RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

GP Services Agreement. Prior to the Employee Transfer, NuStar GP, LLC managed the operations of NuStar Energy under a services agreement effective January 1, 2008 pursuant to which employees of NuStar GP, LLC performed services for NuStar Energy’s U.S. operations. Employees of NuStar GP, LLC provided services to both NuStar Energy and NuStar GP Holdings; therefore, NuStar Energy reimbursed NuStar GP, LLC for all employee costs, other than the expenses allocated to NuStar GP Holdings (the Holdco Administrative Services Expense). The Holdco Administrative Services Expense totaled $0.3 million and $0.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

In conjunction with the Employee Transfer, NuStar GP, LLC entered into an Amended and Restated Services Agreement with NuStar Services Co, effective March 1, 2016 (the Amended GP Services Agreement). The Amended GP Services Agreement provides that NuStar Services Co will furnish administrative services necessary to conduct our business. We will compensate NuStar Services Co for these services through an annual fee of $1.0 million, subject to adjustment based on the annual merit increase percentage applicable to NuStar Services Co employees for the most recently completed fiscal year and for changes in level of service. The Amended GP Services Agreement will terminate on March 1, 2020 and will automatically renew for successive two-year terms, unless terminated by either party.

The following table summarizes information pertaining to related party transactions:

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2016		2015
	(Thousands of Dollars)
Expenses for payroll, employee benefit plans and unit-based compensation	$	31,980	$	48,546
Other expenses	$	121	$	129

Assignment and Assumption Agreement. Also on March 1, 2016 and in connection with the Employee Transfer, NuStar Services Co and NuStar GP, LLC entered into an Assignment and Assumption Agreement (the Assignment Agreement). Under the Assignment Agreement, NuStar GP, LLC assigned all of its employee benefit plans, programs, contracts, policies, and various of its other agreements and contracts with certain employees, affiliates and third-party service providers (collectively, the Assigned Programs) to NuStar Services Co. In addition, NuStar Services Co agreed to assume the sponsorship and all obligations relating to the ongoing maintenance and administration of each of the plans and agreements in the Assigned Programs.

The following table summarizes the related party transactions and changes to amounts reported on our consolidated balance sheet as a result of the Employee Transfer on March 1, 2016 (thousands of dollars):

Decrease in related party receivable:
Current	$	16,014
Long-term	32,656
Decrease in related party receivable	$	48,670
Decreases to our consolidated balance sheet:
Current and long-term assets	$	(506	)
Current liabilities	10,933
Other long-term liabilities	34,042
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	4,201
Decreases to our consolidated balance sheet	$	48,670

We had a payable to related party of $2.3 million as of March 31, 2016, mainly representing service fees and expenses paid on behalf of NuStar GP Holdings. As of December 31, 2015, we had a receivable from related party of $14.8 million, mainly representing payroll, employee benefit plan expenses and unit-based compensation prior to the Employee Transfer and none as of March 31, 2016. We also had a long-term receivable from related party as of December 31, 2015 of $32.1 million, representing long-term employee benefits prior to the Employee Transfer and none as of March 31, 2016.