Enterprise Products Partners — Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Summary
Financial Performance:
- Net income attributable to common unitholders was $1.6 billion ($0.75 per diluted common unit) for the three months ended September 30, 2026, an increase of 21% compared to the same period in 2025.
- Adjusted EBITDA was $2.8 billion for the quarter, up 16% year-over-year.
- Operational DCF was $2.3 billion for the quarter, up 27% year-over-year, providing 1.9x coverage of distributions declared.
- Adjusted CFFO was $2.4 billion for the quarter, up 18% year-over-year.
- Total gross operating margin increased 15% to $2.7 billion for the quarter, including a $21 million increase in unrealized mark-to-market earnings.
- For the twelve months ended September 30, 2026, the payout ratio (distributions plus buybacks) was 54% of Adjusted CFFO.
- Total debt principal outstanding was $33.7 billion at the end of the period.
- Net cash flow provided by operating activities was $2.2 billion for the quarter and $6.8 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2026.
Guidance and Future Outlook:
- Growth capital spending for 2026, net of $600 million in asset sale proceeds, is expected to range between $2.9 billion and $3.4 billion.
- Sustaining capital expenditures for 2026 are expected to be $650 million.
- Enterprise has $6.3 billion of growth capital projects under construction scheduled to begin commercial operations between the current date and 2028.
- Projects scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2026 include the fourth expansion of the LPG marine terminal on the Houston Ship Channel and the new Athena natural gas processing plant in the Midland Basin.
- The LPG marine terminal expansion will increase the partnership's LPG loading rate by approximately 300 MBPD to a total of 1.1 MMBPD.
- The Athena plant will have a capacity to process 300 MMcf/d of natural gas and extract up to 40 MBPD of NGLs.
Business Segments and Product Lines:
- NGL Pipelines & Services: Gross operating margin was $1.5 billion for the quarter, up from $1.3 billion in 2025. Total NGL pipeline volumes were a record 5.0 MMBPD (up 6%), and NGL marine terminal volumes were 1.2 MMBPD.
- Natural Gas Processing: Gross operating margin was $488 million for the quarter, up from $354 million in 2025. Natural gas processing inlet volumes were a record 8.5 Bcf/d (up 6%), with Permian Basin volumes up 12% to 4.6 Bcf/d.
- Crude Oil Pipelines & Services: Gross operating margin was $367 million for the quarter, down from $371 million in 2025. Total crude oil pipeline volumes were 2.7 MMBPD (up 48 MBPD), and marine terminal volumes were 926 MBPD.
- Natural Gas Pipelines & Services: Gross operating margin was $411 million for the quarter, up from $339 million in 2025. Total natural gas pipeline volumes were a record 22.7 TBtus/d (up 8%).
- Petrochemical & Refined Products Services: Gross operating margin was $430 million for the quarter, up from $370 million in 2025. Total segment pipeline volumes were 1.2 MMBPD, and marine terminal volumes were 413 MBPD.
- New assets contributing to performance include the eleventh natural gas processing plant in the Delaware Basin, the Bahia NGL pipeline, Frac 14 at the Mont Belvieu complex, and the second phase of the Neches River NGL marine terminal.
Market and Competitive Landscape:
- Record Permian natural gas processing inlet volumes of 4.6 Bcf/d and record total natural gas processing inlet volumes of 8.5 Bcf/d were reported.
- Record equivalent pipeline volumes of 14.8 MMBPD were achieved, up 7% year-over-year.
- Marine terminal volumes reached 2.5 MMBPD, up 28% year-over-year.
- Economic growth and global geopolitical conflicts continue to drive strong international demand for U.S. produced NGLs, crude oil, petrochemicals, refined products, and motor gasoline additives.
- Ethane export volumes increased 139 MBPD and LPG export volumes increased 149 MBPD following the completion of the second phase of the Neches River Terminal.
Risks and Challenges:
- Risks include insufficient cash from operations, adverse market conditions, and governmental regulations.
- Higher operating costs partially offset margin increases in the Texas crude oil pipelines and Delaware Basin natural gas processing facilities.
- Lower average processing margins partially offset volume increases in the Midland Basin natural gas processing facilities.
- Fluctuations in energy commodity prices can impact consolidated revenues and cost of sales without necessarily increasing gross operating margin or distributable cash flow.
Management Commentary and Tone:
- A.J. "Jim" Teague, co-chief executive officer, described the third quarter performance as "strong" and "broad based," noting increases in gross operating margin across three of the four segments.
- Management highlighted that strong natural gas and NGL production growth in the Permian Basin flows through the integrated NGL system to serve domestic and international markets.
- The partnership retained $1.1 billion of distributable cash flow to reinvest in growth, fund buybacks, and reduce debt.
- Management expressed confidence that projects under construction provide visibility to future growth in cash flow per unit and partnership value.
Other Key Points:
- Common unit repurchases totaled $112 million for the quarter and $437 million for the twelve months ended September 30, 2026, representing 36% cumulative utilization of the $5.0 billion buyback program.
- Distributions were declared at $0.56 per common unit ($2.24 annualized), an increase of 2.8% compared to the prior year.
- The partnership's assets include more than 50,000 miles of pipelines, over 300 million barrels of storage capacity, and 14 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity.
- A conference call to discuss earnings was held on October 29, 2026.
- Company
- ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS PARTNERS LP
- Sector
- Energy
- Industry
- Oil & Gas Midstream