Investment in Joint Venture

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]

Investment in Joint Venture

Investment in Joint Venture

On October 2, 2019, HEP Cushing LLC (“HEP Cushing”), a wholly owned subsidiary of HEP, and Plains Marketing, L.P. (“PMLP”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (“Plains”), formed a 50/50 joint venture, Cushing Connect Pipeline & Terminal LLC (the “Cushing Connect Joint Venture”), for (i) the development and construction of a new 160,000 barrel per day common carrier crude oil pipeline (the “Cushing Connect Pipeline”) that connected the Cushing, Oklahoma crude oil hub to the Tulsa, Oklahoma refining complex owned by a subsidiary of HF Sinclair, and (ii) the ownership and operation of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil storage in Cushing, Oklahoma (the “Cushing Connect JV Terminal”). The Cushing Connect JV Terminal went in service during the second quarter of 2020, and the Cushing Connect Pipeline was placed into service during the third quarter of 2021. Long-term commercial agreements were entered into to support the Cushing Connect Joint Venture assets.

The Cushing Connect Joint Venture contracted with an affiliate of HEP to manage the construction and operation of the Cushing Connect Pipeline and with an affiliate of Plains to manage the operation of the Cushing Connect JV Terminal. The total Cushing Connect Joint Venture investment was generally shared equally among the partners. However, we were solely responsible for any Cushing Connect Pipeline construction costs that exceeded the budget by more than 10%. HEP's share of the cost of the Cushing Connect JV Terminal contributed by Plains and Cushing Connect Pipeline construction costs was approximately $74 million, including approximately $5 million of Cushing Connect Pipeline construction costs that exceeded the budget by more than 10% borne solely by HEP.

The Cushing Connect Joint Venture legal entities are variable interest entities (“VIEs”) as defined under GAAP. A VIE is a legal entity if it has any one of the following characteristics: (i) the entity does not have sufficient equity at risk for the entity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support; (ii) the at risk equity holders, as a group, lack the characteristics of a controlling financial interest; or (iii) the entity is structured with non-substantive voting rights. The Cushing Connect Joint Venture legal entities did not have sufficient equity at risk to finance their activities without additional financial support. Since HEP constructed and is operating the Cushing Connect Pipeline, HEP has more ability to direct the activities that most significantly impact the financial performance of the Cushing Connect Joint Venture and Cushing Connect Pipeline legal entities. Therefore, HEP consolidates those legal entities. We do not have the ability to direct the activities that most significantly impact the Cushing Connect JV Terminal legal entity, and therefore, we account for our interest in the Cushing Connect JV Terminal legal entity using the equity method of accounting. HEP's maximum exposure to loss as a result of its involvement with the Cushing Connect JV Terminal legal entity is not expected to be material due to the long-term terminalling agreements in place to support its operations.

With the exception of the assets of HEP Cushing, creditors of the Cushing Connect Joint Venture legal entities have no recourse to our assets. Any recourse to HEP Cushing would be limited to the extent of HEP Cushing's assets, which other than its investment in Cushing Connect Joint Venture, are not significant. Furthermore, our creditors have no recourse to the assets of the Cushing Connect Joint Venture legal entities.