Image source: The Motley Fool.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp (CTRA 1.17%)
Q3Â 2019 Earnings Call
Oct 25, 2019, 9:30 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good morning, and welcome to the Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation's Third Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Dan Dinges, Chairman, President and CEO. Please go ahead.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Thank you, Allie, and I appreciate everybody joining us this morning for the third quarter 2019 earnings call. I also have the Cabot management team with me today. I would first like to remind everybody that on this call, we will make forward-looking statements based on our current expectations. Additionally, some of our comments will reference non-GAAP financial measures. Forward-looking statements and other disclaimers, as well as reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures were provided in yesterday's earning release.
Cabot's third quarter results solidify our position as a leading natural gas producer in the United States, as we continue to consistently deliver strong financial results even in this challenged natural gas price environment that experienced the lowest quarterly average NYMEX price on record since the second quarter of 2016. Despite these lower NYMEX prices, we were able to successfully execute on our strategic goals by delivering the following improvements relative to the prior-year comparable quarter.
They are as follows: 16% growth in adjusted earnings per share, over 150% growth in free cash flow, a 21% increase in return of capital to shareholders, an increase in return on capital employed of over 1,400 basis points to 25%, 18% growth in daily production, a 15% reduction in operating expenses per unit, including interest expense and G&A to $1.43 per thousand cubic foot equivalent, and a reduction in net debt to 0.7 times EBITDAX.
Additionally, during the third quarter, we announced the divestiture of our non-core interest in the Meade Pipeline for $256 million, representing an accretive transaction multiple of over 13 times expected 2019 EBITDAX. This transaction remains on track to close during the fourth quarter and will provide additional available funds to further support our continued return of capital to shareholders over the coming quarters.
Year-to-date, we have generated $454 million of positive free cash flow, of which we have returned approximately 100% to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchases and dividend, including the repurchase of 10.5 million shares during the third quarter at a weighted average share price of $18.21 reducing our shares outstanding to 407.9 million shares -- I get that straight. This represents a 12% reduction in shares outstanding since we have reactivated our share repurchase program in the second quarter of 2017. We currently have 21 million remaining shares authorized under our share repurchase program or approximately 5% of our current shares outstanding. We also announced an 11% increase in our quarterly cash dividend, the fifth increase in our dividend since May 2017, which is underpinned by our expectation for continued free cash flow generation even under NYMEX price assumptions materially below the current forward curve. I fully anticipate continuing to be active on our opportunistic share repurchase program, while also evaluating further increases to our dividend, which currently delivers a 2.2% yield based on current share price.
In yesterday's release, we adjusted our 2019 production growth guidance to 17%, which is in the midpoint of our prior range of 16% to 18%. This implies a 25% increase in our production per debt adjusted share highlighting the impact of our ongoing share repurchases and debt reduction, which will continue to allow us further accrete our growth per share adjusted over time. We also reaffirmed our 2019 capital budget range of $800 million to $820 million. For the full year, we remain on track to deliver between $500 million and $525 million of positive free cash flow, representing a 7% free cash flow yield based on an average NYMEX price assumption of $2.60, which is derived from the average of the actual settlements for the first 10 months of the year and recent strip prices for November and December. At this price assumption, we also expect to deliver a return on capital employed of 20% to 22% and adjusted earnings-per-share growth of 38% to 42% in 2019.
As you will recall, we provided a preliminary 2020 plan on the second quarter earnings call that is expected to deliver full-year production growth of 5% or 7% to 8% on a debt-adjusted per share basis, based on a preliminary capital budget range of $700 million to $725 million. We continue to believe this moderated growth plan is appropriate strategy for maximizing shareholder value in 2020 given it provides the best combination of free cash flow return on capital employed, growth in per share metrics assuming a $2.50 or higher NYMEX price. However, subsequent to the second quarter earnings call, the 2020-2021 NYMEX forward curve has continued to decline to levels below the $2.50 NYMEX budget price. As a result we incorporated a slide in our investor material back in August that highlighted Cabot's ability to deliver competitive free cash flow in 2020 under a $575 million cap -- maintenance capital plan assuming prices continue to remain lower than our original budget price assumption. This maintenance capital plan, which includes non-drilling and completion capital, will allow the Company to hold fourth quarter 2020 production levels flat to the midpoint of our fourth quarter 2019 net production guidance range of approximately 2.4 Bcf per day, resulting in 2% to 3% growth in full-year production per debt-adjusted share, while still generating excess free cash flow after our newly increased dividend commitments even at a $2 NYMEX price assumption.
Both the growth plan and the maintenance plan assume a moderate amount of curtailments during the shoulder season based on expectations of normal pipeline maintenance, higher line pressure and weaker spot market prices. We are currently in the process of evaluating both scenarios to determine, which plan will deliver the most value for our shareholders in 2020 while also positioning the Company for continued value creation in 2021. Ultimately, our outlook on natural gas prices for both 2020 and 2021 will dictate our plan forward. As we mentioned on the second quarter call, there are still numerous variables that will be better understood as we navigate through the winter withdrawal season including the impacts of weather, the continued reduction in operating activity levels across North American natural gas basins, associated gas production growth and continued natural gas demand growth primarily from exports. And a $2.50 or higher natural NYMEX price regime, we believe the growth scenario delivers a compelling combination of free cash flow returns and per share growth while positioning the Company for continued growth in 2021.
In a sub-$2.50 NYMEX environment, we believe the maintenance capital scenario allows us to maximize our free cash flow available to opportunistically repurchase more of our outstanding shares in a low price environment while compromising some growth in a per-share metrics, which we believe is prudent if the expectation for natural gas prices remains challenged in 2020 and 2021. As a result, we plan to communicate our final 2020 plan to the market on the fourth quarter call in late February once we have a more refined, near and mid-term outlook on the natural gas markets.
Either way, both plans are designed to deliver a combination of free -- strong free cash flow generation, high return on capital employed, continued return of capital to shareholders, low financial leverage, and growth in production and reserves per share. While we remain opportunistic, that better days are ahead of us for natural gas prices, we believe our business model is extremely resilient and will continue to deliver compelling financial metrics even in the lows of the natural gas price cycle. That compares favorably not only across the energy sector, but against the broader energy markets as well.
And Allie, with that, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from David Deckelbaum with Cowen.
David Deckelbaum -- Cowen -- Analyst
Good morning, Dan. Scott, Matt, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
You bet, David.
David Deckelbaum -- Cowen -- Analyst
Just curious, Dan, as you look out and you're weighing all of these factors now for what you're going to spend next year, you've talked about I guess there's probably lots of different iterations of plans or what you think the NYMEX price is going to be next year. In the past, you've also I think been mindful of market share and keeping your place in the pipe. I guess with other people slowing down, are you less concerned about that now and I guess as you think about the implications for '21, which you all laid out today and in the press release, how do you think about I guess the optimum program for where you're most efficient, so that if you're operating in a flattish band of commodities or narrow channel between $2.40 and $2.60, capital is best optimized and crews are best optimize as opposed to having to change things from year to year?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Yeah, David, you're right, there is a lot of variables that we're looking at, lot of sensitivities. What we try to do in laying out the plan, both the maintenance plan and the growth plan is look at it as kind of book-ins right now with the knowledge we have and some of our early expectations of what we might see in natural gas prices. Book-ins being that we feel like that on a maintenance program, we can deliver everything we're delivering today to the shareholders and we focus on that and we focus on the financial metrics.
We think we can do that in a maintenance program if you had this steady state and basically we've kind of been in this narrow bandwidth the natural gas prices for an extended period of time as is. So navigating in between the book-ins maintenance and this growth that we've laid out, we're comfortable in that zone right now and kind of toggling back and forth in between that fairway, we think is a prudent spot to land and we'll continue to look at the market and look at the tea leaves and what our best estimate it is for natural gas prices as it rolls forward. But trying to continue to do what we've done in the past, i.e., protect our balance sheet, show a little bit of growth, have return on capital, return of capital, both in dividends and share buybacks. We're going to continue doing the same.
And I think our history shows that we're prudent in how we're managing that. Our position has been to get back 50% of our free cash flow when we sit today where we've given back 100%, which illustrates that as our balance sheet stay strong, the strip price stays in a bandwidth that we're comfortable generating that we're going to generate free cash flow. We're prepared to go deeper than just the 50%. So we'll have more clarity and February and we will get a little bit more precise in February, but we kind of look at what we've laid out here as the book-ins.
David Deckelbaum -- Cowen -- Analyst
I appreciate the color on that, Dan. And I guess just as a quick follow-up to that. As you go into '20, I guess this maintenance plan or lower plan we should just think of it as sort of a holistic slowdown in activity; there isn't necessarily a high grading component there, would just be moving slower through like [Indecipherable] the general program that you've already laid out.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Yeah, David, I think that's -- I think that's a fair assumption, yeah.
David Deckelbaum -- Cowen -- Analyst
Thank you, guys.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from Leo Mariani with KeyBanc.
Leo Mariani -- KeyBanc -- Analyst
Hey guys, just a question around sort of fourth quarter production guidance here. Certainly, noticed that you had quite a few well completions in the third quarter; I think the number was 29. And I guess your guidance, you're not expecting much growth in midpoint, basically flat in the fourth quarter. I just wanted to get a sense of sort of what the dynamic is there, are you guys expecting some potential maintenance or downtime in the fourth quarter, what can you kind of tell us about that?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
We are experiencing maintenance time right now and we have through most of October. We've incorporated that into our guidance. There is nothing unusual operationally or well performance wise that's affecting that. We are in a shoulder period. Maintenance happens historically at this time. There has been, as an example, on one of the weekends and early part of October, I know the day rate gas that we had was -- it was a bad weekend and we curtail a little bit of gas over a weekend, because we didn't like the price. So it's all normal operations, Leo.
Leo Mariani -- KeyBanc -- Analyst
Okay, that's great color for sure. And I guess just back to your kind of comment around the band between the maintenance scenario and the growth scenario makes a perfect sense and you guys are basically $2.50 on the growth scenario. And just wanted to get a sense of, what do you guys kind of see as the band on that maintenance? Is that closer to that $2 level where you still generate free cash flow? Just trying to kind of put some parameters around the gas price associated with the maintenance capex.
Unidentified Speaker
We're just kind of giving two plans that would allow us with our price assumptions that would allow us to keep our plan rolling forward. As David mentioned, it is kind of like moving through the plan just at a slower pace and that's what it is. We're going to look at the price and where we are in February, and we're going to I think be in between what we've indicated in that in between is somewhere in between of $575 million maintenance program and a $700 million to $725 million, 5% growth program on absolute basis.
Leo Mariani -- KeyBanc -- Analyst
All right. No, I think that makes a lot of sense. Okay. I guess just on your stock buyback here obviously you guys have not been shy last couple of quarters buying back substantial stock much as that you said you would hear. How do you think about the buyback versus dividend increases? Is it is simple as, you know, when the price is a lot lower on the stock that you start to favor the buyback more than more robust dividend increase, how do you sort of think about that internally?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
We have that discussion with the Board and the Board is fully in tune of what our strategy is, and opportunistically it is our process. We don't have a scripted buyback program and when you look at some of the volatility that we've seen in the market mainly as a result of commodity price expectations, then we've been in the market and we bought back some shares. We look at the dividend more long-term. The dividend is continually increasing since we started in '17 increasing dividends; this was the fifth increase we've provided to shareholders and we're not just jumping out with a big number. We're just kind of moving it forward, a 2.2% yield is above -- for the most part above the class out there and we're comfortable with that. So we look at it in tandem and again just by definition opportunistically, it's just when we feel like the market's going to allow us to be in the market to buy back.
Leo Mariani -- KeyBanc -- Analyst
All right. Thank you very much.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from Holly Stewart with Scotia Howard Weil.
Holly Stewart -- Scotia Howard Weil -- Analyst
Good morning, gentlemen.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Hello, Holly.
Holly Stewart -- Scotia Howard Weil -- Analyst
Dan, maybe just the follow-up on David's question, you talked about the maintenance plan moving at a slower piece in 2020. So should we assume with that plan versus the original plan sort of similar rig and crew cadence or would this be sort of a DUC building inventory, just trying to kind of put some parameters around it?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Yeah, Holly, it will be a little bit of both. We have Phil is sitting here at the table with me, and his crew up there in Pittsburgh are in negotiations now for both rigs and frac crews. Those negotiations are, as you might suspect, are considering what we're laying out to the public as a maintenance program and a growth program. For the maintenance program, we don't need three, four rigs throughout the year and we don't need two, four frac crews for the year. So trying to work both in full respect of our service providers, but also be able to accomplish some optionality for us on rigs and frac crew, those are the discussions they are having right now and trying to find that good balance between what our needs are and certainly trying to allow the service providers to be as efficient as they possibly can on delivering what they do to us.
Holly Stewart -- Scotia Howard Weil -- Analyst
Okay, that's helpful. And then maybe one for Jeff. Jeff, very strong basis during the quarter versus kind of where bad week-off settled out. Anything sort of unusual or maybe just to highlight here going forward and then and also during the quarter, and then as I look at the 2020 assumption that you guys have in the guidance, anything to think through right now? I mean, obviously, we've got some seasonal weakness, but just trying to get a bigger picture view on that.
Jeffrey W. Hutton -- Senior Vice President, Marketing
Yes, sure, Holly. You're correct, of course, and the strong basis differential for the year, I think we're going to come in widely probably close to $0.45 under, which is obviously big improvement over 2018 and much better improvement over ' 17 and ' 16. But our outlook consist of our very comprehensive sales files with the future outlook on our differentials and come out all that with what this objective of piece that we put on us to give the guidance, it does look very favorable. There is -- in-basin demand continues to inch up a little bit. The overall demand picture is very good. We did have some hiccups, I guess, on basis in September, October with typical shoulder month issues, and obviously, we've had massive storage injections all year. And then we've had -- Cove Point had their maintenance program in September. So we continue to have the fall hiccups on differentials, but the longer-term outlook is very, very positive and we're happy that all the in-basin projects and the takeaway that's been established up there over the last three to four years is finally proven itself to be the answer to our basis issues.
Holly Stewart -- Scotia Howard Weil -- Analyst
Good color. Thanks, Jeff.
Operator
Our next question comes from Drew Venker with Morgan Stanley.
Drew Venker -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Good morning, everybody. I just had a follow-up on the comments about the breakeven prices and protecting the Company and the return to the downside. Is there a price at which you might allow production to decline? It sounds like from your comments, you only have to get to a very low price and you could still be generating free cash at $2. So curious if you guys have thought through that scenario.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Well, yeah, we think of all the scenarios, Drew, but as far as really what our outlook is today, again thinking we're going to have more clarity and be better prepared to offer what our 2020 program is going to be in February. We feel like that the bandwidth that we provided on maintenance and growth is a reasonable guidance with our expectations today. And if you go prices way down $2 or below and if it's instantaneous or it's in any given month, we're not going to have a knee-jerk reaction to that. If again we see sustainable prices continue to leak then will react. And just counter to that, if we see that with the less rigs in the Northeast and less frac crews anticipated in the Northeast, if we see that, and that has an enhancement on pricing, and then we will react to that. But quite frankly, we feel like that the two programs we laid out is probably going to cover what our near-term expectations are.
Drew Venker -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
That's fair, and thanks for the color. I guess, so we think conversely if prices are better I guess really thinking probably from your perspective beyond 2020. You talked about in the $2.50 price, I believe around mid-single digit growth kind of for the next few years. What price would you need to target some higher growth rate or where your capex based on returns would drive higher growth in that mid-single digit range?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Yeah. We make that decision would be made the same way we are making a decision today. Our priority focus is on returning value to shareholders. We recognize that shareholders like to see a return both in dividends and buybacks. So we'll focus on those financial metrics; it's a priority first. Growth, in our opinion, is secondary. If we can deliver the financial metrics and have a moderate growth program, we think in this macro environment that that is the prudent course of action to take and even with higher prices, I think there is a lot of shareholders out there including a lot of shareholders around this table that would like to see value come back to them as opposed to just see growth from a secular growth. So we'll just -- we'll balance that, you know, it's a high-class problem if we get to higher prices and we do think higher prices are in our future, just not our immediate future.
Drew Venker -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Okay. Just to clarify, then I'm sure I'm characterizing this correctly. So any something like a $2.75 or $3 price, you might increase growth a bit, but probably not substantially.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
No. We're -- our guidance right now is what we put out there, and that's a $700 million to $725 million 2020 capital program.
Drew Venker -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Understood. Thanks, Dan.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Thanks.
Operator
Our next question comes from Brian Singer with Goldman Sachs.
Brian Singer -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Thank you. Good morning.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Hi, Brian.
Brian Singer -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Can you give us just the latest update on cycle times, well costs and how they're evolving versus productivity and I realize the year is not over yet, but do you expect that this will lead to lower flat or higher finding and development costs per Mcfe this year in your overall supply cost?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Well, cycle times, we continue to eke out cycle times. I know, Phil in the presentation to the Board illustrated a couple of different areas where we're continuing to pick up minutes on each connection and looking at AI and the drilling side and Steve Novakowski is looking at all of those nuances that can improve cycle time. Jim Edwards and his logistics on completion side is also focused on how we save a minute here, a minute there and they've been excellent job. They continue to do those things that will enhance production or cash cost, as you see we're down this quarter. So we are entirely comfortable with continuing to try to squeeze out what we can in cycle times. I know Billy, have one or two things that we pointed to the Board meeting that in the drilling side, for example, that we're doing.
Unidentified Speaker
Right. And some of the things is looking at the flat time we have. And so some of the things we're doing is offline seaming [Phonetic] where we'll, as we run casing and we walk to the next hole and then go ahead and seem it the -- seam at the case in offline, net saves is several hours of time. We're looking at intelligent software packages in all the rigs, as Dan said, looking at connection time, looking at how you bringing pumps in the weight on bit, again that seamless time. And then you're seeing more improvements is like bit designs and we continue to save hours there. So again, all of this adds up over time as additional efficiency savings for us.
Brian Singer -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
And then I guess on the F&D side, on the capital cost per period, when you think about well costs and then your average EUR this year, do you expect that presence that you would have lower versus flat versus other changes in F&D?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Well, I'm going to have a look at that once Steve Lindeman kind of gets the year-end reserve report to us and what our F&D is going to be. I'll be able to answer that much more clearly Brian in February.
Brian Singer -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Great, thanks. And then I guess my follow up is, you highlighted and Jeff you highlighted just the strong local demand on a longer-term basis, based on the growth rate that you are currently envisioning for Cabot over the longer term. Looking at underwriting incremental pipeline takeaway is that even worthwhile or do you see strong enough local demand to support to support Cabot's needs?
Jeffrey W. Hutton -- Senior Vice President, Marketing
Yeah, Brian, that's obviously ongoing here. We're still involved day to day on looking at new projects obviously with the intent of improving realizations and [Indecipherable] there may be a niche project here and there for us in the future. We're very much looking forward light itself. It is on schedule of course, we have 250,000 a day of capacity on that project. Whether or not there's another 2 or 3 Bcf a day pipeline out of the Northeast, and whether or not that's necessary at this point is still being studied. But I think we're positioned very well to take advantage of the opportunities that we've worked long hard for the last three to four years. But again if in-basin demand projects particularly offer better price realizations and keep the gas in-basin, then we'll work strongly at that.
Brian Singer -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Great. Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from Jeffrey Campbell with Tuohy Brothers.
Jeffrey Campbell -- Tuohy Brothers -- Analyst
Hi, Dan, and congratulations on the quarter.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Thank you.
Jeffrey Campbell -- Tuohy Brothers -- Analyst
I just wanted to ask one question going back to some of the macro stuff that you talked about earlier. You mentioned looking at reduction in nat gas activity levels and also deceleration of associated nat gas production growth. I was just wondering, A, is there a nat gas or an oil price range that you think will generate a meaningful pullback in nat gas activity, and B, do you think this might already be under way?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
I think it's under way, Jeffery. I think the -- when you look at the nat gas basin, you look at the some of the stress and tension in the market and to make capital allocation decisions in a way that one protect balance sheet or does not do any further damage to a balance sheet is extremely important in this environment. We've seen some releases recently on where the debt [Phonetic] towers are, and how you manage the debt towers. We all had conversations and talk about the redeterminations and the borrowing base coming up, and that's being managed proactively, I think, right now by the industry. But I also think that there's a clear understanding that over allocating capital into a macro environment that is already stretched or saturated in some ways is maybe not as prudent as it should be for financial metrics. It's also -- we're also saying the ills of prior decisions on foreign transportation commitments that have been made in the marketplace. I think some of the additional drilling that might be taking place today is an effort to just fulfill commitments, and in that particular area. And I think that's influencing a little bit of market, I think that will dissipate with time. I don't think that's a sustainable model, if in fact the natural gas price stays in the range it is.
I think it creates issues -- maybe with the future issues with balance sheets, if that continues. So I do think that you're seeing some reduction in rigs and frac crews, take one frac crew we know it's going to be down at least one frac crew up in the Northeast as well. That's probably 1,500 stages on an annual basis, 1,500 stages is a lot of gas compared to having that crack crew there. The same with the drilling rigs. The rigs, you might -- you lose drop one rig and that's probably going to be plus or minus 200,000 lateral feet, that you're going to be taking out of future gas production that would be available for the market. So I think you're seeing it and I think you will continue to see that rationalization occur. And the being able to say that reduction, I think is -- and if we can get the sum of the cost of doing business down, then I think companies will be more inclined to not have to grow into a growth profile to fulfill their objectives. I like it's going on and I think it's prudent.
Jeffrey Campbell -- Tuohy Brothers -- Analyst
Great. I appreciate. That was really good color. Thank you.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Sure.
Operator
Our next question comes from Charles Meade with Johnson Rice.
Charles Meade -- Johnson Rice -- Analyst
Good morning, Dan, and your team there. I want to go back to something I believe I heard you say in your prepared comments where you said that under the maintenance scenario, you would be buying back more shares. Was that -- is that the correct read and assuming it is, does that reflect just the fact that you have more free cash flow in that maintenance scenario or is there something more there that under that maintenance scenario you're more shifted to buybacks versus dividends?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
No, the implication is that we're going to remain opportunistic on buybacks. It's not saying we're going to buy back more, it is connecting the dots and assuming that under the maintenance program, our assumption is that the commodity strip is going to be less, and that with a reduced commodity strip, we think there could be pressure on the share price, and if in fact there is pressure on the share price, then that would create that opportunity to be in the market again buying back shares.
Charles Meade -- Johnson Rice -- Analyst
Got it, that's helpful, and I appreciate your clarity there. And then second question, hopefully maybe it's just a quick one. From my seat following that this is on constitution pipeline, it looks like there're some signs of life there, does it look the same from your point of view and you guys as equity holders, is that something worth talking about?
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Yeah, I'd just let Jeff make a brief update comment.
Jeffrey W. Hutton -- Senior Vice President, Marketing
Yeah, Charles, you're right, there was a small battle of that we've won during the war or with ongoing war with New York over constitution. It's the fact that FERC finally agreed to the waiver did occur in New York DEC is positive. All that said, I'll just repeat what the partners public outlook is on the project and that is it needs further evaluation. And so we are taking the next steps to look at the all aspects of the project, the further permitting, the the commercial aspects of the project and sometime over the next few months, we'll try to get collectively decide on a path forward or -- and again, it's a small win, but there's still a lot of work to be done.
Charles Meade -- Johnson Rice -- Analyst
Thanks, Jeff.
Operator
This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dan Dinges for any closing remarks.
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Thank you all and thank you for the good questions. We look forward to seeing you once again and visit in February of 2020. My full expectation is that Cabot is going to continue to deliver as we have in the past. Thank you again.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 41 minutes
Call participants:
Dan O. Dinges -- Chairman, President and CEO
Unidentified Speaker
Jeffrey W. Hutton -- Senior Vice President, Marketing
David Deckelbaum -- Cowen -- Analyst
Leo Mariani -- KeyBanc -- Analyst
Holly Stewart -- Scotia Howard Weil -- Analyst
Drew Venker -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Brian Singer -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Jeffrey Campbell -- Tuohy Brothers -- Analyst
Charles Meade -- Johnson Rice -- Analyst
