HollyFrontier 2015 Annual Report Download - page 38

Table of Content
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To successfully operate our petroleum refining facilities, we are required to expend significant amounts for capital outlays and
operating expenditures.
The refining business is characterized by high fixed costs resulting from the significant capital outlays associated with refineries,
terminals, pipelines and related facilities. We are dependent on the production and sale of quantities of refined products at refined
product margins sufficient to cover operating costs, including any increases in costs resulting from future inflationary pressures
or market conditions and increases in costs of fuel and power necessary in operating our facilities. Furthermore, future major
capital investment, various environmental compliance related projects, regulatory requirements or competitive pressures could
result in additional capital expenditures, which may not produce a return on investment. Such capital expenditures may require
significant financial resources that may be contingent on our access to capital markets and commercial bank loans. Additionally,
other matters, such as regulatory requirements or legal actions, may restrict our access to funds for capital expenditures.
Our refineries consist of many processing units, a number of which have been in operation for many years. One or more of the
units may require unscheduled downtime for unanticipated maintenance or repairs that are more frequent than our scheduled
turnaround for such units. Scheduled and unscheduled maintenance could reduce our revenues during the period of time that the
units are not operating. We have taken significant measures to expand and upgrade units in our refineries by installing new
equipment and redesigning older equipment to improve refinery capacity. The installation and redesign of key equipment at our
refineries involves significant uncertainties, including the following: our upgraded equipment may not perform at expected
throughput levels; operating costs of the upgraded equipment may be higher than expected; the yield and product quality of new
equipment may differ from design and/or specifications and redesign, modification or replacement of the equipment may be
required to correct equipment that does not perform as expected, which could require facility shutdowns until the equipment has
been redesigned or modified. Any of these risks associated with new equipment, redesigned older equipment, or repaired equipment
could lead to lower revenues or higher costs or otherwise have a negative impact on our future financial condition and results of
operations.
In addition, we expect to execute turnarounds at our refineries, which involve numerous risks and uncertainties. These risks include
delays and incurrence of additional and unforeseen costs. The turnarounds allow us to perform maintenance, upgrades, overhaul
and repair of process equipment and materials, during which time all or a portion of the refinery will be under scheduled downtime.
We may be unable to pay future dividends.
We will only be able to pay dividends from our available cash on hand, cash from operations or borrowings under our credit
agreement. The declaration of future dividends on our common stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will
depend upon many factors, including our results of operations, financial condition, earnings, capital requirements, and restrictions
in our debt agreements and legal requirements. We cannot assure you that any dividends will be paid or the frequency or amounts
of such payments.
Product liability claims and litigation could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
A significant portion of our operating responsibility on refined product pipelines is to insure the quality and purity of the products
loaded at our loading racks. If our quality control measures were to fail, we may have contaminated or off-specification commingled
pipelines and storage tanks or off-specification product could be sent to public gasoline stations. These types of incidents could
result in product liability claims from our customers.
Product liability is a significant commercial risk. Substantial damage awards have been made in certain jurisdictions against
manufacturers and resellers based upon claims for injuries caused by the use of or exposure to various products. There can be no
assurance that product liability claims against us would not have a material adverse effect on our business or results of operations
or our ability to maintain existing customers or retain new customers.