Partners' Capital and Distributions

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2018

Partners’ Capital and Distributions

Partners’ Capital

In May 2017, we filed a prospectus supplement to the shelf registration statement for our continuous equity offering program (which we refer to as an at-the-market program, or “ATM”) pursuant to which we may issue up to $750.0 million of common units in amounts, at prices and on terms to be determined by market conditions at the time. The net proceeds from any sales under the ATM, after deducting the sales agents’ commissions and our offering expenses, will be used for general partnership purposes, including repayment of indebtedness or capital expenditures. No units have been issued pursuant to this program.

The following table details the changes in the number of our limited partner units outstanding from January 1, 2018 through June 30, 2018:



Limited partner units outstanding on January 1, 2018		228,024,556
January 2018–Settlement of employee LTIP awards		168,913
During 2018–Other^(a)		1,691
Limited partner units outstanding on June 30, 2018		228,195,160

(a) Limited partner units issued to settle the equity-based retainer paid to an independent director of our general partner.

Distributions

Distributions we paid during 2017 and 2018 were as follows (in thousands, except per unit amounts):



Payment Date	Per Unit Cash Distribution Amount			Total Cash Distribution to Limited Partners
02/14/2017		$	0.8550		$	194,961
05/15/2017		0.8725			198,951
Through 06/30/2017		1.7275			393,912
08/14/2017		0.8900			202,942
11/14/2017		0.9050			206,362
Total		$	3.5225		$	803,216

02/14/2018		$	0.9200		$	209,940
05/15/2018		0.9375			213,933
Through 06/30/2018		1.8575			423,873
08/14/2018^(a)		0.9575			218,497
Total		$	2.8150		$	642,370

(a) Our general partner’s board of directors declared this cash distribution in July 2018 to be paid on August 14, 2018 to unitholders of record at the close of business on August 7, 2018.