By Tess Stynes and Josh Beckerman
Plains All American Pipeline LP said fourth-quarter earnings
rose 26% as lower costs offset weaker revenue and the
master-limited partnership lowered the midpoint of its 2015 profit
outlook.
For 2015, Plains All American Pipeline now expects the midpoint
of its estimate for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation
and amortization, excluding certain items, will be $2.35 billion,
compared with its previous view for just over $2.5 billion.
"[Plains All American] is well positioned to manage through
industry down cycles; however, we are not immune to the adverse
impacts of a major step change in commodity prices that is
accompanied by a similar change in producers' activity levels,"
stated Chairman and Chief Executive Greg L. Armstrong in prepared
remarks Wednesday.
"While the duration of the current down-cycle is unknown, our
confidence in the North American crude oil resource base and its
ultimate development remains high," he added.
Houston-based Plains receives fees for many of its services,
reducing direct exposure to the recent volatility of oil and gas
prices. However, investors in the sector have been concerned that
low prices will lead to reduced production in the industry. Many
oil and gas producers have reduced their 2015 capital budgets, with
some announcing layoffs.
Plains All American reported a profit of $389 million, or 67
cents a limited partner unit, up from $309 million, or 58 cents a
unit, a year earlier. Excluding items, per-unit earnings fell to 60
cents from 76 cents. Revenue fell 11% to $9.46 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-unit profit of
61 cents and revenue of $11.44 billion.
Total costs and expenses fell 13%.
Plains All American's pipeline business posted a 26% increase in
segment profit, adjusted for some items, mostly owing to higher
crude oil pipeline volumes.
The facilities segment's earnings declined 11%, mostly the
result of the impact of recontracting capacity originally
contracted at higher rates at its natural-gas storage
operations.
Meanwhile, supply and logistics profit fell 17%, reflecting less
favorable natural-gas liquids and crude-oil markets.
Kinder Morgan Inc., one of the biggest pipeline operators in the
U.S., last month said that its fourth-quarter results reflected
"some headwinds" due to pricing but also reported stronger earnings
excluding items and said demand was strong at its businesses,
including its natural-gas pipelines segment. Kinder Morgan
generates the majority of its cash from fees.
When Regency Energy Partners LP last week disclosed a plan to
combine with Energy Transfer Partners LP in a deal valued at about
$11 billion, Regency cited factors including "the current
volatility in commodity prices."
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com and Josh Beckerman
at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
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