HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) today announced the company has prevailed in its appeal against Energy Transfer Partners. This appeal stems from a 2014 Dallas jury verdict in a lawsuit filed by Energy Transfer over a proposed pipeline project that was cancelled due to a lack of customer support. This case has been a long, hard battle and Enterprise is grateful to the Fifth Court of Appeals for their hard work.
In April 2011, Enterprise and Energy Transfer signed a series of agreements disclaiming any partnership or joint venture absent executed definitive documents and board approvals of the two companies. Definitive agreements were never executed and board approval was never obtained. The parties signed these disclaiming agreements precisely to avoid the type of lawsuit brought here.
Enterprise management is grateful that the Dallas Court of Appeals correctly reaffirmed the importance of written contracts. “This case needed decisive action because it had the potential to stand as one of the worst for business in Texas since the Texaco v. Pennzoil decision from the 1980s,” said Enterprise appellate lawyer David E. Keltner. “Sophisticated parties need the right to rely on written contracts. Partnership by ambush is a bad public policy and goes against the freedom to contract guaranteed by the Texas Constitution. The business world breathed a sigh of relief today when ‘partnership by ambush’ was ruled out of bounds in Texas.”
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals. Enterprise’s services include: natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transportation and storage; NGL transportation, fractionation, storage, and export and import terminals; crude oil gathering, transportation, storage, export and terminals; petrochemical and refined products transportation, storage and terminals; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems. The partnership’s assets include approximately 50,000 miles of pipelines; 260 million barrels of storage capacity for NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals; and 14 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein that address activities, events, developments or transactions that Enterprise and its general partner expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations, including required approvals by regulatory agencies, the possibility that the anticipated benefits from such activities, events, developments or transactions cannot be fully realized, the possibility that costs or difficulties related thereto will be greater than expected, the impact of competition, and other risk factors included in Enterprise’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. Except as required by law, Enterprise does not intend to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170719005757/en/
