Earnings Labs

MPLX Lp (MPLX)

Q1 2015 Earnings Call· Thu, Apr 30, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the MPLX LP First Quarter 2015 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Hilda and I will be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Geri Ewing. Ms. Ewing, you may begin.

Geri Ewing

Management

Thanks, Hilda. Good afternoon and welcome to the MPLX first quarter 2015 earnings webcast and conference call. The synchronized slides that accompany this call can be found on mplx.com under the Investors tab. On the call today are Pam Beall, President of MPLX and Tim Griffith, Chief Financial Officer. We invite you to read the Safe Harbor statement on slide 2. It’s a reminder that we will be making forward-looking statements during the presentation and during the question-and-answer session. Some forward-looking statements may relate to MPLX’s sponsor, Marathon Petroleum Corporation. Actual results may differ materially from what we expect today. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are included here, as well as in our filings with both MPLX and Marathon Petroleum with the SEC. Now, I will turn the call over to Pam Beall for opening remarks.

Pam Beall

President

Okay. Thank you, Geri and good afternoon. MPLX reported solid financial results for the first quarter, with the performance that continues to support the growth and distributable cash flow to the partnership. Adjusted EBITDA was 64.2 million for the quarter, generating distributable cash flow of 57.4 million. Our Board of Directors declared a distribution of $0.41 per unit for the first quarter, which represents a 25.2% increase over the first quarter of 2014 and a 7.2% increase from the fourth quarter of 2014. MPLX has provided distribution increases in each of the nine quarters since IPO, representing a compound annual growth rate of 21.9% over the minimum quarterly distribution established at the partnership’s formation. We continue to execute our strategy to accelerate the partnerships growth to evolve into a large cap diversified MLP. This is exemplified by the announcement that Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s Board authorize the sale of it’s marine logistics business to MPLX sending the approval of the MPLX Board, this transaction is expected to close in the next several months. If you’ll turn to slide four, we highlight MPC’s marine business transportation business, which is fully integrated waterborne transportation service provider consisting primarily of three groups of assets. The base business includes 18 towboats and approximately 200 tank barges, which are capable of moving like products, heavy oils, crude oil, renewable fuels, chemicals and feedstocks throughout the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions of the U.S. The assets also include a state-of-the-art marine repair facility near catalyst for Kentucky. As expected to enable us to minimize downtime and maximize asset utilization. The third group includes fleeting properties, which strategically located staging areas and key markets along the Ohio River and provide easy access to loading and unloading dock. The marine business to be acquired represents about 60% of the…

Tim Griffith

Chief Financial Officer

Thanks Pam. The bridge on slide 5 shows the change in net income during the first quarter 2015 on a 100% basis compared to the first quarter of 2014 as well as the adjustment for the small retained interest and pipeline holdings retained by MPC. The primary drivers for the decrease in net income from last year with the recognition of lower revenue related to volume deficiency credits and higher general administrative and interest expenses. The higher interest cost were attributable to new debt issued to fund the pipeline holdings acquisitions in December. Partially offset in these negative impacts in income was an increase in transportation revenue primarily due to higher average tariff rates. Although not shown on the slide, net income attributable to MPLX increased 11.4 million from the first quarter of 2014 which is primarily due to increase in the MPLX's ownership interest in pipeline holdings. Partially offset by the decreases just mentioned. As you can see on slide 6, distributable capital for the quarter was 57.4 million compared to 37.3 million of distributable cash flow for the first quarter of 2014. During the first quarter of ’15, MPC did not ship its minimum committed volume on certain MPLX pipeline systems resulting in 12.6 million of deficiency payments in the quarter. Although, these deficiency payments in the quarter do not immediately enter into the termination of income, they are included in the 57.4 million of distributable cash flow in the quarter. Inversely, adjusted EBITDA attributable to MPLX included 9.9 million of revenue resulting from recognizing volume deficiency credits that were generated in prior quarters, which were not part of the distributable cash flow in the first quarter. Distributions for the first quarter were 36.9 million. This represents the coverage ratio of 1.56 x compared to our target coverage…

Geri Ewing

Operator

Thanks, Tim. With that, we will open the call for questions.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. [Operator Instructions] We have a question from Brian Zarahn from Barclays.

Brian Zarahn

Analyst · Barclays

I appreciate the color on the marine transportation business. In terms of contracts, would you expect the duration would be similar to your prior drop downs for this business?

Pam Beall

President

We’ll have contractor links and it will be attractive for these kind of assets. I’d say that generally in the inland marine business in the spot markets, the contract length is pretty short in duration anywhere from one year to three years and we would expect we provide contracts between the MPLX and MPC for a greater period of time than that, but I don’t know that we’re prepared to disclose all that until we finalize the transaction Brian.

Tim Griffith

Chief Financial Officer

Brian I might just add to that that as Pam described I mean the marine business for MPC is so fundamental to how the business operates that. If there is any contracting risk at all frankly just relates to potentially what those rates could look like overtime, but highly unlikely that we would ever step away from MPC’s marine business given its importance to the refining business.

Brian Zarahn

Analyst · Barclays

And then it sounds like the business first and third-parties do provide some marine transportation services to MPC. And do you view this as a potential growth vehicle for MPLX and marine transportation or is it more providing services to MPC for now and then you’ll see how the business evolves?

Pam Beall

President

Well Brian just based on the fact that only 60% of MPC’s needs are being met today with its own marine assets that are proposed to become part of MPLX. We think that there is significant growth potential just to move those services that today are provided by third-parties to MPLX, so that’s an inherent built in growth opportunity for MPLX. And 100% of the blue water movements are chartered today to third-party, so both of those represent attractive growth opportunities for MPLX and really that growth in the requirement that MPC has is really based on its growth and its recent acquisitions Galveston Bay and the Hess retail business, so there’s some really we see a nice path toward growth just with the sponsors and then yes we will look to expand the services to third-parties overtime.

Brian Zarahn

Analyst · Barclays

And then on timing I know you mentioned several months, would you view that as greater than three months for this transaction to close or how do you view the timing of several months?

Pam Beall

President

I think there’s a process that we need to go through and I really couldn’t give anything more definitive than we’ve already provided.

Brian Zarahn

Analyst · Barclays

And last one for me on 2015 expansion CapEx, is 220 million still a reasonable number?

Pam Beall

President

Well we have been talking about for Cornerstone when we were contemplating just the 12-inch pipe it was about 200 million that was a component of that 260. And the addition of the tank farm build out at this point along with the increase in the size of the pipe from 12 to 16 that project alone the increase the project total goes up to 250. Now of course not all that’s in 2015, but so, but a portion of that would be. So we haven’t really updated the guidance on exactly what we see in 2015, our CapEx will be a bit could be more because of the expanded scope for Cornerstone.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Gabe Moreen from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Gabe Moreen

Analyst · Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Quick question for you in terms of just expectations around maintenance CapEx for the marine transportation assets and just how you’d be viewing that? Would that be higher?

Pam Beall

President

Yes, no go ahead Gabe.

Gabe Moreen

Analyst · Bank of America Merrill Lynch

I’m sorry just whether it’s going to be higher or lower in I guess the base MPLX businesses?

Pam Beall

President

So the maintenance capital for the current MPLX business is predominantly the pipeline business and so a lot of that is maintenance capital. For the marine business, most of the maintenance actually is expensed, so the maintenance capital tends to be quite low.

Gabe Moreen

Analyst · Bank of America Merrill Lynch

And is it fair to say that I know there’s dry-docking and things like that in the marine transportation business, so is it fair to say that some of those expenses maybe I guess somewhat lumpy in terms of the profile going forward?

Pam Beall

President

Yes, it would be. And when we close the transaction, I’m sure we’ll be able to provide some more guidance and some more definitive guidance around what you should expect but the marine or the maintenance capital would be maybe 1% or 2% of EBITDA quite a bit lower than in the pipeline business.

Tim Griffith

Chief Financial Officer

I think you’re right, separate the amount of maintenance capital from replacement capital which for marine business could get lumpy a different point in time depending on when specific vessel need to replaced and where they are and useful lot. So, I think we would expect over time as this becomes part of MPLX with that replacement capital could be lumpy at different points in time.

Gabe Moreen

Analyst · Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Got it, I guess I’ll stay tune for guidance. When the transaction happens just to had ultimately would be treated. So I guess my follow up question to that is more conceptual just in terms of why this next among all the drop down opportunities that you’ve got just because of business is growing so much over the last year too and you see the potential for further growth or there are reasons behind it.

Pam Beall

President

I think with in the process of reading a number of asset classes kind of simultaneously and this was an asset class was ready sooner than somebody others in terms of all the accounting and [indiscernible] and permits and transfers of assets that are required to get these assets ready for moving into MPLX and it does provide a nice platform for growth within MPLX. So, I think combination of factors there.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Jeremy Tonet from JPMorgan.

Jeremy Tonet

Analyst · JPMorgan

I just want to think about minimum volume commitments that can associated with this next drop down, I don’t think that was mentioned at this point it might be premature but I’m just wondering conceptually as far as price you’re willing pay for drop downs versus how long the MPC is to the contract, what percentage of cash flow is covered by MPC. Could you walk us through how you think about that trade off?

Pam Beall

President

Well for this transaction think of it more like the contract that we have for butane cavern that’s already part of MPLX, we talk about fee for capacity, MPC will pay a fee to have the equipment available whether it’s used or not. Now, since it’s only 60% of its water movements today MPC’s marine assets have always been very highly utilized. So, the compensation is not tied to that utilization you only have to have equipment available for MPC to use and we take into consideration the maintenance that use to occur. But its not like a minimum volume commitment, it’s MPC will pay to have that capacity at it’s dispose discussion. And then in addition there is a flat monthly rate or fee associated with managing the rest of the marine water movements for MPC and managing the third party charted business.

Jeremy Tonet

Analyst · JPMorgan

Got you, that make sense. And maybe just asking a bit differently but conceptually the other contracts are five to 10 years for what are the assets you guys own, it sounds like this might be something or a bit shorter duration. How do you guys think about the trade off with valuation there? Does that enter the equation as far as the multiple that you could see on the dropdown this type of the business.

Pam Beall

President

So I don’t know that the length of the contract will be less than five to 10 years, I was just trying to illustrate that in this market I would say more normal would be one to three, that doesn’t mean that’s the agreement that we will have with MPC. We would expect to have a longer term agreement then what is typical in the industry today.

Jeremy Tonet

Analyst · JPMorgan

And if I could as far as the replacement CapEx you talked about what is the average useful life of these vessels, how should we think about that.

Pam Beall

President

A lot of vessels can be used up to 40 years and I would say that when you look across the industry and the fleets across the industry average age of our fleet is relatively young by comparison. So again I think it’s the time that we complete the acquisition, we’ll be sharing more detailed information about the business.

Jeremy Tonet

Analyst · JPMorgan

That’s helpful. Thanks. And just going back to Cornerstone for a minute and I think you’ve touched on this as far as what some of the can be a platform for additional growth opportunities. I was wondering if you might be able to extend a little bit there as far as any other specific things that you see where Cornerstone can lead to other opportunities.

Pam Beall

President

Yes, right. So, we’ve talked a little bit about the build out opportunities for Cornerstone and that would include taking these nature gas liquids west and south out of the Ohio River pipeline east part of terminal down to East Ohio and then backup Findlay and jump on a system to go up to Toledo or down to Lima where they are refineries located in those markets. So that would used existing pipeline that MPC, Marathon pipeline and Ohio River pipeline have in the ground today. And there is also opportunity to build out at the Oregon. And let me just ask Craig Pierson to add some color as well. So Craig is the President of Marathon pipeline. Craig?

Craig Pierson

Analyst · JPMorgan

Yes, thanks. At the Oregon of the pipeline, there is some other opportunities associated with some existing fractionation facilities to extent the Oregon to those facilities and also some potential other pipeline and connections.

Pam Beall

President

So there is between the Oregon of Cornerstone and South Eastern Ohio whether is another I will take concentration of similar plans, there is a gap there and there is potential to connect some pipes that are in that area with the Cornerstone origination point. And I think it would provide the producers a lot more flexibility in terms of accessing pipeline market. So again, we think that there is opportunity to move natural gasoline. Certainly daily went we can make connections to some of the pipes that are proposing to go West into Canada to access the diluent market and we think through existing and upsized pipeline we could provide movement of these products over to MPC’s Robinson refinery and then backup to the Chicago area of refineries as well. So we think that there is interest in accessing, the production is coming out of Utica Marcellus and we think that the Cornerstone pipeline is going to be a real key contributor to connecting the demand with the supply sources.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Tim Schneider from Evercore ISI.

Tim Schneider

Analyst · Evercore ISI

Just a quick question or quick follow-up for me on Cornerstone side, this is -- pipeline. Can you just remind us what kind of products can run through that?

Pam Beall

President

Yeah, so condensate natural gasoline and their form of natural gasoline will the diluent with different quality and then butane are the products that we would expect to move in the pipe.

Tim Schneider

Analyst · Evercore ISI

Is there any way at some point propane concert moving through pipeline?

Pam Beall

President

That’s not our focus, it’s just the liquids that I mentioned.

Tim Schneider

Analyst · Evercore ISI

And then in terms of have can you quantify what the storages that you have the cavern?

Pam Beall

President

Well, we have a number of different caverns catalyst berg is a million -- Robinson right now is being configured for 1.4. Although, we are considering that’s the appropriate size or should be a little bit larger. And then MPC has retained assets that we expected to some point to be offered MPLX to acquire. So MPC does have caverns in the concern area and also the district refinery.

Tim Schneider

Analyst · Evercore ISI

And then actually I have a follow-up on the propane side. I mean if you look at what’s going on in the Northeast right now specifically kind of the seasonality around propane, I mean the market is going to massively over supplied and kind of that show their season right Q2, Q3 and there is a lack of inter region stores. So I wouldn’t make sense to move corners or its half corners and also move propane West especially if you can get into a Chicago market eventually?

Pam Beall

President

Well, again it’s not our focus for Cornerstone to move propane. There are quite a few existing lines and propose lines that would have the ability to move propane affine North up to -- and there are some other lines that are natural gas lines today that might be other parties maybe considering. But so Chicago is in kind of an interesting area, because you have a lot of supply now out of Utica and Marcellus. And historically there is also been a lot of supply coming from other Rockies and then even up from the Gulf Coast. But that’s not the focus of the pipe, of our use for Cornerstone and to build out project.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Ryan Levine from Citigroup.

Ryan Levine

Analyst · Citigroup

Hi guys. Just wanted to get an update on the dropdown inventory at the parent still 1.6 billion and what portion of that subject to -- and what’s the latest in terms of your pursued event?

Pam Beall

President

So before the announcement that was made about offering the marine business to MPLX, we’ve been talking about a backlog or dropdown portfolio potential of about 1.6 billion.

Ryan Levine

Analyst · Citigroup

And what portion of that is subject to PLR?

Pam Beall

President

Auto Private Letter Ruling, okay. We’ve been talking about the field distribution component of that portfolio that we are evaluating. And that we will probably seek up appeal our four. What we’ve quantify that we’ve estimated that at a very high level to be about 600 million of potential EBITDA and that’s just been described at a high level as 20 billion gallons of product that we sell each year and catching $0.03 margin. And so we continue to evaluate how we want the structure of the field distribution business to look. And so as soon as we conclude that process, we’ll be seeking the PLR, but we can’t really give you any specific timing around that at this point.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Kristina Kazarian from Deutsche Bank.

Kristina Kazarian

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

Can you just talk a little bit about what this incremental 115 million of the EBITDA. Obviously the coverage growth deploy a bit closure to two times. Are you guys can run higher coverage on a go forward base is this mean there is a chance for accelerate the EPU growth slowdown in future pace of acquisitions. How do balance those three all I had?

Tim Griffith

Chief Financial Officer

Christine as I mentioned I think during the call. Its possible at the earnings of the partnership well outpaces the growth of distribution given the mid-20s, five year growth that we’ve provided. So it is possible that over the first year or two that will run coverage that will be higher than the 1.1 time. I don’t think we’re going to revisit distribution growth strategy, we think that mid-20s five year growth is already robust and attractive for investors and we don’t think we need to go beyond that at this point.

Kristina Kazarian

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

Is there a point I guess too high?

Tim Griffith

Chief Financial Officer

Base on how we look at the business and our own modeling in terms of what things look like. I think we’re comfortable that although could be higher than our target that it doesn’t put us in the situation we’re need to revisit in.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Pam Beall

President

Although, there is no other question. We’ll close the Q&A.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We don’t show further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Ms. Ewing for any final remarks.

Geri Ewing

Operator

I just like to thank everyone for joining us today. And thank you for your interest in MPLX. Did you have any additional questions or like clarification and editing that was discuss today, please contact Teresa Homan and I myself we will be available for your call. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s conference. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.