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CROSS THE STREAMS MIDSTREAM • IF OPERATORS FOUND 2019 HARD TO DEAL WITH, 2020 IS ALREADY TURNING OUT TO BE SOMETHING ELSE ALTOGETHER
commodity prices and end-user demand have thrown investment plans into chaos. Teague says the company is “currently reviewing its capital expenditure programme” and is in discussions with its customers to evaluate opportunities to reduce or defer investments.
FOR INDEPENDENT OPERATORS in the North American midstream patch, 2019 turned out to be a rather mixed bag. While new export facilities and downstream investment took all the headlines, tightening margins hampered arbitrage opportunities across the continent. As a result, those with pipeline connections to the US Gulf largely did well, while those closer to domestic refining sponsors saw their volumes and revenues drop. One operator at the wrong end of things, for instance, was Delek US Holdings, which saw full-year revenues drop from $10.23bn in 2018 to $9.30bn and operating income fall 20 per
Products Partners, one of those focusing on the expansion of export capacity for crude oil and liquefied gases in the Houston area. Net income for the year rose by 9 per cent to $4.6bn, with all business segments reporting increased results. “During the fourth quarter, our engineering and operations team successfully completed construction and began commercial operations of expansion assets at our LPG marine terminal, the Mentone and Bulldog natural gas processing plants, the ethylene export terminal on the Houston Ship Channel and our isobutane dehydrogenation facility,”
PLAYING WITH THE BIG BOYS Also finding itself in the right place was NuStar Energy, which reported 2019 net income of $207m, up 41 per cent over the 2018 figure, and EBITDA from continuing operations up 12 per cent at $668m. “Last year was, by all measures, a great year for NuStar,” says president/CEO Brad Barron. “Our results, across the board, demonstrate how well our employees executed on our 2019 plan.” NuStar notes that throughput volumes at its storage terminals increased by 36 per cent last year; its west coast terminals “executed on projects to develop the renewable fuels logistics network necessary for regional markets to achieve low-carbon fuel targets”
cent to $492.3m. The decline was attributed to a tighter crude oil price differential, partly offset by some investments that came onstream during 2019. It is now looking to trim its retail portfolio and invest further in pipeline infrastructure and other midstream assets. Doing rather better last year was Enterprise
reports AJ ‘Jim’ Teague, CEO of Enterprise’s general partner, illustrating what the company sees as its strategic priorities. This year may, though, turn out rather differently. In common with other businesses at all points in the liquids supply chain, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on
while the St James facility in Louisiana more than doubled unit train activity after new pipeline connections opened. In particular, Barron points to increased throughput on both its Permian Crude System and its Corpus Christi Crude System, with volumes handled at the Corpus Christi export
HCB MONTHLY | APRIL 2020
