Cushing Connect Joint Venture

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2024

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]

In 2019, HEP Cushing LLC (“HEP Cushing”), then a wholly owned subsidiary of HEP and now a wholly owned subsidiary of HF Sinclair, and Plains Marketing, L.P., a wholly owned subsidiary of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (“Plains”), formed a 50/50 joint venture, Cushing Connect Pipeline & Terminal LLC (“Cushing Connect”), for (i) the development, construction, ownership and operation of a new 160,000 barrel per day common carrier crude oil pipeline (the “Cushing Connect Pipeline”) that connects the Cushing, Oklahoma crude oil hub to our Tulsa refineries and (ii) the ownership and operation of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil storage in Cushing, Oklahoma (the “Cushing Connect Terminal” and together with Cushing Connect and the Cushing Connect Pipeline, the “Cushing Connect Joint Venture”). The Cushing Connect Terminal was fully in service beginning in April 2020, and the Cushing Connect Pipeline was placed in service during the third quarter of 2021. Long-term commercial agreements were entered into to support the Cushing Connect assets. Cushing Connect entered into a contract with an affiliate of HEP, now a subsidiary of HF Sinclair, to manage the operation of the Cushing Connect Pipeline and with an affiliate of Plains to manage the operation of the Cushing Connect Terminal. The total investment in Cushing Connect was generally shared proportionately among the partners. However, HEP was solely responsible for any Cushing Connect Pipeline construction costs that exceeded the budget by more than 10%. HEP’s share of the cost of the Cushing Connect Terminal contributed by Plains and Cushing Connect Pipeline construction costs was approximately $74.0 million.

Cushing Connect and its two subsidiaries, Cushing Connect Pipeline and Cushing Connect Terminal, are variable interest entities (“VIE”) as defined under GAAP. A VIE is a legal entity whose equity owners do not have sufficient equity at risk for the entity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support or, as a group, the equity holders lack the power, through voting rights, to direct the activities that most significantly impact the entity’s financial performance, the obligation to absorb the entity’s expected losses or rights to expected residual returns. Cushing Connect and its two subsidiaries are VIEs because they did not originally have sufficient equity at risk to finance their activities without additional financial support. We are the primary beneficiary of two of these entities as HEP constructed and operates the Cushing Connect Pipeline, and we have more ability to direct the activities that most significantly impact the financial performance of Cushing Connect and Cushing Connect Pipeline. Therefore, we consolidate these two entities. We are not the primary beneficiary of Cushing Connect Terminal, which we account for using the equity method of accounting. Our maximum exposure to loss as a result of our involvement with Cushing Connect Terminal is not expected to be material due to the long-term terminalling agreements in place to support operations.

With the exception of the assets of HEP Cushing, creditors of the Cushing Connect Joint Venture legal entities have no recourse to our assets. Any recourse to HEP Cushing would be limited to the extent of HEP Cushing’s assets, which other than its investment in the Cushing Connect Joint Venture, are not significant. Furthermore, our creditors have no recourse to the assets of the Cushing Connect Joint Venture legal entities. The most significant assets of Cushing Connect and Cushing Connect Pipeline that are available to settle only their obligations, along with their most significant liabilities for which their creditors do not have recourse to our general credit, were:


	June 30, 2024		December 31, 2023

	(In thousands)
Cash and cash equivalents	$	1,486	$	1,536
Properties, plants and equipment, at cost	$	102,977	$	102,936
Less: accumulated depreciation	$	(9,794)	$	(8,022)
Intangibles and other	$	30,856	$	32,473