Significant Risks and Uncertainties

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Significant Risks and Uncertainties [Abstract]

Significant Risks and Uncertainties

Note 18.  Significant Risks and Uncertainties

Nature of Operations

We operate predominantly in the midstream energy industry, which includes gathering, transporting, processing, fractionating and storing natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, and petrochemical and refined products.  As such, changes in the prices of hydrocarbon products and in the relative price levels among hydrocarbon products could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.  Changes in prices may impact demand for hydrocarbon products, which in turn may impact production, demand and the volumes of products for which we provide services.  In addition, decreases in demand may be caused by other factors, including prevailing economic conditions, reduced demand by consumers for the end products made with hydrocarbon products, increased competition, adverse weather conditions, public health emergencies and government regulations affecting prices and production levels.

The natural gas, NGL and crude oil volumes currently transported, gathered or processed at our facilities originate primarily from existing domestic resource basins, which naturally deplete over time.  To offset this natural decline, our facilities need access to production from newly discovered properties.  Many economic and business factors beyond our control can adversely affect the decision by producers to explore for and develop new reserves.  These factors could include relatively low crude oil and natural gas prices, cost and availability of equipment and labor, regulatory changes, capital budget limitations, the lack of available capital or the probability of success in finding hydrocarbons.  A decrease in exploration and development activities in the regions where our facilities and other energy logistics assets are located could result in a decrease in volumes handled by our assets, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Even if crude oil and natural gas reserves exist in the areas served by our assets, we may not be chosen by producers in these areas to gather, transport, process, fractionate, store or otherwise handle the hydrocarbons extracted.  We compete with other companies for such production on the basis of many factors, including, but not limited to, geographic proximity to the production, costs of connection, available capacity, rates and access to markets.

Credit Risk

We may incur credit risk to the extent counterparties do not fulfill their obligations to us in connection with our marketing of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, and petrochemicals and refined products and under long-term contracts with minimum volume commitments or fixed demand charges.  Risks of nonpayment and nonperformance by customers are a major consideration in our businesses, and our credit procedures and policies may not be adequate to sufficiently eliminate customer credit risk.  Further, adverse economic conditions in our industry, such as those experienced in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, may increase the risk of nonpayment and nonperformance by customers, particularly customers that have sub-investment grade credit ratings or small-scale companies. We manage our exposure to credit risk through credit analysis, credit approvals, credit limits and monitoring procedures, and for certain transactions may utilize letters of credit, prepayments, net out agreements and guarantees.  However, these procedures and policies do not fully eliminate customer credit risk.

The primary markets for our services are the Gulf Coast, Southwest, Rocky Mountain, Northeast and Midwest regions of the U.S.  We have a concentration of trade receivables due from independent and major integrated oil and gas companies and other pipelines and wholesalers operating in these markets.  These concentrations may affect our overall credit risk in that these energy industry customers may be similarly affected by adverse changes in economic, regulatory or other factors.  

In those situations where we are exposed to credit risk in our derivative instrument transactions, we analyze the counterparty’s financial condition prior to entering into an agreement, establish credit and/or margin limits and monitor the appropriateness of these limits on an ongoing basis.  Generally, we do not require collateral for such transactions nor do we currently anticipate nonperformance by our material counterparties.

Insurance Matters

We participate as a named insured in EPCO’s insurance program, which provides us with property damage, business interruption and other insurance coverage, the scope and amounts of which we believe are customary and prudent for the nature and extent of our operations.  While we believe EPCO maintains adequate insurance coverage on our behalf, insurance may not fully cover every type of damage, interruption or other loss that might occur.  If we were to incur a significant loss for which we were not fully insured, it could have a material adverse impact on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

In addition, there may be timing differences between amounts we accrue related to property damage expense, amounts we are required to pay in connection with a loss, and amounts we subsequently receive from insurance carriers as reimbursements.  Any event that materially interrupts the revenues generated by our consolidated operations, or other losses that require us to make material expenditures not reimbursed by insurance, could reduce our ability to pay distributions to our unitholders and, accordingly, adversely affect the market price of the Partnership’s common units.

Involuntary conversions result from the loss of an asset due to some unforeseen event (e.g., destruction due to a fire).  Some of these events are covered by insurance, thus resulting in a property damage insurance recovery.  Amounts we receive from insurance carriers are net of any deductibles related to the covered event.  We record a receivable from insurance to the extent we recognize a loss from an involuntary conversion event and the likelihood of our recovering such loss is deemed probable.  To the extent that any of our insurance claim receivables are later judged not probable of recovery (e.g., due to new information), such amounts are expensed.  We recognize gains on involuntary conversions when the amount received from insurance exceeds the net book value of the retired assets.

In addition, we do not recognize gains related to insurance recoveries until all contingencies related to such proceeds have been resolved, that is, a non-refundable cash payment is received from the insurance carrier or we have a binding settlement agreement with the carrier that clearly states that a non-refundable payment will be made.  To the extent that an asset is rebuilt, the associated expenditures are capitalized, as appropriate, on our Consolidated Balance Sheets and presented as “Capital expenditures” on our Statements of Consolidated Cash Flows.

Under our current insurance program, the standalone deductible for property damage claims is $30 million. We also have business interruption protection; however, such claims must involve physical damage and have a combined loss value in excess of $30 million and the period of interruption must exceed 60 days. With respect to named windstorm claims, the maximum amount of insurance coverage available to us for any single event is $200 million, after applying the appropriate deductibles. A named windstorm is a hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm or cyclone as declared by the U.S. National Weather Service.