Hess Midstream LP - Quarter Report: 2021 March (Form 10-Q)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-Q

For the quarter ended March 31, 2021

or

For the transition period from       to       

Commission File Number 001-39163

Hess Midstream LP

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code, is (713) 496-4200)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes ☒     No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).  Yes ☒     No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b‑2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by checkmark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b‑2 of the Exchange Act).  Yes ☐     No ☒

25,038,417 Class A shares representing limited partner interests (“Class A Shares”) in the registrant were outstanding as of April 30, 2021.

HESS MIDSTREAM LP

FORM 10-Q

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

HESS MIDSTREAM LP

Table of Contents

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED)

See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements.

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PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION (CONT’D)

HESS MIDSTREAM LP

Table of Contents

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(UNAUDITED)

 See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements.

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PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION (CONT’D)

HESS MIDSTREAM LP

Table of Contents

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(UNAUDITED)

See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements.

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PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION (CONT’D)

HESS MIDSTREAM LP

Table of Contents

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN PARTNERS’ CAPITAL

(UNAUDITED)

See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements.

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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(UNAUDITED)

See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements.

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Note 1.  Description of Business

Hess Midstream LP (“the Company”) is a fee-based, growth-oriented, Delaware limited partnership that operates, develops and acquires a diverse set of midstream assets and provides fee-based services to Hess Corporation (“Hess”) and third-party customers. We are managed and controlled by Hess Midstream GP LLC, the general partner of our general partner that is owned 50/50 by Hess and GIP II Blue Holding Partnership, L.P. (“GIP” and together with Hess, the “Sponsors”).

Our assets are primarily located in the Bakken and Three Forks shale plays in the Williston Basin area of North Dakota, which we collectively refer to as the Bakken. Our assets and operations are organized into the following three reportable segments: (1) gathering, (2) processing and storage and (3) terminaling and export (see Note 13, Segments).

Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this report to the “Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” or like terms, refer to Hess Midstream LP and its subsidiaries.

Note 2.  Basis of Presentation

The consolidated financial statements included in this report reflect all normal and recurring adjustments which, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair presentation of our consolidated financial position at March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the consolidated results of operations and the consolidated cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020. The unaudited results of operations for the interim periods reported are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for the full year.

The consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim reporting. As permitted under those rules, certain notes or other financial information that are normally required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted from these interim consolidated financial statements. These financial statements, therefore, should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and related notes included in the Company’s annual report on Form 10‑K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

We consolidate the activities of Hess Midstream Operations LP (“the Partnership”), as a variable interest entity (“VIE”) under U.S. GAAP.  We have concluded that we are the primary beneficiary of the VIE, as defined in the accounting standards, since we have the power, through our ownership, to direct those activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of the Partnership.  This conclusion was based on a qualitative analysis that considered the Partnership’s governance structure and the delegation of control provisions, which provide us the ability to control the operations of the Partnership. All financial statement activities associated with the VIE are captured within gathering, processing and storage, and terminaling and export segments (see Note 13, Segments). We currently do not have any independent assets or operations other than our interest in the Partnership. Our noncontrolling interest represents the approximate 91.2% interest in the Partnership retained by Hess and GIP at March 31, 2021 and 93.7% at December 31, 2020.

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Note 3.  Equity Offering

On March 15, 2021, the Sponsors completed an underwritten public equity offering of 6,900,000 of our Class A shares, inclusive of the underwriters’ option to purchase up to 900,000 of additional shares, at a price of $21.00 per Class A share, less underwriting discounts. The Sponsors received net proceeds from the offering of $139.9 million, after deducting underwriting discounts; we did not receive any proceeds in the offering. The offering was conducted pursuant to a registration rights agreement among us and the Sponsors. The Class A Shares sold in the offering were obtained by the Sponsors by exchanging to us 6,900,000 of their Class B Units in the Partnership, together with an equal number of our Class B Shares. As a result of the exchange, Hess Midstream LP’s consolidated ownership in the Partnership increased from 6.3% at December 31, 2020 to 8.8% at March 31, 2021. Hess Midstream LP retained control in the Partnership based on the delegation of control provisions, as described above in Note 2, Basis of Presentation. As a result of the transaction, we recognized an adjustment to the carrying amount of noncontrolling interest and Class A shareholders’ capital balance of $31.8 million to reflect the change in ownership interest. In addition, we recognized an additional deferred tax asset of $26.4 million for the temporary differences related to the change between carrying amount and tax basis of our investment in the Partnership. The effect of recognizing the additional deferred tax asset was included in Class A shareholders’ equity balance in the accompanying consolidated statement of changes in partners’ capital due to the transaction being characterized as a transaction among or with shareholders.

Note 4.  Related Party Transactions

Commercial Agreements

Effective January 1, 2014, we entered into long-term fee-based (i) gas gathering, (ii) crude oil gathering, (iii) gas processing and fractionation, (iv) storage services, and (v) terminal and export services agreements with certain subsidiaries of Hess. Effective January 1, 2019, we entered into long-term fee-based water services agreements with a subsidiary of Hess. For the services performed under these commercial agreements, we receive a fee per barrel of crude oil, barrel of water, Mcf of natural gas, or Mcf equivalent of NGLs, as applicable, delivered during each month, and Hess is obligated to provide us with minimum volumes of crude oil, water, natural gas and NGLs. Minimum volume commitments (“MVCs”) are equal to 80% of Hess’ nominations in each development plan that apply on a three-year rolling basis such that MVCs are set for the three years following the most recent nomination. Without our consent, the MVCs resulting from the nominated volumes for any quarter or year contained in any prior development plan shall not be reduced by any updated development plan unless dedicated production is released by us. The applicable MVCs may, however, be increased as a result of the nominations contained in any such updated development plan.

Except for the water services agreements and except for a certain gathering sub-system as described below, each of our commercial agreements with Hess has an initial 10-year term effective January 1, 2014 (“Initial Term”). For this gathering sub-system, the Initial Term is 15 years effective January 1, 2014 and for the water services agreements the Initial Term is 14 years effective January 1, 2019. Each of our commercial agreements other than our storage services agreement includes an inflation escalator and a fee recalculation mechanism that allows fees to be adjusted annually during the Initial Term for updated estimates of cumulative throughput volumes and our capital and operating expenditures in order to target a return on capital deployed over the Initial Term of the applicable commercial agreement (or, with respect to the crude oil services fee under our terminal and export services agreement, the 20-year period commencing on the effective date of the agreement).

We have the unilateral right, exercisable by the delivery of a written notice on or before the date that is three years prior to the expiration of the Initial Term, to extend each commercial agreement for one additional 10-year term (“Secondary Term”). For a certain gathering sub-system, the Secondary Term is 5-years and for the water services agreements the Secondary Term is 10 years. On December 30, 2020, we exercised our renewal options to extend the terms of certain crude oil gathering, terminaling, storage, gas processing and gas gathering commercial agreements with Hess for the Secondary Term through December 31, 2033. There were no changes to any provisions of the existing commercial agreements as a result of the exercise of the renewal options. For the remaining water gathering and disposal agreements as well as the remaining gas gathering agreement, we have the sole option to renew these agreements for an additional term that is exercisable at a later date.

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During the Secondary Term of each of our commercial agreements other than our storage services agreement and terminal and export services agreement (with respect to crude oil terminaling services), the fee recalculation model under each applicable agreement will be replaced by an inflation-based fee structure. The initial fee for the first year of the Secondary Term will be determined based on the average fees paid by Hess under the applicable agreement during the last three years of the Initial Term (with such fees adjusted for inflation through the first year of the Secondary Term). For each year following the first year of the Secondary Term, the applicable fee will be adjusted annually based on the percentage change in the consumer price index, provided that we may not increase any fee by more than 3% in any calendar year solely by reason of an increase in the consumer price index, and no fee will ever be reduced below the amount of the applicable fee payable by Hess in the prior year as a result of a decrease in the consumer price index. During the Secondary Term of our commercial agreements, Hess will continue to have MVCs equal to 80% of Hess’ nominations in each development plan that apply on a three-year rolling basis through the Secondary Term.

For the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, approximately 100% of our revenues were attributable to our fee‑based commercial agreements with Hess, including revenues from third‑party volumes contracted with Hess and delivered to us under these agreements. We retain control of our assets and the flow of volumes based on available capacity within our integrated gathering, processing and terminaling systems. Together with Hess, we are pursuing strategic relationships with third‑party producers and other midstream companies with operations in the Bakken in order to maximize our utilization rates.

Revenues from contracts with customers on a disaggregated basis are as follows:

During the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, we earned $13.4 million and $1.0 million, respectively, of MVC shortfall fee payments.

The following table presents third-party pass-through costs for which we recognize revenues in an amount equal to the costs. These third-party costs are included in Operating and maintenance expenses in the accompanying unaudited consolidated statements of operations.

Omnibus and Employee Secondment Agreements

Under our omnibus and employee secondment agreements, Hess provides substantial operational and administrative services to us in support of our assets and operations. For the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, we had the following charges from Hess. The classification of these charges between operating and maintenance expenses and general and administrative expenses is based on the fundamental nature of the services being performed for our operations.

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LM4 Agreements

Separately from our commercial agreements with Hess, we entered into a gas processing agreement with Little Missouri 4 (“LM4”), a 50/50 joint venture with Targa Resources Corp., under which we pay a processing fee per Mcf of natural gas and reimburse LM4 for our proportionate share of electricity costs. These processing fees are included in Operating and maintenance expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. In addition, we share profits and losses and receive distributions from LM4 under the LM4 amended and restated limited liability company agreement based on our ownership interest. For the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, we had the following activity related to our agreements with LM4:

Note 5.  Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment, at cost, is as follows:

Note 6.  Accrued Liabilities

Accrued liabilities are as follows:

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Note 7.  Debt and Interest Expense

Fixed‑Rate Senior Notes

As of March 31, 2021, the Partnership had $800.0 million of 5.625% fixed‑rate senior notes due 2026 that were issued to qualified institutional investors. The notes are guaranteed by certain subsidiaries of the Partnership. Interest is payable semi‑annually on February 15 and August 15.

In addition, as of March 31, 2021, the Partnership had $550.0 million of 5.125% fixed‑rate senior notes due 2028 that were issued to qualified institutional investors. The notes are guaranteed by certain subsidiaries of the Partnership. Interest is payable semi‑annually on June 15 and December 15.

Each of the indentures for the 2026 and 2028 senior notes contains customary covenants that restrict our ability and the ability of our restricted subsidiaries to (i) declare or pay any dividend or make any other restricted payments; (ii) transfer or sell assets or subsidiary stock; (iii) incur additional debt; or (iv) make restricted investments, unless, at the time of and immediately after giving pro forma effect to such restricted payments and any related incurrence of indebtedness or other transactions, no default has occurred and is continuing or would occur as a consequence of such restricted payment and if the leverage ratio does not exceed 4.25 to 1.00. As of March 31, 2021, we were in compliance with all debt covenants under the indentures.

In addition, the covenants included in the indentures governing the senior notes contain provisions that allow the Company to satisfy the Partnership’s reporting obligations under the indenture, as long as any such financial information of the Company contains information reasonably sufficient to identify the material differences, if any, between the financial information of the Company, on the one hand, and the Partnership and its subsidiaries on a stand-alone basis, on the other hand and the Company does not directly own capital stock of any person other than the Partnership and its subsidiaries, or material business operations that would not be consolidated with the financial results of the Partnership and its subsidiaries. The Company is a holding company and has no independent assets or operations. Other than the interest in the Partnership and the effect of federal and state income taxes that are recognized at the Company level, there are no material differences between the consolidated financial statements of the Partnership and the consolidated financial statements of the Company.

Credit Facilities

As of March 31, 2021, the Partnership had senior secured credit facilities (the “Credit Facilities”) consisting of a $1,000.0 million 5-year revolving credit facility and a fully drawn $400.0 million 5-year Term Loan A facility. Facility fees accrue on the total capacity of the revolving credit facility. Borrowings under the 5-year Term Loan A facility will generally bear interest at LIBOR plus the applicable margin ranging from 1.55% to 2.50%, while the applicable margin for the 5-year syndicated revolving credit facility ranges from 1.275% to 2.000%.   Pricing levels for the facility fee and interest-rate margins are based on the Partnership’s ratio of total debt to EBITDA (as defined in the Credit Facilities). If the Partnership obtains an investment grade credit rating, the pricing levels will be based on the Partnership’s credit ratings in effect from time to time. At March 31, 2021, borrowings of $174.0 million were drawn and outstanding under the Partnership’s revolving credit facility, and borrowings of $397.5 million, excluding deferred issuance costs, were drawn and outstanding under the Partnership’s Term Loan A facility.

The Credit Facilities can be used for borrowings and letters of credit for general corporate purposes. The Credit Facilities are guaranteed by each direct and indirect wholly owned material domestic subsidiary of the Partnership, and are secured by first priority perfected liens on substantially all of the presently owned and after-acquired assets of the Partnership and its direct and indirect wholly owned material domestic subsidiaries, including equity interests directly owned by such entities, subject to certain customary exclusions. The Credit Facilities contain representations and warranties, affirmative and negative covenants and events of default that the Partnership considers to be customary for an agreement of this type, including a covenant that requires the Partnership to maintain a ratio of total debt to EBITDA (as defined in the Credit Facilities) for the prior four fiscal quarters of not greater than 5.00 to 1.00 as of the last day of each fiscal quarter (5.50 to 1.00 during the specified period following certain acquisitions) and, prior to the Partnership obtaining an investment grade credit rating, a ratio of secured debt to EBITDA for the prior four fiscal quarters of not greater than 4.00 to 1.00 as of the last day of each fiscal quarter. As of March 31, 2021, the Partnership was in compliance with these financial covenants.

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Fair Value Measurement

At March 31, 2021, our total debt had a carrying value of $1,898.7 million and had a fair value of approximately $1,949.3 million, based on Level 2 inputs in the fair value measurement hierarchy. The carrying value of the amounts under the Term Loan A facility and revolving credit facility at March 31, 2021, approximated their fair value. Any changes in interest rates do not impact cash outflows associated with fixed rate interest payments or settlement of debt principal, unless a debt instrument is repurchased prior to maturity. 

Note 8.  Partners’ Capital and Distributions

Our partnership agreement requires that, within 45 days after the end of each quarter, we distribute all of our available cash, as defined in the partnership agreement, to shareholders of record on the applicable record date. The following table details the distributions declared and/or paid for the periods presented:

^z

⁽¹⁾ For more information, see Note 14, Subsequent Events.

Note 9.  Equity‑Based Compensation

Equity‑based award activity for the three months ended March 31, 2021 is as follows:

As of March 31, 2021, $3.0 million of compensation cost related to unvested restricted shares awarded under our long-term incentive plan remains to be recognized over an expected weighted‑average period of 2.3 years.

Note 10.  Earnings per Share

We calculate earnings per Class A Share as we do not have any other participating securities. Substantially all of income tax expense is attributed to earnings of Class A Shares reflective of our organizational structure. Class B Units of the Partnership together with the equal number of Class B Shares of the Company are convertible to Class A Shares of the Company on a one-for-one basis. In addition, our restricted equity-based awards may have a dilutive effect on our earnings per share. Diluted earnings per Class A Share are calculated using the “treasury stock method” or “if-converted method”, whichever is more dilutive.

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For the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 the weighted average number of Class A shares outstanding included 122,222 and 52,442 dilutive restricted shares, respectively.

Note 11.  Concentration of Credit Risk

Hess represented approximately 100% of our total revenues and accounts receivable for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.

Note 12.  Commitments and Contingencies

Environmental Contingencies

The Company is subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the environment. As of March 31, 2021, our reserves for estimated remediation liabilities included in Accrued liabilities and Other noncurrent liabilities were $0.8 million and $3.1 million, respectively, compared with $0.9 million and $3.1 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2020.

Legal Proceedings

In the ordinary course of business, the Company is from time to time party to various judicial and administrative proceedings. We regularly assess the need for accounting recognition or disclosure of these contingencies. In the case of a known contingency, we accrue a liability when the loss is probable and the amount is reasonably estimable. If a range of amounts can be reasonably estimated and no amount within the range is a better estimate than any other amount, then the minimum of the range is accrued.

As of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, we did not have material accrued liabilities for legal contingencies. Based on currently available information, we believe it is remote that the outcome of known matters would have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Note 13.  Segments

Our operations are located in the United States and are organized into three reportable segments: (1) gathering, (2) processing and storage and (3) terminaling and export. Our reportable segments comprise the structure used by our Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”) to make key operating decisions and assess performance. These segments are strategic business units with differing products and services. Our CODM evaluates the segments’ operating performance based on multiple measures including Adjusted EBITDA, defined as net income (loss) before net interest expense, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation and amortization and our proportional share of depreciation of equity affiliates, as further adjusted to eliminate the impact of certain items that we do not consider indicative of our ongoing operating performance, such as transaction costs, other income and other non-cash, non‑recurring items, if applicable.

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The following tables reflect certain financial data for each reportable segment:

*Includes acquisition, expansion and maintenance capital expenditures, as applicable.

Total assets for the reportable segments are as follows:

Note 14.  Subsequent Events

On April 23, 2021, the board of directors of our general partner declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.4526 per Class A share for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, a 1.2% increase compared to the distribution on the Class A shares for the quarter ended December 31, 2020, which equals a 5% increase on an annualized basis. The distribution will be payable on May 13, 2021, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 3, 2021. Simultaneously, the Partnership will make a distribution of $0.4526 per Class B unit of the Partnership to the Sponsors as holders of an aggregate of 259,516,928 Class B units of the Partnership.

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Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should be read in conjunction with the unaudited financial statements and accompanying footnotes included under Item 1. Financial Statements and in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and accompanying footnotes in our Annual Report on Form 10‑K for the year ended December 31, 2020 (our “2020 Annual Report”).

Unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise indicates, references in this report to “Hess Midstream LP,” “the Company,” “us,” “our,” “we” or similar terms refer to Hess Midstream LP, including its consolidated subsidiaries.

This discussion contains forward‑looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below and those discussed in our 2020 Annual Report.

Overview

We are a fee-based, growth-oriented, limited partnership that owns, operates, develops and acquires a diverse set of midstream assets and provide fee-based services to Hess Corporation (“Hess”) and third-party customers. We are managed and controlled by Hess Midstream GP LLC, the general partner of our general partner that is owned 50/50 by Hess and GIP II Blue Holding Partnership, L.P. (“GIP” and together with Hess, the “Sponsors”). Our assets are primarily located in the Bakken and Three Forks shale plays in the Williston Basin area of North Dakota, which we collectively refer to as the Bakken.

On March 15, 2021, the Sponsors completed an underwritten public equity offering of 6,900,000 of our Class A shares, inclusive of the underwriters’ option to purchase up to 900,000 of additional shares, at a price of $21.00 per Class A share, less underwriting discounts. The Sponsors received net proceeds from the offering of $139.9 million, after deducting underwriting discounts; the Company did not receive any proceeds in the offering.

Our assets and operations are organized into the following three reportable segments: (1) gathering (2) processing and storage and (3) terminaling and export.

First Quarter Results

Significant financial and operating highlights for the first quarter of 2021 included:

Revenues and other income in the first quarter of 2021 were $288.8 million compared with $290.8 million in the prior-year quarter. First quarter 2021 revenues and other income decreased $2.0 million compared with the prior-year quarter driven by lower passthrough revenues, including rail transportation, electricity, and produced water trucking and disposal, of $30.5 million, partially offset by $28.5 million primarily related to higher tariff rates. Total costs and expenses in the first quarter of 2021 were $106.3 million down from $138.0 million in the prior-year quarter. The decrease was primarily attributable to lower passthrough costs of $30.5 million, for which we recognize revenues in the same amount, as described above, and lower other costs of $1.2 million. As a result, consolidated net income increased $30.6 million and Adjusted EBITDA increased $31.4 million.

Throughput volumes decreased 23% for crude oil terminaling and 22% for crude oil gathering in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the first quarter of 2020 due to reduced drilling activity and the impact of severe winter weather. Throughput volumes decreased 6% for gas gathering and gas processing in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the first quarter of 2020 driven by lower third-party volumes, partially offset by higher gas capture of Hess volumes. The impact of the reduction in physical volumes in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2020 was offset by higher tariff rates and shortfall fee payments related to minimum volume commitments. Water gathering volumes increased 30% compared with the year-ago quarter reflecting continued steady organic growth of our water handling business

For additional information regarding our non‑GAAP financial measures, see “How We Evaluate Our Operations” and “Reconciliation of Non‑GAAP Financial Measures” below.

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How We Generate Revenues

We generate substantially all of our revenues by charging fees for gathering, compressing and processing natural gas and fractionating NGLs; gathering, terminaling, loading and transporting crude oil and NGLs; storing and terminaling propane; and gathering and disposing of produced water. We have entered into long‑term, fee‑based commercial agreements with Hess effective January 1, 2014, for oil and gas services agreements, and effective January 1, 2019, for water services agreements.

Except for the water services agreements and except for a certain gathering sub-system, as described below, each of our commercial agreements with Hess has an initial 10-year term and we have the unilateral right to renew each of these agreements for one additional 10-year term. In September 2018, we amended our gas gathering and gas processing and fractionation agreements to enable us to provide certain services to Hess in respect of volumes to be delivered to and processed at the LM4 plant. The amended and restated gas gathering agreement also extends the initial term of the gathering agreement with respect to a certain gathering sub-system by 5 years to provide for a 15-year initial term and decreases the secondary term for that gathering sub-system by 5 years to provide for a 5-year secondary term. Initial term for the water services agreements is 14 years and the secondary term is 10 years. On December 30, 2020, we exercised our renewal options to extend the terms of certain crude oil gathering, terminaling, storage, gas processing and gas gathering commercial agreements with Hess for the Secondary Term through December 31, 2033. There were no changes to any provisions of the existing commercial agreements as a result of the exercise of the renewal options. For the remaining water gathering and disposal agreements as well as the remaining gas gathering agreement, we have the sole option to renew these agreements for an additional term that is exercisable at a later date.

These agreements include dedications covering substantially all of Hess’ existing and future owned or controlled production in the Bakken, minimum volume commitments, inflation escalators and fee recalculation mechanisms, all of which are intended to provide us with cash flow stability and growth, as well as downside risk protection. In particular, Hess’ minimum volume commitments under our commercial agreements provide minimum levels of cash flows and the fee recalculation mechanisms under the agreements allow fees to be adjusted annually to provide us with cash flow stability during the initial term of the agreements. During the secondary term of the agreements, the fee recalculation model will be replaced by an inflation-based fee structure. See Note 4, Related Party Transactions for additional description of our commercial agreements.

Our revenues also include revenues from third-party volumes contracted with Hess and delivered to us under these commercial agreements with Hess, as well as pass-through third-party rail transportation costs, third-party produced water trucking and disposal costs and electricity fees for which we recognize revenues in an amount equal to the costs. Together with Hess, we are pursuing strategic relationships with third-party producers and other midstream companies with operations in the Bakken in order to maximize our utilization rates.

How We Evaluate Our Operations

Our management uses a variety of financial and operating metrics to analyze our operating results and profitability. These metrics include (i) volumes, (ii) operating and maintenance expenses, (iii) Adjusted EBITDA, and (iv) distributable cash flow.

Volumes.  The amount of revenues we generate primarily depends on the volumes of crude oil, natural gas, NGLs and produced water that we handle at our gathering, processing, terminaling, storage facilities and disposal facilities. These volumes are affected primarily by the supply of and demand for crude oil, natural gas and NGLs in the markets served directly or indirectly by our assets, including changes in crude oil prices, which may further affect volumes delivered by Hess. Although Hess has committed to minimum volumes under our commercial agreements described above, our results of operations will be impacted by our ability to:

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Operating and Maintenance Expenses.  Our management seeks to maximize the profitability of our operations by effectively managing operating and maintenance expenses. These expenses are comprised primarily of costs charged to us under our omnibus agreement and employee secondment agreement, third‑party contractor costs, utility costs, insurance premiums, third‑party service provider costs, related property taxes and other non‑income taxes and maintenance expenses, such as expenditures to repair, refurbish and replace storage facilities and to maintain equipment reliability, integrity and safety. These expenses generally remain relatively stable across broad ranges of throughput volumes but can fluctuate from period to period depending on the mix of activities performed during that period and the timing of substantial expenses, such as gas plant turnarounds. We seek to manage our maintenance expenditures by scheduling periodic maintenance on our assets in order to minimize significant variability in these expenditures and minimize their impact on our cash flow.

Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash Flow.  We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before net interest expense, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation and amortization and our proportional share of depreciation of our equity affiliates, as further adjusted to eliminate the impact of certain items that we do not consider indicative of our ongoing operating performance, such as transaction costs, other income and other non‑cash, non‑recurring items, if applicable. We define distributable cash flow as Adjusted EBITDA less net interest, excluding amortization of deferred financing costs, cash paid for federal and state income taxes and maintenance capital expenditures. Distributable cash flow does not reflect changes in working capital balances. We use Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow to analyze our liquidity and performance.

Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow are non‑GAAP supplemental financial measures that management and external users of our consolidated financial statements, such as industry analysts, investors, lenders and rating agencies, may use to assess:

We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow provides useful information to investors in assessing our financial condition and results of operations. The GAAP measures most directly comparable to Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow are net income (loss) and net cash provided by (used in) operating activities. Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow should not be considered as alternatives to GAAP net income (loss), income (loss) from operations, net cash provided by (used in) operating activities or any other measure of financial performance or liquidity presented in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow have important limitations as analytical tools because they exclude some but not all items that affect net income and net cash provided by operating activities. You should not consider Adjusted EBITDA or distributable cash flow in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Additionally, because Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow may be defined differently by other companies in our industry, our definition of Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies, thereby diminishing their utility.

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PART I – FINANCIAL INFORMATION (CONT’D)

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Results of Operations

Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2020

Results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 are presented below (in millions, unless otherwise noted).

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PART I – FINANCIAL INFORMATION (CONT’D)

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