operating cash flow to shareholders remains unchanged. The company increased debt in the first quarter.

Given the sharp increase in commodity prices, we issued a term loan and increased borrowings on short-term facilities to manage the margin collateral requirements. We ended the quarter with $5.2 billion in cash.

We are well-positioned to manage further commodity price volatility through significant liquidity, including a high cash balance and cash generated from operations. Slide 9 shows the projected path from the current debt level to year-end 2026 and 2027 debt.

We remain fully committed to a total debt balance of $17 billion by year-end 2027. Consensus cash from operations for 2026 and 2027 is approximately $8 billion.

In the remainder of 2026, we expect operating cash flow, working capital benefits, and the reduction of cash balances as markets stabilize to enable us to reduce debt to approximately $19 billion. In 2027, we expect operating cash flow to enable us to reduce debt by a further $2 billion to $17 billion.

This is consistent with the capital allocation framework we have previously laid out, with approximately $2 billion each to dividends, share repurchases, capital spend, and debt paydown. Looking ahead to the second quarter on slide 10.

In Chemicals, we expect the global O&P utilization rate to be in the low 80s, driven by the uncertainty of operating levels at CPChem's joint ventures in the Middle East. In Refining, we expect the worldwide crude utilization rate to be in the low- to mid-90s.

Turnaround expense is expected to be between $120 and $150 million. We anticipate Corporate and Other costs to be between $430 and $450 million.

Moving to slide 11, Mark will now provide some final thoughts. We will then open the line for questions.

Mark Lashier

Great things happen when preparation meets opportunity. The current environment is attractive across all our businesses.

We've prepared by focusing relentlessly on what we control: cost, culture, competitiveness, and capital with discipline, all in the service of safe, reliable operations that deliver strong shareholder returns. Our teams are performing, and we're pressing in and capturing those opportunities, fully prepared, fully committed to execute and win.

When we win, you win.

Operator

Thank you, Mark. We will now begin the question-and-answer session.

As we open the call for questions, as a courtesy to all participants, please limit yourself to one question and a follow-up. If you have a question, please press star then one on your touchtone phone.

If you wish to be removed from the queue, please press star then one again. 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 touchtone phone. Steve Richardson from Evercore ISI, please go ahead.

Your line is open.

Steve Richardson

Hi, thank you. Guys, I wonder if we could start on the mark-to-market adjustments, and if one of you could give us some color on some of these impacts by segment, if you could, and I know you addressed this in the 8-K, but if you could get into a little bit of how the volatility that you witnessed was outside the bands of expectations?

Can you also just be sure to hit on how you think about that draw of liquidity, what it means going forward, and any impacts it may have on your shareholder return commitments?

Kevin Mitchell

Steve, this is Kevin. Let me walk through some of that detail.

As we laid out in the first quarter, we saw a $839 million mark-to-market loss from an income statement standpoint that impacted Refining, M&S, and Renewables, and the specific amounts by segment were detailed in the press release. This is broadly consistent with what we put out in the 8-K.

We said approximately $900 million at that point, that was our best estimate at that point in time. I think it's important to make it clear that these are mark-to-market impacts on paper hedges that we have in place to offset physical purchases.

Those purchases are marked to market at the end of each month, but the physical inventory is not, and so there's a net impact through the income statement. I do think it's important to emphasize that we do this to protect economic value.

This is a risk mitigation tool. We've been doing this for some time.

It's standard practice, and in the normal course, the impacts of these mark-to-market transactions are just not that significant, not that material. As Mark mentioned in his comments, we saw unprecedented volatility across the commodity markets in which we participate, that caused this, what we'll say is a sort of outsized impact.

As you look ahead in terms of what you can expect on a go-forward basis, it's very much a function of where the commodity prices move from end of March think through, say, the end of the year. If we were to use the forward curve as of end of day yesterday, we'd recover by the end of the year about $500 million of that 893, and it's a commodity-by-commodity calculation on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

Based on the forward curve, if that were to play out as reality, that's what you'd see come back in that context. From a cash standpoint, at the end of the quarter, we had a total of $3.2 billion out on margin associated with all of this activity.

That differs from the income statement effect because there are other barrels being marked where we actually do a corresponding impact to reflect the physical gain. You have more paper activity than is subject to the income statement-related mark-to-market.

That cash impact will come back two ways it comes back. One, directly in falling prices, you'll see the reverse effect.

In normal course, because this is a continual process, as volatility subsides, we effectively consume this cash through our normal purchasing activities. Just to put some context around that, $3.2 billion out on margin at the end of March, at the end of yesterday, it was $2.1 billion, even though the absolute price levels are pretty similar to where they were at the end of the first quarter.

You will see that come down as we work our way through the year. Then as we get into what does this mean in terms of capital allocation, debt reduction, share buybacks, big picture, and I covered it in the earlier comments, and the slide that we put in the presentation on debt targets, we think we will be able to utilize between working capital benefits in the remainder of the year, operating cash flow, and as the markets stabilize, we don't need to carry that much cash, which is what we showed at the end of the quarter and still do, but we can draw down that cash, get debt down to about $19 billion at the end of this year, and then down to our target, $17 billion, next year, all while still returning 50% of our operating cash flow back through dividends and buybacks.

Quite frankly, we used the Street estimates for cash generation in that calculation, but I feel pretty optimistic there's upside there as well, and we'll hold true to that, 50% back to shareholders, and the other excess will just accelerate debt reduction.

Steve Richardson

That's great. Thanks for the fulsome answer, Kevin.

I was wondering if I could just hit as well while we've got you on CPChem. The consultants have full-chain margins up, I believe, 33 cents at last check for the second quarter.

I was wondering if you could talk about what you're seeing in your business and your view on capturing this with obviously very high utilization rate on the US Gulf Coast into the second quarter and the balance of the year?

Mark Lashier

Absolutely, Steve. This is Mark.

CPChem's well-positioned to go out and capture those margins. There can be some contractual step-ups that occur, but they're certainly out there aggressively pushing that.

You've seen the supply and demand situation tighten up dramatically with the limitations coming out of the Middle East. Additionally, you've seen limitations for producers in Asia that, frankly, some countries in Asia are selectively moving hydrocarbons away from petrochemical production and into energy use to protect that.

That further tightens things up. The cost curve has dramatically shifted as the price of oil has gone up versus low-cost ethane in North America.

You see that price floor going up, driving the margin increases. Then there's this factor that, prior to Venezuela, prior to the activities in Iran, China was accessing deeply discounted crude, and so they were converting that into deeply discounted naphtha, and then pouring that polyethylene into the world market.

We think that somewhere in a 5 to 6 cents per pound advantage versus what the cost curve should have been. Now that's been eliminated with the things that have been going on, and so it's very constructive for CPChem.

They can operate from the US Gulf Coast at high rates, and over 80% of their capacity is in the US, access to advantaged ethane feedstocks that feedstock cost has been stable versus what's been going on the rest of the world, they're very well-positioned to go out and capture those margins.

Steve Richardson

Thanks very much.

Operator

Neil Mehta from Goldman Sachs, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Neil Mehta

Good morning, Mark and team. The standout number from this quarter was really the worldwide market capture, which ticked up to 138%, and maybe you can bring this to life a little bit.

Can you give us a couple of examples of dynamics that specifically drove that strength? Then, when we think about sort of a mid-cycle market capture rate, you've talked about mid-90s type of utilization.

I think there are a lot of investors on the call who are thinking that 2Q could be lower than that mid-90s number, though, just because of the backwardation in the curve, and just your perspective if that is actually achievable as we set up for Q2.

Mark Lashier

Neil, that's a great question. Brian was pretty humble in his opening remarks, but we always talk about optionality and creating optionality and what he and his commercial team demonstrated in Q1 is leveraging that optionality.

You think about moving Bakken crude to New Jersey without using a train and leveraging the shipping logistics that they've at least advanced. We've got an advantage over shipping using the Jones Act waivers.

All those things lined up to where Brian and his team could take full advantage of that and to drive that. That's what drove that pretty remarkable capture number, and we're really proud of what they've been doing.

They weren't sitting around watching the world in a crisis. They were moving things to take advantage of the optionality that we've created and were prepared for.

Brian, you can go ahead and talk a little bit more about what your folks have been up to.

Brian Mandell

Hey, Neil. As Mark said, with the huge amount of volatility in the market, with market dislocations and just the integration of our businesses, there was a lot of value to be had in the market.

Just maybe some examples. We profited from a long RIN position, including RINs we generated at our Rodeo renewable facility, and we were also able to roll some lower-cost RINs from prior year into this year.

We had really strong results in our European and Asian trading businesses. As Mark mentioned, the time charters that we put on over the last couple of years really helped in the elevated freight market, and reduced our crude costs into our refineries.

Then finally, you saw some of the product differentials, like on octane and jet, were higher than the indicators, so that helped as well. To give you some context maybe going forward, if we use our refining indicator, it includes a lot of the impacts already.

It's embedded in the indicator. Historically, an average for the year would be 98%.

In Q1, we benefited from all the commercial opportunities I just mentioned. Normally, in Q2, beginning of summer driving season, we would think about mid-50s, just thinking about some of the tailwinds and headwinds.

Tailwinds, things like butane blending. We think there'll be more butane blending due to the RVP waivers.

Strong jet or octane diffs can help us there, and additional commercial value, and I think we'll continue to see some of the same value we saw in Q1. Then there's some headwinds, as you said, backwardation and inventory impacts and even turnarounds, if we had some in Q2, would impact capture.

I'd start with the mid-90s and think about what you think the market will look like in Q2 and then work your way from there.

Neil Mehta

Is it fair to say mid-90s is a good starting point, though, based on the pluses and minuses? Yep.

Brian Mandell

Mid-90s would be a good starting point.

Neil Mehta

Okay. All right.

Then, Kevin, can you hit slide 9 again, maybe in a little bit more detail? Because this is on the pushback since the 8-K came out that I know you and we have gotten on the PSX stories.

Is leverage pretty elevated, and I think part of that is you're just holding excess cash, and so if you could spend a little more time just unpacking this slide, because I think it is important.

Kevin Mitchell

That that is a really important point that, we've effectively, from a debt and cash standpoint, we sort of grossed up the balance sheet, by borrowing more than we need from a normal day-to-day standpoint, but being positioned in the event that we see more extreme volatility and have a need on, for example, margin calls in the event that, significant price increases. That It It does feel like, since the end of the first quarter, that dynamic has settled down a little bit.

The the markets still continue to fluctuate, but we've been in this, if you look at crude, in this sort of $90 to $110-ish band, over that period. Our expectation is as that as market conditions stabilize, we'll be able to draw that cash down, and, clearly, that ha- will have an offset on debt.

Likewise, on, working capital, we had a big working capital use in the first quarter. We expect that to more than come back over the course of the remainder of the year through the combination of, normal sort of, annual trends.

Working First quarter is usually a working capital use for us. It was exacerbated by the margin, calls this year, but we expect that we recover that and end up Our projection is a slight working capital benefit for the year for the full year.

That's our assumption. Then, operating cash flow, we we expect to have healthy operating cash flow, and that will go to debt reduction.

As you roll into next year, that we're we we we continue to have that sort of $8 billion of of operating cash flow, then a couple of billion of that can go to debt reduction pretty comfortably, all that gets us to our, projected $17 billion target. I will emphasize that if we see a continuation of strong margin conditions in refining, in chemicals, that will further enhance the cash generation, will enable us to pay down the debt quicker, and also enable us to return more cash to shareholders.

Neil Mehta

Very clear. Thank you, Kevin.

Operator

Manav Gupta from UBS Financial, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Manav Gupta

Good morning, guys. I have more of a theoretical question, but I'm trying to get to the bottom of this.

Based on your preliminary comments, it feels your refining system, which is in the US mostly, is relatively insulated from these crude supply disruptions and other things that are happening in the world where certain refining assets maybe very good, but can't run. You are relatively insulated from these things, and what I'm trying to understand is, does that mean somebody like a Phillips or even any US refiner in this environment is structurally better off than their global counterparts?

If that is the case, in your opinion, is this the time to be bullish US refining, or is it the time to be bearish US refining, if you could help us answer that? Hi,

Brian Mandell

Manav. It's Brian.

You're absolutely right. This is the time to be bullish US refining.

If we look at what's happened in the marketplace, it started in Asia, moved to Europe, but US has been relatively insulated on supply. Refinery runs are strong, consumer demand is healthy, crude production is relatively stable, and this kind of highlights how we're immune to the crisis, although not to the higher prices.

Largely, our crude, for instance, at Phillips 66, we only purchase about 1% of our crude from the Middle East. Our crude is generally from Canada, from the US, and from Latin America, and of course, from Canada and the US, it's all pipeline-connected, we are in a very, very good position.

Mark Lashier

I would add to Brian's comments, and you think about the activities that they undertook in the first quarter, they do interface with the rest of the world, they're able to move around and leverage domestic supply and push normal imports out into what the global markets are demanding. Then, in addition to that great position in North American refining, CPChem is rock-solid in North America petrochemicals in the high-density polyethylene value chain.

All of our product lines, all of our businesses really have tailwinds in this environment, and we think that those tailwinds will persist for a considerable amount of time.

Manav Gupta

We completely agree. Sometimes people don't forget that you actually own significant amount of renewable diesel capacity in the US.

You never actually entered into a JV to split your capacity. Renewable diesel margins were negative, everybody was losing money, but we are in a very different environment.

Given the size of your footprint, would it be fair to say year-over-year you could see a materially free cash flow inflection in your renewable diesel business, given where we are right now?

Brian Mandell

Absolutely. Even if you just think about the RINs, Manav, the current blended RIN is more than twice what it was in 2025, it's just incredible value alone, and we are running very, very well right now, in fact, above nameplate capacity, you should see a substantial difference than prior year.

Manav Gupta

Thank you so much.

Operator

Doug Leggate from Wolfe Research, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Doug Leggate

Hey, good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking my questions.

Brian, I wonder if I could direct this to you. We've got extraordinary margins, you pointed out multiple times that it's steeply backwardated, and I get the bullish near-term outlook.

The question is duration and what breaks it. We're seeing a lot of airlines cutting capacity or balancing demand through demand destruction, you could argue, versus physical supply constraints.

What's your response to that in terms of margins are great, but what's your view on duration? Then I've got a follow-up for Kevin, please.

Brian Mandell

Thanks, Doug. Our view is this is going to last throughout the rest of this year and into early next year.

If you think about what's going on, it's less about demand destruction and more about demand constriction, trying to manage the need for products, and we kind of think of it as a race to the top. We're watching very tight crude markets and crude prices keep moving up, over $106 say in TI, $118 on Brent, and as crude prices move up, products are going to have to move up even further to open up the refinery margin to keep refiners producing the products that the world needs.

Clearly, the world is tight, and as you mentioned, it's probably jet fuel is the tightest, the refinery margins are going to have to keep opening. We saw that even, for instance, in our European refinery recently, where we saw the gasoline crack was somewhat weak compared to the distillate crack, which seemed to be slowing down European refineries, and then all of a sudden, the gasoline crack made a large move to the upside, opening up margins so that European refiners could produce the products that they need.

I think we'll continue to see that through this year and through early part of next year, even if the Straits are opened in the next month or two months.

Doug Leggate

Brian, would you annuitize this, or treat it as a windfall?

Brian Mandell

What was the question?

Doug Leggate

Would you annuitize this, or would you treat it as a windfall?

Brian Mandell

In other words, are the margins going to persist? I think that we see them persisting for longer than the Straits being closed.

Annuitize it? I don't know that we're at the point where we would annuitize anything, but we see it more than just a few months phenomenon.

Doug Leggate

Thank you for that. This leads to my follow-up question, which is for Kevin.

Kevin, your share price is 5% off its high, and I think Mark just said we wouldn't annuitize this. The opportunity to permanently shift this windfall to your equity value comes from debt reduction versus buying back your shares.

Why is that not the right answer if this is indeed a windfall?

Kevin Mitchell

Doug. You are correct that debt reduction creates equity value as well, and debt reduction is a priority.

The $17 billion target that we laid out there is a target. If we have significant excess cash generation, we will reduce debt below that level.

I'm not going to go so far as to say we will stop buying back shares so it can all go to debt reduction. I think maintaining a degree of balance through the cycle on capital allocation, we've been pretty clear on the 50% return, of which at current levels, about half of that is the dividend, and the other half is buybacks.

As the absolute level of cash generation increases, by definition, if you take 50% back to shareholders, that's an increasing amount also going to the balance sheet. We view it as a balance across the board.

As of right now, while we may only be a few percent off of our high, we still think there is good value in our share price, and so we feel comfortable with that plan and capital allocation.

Doug Leggate

Thanks so much for taking my questions, guys.

Operator

Joe Laetsch from Morgan Stanley, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Joe Laetsch

Hey, good morning, Mark and team, and thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to start on the macro, and just given where product prices are today, can you talk about the demand trends that you're seeing within your system in the US?

Are you seeing any signs of demand destruction on gasoline or diesel? Then inventory levels in the US have drawn to at or below the 5-year range on products, things are starting to look pretty tight.

Yo,

Brian Mandell

hey, Joe. This is Brian.

We haven't seen much demand destruction, probably 1% down for products, both gasoline and diesel. Then in terms of our system, we've actually done really well.

We added over 500 franchise stores last year in Marketing, we're actually seeing a lot of value from the good work the sales team has done in Marketing. We haven't seen demand destruction in the US.

Joe Laetsch

Thanks, that's helpful. Then I wanted to just ask on the Refining side.

Utilization rates of 95% in the quarter were solid, even with some maintenance and I think some third-party pipeline impacts as well. Could you just talk to some of the drivers of the performance during the quarter?

Then as part of that, operating costs, they continue to trend in the right direction, and I recognize there is variability quarter-to-quarter with throughput and natural gas costs, but could you just touch on which inning you think you're in in terms of cost-reduction efforts and the path to the $5.50 per barrel?

Rich Harbison

Joe. This is Rich.

Thanks for the question. First quarter, I'll start with the the cost per barrel and then and then maybe look back at some of the regional performance opportunities that we seized last quarter.

The The cost per barrel, 1Q, was $6.21. That's actually $0.80 per barrel improvement year-over-year.

Good movement there, and very happy with what what the team has accomplished on that front. Quarter-over-quarter, as you indicated, it was slightly higher, and that's primarily due to fewer barrels processed in the quarter.

That that was a combination of of planned maintenance activity, as well as there's just fewer days in the quarter in the first quarter of the year. That that does have a material effect.

Total process inputs were down about 2% quarter-over-quarter. Seasonally, higher natural gas price was also a big big player in this.

Prices got all the way and averaged about $4.87 per MMBtu at the Henry Hub. If we normalize that back to the $3 annual natural gas price was which is the basis we've used for the $5.50 target, the number moves into the low $5.80s on a dollar per barrel opex basis.

That that says, we're we're well within striking range here of of this $5.50 per barrel target in 2027. The organization is really working hard.

They've actually got over 200 initiatives that we're actively pursuing right now, which are forecasted to drive $0.15 to $0.20 per barrel out of out of the base operating costs. These are structural changes in in our in our cost profile, and continuing a trend that we've we've started here well over 4 5 4 years ago now.

Maybe an example of one or two of these. One of them is really changing our approach to how we clean FCC boilers.

It doesn't sound like something very exotic, but that actually will once accomplished, will drive down our annual cost by well over $3 million. Another example is really acid consumption in our sulfuric acid alkylation units, and we're working on tightening up the process controls and the temperature controls on those.

That That strategy is projected to save another $2 million per year. It's racking these wins up one-by-one-by-one across the system, and the team's been doing a fantastic job of doing that.

The balance of the closure, I see us continuing to increase our availability and utilization of the assets, that continued maturity of our reliability programs as well as something I've mentioned before, which is increase in our total process inputs by filling up the downstream units behind the crude units, using all that discipline that we put in for the crude unit side to apply it to the downstream units. This remains an ongoing execution story, and I'm I'm very happy with the way the organization's progressing it, and we do see additional upside on that.

On the on the market capture regional performance side of the of the business, Brian covered a lot of that generally at the macro level, but what we saw on the Refining side was, cargo prices coming in a little bit lower for us in Refining. Some of that's just the anomaly of pricing.

We got prior-month pricing that's coming in on on crude deliveries, and really good work by the European office to capture strong results, and especially on that on that jet side of the business, the kerosene fuel, as those prices disconnected from traditional tie to distillate. On the Gulf Coast, we saw the same similar story.

Jet production there quarter-on-quarter was very high. That's for us, and it was also very timely with the jet pricing blowing out coming out of the Gulf Coast area as well.

Then in the Central Corridor, this is where we had a lot of our turnaround activity focused for for the quarter, we did we did see the market capture actually go down a bit there, and that was related to maintenance activity at Wood River and Borger facilities, and and some mark-to-market impacts that Kevin had pointed out earlier in in the call here. Last but not least, the West Coast was in a pretty good spot.

As you mentioned, there was some impact with third-party pipeline operations there that slowed down our Pacific Northwest operations, but short of that, the team did a fantastic job of capturing the marketplace.

Joe Laetsch

Great. Thank you, appreciate it.

Operator

Phillip Jungwirth from BMO Capital Markets, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Phillip Jungwirth

Thanks, good morning. On Midstream, just how does higher crude prices change how you're thinking about investment opportunities, if it becomes clear there's going to be a greater call on shale?

We see the publics raise capex. Just would you be willing to look more at organic growth here, if so, which parts of the value chain would that consist of: G&P, pipeline, frac, or exports?

Then just last, just how much sensitivity is there around the $4.5 billion Midstream EBITDA target by year-end '27 if we do see higher US volumes?

Don Baldridge

Hi, Phillip. This is Don.

When I think about the crude prices and the activity, what I would say first and foremost, that capital discipline, returns, those are very important to us. Certainly, as opportunities evolve, whether that's volume growth in the field where we can add gathering and processing capacity to serve our customers and fill our value chain up, we'll certainly pursue those opportunities.

We've got growth plans in place. You'll see us continue to add capacity as the customer needs evolve.

I think that's center the fairway of our Midstream growth plans. You'll see that we try to maintain a balanced value chain, and what I mean by that is adding gathering and processing capacity, making sure we've got the downstream infrastructure, but also being mindful of what capacities are needed in the market, again, going back to staying focused on capital discipline, staying focused on the returns that we can generate with those organic growth opportunities.

In terms of 2027 and our $4.5 billion target, we feel very good about that target, the path that we are on. Certainly, the fundamentals are bright, coupled with our execution and commercial successes.

We feel very comfortable with where we are on that trajectory, as well as the ability to sustain that growth beyond 2027.

Phillip Jungwirth

Great, and then coming back to Chemicals, once the Strait opens up, how do you see the progression for getting back to normal operations for CPChem, where you are guiding the lower 2Q utilization, but obviously benefiting on the margin front in the Gulf Coast? If you could also just comment on the broader industry, that would also be helpful, just in terms of what does that scenario look like, steps to take, and time duration to get back to normal?

Mark Lashier

I think as far as CPChem is concerned, the assets in the Middle East that are offline are in good shape. The bigger question is then the greater infrastructure in the Middle East and what challenges there may be.

I think that there's probably a greater sense of urgency to get crude oil and refined products moving, and then petrochemicals may be a next layer. I think that revival from the Gulf will be a little lagged behind energy recovery.

Then you're going to see the system need to repopulate the inventory chain, the logistics chain, and that will take some time. I think you'll see this have some legs on it.

Now, we've got two big projects underway, too, and those projects, the Golden Triangle project in the US and the RLPP project in Qatar are both proceeding as expected, and there's been no disruption in the progress of the RLPP project in spite of what's going on. Everybody's been safe.

Everybody's doing what they need to do to get that project going, and both those projects will come online fully in 2027. You'll see Golden Triangle Polymers starting to commission things later this year, and they're making great progress.

I think they will contribute capacity at a time when it'll be really sorely needed, I think. There'll be good progress from multiple dimensions for CPChem as this crisis resolves itself.

Phillip Jungwirth

Thank you.

Operator

Lloyd Byrne from Jefferies, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Lloyd Byrne

Hey, good afternoon, Mark, Kevin, team. Thank you for having me on.

Can I start by following up on Neil's question on capture? I know you commented on how well-positioned your transportation is, but how does that impact second-quarter capture or maybe even third-quarter if rates continue to go on like this?

Brian Mandell

Yeah. You should see a benefit, given that we locked in our shipping rates over the last couple of years, and shipping rates are so elevated, you should continue to see a benefit from shipping rates, particularly in our Atlantic Basin region.

Lloyd Byrne

Thanks. Let me ask a follow-up.

I don't know whether Don's on, but maybe Mark can answer it. Can you comment on Western Gateway, and obviously a very good open season, just what are the hurdles left and kind of the timing for FID?

Don Baldridge

Hey, Lloyd. This is Don.

Appreciate the question on Western Gateway. We are quite excited about where we are on the Western Gateway project, the progress we've made to date and where we find ourselves at the end of the second open season.

How I see the path forward here is to complete the JV arrangements with Kinder Morgan, as well as execute the transportation agreements with the third-party shippers. We've got a team that's working hard to get that done.

I would say, with the successful conclusion of that work over the next couple of months, I'd expect we would be in a position to FID this project mid- to late summer, again, for a 2029 in-service date. One of the things as I reflect back on just the progress we've made and what we've learned through the open season is really twofold.

One, I think there is a strong market interest in having a newbuild pipeline built to Phoenix, to be able to deliver reliable, secure transportation fuels to the West. Then two, there's a strong support from the state and federal groups, agencies, and officials in having this pipeline in service as soon as possible.

That gives me a lot of confidence that Western Gateway is the right project at the right time and will deliver the right returns.

Lloyd Byrne

That's great. Thank you, guys.

Operator

Theresa Chen from Barclays, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Theresa Chen

Hi there. On the Midstream front, with the crude price outlook likely risked to the upside over the medium term and potential reacceleration of activity in second-tier basins, can you talk about utilization and the ability to expand your path-forward NGL assets, that are now or soon will be connected to Kinder's Double H conversion now in NGL service?

If there is renewed growth in associated gas, either in the Bakken or in the Rockies itself, how much incremental pipe capacity could you have on your Rockies to Sweeny NGL system, or would that require significantly more investment?

Don Baldridge

Hi, Theresa. Appreciate the question.

In the Rockies, right now, actually, our DJ production, we're seeing some record volume, it's very exciting to see the volume in that area. Certainly, as you alluded, there's opportunities, whether that's in the Powder River Basin or the Bakken, for additional development.

We certainly have a well-positioned NGL network out of Colorado that flows through our system in multiple different routes and feeds into our Sweeny complex. We've recently restarted our Powder River NGL pipeline to be able to take some early Bakken barrels.

If there's growth in that area, we would certainly look at opportunities to be able to expand capacity, to be able to fill the downstream pipes that we have out of the Rockies. That is certainly an area that we're keeping an eye on.

Theresa Chen

Thank you. In regards to Western Gateway, now that the commercialization process is done, what range of total capex and expected build multiple on a 100% basis can you share at this point, regardless of how the economics will be split between the partners?

Don Baldridge

We still need to kind of work through some of the final details with our partner in terms of scope and connections with our perspective of shippers. Probably premature to have that information out there, but it will be out there shortly.

Theresa Chen

Thank you.

Operator

Matthew Blair from TPH, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Matthew Blair

Great, thank you. Just one question for me.

Could you talk about the Canadian crude market? Looks like WCS at Hardisty is one of the most attractive crudes out there.

Are the wider diffs relative to TI due to any pipeline constraints coming out of Canada? Then the market structure impacts that you talked about earlier for US inland barrels, would those apply to Canadian barrels as well, or are they not affected by that?

Thank you.

Brian Mandell

I'd say clearly, the WTI-WCS differentials have moved wider, from very tight levels earlier on this year. They're now next month at almost $18 off.

It's a couple of reasons. The first reason is that light sweet crudes from the US are being pulled to Asia, and so that's tightening up light sweet crudes and medium sours.

The second reason is that the Venezuelan barrels on the market and also some planned and unplanned outages at refineries have put some pressure on the heavy grades, and so that's kind of widened the WTI-WCS. Our kind of view is they're going to stay wide for some period of time.

We're in a very strong position with our Mid-Con portfolio and our pipeline position, which is competitive advantage, given the Canadian crudes to our refineries, and we benefit from those wide differentials, as you mentioned. Currently, just as a reminder, our sensitivity is $140 million of additional earnings for every dollar wider that the diffs become.

Operator

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Sean Maher for closing comments.

Sean Maher

Thank you for your interest in Phillips 66. If you have any questions or feedback after today's call, please reach out to Kirk or myself.

Thanks, and have a great day.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation.

You may now disconnect.