Energy Transfer & Sunoco LP Negotiating Final Dropdowns

DALLAS — Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) has had considerable dialogue with Sunoco LP to dropdown the remaining Sunoco Inc. assets it currently owns, which includes the convenience store network, Jamie Welch, the company’s group financial officer, confirmed Thursday during its 2015 fiscal third-quarter earnings call.

However, Welch said he has no further news to report and did not provide a date when the final dropdowns will be completed. He's previously stated that all ETP retail assets will be dropped down to Sunoco LP no later than mid-2017.

Following several already-completed retail dropdowns to Sunoco LP in the past year, ETP operated 438 c-stores as of Sept. 30.

These stores performed well in the third quarter, although it’s difficult to make any comparison to 2014’s third quarter, when ETP operated nearly three times the number of c-stores.

In its most recent quarter, ETP’s retail division sold 390 million gallons of motor fuel and achieved a gross profit of 28.5 cents per gallon.

Heading inside the store, ETP’s retail division sold $285 million worth of merchandise in its third quarter. Retail merchandise margin percentage came in at 30.2 percent.

Companywide, the master limited partnership reported adjusted EBITDA of $1.5 billion, an increase of $49 million compared to the same period last year. Distributable cash flow for the third quarter was $740 million, a decrease of $121 million compared to 2014’s third quarter.