Summit Midstream Partners, LP - Annual Report: 2017 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017

or

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from        to        

Commission file number: 001-35666

Summit Midstream Partners, LP

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☒    Yes      ☐    No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Act.

☐    Yes      ☒    No

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 and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted 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 and post such files). ☒    Yes      ☐    No

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or 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 check mark 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 Act). ☐    Yes      ☒    No

The aggregate market value of the common units held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2017, was $928,653,216.

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date: The registrant had 73,085,996 common units and 1,490,999 general partner units outstanding at February 16, 2018.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

None

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2

Table of Contents

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

3

Table of Contents

COMMONLY USED OR DEFINED TERMS

4

Table of Contents

5

Table of Contents

6

Table of Contents

PART I

Item 1. Business.

SMLP is a Delaware limited partnership that completed its IPO in October 2012. References to "we" or "our" refer collectively to SMLP and its subsidiaries. For additional information, see Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements.

Item 1. Business is divided into the following sections:

Overview

We are a growth-oriented limited partnership focused on developing, owning and operating midstream energy infrastructure assets that are strategically located in the core producing areas of unconventional resource basins, primarily shale formations, in the continental United States. Our systems gather natural gas from pad sites, wells and central receipt points connected to our systems. Gathered natural gas volumes are then compressed, dehydrated, treated and/or processed for delivery to downstream pipelines serving processing plants and/or end users. We also contract with producers to gather crude oil and produced water from wells connected to our systems for delivery to downstream pipelines and third-party rail terminals in the case of crude oil and to third-party disposal wells in the case of produced water. We generally refer to all of the services our systems provide as gathering services.

We are the owner-operator of, or have significant ownership interests in, the following gathering systems:

7

Table of Contents

The systems that we operate and/or have a significant ownership interests in have a diverse group of customers and counterparties comprising affiliates and/or subsidiaries of some of the largest natural gas and crude oil producers in North America. Key customers are as follows:

We believe that the systems we operate and/or have significant ownership interests in are positioned for growth through increased utilization and further development. We intend to continue expanding our operations and diversifying our geographic footprint through asset acquisitions from third parties. We also intend to grow our business through the execution of new, and the expansion of existing, strategic partnerships with large producers to provide midstream services for their upstream exploration and production projects. In addition, we may participate in asset acquisitions with Summit Investments, although (i) Summit Investments has no current direct ownership interest in any operating assets, (ii) Summit Investments has no obligation to us to offer any assets that it may acquire or participate in any asset acquisitions that we may make and (iii) we have no obligation to acquire any assets offered.

Our financial results are primarily driven by volume throughput across our gathering systems and expense management. During 2017, aggregate natural gas volume throughput averaged 1,748 MMcf/d and crude oil and produced water volume throughput averaged 75.2 Mbbl/d. A substantial majority of the volumes that we gather, treat and/or process have a fixed-fee rate structure thereby enhancing the stability of our cash flows by providing a revenue stream that is not directly subject to commodity price risk. Activities that expose us to direct commodity price risk include (i) the sale of physical natural gas and/or NGLs purchased under percentage-of-proceeds arrangements with certain of our customers on the Bison Midstream and Grand River systems, (ii) natural gas and crude oil marketing services in and around our gathering systems, (iii) the sale of natural gas we retain from certain DFW Midstream system customers and (iv) the sale of condensate we retain from our gathering services at Grand River. During the year ended December 31, 2017, less than 14% of our revenues were exposed to direct commodity price risk.

In addition, the vast majority of our gathering and/or processing agreements include AMIs. Our AMIs cover approximately 3.3 million acres in the aggregate, which includes more than 0.8 million acres in Ohio Gathering. Certain of our gathering and processing agreements also include MVCs. To the extent the customer does not meet its MVC, it must make an MVC shortfall payment to cover the shortfall of required volume throughput not shipped or

8

Table of Contents

processed, either on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. We have designed our MVC provisions to ensure that we will generate a certain amount of revenue from each customer over the life of the associated gathering or processing agreement, whether by collecting gathering or processing fees on actual throughput or from cash payments to cover any MVC shortfall. As of December 31, 2017, we had remaining MVCs totaling 2.6 Tcfe. Our MVCs have a weighted-average remaining life of 7.4 years (assuming minimum throughput volume for the remainder of the term) and average approximately 1.0 Bcfe/d through 2022.

We use a variety of financial and operational metrics to analyze our performance, including among others, throughput volume, revenues, operation and maintenance expenses and segment adjusted EBITDA. We view each of these operational and/or GAAP metrics as important factors in evaluating our profitability and determining the amounts of cash distributions we pay to our unitholders.

For additional information on our results of operations, see Item 6. Selected Financial Data and the "Results of Operations" section included in the Item 7. MD&A.

Financial Information About Segments.  As of December 31, 2017, our reportable segments and their respective gathering systems were:

Our reportable segments reflect the way in which (i) we manage our operations and (ii) management uses the reported financial information to make decisions and allocate resources in connection therewith. The primary assets of our reportable segments consist of gathering systems and the related property, plant and equipment and intangible assets with the exception of the Ohio Gathering reportable segment, which holds our ownership interest in OGC and OCC.

For additional information on our reportable segments, see the "Results of Operations—Segment Overview for the Years Ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015" section included in the Item 7. MD&A and Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements. For additional information on revenue and accounts receivable concentrations, see the "Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit and Counterparty Concentration Risks" section included in Item 7. MD&A and Notes 3 and 10 to the consolidated financial statements. For additional information on long-lived assets, see Notes 4 and 5 to the consolidated financial statements.

Our Sponsor and Summit Investments.  Energy Capital Partners, together with its affiliated funds, is a private equity firm with over $13.0 billion in capital commitments that is focused on investing in North America's energy infrastructure. Energy Capital Partners has significant energy and financial expertise to complement its investment in us, including investments in the power generation, midstream oil and gas, electric transmission, energy equipment and services, environmental infrastructure and other energy-related sectors.

Summit Investments, which was formed in 2009 by members of our management team and our Sponsor, is the ultimate owner of our General Partner. We are managed and operated by the Board of Directors and executive officers of our General Partner, which is managed and operated by Summit Investments. As a result, due to its

9

Table of Contents

ownership interest in Summit Investments and its representation on Summit Investments' board of managers, Energy Capital Partners controls our General Partner and its activities, thereby controlling SMLP.

In December 2015, Energy Capital Partners approved a unit purchase program of up to $100.0 million of SMLP common units (the "Purchase Program"). A wholly owned subsidiary of Summit Investments acquired 151,160 common units and Energy Capital Partners acquired 5,915,827 common units under the Purchase Program. The Purchase Program concluded in June 2016.

Business Strategies

Our principal business strategy is to increase the amount of cash distributions we make to our unitholders over time. Our plan for continuing to execute this strategy includes the following key components:

Competitive Strengths

We believe that we will be able to execute the components of our principal business strategy successfully because of the following competitive strengths:

10

Table of Contents

Our Midstream Assets

Our midstream assets, including assets in which we have a significant ownership interest, currently operate in the following unconventional resource plays:

We compete with other midstream companies, producers and intrastate and interstate pipelines. Competition for volumes is primarily based on reputation, commercial terms, service levels, access to end-use markets, geographic proximity of existing assets to a producer's acreage and available capacity. We may also face competition to gather production outside of our AMIs and attract producer volumes to our gathering systems. Additionally, we could face incremental competition to the extent we make acquisitions.

We earn revenue by providing gathering, treating and/or processing services pursuant to primarily long-term and fee-based gathering and processing agreements with some of the largest and most active producers in North

11

Table of Contents

America. The fee-based nature of these agreements enhances the stability of our cash flows by limiting our direct commodity price exposure.

The significant features of our gathering and processing agreements and the gathering systems to which they relate are discussed in more detail below. For additional operating and financial performance information, on a consolidated basis and by reportable segment, see the "Results of Operations" section in Item 7. MD&A.

Areas of Mutual Interest.  The vast majority of our gathering and processing agreements contain AMIs, some of which extend through 2036. The AMIs generally require that any production by our customers within the AMIs will be shipped on and/or processed by our systems. In general, our customers have not leased acreage that cover our entire AMIs but, to the extent that they lease additional acreage within our AMIs in the future, any production from wells drilled by them within that AMI will be dedicated to our systems.

Under certain of our gathering agreements, we have agreed to construct pipeline laterals to connect our gathering systems to pad sites located within the AMI. However, we may choose not to participate in a pad connection opportunity presented by a customer if we believe that the project would not meet our internal return expectations. Under this scenario, the customer may, in certain circumstances, construct the infrastructure itself and sell it to us at a price equal to their cost plus an applicable margin, or, in some cases, we may release the relevant acreage dedication from the AMI.

Minimum Volume Commitments.  Certain of our gathering and/or processing agreements contain MVCs, which, like AMIs, benefit the development and ongoing operation of a gathering system because they provide a contracted monthly, quarterly or annual minimum revenue stream. As of December 31, 2017, we had remaining MVCs totaling 2.6 Tcfe. Our MVCs, had a weighted-average remaining life of 7.4 years (assuming minimum throughput volume for the remainder of the term) and average approximately 1.0 Bcfe/d through 2022. In addition, certain of our customers have an aggregate MVC, which is a total amount of volume throughput that the customer has agreed to ship and/or process on our systems (or an equivalent monetary amount) over the MVC term. In these cases, once a customer achieves its aggregate MVC, any remaining future MVCs will terminate and the customer will then simply pay the applicable gathering or processing rate multiplied by the actual throughput volumes shipped or processed. As a result of this mechanism, the weighted-average remaining period for which our MVCs apply is less than the weighted-average of the original stated contract terms of our MVCs.

For additional information on our MVCs, see the "Critical Accounting Estimates" section in MD&A and Notes 2 and 8 to the consolidated financial statements.

Utica Shale

Summit Utica.  In March 2016, we acquired certain natural gas gathering pipeline and dehydration assets in the Utica Shale from a subsidiary of Summit Investments. We refer to these assets as the Summit Utica system. The Summit Utica system is a natural gas gathering system located in the Appalachian Basin in Belmont and Monroe counties in southeastern Ohio and serves producers targeting the dry gas window of the Utica and Point Pleasant shale formations. The system, which includes XTO and Ascent as its key customers, is currently in service and under development and had throughput capacity of 600 MMcf/d as of December 31, 2017. The Summit Utica system gathers and delivers natural gas, primarily under long-term, fee-based gathering agreements which include acreage dedications. The system interconnects with Energy Transfer Partners, L.P.’s ("Energy Transfer Partners") Utica Ohio River Pipeline, which delivers to the Clarington Hub in Clarington, Ohio. The Summit Utica system currently provides natural gas midstream services for the Utica Shale reportable segment.

Ohio Gathering

Ohio Gathering.  In March 2016, we acquired substantially all of a 40% ownership interest in Ohio Gathering from a subsidiary of Summit Investments. Non-affiliated owners have a 60% ownership interest in Ohio Gathering. Ohio Gathering comprises a natural gas gathering system and condensate stabilization facility located in the core of the Utica Shale in southeastern Ohio. The gathering system spans the condensate, liquids-rich and dry gas windows of the Utica Shale for multiple producers that are targeting natural gas, condensate and NGLs production from the Utica and Point Pleasant shale formations across Harrison, Guernsey, Belmont, Noble and Monroe counties in

12

Table of Contents

southeastern Ohio. Gulfport and Ascent are Ohio Gathering's key customers. Condensate and liquids-rich gas production is gathered, compressed, dehydrated and delivered to the Cadiz and Seneca processing complexes, which are owned by a joint venture between MPLX LP (“MPLX”) and The Energy and Minerals Group (“EMG”). Dry gas production is gathered, compressed, dehydrated and delivered to a downstream interconnect with Texas Eastern Transmission, or TETCO, and another third-party pipeline, which provides access to other third-party pipelines serving the northeast and mid-west markets. Substantially all gathering services on the Ohio Gathering system are provided pursuant to long-term, fee-based gathering agreements.

The condensate stabilization facility commenced operations in February 2015. Condensate stabilization allows for producers to capture the NGLs that would otherwise flash from condensate in atmospheric conditions. As one of the largest stabilization facilities in the Utica Shale, this facility serves as the origination point for MPLX’s Cornerstone Pipeline which delivers condensate to Marathon Petroleum’s refinery in Canton, Ohio.

For additional information, see Note 7 to the consolidated financial statements.

Williston Basin

The following table provides operating information regarding our Williston Basin reportable segment as of December 31, 2017.

__________

(1) Contract terms related to MVCs are presented for liquids and natural gas on a combined basis.

(2) Weighted average based on total remaining MVC (total remaining MVCs multiplied by average rate).

AMIs for the Williston Basin reportable segment total approximately 1.3 million acres in the aggregate.

Polar and Divide.  In May 2015, we acquired certain crude oil and produced water gathering systems in the Williston Basin from a subsidiary of Summit Investments. Subsequent to this acquisition, we have developed and commissioned additional gathering and transmission pipelines. In connection with the 2016 Drop Down, we also acquired crude oil and produced water gathering pipelines. We refer to these assets, which commenced operations in the second quarter of 2013, as the Polar and Divide system. The Polar and Divide system, which is located primarily in Williams and Divide counties in northwestern North Dakota, owns, operates and is currently developing crude oil and produced water gathering systems and transmission pipelines serving the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations.

The Polar and Divide system is underpinned by two long-term, fee-based gathering agreements with Whiting and SM Energy. In addition to Whiting and SM Energy, the Polar and Divide system is also supported by other long-term, fee-based gathering agreements.

Crude oil that is gathered by the Polar and Divide system is primarily delivered to The Dakota Access Pipeline and produced water is delivered to third-party disposal facilities. The Polar and Divide system also has interconnects into Crestwood Equity Partners LP's COLT Hub rail facility in Epping, North Dakota, Enbridge’s North Dakota Pipeline System in Williams County, North Dakota and Global Partners LP's Basin Transload rail terminal in Columbus, North Dakota. The Polar and Divide system currently provides crude oil and produced water midstream services for the Williston Basin reportable segment.

Tioga Midstream.  In March 2016, we acquired certain associated natural gas, crude oil and produced water gathering systems in the Williston Basin from a subsidiary of Summit Investments. We refer to these assets, which commenced natural gas operations in the fourth quarter of 2014 and liquids operations in the third quarter of 2015, as the Tioga Midstream system. The Tioga Midstream system is located in Williams County, North Dakota. All gathering services on the Tioga Midstream system are provided pursuant to long-term, fee-based gathering agreements with Hess, which is primarily targeting crude oil production from the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations. The

13

Table of Contents

gathering agreements include an annual rate redetermination mechanism which effectively serves to protect future cash flows by resetting the gathering rate upward from pre-established base gathering rates in the event that Hess under performs from certain pre-established minimum production thresholds. The annual rate redeterminations can also reset the gathering rate lower in the event that Hess exceeds the minimum production threshold. All crude oil, produced water and natural gas gathered on the Tioga Midstream system is delivered to downstream pipelines and disposal wells (for produced water) that are owned and operated by Hess Midstream Partners LP. The Tioga Midstream system currently provides associated natural gas, crude oil and produced water midstream services for the Williston Basin reportable segment.

Bison Midstream.  In June 2013, we acquired certain associated natural gas gathering pipeline, dehydration and compression assets in the Williston Basin from a subsidiary of Summit Investments. We refer to these assets as the Bison Midstream system. The Bison Midstream system is located in Mountrail and Burke counties in northwestern North Dakota. Bison Midstream gathers, compresses and treats associated natural gas that exists in the crude oil stream produced from the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations. These formations are primarily targeted for crude oil production. As such, producer drilling and completion activity decisions, and consequently Bison Midstream's volume throughput, are based largely on the prevailing price of crude oil.

Our gathering agreements for the Bison Midstream system include long-term, fee-based or percent-of-proceeds contracts. Volume throughput on the Bison Midstream system is underpinned by MVCs from its key customers. In addition to its percent-of-proceeds gathering agreement with Oasis and its fee-based gathering agreement with a large U.S. independent crude oil and natural gas company, the Bison Midstream system is also supported by other fee-based gathering agreements. Natural gas gathered on the Bison Midstream system is delivered to Aux Sable Midstream LLC's (“Aux Sable”) Palermo Conditioning Plant in Palermo, North Dakota and then delivered to downstream pipelines serving Aux Sable’s 2.1 Bcf/d natural gas processing plant in Channahon, Illinois. The Bison Midstream system currently provides associated natural gas midstream services for the Williston Basin reportable segment.

Piceance/DJ Basins

The following table provides operating information regarding our Piceance/DJ Basins reportable segment as of December 31, 2017.

__________

(1) Weighted average based on total remaining MVC (total remaining MVCs multiplied by average rate).

AMIs for the Piceance/DJ Basins reportable segment total approximately 840,000 acres in the aggregate.

Grand River.  In 2011, we acquired certain natural gas gathering pipeline, dehydration and compression assets in the Piceance Basin from a third party. We refer to these assets as the Grand River system. The Grand River system is primarily located in Garfield County, one of the largest natural gas producing counties in Colorado. It gathers natural gas produced from the Mesaverde formation and the Mancos and Niobrara shale formations located within the Piceance Basin.

In March 2014, we acquired certain natural gas gathering pipeline, dehydration, compression and processing assets in the Piceance Basin from a subsidiary of Summit Investments. We refer to these assets as the Red Rock Gathering system, or Red Rock Gathering. Red Rock Gathering gathers and processes natural gas from the Mesaverde formation and the Mancos and Niobrara shale formations located in western Colorado and eastern Utah. Red Rock Gathering is primarily located in Garfield, Rio Blanco and Mesa counties in Colorado and Uintah and Grand counties in Utah. The Grand River and Red Rock Gathering systems have been connected and are managed as a single system, which we collectively refer to as the Grand River system.

14

Table of Contents

The Grand River system is primarily a low-pressure gathering system that was originally designed to gather natural gas produced from directional wells targeting the liquids-rich Mesaverde formation. The Mesaverde is a shallow, tight sands geologic formation that producers have targeted with directional drilling for several decades. We also gather natural gas from our customers' wells targeting the Mancos and Niobrara shale formations, which underlie the Mesaverde formation, via a medium-pressure gathering system.

Natural gas gathered and/or processed on the Grand River system is compressed, dehydrated, processed and/or discharged to downstream pipelines serving (i) Enterprise Product Partners' 1.8 Bcf/d processing facility located in Meeker, Colorado, (ii) Williams Partners L.P.'s Northwest Pipeline and (iii) Kinder Morgan, Inc.'s TransColorado Pipeline system. Processed NGLs from Grand River are injected into Enterprise's Mid-America Pipeline system or delivered to local markets. In addition, certain of our gathering agreements with our Grand River customers permit us to retain condensate volumes that naturally discharge from the liquids-rich natural gas as it moves across our system.

The Grand River system has multiple long-term, fee-based gathering agreements with Caerus as well as fee-based agreements with Terra, Black Hills Exploration and Production, Inc. ("Black Hills") and Ursa Resources Group II LLC (“Ursa”) which include long-term acreage dedications and MVCs. Certain of the Grand River system's other gathering and processing agreements include MVCs and AMIs.

In 2015, we executed an expansion agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Ursa to provide additional throughput capacity in exchange for new MVCs. In connection with the Black Hills gathering agreement, in March 2014 we commissioned a 20 MMcf/d cryogenic processing plant and related gas gathering infrastructure in the DeBeque, Colorado area to support Black Hills' development of its acreage targeting the liquids-rich Mancos and Niobrara formations. In connection with the Terra gathering agreement, we agreed to expand our gathering and compression services by constructing gas gathering infrastructure in the Rifle, Colorado area.

We anticipate that the majority of our near-term throughput on the Grand River system will continue to originate from the Mesaverde formation. We expect to continue to pursue additional volumes on the low-pressure system to more fully utilize the system's existing throughput capacity. In addition, we believe that the Grand River system is optimally located for expansion to gather future production from the Mancos and Niobrara shale formations. The Grand River system currently provides midstream services for the Piceance/DJ Basins reportable segment.

Niobrara G&P.  In March 2016, we acquired certain associated natural gas gathering pipeline, compression and processing assets in the DJ Basin from a subsidiary of Summit Investments. We refer to these assets as the Niobrara G&P system. The system, which is located in Weld County, Colorado, comprises a low-pressure and high-pressure associated natural gas gathering pipeline and cryogenic natural gas processing plant with processing capacity of 20 MMcf/d pursuant to a long-term, fee-based gathering and processing agreement with Fifth Creek and a large U.S. independent crude oil and natural gas company. In December 2017, Fifth Creek announced a merger with Bill Barrett which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018. In November 2017, we announced the expansion of our existing 20 MMcf/d gathering and processing complex with the addition of a new 60 MMcf/d processing plant. We expect the new 60 MMcf/d processing plant to become operational in the fourth quarter of 2018. Residue gas is delivered to the Colorado Interstate Gas pipeline and processed NGLs are delivered to the Overland Pass Pipeline. The Niobrara G&P system currently provides midstream services for the Piceance/DJ Basins reportable segment.

Barnett Shale

The following table provides operating information regarding our Barnett Shale reportable segment as of December 31, 2017.

__________

(1) Weighted average based on total remaining MVC (total remaining MVCs multiplied by average rate).

AMIs for the Barnett Shale reportable segment total more than 120,000 acres.

15

Table of Contents

DFW Midstream.  In 2009 and 2014, we acquired certain natural gas gathering pipeline and compression assets in the Barnett Shale from third parties. We refer to these assets as the DFW Midstream system. The DFW Midstream system is primarily located in southeastern Tarrant County, in north-central Texas. As the largest natural gas-producing county in Texas, we consider this area to be the core of the core of the Barnett Shale because of the quality of the geology and the high production profile of the wells drilled to date. Based on peak month average daily production rates sourced from the Railroad Commission of Texas as of December 2017, this area contains the most prolific wells in the Barnett Shale. For example, the two largest and five of the 10 largest wells drilled in the Barnett Shale are connected to the DFW Midstream system.

The DFW Midstream system includes gathering pipelines located under both private and public property and is partially located along existing electric transmission corridors. Compression on the system is powered by electricity. To offset the costs we incur to operate the system's electric-drive compressors, we either retain a fixed percentage of the natural gas that we gather or pass through a portion of the power expense to our customers. The DFW Midstream system currently has six primary interconnections with third-party, primarily intrastate pipelines. These interconnections enable us to connect our customers, directly or indirectly, with the major natural gas market hubs in Texas and Louisiana.

The DFW Midstream system is underpinned by a long-term, fee-based gathering agreement with Total and by other long-term, fee-based gathering agreements. The DFW Midstream system is designed to benefit from incremental volumes arising from high-density, infill drilling on existing pad sites that are already connected to the gathering system and, as such, would not require significant additional capital expenditures. Development of the DFW Midstream system has enabled our customers to efficiently produce natural gas by utilizing horizontal drilling techniques from pad sites already connected in our AMIs. Given the urban nature of southeastern Tarrant County, we expect that the majority of future natural gas drilling in this area will occur from existing pad site locations. The DFW Midstream system currently provides midstream services for the Barnett Shale reportable segment.

Marcellus Shale

The following table provides operating information regarding our Marcellus Shale reportable segment as of December 31, 2017.

__________

(1) Contract terms related to AMIs and MVCs are excluded for confidentiality purposes.

Mountaineer Midstream.  In June 2013, we acquired certain high-pressure natural gas gathering pipelines and compression assets located in the liquids-rich window of the Marcellus Shale Play from an affiliate of MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. (“MarkWest,” which was acquired by MPLX). We refer to these assets as the Mountaineer Midstream system. This system, which operates in the Appalachian Basin, benefits from its location in Doddridge and Harrison counties in West Virginia where it gathers natural gas under a long-term, fee-based contract with Antero. The Mountaineer Midstream system consists of high-pressure natural gas gathering pipelines and two compressor stations. This liquids-rich natural gas gathering and compression system serves as a critical inlet to MPLX's Sherwood Processing Complex, a primary destination for liquids-rich natural gas in northern West Virginia, which provides downstream access to Midwest, mid-Atlantic and northeast regions of the United States.

In November 2013, we amended our original fee-based natural gas gathering agreement with Antero whereby we agreed to construct approximately nine miles of high-pressure pipeline on the Mountaineer Midstream system (the "Zinnia Loop"). The Zinnia Loop, which was commissioned in 2014, is underpinned by a minimum revenue commitment from Antero and increased throughput capacity to 1,050 MMcf/d to support Antero's drilling activities. The Mountaineer Midstream system currently provides midstream services for the Marcellus Shale reportable segment.

16

Table of Contents

Delaware Basin

Summit Permian.  In July 2017, we executed an agreement with XTO to develop, own and operate a new associated natural gas gathering and processing system servicing acreage located in the northern Delaware Basin in Eddy and Lea counties in New Mexico. We are in the process of constructing a gathering and processing system with high and low pressure gathering and discharge pipelines, two compressor stations and a cryogenic processing plant with 60 MMcf/d of processing capacity. Our processing complex will have the ability to be expanded to over 600 MMcf/d of processing capacity, as warranted, to meet customer needs. We expect to process production from XTO and other nearby producers. The initial phase of the project is expected to be operational on or before June 1, 2018.  

For additional information relating to our business and gathering systems, see the "Trends and Outlook" and "Results of Operations" sections in Item 7. MD&A.

Regulation of the Natural Gas and Crude Oil Industries

General.  Sales by producers of natural gas, crude oil, condensate and NGLs are currently made at market prices. However, gathering and transportation services are subject to various types of regulation, which may affect certain aspects of our business and the market for our services. FERC regulates the transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce and the interstate transportation of crude oil, petroleum products and NGLs. FERC regulation includes reviewing and accepting or approving rates and other terms and conditions for such transportation services. FERC is also authorized to prevent and sanction market manipulation in natural gas markets while the FTC is authorized to prevent and sanction market manipulation in petroleum markets. State and municipal regulations may apply to the production and gathering of natural gas, the construction and operation of natural gas and crude oil facilities and the rates and practices of gathering systems and intrastate pipelines.

Regulation of Crude Oil and Natural Gas Exploration, Production and Sales.  Sales of crude oil and NGLs are not currently regulated and are transacted at market prices. In 1989, the U.S. Congress enacted the Natural Gas Wellhead Decontrol Act, which removed all remaining price and non-price controls affecting wellhead sales of natural gas. FERC, which has the authority under the NGA to regulate the prices and other terms and conditions of the sale of natural gas for resale in interstate commerce, has issued blanket authorizations for all gas resellers subject to its regulation, except interstate pipelines, to resell natural gas at market prices. Either Congress or FERC (with respect to the resale of gas in interstate commerce), however, could re-impose price controls in the future.

Exploration and production operations are subject to various types of federal, state and local regulation, including, but not limited to, permitting, well location, methods of drilling, well operations and conservation of resources. While these regulations do not directly apply to our business, they may affect our customers' ability to produce natural gas.

Regulation of the Gathering and Transportation of Natural Gas and Crude Oil.  We believe that the majority of our natural gas pipeline facilities qualify as gathering facilities that are exempt from the jurisdiction of FERC. On February 1, 2016, Epping's FERC tariff for interstate movements of crude oil on its Epping Pipeline in North Dakota became effective. That tariff is subject to FERC jurisdiction and oversight pursuant to FERC's authority under the ICA. We are also generally subject to FERC's anti-market manipulation regulations. The distinction between federally unregulated natural gas and crude oil pipelines and FERC-regulated natural gas and crude oil pipelines has been the subject of extensive litigation and changes in the policies and interpretations of laws and regulations. In addition, the status of any individual pipeline system may be determined by FERC on a case-by-case basis, although FERC has made no such determinations as to the status of our facilities. Consequently, the classification and regulation of pipeline systems (including some of our pipelines) could change based on future determinations by FERC or the courts.

Under FERC’s ICA jurisdiction, rates for interstate movements of liquids by pipeline are currently regulated primarily through an annual indexing methodology, under which pipelines increase or decrease their existing rates in accordance with a FERC-specified adjustment. This adjustment is subject to review every five years. For the five-year period beginning on July 1, 2016, FERC established an annual index adjustment equal to the change in the producer

17

Table of Contents

price index for finished goods plus 1.23%. FERC is currently considering a policy change that would deny proposed index increases for pipelines under certain circumstances where revenues exceed cost-of-service by a certain percentage or where the proposed index increases exceed certain annual cost changes reported to FERC, although it has not yet made any determinations regarding these proposals.

Under current FERC regulations, liquids pipelines can request a rate increase that exceeds the rate obtained through the indexing methodology by using a cost-of-service approach, but a pipeline must establish that a substantial divergence exists between its actual costs and the rates resulting from the indexing methodology. The rates charged by Epping may also be affected by an ongoing proceeding before FERC that seeks to address whether FERC’s existing policy of allowing partnership-owned pipelines to claim an income-tax allowance for partners’ tax liability results in an impermissible double-recovery, or whether justification exists to continue the current approach. The potential outcome of this proceeding is currently uncertain.

The ICA permits interested persons to challenge proposed new or changed rates and authorizes FERC to suspend the effectiveness of such rates for up to seven months and investigate such rates. If, upon completion of an investigation, FERC finds that the new or changed rate is unlawful, it is authorized to require the pipeline to refund revenues collected in excess of the just and reasonable rate during the term of the investigation. FERC may also investigate, upon complaint or on its own motion, rates that are already in effect and may order a carrier to change its rates prospectively. Under certain circumstances, FERC could limit Epping’s ability to set rates based on costs or could order reduced rates and reparations to complaining shippers for up to two years prior to the date of a complaint. FERC also has the authority to change terms and conditions of service if it determines that they are unjust and unreasonable or unduly discriminatory or preferential.

Intrastate pipelines, which may include some pipelines that perform gathering functions, may be subject to safety regulation by the DOT, although typically state regulatory authorities (operating under a federal certification) perform this function. State regulatory authorities also have jurisdiction over the rates and practices of intrastate pipelines and gathering systems, including requirements for ratable takes or non-discriminatory access to pipeline services. The basis for state regulation and the degree of regulatory oversight of gathering systems and intrastate pipelines varies from state to state. In Texas, we are regulated as a gas utility and have filed tariffs with the Railroad Commission of Texas to establish rates and terms of service for our DFW Midstream system assets. We have not been required to file tariffs in the other states in which we operate, although we are required to submit shape files and other information regarding the location and construction of underground gathering pipelines in North Dakota. The states in which we operate have adopted complaint-based regulation that allows natural gas producers and shippers to file complaints with state regulators in an effort to resolve access issues and rate grievances, among other matters. State authorities in the states in which we operate generally have not initiated investigations of the rates or practices of gathering systems or intrastate pipelines in the absence of a complaint. State regulation of intrastate pipelines continues to evolve and may become more stringent in the future. For example, the North Dakota Industrial Commission recently adopted rule changes that resulted in additional construction and monitoring requirements for all pipelines, including, but not limited to, those that transport produced water, and has recently adopted reclamation bonding requirements for certain underground gathering pipelines in North Dakota.

Natural gas, crude oil and produced water production, gathering and transportation, including the construction of new gathering facilities and expansion of existing gathering facilities may also be subject to local regulation, such as approval and permit requirements.

Anti-Market Manipulation Rules.  We are subject to the anti-market manipulation provisions in the NGA and the NGPA, as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which authorize FERC to impose fines of up to $1,238,271 per day per violation of the NGA, the NGPA, or their implementing regulations, subject to future adjustments for inflation. In addition, the FTC holds statutory authority under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to prevent market manipulation in petroleum markets, including the authority to request that a court impose fines of up to $1,180,566 per violation, subject to future adjustment for inflation. These agencies have promulgated broad rules and regulations prohibiting fraud and manipulation in oil and gas markets. The CFTC is directed under the CEA to prevent price manipulations in the commodity and futures markets, including the energy futures markets. Pursuant to statutory authority, the CFTC has adopted anti-market manipulation regulations that prohibit fraud and price manipulation in the

18

Table of Contents

commodity and futures markets. The CFTC also has statutory authority to seek civil penalties of up to the greater of $1,098,190 per day per violation, subject to future adjustment for inflation, or triple the monetary gain to the violator for violations of the anti-market manipulation sections of the CEA. We are also subject to various reporting requirements that are designed to facilitate transparency and prevent market manipulation.

Safety and Maintenance.  We are subject to regulation by the DOT, which establishes federal safety standards for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of natural gas and crude oil pipeline facilities. In the Pipeline Safety Act of 1992, Congress expanded the DOT's regulatory authority to include regulated gathering lines that had previously been exempt from federal jurisdiction. The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 and the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement and Safety Act of 2006 established mandatory inspections for certain U.S. oil and natural gas transmission pipelines in high consequence areas. The Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Job Creation Act of 2011 (“2011 Act”) reauthorized funding for federal pipeline safety programs through 2015, increased penalties for safety violations, established additional safety requirements for newly constructed pipelines and required studies of certain safety issues that could result in the adoption of new regulatory requirements for existing pipelines. In 2016, the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act reauthorized pipeline safety programs through 2019 and provided limited new authority, including the ability to issue emergency orders, while increasing transparency into the status of remaining actions required by the 2011 Act.

The DOT has delegated the implementation of pipeline safety requirements to PHMSA, which has adopted and enforces safety standards and procedures applicable to a limited number of our pipelines. In addition, many states, including the states in which we operate, have adopted regulations that are identical to or more restrictive than existing PHMSA regulations for intrastate pipelines. Among the regulations applicable to us, PHMSA requires pipeline operators to develop integrity management programs for certain pipelines located in high consequence areas, which include high-population areas such as the Dallas-Fort Worth greater metropolitan area where our DFW Midstream system is located. While the majority of our pipelines meet the DOT definition of gathering lines and are thus currently exempt from the integrity management requirements of PHMSA, we also operate a limited number of pipelines that are subject to the integrity management requirements. Those regulations require operators, including us, to:

In April 2016, PHMSA proposed changes to gas pipeline safety regulations that would impose expanded assessment requirements, expand assessment and repair requirements to pipelines in areas with medium population densities (so-called “Moderate Consequence Areas”), and extend pipeline safety regulation to certain previously unregulated gas gathering pipelines. PHMSA has yet to finalize this rulemaking, however, and the timing and content of any final rule are uncertain. In 2015, PHMSA adopted regulations that impose pipeline incident prevention and response measures on pipeline operators and in 2012, PHMSA issued an Advisory Bulletin providing guidance on verification of records related to pipeline maximum allowable operating pressure. Pipelines that do not meet PHMSA’s record verification standards may be required to perform additional testing or reduce their operating pressures.

In January 2017, PHMSA issued a final rule amending its pipeline safety regulations for the design, construction, testing, operation, and maintenance of pipelines transporting hazardous liquids. Among other things, the final rule extends certain safety-related condition reporting requirements to all hazardous liquid gathering lines and requires periodic assessments of certain hazardous liquid transmission lines in non-high consequence areas. The status of this rulemaking is currently uncertain due to a regulatory freeze implemented by the Trump administration on January 20, 2017, pursuant to which all regulations that had been sent to the Office of the Federal Register, but not yet

19

Table of Contents

published, were withdrawn for further review. Accordingly, the anticipated January 2017 rulemaking was never published in the Federal Register, and the rule is not currently effective.

Gathering systems like ours are also subject to a number of federal and state laws and regulations, including the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Act and comparable state statutes, the purposes of which are to protect the health and safety of workers, both generally and within the pipeline industry. In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration hazard communication standard, EPA community right-to-know regulations under Title III of the federal Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act and comparable state statutes require that information be maintained concerning hazardous materials used or produced in our operations and that such information be provided to employees, state and local government authorities and the public.

Environmental Matters

General.  Our operation of pipelines and other assets for the gathering, treating and/or processing of natural gas and the gathering of crude oil and produced water is subject to stringent and complex federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment. As an owner or operator of these assets, we must comply with these laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels. These laws and regulations can restrict or impact our business activities in many ways, such as:

Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may trigger administrative, civil and criminal enforcement measures, including the assessment of monetary penalties. Certain environmental statutes impose strict joint and several liability for costs required to clean up and restore sites where substances, hydrocarbons or wastes have been disposed or otherwise released. Moreover, it is not uncommon for neighboring landowners and other third parties to file claims for personal injury and property damage allegedly caused by the release of hazardous substances, hydrocarbons or other waste products into the environment.

The trend in environmental regulation is to place more stringent requirements, resulting in more restrictions and limitations, on activities that may affect the environment. Thus, there can be no assurance as to the amount or timing

of future expenditures for environmental compliance or remediation and actual future expenditures may be different from the amounts we currently anticipate. We try to anticipate future regulatory requirements that might be imposed and plan accordingly to remain in compliance with changing environmental laws and regulations and to minimize the costs of such compliance. We also actively participate in industry groups that help formulate recommendations for addressing existing and future regulations.

The following is a discussion of the material environmental laws and regulations that relate to our business.

Hazardous Substances and Waste.  Our operations are subject to environmental laws and regulations relating to the management and release of solid and hazardous wastes and other substances, including hydrocarbons. These laws generally regulate the generation, storage, treatment, transportation and disposal of solid and hazardous waste and may impose strict joint and several liability for the investigation and remediation of affected areas where hazardous substances may have been released or disposed. Furthermore, the Toxic Substances Control Act and analogous state laws, impose requirements on the use, storage and disposal of various chemicals and chemical substances at our facilities. CERCLA and comparable state laws impose liability, without regard to fault or the legality of the original conduct, on certain classes of persons that contributed to the release of a hazardous substance into the

20

Table of Contents

environment. We may handle hazardous substances within the meaning of CERCLA, or similar state statutes, in the course of our ordinary operations and, as a result, may be jointly and severally liable under CERCLA for all or part of the costs required to clean up sites at which these hazardous substances have been released into the environment.

We also generate industrial wastes that are subject to the requirements of the RCRA and comparable state statutes. While the RCRA regulates both solid and hazardous wastes, it imposes strict requirements on the generation, storage, treatment, transportation and disposal of hazardous wastes. Although we generate minimal hazardous waste, it is possible that non-hazardous wastes, which could include wastes currently generated during our operations, will in the future be designated as hazardous wastes and, therefore, be subject to more rigorous and costly disposal requirements. Moreover, from time to time, the EPA and state regulatory agencies have considered the adoption of stricter disposal standards for non-hazardous wastes, including natural gas wastes.

We currently own or lease properties where hydrocarbons are being or have been handled for many years. Although we believe that the previous operators utilized operating and disposal practices that were standard in the industry at the time, hydrocarbons or other wastes may have been disposed of or released on or under the properties owned or leased by us or on or under the other locations where these hydrocarbons and wastes have been transported for treatment or disposal, without our knowledge. These properties and the wastes disposed thereon may be subject to CERCLA, the RCRA and analogous state laws. Under these laws, we could be required to remove or remediate previously disposed wastes (including wastes disposed of or released by prior owners or operators), to clean up contaminated property (including contaminated groundwater) or to perform remedial operations to prevent future contamination. We are not currently aware of any facts, events or conditions relating to such requirements that could materially impact our operations or financial condition.

Air Emissions.  Our operations are subject to the federal CAA and comparable state and local laws and regulations. These laws and regulations regulate emissions of air pollutants from various industrial sources, including our facilities, and also impose various monitoring, control and reporting requirements. Such laws and regulations may require that we obtain pre-approval for the construction or modification of certain projects or facilities expected to produce or significantly increase air emissions, obtain and strictly comply with air permits containing various emissions and operational limitations and utilize specific emission control technologies to limit emissions. Our failure to comply with these requirements could subject us to monetary penalties, injunctions, conditions or restrictions on operations and criminal enforcement actions. Furthermore, we may be required to incur certain capital expenditures in the future to obtain and maintain operating permits and approvals for air pollutant emitting sources.

In October 2015, the EPA issued a new lower NAAQS for ozone. The previous ozone standard was set at 75 parts per billion ("ppb"). The revised standard has been lowered to 70 ppb. The lowered ozone NAAQS could result in a significant expansion of ozone nonattainment areas across the United States, including areas in which we operate, which could subject us to increased regulatory burdens in the form of more stringent emission controls, emission offset requirements and increased permitting delays and costs. Impacts from the new standard have not yet been determined, as states are still in the process of incorporating the new standard into their respective state implementation plans. We will continue to monitor developments to determine if any adverse effects on our operations can be expected.

On June 3, 2016, the EPA finalized revisions to its 2012 New Source Performance Standard ("NSPS") OOOO for the oil and gas industry, to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases - most notably methane - along with smog-forming VOCs. The revisions, which are published in the Federal Register under Subpart OOOOa, included the addition of methane to the pollutants covered by the rule, along with requirements for detecting and repairing leaks at gathering and boosting stations. The revised rule applies to sources that have been modified, constructed, or reconstructed after September 18, 2015. EPA is currently reconsidering NSPS OOOOa and has proposed to stay its requirements. However, the rule currently remains in effect. While we do not expect this rule to significantly impact our existing operations, future modifications or new construction may be adversely affected by the revised rule.

On November 16, 2016 the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") issued a final rule to reduce venting and flaring of natural gas on public and Indian lands. The final rule mirrors many of the requirements found in NSPS OOOOa, with additional natural gas royalty requirements for flared volumes at sites already connected to gas capture infrastructure.

21

Table of Contents

In December 2017, the BLM issued a final rule that temporarily suspends or delays these requirements until January 2019, while BLM considers revising or rescinding these requirements. While the rule is expected to have little or no direct impact on our operations, our customers that are primarily upstream wellhead operators may be impacted by the requirements in this rule.

Water Discharges.  The CWA and analogous state laws impose restrictions and strict controls regarding the discharge of pollutants into regulated waters, which impacts our ability to conduct construction activities in waters and wetlands. Certain state regulations and the general permits issued under the Federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program prohibit the discharge of pollutants and chemicals. In addition, the Clean Water Act and analogous state laws require individual permits or coverage under general permits for discharges of storm water runoff from certain types of facilities. These permits require us to control storm water runoff from some of our facilities. Some states also maintain groundwater protection programs that require permits for discharges or operations that may impact groundwater conditions. Federal and state regulatory agencies can impose administrative, civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance with discharge permits or other requirements of the Clean Water Act and analogous state laws and regulations. Except as otherwise disclosed in this annual report, we believe that we are in substantial compliance with all applicable requirements of the CWA and analogous state laws and regulations relating to water discharges.

Oil Pollution Act.  The OPA requires the preparation of an SPCC plan for facilities engaged in drilling, producing, gathering, storing, processing, refining, transferring, distributing, using, or consuming oil and oil products, and which due to their location, could reasonably be expected to discharge oil in harmful quantities into or upon the navigable waters of the United States. The owner or operator of an SPCC-regulated facility is required to prepare a written, site-specific spill prevention plan, which details how a facility's operations comply with the requirements. To be in compliance, the facility's SPCC plan must satisfy all of the applicable requirements for drainage, bulk storage tanks, tank car and truck loading and unloading, transfer operations (intrafacility piping), inspections and records, security and training. Certain of our facilities are classified as SPCC-regulated facilities. We believe that they are in substantial compliance with all applicable requirements of OPA.

Hydraulic Fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing is an important and increasingly common practice that is used to stimulate production of natural gas and/or crude oil from dense subsurface rock formations and is primarily presently regulated by state agencies. However, Congress has in the past and may in the future consider legislation to regulate hydraulic fracturing by federal agencies. Many states have already adopted laws and/or regulations that require disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and are considering legal requirements that could impose more stringent permitting, disclosure and well construction requirements on oil and/or natural gas drilling activities. The EPA has also moved forward with various related regulatory actions, including approving new regulations requiring green completions of hydraulically-fractured wells and corresponding reporting requirements that went into effect in 2015. Revisions to the green completion regulations were finalized in June 2016 and include additional requirements to reduce methane and VOCs. The EPA announced in April 2017 that it would review these regulations and has proposed to stay their requirements. However, the regulations currently remain in effect. We do not believe these new regulations will have a direct effect on our operations, but because natural gas and/or crude oil production using hydraulic fracturing is growing rapidly in the United States, if new or more stringent federal, state or local legal restrictions relating to such drilling activities or to the hydraulic fracturing process are adopted, this could result in a reduction in the supply of natural gas and/or crude oil.

Endangered Species Act.  The Endangered Species Act restricts activities that may affect endangered or threatened species or their habitats. Some of our pipelines may be located in areas that are designated as habitats for endangered or threatened species.

National Environmental Policy Act.  The NEPA establishes a national environmental policy and goals for the protection, maintenance and enhancement of the environment and provides a process for implementing these goals within federal agencies. Major projects having the potential to significantly impact the environment require review under NEPA. Many of our activities are covered under categorical exclusions which results in an expedited NEPA review process. Large upstream and downstream projects with significant cumulative impacts may be subject to

22

Table of Contents

longer NEPA review processes, which could impact the timing of those projects and our services associated with them.

Climate Change.  The EPA has adopted regulations under the CAA that, among other things, establish GHG emission limits from motor vehicles as well as establish PSD construction and Title V operating permit reviews for certain large stationary sources that are potential major sources of GHG emissions. Facilities required to obtain PSD permits for their GHG emissions also will be required to meet “best available control technology” standards that will be established by the states or, in some cases, by the EPA on a case-by-case basis.

EPA rules also require the reporting of GHG emissions from specified large GHG-emitting sources in the United States, including onshore and offshore oil and natural gas systems. We are required to report under these rules for our assets that have GHG emissions above the reporting thresholds. In October 2015, the EPA issued revisions to Subpart W of the GHG reporting rule to include reporting requirements for gathering and booster stations, onshore natural gas transmission pipelines, and completions and workovers of oil wells with hydraulic fracturing. This development resulted in increased monitoring and reporting for our operations and for upstream producers for whom we provide midstream services.

In addition, almost half of the states, either individually or through multi-state regional initiatives, have begun to address GHG emissions, primarily through the planned development of emission inventories or regional GHG cap and trade programs. Most of these cap and trade programs work by requiring either major sources of emissions, such as electric power plants, or major producers of fuels, such as refineries and gas processing plants, to acquire and surrender emission allowances. In general, the number of allowances available for purchase is reduced each year until the overall GHG emission reduction goal is achieved. Depending on the scope of a particular program, we could be required to purchase and surrender allowances for GHG emissions resulting from our operations (e.g., at compressor stations). Although most of the state-level initiatives have to date been focused on large sources of GHG emissions, such as electric power plants, it is possible that certain components of our operations, such as our gas-fired compressors, could become subject to state-level GHG-related regulation.

Further, in December 2015, over 190 countries, including the United States, reached an agreement to reduce global GHG emissions. The agreement entered into force in November 2016, after over 70 countries, including the United States, ratified or otherwise consented to be bound by the agreement. In August 2017, the United States formally documented to the United Nations its intent to withdraw from the agreement. The earliest possible effective withdrawal date from the agreement is November 2020.

Legislation or regulations that may be adopted to address climate change could also affect the markets for our products by making our products more or less desirable than competing sources of energy. To the extent that our products are competing with higher GHG-emitting energy sources, our products would become more desirable in the market with more stringent limitations on GHG emissions. Conversely, to the extent that our products are competing with lower GHG-emitting energy sources such as solar and wind, our products would become less desirable in the market with more stringent limitations on GHG emissions.

Other Information

Employees.  SMLP does not have any employees. All of the employees required to conduct and support its operations are employed by Summit Investments, but these individuals are sometimes referred to as our employees. The officers of our General Partner manage our operations and activities. As of December 31, 2017, Summit Investments employed 347 people who provide direct, full-time support to our operations. None of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements, and we have never experienced any business interruption as a result of any labor disputes.

Availability of Reports.  We make certain filings with the SEC, including, among other filings, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments and exhibits to those reports, available free of charge through our website, www.summitmidstream.com, as soon as reasonably practicable

23

Table of Contents

after the date they are filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The filings are also available at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549 or by calling 1-800-SEC-0330. These filings are also available through the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Our press releases and recent investor presentations are also available on our website.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Item 1A. Risk Factors is divided into the following sections:

• Risks Related to our Business

• Risks Inherent in an Investment in Us

• Tax Risks

Risks Related to Our Business

Our principal business strategy is to increase the amount of cash distributions we make to our unitholders over time. We may not have sufficient cash from operations following the establishment of cash reserves and payment of fees and expenses, including cost reimbursements of expenses incurred on our behalf by our General Partner, to enable us to maintain or increase the distributions to holders of our common units.

We may not have sufficient available cash from operating surplus each quarter to maintain or increase the distributions to holders of our common units. The amount of cash we can distribute on our units principally depends upon the amount of cash we generate from our operations, which will fluctuate from quarter to quarter based on, among other things:

In addition, the actual amount of cash we will have available for distribution will depend on other factors, some of which are beyond our control, including:

24

Table of Contents

We depend on a relatively small number of customers for a significant portion of our revenues. The loss of, or material nonpayment or nonperformance by, or the curtailment of production by, any one or more of these customers could materially adversely affect our revenues, cash flows and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

Certain of our customers may have material financial and liquidity issues or may, as a result of operational incidents or other events, be disproportionately affected as compared to larger, better-capitalized companies. Any material nonpayment or nonperformance by any of these customers could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and cash flows and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders. We expect our exposure to concentrated risk of nonpayment or nonperformance to continue as long as we remain substantially dependent on a relatively small number of customers for a significant portion of our revenues.

If our customers curtail or reduce production in our areas of operation, it could reduce throughput on our system and, therefore, materially adversely affect our revenues, cash flows and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

We are exposed to the creditworthiness and performance of our customers, suppliers and contract counterparties and any material nonpayment or nonperformance by one or more of these parties could materially adversely affect our financial and operating results.

Although we attempt to assess the creditworthiness and associated liquidity of our customers, suppliers and contract counterparties, there can be no assurance that our assessments will be accurate or that there will not be a rapid or unanticipated deterioration in their creditworthiness, which may have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders. In addition, there can be no assurance that our contract counterparties will perform or adhere to existing or future contractual arrangements, including making any required shortfall payments or other payments due under their respective contracts.

The policies and procedures we use to manage our exposure to credit risk, such as credit analysis, credit monitoring and, if necessary, requiring credit support, cannot fully eliminate counterparty credit risks. To the extent our policies and procedures prove to be inadequate, our financial and operational results may be negatively impacted.

Some of our counterparties may be highly leveraged, have limited financial resources and/or have recently experienced a rating agency downgrade and will be subject to their own operating and regulatory risks. Even if our credit review and analysis mechanisms work properly, we may experience financial losses in our dealings with such parties. In addition, volatility in commodity prices could have a negative impact on our counterparties, which, in turn, could have a negative impact on their ability to meet their obligations to us.

Any material nonpayment or nonperformance by any of our counterparties or suppliers could require us to pursue substitute counterparties or suppliers for the affected operations or reduce our operations. There can be no assurance that any such efforts would be successful or would provide similar financial and operational results.

25

Table of Contents

Adverse developments in our areas of operation could materially adversely impact our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and reduce our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

Our operations are focused on gathering, treating and processing services in five unconventional resource basins: the Appalachian Basin, the Williston Basin, the Fort Worth Basin, the Piceance Basin, and the DJ Basin. Due to our limited industry and geographic diversity, adverse developments in the natural gas and crude oil industries or in our existing areas of operation could have a significantly greater impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Significant prolonged weakness in natural gas, NGL and crude oil prices could reduce throughput on our systems and materially adversely affect our revenues and cash available to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

Lower natural gas, NGL and crude oil prices could negatively impact exploration, development and production of natural gas and crude oil, thereby resulting in reduced throughput on our gathering systems. Additionally, certain of our customers in each of our areas of operations have reduced, and others could reduce, drilling activity and capital expenditure budgets. If natural gas, NGL and/or crude oil prices remain at current levels or decrease, it could cause sustained reductions in exploration or production activity in our areas of operation and result in a further reduction in throughput on our systems, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders. Additionally, we expect our natural gas and crude oil marketing services to increase in future periods, resulting in higher exposure to direct commodity price risk.

Because of the natural decline in production from our customers' existing wells, our success depends in part on our customers replacing declining production and also on our ability to maintain levels of throughput on our systems. Any decrease in the volumes that we gather and process could materially adversely affect our business and operating results.

The customer volumes that support our business depend on the level of production from natural gas and crude oil wells connected to our systems, the production from which may be less than expected and will naturally decline over time. As a result, our cash flows associated with these wells will also decline over time. To maintain or increase throughput levels on our systems, we must obtain new sources of volume throughput. The primary factors affecting our ability to obtain new sources of volume throughput include (i) the level of successful drilling activity in our areas of operation and (ii) our ability to compete for new volumes on our systems.

We have no control over the level of drilling activity in our areas of operation, the amount of reserves associated with wells connected to our systems or the rate at which production from a well declines. In addition, we have no control over producers or their drilling and production decisions, which are affected by, among other things:

26

Table of Contents

Fluctuations in energy prices can also greatly affect the development of new crude oil and natural gas reserves. Drilling and production activity generally decreases as commodity prices decrease. In general terms, the prices of crude oil, natural gas and other hydrocarbon products fluctuate in response to changes in supply and demand, market uncertainty and a variety of additional factors that are beyond our control. These factors include:

Because of these factors, even if new crude oil or natural gas reserves are known to exist in areas served by our assets, producers may choose not to develop those reserves. If reductions in drilling activity result in our inability to maintain the current levels of throughput on our systems, those reductions could reduce our revenues and cash flows and materially adversely affect our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

In addition, it may be more difficult to maintain or increase the current volumes on our gathering systems, as several of the formations in the unconventional resource plays in which we operate generally have higher initial production rates and steeper production decline curves than wells in more conventional basins. Should we determine that the economics of our gathering, treating and processing assets do not justify the capital expenditures needed to grow or maintain volumes associated therewith, revenues associated with these assets will decline over time. In addition to capital expenditures to support growth, the steeper production decline curves associated with unconventional resource plays may require us to incur higher maintenance capital expenditures over time, which will reduce our cash available for distribution.

Many of our costs are fixed and do not vary with our throughput. These costs will not decline ratably or at all should we experience a reduction in throughput, which could result in a decline in our revenues and cash flows and materially adversely affect our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

If our customers do not increase the volumes they provide to our gathering systems, our growth strategy and ability to increase cash distributions to our unitholders may be materially adversely affected.

If we are unsuccessful in attracting new customers and/or new gathering opportunities with existing customers, our ability to increase cash distributions to our unitholders will be impaired. Our customers are not obligated to provide additional volumes to our gathering systems, and they may determine in the future that drilling activities in areas outside of our current areas of operation are strategically more attractive to them. Reductions by our customers in our areas of mutual interest could result in reductions in throughput on our systems and materially adversely impact our ability to grow our operations and increase cash distributions to our unitholders.

Certain of our gathering and processing agreements contain provisions that can reduce the cash flow stability that the agreements were designed to achieve.

We designed those gathering and processing agreements that contain MVC provisions to generate stable cash flows for us over the life of the MVC contract term while also minimizing our direct commodity price risk. Under certain of these MVCs, our customers agree to ship a minimum volume on our gathering systems or send a minimum volume to

27

Table of Contents

our processing plants or, in some cases, to pay a minimum monetary amount, over certain periods during the term of the MVC. In addition, our gathering and processing agreements may also include an aggregate MVC, which represents the total amount that the customer must flow on our gathering system or send to our processing plants (or an equivalent monetary amount) over the MVC term. If such customer's actual throughput volumes are less than its MVC for the contracted measurement period, it must make a shortfall payment to us at the end of the applicable measurement period. The amount of the shortfall payment is based on the difference between the actual throughput volume shipped or processed for the applicable period and the MVC for the applicable period, multiplied by the applicable fee. To the extent that a customer's actual throughput volumes are above or below its MVC for the applicable contracted measurement period, certain of our gathering agreements contain provisions that allow the customer to use the excess volumes or the shortfall payment to credit against future excess volumes or future shortfall payments, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

We have not obtained independent evaluations of all of the reserves connected to our gathering systems; therefore, in the future, customer volumes on our systems could be less than we anticipate.

We have not obtained independent evaluations of all of the reserves connected to our systems. Moreover, even if we did obtain independent evaluations of all of the reserves connected to our systems, such evaluations may prove to be incorrect. Crude oil and natural gas reserve engineering requires subjective estimates of underground accumulations of crude oil and natural gas and assumptions concerning future crude oil and natural gas prices, future production levels and operating and development costs.

Accordingly, we may not have accurate estimates of total reserves dedicated to our systems or the anticipated life of such reserves. If the total reserves or estimated life of the reserves connected to our gathering systems are less than we anticipate and we are unable to secure additional volumes, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

Our industry is highly competitive, and increased competitive pressure could materially adversely affect our business and operating results.

We compete with other midstream companies in our areas of operations, some of which are large companies that have greater financial, managerial and other resources than we do. In addition, some of our competitors may have assets in closer proximity to natural gas and crude oil supplies and may have available idle capacity in existing assets that would not require new capital investments for use. Our competitors may expand or construct gathering systems that would create additional competition for the services we provide to our customers. Because our customers do not have leases that cover the entirety of our areas of mutual interest, non-customer producers that lease acreage within any of our areas of mutual interest may choose to use one of our competitors for their gathering and/or processing service needs.

In addition, our customers may develop their own gathering systems outside of our areas of mutual interest. Our ability to renew or replace existing contracts with our customers at rates sufficient to maintain current revenues and cash flows could be materially adversely affected by the activities of our competitors and our customers. All of these competitive pressures could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

28

Table of Contents

We may not be able to renew or replace expiring contracts at favorable rates or on a long-term basis.

Our gathering, treating and processing contracts have terms of various durations. As these contracts expire, we may have to negotiate extensions or renewals with existing customers or enter into new contracts with other customers. We may be unable to obtain new contracts on favorable commercial terms, if at all. We also may be unable to maintain the economic structure of a particular contract with an existing customer or the overall mix of our contract portfolio. Moreover, we may be unable to obtain areas of mutual interest from new customers in the future, and we may be unable to renew existing areas of mutual interest with current customers as and when they expire. The extension or replacement of existing contracts depends on a number of factors beyond our control, including:

To the extent we are unable to renew our existing contracts on terms that are favorable to us or successfully manage our overall contract mix over time, our revenues and cash flows could decline and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders could be materially adversely affected.

If third-party pipelines or other midstream facilities interconnected to our gathering systems become partially or fully unavailable, our revenues and cash flows and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders could be materially adversely affected.

Our gathering systems connect to third-party pipelines and other midstream facilities, such as processing plants, rail terminals and produced water disposal facilities. The continuing operation of such third-party pipelines and other midstream facilities is not within our control. These pipelines and other midstream facilities may become unavailable due to issues including, but not limited to, testing, turnarounds, line repair, reduced operating pressure, lack of operating capacity, regulatory requirements, curtailments of receipt or deliveries due to insufficient capacity or because of damage from other hazards. In addition, we do not have interconnect agreements with all of these pipelines and other facilities and the agreements we do have may be terminated in certain circumstances and/or on short notice. If any of these pipelines or other midstream facilities become unavailable for any reason, or, if these third parties are otherwise unwilling to receive or transport the natural gas, crude oil and produced water that we gather and/or process, our revenues, cash flows and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders could be materially adversely affected.

We have a relatively limited ownership history with respect to certain of our assets. There could be unknown events or conditions or increased maintenance or repair expenses and downtime associated with our pipelines that could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.

We have a relatively limited history of operating certain of our assets. There may be historical occurrences or latent issues regarding certain of our pipeline systems of which we may be unaware and that may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Any significant increase in maintenance and repair expenditures or loss of revenue due to the condition of our pipeline systems could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

Crude oil and natural gas production and gathering may be adversely affected by weather conditions and terrain, which in turn could negatively impact the operations of our gathering, treating and processing facilities and our construction of additional facilities.

Extended periods of below freezing weather and unseasonably wet weather conditions, especially in North Dakota, Ohio and West Virginia, can be severe and can adversely affect crude oil and natural gas operations due to the

29

Table of Contents

potential shut-in of producing wells or decreased drilling activities. These types of interruptions could result in a decrease in the volumes supplied to our gathering systems. Further, delays and shutdowns caused by severe weather may have a material negative impact on the continuous operations of our gathering, treating and processing systems, including interruptions in service. These types of interruptions could negatively impact our ability to meet our contractual obligations to our customers and thereby give rise to certain termination rights and/or the release of dedicated acreage. Any resulting terminations or releases could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We also may be required to incur additional costs and expenses in connection with the design and installation of our facilities due to their location and surrounding terrain. We may be required to install additional facilities, incur additional capital and operating expenditures, or experience interruptions in or impairments of our operations to the extent that the facilities are not designed or installed correctly. For example, certain of our pipeline facilities are located in mountainous areas such as our Utica Shale and Marcellus Shale operations, which may require specially designed facilities and special installation considerations. If such facilities are not designed or installed correctly, do not perform as intended, or fail, we may be required to incur significant capital expenditures to correct or repair the deficiencies, or may incur significant damages to or loss of facilities, and our operations may be interrupted as a result of deficiencies or failures. In addition, such deficiencies may cause damage to the surrounding environment, including slope failures, stream impacts and other natural resource damages, and we may as a result also be subject to increased operating expenses or environmental penalties and fines.

Interruptions in operations at any of our facilities may adversely affect our operations and cash flows available for distribution to our unitholders.

Our operations depend upon the infrastructure that we have developed and constructed. Any significant interruption at any of our gathering, treating or processing facilities, or in our ability to provide gathering, treating or processing services, could adversely affect our operations and cash flows available for distribution to our unitholders.  Operations at our facilities could be partially or completely shut down, temporarily or permanently, as the result of circumstances not within our control, such as:

Any significant interruption at any of our gathering, treating or processing facilities, or in our ability to provide gathering, treating or processing services, could adversely affect our operations and cash flows available for distribution to our unitholders.

Our business involves many hazards and operational risks, some of which may not be fully covered by insurance. If a significant incident or event occurs for which we are not adequately insured or if we fail to recover all anticipated insurance proceeds for significant incidents or events for which we are insured, our operations and financial results could be materially adversely affected.

Our operations are subject to all of the risks and hazards inherent in the operation of gathering, treating and processing systems, including:

30

Table of Contents

These risks could result in substantial losses due to personal injury and/or loss of life, severe damage to and destruction of property and equipment and pollution or other environmental damage. The location of certain of our systems in or near populated areas, including residential areas, commercial business centers and industrial sites, could increase the damages resulting from these risks.

These risks may also result in curtailment or suspension of our operations. A natural disaster or any event such as those described above affecting the areas in which we and our customers operate could have a material adverse effect on our operations. Accidents or other operating risks could further result in loss of service available to our customers. Such circumstances, including those arising from maintenance and repair activities, could result in service interruptions on portions or all of our gathering systems. Potential customer impacts arising from service interruptions on segments of our gathering systems could include limitations on our ability to satisfy customer requirements, obligations to temporarily waive minimum volume commitments during times of constrained capacity, temporary or permanent release of production dedications, and solicitation of existing customers by others for potential new projects that would compete directly with our existing services. Such circumstances could materially adversely impact our ability to meet contractual obligations and retain customers, with a resulting negative impact on our business and results of operations and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

Our insurance coverage is provided by policies that cover us and Summit Investments. Therefore, it is possible that a claim by Summit Investments could exhaust claim capacity and leave SMLP and its subsidiaries exposed to risk of loss should they experience a loss during the same policy cycle. In addition, although we have a range of insurance programs providing varying levels of protection for public liability, damage to property, loss of income and certain environmental hazards, we may not be insured against all causes of loss, claims or damage that may occur. If a significant incident or event occurs for which we are not fully insured, it could materially adversely affect our operations and financial condition. Furthermore, we may not be able to maintain or obtain insurance of the type and amount we desire at reasonable rates and/or claims by Summit Investments may increase rates on all of the insured-asset group, including those owned by SMLP and its subsidiaries. As a result of industry or market conditions, some of which are beyond our control, premiums and deductibles for certain of our insurance policies may substantially increase. In some instances, certain insurance could become unavailable or available only for reduced amounts of coverage. Additionally, with regard to the assets we have acquired, we have limited indemnification rights to recover from the seller of the assets in the event of any potential environmental liabilities.

We intend to grow our business in part by seeking strategic acquisition opportunities. If we are unable to make acquisitions on economically acceptable terms from third parties, our future growth will be affected, and the acquisitions we do make may reduce, rather than increase, our cash generated from operations.  Our ability to grow depends, in part, on our ability to make acquisitions that increase our cash generated from operations. The acquisition component of our strategy also relies, in part, on the continued divestiture of midstream assets by industry participants. A material decrease in such divestitures would limit our opportunities for future acquisitions and could materially adversely affect our ability to grow our operations and increase our cash distributions to our unitholders.

If we are unable to make accretive acquisitions from third parties, whether because we are (i) unable to identify attractive acquisition candidates or negotiate acceptable purchase contracts; (ii) unable to obtain financing for these acquisitions on economically acceptable terms; (iii) outbid by competitors; or (iv) unable to obtain necessary governmental or third-party consents or for any other reason, then our future growth and ability to increase cash distributions on a per-unit basis will be limited. If we are unable to acquire assets from third parties in the near or long term it may adversely affect our ability to grow our business. Even if we do make acquisitions that we believe will be

31

Table of Contents

accretive, these acquisitions may nevertheless result in a decrease in the cash generated from operations. Any acquisition involves potential risks, including, among other things:

If we consummate any future acquisitions, our capitalization, results of operations and future growth may change significantly and our unitholders will not have the opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial and other relevant information that we will consider in deciding to engage in these future acquisitions, which may reduce, rather than increase, our cash generated from operations.

Substantially all of the assets owned by Summit Investments have been contributed to the Partnership in connection with prior drop down transactions and, as a result, our growth strategy has become more dependent on making acquisitions from third parties. This shift from a growth strategy focused, primarily, on acquisitions from Summit Investments, to one focused, primarily, on third-party acquisitions could materially adversely affect our ability to grow our operations and increase our cash distributions to our unitholders.

We may fail to successfully integrate gathering system acquisitions into our existing business in a timely manner, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders, or fail to realize all of the expected benefits of the acquisitions, which could negatively impact our future results of operations.

Integration of future gathering system acquisitions could be a complex, time-consuming and costly process, particularly if the acquired assets significantly increase our size and/or (i) diversify the geographic areas in which we operate or (ii) the service offerings that we provide.

The failure to successfully integrate the acquired assets with our existing business in a timely manner may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders. If any of the risks described above or in the immediately preceding risk factor or unanticipated liabilities or costs were to materialize with respect to future acquisitions or if the acquired assets were to perform at levels below the forecasts we used to evaluate them, then the anticipated benefits from the acquisition may not be fully realized, if at all, and our future results of operations and ability to make cash distributions to unitholders could be negatively impacted.

32

Table of Contents

Our construction of new assets may not result in revenue increases and will be subject to regulatory, environmental, political, legal and economic risks, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

One of the ways we intend to grow our business is through organic growth projects. The construction of additions or modifications to our existing systems and the construction of new midstream assets involve numerous regulatory, environmental, political, legal and economic uncertainties that are beyond our control.

Such expansion projects may also require the expenditure of significant amounts of capital, and financing, traditional or otherwise, may not be available on economically acceptable terms or at all. If we undertake these projects, our revenue may not increase immediately upon the expenditure of funds for a particular project and they may not be completed on schedule, at the budgeted cost, or at all.

Moreover, we could construct facilities to capture anticipated future production growth in a region where such growth does not materialize or only materializes over a period materially longer than expected. To the extent we rely on estimates of future production in our decision to construct additions to our systems, such estimates may prove to be inaccurate due to the numerous uncertainties inherent in estimating quantities of future production. As a result, new facilities may not attract enough throughput to achieve our expected investment return, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, the construction of additions or modifications to our existing gathering, treating and processing assets and the construction of new midstream assets may require us to obtain federal, state, and local regulatory environmental or other authorizations. The approval process for gathering, treating and processing activities has become increasingly challenging, due in part to state and local concerns related to unregulated exploration and production and gathering, treating and processing activities in new production areas. Such authorization may not be granted or, if granted, such authorization may include burdensome or expensive conditions. As a result, we may be unable to obtain such authorizations and may, therefore, be unable to connect new volumes to our systems or capitalize on other attractive expansion opportunities. Additionally, it may become more expensive for us to obtain authorizations or to renew existing authorizations. If the cost of renewing or obtaining new authorizations increases materially, our cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

We require access to significant amounts of additional capital to implement our growth strategy, as well as to meet potential future capital requirements under certain of our gathering and processing agreements. Limited access and/or availability of the debt and equity capital markets could impair our ability to grow or cause us to be unable to meet future capital requirements.

To expand our asset base, whether through acquisitions or organic growth, we will need to make expansion capital expenditures. We also frequently consider and enter into discussions with third parties regarding potential acquisitions. In addition, the terms of certain of our gathering and processing agreements also require us to spend significant amounts of capital, over a short period of time, to construct and develop additional midstream assets to support our customers' development projects. Depending on our customers' future development plans, it is possible that the capital we would be required to spend to construct and develop such assets could exceed our ability to finance those expenditures using our cash reserves or available capacity under our Revolving Credit Facility.

We plan to use cash from operations, incur borrowings and/or sell additional common units or other securities to fund our future expansion capital expenditures. Using cash from operations to fund expansion capital expenditures will directly reduce our cash available for distribution to unitholders. Our ability to obtain financing or to access the capital markets for future debt or equity offerings may be limited by (i) our financial condition at the time of any such financing or offering, (ii) covenants in our debt agreements, (iii) restrictions imposed by our Series A Preferred Units; (iv) general economic conditions and contingencies, (v) the impact of any secondary offering of common units by Summit Investments or the Sponsor and (vi) uncertainties that are beyond our control. Furthermore, we do not have a contractual commitment from our Sponsor or Summit Investments to provide any direct or indirect financial assistance to us. As such, if we are unable to raise expansion capital, we may lose the opportunity to make acquisitions or to gather, treat and process new production volumes from our customers with whom we have agreed to construct and develop midstream assets in the future. Even if we are successful in obtaining funds for expansion capital

33

Table of Contents

expenditures through equity or debt financings, the terms thereof could limit our ability to pay distributions to our common unitholders. In addition, incurring additional debt may significantly increase our interest expense and financial leverage, and issuing additional units representing limited partner interests may result in significant common unitholder dilution and increase the aggregate amount of cash required to maintain the then-current distribution rate, which could materially decrease our ability to pay distributions at the then-current distribution rate.

Because our common units are yield-oriented securities, increases in interest rates could materially adversely impact our unit price, our ability to issue equity or incur debt for acquisitions or other purposes and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

Interest rates are generally near historic lows and may increase in the future. While borrowing costs came down for the oil and natural gas industry as a whole, the Federal Reserve announced that it raised its benchmark federal-funds rate from 0.50% and 0.75% to a range between 1.25% and 1.50% in December 2017. As a result, interest rates on our future credit facilities and debt offerings could be higher than current levels, causing our financing costs to increase. As with other yield-oriented securities, our unit price is impacted by the level of our cash distributions and implied distribution yield. The distribution yield is often used by investors to compare and rank yield-oriented securities for investment decision-making purposes. Therefore, changes in interest rates, either positive or negative, may affect the yield requirements of investors who invest in our common units, and a rising interest rate environment could have a material adverse impact on our unit price, our ability to issue equity or incur debt for acquisitions or other purposes and our ability to make cash distributions at our intended levels.

Debt we incur in the future may limit our flexibility to obtain financing and to pursue other business opportunities.

At December 31, 2017, we had $1.06 billion of indebtedness outstanding and the unused portion of our $1.25 billion Revolving Credit Facility totaled $989.0 million. Our future level of debt could have significant consequences, including among other things:

Our ability to service our debt will depend upon, among other things, our future financial and operating performance, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. If our operating results are not sufficient to service any future indebtedness, we will be forced to take actions such as reducing distributions, reducing or delaying our business activities, acquisitions, investments or capital expenditures, selling assets or seeking additional equity capital. We may not be able to effect any of these actions on satisfactory terms or at all.

34

Table of Contents

Restrictions in our Revolving Credit Facility and Senior Notes indentures could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, ability to make cash distributions to unitholders and value of our common units.

We are dependent upon the earnings and cash flows generated by our operations to meet our debt service obligations and to make cash distributions to our unitholders. The operating and financial restrictions and covenants in our Revolving Credit Facility, our Senior Notes indentures and any future financing agreements could restrict our ability to finance future operations or capital needs or to expand or pursue our business activities, which may, in turn, limit our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders. For example, our Revolving Credit Facility and Senior Notes indentures, taken together, restrict our ability to, among other things:

Our Revolving Credit Facility and Senior Notes indentures also contain covenants requiring us to maintain certain financial ratios and meet certain tests. Our ability to meet those financial ratios and tests can be affected by events beyond our control, and we cannot guarantee that we will meet those ratios and tests.

The provisions of our Revolving Credit Facility and Senior Notes indentures may affect our ability to obtain future financing and pursue attractive business opportunities as well as affect our flexibility in planning for, and reacting to, changes in business conditions. In addition, a failure to comply with the provisions of Revolving Credit Facility or Senior Notes indentures could result in a default or an event of default that could enable our lenders or senior noteholders to declare the outstanding principal of that debt, together with accrued and unpaid interest, to be immediately due and payable. If we were unable to repay the accelerated amounts, the lenders under our Revolving Credit Facility could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure such debt. If the payment of our debt is accelerated, our assets may be insufficient to repay such debt in full, and our unitholders could experience a partial or total loss of their investment. The Revolving Credit Facility also has cross default provisions that apply to any other indebtedness we may have and the Senior Notes indentures have cross default provisions that apply to certain other indebtedness.

A portion of our revenues are directly exposed to changes in crude oil, natural gas and NGL prices, and our exposure may increase in the future.

During the year ended December 31, 2017, we derived 14% of our revenues from (i) the sale of physical natural gas and/or NGLs purchased under percentage-of-proceeds arrangements with certain of our customers on the Bison Midstream and Grand River systems, (ii) natural gas and crude oil marketing services in and around our gathering systems, (iii) the sale of natural gas we retain from certain DFW Midstream system customers and (iv) the sale of condensate we retain from our gathering services at Grand River. Consequently, our existing operations and cash flows have direct exposure to commodity price risk. Although we will seek to limit our commodity price exposure with new customers in the future, our efforts to obtain fee-based contractual terms may not be successful or the local market for our services may not support fee-based gathering and processing agreements. For example, we have percent-of-proceeds contracts with certain natural gas producer customers and we may, in the future, enter into additional percent-of-proceeds contracts with these customers or other customers or enter into keep-whole

35

Table of Contents

arrangements, which would increase our exposure to commodity price risk, as the revenues generated from those contracts directly correlate with the fluctuating price of the underlying commodities.

Furthermore, we may acquire or develop additional midstream assets in the future that have a greater exposure to fluctuations in commodity price risk than our current operations. Future exposure to the volatility of natural gas and crude oil prices could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.  For example, for a small portion of the natural gas gathered on our systems, we purchase natural gas from producers prior to delivering the natural gas to pipelines where we typically resell the natural gas under arrangements including sales at index prices. Generally, the gross margins we realize under these arrangements decrease in periods of low natural gas prices. If we expand the implementation of such natural gas purchase and sale arrangements within our business, such fluctuations could materially affect our business.

A change in laws and regulations applicable to our assets or services, or the interpretation or implementation of existing laws and regulations may cause our revenues to decline or our operation and maintenance expenses to increase.

Various aspects of our operations are subject to regulation by the various federal, state and local departments and agencies that have jurisdiction over participants in the energy industry. The regulation of our activities and the natural gas and crude oil industries frequently change as they are reviewed by legislators and regulators. In 2014, the North Dakota Industrial Commission (“NDIC”) began to oversee the integrity and location of underground gathering pipelines that are not monitored by other state or federal agencies. In 2016, the NDIC adopted rule changes that resulted in additional construction and monitoring requirements for certain underground gathering pipelines, including, but not limited to, those that transport produced water. The NDIC also adopted reclamation bonding requirements for certain underground gathering pipelines. In 2016, the DOT, through PHMSA, proposed changes to gas pipeline safety regulations that would impose expanded assessment requirements, expand assessment and repair requirements to pipelines in areas with medium population densities (so-called “Moderate Consequence Areas”), and extend pipeline safety regulation to previously unregulated gas gathering pipelines. Then, in January 2017, PHMSA issued a final rule, which was withdrawn as a result of the Trump administration's regulatory freeze, amending its pipeline safety regulations for hazardous liquids pipelines, and which, among other things, extends certain safety-related reporting requirements to hazardous liquid gathering lines and requires periodic assessments of certain hazardous liquid transmission lines in non-high consequence areas; the rule is not currently effective, but could be reissued by PHMSA. In April 2017, PHMSA also increased the maximum penalties for violating federal safety standards, which are subject to future increases to account for inflation. In addition, the adoption of proposals for more stringent legislation, regulation or taxation of drilling activity could directly curtail such activity or increase the cost of drilling, resulting in reduced levels of drilling activity and therefore reduced demand for our services. Regulatory agencies establish and, from time to time, change priorities, which may result in additional burdens on us, such as additional reporting requirements and more frequent audits of operations. Our operations and the markets in which we participate are affected by these laws, regulations and interpretations and may be affected by changes to them or their implementation, which may cause us to realize materially lower revenues or incur materially increased operation and maintenance costs or both.

Increased regulation of hydraulic fracturing could result in reductions or delays in customer production, which could materially adversely impact our revenues.

Hydraulic fracturing is an important and increasingly common practice that is used to stimulate production of natural gas and/or crude oil from dense subsurface rock formations, and is primarily regulated by state agencies. However, Congress has in the past, and may in the future consider legislation to regulate hydraulic fracturing by federal agencies. Many states have already adopted laws and/or regulations that require disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, and are considering legal requirements that could impose more stringent permitting, disclosure and well construction requirements on crude oil and/or natural gas drilling activities. EPA regulations require, among other matters, green completions of hydraulically-fractured wells. The requirement to conduct green completions, and the corresponding notification and reporting requirements, went into effect in 2015. Revisions to the green completion regulations were finalized in June 2016 and include additional requirements to reduce methane and VOCs. EPA announced in April 2017 that it would review these regulations and has proposed to stay their requirements. However,

36

Table of Contents

the regulations currently remain in effect. If new or more stringent federal, state or local legal restrictions relating to such drilling activities or to the hydraulic fracturing process are adopted, this could result in a reduction in the supply of natural gas and/or crude oil, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to FERC jurisdiction, federal anti-market manipulation laws and regulations, potentially other federal regulatory requirements and state and local regulation, and could be materially affected by changes in such laws and regulations, or in the way they are interpreted and enforced.

We believe that our natural gas pipeline facilities qualify as gathering facilities that are exempt from the jurisdiction of FERC under the NGA and the NGPA. Interstate movements of crude oil on the Epping Pipeline in North Dakota are subject to FERC jurisdiction under the ICA. We are also generally subject to the anti-market manipulation provisions in the NGA, as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and to FERC's regulations thereunder, which authorize FERC to impose fines of up to $1,238,271 per day per violation of the NGA or its implementing regulations, subject to future adjustment for inflation. In addition, the FTC holds statutory authority under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to prevent market manipulation in oil markets, and has adopted broad rules and regulations prohibiting fraud and market manipulation. The FTC is also authorized to seek fines of up to $1,180,566 per violation, subject to future adjustment for inflation. The CFTC is directed under the CEA to prevent price manipulation in the commodity, futures and swaps markets, including the energy markets. Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, and other authority, the CFTC has adopted additional anti-market manipulation regulations that prohibit fraud and price manipulation in the commodity, futures and swaps markets. The CFTC also has statutory authority to seek civil penalties of up to the greater of $1,098,190 per violation, subject to future adjustment for inflation, or triple the monetary gain to the violator for each violation of the anti-market manipulation provisions of the CEA.

The distinction between federally unregulated natural gas and crude oil pipelines and FERC-regulated natural gas and crude oil pipelines has been the subject of extensive litigation and is determined by FERC on a case-by-case basis. FERC has made no determinations as to the status of our facilities. Consequently, the classification and regulation of some of our pipelines could change based on future determinations by FERC, Congress or the courts. If our natural gas gathering operations or crude oil operations beyond the Epping Pipeline become subject to FERC jurisdiction under the NGA, the NGPA or the ICA, the result may materially adversely affect the rates we are able to charge and the services we currently provide, and may include the potential for a termination of our gathering agreements with our customers. In addition, if any of our facilities were found to have provided services or otherwise operated in violation of the NGA, the NGPA or the ICA, this could result in the imposition of civil penalties, as well as a requirement to disgorge charges collected for such services in excess of the rate established by FERC.

We are subject to state and local regulation regarding the construction and operation of our gathering, treating and processing systems, as well as state ratable take statutes and regulations. Regulation of the construction and operation of our facilities may affect our ability to expand our facilities or build new facilities and such regulation may cause us to incur additional operating costs or limit the quantities of natural gas and crude oil we may gather, treat and process. Ratable take statutes and regulations generally require gatherers to take natural gas and crude oil production that may be tendered for gathering without undue discrimination. These requirements restrict our right to decide whose production we gather, treat and process. Many states have adopted complaint-based regulation of gathering, treating and processing activities, which allows producers and shippers to file complaints with state regulators in an effort to resolve access issues, rate grievances and other matters. Other state and municipal regulations do not directly apply to our business, but may nonetheless affect the availability of natural gas and crude oil for gathering, treating and processing, including state regulation of production rates, maximum daily production allowable from wells, and other activities related to drilling and operating wells. While our facilities currently are subject to limited state and local regulation, there is a risk that state or local laws will be changed or reinterpreted, which may materially affect our operations, operating costs and revenues.

We are subject to stringent environmental laws and regulations that may expose us to significant costs and liabilities.

Our gathering, treating and processing operations are subject to stringent and complex federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, including laws and regulations regarding the discharge of materials into the

37

Table of Contents

environment or otherwise relating to environmental protection, including, for example, the CAA, CERCLA, the CWA, the OPA, the RCRA, the Endangered Species Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act.

These laws and regulations may impose numerous obligations that are applicable to our operations, including the acquisition of permits to conduct regulated activities, the incurrence of capital or operating expenditures to limit or prevent releases of materials from our pipelines and facilities, and the imposition of substantial liabilities and remedial obligations for pollution resulting from our operations or at locations currently or previously owned or operated by us. For additional information on specific laws and regulations, see the "Environmental Matters—Air Emissions" section of Item 1. Business. Numerous governmental authorities, such as the EPA and analogous state agencies, have the power to enforce compliance with these laws and regulations and the permits issued under them, oftentimes requiring difficult and costly corrective actions or costly pollution control measures. Failure to comply with these laws, regulations and requisite permits may result in the assessment of significant administrative, civil and criminal penalties, the imposition of remedial obligations and the issuance of injunctions limiting or preventing some or all of our operations. In addition, we may experience a delay in obtaining or be unable to obtain required permits or regulatory authorizations, which may cause us to lose potential and current customers, interrupt our operations and limit our growth and revenue.

There is a risk that we may incur significant environmental costs and liabilities in connection with our operations due to historical industry operations and waste disposal practices, our handling of hydrocarbons and other wastes and potential emissions and discharges related to our operations. Joint and several, strict liability may be incurred, without regard to fault, under certain of these environmental laws and regulations in connection with discharges or releases of hydrocarbon wastes on, under or from our properties and facilities, many of which have been used for midstream activities for a number of years, oftentimes by third parties not under our control. Private parties, including the owners of the properties through which our gathering systems pass, and on which certain of our facilities are located, may also have the right to pursue legal actions to enforce compliance as well as to seek damages for non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations or for personal injury or property damage. For example, an accidental release from one of our pipelines could subject us to substantial liabilities arising from environmental cleanup and restoration costs, claims made by neighboring landowners and other third parties for personal injury and property damage and fines or penalties for related violations of environmental laws or regulations. In addition, changes in environmental laws occur frequently, and any such changes that result in additional permitting obligations or more stringent and costly waste handling, storage, transport, disposal or remediation requirements could have a material adverse effect on our operations or financial position. We may not be able to recover all or any of these costs from insurance.

We may incur greater than anticipated costs and liabilities as a result of pipeline safety requirements.

The DOT, through PHMSA, has adopted and enforces safety standards and procedures applicable to our pipelines. In addition, many states, including the states in which we operate, have adopted regulations that are identical to or more restrictive than existing DOT regulations for intrastate pipelines. Among the regulations applicable to us, PHMSA requires pipeline operators to develop integrity management programs for certain pipelines located in high consequence areas, which include high population areas such as the Dallas-Fort Worth greater metropolitan area where our DFW Midstream system is located. While the majority of our pipelines meet the DOT definition of gathering lines and are thus currently exempt from PHMSA's integrity management requirements, we also operate a limited number of pipelines that are subject to the integrity management requirements. The regulations require operators, including us, to:

38

Table of Contents

For additional information on PHMSA regulations relating to pipeline safety, see the "Regulation of the Natural Gas and Crude Oil Industries—Safety and Maintenance" section of Item 1. Business.

In April 2016, PHMSA proposed changes to gas pipeline safety regulations that would impose expanded assessment requirements, expand assessment and repair requirements to pipelines in areas with medium population densities (so-called “Moderate Consequence Areas”), and extend pipeline safety regulation to certain previously unregulated gas gathering pipelines. PHMSA has yet to finalize this rulemaking, however, and the timing and contents of any final rule are uncertain. In January 2017, PHMSA issued a final rule amending its pipeline safety regulations for the design, construction, testing, operation, and maintenance of pipelines transporting hazardous liquids. Among other things, the final rule extends certain safety-related condition reporting requirements to all hazardous liquid gathering lines and requires periodic assessments of certain hazardous liquid transmission lines in non-high consequence areas. The effective date of this rulemaking is currently uncertain due to a regulatory freeze implemented by the Trump administration on January 20, 2017, pursuant to which all regulations that had been sent to the Office of the Federal Register, but not yet published, were withdrawn for further review. Accordingly, the anticipated January 2017 rulemaking was never published in the Federal Register, and the rule is not currently effective, although PHMSA could choose to reissue the rule. While we believe that we are in compliance with existing safety laws and regulations, increased penalties for safety violations and potential regulatory changes could have a material adverse effect on our operations, operating and maintenance expenses and revenues.

Climate change legislation, regulatory initiatives and litigation could result in increased operating costs and reduced demand for the services we provide.

In recent years, the U.S. Congress has considered legislation to restrict or regulate emissions of GHGs, such as carbon dioxide and methane that may be contributing to global warming. It presently appears unlikely that comprehensive climate legislation will be passed by either house of Congress in the near future, although energy legislation and other initiatives are expected to be proposed that may be relevant to GHG emissions issues. For example, the revisions to the NSPS found in 40 CFR 60 subpart OOOO (and OOOOa) include GHG emission reduction requirements. EPA is currently reconsidering NSPS OOOOa and has proposed to stay its requirements. However, the rule currently remains in effect.

In addition, almost half of the states, either individually or through multi-state regional initiatives, have begun to address GHG emissions, primarily through the planned development of emission inventories or regional GHG cap and trade programs. Most of these cap and trade programs work by requiring either major sources of emissions, such as electric power plants, or major producers of fuels, such as refineries and gas processing plants, to acquire and surrender emission allowances. In general, the number of allowances available for purchase is reduced each year until the overall GHG emission reduction goal is achieved. Depending on the scope of a particular program, we could be required to purchase and surrender allowances for GHG emissions resulting from our operations (e.g., at compressor stations). Although most of the state-level initiatives have to date been focused on large sources of GHG emissions, such as electric power plants, it is possible that certain components of our operations, such as our gas-fired compressors, could become subject to state-level GHG-related regulation.

Independent of Congress, the EPA has begun to adopt regulations under its existing CAA authority. In 2009, the EPA published its findings that emissions of GHGs present an endangerment to public health and the environment because emissions of such gases are contributing to warming of the earth's atmosphere and other climatic changes. Based on these findings, the EPA adopted regulations that, among other things, establish PSD construction and Title V operating permit reviews for certain large stationary sources of GHG emissions. For additional information on EPA regulations adopted under the CAA, see the "Environmental Matters—Climate Change" section of Item 1. Business.  Further, in December 2015, over 190 countries, including the United States, reached an agreement to reduce global GHG emissions. The agreement entered into force in November 2016 after over 70 countries, including the United States, ratified or otherwise consented to be bound by the agreement. In August 2017, the United States formally documented to the United Nations its intent to withdraw from the agreement. The earliest possible effective withdrawal date from the agreement is November 2020. However, if and to the extent the United States implements this agreement, it could have a material adverse effect on our business and that of our customers.

39

Table of Contents

Although it is not possible at this time to accurately estimate how potential future laws or regulations addressing GHG emissions would impact our business, either directly or indirectly, any future federal or state laws or implementing regulations that may be adopted to address GHG emissions could require us to incur increased operating costs and could materially adversely affect demand for our services. The potential increase in the costs of our operations resulting from any legislation or regulation to restrict emissions of GHG could include new or increased costs to operate and maintain our facilities, install new emission controls on our facilities, acquire allowances to authorize our GHG emissions, pay any taxes related to our GHG emissions and administer and manage a GHG emissions program. While we may be able to include some or all of such increased costs in the rates we charge, such recovery of costs is uncertain. Moreover, incentives to conserve energy or use alternative energy sources could reduce demand for our services. We cannot predict with any certainty at this time how these possibilities may affect our operations.

The implementation of statutory and regulatory requirements for swap transactions could have an adverse impact on our ability to hedge risks associated with our business and increase the working capital requirements to conduct these activities.

Congress adopted comprehensive financial reform legislation under the Dodd-Frank Act that establishes federal oversight and regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market and entities, such as us, that participate in that market. This legislation requires the CFTC and the SEC and other regulatory authorities to promulgate certain rules and regulations, including rules and regulations relating to the regulation of certain swaps market participants, such as swap dealers, the clearing of certain swaps through central counterparties, the execution of certain swaps on designated contract markets or swap execution facilities, mandatory margin requirements for uncleared swaps, and the reporting and recordkeeping of swaps. While most of the regulations have been promulgated and are already in effect, the rulemaking and implementation process is still ongoing. Moreover, CFTC continues to refine its initial rulemakings under the Dodd-Frank Act. As a result, we cannot yet predict the ultimate effect of the rules and regulations on our business and while most of the regulations have been adopted, any new regulations or modifications to existing regulations could increase the cost of derivative contracts, limit the availability of derivatives to protect against risks that we encounter, reduce our ability to monetize or restructure our existing derivative contracts and increase our exposure to less creditworthy counterparties.

The CFTC has proposed federal position limits on certain core futures and equivalent swaps contracts in the major energy and other markets, with exceptions for certain bona fide hedging transactions provided that various conditions are satisfied. If finalized, the position limits rule and its companion rule on aggregation among entities under common ownership or control may have an impact on our ability to hedge our exposure to certain enumerated commodities.

In 2013, the CFTC implemented final rules regarding mandatory clearing of certain classes of interest rate swaps and certain classes of index credit default swaps. Mandatory trading on designated contract markets or swap execution facilities of certain interest rate swaps and index credit default swaps also began in 2014. At this time, the CFTC has not proposed any rules designating other classes of swaps, including physical commodity swaps, for mandatory clearing. The CFTC and prudential banking regulators also recently adopted mandatory margin requirements on uncleared swaps between swap dealers and certain other counterparties. Although we may qualify for a commercial end-user exception from the mandatory clearing, trade execution and uncleared swaps margin requirements, mandatory clearing and trade execution requirements and uncleared swaps margin requirements applicable to other market participants, such as swap dealers, may affect the cost and availability of the swaps that we use for hedging.

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC is also directed generally to prevent price manipulation and fraud in the following two markets: (a) physical commodities traded in interstate commerce, including physical energy and other commodities, as well as (b) financial instruments, such as futures, options and swaps. Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC has adopted additional anti-market manipulation, anti-fraud and disruptive trading practices regulations that prohibit, among other things, fraud and price manipulation in the physical commodities, futures, options and swaps markets. Should we violate these laws and regulations, we could be subject to CFTC enforcement action and material penalties, and sanctions.

40

Table of Contents

We currently enter into forward contracts with third parties to buy power and sell natural gas in an attempt to mitigate our exposure to fluctuations in the price of natural gas with respect to those volumes. The CFTC has finalized an interpretation clarifying whether certain forwards with volumetric optionality are regulated as forwards or qualify as options on commodities and therefore swaps. This interpretation may have an impact on our ability to enter into certain forwards or may impose additional requirements with respect to certain transactions.

In addition to the Dodd-Frank Act, the European Union and other foreign regulators have adopted and are implementing local reforms generally comparable with the reforms under the Dodd-Frank Act. Implementation and enforcement of these regulatory provisions may reduce our ability to hedge our market risks with non-U.S. counterparties and may make any transactions involving cross-border swaps more expensive and burdensome.  Additionally, the lack of regulatory equivalency across jurisdictions may increase compliance costs and make it more costly to satisfy regulatory obligations.

We do not own all of the land on which our pipelines and facilities are located, which could result in disruptions to our operations.

We do not own all of the land on which our pipelines and facilities have been constructed, and we are, therefore, subject to the possibility of more onerous terms and/or increased costs to retain necessary land use if we do not have valid rights-of-way or if such rights-of-way lapse or terminate or if our pipelines are not properly located within the boundaries of such rights-of-way. We obtain the rights to construct and operate our pipelines on land owned by third parties and governmental agencies for a specific period of time. If we were to be unsuccessful in renegotiating rights-of-way, we might have to relocate our facilities. Our loss of these rights, through our inability to renew right-of-way contracts or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

Terrorist attacks and threats, escalation of military activity in response to these attacks or acts of war could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Terrorist attacks and threats, escalation of military activity or acts of war may have significant effects on general economic conditions, fluctuations in consumer confidence and spending and market liquidity, each of which could materially and adversely affect our business. Future terrorist attacks, rumors or threats of war, actual conflicts involving the United States or its allies, or military or trade disruptions may significantly affect our operations and those of our customers. Strategic targets, such as energy-related assets, may be at greater risk of future attacks than other targets in the United States. Disruption or significant increases in energy prices could result in government-imposed price controls. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Civil protests and resulting regulatory uncertainty may prevent or delay construction and the realization of revenues associated with pipeline projects.

Civil protests regarding environmental and social issues, including those related to construction of infrastructure associated with fossil fuels, may prevent or delay the construction of such infrastructure and realization of associated revenues. Such protests could delay construction or operation of our gathering pipelines that are protested, if any, or that connect to protested infrastructure projects and, in turn, receipt of revenues associated with our projects.

Our operations depend on the use of information technology ("IT") systems that could be the target of a cyber-attack.

Our operations depend on the use of sophisticated IT systems. Our IT systems and networks, as well as those of our customers, vendors and counterparties, may become the target of cyber-attacks or information security breaches, which in turn could result in the unauthorized release and misuse of confidential or proprietary information as well as disrupt our operations or damage our facilities or those of third parties, which could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and increase our operating and capital costs, which could reduce the amount of cash otherwise available for distribution. We may be required to incur additional costs to modify or enhance our IT systems or to prevent or remediate any such attacks.

41

Table of Contents

Our ability to operate our business effectively could be impaired if we fail to attract and retain key management personnel.

Our ability to operate our business and implement our strategies depends on our continued ability to attract and retain highly skilled management personnel with midstream energy industry experience and competition for these persons in the midstream energy industry is intense. Given our size, we may be at a disadvantage, relative to our larger competitors, in the competition for these personnel. We may not be able to continue to employ our senior executives and key personnel or attract and retain qualified personnel in the future, and our failure to retain or attract our senior executives and key personnel could have a material adverse effect on our ability to effectively operate our business.

A shortage of skilled labor in the midstream energy industry could reduce employee productivity and increase costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The operation of gathering, treating and processing systems requires skilled laborers in multiple disciplines such as equipment operators, mechanics and engineers, among others. We have from time to time encountered shortages for these types of skilled labor. If we experience shortages of skilled labor in the future, our labor and overall productivity or costs could be materially adversely affected. If our labor prices increase or if we experience materially increased health and benefit costs with respect to our General Partner's employees, our business and results of operations and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders could be materially adversely affected.

Risks Inherent in an Investment in Us

Summit Investments indirectly owns and controls our General Partner, which has sole responsibility for conducting our business and managing our operations and limited duties to us and our unitholders. Our General Partner and its affiliates have conflicts of interest with us and they may favor their own interests to the detriment of us and our unitholders.

Summit Investments controls our General Partner and has authority to appoint all of the officers and directors of our General Partner, some of whom are officers, directors or principals of Energy Capital Partners, the entity that controls Summit Investments. Although our General Partner has a duty to manage us in a manner that is in our best interests, the directors and officers of our General Partner also have a duty to manage our General Partner in a manner that is in the best interests of its owner. Conflicts of interest will arise between Summit Investments and its owners and our General Partner, on the one hand, and us and our unitholders, on the other hand. In resolving these conflicts of interest, our General Partner may favor its own interests and the interests of Summit Investments and its owners over our interests and the interests of our unitholders. These conflicts include the following situations, among others:

42

Table of Contents

expansion capital expenditure, which does not reduce operating surplus. This determination can affect the amount of cash that is distributed to our unitholders and to our General Partner.

Our general partner interest or the control of our General Partner may be transferred to a third party without unitholder consent.

If Energy Capital Partners, the private equity firm that controls Summit Investments, consummates a transaction involving a sale or other disposition of its interests in Summit Investments, the transaction would result in a change of control of SMLP because Summit Investments indirectly owns and controls our General Partner. In addition, our General Partner may transfer its general partner interest to a third party in a merger or in a sale of all or substantially all of its assets without the consent of the unitholders. Furthermore, our Partnership Agreement does not restrict the ability of Summit Investments to transfer all or a portion of its ownership interest in our General Partner to a third party. The owner of Summit Investments, or new members of our General Partner, as applicable, would then be in a position to replace the Board of Directors and officers of our General Partner with their own designees and thereby exert significant control over the decisions made by the Board of Directors and officers. This effectively permits a change of control without the vote or consent of the unitholders.

Our General Partner's IDRs may be transferred to a third party without unitholder consent.

Our General Partner may transfer the IDRs it owns to a third party at any time without the consent of our unitholders. If our General Partner transfers the IDRs to a third party but retains its general partner interest, our General Partner may not have the same incentive to grow our business and increase quarterly distributions to unitholders over time as it would if it had retained ownership of the IDRs.

43

Table of Contents

Our Sponsor is not limited in its ability to compete with us and is not obligated to offer us the opportunity to acquire additional assets or businesses, which could limit our ability to grow and could materially adversely affect our results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Although it controls Summit Investments, our Sponsor may compete with us for investment opportunities and may own interests in entities that compete with us. Our Sponsor is not prohibited from owning assets or engaging in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. In addition, our Sponsor and Summit Investments may acquire, construct or dispose of additional midstream or other assets and may be presented with new business opportunities, without any obligation to offer us the opportunity to purchase or construct such assets or to engage in such business opportunities.

Pursuant to the terms of our Partnership Agreement, the doctrine of corporate opportunity, or any analogous doctrine, does not apply to our General Partner, its officers and directors or any of its affiliates, including Summit Investments and our Sponsor and its respective executive officers, directors and principals. Any such person or entity that becomes aware of a potential transaction, agreement, arrangement or other matter that may be an opportunity for us will not have any duty to communicate or offer such opportunity to us. Any such person or entity will not be liable to us or to any limited partner for breach of any fiduciary duty or other duty by reason of the fact that such person or entity pursues or acquires such opportunity for itself, directs such opportunity to another person or entity or does not communicate such opportunity or information to us. This may create actual and potential conflicts of interest between us and affiliates of our General Partner and result in less than favorable treatment of us and our unitholders.

The amount of cash we have available for distribution to holders of our units depends primarily on our cash flows rather than on our profitability, which may prevent us from making distributions, even during periods in which we record net income.

The amount of cash we have available for distribution depends primarily upon our cash flows and not solely on profitability, which will be affected by non-cash items. As a result, we may make cash distributions during periods when we report net losses for GAAP purposes and may not make cash distributions during periods when we report net income for GAAP purposes.

The market price of our common units may fluctuate significantly and, due to limited daily trading volumes, an investor could lose all or part of its investment in us.

Of the 73,085,996 common units outstanding at December 31, 2017, Summit Investments beneficially owned 25,854,581 common units. As of December 31, 2017, a subsidiary of Energy Capital Partners directly owned 5,915,827 common units. An investor may not be able to resell its common units at or above its acquisition price.  Additionally, limited liquidity may result in wide bid-ask spreads, contribute to significant fluctuations in the market price of the common units and limit the number of investors who are able to buy the common units.

The market price of our common units may decline and be influenced by many factors, some of which are beyond our control, including among others:

44

Table of Contents

Our Sponsor has rights to require underwritten offerings that could limit our ability to raise capital in the public equity market.

Our Sponsor and any other unitholders that have registration rights may require us to conduct underwritten offerings of our common units. If we want to access the capital markets (debt and equity), those unitholders’ ability to sell a portion of their common units could satisfy investors’ demand for our common units, reduce the market price for our common units, or interfere with our financing plans, and thereby could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

If we fail to develop or maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to report our financial results timely and accurately or prevent fraud, which would likely have a negative impact on the market price of our common units.

As a publicly traded partnership, we are subject to the public reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including the rules thereunder that will require our management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable and timely financial reports, prevent fraud and to operate successfully as a publicly traded partnership. We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP. Our efforts to develop and maintain our internal controls may not be successful and we may be unable to maintain effective controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future or to comply with our obligations under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Given the difficulties inherent in the design and operation of internal controls over financial reporting, in addition to our limited accounting personnel and management resources, we can provide no assurance as to our or our independent registered public accounting firm's future conclusions about the effectiveness of our internal controls, and we may incur significant costs in our efforts to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting could subject us to regulatory scrutiny and a loss of confidence in our reported financial information, which could have an adverse effect on our business and would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our common units.

Our Partnership Agreement replaces our General Partner's fiduciary duties to unitholders with contractual standards governing its duties.

Our Partnership Agreement contains provisions that eliminate fiduciary duties to which our General Partner would otherwise be held by state fiduciary duty law and replaces those duties with several different contractual standards. For example, our Partnership Agreement permits our General Partner to make a number of decisions in its individual capacity, as opposed to in its capacity as our General Partner or otherwise, free of any duties to us and our unitholders, other than the implied contractual covenant of good faith and fair dealing. This entitles our General Partner to consider only the interests and factors that it desires and relieves it of any duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of, or factors affecting, us, our affiliates or our limited partners. Examples of decisions that our General Partner may make in its individual capacity include, among others:

45

Table of Contents

By purchasing a common unit, a common unitholder agrees to become bound by the provisions in the Partnership Agreement, including the provisions discussed above.

Our Partnership Agreement limits the liabilities of our General Partner and the rights of our unitholders with respect to actions taken by our General Partner that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty.

Our Partnership Agreement contains provisions that limit the liability of our General Partner and the rights of our unitholders with respect to actions taken by our General Partner that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty under state fiduciary duty law. For example, our Partnership Agreement provides that:

In connection with a situation involving a transaction with an affiliate or a conflict of interest, any determination by our General Partner or the Conflicts Committee must be made in good faith. If an affiliate transaction or the resolution of a conflict of interest is not approved by our common unitholders or the Conflicts Committee and the Board of Directors of our General Partner determines that the resolution or course of action taken with respect to the affiliate transaction or conflict of interest satisfies either of the standards set forth in the final two subclauses above, then it will be presumed that, in making its decision, the Board of Directors acted in good faith, and in any proceeding brought by or on behalf of any limited partner or the partnership, the person bringing or prosecuting such proceeding will have the burden of overcoming such presumption.

Our General Partner intends to limit its liability regarding our obligations.

Our General Partner intends to limit its liability under contractual arrangements so that the counterparties to such arrangements have recourse only against our assets, and not against our General Partner or its assets. Our General Partner may therefore cause us to incur indebtedness or other obligations that are nonrecourse to our General Partner. Our Partnership Agreement provides that any action taken by our General Partner to limit its liability is not a breach of our General Partner's fiduciary duties, even if we could have obtained more favorable terms without the limitation on liability. In addition, we are obligated to reimburse or indemnify our General Partner to the extent that it

46

Table of Contents

incurs obligations on our behalf. Any such reimbursement or indemnification payments would reduce the amount of cash otherwise available for distribution to our unitholders.

Our Partnership Agreement requires that we distribute all of our available cash, which could limit our ability to grow and make acquisitions.

We expect that we will distribute all of our available cash to our unitholders and will rely primarily upon external financing sources, including commercial bank borrowings and the issuance of debt and equity securities, to fund our acquisitions and expansion capital expenditures. As a result, to the extent we are unable to finance growth externally, our cash distribution policy will significantly impair our ability to grow.

In addition, because we intend to distribute all of our available cash, we may not grow as quickly as businesses that reinvest their available cash to expand ongoing operations. To the extent we issue additional units in connection with any acquisitions or expansion capital expenditures, the payment of distributions on those additional units may increase the risk that we will be unable to maintain or increase our per-unit distribution level. There are no limitations in our Partnership Agreement, our Revolving Credit Facility or Senior Notes indentures on our ability to issue additional common units, including certain other units ranking senior to the common units. The incurrence of additional commercial borrowings or other debt to finance our growth strategy would result in increased interest expense, which, in turn, may impact the available cash that we have to distribute to our unitholders.

While our Partnership Agreement requires us to distribute all of our available cash, our Partnership Agreement, including provisions requiring us to make cash distributions contained therein, may be amended.

While our Partnership Agreement requires us to distribute all of our available cash, our Partnership Agreement, including provisions requiring us to make cash distributions contained therein, may be amended. Our Partnership Agreement can be amended with the consent of our General Partner and the approval of a majority of the outstanding common units (including common units held by affiliates of our General Partner). As of December 31, 2017, Summit Investments beneficially owned 25,854,581 common units out of 73,085,996 outstanding common units. Additionally, a subsidiary of Energy Capital Partners directly owned 5,915,827 common units as of December 31, 2017.

Reimbursements due to our General Partner and its affiliates for expenses incurred on our behalf will reduce cash available for distribution to our common unitholders. The amount and timing of such reimbursements will be determined by our General Partner.

Prior to making any distribution on our common units, we will reimburse our General Partner and its affiliates, including Summit Investments, for expenses they incur and payments they make on our behalf. Under our Partnership Agreement, we will reimburse our General Partner and its affiliates for certain expenses incurred on our behalf, including, without limitation, salary, bonus, incentive compensation and other amounts paid to our General Partner's employees and executive officers who provide services necessary to run our business. Our Partnership Agreement provides that our General Partner will determine in good faith the expenses that are allocable to us. The reimbursement of expenses to our General Partner and its affiliates will reduce the amount of available cash to pay cash distributions to our unitholders.

Our General Partner may elect to cause us to issue common units to it in connection with a resetting of the MQD and the target distribution levels related to our General Partner's IDRs without the approval of the Conflicts Committee or our unitholders. This election may result in lower distributions to our unitholders in certain situations.

Our General Partner has the right, at any time when it has received incentive distributions at the highest level to which it is entitled (48%) for each of the prior four consecutive fiscal quarters (and the amount of each such distribution did not exceed adjusted operating surplus for such quarter), to reset the initial target distribution levels at higher levels based on our cash distribution at the time of the exercise of the reset election. Following a reset election by our General Partner, the MQD will be reset to an amount equal to the average cash distribution per unit for the two fiscal quarters immediately preceding the reset election (such amount is referred to as the reset MQD), and the target distribution levels will be reset to correspondingly higher levels based on percentage increases above the reset MQD.

47

Table of Contents

In the event of a reset of target distribution levels, our General Partner will be entitled to receive the number of common units equal to that number of common units that would have entitled it to an average aggregate quarterly cash distribution in the prior two quarters equal to the average of the distributions on the IDRs in the prior two quarters. Our General Partner will also be issued the number of General Partner units necessary to maintain its general partner interest in us that existed immediately prior to the reset election. We anticipate that our General Partner would exercise this reset right to facilitate acquisitions or internal growth projects that would not be sufficiently accretive to cash distributions per common unit without such conversion; however, it is possible that our General Partner could exercise this reset election at a time when we are experiencing declines in our aggregate cash distributions or at a time when our General Partner expects that we will experience declines in our aggregate cash distributions in the foreseeable future. In such situations, our General Partner may be experiencing, or may expect to experience, declines in the cash distributions it receives related to its IDRs and may therefore desire to be issued common units, which are entitled to specified priorities with respect to our distributions and which therefore may be more advantageous for the General Partner to own in lieu of the right to receive incentive distribution payments based on target distribution levels that are less certain to be achieved in the then-current business environment. As a result, a reset election may cause our common unitholders to experience dilution in the amount of cash distributions that they would have otherwise received had we not issued common units to our General Partner in connection with resetting the target distribution levels related to our General Partner's IDRs.

The New York Stock Exchange does not require a publicly traded partnership like us to comply with certain of its corporate governance requirements.

We have listed our common units on the New York Stock Exchange. Because we are a publicly traded partnership, the New York Stock Exchange does not require us to have, and we do not intend to have, a majority of independent directors on our General Partner's Board of Directors or to establish a nominating and corporate governance committee. Additionally, any future issuance of additional common units or other securities, including to affiliates, will not be subject to the New York Stock Exchange's shareholder approval rules. Accordingly, unitholders will not have the same protections afforded to certain corporations that are subject to all of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.

Holders of our common units have limited voting rights and are not entitled to elect our General Partner or its directors.

Unlike the holders of common stock in a corporation, holders of our common units have only limited voting rights on matters affecting our business and, therefore, limited ability to influence management's decisions regarding our business. Unitholders have no right on an annual or ongoing basis to elect our General Partner or its Board of Directors. The Board of Directors of our General Partner has been chosen by Summit Investments. Furthermore, if our unitholders are dissatisfied with the performance of our General Partner, they have little ability to remove our General Partner. As a result of these limitations, the price at which the common units trade could be diminished because of the absence or reduction of a takeover premium in the trading price. Our Partnership Agreement also contains provisions limiting the ability of our unitholders to call meetings or to acquire information about our operations, as well as other provisions limiting the unitholders' ability to influence the manner or direction of management.

Even if holders of our common units are dissatisfied, they may not be able to remove our General Partner without its consent.

The vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of all outstanding limited partner units voting together as a single class is required to remove our General Partner. As of December 31, 2017, Summit Investments beneficially owned 25,854,581 common units out of 73,085,996 outstanding common units, representing a voting block sufficient to prevent the other limited partners from removing our General Partner.

48

Table of Contents

Our Partnership Agreement restricts the voting rights of unitholders owning 20% or more of our common units.

Unitholders' voting rights are further restricted by a provision of our Partnership Agreement providing that any person or group that owns 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding cannot vote on any matter, other than our General Partner, its affiliates, their transferees and persons who acquired such units with the prior approval of the Board of Directors of our General Partner.

We may issue additional units without unitholder approval, which would dilute existing ownership interests.

Except in the case of the issuance of units that rank equal to or senior to the Series A Preferred Units, our Partnership Agreement does not limit the number of additional limited partner interests, including limited partner interests that rank senior to the common units that we may issue at any time without the approval of our unitholders.

We may issue additional Series A Preferred Units and any securities in parity with the Series A Preferred Units without any vote of the holders of the Series A Preferred Units (except where the cumulative distributions on the Series A Preferred Units or any parity securities are in arrears and in certain other circumstances) and without the approval of our common unitholders.

The issuance by us of additional common units or other equity securities of equal or senior rank will have the following effects:

In addition, the issuance by us of additional common units or other equity securities of equal or senior rank may have the following effects:

Future issuances and sales of parity securities, or the perception that such issuances and sales could occur, may cause prevailing market prices for our common units and the Series A Preferred Units to decline and may adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital in the financial markets at times and prices favorable to us.

Furthermore, the payment of distributions on any additional units may increase the risk that we will not be able to make distributions at our prior per unit distribution levels. To the extent new units are senior to our common units, their issuance will increase the uncertainty of the payment of distributions on our common units.

Holders of Series A Preferred Units have limited voting rights, which may be diluted.

Although holders of the Series A Preferred Units are entitled to limited voting rights with respect to certain matters, the Series A Preferred Units generally vote separately as a class along with any other series of our parity securities that we may issue upon which like voting rights have been conferred and are exercisable. As a result, the voting rights of holders of Series A Preferred Units may be significantly diluted, and the holders of such other series of parity securities that we may issue may be able to control or significantly influence the outcome of any vote.

Summit Investments or our Sponsor may sell units in the public or private markets, and such sales could have an adverse impact on the trading price of the common units.

As of December 31, 2017, Summit Investments beneficially owned 25,854,581 common units out of 73,085,996 outstanding common units. Additionally, a subsidiary of Energy Capital Partners directly owned 5,915,827 common

49

Table of Contents

units as of December 31, 2017. The sale of any of these units in the public or private markets could have an adverse impact on the price of the common units or on any trading market that may develop.

Our General Partner has a limited call right that may require an investor to sell its units at an undesirable time or price.

If at any time our General Partner and its affiliates own more than 80% of our outstanding common units, our General Partner will have the right, which it may assign to any of its affiliates or to us, but not the obligation, to acquire all, but not less than all, of the common units held by unaffiliated persons at a price that is not less than their then-current market price, as calculated pursuant to the terms of our Partnership Agreement. As a result, an investor may be required to sell its common units at an undesirable time or price and may not receive any return on its investment. An investor may also incur a tax liability upon a sale of its units.

As of December 31, 2017, Summit Investments beneficially owned 25,854,581 common units out of 73,085,996 outstanding common units. Additionally, a subsidiary of Energy Capital Partners directly owned 5,915,827 common units as of December 31, 2017. As such, our General Partner and its affiliates controlled a total of 31,770,408 common units, or 43.5% of our common units outstanding as of December 31, 2017.

An investor's liability may not be limited if a court finds that unitholder action constitutes control of our business.

A General Partner of a partnership generally has unlimited liability for the obligations of the partnership, except for those contractual obligations of the partnership that are expressly made without recourse to the General Partner. Our partnership is organized under Delaware law, and we conduct business in a number of other states. The limitations on the liability of holders of limited partner interests for the obligations of a limited partnership have not been clearly established in some of the other states in which we do business. An investor could be liable for any and all of our obligations as if it was a General Partner if a court or government agency were to determine that:

Our Partnership Agreement designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our unitholders, which limits our unitholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our General Partner’s directors, officers or other employees.

Our Partnership Agreement provides that, with certain limited exceptions, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for any claims, suits, actions or proceedings (1) arising out of or relating in any way to our Partnership Agreement (including any claims, suits or actions to interpret, apply or enforce the provisions of our Partnership Agreement or the duties, obligations or liabilities among our partners, or obligations or liabilities of our partners to us, or the rights or powers of, or restrictions on, our partners or us), (2) brought in a derivative manner on our behalf, (3) asserting a claim of breach of a duty (including a fiduciary duty) owed by any of our, or our General Partner’s, directors, officers, or other employees, or owed by our General Partner, to us or our partners, (4) asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act or (5) asserting a claim against us governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our common units is deemed to have received notice of and consented to the foregoing provisions. Although management believes this choice of forum provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against us and our General Partner’s directors and officers. The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation or similar governing documents has been challenged in legal proceedings and it is possible that in connection with any action a court could find the choice of forum provisions contained in our Partnership Agreement to be inapplicable or unenforceable in such action. If a

50

Table of Contents

court were to find this choice of forum provision inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.

Unitholders may have liability to repay distributions that were wrongfully distributed to them.

Under certain circumstances, unitholders may have to repay amounts wrongfully returned or distributed to them. Under Delaware law, we may not make a distribution if the distribution would cause our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. Delaware law provides that for a period of three years from the date of an impermissible distribution, limited partners who received the distribution and who knew at the time of the distribution that it violated Delaware law will be liable to the limited partnership for the distribution amount. Substituted limited partners are liable both for the obligations of the assignor to make contributions to the partnership that were known to the substituted limited partner at the time it became a limited partner and for those obligations that were unknown if the liabilities could have been determined from the Partnership Agreement. Neither liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interest nor liabilities that are non-recourse to the partnership are counted for purposes of determining whether a distribution is permitted.

If an investor is not an eligible holder, it may not receive distributions or allocations of income or loss on those common units and those common units will be subject to redemption.

We have adopted certain requirements regarding those investors who may own our common units and Series A Preferred Units. Eligible holders are U.S. individuals or entities subject to U.S. federal income taxation on the income generated by us or entities not subject to U.S. federal income taxation on the income generated by us, so long as all of the entity's owners are U.S. individuals or entities subject to such taxation. If an investor is not an eligible holder, our General Partner may elect not to make distributions or allocate income or loss on that investor's units, and it runs the risk of having its units redeemed by us at the lower of purchase price cost or the then-current market price. The redemption price may be paid in cash or by delivery of a promissory note, as determined by our General Partner.

Our Series A Preferred Units have rights, preferences and privileges that are not held by, and are preferential to the rights of, holders of our common units.

Our Series A Preferred Units rank senior to our common units with respect to distribution rights and rights upon liquidation. These preferences could adversely affect the market price for our common units, or could make it more difficult for us to sell our common units in the future.

In addition, (i) prior to December 15, 2022, distributions on the Series A Preferred Units accrue and are cumulative at the rate of 9.50% per annum of $1,000, the liquidation preference of the Series A Preferred Units and (ii) on and after December 15, 2022, distributions on the Series A Preferred Units will accumulate for each distribution period at a percentage of $1,000 equal to the three-month LIBOR plus a spread of 7.43%. Our obligation to pay distributions on our Series A Preferred Units could impact our liquidity and reduce the amount of cash flow available for working capital, capital expenditures, growth opportunities, acquisitions, and other general partnership purposes. Our obligations to the holders of the Series A Preferred Units could also limit our ability to obtain additional financing or increase our borrowing costs, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition.

Our Series A Preferred Units contain covenants that may limit our business flexibility.

Our Series A Preferred Units contain covenants preventing us from taking certain actions without the approval of the holders of 66 2⁄3% of the Series A Preferred Units. The need to obtain the approval of holders of the Series A Preferred Units before taking these actions could impede our ability to take certain actions that management or the Board of Directors may consider to be in the best interests of our unitholders. The affirmative vote of 66 2⁄3% of the outstanding Series A Preferred Units, voting as a single class, is necessary to amend the Partnership Agreement in any manner that would have a material adverse effect on the existing preferences, rights, powers, duties or obligations of the Series A Preferred Units. The affirmative vote of 66 2⁄3% of the outstanding Series A Preferred Units and any outstanding series of other preferred units, voting as a single class, is necessary to (A) under certain

51

Table of Contents

circumstances, create or issue certain equity securities that are senior to our common units or (B) declare or pay any distribution to common unitholders out of capital surplus.

Tax Risks

Our tax treatment depends on our status as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. If the IRS were to treat us as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, which would subject us to entity-level taxation, then our cash available for distribution to our unitholders would be substantially reduced.

The anticipated after-tax economic benefit of an investment in our units depends largely on our being treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes.

Despite the fact that we are a limited partnership under Delaware law, it is possible in certain circumstances for a partnership such as ours to be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes. A change in our business or a change in current law could cause us to be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes or otherwise subject us to taxation as an entity.

If we were treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, we would pay federal income tax on our taxable income at the corporate tax rate, which is currently 21%, and would likely pay state and local income tax at varying rates. Distributions to our unitholders would generally be taxed again as corporate dividends (to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits), and no income, gains, losses, deductions, or credits would flow through to our unitholders. Because a tax would be imposed upon us as a corporation, our cash available for distribution would be substantially reduced. Therefore, if we were treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, there would be material reductions in the anticipated cash flow and after-tax return to our unitholders, likely causing a substantial reduction in the value of our units. This could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations and ability to make distributions to our unitholders.

Our Partnership Agreement provides that, if a law is enacted or existing law is modified or interpreted in a manner that subjects us to taxation as a corporation or otherwise subjects us to entity-level taxation for federal, state or local income tax purposes, the MQD amount and the target distribution amounts may be adjusted to reflect the impact of that law on us.

If we were subjected to a material amount of additional entity-level taxation by individual states, it would reduce our cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Changes in current state law may subject us to additional entity-level taxation by individual states. Because of widespread state budget deficits and other reasons, several states are evaluating ways to subject partnerships to entity-level taxation through the imposition of state income, franchise and other forms of taxation. Imposition of any such taxes may substantially reduce the cash available for distribution. Our Partnership Agreement provides that, if a law is enacted or existing law is modified or interpreted in a manner that subjects us to entity-level taxation, the MQD amount and the target distribution amounts may be adjusted to reflect the impact of that law on us.

The tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships or an investment in our units could be subject to potential legislative, judicial or administrative changes and differing interpretations of applicable law, possibly on a retroactive basis.

The present U.S. federal income tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships, including us, or an investment in our units may be modified by administrative, legislative or judicial changes or differing interpretations at any time. From time to time, members of the U.S. Congress propose and consider substantive changes to the existing federal income tax laws that affect publicly traded partnerships.

Any modification to the U.S. federal income tax laws and interpretations could make it more difficult or impossible to meet the exception for us to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. We are unable to predict whether any such changes will ultimately be enacted, but it is possible that a change in law could affect us and may, if enacted, be applied retroactively. Any such changes could negatively impact the value of an investment in our units.

52

Table of Contents

Our unitholders are required to pay income taxes on their share of our taxable income even if they do not receive any cash distributions from us. A unitholder’s share of our taxable income, and its relationship to any distributions we make, may be affected by a variety of factors, including our economic performance, transactions in which we engage or changes in law and may be substantially different from any estimate we make in connection with a unit offering.

A unitholder’s allocable share of our taxable income will be taxable to it, which may require the unitholder to pay federal income taxes and, in some cases, state and local income taxes, even if the unitholder receives cash distributions from us that are less than the actual tax liability that results from that income or no cash distributions at all.

A unitholder’s share of our taxable income, and its relationship to any distributions we make, may be affected by a variety of factors, including our economic performance, which may be affected by numerous business, economic, regulatory, legislative, competitive and political uncertainties beyond our control, and certain transactions in which we might engage. For example, we may engage in transactions that produce substantial taxable income allocations to some or all of our unitholders without a corresponding increase in cash distributions to our unitholders, such as a sale or exchange of assets, the proceeds of which are reinvested in our business or used to reduce our debt, or an actual or deemed satisfaction of our indebtedness for an amount less than the adjusted issue price of the debt. A unitholder’s ratio of its share of taxable income to the cash received by it may also be affected by changes in law. For instance, under the recently enacted tax reform law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the net interest expense deductions of certain business entities, including us, are limited to 30% of such entity’s “adjusted taxable income,” which is generally taxable income with certain modifications. If the limit applies, a unitholder’s taxable income allocations will be more (or its net loss allocations will be less) than would have been the case absent the limitation.

From time to time, in connection with an offering of our common units, we may state an estimate of the ratio of federal taxable income to cash distributions that a purchaser of common units in that offering may receive in a given period. These estimates depend in part on factors that are unique to the offering with respect to which the estimate is stated, so the expected ratio applicable to other common units will be different, and in many cases less favorable, than these estimates. Moreover, even in the case of common units purchased in the offering to which the estimate relates, the estimate may be incorrect, due to the uncertainties described above, challenges by the IRS to tax reporting positions which we adopt, or other factors. The actual ratio of taxable income to cash distributions could be higher or lower than expected, and any differences could be material and could materially affect the value of the common units.

If the IRS contests the federal income tax positions we take, the market for our units may be adversely impacted and the cost of any IRS contest would likely reduce our cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

The IRS may adopt positions that differ from the conclusions of our counsel expressed in a prospectus or from the positions we take, and the IRS's positions may ultimately be sustained. It may be necessary to resort to administrative or court proceedings to sustain some or all of our counsel’s conclusions or the positions we take and such positions may not ultimately be sustained. A court may not agree with some or all of our counsel’s conclusions or the positions we take. Any contest with the IRS, and the outcome of any IRS contest, may have a materially adverse effect on the market for our units and the price at which they trade. In addition, our costs of any contest with the IRS would be borne indirectly by our unitholders and our General Partner because the costs would likely reduce our cash available for distribution.

Tax gain or loss on the disposition of our units could be more or less than expected.

If a unitholder sells its units, a gain or loss will be recognized for federal income tax purposes equal to the difference between the amount realized and the unitholder's tax basis in those units. Because distributions in excess of a unitholder's allocable share of its net taxable income decrease its tax basis in its units, the amount, if any, of such prior excess distributions with respect to the units it sells will, in effect, become taxable income to the unitholder if it sells such units at a price greater than its tax basis in those units, even if the price it receives is less than its original cost. Furthermore, a substantial portion of the amount realized on any sale or other disposition of a unitholder's units, whether or not representing gain, may be taxed as ordinary income due to potential recapture items, including depreciation

53

Table of Contents

recapture. In addition, because the amount realized includes a unitholder's share of our nonrecourse liabilities, if a unitholder sells its units, it may incur a tax liability in excess of the amount of cash it receives from the sale.

Tax-exempt entities and non-U.S. persons face unique tax issues from owning our units that may result in adverse tax consequences to them.

Investment in our units by tax-exempt entities, such as employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), and non-U.S. persons raises issues unique to them. For example, virtually all of our income allocated to an organization that is exempt from federal income tax, including IRAs and other retirement plans, will be unrelated business taxable income (“UBTI”) and will be taxable to the exempt organization as UBTI on the exempt organization’s tax return in the year the exempt organization is allocated the income. Distributions to non-U.S. persons will be reduced by withholding taxes at the highest applicable effective tax rate, and non-U.S. persons will be required to file U.S. federal income tax returns and pay tax on their share of our taxable income.

Under the recently enacted tax reform law, if a unitholder sells or otherwise disposes of a unit, the transferee is required to withhold 10.0% of the amount realized by the transferor unless the transferor certifies that it is not a foreign person, and we are required to deduct and withhold from the transferee amounts that should have been withheld by the transferee but were not withheld. However, the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS have determined that this withholding requirement should not apply to any disposition of a publicly traded interest in a publicly traded partnership (such as us) until regulations or other guidance have been issued clarifying the application of this withholding requirement to dispositions of interests in publicly traded partnerships. Accordingly, while this new withholding requirement does not currently apply to interests in us, there can be no assurance that such requirement will not apply in the future.

Tax-exempt entities and non-U.S. persons should consult a tax advisor before investing in our units.

We treat each holder of our common units as having the same tax benefits without regard to the actual common units held. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could adversely affect the value of the common units.

Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of common units and because of other reasons, we will adopt depreciation and amortization positions that may not conform to all aspects of existing Treasury Regulations. A successful IRS challenge to those positions could adversely affect the amount of tax benefits available to our unitholders. A successful IRS challenge also could affect the timing of these tax benefits or the amount of gain from a unitholder’s sale of common units and could have a negative impact on the value of our common units or result in audit adjustments to the unitholder’s tax returns.

Treatment of distributions on our Series A Preferred Units as guaranteed payments for the use of capital creates a different tax treatment for the holders of our Series A Preferred Units than the holders of our common units and such distributions may not be eligible for the 20% deduction for qualified publicly traded partnership income.

The tax treatment of distributions on our Series A Preferred Units is uncertain. We will treat the holders of Series A Preferred Units as partners for tax purposes and will treat distributions on the Series A Preferred Units as guaranteed payments for the use of capital that will generally be taxable to the holders of Series A Preferred Units as ordinary income. Although a holder of Series A Preferred Units could recognize taxable income from the accrual of such a guaranteed payment even in the absence of a contemporaneous distribution, we anticipate accruing and making the guaranteed payment distributions semi-annually on the 15th day of June and December through December 15, 2022, and quarterly on the 15th day of March, June, September and December thereafter. Because the guaranteed payment for each unit must accrue as income to a holder during the taxable year of the accrual, the guaranteed payment attributable to the period beginning December 15th and ending December 31st will accrue to the holder of record of a Series A Preferred Unit on December 31st for such period. Otherwise, except in the case of our liquidation, the holders of Series A Preferred Units are generally not anticipated to share in our items of income, gain, loss or deduction. We will not allocate any share of its nonrecourse liabilities to the holders of Series A Preferred Units.

54

Table of Contents

Although we expect that much of the income we earn is generally eligible for the 20% deduction for qualified publicly traded partnership income available under the recently enacted tax reform law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it is uncertain whether a guaranteed payment for the use of capital may constitute an allocable or distributive share of such income.  As a result, the guaranteed payment for use of capital received by holders of our Series A Preferred Units may not be eligible for the 20% deduction for qualified publicly traded partnership income.

A holder of Series A Preferred Units will be required to recognize gain or loss on a sale of units equal to the difference between the holder’s amount realized and tax basis in the units sold. The amount realized generally will equal the sum of the cash and the fair market value of other property such holder receives in exchange for such Series A Preferred Units. Subject to general rules requiring a blended basis among multiple partnership interests, the tax basis of a Series A Preferred Unit will generally be equal to the sum of the cash and the fair market value of other property paid by the holder to acquire such Series A Preferred Unit. Gain or loss recognized by a holder on the sale or exchange of a Series A Preferred Unit held for more than one year generally will be taxable as long-term capital gain or loss. Because holders of Series A Preferred Units will not generally be allocated a share of our items of depreciation, depletion or amortization, it is not anticipated that such holders would be required to recharacterize any portion of their gain as ordinary income as a result of the recapture rules.

Investment in the Series A Preferred Units by tax-exempt investors, such as employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts, and non-U.S. persons raises issues unique to them. Although the issue is not free from doubt, we will treat distributions to non-U.S. holders of the Series A Preferred Units as “effectively connected income” (which will subject holders to U.S. net income taxation and possibly the branch profits tax) that are subject to withholding taxes imposed at the highest effective tax rate applicable to such non-U.S. holders. If the amount of withholding exceeds the amount of U.S. federal income tax actually due, non-U.S. holders may be required to file U.S. federal income tax returns in order to seek a refund of such excess. The treatment of guaranteed payments for the use of capital to tax-exempt investors is not certain and such payments may be treated as unrelated business taxable income for federal income tax purposes.  

All holders of our Series A Preferred Units are urged to consult a tax advisor with respect to the consequences of owning our Series A Preferred Units.

We prorate our items of income, gain, loss and deduction for U.S, federal income tax purposes between transferors and transferees of our units each month based upon the ownership of our units on the first day of each month, instead of on the basis of the date a particular unit is transferred. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could change the allocation of items of income, gain, loss and deduction among our unitholders.

We prorate our items of income, gain, loss and deduction for U.S. federal income tax purposes between transferors and transferees of our units each month based upon the ownership of our units on the first day of each month, instead of on the basis of the date a particular unit is transferred. The U.S. Treasury Department adopted Treasury Regulations allowing a similar monthly simplifying convention. However, such regulations do not specifically authorize the use of the proration method we have adopted. If the IRS were to challenge our proration method, or if new Treasury Regulations were issued, we may be required to change the allocation of items of income, gain, loss and deduction among our unitholders.

A unitholder whose units are loaned to a “short seller” to cover a short sale of units may be considered as having disposed of those units. If so, the unitholder would no longer be treated for federal income tax purposes as a partner with respect to those units during the period of the loan and may recognize gain or loss from the disposition.

Because a unitholder whose units are loaned to a “short seller” to cover a short sale of units may be considered as having disposed of the loaned units, the unitholder may no longer be treated for federal income tax purposes as a partner with respect to those units during the period of the loan to the short seller and the unitholder may recognize gain or loss from such disposition. Moreover, during the period of the loan to the short seller, any of our income, gain, loss or deduction with respect to those units may not be reportable by the unitholder and any cash distributions received by the unitholder as to those units could be fully taxable as ordinary income. Therefore, unitholders desiring

55

Table of Contents

to assure their status as partners and avoid the risk of gain recognition from a loan to a short seller are urged to consult a tax advisor to discuss whether it is advisable to modify any applicable brokerage account agreements to prohibit their brokers from loaning their units.

We have adopted certain valuation methodologies and monthly conventions for U.S. federal income tax purposes that may result in a shift of income, gain, loss and deduction between our General Partner and our unitholders. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could adversely affect the value of our units.

When we issue additional units or engage in certain other transactions, we will determine the fair market value of our assets. Although we may from time to time consult with professional appraisers regarding valuation matters, we make many fair market value estimates using a methodology based on the market value of our units as a means to measure the fair market value of our assets. The IRS may challenge these valuation methods and the resulting allocations of income, gain, loss and deduction.

A successful IRS challenge to these methods or allocations could adversely affect the amount, character and timing of taxable income or loss being allocated to our unitholders. It also could affect the amount of taxable gain from our unitholders' sale of units and could have a negative impact on the value of the units or result in audit adjustments to our unitholders' tax returns without the benefit of additional deductions.

If the IRS makes audit adjustments to our income tax returns for tax years beginning after 2017, the IRS (and some states) may collect any resulting taxes (including any applicable penalties and interest) resulting from such audit adjustment directly from us, in which case we may require our unitholders and former unitholders to reimburse us for such taxes (including any applicable penalties or interest) or, if we are required to bear such payment, our cash available for distribution to our unitholders could be substantially reduced.

Pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, if the IRS makes audit adjustments to our income tax returns for tax years beginning after 2017, it may collect any resulting taxes (including any applicable penalties and interest) directly from us. We will generally have the ability to shift any such tax liability to our General Partner and our unitholders in accordance with their interests in us during the year under audit, but there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so (and will choose to do so) under all circumstances, or that we will be able to (or choose to) effect corresponding shifts in state income or similar tax liability resulting from the IRS adjustment in states in which we do business in the year under audit or in the adjustment year. If, we make payments of taxes, penalties and interest resulting from audit adjustments, we may require our unitholders and former unitholders to reimburse us for such taxes (including any applicable penalties or interest) or, if we are required to bear such payment, our cash available for distribution to our unitholders could be substantially reduced.  

In the event the IRS makes an audit adjustment to our income tax returns and we do not or cannot shift the liability to our unitholders in accordance with their interests in us during the year under audit, we will generally have the ability to request that the IRS reduce the determined underpayment by reducing the suspended passive loss carryovers of our unitholders (without any compensation from us to such unitholders), to the extent such underpayment is attributable to a net decrease in passive activity losses allocable to certain partners. Such reduction, if approved by the IRS, will be binding on any affected unitholders.

As a result of investing in our units, our unitholders will likely be subject to state and local taxes and return filing requirements in jurisdictions where we operate or own or acquire properties.

In addition to federal income taxes, our unitholders will likely be subject to other taxes, including state and local taxes, unincorporated business taxes and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that are imposed by the various jurisdictions in which we conduct business or control property now or in the future, even if the unitholders do not live in any of those jurisdictions. Our unitholders will likely be required to file state and local income tax returns and pay state and local income taxes in some or all of these various jurisdictions. Further, our unitholders may be subject to penalties for failure to comply with those requirements. Some of the states in which we conduct business currently impose a personal income tax on individuals. As we make acquisitions or expand our business, we may control

56

Table of Contents

assets or conduct business in additional states that impose a personal income tax. It is the unitholder's responsibility to file all federal, state and local tax returns.

Compliance with and changes in tax laws could adversely affect our performance.

We are subject to extensive tax laws and regulations, including federal and state income taxes and transactional taxes such as excise, sales/use, payroll, franchise and ad valorem taxes. New tax laws and regulations and changes in existing tax laws and regulations are continuously being enacted that could result in increased tax expenditures in the future. Many of these tax liabilities are subject to audits by the respective taxing authority. These audits may result in additional taxes as well as interest and penalties.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

Not applicable.

Item 2. Properties.

Our gathering systems, the unconventional resource basins in which they operate, and the reportable segments in which they are reported are as follows:

In addition, Summit Permian is an associated natural gas gathering and processing system under development in the northern Delaware Basin in southeastern New Mexico. For additional information on our midstream assets and their capacities, see Item 1. Business.

Our real property falls into two categories: (i) parcels that we own in fee and (ii) parcels in which our interest derives from leases, easements, rights-of-way, permits or licenses from landowners or governmental authorities, permitting the use of such land for our operations. Portions of the land on which our gathering systems and other major facilities are located are owned by us in fee title, and we believe that we have valid title to these lands. The remainder of the

57

Table of Contents

land on which our major facilities are located are held by us pursuant to long-term leases or easements between us and the underlying fee owner, or permits with governmental authorities. We believe that we have valid leasehold estates or fee ownership in such lands or valid permits with governmental authorities. We have no knowledge of any material challenge to the underlying fee title of any material lease, easement, right-of-way, permit or license held by us or to our title to any material lease, easement, right-of-way, permit or license. We believe that we have satisfactory title to all of our material leases, easements, rights-of-way, permits and licenses with the exception of certain ordinary course encumbrances and permits with governmental entities that have been applied for, but not yet issued.

In addition, we lease various office space under operating leases to support our operations. Our headquarters are located in The Woodlands, Texas. In addition, we have regional corporate offices in Denver, Colorado; Atlanta, Georgia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Dallas, Texas.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

Although we may, from time to time, be involved in litigation and claims arising out of our operations in the normal course of business, we are not currently a party to any significant legal or governmental proceedings, except as noted below. In addition, we are not aware of any significant legal or governmental proceedings contemplated to be brought against us, under the various environmental protection statutes to which we are subject, except as noted below.

In 2015 and 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice issued grand jury subpoenas to Summit Investments, the Partnership, our General Partner and Meadowlark Midstream requesting certain materials related to an incident involving a produced water disposal pipeline owned by Meadowlark Midstream that resulted in a discharge of materials into the environment. On June 19, 2015, Meadowlark Midstream and Summit Investments received a complaint from the North Dakota Industrial Commission seeking approximately $2.5 million in fines and other fees related to the rupture. On March 3, 2016, the Partnership agreed to acquire, among other things, substantially all of the issued and outstanding membership interests of Meadowlark Midstream from an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Summit Investments in connection with the 2016 Drop Down. The Contribution Agreement executed in connection with the 2016 Drop Down contains customary representations and warranties, and Summit Investments has agreed to indemnify the Partnership with respect to certain losses, including losses associated with the above described incident. While we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of this matter with certainty, we believe at this time that it is not likely that the Partnership or our General Partner will be subject to any material liability as a result of any governmental proceeding related to the incident.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

58

Table of Contents

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Our limited partner common units, ticker symbol "SMLP," trade on the NYSE. As of February 16, 2018, there were approximately 7,846 common unitholders, including beneficial owners of common units held in street name. The following table shows the common unit price range, as reported by the NYSE, and the cash distribution paid per common unit for the periods indicated.

__________

(1) Represents historical distributions based on the quarter in which they were paid.

On January 25, 2018, the Board of Directors of our General Partner declared a distribution of $0.575 per unit for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2017. The distribution, which totaled $45.1 million, was paid on February 14, 2018, to unitholders of record at the close of business on February 7, 2018.  

Our Cash Distribution Policy and Restrictions on Distributions

General

Our Cash Distribution Policy.  Our Partnership Agreement requires us to distribute all of our available cash quarterly. Our policy is to distribute to our unitholders an amount of cash each quarter that is equal to or greater than the minimum quarterly distribution stated in our Partnership Agreement. Generally, our available cash is our (i) cash on hand at the end of a quarter after the payment of our expenses and the establishment of cash reserves and (ii) cash on hand resulting from working capital borrowings made after the end of the quarter. Because we are not subject to an entity-level federal income tax, we have more cash to distribute to our unitholders than would be the case were we subject to federal income tax.

We pay our distributions on or about the 15th of each of February, May, August and November to holders of record on or about seven days prior to such distribution date. We make the distribution on the business day immediately preceding the indicated distribution date if the distribution date falls on a holiday or non-business day.

Our General Partner is entitled to a maximum of 2% of all distributions that we make prior to our liquidation based on their respective general partner interest. In the future, our General Partner's percentage interest in these distributions may be reduced if we issue additional units and our General Partner does not contribute a proportionate amount of capital to us to maintain its then-existing general partner interest. For additional information, see Note 11 to the consolidated financial statements.

Limitations on Cash Distributions and Our Ability to Change Our Cash Distribution Policy.  There is no guarantee that our unitholders will receive quarterly distributions from us. We do not have a legal obligation to pay the minimum quarterly distribution or any other distribution except to the extent we have available cash as defined in our Partnership Agreement. Our cash distribution policy may be changed at any time and is subject to certain restrictions, including the following:

59

Table of Contents

Our Minimum Quarterly Distribution

Our Partnership Agreement has established an MQD of $0.40 per unit per quarter, or $1.60 per unit per year, to be paid no later than 45 days after the end of each fiscal quarter. Based on all of the units outstanding as of December 31, 2017, our aggregate quarterly MQD is $29.8 million and our aggregate annual MQD is $119.3 million.

Preferred Unit Distributions

In November 2017, we issued 300,000 Series A Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Units (the “Series A Preferred Units”) representing limited partner interests in the Partnership at a price to the public of $1,000 per unit. We used the net proceeds of $293.2 million (after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses) to repay outstanding borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility.

Distributions on the Series A Preferred Units will be cumulative and compounding and will be payable semi-annually in arrears on the 15th day of each June and December through and including December 15, 2022, and, thereafter, quarterly in arrears on the 15th day of March, June, September and December of each year (each, a “Distribution Payment Date”) to holders of record as of the close of business on the first business day of the month of the applicable Distribution Payment Date, in each case, when, as, and if declared by the General Partner out of legally available funds for such purpose.

The initial distribution rate for the Series A Preferred Units will be 9.50% per annum of the $1,000 liquidation preference per Series A Preferred Unit. On and after December 15, 2022, distributions on the Series A Preferred

60

Table of Contents

Units will accumulate for each distribution period at a percentage of the liquidation preference equal to the three-month LIBOR plus a spread of 7.43%. A pro-rated initial distribution on the Series A Preferred Units was paid on December 15, 2017 in an amount equal to approximately $7.9167 per Series A Preferred Unit, which totaled $2.4 million. See Note 11 for additional details.

Stock Performance Table

The following graph compares the cumulative total unitholder return on our common units since the IPO to the cumulative total return of the S&P 500 Stock Index and the Alerian MLP Index ("AMZX") by assuming $100 was invested in each investment option as of September 28, 2012, the date of the IPO. The Alerian MLP Index is a composite of the 39 most prominent energy master limited partnerships, or MLPs, and is calculated using a float-adjusted, capitalization-weighted methodology.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

We made no repurchases of our common units during the quarter ended December 31, 2017.

Sponsor Purchases of Equity Securities

Our Sponsor made no repurchases of our common units during the quarter ended December 31, 2017.

Equity Compensation Plans

The information relating to SMLP’s equity compensation plans required by Item 5 is included in Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

The selected consolidated financial data presented as of and for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013 have been derived from the consolidated financial statements of SMLP.

61

Table of Contents

These financial statements reflect the results of operations of (i) Summit Utica since December 2014; (ii) Tioga Midstream since April 2014; (iii) Ohio Gathering since January 2014; (iv) Mountaineer Midstream since June 2013; (v) Bison Midstream, Polar and Divide and Meadowlark Midstream since February 2013; and (vi) Red Rock Gathering, DFW Midstream and Grand River for all periods presented. SMLP recognized its drop down acquisitions at Summit Investments' historical cost because the acquisitions were executed by entities under common control. The excess of Summit Investments' net investment over consideration paid and recognized for a contributed subsidiary is recognized as an addition to partners' capital, while the excess of consideration paid and recognized over net investment is recognized as a reduction to partners' capital. Due to the common control aspect, we account for drop down transactions on an “as-if pooled” basis for the periods during which common control existed.

The following table presents selected balance sheet and other data as of the date indicated.

62

Table of Contents

The following table presents selected statements of operations and cash flows as well as other financial data for the annual periods indicated.

__________

(1) Includes (i) long-lived asset impairments of $101.9 million and contract intangible asset impairments of $85.2 million in 2017, (ii) goodwill impairments of $248.9 million and environmental remediation expenses of $21.8 million in 2015 and (iii) goodwill impairments of $54.2 million in 2014. See Notes 4, 5, 6 and 15 to the consolidated financial statements.

(2) Includes our 40% share, or $1.4 million impairment loss recognized by Ohio Gathering in December 2017.

(3) The subordination period ended on February 16, 2016 and all 24,409,850 subordinated units converted to common units on a one-for-one basis.

(4) Reflects cash and noncash consideration, including working capital and capital expenditure adjustments paid (received), for acquisitions and/or drop downs (see Notes 11 and 16 to the consolidated financial statements).

(5) Represents distributions declared in a given period. For example, for the year ended December 31, 2017, represents the distributions declared in February 2017, in May 2017, in August 2017 and in November 2017.

The preceding tables should be read in conjunction with MD&A and the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto.

63

Table of Contents

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

MD&A is intended to inform the reader about matters affecting the financial condition and results of operations of SMLP and its subsidiaries. As a result, the following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in this report. Among other things, the consolidated financial statements and the related notes include more detailed information regarding the basis of presentation for the following information. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that constitute our plans, estimates and beliefs. These forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those discussed in Forward-Looking Statements. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

This MD&A comprises the following sections:

Overview

We are a growth-oriented limited partnership focused on developing, owning and operating midstream energy infrastructure assets that are strategically located in the core producing areas of unconventional resource basins, primarily shale formations, in the continental United States. We are the owner-operator of or have significant ownership interests in the following gathering systems:

For additional information on our organization and systems, see Notes 1 and 3 to the consolidated financial statements.

64

Table of Contents

Our financial results are driven primarily by volume throughput and expense management. We generate the majority of our revenues from the gathering, treating and processing services that we provide to our customers. A substantial majority of the volumes that we gather, treat and/or process have a fixed-fee rate structure thereby enhancing the stability of our cash flows by providing a revenue stream that is not subject to direct commodity price risk. We also earn revenues from (i) the sale of physical natural gas and/or NGLs purchased under percentage-of-proceeds arrangements with certain of our customers on the Bison Midstream and Grand River systems, (ii) natural gas and crude oil marketing services in and around our gathering systems, (iii) the sale of natural gas we retain from certain DFW Midstream system customers and (iv) the sale of condensate we retain from our gathering services at Grand River. These additional activities, which expose us to direct commodity price risk, accounted for less than 14% of total revenues during the year ended December 31, 2017. We expect our natural gas and crude oil marketing services to increase in future periods resulting in a higher exposure to direct commodity price risk.

We also have indirect exposure to changes in commodity prices in that persistently low commodity prices may cause our customers to delay and/or cancel drilling and/or completion activities or temporarily shut-in production, which would reduce the volumes of natural gas and crude oil (and associated volumes of produced water) that we gather. If certain of our customers cancel or delay drilling and/or completion activities or temporarily shut-in production, the associated MVCs, if any, ensure that we will recognize a minimum amount of revenue.

The following table presents certain consolidated and reportable segment financial data. For additional information on our reportable segments, see the "Segment Overview for the Years Ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015" section herein.

(1) Reflects cash and noncash consideration, including working capital and capital expenditure adjustments paid (received), for acquisitions and/or drop downs (see Note 16 to the consolidated financial statements).

(2) See "Liquidity and Capital Resources" herein and Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements for additional information on capital expenditures.

(3) Reflects proceeds from underwritten primary offerings.

(4) Reflects proceeds from the issuance of Series A preferred units.

65

Table of Contents

Year ended December 31, 2017. The following items are reflected in our financial results:

Year ended December 31, 2016. The following items are reflected in our financial results:

Year ended December 31, 2015. The following items are reflected in our financial results:

66

Table of Contents

Trends and Outlook

Our business has been, and we expect our future business to continue to be, affected by the following key trends:

Our expectations are based on assumptions made by us and information currently available to us. To the extent our underlying assumptions about, or interpretations of, available information prove to be incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from our expected results.

Natural gas, NGL and crude oil supply and demand dynamics.  Natural gas continues to be a critical component of energy supply and demand in the United States. The average spot price of natural gas increased during 2017 relative to 2016. The average daily Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price was $2.99 per one million British Thermal Units ("MMBtu") during 2017, compared with $2.52 per MMBtu during 2016. Henry Hub closed at $3.69 per MMBtu on December 29, 2017. Despite these modest gains, natural gas prices continue to trade at lower-than-average historical prices due in part to increased natural gas production and the amount of natural gas in storage in the continental United States. In the near term, we believe that until the supply of natural gas in storage has been reduced, natural gas prices are likely to remain constrained. Over the long term, we believe that the prospects for continued natural gas demand are favorable and will be driven primarily by global population and economic growth, as well as the continued displacement of coal-fired electricity generation by natural gas-fired electricity generation.

In addition, certain of our gathering systems are directly affected by crude oil supply and demand dynamics. Crude oil prices continued to increase during 2016 and 2017, with the average daily West Texas Intermediate ("WTI") crude oil spot price increasing from an average $43.29 per barrel during 2016 to an average of $50.80 per barrel during 2017, representing a 17% increase. WTI closed at $60.46 per barrel on December 29, 2017. In response to the increase in crude oil prices, the number of active crude oil drilling rigs in the continental United States increased from 525 in December 2016 to 747 in December 2017, according to Baker Hughes. Over the next several years, we expect that crude oil prices will rebound sufficiently to support continued drilling and increasing production in the Bakken Shale, Eagle Ford Shale, Permian Basin and Niobrara Shale.

Growth in production from U.S. shale plays. Over the past several years, natural gas production from unconventional shale resources has increased significantly due to advances in technology that allow producers to extract significant volumes of natural gas from unconventional shale plays on favorable economic terms relative to most conventional plays. In recent years, a number of producers and their joint venture partners, including large international operators, industrial manufacturers and private equity sponsors, have committed significant capital to

67

Table of Contents

the development of these unconventional resources, including the Piceance, Barnett, Bakken, Marcellus, Utica and Delaware Basin shale plays in which we operate, and we believe that these long-term capital investments will support sustained drilling activity in unconventional shale plays.

Rate of growth in production from U.S. shale plays.  Some of our producer customers have adjusted their drilling and completion activities and schedules to manage drilling and completion costs at levels that are achievable using cash flow generated from the underlying operations. Historically, as part of a strategy to accelerate production growth, these producers would raise capital to fund drilling and completion costs in excess of the cash flows generated from their underlying assets. We expect that certain of our producers will continue to adopt and implement this revised strategy, which will likely result in a slower pace of growth in production across many of our systems relative to management’s previous expectations. This dynamic is a significant contributing factor to our downward revision in the estimated undiscounted value of the Deferred Payment as of December 31, 2017 relative to our estimate as of December 31, 2016.

Capital markets availability and cost of capital.  Credit markets improved substantially throughout 2017, as borrowing costs were lower relative to the levels generally experienced during the 2008 global financial crisis for virtually all energy industry-related borrowers. The credit market trends in the crude oil and natural gas industry during 2016 were unique relative to the broader economy. While borrowing costs came down for the oil and natural gas industry as a whole, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark federal-funds rate from 0.50% and 0.75% in December 2016 to a range between 1.25% and 1.50% in December 2017. The Federal Reserve also announced its intent to continue to raise interest rates gradually in the future, to the extent that economic growth continues. Capital markets conditions, including but not limited to availability and higher borrowing costs, could affect our ability to access the debt capital markets to the extent necessary to fund our future growth. In addition, interest rates on future credit facilities and debt offerings could be higher than current levels, causing our financing costs to increase accordingly. Although this could limit our ability to raise debt capital on acceptable terms, we expect to remain competitive with respect to acquisitions and capital projects, as our peers and competitors would likely face similar circumstances.

Shifts in operating costs and inflation.  Throughout most of the last five years, high levels of crude oil and natural gas exploration, development and production activities across the United States resulted in increased competition for personnel and equipment as well as higher prices for labor, supplies, equipment and other services. Beginning in 2015, this dynamic began to shift as prices for crude oil and natural gas-related services decreased in line with overall decline in demand for these goods and services. While we expect lower service-related costs in the near term, we expect that over the longer term, these costs will continue to have a high correlation to changes in the prevailing price of crude oil and natural gas.

How We Evaluate Our Operations

We conduct and report our operations in the midstream energy industry through six reportable segments. We evaluate our business operations each reporting period to determine whether any of our gathering system operating segments in which we internally report financial information are considered significant and would require us to separately disclose certain segment financial information in our external reporting. As a result of our evaluation during the second quarter of 2017, we determined that both the Summit Utica natural gas gathering system and the Ohio Gathering natural gas gathering system, each previously reported within the Utica Shale reportable segment, were and are expected to continue to be significant operating segments. As such, we modified our current segments in the second quarter of 2017 such that the Utica Shale reportable segment includes the Summit Utica gathering system and the Ohio Gathering reportable segment includes our ownership interest in OGC and OCC. For the year ended December 31, 2017, we have disclosed the required segment information for Summit Utica and Ohio Gathering and the periods prior have been recast to reflect this change. Our reportable segments are as follows:

68

Table of Contents

Each of our reportable segments provides midstream services in a specific geographic area. Capital expenditures attributable to the ongoing development of Summit Permian is included in Corporate and Other. Our reportable segments reflect the way in which we internally report the financial information used to make decisions and allocate resources in connection with our operations (see Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements).

Our management uses a variety of financial and operational metrics to analyze our consolidated and segment performance. We view these metrics as important factors in evaluating our profitability and determining the amounts of cash distributions to pay to our unitholders. These metrics include:

Throughput Volume

The volume of (i) natural gas that we gather, treat and/or process and (ii) crude oil and produced water that we gather depends on the level of production from natural gas or crude oil wells connected to our gathering systems. Aggregate production volumes are impacted by the overall amount of drilling and completion activity. Furthermore, because the production rate of natural gas and crude oil wells decline over time, production can only be maintained or increased by new drilling or other activity.

As a result, we must continually obtain new supplies of production to maintain or increase the throughput volume on our systems. Our ability to maintain or increase throughput volumes from existing customers and obtain new supplies of throughput is impacted by:

We report volumes gathered for natural gas in cubic feet per day. We aggregate crude oil and produced water gathering and report volumes gathered in barrels per day.

Revenues

Our revenues are primarily attributable to the volumes that we gather, treat and/or process and the rates we charge for those services. A substantial majority of our gathering and processing agreements are fee-based, which limits our direct commodity price exposure. We also have percent-of-proceeds arrangements under which the gathering and processing revenues that we earn correlate directly with the fluctuating price of natural gas, condensate and NGLs.

Many of our gathering and processing agreements contain MVCs pursuant to which our customers agree to ship or process a minimum volume of production on our gathering systems, or, in some cases, to pay a minimum monetary

69

Table of Contents

amount, over certain periods during the term of the MVC. These MVCs support our revenues and serve to mitigate the financial impact associated with declining volumes.

Operation and Maintenance Expenses

We seek to maximize the profitability of our operations in part by minimizing, to the extent appropriate, expenses directly tied to operating our assets. Direct labor costs, compression costs, ad valorem taxes, repair and non-capitalized maintenance costs, integrity management costs, utilities and contract services comprise the most significant portion of our operation and maintenance expense. Other than utilities expense, these expenses are largely independent of volumes delivered through our gathering systems but may fluctuate depending on the activities performed during a specific period.

Segment Adjusted EBITDA

Segment adjusted EBITDA is used as a supplemental financial measure by management and by external users of our financial statements such as investors, commercial banks, research analysts and others.

Segment adjusted EBITDA is used to assess:

Additional Information.  For additional information, see the "Results of Operations" section herein and the notes to the consolidated financial statements. For information on pending accounting changes that are expected to materially impact our financial results reported in future periods, see Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements.

Results of Operations

Our financial results are recognized as follows:

Gathering services and related fees.  Revenue earned from the gathering, treating and processing services that we provide to our natural gas and crude oil producer customers.

Natural gas, NGLs and condensate sales.  Revenue earned from (i) the sale of physical natural gas and/or NGLs purchased under percentage-of-proceeds arrangements with certain of our customers on the Bison Midstream and Grand River systems, (ii) natural gas and crude oil marketing services in and around our gathering systems, (iii) the sale of natural gas we retain from certain DFW Midstream system customers and (iv) the sale of condensate we retain from our gathering services at Grand River.

Other revenues.  Revenue earned primarily from (i) certain costs for which our Bison Midstream and Grand River customers have agreed to reimburse us and (ii) connection fees for customers of the Polar and Divide system.

Cost of natural gas and NGLs.  The cost of natural gas and NGLs represents (i) the costs associated with the percent-of-proceeds arrangements under which we sell natural gas and NGLs purchased from certain of our customers on the Bison Midstream and Grand River systems and (ii) the purchase of natural gas and NGLs associated with marketing activity surrounding our natural gas-related operations.

70

Table of Contents

Operation and maintenance.  Operation and maintenance primarily comprises direct labor costs, compression costs, ad valorem taxes, repair and non-capitalized maintenance costs, integrity management costs, utilities and contract services. These items represent the most significant portion of our operation and maintenance expense. Other than utilities expense, these expenses are largely independent of variations in throughput volumes but may fluctuate depending on the activities performed during a specific period.

General and administrative.  Expenses associated with our operations that are not specifically associated with the operation and maintenance of a particular system or another cost and expense line item. These expenses largely reflect salaries, benefits and incentive compensation, professional fees, insurance and rent.

Depreciation and amortization.  The depreciation of our property, plant and equipment and the amortization of our contract and right-of-way intangible assets.

Transaction costs.  Financial and legal advisory costs associated with completed acquisitions.

Other income or expense.  Generally represents other items of gain or loss but may also include interest income.

Interest expense.  Interest expense associated with our Revolving Credit Facility, our Senior Notes and debt that was previously incurred by SMP Holdings and allocated to SMLP in connection with the 2016 Drop Down.

Deferred Purchase Price Obligation.  Represents the change in fair value associated with the Deferred Purchase Price Obligation.

Income tax expense or benefit.  Represents the expense or benefit associated with the Texas Margin Tax.

Income or loss from equity method investees.  Represents the income or loss associated with our ownership interest in Ohio Gathering.

71

Table of Contents

Consolidated Overview for the Years Ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015

The following table presents certain consolidated data and volume throughput for the years ended December 31.