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Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates [Abstract]  
Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates

Note 9.  Investments in Unconsolidated Affiliates

The following table presents our investments in unconsolidated affiliates by business segment at the dates indicated. We account for these investments using the equity method.
 
 
 
Ownership
Interest at
December 31,
  
December 31,
 
 
 
2014
  
2014
  
2013
 
NGL Pipelines & Services:
 
  
  
 
Venice Energy Service Company, L.L.C. ("VESCO")
 
13.1%
 
 
$
27.7
  
$
27.6
 
K/D/S Promix, L.L.C. ("Promix")
 
50%
 
  
38.5
   
45.4
 
Baton Rouge Fractionators LLC ("BRF")
 
32.2%
 
  
18.8
   
19.5
 
Skelly-Belvieu Pipeline Company, L.L.C. ("Skelly-Belvieu")
 
50%
 
  
40.1
   
40.8
 
Texas Express Pipeline LLC ("Texas Express")
 
35%
 
  
349.3
   
339.9
 
Texas Express Gathering LLC ("TEG")
 
45%
 
  
37.9
   
37.8
 
Front Range Pipeline LLC ("Front Range")
 
33.3%
 
  
170.0
   
134.5
 
Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines & Services:
            
White River Hub, LLC ("White River Hub")
 
50%
 
  
23.2
   
24.2
 
Onshore Crude Oil Pipelines & Services:
            
Seaway Crude Pipeline Company LLC ("Seaway")
 
50%
 
  
1,431.2
   
940.7
 
Eagle Ford Pipeline LLC ("Eagle Ford Crude Oil Pipeline")
 
50%
 
  
336.5
   
224.5
 
Offshore Pipelines & Services:
            
Poseidon Oil Pipeline Company, L.L.C. ("Poseidon")
 
36%
 
  
31.8
   
41.7
 
Cameron Highway Oil Pipeline Company ("Cameron Highway")
 
50%
 
  
201.3
   
207.7
 
Deepwater Gateway, L.L.C. ("Deepwater Gateway")
 
50%
 
  
79.6
   
84.5
 
Neptune Pipeline Company, L.L.C. ("Neptune")
 
25.7%
 
  
34.9
   
38.7
 
Southeast Keathley Canyon Pipeline Company L.L.C. ("SEKCO")
 
50%
 
  
146.1
   
159.2
 
Petrochemical & Refined Products Services:
            
Baton Rouge Propylene Concentrator, LLC ("BRPC")
 
30%
 
  
6.5
   
7.6
 
Centennial Pipeline LLC ("Centennial")
 
50%
 
  
66.1
   
60.1
 
 Other 
 
Various
   
2.5
   
2.7
 
Total
     
$
3,042.0
  
$
2,437.1
 

NGL Pipelines & Services

The principal business activity of each investee included in our NGL Pipelines & Services segment is described as follows:

§
VESCO owns a natural gas processing facility in south Louisiana and a related gathering system that gathers natural gas from certain offshore developments for delivery to its natural gas processing facility.

§
Promix owns an NGL fractionation facility and related storage caverns located in south Louisiana.  The facility receives mixed NGLs via pipeline from natural gas processing plants located in southern Louisiana and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  In addition, Promix owns an NGL gathering system that gathers mixed NGLs from processing plants in southern Louisiana for its fractionator.

§
BRF owns an NGL fractionation facility located in south Louisiana that receives mixed NGLs from natural gas processing plants located in Alabama, Mississippi and southern Louisiana.

§
Skelly-Belvieu owns a pipeline that transports mixed NGLs from Skellytown, Texas to Mont Belvieu, Texas.  The Skelly-Belvieu Pipeline receives NGLs through a pipeline interconnect with our Mid-America Pipeline System in Skellytown, Texas.

§
Texas Express owns an NGL pipeline that extends from Skellytown, Texas to our NGL fractionation and storage complex at Mont Belvieu, Texas.  This pipeline commenced operations in November 2013.  Mixed NGL volumes from the Rocky Mountains, Permian Basin and Mid-Continent regions are delivered to the pipeline via an interconnect with our Mid-America Pipeline System near Skellytown.  The pipeline also transports mixed NGL volumes from two gathering systems owned by TEG to Mont Belvieu.  In addition, mixed NGL volumes from the Denver-Julesburg supply basin are transported to the pipeline using the Front Range pipeline, which commenced operations in February 2014.
 
§
TEG owns two NGL gathering systems that deliver volumes to the Texas Express Pipeline.  These gathering systems commenced operations in November 2013.  The Elk City gathering system currently gathers mixed NGLs from natural gas processing plants in the Anadarko/Granite Wash production area located in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma.  The North Texas gathering system currently gathers mixed NGLs from natural gas processing plants in the Barnett Shale production area in North Texas.  Enbridge serves as operator of these two NGL gathering systems.

§
Front Range owns an NGL pipeline that transports mixed NGLs from natural gas processing plants located in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado to an interconnect with our Texas Express pipeline and Mid-America Pipeline System at Skellytown, Texas.  The Front Range pipeline commenced operations in February 2014.

Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines & Services
 
White River Hub owns a natural gas hub facility serving producers in the Piceance Basin of northwest Colorado.  The facility enables producers to access six interstate natural gas pipelines.
 
Onshore Crude Oil Pipelines & Services

The principal business activity of each investee included in our Onshore Crude Oil Pipelines & Services segment is described as follows:

§
Seaway owns a pipeline that connects the Cushing, Oklahoma hub with markets in Southeast Texas.  The Seaway Pipeline is comprised of the Longhaul System, the Freeport System and the Texas City System.  The Cushing hub is a major industry trading hub and price settlement point for West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Longhaul System provides north-to-south transportation of crude oil from the Cushing hub to Seaway's Jones Creek terminal near Freeport, Texas and our terminal located near Katy, Texas.  In early 2012, Seaway undertook a reversal of the flow of its Longhaul System and began providing north-to-south transportation service in May 2012.  Previously, this pipeline was used to transport crude oil in the opposite direction from the Jones Creek terminal to the Cushing hub.

In June 2014 we completed a pipeline looping project involving our Longhaul System.  This expansion project entailed the construction of an additional pipeline that transports crude oil southbound from the Cushing hub to Seaway's Jones Creek terminal.

The Freeport System consists of a ship unloading dock, three pipelines and other related facilities that transport crude oil from Freeport, Texas to the Jones Creek terminal.  The Texas City System consists of a ship unloading dock, storage tanks, various pipelines and other related facilities that deliver crude oil from Texas City, Texas to Galena Park, Texas and other nearby locations.  The Freeport System and Texas City System make only intrastate movements.  Seaway also owns storage tanks at the Jones Creek terminal, which are connected to the Longhaul System.

§
Eagle Ford Pipeline LLC owns a crude oil pipeline that transports crude oil and condensate for producers in South Texas.  The system consists of a crude oil and condensate pipeline extending from Gardendale, Texas in LaSalle County to Three Rivers, Texas in Live Oak County and continuing on to Corpus Christi, Texas.  The system also includes a pipeline segment extending from Three Rivers to an interconnect with our South Texas Crude Oil Pipeline System in Wilson County.  This system, which commenced operations in July 2013, includes a marine terminal facility at Corpus Christi and storage capacity across the system.  Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. ("Plains"), our joint venture partner in the pipeline, serves as operator of the system.
 
Offshore Pipelines & Services

The principal business activity of each investee included in our Offshore Pipelines & Services segment is described as follows:

§
Poseidon owns a crude oil pipeline that transports crude oil production from the outer continental shelf and deepwater areas of the Gulf of Mexico offshore Louisiana to onshore facilities in south Louisiana.

§
Cameron Highway owns a crude oil pipeline that transports crude oil production from deepwater areas of the Gulf of Mexico, primarily the Green Canyon area, for delivery to refineries and terminals in southeast Texas.

§
Deepwater Gateway owns an offshore platform that processes crude oil and natural gas from production fields located in the South Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico.

§
Neptune owns the Manta Ray Offshore Gathering System and Nautilus System, both of which are natural gas pipeline systems located in the Gulf of Mexico.  As a result of declining pipeline throughput volumes forecast for these systems in 2014 and future years, we recorded a $4.8 million non-cash impairment charge related to our equity investment in Neptune in 2013.

§
SEKCO, upon construction, will own a crude oil gathering pipeline serving the Lucius oil and gas field located in the southern Keathley Canyon area of the deepwater central Gulf of Mexico.  The SEKCO Oil Pipeline commenced operations in July 2014.

Petrochemical & Refined Products Services

The principal business activity of each significant investee included in our Petrochemical & Refined Products Services segment is described as follows:

§
BRPC owns a propylene fractionation facility located in south Louisiana that fractionates refinery grade propylene into chemical grade propylene.

§
Centennial owns an interstate refined products pipeline that extends from an origination facility in Beaumont, Texas, to Bourbon, Illinois.  Centennial also owns a refined products storage terminal located near Creal Springs, Illinois.

Other Investments

Liquidation of Investment in Energy Transfer Equity

The Other Investments segment included our noncontrolling ownership interest in Energy Transfer Equity, which was accounted for using the equity method until January 18, 2012.  Since our ownership interest in Energy Transfer Equity exceeded 3% of its total ownership interests through January 18, 2012, we accounted for our investment in Energy Transfer Equity using the equity method.  On January 18, 2012, we sold 22,762,636 of these common units in a private transaction, which generated cash proceeds of $825.1 million.  As a result of this transaction, our ownership interest in Energy Transfer Equity was reduced below 3%, and we discontinued using the equity method to account for this investment and began accounting for it as an investment in available-for-sale equity securities.  The remaining 6,540,878 units were sold systematically through April 27, 2012 and generated additional total cash proceeds of $270.2 million.  In the aggregate, the liquidation of this investment during 2012 resulted in $68.8 million of gains that are a component of "Other income" on our Statements of Consolidated Operations.

All activities included in the Other Investments business segment ceased on January 18, 2012, which was the date we discontinued using the equity method to account for our investment in Energy Transfer Equity.  See Note 14 for information regarding our business segments.

Equity Earnings and Excess Cost

The following table presents our equity in income (loss) of unconsolidated affiliates by business segment for the periods indicated:

 
 
For the Year Ended December 31,
 
 
 
2014
  
2013
  
2012
 
NGL Pipelines & Services
 
$
30.6
  
$
15.7
  
$
15.9
 
Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines & Services
  
3.6
   
3.8
   
4.4
 
Onshore Crude Oil Pipelines & Services
  
184.6
   
140.3
   
32.6
 
Offshore Pipelines & Services
  
54.0
   
29.8
   
26.9
 
Petrochemical & Refined Products Services (1)
  
(13.3
)
  
(22.3
)
  
(17.9
)
Other Investments (2)
  
--
   
--
   
2.4
 
Total
 
$
259.5
  
$
167.3
  
$
64.3
 
   
(1)        Losses are primarily attributable to our investment in Centennial. As a result of a trend in declining earnings, we estimated the fair value of this equity-method investment during each of the last three fiscal years. Our estimates, based on a combination of the market and income approaches, indicate that the fair value of this investment remains substantially in excess of its carrying value.
(2)       With respect to the year ended December 31, 2012, the amount presented reflects our equity in the income of Energy Transfer Equity from January 1, 2012 to January 18, 2012.
 

On occasion, the price we pay to acquire an ownership interest in a company exceeds the underlying carrying value of the capital accounts we acquire.  Such excess cost amounts are included within the carrying values of our investments in Promix, Skelly-Belvieu, Seaway, Poseidon, Cameron Highway, Centennial and La Porte at December 31, 2014.  These excess cost amounts are attributable to the fair value of the underlying tangible assets of these entities exceeding their respective book carrying values at the time of our acquisition of ownership interests in these entities.  We amortize such excess cost amounts as a reduction to equity earnings in a manner similar to depreciation.

The following table presents our unamortized excess cost amounts by business segment at the dates indicated:

 
 
December 31,
 
 
 
2014
  
2013
 
NGL Pipelines & Services
 
$
26.5
  
$
27.7
 
Onshore Crude Oil Pipelines & Services
  
21.7
   
17.8
 
Offshore Pipelines & Services
  
9.0
   
10.0
 
Petrochemical & Refined Products Services
  
2.4
   
2.6
 
Total
 
$
59.6
  
$
58.1
 

The following table presents our amortization of excess cost amounts by business segment for the periods indicated:

 
 
For the Year Ended December 31,
 
 
 
2014
  
2013
  
2012
 
NGL Pipelines & Services
 
$
1.2
  
$
1.2
  
$
1.0
 
Onshore Crude Oil Pipelines & Services
  
0.9
   
0.7
   
0.7
 
Offshore Pipelines & Services
  
1.0
   
1.3
   
1.2
 
Petrochemical & Refined Products Services
  
0.2
   
0.1
   
0.2
 
Other Investments (1)
  
--
   
--
   
0.3
 
Total
 
$
3.3
  
$
3.3
  
$
3.4
 
   
(1)    Reflects amortization of excess cost amounts related to our investment in Energy Transfer Equity through January 18, 2012, which is the date we ceased using the equity method to account for this investment.
 

The following table presents forecasted amortization of excess cost amounts for the years indicated.

2015
 
2016
 
2017
 
2018
 
2019
$
3.3
 
$
3.3
 
$
3.3
 
$
3.3
 
$
3.3

Other

The credit agreements of Poseidon and Centennial restrict their ability to pay cash dividends if a default or event of default (as defined in each credit agreement) has occurred and is continuing at the time such payments are scheduled to be paid.  These businesses were in compliance with the terms of their credit agreements at December 31, 2014.