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Partnership Operations, Organization and Basis of Presentation
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Partnership Operations, Organization and Basis of Presentation [Abstract]  
Partnership Operations, Organization and Basis of Presentation
 
Note 1.  Partnership Operations, Organization and Basis of Presentation

General

We are a publicly traded Delaware limited partnership, the common units of which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") under the ticker symbol "EPD."  We were formed in April 1998 to own and operate certain natural gas liquids ("NGLs") related businesses of EPCO and are now a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, petrochemicals and refined products.

Our integrated midstream energy asset network links producers of natural gas, NGLs and crude oil from some of the largest supply basins in the United States ("U.S."), Canada and Gulf of Mexico with domestic consumers and international markets.  Our midstream energy operations currently include: natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transportation and storage; NGL transportation, fractionation, storage, and import and export terminals (including liquefied petroleum gas or "LPG"); crude oil gathering, transportation, storage and terminals; offshore production platforms; petrochemical and refined products transportation, storage and terminals, and related services; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily on the U.S. inland and Intracoastal Waterway

systems and in the Gulf of Mexico.  Our assets include approximately 51,300 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines; 225 million barrels ("MMBbls") of storage capacity for NGLs, petrochemicals, refined products and crude oil; and 14 billion cubic feet ("Bcf") of natural gas storage capacity.  In addition, our asset portfolio includes 24 natural gas processing plants, 22 NGL and propylene fractionators, six offshore hub platforms located in the Gulf of Mexico, a butane isomerization complex, NGL import and LPG export terminals, a refined products export terminal and octane enhancement and high-purity isobutylene production facilities.

We have five reportable business segments: (i) NGL Pipelines & Services; (ii) Onshore Natural Gas Pipelines & Services; (iii) Onshore Crude Oil Pipelines & Services; (iv) Offshore Pipelines & Services; and (v) Petrochemical & Refined Products Services.

We conduct substantially all of our business through EPO and are owned 100% by our limited partners from an economic perspective. Enterprise GP manages our partnership and owns a non-economic general partner interest in us.  We, Enterprise GP, EPCO and Dan Duncan LLC are affiliates under the collective common control of the DD LLC Trustees and the EPCO Trustees.  Like many publicly traded partnerships, we have no employees. All of our management, administrative and operating functions are performed by employees of EPCO pursuant to an administrative services agreement (the "ASA") or by other service providers. See Note 15 for information regarding the ASA and other related party matters.

As a result of our acquisition of Oiltanking GP on October 1, 2014, we began consolidating the financial statements of Oiltanking and its general partner as of the acquisition date.  See Note 10 for information regarding this acquisition.

 See Note 13 for information regarding a two-for-one common unit split completed on August 21, 2014.  All per unit amounts and number of units outstanding in these Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto are presented on a post-split basis.