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Organization and Basis of Consolidation and Presentation | 6 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2017
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] |
Organization and Basis of Consolidation and Presentation | Organization and Basis of Consolidation and Presentation Organization Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (“PAGP”) is a Delaware limited partnership formed in July 2013 that has elected to be taxed as a corporation for United States federal income tax purposes. PAGP does not directly own any operating assets; as of June 30, 2017, its principal sources of cash flow are derived from an indirect investment in Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (“PAA”), a publicly traded Delaware limited partnership. As used in this Form 10-Q and unless the context indicates otherwise (taking into account the fact that PAGP has no operating activities apart from those conducted by PAA and its subsidiaries), the terms “Partnership,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “ours” and similar terms refer to PAGP and its subsidiaries. As of June 30, 2017, PAGP owned (i) a 100% managing member interest in Plains All American GP LLC (“GP LLC”) that has also elected to be taxed as a corporation for United States federal income tax purposes and (ii) an approximate 53% limited partner interest in Plains AAP, L.P. (“AAP”) through our direct ownership of approximately 152.5 million Class A units of AAP (“AAP units”) and indirect ownership of approximately 1.0 million AAP units through GP LLC. GP LLC is a Delaware limited liability company that holds the non-economic general partner interest in AAP. AAP is a Delaware limited partnership that, as of June 30, 2017, directly owned an approximate 36% limited partner interest in PAA represented by approximately 288.3 million PAA common units. AAP is the sole member of PAA GP LLC (“PAA GP”), a Delaware limited liability company that directly holds the non-economic general partner interest in PAA. PAA is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and provides logistics services for crude oil, natural gas liquids (“NGL”), natural gas and refined products. PAA owns 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. PAA GP Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is our general partner. Our general partner manages our operations and activities and is responsible for exercising on our behalf any rights we have as the sole and managing member of GP LLC, including responsibility for conducting the business and managing the operations of AAP and PAA. GP LLC employs our domestic officers and personnel involved in the operation and management of AAP and PAA. PAA’s Canadian officers and personnel are employed by our subsidiary, Plains Midstream Canada ULC (“PMC”). References to the “Plains Entities” include us, our general partner, GP LLC, AAP, PAA GP and PAA and its subsidiaries. Simplification Transactions On November 15, 2016, the Plains Entities closed a series of transactions and executed several organizational and ancillary documents (the “Simplification Transactions”) intended to simplify our capital structure, better align the interests of our stakeholders and improve our overall credit profile. The Simplification Transactions included, among other things:
• | the permanent elimination of PAA’s incentive distribution rights (“IDRs”) and the economic rights associated with its 2% general partner interest in exchange for the issuance by PAA to AAP of 245.5 million PAA common units (including approximately 0.8 million units to be issued in the future) and the assumption by PAA of all of AAP’s outstanding debt ($642 million);
• | the implementation of a unified governance structure pursuant to which the board of directors of GP LLC was eliminated and an expanded board of directors of our general partner assumed oversight responsibility over both us and PAA;
• | the provision for annual shareholder meetings beginning in 2018 for the purpose of electing certain directors with expiring terms in 2018, and the participation of PAA’s common unitholders and Series A preferred unitholders in such elections through PAA’s ownership of our newly issued Class C shares, which provide PAA, as the sole holder of such Class C shares, the right to vote in elections of eligible directors together with the holders of our Class A and Class B shares;
• | the execution by AAP of a reverse split to adjust the number of AAP units such that the number of outstanding AAP units (assuming the conversion of AAP Class B units (the “AAP Management Units”) into AAP units) equaled the number of PAA common units received by AAP at the closing of the Simplification Transactions. Simultaneously, we executed a reverse split to adjust the number of Class A and Class B shares outstanding to equal the number of AAP units we own following AAP’s reverse unit split. These reverse splits, along with the Omnibus Agreement, resulted in economic alignment between our Class A shareholders and PAA’s common unitholders, such that the number of outstanding Class A shares equals the number of AAP units owned by us, which in turn equals the number of PAA common units held by AAP that are attributable to our interest in AAP. The Plains Entities also entered into an Omnibus Agreement, pursuant to which such one-to-one relationship will be maintained subsequent to the closing of the Simplification Transactions; and
• | the creation of a right for certain holders of the AAP units to cause AAP to redeem such AAP units in exchange for an equal number of PAA common units held by AAP. Holders of AAP units other than us and GP LLC continue to have the right to exchange their AAP units (together with the corresponding Class B shares and, if applicable, units of our general partner) for our Class A shares on a one-for-one basis.
The Simplification Transactions were between and among consolidated subsidiaries of PAGP that are considered entities under common control. These equity transactions did not result in a change in the carrying value of the underlying assets and liabilities. In addition, the Simplification Transactions did not result in a change in ownership interest of PAGP in PAA as described in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 810-10-45-22, but instead were designed to be an exchange of equal economic ownership interests. As part of the Simplification Transactions, as discussed above, we effected a reverse split of our Class A and Class B shares, in each case, at a ratio of approximately 1-for-2.663. The effect of the reverse split has been retroactively applied to all share and per-share amounts presented in this Form 10-Q. Definitions Additional defined terms are used in this Form 10-Q and shall have the meanings indicated below:
AOCI | = | Accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss)
ASC | = | Accounting Standards Codification
ASU | = | Accounting Standards Update
Bcf | = | Billion cubic feet
Btu | = | British thermal unit
CAD | = | Canadian dollar
CODM | = | Chief Operating Decision Maker
EBITDA | = | Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
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
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 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of PAGP 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. We apply proportionate consolidation for pipelines and other assets in which we own undivided joint interests. 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. The condensed consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2016 was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. The results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017 should not be taken as indicative of results to be expected for the entire year. Management judgment is required to evaluate whether PAGP controls an entity. Key areas of that evaluation include (i) determining whether an entity is a variable interest entity (“VIE”); (ii) determining whether PAGP is the primary beneficiary of a VIE, including evaluating which activities of the VIE most significantly impact its economic performance and the degree of power that PAGP and its related parties have over those activities through variable interests; and (iii) identifying events that require reconsideration of whether an entity is a VIE and continuously evaluating whether PAGP is a VIE’s primary beneficiary. Upon the completion of the Simplification Transactions, our governance and corporate structure was modified, and based on the guidance contained in ASC 810-10-35-4, we reconsidered our prior determination that our subsidiaries, AAP and PAA, were VIEs. Based on the analysis performed at that time, we concluded that both entities were no longer VIEs. Therefore we concluded that AAP and PAA should be assessed using the voting interest entity model ("VOE"). Under the VOE model, we considered the new governance and corporate structure introduced by the Simplification Transactions and concluded that PAGP should continue to consolidate AAP and P AA. However, for the second quarter of 2017, we reassessed our consideration of whether PAA and AAP are VIEs and concluded that, contrary to our conclusion at the time of the Simplification Transactions, both PAA and AAP are more appropriately considered VIEs. This conclusion does not change our consolidation conclusion, has no impact on our financial statements and has limited impact on our related disclosures. We have determined that PAA and AAP are VIEs and should be consolidated by PAGP because:
• | The limited partners of PAA and AAP lack (i) substantive “kick-out rights” (i.e., the right to remove the general partner) based on a simple majority or lower vote and (ii) substantive participation rights and thus lack the ability to block actions of the general partner that most significantly impact the economic performance of PAA and AAP, respectively.
• | AAP is the primary beneficiary of PAA because it has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact PAA’s performance and the right to receive benefits, and obligation to absorb losses, that could be significant to PAA.
• | PAGP is the primary beneficiary of AAP because it has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact AAP’s performance and the right to receive benefits, and obligation to absorb losses, that could be significant to AAP.
With the exception of a deferred tax asset of $2,214 million and $1,876 million as of June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively, substantially all assets and liabilities presented on PAGP’s consolidated balance sheet are those of PAA. Only the assets of each respective VIE can be used to settle the obligations of that individual VIE, and the creditors of each/either of those VIEs do not have recourse against the general credit of PAGP. PAGP did not provide any financial support to PAA or AAP during the six months ended June 30, 2017 or the year ended December 31, 2016, respectively. See Note 15 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV of our 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K for information regarding the Omnibus Agreement entered into in connection with the Simplification Transactions. Subsequent events have been evaluated through the financial statements issuance date and have been included in the following footnotes where applicable.

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