Enterprise Products to Oppose Verdict in Pipeline Case
March 05 2014 - 5:01PM
Business Wire
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) announced that it
intends to oppose any judgment based on yesterday’s verdict by a
Dallas jury which ruled against the company in a lawsuit filed by
Energy Transfer Partners over a proposed pipeline project that was
cancelled in August 2011 due to a lack of customer support. In
April 2011 both Enterprise and Energy Transfer signed a non-binding
letter of intent disclaiming any partnership or joint venture
absent executed definitive documents and board approvals of the two
companies. Definitive agreements were never executed and board
approval was never obtained for the potential pipeline project.
While Enterprise firmly believes, and argued during its defense,
that no agreement was ever executed forming a legal joint venture
or partnership between the parties, the jury found that the actions
of the two companies, nevertheless, constituted a legal
partnership. As a result, the jury found that Energy Transfer was
wrongfully excluded from a subsequent pipeline project that was to
transport crude oil from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast, and awarded
Energy Transfer $319 million in actual damages. A judgment has not
yet been entered in this case.
Enterprise does not believe that the verdict is supported by the
evidence or the law and will promptly seek to reverse those
findings. Furthermore, Enterprise management believes that the
decision sets a dangerous precedent that jeopardizes current and
future business relationships in the state of Texas. Businesses,
large and small, need certainty, particularly when they are
exploring potential projects. They need the ability to negotiate
their relationships and put the terms in writing. If the legal
system will not honor the terms of those agreements, the resulting
uncertainty will be bad for everyone because nobody will know what
their rights are until they get a judge and a jury to tell them,
perhaps years after the fact.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly
traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of
midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural
gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals. Our
services include: natural gas gathering, treating, processing,
transportation and storage; NGL transportation, fractionation,
storage and import and export terminals (including LPG); crude oil
and refined products transportation, storage and terminals;
offshore production platforms; petrochemical transportation and
services; and a marine transportation business that operates
primarily on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway
systems and in the Gulf of Mexico. The partnership’s assets include
approximately 51,000 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines; 200
million barrels of storage capacity for NGLs, crude oil, refined
products and petrochemicals; and 14 billion cubic feet of natural
gas storage capacity. Additional information regarding Enterprise
can be found on its website, www.enterpriseproducts.com.
Safe Harbor Statement of Enterprise under the Private
Securities Litigation Act of 1995:
This press release contains forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties, including Enterprise’s
expectations about its business; Enterprise’s beliefs that the
evidence and the law do not support the jury’s findings of a
partnership and the award of damages; and Enterprise’s intention to
challenge the verdict through all appropriate processes. The
forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to
risks and uncertainties, which may cause the actual outcomes or
results to vary from those indicated by the forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include any adverse
outcomes of any motions or appeals against Enterprise, and other
risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in
Enterprise’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, and
other factors detailed from time to time in Enterprise’s filings
with the SEC. Enterprise undertakes no obligation to revise or
update publicly any forward-looking statements.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P.Randy Burkhalter, (713)
381-6812 or (866) 230-0745Investor RelationsorRick Rainey, (713)
381-3635Media Relations
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