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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2014
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies |
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | Note 2—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. We make significant estimates with respect to (i) purchases and sales accruals, (ii) estimated fair value of assets and liabilities acquired and identification of associated goodwill and intangible assets, (iii) mark-to-market gains and losses on derivative instruments (pursuant to guidance issued by the FASB regarding fair value measurements), (iv) accruals and contingent liabilities, (v) equity-indexed compensation plan accruals, (vi) property and equipment and depreciation expense, (vii) allowance for doubtful accounts and (viii) inventory valuations. Although we believe these estimates are reasonable, actual results could differ from these estimates. Revenue Recognition Supply and Logistics Segment Revenues. Revenues from sales of crude oil, NGL and natural gas are recognized at the time title to the product sold transfers to the purchaser, which occurs upon delivery of the product to the purchaser or its designee. Sales of crude oil and NGL consist of outright sales contracts. Inventory purchases and sales under buy/sell transactions are treated as inventory exchanges. The sales under these exchanges are netted to zero in Supply and Logistics segment revenues in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. Additionally, we may utilize derivatives in connection with the transactions described above. For commodity derivatives that are designated as cash flow hedges, derivative gains and losses are deferred in AOCI and recognized in revenues in the periods during which the underlying physical hedged transaction impacts earnings. Also, the ineffective portion of the change in fair value of cash flow hedges is recognized in revenues each period along with the change in fair value of derivatives that do not qualify for or are not designated for hedge accounting. Transportation Segment Revenues. Our Transportation segment operations generally consist of fee-based activities associated with transporting crude oil and NGL on pipelines, gathering systems, trucks and barges. Revenues from pipeline tariffs and fees are associated with the transportation of crude oil and NGL at a published tariff, as well as revenues associated with agreements for committed space on various assets. Tariff revenues are recognized either at the point of delivery or at the point of receipt pursuant to specifications outlined in the regulated and non-regulated tariffs. Revenues associated with fees are recognized in the month to which the fee applies. The majority of our pipeline tariff and fee revenues are based on actual volumes and rates. As is common in the pipeline transportation industry, our tariffs incorporate a loss allowance factor that is intended to offset losses due to evaporation, measurement and other losses in transit. We value the variance of allowance volumes to actual losses at the estimated net realizable value (including the impact of gains and losses from derivative related activities) at the time the variance occurred and the result is recorded as either an increase or decrease to tariff revenues. In addition, we have certain agreements that require counterparties to ship a minimum volume over an agreed upon period. Revenue is recognized at the latter of when the volume is shipped (pursuant to specifications outlined in the tariffs) or when the counterparty’s ability to make up the minimum volume has expired. Facilities Segment Revenues. Our Facilities segment operations generally consist of fee-based activities associated with providing storage, terminalling and throughput services for crude oil, refined products, NGL and natural gas, as well as NGL fractionation and isomerization services and natural gas and condensate processing services. Revenues generated in this segment include (i) fees that are generated from storage capacity agreements, (ii) terminal throughput fees that are generated when we receive crude oil, refined products or NGL from one connecting source and deliver the applicable product to another connecting carrier, (iii) loading and unloading fees at our rail terminals, (iv) fees from NGL fractionation and isomerization, (v) fees from natural gas and condensate processing services and (vi) fees associated with natural gas park and loan activities, interruptible storage services and wheeling and balancing services. We generate revenue through a combination of month-to-month and multi-year agreements and processing arrangements. Storage fees resulting from short-term and long-term contracts are typically recognized in revenue ratably over the term of the contract regardless of the actual storage capacity utilized. Terminal fees (including throughput and rail fees) are recognized as the crude oil, NGL or refined product enters or exits the terminal and is received from or delivered to the connecting carrier or third-party terminal, as applicable. Hub service fees are recognized in the period the natural gas moves across our header system. Fees from NGL fractionation, isomerization services and gas processing services are recognized in the period when the services are performed. In addition, we have certain agreements that require counterparties to throughput a minimum volume over an agreed upon period. Revenue is recognized at the latter of when the volume exits the terminal or when the counterparty’s ability to make up the minimum volume has expired. Purchases and Related Costs Purchases and related costs include (i) the cost of crude oil, NGL and natural gas obtained in outright purchases, (ii) fees incurred for third-party storage and transportation, whether by pipeline, truck, rail, ship or barge, (iii) interest cost attributable to borrowings for inventory stored in a contango market and (iv) performance-related bonus costs. These costs are recognized when incurred except in the case of products purchased, which are recognized at the time title transfers to us. Purchases that are part of exchanges under buy/sell transactions are netted with the related sales, with any margin presented in “Purchases and related costs” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. Field Operating Costs and General and Administrative Expenses Field operating costs consist of various field operating expenses, including fuel and power costs, telecommunications, payroll and benefit costs (including equity-indexed compensation expense) for truck drivers and field and other operations personnel, third-party trucking transportation costs for our U.S. crude oil operations, maintenance and integrity management costs, regulatory compliance, environmental remediation, insurance, vehicle leases, and property taxes. General and administrative expenses consist primarily of payroll and benefit costs (including equity-indexed compensation expense), certain information systems and legal costs, office rent, contract and consultant costs and audit and tax fees. Foreign Currency Transactions/Translation Certain of our subsidiaries use the Canadian dollar as their functional currency. Assets and liabilities of subsidiaries with a Canadian dollar functional currency are translated at period-end rates of exchange, and revenues and expenses are translated at average exchange rates prevailing for each month. The resulting translation adjustments are made directly to a separate component of other comprehensive income, which is reflected in Partners’ Capital on our Consolidated Balance Sheet. Certain of our subsidiaries also enter into transactions and have monetary assets and liabilities that are denominated in a currency other than the entities’ respective functional currencies. Gains and losses from the revaluation of foreign currency transactions and monetary assets and liabilities are included in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The revaluation of foreign currency transactions and monetary assets and liabilities resulted in a loss of $13 million for the year ended December 31, 2014, a gain of $1 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 and a loss of $2 million for the year ended December 31, 2012. Cash and Cash Equivalents Cash and cash equivalents consist of all unrestricted demand deposits and funds invested in highly liquid instruments with original maturities of three months or less and typically exceed federally insured limits. We periodically assess the financial condition of the institutions where these funds are held and believe that our credit risk is minimal. We used the cash on hand at December 31, 2014 to repay $400 million of commercial paper borrowings during the first week of January 2015. In accordance with our policy, outstanding checks are classified as accounts payable rather than negative cash. As of December 31, 2014 and 2013, accounts payable included $94 million and $70 million, respectively, of outstanding checks that were reclassified from cash and cash equivalents. Accounts Receivable Our accounts receivable are primarily from purchasers and shippers of crude oil and, to a lesser extent, purchasers of NGL and natural gas storage. These purchasers include, but are not limited to, refiners, producers, marketing and trading companies and financial institutions that are active in the physical and financial commodity markets. The majority of our accounts receivable relate to our crude oil supply and logistics activities that can generally be described as high volume and low margin activities, in many cases involving exchanges of crude oil volumes. During late 2014 and early 2015, commodity prices dropped significantly. This volatility has caused liquidity issues impacting many energy companies, which in turn has increased the potential credit risks associated with certain counterparties with which we do business. To mitigate credit risk related to our accounts receivable, we have in place a rigorous credit review process. We closely monitor market conditions to make a determination with respect to the amount, if any, of open credit to be extended to any given customer and the form and amount of financial performance assurances we require. Such financial assurances are commonly provided to us in the form of advance cash payments, standby letters of credit or parental guarantees. As of December 31, 2014 and 2013, we had received $180 million and $117 million, respectively, of advance cash payments from third parties to mitigate credit risk. Furthermore, as of December 31, 2014 and 2013, we had received $198 million and $426 million, respectively, of standby letters of credit to support obligations due from third parties, a portion of which applies to future business. In addition, in an effort to mitigate credit risk, a significant portion of our transactions with counterparties are settled on a net-cash basis. Further, we enter into netting agreements (contractual agreements that allow us to offset receivables and payables with those counterparties against each other on our balance sheet) for a majority of such arrangements. We review all outstanding accounts receivable balances on a monthly basis and record a reserve for amounts that we expect will not be fully recovered. We do not apply actual balances against the reserve until we have exhausted substantially all collection efforts. At December 31, 2014 and 2013, substantially all of our accounts receivable (net of allowance for doubtful accounts) were less than 30 days past their scheduled invoice date. Our allowance for doubtful accounts receivable totaled $4 million and $5 million at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively. Although we consider our allowance for doubtful accounts receivable to be adequate, actual amounts could vary significantly from estimated amounts. Noncontrolling Interests We account for noncontrolling interests in subsidiaries in accordance with FASB guidance, which requires all entities to report noncontrolling interests in subsidiaries as a component of equity in the consolidated financial statements. Noncontrolling interest represents the portion of assets and liabilities in a consolidated subsidiary that is owned by a third-party. See Note 11 for additional discussion regarding our noncontrolling interests. Asset Retirement Obligations FASB guidance establishes accounting requirements for retirement obligations associated with tangible long-lived assets, including estimates related to (i) the time of the liability recognition, (ii) initial measurement of the liability, (iii) allocation of asset retirement cost to expense, (iv) subsequent measurement of the liability and (v) financial statement disclosures. FASB guidance also requires that the cost for asset retirement should be capitalized as part of the cost of the related long-lived asset and subsequently allocated to expense using a systematic and rational method. Some of our assets, primarily related to our Transportation and Facilities segments, have contractual or regulatory obligations to perform remediation and, in some instances, dismantlement and removal activities when the assets are abandoned. These obligations include varying levels of activity including disconnecting inactive assets from active assets, cleaning and purging assets, and in some cases, completely removing the assets and returning the land to its original state. These assets have been in existence for many years and with regular maintenance will continue to be in service for many years to come. It is not possible to predict when demand for these transportation or storage services will cease, and we do not believe that such demand will cease for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, we believe the date when these assets will be abandoned is indeterminate. With no reasonably determinable abandonment date, we cannot reasonably estimate the fair value of the associated asset retirement obligations. We will record asset retirement obligations for these assets in the period in which sufficient information becomes available for us to reasonably determine the settlement dates. A small portion of our contractual or regulatory obligations is related to assets that are inactive or that we plan to take out of service and, although the ultimate timing and costs to settle these obligations are not known with certainty, we have recorded a reasonable estimate of these obligations. We have estimated that the fair value of these obligations was $36 million and $34 million, respectively, at December 31, 2014 and 2013. Fair Value Measurements Financial assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Our assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement requires judgment, which affects the placement of assets and liabilities within the fair value hierarchy levels. The determination of the fair values includes not only the credit standing of the counterparties involved and the impact of credit enhancements (such as cash deposits and letters of credit) but also the impact of our nonperformance risk on our liabilities. The fair value of our commodity derivatives, interest rate derivatives and foreign currency derivatives includes adjustments for credit risk. Our credit adjustment methodology uses market observable inputs and requires judgment. There were no changes to any of our valuation techniques during the period. See Note 12 for further discussion. Other Significant Accounting Policies See the respective footnotes for our accounting policies regarding (i) acquisitions, (ii) net income per limited partner unit, (iii) inventory, linefill and base gas and long-term inventory, (iv) property and equipment, (v) goodwill, (vi) investments in unconsolidated entities, (vii) other assets, net, (viii) derivatives and risk management activities, (ix) income taxes, (x) equity-indexed compensation and (xi) legal and environmental matters. Recent Accounting Pronouncements In January 2015, as part of its initiative to reduce complexity in accounting standards, the FASB issued guidance to eliminate the concept of extraordinary items from GAAP. This guidance will become effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2015. We expect to adopt this guidance on January 1, 2016. We do not believe our adoption will have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. In May 2014, the FASB issued guidance regarding the recognition of revenue from contracts with customers with the underlying principle that an entity will recognize revenue to reflect amounts expected to be received in exchange for the provision of goods and services to customers upon the transfer of those goods or services. The guidance also requires additional disclosures about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and the related cash flows. This guidance becomes effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016 and can be adopted either with a full retrospective approach or a modified retrospective approach with a cumulative-effect adjustment as of the date of adoption. We are currently evaluating which transition approach to apply and the effect that adopting this guidance will have on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows. In April 2014, the FASB issued guidance that modifies the criteria under which assets to be disposed of are evaluated to determine if such assets qualify as a discontinued operation and requires new disclosures for both discontinued operations and certain other disposals that do not meet the definition of a discontinued operation. This guidance is effective prospectively for annual and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2014. Early adoption is permitted but only for disposals (or classifications as held for sale) that have not been reported in financial statements previously issued or available for issue. We adopted this guidance on January 1, 2015. Our adoption did not have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. In March 2013, the FASB issued guidance regarding the release of cumulative translation adjustments into net income when a parent either sells a part or all of its investment in a foreign entity or no longer holds a controlling financial interest in a subsidiary or group of assets that is a business within a foreign entity. This guidance became effective beginning after December 15, 2013. We adopted this guidance on January 1, 2014. Our adoption did not have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

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