DPM-2013.12.31-10K
Table of Contents

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549 
 
 
FORM 10-K
 
 
 
(Mark One)
ý
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013
or 
¨
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from                     to                     
Commission File Number: 001-32678 
 
 
DCP MIDSTREAM PARTNERS, LP
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) 
 
  
Delaware
 
03-0567133
(State or other jurisdiction
of incorporation or organization)
 
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
 
 
 
370 17th Street, Suite 2500
Denver, Colorado
 
80202
(Address of principal executive offices)
 
(Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (303) 633-2900 
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of Each Class:
Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered:
Common Units Representing Limited Partner Interests
New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

NONE
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Act. YesýNo¨
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨ No ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. YesýNo¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ý No ¨
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨
Large accelerated filer
ý
 
Accelerated filer
¨
Non-accelerated filer
¨
 
Smaller reporting company
¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ¨    No  ý

The aggregate market value of common units held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2013, was approximately $3,156,209,000. The aggregate market value was computed by reference to the last sale price of the registrant’s common units on the New York Stock Exchange on June 28, 2013.
As of February 20, 2014, there were outstanding 89,045,139 common units representing limited partner interests.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

None.


Table of Contents

DCP MIDSTREAM PARTNERS, LP
FORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
 
 
 
Item
 
Page
 
PART I
 
1.
1A.
1B.
2.
3.
4.
 
PART II
 
5.
6.
7.
7A.
8.
9.
9A.
9B.
 
PART III
 
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
 
PART IV
 
15.
 
 
 


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GLOSSARY OF TERMS
The following is a list of certain industry terms used throughout this report:
 
 
 
 
Bbl
  
barrel
Bbls/d
  
barrels per day
Bcf
 
billion cubic feet
Bcf/d
 
billion cubic feet per day
Btu
  
British thermal unit, a measurement of energy
Fractionation
  
the process by which natural gas liquids are separated
    into individual components
MBbls
 
thousand barrels
MBbls/d
 
thousand barrels per day
MMBtu
  
million Btus
MMBtu/d
  
million Btus per day
MMcf
 
million cubic feet
MMcf/d
  
million cubic feet per day
NGLs
  
natural gas liquids
Throughput
  
the volume of product transported or passing through a
    pipeline or other facility
 


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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Our reports, filings and other public announcements may from time to time contain statements that do not directly or exclusively relate to historical facts. Such statements are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can typically identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking words, such as “may,” “could,” “should,” “intend,” “assume,” “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “potential,” “plan,” “forecast” and other similar words.
All statements that are not statements of historical facts, including statements regarding our future financial position, business strategy, budgets, projected costs and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements reflect our intentions, plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside our control. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include known and unknown risks. Known risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks set forth in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the following risks and uncertainties:
the extent of changes in commodity prices and the demand for our products and services, our ability to effectively limit a portion of the adverse impact of potential changes in prices through derivative financial instruments, and the potential impact of price and producers’ access to capital on natural gas drilling, demand for our services, and the volume of NGLs and condensate extracted;
general economic, market and business conditions;
our ability to hire as well as retain qualified personnel to execute our business strategy;
volatility in the price of our common units;
the level and success of natural gas drilling around our assets, the level and quality of gas production volumes around our assets and our ability to connect supplies to our gathering and processing systems in light of competition;
our ability to grow through contributions from affiliates, acquisitions, or organic growth projects, and the successful integration and future performance of such assets;
our ability to access the debt and equity markets and the resulting cost of capital, which will depend on general market conditions, our financial and operating results, inflation rates, interest rates, our ability to comply with the covenants in our loan agreements and our debt securities, as well as our ability to maintain our credit ratings;
the demand for NGL products by the petrochemical, refining or other industries;
our ability to purchase propane from our suppliers and make associated profitable sales transactions for our wholesale propane logistics business;
our ability to construct facilities on budget and in a timely fashion, which is partially dependent on obtaining required construction, environmental and other permits issued by federal, state and municipal governments, or agencies thereof, the availability of specialized contractors and laborers, and the price of and demand for materials;
the creditworthiness of counterparties to our transactions;
weather, weather related conditions and other natural phenomena, including their potential impact on demand for the commodities we sell and the operation of company-owned and third party-owned infrastructure;
security threats such as military campaigns, terrorist attacks, and cybersecurity breaches, against, or otherwise impacting, our facilities and systems;
new, additions to and changes in laws and regulations, particularly with regard to taxes, safety and protection of the environment, including climate change legislation, regulation of over-the-counter derivatives market and entities, and hydraulic fracturing regulations, or the increased regulation of our industry, and their impact on producers and customers served by our systems;
our ability to obtain insurance on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, as well as the adequacy of insurance to cover our losses;
the amount of gas we gather, compress, treat, process, transport, sell and store, or the NGLs we produce, fractionate, transport and store, may be reduced if the pipelines and storage and fractionation facilities to which we deliver the natural gas or NGLs are capacity constrained and cannot, or will not, accept the gas or NGLs;
industry changes, including the impact of consolidations, alternative energy sources, technological advances and changes in competition;
the amount of collateral we may be required to post from time to time in our transactions; and
our ability to execute our asset integrity and safety programs to continue the safe and reliable operation of our assets.
In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events described in the forward-looking statements might not occur or might occur to a different extent or at a different time than we have described. The forward-looking statements in this report speak as of the filing date of this report. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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PART I

Item 1. Business
OUR PARTNERSHIP
DCP Midstream Partners, LP (along with its consolidated subsidiaries, “we,” “us,” “our,” or the “partnership”) is a Delaware limited partnership formed by DCP Midstream, LLC to own, operate, acquire and develop a diversified portfolio of complementary midstream energy assets. We are currently engaged in the business of gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, storing and selling natural gas; producing, fractionating, transporting, storing and selling NGLs and recovering and selling condensate; and transporting, storing and selling propane in wholesale markets. Supported by our relationship with DCP Midstream, LLC and its owners, Phillips 66 and Spectra Energy Corp and its affiliates, or Spectra Energy, we are dedicated to executing our growth strategy by acquiring and constructing additional assets.
Our operations are organized into three business segments: Natural Gas Services, NGL Logistics and Wholesale Propane Logistics. A map representing the geographic location and type of our assets for all segments is set forth below. Additional maps detailing the individual assets can be found on our website at www.dcppartners.com. Our website and the information contained on that site, or connected to that site, are not incorporated by reference into this report. For more information on our segments, see the “Our Operating Segments” discussion below.

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NOTE: Map includes assets to be contributed by or acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC pursuant to the February 25, 2014 transaction documents described in Recent Events in Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and Note 22 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8. “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data".

OVERVIEW AND STRATEGIES
Our Business Strategies
Our primary business objectives are to have sustained company profitability, a strong balance sheet and profitable growth thereby increasing our cash distribution per unit over time. We intend to accomplish these objectives by executing the following business strategies:

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Dropdown: maximize opportunities provided by our partnership with DCP Midstream, LLC. We plan to execute our growth in part through pursuing economically attractive dropdown opportunities from DCP Midstream, LLC. We believe there will continue to be significant opportunities as DCP Midstream, LLC continues to build its infrastructure. However, we cannot say with any certainty that these opportunities will be made available to us, or that we will choose to pursue any such opportunity.
Build: capitalize on organic expansion opportunities. We continually evaluate economically attractive organic expansion opportunities to construct midstream systems in new or existing operating areas. For example, we believe there are opportunities to expand several of our gas gathering systems to attach increased volumes of natural gas produced in the areas of our operations or to build new processing capacity. We also believe there are opportunities to continue to expand our NGL Logistics and Wholesale Propane Logistics businesses.
Acquire: pursue strategic third party acquisitions. We pursue economically attractive and strategic third party acquisition opportunities within the midstream energy industry, both in new and existing lines of business, and geographic areas of operation.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe that we are well positioned to execute our business strategies and achieve one of our primary business objectives of increasing our cash distribution per unit because of the following competitive strengths:
Affiliation with DCP Midstream, LLC and its owners. Our relationship with DCP Midstream, LLC and its owners, Phillips 66 and Spectra Energy, should continue to provide us with significant business opportunities. DCP Midstream, LLC is the largest processor of natural gas, the largest producer of NGLs and the third-largest NGL pipeline operator in the United States. This relationship also provides us with access to a significant pool of management talent. We believe our strong relationships throughout the energy industry, including with major producers of natural gas and NGLs in the United States, will help facilitate the implementation of our strategies. Additionally, we believe DCP Midstream, LLC, which operates most of our assets on our behalf, has established a reputation in the midstream business as a reliable and cost-effective supplier of services to our customers, and has a track record of safe, efficient and environmentally responsible operation of our facilities.
We believe we are an important growth vehicle and a key source of funding for DCP Midstream, LLC to pursue the organic construction, expansion and acquisition of midstream natural gas, NGL, wholesale propane and other complementary midstream energy businesses and assets. DCP Midstream, LLC has also provided us with growth opportunities through acquisitions directly from it and joint ventures with it. We believe we will have future opportunities to make additional acquisitions with or directly from DCP Midstream, LLC as well as form joint ventures with it; however, we cannot say with any certainty which, if any, of these opportunities may be made available to us, or if we will choose to pursue any such opportunity. In addition, through our relationship with DCP Midstream, LLC and its owners, we believe we have strong commercial relationships throughout the energy industry and access to DCP Midstream, LLC’s broad operational, commercial, technical, risk management and administrative infrastructure.
DCP Midstream, LLC has a significant interest in us through its approximately 1% general partner interest in us, its ownership of our incentive distribution rights and an approximately 22% limited partner interest in us.
Strategically located assets. Each of our business segments has assets that are strategically located in areas with the potential for increasing each of our business segments’ volume throughput and cash flow generation. Our Natural Gas Services segment has a strategic presence in several active natural gas producing areas including Colorado, the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. These systems provide a variety of services to our customers including gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting and storing natural gas, and fractionating NGLs. The strategic location of our assets, coupled with their geographic diversity, presents us with continuing opportunities to provide competitive natural gas services to our customers and attract new natural gas production. Our NGL Logistics segment has strategically located NGL transportation pipelines in Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, and Texas which are major NGL producing regions, NGL fractionation facilities in Colorado and the Gulf Coast and an NGL storage facility in Michigan. Our NGL pipelines connect to various natural gas processing plants and transport the NGLs to large fractionation facilities, a petrochemical plant, a third party underground NGL storage facility and other markets along the Gulf Coast. Our NGL storage facility in Michigan is strategically adjacent to the Sarnia, Canada refinery and petrochemical corridor. Our Wholesale Propane Logistics Segment has terminals in the mid-Atlantic, northeastern and upper midwestern states that are strategically located to receive and deliver propane to some of the largest demand areas for propane in the United States.

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Stable cash flows. Our operations consist of a favorable mix of fee-based and commodity-based services, which together with our commodity hedging program, generate relatively stable cash flows. While certain of our gathering and processing contracts subject us to commodity price risk, we have mitigated a significant portion of our currently anticipated natural gas, NGL and condensate commodity price risk associated with the equity volumes from our gathering and processing operations through 2017 with fixed price commodity swaps.
Integrated package of midstream services. We provide an integrated package of services to natural gas producers, including gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, storing and selling natural gas, as well as producing, fractionating, transporting, storing and selling NGLs and recovering and selling condensate. We believe our ability to provide all of these services gives us an advantage in competing for new supplies of natural gas because we can provide substantially all services that producers, marketers and others require to move natural gas and NGLs from wellhead to market on a cost-effective basis.
Comprehensive propane logistics systems. We have multiple propane supply sources and terminal locations to transport, store and sell propane in wholesale markets. We believe our diversity of supply sources and logistics capabilities along with our propane storage assets and services allow us to provide our customers with reliable supplies of propane during periods of tight supply. These capabilities also allow us to moderate the effects of commodity price volatility and reduce significant fluctuations in our sales volumes.
Experienced management team. Our senior management team and board of directors include some of the most senior officers of DCP Midstream, LLC and other energy companies who have extensive experience in the midstream industry. We believe our management team has a proven track record of enhancing value through dropdowns, organic growth and the acquisition, optimization and integration of midstream assets.
Midstream Natural Gas Industry Overview (Natural Gas Services and NGL Logistics)
General
The midstream natural gas industry is the link between exploration and production of natural gas and the delivery of its components to end-use markets, and consists of the gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, storing and selling of natural gas, and producing, fractionating, transporting, storing and selling NGLs.
Once natural gas is produced from wells, producers then seek to deliver the natural gas and its components to end-use markets. The following diagram illustrates the natural gas gathering, processing, fractionation, storage and transportation process, which ultimately results in natural gas and its components being delivered to end-users.

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Natural Gas Gathering
The natural gas gathering process begins with the drilling of wells into gas-bearing rock formations. Once the well is completed, the well is connected to a gathering system. Onshore gathering systems generally consist of a network of small diameter pipelines that collect natural gas from points near producing wells and transport it to larger pipelines for further transmission.
Natural Gas Compression
Gathering systems are generally operated at design pressures that will maximize the total throughput from all connected wells. Since wells produce at progressively lower field pressures as they deplete, it becomes increasingly difficult to deliver the remaining lower pressure production from the well against the prevailing gathering system pressures. Natural gas compression is a mechanical process in which a volume of wellhead gas is compressed to a desired higher pressure, allowing gas to flow into a higher pressure downstream pipeline to be brought to market. Field compression is typically used to lower the pressure of a gathering system or to provide sufficient pressure to deliver gas into a higher pressure downstream pipeline. If field compression is not installed, then the remaining natural gas in the ground will not be produced because it cannot overcome the higher gathering system pressure. In contrast, if field compression is installed, then a well can continue delivering production that otherwise would not be produced.
Natural Gas Processing
The principal component of natural gas is methane, but most natural gas produced at the wellhead also contains varying amounts of NGLs including ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane and natural gasoline. NGLs have economic value and are utilized as a feedstock in the petrochemical and oil refining industries or directly as heating, engine or industrial fuels. Long-haul natural gas pipelines have residue natural gas specifications as to the maximum NGL content of the gas to be shipped. In order to meet quality standards for long-haul pipeline transportation, natural gas collected at the wellhead through a gathering system may need to be processed to separate hydrocarbon liquids from the natural gas that may have higher values as NGLs. NGLs are typically recovered by cooling the natural gas until the NGLs become separated through condensation. Cryogenic recovery methods are processes where this is accomplished at temperatures lower than negative 150°F. These methods provide higher NGL recovery yields.
In addition to NGLs, natural gas collected at the wellhead through a gathering system may also contain impurities, such as water, sulfur compounds, nitrogen or helium, which must also be removed to meet the quality standards for long-haul pipeline

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transportation. As a result, gathering systems and natural gas processing plants will typically provide ancillary services prior to processing such as dehydration, treating to remove impurities and condensate separation. Dehydration removes water from the natural gas stream, which can form ice when combined with natural gas and cause corrosion when combined with carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide. Natural gas with a carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide content higher than permitted by pipeline quality standards requires treatment with chemicals called amines at a separate treatment plant prior to processing. Condensate separation involves the removal of liquefied hydrocarbons from the natural gas stream. Once the condensate has been removed, it may be stabilized for transportation away from the processing plant via truck, rail, or pipeline.
Natural Gas and NGL Transportation and Storage
After gas collected through a gathering system is processed to meet quality standards required for transportation and NGLs have been extracted from natural gas, the residue natural gas is shipped on long-haul pipelines or injected into storage facilities. The NGLs are typically transported via NGL pipelines or trucks to a fractionator for separation of the NGLs into their individual components. Natural gas and NGLs may be held in storage facilities to meet future seasonal and customer demands. Storage facilities can include marine, pipeline and rail terminals, and underground facilities consisting of salt caverns and aquifers used for storage of natural gas and various liquefied petroleum gas products including propane, mixed butane, and normal butane. Rail, truck and pipeline connections provide varying ways of transporting natural gas and NGLs to and from storage facilities.
Wholesale Propane Logistics Overview
General
Wholesale propane logistics covers the receipt of propane from processing plants, fractionation facilities and crude oil refineries, the transportation of that propane by pipeline, rail or ship to terminals and storage facilities, the storage of propane and the delivery of propane to distributors.
Production of Propane
Propane is extracted from the natural gas stream at processing plants, separated from NGLs at fractionation facilities or separated from crude oil during the refining process. Most of the propane that is consumed in the United States is produced at processing plants, fractionation facilities and refineries located in the United States or in foreign locations, particularly Canada, the North Sea, East Africa and the Middle East. There are a number of processing plants, fractionation facilities and corresponding propane production in the northeastern United States.
Propane Demand
Propane demand is typically highest in suburban and rural areas where natural gas is not readily available, such as the northeastern United States. Propane is supplied by wholesalers to retailers to be sold to residential and commercial consumers primarily for heating and industrial applications. Propane demand is typically highest in the winter heating season months of October through April.
Transportation and Storage
Due to the nature of the regions’ propane production and relatively high demand, the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States are importers of propane. These areas rely on pipeline, marine and rail sources for incoming supplies from both domestic and foreign locations. Independent terminal operators and wholesale distributors, own, lease or have access to propane storage facilities that receive supplies via pipeline, rail or ship. Generally, inventories in the propane storage facilities increase during the spring and summer months for delivery to customers during the fall and winter heating season when demand is typically at its peak.
Delivery
Often, upon receipt of propane at pipeline, rail and marine terminals, product is delivered to customer trucks or is stored in tanks located at the terminals or in off-site bulk storage facilities for future delivery to customers. Most terminals and storage facilities have a tanker truck loading facility commonly referred to as a “rack.” Typically independent retailers will rely on independent trucking companies to pick up propane at the propane wholesaler's rack and transport it to the retailer at its location.

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OUR OPERATING SEGMENTS
Natural Gas Services Segment
NOTE: Map includes assets to be contributed by or acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC pursuant to the February 25, 2014 transaction documents described in Recent Events in Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and Note 22 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8. “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data".
General
Our Natural Gas Services segment consists of a geographically diverse complement of assets and ownership interests that provide a varied array of wellhead to market services for our producer customers. These services include gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting and storing natural gas, and fractionating NGLs. These assets are positioned in certain areas with active drilling programs and opportunities for organic growth. Our Natural Gas Services segment operates in seven states in the continental United States: Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. The assets in these states include our 80% interest in the Eagle Ford system (of which an additional 46.67% was acquired in March 2013), our 100% owned Eagle plant, our East Texas system, our Southeast Texas system, our Michigan system, our Northern Louisiana system, our Southern Oklahoma system, our Wyoming system, our 75% operating interest in the Piceance system, our 40% limited liability company interest in the Discovery system located off and onshore in Southern Louisiana and our O'Connor plant (acquired in August 2013). This geographic diversity helps to mitigate our natural gas supply risk in that we are not tied to one natural gas resource type or producing area. We believe our current geographic mix of assets will be an important factor for maintaining overall volumes and cash flow for this segment.

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During 2013, the volume throughput on our assets was in excess of 2.2 Bcf/d, originating from a diversified mix of customers. Our systems each have significant customer acreage dedications that will continue to provide opportunities for growth as those customers execute their drilling plans over time. Our gathering systems also attract new natural gas volumes through numerous smaller acreage dedications and also by contracting with undedicated producers who are operating in or around our gathering footprint. During 2013, the combined NGL production from our processing facilities was in excess of 118,000 Bbls/d and was delivered and sold into various NGL takeaway pipelines or transported by truck.
Our natural gas gathering systems have the ability to deliver gas into numerous downstream transportation pipelines and markets. Many of our outlets transport gas to premium markets in the eastern United States, further enhancing the competitiveness of our commercial efforts in and around our natural gas gathering systems.
Gathering and Transmission Systems, Plants, Fractionators and Storage Facilities
The following is operating data for our systems:

2013 Operating Data
System
 
Approximate
Gas
Gathering
and Transmission
Systems (Miles)
 
Plants
 
Fractionators
 
Approximate
Net Nameplate Plant
Capacity
(MMcf/d) (a)
 
Approximate Natural Gas Storage Capacity
(Bcf)
 
 Natural Gas
Throughput
(MMcf/d) (a)
 
NGL
Production
(Bbls/d) (a)
Eagle Ford
 
6,000

 
5(b)

 
3

 
610

 

 
582

 
41,611

Eagle plant
 

 
1(b)

 

 
200

 

 
125

 
12,065

Southeast Texas
 
675

 
3(b)

 

 
400

 
14

 
200

 
11,524

East Texas
 
900

 
3(b)(e)

 
1

 
860

 

 
660

 
33,962

Michigan
 
440

 
3(c)(f)

 

 
420

 

 
281

 

Piceance
 
40

 
1(c)

 

 
150

 

 
47

 
1,529

N. Louisiana
 
1,455

 
2(b)

 

 
160

 
1(d)

 
166

 
3,960

Discovery (d)
 
300

 
  1(b)

 
1

 
240

 

 
132

 
5,690

Southern Oklahoma
 
225

 

 

 

 

 
17

 
1,953

Wyoming
 
1,400

 

 

 

 

 
40

 
3,796

O'Connor plant
 

 
1(b)

 

 
110

 

 
20

 
2,488

Total
 
11,435

 
20

 
5

 
3,150

 
15

 
2,270

 
118,578

_______________
(a)
Represents total capacity or total volumes allocated to our proportionate ownership share for 2013 divided by 365 days. In 2013, we had an 80% interest in our Eagle Ford system, a 75% interest in our Piceance system and a 40% limited liability company interest in Discovery.
(b)
Represents NGL extraction plants.
(c)
Represents treating plants.
(d)
Represents an asset operated by a third party.
(e)
Our East Texas system is comprised of one gas processing complex containing four plants, as well as the Crossroads and George Gray processing plants.
(f)
Excludes our idled East Caledonia plant.
In November 2012 and March 2013, we acquired a 33.33% and 46.67% interest, respectively, in DCP SC Texas GP, or the Eagle Ford system, from DCP Midstream, LLC. The Eagle Ford system is a fully integrated midstream business which includes 6,000 miles of gathering systems, production from 900,000 acres supported by acreage dedications or throughput commitments under long-term predominantly percent-of-proceeds agreements, five cryogenic natural gas processing plants totaling 760 MMcf/d of processing capacity, and three fractionation locations with total capacity of 36 MBbls/d. In February 2014, we entered into an agreement with DCP Midstream, LLC for the contribution of the remaining 20% interest in DCP SC Texas GP. This transaction is expected to close in March 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.
The Eagle Ford system recently completed an additional cryogenic plant with 200 MMcf/d of processing capacity in Goliad County, Texas. The Goliad plant was placed into service in February 2014 and further expands the Eagle Ford system.
Our 100% owned Eagle natural gas processing plant, in Jackson County in the Eagle Ford area, commenced operations in the first quarter of 2013.

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Our Southeast Texas system is a fully integrated midstream business which includes natural gas pipelines, three natural gas processing plants in Liberty and Jefferson Counties, of which two are temporarily idled, and natural gas storage assets in Beaumont.
Our East Texas system includes one gas processing complex containing four natural gas processing plants, as well as the George Gray and the Crossroads processing plants. Our East Texas system gathers, transports, compresses, treats and processes natural gas and NGLs. Our East Texas facility may also fractionate NGLs, which can be marketed at nearby petrochemical facilities. Our East Texas system, located near Carthage, Texas, includes a natural gas processing complex that is connected to its gathering system, as well as third party gathering systems.
Our Michigan system consists of three natural gas treating plants, a gas gathering system and various residue pipeline interests.
Our Piceance system is comprised of a 75% operating interest in Collbran Valley Gas Gathering, LLC, or Collbran, and consists of assets in the southern Piceance Basin that gather natural gas at high pressure from over 20,000 dedicated and producing acres in western Colorado. The remaining 25% interest in the joint venture is held by Occidental Petroleum Corporation who is the primary producer on the system.
Our Northern Louisiana system includes our Minden and Ada systems, which gather natural gas from producers and deliver it for processing to the processing plants. It also includes our Pelico system, which stores natural gas and transports it to markets. Through our Northern Louisiana system, we offer producers and customers wellhead-to-market services. Our Northern Louisiana system has numerous market outlets for the natural gas we gather, including several intrastate and interstate pipelines, major industrial end-users and major power plants. The system is strategically located to facilitate the transportation of natural gas from Texas and northern Louisiana to pipeline connections linking to markets in the eastern areas of the United States.
We have a 40% limited liability company interest in Discovery Producer Services LLC, or Discovery, with the remaining 60% owned by Williams Partners L.P. The Discovery system is operated by Williams Partners L.P. and offers a full range of wellhead-to-market services to both onshore and offshore natural gas producers. The assets are primarily located in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. We, along with Williams Partners L.P., are expanding the Discovery natural gas gathering pipeline system in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Discovery is constructing the Keathley Canyon Connector, a 20-inch diameter, 215-mile subsea natural gas gathering pipeline for production from the Keathley Canyon, Walker Ridge and Green Canyon areas in the central deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The Keathley Canyon Connector is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Our Southern Oklahoma system is located in the Golden Trend area of McClain, Garvin and Grady counties in southern Oklahoma. The system is adjacent to assets owned by DCP Midstream, LLC. Natural gas gathered by the system is delivered to DCP Midstream, LLC processing plants.
Our Wyoming system consists of natural gas gathering pipelines that cover more than 4,000 square miles in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. The system gathers primarily rich casing-head gas from oil wells at low pressure and delivers the gas to a third party for processing under a fee-based agreement.
In August 2013, we acquired DCP LaSalle Plant LLC which owns the O'Connor plant, a gas processing plant in the DJ Basin in Weld County, Colorado. The O'Connor plant commenced operations in the fourth quarter of 2013 and its expansion to 160 MMcf/d is mechanically complete as of February 2014. Prior to the start of commercial operations, the O'Connor plant was known as the LaSalle plant.
Natural Gas and NGL Markets
The Eagle Ford system has natural gas residue outlets including interstate and intrastate pipelines. The system delivers NGLs to the Gulf Coast petrochemical markets and to Mont Belvieu through the Sand Hills pipeline, owned approximately one-third each by DCP Midstream, LLC, Phillips 66 and Spectra Energy Partners, LP, and other third party NGL pipelines. Our 100% owned Eagle plant has delivery options into the Trunkline and Transco gas pipeline systems. In February 2014, we entered into an agreement with DCP Midstream, LLC for the contribution of its one-third interest in the Sand Hills pipeline. This transaction is expected to close in March 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.
The Southeast Texas system has numerous local natural gas market outlets and delivers residue gas into various interstate and intrastate pipelines. The Southeast Texas system also makes NGL market deliveries directly to Exxon Mobil.
The East Texas system delivers gas primarily through its Carthage Hub which delivers residue gas to multiple interstate and intrastate pipelines. Certain of the lighter NGLs, consisting of ethane and propane, are fractionated at the East Texas facility

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and sold to regional petrochemical purchasers. The remaining NGLs, including butanes and natural gasoline, are purchased by DCP Midstream, LLC and shipped to Mont Belvieu for fractionation and sale.
The Michigan system delivers Antrim Shale gas to our four treating plants and the gas is then transported to a third party power plant with connections to several intrastate pipelines.
The Piceance system gathers, compresses and delivers unprocessed gas to a third party natural gas processing plant.
The Northern Louisiana system has numerous market outlets for the natural gas that we gather on the system. In addition, our natural gas pipelines in northern Louisiana have access to gas that flows through numerous pipelines, are connected to major industrial end-users and makes deliveries to various power plants. The NGLs extracted from the natural gas at the Minden processing plant are delivered to our Black Lake NGL pipeline, in our NGL Logistics segment, through our Minden NGL pipeline. The Black Lake NGL pipeline delivers NGLs to Mont Belvieu and other NGL markets.
The Discovery assets have access to downstream pipelines and markets. The NGLs are fractionated, then delivered downstream to third-party purchasers consisting of a mix of local petrochemical facilities and wholesale distribution companies as well as pipelines that transport product to the storage and distribution center near Napoleonville, Louisiana or other similar product hubs.
The Southern Oklahoma system has access to a mix of mid-continent pipelines and markets through DCP Midstream, LLC owned processing plants.
The Wyoming system delivers unprocessed gas to a third party natural gas processing plant. Residue gas and NGLs are delivered to third party and affiliate pipelines.
The O'Connor plant delivers to the Conway hub in Bushton, Kansas via our Wattenberg pipeline and to the Mont Belvieu hub in Mont Belvieu, Texas via our Front Range and Texas Express pipelines in our NGL Logistics segment.
Customers and Contracts
The suppliers of natural gas to our Natural Gas Services segment are a broad cross-section of the natural gas producing community. We actively seek new producing customers of natural gas on all of our systems to increase throughput volume and to offset natural declines in the production from connected wells. We obtain new natural gas supplies in our operating areas by contracting for production from new wells, by connecting new wells drilled on dedicated acreage and by obtaining natural gas that has been directly received or released from other gathering systems.
Our contracts with our producing customers in our Natural Gas Services segment are a mix of commodity sensitive percent-of-proceeds and percent-of-liquids contracts and non-commodity sensitive fee-based contracts. Our gross margin generated from percent-of-proceeds contracts is directly related to the price of natural gas, NGLs and condensate and our gross margin generated from percent-of-liquids contracts is directly related to the price of NGLs and condensate. Additionally, these contracts may include fee-based components. Generally, the initial term of these purchase agreements is for three to five years or, in some cases, the life of the lease. The largest percentage of volume at our Southern Oklahoma and Eagle Ford systems are processed under percent-of-proceeds contracts. The producer contracts at our East Texas and Southeast Texas systems are primarily percent-of-liquids. The majority of the contracts for our Piceance and Michigan systems, as well as our O'Connor plant, are fee-based. Our Wyoming system has a combination of percent-of-proceeds and fee-based contracts. Discovery has percent-of-liquids, fee-based and keep-whole contracts. Our Northern Louisiana system has a combination of percent-of-proceeds, keep-whole and fee-based contracts.
Our Southeast Texas gas storage facility is primarily managed by us for our own account.
Discovery’s 100% owned subsidiary, Discovery Gas Transmission, owns the mainline and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, regulated laterals, which generate revenues through a tariff on file with FERC for several types of service: traditional firm transportation service with reservation fees; firm transportation service on a commodity basis with reserve dedication; and interruptible transportation service. In addition, for any of these general services, Discovery Gas Transmission has the authority to negotiate a specific rate arrangement with an individual shipper and has several of these arrangements currently in effect.
In conjunction with our acquisition and construction of the O'Connor plant, we entered into a 15-year fee-based processing agreement with DCP Midstream, LLC which provides us with a fixed demand charge of 75% of the plant's capacity and a throughput fee on all volumes processed.

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Competition
The natural gas services business is highly competitive in our markets and includes major integrated oil and gas companies, interstate and intrastate pipelines, and companies that gather, compress, treat, process, transport, store and/or market natural gas. Competition is often the greatest in geographic areas experiencing robust drilling by producers and during periods of high commodity prices for crude oil, natural gas and/or NGLs. Competition is also increased in those geographic areas where our commercial contracts with our customers are shorter term and therefore must be renegotiated on a more frequent basis.
NGL Logistics Segment
NOTE: Map includes assets to be contributed by or acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC pursuant to the February 25, 2014 transaction documents described in Recent Events in Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and Note 22 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8. “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data".
General
We operate our NGL Logistics business in the states of Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, and Texas.

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Our NGL pipelines transport NGLs from natural gas processing plants to fractionation facilities, a petrochemical plant and a third party underground NGL storage facility. Our pipelines provide transportation services to customers primarily on a fee basis. Therefore, the results of operations for this business are generally dependent upon the volume of product transported and the level of fees charged to customers. The volumes of NGLs transported on our pipelines are dependent on the level of production of NGLs from processing plants connected to our NGL pipelines. When natural gas prices are high relative to NGL prices, it is less profitable to recover NGLs from natural gas because of the higher value of natural gas compared to the value of NGLs. As a result, we have experienced periods, and will likely experience periods in the future, when higher relative natural gas prices reduce the volume of NGLs produced at plants connected to our NGL pipelines.
Our NGL fractionation facilities in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, or DJ Basin, in Colorado, and our partially owned facilities in Mont Belvieu, Texas, separate NGLs received from processing plants into their individual components. The fractionation facilities provide services on a fee basis. Therefore, the results of operations for this business are generally dependent upon the volume of NGLs fractionated and the level of fees charged to customers.
Our NGL storage facility is located in Marysville, Michigan with strategic access to Canadian NGLs. Our facility serves regional refining and petrochemical demand, and helps to balance the seasonality of propane distribution in the midwestern and northeastern United States and in Sarnia, Canada. We provide services to customers primarily on a fee basis. Therefore, the results of operations for this business are generally dependent upon the volume of product injected, stored and withdrawn, and the level of fees charged to customers.
NGL Pipelines
The following is operating data for our NGL pipelines:
2013 Operating Data
System
 
Approximate
System Length (Miles)
 
Approximate
Capacity
(MBbls/d) (a)
 
Pipeline
Throughput
(MBbls/d) (a)
Wattenberg
 
480

 
22

 
20,570

Seabreeze
 
56

 
41

 
24,685

Wilbreeze
 
39

 
11

 
24,192

Black Lake
 
317

 
40

 
17,096

Texas Express
 
583

 
28

 
592

Other
 
25

 
10

 
2,226

Total
 
1,500

 
152

 
89,361

_______________
(a)
Represents total capacity and throughput allocated to our proportionate ownership share for 2013 divided by 365 days.
The Wattenberg interstate NGL pipeline originates in the DJ Basin in Colorado and terminates near the Conway hub in Bushton, Kansas. The pipeline is currently connected to DCP Midstream, LLC plants and our O'Connor plant in the DJ Basin.
The Seabreeze intrastate NGL pipeline is located in Matagorda, Jackson and Calhoun Counties, Texas. The Seabreeze pipeline receives NGLs from the Wilbreeze NGL pipeline and a third party plant and pipeline. The Seabreeze pipeline delivers the NGLs it receives from these sources to a third party fractionator, its associated storage facility, and a third party pipeline.
The Wilbreeze intrastate NGL pipeline is located in Lavaca and Jackson Counties, Texas. The Wilbreeze pipeline receives NGLs from the Eagle Ford system, the Sand Hills pipeline, as well as a third party plant, and delivers the NGLs it receives from these sources to the Seabreeze pipeline and Enterprise’s Eagle pipeline.
The Black Lake interstate NGL pipeline originates in northwestern Louisiana and terminates in Mont Belvieu, Texas. Black Lake receives NGLs from gas processing plants in northwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas, including our Northern Louisiana system and multiple third party plants, the Sand Hills pipeline and a third party storage facility. Black Lake delivers the NGLs it receives from these sources to fractionation plants in Mont Belvieu, Texas including our partially owned Enterprise and Mont Belvieu 1 fractionators.
The Texas Express intrastate NGL pipeline, of which we own 10%, originates near Skellytown in Carson County, Texas, and extends to Enterprise’s natural gas liquids fractionation and storage complex at Mont Belvieu, Texas. The 20-inch diameter pipeline also provides access to other third party facilities in the area. The Texas Express Pipeline, was completed and commenced operations in the fourth quarter of 2013. Enterprise is the operator of the pipeline.

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The Front Range interstate NGL pipeline, of which we own 33.33%, is a new raw NGL mix pipeline that originates in the DJ Basin and extends approximately 435 miles to Skellytown, Texas. The Front Range pipeline connects to the O'Connor plant as well as third party and DCP Midstream, LLC plants in the DJ Basin. Enterprise is the operator of the pipeline, which was placed into service in February 2014.
NGL Fractionation Facilities
Our DJ Basin NGL fractionators in Colorado are located on DCP Midstream, LLC’s processing plant sites and are operated by DCP Midstream, LLC, which delivers NGLs to the fractionators under a long-term fractionation agreement.
Our NGL fractionation facilities in Mont Belvieu, Texas consist of a 12.5% interest in the Enterprise fractionator operated by Enterprise Products Partners L.P., and a 20% interest in the Mont Belvieu 1 fractionator operated by ONEOK Partners.
NGL Storage Facility
Our NGL storage facility is located in Marysville, Michigan and includes nine underground salt caverns with approximately 7 MMBbls of storage capacity and rail, truck and pipeline connections providing an important supply point for refiners, petrochemical plants and wholesale propane distributors in the Sarnia, midwestern and northeastern markets. The Marysville NGL storage project, once completed, will increase our number of underground salt caverns to ten.
Customers and Contracts
Our contracts with our customers in our NGL Logistics segment are primarily non-commodity sensitive fee-based contracts.
The Wattenberg pipeline is an open access pipeline with access to numerous gas processing facilities in the DJ Basin. The Wattenberg pipeline is supported by a 10-year dedication and transportation agreement with a subsidiary of DCP Midstream, LLC whereby certain NGL volumes produced at several of DCP Midstream, LLC’s processing facilities are dedicated for transportation on the Wattenberg pipeline. We collect fee-based transportation revenue under our tariff.
The Wilbreeze pipeline is supported by an NGL product dedication agreement with DCP Midstream, LLC.
DCP Midstream, LLC is the sole shipper on the Seabreeze pipeline under a long-term transportation agreement. The Seabreeze pipeline collects fee-based transportation revenue under this agreement.
DCP Midstream, LLC has historically been the largest active shipper on the Black Lake pipeline, accounting for approximately 31% of total throughput in 2013. The Black Lake pipeline generates revenue primarily through a FERC-regulated tariff.
The Texas Express pipeline has long-term, fee-based, ship-or-pay transportation agreements in place with affiliates of DCP Midstream, LLC and others.
The Front Range pipeline has long-term, fee-based, ship-or-pay transportation agreements in place with affiliates of DCP Midstream, LLC and others.
DCP Midstream, LLC supplies certain committed NGLs to our DJ Basin NGL fractionators under fee-based agreements that are effective through March 2018.
Our Marysville NGL storage facility serves retail and wholesale propane customers, as well as refining and petrochemical customers, under one to three-year term storage agreements. Our revenues for this facility are primarily fee-based.
Competition
The NGL logistics business is highly competitive in our markets and includes interstate and intrastate pipelines, integrated oil and gas companies that produce, fractionate, transport, store and sell NGLs, and underground storage facilities. Competition is often the greatest in geographic areas experiencing robust drilling by producers and strong petrochemical demand and during periods of high NGL prices relative to natural gas. Competition is also increased in those geographic areas where our contracts with our customers are shorter term and therefore must be renegotiated on a more frequent basis.

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Wholesale Propane Logistics Segment
General
We operate a wholesale propane logistics business in the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. Our operations serve the large propane markets in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and upper midwestern states.
Due to our multiple propane supply sources, annual and long-term propane supply purchase arrangements, storage capabilities, and multiple terminal locations for wholesale propane delivery, we are generally able to provide our propane distribution customers with reliable, low cost deliveries and greater volumes of propane during periods of tight supply such as the winter months. We believe these factors generally result in our maintaining favorable relationships with our customers and allowing us to remain a supplier to many of the large distributors in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States. As a result, we serve as the baseload provider of propane supply to many of our propane distribution customers.
Pipeline deliveries to the northeastern and mid-Atlantic markets in the winter season are generally at capacity and competing pipeline-dependent terminals can have supply constraints or outages during peak market conditions. Our system of terminals has excess capacity, which provides us with opportunities to increase our volumes with minimal additional cost.
Our Terminals
Our operations include one owned and one leased propane marine terminal, one propane pipeline terminal and six owned propane rail terminals, with a combined capacity of approximately 975 MBbls, and access to several open access pipeline terminals. We own our rail terminals and lease the land on which the terminals are situated under long-term leases, except for the York terminal where we own the land. Our leased marine terminal is on a lease agreement through April 2014. Each of our rail terminals consist of two to three propane tanks that provide additional capacity for storage, and two high volume racks for loading propane into trucks. Each truck can be fully loaded within 15 minutes, providing for an aggregate truck-loading capacity of approximately 400 trucks per day. Each facility also has the ability to unload multiple railcars simultaneously. We have numerous railcar leases that allow us to increase our storage and throughput capacity as propane demand increases.

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Propane Supply
Our wholesale propane business has a strategic network of supply arrangements under annual and multi-year agreements with index-based pricing. The remaining supply is purchased on month-to-month terms to match our anticipated sale requirements. Our primary suppliers of propane include a subsidiary of DCP Midstream, LLC, MarkWest, BP Canada and Petredec Limited. We may also obtain supply from our NGL storage facility in Marysville, Michigan.
For our rail terminals, we contract for propane at various major supply points in the United States and Canada, and transport the product to our terminals under long-term rail commitments, which provide fixed transportation costs that are subject to prevailing fuel surcharges. We also purchase propane supply from natural gas fractionation plants and crude oil refineries located in the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Through this process, we take custody of the propane and either sell it in the wholesale market or store it at our facilities.
Based on the carrying value of our inventory, timing of inventory transactions and the volatility of the market value of propane, we have historically and may periodically recognize non-cash lower of cost or market inventory adjustments, which occur when the market value of our commodities declines below our carrying value.
Customers and Contracts
We typically sell propane to propane distributors under annual sales agreements, negotiated each spring, that specify floating price terms that provide us a margin in excess of our floating index-based supply costs under our supply purchase arrangements. In the event that a propane distributor desires to purchase propane from us on a fixed price basis, we may enter into fixed price sales agreements with terms of generally up to one year. We manage this commodity price risk by purchasing and storing propane, by entering into physical purchase agreements or by entering into offsetting financial derivative instruments, with DCP Midstream, LLC or third parties, that generally match the quantities of propane subject to these fixed price sales agreements. Our ability to help our clients manage their commodity price exposure by offering propane at a fixed price may lead to improved margins and a larger customer base. Historically, the majority of the gross margin generated by our wholesale propane business is earned in the heating season months of October through April, which corresponds to the general market demand for propane.
We had two third-party customers in our Wholesale Propane Logistics segment that accounted for greater than 10% of our segment revenues for the year ended December 31, 2013.
Competition
The wholesale propane business is highly competitive in the mid-Atlantic, upper midwestern and northeastern regions of the United States. Our wholesale propane business’ competitors include integrated oil and gas and energy companies, interstate and intrastate pipelines, as well as marketers and other wholesalers.
Other Segment Information
For additional information on our segments, please see Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and Note 17 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8. “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”
We have no revenue attributable to international activities.
REGULATORY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS
Safety and Maintenance Regulation
We are subject to regulation by the United States Department of Transportation, or DOT, under the Hazardous Liquids Pipeline Safety Act of 1979, as amended, or HLPSA, and comparable state statutes with respect to design, installation, testing, construction, operation, replacement and management of pipeline facilities. HLPSA covers petroleum and petroleum products, including NGLs and condensate, and requires any entity that owns or operates pipeline facilities to comply with such regulations, to permit access to and copying of records and to file certain reports and provide information as required by the United States Secretary of Transportation. These regulations include potential fines and penalties for violations. We believe that we are in compliance in all material respects with these HLPSA regulations.
We are also subject to the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968, as amended, or NGPSA, and the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002. The NGPSA regulates safety requirements in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of gas pipeline facilities while the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act establishes mandatory inspections for all United States oil and

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natural gas transportation pipelines in high-consequence areas within 10 years. DOT, through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), has developed regulations implementing the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act that requires pipeline operators to implement integrity management programs, including more frequent inspections and other safety protections in areas where the consequences of potential pipeline accidents pose the greatest risk to people and their property.
Pipeline safety legislation enacted in 2012, the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011, (the Pipeline Safety and Job Creations Act) reauthorizes funding for federal pipeline safety programs through 2015, increases penalties for safety violations, establishes additional safety requirements for newly constructed pipelines, and requires studies of certain safety issues that could result in the adoption of new regulatory requirements for existing pipelines, including the expansion of integrity management, use of automatic and remote-controlled shut-off valves, leak detection systems, sufficiency of existing regulation of gathering pipelines, use of excess flow valves, verification of maximum allowable operating pressure, incident notification, and other pipeline-safety related requirements. New rules proposed by DOT’s PHMSA address many areas of this legislation. Extending the integrity management requirements to our gathering lines would impose additional obligations on us and could add material cost to our operations.
The Pipeline Safety and Job Creation Act requires more stringent oversight of pipelines and increased civil penalties for violations of pipeline safety rules.  The legislation gives PHMSA civil penalty authority up to $200,000 per day, with a maximum of $2 million for any related series of violations.  Any material penalties or fines under these or other statues, rules, regulations or orders could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows. 
We currently estimate we will incur between $4 million and $6 million between 2014 and 2018 to implement integrity management program testing along certain segments of our natural gas transmission and NGL pipelines. We believe that we are in compliance in all material respects with the NGPSA and the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 and the Pipeline Safety and Job Creation Act.
States are largely preempted by federal law from regulating pipeline safety but may assume responsibility for enforcing intrastate pipeline regulations at least as stringent as the federal standards. In practice, states vary considerably in their authority and capacity to address pipeline safety. We do not anticipate any significant problems in complying with applicable state laws and regulations in those states in which we or the entities in which we own an interest operate. Our natural gas transmission and regulated gathering pipelines have ongoing inspection and compliance programs designed to keep the facilities in compliance with pipeline safety and pollution control requirements.
In addition, we are subject to the requirements of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSHA, and comparable state statutes, whose purpose is to protect the health and safety of workers, both generally and within the pipeline industry. In addition, the OSHA hazard communication standard, the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, community right-to-know regulations under Title III of the federal Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act and comparable state statutes require that information be maintained concerning hazardous materials used or produced in our operations and that this information be provided to employees, state and local government authorities and citizens. We and the entities in which we own an interest are also subject to OSHA Process Safety Management regulations, which are designed to prevent or minimize the consequences of catastrophic releases of toxic, reactive, flammable or explosive chemicals. These regulations apply to any process which involves a chemical at or above specified thresholds, or any process which involves flammable liquid or gas, pressurized tanks, caverns and wells in excess of 10,000 pounds at various locations. Flammable liquids stored in atmospheric tanks below their normal boiling point without the benefit of chilling or refrigeration are exempt from these standards. We have an internal program of inspection designed to monitor and enforce compliance with worker safety requirements. We believe that we are in compliance in all material respects with all applicable laws and regulations relating to worker health and safety.
Propane Regulation
National Fire Protection Association Codes No. 54 and No. 58, which establish rules and procedures governing the safe handling of propane, or comparable regulations, have been adopted as the industry standard in all of the states in which we operate. In some states these laws are administered by state agencies, and in others they are administered on a municipal level. With respect to the transportation of propane by truck, we are subject to regulations promulgated under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act. These regulations cover the transportation of hazardous materials and are administered by the DOT. We conduct ongoing training programs to help ensure that our operations are in compliance with applicable regulations. We maintain various permits that are necessary to operate our facilities, some of which may be material to our propane operations. We believe that the procedures currently in effect at all of our facilities for the handling, storage and distribution of propane are consistent with industry standards and are in compliance in all material respects with applicable laws and regulations.

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FERC Regulation of Operations
FERC regulation of pipeline gathering and transportation services, natural gas sales and transportation of NGLs may affect certain aspects of our business and the market for our products and services.
Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline Regulation
The Discovery 105-mile mainline, approximately 60 miles of laterals and its market expansion project are subject to regulation by FERC, under the Natural Gas Act of 1938, as amended, or NGA. Natural gas companies may not charge rates that have been determined to be unjust or unreasonable. In addition, FERC authority over natural gas companies that provide natural gas pipeline transportation services in interstate commerce includes:
certification and construction of new facilities;
extension or abandonment of services and facilities;
maintenance of accounts and records;
acquisition and disposition of facilities;
initiation and discontinuation of services;
terms and conditions of services and service contracts with customers;
depreciation and amortization policies;
conduct and relationship with certain affiliates; and
various other matters.
Generally, the maximum filed recourse rates for interstate pipelines are based on the cost of service including recovery of and a return on the pipeline’s actual prudent investment cost. Key determinants in the ratemaking process are costs of providing service, allowed rate of return and volume throughput and contractual capacity commitment assumptions. The maximum applicable recourse rates and terms and conditions for service are set forth in each pipeline’s FERC-approved gas tariff. Rate design and the allocation of costs also can impact a pipeline’s profitability. FERC-regulated natural gas pipelines are permitted to discount their firm and interruptible rates without further FERC authorization down to the minimum rate or variable cost of performing service, provided they do not “unduly discriminate.”
Tariff changes can only be implemented upon approval by FERC. Two primary methods are available for changing the rates, terms and conditions of service of an interstate natural gas pipeline. Under the first method, the pipeline voluntarily seeks a tariff change by making a tariff filing with FERC justifying the proposed tariff change and providing notice, generally 30 days, to the appropriate parties. If FERC determines, as required by the NGA, that a proposed change is just and reasonable, FERC will accept the proposed change and the pipeline will implement such change in its tariff. However, if FERC determines that a proposed change may not be just and reasonable as required by NGA, then FERC may suspend such change for up to five months beyond the date on which the change would otherwise go into effect and set the matter for an administrative hearing. Subsequent to any suspension period ordered by FERC, the proposed change may be placed into effect by the company, pending final FERC approval. In most cases, a proposed rate increase is placed into effect before a final FERC determination on such rate increase, and the proposed increase is collected subject to refund (plus interest). Under the second method, FERC may, on its own motion or based on a complaint, initiate a proceeding seeking to compel the company to change its rates, terms and/or conditions of service. If FERC determines that the existing rates, terms and/or conditions of service are unjust, unreasonable, unduly discriminatory or preferential, then any rate reduction or change that it orders generally will be effective prospectively from the date of FERC order requiring this change.
The natural gas industry historically has been heavily regulated; therefore, there is no assurance that a more stringent regulatory approach will not be pursued by FERC and Congress, especially in light of potential market power abuse by marketing affiliates of certain pipeline companies engaged in interstate commerce. In response to this issue, Congress, in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, or EPACT 2005, and FERC have implemented requirements to ensure that energy prices are not impacted by the exercise of market power or manipulative conduct. EPACT 2005 prohibits the use of any “manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance” in connection with the purchase or sale of natural gas, electric energy or transportation subject to FERC jurisdiction. In addition, EPACT 2005 gave FERC increased penalty authority for these violations. FERC may now issue civil penalties of up to $1 million per day per violation, and possible criminal penalties of up to $1 million per violation and five years in prison. FERC may also order disgorgement of profits obtained in violation of FERC rules. FERC adopted the

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Market Manipulation Rules and the Market Behavior Rules to implement the authority granted under EPACT 2005. These rules, which prohibit fraud and manipulation in wholesale energy markets, are subject to broad interpretation. In the past two years, FERC has relied on its EPACT 2005 enforcement authority in issuing a number of natural gas enforcement actions giving rise to the imposition of aggregate penalties of approximately $2 million and aggregate disgorgements of approximately $13 million. These orders reflect FERC’s view that it has broad latitude in determining whether specific behavior violates the rules. Given FERC’s broad mandate granted in EPACT 2005, if energy prices are high, or exhibit what FERC deems to be “unusual” trading patterns, FERC will investigate energy markets to determine if behavior unduly impacted or “manipulated” energy prices.
Intrastate Natural Gas Pipeline Regulation
Intrastate natural gas pipeline operations are not generally subject to rate regulation by FERC, but they are subject to regulation by various agencies in the respective states where they are located. While the regulatory regime varies from state to state, state agencies typically require intrastate gas pipelines to file their rates with the agencies and permit shippers to challenge existing rates or proposed rate increases. However, to the extent that an intrastate pipeline system transports natural gas in interstate commerce, the rates, terms and conditions of such transportation service are subject to FERC jurisdiction under Section 311 of the Natural Gas Policy Act, or NGPA. Under Section 311, intrastate pipelines providing interstate service may avoid jurisdiction that would otherwise apply under the NGA. Section 311 regulates, among other things, the provision of transportation services by an intrastate natural gas pipeline on behalf of a local distribution company or an interstate natural gas pipeline. Under Section 311, rates charged for transportation must be fair and equitable, and amounts collected in excess of fair and equitable rates are subject to refund with interest. Rates for service pursuant to Section 311 of the NGPA are generally subject to review and approval by FERC at least once every five years. The rate review may, but does not necessarily, involve an administrative-type hearing before FERC staff panel and an administrative appellate review. Additionally, the terms and conditions of service set forth in the intrastate pipeline’s Statement of Operating Conditions are subject to FERC approval. Failure to observe the service limitations applicable to transportation services provided under Section 311, failure to comply with the rates approved by FERC for Section 311 service, and failure to comply with the terms and conditions of service established in the pipeline’s FERC-approved Statement of Operating Conditions could result in the assertion of federal NGA jurisdiction by FERC and/or the imposition of administrative, civil and criminal penalties. Among other matters, EPACT 2005 amends the NGPA to give FERC authority to impose civil penalties for violations of the NGPA up to $1 million per day per violation and possible criminal penalties of up to $1 million per violation and five years in prison for violations occurring after August 8, 2005. The Pelico, Cipco and EasTrans (part of our East Texas system) systems are subject to FERC jurisdiction under Section 311 of the NGPA.
Gathering Pipeline Regulation
Section 1(b) of the NGA exempts natural gas gathering facilities from the jurisdiction of FERC under the NGA. We believe that our natural gas gathering facilities meet the traditional tests FERC has used to establish a pipeline’s status as a gatherer not subject to FERC jurisdiction. However, the distinction between FERC-regulated transmission services and federally unregulated gathering services continues to be a current issue in various FERC proceedings with respect to facilities that interconnect gathering and processing plants with nearby interstate pipelines, so the classification and regulation of our gathering facilities may be subject to change based on future determinations by FERC and the courts. State regulation of gathering facilities generally includes various safety, environmental and, in some circumstances, nondiscriminatory take requirements, and in some instances complaint-based rate regulation.
Our purchasing, gathering and intrastate transportation operations are subject to ratable take and common purchaser statutes in the states in which they operate. The ratable take statutes generally require gatherers to take, without undue discrimination, natural gas production that may be tendered to the gatherer for handling. Similarly, common purchaser statutes generally require gatherers to purchase without undue discrimination as to source of supply or producer. These statutes are designed to prohibit discrimination in favor of one producer over another producer or one source of supply over another source of supply. These statutes have the effect of restricting our right as an owner of gathering facilities to decide with whom we contract to purchase or transport natural gas.
Natural gas gathering may receive greater regulatory scrutiny at both the state and federal levels where FERC has recognized a jurisdictional exemption for the gathering activities of interstate pipeline transmission companies and a number of such companies have transferred gathering facilities to unregulated affiliates. Many of the producing states have adopted some form of complaint-based regulation that generally allows natural gas producers and shippers to file complaints with state regulators in an effort to resolve grievances relating to natural gas gathering access and rate discrimination. Our gathering operations could be adversely affected should they be subject in the future to the application of state or federal regulation of rates and services. Additional rules and legislation pertaining to these matters are considered or adopted from time to time. We

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cannot predict what effect, if any, such changes might have on our operations, but the industry could be required to incur additional capital expenditures and increased costs depending on future legislative and regulatory changes.
Sales of Natural Gas
The price at which we buy and sell natural gas currently is not subject to federal regulation and, for the most part, is not subject to state regulation. However, with regard to our physical purchases and sales of these energy commodities, and any related hedging activities that we undertake, we are required to observe anti-market manipulation laws and related regulations enforced by FERC and/or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC. Should we violate the anti-market manipulation laws and regulations, we could be subject to related third party damage claims by, among others, market participants, sellers, royalty owners and taxing authorities.
Our sales of natural gas are affected by the availability, terms and cost of pipeline transportation. As noted above, the price and terms of access to pipeline transportation are subject to extensive federal and state regulation. FERC is continually proposing and implementing new rules and regulations affecting those segments of the natural gas industry, most notably interstate natural gas transmission companies that remain subject to FERC jurisdiction. These initiatives also may affect the intrastate transportation of natural gas under certain circumstances. The stated purpose of many of these regulatory changes is to promote competition among the various sectors of the natural gas industry. We cannot predict the ultimate impact of these regulatory changes to our natural gas marketing operations.
Interstate NGL Pipeline Regulation
The Black Lake, Wattenberg and Front Range pipelines are interstate NGL pipelines subject to FERC regulation. FERC regulates interstate NGL pipelines under its Oil Pipeline Regulations, the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, as amended, or ICA, and the Elkins Act of 1903, as amended. FERC requires that interstate NGL pipelines file tariffs containing all the rates, charges and other terms for services performed. The ICA requires that tariffs apply to the interstate movement of NGLs, as is the case with the Black Lake, Wattenberg and Front Range pipelines. Pursuant to the ICA, rates can be challenged at FERC either by protest when they are initially filed or increased or by complaint at any time they remain on file with FERC.
In October 1992, Congress passed EPACT, which among other things, required FERC to issue rules establishing a simplified and generally applicable ratemaking methodology for pipelines regulated by FERC pursuant to the ICA. FERC responded to this mandate by issuing several orders, including Order No. 561. Beginning January 1, 1995, Order No. 561 enables petroleum pipelines to change their rates within prescribed ceiling levels that are tied to an inflation index. Specifically, the indexing methodology allows a pipeline to increase its rates annually by a percentage equal to the change in the producer price index for finished goods, PPI-FG, plus 2.65% to the new ceiling level. Rate increases made pursuant to the indexing methodology are subject to protest, but such protests must show that the portion of the rate increase resulting from application of the index is substantially in excess of the pipeline’s increase in costs. If the PPI-FG falls and the indexing methodology results in a reduced ceiling level that is lower than a pipeline’s filed rate, Order No. 561 requires the pipeline to reduce its rate to comply with the lower ceiling unless doing so would reduce a rate “grandfathered” by EPACT (see below) below the grandfathered level. A pipeline must, as a general rule, utilize the indexing methodology to change its rates. FERC, however, retained cost-of-service ratemaking, market-based rates, and settlement as alternatives to the indexing approach, which alternatives may be used in certain specified circumstances. FERC’s indexing methodology is subject to review every five years; the current methodology remains in place through June 30, 2016.
EPACT deemed petroleum pipeline rates in effect for the 365-day period ending on the date of enactment of EPACT that had not been subject to complaint, protest or investigation during that 365-day period to be just and reasonable under the ICA. Generally, complaints against such “grandfathered” rates may only be pursued if the complainant can show that a substantial change has occurred since the enactment of EPACT in either the economic circumstances of the petroleum pipeline, or in the nature of the services provided, that were a basis for the rate. EPACT places no such limit on challenges to a provision of a petroleum pipeline tariff as unduly discriminatory or preferential.
Intrastate NGL Pipeline Regulation
Intrastate NGL and other petroleum pipelines are not generally subject to rate regulation by FERC, but they are subject to regulation by various agencies in the respective states where they are located. While the regulatory regime varies from state to state, state agencies typically require intrastate petroleum pipelines to file their rates with the agencies and permit shippers to challenge existing rates or proposed rate increases.

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Environmental Matters
General
Our operation of pipelines, plants and other facilities for gathering, compressing, processing, transporting, fractionating or storing natural gas, NGLs and other products is subject to stringent and complex federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the emission or discharge of materials into the environment or otherwise relating to the protection of the environment.
As an owner or operator of these facilities, we must comply with these laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels. These laws and regulations can restrict or impact our business activities in many ways, such as:
requiring the acquisition of permits to conduct regulated activities;
restricting the way we can handle or dispose of our wastes;
limiting or prohibiting construction activities in sensitive areas such as wetlands, coastal regions or areas inhabited by endangered species;
requiring remedial action to mitigate pollution conditions caused by our operations or attributable to former operations; and
enjoining, or compelling changes to, the operations of facilities deemed not to be in compliance with permits issued pursuant to such environmental laws and regulations.
Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may trigger a variety of administrative, civil and criminal enforcement measures, including the assessment of monetary penalties, the imposition of remedial requirements and the issuance of orders enjoining future operations. Certain environmental statutes impose strict joint and several liability for costs required to clean up and restore sites where hazardous substances have been disposed or otherwise released. Moreover, it is not uncommon for neighboring landowners and other third parties to file claims for property damage or possibly personal injury allegedly caused by the release of substances or other waste products into the environment.
The trend in environmental regulation is to place more restrictions and limitations on activities that may affect the environment. Thus, there can be no assurance as to the amount or timing of future expenditures for environmental compliance or remediation, and actual future expenditures may be different from the amounts we currently anticipate. We try to anticipate future regulatory requirements that might be imposed and plan accordingly to remain in compliance with changing environmental laws and regulations, participate as applicable in the public process to ensure such new requirements are well founded and reasonable or to revise them if they are not, and to manage the costs of such compliance. For instance, we or the entities in which we own an interest inspect the pipelines regularly using equipment rented from third party suppliers. Third parties also assist us in interpreting the results of the inspections. We also actively participate in industry groups that help formulate recommendations for addressing existing or future regulations.
We do not believe that compliance with federal, state or local environmental laws and regulations will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position or results of operations. Below is a discussion of the more significant environmental laws and regulations that relate to our business.
Impact of Climate Change and Air Quality Standards
A number of states have adopted programs to reduce “greenhouse gases,” or GHG and depending on the particular program or jurisdiction, we could be required to purchase and surrender allowances, either for GHG emissions resulting from our operations (e.g., compressor units) or from combustion of fuels (e.g., oil or natural gas) that we process. Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, has declared that GHGs “endanger” public health and welfare, and is regulating GHG emissions from mobile sources such as cars and trucks. According to the EPA, this final action on the GHG vehicle emission rule triggered regulation of carbon dioxide and other GHG emissions from stationary sources under certain Clean Air Act programs at both the federal and state levels, particularly the Prevention of Significant Deterioration program and Title V permitting. These requirements for stationary sources took effect on January 2, 2011. On June 26, 2012, the DC Circuit upheld the EPA’s GHG rules in their entirety. The EPA has also published various rules relating to the mandatory reporting of GHG emissions, including mandatory reporting requirements of GHGs from petroleum and natural gas systems. The permitting and reporting program taken as a whole increases the costs and complexity of operating oil and gas operations in compliance with these legal requirements, with resulting potential to adversely affect our cost of doing business, demand for the oil and gas we transport and may require us to incur certain capital expenditures in the future for air pollution control equipment in connection with obtaining and maintaining operating permits and approvals for air emissions.

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Hazardous Substances and Waste
Our operations are subject to environmental laws and regulations relating to the management and release of hazardous substances or solid wastes, including petroleum hydrocarbons. These laws generally regulate the generation, storage, treatment, transportation and disposal of solid and hazardous waste, and may impose strict, joint and several liability for the investigation and remediation of areas at a facility where hazardous substances may have been released or disposed. For instance, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, as amended, or CERCLA, also known as the Superfund law, and comparable state laws impose liability, without regard to fault or the legality of the original conduct, on certain classes of persons that contributed to the release of a hazardous substance into the environment. These persons include current and prior owners or operators of the site where the release occurred and companies that disposed or arranged for the disposal of the hazardous substances found at the site. Under CERCLA, these persons may be subject to joint and several strict liability for the costs of cleaning up the hazardous substances that have been released into the environment, for damages to natural resources and for the costs of certain health studies. CERCLA also authorizes the EPA and, in some instances, third parties to act in response to threats to the public health or the environment and to seek to recover from the responsible classes of persons the costs they incur. Despite the “petroleum exclusion” of CERCLA Section 101(14) that currently encompasses natural gas, we may nonetheless handle hazardous substances within the meaning of CERCLA, or similar state statutes, in the course of our ordinary operations and, as a result, may be jointly and severally liable under CERCLA for all or part of the costs required to clean up sites at which these hazardous substances have been released into the environment.
We also generate solid wastes, including hazardous wastes that are subject to the requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended, or RCRA, and comparable state statutes. While RCRA regulates both solid and hazardous wastes, it imposes strict requirements on the generation, storage, treatment, transportation and disposal of hazardous wastes. Certain petroleum production wastes are excluded from RCRA’s hazardous waste regulations. However, it is possible that these wastes, which could include wastes currently generated during our operations, will in the future be designated as hazardous wastes and therefore be subject to more rigorous and costly disposal requirements. Any such changes in the laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our maintenance capital expenditures and operating expenses.
We currently own or lease properties where petroleum hydrocarbons are being or have been handled for many years. Although we have utilized operating and disposal practices that were standard in the industry at the time, petroleum hydrocarbons or other wastes may have been disposed of or released on or under the properties owned or leased by us or on or under the other locations where these petroleum hydrocarbons and wastes have been taken for treatment or disposal. In addition, certain of these properties have been operated by third parties whose treatment and disposal or release of petroleum hydrocarbons or other wastes was not under our control. These properties and wastes disposed thereon may be subject to CERCLA, RCRA and analogous state laws. Under these laws, we could be required to remove or remediate previously disposed wastes (including wastes disposed of or released by prior owners or operators), to clean up contaminated property (including contaminated groundwater) or to perform remedial operations to prevent future contamination. We are not currently aware of any facts, events or conditions relating to the application of such requirements that could reasonably have a material impact on our operations or financial condition.
Water
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, as amended, also referred to as the Clean Water Act, or CWA, and analogous state laws impose restrictions and strict controls regarding the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters. Pursuant to the CWA and analogous state laws, permits must be obtained to discharge pollutants into state and federal waters. The CWA also requires implementation of spill prevention, control and countermeasure plans, also referred to as "SPCC plans," in connection with on-site storage of threshold quantities of oil. The CWA imposes substantial potential civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance. State laws for the control of water pollution also provide varying civil and criminal penalties and liabilities. In addition, some states maintain groundwater protection programs that require permits for discharges or operations that may impact groundwater conditions. The EPA has promulgated regulations that require us to have permits in order to discharge certain storm water. The EPA has entered into agreements with certain states in which we operate whereby the permits are issued and administered by the respective states. These permits may require us to monitor and sample the storm water discharges. We believe that compliance with existing permits and compliance with foreseeable new permit requirements will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, as amended ("OPA") addresses prevention, containment and cleanup, and liability associated with oil pollution. OPA applies to vessels, offshore platforms, and onshore facilities, including terminals, pipelines, and transfer facilities. OPA subjects owners of such facilities to strict liability for containment and removal costs, natural resource damages, and certain other consequences of oil spills into jurisdictional waters. Any unpermitted release of petroleum or other pollutants from our operations could result in government penalties and civil liability.

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Anti-Terrorism Measures
The federal Department of Homeland Security regulates the security of chemical and industrial facilities pursuant to regulations known as the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards. These regulations apply to oil and gas facilities, among others, that are deemed to present “high levels of security risk.”  Pursuant to these regulations, certain of our facilities are required to comply with certain regulatory provisions, including requirements regarding inspections, audits, recordkeeping, and protection of chemical-terrorism vulnerability information. 
Employees
Our operations and activities are managed by our general partner, DCP Midstream GP, LP, which in turn is managed by its general partner, DCP Midstream GP, LLC, or the General Partner, which is 100% owned by DCP Midstream, LLC. As of December 31, 2013, the General Partner or its affiliates employed 7 people directly and approximately 614 people who provided direct support for our operations through DCP Midstream, LLC. Our executive management personnel are employees of DCP Midstream, LLC. In 2014, our chief executive officer and group vice president and chief financial officer are expected to devote approximately 25% of their time to our matters. Other executive management, including our president and vice president, general counsel are expected to devote substantially all of their time to our matters. See additional discussion in Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
General
We make certain filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments and exhibits to those reports, which are available free of charge through our website, www.dcppartners.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with the SEC. The filings are also available through the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549 or by calling 1-800-SEC-0330. Also, these filings are available on the internet at www.sec.gov. Our annual reports to unitholders, press releases and recent analyst presentations are also available on our website. We have also posted our code of business ethics on our website.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Limited partner interests are inherently different from capital stock of a corporation, although many of the business risks to which we are subject are similar to those that would be faced by a corporation engaged in similar businesses. You should consider carefully the following risk factors together with all of the other information included in this annual report in evaluating an investment in our common units.

If any of the following risks were actually to occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially affected. In that case, we might not be able to pay the minimum quarterly distribution on our common units, the trading price of our common units could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business 

We may not have sufficient cash from operations following the establishment of cash reserves and payment of fees and expenses, including cost reimbursements to our general partner, to enable us to continue to make cash distributions to holders of our common units at our current distribution rate.

The amount of cash we can distribute on our units principally depends upon the amount of cash we generate from our operations, which will fluctuate from quarter to quarter based on, among other things:
the fees we charge and the margins we realize for our services;
the prices of, level of production of, and demand for natural gas, condensate and NGLs, and propane;
the success of our commodity and interest rate hedging programs in mitigating fluctuations in commodity prices and interest rates;
the volume and quality of natural gas we gather, compress, treat, process, transport and sell, and the volume of NGLs we process, transport, sell, and store and the volume of propane we transport, sell, and store;
the operational performance and efficiency of our assets, including our plants and equipment;
the operational performance and efficiency of third-party processing, fractionation or other facilities that provide services to us;
the relationship between natural gas, NGL and crude oil prices;
the level of competition from other energy companies;
the impact of weather conditions on the demand for natural gas, NGLs and propane;

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the level of our operating and maintenance and general and administrative costs; and
prevailing economic conditions.

In addition, the actual amount of cash we will have available for distribution will depend on other factors, some of which are beyond our control, including:
the level of capital expenditures we make;
the cost and form of payment for acquisitions;
our debt service requirements and other liabilities;
fluctuations in our working capital needs;
our ability to borrow funds and access capital markets at reasonable rates;
restrictions contained in our debt agreements;
the timing of our producers' obligations to make volume deficiency payments to us;
the amount of cash distributions we receive from our equity interests;
the amount of cost reimbursements to our general partner;
the amount of cash reserves established by our general partner; and
new, additions to and changes in laws and regulations.

We have partial ownership interests in certain joint venture legal entities, including Discovery, the Mont Belvieu fractionators, Texas Express, CrossPoint and Front Range which could adversely affect our ability to operate and control these entities. In addition, we may be unable to control the amount of cash we will receive from the operation of these entities and we could be required to contribute significant cash to fund our share of their operations, which could adversely affect our ability to distribute cash to our unitholders.

Our inability, or limited ability, to control the operations and management of joint venture legal entities that we have a partial ownership interest in may mean that we will not receive the amount of cash we expect to be distributed to us. In addition, for entities in which we have a minority ownership interest, we will be unable to control ongoing operational decisions, including the incurrence of capital expenditures that we may be required to fund. Specifically,
we have limited ability to control decisions with respect to the operations of these entities and their subsidiaries, including decisions with respect to incurrence of expenses and distributions to us;
these entities may establish reserves for working capital, capital projects, environmental matters and legal proceedings which would otherwise reduce cash available for distribution to us;
these entities may incur additional indebtedness, and principal and interest made on such indebtedness may reduce cash otherwise available for distribution to us; and
these entities may require us to make additional capital contributions to fund working capital and capital expenditures, our funding of which could reduce the amount of cash otherwise available for distribution.

All of these items could significantly and adversely impact our ability to distribute cash to our unitholders.

The amount of cash we have available for distribution to holders of our common units depends primarily on our cash flow and not solely on profitability.

Profitability may be significantly affected by non-cash items. As a result, we may make cash distributions during periods when we record losses for financial accounting purposes and may not make cash distributions during periods when we record net earnings for financial accounting purposes.

Because of the natural decline in production from existing wells, our success depends on our ability to obtain new sources of supplies of natural gas and NGLs.

Our gathering and transportation pipeline systems are connected to or dependent on the level of production from natural gas wells, from which production will naturally decline over time. As a result, our cash flows associated with these wells will also decline over time. In order to maintain or increase throughput levels on our gathering and transportation pipeline systems and NGL pipelines and the asset utilization rates at our natural gas processing plants, we must continually obtain new supplies. The primary factors affecting our ability to obtain new supplies of natural gas and NGLs, and to attract new customers to our assets include the level of successful drilling activity near these assets, the demand for natural gas and crude oil, producers’ desire and ability to obtain necessary permits in an efficient manner, natural gas field characteristics and production performance, surface access and infrastructure issues, and our ability to compete for volumes from successful new wells. If we are not able to obtain new supplies of natural gas to replace the natural decline in volumes from existing wells or because of competition, throughput on our pipelines and the utilization rates of our treating and processing facilities would decline, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows, and our ability to

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make cash distributions.

Current economic conditions may adversely affect natural gas and NGL producers’ drilling activity and transportation spending levels, which may in turn negatively impact our volumes and results of operations and our ability to make distributions to our unitholders.

The level of drilling activity is dependent on economic and business factors beyond our control. Among the factors that impact drilling decisions are commodity prices, the liquids content of the natural gas production, drilling requirements for producers to hold leases, the cost of finding and producing natural gas and the general condition of the credit and financial markets. Natural gas prices have declined substantially compared to historical periods. For example, the twelve-month average New York Mercantile Exchange, or NYMEX, price of natural gas futures contracts per MMBtu was $4.19, $3.54, and $3.24 as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The twelve-month average price per gallon for NGLs was $0.84, $1.08 and $1.39 as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively, and the price of crude oil per barrel was $98.04, $94.16 and $95.12 as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Commodity prices historically have been volatile and continue to be volatile. Crude oil prices have generally remained at favorable levels, while natural gas liquids prices have softened in relation to crude prices. Natural gas prices have recovered slightly, while natural gas liquids prices are currently below levels seen in recent years due to increasing supplies and higher inventory levels. Natural gas drilling activity levels vary by geographic area, but in general, drilling remains firm in areas with liquids rich gas. Drilling remains weak in certain areas with dry gas where low commodity prices currently do not support the economics of drilling. However, advances in technology, such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in shale plays, have led to certain geographic areas becoming increasingly accessible.

Furthermore, a sustained decline in commodity prices could result in a decrease in exploration and development activities in the fields served by our gathering and pipeline transportation systems and our natural gas treating and processing plants, and our NGL and natural gas storage assets, which could lead to reduced utilization of these assets. During periods of natural gas price decline and/or if the price of NGLs and crude oil declines, the level of drilling activity could decrease. When combined with a reduction of cash flow resulting from lower commodity prices, a reduction in our producers’ borrowing base under reserve-based credit facilities and lack of availability of debt or equity financing for our producers may result in a significant reduction in our producers’ spending for natural gas drilling activity, which could result in lower volumes being transported on our pipeline systems. Other factors that impact production decisions include the ability of producers to obtain necessary drilling and other governmental permits and regulatory changes. Because of these factors, even if new natural gas reserves are discovered in areas served by our assets, producers may choose not to develop those reserves. If we are not able to obtain new supplies of natural gas to replace the declines resulting from reductions in drilling activity, throughput on our pipelines and the utilization rates of our treating, processing and storage facilities would decline, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows and our ability to make cash distributions.

The cash flow from our Natural Gas Services segment is affected by natural gas, NGL and condensate prices.

Our Natural Gas Services segment is affected by the level of natural gas, NGL and condensate prices. NGL and condensate prices generally fluctuate on a basis that relates to fluctuations in crude oil prices. In the past, the prices of natural gas and crude oil have been volatile, and we expect this volatility to continue. The markets and prices for natural gas, NGLs, condensate and crude oil depend upon factors beyond our control and may not always have a close relationship. These factors include supply of and demand for these commodities, which fluctuate with changes in market and economic conditions and other factors, including:
the impact of weather, including abnormally mild winter or summer weather that cause lower energy usage for heating or cooling purposes, respectively, or extreme weather that may disrupt our operations or related upstream or downstream operations;
the level of domestic and offshore production;
a general downturn in economic conditions, including demand for NGLs;
the availability of natural gas, NGLs and crude oil and the demand in the U.S. and globally for these commodities;
actions taken by foreign oil and gas producing nations;
the availability of local, intrastate and interstate transportation systems;
the availability and marketing of competitive fuels; and
the extent of governmental regulation and taxation.

Our primary natural gas gathering and processing arrangements that expose us to commodity price risk are our percent-of-proceeds arrangements. Under percent-of-proceeds arrangements, we generally purchase natural gas from producers for an agreed percentage of the proceeds from the sale of residue gas and/or NGLs resulting from our processing activities, and then sell the resulting residue gas and NGLs at market prices. Under these types of arrangements, our revenues and our cash flows

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increase or decrease, whichever is applicable, as the price of natural gas and NGLs fluctuate. We have mitigated a significant portion of our share of anticipated natural gas, NGL and condensate commodity price risk associated with the equity volumes from our gathering and processing operations through 2017 with derivative instruments.

Our hedging activities and the application of fair value measurements may have a material adverse effect on our earnings, profitability, cash flows, liquidity and financial condition.

We are exposed to risks associated with fluctuations in commodity prices. The extent of our commodity price risk is related largely to the effectiveness and scope of our hedging activities. For example, the derivative instruments we utilize are based on posted market prices, which may differ significantly from the actual natural gas, NGL and condensate prices that we realize in our operations. To mitigate a portion of our cash flow exposure to fluctuations in the price of NGLs, we have entered into derivative financial instruments relating to the future price of crude oil and NGLs. If the price relationship between NGLs and crude oil declines, our commodity price risk will increase. Furthermore, we have entered into derivative transactions related to only a portion of the volume of our expected natural gas supply and production of NGLs and condensate from our processing plants; as a result, we will continue to have direct commodity price risk to the open portion. Our actual future production may be significantly higher or lower than we estimate at the time we entered into the derivative transactions for that period. If the actual amount is higher than we estimate, we will have greater commodity price risk than we intended. If the actual amount is lower than the amount that is subject to our derivative financial instruments, we might be forced to satisfy all or a portion of our derivative transactions without the benefit of the cash flow from our sale of the underlying physical commodity, reducing our liquidity.

We have mitigated a significant portion of our expected natural gas, NGL and condensate commodity price risk relating to the equity volumes from our gathering and processing operations through 2017 by entering into fixed price derivative financial instruments. The intent of these arrangements is to reduce the volatility in our cash flows resulting from fluctuations in commodity prices.

We have mitigated a portion of our interest rate risk with interest rate swaps and forward-starting interest rate swaps that reduce our exposure to market rate fluctuations by converting variable interest rates on our existing debt to fixed interest rates and locking in rates on our anticipated future fixed-rate debt, respectively. The interest rate swap agreements convert the interest rate associated with our variable-rate debt to a fixed-rate obligation, thereby reducing the exposure to market rate fluctuations. The forward-starting interest rate swap agreements lock in the interest rate associated with our anticipated future fixed-rate debt, thereby reducing the exposure to market rate fluctuations prior to issuance.

We record all of our derivative financial instruments at fair value on our balance sheets primarily using information readily observable within the marketplace. In situations where market observable information is not available, we may use a variety of data points that are market observable, or in certain instances, develop our own expectation of fair value. We will continue to use market observable information as the basis for our fair value calculations, however, there is no assurance that such information will continue to be available in the future. In such instances, we may be required to exercise a higher level of judgment in developing our own expectation of fair value, which may be significantly different from the historical fair values, and may increase the volatility of our earnings.

We will continue to evaluate whether to enter into any new derivative arrangements, but there can be no assurance that we will enter into any new derivative arrangement or that our future derivative arrangements will be on terms similar to our existing derivative arrangements. Although we enter into derivative instruments to mitigate a portion of our commodity price and interest rate risk, we also forego the benefits we would otherwise experience if commodity prices or interest rates were to change in our favor.

The counterparties to our derivative instruments may require us to post collateral in the event that our potential payment exposure exceeds a predetermined collateral threshold. Depending on the movement in commodity prices, the amount of collateral posted may increase, reducing our liquidity.

As a result of these factors, our hedging activities may not be as effective as we intend in reducing the volatility of our cash flows and, in certain circumstances, may actually increase the volatility of our earnings and cash flows. In addition, even though our management monitors our hedging activities, these activities can result in material losses. Such losses could occur under various circumstances, including if a counterparty does not or is unable to perform its obligations under the applicable derivative arrangement, the derivative arrangement is imperfect or ineffective, or our risk management policies and procedures are not properly followed or do not work as planned.

Volumes of natural gas dedicated to our systems in the future may be less than we anticipate.

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As a result of the unwillingness of producers to provide reserve information as well as the cost of such evaluation, we do not have independent estimates of total reserves dedicated to our systems or the anticipated life of such reserves. If the reserves connected to our gathering systems are less than we anticipate and we are unable to secure additional sources of natural gas, then the volumes of natural gas on our systems in the future could be less than we anticipate.

The amount of gas we gather, compress, treat, process, transport, sell and store, or the NGLs we produce, fractionate, transport, sell and store, may be reduced if the pipelines and storage fractionation facilities to which we deliver the natural gas or NGLs are capacity constrained and cannot, or will not, accept the gas or NGLs.
The natural gas we gather, compress, treat, process, transport, sell and store is delivered into pipelines for further delivery to end-users. If these pipelines are capacity constrained and cannot, or will not, accept delivery of the gas due to downstream constraints on the pipeline or changes in interstate pipeline gas quality specifications, we may be forced to limit or stop the flow of gas through our pipelines and processing and treating facilities. In addition, interruption of pipeline service upstream of our processing facilities would limit or stop flow through our processing and fractionation facilities. Likewise, if the pipelines into which we deliver NGLs are interrupted, we may be limited in, or prevented from conducting, our NGL transportation operations. Any number of factors beyond our control could cause such interruptions or constraints on pipeline service, including necessary and scheduled maintenance, or unexpected damage to the pipelines. Because our revenues and net operating margins depend upon (i) the volumes of natural gas we process, gather and transmit, (ii) the throughput of NGLs through our transportation, fractionation and storage facilities and (iii) the volume of natural gas we gather and transport, any reduction of volumes could adversely affect our operations and cash flows available for distribution to our unitholders.


We depend on certain natural gas producer customers for a significant portion of our supply of natural gas and NGLs.

We identify as primary natural gas suppliers those suppliers individually representing 10% or more of our total natural gas supply. We had one natural gas supplier representing 10% or more of our total natural gas supply during the year ended December 31, 2013. In our NGL Logistics segment, our largest NGL supplier is DCP Midstream, LLC, who obtains NGLs from various third- party producer customers. While some of these customers are subject to long-term contracts, we may be unable to negotiate extensions or replacements of these contracts on favorable terms, if at all. The loss of all or even a portion of the natural gas and NGL volumes supplied by these customers, as a result of competition or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

If we are not able to purchase propane from our principal suppliers, or we are unable to secure transportation under our transportation arrangements, our results of operations in our wholesale propane logistics business would be adversely affected.

Most of our propane purchases are made under supply contracts that have a term of between annual and multi-year agreements and provide various index-based pricing formulas. We identify primary suppliers as those individually representing 10% or more of our total propane supply. Our four primary suppliers of propane, one of which is an affiliated entity, represented approximately 85% of our propane supplied during the year ended December 31, 2013. In the event that we are unable to purchase propane from our significant suppliers due to their failure to perform under contractual obligations or otherwise, replace terminated or expired supply contracts, or if there are domestic or international supply disruptions, our failure to obtain alternate sources of supply at competitive prices and on a timely basis would affect our ability to satisfy customer demand, reduce our revenues and adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, if we are unable to transport propane supply to our terminals, our ability to satisfy customer demand, our revenue and results of operations would be adversely affected.

The adoption of financial reform legislation by the United States Congress could have an adverse effect on our ability to use derivative instruments to hedge risks associated with our business.
    
We hedge a portion of our commodity risk and our interest rate risk. The United States Congress adopted comprehensive financial reform legislation that establishes federal oversight and regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market and entities, including businesses like ours, that participate in that market. The new legislation, known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or Act, was signed into law by the President on July 21, 2010, and requires the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, and the SEC to promulgate rules and regulations implementing the new legislation. In its rulemaking under the Act, the CFTC adopted regulations to set position limits for certain futures and option contracts in the major energy markets and for swaps that are their economic equivalents, but these rules were successfully challenged in Federal district court by the Securities Industry Financial Markets Association and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and largely

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vacated by the court. The CFTC filed a notice of appeal with respect to this ruling but on October 29, 2013, voted to voluntarily dismiss the appeal. On November 5, 2013, the CFTC proposed new rules that would place limits on positions in certain core futures and equivalent swaps contracts for or linked to certain physical commodities, subject to exceptions for certain bona fide hedging transactions. Comments on these new rules were due in early January 2014, and as these new position limit rules are not yet final, the impact of those provisions on us is uncertain at this time. Under the rules adopted by the CFTC, we believe our hedging transactions will qualify for the non-financial, commercial end user exception, which exempts derivatives intended to hedge or mitigate commercial risk from the mandatory swap clearing requirement. The Act may also require us to comply with margin requirements in connection with our hedging activities, although the application of those provisions to us is uncertain at this time. The Act may also require the counterparties to our derivative instruments to spin off some of their hedging activities to a separate entity, which may not be as creditworthy as the current counterparty. The new legislation and related regulations could significantly increase the cost of derivatives contracts for our industry (including requirements to post collateral which could adversely affect our available liquidity), materially alter the terms of derivatives contracts, reduce the availability of derivatives to protect against risks we encounter, reduce our ability to monetize or restructure our existing derivatives contracts, and increase our exposure to less creditworthy counterparties, particularly if we are unable to utilize the commercial end user exception with respect to certain of our hedging transactions. If we reduce our use of hedging as a result of the legislation and regulations, our results of operations may become more volatile and our cash flows may be less predictable, which could adversely affect our ability to plan for and fund capital expenditures and fund unitholder distributions. Finally, the legislation was intended, in part, to reduce the volatility of oil and natural gas prices, which some legislators attributed to speculative trading in derivatives and commodity instruments related to oil and natural gas. Our revenues could therefore be adversely affected if a consequence of the legislation and regulations is to lower commodity prices. Any of these consequences could have a material adverse effect on our business, our financial condition, and our results of operations.

We may not be able to grow or effectively manage our growth.

A principal focus of our strategy is to continue to grow the per unit distribution on our units by expanding our business. Our future growth will depend upon a number of factors, some of which we can control and some of which we cannot. These factors include our ability to:
participate in dropdown opportunities with DCP Midstream, LLC;
identify businesses engaged in managing, operating or owning pipelines, processing and storage assets or other midstream assets for acquisitions, joint ventures and construction projects;
consummate accretive acquisitions or joint ventures and complete construction projects;
appropriately identify liabilities associated with acquired businesses or assets;
integrate acquired or constructed businesses or assets successfully with our existing operations and into our operating and financial systems and controls;
hire, train and retain qualified personnel to manage and operate our growing business; and
obtain required financing for our existing and new operations at reasonable rates.

A deficiency in any of these factors could adversely affect our ability to achieve growth in the level of our cash flows or realize benefits from acquisitions, joint ventures or construction projects. In addition, competition from other buyers could reduce our acquisition opportunities. DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates are not restricted from competing with us. DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates may acquire, construct or dispose of midstream or other assets in the future without any obligation to offer us the opportunity to purchase or construct those assets.

Furthermore, we have recently grown significantly through a number of acquisitions. If we fail to properly integrate these acquired assets successfully with our existing operations, if the future performance of these acquired assets does not meet our expectations, if we did not properly value the acquired assets, or we did not identify significant liabilities associated with the acquired assets, the anticipated benefits from these acquisitions may not be fully realized.

Our ability to manage and grow our business effectively could be adversely affected if we fail to attract and retain key management personnel and skilled employees.

We rely on our executive management team to manage our day-to-day affairs and establish and execute our strategic business and operational plans.  Our executive management team has significant experience in the midstream energy industry.  The loss of any of our executives or failure to fill new positions created by expansion, turnover or retirement could adversely affect our ability to implement our business strategy. In addition, our operations require engineers, operational and field technicians and other highly skilled employees. Competition for experienced executives and skilled employees is intense and increases when the demand from other energy companies for such personnel is high. Our ability to execute on our business strategy and to grow or continue our level of service to our current customers may be impaired and our business may be

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adversely impacted if we are unable to attract, train and retain such personnel, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations and ability to make cash distributions.

We may not successfully balance our purchases and sales of natural gas and propane.

We purchase from producers and other customers a substantial amount of the natural gas that flows through our natural gas gathering, processing and transportation systems for resale to third parties, including natural gas marketers and end-users. In addition, in our wholesale propane logistics business, we purchase propane from a variety of sources and resell the propane to distributors. We may not be successful in balancing our purchases and sales. A producer or supplier could fail to deliver contracted volumes or deliver in excess of contracted volumes, or a purchaser could purchase less than contracted volumes. Any of these actions could cause our purchases and sales to be unbalanced. While we attempt to balance our purchases and sales, if our purchases and sales are unbalanced, we will face increased exposure to commodity price risks and could have increased volatility in our operating income and cash flows.

Our NGL pipelines could be adversely affected by any decrease in NGL prices relative to the price of natural gas.

The profitability of our NGL pipelines is dependent on the level of production of NGLs from processing plants. When natural gas prices are high relative to NGL prices, it is less profitable to process natural gas because of the higher value of natural gas compared to the value of NGLs and because of the increased cost (principally that of natural gas as a feedstock and fuel) of separating the NGLs from the natural gas. As a result, we may experience periods in which higher natural gas prices relative to NGL prices reduce the volume of natural gas processed at plants connected to our NGL pipelines, as well as reducing the amount of NGL extraction, which would reduce the volumes and gross margins attributable to our NGL pipelines and NGL storage facilities.

Third party pipelines and other facilities interconnected to our natural gas and NGL pipelines and facilities may become unavailable to transport, process or produce natural gas and NGLs.

We depend upon third party pipelines and other facilities that provide delivery options to and from our pipelines and facilities for the benefit of our customers. Since we do not own or operate any of these third-party pipelines or other facilities, their continuing operation is not within our control and may become unavailable to transport, process or produce natural gas and NGLs.

A reduction in demand for NGL products by the petrochemical, refining or other industries or by the fuel markets could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

       The NGL products we produce have a variety of applications, including as heating fuels, petrochemical feedstocks and refining blend stocks. A reduction in demand for NGL products, whether because of general or industry specific economic conditions, new government regulations, global competition, reduced demand by consumers for products made with NGL products (for example, reduced petrochemical demand observed due to lower activity in the automobile and construction industries), increased competition from petroleum-based feedstocks due to pricing differences, mild winter weather for some NGL applications or other reasons, could result in a decline in the volume of NGL products we handle or reduce the fees we charge for our services.

Service at our propane terminals may be interrupted.

Historically, a substantial portion of the propane we purchase to support our wholesale propane logistics business is delivered at our rail terminals or by ship at our leased marine terminal in Providence, Rhode Island and at our owned marine terminal in Chesapeake, Virginia. We also rely on shipments of propane via the Buckeye Pipeline for our Midland Terminal and via TEPPCO Partners, LP’s pipeline to open access terminals. Any significant interruption in the service at these terminals would adversely affect our ability to obtain propane, which could reduce the amount of propane that we distribute and impact our revenues or cash available for distribution.

Our operating results for our Wholesale Propane Logistics Segment fluctuate on a seasonal and quarterly basis.

Revenues from our Wholesale Propane Logistics Segment have seasonal characteristics. In many parts of the country, demand for propane and other fuels peaks during the winter months. As a result, our overall operating results fluctuate on a seasonal basis. Demand for propane and other fuels could vary significantly from our expectations depending on the nature and location of our facilities and pipeline systems and the terms of our transportation arrangements relative to demand created by unusual weather patterns.

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We operate in a highly competitive business environment.

We compete with similar enterprises in our respective areas of operation. Some of our competitors are large oil, natural gas and petrochemical companies that have greater financial resources and access to supplies of natural gas, propane and NGLs than we do. Some of these competitors may expand or construct gathering, processing and transportation systems that would create additional competition for the services we provide to our customers. Likewise, our customers who produce NGLs may develop their own systems to transport NGLs. Additionally, our wholesale propane distribution customers may develop their own sources of propane supply. Our ability to renew or replace existing contracts with our customers at rates sufficient to maintain current revenues and cash flows could be adversely affected by the activities of our competitors and our customers.

Our assets and operations can be affected by weather, weather related conditions and other natural phenomena.

Our assets and operations can be adversely affected by hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wind, lightning, cold weather and other natural phenomena, which could impact our results of operations and make it more difficult for us to realize historic rates of return. Although we carry insurance on the vast majority of our assets, insurance may be inadequate to cover our loss and in some instances, we have been unable to obtain insurance on some of our assets on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. If we incur a significant disruption in our operations or a significant liability for which we were not fully insured, our financial condition, results of operations and ability to make distributions to our unitholders could be materially adversely affected.

Competition from alternative energy sources, conservation efforts and energy efficiency and technological advances may reduce the demand for propane.

Competition from alternative energy sources, including natural gas and electricity, has been increasing as a result of reduced regulation of many utilities. In addition, propane competes with heating oil primarily in residential applications. Propane is generally not competitive with natural gas in areas where natural gas pipelines already exist because natural gas is a less expensive source of energy than propane. The gradual expansion of natural gas distribution systems and availability of natural gas in the northeast, which has historically depended upon propane, could reduce the demand for propane, which could adversely affect the volumes of propane that we distribute. In addition, stricter conservation measures in the future or technological advances in heating, energy generation or other devices could reduce the demand for propane.

A change in the jurisdictional characterization of some of our assets by federal, state or local regulatory agencies or a change in policy by those agencies may result in increased regulation of our assets.

The majority of our natural gas gathering and intrastate transportation operations are exempt from FERC regulation under the NGA but FERC regulation still affects these businesses and the markets for products derived from these businesses. FERC’s policies and practices across the range of its oil and natural gas regulatory activities, including, for example, its policies on open access transportation, ratemaking, capacity release and market center promotion, indirectly affect intrastate markets. In recent years, FERC has pursued pro-competitive policies in its regulation of interstate oil and natural gas pipelines. However, we cannot assure that FERC will continue this approach as it considers matters such as pipeline rates and rules and policies that may affect rights of access to oil and natural gas transportation capacity. In addition, the distinction between FERC-regulated transmission services and federally unregulated gathering services has been the subject of regular litigation, so the classification and regulation of some of our gathering facilities and intrastate transportation pipelines may be subject to change based on any reassessment by us of the jurisdictional status of our facilities or on future determinations by FERC and the courts.

In addition, the rates, terms and conditions of some of the transportation services we provide on our Cipco pipeline system, EasTrans Pipeline system, and Pelico pipeline system are subject to FERC regulation under Section 311 of the NGPA. Under Section 311, rates charged for transportation must be fair and equitable, and amounts collected in excess of fair and equitable rates are subject to refund with interest. The Cipco and Pelico systems are currently charging rates for its Section 311 transportation services that were deemed fair and equitable under a rate settlement approved by FERC. The EasTrans system is currently charging rates for its Section 311 transportation services that were deemed fair and equitable under an order approved by the Railroad Commission of Texas. The Black Lake, Wattenberg, and Front Range pipelines are interstate transporters of NGLs and are subject to FERC jurisdiction under the Interstate Commerce Act and the Elkins Act.

Should we fail to comply with all applicable FERC-administered statutes, rules, regulations and orders, we could be subject to substantial penalties and fines. Under EPACT 2005, FERC has civil penalty authority under the NGA and the NGPA to impose penalties for current violations of up to $1 million per day for each violation and possible criminal penalties of up to $1 million per violation and five years in prison.


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Other state and local regulations also affect our business. Our non-proprietary gathering lines are subject to ratable take and common purchaser statutes in Louisiana. Ratable take statutes generally require gatherers to take, without undue discrimination, oil or natural gas production that may be tendered to the gatherer for handling. Similarly, common purchaser statutes generally require gatherers to purchase without undue discrimination as to source of supply or producer. These statutes restrict our right as an owner of gathering facilities to decide with whom we contract to purchase or transport oil or natural gas. Federal law leaves any economic regulation of natural gas gathering to the states. The states in which we operate have adopted complaint-based regulation of oil and natural gas gathering activities, which allows oil and natural gas producers and shippers to file complaints with state regulators in an effort to resolve grievances relating to oil and natural gas gathering access and rate discrimination. Other state regulations may not directly regulate our business, but may nonetheless affect the availability of natural gas for purchase, processing and sale, including state regulation of production rates and maximum daily production allowable from gas wells. While our proprietary gathering lines are currently subject to limited state regulation, there is a risk that state laws will be changed, which may give producers a stronger basis to challenge the proprietary status of a line, or the rates, terms and conditions of a gathering line providing transportation service.

Discovery’s interstate tariff rates are subject to review and possible adjustment by federal regulators. Moreover, because Discovery is a non-corporate entity, it may be disadvantaged in calculating its cost-of-service for rate-making purposes.

FERC, pursuant to the NGA, regulates many aspects of Discovery’s interstate pipeline transportation service, including the rates that Discovery is permitted to charge for such service. Under the NGA, interstate transportation rates must be just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory. If FERC fails to permit tariff rate increases requested by Discovery, or if FERC lowers the tariff rates Discovery is permitted to charge its customers, on its own initiative, or as a result of challenges raised by Discovery’s customers or third parties, Discovery’s tariff rates may be insufficient to recover the full cost of providing interstate transportation service. In certain circumstances, FERC also has the power to order refunds.

Under current policy, FERC permits pipelines to include, in the cost-of-service used as the basis for calculating the pipeline’s regulated rates, a tax allowance reflecting the actual or potential income tax liability on public utility income attributable to all partnership or limited liability company interests, if the ultimate owner of the interest has an actual or potential income tax liability on such income. Whether a pipeline’s owners have such actual or potential income tax liability will be reviewed by FERC on a case-by-case basis. In a future rate case, Discovery may be required to demonstrate the extent to which inclusion of an income tax allowance in Discovery’s cost-of-service is permitted under the current income tax allowance policy.

Should we fail to comply with all applicable FERC-administered statutes, rules, regulations and orders, we could be subject to substantial penalties and fines. Under EPACT 2005, FERC has civil penalty authority under the NGA to impose penalties for current violations of up to $1 million per day for each violation and possible criminal penalties of up to $1 million per violation and five years in prison.

Recent spills and their aftermath could lead to additional governmental regulation of the offshore exploration and production industry, which may result in substantial cost increases or delays in our offshore natural gas gathering activities.

In April 2010, a deepwater exploration well located in the Gulf of Mexico, owned and operated by companies unrelated to us, sustained a blowout and subsequent explosion leading to the leaking of hydrocarbons. In response to this event, certain federal agencies and governmental officials ordered additional inspections of deepwater operations in the Gulf of Mexico. On May 28, 2010, a six-month federal moratorium was implemented on all offshore deepwater drilling projects. On October 12, 2010, the Department of the Interior announced it was lifting the deepwater drilling moratorium. Despite the fact that the drilling moratorium was lifted, this spill and its aftermath has led to additional governmental regulation of the offshore exploration and production industry and delays in the issuance of drilling permits, which may result in volume impacts, cost increases or delays in our offshore natural gas gathering activities, which could materially impact Discovery’s operations, its Keathley Canyon construction, and our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot predict with any certainty what form any additional regulation or limitations will take.

Recently proposed or finalized rules imposing more stringent requirements on the oil and gas industry could cause our customers and us to incur increased capital expenditures and operating costs as well as reduce the demand for our services.

On August 16, 2012, the EPA issued final regulations under the Clean Air Act that, among other things, require additional emissions controls for natural gas and natural gas liquids production, including New Source Performance Standards, or NSPS, to address emissions of sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, and a separate set of emission standards to address hazardous air pollutants frequently associated with such production activities. The final regulations require, among other things, the reduction of VOC emissions from existing natural gas wells that are re-fractured as well as newly-drilled and

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fractured wells through the use of reduced emission completions or “green completions” and well completion combustion devices, such as flaring, as of January 1, 2015. In addition, these rules establish specific requirements regarding emissions from compressors and controllers at natural gas gathering and boosting stations and processing plants together with emissions reduction requirements for dehydrators and storage tanks at natural gas processing plants, compressor stations and gathering and boosting stations. The rules further establish new requirements for detection and repair of leaks exceeding 500 parts per million in concentration at natural gas processing plants. In January 2013, the EPA stated that it intends to reconsider portions of the rule, and on September 23, 2013, the EPA issued limited revisions to the rule regarding standards for storage tanks subject to the NSPS. The EPA has stated that it continues to review other issues raised in petitions for reconsideration; the rule is also the subject of petitions for review before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. These regulations could require modifications to the operations of our natural gas exploration and production customers as well as our operations including the installation of new equipment and new emissions management practices, which could result in significant additional costs, both increased capital expenditures and operating costs. The incurrence of such expenditures and costs by our customers could result in reduced production by those customers and thus translate into reduced demand for our services, which could in turn have an adverse effect on our business and cash available for distributions.

We may incur significant costs and liabilities in the future resulting from a failure to comply with new or existing environmental regulations or an accidental release of hazardous substances or hydrocarbons into the environment.

Our operations are subject to stringent and complex federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations. These include, for example, (1) the federal Clean Air Act and comparable state laws and regulations that impose obligations related to air emissions; (2) the federal RCRA and comparable state laws that impose requirements for the management, storage and disposal of hazardous and solid waste from our facilities; (3) the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, or CERCLA, also known as “Superfund,” and comparable state laws that regulate the cleanup of hazardous substances that may have been released at properties currently or previously owned or operated by us or locations to which we have sent waste for disposal; and (4) the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act, and comparable state laws that impose requirements on discharges to waters as well as requirements to prevent and respond to releases of hydrocarbons to waters of the United States. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations or newly adopted laws or regulations may trigger a variety of administrative, civil and criminal enforcement measures, including the assessment of monetary penalties, the imposition of remedial requirements, and the issuance of orders enjoining future operations. Certain environmental regulations, including CERCLA and analogous state laws and regulations, impose strict, joint and several liability for costs required to clean up and restore sites where hazardous substances or hydrocarbons have been disposed or otherwise released. Moreover, it is not uncommon for neighboring landowners and other third parties to file claims for personal injury and property damage allegedly caused by the release of hazardous substances, hydrocarbons or other waste products into the environment.

There is inherent risk of the incurrence of environmental costs and liabilities in our business due to our handling of natural gas, NGLs and other petroleum products, air emissions related to our operations, and historical industry operations and waste management and disposal practices. For example, an accidental release from one of our facilities could subject us to substantial liabilities arising from environmental cleanup and restoration costs, claims made by neighboring landowners and other third parties for personal injury and property damage and governmental claims for natural resource damages or fines or penalties for related violations of environmental laws or regulations. In addition, it is possible that stricter laws, regulations or enforcement policies could significantly increase our compliance costs and the cost of any remediation that may become necessary. We may not be able to recover some or any of these costs from insurance or from indemnification from DCP Midstream, LLC.

We may incur significant costs in the future associated with proposed climate change regulation and legislation.

The United States Congress and some states where we have operations are considering legislation related to greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, there have recently been international conventions and efforts to establish standards for the reduction of greenhouse gases globally. The United States Congress may consider a legislation that would compel greenhouse gas emission reductions. Some of these proposals may include limitations, or caps, on the amount of greenhouse gas that can be emitted, as well as a system of emissions allowances. Legislation passed by the US House of Representatives in 2010, which was not taken up by the Senate, would have placed the entire burden of obtaining allowances for the carbon content of NGLs on the owners of NGLs at the point of fractionation. In June 2013, the President announced a climate action plan that targets methane emissions from the oil and gas sector as part of a comprehensive interagency methane reduction strategy. Any requirements for methane reductions could be in addition to the recent EPA rules governing permitting of new or modified large sources of greenhouse gases. The EPA also has issued rules requiring reporting of greenhouse gas, on an annual basis, for certain onshore natural gas and oil production facilities beginning 2012. To the extent legislation is enacted or additional rules are promulgated that regulate greenhouse gas emissions, it could significantly increase our costs to (i) acquire allowances; (ii) permit new large facilities; (iii) operate and maintain our facilities; (iv) install new emission controls; and (v) manage a greenhouse gas emissions program. If such legislation becomes law or additional rules are promulgated in the United States or

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any states in which we have operations and we are unable to pass these costs through as part of our services, it could have an adverse effect on our business and cash available for distributions.

Increased regulation of hydraulic fracturing could result in reductions, delays or increased costs in drilling and completing new oil and natural gas wells, which could adversely impact our revenues by decreasing the volumes of natural gas that we gather, process and transport.

Certain of our customers' natural gas is developed from formations requiring hydraulic fracturing as part of the completion process. Fracturing is a process where water, sand, and chemicals are injected under pressure into subsurface formations to stimulate hydrocarbon production. While the underground injection of fluids is regulated by the U.S. EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or SDWA, fracturing is excluded from regulation unless the injection fluid is diesel fuel. Congress recently considered legislation that would repeal the exclusion, allowing EPA to more generally regulate fracturing, and requiring disclosure of chemicals used in the fracturing process. If enacted, such legislation could require fracturing to meet permitting and financial responsibility requirements, as well as siting and technical specifications relating to well construction, plugging and abandonment. EPA is also considering various regulatory programs directed at hydraulic fracturing. For example, the EPA intends to propose regulations in 2014 under the federal Clean Water Act to further regulate wastewater discharges from hydraulic fracturing and other natural gas production. The adoption of new federal laws or regulations imposing reporting obligations on, or otherwise limiting or regulating, the hydraulic fracturing process could make it more difficult for our customers to complete oil and natural gas wells in shale formations and increase their costs of compliance. In addition, the U.S. EPA is currently studying the potential adverse impact that each stage of hydraulic fracturing may have on the environment. Several states in which our customers operate have also adopted regulations requiring disclosure of fracturing fluid components or otherwise regulate their use more closely.

In addition, federal agencies have recently initiated certain other regulatory initiatives or reviews of certain aspects of hydraulic fracturing that could further increase our natural gas exploration and production customer’s costs and decrease their levels of production. On May 4, 2012, the federal Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, announced draft rules that, if adopted, would require disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing activities upon Native American Indian and other federal lands; a revised rule was released for public comment on May 25, 2013. The adoption and implementation of rules relating to hydraulic fracturing could result in increased expenditures for our natural gas exploration and production customers, which could cause them to reduce their production and thereby result in reduced demand for our services by these customers.

We may incur significant costs and liabilities resulting from implementing and administering pipeline and asset integrity programs and related repairs.

Pursuant to the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, the DOT has adopted regulations requiring pipeline operators to develop integrity management programs for transportation pipelines located where a leak or rupture could do the most harm in “high consequence areas.” The regulations require operators to:
perform ongoing assessments of pipeline integrity;
identify and characterize applicable threats to pipeline segments that could impact a high consequence area;
improve data collection, integration and analysis;
repair and remediate the pipeline as necessary; and
implement preventive and mitigating actions.

Pipeline safety legislation enacted in 2012, the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011, or the Pipeline Safety and Job Creations Act, reauthorizes funding for federal pipeline safety programs through 2015, increases penalties for safety violations, establishes additional safety requirements for newly constructed pipelines, and requires studies of certain safety issues that could result in the adoption of new regulatory requirements for existing pipelines, including the expansion of integrity management, use of automatic and remote-controlled shut-off valves, leak detection systems, sufficiency of existing regulation of gathering pipelines, use of excess flow valves, verification of maximum allowable operating pressure, incident notification, and other pipeline-safety related requirements. New rules proposed by DOT’s PHMSA, address many areas of this legislation. Extending the integrity management requirements to our gathering lines would impose additional obligations on us and could add material cost to our operations.

Although many of our natural gas facilities fall within a class that is not subject to current pipeline integrity requirements, we may incur significant costs and liabilities associated with repair, remediation, preventative or mitigation measures

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associated with non-exempt pipelines. Such costs and liabilities might relate to repair, remediation, preventative or mitigating actions that may be determined to be necessary as a result of the testing program, or new requirements that may be imposed as a result of the Pipeline Safety and Job Creation Act, as well as lost cash flows resulting from shutting down our pipelines during the pendency of such repairs. Additionally, we may be affected by the testing, maintenance and repair of pipeline facilities downstream from our own facilities. With the exception of our Wattenberg pipeline, our NGL pipelines are also subject to integrity management and other safety regulations imposed by the Texas Railroad Commission, or TRRC.

We currently estimate that we will incur between $4 million and $6 million between 2014 and 2018 to implement pipeline integrity management program testing along certain segments of our natural gas and NGL pipelines. This does not include the costs, if any, of any repair, remediation, preventative or mitigating actions that may be determined to be necessary as a result of the testing program, or new requirements that may be imposed as a result of the Pipeline Safety and Job Creation Act, which costs could be substantial.

We currently transport NGLs produced at our processing plants on our owned and third party NGL pipelines. Accordingly, in the event that an owned or third party NGL pipeline becomes inoperable due to any necessary repairs resulting from integrity testing program or for any other reason for any significant period of time, we would need to transport NGLs by other means. There can be no assurance that we will be able to enter into alternative transportation arrangements under comparable terms.

Any new or expanded pipeline integrity requirements or the adoption of other asset integrity requirements could also increase our cost of operation and impair our ability to provide service during the period in which assessments and repairs take place, adversely affecting our business. Further, execution of and compliance with such integrity programs may cause us to incur greater than expected capital and operating expenditures for repairs and upgrades that are necessary to ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of our assets.

Construction of new assets is subject to regulatory, environmental, political, legal, economic and other risks that may adversely affect our financial results.

The construction of new midstream facilities or additions or modifications to our existing midstream asset systems or propane terminals involves numerous regulatory, environmental, political and legal and economic uncertainties beyond our control and may require the expenditure of significant amounts of capital. Construction expenditures may occur over an extended period of time, yet we will not receive any material increases in cash flow until the project is completed and fully operational. Moreover, our cash flow from a project may be delayed or may not meet our expectations. These projects may not be completed on schedule or within budgeted cost, or at all. We may construct facilities to capture anticipated future growth in production in a region in which such growth does not materialize. Since we are not engaged in the exploration for and development of natural gas and oil reserves, we often do not have access to third party estimates of potential reserves in an area prior to constructing facilities in such area. To the extent we rely on estimates of future production in our decision to construct new systems or additions to our systems, such estimates may prove to be inaccurate because there are numerous uncertainties inherent in estimating quantities of future production. As a result, these facilities may not be able to attract enough throughput to achieve our expected investment return, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. The construction of new systems or additions to our existing gathering, transportation and propane terminal assets may require us to obtain new rights-of-way prior to constructing these facilities. We may be unable to obtain such rights-of-way to connect new natural gas supplies to our existing gathering lines, expand our network of propane terminals, or capitalize on other attractive expansion opportunities. The construction of new systems or additions to our existing gathering, transportation and propane terminal assets may require us to rely on third parties downstream of our facilities to have available capacity for our delivered natural gas, NGLs, or propane. If such third party facilities are not constructed or operational at the time that the addition to our facilities is completed, we may experience adverse effects on our results of operations and financial condition. The construction of additional systems may require greater capital investment if the commodity prices of certain supplies such as steel increase. Construction also subjects us to risks related to the ability to construct projects within anticipated costs, including the risk of cost overruns resulting from inflation or increased costs of equipment, materials, labor, or other factors beyond our control that could adversely affect results of operations, financial position or cash flows.

If we do not make acquisitions on economically acceptable terms, our future growth could be limited.

Our ability to make acquisitions that are accretive to our cash generated from operations per unit is based upon our ability to identify attractive acquisition candidates or negotiate acceptable purchase contracts with them and obtain financing for these acquisitions on economically acceptable terms. Furthermore, even if we do make acquisitions that we believe will be accretive, these acquisitions may nevertheless result in a decrease in the cash generated from operations per unit. Additionally, net assets contributed by DCP Midstream, LLC represent a transfer of net assets between entities under common control, and are recognized at DCP Midstream, LLC’s basis in the net assets transferred. The amount of the purchase price in excess of DCP

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Midstream, LLC’s basis in the net assets, if any, is recognized as a reduction to partners’ equity. Conversely, the amount of the purchase price less than DCP Midstream’s basis in the net assets, if any, is recognized as an increase to partners’ equity.

Any acquisition involves potential risks, including, among other things:
mistaken assumptions about volumes, future contract terms with customers, revenues and costs, including synergies;
an inability to successfully integrate the businesses we acquire;
the assumption of unknown liabilities;
limitations on rights to indemnity from the seller;
mistaken assumptions about the overall costs of equity or debt;
the diversion of management’s and employees’ attention from other business concerns;
change in competitive landscape;
unforeseen difficulties operating in new product areas or new geographic areas; and
customer or key employee losses at the acquired businesses.

If we consummate any future acquisitions, our capitalization and results of operations may change significantly, and unitholders will not have the opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial and other relevant information that we will consider in determining the application of these funds and other resources.

In addition, any limitations on our access to substantial new capital to finance strategic acquisitions will impair our ability to execute this component of our growth strategy. If the cost of such capital becomes too expensive, our ability to develop or acquire accretive assets will be limited. We may not be able to raise the necessary funds on satisfactory terms, if at all. The primary factors that influence our cost of capital include market conditions and offering or borrowing costs such as interest rates or underwriting discounts.

We do not own all of the land on which our pipelines, facilities and rail terminals are located, which may subject us to increased costs.

Upon contract lease renewal, we may be subject to more onerous terms and/or increased costs to retain necessary land use if we do not have valid rights of way or if such rights of way lapse or terminate. Certain of our leases contain renewal provisions that allow for our continued use and access of the subject land and, although we review and renew our leases as a routine business matter, there may be instances where we may not be able to renew our contract leases on commercially reasonable terms or may have to commence eminent domain proceedings to establish our right to continue and use the land. We obtain the rights to construct and operate our pipelines, surface sites and rail terminals on land owned by third parties and governmental agencies for a specific period of time.

Our business involves many hazards and operational risks, some of which may not be fully covered by insurance.

Our operations, and the operations of third parties, are subject to many hazards inherent in the gathering, compressing, treating, processing, storing, transporting and fractionating, as applicable, of natural gas, propane and NGLs, including:
damage to pipelines, plants, terminals, storage facilities and related equipment and surrounding properties caused by hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires and other natural disasters and acts of terrorism;
inadvertent damage from construction, farm and utility equipment;
leaks of natural gas, propane, NGLs and other hydrocarbons from our pipelines, plants, terminals, or storage facilities, or losses of natural gas, propane or NGLs as a result of the malfunction of equipment or facilities;
contaminants in the pipeline system;
fires and explosions; and
other hazards that could also result in personal injury and loss of life, pollution and suspension of operations.

These risks could result in substantial losses due to personal injury and/or loss of life, severe damage to and destruction of property and equipment and pollution or other environmental damage and may result in curtailment or suspension of our related operations. We are not fully insured against all risks inherent to our business, including offshore wind. Although we insure most of our underground pipeline systems against property damage, certain of our gathering pipelines are not covered. We are not insured against all environmental accidents that might occur, which may include toxic tort claims, other than those considered to be sudden and accidental. In some instances, certain insurance could become unavailable or available only for reduced amounts of coverage, or may become prohibitively expensive, and we may elect not to carry such a policy.


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Our business could be negatively impacted by security threats, including cybersecurity threats, and related disruptions.

We face cybersecurity threats to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information or to render data or systems unusable. Cybersecurity threats are evolving and include, but are not limited to, malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data, and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in critical systems, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data. These events could damage our reputation and lead to financial losses from remedial actions, loss of business or potential liability.

Volatility in the capital markets may adversely impact our liquidity.
 
The capital markets may experience volatility, which may lead to financial uncertainty. Our access to funds under the Credit Agreement is dependent on the ability of the lenders that are party to the Credit Agreement to meet their funding obligations. Those lenders may not be able to meet their funding commitments if they experience shortages of capital and liquidity. If lenders under the Credit Agreement were to fail to fund their share of the Credit Agreement, our available borrowings could be further reduced. In addition, our borrowing capacity may be further limited by the Credit Agreement’s financial covenant requirements.
 
A significant downturn in the economy could adversely affect our results of operations, financial position or cash flows. In the event that our results were negatively impacted, we could require additional borrowings. A deterioration of the capital markets could adversely affect our ability to access funds on reasonable terms in a timely manner.

Future disruptions in the global credit markets may make equity and debt markets less accessible and capital markets more costly, create a shortage in the availability of credit and lead to credit market volatility, which could disrupt our financing plans and limit our ability to grow.

From time to time, public equity markets experience significant declines, and global credit markets experience a shortage in overall liquidity and a resulting disruption in the availability of credit. Future disruptions in the global financial marketplace, including the bankruptcy or restructuring of financial institutions, could make equity and debt markets inaccessible and adversely affect the availability of credit already arranged and the availability and cost of credit in the future. We have availability under our Credit Agreement to borrow additional capital, but our ability to borrow under that facility could be impaired if one or more of our lenders fails to honor its contractual obligation to lend to us.
     
As a publicly traded partnership, these developments could significantly impair our ability to make acquisitions or finance growth projects. We distribute all of our available cash, as defined in our partnership agreement, to our unitholders on a quarterly basis. We rely upon external financing sources, including the issuance of debt and equity securities and bank borrowings, to fund acquisitions or expansion capital expenditures or fund routine periodic working capital needs. Any limitations on our access to external capital, including limitations caused by illiquidity or volatility in the capital markets, may impair our ability to complete future acquisitions and construction projects on favorable terms, if at all. As a result, we may be at a competitive disadvantage as compared to businesses that reinvest all of their available cash to expand ongoing operations, particularly under adverse economic conditions.

A downgrade of our credit rating could impact our liquidity, access to capital and our costs of doing business, and independent third parties determine our credit ratings outside of our control.

     A downgrade of our credit rating might increase our cost of borrowing and could require us to post collateral with third parties, negatively impacting our available liquidity. Our ability to access capital markets could also be limited by a downgrade of our credit or the credit rating of our general partner, DCP Midstream, LLC.  Credit rating agencies perform independent analysis when assigning credit ratings. The analysis includes a number of criteria including, but not limited to, business composition, market and operational risks, as well as various financial tests. Credit rating agencies continue to review the criteria for industry sectors and various debt ratings and may make changes to those criteria from time to time. Credit ratings are not recommendations to buy, sell or hold our securities, although such credit ratings may affect the market value of our debt instruments. Ratings are subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the ratings agencies and no assurance can be given that we or DCP Midstream, LLC will maintain the current credit ratings.

Our debt levels may limit our flexibility in obtaining additional financing and in pursuing other business opportunities.

We continue to have the ability to incur additional debt, subject to limitations within our Credit Agreement. Our level of debt could have important consequences to us, including the following:

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our ability to obtain additional financing, if necessary, for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other purposes may be impaired or such financing may not be available on favorable terms;
an increased amount of cash flow will be required to make interest payments on our debt;
our debt level will make us more vulnerable to competitive pressures or a downturn in our business or the economy generally; and
our debt level may limit our flexibility in responding to changing business and economic conditions.

Our ability to obtain new debt funding or service our existing debt will depend upon, among other things, our future financial and operating performance, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors. In addition, our ability to service debt under our Credit Agreement will depend on market interest rates. If our operating results are not sufficient to service our current or future indebtedness, we may take actions such as reducing distributions, reducing or delaying our business activities, acquisitions, investments or capital expenditures, selling assets, restructuring or refinancing our debt, or seeking additional equity capital. We may not be able to effect any of these actions on satisfactory terms, or at all.

Restrictions in our loan agreements may limit our ability to make distributions to unitholders and may limit our ability to capitalize on acquisitions and other business opportunities.
Our loan agreements contain covenants limiting our ability to make distributions, incur indebtedness, grant liens, make acquisitions, investments or dispositions and engage in transactions with affiliates. Furthermore, our loan agreements contain covenants requiring us to maintain a certain leverage ratio and certain other tests. Any subsequent replacement of our loan agreements or any new indebtedness could have similar or greater restrictions. If our covenants are not met, whether as a result of reduced production levels of natural gas and NGLs as described above or otherwise, our financial condition, results of operations and ability to make distributions to our unitholders could be materially adversely affected.

Changes in interest rates may adversely impact our ability to issue additional equity or incur debt, as well as the ability of exploration and production companies to finance new drilling programs around our systems.

Interest rates on future credit facilities and debt offerings could be higher than current levels, causing our financing costs to increase. As with other yield-oriented securities, our unit price is impacted by the level of our cash distributions and implied distribution yield. The distribution yield is often used by investors to compare and rank related yield-oriented securities for investment decision-making purposes. Therefore, changes in interest rates, either positive or negative, may affect the yield requirements of investors who invest in our units, and a rising interest rate environment could impair our ability to issue additional equity or incur debt to make acquisitions, for other purposes. Increased interest costs could also inhibit the financing of new capital drilling programs by exploration and production companies served by our systems.

We have a holding company structure in which our subsidiaries conduct our operations and own our operating assets.

The partnership is a holding company, and our subsidiaries conduct all of our operations and own all of our operating assets. We do not have significant assets other than equity in our subsidiaries and equity investees. As a result, our ability to make required payments on our notes depends on the performance of our subsidiaries and their ability to distribute funds to us. The ability of our subsidiaries to make distributions to us may be restricted by, among other things, credit instruments, applicable state business organization laws and other laws and regulations. If our subsidiaries are prevented from distributing funds to us, we may be unable to pay all the principal and interest on the notes when due.

Our outstanding notes are senior unsecured obligations of our operating subsidiary, DCP Midstream Operating, LP, or DCP Operating, and are not guaranteed by any of our subsidiaries. As a result, our notes are effectively junior to DCP Operating’s existing and future secured debt and to all debt and other liabilities of its subsidiaries.

Our 3.25% Senior Notes due 2015, 2.50% Senior Notes due 2017, 4.95% Senior Notes due 2022 and 3.875% Senior Notes due 2023, or our notes, are senior unsecured obligations of our indirect 100% owned subsidiary, DCP Operating, and rank equally in right of payment with all of its other existing and future senior unsecured debt. All of our operating assets are owned by our subsidiaries, and none of these subsidiaries guarantee DCP Operating’s obligations with respect to the notes. Creditors of DCP Operating’s subsidiaries may have claims with respect to the assets of those subsidiaries that rank effectively senior to the notes. In the event of any distribution or payment of assets of such subsidiaries in any dissolution, winding up, liquidation, reorganization or bankruptcy proceeding, the claims of those creditors would be satisfied prior to making any such distribution or payment to DCP Operating in respect of its direct or indirect equity interests in such subsidiaries. Consequently, after satisfaction of the claims of such creditors, there may be little or no amounts left available to make payments in respect of our notes. As of December 31, 2013, DCP Operating’s subsidiaries had no debt for borrowed money owing to any unaffiliated third

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parties. However, such subsidiaries are not prohibited under the indenture governing the notes from incurring indebtedness in the future.

In addition, because our notes and our guarantee of our notes are unsecured, holders of any secured indebtedness of us would have claims with respect to the assets constituting collateral for such indebtedness that are senior to the claims of the holders of our notes. Currently, we do not have any secured indebtedness. Although the indenture governing our notes places some limitations on our ability to create liens securing debt, there are significant exceptions to these limitations that will allow us to secure significant amounts of indebtedness without equally and ratably securing the notes. If we incur secured indebtedness and such indebtedness is either accelerated or becomes subject to a bankruptcy, liquidation or reorganization, our assets would be used to satisfy obligations with respect to the indebtedness secured thereby before any payment could be made on our notes. Consequently, any such secured indebtedness would effectively be senior to our notes and our guarantee of our notes, to the extent of the value of the collateral securing the secured indebtedness. In that event, our noteholders may not be able to recover all the principal or interest due under our notes.

Our significant indebtedness and the restrictions in our debt agreements may adversely affect our future financial and operating flexibility.

As of December 31, 2013, our consolidated indebtedness was $1,935 million, which excludes $10 million in amortized discount. Our significant indebtedness and the additional debt we may incur in the future for potential acquisitions may adversely affect our liquidity and therefore our ability to make interest payments on our notes.

Debt service obligations and restrictive covenants in our Credit Agreement, and the indenture and commercial paper dealer agreements governing our notes may adversely affect our ability to finance future operations, pursue acquisitions and fund other capital needs as well as our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders. In addition, this leverage may make our results of operations more susceptible to adverse economic or operating conditions by limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate and may place us at a competitive disadvantage as compared to our competitors that have less debt.

If we incur any additional indebtedness, including trade payables, that ranks equally with our notes, the holders of that debt will be entitled to share ratably with the holders of our notes in any proceeds distributed in connection with any insolvency, liquidation, reorganization, dissolution or other winding up of us or DCP Operating. This may have the effect of reducing the amount of proceeds paid to our noteholders. If new debt is added to our current debt levels, the related risks that we now face could intensify.
 
Due to our lack of industry diversification, adverse developments in our midstream operations or operating areas would reduce our ability to make distributions to our unitholders.

We rely on the cash flow generated from our midstream energy businesses, and as a result, our financial condition depends upon prices of, and continued demand for, natural gas, propane, condensate and NGLs. Due to our lack of diversification in industry type, an adverse development in one of these businesses may have a significant impact on our company.

We are exposed to the credit risks of our key producer customers and propane purchasers, and any material nonpayment or nonperformance by our key producer customers or our propane purchasers could reduce our ability to make distributions to our unitholders.

We are subject to risks of loss resulting from nonpayment or nonperformance by our producer customers and propane purchasers. Any material nonpayment or nonperformance by our key producer customers or our propane purchasers could reduce our ability to make distributions to our unitholders. Furthermore, some of our producer customers or our propane purchasers may be highly leveraged and subject to their own operating and regulatory risks, which could increase the risk that they may default on their obligations to us.

Terrorist attacks, the threat of terrorist attacks, and sustained military campaigns may adversely impact our results of operations.

The long-term impact of terrorist attacks, such as the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 and the threat of future terrorist attacks on our industry in general, and on us in particular, is not known at this time. Increased security measures taken by us as a precaution against possible terrorist attacks have resulted in increased costs to our business. Uncertainty surrounding continued hostilities in the Middle East and North Africa or other sustained military conflicts may affect our operations in

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unpredictable ways, including disruptions of crude oil supplies, propane shipments or storage facilities, and markets for refined products, and the possibility that infrastructure facilities could be direct targets of, or indirect casualties of, an act of terror.

Recent acquisitions may not be beneficial to us.
Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including:
the failure to realize expected profitability, growth or accretion;
an increase in indebtedness and borrowing costs;
potential environmental or regulatory compliance matters or liabilities;
potential title issues;
the incurrence of unanticipated liabilities and costs; and
the temporary diversion of management’s attention from managing the remainder of our assets to the process of integrating the acquired businesses.
The assets recently acquired will also be subject to many of the same risks as our existing assets. If any of these risks or unanticipated liabilities or costs were to materialize, any desired benefits of these acquisitions may not be fully realized, if at all, and our future financial performance and results of operations could be negatively impacted.

Risks Inherent in an Investment in Our Common Units

Conflicts of interest may exist between our individual unitholders and DCP Midstream, LLC, our general partner, which has sole responsibility for conducting our business and managing our operations.

DCP Midstream, LLC owns and controls our general partner. Some of our general partner’s directors, and some of its executive officers, are directors or officers of DCP Midstream, LLC or its owners. Therefore, conflicts of interest may arise between DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates and our unitholders. In resolving these conflicts of interest, our general partner may favor its own interests and the interests of its affiliates over the interests of our unitholders. These conflicts include, among others, the following situations:
neither our partnership agreement nor any other agreement requires DCP Midstream, LLC to pursue a business strategy that favors us. DCP Midstream, LLC’s directors and officers have a fiduciary duty to make these decisions in the best interests of the owners of DCP Midstream, LLC, which may be contrary to our interests;
our general partner is allowed to take into account the interests of parties other than us, such as DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates, in resolving conflicts of interest;
DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates, including Phillips 66 and Spectra Energy, are not limited in their ability to compete with us. Please read “DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates are not limited in their ability to compete with us” below;
once certain requirements are met, our general partner may make a determination to receive a quantity of our Class B units in exchange for resetting the target distribution levels related to its incentive distribution rights without the approval of the special committee of our general partner or our unitholders;
some officers of DCP Midstream, LLC and DCP Midstream GP, LLC who provide services to us also will devote significant time to the business of DCP Midstream, LLC, and will be compensated by DCP Midstream, LLC for the services rendered to it;
our general partner has limited its liability and reduced its fiduciary duties, and has also restricted the remedies available to our unitholders for actions that, without the limitations, might constitute breaches of fiduciary duty;
our general partner determines the amount and timing of asset purchases and sales, borrowings, issuance of additional partnership securities and reserves, each of which can affect the amount of cash that is distributed to unitholders;
our general partner determines the amount and timing of any capital expenditures and whether a capital expenditure is a maintenance capital expenditure, which reduces operating surplus, or an expansion capital expenditure, which does not reduce operating surplus. This determination can affect the amount of cash that is distributed to our unitholders;
our general partner determines which costs incurred by it and its affiliates are reimbursable by us;
our partnership agreement does not restrict our general partner from causing us to pay it or its affiliates for any services rendered to us or entering into additional contractual arrangements with any of these entities on our behalf;
our general partner intends to limit its liability regarding our contractual and other obligations and, in some circumstances, is entitled to be indemnified by us;
our general partner may exercise its limited right to call and purchase common units if it and its affiliates own more than 80% of the common units;

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our general partner controls the enforcement of obligations owed to us by our general partner and its affiliates; and
our general partner decides whether to retain separate counsel, accountants or others to perform services for us.

DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates are not limited in their ability to compete with us, which could cause conflicts of interest and limit our ability to acquire additional assets or businesses, which in turn could adversely affect our results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Neither our partnership agreement nor the Services Agreement, as amended, between us, DCP Midstream, LLC and others will prohibit DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates, including Phillips 66 and Spectra Energy, from owning assets or engaging in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. In addition, DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates, including Phillips 66 and Spectra Energy, may acquire, construct or dispose of additional midstream or other assets in the future, without any obligation to offer us the opportunity to purchase or construct any of those assets. Each of these entities is a large, established participant in the midstream energy business, and each has significantly greater resources and experience than we have, which factors may make it more difficult for us to compete with these entities with respect to commercial activities as well as for acquisition candidates. As a result, competition from these entities could adversely impact our results of operations and cash available for distribution.

Cost reimbursements due to our general partner and its affiliates for services provided, which will be determined by our general partner, will be material.

Pursuant to the Services Agreement, as amended, we entered into with DCP Midstream, LLC, our general partner and others, DCP Midstream, LLC will receive reimbursement for the payment of operating expenses related to our operations and for the provision of various general and administrative services for our benefit. Payments for these services will be material. In addition, under Delaware partnership law, our general partner has unlimited liability for our obligations, such as our debts and environmental liabilities, except for our contractual obligations that are expressly made without recourse to our general partner. To the extent our general partner incurs obligations on our behalf, we are obligated to reimburse or indemnify it. If we are unable or unwilling to reimburse or indemnify our general partner, our general partner may take actions to cause us to make payments of these obligations and liabilities. These factors may reduce the amount of cash otherwise available for distribution to our unitholders.

Our partnership agreement limits our general partner’s fiduciary duties to holders of our common units.

Although our general partner has a fiduciary duty to manage us in a manner beneficial to us and our unitholders, the directors and officers of our general partner have a fiduciary duty to manage our general partner in a manner beneficial to its owner, DCP Midstream, LLC. Our partnership agreement contains provisions that reduce the standards to which our general partner would otherwise be held by state fiduciary duty laws. For example, our partnership agreement permits our general partner to make a number of decisions either in its individual capacity, as opposed to in its capacity as our general partner or otherwise free of fiduciary duties to us and our unitholders. This entitles our general partner to consider only the interests and factors that it desires, and it has no duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of, or factors affecting, us, our affiliates or any limited partner. Examples include:
the exercise of its right to reset the target distribution levels of its incentive distribution rights at higher levels and receive, in connection with this reset, a number of Class B units that are convertible at any time following the first anniversary of the issuance of these Class B units into common units;
its limited call right;
its voting rights with respect to the units it owns;
its registration rights; and
its determination whether or not to consent to any merger or consolidation of the partnership or amendment to the partnership agreement.

By purchasing a common unit, a common unitholder will agree to become bound by the provisions in the partnership agreement, including the provisions discussed above.

Our partnership agreement restricts the remedies available to holders of our common units for actions taken by our general partner that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty.

Our partnership agreement contains provisions that restrict the remedies available to our unitholders for actions taken by our general partner that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty. For example, our partnership agreement:

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provides that our general partner will not have any liability to us or our unitholders for decisions made in its capacity as a general partner so long as it acted in good faith, meaning it believed the decision was in the best interests of our partnership;
generally provides that affiliated transactions and resolutions of conflicts of interest not approved by the special committee of the board of directors of our general partner and not involving a vote of our unitholders must be on terms no less favorable to us than those generally being provided to or available from unrelated third parties or must be “fair and reasonable” to us, as determined by our general partner in good faith and that, in determining whether a transaction or resolution is “fair and reasonable,” our general partner may consider the totality of the relationships between the parties involved, including other transactions that may be particularly advantageous or beneficial to us; and provides that our general partner and its officers and directors will not be liable for monetary damages to us, our limited partners or assignees for any acts or omissions unless there has been a final and non-appealable judgment entered by a court of competent jurisdiction determining that the general partner or those other persons acted in bad faith or engaged in fraud or willful misconduct or, in the case of a criminal matter, acted with knowledge that the conduct was criminal.

Our general partner may elect to cause us to issue Class B units to it in connection with a resetting of the target distribution levels related to our general partner’s incentive distribution rights without the approval of the special committee of our general partner or holders of our common units. This may result in lower distributions to holders of our common units in certain situations.

Our general partner currently has the right to reset the initial cash target distribution levels at higher levels based on the distribution at the time of the exercise of the reset election. Following a reset election by our general partner, the minimum quarterly distribution amount will be reset to an amount equal to the average cash distribution amount per common unit for the two fiscal quarters immediately preceding the reset election, or the reset minimum quarterly distribution, and the target distribution levels will be reset to correspondingly higher levels based on percentage increases above the reset minimum quarterly distribution amount. Currently, our distribution to our general partner related to its incentive distribution rights is at the highest level.

In connection with resetting these target distribution levels, our general partner will be entitled to receive a number of Class B units. The Class B units will be entitled to the same cash distributions per unit as our common units and will be convertible into an equal number of common units. The number of Class B units to be issued will be equal to that number of common units whose aggregate quarterly cash distributions equaled the average of the distributions to our general partner on the incentive distribution rights in the prior two quarters. We anticipate that our general partner would exercise this reset right in order to facilitate acquisitions or internal growth projects that would not be sufficiently accretive to cash distributions per common unit without such conversion; however, it is possible that our general partner could exercise this reset election at a time when it is experiencing, or may be expected to experience, declines in the cash distributions it receives related to its incentive distribution rights and may therefore desire to be issued our Class B units, which are entitled to receive cash distributions from us on the same priority as our common units, rather than retain the right to receive incentive distributions based on the initial target distribution levels. As a result, in certain situations, a reset election may cause our common unitholders to experience dilution in the amount of cash distributions that they would have otherwise received had we not issued new Class B units to our general partner in connection with resetting the target distribution levels related to our general partner incentive distribution rights.

Holders of our common units have limited voting rights and are not entitled to elect our general partner or its directors.

Unlike the holders of common stock in a corporation, unitholders have only limited voting rights on matters affecting our business and, therefore, limited ability to influence management’s decisions regarding our business. Our unitholders do not elect our general partner or its board of directors, and have no right to elect our general partner or its board of directors on an annual or other continuing basis. The board of directors of our general partner are chosen by the members of our general partner. As a result of these limitations, the price at which the common units trade could be diminished because of the absence or reduction of a takeover premium in the trading price.

Our common units may experience price volatility.

Our common unit price has experienced volatility in the past, and volatility in the price of our common units may occur in the future as a result of any of the risk factors contained herein and the risks described in our other public filings with the SEC. For instance, our common units may experience price volatility as a result of changes in investor sentiment with respect to our competitors, our business partners and our industry in general, which may be influenced by volatility in prices for NGLs, natural gas and crude oil. In addition, the securities markets have from time to time experienced significant price and volume

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fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies but affect the market price of their securities. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of our common units.

Even if holders of our common units are dissatisfied, they may be unable to remove our general partner without its consent.

The unitholders may be unable to remove our general partner without its consent because our general partner and its affiliates own a significant percentage of our outstanding units. The vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of all outstanding units voting together as a single class is required to remove the general partner. As of December 31, 2013, our general partner and its affiliates owned approximately 23% of our aggregate outstanding common units.

Our partnership agreement restricts the voting rights of our unitholders owning 20% or more of our common units.

Our unitholders’ voting rights are further restricted by the partnership agreement provision providing that any units held by a person that owns 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, other than our general partner, its affiliates, their transferees and persons who acquired such units with the prior approval of the board of directors of our general partner, cannot vote on any matter. Our partnership agreement also contains provisions limiting the ability of our unitholders to call meetings or to acquire information about our operations, as well as other provisions limiting our unitholders’ ability to influence the manner or direction of management.

If we are deemed an “investment company” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, it would adversely affect the price of our common units and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our assets include a 50% interest in CrossPoint Pipeline, LLC, a 40% interest in the Discovery system, a 33.33% interest in Front Range, a 28.5% interest in Web Duvall, a 20% interest in the Mont Belvieu 1 Fractionator, a 12.5% interest in the Mont Belvieu Enterprise Fractionator and a 10% interest in the Texas Express Pipeline, which may be deemed to be “investment securities” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940. In the future, we may acquire additional minority owned interests in joint ventures that could be deemed "investment securities." If a sufficient amount of our assets are deemed to be “investment securities” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act, we would either have to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, obtain exemptive relief from the SEC or modify our organizational structure or our contract rights to fall outside the definition of an investment company. Registering as an investment company could, among other things, materially limit our ability to engage in transactions with affiliates, including the purchase and sale of certain securities or other property to or from our affiliates, restrict our ability to borrow funds or engage in other transactions involving leverage and require us to add additional directors who are independent of us or our affiliates. The occurrence of some or all of these events may have a material adverse effect on our business.

Moreover, treatment of us as an investment company would prevent our qualification as a partnership for federal income tax purposes in which case we would be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, and be subject to federal income tax at the corporate tax rate, significantly reducing the cash available for distributions. Additionally, distributions to our unitholders would be taxed again as corporate distributions and none of our income, gains, losses or deductions would flow through to our unitholders.

Additionally, as a result of our desire to avoid having to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may have to forego potential future acquisitions of interests in companies that may be deemed to be investment securities within the meaning of the Investment Company Act or dispose of our current interests in any of our assets that are deemed to be “investment securities.”

Control of our general partner may be transferred to a third party without unitholder consent.

Our general partner may transfer its general partner interest to a third party in a merger or in a sale of all or substantially all of its assets without the consent of our unitholders. Furthermore, our partnership agreement does not restrict the ability of the owners of our general partner from transferring all or a portion of their respective ownership interest in our general partner to a third party. The new owners of our general partner would then be in a position to replace the board of directors and officers of the general partner with its own choices and thereby influence the decisions taken by the board of directors and officers.

We may issue additional units without our unitholders’ approval, which would dilute our unitholders’ existing ownership interests.

Our partnership agreement does not limit the number of additional limited partner interests that we may issue at any time without the approval of our unitholders. The issuance by us of additional common units or other equity securities of equal or

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senior rank will have the following effects:
our unitholders’ proportionate ownership interest in us will decrease;
the amount of cash available for distribution on each unit may decrease;
the ratio of taxable income to distributions may increase;
the relative voting strength of each previously outstanding unit may be diminished; and
the market price of the common units may decline.

Our general partner including its affiliates may sell units in the public or private markets, which could reduce the market price of our outstanding common units.

If our general partner or its affiliates holding unregistered units were to dispose of a substantial portion of these units in the public market, whether in a single transaction or series of transactions, it could reduce the market price of our outstanding common units. In addition, these sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, could make it more difficult for us to sell our common units in the future.

Our general partner has a limited call right that may require our unitholders to sell their units at an undesirable time or price.

If at any time our general partner and its affiliates own more than 80% of the common units, our general partner will have the right, but not the obligation, which it may assign to any of its affiliates or to us, to acquire all, but not less than all, of the common units held by unaffiliated persons at a price not less than their then-current market price. As a result, our unitholders may be required to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price and may not receive any return on their investment. Our unitholders may also incur a tax liability upon a sale of their units.

The liability of holders of limited partner interests may not be limited if a court finds that unitholder action constitutes control of our business.

A general partner of a partnership generally has unlimited liability for the obligations of the partnership, except for those contractual obligations of the partnership that are expressly made without recourse to the general partner. Our partnership is organized under Delaware law and we conduct business in a number of other states. The limitations on the liability of holders of limited partner interests for the obligations of a limited partnership have not been clearly established in some of the other states in which we do business. Holders of limited partner interests could be liable for any and all of our obligations as if such holder were a general partner if:
a court or government agency determined that we were conducting business in a state but had not complied with that particular state’s partnership statute; or
the right of holders of limited partner interests to act with other unitholders to remove or replace the general partner, to approve some amendments to our partnership agreement or to take other actions under our partnership agreement constitute “control” of our business.

Unitholders may have liability to repay distributions that were wrongfully distributed to them.

Under certain circumstances, our unitholders may have to repay amounts wrongfully returned or distributed to them. Under Section 17-607 of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, we may not make a distribution to our unitholders if the distribution would cause our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. Delaware law provides that for a period of three years from the date of the impermissible distribution, limited partners who received the distribution and who knew at the time of the distribution that it violated Delaware law will be liable to the limited partnership for the distribution amount. Substituted limited partners are liable for the obligations of the assignor to make contributions to the partnership that are known to the substituted limited partner at the time it became a limited partner and for unknown obligations if the liabilities could be determined from the partnership agreement. Liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interest and liabilities that are non-recourse to the partnership are not counted for purposes of determining whether a distribution is permitted.

Tax Risks to Common Unitholders

Our tax treatment depends on our status as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, as well as our being subject to minimal entity-level taxation by individual states. If the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, were to treat us as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, or we become subject to a material amount of entity-level taxation for state tax purposes, it would substantially reduce the amount of cash available for distribution to our unitholders.


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The anticipated after-tax economic benefit of an investment in the common units depends largely on our being treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. We have not requested, and do not plan to request, a ruling from the IRS regarding our status as a partnership.

Despite the fact that we are a limited partnership under Delaware law, it is possible in certain circumstances for a partnership such as ours to be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes. Although we do not believe based upon our current operations that we will be treated as a corporation, the IRS could disagree with the positions we take or a change in our business (or a change in current law) could cause us to be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes or otherwise subject us to taxation as an entity.

If we were treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, we would pay federal income tax on our taxable income at the corporate tax rate, which is currently a maximum of 35%, and would likely pay state income tax at varying rates. Distributions to a unitholder would generally be taxed again as corporate dividends (to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits), and no income, gains, losses, deductions, or credits would flow through to the unitholder. Because a tax would be imposed upon us as a corporation, our cash available for distribution to a unitholder would be substantially reduced. Therefore, treatment of us as a corporation for federal tax purposes would result in a material reduction in the anticipated cash flow and after-tax return to a unitholder, likely causing a substantial reduction in the value of our common units.

The partnership agreement provides that if a law is enacted or existing law is modified or interpreted in a manner that subjects us to taxation as a corporation or otherwise subjects us to entity level taxation for federal, state or local income tax purposes, the minimum quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution levels will be adjusted to reflect the impact of that law on us.

The tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships or an investment in our common units could be subject to potential legislative, judicial or administrative changes and differing interpretations, possibly on a retroactive basis.

The present federal income tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships, including us, or an investment in our common units, may be modified by administrative, legislative or judicial interpretation at any time. Any modification to the federal income tax laws and interpretations thereof may or may not be applied retroactively. Moreover, any such modification could make it more difficult or impossible for us to meet the exception which allows publicly traded partnerships that generate qualifying income to be treated as partnerships (rather than corporations) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, affect or cause us to change our business activities, or affect the tax consequences of an investment in our common units. For example, members of the U.S. Congress considered, and the President’s Administration has proposed, substantive changes to the existing U.S. federal income tax laws that would affect the tax treatment of certain publicly traded partnerships. We are unable to predict whether any of these changes, or other proposals, will ultimately be enacted. Any such change could negatively impact the value of an investment in our common units.

Because of widespread state budget deficits and other reasons, several states are evaluating ways to subject partnerships to entity-level taxation through the imposition of state income, franchise and other forms of taxation. For example, we are required to pay the State of Texas a margin tax that is assessed at 0.975% of taxable margin apportioned to Texas. Imposition of such a tax on us by any other state will reduce the cash available for distribution to a unitholder. The partnership agreement provides that if a law is enacted or existing law is modified or interpreted in a manner that subjects us to taxation as a corporation or otherwise subjects us to entity-level taxation for federal, state or local income tax purposes, the minimum quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution levels will be adjusted to reflect the impact of that law on us.

Changes in tax laws could adversely affect our performance

We are subject to extensive tax laws and regulations, with respect to federal, state and foreign income taxes and transactional taxes such as excise, sales/use, payroll, franchise and ad valorem taxes. New tax laws and regulations and changes in existing tax laws and regulations are continuously being enacted that could result in increased tax expenditures in the future.

If the IRS contests the federal income tax positions we take, the market for our common units may be adversely impacted, and the cost of any IRS contest will reduce our cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

We have not requested a ruling from the IRS with respect to our treatment as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. The IRS may adopt positions that differ from the conclusions of our counsel or from the positions we take, and the IRS's positions may ultimately be sustained. It may be necessary to resort to administrative or court proceedings to sustain some or all of our counsel’s conclusions or the positions we take. A court may not agree with some or all of our counsel’s conclusions or

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positions we take. Any contest with the IRS, and the outcome of any IRS contest, may materially and adversely impact the market for our common units and the price at which they trade. In addition, our costs of any contest with the IRS will be borne indirectly by our unitholders and our general partner because such costs will reduce our cash available for distribution.

Our unitholders may be required to pay taxes on income from us even if the unitholders do not receive any cash distributions from us.

Because our unitholders will be treated as partners to whom we will allocate taxable income, which could be different in amount than the cash we distribute, unitholders will be required to pay any federal income taxes and, in some cases, state and local income taxes on their share of our taxable income even if they receive no cash distributions from us. Unitholders may not receive cash distributions from us equal to their share of our taxable income or even equal to the tax liability that results from that income.

In the event we issue additional units or engage in certain other transactions in the future, the allocable share of nonrecourse liabilities allocated to the unitholders will be recalculated to take into account our issuance of any additional units. Any reduction in a unitholder’s share of our nonrecourse liabilities will be treated as a distribution of cash to that unitholder and will result in a corresponding tax basis reduction in a unitholder’s units. A deemed cash distribution may, under certain circumstances, result in the recognition of taxable gain by a unitholder, to the extent that the deemed cash distribution exceeds such unitholder’s tax basis in its units.

In addition, the federal income tax liability of a unitholder could be increased if we dispose of assets or make a future offering of units and use the proceeds in a manner that does not produce substantial additional deductions, such as to repay indebtedness currently outstanding or to acquire property that is not eligible for depreciation or amortization for federal income tax purposes or that is depreciable or amortizable at a rate significantly slower than the rate currently applicable to the our assets.

Tax gain or loss on disposition of common units could be more or less than expected.

If unitholders sell their common units, they will recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and their tax basis in those common units. Because distributions to unitholders in excess of the total net taxable income allocated to them for a common unit decreases their tax basis in that common unit, the amount, if any, of such prior excess distributions will, in effect, become taxable income to them if the common unit is sold at a price greater than their tax basis in that common unit, even if the price is less than their original cost. Furthermore, a substantial portion of the amount realized, whether or not representing gain, may be taxed as ordinary income due to potential recapture items, including depreciation recapture. In addition, because the amount realized includes a unitholder’s share of our nonrecourse liabilities, if a unitholder sells its units, the unitholder may incur a tax liability in excess of the amount of cash the unitholder receives from the sale.

Tax-exempt entities and non-U.S. persons face unique tax issues from owning common units that may result in adverse tax consequences to them.

Investment in common units by tax-exempt entities, such as individual retirement accounts, or IRAs, other retirement plans and non-U.S. persons raises issues unique to them. For example, virtually all of our income allocated to organizations that are exempt from federal income tax, including IRAs and other retirement plans, will be unrelated business taxable income, which may be taxable to them. Distributions to non-U.S. persons will be reduced by federal withholding taxes at the highest applicable effective tax rate, and non-U.S. persons will be required to file United States federal tax returns and pay tax on their share of our taxable income. If a unitholder is a tax-exempt entity or a non-U.S. person, the unitholder should consult its tax advisor before investing in our common units.

We will treat each purchaser of our common units as having the same tax benefits without regard to the actual common units purchased. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could adversely affect the value of the common units.

Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of common units and because of other reasons, we will adopt depreciation and amortization positions that may not conform to all aspects of existing Treasury Regulations. A successful IRS challenge to those positions could adversely affect the amount of tax benefits available to the unitholders. It also could affect the timing of these tax benefits or the amount of gain from the sale of common units and could have a negative impact on the value of our common units or result in audit adjustments to our unitholders’ tax returns.

We prorate our items of income, gain, loss and deduction between transferors and transferees of our units each month based upon the ownership of our units on the first day of each month, instead of on the basis of the date a particular unit is

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transferred. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could change the allocation of items of income, gain, loss and deduction among our unitholders.

We prorate our items of income, gain, loss and deduction between transferors and transferees of our units each month based upon the ownership of our units on the first day of each month, instead of on the basis of the date a particular unit is transferred. The use of this proration method may not be permitted under existing Treasury Regulations. Although the U.S. Treasury Department issued proposed Treasury Regulations that provide a safe harbor pursuant to which publicly traded partnerships may use a similar monthly simplifying convention to allocate tax items among transferor and transferee unitholders, such regulations are not final and do not specifically authorize the use of the proration method we have adopted. Accordingly, our counsel is unable to opine as to the validity of this method. If the IRS were to challenge our proration method or new Treasury regulations were issued, we may be required to change the allocation of items of income, gain, loss and deduction among our unitholders.

A unitholder whose units are loaned to a “short seller” to cover a short sale of units may be considered as having disposed of those units. If so, the unitholder would no longer be treated for tax purposes as a partner with respect to those units during the period of the loan and may recognize gain or loss from the disposition.

Because a unitholder whose units are loaned to a “short seller” to cover a short sale of units may be considered as having disposed of the loaned units, the unitholder may no longer be treated for tax purposes as a partner with respect to those units during the period of the loan to the short seller and such unitholder may recognize gain or loss from such disposition. Moreover, during the period of the loan to the short seller, any of our income, gain, loss or deduction with respect to those units may not be reportable by the unitholder and any cash distributions received by the unitholder as to those units could be fully taxable as ordinary income. Unitholders desiring to assure their status as partners and avoid the risk of gain recognition from a loan to a short seller are urged to modify any applicable brokerage account agreements to prohibit their brokers from borrowing their units.

We have adopted certain valuation methodologies that may result in a shift of income, gain, loss and deduction between the general partner and the unitholders. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could adversely affect the value of the common units.

When we issue additional units or engage in certain other transactions, we determine the fair market value of our assets and allocate any unrealized gain or loss attributable to our assets to the capital accounts of our unitholders and our general partner. Our methodology may be viewed as understating the value of our assets. In that case, there may be a shift of income, gain, loss and deduction between certain unitholders and the general partner, which may be unfavorable to such unitholders. Moreover, subsequent purchasers of common units may have a greater portion of their Internal Revenue Code Section 743(b) adjustment allocated to our tangible assets and a lesser portion allocated to our intangible assets. The IRS may challenge our valuation methods, or our allocation of the Section 743(b) adjustment attributable to our tangible and intangible assets, and allocations of income, gain, loss and deduction between the general partner and certain of our unitholders.

A successful IRS challenge to these methods or allocations could adversely affect the amount of taxable income or loss being allocated to our unitholders. It also could affect the amount of gain from our unitholders’ sale of common units and could have a negative impact on the value of the common units or result in audit adjustments to our unitholders’ tax returns without the benefit of additional deductions.

The sale or exchange of 50% or more of our capital and profits interests during any twelve-month period will result in the termination of our partnership for federal income tax purposes.

We will be considered to have technically terminated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes if there is a sale or exchange of 50% or more of the total interests in our capital and profits within a twelve-month period. Our termination, among other things, would result in the closing of our taxable year for all unitholders, which would result in us filing two tax returns (and our unitholders could receive two Schedule K-1s if relief from the IRS was not granted, as described below) for one calendar year. Our termination could also result in a significant deferral of depreciation deductions allowable in computing our taxable income. In the case of a unitholder reporting on a taxable year other than a calendar year, the closing of our taxable year may result in more than twelve months of our taxable income or loss being includable in his taxable income for the year of termination. Under current law, a technical termination would not affect our classification as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, but instead, after our termination we would be treated as a new partnership for tax purposes. If treated as a new partnership, we must make new tax elections and could be subject to penalties if we are unable to determine that a termination occurred. The IRS has announced a publicly traded partnership technical termination relief procedure, whereby if a publicly traded partnership that has technically terminated requests and the IRS grants special relief, among other things, the partnership

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will only have to provide one Schedule K-1 to unitholders for the year, notwithstanding two partnership tax years resulting from the technical termination.

Unitholders may be subject to state and local taxes and return filing requirements in states where they do not reside as a result of investing in our units.

In addition to federal income taxes, unitholders may be subject to other taxes, including foreign, state and local taxes, unincorporated business taxes and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that are imposed by the various jurisdictions in which we conduct business or own property, even if the unitholders do not live in any of those jurisdictions. Unitholders may be required to file foreign, state and local income tax returns and pay state and local income taxes in some or all of these jurisdictions. Further, the unitholder may be subject to penalties for failure to comply with those requirements. As we make acquisitions or expand our business, we may own assets or do business in additional states that impose a personal income tax or an entity level tax. It is each unitholder’s responsibility to file all United States federal, foreign, state and local tax returns.

Some of the states in which we do business or own property may require us to, or we may elect to, withhold a percentage of income from amounts to be distributed to a unitholder who is not a resident of the state. Withholding the amount of which may be greater or less than a particular unitholder’s income tax liability to the state generally does not relieve the nonresident unitholder from the obligation to file an income tax return. Amounts withheld may be treated as if distributed to unitholders for purposes of determining the amounts distributed by us.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.

Item 2. Properties
For details on our plants, fractionation and storage facilities, propane terminals and pipeline systems, please read “Business - Natural Gas Services Segment,” “Business - NGL Logistics Segment” and “Business - Wholesale Propane Logistics Segment.” We believe that our properties are generally in good condition, well maintained and are suitable and adequate to carry on our business at capacity for the foreseeable future.
Our real property falls into two categories: (1) parcels that we own in fee; and (2) parcels in which our interest derives from leases, easements, rights-of-way, permits or licenses from landowners or governmental authorities permitting the use of such land for our operations. Portions of the land on which our plants and other major facilities are located are owned by us in fee title, and we believe that we have satisfactory title to these lands. The remainder of the land on which our plant sites and major facilities are located are held by us pursuant to ground leases between us, as lessee, and the fee owner of the lands, as lessors. We, or our predecessors, have leased these lands for many years without any material challenge known to us relating to the title to the land upon which the assets are located, and we believe that we have satisfactory leasehold estates to such lands. We have no knowledge of any challenge to the underlying fee title of any material lease, easement, right-of-way, permit or license held by us or to our title to any material lease, easement, right-of-way, permit or lease, and we believe that we have satisfactory title to all of our material leases, easements, rights-of-way, permits and licenses.
Our principal executive offices are located at 370 17th Street, Suite 2500, Denver, Colorado 80202, our telephone number is 303-633-2900 and our website address is www.dcppartners.com.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

We are not a party to any significant legal proceedings, other than those listed below, but are a party to various administrative and regulatory proceedings and commercial disputes that have arisen in the ordinary course of our business. Management currently believes that the ultimate resolution of these matters, taken as a whole, and after consideration of amounts accrued, insurance coverage or other indemnification arrangements, will not have a material adverse effect upon our consolidated results of operations, financial position or cash flows. For more information, please read “Environmental Matters.”

Prospect — In 2011, we received an arbitration claim, or the Claim, filed with the American Arbitration Association by Prospect Street Energy, LLC and Prospect Street Ventures I, LLC, or together, the Claimants, against EE Group, LLC, or EE Group, and a number of other parties that previously owned, directly or indirectly, our Marysville NGL storage facility, or collectively, the Respondents. EE Group is our indirect subsidiary which we acquired in connection with our acquisition of Marysville Hydrocarbons Holdings, LLC, or Marysville, on December 30, 2010. The Claim involves actions taken and time periods prior to our ownership of EE Group and Marysville, and includes several causes of action including claims of civil

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conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. As of February 2014, we have entered into separate settlement agreements with the Claimants and the other Respondents involved in the arbitration. We believe these settlement agreements substantially mitigate our liability in this matter and therefore, we consider this matter closed.
Environmental — The operation of pipelines, plants and other facilities for gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, producing, fractionating, storing or selling natural gas, NGLs and other products is subject to stringent and complex laws and regulations pertaining to health, safety and the environment. As an owner or operator of these facilities, we must comply with United States laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels that relate to air and water quality, hazardous and solid waste management and disposal, and other environmental matters. The cost of planning, designing, constructing and operating pipelines, plants, and other facilities incorporates compliance with environmental laws and regulations and safety standards. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may trigger a variety of administrative, civil and potentially criminal enforcement measures, including citizen suits, which can include the assessment of monetary penalties, the imposition of remedial requirements, and the issuance of injunctions or restrictions on operation. Management believes that, based on currently known information, compliance with these laws and regulations will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, financial position or cash flows.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Units, Related Unitholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Common Units
Market Information
Our common units have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange, or the NYSE, under the symbol “DPM” since December 2, 2005. The following table sets forth intra-day high and low sales prices of the common units, as reported by the NYSE, as well as the amount of cash distributions declared per quarter for 2013 and 2012.
Quarter Ended
 
High
 
Low
 
Distribution Per Common Unit
 
December 31, 2013
 
50.50

 
45.02

 
0.7325

 
September 30, 2013
 
58.50

 
46.14

 
0.7200

 
June 30, 2013
 
54.38

 
45.01

 
0.7100

 
March 31, 2013
 
46.93

 
40.44

 
0.7000

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
December 31, 2012

47.05

 
37.78

 
0.6900

 
September 30, 2012

46.50

 
39.94

 
0.6800

 
June 30, 2012

46.36

 
36.47

 
0.6700

 
March 31, 2012

49.93

 
44.55

 
0.6600

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
As of February 20, 2014, there were approximately 39 unitholders of record of our common units. This number does not include unitholders whose units are held in trust by other entities. As of February 20, 2014, there were approximately 29,595 beneficial owners (held in street name) of our common units.
Distributions of Available Cash
General - Our partnership agreement requires that, within 45 days after the end of each quarter, we distribute all of our Available Cash (defined below) to unitholders of record on the applicable record date, as determined by our general partner.
Definition of Available Cash - Available Cash, for any quarter, consists of all cash and cash equivalents on hand at the end of that quarter:
less the amount of cash reserves established by our general partner to:
provide for the proper conduct of our business;
comply with applicable law, any of our debt instruments or other agreements; or

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provide funds for distributions to our unitholders and to our general partner for any one or more of the next four quarters;
plus, if our general partner so determines, all or a portion of cash and cash equivalents on hand on the date of determination of Available Cash for the quarter.
Minimum Quarterly Distribution - The Minimum Quarterly Distribution, as set forth in the partnership agreement, is $0.35 per unit per quarter, or $1.40 per unit per year. Our current quarterly distribution is $0.7325 per unit, or $2.93 per unit annualized. There is no guarantee that we will maintain our current distribution or pay the Minimum Quarterly Distribution on the units in any quarter. Even if our cash distribution policy is not modified or revoked, the amount of distributions paid under our policy and the decision to make any distribution is determined by our general partner, taking into consideration the terms of our partnership agreement. Please read “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Capital Requirements - Description of Credit Agreement” for a discussion of the restrictions included in our Credit Agreement that may restrict our ability to make distributions.
General Partner Interest and Incentive Distribution Rights - As of December 31, 2013, the general partner is entitled to a percentage of all quarterly distributions equal to its general partner interest of approximately 1% and limited partner interest of 1%. The general partner has the right, but not the obligation, to contribute a proportionate amount of capital to us to maintain its current general partner interest. The general partner’s interest may be reduced if we issue additional units in the future and our general partner does not contribute a proportionate amount of capital to us to maintain its current general partner interest.
The incentive distribution rights held by our general partner entitle it to receive an increasing share of Available Cash as pre-defined distribution targets have been achieved. Currently, our distribution to our general partner related to its incentive distribution rights is at the highest level. Our general partner’s incentive distribution rights were not reduced as a result of our recent common unit offerings, and will not be reduced if we issue additional units in the future and the general partner does not contribute a proportionate amount of capital to us to maintain its current general partner interest. Please read the Distributions of Available Cash after the Subordination Period section in Note 12 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8. “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” for more details about the distribution targets and their impact on the general partner’s incentive distribution rights.
On January 28, 2014, we announced that the board of directors of DCP Midstream GP, LLC declared a quarterly distribution of $0.7325 per unit, which was paid on February 14, 2014, to unitholders of record on February 7, 2014.
Equity Compensation Plans
The information relating to our equity compensation plans required by Item 5 is incorporated by reference to such information as set forth in Item 12. “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Unitholder Matters” contained herein.
Item 6. Selected Financial Data
The following table shows our selected financial data for the periods and as of the dates indicated, which is derived from the consolidated financial statements. These consolidated financial statements include our accounts, which have been combined with the historical assets, liabilities and operations of our 100% interest in our East Texas system of which we acquired a controlling additional 25.1% interest and the remaining 49.9% interest from DCP Midstream, LLC in April 2009 and January 2012, respectively; our 100% interest in our Southeast Texas system of which 33.33% and 66.67% were acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in January 2011 and March 2012, respectively; commodity derivative hedge instruments related to the Southeast Texas storage business, which we acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in March 2012; and our 80% interest in the Eagle Ford system, of which 33.33% and 46.67% were acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in November 2012 and March 2013, respectively. Prior to our acquisition of an additional 25.1% interest in East Texas, we accounted for our initial 25% interest as an unconsolidated affiliate using the equity method of accounting. Subsequent to our acquisition of the additional 25.1% interest in East Texas, we owned 50.1% of East Texas which we account for as a consolidated subsidiary. We currently own 100% of East Texas, which we continue to account for as a consolidated subsidiary. Prior to our acquisition of the remaining 66.67% interest in Southeast Texas, we accounted for our initial 33.33% interest as an unconsolidated affiliate using the equity method of accounting. Subsequent to our acquisition of the remaining 66.67% interest in Southeast Texas, we own 100% of Southeast Texas which we account for as a consolidated subsidiary. Prior to our acquisition of the additional 46.67% interest in the Eagle Ford system, we accounted for our initial 33.33% interest as an unconsolidated affiliate using the equity method of accounting. Subsequent to our acquisition of the additional 46.67% interest in the Eagle Ford system, we own 80% of the Eagle Ford system which we account for as a consolidated subsidiary. These transactions were between entities under common control and represented a change in reporting entity; accordingly, our financial information includes the historical results of entities and interests contributed to us by DCP Midstream, LLC for all periods presented. The information contained

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herein should be read together with, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, the consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.
Our operating results incorporate a number of significant estimates and uncertainties. Such matters could cause the data included herein to not be indicative of our future financial condition or results of operations. A discussion on our critical accounting estimates is included in Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”.
The table should also be read together with Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2013 (a)
 
2012 (a)
 
2011 (a)
 
2010 (a)
 
2009 (a)
 
(Millions, except per unit amounts)
Statements of Operations Data:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sales of natural gas, propane, NGLs and condensate
$
2,695

 
$
2,459

 
$
3,487

 
$
3,038

 
$
2,274

Transportation, processing and other
268

 
232

 
205

 
160

 
131

Gains (losses) from commodity derivative activity, net (b) (c)
17

 
70

 
8

 
3

 
(56
)
Total operating revenues
2,980

 
2,761

 
3,700

 
3,201

 
2,349

Operating costs and expenses:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Purchases of natural gas, propane and NGLs
2,381

 
2,177

 
3,100

 
2,758

 
2,025

Operating and maintenance expense
211

 
193

 
188

 
155

 
139

Depreciation and amortization expense
93

 
89

 
133

 
115

 
103

General and administrative expense
62

 
74

 
75

 
66

 
61

Step acquisition - equity interest re-measurement gain

 

 

 
(9
)
 

Other expense (income)
8

 

 
(1
)
 
(2
)
 
1

Other income - affiliates

 

 

 
(3
)
 

Total operating costs and expenses
2,755

 
2,533

 
3,495

 
3,080

 
2,329

Operating income
225

 
228

 
205

 
121

 
20

Interest expense
(52
)
 
(42
)
 
(34
)
 
(29
)
 
(28
)
Earnings from unconsolidated affiliates (d)
33

 
26

 
23

 
23

 
18

Income before income taxes
206

 
212

 
194

 
115

 
10

Income tax expense
(8
)
 
(1
)
 
(1
)
 
(2
)
 
(1
)
Net income
198

 
211

 
193

 
113

 
9

Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests
(17
)
 
(13
)
 
(30
)
 
(12
)
 
(7
)
Net income attributable to partners
$
181

 
$
198

 
$
163

 
$
101

 
$
2

Less:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Net income attributable to predecessor operations (e)
(6
)
 
(33
)
 
(63
)
 
(53
)
 
(20
)
 General partner interest in net income
(70
)
 
(41
)
 
(25
)
 
(17
)
 
(13
)
Net income (loss) allocable to limited partners
$
105

 
$
124

 
$
75

 
$
31

 
$
(31
)
Net income (loss) per limited partner unit-basic
$
1.34

 
$
2.28

 
$
1.73

 
$
0.86

 
$
(0.99
)
Net income (loss) per limited partner unit-diluted
$
1.34

 
$
2.28

 
$
1.72

 
$
0.86

 
$
(0.99
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Year Ended December 31,
 
2013 (a)
 
2012 (a)
 
2011 (a)
 
2010 (a)
 
2009 (a)
 
(Millions, except per unit amounts)
Balance Sheet Data (at period end):
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Property, plant and equipment, net
$
3,005

 
$
2,550

 
$
2,114

 
$
1,816

 
$
1,573

Total assets
$
4,526

 
$
3,603

 
$
2,912

 
$
2,607

 
$
2,171

Accounts payable
$
275

 
$
223

 
$
414

 
$
305

 
$
283

Long-term debt
$
1,590

 
$
1,620

 
$
747

 
$
648

 
$
613

Partners’ equity
$
1,945

 
$
1,405

 
$
1,256

 
$
1,128

 
$
798

Noncontrolling interests
$
228

 
$
189

 
$
306

 
$
288

 
$
279

Total equity
$
2,173

 
$
1,594

 
$
1,562

 
$
1,416

 
$
1,077

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Other Information:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cash distributions declared per unit
$
2.863

 
$
2.700

 
$
2.548

 
$
2.438

 
$
2.400

Cash distributions paid per unit
$
2.820

 
$
2.660

 
$
2.515

 
$
2.420

 
$
2.400

(a)
Includes the effect of the following acquisitions prospectively from their respective dates of acquisition: (1) certain companies acquired from MichCon Pipeline Company in November 2009; (2) the Wattenberg pipeline acquired from Buckeye Partners, L.P. in January 2010; (3) an additional 5% interest in Collbran Valley Gas Gathering LLC, acquired from Delta Petroleum Company in February 2010; (4) the Raywood processing plant and Liberty gathering system acquired in June 2010; (5) an additional 50% interest in Black Lake Pipeline Company, or Black Lake, acquired from an affiliate of BP PLC in July 2010; (6) Atlantic Energy acquired from UGI Corporation in July 2010; (7) Marysville Hydrocarbons Holdings, LLC acquired in December 2010; (8) the DJ Basin NGL fractionators acquired in March 2011; (9) our 100% owned Eagle Plant in August 2011; (10) the remaining 49.9% interest in East Texas acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in January 2012; (11) a 10% ownership interest in the Texas Express Pipeline acquired from Enterprise Products Partners, L.P. in April 2012; (12) a 12.5% interest in the Enterprise fractionator and a 20% interest in the Mont Belvieu 1 fractionator, acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in July 2012; (13) the Crossroads processing plant and 50% interest in CrossPoint Pipeline, LLC, acquired from Penn Virginia Resource Partners, L.P. in July 2012; (14) the O'Connor plant acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in August 2013 and (15) the Front Range pipeline acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in August 2013.
(b)
Includes the effect of the commodity derivative hedge instruments related to the Eagle Ford system, of which 33.33% was acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in November 2012 and 46.67% was acquired in March 2013; the Goliad plant, of which 33.33% was acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in December 2012 and 46.67% was acquired in March 2013; the Southeast Texas storage business acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in March 2012 and the NGL Hedge acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in April 2009 in connection with the acquisition of a 25.1% interest in East Texas.
(c)
Prior to the acquisition of the remaining 49.9% limited liability company interest in East Texas in January 2012, we hedged our proportionate ownership of East Texas. Results shown include the unhedged portion of East Texas owned by DCP Midstream, LLC. Our consolidated results depict 75% of East Texas unhedged in all periods prior to the second quarter of 2009 and the remaining 49.9% of East Texas unhedged for all periods from the second quarter of 2009 through the fourth quarter of 2011. Our consolidated results depict 100% of the Southeast Texas system unhedged in 2009 and 2010 and 66.67% unhedged in 2011 and through March 2012 corresponding with DCP Midstream, LLC’s ownership interest in Southeast Texas. Our consolidated results depict 100% of the Eagle Ford system unhedged in 2009 and through October 2012, and 66.67% from November 2012 through March 2013, and 20% from April 2013 through December 31, 2013 corresponding with DCP Midstream, LLC’s ownership interest in the Eagle Ford system.
(d)
Includes our proportionate share of the earnings of our unconsolidated affiliates. Earnings include the amortization of the net difference between the carrying amount of the investments and the underlying equity of the entities.
(e)
Includes the net income attributable to an additional 25.1% limited liability company interest in East Texas prior to the date of our acquisition from DCP Midstream, LLC in April 2009; the initial 33.33% interest in Southeast Texas prior to the date of our acquisition from DCP Midstream, LLC in January 2011; the remaining 66.67% interest in Southeast Texas and commodity derivative hedge instruments prior to the date of our acquisition from DCP Midstream, LLC in March 2012; the initial 33.33% interest in the Eagle Ford system prior to the date of our acquisition from DCP Midstream, LLC in November 2012; and the additional 46.67% interest in the Eagle Ford system prior to the date of our acquisition from DCP Midstream, LLC in March 2013.

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion analyzes our financial condition and results of operations. You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes included elsewhere in this annual report.

Overview
We are a Delaware limited partnership formed by DCP Midstream, LLC to own, operate, acquire and develop a diversified portfolio of complementary midstream energy assets. Our operations are organized into three business segments: Natural Gas Services, NGL Logistics and Wholesale Propane Logistics.
Our business is impacted by commodity prices, which we significantly mitigate on an overall Partnership basis through a multi-year hedging program, volumes of throughput and sales of natural gas, NGLs and condensate. Various factors impact both commodity prices and volumes. Commodity prices historically have been volatile and continue to be volatile. Crude oil prices have generally remained at favorable levels, while NGL and natural gas prices remain modest due to increasing supplies. The twelve-month average New York Mercantile Exchange, or NYMEX, price of natural gas futures contracts per MMBtu was $4.19, $3.54, and $3.24 as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The twelve-month average price per gallon for NGLs was $0.84, $1.08 and $1.39 as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively, and the price of crude oil per barrel was $98.04, $94.16 and $95.12 as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively.
Although we have not experienced a significant impact to our natural gas throughput volumes as a result of decreased commodity prices, if commodity prices remain weak for a sustained period, our natural gas throughput volumes may be impacted, particularly if producers were to shut in gas. Natural gas drilling activity levels vary by geographic area, but in general, drilling remains firm in areas with liquids rich gas. Drilling remains weak in certain areas with dry gas where relatively lower commodity prices currently do not support the economics of drilling. However, advances in technology, such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in shale plays, have led to certain geographic areas becoming increasingly accessible. Our long-term view is that commodity prices will be at levels that we believe will support sustained or increasing levels of domestic natural gas production. We use direct NGL hedges to mitigate a significant portion of our NGL price exposure; however, weakening of the relationship of natural gas liquids to crude oil prices does modestly impact the effectiveness of our hedging program to mitigate our exposure to price fluctuations where we use crude oil to hedge our NGL price exposure.
Our fee-based business which represents a significant portion of our estimated margins, plus our highly hedged commodity position, mitigated a significant portion of our natural gas, NGL, and condensate commodity price risk.
NGL prices are also impacted by the demand from petrochemical and refining industries. The petrochemical industry is making significant investment in building or expanding facilities to convert chemical plants from heavier oil-based feed stock to lighter NGL-based feed stock, including ethane. This increased demand should support increasing ethane supplies. In addition, propane export facilities are being expanded or built, which is supporting increasing propane supply. Although there can be, and has been, near-term volatility in NGL prices, longer term we believe there will be sufficient demand in NGLs to support increasing supply.
The global economic outlook continues to be cause for concern for U.S. financial markets and businesses and investors alike. This uncertainty may contribute to volatility in financial and commodity markets.
The amount of NGLs we produce, fractionate, transport, sell and store, may be reduced if the pipelines and storage and fractionation facilities to which we deliver NGLs are capacity constrained and cannot, or will not, accept the NGLs. Recent capacity expansions are coming online, which we believe will mitigate the risk of these NGL capacity constraints.
Increased activity levels in liquids rich gas basins combined with access to capital markets at relatively low historical costs have enabled us to continue executing our multi-faceted growth strategy, with an emphasis on dropdowns from DCP Midstream, LLC. Our multi-faceted growth strategy may take numerous forms such as dropdown opportunities from DCP Midstream, LLC, joint venture opportunities, organic build opportunities within our footprint and third-party acquisitions. Dropdowns from DCP Midstream, LLC in 2013 totaled over $1 billion. In 2014, we will continue executing our multi-faceted growth strategy, with an emphasis on dropdowns from DCP Midstream, LLC and organic growth.


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Some of our recent growth projects include the following:
On February 25, 2014, we entered into various transaction documents with DCP Midstream, LLC for the contribution or acquisition of (i) the remaining 20% interest in DCP SC Texas GP; (ii) a 33.33% membership interest in each DCP Southern Hills Pipeline, LLC, which owns the Southern Hills pipeline, and DCP Sand Hills Pipeline, LLC, which owns the Sand Hills pipeline; (iii) a 35 MMcf/d cryogenic natural gas processing plant located in Weld County, Colorado, or the Lucerne 1 plant; and (iv) a 200 MMcf/d cryogenic natural gas processing plant also located in Weld County, Colorado, which is currently under construction, or the Lucerne 2 plant. Total consideration for this transaction at closing is $1,220 million, subject to certain working capital and other customary adjustments. This transaction is expected to close in March 2014, subject to customary closing conditions, and components of the transaction may close separately.
On August 5, 2013, we entered into a purchase and sale agreement with a 100% owned subsidiary of DCP Midstream, LLC pursuant to which the Partnership acquired all of the membership interests in DCP LaSalle Plant LLC, or the LaSalle Transaction, for consideration of $209 million, subject to certain customary purchase price adjustments. DCP LaSalle Plant LLC owns the O'Connor plant, a cryogenic natural gas processing plant with initial capacity of 110 MMcf/d, previously known as the LaSalle plant, in the DJ Basin in Weld County, Colorado. In connection with the LaSalle Transaction, we also entered into a 15-year fee-based processing agreement with an affiliate of DCP Midstream, LLC pursuant to which such affiliate agreed to pay us (i) a fixed demand charge of 75% of the plant's capacity, and (ii) a throughput fee on all volumes processed for such affiliate at the O'Connor plant. The processing agreement commenced with commercial operations of the new plant in October 2013. As of February 2014, the O'Connor plant expansion to 160 MMcf/d is mechanically complete.
On August 5, 2013, we entered into a purchase and sale agreement with a 100% owned subsidiary of DCP Midstream, LLC pursuant to which the Partnership acquired all of the membership interests in DCP Midstream Front Range LLC, or Front Range, for consideration of $86 million, subject to certain customary purchase price adjustments. Front Range owns a 33.33% equity interest in Front Range Pipeline LLC, a joint venture with affiliates of Enterprise and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, which was formed to construct the Front Range pipeline, a new raw NGL mix pipeline that originates in the DJ Basin and extends approximately 435 miles to Skellytown, Texas. Enterprise is the operator of the pipeline, which was placed into service in February 2014.
On March 28, 2013, we acquired an additional 46.67% interest in the Eagle Ford system from DCP Midstream, LLC and fixed price commodity derivative hedges for a three-year period for aggregate consideration of $626 million. We have an 80% interest in the construction of the Goliad 200 MMcf/d natural gas processing plant, including fixed price commodity price hedges, representing a total investment of approximately $290 million, which was placed into service in February 2014.
The construction of the Texas Express pipeline, of which we own a 10% interest, is complete and commenced operations in the fourth quarter of 2013. Originating near Skellytown in Carson County, Texas, the 20-inch diameter Texas Express pipeline extends approximately 580 miles to Enterprise’s natural gas liquids fractionation and storage complex at Mont Belvieu, Texas, and provides access to other third party facilities in the area.
Our construction of our 100% owned Eagle 200 MMcf/d natural gas processing plant is complete and commenced operations in the first quarter of 2013.
Our expansion plan for Discovery's Keathley Canyon natural gas gathering pipeline system is progressing and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Our capital markets execution has positioned us well in terms of both liquidity and cost of capital to execute our growth plans, including dropdown opportunities with DCP Midstream, LLC. During the year ended December 31, 2013, we received net proceeds of $1,082 million from the issuance of 24,897,977 of our common units and $490 million through a public debt offering of 3.875% 10-year Senior Notes, which were used to finance our growth opportunities. In October 2013, we entered into a Commercial Paper Program pursuant to which we had $335 million outstanding as of December 31, 2013 which is included short-term borrowings in our consolidated balance sheets. As of December 31, 2013, the unused capacity under the Credit Agreement was $664 million, all of which was available for general working capital purposes, providing liquidity to continue to execute on our growth plans.
We raised our distribution for the fourth quarter of 2013, resulting in a 6% increase in our quarterly distribution rate over the rate declared for the fourth quarter of 2012. The distribution reflects our business results as well as our recent execution on growth opportunities.


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General Trends and Outlook
During 2014, our strategic objectives will continue to focus on maintaining stable distributable cash flows from our existing assets and executing on growth opportunities to increase our long-term distributable cash flows. We believe the key elements to stable distributable cash flows are the diversity of our asset portfolio, our fee-based business which represents a significant portion of our estimated margins, plus our highly hedged commodity position, the objective of which is to protect against downside risk in our distributable cash flows.
We incur capital expenditures for our consolidated entities and our unconsolidated affiliates. We anticipate maintenance capital expenditures of between $35 million and $45 million, and approved expenditures for expansion capital of between $500 million and $600 million, for the year ending December 31, 2014. Expansion capital expenditures include construction of Discovery’s Keathley Canyon Connector, which is shown as investments in unconsolidated affiliates, construction of the Lucerne 2 plant, the Marysville NGL storage project and expansion of our Chesapeake facility, among other projects. The board of directors may, at its discretion, approve additional growth capital during the year.
We expect to continue to pursue a multi-faceted growth strategy, which includes maximizing dropdown opportunities provided by our partnership with DCP Midstream, LLC, capitalizing on organic expansion and opportunities pursuing strategic third party acquisitions in order to grow our distributable cash flows. Given the significant level of growth opportunities currently in DCP Midstream, LLC’s footprint, we would expect substantial emphasis on our dropdown objective over the next few years.
We anticipate our business to continue to be affected by the following key trends. Our expectations are based on assumptions made by us and information currently available to us. To the extent our underlying assumptions about or interpretations of available information prove to be incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from our expected results.
Natural Gas Gathering and Processing Margins - Except for our fee-based contracts, which may be impacted by throughput volumes, our natural gas gathering and processing profitability is dependent upon commodity prices, natural gas supply, and demand for natural gas, NGLs and condensate. Commodity prices, which are impacted by the balance between supply and demand, have historically been volatile. Throughput volumes could decline, particularly in areas with lower NGL content, should natural gas prices and drilling levels continue to experience weakness. Our long-term view is that as economic conditions improve, commodity prices should remain at levels that would support continued natural gas production in the United States. During 2013, petrochemical demand remained for NGLs as NGLs were a lower cost feedstock when compared to crude oil derived feedstocks. We anticipate demand for NGLs by the petrochemical industry will continue in 2014.

NGL Logistics - The volumes of NGLs transported on our pipelines, fractionated in our fractionation facilities and stored in our storage facility are dependent on the level of production of NGLs from processing plants connected to our assets. When natural gas prices are high relative to NGL prices, it is less profitable to process natural gas because of the higher value of natural gas compared to the value of NGLs and because of the increased cost of separating the NGLs from the natural gas. As a result, we have experienced periods in the past, in which higher natural gas or lower NGL prices reduce the volume of NGLs extracted at plants connected to our NGL pipelines, fractionation and storage facilities and, in turn, lower the NGL throughput on our assets.

Wholesale Propane Supply and Demand - Due to our multiple propane supply sources, propane supply contractual arrangements, significant storage capabilities, and multiple terminal locations for wholesale propane delivery, we are generally able to provide our propane distribution customers with reliable supplies of propane during peak demand periods of tight supply, usually in the winter months when their customers consume the most propane for heating.

Factors That May Significantly Affect Our Results
Transfers of net assets between entities under common control that represent a change in reporting entity are accounted for as if the transfer occurred at the beginning of the period, and prior years are retrospectively adjusted to furnish comparative information similar to the pooling method. Accordingly, our consolidated financial statements have been adjusted to include the historical results of our 80% interest in the Eagle Ford system and 100% interest in Southeast Texas for all periods presented, similar to the pooling method. The financial statements of our predecessor have been prepared from the separate records maintained by DCP Midstream, LLC and may not necessarily be indicative of the conditions that would have existed or the results of operations if our predecessor had been operated as an unaffiliated entity.

Natural Gas Services Segment


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Our results of operations for our Natural Gas Services segment are impacted by (1) increases and decreases in the volume and quality of natural gas that we gather and transport through our systems, which we refer to as throughput, (2) the associated Btu content of our system throughput and our related processing volumes, (3) the prices of and relationship between commodities such as NGLs, crude oil and natural gas, (4) the operating efficiency and reliability of our processing facilities, (5) potential limitations on throughput volumes arising from downstream and infrastructure capacity constraints, (6) the terms of our processing contract arrangements with producers, and (7) increases and decreases in the volume, price and basis differentials of natural gas associated with our natural gas storage and pipeline assets, as well as our underlying derivatives associated with these assets. This is not a complete list of factors that may impact our results of operations but, rather, are those we believe are most likely to impact those results.

Throughput and operating efficiency generally are driven by wellhead production, plant recoveries, operating availability of our facilities, physical integrity and our competitive position on a regional basis, and more broadly by demand for natural gas, NGLs and condensate. Historical and current trends in the price changes of commodities may not be indicative of future trends. Throughput and prices are also driven by demand and take-away capacity for residue natural gas and NGLs.

Our processing contract arrangements can have a significant impact on our profitability and cash flow. Our actual contract terms are based upon a variety of factors, including natural gas quality, geographic location, the commodity pricing environment at the time the contract is executed, customer requirements and competition from other midstream service providers. Our gathering and processing contract mix and, accordingly, our exposure to natural gas, NGL and condensate prices, may change as a result of producer preferences, impacting our expansion in regions where certain types of contracts are more common as well as other market factors.

The capacity on certain downstream NGL and natural gas infrastructure has tightened in recent periods and can be further constrained seasonally or when there is severe weather. Constrained market outlets may restrict us from operating our facilities optimally.

Our Natural Gas Services segment operating results are impacted by market conditions causing variability in natural gas, crude oil and NGL prices. The midstream natural gas industry is cyclical, with the operating results of companies in the industry significantly affected by the prevailing price of NGLs. Although the prevailing price of residue natural gas has less short-term significance to our operating results than the price of NGLs, in the long-term, the growth and sustainability of our business depends on commodity prices being at levels sufficient to provide incentives and capital for producers to explore and produce natural gas.

The prices of NGLs, crude oil and natural gas can be extremely volatile for periods of time, and may not always have a close relationship. Due to our hedging program, changes in the relationship of the price of NGLs and crude oil may cause our commodity price exposure to vary, which we have attempted to capture in our commodity price sensitivities in “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.” Our results may also be impacted as a result of non-cash lower of cost or market inventory or imbalance adjustments, which occur when the market value of commodities decline below our carrying value.

The natural gas services business is highly competitive in our markets and includes major integrated oil and gas companies, interstate and intrastate pipelines, and companies that gather, compress, treat, process, transport, store and/or market natural gas. Competition is often the greatest in geographic areas experiencing robust drilling by producers and during periods of high commodity prices for crude oil, natural gas and/or natural gas liquids. Competition is also increased in those geographic areas where our commercial contracts with our customers are shorter in length of term and therefore must be renegotiated on a more frequent basis.

NGL Logistics Segment

Our NGL Logistics segment operating results are impacted by, among other things, the throughput volumes of the NGLs we transport on our NGL pipelines and the volumes of NGLs we fractionate and store. We transport, fractionate and store NGLs primarily on a fee basis. Throughput may be negatively impacted as a result of our customers operating their processing plants in ethane rejection mode, often as a result of low ethane prices relative to natural gas prices. Factors that impact the supply and demand of NGLs, as described above in our Natural Gas Services segment, may also impact the throughput and volume for our NGL Logistics segment.


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Wholesale Propane Logistics Segment

Our Wholesale Propane Logistics segment operating results are impacted by our ability to provide our propane distribution customers with reliable supplies of propane. We use physical inventory, physical purchase agreements and financial derivative instruments, with DCP Midstream, LLC or third parties, which typically match the quantities of propane subject to fixed price sales agreements to mitigate our commodity price risk. Our results may also be impacted as a result of non-cash lower of cost or market inventory adjustments, which occur when the market value of propane declines below our carrying value. We generally recover lower of cost or market inventory adjustments in subsequent periods through the sale of inventory, or settlement of financial derivative instruments. There may be positive or negative impacts on sales volumes and gross margin from supply disruptions and weather conditions in the mid-Atlantic, upper midwestern and northeastern areas of the United States. Our annual sales volumes of propane may decline when these areas experience periods of milder weather in the winter months. Volumes may also be impacted by conservation and reduced demand in a recessionary environment.

The wholesale propane business is highly competitive in our market areas which include the mid-Atlantic, upper midwest and northeastern areas of the United States. Our competitors include major integrated oil and gas and energy companies, interstate and intrastate pipelines, as well as marketers and wholesalers.

Weather

The economic impact of severe weather may negatively affect the nation’s short-term energy supply and demand, and may result in commodity price volatility. Additionally, severe weather may restrict or prevent us from fully utilizing our assets, by damaging our assets, interrupting utilities, and through possible NGL and natural gas curtailments downstream of our facilities, which restricts our production. These impacts may linger past the time of the actual weather event. Severe weather may also impact the supply availability and propane demand in our Wholesale Propane Logistics segment. Although we carry insurance on the vast majority of our assets, insurance may be inadequate to cover our loss in some instances, and in certain circumstances we have been unable to obtain insurance on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. We have recently experienced cold weather and freezing temperatures in certain regions where our assets are located but the effects did not have a material impact on our operations.

Capital Markets

Volatility in the capital markets may impact our business in multiple ways, including limiting our producers’ ability to finance their drilling programs and limiting our ability to fund our operations through dropdowns, organic growth projects and acquistions. These events may impact our counterparties’ ability to perform under their credit or commercial obligations. Where possible, we have obtained additional collateral agreements, letters of credit from highly rated banks, or have managed credit lines to mitigate a portion of these risks.

Impact of Inflation

Inflation has been relatively low in the United States in recent years. However, the inflation rates impacting our business fluctuate throughout the broad economic and energy business cycles. Consequently, our costs for chemicals, utilities, materials and supplies, labor and major equipment purchases may increase during periods of general business inflation or periods of relatively high energy commodity prices.

Other

The above factors, including sustained deterioration in commodity prices and volumes, other market declines or a decline in our unit price, may negatively impact our results of operations, and may increase the likelihood of a non-cash impairment charge or non-cash lower of cost or market inventory adjustments.

Recent Events
On January 28, 2014, we announced that the board of directors of the General Partner declared a quarterly distribution of $0.7325 per unit, payable on February 14, 2014 to unitholders of record on February 7, 2014.
On February 25, 2014, we entered into various transaction documents with DCP Midstream, LLC for the contribution or acquisition of (i) the remaining 20% interest in DCP SC Texas GP; (ii) a 33.33% membership interest in each DCP Southern Hills Pipeline, LLC, which owns the Southern Hills pipeline, and DCP Sand Hills Pipeline, LLC, which owns the Sand Hills pipeline; (iii) a 35 MMcf/d cryogenic natural gas processing plant located in Weld County, Colorado, or the Lucerne 1 plant;

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and (iv) a 200 MMcf/d cryogenic natural gas processing plant also located in Weld County, Colorado, which is currently under construction, or the Lucerne 2 plant. Total consideration for this transaction at closing is $1,220 million, subject to certain working capital and other customary adjustments. This transaction is expected to close in March 2014, subject to customary closing conditions, and components of the transaction may close separately. The Southern Hills pipeline is engaged in the business of transporting NGLs, and consists of approximately 800 miles of pipeline, with an expected capacity of 175 MBbls/d after completion of planned pump stations. The pipeline provides NGL takeaway service from the Midcontinent to fractionation facilities along the Texas Gulf Coast and the Mont Belvieu, Texas market hub.The Southern Hills pipeline began taking flows in the first quarter of 2013 and was placed into service in June 2013. The Sand Hills pipeline is also engaged in the business of transporting NGLs and consists of approximately 720 miles of pipeline, with an expected initial capacity of 200 MBbls/d after completion of pump stations, and possible further capacity increases with the installation of additional pump stations. The pipeline provides NGL takeaway service from the Permian and Eagle Ford basins to fractionation facilities along the Texas Gulf Coast and the Mont Belvieu, Texas market hub. The Sand Hills pipeline began taking flows in the fourth quarter of 2012 and was placed into service in June 2013.

Our Operations

We manage our business and analyze and report our results of operations on a segment basis. Our operations are divided into our Natural Gas Services segment, our NGL Logistics segment and our Wholesale Propane Logistics segment.

Natural Gas Services Segment

Results of operations from our Natural Gas Services segment are determined primarily by the volumes of natural gas gathered, compressed, treated, processed, transported, stored and sold through our gathering, processing and pipeline systems; the volumes of NGLs and condensate sold; and the level of our realized natural gas, NGL and condensate prices. We generate our revenues and our gross margin for our Natural Gas Services segment principally from contracts that contain a combination of the following arrangements:

Fee-based arrangements - Under fee-based arrangements, we receive a fee or fees for one or more of the following services: gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting or storing natural gas. Our fee-based arrangements include natural gas arrangements pursuant to which we obtain natural gas at the wellhead or other receipt points, at an index related price at the delivery point less a specified amount, generally the same as the transportation fees we would otherwise charge for transportation of natural gas from the wellhead location to the delivery point. The revenues we earn are directly related to the volume of natural gas or NGLs that flows through our systems and are not directly dependent on commodity prices. However, to the extent a sustained decline in commodity prices results in a decline in volumes, our revenues from these arrangements would be reduced.

Percent-of-proceeds/liquids arrangements - Under percent-of-proceeds arrangements, we generally purchase natural gas from producers at the wellhead, or other receipt points, gather the wellhead natural gas through our gathering system, treat and process the natural gas, and then sell the resulting residue natural gas, NGLs and condensate based on index prices from published index market prices. We remit to the producers either an agreed-upon percentage of the actual proceeds that we receive from our sales of the residue natural gas, NGLs and condensate, or an agreed-upon percentage of the proceeds based on index related prices for the natural gas, NGLs and condensate, regardless of the actual amount of the sales proceeds we receive. We keep the difference between the proceeds received and the amount remitted back to the producer. Under percent-of-liquids arrangements, we do not keep any amounts related to residue natural gas proceeds and only keep amounts related to the difference between the proceeds received and the amount remitted back to the producer related to NGLs and condensate. Certain of these arrangements may also result in the producer retaining title to all or a portion of the residue natural gas and/or the NGLs, in lieu of us returning sales proceeds to the producer. Additionally, these arrangements may include fee-based components. Our revenues under percent-of-proceeds arrangements relate directly with the price of natural gas, NGLs and condensate. Our revenues under percent-of-liquids arrangements relate directly with the price of NGLs and condensate.


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In addition to the above contract types, we have keep-whole arrangements, which are estimated to generate an insignificant portion of our gross margin. Discovery, in which we have a 40% interest, also has keep-whole arrangements. Under the terms of a keep-whole processing contract, natural gas is gathered from the producer for processing, the NGLs and condensate are sold and the residue natural gas is returned to the producer with a Btu content equivalent to the Btu content of the natural gas gathered. This arrangement keeps the producer whole to the thermal value of the natural gas received. Under this type of contract, we are exposed to the frac spread. The frac spread is the difference between the value of the NGLs and condensate extracted from processing and the value of the Btu equivalent of the residue natural gas. We benefit in periods when NGL and condensate prices are higher relative to natural gas prices when that frac spread exceeds our operating costs. Fluctuations in commodity prices are expected to continue to impact the operating costs of these entities.

The natural gas supply for our gathering pipelines and processing plants is derived primarily from natural gas wells located in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and the Gulf of Mexico. We identify primary suppliers as those individually representing 10% or more of our total natural gas supply. We had one supplier of natural gas representing 10% or more of our total natural gas supply during the year ended December 31, 2013. We actively seek new supplies of natural gas, both to offset natural declines in the production from connected wells and to increase throughput volume. We obtain new natural gas supplies in our operating areas by contracting for production from new wells, connecting new wells drilled on dedicated acreage, or by obtaining natural gas that has been directly received or released from other gathering systems.

We sell natural gas to marketing affiliates of natural gas pipelines, integrated oil companies and DCP Midstream, LLC, national wholesale marketers, industrial end-users and gas-fired power plants. We typically sell natural gas under market index related pricing terms. The NGLs extracted from the natural gas at our processing plants are sold at market index prices to DCP Midstream, LLC or its affiliates, or to third parties. In addition, under our merchant arrangements, various DCP Midstream LLC affiliates purchase natural gas from third parties at wellheads, pipeline interconnect and pooling points, as well as residue gas from our Northern Louisiana system, and then resell the aggregated natural gas to third parties.

We manage the commodity price risk of our supply portfolio and sales portfolio with both physical and financial transactions. As a service to our customers, we may enter into physical fixed price natural gas purchases and sales, utilizing financial derivatives to swap this fixed price risk back to market index. We manage commodity price risk related to our natural gas storage and pipeline assets through our commodity derivative program. The commercial activities related to our natural gas storage and pipeline assets primarily consist of the purchase and sale of gas and associated time spreads and basis spreads.

A time spread transaction is executed by establishing a long gas position at one point in time and establishing an equal short gas position at a different point in time. Time spread transactions allow us to lock in a margin supported by the injection, withdrawal, and storage capacity of our natural gas storage assets. We may execute basis spread transactions to mitigate the risk of sale and purchase price differentials across our system. A basis spread transaction allows us to lock in a margin on our physical purchases and sales of gas, including injections and withdrawals from storage.

NGL Logistics Segment

Our pipelines, fractionation facilities and storage facility provide transportation, fractionation and storage services for customers, primarily on a fee basis. We have entered into contractual arrangements with DCP Midstream, LLC and others that generally require customers to pay us to transport or store NGLs pursuant to a fee-based rate that is applied to volumes. Therefore, the results of operations for this business segment are generally dependent upon the volume of product transported, fractionated or stored and the level of fees charged to customers. We do not take title to the products transported on our NGL pipelines, fractionated in our fractionation facilities or stored in our storage facility; rather, the customer retains title and the associated commodity price risk. DCP Midstream, LLC provides 100% of volumes transported on the Wattenberg and Seabreeze pipelines. The volumes of NGLs transported on our pipelines are dependent on the level of production of NGLs from processing plants connected to our NGL pipelines. When natural gas prices are high relative to NGL prices, it is less profitable to process natural gas because of the higher value of natural gas compared to the value of NGLs and because of the increased cost of separating the NGLs from the natural gas. As a result, we have experienced periods in the past, in which higher natural gas or lower NGL prices reduce the volume of NGLs extracted at plants connected to our NGL pipelines and, in turn, lower the NGL throughput on our assets. DCP Midstream, LLC, the largest gatherer and processor in the DJ Basin, delivers NGLs to our fractionation facilities under a long-term fractionation agreement. Our storage facility in Marysville, Michigan provides storage and related services primarily to regional refining and petrochemical companies and NGL marketers operating in the liquid hydrocarbons industry.

Wholesale Propane Logistics Segment


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We operate a wholesale propane logistics business in the mid-Atlantic, upper midwest and northeastern United States. We purchase large volumes of propane supply from natural gas processing plants and fractionation facilities, and crude oil refineries, primarily located in the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast area, Canada and other international sources, and transport these volumes of propane supply by pipeline, rail or ship to our terminals and storage facilities in the mid-Atlantic, midwest and the northeastern areas of the United States. We identify primary suppliers as those individually representing 10% or more of our total propane supply. Our four primary suppliers of propane, one of which is an affiliated entity, represented approximately 85% of our propane supplied during the year ended December 31, 2013. We primarily sell propane on a wholesale basis to propane distributors who in turn resell propane to their customers. We also sell propane in the wholesale market.

Due to our multiple propane supply sources, annual and long-term propane supply purchase arrangements, significant storage capabilities, and multiple terminal locations for wholesale propane delivery, we are generally able to provide our propane distribution customers with reliable supplies of propane during periods of tight supply, such as the winter months when their customers generally consume the most propane for home heating. In particular, we generally offer our customers the ability to obtain propane supply volumes from us in the winter months that are generally significantly greater than their purchases of propane from us in the summer. We believe these factors allow us to maintain our generally favorable relationships with our customers.

We manage our wholesale propane margins by selling propane to propane distributors under annual sales agreements negotiated each spring which specify floating price terms that provide us a margin in excess of our floating index-based supply costs under our supply purchase arrangements. Our portfolio of multiple supply sources and storage capabilities allows us to actively manage our propane supply purchases and to lower the aggregate cost of supplies. Based on the carrying value of our inventory, timing of inventory transactions and the volatility of the market value of propane, we have historically and may continue to periodically recognize non-cash lower of cost or market inventory adjustments. In addition, we may use financial derivatives to manage the value of our propane inventories.

How We Evaluate Our Operations

Our management uses a variety of financial and operational measurements to analyze our performance. These measurements include the following: (1) volumes; (2) gross margin and segment gross margin; (3) operating and maintenance expense, and general and administrative expense; (4) adjusted EBITDA, (5) adjusted segment EBITDA; and (6) distributable cash flow. Gross margin, segment gross margin, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted segment EBITDA, and distributable cash flow are not measures under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP. To the extent permitted, we present certain non-GAAP measures and reconciliations of those measures to their most directly comparable financial measures as calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure of another company because other entities may not calculate these non-GAAP measures in the same manner.

Volumes - We view throughput and storage volumes for our Natural Gas Services segment and our NGL Logistics segment, and sales volumes for our Wholesale Propane Logistics segment as important factors affecting our profitability. We gather and transport some of the natural gas and NGLs under fee-based transportation contracts. Revenue from these contracts is derived by applying the rates stipulated to the volumes transported. Pipeline throughput volumes from existing wells connected to our pipelines will naturally decline over time as wells deplete. Accordingly, to maintain or to increase throughput levels on these pipelines and the utilization rate of our natural gas processing plants, we must continually obtain new supplies of natural gas and NGLs. Our ability to maintain existing supplies of natural gas and NGLs and obtain new supplies are impacted by: (1) the level of workovers or recompletions of existing connected wells and successful drilling activity in areas currently dedicated to our pipelines; and (2) our ability to compete for volumes from successful new wells in other areas. The throughput volumes of NGLs and gas on our pipelines are substantially dependent upon the quantities of NGLs and gas produced at our processing plants, as well as NGLs and gas produced at other processing plants that have pipeline connections with our NGL and gas pipelines. We regularly monitor producer activity in the areas we serve and in which our pipelines are located, and pursue opportunities to connect new supply to these pipelines. We also monitor our inventory in our NGL and gas storage facilities, as well as overall demand for storage based on seasonal patterns and other market factors such as weather and overall demand.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures
Gross Margin and Segment Gross Margin — We view our gross margin as an important performance measure of the core profitability of our operations. We review our gross margin monthly for consistency and trend analysis.

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We define gross margin as total operating revenues, including commodity derivative activity, less purchases of natural gas, propane and NGLs, and we define segment gross margin for each segment as total operating revenues, including commodity derivative activity, for that segment less commodity purchases for that segment. Our gross margin equals the sum of our segment gross margins. Gross margin and segment gross margin are primary performance measures used by management, as these measures represent the results of product sales and purchases, a key component of our operations. As an indicator of our operating performance, gross margin and segment gross margin should not be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, operating revenues, net income or loss, net income or loss attributable to partners, operating income, cash flows from operating activities or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP.
Adjusted EBITDA — We define adjusted EBITDA as net income or loss attributable to partners less interest income, noncontrolling interest in depreciation and income tax expense and non-cash commodity derivative gains, plus interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization expense and non-cash commodity derivative losses. Our adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure of another company because other entities may not calculate this measure in the same manner.
Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income or loss, net income or loss attributable to partners, operating income, cash flows from operating activities or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with GAAP as measures of operating performance, liquidity or ability to service debt obligations.
Adjusted EBITDA is used as a supplemental liquidity and performance measure and adjusted segment EBITDA is used as a supplemental performance measure by our management and by external users of our financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks, research analysts and others to assess:
financial performance of our assets without regard to financing methods, capital structure or historical cost basis;
our operating performance and return on capital as compared to those of other companies in the midstream energy industry, without regard to financing methods or capital structure;
viability and performance of acquisitions and capital expenditure projects and the overall rates of return on investment opportunities; and
in the case of Adjusted EBITDA, the ability of our assets to generate cash sufficient to pay interest costs, support our indebtedness, make cash distributions to our unitholders and general partner, and finance maintenance capital expenditures.
Adjusted Segment EBITDA — We define adjusted segment EBITDA for each segment as segment net income or loss attributable to partners less non-cash commodity derivative gains for that segment, plus depreciation and amortization expense and non-cash commodity derivative losses for that segment, adjusted for any noncontrolling interest on depreciation and amortization expense for that segment. Our adjusted segment EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies because they may not calculate adjusted segment EBITDA in the same manner.
Adjusted segment EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to our financial measures presented in accordance with GAAP, including operating revenues, net income or loss attributable to Partners, or any other measure of performance presented in accordance with GAAP.
The accompanying schedules provide reconciliations of gross margin, segment gross margin and adjusted segment EBITDA to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

Distributable Cash Flow — We define Distributable Cash Flow as net cash provided by or used in operating activities, less maintenance capital expenditures, net of reimbursable projects, plus or minus adjustments for non-cash mark-to-market of derivative instruments, proceeds from divestiture of assets, net income attributable to noncontrolling interest net of depreciation and income tax, net changes in operating assets and liabilities, and other adjustments to reconcile net cash provided by or used in operating activities. Maintenance capital expenditures are cash expenditures made to maintain our cash flows, operating or earnings capacity. These expenditures add on to or improve capital assets owned, including certain system integrity, compliance and safety improvements. Maintenance capital expenditures also include certain well connects, and may include the acquisition or construction of new capital assets. Non-cash mark-to-market of derivative instruments is considered to be non-cash for the purpose of computing Distributable Cash Flow because settlement will not occur until future periods, and will be impacted by future changes in commodity prices and interest rates. Distributable Cash Flow is used as a supplemental liquidity and

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performance measure by our management and by external users of our financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks, research analysts and others, to assess our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders and our general partner.

Our Distributable Cash Flow may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure of another company because other entities may not calculate Distributable Cash Flow in the same manner. Our gross margin, segment gross margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted segment EBITDA may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure of another company because other entities may not calculate these measures in the same manner. The following table sets forth our reconciliation of certain non-GAAP measures:

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Year Ended December 31,
 
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures
 
(Millions)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Reconciliation of net income attributable to partners to gross margin:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Net income attributable to partners
 
$
181

 
$
198

 
$
163

Interest expense
 
52

 
42

 
34

Income tax expense
 
8

 
1

 
1

Operating and maintenance expense
 
211

 
193

 
188

Depreciation and amortization expense
 
93

 
89

 
133

General and administrative expense
 
62

 
74

 
75

Other expense (income)
 
8

 

 
(1
)
Earnings from unconsolidated affiliates
 
(33
)
 
(26
)
 
(23
)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests
 
17

 
13

 
30

Gross margin
 
$
599

 
$
584

 
$
600

Non-cash commodity derivative mark-to-market (a)
 
$
(37
)
 
$
21

 
$
42

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Reconciliation of segment net income attributable to partners to segment gross margin:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Natural Gas Services segment:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Segment net income attributable to partners
 
$
193

 
$
237

 
$
211

Operating and maintenance expense
 
180

 
162

 
157

Depreciation and amortization expense
 
85

 
81

 
122

Other expense
 
1

 

 

Earnings from unconsolidated affiliates
 
(1
)
 
(15
)
 
(23
)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests
 
17

 
13

 
30

Segment gross margin
 
$
475

 
$
478

 
$
497

Non-cash commodity derivative mark-to-market (a)
 
$
(36
)
 
$
20

 
$
42

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
NGL Logistics segment:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Segment net income attributable to partners
 
$
79

 
$
53

 
$
29

Operating and maintenance expense
 
16

 
16

 
16

Depreciation and amortization expense
 
6

 
6

 
8

Other expense (income)
 
3

 

 
(1
)
Earnings from unconsolidated affiliates
 
(32
)
 
(11
)
 

Segment gross margin
 
$
72

 
$
64

 
$
52

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Wholesale Propane Logistics segment:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Segment net income attributable to partners
 
$
31

 
$
25

 
$
33

Operating and maintenance expense
 
15

 
15

 
15

Depreciation and amortization expense
 
2

 
2

 
3

Other expense
 
4

 

 

Segment gross margin
 
$
52

 
$
42

 
$
51

Non-cash commodity derivative mark-to-market (a)
 
$
(1
)
 
$
1

 
$

 
(a)
Non-cash commodity derivative mark-to-market is included in segment gross margin, along with cash settlements for our commodity derivative contracts.

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Year Ended December 31,
 
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011
 
 
(Millions)
Reconciliation of net income attributable to partners to adjusted segment EBITDA:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Natural Gas Services segment:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Segment net income attributable to partners (a)
 
$
193

 
$
237

 
$
211

Non-cash commodity derivative mark-to-market
 
36

 
(20
)
 
(42
)
Depreciation and amortization expense
 
85

 
81

 
122

Noncontrolling interest on depreciation and income tax
 
(6
)
 
(7
)
 
(20
)
Adjusted Segment EBITDA
 
$
308

 
$
291

 
$
271

NGL Logistics segment:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Segment net income attributable to partners
 
$
79

 
$
53

 
$
29

Depreciation and amortization expense
 
6

 
6

 
8

Adjusted Segment EBITDA
 
$
85

 
$
59

 
$
37

Wholesale Propane Logistics segment:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Segment net income attributable to partners (b)
 
$
31

 
$
25

 
$
33

Non-cash commodity derivative mark-to-market
 
1

 
(1
)
 

Depreciation and amortization expense
 
2

 
2

 
3

Adjusted Segment EBITDA
 
$
34

 
$
26

 
$
36

 
(a)
Includes $2 million, $4 million and $5 million of lower of cost or market adjustments for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011, respectively.
(b)
Includes $2 million, $15 million and $1 million of lower of cost or market adjustments for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012, and 2011, respectively.

Operating and Maintenance and General and Administrative Expense - Operating and maintenance expenses are costs associated with the operation of a specific asset and are primarily comprised of direct labor, ad valorem taxes, repairs and maintenance, lease expenses, utilities and contract services. These expenses fluctuate depending on the activities performed during a specific period. General and administrative expenses are as follows:

 
Year Ended December 31,
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011
 
(Millions)
General and administrative expense
$
17

 
$
17

 
$
19

General and administrative expense - affiliate:
 
 
 
 
 
Services/Omnibus Agreement
29

 
26

 
10

Other - DCP Midstream, LLC
16

 
31

 
46

Total affiliate
45

 
57

 
56

Total
$
62

 
$
74

 
$
75

We have entered into a services agreement, as amended, or the Services Agreement, with DCP Midstream, LLC. Under the Services Agreement, which replaced the Omnibus Agreement on February 14, 2013, we are required to reimburse DCP Midstream, LLC for salaries of operating personnel and employee benefits, as well as capital expenditures, maintenance and repair costs, taxes and other direct costs incurred by DCP Midstream, LLC on our behalf. We also pay DCP Midstream, LLC an annual fee under the Services Agreement for centralized corporate functions performed by DCP Midstream, LLC on our behalf, including legal, accounting, cash management, insurance administration and claims processing, risk management, health, safety and environmental, information technology, human resources, credit, payroll, taxes and engineering. Except with respect to the annual fee, there is no limit on the reimbursements we make to DCP Midstream, LLC under the Services Agreement for other expenses and expenditures incurred or payments made on our behalf. Pursuant to the Services Agreement, we will reimburse DCP Midstream, LLC for expenses and expenditures incurred or payments made on our behalf.



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