Energy Transfer 2012 Annual Report Download - page 45

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• Some of the directors and officers of ETE who provide advice to us also may devote significant time to the businesses of
ETE, Regency and their affiliates and will be compensated by them for their services.
• Our General Partner determines which costs, including allocated overhead costs, are reimbursable by us.
• Our General Partner is allowed to resolve any conflicts of interest involving us and our General Partner and its affiliates, and
any resolution of a conflict of interest by our General Partner that is fair and reasonable to us will be deemed approved by all
partners and will not constitute a breach of the partnership agreement.
• Our General Partner controls the enforcement of obligations owed to us by it.
• Our General Partner decides whether to retain separate counsel, accountants or others to perform services for us.
• Our General Partner is not restricted from causing us to pay it or its affiliates for any services rendered on terms that are fair
and reasonable to us or entering into additional contractual arrangements with any of these entities on our behalf.
• Our General Partner intends to limit its liability regarding our contractual and other obligations and, in some circumstances,
may be entitled to be indemnified by us.
• In some instances, our General Partner may cause us to borrow funds in order to permit the payment of distributions, even if
the purpose or effect of the borrowing is to make incentive distributions.
In addition, certain conflicts may arise as a result of our pursuing acquisitions or development opportunities that may also be
advantageous to Regency. If we are limited in our ability to pursue such opportunities, we may not realize any or all of the
commercial value of such opportunities. In addition, if Regency is allowed access to our information concerning any such
opportunity and Regency uses this information to pursue the opportunity to our detriment, we may not realize any of the commercial
value of this opportunity. In either of these situations, our business, results of operations and the amount of our distributions to
our Unitholders may be adversely affected. We cannot assure Unitholders that such conflicts will not occur or that our internal
conflicts policy will be effective in all circumstances to protect our commercially sensitive information or to realize the commercial
value of our business opportunities.
Affiliates of our General Partner may compete with us.
Except as provided in our partnership agreement, affiliates and related parties of our General Partner are not prohibited from
engaging in other businesses or activities, including those that might be in direct competition with us. Regency competes with us
with respect to our natural gas operations. Additionally, two directors of Regency GP LLC currently serve as directors of LE GP,
LLC, the general partner of ETE.
Risks Related to Our Business
We do not control, and therefore may not be able to cause or prevent certain actions by, certain of our joint ventures.
Certain of our joint ventures have their own governing boards, and we may not control all of the decisions of those boards.
Consequently, it may be difficult or impossible for us to cause the joint venture entity to take actions that we believe would be in
our or the joint venture's best interests. Likewise, we may be unable to prevent actions of the joint venture.
We are exposed to the credit risk of our customers, and an increase in the nonpayment and nonperformance by our customers
could reduce our ability to make distributions to our Unitholders.
The risks of nonpayment and nonperformance by our customers are a major concern in our business. Participants in the energy
industry have been subjected to heightened scrutiny from the financial markets in light of past collapses and failures of other
energy companies. We are subject to risks of loss resulting from nonpayment or nonperformance by our customers. The current
tightening of credit in the financial markets may make it more difficult for customers to obtain financing and, depending on the
degree to which this occurs, there may be a material increase in the nonpayment and nonperformance by our customers. Any
substantial increase in the nonpayment and nonperformance by our customers could have a material effect on our results of
operations and operating cash flows.
Income from our midstream, transportation, terminalling and storage operations is exposed to risks due to fluctuations in the
demand for and price of natural gas, NGLs and oil that are beyond our control.
The prices for natural gas, NGLs and oil (including refined petroleum products) reflect market demand that fluctuates with changes
in global and U.S. economic conditions and other factors, including:
• the level of domestic natural gas, NGL, and oil production;
• the level of natural gas, NGL, and oil imports and exports, including liquefied natural gas;
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