Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) (“Enterprise”) announced
today that the board of directors of its general partner declared an
increase in the quarterly cash distribution paid to limited partners to
$0.4225 per common unit, or $1.69 per unit on an annualized basis.
The quarterly distribution will be paid on Tuesday, November 7, 2017, to
unitholders of record as of the close of business on Tuesday, October
31, 2017. This distribution, which represents a 4.3 percent increase
over the distribution declared with respect to the third quarter of
2016, is the 53rd consecutive quarterly increase.
“We are pleased to announce our 62nd distribution increase
since our initial public offering in 1998,” said A. J. “Jim” Teague,
chief executive officer of the general partner of Enterprise. “We
elected to moderate the quarterly increase in our distribution rate with
respect to the third quarter of 2017 to $0.0025 per unit compared to the
second quarter of 2017. Based on current expectations, we plan to
recommend to our board that we continue this level of quarterly
distribution growth, $0.0025 per unit per quarter, for 2018 as well. We
will reassess our distribution growth rate for 2019 as we consider our
investment opportunities and alternatives for returning capital to
investors.”
“While small, this moderation in distribution growth will compound to
further strengthen our distribution coverage, increase our retained
distributable cash flow available to fund growth capital opportunities,
and reduce unitholder dilution. Most importantly, we believe the
combination of our expected increases in distributable cash flow from
new projects going into service during the remainder of 2017 and 2018
and this moderation in distribution growth will get us closer to
self-funding the equity portion of our capital investments in the
future. Currently, we have approximately $9 billion of capital projects
under construction with additional projects under development. By 2019,
we believe we could have the potential to fund the equity portion of a
$2.5 billion annual capital investment program and consider a common
unit buyback program. We believe this step enhances our partnership’s
financial flexibility, further strengthens our balance sheet and creates
greater long-term value for our limited partners,” stated Teague.
Enterprise will announce its earnings for the third quarter of 2017 on
Thursday, November 2, 2017, before the New York Stock Exchange opens for
trading. While we are still in the process of finalizing our third
quarter of 2017 financial results, we currently expect our distribution
coverage for the third quarter of 2017 to be approximately 1.2 times.
Enterprise will host a conference call today at 4 p.m. CT with analysts
and investors to discuss this distribution increase and allocation of
capital resources. The call will be webcast live on the Internet and may
be accessed through the “Investors” section of the partnership’s
website, www.enterpriseproducts.com.
To listen to the webcast, participants should access the partnership’s
website at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the conference call to
download and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the
webcast will be available for one week following the conference call and
may be accessed one hour after completion of the call.
Following the announcement of Enterprise’s earnings on November 2, the
partnership will host a conference call at 9 a.m. CT with analysts and
investors to discuss earnings. The call will be webcast live on the
Internet and may be accessed through the “Investors” section of the
partnership’s website. A replay of the webcast will be available for one
week following the conference call and may be accessed one hour after
completion of the call.
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 export and import terminals;
crude oil gathering, transportation, storage, export and terminals;
petrochemical and refined products transportation, storage and
terminals; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily
on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems. The
partnership’s assets include approximately 50,000 miles of pipelines;
260 million barrels of storage capacity for NGLs, crude oil, refined
products and petrochemicals; and 14 billion cubic feet of natural gas
storage capacity. This release is intended to be a qualified notice
under Treasury Regulation Section 1.1446-4(b). Brokers and nominees
should treat one hundred percent (100.0%) of Enterprise’s distributions
to non-U.S. investors as being attributable to income that is
effectively connected with a United States trade or business.
Accordingly, Enterprise’s distributions to non-U.S. investors are
subject to federal income tax withholding at the highest applicable
effective tax rate.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” as defined
by the Securities and Exchange Commission. All statements, other than
statements of historical fact, included herein that address activities,
events, developments or transactions that Enterprise and its general
partner expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future
are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially from expectations, including required approvals by
regulatory agencies, the possibility that the anticipated benefits from
such activities, events, developments or transactions cannot be fully
realized, the possibility that costs or difficulties related thereto
will be greater than expected, the impact of competition, and other risk
factors included in Enterprise’s reports filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
Except as required by law, Enterprise does not intend to update or
revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171012006417/en/
Copyright Business Wire 2017