HF Sinclair Corporation Reports 2023 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results

HF Sinclair Corporation (NYSE:DINO) (“HF Sinclair” or the “Company”) today reported fourth quarter net loss attributable to HF Sinclair stockholders of $(62.2) million, or $(0.34) per diluted share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, compared to net income attributable to HF Sinclair stockholders of $587.0 million, or $2.92 per diluted share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2022. Excluding the adjustments shown in the accompanying earnings release table, adjusted net income attributable to HF Sinclair stockholders for the fourth quarter of 2023 was $164.6 million, or $0.87 per diluted share, compared to $597.8 million, or $2.97 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2022.

HF Sinclair’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Go, commented, “HF Sinclair’s strong fourth quarter and full year results reflect our continued commitment to executing our corporate strategy. In 2023, we completed maintenance turnarounds at all of our refineries during the year on schedule and on budget as we took another step towards improving reliability across our portfolio. In addition, in the fourth quarter we closed the transaction to buy-in our HEP business and furthered our efforts to integrate and optimize our asset base. During the year, we also returned over $1.3 billion in cash to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends, delivering on our cash return commitment to shareholders. Going forward, we remain focused on further executing our corporate strategy to maximize shareholder value. We believe the strength and diversification of our asset base, coupled with our disciplined approach to capital allocation, will position us for success.”

Refining segment loss before interest and income taxes was $(74.6) million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to income before interest and income taxes of $758.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The segment reported EBITDA of $57.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $863.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. Excluding the lower of cost or market inventory valuation adjustment, the segment reported Adjusted EBITDA of $278.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2023. This decrease was primarily driven by lower refinery gross margins in both the West and Mid-Continent regions which resulted in lower Refining segment earnings in the quarter. Consolidated refinery gross margin was $13.88 per produced barrel, a 41% decrease compared to $23.47 for the fourth quarter of 2022. Crude oil charge averaged 614,160 barrels per day (“BPD”) for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 628,160 BPD for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Renewables segment loss before interest and income taxes was $(75.9) million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $(34.7) million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The segment reported EBITDA of $(56.7) million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $(16.4) million for the fourth quarter of 2022. Excluding the lower of cost or market inventory valuation adjustment, the segment reported Adjusted EBITDA of $(2.7) million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $(6.9) million for the fourth quarter of 2022. Total sales volumes were 63 million gallons for the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to 54 million gallons for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Marketing segment income before interest and income taxes was $2.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $16.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The segment reported EBITDA of $9.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $23.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. Total branded fuel sales volumes were 350 million gallons for the fourth quarter 2023 as compared to 336 million gallons for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Lubricants & Specialties segment income before interest and income taxes was $34.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $44.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The segment reported EBITDA of $57.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $66.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. This decrease was largely driven by a $29.9 million FIFO charge from consumption of higher priced feedstock inventory in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to a $7.3 million FIFO charge for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Midstream segment income before interest and income taxes was $81.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $68.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The segment reported EBITDA of $104.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $89.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 and Adjusted EBITDA of $109.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $87.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2022.

For the fourth quarter of 2023, net cash provided by operations totaled $230.7 million. At December 31, 2023, the Company's cash and cash equivalents totaled $1,353.7 million, an $861.0 million decrease compared to cash and cash equivalents of $2,214.8 million at September 30, 2023. During the fourth quarter of 2023, the Company announced and paid a regular dividend of $0.45 per share to stockholders totaling $81.9 million and spent $165.7 million on share repurchases. Additionally, the Company's consolidated debt was $2,739.1 million.

HF Sinclair announced on February 14, 2024 that its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend in the amount of $0.50 per share, an increase of $0.05 over its previous dividend of $0.45 per share. The dividend is payable on March 5, 2024 to holders of record of common stock on February 26, 2024.

The Company has scheduled a webcast conference call for today, February 21, 2024, at 8:30 AM Eastern Time to discuss fourth quarter financial results. This webcast may be accessed at: https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/326631081. An audio archive of this webcast will be available using the above noted link through March 6, 2024.

HF Sinclair Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is an independent energy company that produces and markets high-value light products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, renewable diesel and other specialty products. HF Sinclair owns and operates refineries located in Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, Washington and Utah. HF Sinclair provides petroleum product and crude oil transportation, terminalling, storage and throughput services to its refineries and the petroleum industry. HF Sinclair markets its refined products principally in the Southwest U.S., the Rocky Mountains extending into the Pacific Northwest and in other neighboring Plains states and supplies high-quality fuels to more than 1,500 branded stations and licenses the use of the Sinclair brand at more than 300 additional locations throughout the country. HF Sinclair produces renewable diesel at two of its facilities in Wyoming and also at its facility in Artesia, New Mexico. In addition, subsidiaries of HF Sinclair produce and market base oils and other specialized lubricants in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands, and export products to more than 80 countries.

The following is a “safe harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements in this press release relating to matters that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” based on management’s beliefs and assumptions using currently available information and expectations as of the date hereof, are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, including those contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Forward-looking statements use words such as “anticipate,” “project,” “will,” “expect,” “plan,” “goal,” “forecast,” “strategy,” “intend,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “believe,” “may,” and similar expressions and statements regarding the Company's plans and objectives for future operations. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot assure you that the Company's expectations will prove to be correct. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied or forecast in such statements. Any differences could be caused by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the demand for and supply of feedstocks, crude oil and refined products, including uncertainty regarding the increasing societal expectations that companies address climate change and greenhouse gas emissions; risks and uncertainties with respect to the actions of actual or potential competitive suppliers and transporters of refined petroleum products or lubricant and specialty products in the Company’s markets; the spread between market prices for refined products and market prices for crude oil; the possibility of constraints on the transportation of refined products or lubricant and specialty products; the possibility of inefficiencies, curtailments or shutdowns in refinery operations or pipelines, whether due to reductions in demand, accidents, unexpected leaks or spills, unscheduled shutdowns, infection in the workforce, weather events, global health events, civil unrest, expropriation of assets, and other economic, diplomatic, legislative, or political events or developments, terrorism, cyberattacks, vandalism or other catastrophes or disruptions affecting the Company’s operations, production facilities, machinery, pipelines and other logistics assets, equipment, or information systems, or any of the foregoing of the Company’s suppliers, customers, or third-party providers, and any potential asset impairments resulting from, or the failure to have adequate insurance coverage for or receive insurance recoveries from, such actions; the effects of current and/or future governmental and environmental regulations and policies, including compliance with existing, new and changing environmental and health and safety laws and regulations, related reporting requirements and pipeline integrity programs; the availability and cost of financing to the Company; the effectiveness of the Company’s capital investments and marketing strategies; the Company’s efficiency in carrying out and consummating construction projects, including the Company’s ability to complete announced capital projects on time and within capital guidance; the Company’s ability to timely obtain or maintain permits, including those necessary for operations or capital projects; the ability of the Company to acquire complementary assets or businesses to the Company's existing assets and business on acceptable terms and to integrate any existing or future acquired operations and realize the expected synergies of any such transaction on the expected timeline; the possibility of vandalism or other disruptive activity, or terrorist or cyberattacks and the consequences of any such activities or attacks; uncertainty regarding the effects and duration of global hostilities, including shipping disruptions in the Red Sea, the Israel-Gaza conflict, the Russia-Ukraine war, and any associated military campaigns which may disrupt crude oil supplies and markets for the Company’s refined products and create instability in the financial markets that could restrict the Company’s ability to raise capital; general economic conditions, including economic slowdowns caused by a local or national recession or other adverse economic condition, such as periods of increased or prolonged inflation; limitations on the Company’s ability to make future dividend payments or effectuate share repurchases due to market conditions and corporate, tax, regulatory and other considerations, and other business, financial, operational and legal risks. Additional information on risks and uncertainties that could affect our business prospects and performance is provided in the reports filed by us with the SEC. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and, other than as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Financial Data (all information in this release is unaudited)

Balance Sheet Data

Segment Information

Our operations are organized into five reportable segments: Refining, Renewables, Marketing, Lubricants & Specialties and Midstream. Our operations that are not included in one of these five reportable segments are included in Corporate and Other. Intersegment transactions are eliminated in our consolidated financial statements and are included in Eliminations. Corporate and Other and Eliminations are aggregated and presented under the Corporate, Other and Eliminations column.

The Refining segment represents the operations of our El Dorado, Tulsa, Navajo, Woods Cross and Puget Sound refineries and HF Sinclair Asphalt Company LLC (“Asphalt”). Effective with the Sinclair Transactions that closed on March 14, 2022, the Refining segment includes our Parco and Casper refineries. Refining activities involve the purchase and refining of crude oil and wholesale marketing of refined products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel. These petroleum products are primarily marketed in the Mid-Continent, Southwest and Rocky Mountains extending into the Pacific Northwest geographic regions of the United States. Asphalt operates various asphalt terminals in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

The Renewables segment represents the operations of our Cheyenne renewable diesel unit (“RDU”), which was mechanically complete in the fourth quarter of 2021 and operational in the first quarter of 2022, the pre-treatment unit at our Artesia, New Mexico facility, which was completed and operational in the first quarter of 2022 and the Artesia RDU, which was completed and operational in the second quarter of 2022. Also, effective with the Sinclair Transactions that closed on March 14, 2022, the Renewables segment includes the Sinclair RDU.

Effective with the Sinclair Transactions that closed on March 14, 2022, the Marketing segment represents branded fuel sales to Sinclair branded sites in the United States and licensing fees for the use of the Sinclair brand at additional locations throughout the country. The Marketing segment also includes branded fuel sales to non-Sinclair branded sites from legacy HollyFrontier agreements and revenues from other marketing activities. Our branded sites are located in several states across the United States with the highest concentration of the sites located in our West and Mid-Continent regions.

The Lubricants & Specialties segment represents Petro-Canada Lubricants Inc.’s production operations, located in Mississauga, Ontario, that includes lubricant products such as base oils, white oils, specialty products and finished lubricants, and the operations of our Petro-Canada Lubricants business that includes the marketing of products to both retail and wholesale outlets through a global sales network with locations in Canada, the United States and Europe. Additionally, the Lubricants & Specialties segment includes specialty lubricant products produced at our Tulsa refineries that are marketed throughout North America and are distributed in Central and South America and the operations of Red Giant Oil Company LLC, one of the largest suppliers of locomotive engine oil in North America. Also, the Lubricants & Specialties segment includes Sonneborn, a producer of specialty hydrocarbon chemicals such as white oils, petrolatums and waxes with manufacturing facilities in the United States and Europe.

The Midstream segment includes all of the operations of Holly Energy Partners, L.P. (“HEP”), which owns and operates logistics and refinery assets consisting of petroleum product and crude oil pipelines, terminals, tankage, loading rack facilities and, during the year ended December 31, 2023 refinery processing units, in the Mid-Continent, Southwest and Rocky Mountains geographic regions of the United States. The Midstream segment also includes 50% ownership interests in each of the Osage Pipeline (“Osage”), the Cheyenne Pipeline and Cushing Connect, a 25.12% ownership interest in the Saddle Butte Pipeline and a 49.995% ownership interest in the Pioneer Pipeline. Revenues from the Midstream segment are earned through transactions with unaffiliated parties for pipeline transportation, rental and terminalling operations as well as revenues relating to pipeline transportation services provided for our refining operations.

Refining Segment Operating Data

The following tables set forth information, including non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) performance measures about our refinery operations. Refinery gross and net operating margins do not include the non-cash effects of lower of cost or market inventory valuation adjustments and depreciation and amortization. Reconciliations to amounts reported under GAAP are provided under “Reconciliations to Amounts Reported Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles” below.

The disaggregation of our refining geographic operating data is presented in two regions, Mid-Continent and West, to best reflect the economic drivers of our refining operations. The Mid-Continent region is comprised of the El Dorado and Tulsa refineries. The West region is comprised of the Puget Sound, Navajo, Woods Cross, Parco and Casper refineries. The refinery operations of the Parco and Casper refineries are included for the period March 14, 2022 (the date of acquisition) through December 31, 2023.