“While we're still in the early stages of developing next year's capital plan, our current expectation is that next year's CapEx will be somewhat lower than this year in the $3 billion to $4 billion range, reflecting our current view of the optimal timing for key investments we're planning over the next several years.”

In context

“ivering strong profit performance, both compared to a year ago and versus our longer-term history as well. Now I'll turn to capital deployment and reiterate our priorities, which have remained consistent for decades. We first look to fully invest in projects that meet our strategic and financial criteria. Then we look to support the dividend and build on our record of annual increases, which we've maintained for more than 50 years. And finally, we deploy any excess cash within the limits of our middle A credit ratings through share repurchase over time. Regarding the first priority, capital investment through the first 3 quarters of the year was just under $4 billion, and we expect full year CapEx will be near the high end of the $4 billion to $5 billion range we laid out for the year. While we're still in the early stages of developing next year's capital plan, our current expectation is that next year's CapEx will be somewhat lower than this year in the $3 billion to $4 billion range, reflecting our current view of the optimal timing for key investments we're planning over the next several years. Regarding our second capital priority, we paid dividends of just over $0.5 billion in Q3, $10 million higher than last year, reflecting a per share dividend increase of 1.9%. Regarding the last priority, we didn't repurchase any shares in the third quarter as we continue to focus on strengthening our balance sheet and restoring our debt metrics to levels that support our middle A credit ratings. And we continue to make meaningful progress on that journey as the combined benefits of higher profits and lower working capital have led to a meaningful improvement in operating cash flow. More specifically, our operations have generated more than $5.3 billion in cash through the first 3 quarters of the year, up dramatically from about $550 million through the first 3 quarters of 2022. As alwa”