Oil storage and transportation company Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (SXL) reported Tuesday a year-over-year decline in profit for the fourth quarter, hurt by higher costs and operating expenses, despite revenue growth.
In a statement, president and chief executive officer, Deborah Fretz said, 2009 was another record year for Sunoco Logistics. We focused on maximizing utilization of our asset base, continuing organic growth programs throughout our system and strengthening our Lease Acquisition business. We did see some impact with reduced volumes due to a weak demand environment; however, we were able to take advantage of several market opportunities such as contango by utilizing our storage capacity and pipeline flexibility."
The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based company reported net income of $40.57 million or $1.30 per limited partner unit, down from $64.41 million or $2.23 per limited partner unit in the prior-year quarter.
On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.42 per share for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Total revenues for the quarter increased to $1.67 billion from $1.58 billion in the same quarter last year, and topped eight Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $1.42 billion.
Operating income for the fourth quarter decreased to $66.39 million from $83.14 million in the prior-year quarter. Total costs and expenses were $1.60 billion, up from $1.49 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Total shipments in the fourth quarter increased to 56.54 million barrel miles per day from 55.03 million barrel miles per day in the same quarter last year. Revenue per barrel mile grew to 0.636 cents from 0.590 cents last year.
Total crude oil pipeline throughput declined to 687.10 thousand barrels per day or bpd, from 711.62 thousand bpd, while crude oil purchases at wellhead was down at 177.16 thousand bpd from 184.97 thousand bpd a year ago. Gross margin per barrel of pipeline throughput was 60.4 cents, down from 93.4 cents in the year-ago quarter.
Sunoco Partners LLC, the general partner of Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P., declared a cash distribution for the fourth quarter of $1.09 per common partnership unit or $4.36 on an annualized basis, up 10.1% over the year-ago quarter. The distribution is payable February 12 to unit holders of record on February 8, 2010.
For fiscal 2009, the company reported net income of $197.70 million or $6.48 per limited partner unit, up from $188.38 million or $6.15 per limited partner unit in the previous year. Analysts expected the company to report earnings of $6.62 per share for fiscal 2009.
Total revenues for the full-year 2009 plunged to $5.40 billion from $10.11 billion reported in fiscal 2008. The Street was looking for full year revenues of $5.21 billion.
Looking ahead, "We entered 2010 with a strong balance sheet and excellent distribution coverage. We will continue to implement our organic growth opportunities and we also expect that there will be numerous potential acquisition opportunities that could fit well with our current asset base. The IDR repurchase transaction which we completed today is expected to be immediately accretive to our limited partnership unitholders and will serve to improve our competitive position for growth opportunities by lowering our cost of capital," Fretz added.
SXL closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $70.30, unchanged on a volume of 61,200 shares.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.