HOUSTON, May 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: WES) ("WES" or the "Partnership") announced first-quarter 2021 financial and operating results. Net income (loss) available to limited partners for the first quarter of 2021 totaled $181.8 million, or $0.44 per common unit (diluted), with first-quarter 2021 Adjusted EBITDA(1) totaling $443.1 million, first-quarter 2021 Cash flows provided by operating activities totaling $261.6 million, and first-quarter 2021 Free cash flow(1) totaling $213.8 million.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

• Awarded first place in the division-one category by the GPA Midstream Association for outstanding safety performance in 2020
• Repaid the 5.375% Senior Notes due 2021 at par value, for total consideration of $431 million
• Repurchased 1,115,808 common units for aggregate consideration of approximately $16.2 million during the first quarter as part of the recently announced buyback program of up to $250 million of the Partnership's common units through December 31, 2021

On May 14, 2021, WES will pay its first-quarter 2021 per-unit distribution of $0.315, which represents a 1.3-percent increase over the prior quarter's distribution and is consistent with an annualized distribution growth of 5-percent. First-quarter 2021 Free cash flow after distributions totaled $82.5 million.

"Thanks to the dedication of our employees, we ended the first quarter by winning GPA Midstream Association's first-place safety award in the large category for the second consecutive year," said Michael Ure, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. "I'm proud of our team's work to strengthen our safety culture and environmental performance while providing continuous, reliable service for our customers."

Mr. Ure continued, "Although our first-quarter results were impacted from Winter Storm Uri, we remain optimistic about current activity levels in the Delaware and DJ basins and expect total throughput and EBITDA to increase through the remainder of 2021 and into 2022. We remain comfortable with our previously-stated full-year guidance targets."

"Since becoming a standalone organization, we have been immensely focused on our financial policy. This shift to free-cash-flow generation has led to a trifecta of results, including the authorization of a unit buyback program, retirement of upcoming debt maturities, and an increase in our distribution. Through the unit buyback program and Anadarko note exchange, we have repurchased 31.34 million units to date, which represents over 7-percent of our outstanding units as of the filing of our second-quarter 2020 10-Q. We believe our ability to generate significant free cash flow will continue to deliver value to our stakeholders for the foreseeable future."

As a result of depressed upstream investment in 2020 and Winter Storm Uri, our first-quarter 2021 volumes declined relative to fourth-quarter 2020. First-quarter 2021 total natural-gas throughput(1) averaged 4.0 Bcf/d, representing a 2-percent sequential-quarter increase. Declining natural-gas volumes were offset by an additional third-party connection to Latham II at the DJ Basin complex beginning January 1, 2021. First-quarter 2021 total throughput for crude-oil and NGLs assets(1) averaged 604 MBbls/d, representing a 2-percent sequential-quarter decrease. First-quarter 2021 total throughput for produced-water assets(1) averaged 595 MBbls/d, representing a 9-percent sequential-quarter decrease.

First-quarter 2021 capital expenditures(2) totaled $58.3 million.

CONFERENCE CALL TOMORROW AT 2:00 P.M. CDTWES will host a conference call on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time (3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) to discuss first-quarter 2021 results. To participate, individuals should dial 877-883-0383 (Domestic) or 412-902-6506 (International) 15 minutes before the scheduled conference call time and enter participant access code 7924735. To access the live audio webcast of the conference call, please visit the investor relations section of the Partnership's website at www.westernmidstream.com. A replay of the conference call also will be available on the website following the call.

ABOUT WESTERN MIDSTREAMWestern Midstream Partners, LP ("WES") is a Delaware master limited partnership formed to acquire, own, develop, and operate midstream assets. With midstream assets located in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania, WES is engaged in the business of gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and transporting natural gas; gathering, stabilizing, and transporting condensate, natural-gas liquids, and crude oil; and gathering and disposing of produced water for its customers. In its capacity as a natural-gas processor, WES also buys and sells natural gas, natural-gas liquids, and condensate on behalf of itself and as an agent for its customers under certain contracts.

For more information about Western Midstream Partners, LP, please visit www.westernmidstream.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements. WES's management believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions. No assurance, however, can be given that such expectations will prove correct. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the projections, anticipated results, or other expectations expressed in this news release. These factors include our ability to meet financial guidance or distribution expectations; the ultimate impact of efforts to fight COVID-19 on the global economy and the timeline for a recovery in commodity demand and prices; our ability to safely and efficiently operate WES's assets; the supply of, demand for, and price of oil, natural gas, NGLs, and related products or services; our ability to meet projected in-service dates for capital-growth projects; construction costs or capital expenditures exceeding estimated or budgeted costs or expenditures; and the other factors described in the "Risk Factors" section of WES's most-recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other public filings and press releases. WES undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

WESTERN MIDSTREAM CONTACTSKristen ShultsVice President, Investor Relations and Communications[email protected] 832.636.6000

Abby DempseyInvestor Relations Supervisor[email protected] 832.636.6000

Western Midstream Partners, LPRECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP MEASURES

WES defines Adjusted gross margin attributable to Western Midstream Partners, LP ("Adjusted gross margin") as total revenues and other (less reimbursements for electricity-related expenses recorded as revenue), less cost of product, plus distributions from equity investments, and excluding the noncontrolling interest owners' proportionate share of revenues and cost of product.

WES defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss), plus (i) distributions from equity investments, (ii) non-cash equity-based compensation expense, (iii) interest expense, (iv) income tax expense, (v) depreciation and amortization, (vi) impairments, and (vii) other expense (including lower of cost or market inventory adjustments recorded in cost of product), less (i) gain (loss) on divestiture and other, net, (ii) gain (loss) on early extinguishment of debt, (iii) income from equity investments, (iv) interest income, (v) income tax benefit, (vi) other income, and (vii) the noncontrolling interest owners' proportionate share of revenues and expenses.

WES defines Free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities less total capital expenditures and contributions to equity investments, plus distributions from equity investments in excess of cumulative earnings. Management considers Free cash flow an appropriate metric for assessing capital discipline, cost efficiency, and balance-sheet strength. Although Free cash flow is the metric used to assess WES's ability to make distributions to unitholders, this measure should not be viewed as indicative of the actual amount of cash that is available for distributions or planned for distributions for a given period. Instead, Free cash flow should be considered indicative of the amount of cash that is available for distributions, debt repayments, and other general partnership purposes.

Below are reconciliations of (i) operating income (loss) (GAAP) to Adjusted gross margin (non-GAAP), (ii) net income (loss) (GAAP) and net cash provided by operating activities (GAAP) to Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP), and (iii) net cash provided by operating activities (GAAP) to Free cash flow (non-GAAP), as required under Regulation G of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Management believes that Adjusted gross margin, Adjusted EBITDA, and Free cash flow are widely accepted financial indicators of WES's financial performance compared to other publicly traded partnerships and are useful in assessing WES's ability to incur and service debt, fund capital expenditures, and make distributions. Adjusted gross margin, Adjusted EBITDA, and Free cash flow as defined by WES, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. Therefore, WES's Adjusted gross margin, Adjusted EBITDA, and Free cash flow should be considered in conjunction with net income (loss) attributable to Western Midstream Partners, LP and other applicable performance measures, such as operating income (loss) or cash flows provided by operating activities.

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SOURCE Western Midstream Partners, LP