Long-Term Incentive Plan

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

Long-Term Incentive Plan

Long-Term Incentive Plan

We have a long-term incentive plan (“LTIP”) for certain of our employees and directors of our general partner. The LTIP primarily consists of phantom units and permits the grant of awards covering an aggregate payout of 11.9 million of our limited partner units. The compensation committee of our general partner’s board of directors administers our LTIP. The estimated units remaining available under the LTIP at September 30, 2016 total 3.0 million.

Our equity-based incentive compensation expense (benefit) was as follows (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended							Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2015							September 30, 2015
	Equity Method		Liability Method			Total		Equity Method		Liability Method		Total
Performance-based awards:
2013 awards	$	1,673	$	(590	)	$	1,083	$	6,246	$	501	$	6,747
2014 awards	1,497		—			1,497		3,980		—		3,980
2015 awards	1,727		—			1,727		3,687		—		3,687
Time-based awards	380		—			380		812		—		812
Total	$	5,277	$	(590	)	$	4,687	$	14,725	$	501	$	15,226
Allocation of LTIP expense on our consolidated statements of income:
G&A expense						$	4,643					$	15,016
Operating expense						44						210
Total						$	4,687					$	15,226

	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2016						September 30, 2016
	Equity Method		Liability Method		Total		Equity Method		Liability Method		Total
Performance-based awards:
2014 awards	$	1,780	$	—	$	1,780	$	6,168	$	—	$	6,168
2015 awards	1,208		—		1,208		3,679		—		3,679
2016 awards	1,097		—		1,097		3,240		—		3,240
Time-based awards	593		—		593		1,650		—		1,650
Total	$	4,678	$	—	$	4,678	$	14,737	$	—	$	14,737
Allocation of LTIP expense on our consolidated statements of income:
G&A expense					$	4,637					$	14,623
Operating expense					41						114
Total					$	4,678					$	14,737

In February 2016, 218,046 phantom unit awards were issued pursuant to our LTIP. These grants included both performance-based and time-based phantom unit awards and have a three-year vesting period that will end on December 31, 2018.

In February 2016, we issued 350,552 limited partner units to settle unit award grants to certain employees that vested on December 31, 2015. Further, 6,117 limited partner units were issued during 2016 to settle the equity-based retainers paid to the directors of our general partner.

Basic and Diluted Net Income Per Limited Partner Unit

The difference between our actual limited partner units outstanding and our weighted-average number of limited partner units outstanding used to calculate basic net income per unit is due to the impact of: (i) the phantom units issued to non-employee directors and (ii) the weighted average effect of units actually issued during a period.  The difference between the weighted-average number of limited partner units outstanding used for basic and diluted net income per unit calculations on our consolidated statements of income is primarily the dilutive effect of phantom unit grants associated with our LTIP that have not yet vested.