Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

Shell Midstream Partners, L.P. (“we,” “us,” “our” or “the Partnership”) is a Delaware limited partnership formed by Royal Dutch Shell plc on March 19, 2014 to own and operate pipeline and other midstream assets, including certain assets received from Shell Pipeline Company LP (“SPLC”) and its affiliates. We conduct our operations either through our wholly owned subsidiary Shell Midstream Operating, LLC (“Operating Company”) or through direct ownership. Our general partner is Shell Midstream Partners GP LLC (“general partner” or “sponsor”). References to “RDS”, “Shell” or “Parent” refer collectively to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its controlled affiliates, other than us, our subsidiaries and our general partner. Our common units trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SHLX.”

Description of Business

We are a growth-oriented master limited partnership that owns, operates, develops and acquires pipelines and other midstream assets. As of December 31, 2018, our assets include interests in entities that own crude oil and refined products pipelines and terminals that serve as key infrastructure to (i) transport onshore and offshore crude oil production to Gulf Coast and Midwest refining markets and (ii) deliver refined products from those markets to major demand centers. Our assets also include interests in entities that own natural gas and refinery gas pipelines which transport offshore natural gas to market hubs and deliver refinery gas from refineries and plants to chemical sites along the Gulf Coast.

We generate revenue from the transportation, terminaling and storage of crude oil and refined products through our pipelines and storage tanks, and generate income from our equity and cost method investments. Our operations consist of one reportable segment.

The following table reflects our ownership, and Shell’s retained ownership as of December 31, 2018:


	SHLX Ownership		Shell’s Retained Ownership
Pecten Midstream LLC (“Pecten”)	100.0	%	—	%
Sand Dollar Pipeline LLC (“Sand Dollar”)	100.0	%	—	%
Triton West LLC (“Triton”)	100.0	%	—	%
Zydeco Pipeline Company LLC (“Zydeco”)	92.5	%	7.5	%
Amberjack Pipeline Company LLC (“Amberjack”) – Series A/Series B	75.0% / 50.0%		—	%
Mars Oil Pipeline Company LLC (“Mars”)	71.5	%	—	%
Odyssey Pipeline L.L.C. (“Odyssey”)	71.0	%	—	%
Bengal Pipeline Company LLC (“Bengal”)	50.0	%	—	%
Crestwood Permian Basin LLC (“Permian Basin”)	50.0	%	—	%
LOCAP LLC (“LOCAP”)	41.48	%	—	%
Poseidon Oil Pipeline Company, L.L.C. (“Poseidon”)	36.0	%	—	%
Explorer Pipeline Company (“Explorer”)	12.62	%	25.97	%
Proteus Oil Pipeline Company, LLC (“Proteus”)	10.0	%	—	%
Endymion Oil Pipeline Company, LLC (“Endymion”)	10.0	%	—	%
Colonial Pipeline Company (“Colonial”)	6.0	%	10.12	%
Cleopatra Gas Gathering Company, LLC (“Cleopatra”)	1.0	%	—	%

Basis of Presentation

Our consolidated financial statements include all subsidiaries required to be consolidated under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). Our reporting currency is U.S. dollars, and all references to dollars are U.S. dollars. The accompanying consolidated financial statements and related notes have been prepared under the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). These rules and regulations conform to the accounting principles contained in the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification, the single source of GAAP.

Our consolidated subsidiaries include Pecten, Sand Dollar, Triton, Zydeco, Odyssey and the Operating Company. Asset acquisitions of additional interests in previously consolidated subsidiaries and interests in equity method and other investments are included in the financial statements prospectively from the effective date of each acquisition. In cases where these types of acquisitions are considered acquisitions of businesses under common control, the financial statements are retrospectively adjusted. The following businesses were acquired from our Parent and accounted for as acquisitions of businesses under common control. As such, our consolidated financial statements include the financial results of these businesses, which were derived from the financial statements and accounting records of SPLC and Shell for the periods prior to acquisition. Specifically, such businesses are reflected for the following periods prior to the effective date of such acquisitions by us:

•May 2017 Acquisition for periods prior to May 10, 2017; and

•December 2017 Acquisition for periods prior to December 1, 2017, including the effect of fully consolidating Odyssey.

Our consolidated statements of income, cash flows and changes in equity for 2017 and 2016 consist of the combined results of the May 2017 Acquisition and the December 2017 Acquisition prior to the respective acquisition dates, and the consolidated activity of the Partnership. Our consolidated statements of income exclude the results of these businesses from net income attributable to the Partnership for the periods indicated above by allocating these results to our Parent. See Note 4 - Acquisitions and Divestiture for definitions and additional information.

Expense Allocations. Our consolidated statements of income also include expense allocations for certain functions performed by SPLC and Shell on behalf of the above businesses prior to their respective dates of acquisition by us. Such costs are included in either general and administrative expenses or operations and maintenance expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of income, depending on the nature of the employee’s role in our operations. The expense allocations have been determined on a basis that we, SPLC and Shell consider to be a reasonable reflection of the utilization of the services provided or the benefit received during the periods presented.

Beginning July 1, 2014, Zydeco entered into an operating and management agreement with SPLC (the “Management Agreement”) under which SPLC provides general management and administrative services to us. Therefore, we do not receive allocated corporate expenses from SPLC or Shell under this agreement. We receive direct and allocated field and regional expenses including payroll expenses not covered under the Management Agreement. In addition, beginning from October 1, 2015, Pecten entered into an operating and management agreement under which we receive direct and allocated field and regional expenses from SPLC. Beginning May 10, 2017, Sand Dollar entered into an operating and administrative management agreement under which we receive allocated expenses from SPLC. On December 1, 2017, our general partner, SPLC and Triton West entered into an operating and administrative management agreement. Our general partner provides certain operational and support services pursuant to the agreement. The necessary personnel are employed by SPLC and are assigned to our general partner. Triton West is allocated costs in connection with the services. On December 1, 2017, our general partner, SPLC and Odyssey entered into an operating and administrative management agreement pursuant to which we receive direct and allocated expenses from our general partner. The expenses under these agreements are primarily allocated to us on the basis of headcount, labor or other measure. These expense allocations have been determined on a basis that both SPLC and we consider to be a reasonable reflection of the utilization of services provided or the benefit received by us during the periods presented. See details of related party transactions in Note 5 — Related Party Transactions.

Cash. For all consolidated subsidiaries, we establish our own cash accounts for the funding of our operating and investing activities, with the exception of the capital expenditures incurred by SPLC on our behalf and then contributed to us. Funds are not commingled with the cash of other entities. Prior to the acquisition of each of these interests, the cash generated and used by our operations was deposited to Shell Treasury Center (West) Inc. (“STCW”) which was commingled with the cash of other entities controlled by Shell. STCW funded our operating activities and STCW or an affiliate funded investing activities as needed. Accordingly, we did not record any cash and cash equivalents held by SPLC on our behalf for any period prior to the effective date of each acquisition from Shell.