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ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2016
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] |
ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION | ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION Organization and Operations NuStar Energy L.P. (NYSE: NS) is a publicly held Delaware limited partnership engaged in the transportation of petroleum products and anhydrous ammonia, the terminalling and storage of petroleum products and the marketing of petroleum products. Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “NuStar Energy,” “NS,” “the Partnership,” “we,” “our” and “us” are used in this report to refer to NuStar Energy L.P., to one or more of our consolidated subsidiaries or to all of them taken as a whole. NuStar GP Holdings, LLC (NuStar GP Holdings or NSH) (NYSE: NSH) owns our general partner, Riverwalk Logistics, L.P., and owns an approximate 15% total interest in us as of March 31, 2016. We conduct our operations through our subsidiaries, primarily NuStar Logistics, L.P. (NuStar Logistics) and NuStar Pipeline Operating Partnership L.P. (NuPOP). We have three business segments: pipeline, storage and fuels marketing. Recent Developments Employee Transfer from NuStar GP, LLC. On March 1, 2016, NuStar GP, LLC, the general partner of our general partner and a wholly owned subsidiary of NuStar GP Holdings, transferred and assigned to NuStar Services Company LLC (NuStar Services Co), a wholly owned subsidiary of NuStar Energy, all of NuStar GP, LLC’s employees and related benefit plans, programs, contracts and policies (the Employee Transfer). As a result of the Employee Transfer, we pay employee costs directly and sponsor the long-term incentive plan and other employee benefit plans. Please refer to Note 7 for a discussion of this transfer and our related party agreements, Note 8 for a discussion of our employee benefit plans and Note 9 for a discussion of our long-term incentive plan. Linden Acquisition. On January 2, 2015, we acquired full ownership of ST Linden Terminal, LLC (Linden), which owns a refined products terminal in Linden, NJ with 4.3 million barrels of storage capacity (the Linden Acquisition). Prior to the Linden Acquisition, Linden operated as a joint venture between us and Linden Holding Corp., with each party owning 50%. On the acquisition date, we remeasured our existing 50% equity investment in Linden to its fair value of $128.0 million and we recognized a gain of $56.3 million in “Other (expense) income, net” in the condensed consolidated statements of comprehensive income for the three months ended March 31, 2015. Basis of Presentation These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Partnership and subsidiaries in which the Partnership has a controlling interest. Noncontrolling interests are separately disclosed on the financial statements. Inter-partnership balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. We account for investment in joint ventures using the equity method of accounting. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for interim financial information and with the instructions to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and notes required by GAAP for complete consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included, and all disclosures are adequate. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature unless disclosed otherwise. Financial information for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015 included in these Condensed Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements is derived from our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2016 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2016. The consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2015 has been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements as of that date. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. Certain previously reported amounts in the 2015 consolidated financial statements and condensed notes have been reclassified to conform to 2016 presentation.

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