Enterprise Products Partners Q1 Profit Down; In Deal With Occidental Petroleum

(RTTNews) - Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD) reported that its net income attributable to limited partners for the first quarter of 2015 declined to $636.1 million from last year's $798.8 million, with net income per unit decreasing to $0.32 from $0.43 per unit in the first quarter of 2014.

Results for the first quarter of 2014 included $90 million, or $0.05 per unit, of net gains from asset sales and insurance recoveries. The first quarters of 2015 and 2014 included non-cash asset impairment charges of $33 million, or $0.02 per unit, and $9 million, or less than $0.01 per unit, respectively.

Revenues for the quarter dropped to $7.47 billion from $12.91 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.33 per share and revenues of $12.39 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Separately, Enterprise Products Partners L.P announced it has entered into an agreement with an affiliate of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) to jointly develop a new 150 million cubic feet per day ("MMcf/d") cryogenic natural gas processing plant to accommodate the growing production of NGL-rich natural gas in the Delaware Basin.

The plant will be owned by Delaware Basin Gas Processing LLC, a company owned 50/50 by Enterprise and Occidental. The plant, which is supported by long-term, firm contracts, is expected to begin operations in mid-2016. Enterprise will serve as the construction manager and operator of the Delaware Basin Processing plant.

In addition to the processing plant, Enterprise will construct, own and operate a 12-inch diameter pipeline that will transport natural gas liquids ("NGL") from the new facility to one of Enterprise's NGL pipelines, which will provide customers with access to Enterprise's NGL fractionation and storage complex in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

The partnership's Texas Intrastate pipeline system will provide natural gas at the tailgate of the plant with access to multiple markets.