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ITEMS 1. AND 2.
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BUSINESS AND PROPERTIES
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General
We are a publicly traded Delaware limited partnership formed by Cheniere in 2006. Our vision is to be recognized as the premier global LNG company and provide a reliable, competitive and integrated source of LNG to our customers while creating a safe, productive and rewarding work environment for our employees. The liquefaction of natural gas into LNG allows it to be shipped economically from areas of the world where natural gas is abundant and inexpensive to produce to other areas where natural gas demand and infrastructure exist to economically justify the use of LNG.
T
hrough our wholly owned subsidiary, SPL, we are developing, constructing and operating
natural gas liquefaction facilities
(the “Liquefaction Project”)
at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal
located
in Cameron Parish, Louisiana,
on
the Sabine-Neches Waterway
less than four miles from the Gulf Coast.
We plan to construct up to six Trains, which are in various stages of development, construction and operations. Trains 1 and 2 have commenced operating activities, Train 3 is undergoing commissioning and has produced LNG, Trains 4 and 5 are under construction and Train 6 is fully permitted. Each Train is expected to have a nominal production capacity, which is prior to adjusting for planned maintenance, production reliability and potential overdesign, of approximately 4.5 mtpa of LNG. Through our wholly owned subsidiary, SPLNG, we own and operate regasification facilities at
the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, which includes existing infrastructure of
five
LNG storage tanks with capacity of
approximately
16.9
Bcfe,
two
marine berths that can accommodate
vessels with nominal capacity of
up to
266,000
cubic meters and vaporizers with regasification capacity of approximately
4.0
Bcf/d.
We also own a
94
-mile pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG terminal with a number of large interstate pipelines
(the “Creole Trail Pipeline”)
through our wholly owned subsidiary, CTPL.
The following diagram depicts our abbreviated capital structure as of
December 31, 2016
:
Our Business Strategy
Our primary business strategy is to develop, construct and operate assets supported by long-term, fixed fee contracts. We plan to implement our strategy by:
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completing construction and commencing operation of the first five Trains of the
Liquefaction Project
;
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developing and operating our Trains safely, efficiently and reliably;
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making
LNG
available to our long-term SPA customers to generate steady and reliable revenues and operating cash flows;
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safely, efficiently and reliably
maintaining and operating our assets;
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obtaining the requisite long-term commercial contracts and financing to reach a final investment decision
(“FID”)
regarding Train 6 of the
Liquefaction Project
;
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developing business relationships for the marketing of additional long-term and short-term agreements for additional
LNG
volumes at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal; and
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expanding our existing asset base through acquisitions from Cheniere or third parties or our own development of the
Liquefaction Project
or complementary businesses or assets such as other LNG facilities, midstream assets, natural gas storage assets and natural gas pipelines.
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Our Business
Liquefaction Facilities
We are developing, constructing and operating the
Liquefaction Project
at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal. We have received authorization from the FERC to site, construct and operate Trains 1 through 6. The following table summarizes the overall project status of the
Liquefaction Project
as of
December 31, 2016
:
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Trains 1 & 2
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Trains 3 & 4
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Train 5
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Overall project completion percentage
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100%
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95.5%
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52.4%
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Completion percentage of:
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Engineering
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100%
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100%
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96.6%
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Procurement
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100%
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100%
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76.6%
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Subcontract work
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100%
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78.6%
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43.7%
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Construction
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100%
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93.2%
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11.3%
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Date of expected substantial completion
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Train 1
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Operational
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Train 3
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1Q 2017
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Train 5
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2H 2019
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Train 2
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Operational
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Train 4
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2H 2017
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We achieved substantial completion of Trains 1 and 2 of the
Liquefaction Project
and commenced operating activities in May and September 2016, respectively, and started the commissioning of Train 3 of the
Liquefaction Project
in September 2016. Substantially all of our long-lived assets are located in the United States.
The following orders have been issued by the DOE authorizing the export of domestically produced LNG by vessel from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal:
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Trains 1 through 4—
FTA countries
for a 30-year term, which commenced on May 15, 2016, and
non-FTA countries
for a 20-year term, which commenced on June 3, 2016, in an amount up to a combined total of the equivalent of 16
mtpa
(approximately 803
Bcf/yr
of natural gas).
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Trains 1 through 4—
FTA countries
for a 25-year term and non-FTA countries for a 20-year term, in an amount up to a combined total of the equivalent of approximately 203
Bcf/yr
of natural gas (approximately 4 mtpa).
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Trains 5 and 6—
FTA countries
and
non-FTA countries
for a 20-year term, in an amount up to a combined total of 503.3
Bcf/yr
of natural gas (approximately 10 mtpa).
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In each case, the terms of these authorizations begin on the earlier of the date of first export thereunder or the date specified in the particular order, which ranges from five to 10 years from the date the order was issued. In addition, we received an order providing for a three-year makeup period with respect to each of the non-FTA orders for LNG volumes we were unable to export during any portion of the initial 20-year export period of such order.
In January 2016, the DOE issued an order authorizing SPL to export domestically produced LNG by vessel from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal to
FTA countries
and
non-FTA countries
over a two-year period commencing on January 15, 2016, in an aggregate amount up to the equivalent of 600
Bcf
of natural gas (however, exports to
non-FTA countries
under this order, when combined with exports to
non-FTA countries
under the orders related to Trains 1 through 4 above, may not exceed 1,006
Bcf/yr
).
A party to the proceedings requested rehearings of the orders above related to the export of 803
Bcf/yr
, 203
Bcf/yr
and 503.3
Bcf/yr
to non-FTA countries. The
DOE
issued orders denying rehearing of the orders. The same party petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the DOE order and the order denying the request for rehearing related to the export of 503.3 Bcf/yr to non-FTA countries and the appeal is pending.
Customers
SPL has entered into six fixed price, 20-year
SPA
s with extension rights with third parties to make available an aggregate amount of LNG that equates to approximately 19.75
mtpa
of LNG, which is approximately 88% of the expected aggregate nominal production capacity of Trains 1 through 5. The obligation to make LNG available under the SPAs commences from the date of first commercial delivery for Trains 1 through 5, as specified in each SPA. Under these
SPA
s, the customers will purchase LNG from SPL for a price consisting of a fixed fee per MMBtu of LNG (a portion of which is subject to annual adjustment for inflation) plus a variable fee equal to 115% of
Henry Hub
per
MMBtu
of LNG. In certain circumstances, the customers may elect to cancel or suspend deliveries of LNG cargoes, in which case the customers would still be required to pay the fixed fee with respect to the contracted volumes that are not delivered as a result of such cancellation or suspension. The
SPA
s and contracted volumes to be made available under the
SPA
s are not tied to a specific Train; however, the term of each
SPA
commences upon the start of operations of a specified Train.
As of December 31,
2016
, SPL had the following third-party
SPA
s:
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BG Gulf Coast LNG, LLC (“BG”)
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Gas Natural Fenosa LNG GOM, Limited (“Gas Natural Fenosa”)
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Korea Gas Corporation
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GAIL (India) Limited
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Total Gas & Power North America, Inc. (“Total”)
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Centrica plc
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Annual contract quantity of LNG (in million MMBtu)
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286.50 (1) (2)
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182.50 (3)
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182.50
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182.50
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104.75
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91.25
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Annual contract quantity of LNG (mtpa)
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5.5
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3.5
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3.5
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3.5
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2.0
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1.75
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Expected annual fixed fees (in millions)
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$723 (1)
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$454
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$548
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$548
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$314
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$274
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Fixed fees $/MMBtu
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$2.25 - $3.00 (1)
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$2.49
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$3.00
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$3.00
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$3.00
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$3.00
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Variable fee per MMBtu
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115% of
Henry Hub
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115% of
Henry Hub
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115% of Henry Hub
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115% of Henry Hub
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115% of
Henry Hub
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115% of
Henry Hub
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Contract start (date of first commercial delivery for applicable Train)
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Train 1 (1)
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Train 2
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Train 3
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Train 4
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Train 5
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Train 5
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Guarantor
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BG Energy Holdings Limited
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Gas Natural SDG S.A.
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N/A
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N/A
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Total S.A.
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N/A
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Principal place of business of customer
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United States
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Republic of Ireland
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Republic of Korea
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India
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United States
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England and Wales
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(1)
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Includes an annual contract quantity of 182.5 million MMBtu of LNG upon the date of first commercial delivery of Train 1 with a fixed fee of $2.25 per MMBtu and includes additional annual contract quantities of 36.5 million MMBtu, 34.0 million MMBtu and 33.5 million MMBtu upon the date of first commercial delivery for Trains 2, 3 and 4, respectively, with a fixed fee of $3.00 per MMBtu. Annual fixed fees of approximately $723 million are expected following the date of first commercial delivery of Train 4, consisting of approximately $520 million related to Trains 1 and 2 and approximately $203 million related to Trains 3 and 4.
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(2)
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Does not include 500,000 MMBtu/d of LNG at a fixed fee of $2.25 per MMBtu of LNG that was available upon Train 1 becoming commercially operable prior to the beginning of its first delivery window.
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(3)
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Does not include 285,000 MMBtu/d of LNG at a fixed fee of $2.49 per MMBtu of LNG that is available upon Train 2 becoming commercially operable prior to the beginning of its first delivery window.
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In aggregate, the fixed fee portion to be paid by the third-party SPA customers is approximately $2.9 billion annually for Trains 1 through 5, with the applicable fixed fees starting from the date of first commercial delivery from the applicable Train. These fixed fees equal approximately $411 million, $564 million, $650 million, $648 million and $588 million for each of Trains 1 through 5, respectively.
In addition, Cheniere Marketing has entered into an
SPA
with SPL to purchase, at Cheniere Marketing’s option, any LNG produced by SPL in excess of that required for other customers.
During the
year ended December 31, 2016
, LNG revenues from external customers that were derived from domestic customers was
$414.6 million
and from customers outside of the United States was
$124.9 million
. We attribute revenues from external customers to the country in which the party to the applicable agreement has its principal place of business.
Natural Gas Transportation, Storage and Supply
To ensure SPL is able to transport adequate natural gas feedstock to the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, it has entered into transportation precedent and other agreements to secure firm pipeline transportation capacity with CTPL and third-party pipeline companies. SPL has entered into firm storage services agreements with third parties to assist in managing volatility in natural gas needs for the
Liquefaction Project
. SPL has also entered into enabling agreements and long-term natural gas supply contracts with third parties in order to secure natural gas feedstock for the Liquefaction Project. As of
December 31, 2016
, SPL has secured up to approximately
1,993.9
million
MMBtu
of natural gas feedstock through long-term and short-term natural gas supply contracts.
Construction
SPL entered into lump sum turnkey contracts with Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals, Inc.
(“Bechtel”)
for the engineering, procurement and construction of Trains 1 through 5 of the
Liquefaction Project
, under which
Bechtel
charges a lump sum for all work performed and generally bears project cost risk unless certain specified events occur, in which case
Bechtel
may cause SPL to enter into a change order, or SPL agrees with
Bechtel
to a change order.
The total contract prices of the
EPC
contract for Trains 1 and 2, the
EPC
contract for Trains 3 and 4 and the
EPC
contract for Train 5 of the
Liquefaction Project
are approximately
$4.1 billion
,
$3.9 billion
and
$3.0 billion
, respectively, reflecting amounts incurred under change orders through
December 31, 2016
. Total expected capital costs for Trains 1 through 5 are estimated to be between
$12.5 billion
and
$13.5 billion
before financing costs and between
$17.0 billion
and
$18.0 billion
after financing costs, including, in each case, estimated owner’s costs and contingencies.
Pipeline Facilities
During the third quarter of 2015, CTPL completed construction of modifications to allow the
Creole Trail Pipeline
to be able to transport natural gas to the Sabine Pass LNG terminal.
Final Investment Decision on Train 6
We will contemplate making an
FID
to commence construction of Train 6 of the
Liquefaction Project
based upon, among other things, entering into an
EPC
contract, entering into acceptable commercial arrangements and obtaining adequate financing to construct the Train.
Regasification Facilities
The Sabine Pass LNG terminal has operational regasification capacity of approximately 4.0
Bcf/d
and aggregate LNG storage capacity of approximately 16.9
Bcfe
. Approximately 2.0
Bcf/d
of the regasification capacity at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal has been reserved under two long-term third-party
TUA
s, under which SPLNG’s customers are required to pay fixed monthly fees, whether or not they use the LNG terminal. Each of
Total
and Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
(“Chevron”)
has reserved approximately 1.0
Bcf/d
of regasification capacity and is obligated to make monthly capacity payments to SPLNG aggregating approximately $125 million annually for 20 years that commenced in 2009. Total S.A. has guaranteed
Total
’s obligations under its
TUA
up to $2.5 billion, subject to certain exceptions, and Chevron Corporation has guaranteed
Chevron
’s obligations under its
TUA
up to 80% of the fees payable by
Chevron
.
The remaining approximately 2.0
Bcf/d
of capacity has been reserved under a
TUA
by SPL. SPL is obligated to make monthly capacity payments to SPLNG aggregating approximately $250 million annually, continuing until at least 20 years after SPL delivers its first commercial cargo at the
Liquefaction Project
. SPL entered into a partial TUA assignment agreement with
Total
, whereby SPL will progressively gain access to
Total
’s capacity and other services provided under
Total
’s TUA with SPLNG.
This agreement will provide SPL with additional berthing and storage capacity at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal that may be used to accommodate the development of Trains 5 and 6, provide increased flexibility in managing LNG cargo loading and unloading activity starting with the commencement of commercial operations of Train 3 and permit SPL to more flexibly manage its LNG storage capacity with the commencement of Train 1. Notwithstanding any arrangements between
Total
and SPL, payments required to be made by
Total
to SPLNG will continue to be made by
Total
to SPLNG in accordance with its TUA.
Under each of these
TUA
s, SPLNG is entitled to retain 2% of the LNG delivered to the Sabine Pass LNG terminal.
Governmental Regulation
The Sabine Pass LNG terminal is subject to extensive regulation under federal, state and local statutes, rules, regulations and laws. These laws require that we engage in consultations with appropriate federal and state agencies and that we obtain and maintain applicable permits and other authorizations. This regulatory requirement increases the cost of construction and operation, and failure to comply with such laws could result in substantial penalties and/or loss of necessary authorizations.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
T
he design, construction and operation of our liquefaction facilities, the export of LNG and the transportation of natural gas through the
Creole Trail Pipeline
are highly regulated activities. In order to site, construct and operate the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, we received and are required to maintain authorizations from the
FERC
under Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act of 1938 (“NGA”). The
FERC
’s approval under Section 3 of the NGA, as well as several other material governmental and regulatory approvals and permits.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005
(the “EPAct”)
amended Section 3 of the NGA to establish or clarify the
FERC
’s exclusive authority to approve or deny an application for the siting, construction, expansion or operation of LNG terminals, although except as specifically provided in the
EPAct
, nothing in the
EPAct
is intended to affect otherwise applicable law related to any other federal agency’s authorities or responsibilities related to LNG terminals. The
FERC
issued final orders in April and July 2012 approving our application for an order under Section 3 of the NGA authorizing the siting, construction and operation of Trains 1 through 4 of the Liquefaction Project (and related facilities). Subsequently, the
FERC
issued written approval to commence site preparation work for Trains 1 through 4. In October 2012, we applied to amend the
FERC
approval to reflect certain modifications to the
Liquefaction Project
, and in August 2013, the
FERC
issued an order approving the modifications. In October 2013, we applied to further amend the
FERC
approval, requesting authorization to increase the total permitted LNG production capacity of Trains 1 through 4 from the then authorized 803 Bcf/yr to 1,006 Bcf/yr so as to more accurately reflect the estimated maximum LNG production capacity of Trains 1 through 4. In February 2014, the
FERC
issued an order approving the October 2013 application
(the “February 2014 Order”)
. A party to the proceeding requested a rehearing of the
February 2014 Order
, and in September 2014, the FERC issued an order denying the rehearing request
(the “FERC Order Denying Rehearing”)
. The party petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the
February 2014 Order
and the
FERC Order Denying Rehearing
. The court denied the petition in June 2016. In September 2013, we filed an application with the
FERC
for authorization to add Trains 5 and 6 to the
Liquefaction Project
, which was granted by the
FERC
in an order issued in April 2015 and an order denying rehearing issued in June 2015. These orders are not subject to review.
In order to construct, own, operate and maintain the
Creole Trail Pipeline
, CTPL received a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the
FERC
under Section 7 of the NGA. The
FERC
’s approval under Section 7 of the NGA, as well as several other material governmental and regulatory approvals and permits, may be required prior to making any modifications to the
Creole Trail Pipeline
as it is a regulated, interstate natural gas pipeline. The
FERC
also approved CTPL’s application for authorization to construct, own, operate and maintain certain new facilities in order to enable bi-directional natural gas flow on the
Creole Trail Pipeline
system to allow for the delivery of up to 1,530,000 dekatherms per day (“Dthd”) of feed gas to the Liquefaction Project. In November 2013, CTPL received approval from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
(“LDEQ”)
for the proposed modifications and, with subsequent final
FERC
clearance, construction was completed in 2015.
Several other material governmental and regulatory approvals and permits will be required throughout the life of our
Liquefaction Project
. In addition, the FERC orders require us to comply with certain ongoing conditions and obtain certain additional FERC and other regulatory agency approvals as construction progresses. To date, we have been able to obtain these approvals as needed and the need for these approvals has not materially affected our construction progress. Throughout the life of our LNG terminals, we will be subject to regular reporting requirements to the FERC, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s
(“DOT”) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”) and applicable federal state regulatory agencies regarding the operation and maintenance of our facilities.
In 2002, the
FERC
concluded that it would apply light-handed regulation over the rates, terms and conditions agreed to by parties for LNG terminalling services, such that LNG terminal owners would not be required to provide open-access service at non-discriminatory rates or maintain a tariff or rate schedule on file with the
FERC
, as distinguished from the requirements applied to our
FERC
-regulated natural gas pipelines. The
EPAct
codified the
FERC
’s policy, but those provisions expired on January 1, 2015. Nonetheless, we see no indication that the
FERC
intends to modify its longstanding policy of light-handed regulation of LNG terminals.
The FERC has authority to approve, and if necessary, set “just and reasonable rates” for the transportation or sale of natural gas in interstate commerce. In addition, under the NGA, our pipelines are not permitted to unduly discriminate or grant undue preference as to rates or the terms and conditions of service to any shipper, including its own marketing affiliate. The FERC has the authority to grant certificates allowing construction and operation of facilities used in interstate gas transportation and authorizing the provision of services. Under the NGA, the FERC’s jurisdiction generally extends to the transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce, to the sale in interstate commerce of natural gas for resale for ultimate consumption for domestic, commercial, industrial or any other use and to natural gas companies engaged in such transportation or sale. However, the FERC’s jurisdiction does not extend to the production, gathering, local distribution or export of natural gas.
In general, the FERC’s authority to regulate interstate natural gas pipelines and the services that they provide includes:
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rates and charges for natural gas transportation and related services;
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the certification and construction of new facilities;
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the extension and abandonment of services and facilities;
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the maintenance of accounts and records;
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the acquisition and disposition of facilities;
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the initiation and discontinuation of services; and
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various other matters.
The FERC’s Standards of Conduct apply to interstate pipelines that conduct transmission transactions with an affiliate that engages in marketing functions. Interstate pipelines must treat all transmission customers on a not unduly discriminatory basis. The general principles of the Standards of Conduct are: (1) independent functioning, which requires transmission function employees to function independently of marketing function employees; (2) no-conduit rule, which prohibits passing transmission function information to marketing function employees; and (3) transparency, which imposes posting requirements to detect undue preference. CTPL has established the required policies and procedures to comply with the FERC’s Standards of Conduct and is subject to audit by the FERC to review compliance, policies and its training programs.
The EPAct amended the NGA to strengthen the prohibition of manipulation in the natural gas markets under the FERC’s jurisdiction and increased civil and criminal penalties for any violations of the NGA and any rules, regulations or orders of the FERC up to $1.0 million per day per violation (increased civil penalties were also provided for under the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (the “NGPA”)). In accordance with the EPAct, the FERC issued a final rule under the NGA making it unlawful for any entity, in connection with the purchase or sale of natural gas or transportation service subject to the FERC’s jurisdiction, to defraud, make an untrue statement of material fact or omit a material fact or engage in any practice, act or course of business that operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any entity.
DOE Export License
The DOE has authorized the export of domestically produced LNG by vessel from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal as discussed in
Liquefaction Facilities.
Although it is not expected to occur, the loss of an export authorization could be a force majeure event under our SPAs.
Exports of natural gas to FTA countries are “deemed to be consistent with the public interest” and authorization to export LNG to FTA countries shall be granted by the DOE without “modification or delay.” FTA countries which import LNG now or will do so by the end of 2017 include Canada, Chile, Colombia, Jordan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea and the Dominican
Republic. Exports of natural gas to non-FTA countries are considered by the DOE in the context of a comment period whereby interveners are provided the opportunity to assert that such authorization would not be consistent with the public interest.
Pipelines
The
Creole Trail Pipeline
is also subject to regulation by the PHMSA, pursuant to which the PHMSA has established requirements relating to the design, installation, testing, construction, operation, replacement and management of pipeline facilities.
The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, as amended (“PSIA”), which is administered by the PHMSA Office of Pipeline Safety, governs the areas of testing, education, training and communication. The PSIA requires pipeline companies to perform extensive integrity tests on natural gas transportation pipelines that exist in high population density areas designated as “high consequence areas.” Pipeline companies are required to perform the integrity tests on a seven-year cycle. The risk ratings are based on numerous factors, including the population density in the geographic regions served by a particular pipeline, as well as the age and condition of the pipeline and its protective coating. Testing consists of hydrostatic testing, internal electronic testing, or direct assessment of the piping. In addition to the pipeline integrity tests, pipeline companies must implement a qualification program to make certain that employees are properly trained. Pipeline operators also must develop integrity management programs for gas transportation pipelines, which requires pipeline operators to perform ongoing assessments of pipeline integrity; identify and characterize applicable threats to pipeline segments that could impact a high consequence area; improve data collection, integration and analysis; repair and remediate the pipeline, as necessary; and implement preventive and mitigation actions.
In 2009, the PHMSA issued a final rule (known as “Control Room Management/Human Factors Rule”) that became effective in 2010 requiring pipeline operators to write and institute certain control room procedures that address human factors and fatigue management.
In March 2015, PHMSA issued a final rule amending the pipeline safety regulations to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements, including who can perform post-construction inspections on transmission pipelines. In September 2015, PHMSA issued a rule indefinitely delaying the effective date for the amendment to the regulation regarding post-construction inspections.
In May 2015, PHMSA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing to amend gas pipeline safety regulations regarding plastic piping systems used in gas services, including the installation of plastic pipe used for gas transmission lines.
In July 2015, PHMSA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing to add a specific timeframe for operators’ notification of accidents or incidents, as well as amending the safety regulations regarding operator qualification requirements by expanding the requirements to include new construction and certain previously excluded operation and maintenance tasks, requiring a program effectiveness review and adding new recordkeeping requirements. In January 2017, PHMSA issued a final rule adding a specific time frame for operators’ notification of accidents or incidents but delayed final action on the proposed operator qualification requirements until a later date. The final rule will be effective March 24, 2017.
In April 2016, the PHMSA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking addressing changes to the regulations governing the safety of gas transmission pipelines. Specifically, PHMSA is considering certain integrity management requirements for “moderate consequence areas,” requiring an integrity verification process for specific categories of pipelines, and mandating more explicit requirements for the integration of data from integrity assessments to an operator’s compliance procedures. The PHMSA is also considering whether to revise requirements for corrosion control issues and expanding the definition of regulated gathering lines. These notices of proposed rulemaking are still pending at the PHMSA.
Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 (“NGPSA”)
Louisiana and Texas administer federal pipeline safety standards under the NGPSA, which requires certain pipelines to comply with safety standards in constructing and operating the pipelines and subjects the pipelines to regular inspections. Failure to comply with the NGPSA may result in the imposition of administrative, civil and criminal sanctions.
Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Jobs Creation Act of 2011
The
Creole Trail Pipeline
is also subject to the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Jobs Creation Act of 2011, which regulates safety requirements in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of interstate natural gas transmission facilities. Under the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Job Creation Act of 2011, PHMSA has civil penalty authority up to approximately $200,000 per day per violation (increased from the prior $100,000), with a maximum of approximately $2 million in civil penalties for any related series of violations (increased from the prior $1 million).
Other Governmental Permits, Approvals and Authorizations
The construction and operation of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal are subject to additional federal permits, orders, approvals and consultations required by other federal agencies, including the DOT, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”), U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Services, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Three significant permits are the USACE Section 404 of the Clean Water Act/Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act Permit (the “Section 10/404 Permit”), the Clean Air Act Title V Operating Permit (the “Title V Permit”) and the Prevention of Significant Deterioration Permit (the “PSD Permit”), of which the latter two permits are issued by the
LDEQ
.
The application for revision of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal’s Section 10/404 Permit to authorize construction of Trains 1 through 4 was submitted in January 2011. The process included a public comment period which commenced in March 2011 and closed in April 2011. The revised Section 10/404 Permit was received from the USACE in March 2012. A modification to the Section 10/404 Permit, to address wetlands impacted by the construction of Trains 5 and 6, was issued by the USACE in June 2015. The USACE acted in the capacity as a cooperating agency in the review process under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. In addition, a Section 10/404 Permit application is pending with respect to the expansion of the
Creole Trail Pipeline
. These permits will require us to provide mitigation to compensate for the wetlands impacted by the respective projects. The application to amend the Sabine Pass LNG terminal’s existing Title V and PSD Permits to authorize construction of Trains 1 through 4 was initially submitted in December 2010 and revised in March 2011. The process included a public comment period from June 2011 to August 2011 and a public hearing in August 2011. The final revised Title V and PSD Permits were issued by the
LDEQ
in December 2011. Although these permits are final, a petition with the EPA has been filed pursuant to the Clean Air Act requesting that the EPA object to the Title V Permit. The EPA has not ruled on this petition. In June 2012, SPL applied to the
LDEQ
for a further amendment to the Title V and PSD Permits to reflect proposed modifications to the
Liquefaction Project
that were filed with the FERC in October 2012. The
LDEQ
issued the amended PSD and Title V Permits in March 2013. These permits are final. In September 2013, SPL applied to the
LDEQ
for another amendment to its PSD and Title V Permits seeking approval to, among other things, construct and operate Trains 5 and 6. The LDEQ issued the amended PSD and Title V Permits in June 2015. These permits are final.
CTPL was issued new Title V and PSD Permits for the proposed modifications to the
Creole Trail Pipeline
system by the
LDEQ
in November 2013.
In August 2014, the Sabine Pass LNG terminal’s existing wastewater discharge permit was modified by
LDEQ
to authorize the discharge of wastewaters from the liquefaction facilities. We intend to apply for a modification of this permit in mid-2017 to include wastewaters generated with respect to the anticipated operations of Trains 5 and 6.
The Sabine Pass LNG terminal is subject to PHMSA safety regulations and standards for the transportation and storage of LNG and regulations of the U.S. Coast Guard relating to maritime safety and facility security.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”)
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) amended the Commodity Exchange Act to provide for federal regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market and entities, such as us, that participate in that market. The regulatory regime created by the Dodd-Frank Act is designed primarily to (1) regulate certain participants in the swaps markets, including entities falling within the categories of “Swap Dealer” and “Major Swap Participant,” (2) require clearing and exchange trading of standardized swaps of certain classes as designated by the CFTC, (3) increase swap market transparency through robust reporting and recordkeeping requirements, (4) reduce financial risks in the derivatives market by imposing margin or collateral requirements on both cleared and, in certain cases, uncleared swaps, (5) provide the CFTC with
expanded authority to establish position limits on certain physical commodity futures and options contracts and their economically equivalent swaps as it finds necessary and appropriate, and (6) otherwise enhance the rulemaking and enforcement authority of the CFTC and the SEC regarding the derivatives markets. As required by the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC, the SEC and other regulators have been promulgating rules and regulations implementing the regulatory provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, although neither the CFTC nor the SEC has yet adopted or implemented all of the rules required by the Dodd-Frank Act. In addition, the CFTC and its staff regularly issue rule amendments and guidance, policy statements and letters interpreting or taking no-action positions, including time-limited no action positions, regarding the derivatives provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act and the rules of the CFTC under these provisions.
A provision of the Dodd-Frank Act requires the CFTC, in order to diminish or prevent excessive speculation in commodity markets, to adopt rules, as it finds necessary and appropriate, imposing new position limits on certain physical commodity futures contracts and options thereon, as well as economically equivalent swaps traded on registered swap trading platforms and on over-the-counter swaps that perform a significant price discovery function with respect to certain markets. In that regard, the CFTC has proposed position limits rules that would modify and expand the applicability of limits on the speculative positions in certain physical commodity futures contracts, and economically equivalent futures, options and swaps for or linked to certain physical commodities, including Henry Hub natural gas, that market participants may hold, subject to limited exemptions for certain bona fide hedging and other types of transactions. It is uncertain at this time whether, when and in what form the CFTC’s proposed new position limits rules may become final and effective.
Pursuant to rules adopted by the CFTC, four classes of interest rate swaps (e.g., fixed-to-float, basis swaps, forward rate agreements and overnight index swaps) denominated in several currencies and two classes of index credit default swaps must be cleared through a derivatives clearing organization and executed on an exchange or swap execution facility. The CFTC has not yet proposed to designate swaps in any other asset classes, including swaps relating to physical commodities, for mandatory clearing and trade execution, but could do so in the future. Although we expect to qualify for the end-user exception from the mandatory clearing and exchange-trading requirements applicable to any swaps that we enter into to hedge our commercial risks, the mandatory clearing and exchange-trading requirements may apply to other market participants, including our counterparties (who may be registered as Swap Dealers), with respect to other swaps, and the application of such rules may change the market cost and general availability in the market of swaps of the type we enter into to hedge our commercial risks and, thus, the cost and availability of the swaps that we use for hedging.
As required by provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC and federal banking regulators have adopted rules to require Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants, including those that are regulated financial institutions, to collect initial and variation margin with respect to uncleared swaps from their counterparties that are financial end users, registered swap dealers or major swap participants. These rules, which, as to the collection of initial margin, are being phased in, do not require collection of margin from non-financial-entity end users who qualify for the end user exception from the mandatory clearing requirement or from non-financial end users or certain other counterparties in certain instances. We expect to qualify as such a non-financial-entity end user with respect to the swaps that we enter into to hedge our commercial risks. The Dodd-Frank Act’s swaps regulatory provisions and the related rules may adversely affect our existing derivative contracts and restrict our ability to monetize such contracts, cause us to restructure certain contracts, reduce the availability of derivatives to protect against risks or to optimize assets, increase the costs of entering into and maintaining swaps, adversely affect our ability to execute our hedging strategies and impact the liquidity of certain swaps products, all of which could increase our business costs.
Under the Commodity Exchange Act as amended by the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC is directed generally to prevent manipulation, including by fraudulent or deceptive practices, in two markets: (1) physical commodities traded in interstate commerce, including physical energy and other commodities, as well as (2) financial instruments, such as futures, options and swaps, on any commodity. Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC has adopted additional anti-manipulation and anti-disruptive trading practices regulations that prohibit, among other things, manipulative or deceptive schemes in the physical commodities, futures, options and swaps markets. In addition, separate from the Dodd-Frank Act, our use of futures and options on commodities is subject to the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as well as the rules of futures exchanges on which any of these instruments are executed. Should we violate any of these laws and regulations, we could be subject to a CFTC or an exchange enforcement action and material penalties, possibly resulting in changes in the rates we can charge.
Environmental Regulation
The Sabine Pass LNG terminal is subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment and natural resources. These environmental laws and regulations require significant expenditures for
compliance, can affect the cost and output of operations and may impose substantial penalties for non-compliance and substantial liabilities for pollution. Many of these laws and regulations, such as those noted below, restrict or prohibit impacts to the environment or the types, quantities and concentration of substances that can be released into the environment and can lead to substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties for non-compliance.
Clean Air Act (“CAA”)
The Sabine Pass LNG terminal is subject to the federal CAA and comparable state and local laws. We may be required to incur certain capital expenditures over the next several years for air pollution control equipment in connection with maintaining or obtaining permits and approvals addressing air emission-related issues. We do not believe, however, that our operations, or the construction and operations of our liquefaction facilities, will be materially and adversely affected by any such requirements.
In
2009, the EPA promulgated and finalized the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule for multiple sections of the economy. This rule requires mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions from stationary sources, including fuel combustion sources. In 2010, the EPA expanded the rule to include reporting obligations for LNG terminals. In addition, the EPA has defined GHG emissions thresholds that would subject GHG emissions from new and modified industrial sources to regulation if the source is subject to PSD Permit requirements due to its emissions of non-GHG criteria pollutants. In June 2013, the Obama Administration issued its Climate Action Plan, which announced a wide-ranging set of executive actions to be implemented to cut carbon emissions in the United States. The Obama Administration has also issued regulations limiting GHG emissions from new and existing electrical generating stations (the latter is known as the Clean Power Plan). These rules are currently subject to court challenge and the timing, extent and impact of these initiatives remain uncertain. From time to time, Congress has considered proposed legislation directed at reducing GHG emissions. In addition, many states have already taken regulatory action to monitor and/or reduce emissions of GHGs, primarily through the development of GHG emission inventories or regional GHG cap and trade programs. It is not possible at this time to predict how future regulations or legislation may address GHG emissions and impact our business. However, future regulations and laws could result in increased compliance costs or additional operating restrictions and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, operating results and cash flows.
Coastal Zone Management Act (“CZMA”)
The siting and construction of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal within the coastal zone may be
subject to the requirements of the CZMA. The CZMA is administered by the states (in Louisiana, by the Department of Natural Resources, and in Texas, by the General Land Office). This program is implemented to ensure that impacts to coastal areas are consistent with the intent of the CZMA to manage the coastal areas.
Clean Water Act (“CWA”)
The Sabine Pass LNG terminal is
subject to the federal CWA and analogous state and local laws. The CWA imposes strict controls on the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters of the United States, including discharges of wastewater and storm water runoff and fill/discharges into waters of the United States. Permits must be obtained prior to discharging pollutants into state and federal waters. The CWA is administered by the EPA, the USACE and by the states (in Louisiana, by the
LDEQ
).
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”)
The federal RCRA and comparable state statutes govern the generation, handling and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes and require corrective action for releases into the environment. In the event such wastes are generated in connection with our facilities, we will be subject to regulatory requirements affecting the handling, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal of such wastes.
Endangered Species Act
The Sabine Pass LNG terminal may
be restricted by requirements under the Endangered Species Act, which seeks to protect endangered or threatened animal, fish and plant species and designated habitats.
Market Factors and Competition
The
Liquefaction Project
currently does not experience competition with respect to Trains 1 through 5.
SPL
has entered into six fixed price, 20-year
SPA
s with third parties that will utilize substantially all of the liquefaction capacity available from these Trains. Each customer will be required to pay an escalating fixed fee for its annual contract quantity even if it elects not to purchase any LNG from us.
If and when
SPL
needs to replace any existing
SPA
or enter into new
SPA
s,
SPL
will compete on the basis of price per contracted volume of LNG with other natural gas liquefaction projects throughout the world. Cheniere is currently developing a natural gas liquefaction facility near Corpus Christi, Texas and has entered into eight fixed price, 20-year third-party
SPA
s for the sale of LNG from this natural gas liquefaction facility, and may continue to enter into commercial agreements with respect to this natural gas liquefaction facility that might otherwise have been entered into with respect to Train 6. Revenues associated with any incremental volumes of the Liquefaction Project, including those under the Cheniere Marketing
SPA
discussed above, will also be subject to market-based price competition. Many of the companies with which we compete are major energy corporations with longer operating histories, more development experience, greater name recognition, greater financial, technical and marketing resources and greater access to markets than us.
SPLNG
currently does not experience competition for its terminal capacity because the entire approximately 4.0 Bcf/d of regasification capacity that is available at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal has been fully contracted. If and when
SPLNG
has to replace any TUAs, it will compete with other then-existing LNG terminals for customers.
Our ability to enter into additional long-term SPAs to underpin the development of additional Trains, sell any quantities of LNG available under the
SPA
s with Cheniere Marketing, or develop new projects is subject to market factors. These factors include changes in worldwide supply and demand for natural gas, LNG and substitute products, the relative prices for natural gas, crude oil and substitute products in North America and international markets, the rate of fuel switching for power generation from coal, nuclear or oil to natural gas and economic growth in developing countries. In addition, Cheniere’s ability to obtain additional funding to execute its business strategy is subject to the investment community’s appetite for investment in LNG and natural gas infrastructure and Cheniere’s ability to access capital markets.
We expect that global demand for natural gas and LNG will continue to increase as nations seek more abundant, reliable and environmentally cleaner fuel alternatives to oil and coal. Global demand for natural gas is projected by the International Energy Agency to grow by approximately 21 trillion cubic feet (“Tcf”) between 2014 and 2025, with LNG maintaining its current share of approximately 10% of the global market. Wood Mackenzie forecasts that global demand for LNG will increase by 67%, from approximately 255 mtpa, or 12.2 Tcf, in 2016, to 425 mtpa, or 20.4 Tcf, in 2025, and that LNG production from existing facilities and new facilities already under construction will be able to supply the market with 368 mtpa in 2025, resulting in a market need for construction of additional facilities capable of producing an incremental 57 mtpa of LNG. We believe our new project that does not already have capacity sold under long-term contracts is competitive with new proposed projects globally and is well-positioned to capture a portion of this incremental market need.
Our LNG business has limited exposure to the decline in oil prices as we have contracted a significant portion of our LNG production capacity under long-term sale and purchase agreements. These agreements contain fixed fees that are required to be paid even if the customers elect to cancel or suspend delivery of LNG cargoes. To date, we have contracted approximately 19.75 mtpa of aggregate production capacity for Trains 1 through 5 of the Liquefaction Project with third-party customers. Train 6 has not been contracted to date. As of January 12,
2017
, U.S. natural gas prices indicate that LNG exported from the U.S. continues to be competitively priced, supporting the opportunity for U.S. LNG to fill uncontracted future demand through the execution of long-term, medium-term and short-term contracting of LNG from our terminal.
Subsidiaries
Our assets are generally held by or under our subsidiaries. We conduct most of our business through these subsidiaries, including the development, construction and operation of our LNG terminal business.
Employees
We have no employees. We rely on our general partner to manage all aspects of the development, construction, operation and maintenance of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal and the Liquefaction Project and to conduct our business. Because our general
partner has no employees, it relies on subsidiaries of Cheniere to provide the personnel necessary to allow it to meet its management obligations to us, SPLNG, SPL and CTPL. As of January 31,
2017
, Cheniere and its subsidiaries had
911
full-time employees, including
320
employees who directly supported the Sabine Pass LNG terminal operations. See
Note 12—Related Party Transactions
of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a discussion of the services agreements pursuant to which general and administrative services are provided to us, SPLNG, SPL and CTPL.
Available Information
Our common units have been publicly traded since March 21, 2007 and are traded on the NYSE MKT under the symbol “CQP.” Our principal executive offices are located at 700 Milam Street, Suite 1900, Houston, Texas 77002, and our telephone number is (713) 375-5000. Our internet address is www.cheniere.com. We provide public access to our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file those materials with, or furnish those materials to, the SEC under the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
(the “Exchange Act”)
. These reports may be accessed free of charge through our internet website. We make our website content available for informational purposes only. The website should not be relied upon for investment purposes and is not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K.
We will also make available to any unitholder, without charge, copies of our annual report on Form 10-K as filed with the SEC. For copies of this, or any other filing, please contact: Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P, Investor Relations Department, 700 Milam Street, Suite 1900, Houston, Texas 77002 or call (713) 375-5000. In addition, the public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an internet site (www.sec.gov) that contains reports and other information regarding issuers, like us, that file electronically with the SEC.
Limited partner interests are inherently different from the capital stock of a corporation, although many of the business risks to which we are subject are similar to those that would be faced by a corporation engaged in a similar business. The following are some of the important factors that could affect our financial performance or could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates or expectations contained in our forward-looking statements. We may encounter risks in addition to those described below. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us, or that we currently deem to be immaterial, may also impair or adversely affect our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flows, liquidity and prospects.
The risk factors in this report are grouped into the following categories:
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Risks Relating to Our Financial Matters;
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Risks Relating to Our Business;
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Risks Relating to Our Cash Distributions;
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Risks Relating to an Investment in Us and Our Common Units; and
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Risks Relating to Tax Matters.
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Risks Relating to Our Financial Matters
Our existing level of cash resources, negative operating cash flow and significant debt could cause us to have inadequate liquidity and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.
As of
December 31, 2016
, we had
zero
cash and cash equivalents,
$604.9 million
of current restricted cash and
$14.6 billion
of total debt outstanding on a consolidated basis (before debt discounts, debt premiums and unamortized debt issuance costs), excluding
$368.7 million
aggregate outstanding letters of credit. We incur, and will incur, significant interest expense relating to the assets at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal and we anticipate needing to incur additional debt to finance the construction of Train 6 of the Liquefaction Project. Our ability to fund our capital expenditures and refinance our indebtedness will depend on our ability to access additional project financing as well as the debt and equity capital markets. A variety of factors beyond our control could impact the availability or cost of capital, including domestic or international economic conditions, increases in key benchmark interest rates and/or credit spreads, the adoption of new or amended banking or capital market laws or regulations and the re-
pricing of market risks and volatility in capital and financial markets. Our financing costs could increase or future borrowings or equity offerings may be unavailable to us or unsuccessful, which could cause us to be unable to pay or refinance our indebtedness or to fund our other liquidity needs. We also rely on borrowings under our credit facilities to fund our capital expenditures. If any of the lenders in the syndicates backing these facilities was unable to perform on its commitments, we may need to seek replacement financing, which may not be available as needed, or may be available in more limited amounts or on more expensive or otherwise unfavorable terms.
We have not been profitable historically. We may not achieve profitability or generate positive operating cash flow in the future.
We had net losses of
$171.2 million
, $318.9 million and $410.0 million for the
years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014
, respectively. In the future, we may incur operating losses and experience negative operating cash flow. We may not be able to reduce costs, increase revenues, or reduce our debt service obligations sufficiently to maintain our cash resources, which could cause us to have inadequate liquidity to continue our business.
We will continue to incur significant capital and operating expenditures while we develop and construct the Liquefaction Project. Any delays beyond the expected development period for our Trains could cause, and could increase the level of, our operating losses and negative cash flows. Our future liquidity may also be affected by the timing of construction financing availability in relation to the incurrence of construction costs and other outflows and by the timing of receipt of cash flows under
SPA
s in relation to the incurrence of project and operating expenses. Moreover, many factors (including factors beyond our control) could result in a disparity between liquidity sources and cash needs, including factors such as construction delays and breaches of agreements. Our ability to generate any significant positive operating cash flow and achieve profitability in the future is dependent on our ability to successfully and timely complete the applicable Train.
We may sell equity or equity-related securities, including additional common units. Such sales could dilute our unitholders’ proportionate indirect interests in our assets, business operations, Liquefaction Project and other projects, and could adversely affect the market price of our common units.
We have pursued and are pursuing a number of alternatives in order to finance the construction of Train 6, including potential issuances and sales of additional equity or equity-related securities. Such sales, in one or more transactions, could dilute our unitholders’ proportionate indirect interests in our assets, business operations and proposed projects, including the Liquefaction Project. In addition, such sales, or the anticipation of such sales, could adversely affect the market price of our common units.
Our ability to generate cash is substantially dependent upon the performance by customers under long-term contracts that we have entered into, and we could be materially and adversely affected if any customer fails to perform its contractual obligations for any reason.
Our future results and liquidity are substantially dependent upon performance by
Chevron
and
Total
, each of which has entered into a TUA with SPLNG and agreed to pay SPLNG approximately $125 million annually, and on the performance, upon satisfaction of the conditions precedent to payment thereunder, by six third-party customers that have entered into
SPA
s with SPL and agreed to pay SPL an aggregate of $2.9 billion annually in fixed fees. We are dependent on each customer’s continued willingness and ability to perform its obligations under its
SPA
. We are exposed to the credit risk of any guarantor of these customers’ obligations under their respective TUA or
SPA
in the event that we must seek recourse under a guaranty. If any customer fails to perform its obligations under its TUA or
SPA
, our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects could be materially and adversely affected, even if we were ultimately successful in seeking damages from that customer or its guarantor for a breach of the TUA or
SPA
.
Each of our customer contracts is subject to termination under certain circumstances.
Each of SPLNG’s long-term TUAs contains various termination rights. For example, each customer may terminate its TUA if the Sabine Pass LNG terminal experiences a force majeure delay for longer than 18 months, fails to redeliver a specified amount of natural gas in accordance with the customer’s redelivery nominations or fails to accept and unload a specified number of the customer’s proposed LNG cargoes. SPLNG may not be able to replace these TUAs on desirable terms, or at all, if they are terminated.
Each of SPL’s
SPA
s contains various termination rights allowing our customers to terminate their
SPA
s, including, without limitation: (1) upon the occurrence of certain events of force majeure; (2) if we fail to make available specified scheduled cargo
quantities; and (3) delays in the commencement of commercial operations. We may not be able to replace these
SPA
s on desirable terms, or at all, if they are terminated.
Our use of hedging arrangements may adversely affect our future operating results or liquidity.
To reduce our exposure to fluctuations in the price, volume and timing risk associated with the purchase of natural gas, we use futures, swaps and option contracts traded or cleared on the Intercontinental Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange, or over-the-counter options and swaps with other natural gas merchants and financial institutions. Hedging arrangements would expose us to risk of financial loss in some circumstances, including when:
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expected supply is less than the amount hedged;
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the counterparty to the hedging contract defaults on its contractual obligations; or
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there is a change in the expected differential between the underlying price in the hedging agreement and actual prices received.
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The use of derivatives also may require the posting of cash collateral with counterparties, which can impact working capital when commodity prices change.
The swaps regulatory and other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act and the rules adopted thereunder and other regulations could adversely affect our ability to hedge risks associated with our business and our operating results and cash flows.
The provisions of the
Dodd-Frank Act
and the rules adopted and to be adopted by the
CFTC
, the SEC and other federal regulators establishing federal regulation of the over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives market and entities like us that participate in that market may adversely affect our ability to manage certain of our risks on a cost effective basis. Such laws and regulations may also adversely affect our ability to execute our strategies with respect to hedging our exposure to variability in expected future cash flows attributable to the future sale of our LNG inventory and to price risk attributable to future purchases of natural gas to be utilized as fuel to operate our LNG terminals and to secure natural gas feedstock for our liquefaction facilities.
The CFTC has proposed position limits rules that would modify and expand the applicability of position limits on the amounts of certain speculative futures contracts, as well as economically equivalent options, futures and swaps for or linked to certain physical commodities, including Henry Hub natural gas, that market participants may hold, subject to limited exemptions for certain bona fide hedging positions and other types of transactions. The CFTC also has adopted final rules regarding aggregation of positions, under which a party that controls the trading for the account of, or owns 10% or more of the equity interests in, another party will have to aggregate the positions in all such controlled accounts and of all such controlled or owned parties with their own positions for purposes of determining compliance with position limits rules unless an exemption applies. Upon the adoption and effectiveness of final CFTC position limits rules, and the effectiveness of the final aggregation rules, our ability to execute our hedging strategies described above could be limited. It is uncertain at this time whether, when and in what form the CFTC’s proposed new position limits rules may become final and effective.
Under the Dodd-Frank Act and the rules adopted thereunder, we may be required to clear through a derivatives clearing organization any swaps into which we enter that fall within a class of swaps designated by the CFTC for mandatory clearing and we could have to execute trades in such swaps on certain trading platforms or exchanges. The CFTC has designated four classes of interest rate swaps (denominated in numerous currencies) and two classes of index credit default swaps for mandatory clearing, but has not yet proposed rules designating any physical commodity swaps, for mandatory clearing or mandatory exchange trading. Although we expect to qualify for the end-user exception from the mandatory clearing and trade execution requirements for our swaps entered into to hedge our commercial risks, if we fail to qualify for that exception as to any swap we enter into and have to clear that swap through a derivatives clearing organization, we could be required to post margin with respect to such swap, our cost of entering into and maintaining such swap could increase and we would not enjoy the same flexibility with the cleared swaps that we enjoy with the uncleared OTC swaps we enter into. Moreover, the application of the mandatory clearing and trade execution requirements to other market participants, such as swap dealers, may change the market cost and general availability in the market of swaps of the type we enter into to hedge our commercial risks and, thus, the cost and availability of the swaps that we use for hedging.
As required by the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC and federal banking regulators have adopted rules to require certain market participants to collect and post initial and variation margin with respect to uncleared swaps from their counterparties that are financial end users and certain registered swap dealers and major swap participants. The requirements of those rules as to the
collection of initial margin are being phased in. Although we believe we will not be required to post margin with respect to any uncleared swaps we enter into in the future, were we not to do so and have to post margin as to our uncleared swaps in the future, our cost of entering into and maintaining swaps would be increased. Our counterparties that are subject to the regulations imposing the Basel III capital requirements on them may increase the cost to us of entering into swaps with them or, although not required to collect margin from us under the margin rules, contractually require us to post collateral with them in connection with such swaps in order to offset their increased capital costs or to reduce their capital costs to maintain those swaps on their balance sheets.
The Dodd-Frank Act also imposes other regulatory requirements on swaps market participants, including end users of swaps, such as regulations relating to swap documentation, reporting and recordkeeping, and certain business conduct rules applicable to swap dealers and major swap participants. Together with the Basel III capital requirements on certain swaps market participants, the regulatory requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act and the rules thereunder relating to swaps and derivatives market participants could significantly increase the cost of derivative contracts (including through requirements to post margin or collateral), materially alter the terms of derivative contracts, reduce the availability of derivatives to protect against certain risks that we encounter and reduce our ability to monetize or restructure our existing derivative contracts and to execute our hedging strategies. If, as a result of the swaps regulatory regime discussed above, we were to reduce our use of swaps to hedge our risks, such as commodity price risks that we encounter in our operations, our operating results and cash flows may become more volatile and could be otherwise adversely affected.
We expect that our hedging activities will remain subject to significant and developing regulations and regulatory oversight. However, the full impact of the various U.S. (and non-U.S.) regulatory developments in connection with these activities will not be known with certainty until such derivatives market regulations are fully implemented and related market practices and structures are fully developed.
In making our investment decisions for the Liquefaction Project, we have relied on several economic development programs in Louisiana, including Industrial Tax Exemption (“ITE”) contracts. If we were to lose significant tax incentives through the economic development programs or if the ITE contracts were declared void, the loss of such tax incentives and/or exemptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.
SPL has utilized the ITE program, which is available for a “new” manufacturing establishment or an “addition” to an existing manufacturing establishment. SPL has entered into a total of eight ITE contracts, which exempt from ad valorem property taxes all of SPL’s assets when placed in service.
On October 12, 2016, a lawsuit was filed by JMCB, LLC (“JMCB”) against SPL, the Louisiana Department of Economic Development (“LED”) and the Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry (“BCI”) (the “Pending Matter”). In the Pending Matter, JMCB contends that one of SPL’s ITE contracts should be declared an improper and unauthorized act of BCI. JMCB asks the court to declare the contract null and void and without legal effect, as well as for incidental damages in the form of any taxes not paid in reliance on the exemption granted under the ITE contract. JMCB’s petition is filed as a class action that seeks declaratory relief for all similarly situated taxpayers in Cameron Parish and for the governmental agencies that would have received the ad valorem property taxes, but for the ITE contract. SPL believes that the likelihood that the resolution of the Pending Matter will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity or prospects is remote. If we do not prevail in the Pending Matter, the loss of such tax exemption could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.
Risks Relating to Our Business
Operation of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, the Liquefaction Project and other facilities that we may construct involves significant risks.
As more fully discussed in these Risk Factors, the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, the Liquefaction Project and our other existing and proposed LNG facilities face operational risks, including the following:
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the facilities’ performing below expected levels of efficiency;
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breakdown or failures of equipment;
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operational errors by vessel or tug operators;
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operational errors by us or any contracted facility operator;
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weather-related interruptions of operations.
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We may not be successful in fully implementing our proposed business strategy to provide liquefaction capabilities at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal adjacent to the existing regasification facilities.
It will take several years to construct the Liquefaction Project, and even if successfully constructed, the Liquefaction Project would be subject to the operating risks described herein. Accordingly, there are many risks associated with the Liquefaction Project, and if we are not successful in implementing our business strategy, we may not be able to generate cash flows, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Cost overruns and delays in the completion of one or more Trains, as well as difficulties in obtaining sufficient financing to pay for such costs and delays, could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
The actual construction costs of the Trains may be significantly higher than our current estimates as a result of many factors, including change orders under existing or future
EPC
contracts resulting from the occurrence of certain specified events that may give
Bechtel
the right to cause us to enter into change orders or resulting from changes with which we otherwise agree. We have already experienced increased costs due to change orders. We do not have any prior experience in constructing liquefaction facilities, and other than Trains 1 and 2 of the
Liquefaction Project
, no liquefaction facilities have been constructed and placed in service in the United States in over 40 years. As construction progresses, we may decide or be forced to submit change orders to our contractor that could result in longer construction periods, higher construction costs or both, including change orders to comply with existing or future environmental or other regulations.
Delays in the construction of one or more Trains beyond the estimated development periods, as well as change orders to the EPC contracts with
Bechtel
or any future
EPC
contract related to additional Trains, could increase the cost of completion beyond the amounts that we estimate, which could require us to obtain additional sources of financing to fund our operations until the Liquefaction Project is fully constructed (which could cause further delays). Our ability to obtain financing that may be needed to provide additional funding to cover increased costs will depend, in part, on factors beyond our control. Accordingly, we may not be able to obtain financing on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. Even if we are able to obtain financing, we may have to accept terms that are disadvantageous to us or that may have a material adverse effect on our current or future business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Delays in the completion of one or more Trains could lead to reduced revenues or termination of one or more of the
SPA
s by our counterparties.
Any delay in completion of a Train could cause a delay in the receipt of revenues projected therefrom or cause a loss of one or more customers in the event of significant delays.
In particular, each of our SPAs provides that the counterparty may terminate that SPA if the relevant Train does not timely commence commercial operations.
As a result, any significant construction delay, whatever the cause, could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Our ability to complete development of Train 6 will be contingent on our ability to obtain additional funding. If we are unable to obtain sufficient funding, we may be unable to fully execute our business strategy.
We will require significant additional funding to be able to commence construction of Train 6, which we may not be able to obtain at a cost that results in positive economics, or at all. The inability to achieve acceptable funding may cause a delay in the development of Train 6, and we may not be able to complete our business plan. Even if we are able to obtain funding, the funding may be inadequate to cover any increases in costs or delays in completion of Train 6, which may cause a delay in the receipt of revenues projected therefrom or cause a loss of one or more future customers in the event of significant delays. As a result, any significant construction delay, whatever the cause, could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
SPLNG may be required to purchase natural gas to provide fuel at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, which would increase operating costs and could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.
SPLNG’s TUAs provide for an in-kind deduction of 2% of the LNG delivered to the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, which it uses primarily as fuel for revaporization and self-generated power and to cover natural gas unavoidably lost at the facility. There is a risk that this 2% in-kind deduction will be insufficient for these needs and that SPLNG will have to purchase additional natural gas from third parties. SPLNG will bear the cost and risk of changing prices for any such fuel.
Hurricanes or other disasters could result in an interruption of our operations, a delay in the completion of the Liquefaction Project, higher construction costs and the deferral of the dates on which payments are due to SPL under the
SPA
s, all of which could adversely affect us.
In August and September of 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, respectively, damaged coastal and inland areas located in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, resulting in the temporary suspension of construction of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal. In September 2008, Hurricane Ike struck the Texas and Louisiana coast, and the Sabine Pass LNG terminal experienced minor damage.
Future storms and related storm activity and collateral effects, or other disasters such as explosions, fires, floods or accidents, could result in damage to, or interruption of operations at, the Sabine Pass LNG terminal or related infrastructure, as well as delays or cost increases in the construction and the development of the Liquefaction Project and related infrastructure. Changes in the global climate may have significant physical effects, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, floods and rising sea levels; if any such effects were to occur, they could have an adverse effect on our coastal operations.
Failure to obtain and maintain approvals and permits from governmental and regulatory agencies with respect to the design, construction and operation of our facilities could impede operations and construction and could have a material adverse effect on us.
The design, construction and operation of interstate natural gas pipelines, LNG terminals, including the Liquefaction Project, and other facilities, and the import and export of LNG and the transportation of natural gas, are highly regulated activities. Approvals of the FERC and DOE under Section 3 and Section 7 of the NGA, as well as several other material governmental and regulatory approvals and permits, including several under the CAA and the CWA, are required in order to construct and operate an LNG facility and an interstate natural gas pipeline and export LNG. Although the FERC has issued orders under Section 3 of the NGA authorizing the siting, construction and operation of six Trains, the FERC orders require us to comply with certain ongoing conditions and obtain certain additional approvals in conjunction with ongoing construction and operations of the Liquefaction Project. We also have a pending application with the DOE for authorization to export LNG to non-FTA countries in addition to the orders previously granted to us by the DOE. We will be required to obtain similar approvals and permits with respect to any expansion or modification of our liquefaction and pipeline facilities. We cannot control the outcome of the FERC’s or the DOE’s review and approval processes. Certain of these governmental permits, approvals and authorizations are or may be subject to rehearing requests, appeals and other challenges.
Authorizations obtained from the FERC, DOE and other federal and state regulatory agencies also contain ongoing conditions, and additional approval and permit requirements may be imposed. We do not know whether or when any such approvals or permits can be obtained, or whether any existing or potential interventions or other actions by third parties will interfere with our ability to obtain and maintain such permits or approvals. If we are unable to obtain and maintain the necessary approvals and permits, including as a result of untimely notices or filings, we may not be able to recover our investment in our projects. There is no assurance that we will obtain and maintain these governmental permits, approvals and authorizations, or that we will be able to obtain them on a timely basis, and failure to obtain and maintain any of these permits, approvals or authorizations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.
We are entirely dependent on Cheniere, including employees of Cheniere and its subsidiaries, for key personnel, and the unavailability of skilled workers or failure to attract and retain qualified personnel could adversely affect us. In addition, changes in our general partner’s senior management or other key personnel could affect our business results.
As of January 31,
2017
, Cheniere and its subsidiaries had
911
full-time employees, including
320
employees who directly supported the Sabine Pass LNG terminal operations. We have contracted with subsidiaries of Cheniere to provide the personnel necessary for the operation, maintenance and management of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, the
Creole Trail Pipeline
and
construction of the Liquefaction Project. We depend on Cheniere’s subsidiaries hiring and retaining personnel sufficient to provide support for the
Liquefaction Project
. Cheniere competes with other liquefaction projects in the United States and globally, other energy companies and other employers to attract and retain qualified personnel with the technical skills and experience required to construct and operate liquefaction facilities and pipelines and to provide our customers with the highest quality service. We also compete with any other project Cheniere is developing, including its liquefaction project at Corpus Christi, Texas, for the time and expertise of Cheniere’s personnel. Further, we and Cheniere face competition for these highly skilled employees in the immediate vicinity of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal and more generally from the Gulf Coast hydrocarbon processing and construction industries.
The executive officers of our general partner are officers and employees of Cheniere and its affiliates. We do not maintain key person life insurance policies on any personnel, and our general partner does not have any employment contracts or other agreements with key personnel binding them to provide services for any particular term. The loss of the services of any of these individuals could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, our future success will depend in part on our general partner’s ability to engage, and Cheniere’s ability to attract and retain additional qualified personnel.
A shortage in the labor pool of skilled workers or other general inflationary pressures or changes in applicable laws and regulations could make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel and could require an increase in the wage and benefits packages that are offered, thereby increasing our operating costs. Any increase in our operating costs could materially and adversely affect our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity, and prospects.
We have numerous contractual and commercial relationships, and conflicts of interest, with Cheniere and its affiliates, including Cheniere Marketing.
We have agreements to compensate and to reimburse expenses of affiliates of Cheniere. In addition, Cheniere Investments has entered into an amended and restated variable capacity rights agreement
(the “Amended and Restated VCRA”)
with Cheniere Marketing, under which Cheniere Marketing will be able to derive economic benefits to the extent it assists Cheniere Investments in commercializing Cheniere Investments’ access to capacity at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal through its agreement with SPL, which has a TUA with SPLNG. In addition, Cheniere Marketing has entered into an
SPA
to purchase, at Cheniere Marketing’s option, any LNG produced by SPL in excess of that required for other customers. All of these agreements involve conflicts of interest between us, on the one hand, and Cheniere and its other affiliates, on the other hand. In addition, Cheniere is currently developing and constructing a natural gas liquefaction facility near Corpus Christi, Texas and has entered into eight third-party
SPA
s for the sale of LNG from this natural gas liquefaction facility, and may continue to enter into commercial arrangements with respect to this liquefaction facility that might otherwise have been entered into with respect to Train 6.
We expect that there will be additional agreements or arrangements with Cheniere and its affiliates, including future transportation, interconnection and gas balancing agreements with one or more Cheniere-affiliated natural gas pipelines as well as other agreements and arrangements that cannot now be anticipated. In those circumstances where additional contracts with Cheniere and its affiliates may be necessary or desirable, additional conflicts of interest will be involved.
We are dependent on Cheniere and its affiliates to provide services to us. If Cheniere or its affiliates are unable or unwilling to perform according to the negotiated terms and timetable of their respective agreement for any reason or terminate their agreement, we would be required to engage a substitute service provider. This could result in a significant interference with operations and increased costs.
We are dependent on
Bechtel
and other contractors for the successful completion of the Liquefaction Project.
Timely and cost-effective completion of the Liquefaction Project in compliance with agreed specifications is central to our business strategy and is highly dependent on the performance of
Bechtel
and our other contractors under their agreements. The ability of
Bechtel
and our other contractors to perform successfully under their agreements is dependent on a number of factors, including their ability to:
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design and engineer each Train to operate in accordance with specifications;
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engage and retain third-party subcontractors and procure equipment and supplies;
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respond to difficulties such as equipment failure, delivery delays, schedule changes and failure to perform by subcontractors, some of which are beyond their control;
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attract, develop and retain skilled personnel, including engineers;
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post required construction bonds and comply with the terms thereof;
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manage the construction process generally, including coordinating with other contractors and regulatory agencies; and
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maintain their own financial condition, including adequate working capital.
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Although some agreements may provide for liquidated damages if the contractor fails to perform in the manner required with respect to certain of its obligations, the events that trigger a requirement to pay liquidated damages may delay or impair the operation of the Liquefaction Project, and any liquidated damages that we receive may not be sufficient to cover the damages that we suffer as a result of any such delay or impairment. The obligations of
Bechtel
and our other contractors to pay liquidated damages under their agreements are subject to caps on liability, as set forth therein.
Furthermore, we may have disagreements with our contractors about different elements of the construction process, which could lead to the assertion of rights and remedies under their contracts and increase the cost of the Liquefaction Project or result in a contractor’s unwillingness to perform further work on the Liquefaction Project. If any contractor is unable or unwilling to perform according to the negotiated terms and timetable of its respective agreement for any reason or terminates its agreement, we would be required to engage a substitute contractor. This would likely result in significant project delays and increased costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
We are relying on third-party engineers to estimate the future capacity ratings and performance capabilities of the Liquefaction Project, and these estimates may prove to be inaccurate.
We are relying on third parties, principally
Bechtel
, for the design and engineering services underlying our estimates of the future capacity ratings and performance capabilities of the Liquefaction Project. If any Train, when actually constructed, fails to have the capacity ratings and performance capabilities that we intend, our estimates may not be accurate. Failure of any of our Trains to achieve our intended capacity ratings and performance capabilities could prevent us from achieving the commercial start dates under our
SPA
s and could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
If third-party pipelines and other facilities interconnected to our pipelines and facilities are or become unavailable to transport natural gas, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.
We will depend upon third-party pipelines and other facilities that will provide gas delivery options to the Liquefaction Project and to and from the
Creole Trail Pipeline
. If the construction of new or modified pipeline connections is not completed on schedule or any pipeline connection were to become unavailable for current or future volumes of natural gas due to repairs, damage to the facility, lack of capacity or any other reason, our ability to meet our
SPA
obligations and continue shipping natural gas from producing regions or to end markets could be restricted, thereby reducing our revenues, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects.
We may not be able to purchase or receive physical delivery of sufficient natural gas to satisfy our delivery obligations under the
SPA
s, which could have a material adverse effect on us.
Under the
SPA
s with our customers, we are required to make available to them a specified amount of LNG at specified times. However, we may not be able to purchase or receive physical delivery of sufficient quantities of natural gas to satisfy those obligations, which may provide affected
SPA
customers with the right to terminate their
SPA
s. Our failure to purchase or receive physical delivery of sufficient quantities of natural gas could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
We are subject to significant operating hazards and uninsured risks, one or more of which may create significant liabilities and losses for us.
The construction and operation of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal and the Liquefaction Project is and will be subject to the inherent risks associated with these types of operations, including explosions, pollution, release of toxic substances, fires, hurricanes and adverse weather conditions, and other hazards, each of which could result in significant delays in commencement or
interruptions of operations and/or in damage to or destruction of our facilities or damage to persons and property. In addition, our operations and the facilities and vessels of third parties on which our operations are dependent face possible risks associated with acts of aggression or terrorism.
We do not, nor do we intend to, maintain insurance against all of these risks and losses. We may not be able to maintain desired or required insurance in the future at rates that we consider reasonable. The occurrence of a significant event not fully insured or indemnified against could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Cyclical or other changes in the demand for and price of LNG and natural gas may adversely affect our LNG business and the performance of our customers and could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flows, liquidity and prospects.
Our LNG business and the development of domestic LNG facilities and projects generally is based on assumptions about the future availability and price of natural gas and LNG, and the prospects for international natural gas and LNG markets. Natural gas and LNG prices have been, and are likely to continue to be, volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to one or more of the following factors:
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additions to competitive regasification capacity in North America, Europe, Asia and other markets, which could divert LNG from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal;
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competitive liquefaction capacity in North America;
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insufficient or oversupply of natural gas liquefaction or receiving capacity worldwide;
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insufficient LNG tanker capacity;
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reduced demand and lower prices for natural gas;
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increased natural gas production deliverable by pipelines, which could suppress demand for LNG;
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decreased oil and natural gas exploration activities, which may decrease the production of natural gas;
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cost improvements that allow competitors to offer LNG regasification services or provide natural gas liquefaction capabilities at reduced prices;
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changes in supplies of, and prices for, alternative energy sources such as coal, oil, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and solar energy, which may reduce the demand for natural gas;
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changes in regulatory, tax or other governmental policies regarding imported or exported LNG, natural gas or alternative energy sources, which may reduce the demand for imported or exported LNG and/or natural gas;
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political conditions in natural gas producing regions;
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adverse relative demand for LNG compared to other markets, which may decrease LNG imports into or exports from North America; and
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cyclical trends in general business and economic conditions that cause changes in the demand for natural gas.
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Adverse trends or developments affecting any of these factors could result in decreases in the price of LNG and/or natural gas, which could materially and adversely affect the performance of our customers, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flows, liquidity and prospects.
Failure of imported or exported LNG to be a competitive source of energy for international markets could adversely affect our customers and could materially and adversely affect our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Operations of the Liquefaction Project will be dependent upon the ability of our
SPA
customers to deliver LNG supplies from the United States, which is primarily dependent upon LNG being a competitive source of energy internationally. The success of our business plan is dependent, in part, on the extent to which LNG can, for significant periods and in significant volumes, be supplied from North America and delivered to international markets at a lower cost than the cost of alternative energy sources.
Through the use of improved exploration technologies, additional sources of natural gas may be discovered outside the United States, which could increase the available supply of natural gas outside the United States and could result in natural gas in those markets being available at a lower cost than LNG exported to those markets.
Operations at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal are dependent, in part, upon the ability of our TUA customers to import LNG supplies into the United States, which is primarily dependent upon LNG being a competitive source of energy in North America. In North America, due mainly to a historically abundant supply of natural gas and discoveries of substantial quantities of unconventional, or shale, natural gas, imported LNG has not developed into a significant energy source. The success of the regasification services component of our business plan is dependent, in part, on the extent to which LNG can, for significant periods and in significant volumes, be produced internationally and delivered to North America at a lower cost than the cost to produce some domestic supplies of natural gas, or other alternative energy sources. Through the use of improved exploration technologies, additional sources of natural gas have recently been and may continue to be discovered in North America, which could further increase the available supply of natural gas and could result in natural gas being available at a lower cost than imported LNG.
Political instability in foreign countries that import or export natural gas, or strained relations between such countries and the United States, may also impede the willingness or ability of LNG purchasers or suppliers and merchants in such countries to import or export LNG from or to the United States. Furthermore, some foreign purchasers or suppliers of LNG may have economic or other reasons to obtain their LNG from, or direct their LNG to, non-U.S. markets or from or to our competitors’ liquefaction or regasification facilities in the United States.
In addition to natural gas, LNG also competes with other sources of energy, including coal, oil, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and solar energy.
LNG from the
Liquefaction Project
also competes with other sources of LNG, including LNG that is priced to indices other than Henry Hub. Some of these sources of energy may be
available at a lower cost
than LNG from the
Liquefaction Project
in certain markets. The cost of LNG supplies from the United States, including the
Liquefaction Project
, may also be impacted by an increase in natural gas prices in the United States
.
As a result of these and other factors, LNG may not be a competitive source of energy in the United States or internationally. The failure of LNG to be a competitive supply alternative to local natural gas, oil and other alternative energy sources in markets accessible to our customers could adversely affect the ability of our customers to deliver LNG from the United States or to the United States on a commercial basis. Any significant impediment to the ability to deliver LNG to or from the United States generally, or to the Sabine Pass LNG terminal or from the Liquefaction Project specifically, could have a material adverse effect on our customers and on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Various economic and political factors could negatively affect the development, construction and operation of LNG facilities, including the Liquefaction Project, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Commercial development of an LNG facility takes a number of years, requires a substantial capital investment and may be delayed by factors such as:
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increased construction costs;
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economic downturns, increases in interest rates or other events that may affect the availability of sufficient financing for LNG projects on commercially reasonable terms;
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decreases in the price of LNG, which might decrease the expected returns relating to investments in LNG projects;
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the inability of project owners or operators to obtain governmental approvals to construct or operate LNG facilities;
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political unrest or local community resistance to the siting of LNG facilities due to safety, environmental or security concerns; and
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any significant explosion, spill or similar incident involving an LNG facility or LNG vessel.
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There may be shortages of LNG vessels worldwide, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
The construction and delivery of LNG vessels require significant capital and long construction lead times, and the availability of the vessels could be delayed to the detriment of our business and our customers because of:
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an inadequate number of shipyards constructing LNG vessels and a backlog of orders at these shipyards;
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political or economic disturbances in the countries where the vessels are being constructed;
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changes in governmental regulations or maritime self-regulatory organizations;
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work stoppages or other labor disturbances at the shipyards;
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bankruptcy or other financial crisis of shipbuilders;
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quality or engineering problems;
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weather interference or a catastrophic event, such as a major earthquake, tsunami or fire; and
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shortages of or delays in the receipt of necessary construction materials.
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We may not be able to secure firm pipeline transportation capacity on economic terms that is sufficient to meet our feed gas transportation requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on us.
We have contracted for firm capacity for our natural gas feedstock transportation requirements for Trains 1 through 5 of the Liquefaction Project. We cannot control the regulatory and permitting approvals or third parties’ construction times. If and when we need to replace one or more of our agreements with these interconnecting pipelines, we may not be able to do so on commercially reasonable terms or at all, which could impair our ability to fulfill our obligations under certain of our
SPA
s and could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
We face competition based upon the international market price for LNG.
The Liquefaction Project is subject to the risk of LNG price competition at times when we need to replace any existing
SPA
, whether due to natural expiration, default or otherwise, or enter into new
SPA
s with respect to Train 6. Factors relating to competition may prevent us from entering into a new or replacement
SPA
on economically comparable terms as existing
SPA
s, or at all. Such an event could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects. Factors which may negatively affect potential demand for LNG from the Liquefaction Project are diverse and include, among others:
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increases in worldwide LNG production capacity and availability of LNG for market supply;
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increases in demand for LNG but at levels below those required to maintain current price equilibrium with respect to supply;
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increases in the cost to supply natural gas feedstock to the Liquefaction Project;
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decreases in the cost of competing sources of natural gas or alternate fuels such as coal, heavy fuel oil and diesel;
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decreases in the price of non-U.S. LNG, including decreases in price as a result of contracts indexed to lower oil prices;
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increases in capacity and utilization of nuclear power and related facilities; and
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displacement of LNG by pipeline natural gas or alternate fuels in locations where access to these energy sources is not currently available.
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Terrorist attacks, including cyberterrorism, or military campaigns may adversely impact our business.
A terrorist, including a cyberterrorist, or military incident involving an LNG facility, our infrastructure or an LNG vessel may result in delays in, or cancellation of, construction of new LNG facilities, including one or more of the Trains, which would increase our costs and decrease our cash flows. A terrorist incident may also result in temporary or permanent closure of existing LNG facilities, including the Sabine Pass LNG terminal or the
Creole Trail Pipeline
, which could increase our costs and decrease our cash flows, depending on the duration and timing of the closure. Our operations could also become subject to increased governmental scrutiny that may result in additional security measures at a significant incremental cost to us. In addition, the threat of terrorism and the impact of military campaigns may lead to continued volatility in prices for natural gas that could adversely affect our business and our customers, including their ability to satisfy their obligations to us under our commercial agreements. Instability in the financial markets as a result of terrorism, including cyberterrorism, or war could also materially adversely affect our ability to raise capital. The continuation of these developments may subject our construction and our operations to increased
risks, as well as increased costs, and, depending on their ultimate magnitude, could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Existing and future environmental and similar laws and governmental regulations could result in increased compliance costs or additional operating costs or construction costs and restrictions.
Our business is and will be subject to extensive federal, state and local laws and regulations that regulate and restrict, among other things, discharges to air, land and water, with particular respect to the protection of the environment and natural resources; the use, handling, storage and disposal of hazardous materials, hazardous waste and petroleum products; and investigation and remediation associated with the release of hazardous substances. Many of these laws and regulations, such as the CAA, the Oil Pollution Act, the CWA and the RCRA, and analogous state laws and regulations, restrict or prohibit the types, quantities and concentration of substances that can be released into the environment in connection with the construction and operation of our facilities, and require us to maintain permits and provide governmental authorities with access to our facilities for inspection and submit filings and reports related to our compliance. Violation of these laws and regulations could lead to substantial liabilities, fines and penalties and/or to capital expenditures related to pollution control equipment that could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Federal and state laws can impose liability, without regard to fault or the lawfulness of the original conduct, for the release of certain types or quantities of hazardous substances into the environment. As the owner and operator of our facilities, we could be liable for the costs of cleaning up hazardous substances released into the environment at or from our facilities and for resulting damage to natural resources.
In October 2015, the EPA promulgated a final rule to implement the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan, which is designed to reduce GHG emissions from power plants in the United States.
In February 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the final rule, effectively suspending the duty to comply with the rule until certain legal challenges are resolved.
Other federal and state initiatives are being considered or may be considered in the future to address GHG emissions through, for example, United States treaty commitments, direct regulation, a carbon emissions tax, or cap-and-trade programs. Such initiatives could affect the demand for or cost of natural gas, which we consume at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, or could increase compliance costs for our operations.
The future of the Clean Power Plan and other GHG-related initiatives of the federal government may change under the Trump Administration.
Other future legislation and regulations, such as those relating to the transportation and security of LNG imported to or exported from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal could cause additional expenditures, restrictions and delays in our business and to our proposed construction, the extent of which cannot be predicted and which may require us to limit substantially, delay or cease operations in some circumstances. Revised, reinterpreted or additional laws and regulations that result in increased compliance costs or additional operating or construction costs and restrictions could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
The
Creole Trail Pipeline
and its FERC gas tariff are subject to FERC regulation.
The
Creole Trail Pipeline
is subject to regulation by the FERC under the NGA and the NGPA. The FERC regulates the transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce, including the construction and operation of pipelines, the rates, terms and conditions of service and abandonment of facilities. Under the NGA, the rates charged by CTPL must be just and reasonable, and CTPL is prohibited from unduly preferring or unreasonably discriminating against any person with respect to pipeline rates or terms and conditions of service.
CTPL’s FERC gas tariff (the “Tariff”), including the pro forma transportation agreements, must be filed with and approved by the FERC. Before we enter into a transportation agreement with a shipper that contains terms that deviate in any material aspect from our filed Tariff, referred to as non-confirming terms, we must seek FERC’s approval. The FERC may approve the non-conforming terms in the transportation agreement; however, in that case, the non-conforming terms must be made available to our other similarly-situated customers. If CTPL fails to seek FERC’s approval of a transportation agreement with non-conforming terms, or if the FERC audits our contracts and finds deviations that appear to be unduly discriminatory, the FERC could conduct a formal enforcement investigation, resulting in serious penalties and/or onerous ongoing compliance obligations.
Should we fail to comply with all applicable FERC-administered statutes, rules, regulations and orders, it could be subject to substantial penalties and fines. Under the
EPAct
, the FERC has civil penalty authority under the NGA and the NGPA to impose penalties for current violations of up to $1.0 million per day for each violation.
A major health and safety incident relating to our business could be costly in terms of potential liabilities and reputational damage.
Health and safety performance is critical to the success of all areas of our business. Any failure in health and safety performance may result in personal harm or injury, penalties for non-compliance with relevant regulatory requirements or litigation, and a failure that results in a significant health and safety incident is likely to be costly in terms of potential liabilities. Such a failure could generate public concern and have a corresponding impact on our reputation and our relationships with relevant regulatory agencies and local communities, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Pipeline safety integrity programs and repairs may impose significant costs and liabilities on us.
The PHMSA requires pipeline operators to develop integrity management programs to comprehensively evaluate certain areas along their pipelines and to take additional measures to protect pipeline segments located in “high consequence areas” where a leak or rupture could potentially do the most harm. As an operator, we are required to:
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perform ongoing assessments of pipeline integrity;
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identify and characterize applicable threats to pipeline segments that could impact a high consequence area;
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improve data collection, integration and analysis;
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repair and remediate the pipeline as necessary; and
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implement preventative and mitigating actions.
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We are required to maintain pipeline integrity testing programs that are intended to assess pipeline integrity. Any repair, remediation, preventative or mitigating actions may require significant capital and operating expenditures. Should we fail to comply with the Federal Office of Pipeline Safety’s rules and related regulations and orders, we could be subject to significant penalties and fines.
Our business could be materially and adversely affected if we lose the right to situate the
Creole Trail Pipeline
on property owned by third parties.
We do not own the land on which the
Creole Trail Pipeline
is situated, and we are subject to the possibility of increased costs to retain necessary land use rights. If we were to lose these rights or be required to relocate the
Creole Trail Pipeline
, our business could be materially and adversely affected.
Our lack of diversification could have an adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Substantially all of our anticipated revenue in 2016 will be dependent upon one facility, the Sabine Pass LNG terminal located in southern Louisiana. Due to our lack of asset and geographic diversification, an adverse development at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal, including the related pipeline, or in the LNG industry, would have a significantly greater impact on our financial condition and operating results than if we maintained more diverse assets and operating areas.
If we do not make acquisitions or implement capital expansion projects on economically acceptable terms, our future growth and our ability to increase distributions to our unitholders will be limited.
Our ability to grow depends on our ability to make accretive acquisitions or implement accretive capital expansion projects, such as the Liquefaction Project. We may be unable to make accretive acquisitions or implement accretive capital expansion projects for any of the following reasons:
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if we are unable to identify attractive acquisition candidates or negotiate acceptable purchase contracts with them;
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if we are unable to identify attractive capital expansion projects or negotiate acceptable engineering procurement and construction arrangements for them;
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if we are unable to obtain necessary governmental approvals;
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if we are unable to obtain financing for the acquisitions or capital expansion projects on economically acceptable terms, or at all;
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if we are unable to secure adequate customer commitments to use the acquired or expansion facilities; or
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if we are outbid by competitors.
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If we are unable to make accretive acquisitions or implement accretive capital expansion projects, then our future growth and ability to increase distributions to our unitholders will be limited.
We intend to pursue acquisitions of additional LNG terminals, natural gas pipelines and related assets in the future, either directly from Cheniere or from third parties. However, Cheniere is not obligated to offer us any of these assets other than, in certain circumstances under an investors rights agreement with
Blackstone CQP Holdco
, its liquefaction project at Corpus Christi, Texas. If Cheniere does offer us the opportunity to purchase assets, we may not be able to successfully negotiate a purchase and sale agreement and related agreements, we may not be able to obtain any required financing for such purchase and we may not be able to obtain any required governmental and third-party consents. The decision whether or not to accept such offer, and to negotiate the terms of such offer, will be made by the conflicts committee of our general partner, which may decline the opportunity to accept such offer for a variety of reasons, including a determination that the acquisition of the assets at the proposed purchase price would not result in an increase, or a sufficient increase, in our adjusted operating surplus per unit within an appropriate timeframe.
If we make acquisitions, such acquisitions could adversely affect our business and ability to make distributions to our unitholders.
If we make any acquisitions, they will involve potential risks, including:
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an inability to integrate successfully the businesses that we acquire with our existing business;
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a decrease in our liquidity by using a significant portion of our available cash or borrowing capacity to finance the acquisition;
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the assumption of unknown liabilities;
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limitations on rights to indemnity from the seller;
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mistaken assumptions about the cash generated, or to be generated, by the business acquired or the overall costs of equity or debt;
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the diversion of management’s and employees’ attention from other business concerns; and
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unforeseen difficulties encountered in operating new business segments or in new geographic areas.
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If we consummate any future acquisitions, our capitalization and operating results may change significantly, and our unitholders will not have the opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial and other relevant information that we will consider in determining the application of our future funds and other resources. In addition, if we issue additional units in connection with future growth, our existing unitholders’ interest in us will be diluted, and distributions to our unitholders may be reduced.
We may incur impairments to long-lived assets.
We test our long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of these assets may not be recoverable. Significant negative industry or economic trends, reduced estimates of future cash flows for our business or disruptions to our business could lead to an impairment charge of our long-lived assets. Our valuation methodology for assessing impairment requires management to make judgments and assumptions based on historical experience and to rely heavily on projections of future operating performance. Projections of future operating results and cash flows may vary significantly from results. In addition, if our analysis results in an impairment to our long-lived assets, we may be required to record a charge to earnings in our Consolidated Financial Statements during a period in which such impairment is determined to exist, which may negatively impact our operating results.
Risks Relating to Our Cash Distributions
We may not be successful in our efforts to maintain or increase our cash available for distribution to cover the distributions on our common units.
We are currently paying the initial quarterly distribution of $0.425 on each of our common units and the related distribution on the general partner units. We are currently not paying any distributions on the subordinated units. The Class B units are not entitled to receive distributions until they convert into common units. As of
December 31, 2016
, we had
57.1 million
common units outstanding. The aggregate initial quarterly distribution on these common units and the related general partner units is approximately
$99 million
per year. We are not currently generating sufficient operating surplus each quarter to pay the initial quarterly distribution on all of these units and therefore intend to use a portion of our accumulated operating surplus each quarter to enable us to make this distribution. When the outstanding Class B units convert into common units, we may not have sufficient operating surplus to be able to pay the initial quarterly distribution on all common units then outstanding.
The amount of cash that we can distribute on our common units principally will depend upon the amount of cash that we generate from our existing operations, which will be based on, among other things:
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performance by counterparties of their obligations under the SPAs;
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performance by SPL of its obligations under the SPAs;
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performance by counterparties of their obligations under the TUAs;
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performance by SPLNG of its obligations under the TUAs;
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performance by, and the level of cash receipts received from, Cheniere Marketing under the
Amended and Restated VCRA
; and
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the level of our operating costs, including payments to our general partner and its affiliates.
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In addition, the actual amount of cash that we will have available for distribution will depend on other factors such as:
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the restrictions contained in our debt agreements and our debt service requirements, including the our ability to pay distributions under our credit facilities and the ability of SPL to pay distributions to us under its credit facilities and its senior notes;
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the costs and capital requirements of acquisitions, if any;
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fluctuations in our working capital needs;
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our ability to borrow for working capital or other purposes; and
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the amount, if any, of cash reserves established by our general partner.
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We may not be successful in our efforts to maintain or increase our cash available for distribution to cover the distributions on our units. Any reductions in distributions to our unitholders because of a shortfall in cash flow or other events will result in a decrease of the quarterly distribution on our common units below the initial quarterly distribution. Any portion of the initial quarterly distribution that is not distributed on our common units will accrue and be paid to the common unitholders in accordance with our partnership agreement, if at all.
We will need to refinance, extend or otherwise satisfy our substantial indebtedness, and principal amortization or other terms of our future indebtedness could limit our ability to pay or increase distributions to our unitholders.
As of
December 31, 2016
, we had
$14.6 billion
of total consolidated indebtedness (before debt discounts, debt premiums and unamortized debt issuance costs). We anticipate incurring additional consolidated indebtedness in the future, including by issuing additional notes of our subsidiaries, including SPL. Any additional indebtedness incurred could be at higher interest rates and have different maturity dates and more restrictive covenants than our current outstanding indebtedness. Approximately
$0.2 billion
of our indebtedness will mature in 2017,
$2.6 billion
will mature in 2020,
$2.0 billion
will mature in 2021 and
$9.5 billion
will mature between 2022 and 2027. In addition, SPL’s
$4.6 billion
credit facilities, which we had
$0.3 billion
outstanding as of
December 31, 2016
, will mature on the earlier of December 31, 2020 or the second anniversary of the Train 5 completion date, as defined in SPL’s credit facilities. We are not generally required to make principal payments on any of our long-term indebtedness
prior to maturity other than SPL’s credit facilities. Our ability to refinance, extend or otherwise satisfy our indebtedness, and the principal amortization, interest rate and other terms on which we may be able to do so, will depend among other things on our then contracted or otherwise anticipated future cash flows available for debt service. Our TUAs with
Total
and
Chevron
will expire in 2029 unless extended. Our SPA with BG will expire in 2036 unless extended. Our ability to pay or increase distributions to our unitholders in future years could be limited by principal amortization, interest rate or other terms of our future indebtedness. If we are unable to refinance, extend or otherwise satisfy our debt as it matures, that would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flow, liquidity and prospects.
Our subsidiaries may be restricted under the terms of their indebtedness from making distributions to us under certain circumstances, which may limit our ability to pay or increase distributions to our unitholders and could materially and adversely affect the market price of our common units.
The agreements governing our indebtedness restrict payments that our subsidiaries can make to us in certain events and limit the indebtedness that our subsidiaries can incur. For example, SPL is restricted from making distributions under the agreements governing its indebtedness generally until, among other requirements, substantial completion of Trains 1 and 2 has occurred, deposits are made into debt service reserve accounts and a debt service coverage ratio of 1.25:1.00 is satisfied.
If our subsidiaries are unable to pay distributions to us or incur indebtedness as a result of the foregoing restrictions in agreements governing their indebtedness, we may be inhibited in our ability to pay or increase distributions to our unitholders.
Restrictions in agreements governing our subsidiaries’ indebtedness may prevent our subsidiaries from engaging in certain beneficial transactions.
In addition to restrictions on the ability of SPL to make distributions or incur additional indebtedness, the agreements governing their indebtedness also contain various other covenants that may prevent them from engaging in beneficial transactions, including limitations on their ability to:
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make certain investments;
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purchase, redeem or retire equity interests;
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sell or transfer assets;
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enter into transactions with affiliates;
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consolidate, merge, sell or lease all or substantially all of its assets; and
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enter into sale and leaseback transactions.
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Management fees and cost reimbursements due to our general partner and its affiliates will reduce cash available to pay distributions to our unitholders.
We pay significant management fees to our general partner and its affiliates and reimburse them for expenses incurred on our behalf, which reduces our cash available for distribution to our unitholders. See
Note 12—Related Party Transactions
of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of these fees and expenses. Our general partner and its affiliates will also be entitled to reimbursement for all other direct expenses that they incur on our behalf. The payment of fees to our general partner and its affiliates and the reimbursement of expenses could adversely affect our ability to pay cash distributions to our unitholders.
The amount of cash that we have available for distributions to our unitholders will depend primarily on our cash flow and not solely on profitability.
The amount of cash that we will have available for distributions will depend primarily on our cash flow, including cash reserves and working capital or other borrowings, and not solely on profitability, which will be affected by non-cash items. As a result, we may make cash distributions during periods when we record losses, and we may not make cash distributions during periods when we record net income.
We have not paid any distributions on our subordinated units with respect to the quarters ended on or after June 30, 2010. We may not have sufficient cash available for distributions on our subordinated units in the future. Any further reduction in the amount of cash available for distributions could impact our ability to pay the initial quarterly distribution on our common units in full or at all.
We may not be able to maintain or increase the distributions on our common units and recommence making distributions on our subordinated units unless we are able to make accretive acquisitions or implement accretive capital expansion projects, which may require us to obtain one or more sources of funding.
We may not be able to make accretive acquisitions or implement accretive capital expansion projects, including our liquefaction facilities, that would result in sufficient cash flow to fully pay distributions to the subordinated unitholder and allow us to maintain or increase common unitholder distributions. To fund acquisitions or capital expansion projects, we will need to pursue a variety of sources of funding, including debt and/or equity financings. Our ability to obtain these or other types of financing will depend, in part, on factors beyond our control, such as our ability to obtain commitments from users of the facilities to be acquired or constructed, the status of various debt and equity markets at the time financing is sought and such markets’ view of our industry and prospects at such time. Any restrictive lending conditions in the U.S. credit markets may make it more time consuming and expensive for us to obtain financing, if we can obtain such financing at all. Accordingly, we may not be able to obtain financing for acquisitions or capital expansion projects on terms that are acceptable to us, if at all.
Risks Relating to an Investment in Us and Our Common Units
Our general partner and its affiliates have conflicts of interest and limited fiduciary duties, which may permit them to favor their own interests to the detriment of us and our unitholders.
Cheniere owns and, indirectly through Cheniere Holdings, controls our general partner, which has sole responsibility for conducting our business and managing our operations. Some of our general partner’s directors are also directors of Cheniere, and certain of our general partner’s officers are officers of Cheniere. Therefore, conflicts of interest may arise between Cheniere and its affiliates, including our general partner, on the one hand, and us and our unitholders, on the other hand. In resolving these conflicts, our general partner may favor its own interests and the interests of its affiliates over the interests of us and our unitholders. These conflicts include, among others, the following situations:
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neither our partnership agreement nor any other agreement requires Cheniere to pursue a business strategy that favors us. Cheniere’s directors and officers have a fiduciary duty to make these decisions in favor of the owners of Cheniere, which may be contrary to our interests:
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our general partner controls the interpretation and enforcement of contractual obligations between us, on the one hand, and Cheniere, on the other hand, including provisions governing administrative services and acquisitions;
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our general partner is allowed to take into account the interests of parties other than us, such as Cheniere and its affiliates, in resolving conflicts of interest, which has the effect of limiting its fiduciary duty to us and our unitholders;
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our general partner has limited its liability and reduced its fiduciary duties under the partnership agreement, while also restricting the remedies available to our unitholders for actions that, without these limitations, might constitute breaches of fiduciary duty;
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Cheniere is not limited in its ability to compete with us. Please read “Cheniere is not restricted from competing with us and is free to develop, operate and dispose of, and is currently developing, LNG facilities, pipelines and other assets without any obligation to offer us the opportunity to develop or acquire those assets”;
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our general partner determines the amount and timing of asset purchases and sales, capital expenditures, borrowings, issuances of additional partnership securities, and the establishment, increase or decrease in the amounts of reserves, each of which can affect the amount of cash that is distributed to our unitholders;
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our general partner determines the amount and timing of any capital expenditures and whether a capital expenditure is a maintenance capital expenditure, which reduces operating surplus, or an expansion capital expenditure, which does not reduce operating surplus. This determination can affect the amount of cash that is distributed to our unitholders and the ability of the subordinated units to convert to common units;
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our partnership agreement does not restrict our general partner from causing us to pay it or its affiliates for any services rendered on terms that are fair and reasonable to us or entering into additional contractual arrangements with any of these entities on our behalf;
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our general partner intends to limit its liability regarding our contractual and other obligations and, in some circumstances, is entitled to be indemnified by us;
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our general partner may exercise its limited right to call and purchase common units if it and its affiliates own more than 80% of the common units; and
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our general partner decides whether to retain separate counsel, accountants or others to perform services for us.
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We expect that there will be additional agreements or arrangements with Cheniere and its affiliates, including future interconnection, natural gas balancing and storage agreements with one or more Cheniere-affiliated natural gas pipelines, services agreements, as well as other agreements and arrangements that cannot now be anticipated. In those circumstances where additional contracts with Cheniere and its affiliates may be necessary or desirable, additional conflicts of interest will be involved.
In the event Cheniere favors its interests over our interests, we may have less available cash to make distributions on our units than we otherwise would have if Cheniere had favored our interests.
Cheniere is not restricted from competing with us and is free to develop, operate and dispose of, and is currently developing, LNG facilities, pipelines and other assets without any obligation to offer us the opportunity to develop or acquire those assets.
Cheniere and its affiliates are not prohibited from owning assets or engaging in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. Cheniere may acquire, construct or dispose of its liquefaction project at Corpus Christi, Texas, its pipelines or any other assets without any obligation to offer us the opportunity to purchase or construct any of those assets, other than, in certain circumstances under an investors rights agreement with
Blackstone CQP Holdco
, its liquefaction project at Corpus Christi, Texas. In addition, under our partnership agreement, the doctrine of corporate opportunity, or any analogous doctrine, will not apply to Cheniere and its affiliates. As a result, neither Cheniere nor any of its affiliates will have any obligation to present new business opportunities to us, they may take advantage of such opportunities themselves, and they may enter into commercial arrangements with respect to the liquefaction project at Corpus Christi, Texas that might otherwise have been entered into with respect to Train 6. Cheniere also has significantly greater resources and experience than we have, which may make it more difficult for us to compete with Cheniere and its affiliates with respect to commercial activities or acquisition candidates.
Our partnership agreement limits our general partner’s fiduciary duties to our unitholders and restricts the remedies available to our unitholders for actions taken by our general partner that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty.
Our partnership agreement contains provisions that reduce the standards to which our general partner would otherwise be held by state fiduciary duty law. For example, our partnership agreement:
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permits our general partner to make a number of decisions in its individual capacity, as opposed to in its capacity as our general partner. This entitles our general partner to consider only the interests and factors that it desires, and it has no duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of, or factors affecting, us, our affiliates or any limited partner. Examples include the exercise of its limited call right, the exercise of its rights to transfer or vote the units it owns, the exercise of its registration rights and its determination whether or not to consent to any merger or consolidation of the partnership or amendment to the partnership agreement;
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provides that our general partner will not have any liability to us or our unitholders for decisions made in its capacity as general partner, as long as it acted in good faith, meaning that it believed the decision was in the best interests of our partnership;
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generally provides that affiliated transactions and resolutions of conflicts of interest not approved by the conflicts committee of the board of directors of our general partner and not involving a vote of unitholders must be on terms no less favorable to us than those generally being provided to or available from unrelated third parties or be “fair and reasonable” to us and that, in determining whether a transaction or resolution is “fair and reasonable,” our general partner may consider the totality of the relationships between the parties involved, including other transactions that may be particularly favorable or advantageous to us;
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provides that our general partner, its affiliates and their officers and directors will not be liable for monetary damages to us or our limited partners for any acts or omissions unless there has been a final and non-appealable judgment entered by a court of competent jurisdiction determining that our general partner or those other persons acted in bad faith or engaged in fraud, willful misconduct or, in the case of a criminal matter, acted with knowledge that such conduct was criminal; and
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provides that in resolving conflicts of interest, it will be presumed that in making its decision the conflicts committee or the general partner acted in good faith, and in any proceeding brought by or on behalf of any limited partner or us, the person bringing or prosecuting such proceeding will have the burden of overcoming such presumption.
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By purchasing a common unit, a unitholder will become bound by the provisions of our partnership agreement, including the provisions described above.
Holders of our common units have limited voting rights and are not entitled to elect our general partner or its directors, which could reduce the price at which our common units trade.
Unlike the holders of common stock in a corporation, our unitholders have only limited voting rights on matters affecting our business and, therefore, limited ability to influence management’s decisions regarding our business. Our unitholders will have no right to elect our general partner or its board of directors on an annual or other continuing basis. The board of directors of our general partner is chosen entirely by affiliates of Cheniere. As a result, the price at which the common units will trade could be diminished because of the absence or reduction of a control premium in the trading price.
Even if our unitholders are dissatisfied, they cannot initially remove our general partner without its consent.
The vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of all outstanding common units, Class B units and subordinated units (including any units owned by our general partner and its affiliates), voting together as a single class is required to remove our general partner. An affiliate of Cheniere owns 55.9% of our outstanding common units, Class B units and subordinated units, but it is contractually prohibited from voting our units that it holds in favor of the removal of our general partner. If our general partner is removed without cause during the subordination period and units held by our general partner and its affiliates are not voted in favor of that removal, all remaining subordinated units will automatically be converted into common units and any existing arrearages on the common units will be extinguished. A removal of our general partner under these circumstances would adversely affect the common units by prematurely eliminating their distribution and liquidation preference over the subordinated units, which would otherwise have continued until we had met certain distribution and performance tests. Cause is narrowly defined in our partnership agreement to mean that a court of competent jurisdiction has entered a final, non-appealable judgment finding our general partner liable for actual fraud or willful misconduct in its capacity as our general partner. Cause does not include most cases of poor management of the business, so the removal of the general partner because of the unitholders’ dissatisfaction with our general partner’s performance in managing our partnership will most likely result in the termination of the subordination period and conversion of all subordinated units to common units.
Control of our general partner may be transferred to a third party without unitholder consent.
Our general partner may transfer its general partner interest to a third party in a merger or in a sale of all or substantially all of its assets without the consent of our unitholders. Furthermore, our partnership agreement does not restrict the ability of the owners of our general partner from transferring all or a portion of their respective ownership interest in our general partner to a third party. The new owners of our general partner would then be in a position to replace the board of directors and officers of our general partner with its own choices and thereby influence the decisions taken by the board of directors and officers.
Our partnership agreement restricts the voting rights of unitholders (other than our general partner and its affiliates) owning 20% or more of any class of our units.
Our partnership agreement restricts unitholders’ voting rights by providing that any units held by a person that owns 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, other than our general partner and its affiliates, their transferees and persons who acquired such units with the prior approval of the board of directors of our general partner, cannot vote on any matter. Our partnership agreement also contains provisions limiting the ability of unitholders to call meetings or to acquire information about our operations, as well as other provisions limiting the unitholders’ ability to influence the manner or direction of management.
Our partnership agreement prohibits a unitholder (other than our general partner and its affiliates) who acquires 15% or more of our limited partner units without the approval of our general partner from engaging in a business combination with us for three years unless certain approvals are obtained. This provision could discourage a change of control that our unitholders may favor, which could negatively affect the price of our common units.
Our partnership agreement effectively adopts Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (“DGCL”). Section 203 of the DGCL as it applies to us prevents an interested unitholder defined as a person (other than our general partner and its affiliates) who owns 15% or more of our outstanding limited partner units from engaging in business combinations with us for three years following the time such person becomes an interested unitholder unless certain approvals are obtained. Section 203 broadly defines “business combination” to encompass a wide variety of transactions with or caused by an interested unitholder, including mergers, asset sales and other transactions in which the interested unitholder receives a benefit on other than a pro rata basis with other unitholders. This provision of our partnership agreement could have an anti-takeover effect with respect to transactions not approved in advance by our general partner, including discouraging takeover attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for our common units.
Our unitholders may not have limited liability if a court finds that unitholder action constitutes control of our business.
A general partner of a partnership generally has unlimited liability for the obligations of the partnership, except for contractual obligations of the partnership that are expressly made without recourse to the general partner. We are organized under Delaware law, and we conduct business in other states. As a limited partner in a partnership organized under Delaware law, holders of our common units could be held liable for our obligations to the same extent as a general partner if a court determined that the right or the exercise of the right by our unitholders as a group to remove or replace our general partner, to approve some amendments to our partnership agreement or to take other action under our partnership agreement constituted participation in the “control” of our business. In addition, limitations on the liability of holders of limited partner interests for the obligations of a limited partnership have not been clearly established in many jurisdictions.
Our unitholders may have liability to repay distributions wrongfully made.
Under certain circumstances, our unitholders may have to repay amounts wrongfully distributed to them. Under Section 17-607 of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, we may not make a distribution to our unitholders if the distribution would cause our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. Delaware law provides that, for a period of three years from the date of the impermissible distribution, partners who received such a distribution and who knew at the time of the distribution that it violated Delaware law will be liable to the partnership for the distribution amount. Liabilities to partners on account of their partner interests and liabilities that are non-recourse to the partnership are not counted for purposes of determining whether a distribution is permitted.
We may issue additional units without approval of our unitholders, which would dilute their ownership interest in us.
At any time during the subordination period, with the approval of the conflicts committee of the board of directors of our general partner, we may issue an unlimited number of limited partner interests of any type without the approval of our unitholders. After the subordination period, we may issue an unlimited number of limited partner interests of any type without limitation of any kind. The issuance by us of additional common units or other equity securities of equal or senior rank will have the following effects:
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our unitholders’ proportionate ownership interest in us will decrease;
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the amount of cash available per unit to pay distributions may decrease;
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because a lower percentage of total outstanding units will be subordinated units, the risk will increase that a shortfall in the payment of the initial quarterly distributions will be borne by our common unitholders;
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the ratio of taxable income to distributions may increase;
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the relative voting strength of each previously outstanding unit may be diminished; and
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the market price of the common units may decline.
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The market price of our common units has fluctuated significantly in the past and is likely to fluctuate in the future. Our unitholders could lose all or part of their investment.
The market price of our common units has historically experienced and may continue to experience volatility. For example, between January 1,
2016
and December 31,
2016
, the market price of our common units ranged between $19.22 and $31.49. Such fluctuations may continue as a result of a variety of factors, some of which are beyond our control, including:
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our quarterly distributions;
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domestic and worldwide supply of and demand for natural gas and corresponding fluctuations in the price of natural gas;
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fluctuations in our quarterly or annual financial results or those of other companies in our industry;
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issuance of additional equity securities which causes further dilution to our unitholders;
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sales of a high volume of units of our common units by our unitholders;
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operating and unit price performance of companies that investors deem comparable to us;
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events affecting other companies that the market deems comparable to us;
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changes in government regulation or proposals applicable to us;
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actual or potential non-performance by any customer or a counterparty under any agreement;
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announcements made by us or our competitors of significant contracts;
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changes in accounting standards, policies, guidance, interpretations or principles;
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general conditions in the industries in which we operate;
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general economic conditions;
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the failure of securities analysts to cover our common units or changes in financial or other estimates by analysts; and
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other factors described in these “Risk Factors.”
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In addition, the United States securities markets have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations. These fluctuations have often been unrelated to the operating performance of companies in these markets. Market fluctuations and broad market, economic and industry factors may negatively affect the price of our common units, regardless of our operating performance. If we were to be the object of securities class litigation as a result of volatility in our common unit price or for other reasons, it could result in substantial diversion of our management’s attention and resources, which could negatively affect our financial results.
Affiliates of our general partner may sell limited partner units, which sales could have an adverse impact on the trading price of our common units.
Sales by us or any of our affiliated unitholders of a substantial number of our common units or our subordinated units, or the perception that such sales might occur, could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common units or could impair our ability to obtain capital through an offering of equity securities. Cheniere Holdings owns
11,963,488
common units,
135,383,831
subordinated units and
45,333,334
Class B units. All of the subordinated units will convert into common units at the end of the subordination period and may convert earlier. Additionally, Blackstone CQP Holdco owns 100,000,000 Class B units. It is expected that all Class B units will convert into common units. We are required to provide a registration statement for the resale of these common units. Any sales of these units could have an adverse impact on the price of our common units.
Risks Relating to Tax Matters
Our tax treatment depends on our status as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. If we were treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, then our cash available for distribution to our unitholders would be substantially reduced.
The anticipated after-tax economic benefit of an investment in our common units depends largely on our being treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. Despite the fact that we are a limited partnership under Delaware law, we will be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes unless we satisfy a “qualifying income” requirement. Based upon our current operations, we believe we satisfy the qualifying income requirement. Failing to meet the qualifying income requirement or a change in current law could cause us to be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes or otherwise subject us to taxation as an entity.
If we were treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, we would pay federal income tax on our taxable income at the corporate tax rate, which is currently a maximum of 35%, and would likely pay state and local income taxes at varying rates. Distributions to our unitholders would generally be taxed again as corporate dividends, and no income, gains, losses or deductions would flow through to our unitholders. Because a tax would be imposed upon us as a corporation, the cash available for distributions to our unitholders would be substantially reduced. Therefore, treatment of us as a corporation would result in a material reduction in the anticipated cash flow and after-tax return to our unitholders, likely causing a substantial reduction in the value of our common units.
Our partnership agreement provides that if a law is enacted or existing law is modified or interpreted in a manner that subjects us to taxation as a corporation or otherwise subjects us to entity-level taxation for federal income tax purposes, then the initial quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution amounts will be adjusted to reflect the impact of that law on us.
If we were subjected to a material amount of additional entity-level taxation by individual states, it would reduce our cash available for distribution.
Changes in current state law may subject us to additional entity-level taxation by individual states. Because of widespread state budget deficits and other reasons, several states have been evaluating ways to subject partnerships to entity-level taxation through the imposition of state income, franchise and other forms of taxation. Imposition of any such taxes may substantially reduce the cash available for distribution to our unitholders and, therefore, negatively impact the value of an investment in our common units. Our partnership agreement provides that if a law is enacted or existing law is modified or interpreted in a manner that subjects us to additional amounts of entity-level taxation for state or local income tax purposes, the initial quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution amounts may be adjusted to reflect the impact of that law on us.
The tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships or an investment in our common units could be subject to potential legislative, judicial or administrative changes and differing interpretations, possibly on a retroactive basis.
The present U.S. federal income tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships, including us, or an investment in our common units may be modified by administrative, legislative or judicial interpretation at any time. For example, from time to time the U.S. President and members of the U.S. Congress propose and consider substantive changes to the existing federal income tax laws that would affect publicly traded partnerships. Further, final Treasury Regulations under Section 7704(d)(1)(E) of the Code recently published in the Federal Register interpret the scope of qualifying income requirements for publicly traded partnerships by providing industry-specific guidance.
Any modification to the U.S. federal income tax laws and interpretations thereof may or may not be applied retroactively and could make it more difficult or impossible for us to meet the exception to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. We are unable to predict whether any changes, or other proposals, will ultimately be enacted, including as a result of fundamental tax reform. Any such changes could negatively impact the value of an investment in our common units.
We prorate our items of income, gain, loss and deduction between transferors and transferees of our common units each month based upon the ownership of our common units on the first day of each month, instead of on the basis of the date a particular common unit is transferred.
We prorate our items of income, gain, loss and deduction between transferors and transferees of our common units each month based upon the ownership of our common units on the first business day of each month, instead of on the basis of the date a particular unit is transferred. Although recently issued final Treasury Regulations allow publicly traded partnerships to use a
similar monthly simplifying convention to allocate tax items among transferor and transferee unitholders, such tax items must be prorated on a daily basis and these regulations do not specifically authorize all aspects of the proration method we have adopted. If the IRS were to successfully challenge this method or new Treasury Regulations were issued, we may be required to change the allocation of items of income, gain, loss and deduction among our unitholders.
A change in tax treatment of our partnership, or a successful IRS contest of the federal income tax positions that we take, may adversely impact the market for our common units, and the costs of any contest will be borne by our unitholders and our general partner.
The IRS may adopt positions that differ from the positions that we take, even positions taken with advice of counsel. It may be necessary to resort to administrative or court proceedings to sustain some or all of the positions that we take. A court may not agree with some or all of the positions that we take. Any contest with the IRS may adversely impact the taxable income reported to our unitholders and the income taxes they are required to pay. As a result, any such contest with the IRS may materially and adversely impact the market for our common units and the price at which our common units trade. In addition, the costs of any contest with the IRS, principally legal, accounting and related fees, will result in a reduction in cash available for distribution to our unitholders and our general partner and thus will be borne indirectly by our unitholders and our general partner.
Legislation applicable to partnership tax years beginning after 2017 alters the procedures for auditing large partnerships and for assessing and collecting taxes due (including penalties and interest) as a result of a partnership-level federal income tax audit. Under these rules, unless we are eligible to, and do, elect to issue revised Schedules K-1 to our partners with respect to an audited and adjusted partnership tax return, the IRS may assess and collect taxes (including any applicable penalties and interest) directly from us in the year in which the audit is completed. If we are required to pay taxes, penalties and interest as a result of audit adjustments, cash available for distribution to our unitholders may be substantially reduced. In addition, because payment would be due for the taxable year in which the audit is completed, unitholders during that taxable year would bear the expense of the adjustment even if they were not unitholders during the audited tax year.
Our unitholders may be required to pay taxes on their share of our taxable income even if they do not receive any cash distributions from us.
Because our unitholders will be treated as partners to whom we will allocate taxable income, which could be different in amount from the cash that we distribute, our unitholders will be required to pay federal income taxes and, in some cases, state and local income taxes on their share of our taxable income even if they do not receive any cash distributions from us. Our unitholders may not receive cash distributions from us equal to their share of our taxable income or even equal to the actual tax liability which results from their share of our taxable income.
We intend to allocate items of income, gain, loss and deduction among the holders of our common units and subordinated units on or after the date that the subordination period ends to ensure that common units issued in exchange for our subordinated units have the same economic and federal income tax characteristics as our other common units. Any such allocation of items of our income or gain to unitholders, which may include allocations to holders of our common units, would not be accompanied by a distribution of cash to such unitholders. In addition, any such allocation of items of deduction or loss to specific unitholders (for example, to the holder of the subordinated units) would effectively reduce the amount of items of deduction or loss that will be allocated to other unitholders.
Tax gain or loss on the disposition of our common units could be different than expected.
If our unitholders sell any of their common units, they will recognize gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and their tax basis in those common units. Because distributions in excess of the unitholders’ allocable share of our net taxable income decrease the unitholders’ tax basis in their common units, the amount, if any, of such prior excess distributions with respect to the units sold will, in effect, become taxable income to the unitholder if they sell such units at a price greater than their tax basis in those units, even if the price received is less than their original cost. A substantial portion of the amount realized, whether or not representing gain, may be ordinary income due to the potential recapture items, including depreciation recapture. In addition, because the amount realized may include a unitholder’s share of our nonrecourse liabilities, a unitholder that sells common units may incur a tax liability in excess of the amount of cash received from the sale.
Tax-exempt entities face unique tax issues from owning common units that may result in adverse tax consequences to them.
Investments in common units by tax-exempt entities, such as individual retirement accounts (known as IRAs), raises issues unique to them. For example, virtually all of our income allocated to unitholders who are organizations exempt from federal income tax, including individual retirement accounts and other retirement plans, will be unrelated business taxable income and will be taxable to them.
Non-U.S. investors face unique tax issues from owning common units that may result in adverse tax consequences to them.
Non-U.S. investors who own common units will be required to file U.S. federal income tax returns and pay tax on their share of our taxable income and distributions to non-U.S. investors will generally be reduced by withholding taxes at the highest applicable effective tax rate. The IRS has taken the position that a non-U.S. investor’s gain on the sale of common units is subject to United States federal income tax.
We will treat each holder of our common units as having the same tax benefits without regard to the actual common units held. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could adversely affect the value of our common units.
Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of common units, we adopt depreciation and amortization positions that may not conform with all aspects of applicable Treasury Regulations.
A successful IRS challenge to those positions could adversely affect the amount of tax benefits available to our unitholders. It also could affect the timing of those tax benefits or the amount of gain from the sale of common units and could have a negative impact on the value of our common units or result in audit adjustments to a unitholder’s tax returns.
Our unitholders will likely be subject to state and local taxes and return filing requirements as a result of an investment in our common units.
In addition to federal income taxes, our unitholders will likely be subject to other taxes, including state and local income taxes, unincorporated business taxes and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that are imposed by the various jurisdictions in which we do business or own property, even if the unitholder does not live in any of those jurisdictions. Our unitholders may be required to file state and local income tax returns and pay state and local income taxes in some or all of these various jurisdictions. Furthermore, our unitholders may be subject to penalties for failure to comply with those requirements. As we make acquisitions or expand our business, we may own property or conduct business in additional states or foreign countries that impose a personal tax or an entity level tax. Unitholders may be subject to penalties for failure to comply with those requirements. It is the responsibility of our unitholders to file all United States federal, state and local tax returns.
The sale or exchange of 50% or more of the total interest in our capital and profits during any twelve-month period will result in the termination of our partnership for federal income tax purposes.
We will be considered to have technically terminated our partnership for federal income tax purposes if there is a sale or exchange of 50% or more of the total interests in our capital and profits within a twelve-month period. For purposes of determining whether the 50% threshold has been met, multiple sales of the same unit will be counted only once. Our technical termination would, among other things, result in the closing of our taxable year for all unitholders, which would result in us filing two tax returns (and our unitholders could receive two Schedules K-1 if relief was not available as described below) for one fiscal year. Our technical termination could also result in a deferral of depreciation deductions allowable in computing our taxable income.
In the case of a unitholder reporting on a taxable year other than a fiscal year ending December 31, the closing of our taxable year may result in more than 12 months of our taxable income or loss being includable in the unitholder’s taxable income for the year of termination. Our technical termination currently would not affect our classification as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, but instead, we would be treated as a new partnership, we would be required to make new tax elections and we could be subject to penalties if we are unable to determine that a technical termination occurred. The IRS has announced a publicly traded partnership technical termination relief program whereby, if a publicly traded partnership that technically terminated requests relief and such relief is granted by the IRS, among other things, the partnership will only have to provide one Schedule K-1 to unitholders for the year, notwithstanding two partnership tax years.
We have adopted certain valuation methodologies in determining a unitholder’s allocations of income, gain, loss and deduction. The IRS may challenge these methodologies or the resulting allocations, and such a challenge could adversely affect the value of our common units.
In determining the items of income, gain, loss and deduction allocable to our unitholders, we must routinely determine the fair market value of our assets. Although we may from time to time consult with professional appraisers regarding valuation matters, we make many fair market value estimates ourselves using a methodology based on the market value of our common units as a means to determine the fair market value of our assets. The IRS may challenge these valuation methods and the resulting allocations of income, gain, loss and deduction.
A successful IRS challenge to these methods or allocations could adversely affect the timing or amount of taxable income or loss being allocated to our unitholders. It also could affect the amount of gain from our unitholders’ sale of common units and could have a negative impact on the value of the common units or result in audit adjustments to our unitholders’ tax returns without the benefit of additional deductions.
A unitholder whose common units are loaned to a “short seller” to cover a short sale of units may be considered as having disposed of those common units. If so, the unitholder would no longer be treated for tax purposes as a partner with respect to those common units during the period of the loan and may recognize gain or loss from the disposition.
Because a unitholder whose common units are loaned to a “short seller” to cover a short sale of units may be considered as having disposed of the loaned common units, the unitholder may no longer be treated for tax purposes as a partner with respect to those common units during the period of the loan to the short seller and the unitholder may recognize gain or loss from such disposition. Moreover, during the period of the loan to the short seller, any of our income, gain, loss or deduction with respect to those common units may not be reportable by the unitholder, and any cash distributions received by the unitholder as to those common units could be fully taxable as ordinary income. Unitholders desiring to assure their status as partners and avoid the risk of gain recognition from a loan to a short seller are urged to consult with their tax advisor about whether it is advisable to modify any applicable brokerage account agreements to prohibit their brokers from borrowing their common units.