Inventory, Linefill, Base Gas and Long-term Inventory

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Inventory, Linefill, Base Gas and Long-term Inventory

Inventory, Linefill, Base Gas and Long-term Inventory

Note 5—Inventory, Linefill, Base Gas and Long-term Inventory

Inventory, linefill, base gas and long-term inventory consisted of the following (barrels in thousands, natural gas volumes in thousands and carrying value in millions):

	September 30, 2012						December 31, 2011
		Unit of	Carrying		Price/			Unit of	Carrying		Price/
	Volumes	Measure	Value		Unit (1)		Volumes	Measure	Value		Unit (1)
Inventory
Crude oil	7,122	barrels	$	650	$	91.27	5,361	barrels	$	483	$	90.10
NGL	14,683	barrels	604		$	41.14	6,885	barrels	438		$	63.62
Natural gas (2)	21,800	Mcf	51		$	2.34	16,170	Mcf	51		$	3.15
Other	N/A		15		N/A		N/A		6		N/A
Inventory subtotal			1,320						978
Linefill and base gas
Crude oil	9,882	barrels	582		$	58.89	9,366	barrels	514		$	54.88
Natural gas (2)	15,005	Mcf	51		$	3.40	14,105	Mcf	48		$	3.40
NGL	1,689	barrels	81		$	47.96	31	barrels	2		$	64.52
Linefill and base gas subtotal			714						564
Long-term inventory
Crude oil	1,916	barrels	143		$	74.63	1,714	barrels	127		$	74.10
NGL	3,620	barrels	144		$	39.78	150	barrels	8		$	53.33
Long-term inventory subtotal			287						135
Total			$	2,321					$	1,677

(1)Price per unit of measure represents a weighted average associated with various grades, qualities and locations.  Accordingly, these prices may not coincide with any published benchmarks for such products.

(2)The volumetric ratio of Mcf of natural gas to crude Btu equivalent is 6:1; thus, natural gas volumes can be approximately converted to barrels by dividing by 6.

At the end of each reporting period we assess the carrying value of our inventory and make any adjustments necessary to reduce the carrying value to the applicable net realizable value. During the second and third quarters of 2012, we recorded non-cash charges of approximately $121 million and $7 million, respectively, related to the writedown of our crude oil and NGL inventory due to declines in prices during the periods. The recognition of this adjustment, which is a component of “Purchases and related costs” in our accompanying condensed consolidated statement of operations, was substantially offset by the recognition of unrealized gains on derivative instruments being utilized to hedge the future sales of our crude oil and NGL inventory. Substantially all of such unrealized gains were recorded to “Supply and Logistics segment revenues” on our condensed consolidated statement of operations. See Note 11 for discussion of our derivative and risk management activities.