MPLX LP Progresses Gulf Coast NGL Strategy and Reports Full-Year 2024 Results

FINDLAY, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --

• Progresses Gulf Coast NGL strategy with announcement of fractionation complex and export terminal
• Full-year 2024 net income attributable to MPLX of $4.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $6.8 billion, up 10% and 8%, respectively, year over year
• $3.9 billion of capital returned to unitholders in 2024, reflecting 12.5% quarterly distribution increase and $326 million of unit repurchases
• 2025 capital spending outlook of $2.0 billion, anticipating mid-teen returns

MPLX LP (NYSE:MPLX) today reported fourth-quarter 2024 net income attributable to MPLX of $1,099 million, compared with $1,134 million for the fourth quarter of 2023. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) attributable to MPLX was $1,762 million, compared with $1,623 million for the fourth quarter of 2023.

During the quarter, MPLX generated $1,675 million in net cash provided by operating activities, $1,477 million of distributable cash flow, and adjusted free cash flow of $1,324 million. MPLX announced a fourth-quarter 2024 distribution of $0.9565 per common unit, resulting in distribution coverage of 1.5x for the quarter. The leverage ratio was 3.1x at the end of the quarter.

For the full year 2024, MPLX generated $5.9 billion in net cash provided by operating activities, $5.7 billion of distributable cash flow, and $3.9 billion of adjusted free cash flow, compared to $5.4 billion, $5.3 billion, and $4.1 billion, respectively, in 2023.

"In 2024, we achieved 8% adjusted EBITDA growth," said Maryann Mannen, MPLX president and chief executive officer. "As part of our 2025 plan, we are executing our Gulf Coast NGL strategy and other growth projects anchored in the Permian and Marcellus basins. We continue to anticipate mid-teen returns on these projects, which will support mid-single digit adjusted EBITDA growth. This growth is expected to allow us to reinvest in the business and support annual distribution increases in the future."

Financial Highlights (unaudited)

 

Segment Results

MPLX revised its reporting segments to Crude Oil and Products Logistics (formerly Logistics and Storage) and Natural Gas and NGL Services (formerly Gathering and Processing) to better reflect the value chains and growth strategy of MPLX's operations.

With the change, certain equity method investments serving natural gas and NGL customers were moved from the Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment into the Natural Gas and NGL Services segment.

All prior periods have been recast for comparability.

 

Crude Oil and Products Logistics

Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2024 increased by $60 million compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily driven by higher rates and throughputs.

Total pipeline throughputs were 5.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in the fourth quarter, an increase of 1% versus the same quarter of 2023. The average pipeline tariff rate was $1.06 per barrel for the quarter, an increase of 9% versus the same quarter of 2023. Terminal throughput was 3.1 million bpd for the quarter, an increase of 3% versus the same quarter of 2023.

Natural Gas and NGL Services

Natural Gas and NGL Services segment adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2024 increased by $79 million compared to the same period in 2023, primarily due to increased volumes, including contributions from recently acquired assets in the Utica and Permian basins and growth from equity affiliates.

In the fourth quarter of 2024:

• Gathered volumes averaged 6.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), an 8% increase from the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Processed volumes averaged 9.9 bcf/d, a 6% increase versus the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Fractionated volumes averaged 683 thousand bpd, a 14% increase versus the fourth quarter of 2023.

In the Marcellus: 

• Gathered volumes averaged 1.5 bcf/d in the fourth quarter, a 3% increase versus the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Processed volumes averaged 6.0 bcf/d in the fourth quarter, a 1% decrease versus the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Fractionated volumes averaged 588 thousand bpd in the fourth quarter, a 12% increase versus the fourth quarter of 2023.

Strategic Update

In Natural Gas and NGL Services, MPLX is expanding its Permian to Gulf Coast integrated value chain, progressing long-haul pipeline growth projects to support expected increased producer activity, and investing in Permian and Marcellus processing capacity in response to producer demand. Updates on Natural Gas and NGL Services projects include:

          Newly Announced

• A Gulf Coast fractionation complex consisting of two, 150 thousand bpd fractionation facilities adjacent to Marathon Petroleum's (NYSE:MPC) Galveston Bay refinery. The fractionation facilities are expected in service in 2028 and 2029. MPLX is contracting with MPC to purchase offtake from the fractionation complex, which MPC intends to market globally.
• A strategic partnership with ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) to develop a 400 thousand bpd LPG export terminal and an associated pipeline, which is anticipated in service in 2028.
• The BANGL NGL pipeline partners have sanctioned an expansion from 250 thousand bpd to 300 thousand bpd, which is anticipated to come online in the second half of 2026. This pipeline will enable liquids to reach MPLX's Gulf Coast fractionation complex.

          Ongoing

• The Blackcomb and Rio Bravo pipelines are progressing with an expected in-service date in the second half of 2026. These pipelines are designed to transport natural gas from the Permian to domestic and export markets along the Gulf Coast.
• Secretariat, a 200 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) processing plant is expected online in the fourth quarter of 2025. This plant will bring MPLX's gas processing capacity in the Permian basin to 1.4 bcf/d.
• Harmon Creek III, a 300 mmcf/d processing plant and 40 thousand bpd de-ethanizer, is expected online in the second half of 2026. This complex will bring MPLX's processing capacity in the Northeast to 8.1 bcf/d and fractionation capacity to 800 thousand bpd.

In Crude Oil and Products Logistics, MPLX is expanding its crude gathering pipelines in the Permian and Bakken basins, and investing in projects targeted at the expansion or de-bottlenecking of assets.

2025 Capital Outlook

MPLX's capital spending outlook for 2025 is $2.0 billion, consisting of:

• $1.45 billion of Natural Gas and NGL Services growth capital
• $250 million of Crude Oil and Products Logistics growth capital
• $300 million of maintenance capital

Financial Position and Liquidity

As of Dec. 31, 2024, MPLX had $1.5 billion in cash, $2.0 billion available on its bank revolving credit facility, and $1.5 billion available through its intercompany loan agreement with MPC. MPLX's leverage ratio was 3.1x, while the stability of cash flows supports leverage in the range of 4.0x.

The partnership repurchased $100 million of common units held by the public in the fourth quarter of 2024. As of Dec. 31, 2024, MPLX had approximately $520 million remaining available under its unit repurchase authorization.

Conference Call

At 9:30 a.m. ET today, MPLX will hold a conference call and webcast to discuss the reported results and provide an update on operations. Interested parties may listen by visiting MPLX's website at www.mplx.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on MPLX's website for two weeks. Financial information, including this earnings release and other investor-related materials, will also be available online prior to the conference call and webcast at www.mplx.com.

About MPLX LP

MPLX is a diversified, large-cap master limited partnership that owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets and provides fuels distribution services. MPLX's assets include a network of crude oil and refined product pipelines; an inland marine business; light-product terminals; storage caverns; refinery tanks, docks, loading racks, and associated piping; and crude and light-product marine terminals. The company also owns crude oil and natural gas gathering systems and pipelines as well as natural gas and NGL processing and fractionation facilities in key U.S. supply basins. More information is available at www.MPLX.com.

Investor Relations Contact: (419) 421-2071

Kristina Kazarian, Vice President Finance and Investor Relations

Brian Worthington, Senior Director, Investor Relations

Isaac Feeney, Director, Investor Relations

Media Contact: (419) 421-3577

Jamal Kheiry, Communications Manager

Non-GAAP references

In addition to our financial information presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), management utilizes additional non-GAAP measures to analyze our performance. This press release and supporting schedules include the non-GAAP measures adjusted EBITDA; consolidated debt to last twelve months adjusted EBITDA, which we refer to as our leverage ratio; distributable cash flow (DCF); adjusted free cash flow (Adjusted FCF); and Adjusted FCF after distributions.

Adjusted EBITDA is a financial performance measure used by management, industry analysts, investors, lenders, and rating agencies to assess the financial performance and operating results of our ongoing business operations. Additionally, we believe adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors for trending, analyzing and benchmarking our operating results from period to period as compared to other companies that may have different financing and capital structures. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income adjusted for: (i) provision for income taxes; (ii) net interest and other financial costs; (iii) depreciation and amortization; (iv) income/(loss) from equity method investments; (v) distributions and adjustments related to equity method investments; (vi) impairment expense; (vii) noncontrolling interests; and (viii) other adjustments, as applicable.

DCF is a financial performance and liquidity measure used by management and by the board of directors of our general partner as a key component in the determination of cash distributions paid to unitholders. We believe DCF is an important financial measure for unitholders as an indicator of cash return on investment and to evaluate whether the partnership is generating sufficient cash flow to support quarterly distributions. In addition, DCF is commonly used by the investment community because the market value of publicly traded partnerships is based, in part, on DCF and cash distributions paid to unitholders. We define DCF as Adjusted EBITDA adjusted for: (i) deferred revenue impacts; (ii) sales-type lease payments, net of income; (iii) adjusted net interest and other financial costs; (iv) net maintenance capital expenditures; (v) equity method investment capital expenditures paid out; and (vi) other adjustments as deemed necessary.

Adjusted FCF and Adjusted FCF after distributions are financial liquidity measures used by management in the allocation of capital and to assess financial performance. We believe that unitholders may use this metric to analyze our ability to manage leverage and return capital. We define Adjusted FCF as net cash provided by operating activities adjusted for: (i) net cash used in investing activities; (ii) cash contributions from MPC; and (iii) cash distributions to noncontrolling interests. We define Adjusted FCF after distributions as Adjusted FCF less base distributions to common and preferred unitholders. We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA, DCF, Adjusted FCF and Adjusted FCF after distributions provides useful information to investors in assessing our financial condition and results of operations.

Leverage ratio is a liquidity measure used by management, industry analysts, investors, lenders and rating agencies to analyze our ability to incur and service debt and fund capital expenditures.

The GAAP measures most directly comparable to Adjusted EBITDA and DCF are net income and net cash provided by operating activities while the GAAP measure most directly comparable to Adjusted FCF and Adjusted FCF after distributions is net cash provided by operating activities. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered alternatives to GAAP net income or net cash provided by operating activities as they have important limitations as analytical tools because they exclude some but not all items that affect net income and net cash provided by operating activities or any other measure of financial performance or liquidity presented in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Additionally, because non-GAAP financial measures may be defined differently by other companies in our industry, our definitions may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies, thereby diminishing their utility.

For a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA, DCF, Adjusted FCF, Adjusted FCF after distributions and our leverage ratio to their most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, see the tables below.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding MPLX LP (MPLX). These forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things, MPLX's expectations, estimates and projections concerning its business and operations, financial priorities, including with respect to positive free cash flow and distribution coverage, strategic plans, capital return plans, capital expenditure plans, operating cost reduction objectives, and environmental, social and governance ("ESG") goals and targets, including those related to greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, diversity, equity and inclusion and ESG reporting. Forward-looking and other statements regarding our ESG goals and targets are not an indication that these statements are material to investors or required to be disclosed in our filings with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). In addition, historical, current, and forward-looking ESG-related statements may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future. You can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "commitment," "could," "design," "endeavor," "estimate," "expect," "focus," "forecast," "goal," "guidance," "intend," "may," "objective," "opportunity," "outlook," "plan," "policy," "position," "potential," "predict," "priority," "progress," "project," "prospective," "pursue," "seek," "should," "strategy," "strive," "target," "trends," "will," "would" or other similar expressions that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. MPLX cautions that these statements are based on management's current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of the control of MPLX, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from the statements made herein. Factors that could cause MPLX's actual results to differ materially from those implied in the forward-looking statements include but are not limited to: political or regulatory developments, including changes in governmental policies relating to refined petroleum products, crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids ("NGLs") or renewables, or taxation; volatility in and degradation of general economic, market, industry or business conditions, including as a result of pandemics, other infectious disease outbreaks, natural hazards, extreme weather events, regional conflicts such as hostilities in the Middle East and in Ukraine, inflation or rising interest rates; the adequacy of capital resources and liquidity, including the availability of sufficient free cash flow from operations to pay or grow distributions and to fund future unit repurchases; the ability to access debt markets on commercially reasonable terms or at all; the timing and extent of changes in commodity prices and demand for crude oil, refined products, feedstocks or other hydrocarbon-based products or renewables; changes to the expected construction costs and in service dates of planned and ongoing projects and investments, including pipeline projects and new processing units, and the ability to obtain regulatory and other approvals with respect thereto; the inability or failure of our joint venture partners to fund their share of operations and development activities; the financing and distribution decisions of joint ventures we do not control; the availability of desirable strategic alternatives to optimize portfolio assets and the ability to obtain regulatory and other approvals with respect thereto; our ability to successfully implement our sustainable energy strategy and principles and to achieve our ESG goals and targets within the expected timeframes if at all; changes in government incentives for emission-reduction products and technologies; the outcome of research and development efforts to create future technologies necessary to achieve our ESG plans and goals; our ability to scale projects and technologies on a commercially competitive basis; changes in regional and global economic growth rates and consumer preferences, including consumer support for emission-reduction products and technology; industrial incidents or other unscheduled shutdowns affecting our machinery, pipelines, processing, fractionation and treating facilities or equipment, means of transportation, or those of our suppliers or customers; the suspension, reduction or termination of MPC's obligations under MPLX's commercial agreements; the imposition of windfall profit taxes, maximum refining margin penalties or minimum inventory requirements on companies operating in the energy industry in California or other jurisdictions; other risk factors inherent to MPLX's industry; the impact of adverse market conditions or other similar risks to those identified herein affecting MPC; and the factors set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" and "Disclosures Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in MPLX's and MPC's Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023, and in other filings with the SEC. 

Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the applicable communication and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement except to the extent required by applicable law.

Copies of MPLX's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings are available on the SEC's website, MPLX's website at http://ir.mplx.com or by contacting MPLX's Investor Relations office. Copies of MPC's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings are available on the SEC's website, MPC's website at https://www.marathonpetroleum.com/Investors/ or by contacting MPC's Investor Relations office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               

 

 

 

 

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mplx-lp-progresses-gulf-coast-ngl-strategy-and-reports-full-year-2024-results-302367296.html

SOURCE MPLX LP