Description Of Business And Basis Of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Description Of Business And Basis Of Presentation

1. Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

DCP Midstream Partners, LP, with its consolidated subsidiaries, or us, we or our or the Partnership, is engaged in the business of gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, storing and selling natural gas; and producing, fractionating, transporting, storing and selling NGLs and condensate.

We are a Delaware limited partnership that was formed in August 2005. We completed our initial public offering on December 7, 2005. Our partnership includes: our natural gas services business (which includes our Northern Louisiana system; our Southern Oklahoma system; our 40% interest in Discovery Producer Services LLC, or Discovery; our Wyoming system; a 75% interest in Collbran Valley Gas Gathering, LLC, or Collbran or our Colorado system; our East Texas system (of which the remaining 49.9% was acquired in January 2012, and the Crossroads system was acquired in July 2012)); our Michigan system; our Southeast Texas system (of which 33.33% and 66.67% were acquired in January 2011 and March 2012, respectively), our NGL logistics business (which includes the Seabreeze and Wilbreeze intrastate NGL pipelines, the Wattenberg and Black Lake interstate NGL pipelines, our 10% interest in the Texas Express NGL pipeline, the NGL storage facility in Michigan, the DJ Basin NGL fractionators and our minority ownership interests in the Mont Belvieu fractionators acquired in July 2012), and our wholesale propane logistics business.

Our operations and activities are managed by our general partner, DCP Midstream GP, LP, which in turn is managed by its general partner, DCP Midstream GP, LLC, which we refer to as the General Partner, and is wholly-owned by DCP Midstream, LLC. DCP Midstream, LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates, collectively referred to as DCP Midstream, LLC, is owned 50% by Spectra Energy Corp, or Spectra Energy, and 50% by Phillips 66. DCP Midstream, LLC directs our business operations through its ownership and control of the General Partner. DCP Midstream, LLC and its affiliates’ employees provide administrative support to us and operate most of our assets. DCP Midstream, LLC owns approximately 26% of us.

The condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Partnership and all majority-owned subsidiaries in which we have the ability to exercise control. Investments in greater than 20% owned affiliates that are not variable interest entities and in which we do not have the ability to exercise control, and investments in less than 20% owned affiliates in which we have the ability to exercise significant influence, are accounted for using the equity method. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated.

Our predecessor operations consist of our initial 33.33% interest in Southeast Texas, which we acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in January 2011, and the remaining 66.67% interest in Southeast Texas and commodity derivative instruments related to the Southeast Texas storage business, which we acquired from DCP Midstream, LLC in March 2012. Prior to our acquisition of the remaining 66.67% interest in Southeast Texas, we accounted for our initial 33.33% interest as an unconsolidated affiliate using the equity method. Subsequent to this transaction, we own 100% of Southeast Texas which we account for as a consolidated subsidiary. These transfers of net assets between entities under common control were accounted for as if the transfer occurred at the beginning of the period, and prior years were retrospectively adjusted to furnish comparative information similar to the pooling method. Accordingly, our consolidated financial statements include the historical results of our 100% interest in Southeast Texas and the natural gas commodity derivatives associated with the storage business for all periods presented. We recognize transfers of net assets between entities under common control at DCP Midstream, LLC’s basis in the net assets contributed. The amount of the purchase price in excess or in deficit of DCP Midstream, LLC’s basis in the net assets is recognized as a reduction or an addition to partners’ equity. The financial statements of our predecessor have been prepared from the separate records maintained by DCP Midstream, LLC and may not necessarily be indicative of the conditions that would have existed or the results of operations if our predecessor had been operated as an unaffiliated entity.

The condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP. Conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the condensed consolidated financial statements and notes. Although these estimates are based on management’s best available knowledge of current and expected future events, actual results could differ from those estimates. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated. Transactions between us and other DCP Midstream, LLC operations have been identified in the condensed consolidated financial statements as transactions between affiliates.

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Accordingly, these condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, that are, in the opinion of management, necessary to present fairly the financial position and results of operations for the respective interim periods. Certain information and notes normally included in our annual financial statements have been condensed or omitted from these interim financial statements pursuant to such rules and regulations. Results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2012. These condensed consolidated financial statements and other information included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto in our 2011 Annual Report included as Exhibit 99.3 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 14, 2012.