You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: With us on the call from National Fuel Gas Company are Dave Bauer, President and Chief Executive Officer; Karen Camiolo, Treasurer and Principal Financial Officer; and Justin Loweth, President of Seneca Resources.
We may refer to these materials during today's call.
While National Fuel's expectations, beliefs and projections are made in good faith and are believed to have a reasonable basis, actual results may differ materially.
National Fuel had an excellent second quarter with operating results of $1.34 per share, up 38% year-over-year.
During the quarter, we saw the benefits of the ongoing expansion of our FERC-regulated interstate pipeline systems including significant incremental revenues from our Empire North project, which went into service last September.
In addition, last summer's Tioga County acquisition continues to exceed our expectations with gathering throughput and Appalachian production up over 45%.
Increased [Technical Issues] to $4.05 per share, at the midpoint an increase of 35% in the prior year.
Across all our operations, we continue to successfully execute on our near-term growth plans.
Our FM100 expansion and modernization project received its notice to proceed from FERC in late February and construction commenced in early March.
We finished the critical path tree clearing on schedule and construction is under way on both compressor stations.
We expect to begin construction on the pipeline portion of the project later this month.
Based on our progress to date, we're confident the project will be finished on time for a late calendar '21 in-service date.
Once complete, this project will generate about $50 million of annual revenue for us.
And along with Transco's companion Leidy South project will provide Seneca with another valuable long-term outlet for its Appalachian production.
With limited additional Appalachian takeaway capacity slated to come online in the near term, we believe that Seneca's firm transportation portfolio which accesses diverse and liquid markets will provide significant value in the years ahead.
To maximize the value of this new capacity, Seneca is operating two drilling rigs in Pennsylvania with first production from its recent rig addition in our Eastern Development Area scheduled to come online just ahead of the Leidy South in-service date.
This timing will allow Seneca to capture the premium winter pricing typically seen in the Transco Zone 6 market.
This next leg of growth underpinned by the FM100 project positions us differently from our Appalachian peers.
This project will enhance scale and profitability across our upstream gathering and regulated pipeline businesses and is a great example of the value of our integrated business model.
Switching gears, the Utility also had a good quarter though warmer than normal weather did have an impact on earnings.
Bad debt expense, which continued to trend a little higher, was also a factor.
Karen will have more to say on that later on the call.
Now this is an impressive achievement that's a testament to the hard work of our dedicated workforce.
Across the nation policy makers are seemingly in a race to transition the nation's energy supply toward intermittent renewable resources.
However, the events that transpired during February's super storm Yuri in Texas and the Midwest clearly underscore the need for an all-of-the above energy strategy.
And this is particularly the case in National Fuel's operating footprint where the low temperatures that crippled Texas for just a few days are really pretty much the norm for the three coldest months of winter.
It becomes readily apparent that there is a long-term need for reliable, weather-hardened infrastructure to serve the energy needs of our region and I firmly believe that natural gas with its resilient and safely operated pipeline delivery infrastructure, will remain an important part of the nation's energy solution.
In March, we published our Utility's Pathways to a Low-Carbon Future report, which demonstrates pretty convincingly that natural gas and associated infrastructure can in fact have a role in a low-carbon world.
The report, which was developed using the findings of a study performed by Guidehouse, an independent consulting firm, evaluated scenarios for meeting New York state's aggressive decarbonization targets focusing on the interplay of energy efficiency, electrification, hybrid heating solutions and low carbon fuels to leverage existing utility infrastructure and provide cost-efficient solutions.
This study validates that by focusing policy on an all-of-the-above carbon reduction approach, we can achieve significant decarbonization that meets emissions goals while preserving access to low cost, reliable and resilient energy for consumers.
Also in March, our Utility announced greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for its delivery system of 75% by 2030 and 90% by 2050, both from 1990 levels.
The targets rely on our commitment to the continued modernization of our utility infrastructure which today has led to a reduction in EPA Subpart W emissions of well over 60%.
Importantly, our regulators have been supportive of these ongoing modernization efforts, particularly in New York where our system modernization tracker has allowed us to recover these investments in our system on a timely basis.
While we started with the Utility, National Fuel is in the process of developing a plan to reduce its overall carbon footprint across the rest of our operations.
This plan will include establishing credible emissions reductions targets for our midstream and upstream businesses as well as enhancing our sustainability disclosures to include additional climate-focused information in line with the TCFD framework.
In conclusion, National Fuel is in great shape.
Our FM100 project is under construction and on schedule, which positions our pipeline, upstream, and gathering businesses for significant near-term growth.
At the same time, our Utility business continues to modernize its infrastructure, which will drive meaningful emissions reductions and provide an opportunity for ongoing rate base growth.
Looking to fiscal '22 and beyond, our capital spending requirements will be substantially reduced, particularly in our FERC-regulated pipeline business, which will lead to significant free cash flow and increased financial flexibility.
Add to that, half a century of dividend growth and a solid investment grade balance sheet and I think you'll find it tough to match National Fuel's long-term value proposition.
I'd like to start by expressing my excitement to step into the President role at Seneca.
Seneca couldn't be in a better place with a best-in-class group of employees, decades of economic development inventory, an attractive portfolio of takeaway capacity and the benefits of integration with National Fuel's other subsidiaries providing a firm foundation.
Further we are aligning Seneca's organization around sustainability and environmental leadership and are working toward targets for reducing the environmental impact of our operations.
In summary, the outlook for Seneca is bright.
Moving on to the second quarter.
Seneca produced a Company record 85.2 Bcfe, driven by increased Tioga County volumes from the acquisition completed last summer as well as growth in solid production results from our ongoing Appalachian development program.
During the quarter we brought online [13] new wells in Pennsylvania, all of which were in our Western Development Area.
Our operations team did a great job turning these recent wells online a few weeks ahead of schedule allowing us to accelerate production during the winter months capturing premium winter pricing.
This increased our second-quarter production.
However, over the balance of the year and as planned, we expect modestly declining volumes with only one new pad scheduled to come online in late fiscal '21.
During the quarter we also drilled 14 new wells, 10 in the WDA, four in the EDA.
As we approach the online date for Leidy South and the winter heating season, we expect to accelerate our completion operations and we plan to delay turning in line most of these new wells until early fiscal 2022, coinciding with the expected in-service date of our new capacity.
With respect to capital, we are forecasting the second half of the year to be heavier due to the increased completion activity that I just mentioned.
However, our capital guidance range is unchanged.
We also continue to see the benefits of our increased scale with cash operating expenses dropping to $1.09 per Mcfe, a 14% decrease from the prior year.
Of note, we have realized a significant decrease in per unit G&A expense, dropping roughly 25% over the past year, driven by our acquisition and ongoing development in Appalachia.
As to service costs, we have experienced limited cost inflation over the past few months, mostly in tubulars, and at this point we do not anticipate meaningful increases into 2022 based on conversations with our contractors and suppliers.
In addition, we continue to make strides in improving our operational efficiencies, particularly in Tioga County, where our operations team has cut Utica drilling time by 25% compared to our last Tract 007 Pad.
Given our significant inventory of highly economic development locations in Tioga County and long-term development plans, we expect to realize the benefits of these efficiencies for years to come.
On the marketing front, although pricing has been relatively volatile, Seneca is very well hedged for the balance of the fiscal year with 88% of our East Division gas production locked in physically and financially.
We also have firm sales providing basis protection.
So all in, about 95% of our forecasted gas production is already sold.
That leaves a relatively small amount of production, less than 10 Bcf, exposed to in-basin spot pricing.
I also want to point out a recent project our sister company NFG Midstream completed tying together the Covington Gathering System with the recently acquired Tioga Gathering System.
This has significantly increased Seneca's flexibility to move more gas to premium Dominion and Empire markets versus the weaker TGP 300 Zone 4 market.
It's another great example of the significant value we can capture as an integrated business.
As we look a bit further out, we have maintained our disciplined approach to hedging and already have 188 Bcf of fixed price firm sales, NYMEX swaps and costless collars in place for fiscal 2022.
This provides Seneca with downside protection, that leaves the potential to generate significant additional free cash flow should prices move up.
Overall, we remain constructive on long-term natural gas prices with LNG exports near all time highs, Mexico exports near all time highs, and storage levels below both last year and five-year inventories.
We expect these factors, together with continued capital discipline by producers, to lead to further strengthening of the natural gas script in 2023 and beyond.
As Dave mentioned, FM100 and Leidy South both remain on track for a late calendar 2021 in-service date.
And once complete, we will provide a valuable, long-term outlet for Seneca's production from each of its core development areas.
This additional capacity sets us up for further production growth throughout fiscal 2022.
Thereafter, absent the ability to enter into additional long-term firm sales or firm capacity that would result in strong realized prices, Seneca expects to shift into a maintenance to low-growth production mode.
Our focus will continue to be on generating significant free cash flow, especially when combined with the cash flows of the Company's wholly owned gathering assets.
Moving to the regulatory front.
While there has been some recent pronouncements in California related to oil production and extraction, I think it's important to note that Seneca's California operations do not utilize fracking.
And thus while we are closely monitoring the regulatory and legislative landscape, we do not expect any significant impact to our operations based on these recent developments.
As has long been the case, California can be a challenging regulatory place to conduct business.
However, we have been able to successfully navigate a changing regulatory environment while generating strong returns on our oil-producing assets and anticipate that to remain the case.
We expect our annual capital levels in California will be in the $10 million to $20 million range over the next few years absent further increases in the longer-term oil strip.
Additionally Seneca continues to look for opportunities to invest in solar facilities in California to power our production operations and to reduce our carbon footprint.
At present, we have solar facilities already online at our North Midway Sunset field and at our Bakersfield office.
And we are constructing another facility in South Midway Sunset which will provide about 30% of our field electricity use.
And with our Appalachian natural gas operations centered on what most would consider to be the lowest emitting shale basin in the US, we are well positioned to be an upstream leader in ESG.
National Fuel's second quarter GAAP earnings were $1.23 per share.
When you back out items impacting comparability, principally related to the premium paid for the early redemption of our $500 million December '21 maturity, our operating results were $1.34 per share, a significant increase over last year.
David and Justin already hit on the high-level drivers.
So I'll focus on a few other details from the quarter and discuss our outlook for the remainder of the year.
First, as I alluded to, we were active in the capital markets a few months ago.
In February, we issued $500 million of 2.95% 10-year notes, the proceeds from which were used to fund the early redemption of our $500 million, 4.9% coupon December '21 maturity.
That transaction was very well received by the market with our order book reaching more than eight times oversubscribed.
That level of demand allowed us to achieve our lowest ever coupon for 10-year notes.
Treasuries have moved materially higher since then.
So overall, this looks like a great transaction for us.
With our next maturity not until early 2023, we have a nice window where we don't need to be active in the capital markets.
Combining this with our $1 billion in short-term committed credit facilities and our expectation on meaningful future cash flow generation, we're in a great spot from a liquidity position.
While this debt issuance will translate into $2.5 million of interest savings per quarter going forward, the fiscal 2021 impact is somewhat muted by the overlapping period during the second quarter where both the redeemed notes and the new issue were on our balance sheet.
Before turning to our outlook for the remainder of the year, just a brief update on customer payment trends in the Utility.
As we stated from the beginning of the pandemic more than a year-ago, we expected the biggest headwind on customer payment trends to occur as we got through the winter heating season.
Over the past few months, we have seen a modest increase from historic levels of customer non-payment.
As a result, we have continued to accrue incremental bad debt expense and intend to do so for the remainder of the year.
At this point, we believe that additional reserve will be adequate to handle potential collection challenges we may face in the coming quarters.
As it relates to the rest of the year, based on our strong second quarter results, we've increased our earnings guidance to a range of $3.85 to $4.05 per share, up $0.15 at the midpoint.
Given we are now more than halfway through the year, we continue to refine our guidance assumptions.
At our regulated companies, consistent with our earlier guidance, we anticipate O&M expense to be up approximately 4% in both our Utility and Pipeline and Storage segments.
In the Utility, as I mentioned earlier, we are projecting a more conservative expense assumption as it relates to our bad debt reserve that is being largely offset by ongoing expense savings as we remain focused on keeping our cost structure low.
In the Pipeline and Storage business, the bulk of the year-over-year increase is back-loaded in the second half of the fiscal year.
For our non-regulated businesses, we now expect Seneca's full year LOE to range between $0.82 and $0.84 per Mcfe, a $0.01 lower at the midpoint of our revised guidance range.
While our LOE-rate was lower than this for the first half of the year, as we look to the balance of the fiscal year, we expect to see slightly higher LOE due to the increased levels of maintenance over the spring and summer months.
On the gathering side of our business costs were in line with prior expectations and we still anticipate O&M to be in line with our earlier $0.09 per Mcf guidance.
Lastly, on the expense side of the equation, similar to a couple of our other assumptions, we'd expect Seneca's per unit DD&A to increase in the second half of the year relative to the first two quarters.
We had some positive revisions to our reserve bookings in the quarter that had the effect of reducing DD&A expense.
As we look to the back half of the year and beyond, we would expect that DD&A trends closer to the low $0.60 per Mcfe area.
With respect to consolidated capital spending, All of our segment ranges remain the same and we are still projecting between $720 million and $830 million for the fiscal year.
There hasn't been any other material changes from a cash flow perspective.
And as a result we expect to live within cash flows this year when you consider the proceeds of our timber sale and our expected dividend payments.
We are well hedged for the remainder of the year.
So, any changes in commodity prices should have a muted impact on earnings and cash flows.
In closing, we had a solid first half of the year and are optimistic about the direction we're heading.

user
compname posts q2 earnings per share of $1.23.
q2 gaap earnings per share $1.23.
qtrly adjusted operating results of $123.2 million, or $1.34 per share.
increasing its fiscal 2021 earnings guidance to a range of $3.85 to $4.05 per share.

assistant