HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Enterprise Products Partners L.P.(NYSE: EPD) today announced its financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2020.

• Gross operating margin, operating income and net income attributable to common unitholders for the third quarter of 2020 included $38 million of non-cash, mark-to-market net losses on financial instruments used in our hedging activities, compared to $86 million of non-cash, mark-to-market net losses on such instruments for the third quarter of 2019.
• Enterprise declared a $0.445 per common unit cash distribution with respect to the third quarter of 2020, which represents a 0.6 percent increase compared to the distribution paid for the third quarter of 2019. The cash distribution will be paid November 12, 2020 to common unitholders of record as of the close of business on October 30, 2020.
• Enterprise reported DCF of $1.6 billion for the third quarter of 2020, which provided 1.7 times coverage of the $0.445 per common unit cash distribution and resulted in $669 million of retained DCF. DCF for the first nine months of 2020 was $4.8 billion, which provided 1.6 times coverage of the aggregate $1.335 per common unit of cash distributions for that period and resulted in $1.8 billion of retained DCF.
• CFFO was $1.1 billion for the third quarter of 2020, compared to $1.6 billion for the third quarter of 2019. The net effect of changes in operating accounts, including amounts used for working capital related to marketing activities, is responsible for substantially all of the decrease in CFFO between the two periods. FCF for the third quarter of 2020 and twelve months ended September 30, 2020 was $430 million and $2.1 billion, respectively. The net effect of changes in operating accounts reduced FCF by $603 million and $740 million for the third quarter of 2020 and twelve months ended September 30, 2020, respectively.
• Total capital investments, including sustaining capital, were $705 million in the third quarter of 2020 and $2.7 billion for the first nine months of 2020. Included in these investments were sustaining capital expenditures of $83 million in the third quarter of 2020 and $226 million in the first nine months of 2020.

As used in this press release, “NGL” means natural gas liquids, “BPD” means barrels per day, “MBPD” means thousand barrels per day, “MMcf/d” means million cubic feet per day, “Bcf/d” means billion cubic feet per day, “BBtus/d” means billion British thermal units per day and “TBtus/d” means trillion British thermal units per day.

“Enterprise’s integrated and diversified midstream energy system generated solid operational and financial results despite another challenging quarter for the U.S. energy industry,” said A. J. “Jim” Teague, co-chief executive officer of Enterprise’s general partner. “Similar to the second quarter of 2020, our fee-based businesses, storage assets, marketing activities and cost control efforts led to distributable cash flow of $1.6 billion and provided 1.7 times coverage of our distribution to common unitholders. We also benefitted from cash flows associated with the completion of two NGL fractionators that began service during 2020. Volumetric highlights for the third quarter of 2020 include total equivalent pipeline volumes of approximately 9.5 million BPD, record NGL fractionation volumes of 1.4 million BPD and NGL marine terminal export volumes of 643 MBPD.”

“In comparing the third quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of last year, we generated approximately $2 billion of gross operating margin in both quarters. The performance of our marketing, storage, NGL fractionation, NGL pipeline, petrochemical pipeline and Permian gathering and processing businesses largely offset the impact of lower margins, volumes and earnings from our natural gas gathering and processing assets in the Rockies, South Texas and the Haynesville and our crude oil pipelines and marine terminal. Notably, our petrochemical services segment reported a $124 million sequential improvement from the challenging second quarter of 2020,” stated Teague.

“During the third quarter of 2020, our commercial team responded to customer requests and changing industry dynamics to amend certain agreements that enabled us to increase volumetric commitments over the long-term by utilizing existing pipeline capacity and to cancel the Midland-to-ECHO 4 crude oil pipeline. This action resulted in an $800 million reduction to capital expenditures over the next two years. This was another example of Enterprise working with customers for a ‘win/win’ deal that enabled both Enterprise and our customers to better allocate capital during the current economic cycle while retaining long-term, fee-based volumes and revenues for our assets. In total, we have reduced our planned growth capital expenditures for 2020 and 2021 by approximately $1.5 billion in response to changing industry conditions. We have also focused on cost control. For the first nine months of this year, Enterprise’s operating costs are $260 million below budget and total sustaining capital expenditures for 2020 are expected to be $100 million lower than our original budget. We were able to manage these costs lower without sacrificing safety or operational integrity and reliability,” continued Teague.

“The global economy is in the early stages of reopening from a self-imposed sudden stop due to COVID-19. The pace of the recovery varies country by country, community by community and business by business. The current resurgence of the pandemic may temporarily affect this progress in some regions. The development of vaccines and therapeutic treatments are progressing rapidly. Even though the pace of the pandemic and the economic recovery is still very uncertain, the economic recovery is leading to a remarkable rebound in the demand for energy and energy products from the lows of the second quarter of 2020. Additionally, with the world still adding a billion people every 12 years (the world population is currently 7.8 billion and counting) and populations in developing countries wanting access to cleaner and more convenient sources of energy, we believe demand for reliable U.S. energy, petrochemicals and related products will continue to recover and resume long-term growth,” continued Teague.

“This recovery in demand will also ultimately result in a price signal for crude oil. Given the combination of the record retrenchment in drilling and completion activities by U.S. producers, refocused capital allocation and the effects of steep decline curves resulting in a decrease in shale production, we believe this price signal for higher crude oil prices could occur as early as the second half of next year. In the interim, we believe the midstream industry will be challenged in its producer-facing businesses. The challenges and opportunities will be different for each producing basin. Enterprise is well positioned for the challenges and opportunities that come in this type of environment. We believe our integrated, diversified and fee-based business model, along with our strong balance sheet and financial flexibility will enable us to successfully traverse this period. Enterprise’s most important assets during these times are our employees, their work ethic and their ingenuity. We especially appreciate their resilience in managing through the challenges of 2020,” said Teague.

Review of Third Quarter 2020 Results

Enterprise reported total gross operating margin of $2.0 billion for both the third quarters of 2020 and 2019. Below is a detailed review of each business segment’s quarterly performance.

NGL Pipelines & Services – Gross operating margin from the NGL Pipelines & Services segment was $1.0 billion for both the third quarters of 2020 and 2019.

Enterprise’s natural gas processing and related NGL marketing business reported gross operating margin of $257 million for the third quarter of 2020 compared to $288 million of gross operating margin for the third quarter of 2019. Enterprise’s natural gas processing plants in South Texas, the Rockies, Louisiana and Mississippi reported a $54 million decrease in gross operating margin for the third quarter of 2020 compared to the third quarter of last year, primarily attributable to lower volumes and processing margins, including a $28 million loss related to hedging activities. Certain plants in Louisiana and Mississippi were impacted by lower Gulf of Mexico production as a result of shut-ins associated with Hurricane Laura. The partnership’s natural gas processing plants serving the Permian Basin reported a $5 million increase in gross operating margin for the third quarter of 2020 compared to the third quarter of 2019, primarily attributable to a 345 MMcf/d increase in fee-based volumes including the Mentone plant, which began operations in December 2019. Total fee-based processing volumes were 4.1 Bcf/d in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 4.7 Bcf/d in the third quarter of 2019. Equity NGL production increased 27 percent to 141 MBPD in the third quarter of 2020 from 111 MBPD in the same quarter of 2019.

Gross operating margin from NGL marketing activities increased $17 million, primarily due to a $36 million increase from higher sales volumes, partially offset by an $8 million decrease from lower average sales margins and an $11 million decrease due to non-cash mark-to-market activity. NGL marketing activities this quarter benefited from the utilization of uncontracted storage capacity.

Gross operating margin from the partnership’s NGL pipelines and storage business for the third quarter of 2020 was $603 million, an increase of $10 million compared to the third quarter of 2019. NGL pipeline transportation volumes decreased by 111 MBPD to 3.4 million BPD in the third quarter of 2020. NGL marine terminal volumes increased 7 percent to 643 MBPD in the third quarter of 2020 from 602 MBPD reported for the third quarter of 2019.

The partnership’s Western NGL pipelines that serve the Permian, DJ Basin, and Rocky Mountain producers, which include the Mid-America Pipeline System, Seminole pipeline, Chaparral System, Shin Oak Pipeline, and the Texas Express and Front Range pipelines, on a combined basis had an $11 million increase in gross operating margin, primarily due to higher average transportation fees and lower operating costs. This was partially offset by a combined 43 MBPD decrease in transportation volumes.

Gross operating margin from the Enterprise Hydrocarbons Terminal (“EHT”) and related Channel Pipeline increased $8 million, primarily due to a 45 MBPD increase in liquefied petroleum gas (“LPG”) marine terminal export volumes and a 39 MBPD increase in transportation volumes on the related Channel Pipeline. The partnership completed an expansion of its LPG loading facilities at EHT in the third quarter of 2019.

Gross operating margin for the third quarter of 2020 attributable to the Dixie, South Louisiana NGL and Lou-Tex NGL pipelines decreased by a combined $11 million compared to the same quarter in 2019 on a 154 MBPD decrease in volumes partially attributable to the effects of Hurricane Laura related to shut-ins of Gulf of Mexico production as well as power outages at certain pump stations.

Enterprise’s NGL fractionation business reported gross operating margin of $168 million for the third quarter of 2020 compared to $127 million for the third quarter of 2019. Enterprise’s NGL fractionation business reported a record 1.4 million BPD of fractionation volumes in the third quarter of 2020. This increase was primarily attributable to NGL fractionators in the Mont Belvieu-area, including the partnership’s tenth and eleventh NGL fractionators that were put into service in March and September of 2020, respectively.

Crude Oil Pipelines & Services – Gross operating margin from the Crude Oil Pipelines & Services segment was $482 million for the third quarter of 2020 compared to $496 million for the third quarter of 2019. Gross operating margin for both the third quarters of 2020 and 2019 included $10 million of non-cash, mark-to-market gains related to hedging activities. Total crude oil pipeline transportation volumes were 1.7 million BPD for the third quarter of 2020 compared to 2.3 million BPD for the third quarter of 2019. Total crude oil marine terminal volumes were 662 MBPD for the third quarter of 2020 compared to 987 MBPD for the third quarter of 2019.

Gross operating margin from Enterprise’s Midland-to-ECHO Pipeline System and related activities for the third quarter of 2020 decreased a net $41 million versus the third quarter in 2019, primarily due to a $43 million decrease attributable to related marketing and hedging activities. Total system transportation volumes decreased 53 MBPD, or 8 percent, net to our interest, when compared to the third quarter of 2019.

Gross operating margin from the South Texas Crude Oil Pipeline System was down $16 million in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter in 2019, due to lower transportation volumes of 83 MBPD. The partnership’s equity investment in the Eagle Ford Crude Oil Pipeline decreased $9 million, also due to lower transportation volumes of 44 MBPD. Enterprise’s share of gross operating margin associated with Seaway Pipeline decreased $18 million, primarily due to lower average transportation fees and volumes. Transportation and marine volumes on the Seaway Pipeline decreased 269 MBPD and 75 MBPD, respectively, on a net basis.

Gross operating margin from crude oil export activities at EHT on the Houston Ship Channel decreased $14 million, primarily due to lower deficiency fees and volumes. Partially offsetting this decrease is a $12 million increase in gross operating margin from higher storage and other revenues, and lower operating costs. Export volumes decreased by a net 183 MBPD.

Gross operating margin from other crude oil marketing activities increased $92 million, primarily due to higher average sales margins, including an $11 million benefit from non-cash, mark-to-market activities.

Natural Gas Pipelines & Services – Gross operating margin from the Natural Gas Pipelines & Services segment was $208 million for the third quarter of 2020 compared to $259 million for the third quarter of 2019. Total natural gas transportation volumes were 13.1 TBtus/d this quarter compared to 14.5 TBtus/d for the third quarter of last year.

Gross operating margin from Enterprise’s natural gas marketing business decreased $35 million, primarily due to lower average sales margins, including a $22 million decrease from non-cash, mark-to-market activities. Sales margins were impacted by lower regional natural gas price spreads across Texas, which were indicatively $0.72 per MMBtu in the third quarter of 2020 versus $1.36 per MMBtu in the third quarter of 2019.

Gross operating margin from the Acadian Gas System for the third quarter of 2020 decreased $19 million, primarily due to $17 million of benefits from settlements received in the third quarter of 2019, and decreased reservation fees on the Haynesville Extension Pipeline. Transportation volumes on the Acadian Pipeline System decreased 302 BBtus/d, or approximately 11 percent.

Enterprise’s Permian Basin Gathering System reported a $9 million increase in gross operating margin for the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter in 2019, primarily due to a 432 BBtus/d increase in gathering volumes, higher condensate sales volumes and lower maintenance expenses.

Gross operating margin from the partnership’s largest natural gas pipeline, the Texas Intrastate System decreased $2 million this quarter compared to the third quarter of last year, primarily due to lower capacity reservation fees and a 276 BBtus/d reduction in transportation volumes, partially offset by lower maintenance costs. Natural gas pipeline volumes for this system were 4.4 TBtus/d in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 4.7 TBtus/d in the third quarter of 2019.

Petrochemical & Refined Products Services – Gross operating margin for the Petrochemical & Refined Products Services segment increased 9 percent to $315 million for the third quarter of 2020 from $288 million for the third quarter of 2019. Gross operating margin for the third quarters of 2020 and 2019 included non-cash, mark-to-market losses of $21 million and $1 million, respectively. Total segment pipeline transportation volumes increased 13 percent to 844 MBPD for the third quarter of this year from 747 MBPD for the third quarter of last year.

The partnership’s propylene production and related businesses reported gross operating margin of $133 million for the third quarter of 2020, a $2 million increase, compared to the same quarter of 2019. Gross operating margin associated with propylene production facilities decreased by a combined $4 million compared to the third quarter of last year. This was more than offset by higher gross operating margin from our propylene marine export terminal and certain propylene pipelines. Total propylene production volumes were 83 MBPD for the third quarter of 2020 compared to 105 MBPD for the third quarter of 2019.

Enterprise’s refined products pipeline and related activities reported a $27 million increase in gross operating margin for the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter in 2019, primarily due to a $31 million increase in gross operating margin from refined products marketing largely attributable to storage optimization activities. The partnership’s TE Products Pipeline System had an $8 million decrease in gross operating margin.

Gross operating margin from ethylene exports, pipelines, and related services increased $14 million this quarter compared to the third quarter of 2019. The partnership’s ethylene export terminal, which was placed into partial service in December 2019, had gross operating margin of $9 million in the third quarter of 2020. Loading volumes for the third quarter were 15 MBPD net to our 50 percent interest at the terminal.

Gross operating margin from Enterprise’s octane enhancement and related operations for the third quarter of 2020 decreased $15 million as a result of lower average sales margins and higher operating expenses.

Capitalization

Total debt principal outstanding at September 30, 2020 was $30.1 billion, including $2.6 billion of junior subordinated notes to which the nationally recognized debt rating agencies ascribe partial equity content. At September 30, 2020, Enterprise had consolidated liquidity of approximately $6.0 billion, which was comprised of $5.0 billion of available borrowing capacity under our revolving credit facilities and $1.0 billion of unrestricted cash on hand.

Total capital investments for the third quarter of 2020 were $705 million, which included $83 million of sustaining capital expenditures. For the first nine months of 2020, Enterprise’s capital investments totaled $2.7 billion, which included $226 million of sustaining capital expenditures. We currently expect our growth capital investments for 2020 to approximate $2.9 billion, net of cash contributions from noncontrolling interests. Sustaining capital expenditures for 2020 are currently estimated to be approximately $300 million. For 2021 and 2022, we currently expect growth capital investments on sanctioned projects to be approximately $1.6 billion and $800 million, respectively. These estimates do not include capital investments associated with the partnership’s proposed deep water offshore crude oil terminal (“SPOT”), which remains subject to governmental approval.