Partners' Capital and Distributions

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Partners’ Capital and Distributions

Partners’ Capital

In first quarter 2020, we announced that our general partner’s board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to $750 million of our common units through 2022. The timing, price and actual number of common units repurchased will depend on a number of factors including our expected expansion capital spending needs, alternative investment opportunities, excess cash available, legal and regulatory requirements, market conditions and the trading price of our common units. The repurchase program does not obligate us to acquire any particular amount of common units, and the repurchase program may be suspended or discontinued at any time.

The following table details the changes in the number of our common units outstanding from December 31, 2019 through March 31, 2020:



Common units outstanding on December 31, 2019	228,403,428
Units repurchased during 2020	(3,631,784	)
January 2020–Settlement of employee LTIP awards	275,093
During 2020–Other^(a)	9,550
Common units outstanding on March 31, 2020	225,056,287

(a) Common units issued to settle the equity-based retainers paid to independent directors of our general partner.

Distributions

Distributions we paid during 2019 and 2020 were as follows (in thousands, except per unit amounts):



Payment Date	Per Unit Cash Distribution Amount			Total Cash Distribution
02/14/2019		$	0.9975		$	227,832
05/15/2019		1.0050			229,545
08/14/2019		1.0125			231,258
11/14/2019		1.0200			232,971
Total		$	4.0350		$	921,606

02/14/2020		$	1.0275		$	234,774
05/15/2020^(a)		1.0275			231,245
Total		$	2.0550		$	466,019

(a) Our general partner’s board of directors declared this cash distribution in April 2020 to be paid on May 15, 2020 to unitholders of record at the close of business on May 8, 2020.