(Bloomberg) — Energy Transfer LP, the pipeline giant controlled by billionaire Kelcy Warren, has emerged as the biggest winner so far from the deadly winter storm that paralyzed Texas in February.
The company saw a positive earnings impact from the extreme weather of about $2.4 billion, it said Thursday in its first-quarter earnings statement. Energy Transfer raised its full-year earnings guidance to as much as $13.3 billion, from up to $11 billion previously. The stock jumped as much as 3.6% in after-hours trading.
The company joins a growing list of gas market players who reaped windfalls totaling almost $5 billion amid the chaos of the storm. Plunging prices and power cuts interrupted the normal flow of gas from many wells. Market players with available supplies were able to sell at sky-high spot prices.
Speculation over the extent of Energy Transfer’s gains began soon after the storm when Co-Chief Executive Officer Marshall McCrea told investors in a conference call that the company had done “exceptionally well” as a dramatic gas shortage spurred demand for the supplies held in the company’s storage facilities. The fossil-fuel hauler was sued by CPS Energy, a Texas utility, in the immediate aftermath of the crisis for allegedly charging a natural gas price more than 15,000% higher than normal. Energy Transfer rejected the claims.
“During the storm, employees manned facilities 24 hours a day, ET’s transmission lines remained fully operational and the Partnership did everything within its control to keep plants running and field compression idling so that ET would be prepared to deliver natural gas to facilities throughout Texas for residential consumption and power generation,” the company said in the statement.
Kinder Morgan Inc., another pipeline operator, said last month the storm had a $1 billion positive impact on its results. BP Plc also reported an “exceptional” quarter in gas trading; while it didn’t break out more detail, one Citigroup Inc. analyst estimated BP’s Texas-related gain easily exceeded $1 billion, Meanwhile Australian investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd. pocketed $210 million.
Energy Transfer operates over 90,000 miles (145,000 kilometers) of pipelines and related infrastructure spanning 38 states and Canada. The company posted a record quarterly net income of $3.29 billion in the first quarter, far exceeding the $820.5 million average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The company lost $854 million a year earlier.
(Updates with stock price move in second paragraph)
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