ONEOK Partners Expects 2015 Net Income Of Up To $1.28 Bln

(RTTNews) - ONEOK Partners L.P. (OKS) said Tuesday it expects net income in 2015 to be in the range of $1.12 billion to $1.28 billion, compared with current 2014 earnings guidance range of $910 million to $970 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently expect the partnership to report earnings of $2.60 per unit for 2015.

The partnership projects 2015 operating income of $1.32 billion to $1.48 billion, an 11 percent to 25 percent increase compared with current 2014 guidance, reflecting higher anticipated natural gas gathering and processing volumes in the natural gas gathering and processing segment, and higher anticipated NGL volumes gathered and fractionated in the natural gas liquids segment.

The increased earnings and cash flows are the result of full-year operations and earnings from capital-growth projects completed throughout 2014, the recent West Texas LPG System acquisition, and expected cash flows from the completion of capital-growth projects during 2015 in the natural gas gathering and processing, and natural gas liquids segments, the partnership said.

The partnership expects 2015 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA) to increase 19 percent and be in the range of $1.77 billion to $1.99 billion, compared with the current 2014 earnings guidance range of $1.55 billion to $1.61 billion.

The partnership's 2015 distributable cash flow (DCF) is expected to increase 18 percent and be in the range of $1.31 billion to $1.49 billion, compared with its current 2014 guidance range of $1.155 billion to $1.215 billion.

"Our 2015 guidance reflects substantial, ongoing growth at ONEOK Partners," said Terry Spencer, chief executive officer of ONEOK Partners. "Since 2006, we have completed more than $8 billion in capital-growth projects and acquisitions, and we have another $3 billion in capital-growth projects in various stages of construction. In addition, we continue to develop our unannounced backlog of capital-growth projects totaling approximately $4 billion to $5 billion.

"Although the commodity price environment remains volatile, we expect strong volume growth to continue in 2015 as many of our key producers plan to concentrate their drilling in more productive core areas on acreage dedicated to our systems," Spencer said.

"Completed projects and acquisitions also are expected to result in natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) volume growth on our systems, increased distributions to unitholders and predominantly fee-based earnings at ONEOK Partners," he added.

2015 earnings guidance includes an 8 percent increase in unitholder distributions declared compared with 2014, including a projected 1.5-cent-per-unit-per-quarter increase. Actual unitholder distribution declarations are subject to ONEOK Partners board approval.

ONEOK Partners expects adjusted EBITDA to increase by an average of 20 percent annually between 2014 and 2017, compared with current 2014 earnings guidance.

The partnership also has estimated average annual distribution increases of 6 to 8 percent between 2014 and 2017, which includes the planned 1.5-cent-per-unit-per-quarter increase in 2015, subject to ONEOK Partners board approval.

ONEOK Partners expects adjusted EBITDA to increase by an average of 20 percent annually between 2014 and 2017, compared with current 2014 earnings guidance.

The partnership also has estimated average annual distribution increases of 6 to 8 percent between 2014 and 2017, which includes the planned 1.5-cent-per-unit-per-quarter increase in 2015, subject to ONEOK Partners board approval.

For 2015, ONEOK Partners' capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $2.6 billion to $3 billion.