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Related Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions Related Party Transactions
Related party transactions include transactions with SPLC and Shell, including those entities in which Shell has an ownership interest but does not have control.
Acquisition Agreements
Refer to Note 3 — Acquisitions and Other Transactions for a description of other applicable agreements.

Partnership Interests Restructuring Agreement
On February 27, 2020, we and our general partner entered into the Partnership Interests Restructuring Agreement, pursuant to which the IDRs were eliminated and the 2% general partner economic interest was converted into a non-economic general partner interest in the Partnership.

Purchase and Sale Agreement
On February 27, 2020, we entered into the Purchase and Sale Agreement by and among Triton, SPLC, SGOM, Shell Chemical and SOPUS, pursuant to which we acquired 79% of the issued and outstanding membership interests in Mattox from SGOM and SOPUS and Shell Chemical transferred to Triton, as a designee of the Partnership, the Norco Assets.
Omnibus Agreement
On November 3, 2014, we entered into an Omnibus Agreement with SPLC and our general partner concerning our payment of an annual general and administrative services fee to SPLC as well as our reimbursement of certain costs incurred by SPLC on our behalf. On February 19, 2019, we, our general partner, SPLC, the Operating Company and Shell Oil Company terminated the Omnibus Agreement effective as of February 1, 2019, and we, our general partner, SPLC and the Operating Company entered into a new Omnibus Agreement effective February 1, 2019 (the “2019 Omnibus Agreement”). On February 18, 2020, pursuant to the 2019 Omnibus Agreement, the Board of Directors of our general partner (the “Board”) approved a 3% inflationary increase to the annual general and administrative fee for 2020.

The 2019 Omnibus Agreement addresses, among other things, the following matters:

our payment of an annual general and administrative fee of approximately $11 million for the provision of certain services by SPLC;
our obligation to reimburse SPLC for certain direct or allocated costs and expenses incurred by SPLC on our behalf; and
our obligation to reimburse SPLC for all expenses incurred by SPLC as a result of us becoming and continuing as a publicly-traded entity; we will reimburse our general partner for these expenses to the extent the fees relating to such services are not included in the general and administrative fee.

Under the 2019 Omnibus Agreement, SPLC agreed to indemnify us against tax liabilities relating to assets acquired at our initial public offering (such offering, the “IPO,” and such assets “initial assets”) that are identified prior to the date that is 60 days after the expiration of the statute of limitations applicable to such liabilities. This obligation has no threshold or cap. We in turn agreed to indemnify SPLC against events and conditions associated with the ownership or operation of our initial assets (other than any liabilities against which SPLC is specifically required to indemnify us as described above).
During 2020 and 2019, neither we nor SPLC made any claims for indemnification under the 2019 Omnibus Agreement.

Trade Marks License Agreement
We, our general partner and SPLC entered into a Trade Marks License Agreement with Shell Trademark Management Inc. effective as of February 1, 2019. The Trade Marks License Agreement grants us the use of certain Shell trademarks and trade names and expires on January 1, 2024 unless earlier terminated by either party upon 360 days’ notice.
Tax Sharing Agreement
We have entered into a tax sharing agreement with Shell. Pursuant to this agreement, we have agreed to reimburse Shell for state and local income and franchise taxes attributable to any activity of our operating subsidiaries and reported on Shell’s state or local income or franchise tax returns filed on a combined or unitary basis. Reimbursements under this agreement equal the
amount of tax our applicable operating subsidiaries would be required to pay with respect to such activity, if such subsidiaries were to file a combined or unitary tax return separate from Shell. Shell will compute and invoice us for the tax reimbursement amount within 15 days of Shell filing its combined or unitary tax return on which such activity is included. We may be required to make prepayments toward the tax reimbursement amount to the extent that Shell is required to make estimated tax payments during the relevant tax year. The tax sharing agreement currently in place is effective for all taxable periods ending on or after December 31, 2017. The current agreement replaced a similar tax sharing agreement between Zydeco and Shell, which was effective for all tax periods ending before December 31, 2017. Reimbursements settled in the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018 were not material to our consolidated statements of income.
Other Agreements
We have entered into several customary agreements with SPLC and Shell. These agreements include pipeline operating agreements, reimbursement agreements and services agreements.
Operating Agreements
On December 1, 2019, we entered into an Operating and Administrative Management Agreement with SPLC (the “2019 Operating Agreement”). Pursuant to the 2019 Operating Agreement, SPLC provides certain operations, maintenance and administrative services for the assets wholly owned by Pecten, Sand Dollar and Triton (collectively, the “Owners”). The Owners are required to reimburse SPLC for certain costs in connection with the services that SPLC provides pursuant to the 2019 Operating Agreement. SPLC and the Owners each provide standard indemnifications as operator and asset owners, respectively. Upon entering into the 2019 Operating Agreement, certain operating agreements previously entered into between SPLC and each of the Owners were terminated.

In December 2017, we were assigned an operating agreement for Odyssey, whereby SPLC performs physical operations and maintenance services and provides general and administrative services for Odyssey. Odyssey is required to reimburse SPLC for costs and expenses incurred in connection with such services. Also pursuant to the agreement, SPLC and Odyssey agree to standard indemnifications as operator and asset owner, respectively.

Beginning July 1, 2014, Zydeco entered into an operating and management agreement with SPLC 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 this agreement.

Partnership Agreement
Concurrently with the execution of the Partnership Interests Restructuring Agreement, on April 1, 2020, we executed the Second Amended and Restated Partnership Agreement, which amended and restated the Partnership’s First Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership dated November 3, 2014, (“First Amended and Restated Partnership Agreement”) as the same was previously amended, in its entirety. Under the Second Amended and Restated Partnership Agreement, the IDRs were eliminated, the economic general partnership interest was converted into a non-economic general partner interest, and our general partner or its assignee agreed to waive a portion of the distributions that would otherwise be payable on the common units issued to SPLC as part of the April 2020 Transaction, in an amount of $20 million per quarter for four consecutive fiscal quarters, beginning with the distribution made with respect to the second quarter of 2020. The transaction closed simultaneously with the closing of the transactions described in Note 3 — Acquisitions and Other Transactions—April 2020 Transaction.

Prior to the execution of the Second Amended and Restated Partnership Agreement, on December 21, 2018, we executed Amendment No. 2 (the “Second Amendment”) to the First Amended and Restated Partnership Agreement. Under the Second Amendment, our general partner agreed to waive $50 million of distributions in 2019 by agreeing to reduce distributions to holders of the IDRs by: (1) $17 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019, (2) $17 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and (3) $16 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019.
Noncontrolling Interests
For Zydeco, noncontrolling interest consists of SPLC’s 7.5% retained ownership interest as of December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. For Odyssey, noncontrolling interest consists of GEL Offshore Pipeline LLC’s (“GEL”) 29.0% retained ownership interest as of December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.
Other Related Party Balances
Other related party balances consist of the following:  
December 31,
20202019
Accounts receivable$21 $29 
Prepaid expenses22 15 
Other assets
Contract assets (1)
233 — 
Accounts payable (2)
16 10 
Deferred revenue19 — 
Accrued liabilities (3)
28 19 
Debt payable (4)
2,692 2,692 
Financing receivables (1)
298 — 
(1) Contract assets and Financing receivables were recognized in connection with the April 2020 Transaction. Refer to the section entitled “Sale Leaseback” below for additional details. Financing receivables were presented as a component of (deficit) equity.
(2) Accounts payable reflects amounts owed to SPLC for reimbursement of third-party expenses incurred by SPLC for our benefit.
(3) As of December 31, 2020, Accrued liabilities reflects $16 million accrued interest and $12 million other accrued liabilities, which are primarily related to the accrued operation and maintenance expenses on the Norco Assets. As of December 31, 2019, Accrued liabilities reflects $18 million accrued interest and $1 million other accrued liabilities.
(4) Debt payable reflects borrowings outstanding net of unamortized debt issuance costs of $2 million as of both December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019.
Related Party Credit Facilities
We have entered into five credit facilities with STCW: the Ten Year Fixed Facility, the Seven Year Fixed Facility, the Five Year Revolver due July 2023, the Five Year Revolver due December 2022 and the Five Year Fixed Facility. Zydeco has also entered into the 2019 Zydeco Revolver with STCW. See Note 8 — Related Party Debt for definitions and additional information regarding these credit facilities.
Related Party Revenues and Expenses
We provide crude oil transportation, terminaling and storage services to related parties under long-term contracts. We entered into these contracts in the normal course of our business. Our revenue from related parties for 2020, 2019 and 2018 is disclosed in Note 12 — Revenue Recognition.

The following table shows related party expenses, including certain personnel costs, incurred by Shell and SPLC on our behalf that are reflected in the accompanying consolidated statements of income for the indicated periods. Included in these amounts, and disclosed below, is our share of operating and general corporate expenses, as well as the fees paid to SPLC under certain agreements.
 
202020192018
Allocated operating expenses$45 $18 $15 
Major maintenance costs (1)
— — 
Insurance expense (2)
20 18 15 
Other (3)
43 23 24 
Operations and maintenance – related parties$114 $59 $54 
Allocated general corporate expenses$29 $28 $33 
Management Agreement fee
Omnibus Agreement fee11 11 
Other— 
General and administrative – related parties$49 $49 $52 
(1) Major maintenance costs are expensed as incurred in connection with the maintenance services of the Norco Assets. Refer to section entitled “Sale Leaseback” below for additional details.
(2) The majority of our insurance coverage is provided by a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell. The remaining coverage is provided by third-party insurers.
(3) Other expenses primarily relate to salaries and wages, other payroll expenses and special maintenance.

For a discussion of services performed by Shell on our behalf, see Note 1 — Description of the Business and Basis of Presentation – Basis of Presentation – Expense Allocations.

Pension and Retirement Savings Plans
Employees who directly or indirectly support our operations participate in the pension, postretirement health and life insurance and defined contribution benefit plans sponsored by Shell, which include other Shell subsidiaries. Our share of pension and postretirement health and life insurance costs for 2020, 2019 and 2018 was $5 million, $6 million and $6 million, respectively. Our share of defined contribution benefit plan costs for 2020, 2019 and 2018 was $2 million, $2 million and $3 million, respectively. Pension and defined contribution benefit plan expenses are included in either General and administrative – related parties or Operations and maintenance – related parties in the accompanying consolidated statements of income, depending on the nature of the employee’s role in our operations.

Severance
We have recorded voluntary and involuntary severance costs of $7 million and $3 million in 2020 and 2018, respectively. These costs for 2019 were not material. Severance expenses are included in either General and administrative – related parties or Operations and maintenance – related parties, depending on the nature of the employee’s role in our operations.
Equity and Other Investments
We have equity and other investments in various entities. In some cases we may be required to make capital contributions or other payments to these entities. See Note 5 — Equity Method Investments for additional details.
Reimbursements from Our General Partner
Historically, reimbursements received were primarily related to the directional drill project on the Zydeco pipeline system (the
“directional drill project”). As the directional drill project was completed at the end of 2019, the amounts incurred by the
project in 2020, and associated claims for reimbursement from our Parent, were not material. In 2019 and 2018, the amounts were $19 million and $12 million, respectively. These reimbursements are included in Other contributions from Parent in the accompanying consolidated statements of cash flows and consolidated statements of (deficit) equity. For each of these periods, this amount reflects our proportionate share of the directional drill project costs and expenses.

Further, in the fourth quarter of 2019, we received approximately $9 million from SPLC with respect to a Mars storage revenue reimbursement provision contained in the Purchase and Sale Agreement entered into in 2016 that was recognized as an additional capital contribution. See Note 5 — Equity Method Investments for additional details.
Sale Leaseback
Pursuant to the terminaling services agreement entered into among Triton, SOPUS and Shell Chemical related to the Norco Assets acquired in the April 2020 Transaction (see Note 3 — Acquisitions and Other Transactions), the Partnership receives an annual net payment of $140 million, which is the total annual payment pursuant to the terminaling service agreements of $151 million, less $11 million, which primarily represents the allocated utility costs from SOPUS related to the Norco Assets. Both annual payments are subject to annual Consumer Price Index adjustments.

The transfer of the Norco Assets, combined with the terminaling services agreements, were accounted for as a failed sale leaseback under the lease standard. As a result, the transaction was treated as a financing arrangement in which the underlying assets were not recognized in property, plant and equipment of the Partnership as control of the Norco Assets did not transfer to the Partnership, and instead were recorded as financing receivables from SOPUS and Shell Chemical on April 1, 2020 in the amount of $302 million.

We recognize interest income on the financing receivables recorded in the April 2020 Transaction on the basis of an imputed interest rate of 11.1% related to SOPUS and 7.4% related to Shell Chemical. The following table shows the interest income, reduction in the financing receivables, as well as the cash payments received for interest income and cash principal payments received on financing receivables for the year ended December 31, 2020:

For the Year Ended December 31,
2020
Interest income$23 
Reduction in the financing receivables
Cash payments received for interest income20 
Cash principal payments received on financing receivables
The transfer of the Norco Assets and the terminaling services agreements as a result of the April 2020 Transaction have operation and maintenance service components and major maintenance service components (together “service components”). Consistent with our operating lease arrangements, we allocate a portion of the arrangement’s transaction price to any service components within the scope of the revenue standard and defer the revenue, if necessary, until the point at which the performance obligation is met. We present the revenue earned from the service components under the revenue standard within Transportation, terminaling and storage services – related parties in the consolidated statements of income. Contract assets were also recorded in the amount of $244 million as of April 1, 2020. See Note 12 — Revenue Recognition for additional details related to revenue recognized on the service components and amortization of the contract assets.