• Reported third-quarter 2023 Net income attributable to limited partners of $270.8 million, generating third-quarter Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $510.9 million.
• Reported third-quarter 2023 Cash flows provided by operating activities of $394.8 million, generating third-quarter Free cash flow⁽¹⁾ of $200.4 million.
• Announced a third-quarter Base Distribution of $0.5750 per unit, or $2.30 on an annualized basis, which represents a 2.2-percent increase to the prior-quarter’s Base Distribution.
• Repurchased 5.1 million common units from Occidental Petroleum Corporation (“Oxy”) for $127.5 million, reducing Oxy’s total ownership interest in WES to below 50.0% when taking into account both its limited and general partner units.
• Repurchased $159.1 million of near-term senior notes at approximately 94-percent of par during the month of July.
• Subsequent to quarter end, executed an agreement with a large Delaware Basin customer increasing dedicated acreage to approximately 40,000 acres and extending the initial term through 2035, which dedicates existing volumes and supports expected throughput growth.

Today Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: WES) (“WES” or the “Partnership”) announced third-quarter 2023 financial and operating results. Net income (loss) attributable to limited partners for the third quarter of 2023 totaled $270.8 million, or $0.70 per common unit (diluted), with third-quarter 2023 Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ totaling $510.9 million. Third-quarter 2023 Cash flows provided by operating activities totaled $394.8 million, and third-quarter 2023 Free cash flow⁽¹⁾ totaled $200.4 million.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

• Achieved record Delaware Basin natural-gas throughput of 1.67 Bcf/d for the third quarter, representing a 5-percent sequential-quarter increase.
• Gathered record Delaware Basin crude-oil and NGLs throughput of 220 MBbls/d for the third quarter, representing a 6-percent sequential-quarter increase.
• Gathered record Delaware Basin produced-water throughput of 1,101 MBbls/d for the third quarter, representing a 14-percent sequential-quarter increase.
• Averaged over 1.0 Bcf/d of monthly third-party natural-gas volumes in the Delaware Basin during August and September.
• Issued $600 million of 6.35% senior notes due 2029 and used the proceeds to fund a portion of the purchase price for the previously announced acquisition of Meritage Midstream Services II, LLC (“Meritage”) in the Powder River Basin.
• Subsequent to quarter-end, closed the acquisition of Meritage, transforming WES’s Powder River Basin asset base into the largest gatherer and processor in the basin.

On November 13, 2023, WES will pay its third-quarter 2023 per-unit Base Distribution of $0.5750, representing a 2.2-percent sequential-quarter increase to the Partnership’s second-quarter Base Distribution of $0.5625 per unit. This increase is consistent with prior communication regarding a distribution increase upon the close of the Meritage acquisition. Third-quarter 2023 Free cash flow⁽¹⁾ after distributions totaled $(21.0) million. Third-quarter 2023 and year-to-date capital expenditures⁽²⁾ totaled $194.9 million and $558.5 million, respectively.

Third-quarter 2023 natural-gas throughput⁽³⁾ averaged 4.5 Bcf/d, representing a 5-percent sequential-quarter increase. Third-quarter 2023 throughput for crude-oil and NGLs assets⁽³⁾ averaged 667 MBbls/d, representing a 7-percent sequential-quarter increase. Third-quarter 2023 throughput for produced-water assets⁽³⁾ averaged 1,079 MBbls/d, representing a 14-percent sequential-quarter increase.

“During the third quarter, total throughput for natural-gas, crude-oil and NGLs, and produced-water increased on a sequential-quarter basis primarily driven by new production coming online, and continued high facility operability in the Delaware Basin,” said Michael Ure, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We remain focused on creating substantial value for our unitholders by efficiently allocating capital for future growth organically and through accretive M&A.”

Mr. Ure continued, “Overall, portfolio-wide throughput growth drove a sequential-quarter increase in our Adjusted EBITDA, which was partially offset by decreased distributions from our equity investments and increased operation and maintenance expense that was mostly driven by higher utility costs. Despite the prolonged heat across West Texas, our assets maintained high operability rates with minimal downtime.”

“In early September, we announced the acquisition of Meritage in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming for $885 million in cash consideration. The Meritage acquisition transforms WES into the largest gathering and processing operator in the Powder River Basin. Additionally, the transaction further diversifies our customer base and adds numerous long-term contracts to our portfolio, secured by large acreage dedications or substantial minimum-volume commitments. We have also identified numerous cost synergies that we expect to realize over the coming quarters, which should reduce the acquisition multiple and drive additional unitholder value.”

“Finally, in October, we formally announced our second Base Distribution increase for the year of 2.2% to $0.5750 per unit on a quarterly basis, or $2.30 per unit annualized, in connection with the closing of the Meritage acquisition. Our commitment to improving the strength of our balance sheet over the past three years provided WES the opportunity to undertake this accretive transaction, which we expect will contribute to WES’s profitability and Free cash flow for years to come.”

“When considering the growth we experienced in the third quarter, combined with over two months of expected contribution from the Meritage assets, we now anticipate 2023 Adjusted EBITDA⁽⁴⁾ to be towards the high end of our previously announced guidance range of $1.950 billion to $2.050 billion,” concluded Mr. Ure.

CONFERENCE CALL TOMORROW AT 1:00 P.M. CT

WES will host a conference call on Thursday, November 2, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. Central Time (2:00 p.m. Eastern Time) to discuss its third-quarter 2023 results. To participate, individuals should dial 888-770-7129 (Domestic) or 929-203-2109 (International) ten to fifteen minutes before the scheduled conference call time and enter the participant access code 2187921. 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.

For additional details on WES’s financial and operational performance, please refer to the earnings slides and updated investor presentation available at www.westernmidstream.com.

ABOUT WESTERN MIDSTREAM

Western 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 its customers under certain contracts.

For more information about Western Midstream Partners, LP, please visit www.westernmidstream.com, and for more information on our sustainability efforts, please visit www.westernmidstream.com/sustainability.

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; 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 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.

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Western Midstream Partners, LP

RECONCILIATION 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) gross margin (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 gross margin or cash flows provided by operating activities.

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