Accounts Receivable

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2015

Accounts Receivable

Accounts Receivable

Note 4—Accounts Receivable

Our accounts receivable are primarily from purchasers and shippers of crude oil and, to a lesser extent, purchasers of NGL and natural gas. These purchasers include, but are not limited to, refiners, producers, marketing and trading companies and financial institutions that are active in the physical and financial commodity markets. The majority of our accounts receivable relate to our crude oil supply and logistics activities that can generally be described as high volume and low margin activities, in many cases involving exchanges of crude oil volumes.

To mitigate credit risk related to our accounts receivable, we utilize a rigorous credit review process. We closely monitor market conditions to make a determination with respect to the amount, if any, of open credit to be extended to any given customer and the form and amount of financial performance assurances we require. Such financial assurances are commonly provided to us in the form of advance cash payments, standby letters of credit or parental guarantees. As of June 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, we had received $115 million and $180 million, respectively, of advance cash payments from third parties to mitigate credit risk. We also received $77 million and $198 million, as of June 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively, of standby letters of credit to support obligations due from third parties, a portion of which applies to future business. The decrease in standby letters of credit and advance cash payments from third parties as of June 30, 2015 compared to December 31, 2014 is largely due to a decrease in exposure to various customers requiring letters of credit. Additionally, in an effort to mitigate credit risk, a significant portion of our transactions with counterparties are settled on a net-cash basis. Furthermore, we also enter into netting agreements (contractual agreements that allow us to offset receivables and payables with those counterparties against each other on our balance sheet) for a majority of such arrangements.

We review all outstanding accounts receivable balances on a monthly basis and record a reserve for amounts that we expect will not be fully recovered. We do not apply actual balances against the reserve until we have exhausted substantially all collection efforts. At June 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, substantially all of our trade accounts receivable (net of allowance for doubtful accounts) were less than 30 days past their scheduled invoice date. Our allowance for doubtful accounts receivable totaled $4 million as of both June 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014.  Although we consider our allowance for doubtful accounts receivable to be adequate, actual amounts could vary significantly from estimated amounts.