February 03, 2020 [Chron] – Houston pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners finished 2019 with a record $4.6 billion profit after shattering 28 company records.

 
In an early Thursday morning statement, Enterprise said it ended the year with a record $4.6 billion profit, a 9 percent increase compared with $4.2 billion in 2018. The company’s 2019 revenue of $32.8 billion was nearly a 10 percent decline from $36.5 billion in 2018.

Enterprise’s pipelines delivered record volumes of natural gas liquids, crude oil, natural gas and refined products in 2019 while company plants in Mont Belvieu processed record volumes of natural gas liquids. Financially, the company increased distributions paid to investors for the 21st year in a row.

“The creativity and resourcefulness of our commercial, engineering and operating teams also allowed us to respond quickly to the needs of our customers as well as capturing regional price spread opportunities during the year,” Enterprise CEO Jim Teague said in a statement.

Looking at the company’s fourth-quarter earnings, Enterprise netted a $1.1 billion profit, a decline compared with the $1.3 billion profit during the fourth quarter of 2018. Enterprise’s fourth-quarter revenue of $8 billion was a 13 percent drop compared with $9.2 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2018.

The company’s fourth-quarter earnings translated into earnings of 50 cents per share, missing Wall Street expectations of 54 cents and revenue of $8.58 billion.

Commodity prices for natural gas liquids such as ethane, propane and butane were lower during the fourth quarter while another part of the year-over-year drop was attributed to a $133 million write down for the Centennial Pipeline, which moves natural gas liquids from Illinois to southeast Texas.

Founded in 1968 with a pair of propane delivery trucks, the Houston pipeline operator has more than 7,000 employees across the United States.

Looking ahead, the company set a $3 billion to $4 billion capital expenditure budget for projects in 2020, as well as a $400 million budget for operations and maintenance. With some construction projects expected to be finished this year, the company’s capital expenditure budget is expected to drop to between $2 billion to $3 billion in 2021.

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