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Organization and Basis of Consolidation and Presentation
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Organization and Basis of Consolidation and Presentation
Organization and Basis of Consolidation and Presentation
 
Organization
 
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (“PAA”) is a Delaware limited partnership formed in 1998. Our operations are conducted directly and indirectly through our primary operating subsidiaries. As used in this Form 10-Q and unless the context indicates otherwise, the terms “Partnership,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “ours” and similar terms refer to PAA and its subsidiaries.
 
We own and operate midstream energy infrastructure and provide logistics services for crude oil, natural gas liquids (“NGL”), natural gas and refined products. We own an extensive network of pipeline transportation, terminalling, storage and gathering assets in key crude oil and NGL producing basins and transportation corridors and at major market hubs in the United States and Canada. Our business activities are conducted through three operating segments: Transportation, Facilities and Supply and Logistics. See Note 13 for further discussion of our operating segments.
 
Our 2% general partner interest is held by PAA GP LLC (“PAA GP”), a Delaware limited liability company, whose sole member is Plains AAP, L.P. (“AAP”), a Delaware limited partnership. In addition to its ownership of PAA GP, AAP also owns all of our incentive distribution rights (“IDRs”). Plains All American GP LLC (“GP LLC”), a Delaware limited liability company, is AAP’s general partner. Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (“PAGP”) is the sole member of GP LLC, and at September 30, 2016, owned an approximate 42% limited partner interest in AAP. PAA GP Holdings LLC (“GP Holdings”) is PAGP’s general partner.
 
GP LLC manages our operations and activities and employs our domestic officers and personnel. Our Canadian officers and personnel are employed by our subsidiary, Plains Midstream Canada ULC (“PMC”). References to our “general partner,” as the context requires, include any or all of PAA GP, AAP and GP LLC.
 
Simplification Agreement
 
On July 11, 2016, PAA, PAGP, AAP, PAA GP, GP LLC and GP Holdings entered into a Simplification Agreement pursuant to which, upon closing, in exchange for the issuance by PAA to AAP of approximately 245.5 million common units representing limited partner interests in PAA and the assumption by PAA of AAP’s outstanding debt, AAP will contribute the IDRs to PAA and PAA GP’s 2% economic general partner interest in PAA will be converted into a non-economic general partner interest in PAA. Following the closing of the transactions contemplated by the Simplification Agreement, which is expected to occur on November 15, 2016, both PAA and PAGP will continue to be publicly traded. See Note 15 for further discussion of this transaction.
 
Definitions
 
Additional defined terms are used in this Form 10-Q and shall have the meanings indicated below:
AOCI
=
Accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss)
Bcf
=
Billion cubic feet
Btu
=
British thermal unit
CAD
=
Canadian dollar
DERs
=
Distribution equivalent rights
EPA
=
United States Environmental Protection Agency
FASB
=
Financial Accounting Standards Board
GAAP
=
Generally accepted accounting principles in the United States
ICE
=
Intercontinental Exchange
LIBOR
=
London Interbank Offered Rate
LTIP
=
Long-term incentive plan
Mcf
=
Thousand cubic feet
MLP
=
Master limited partnership
NGL
=
Natural gas liquids, including ethane, propane and butane
NYMEX
=
New York Mercantile Exchange
Oxy
=
Occidental Petroleum Corporation or its subsidiaries
PLA
=
Pipeline loss allowance
SEC
=
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
USD
=
United States dollar
WTI
=
West Texas Intermediate


Basis of Consolidation and Presentation
 
The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements and related notes thereto should be read in conjunction with our 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of PAA and all of its wholly owned subsidiaries and those entities that it controls. Investments in entities over which we have significant influence but not control are accounted for by the equity method. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions for interim reporting as set forth by the SEC. All adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments) that in the opinion of management were necessary for a fair statement of the results for the interim periods have been reflected. All significant intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation, and certain reclassifications have been made to information from previous years to conform to the current presentation. Such reclassifications include $2 million and $7 million reclassified from “Depreciation and amortization” to “Interest expense, net” in our accompanying Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively, due to the retrospective application of revised debt issuance costs guidance issued by the FASB, which we adopted during the fourth quarter of 2015. These reclassifications do not affect net income attributable to PAA. The condensed consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015 was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. The results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 should not be taken as indicative of results to be expected for the entire year.
 
Subsequent events have been evaluated through the financial statements issuance date and have been included in the following footnotes where applicable.
 
Income Allocation
 
Net income for partners’ capital presentation purposes is allocated in accordance with our partnership agreement. Our general partner and common unitholders are allocated income based on their respective partnership percentages, after giving effect to income allocations for (i) incentive distributions, if any, to our general partner (the holder of the IDRs pursuant to our partnership agreement) for distributions declared and paid following the close of each quarter and (ii) cash distributions to our preferred unitholders. In accordance with our partnership agreement, our preferred unitholders are not allocated income for paid-in-kind distributions.
 
For purposes of determining basic and diluted net income per common unit, income is allocated as prescribed in FASB guidance for calculating earnings per unit including application of the two-class method for MLPs. See Note 3 for additional information.