Holly Energy Partners

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Holly Energy Partners [Abstract]

Holly Energy Partners

Holly Energy Partners

HEP is a publicly held master limited partnership that owns and operates logistic assets consisting of petroleum product and crude oil pipelines, terminals, tankage, loading rack facilities and refinery processing units that principally support our refining and marketing operations in the Mid-Continent, Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States and Delek US Holdings, Inc.’s (“Delek”) refinery in Big Spring, Texas. Additionally, as of March 31, 2020, HEP owned a 75% interest in UNEV Pipeline, LLC (“UNEV”), the owner of a pipeline running from Woods Cross, Utah to Las Vegas, Nevada (the “UNEV Pipeline”) and associated product terminals, and a 50% ownership interest in each of Osage Pipe Line Company, LLC, the owner of a pipeline running from Cushing, Oklahoma to El Dorado, Kansas (the “Osage Pipeline”); Cheyenne Pipeline, LLC, the owner of a pipeline running from Fort Laramie, Wyoming to Cheyenne, Wyoming (the “Cheyenne Pipeline”) and Cushing Connect Pipeline & Terminal LLC (“Cushing Connect”), the owner of a crude oil storage terminal in Cushing, Oklahoma and a to-be-constructed pipeline that will run from Cushing, Oklahoma to our Tulsa Refineries.

At March 31, 2020, we owned a 57% limited partner interest and a non-economic general partner interest in HEP. As the general partner of HEP, we have the sole ability to direct the activities that most significantly impact HEP’s financial performance, and therefore as HEP's primary beneficiary, we consolidate HEP.

HEP has two primary customers (including us) and generates revenues by charging tariffs for transporting petroleum products and crude oil through its pipelines, by charging fees for terminalling refined products and other hydrocarbons, and by storing and providing other services at its storage tanks and terminals. Under our long-term transportation agreements with HEP (discussed further below), we accounted for 79% of HEP’s total revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2020. We do not provide financial or equity support through any liquidity arrangements and / or debt guarantees to HEP.

HEP has outstanding debt under a senior secured revolving credit agreement and its senior notes. HEP’s creditors have no recourse to our assets. Furthermore, our creditors have no recourse to the assets of HEP and its consolidated subsidiaries. See Note 9 for a description of HEP’s debt obligations.

HEP has risk associated with its operations. If a major customer of HEP were to terminate its contracts or fail to meet desired shipping or throughput levels for an extended period of time, revenue would be reduced and HEP could suffer substantial losses to the extent that a new customer is not found. In the event that HEP incurs a loss, our operating results will reflect HEP’s loss, net of intercompany eliminations, to the extent of our ownership interest in HEP at that point in time.

Cushing Connect Joint Venture

In October 2019, HEP Cushing LLC (“HEP Cushing”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of HEP, and Plains Marketing, L.P. (“PMLP”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (“Plains”), formed a 50/50 joint venture, Cushing Connect, for (i) the development and construction of a new 160,000 barrel per day common carrier crude oil pipeline (the “Cushing Connect Pipeline”) that will connect the Cushing, Oklahoma crude oil hub to our Tulsa Refineries and (ii) the ownership and operation of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil storage in Cushing, Oklahoma (the “Cushing Connect Terminal”). The Cushing Connect Terminal is expected to be placed in service during the second quarter of 2020, and the Cushing Connect Pipeline is expected to be placed in service during the first quarter of 2021. Long-term commercial agreements have been entered into to support the Cushing Connect assets.

Cushing Connect will contract with an affiliate of HEP to manage the construction and operation of the Cushing Connect Pipeline and with an affiliate of Plains to manage the operation of the Cushing Connect Terminal. The total investment in Cushing Connect will be shared proportionately among the partners, and HEP estimates its share of the cost of the Cushing Connect Terminal contributed by Plains and Cushing Connect Pipeline construction costs are approximately $65.0 million.

Cushing Connect and its two subsidiaries, Cushing Connect Pipeline and Cushing Connect Terminal, are each VIE’s because they do not have sufficient equity at risk to finance their activities without additional financial support. HEP is the primary beneficiary of two of these entities as HEP is constructing and will operate the Cushing Connect Pipeline, and HEP has more ability to direct the activities that most significantly impact the financial performance of Cushing Connect and Cushing Connect Pipeline. Therefore, HEP consolidates these two entities. HEP is not the primary beneficiary of Cushing Connect Terminal, which HEP accounts for using the equity method of accounting.

Transportation Agreements

HEP serves our refineries under long-term pipeline, terminal and tankage throughput agreements and refinery processing tolling agreements expiring from 2021 through 2036. Under these agreements, we pay HEP fees to transport, store and process throughput volumes of refined products, crude oil and feedstocks on HEP’s pipeline, terminals, tankage, loading rack facilities and refinery processing units that result in minimum annual payments to HEP including UNEV (a consolidated subsidiary of HEP). Under these agreements, the agreed upon tariff rates are subject to annual tariff rate adjustments on July 1 at a rate based upon the percentage change in Producer Price Index or Federal Energy Regulatory Commission index. As of March 31, 2020, these agreements result in minimum annualized payments to HEP of $348.2 million.

Our transactions with HEP and fees paid under our transportation agreements with HEP and UNEV are eliminated and have no impact on our consolidated financial statements.

HEP Common Unit Continuous Offering Program

In May 2016, HEP established a continuous offering program under which HEP may issue and sell common units from time to time, representing limited partner interests, up to an aggregate gross sales amount of $200 million. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, HEP did not issue any common units under this program. As of March 31, 2020, HEP has issued 2,413,153 common units under this program, providing $82.3 million in gross proceeds.