Plains All-American Pipeline reported its third quarter 2019 earnings were ahead of expectations even as net income for the quarter dropped 37 percent from a year ago.
Net income attributable to the Houston, Texas company was $449 million for the quarter, down from the $710 million reported in the third quarter of 2018. Net income per share was 55 cents, down from the 87 cents a share reported one year ago.
Still, Chief Executive Officer Willie Chiang was optimistic about the commitments the company had from customers.
“We ended the quarter with solid leverage metrics, more than $3 billion of committed liquidity and substantial distribution coverage. We remain focused on allocating capital in a disciplined manner. In the near-term we are positioned to grow our fee-based business in 2020 and complete multiple previously announced, highly contracted and capital efficient projects from late 2020 through 2021, which provide strong visibility for fee-based growth. Looking forward, we expect meaningful reductions in our growth capital program in 2021 and beyond as we prioritize further lowering our leverage and returning capital to investors.”
Third-quarter 2019 Transportation Segment Adjusted EBITDA increased by 19% over comparable 2018 results. This increase was primarily driven by increased volume on the firm’s Permian Basin systems, which includes start-up of the Sunrise II and Cactus II pipeline systems in the fourth quarter of 2018 and third quarter of 2019, respectively.
Plains indicated the results were partially offset by its sale of an interest in the BridgeTex pipelinle at the end of the third quarter of 2018.
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