Accounts Receivable
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9 Months Ended |
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Sep. 30, 2014
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Accounts Receivable | |
Accounts Receivable | Note 3—Accounts Receivable
Our accounts receivable are primarily from purchasers and shippers of crude oil and, to a lesser extent, purchasers of NGL and natural gas storage. These purchasers include, but are not limited to, refiners, producers, marketing and trading companies and financial institutions that are active in the physical and financial commodity markets. The majority of our accounts receivable relate to our crude oil supply and logistics activities that can generally be described as high volume and low margin activities, in many cases involving exchanges of crude oil volumes.
To mitigate credit risk related to our accounts receivable, we have in place a rigorous credit review process. We closely monitor market conditions in order to make a determination with respect to the amount, if any, of credit to be extended to any given customer and the form and amount of financial performance assurances we require. Such financial assurances are commonly provided to us in the form of advance cash payments, standby letters of credit or parental guarantees. As of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, we had received $181 million and $117 million, respectively, of advance cash payments from third parties to mitigate credit risk. Furthermore, as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, we had received $278 million and $426 million, respectively, of standby letters of credit to support obligations due from third parties, a portion of which applies to future business. In addition, in an effort to mitigate credit risk, a significant portion of our transactions with counterparties are settled on a net-cash basis.
Further, we enter into netting agreements (contractual agreements that allow us to offset receivables and payables with those counterparties against each other on our balance sheet) for a majority of such arrangements.
We review all outstanding accounts receivable balances on a monthly basis and record a reserve for amounts that we expect will not be fully recovered. We do not apply actual balances against the reserve until we have exhausted substantially all collection efforts. At September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, substantially all of our accounts receivable (net of allowance for doubtful accounts) were less than 30 days past their scheduled invoice date. Our allowance for doubtful accounts receivable totaled $4 million and $5 million at September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, respectively. Although we consider our allowance for doubtful accounts receivable to be adequate, actual amounts could vary significantly from estimated amounts.
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