RATTLER MIDSTREAM LP

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

VIPER ENERGY PARTNERS LP

Viper is a publicly traded Delaware limited partnership, the common units of which are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “VNOM”. Viper was formed by Diamondback on February 27, 2014, to, among other things, own, acquire and exploit oil and natural gas properties in North America. Viper is currently focused on oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin. Viper Energy Partners GP LLC, a consolidated subsidiary of Diamondback, serves as the general partner of, and holds a general partner interest in, Viper. As of December 31, 2019, the Company owned approximately 58% of Viper’s total units outstanding.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, Diamondback received distributions of $133 million in respect of its interests in Viper and Viper LLC.

Viper completed the following equity offerings during the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017:



Date	Number of Units of Common Units Sold	Number of Units of Common Units Issued to Underwriters	Proceeds Received by Viper		Amount Repaid on Viper LLC’s Credit Facility
			(in millions)
January 2017	9,775,000	1,275,000	$	148	$	121
July 2017⁽¹⁾	16,100,000	2,100,000	$	232	$	153
July 2018	10,080,000	1,080,000	$	303	$	362
March 2019	10,925,000	1,425,000	$	341	$	314


(1)	In this offering, Diamondback purchased 700,000 common units, an affiliate of the General Partner purchased 3,000,000 common units and certain officers and directors of the Company and the General Partner purchased an aggregate of 114,000 common units, in each case directly from the underwriters.

As a result of Viper’s public offerings, Viper’s issuance of units for acquisitions and Viper’s issuance of unit-based compensation, the Company’s ownership percentage in Viper was reduced. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company recorded a $45 million decrease to non-controlling interest in Viper with an increase to additional paid-in capital, which represents the difference between the Company’s share of the underlying net book value in Viper before and after the respective Partnership common unit transactions, on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet.

Recapitalization, Tax Status Election and Related Transactions by Viper

In March 2018, Viper announced that the Board of Directors of the General Partner had unanimously approved a change of Viper’s federal income tax status from that of a pass-through partnership to that of a taxable entity via a “check the box” election. In connection with making this election, on May 9, 2018 Viper (i) amended and restated its First Amended and Restated Partnership Agreement, (ii) amended and restated the First Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of the Operating Company, (iii) amended and restated its existing registration rights agreement with the Company and (iv) entered into an exchange agreement with the Company, the General Partner and the Operating Company. Simultaneously with the effectiveness of these agreements, the Company delivered and assigned to Viper the 73,150,000 common units the Company owned in exchange for (i) 73,150,000 of Viper’s newly-issued Class B units and (ii) 73,150,000 newly-issued units of the Operating Company pursuant to the terms of a Recapitalization Agreement dated March 28, 2018, as amended as of May 9, 2018 (the “Recapitalization Agreement”). Immediately following that exchange, Viper continued to be the managing member of the Operating Company, with sole control of its operations, and owned approximately 36% of the outstanding units issued by the Operating Company, and the Company owned the remaining approximately 64% of the outstanding units issued by the Operating Company. Upon completion of Viper’s July 2018 offering of units, it owned approximately 41% of the outstanding units issued by the Operating Company and the Company owned the remaining approximately 59%. The Operating Company units and Viper’s Class B units owned by the Company are exchangeable from time to time for Viper’s common units (that is, one Operating Company unit and one Partnership Class B unit, together, will be exchangeable for one Partnership common unit).

On May 10, 2018, the change in Viper’s income tax status became effective. On that date, pursuant to the terms of the Recapitalization Agreement, (i) the General Partner made a cash capital contribution of $1 million to Viper in respect of its general partner interest and (ii) the Company made a cash capital contribution of $1 million to Viper in respect of the Class B units. The Company, as the holder of the Class B units, and the General Partner, as the holder of the general partner interest, are entitled to receive an 8% annual distribution on the outstanding amount of these capital contributions, payable quarterly, as a return on this invested capital. On May 10, 2018, the Company also exchanged 731,500 Class B units and 731,500 units in the Operating Company for 731,500 common units of Viper and a cash amount of $10,000 representing a proportionate return of the $1 million invested capital in respect of the Class B units. The General Partner continues to serve as Viper’s general partner and the Company continues to control Viper. After the effectiveness of the tax status election and the completion of related transactions, Viper’s minerals business continues to be conducted through the Operating Company, which continues to be taxed as a partnership for federal and state income tax purposes. This structure is anticipated to provide significant benefits to Viper’s business, including operational effectiveness, acquisition and disposition transactional planning flexibility and income tax efficiency. For additional information regarding the tax status election and related transactions, please refer to Viper’s Definitive Information Statement on Schedule 14C filed with the SEC on April 17, 2018 and Viper’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 15, 2018.

Partnership Agreement

The second amended and restated agreement of limited partnership, dated as of May 9, 2018, as amended as of May 10, 2018 (the “Viper Partnership Agreement”), requires Viper to reimburse Viper’s General Partner for all direct and indirect expenses incurred or paid on Viper’s behalf and all other expenses allocable to Viper or otherwise incurred by Viper’s General Partner in connection with operating Viper’s business. The Viper Partnership Agreement does not set a limit on the amount of expenses for which Viper’s General Partner and its affiliates may be reimbursed. These expenses include salary, bonus, incentive compensation and other amounts paid to persons who perform services for Viper or on its behalf and expenses allocated to Viper’s General Partner by its affiliates. Viper’s General Partner is entitled to determine the expenses that are allocable to Viper. For each of the year ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, Viper’s General Partner allocated $3 million and $2 million, respectively, to Viper.

Tax Sharing

In connection with the closing of the Viper Offering, Viper entered into a tax sharing agreement with Diamondback, dated June 23, 2014, pursuant to which Viper agreed to reimburse Diamondback for its share of state and local income and other taxes for which Viper’s results are included in a consolidated tax return filed by Diamondback with respect to taxable periods including or beginning on June 23, 2014. The amount of any such reimbursement is limited to the tax Viper would have paid had it not been included in a combined group with Diamondback. Diamondback may use its tax attributes to cause its consolidated group, of which Viper may be a member for this purpose, to owe less or no tax. In such a situation, Viper agreed to reimburse Diamondback for the tax Viper would have owed had the tax attributes not been available or used for Viper’s benefit, even

though Diamondback had no cash tax expense for that period. For the year ended December 31, 2019, Viper did not accrue any state income tax expense. For the year ended December 31, 2018, Viper accrued a minimal amount for its share of Texas margin tax for which Viper’s results are included in a combined tax return filed by Diamondback.

Viper LLC’s Revolving Credit Facility

Viper has entered into a secured revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, (“Wells Fargo”) as administrative agent sole book runner and lead arranger. See Note 10—Debt for a description of this credit facility.

RATTLER MIDSTREAM LP

Rattler is a publicly traded Delaware limited partnership, the common units of which are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “RTLR”. Rattler was formed by Diamondback in July 2018 to own, operate, develop and acquire midstream infrastructure assets in the Midland and Delaware Basins of the Permian Basin. Rattler’s General Partner, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Diamondback, serves as the general partner of Rattler. As of December 31, 2019, Diamondback owned approximately 71% of Rattler’s total units outstanding.

Prior to the completion of Rattler’s initial public offering (the “Rattler Offering”) in May of 2019, Diamondback owned all of the general and limited partner interests in Rattler. The Rattler Offering consisted of 43,700,000 common units representing approximately 29% of the limited partner interests in Rattler at a price to the public of $17.50 per common unit, which included 5,700,000 common units issued pursuant to an option to purchase additional common units granted to the underwriters on the same terms which closed on May 30, 2019. Rattler received net proceeds of approximately $720 million from the sale of these common units, after deducting offering expenses and underwriting discounts and commissions.

In connection with the completion of the Rattler Offering, Rattler (i) issued 107,815,152 Class B Units representing an aggregate 71% voting limited partner interest in Rattler in exchange for a $1 million cash contribution from Diamondback, (ii) issued a general partner interest in Rattler to Rattler’s General Partner, in exchange for a $1 million cash contribution from Rattler’s General Partner, and (iii) caused Rattler LLC to make a distribution of approximately $727 million to Diamondback. Diamondback, as the holder of the Class B units, and Rattler’s General Partner, as the holder of the general partner interest, are entitled to receive cash preferred distributions equal to 8% per annum on the outstanding amount of their respective $1 million capital contributions, payable quarterly.

Diamondback has also entered into the following agreements with Rattler:

Rattler’s Partnership Agreement

In connection with the closing of the Rattler Offering, Rattler’s General Partner and Energen Resources entered into the first amended and restated agreement of limited partnership of Rattler, dated May 28, 2019 (the “Rattler Partnership Agreement”). The Rattler Partnership Agreement requires Rattler to reimburse Rattler’s General Partner for all direct and indirect expenses incurred or paid on Rattler’s behalf and all other expenses allocable to Rattler or otherwise incurred by Rattler’s General Partner in connection with operating Rattler’s business. The Rattler Partnership Agreement does not set a limit on the amount of expenses for which its general partner and its affiliates may be reimbursed. These expenses include salary, bonus, incentive compensation and other amounts paid to persons who perform services for Rattler or on its behalf and expenses allocated to Rattler’s General Partner by its affiliates. Rattler’s General Partner is entitled to determine the expenses that are allocable to Rattler. For the year ended December 31, 2019, Rattler’s General Partner allocated $364,342 of such expenses to Rattler.

Rattler’s Services and Secondment Agreement

In connection with the closing of the Rattler Offering, Rattler entered into a services and secondment agreement with Diamondback, Diamondback E&P LLC, Rattler’s General Partner and Rattler LLC, dated as of May 28, 2019 (the “Services and Secondment Agreement”). Pursuant to the Services and Secondment Agreement, Diamondback and its subsidiaries second certain operational, construction, design and management employees and contractors of Diamondback to Rattler’s General Partner, Rattler and its subsidiaries, providing management, maintenance and operational functions with respect to Rattler’s assets. The Services and Secondment Agreement requires Rattler’s General Partner and Rattler to reimburse Diamondback for the cost of the seconded employees and contractors, including their wages and benefits. For the year ended December 31, 2019, Rattler’s General Partner and Rattler paid Diamondback $5 million under the Services and Secondment Agreement.

Rattler’s Tax Sharing Agreement

In connection with the closing of the Rattler Offering, Rattler LLC entered into a tax sharing agreement with Diamondback pursuant to which Rattler LLC will reimburse Diamondback for its share of state and local income and other taxes borne by Diamondback as a result of Rattler LLC’s results being included in a combined or consolidated tax return filed by Diamondback with respect to taxable periods including or beginning on May 28, 2019. The amount of any such reimbursement is limited to the tax that Rattler LLC would have paid had it not been included in a combined group with Diamondback. Diamondback may use its tax attributes to cause its combined or consolidated group, of which Rattler LLC may be a member for this purpose, to owe less or no tax. In such a situation, Rattler LLC agreed to reimburse Diamondback for the tax Rattler LLC would have owed had the attributes not been available or used for Rattler LLC’s benefit, even though Diamondback had no cash expense for that period.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, Rattler accrued state income tax expense of $188,808 for its share of Texas margin tax for which Rattler’s share of Rattler LLC’s results are included in a combined tax return filed by Diamondback.

Rattler LLC’s Revolving Credit Facility

Rattler LLC has entered into a secured revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as administrative agent, sole book runner and lead arranger. See Note 10—Debt for a description of this credit facility.