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Subsequent Events
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Subsequent Events [Abstract]  
Subsequent Event
(16) Subsequent Event

Current Market Environment. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic and recommended containment and mitigation measures worldwide. The pandemic has reached more than 200 countries and has resulted in widespread adverse impacts on the global economy, the energy industry as a whole and midstream companies, and on our employees, customers, suppliers, and other parties with whom we have business relations. The pandemic and related travel and operational restrictions, as well as business closures and curtailed consumer activity, have resulted in a significant reduction in global demand for crude oil, condensate, natural gas, and NGLs. For example, global demand for crude oil has dropped by nearly one-third since mid-February. The decline in demand has been met with a decline in the market price for these commodities, particularly for crude oil, and especially following the announcement by Saudi Arabia of a significant increase in its maximum crude oil production capacity, as well as the announcement by Russia that previously agreed upon oil production cuts between members of OPEC+ would expire. On April 12, 2020, members of OPEC+ agreed to certain production cuts; however, these cuts are not expected to be enough to offset near-term demand loss attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, crude oil stockpiles and the decision of end users, such as refineries, not to take a normal level of crude oil shipments has led to a severe and growing shortage of storage capacity for oil and significantly higher costs for available storage. In the case of the oil markets, both the decline in demand and storage concerns have caused the price of oil to reach historic lows.

As a result of the supply/demand imbalance, reduced commodity prices, limited storage capacity, and an uncertain timeline for recovery, oil and natural gas producers, including our customers, have sharply curtailed their current drilling and production
activity as well as their plans for future drilling and production activity. As a result of these decreases in activity, our business and financial results, and those of others in our industry, have been adversely affected and will likely continue to be adversely affected until the markets for these commodities recover and producers elect to expand their production activities. For example, since mid-March, we have experienced reduced volumes gathered, processed, fractionated, and transported on our assets as a result of reduced production from the regions that supply our systems. We cannot predict the full impact that COVID-19 or the significant disruption and volatility currently being experienced in the oil and natural gas markets will have on our business, liquidity, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows (including our ability to make distributions to our unitholders) at this time, due to numerous uncertainties. The ultimate impacts will depend on future developments, including, among others, the ultimate geographic spread of the virus, the consequences of governmental and other measures designed to prevent the spread of the virus, the development of effective treatments, the duration of the outbreak and the governmental measures designed to contain the virus, actions taken by members of OPEC+ and other foreign, oil-exporting countries, actions taken by governmental authorities, customers, suppliers, and other third parties, workforce availability, the availability of oil storage capacity, and the timing and extent to which normal economic and operating conditions resume.