Disclosures Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K, particularly Item 1. Business, Item 1A. Risk Factors, Item 3. Legal Proceedings, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk, includes forward-looking statements. You can identify our forward-looking statements by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “project,” “could,” “may,” “should,” “would,” “will” or other similar expressions that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. In accordance with “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, these statements are accompanied by cautionary language identifying important factors, though not necessarily all such factors, that could cause future outcomes to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that relate to, or statements that are subject to risks, contingencies or uncertainties that relate to:
We have based our forward-looking statements on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and our partnership. We caution that these statements are not guarantees of future performance and you should not rely unduly on them, as they involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that we cannot predict. In addition, we have based many of these forward-looking statements on assumptions about future events that may prove to be inaccurate. While our management considers these assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. Accordingly, our actual results may differ materially from the future performance that we have expressed or forecast in our forward-looking statements. Differences between actual results and any future performance suggested in our forward-looking statements could result from a variety of factors, including the following:
We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by applicable law.
Part I
We are a fee-based, growth-oriented master limited partnership formed by MPC to own, operate, develop and acquire pipelines and other midstream assets related to the transportation and storage of crude oil, refined products and other hydrocarbon-based products. At December 31, 2013, our assets primarily consisted of a 56.0 percent indirect interest in a network of common carrier crude oil and product pipeline systems and associated storage assets in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions of the United States. We believe our network of petroleum pipelines is one of the largest in the United States, based on total annual volumes delivered. MPC has retained a 44.0 percent interest in our network of pipeline systems, barge dock and tank farms. We also own a 100 percent interest in a butane cavern in Neal, West Virginia with approximately 1.0 million barrels of storage capacity. Our assets are integral to the success of MPC’s operations.
We generate revenue primarily by charging tariffs for transporting crude oil, refined products and other hydrocarbon-based products through our pipelines and at our barge dock and fees for storing crude oil and products at our storage facilities. We are also the operator of additional crude oil and product pipelines owned by MPC and third parties for which we are paid operating fees. We do not take ownership of the crude oil or products that we transport and store for our customers, and we do not engage in the trading of any commodities. However, we could be required to purchase crude oil volumes in the open market to make up negative imbalances. See Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk for information on imbalances.