Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. and Plains GP Holdings Report Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2018 Results

Business Wire 5-Feb-2019 4:16 PM

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) and Plains GP Holdings (NYSE: PAGP) today reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 results.

Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2018 Highlights

• Delivered 4Q and full-year 2018 financial and operating results ahead of expectations
• Executed Permian-focused capital program, including early completion of Sunrise Expansion
• Actively developed additional growth capital projects
• Significantly advanced deleveraging plan and enhanced financial flexibility

"Our fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 results exceeded our guidance and reflect solid execution of our business plan," stated Willie Chiang, Chief Executive Officer of Plains All American Pipeline. "Looking forward, we believe we are well positioned with a strategic asset base and business model and improved financial flexibility."

Segment Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter and full year of 2018 and 2017 is presented below:

Fourth-quarter 2018 Transportation Segment Adjusted EBITDA increased by 20% over comparable 2017 results. This increase was primarily driven by increased volume on our Permian Basin systems, including the start-up of our Sunrise II pipeline in the fourth quarter of 2018. Fourth-quarter 2018 results also benefited from a full period of Diamond pipeline volumes, which was placed into service in late 2017. These favorable results were partially offset by the impact of the sale of an interest in our BridgeTex pipeline and asset sales in the Rocky Mountain region.

Fourth-quarter 2018 Facilities Segment Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 2% versus comparable 2017 results, primarily due to the impact of asset sales and lower revenues from our NGL fractionation facilities. This was partially offset by higher revenues from increased activity at certain of our crude oil rail terminals, as well as at our Cushing terminal.

Fourth-quarter 2018 Supply and Logistics Segment Adjusted EBITDA increased versus comparable 2017 results primarily due to capturing more favorable crude oil differentials in the U.S. and Canada.

2019 Full-Year Guidance

The table below presents our full-year 2019 financial and operating guidance:

Plains GP Holdings

PAGP owns an indirect non-economic controlling interest in PAA's general partner and an indirect limited partner interest in PAA. As the control entity of PAA, PAGP consolidates PAA's results into its financial statements, which is reflected in the condensed consolidating balance sheet and income statement tables included at the end of this release. Information regarding PAGP's distributions is reflected below:

Conference Call

PAA and PAGP will hold a joint conference call at 4:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday, February 5, 2019 to discuss the following items:

1. PAA's fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 performance;
2. Financial and operating guidance for the full year of 2019;
3. Capitalization and liquidity; and
4. PAA and PAGP's outlook for the future.

Conference Call Webcast Instructions

To access the internet webcast please go to https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1226801&tp_key=b7b2e5a458

Alternatively, the webcast can be accessed at www.plainsallamerican.com, under the Investor Relations section of the website (Navigate to: Investor Relations / either "PAA" or "PAGP" / News & Events / Quarterly Earnings). Following the live webcast, an audio replay in MP3 format will be available on the website within two hours after the end of the call and will be accessible for a period of 365 days. A transcript will also be available after the call at the above referenced website.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Selected Items Impacting Comparability

To supplement our financial information presented in accordance with GAAP, management uses additional measures known as "non-GAAP financial measures" in its evaluation of past performance and prospects for the future. The primary additional measures used by management are earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (including our proportionate share of depreciation and amortization and gains and losses on significant asset sales of unconsolidated entities), gains and losses on asset sales and asset impairments, and gains on sales of investments in unconsolidated entities, adjusted for certain selected items impacting comparability ("Adjusted EBITDA") and implied distributable cash flow ("DCF").

Management believes that the presentation of such additional financial measures provides useful information to investors regarding our performance and results of operations because these measures, when used to supplement related GAAP financial measures, (i) provide additional information about our core operating performance and ability to fund distributions to our unitholders through cash generated by our operations and (ii) provide investors with the same financial analytical framework upon which management bases financial, operational, compensation and planning/budgeting decisions. We also present these and additional non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted net income attributable to PAA and basic and diluted adjusted net income per common unit, as they are measures that investors, rating agencies and debt holders have indicated are useful in assessing us and our results of operations. These non-GAAP measures may exclude, for example, (i) charges for obligations that are expected to be settled with the issuance of equity instruments, (ii) gains or losses on derivative instruments that are related to underlying activities in another period (or the reversal of such adjustments from a prior period), the mark-to-market related to our Preferred Distribution Rate Reset Option, gains and losses on derivatives that are related to investing activities (such as the purchase of linefill) and inventory valuation adjustments, as applicable, (iii) long-term inventory costing adjustments, (iv) items that are not indicative of our core operating results and business outlook and/or (v) other items that we believe should be excluded in understanding our core operating performance. These measures may further be adjusted to include amounts related to deficiencies associated with minimum volume commitments whereby we have billed the counterparties for their deficiency obligation and such amounts are recognized as deferred revenue in "Other current liabilities" on our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. Such amounts are presented net of applicable amounts subsequently recognized into revenue. Furthermore, the calculation of these measures contemplates tax effects as a separate reconciling item, where applicable. We have defined all such items as "selected items impacting comparability." Due to the nature of the selected items, certain selected items impacting comparability may impact certain non-GAAP financial measures, referred to as adjusted results, but not impact other non-GAAP financial measures. We do not necessarily consider all of our selected items impacting comparability to be non-recurring, infrequent or unusual, but we believe that an understanding of these selected items impacting comparability is material to the evaluation of our operating results and prospects.

Although we present selected items impacting comparability that management considers in evaluating our performance, you should also be aware that the items presented do not represent all items that affect comparability between the periods presented. Variations in our operating results are also caused by changes in volumes, prices, exchange rates, mechanical interruptions, acquisitions, divestitures, expansion projects and numerous other factors. These types of variations may not be separately identified in this release, but will be discussed, as applicable, in management's discussion and analysis of operating results in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our definition and calculation of certain non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures of other companies. Adjusted EBITDA, Implied DCF and other non-GAAP financial performance measures are reconciled to Net Income (the most directly comparable measure as reported in accordance with GAAP) for the historical periods presented in the tables attached to this release, and should be viewed in addition to, and not in lieu of, our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto. In addition, we encourage you to visit our website at www.plainsallamerican.com (in particular the section under "Financial Information" entitled "Non-GAAP Reconciliations" within the Investor Relations tab), which presents a reconciliation of our commonly used non-GAAP and supplemental financial measures.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this release consist of forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from results or outcomes anticipated in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, declines in the actual or expected volume of crude oil and NGL shipped, processed, purchased, stored, fractionated and/or gathered at or through the use of our assets, whether due to declines in production from existing oil and gas reserves, reduced demand, failure to develop or slowdown in the development of additional oil and gas reserves, whether from reduced cash flow to fund drilling or the inability to access capital, or other factors; the effects of competition; market distortions caused by over-commitments to infrastructure projects, which impacts volumes, margins, returns and overall earnings; unanticipated changes in crude oil and NGL market structure, grade differentials and volatility (or lack thereof); environmental liabilities or events that are not covered by an indemnity, insurance or existing reserves; fluctuations in refinery capacity in areas supplied by our mainlines and other factors affecting demand for various grades of crude oil, NGL and natural gas and resulting changes in pricing conditions or transportation throughput requirements; maintenance of our credit rating and ability to receive open credit from our suppliers and trade counterparties; the occurrence of a natural disaster, catastrophe, terrorist attack (including eco-terrorist attacks) or other event, including attacks on our electronic and computer systems; failure to implement or capitalize, or delays in implementing or capitalizing, on expansion projects, whether due to permitting delays, permitting withdrawals or other factors; shortages or cost increases of supplies, materials or labor; the impact of current and future laws, rulings, governmental regulations, accounting standards and statements, and related interpretations; the failure to consummate, or significant delay in consummating, sales of assets or interests as a part of our strategic divestiture program; tightened capital markets or other factors that increase our cost of capital or limit our ability to obtain debt or equity financing on satisfactory terms to fund additional acquisitions, expansion projects, working capital requirements and the repayment or refinancing of indebtedness; the availability of, and our ability to consummate, acquisition or combination opportunities; the successful integration and future performance of acquired assets or businesses and the risks associated with operating in lines of business that are distinct and separate from our historical operations; the currency exchange rate of the Canadian dollar; continued creditworthiness of, and performance by, our counterparties, including financial institutions and trading companies with which we do business; inability to recognize current revenue attributable to deficiency payments received from customers who fail to ship or move more than minimum contracted volumes until the related credits expire or are used; non-utilization of our assets and facilities; increased costs, or lack of availability, of insurance; weather interference with business operations or project construction, including the impact of extreme weather events or conditions; the effectiveness of our risk management activities; fluctuations in the debt and equity markets, including the price of our units at the time of vesting under our long-term incentive plans; risks related to the development and operation of our assets, including our ability to satisfy our contractual obligations to our customers; factors affecting demand for natural gas and natural gas storage services and rates; general economic, market or business conditions and the amplification of other risks caused by volatile financial markets, capital constraints and pervasive liquidity concerns; and other factors and uncertainties inherent in the transportation, storage, terminalling and marketing of crude oil, as well as in the storage of natural gas and the processing, transportation, fractionation, storage and marketing of natural gas liquids as discussed in the Partnerships' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and provides logistics services for crude oil, NGLs and natural gas. PAA owns an extensive network of pipeline transportation, terminalling, storage and gathering assets in key crude oil and NGL producing basins and transportation corridors and at major market hubs in the United States and Canada. On average, PAA handles more than 5 million barrels per day of crude oil and NGL in its Transportation segment. PAA is headquartered in Houston, Texas. More information is available at www.plainsallamerican.com.

Plains GP Holdings is a publicly traded entity that owns an indirect, non-economic controlling general partner interest in PAA and an indirect limited partner interest in PAA, one of the largest energy infrastructure and logistics companies in North America. PAGP is headquartered in Houston, Texas. More information is available at www.plainsallamerican.com.