Tulsa-based ONEOK, Inc has announced third quarter 2014 net income of $64.5 million or 31 cents per diluted share. It includes a noncash impairment charge of $76.4 million or 9 cents per diluted share which resulted from the firm’s equity investment in Bighorn Gas Gathering located in the coal-bed methane area of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming where dry natural gas volumes continue to decline.
The third quarter 2014 income from continuing operations attributable to ONEOK was $64.6 million which compared with the third-quarter 2013 income of $72.5 million.
“Our structure, as a pure-play general partner of ONEOK Partners, continues to maximize cash flow available for dividends,” said Terry K. Spencer, president and chief executive officer of ONEOK. “Completed capital-growth projects at the partnership resulted in increased cash flow to ONEOK in the third quarter—creating increased value for our shareholders.”
Spencer points to the partnership’s new natural gas processing facilities in North Dakota, Wyoming and Oklahoma as it adds natural gas and natural gas liquids infrastructure. It also recently acquired NGL assets including the West Texas LPG and Mesquite NGL pipelines in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.
The firm’s year-to-date net income was $219.6 million or $1.04 per diluted share. Net income attributable to ONEOK for the nine-month 2013 period was $175.8 million.
ONEOK leaders credit the increases in 2014 operating income to higher natural gas volumes that were gathered, processed and sold; higher margin NGL volumes delivered; and higher natural gas pipeline transportation revenues due to increased rates on intrastate pipelines and higher natural gas volumes.
