Organization and Basis of Consolidation and Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization and Basis of Consolidation and Presentation

Organization

Plains GP Holdings, L.P. (“PAGP”) is a Delaware limited partnership formed in July 2013 that has elected to be taxed as a corporation for United States federal income tax purposes. PAGP does not directly own any operating assets; as of September 30, 2019, its principal sources of cash flow are derived from an indirect investment in Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (“PAA”), a publicly traded Delaware limited partnership. As used in this Form 10-Q and unless the context indicates otherwise (taking into account the fact that PAGP has no operating activities apart from those conducted by PAA and its subsidiaries), the terms “Partnership,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “ours” and similar terms refer to PAGP and its subsidiaries.

As of September 30, 2019, PAGP owned (i) a 100% managing member interest in Plains All American GP LLC (“GP LLC”), an entity that has also elected to be taxed as a corporation for United States federal income tax purposes and (ii) an approximate 73% limited partner interest in Plains AAP, L.P. (“AAP”) through our direct ownership of approximately 181.0 million Class A units of AAP (“AAP units”) and indirect ownership of approximately 1.0 million AAP units through GP LLC. GP LLC is a Delaware limited liability company that also holds the non-economic general partner interest in AAP. AAP is a Delaware limited partnership that, as of September 30, 2019, directly owned a limited partner interest in PAA through its ownership of approximately 252.2 million PAA common units (approximately 32% of PAA’s total outstanding common units and Series A preferred units combined). AAP is the sole member of PAA GP LLC (“PAA GP”), a Delaware limited liability company that directly holds the non-economic general partner interest in PAA.

PAA is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and provides logistics services primarily for crude oil, natural gas liquids (“NGL”) and natural gas. PAA owns an extensive network of pipeline transportation, terminalling, storage and gathering assets in key crude oil and NGL producing basins and transportation corridors and at major market hubs in the United States and Canada. Our business activities are conducted through three operating segments: Transportation, Facilities and Supply and Logistics. See Note 14 for further discussion of our operating segments.

PAA GP Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is our general partner. Our general partner manages our operations and activities and is responsible for exercising on our behalf any rights we have as the sole and managing member of GP LLC, including responsibility for conducting the business and managing the operations of AAP and PAA. GP LLC employs our domestic officers and personnel involved in the operation and management of AAP and PAA. PAA’s Canadian officers and personnel are employed by our subsidiary, Plains Midstream Canada ULC.

Definitions

Additional defined terms are used in this Form 10-Q and shall have the meanings indicated below:



AOCI	=	Accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss)
ASC	=	Accounting Standards Codification
ASU	=	Accounting Standards Update
Bcf	=	Billion cubic feet
Btu	=	British thermal unit
CAD	=	Canadian dollar
CODM	=	Chief Operating Decision Maker
EBITDA	=	Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
EPA	=	United States Environmental Protection Agency
FASB	=	Financial Accounting Standards Board
GAAP	=	Generally accepted accounting principles in the United States
ICE	=	Intercontinental Exchange
ISDA	=	International Swaps and Derivatives Association
LIBOR	=	London Interbank Offered Rate
LTIP	=	Long-term incentive plan
Mcf	=	Thousand cubic feet
MMbls	=	Million barrels
NGL	=	Natural gas liquids, including ethane, propane and butane
NYMEX	=	New York Mercantile Exchange
SEC	=	United States Securities and Exchange Commission
TWh	=	Terawatt hour
USD	=	United States dollar
WTI	=	West Texas Intermediate

Basis of Consolidation and Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements and related notes thereto should be read in conjunction with our 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of PAGP and all of its wholly owned subsidiaries and those entities that it controls. Investments in entities over which we have significant influence but not control are accounted for by the equity method. We apply proportionate consolidation for pipelines and other assets in which we own undivided joint interests. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions for interim reporting as set forth by the SEC. All adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments) that in the opinion of management were necessary for a fair statement of the results for the interim periods have been reflected. All significant intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation, and certain reclassifications have been made to information from previous years to conform to the current presentation.

Effective for the fourth quarter of 2018, we present “(Gains)/losses on asset sales and asset impairments, net” as a separate line item on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. To conform to the current year presentation, amounts related to gains and losses on asset sales and asset impairments previously presented in “Depreciation and amortization” are now presented in “(Gains)/losses on asset sales and asset impairments, net” on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. This change was applied retrospectively and does not affect Operating income, Net income or Net income attributable to PAGP.

The condensed consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. The results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 should not be taken as indicative of results to be expected for the entire year.

Management judgment is required to evaluate whether PAGP controls an entity. Key areas of that evaluation include (i) determining whether an entity is a variable interest entity (“VIE”); (ii) determining whether PAGP is the primary beneficiary of a VIE, including evaluating which activities of the VIE most significantly impact its economic performance and the degree of power that PAGP and its related parties have over those activities through variable interests; and (iii) identifying events that require reconsideration of whether an entity is a VIE and continuously evaluating whether PAGP is a VIE’s primary beneficiary.

We have determined that our subsidiaries, PAA and AAP, are VIEs and should be consolidated by PAGP because:


•	The limited partners of PAA and AAP lack (i) substantive “kick-out rights” (i.e., the right to remove the general partner) based on a simple majority or lower vote and (ii) substantive participation rights and thus lack the ability to block actions of the general partner that most significantly impact the economic performance of PAA and AAP, respectively.


•	AAP is the primary beneficiary of PAA because it has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact PAA’s performance and the right to receive benefits, and obligation to absorb losses, that could be significant to PAA.


•	PAGP is the primary beneficiary of AAP because it has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact AAP’s performance and the right to receive benefits, and obligation to absorb losses, that could be significant to AAP.

With the exception of a deferred tax asset of $1.301 billion and $1.304 billion as of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively, substantially all assets and liabilities presented on PAGP’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet are those of PAA. Only the assets of each respective VIE can be used to settle the obligations of that individual VIE, and the creditors of each/either of those VIEs do not have recourse against the general credit of PAGP. PAGP did not provide any financial support to PAA or AAP during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 or the year ended December 31, 2018. See Note 16 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV of our 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K for information regarding the Omnibus Agreement entered into in connection with the Simplification Transactions.

Subsequent events have been evaluated through the financial statements issuance date and have been included in the following footnotes where applicable.