Partnership Operations, Organization and Basis of Presentation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

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 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 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 and 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 51,000 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines; 200 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, 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. All activities included in our former sixth reportable business segment, Other Investments, ceased on January 18, 2012, which was the date we discontinued using the equity method to account for our previously held investment in Energy Transfer Equity L.P. (together with its subsidiaries, "Energy Transfer Equity") (see "Liquidation of Investment in Energy Transfer Equity" under Note 9).

We are 100% owned by our limited partners from an economic perspective. We are managed and controlled by Enterprise GP, which has 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. We have no employees. All of our operating functions and general and administrative support services are provided by employees of EPCO pursuant to an administrative services agreement (the "ASA") or by other service providers. See Note 14 for information regarding the ASA and other related party matters.

Completion of Duncan Merger in September 2011

Duncan Energy Partners L.P. ("Duncan Energy Partners") was formed by Enterprise Products Partners in September 2006 and completed its initial public offering in February 2007 (NYSE: DEP). Duncan Energy Partners was under common control with Enterprise by affiliates of EPCO and its business purpose was to acquire, own and operate midstream energy assets.

In April 2011, we, our general partner, EPD MergerCo LLC ("Duncan MergerCo," our wholly owned subsidiary), Duncan Energy Partners and DEP Holdings, LLC ("DEP GP," the general partner of Duncan Energy Partners) entered into a merger agreement (the "Duncan Merger Agreement"). In September 2011, the Duncan Merger Agreement was approved by the unitholders of Duncan Energy Partners and the merger of Duncan MergerCo with and into Duncan Energy Partners and related transactions were completed, with Duncan Energy Partners surviving such merger as our wholly owned subsidiary (collectively, we refer to these transactions as the "Duncan Merger").

Each issued and outstanding common unit of Duncan Energy Partners was cancelled and converted into the right to receive our limited partner common units based on an exchange ratio of 1.01 Enterprise common units for each Duncan Energy Partners common unit. We issued 24,277,310 of our common units (net of fractional common units cashed out) to the former public unitholders of Duncan Energy Partners as consideration in the Duncan Merger. We did not issue any common units as merger consideration to our subsidiaries that owned limited partner interests in Duncan Energy Partners.

Since we historically consolidated Duncan Energy Partners for financial reporting purposes, the Duncan Merger did not change the basis of presentation of our historical financial statements.