Energy Transfer 2010 Annual Report Download - page 12

Our Northern Louisiana assets comprise several gathering systems in the Haynesville Shale with access to
multiple markets through interconnects with several pipelines, including our Tiger pipeline. Our Northern
Louisiana assets include the Bistineau, Creedence, and Tristate Systems.
Other Midstream Assets
The midstream segment also includes our interests in various midstream assets located in Texas, New Mexico
and Louisiana, with gathering pipelines aggregating a combined capacity of approximately 115 MMcf/d, as well
as one processing facility. We also own gathering pipelines serving the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia with
aggregate capacity of approximately 250 MMcf/d.
Marketing Operations
We conduct marketing operations in which we market the natural gas that flows through our gathering and
intrastate transportation assets, referred to as on-system gas. We also attract other customers by marketing
volumes of natural gas that do not move through our assets, referred to as off-system gas. For both on-system and
off-system gas, we purchase natural gas from natural gas producers and other suppliers and sell that natural gas
to utilities, industrial consumers, other marketers and pipeline companies, thereby generating gross margins
based upon the difference between the purchase and resale prices of natural gas, less the costs of transportation.
For the off-system gas, we purchase gas or act as an agent for small independent producers that may not have
marketing operations. We develop relationships with natural gas producers to facilitate the purchase of their
production on a long-term basis. We believe that this business provides us with strategic insight and market
intelligence, which may positively impact our expansion and acquisition strategy.
Propane Operations
We own substantially all of the bulk storage facilities at our customer service locations for our propane
operations and have entered into long-term leases for those that we do not own. We believe that the increasing
difficulty associated with obtaining permits for new propane distribution locations makes our high level of site
ownership and control a competitive advantage. We own approximately 52.1 million gallons of above-ground
storage capacity at our various propane plant sites and have leased an aggregate of approximately 8.7 million
gallons of underground storage facilities in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and smaller storage facilities in
other locations. We do not own or operate any underground propane storage facilities (excluding customer and
local distribution tanks) or propane pipeline transportation assets (other than local delivery systems).
The transportation of propane requires specialized equipment. The trucks and railroad tank cars used for this
purpose carry specialized steel tanks that maintain the propane in a liquefied state. As of December 31, 2010, we
utilized approximately 152 transport truck tractors, 209 transport trailers, 16 railroad tank cars, 1,848 bobtails
and 3,514 other delivery and service vehicles, all of which we own. As of December 31, 2010, we owned
approximately 1,200,000 customer storage tanks with typical capacities of 120 to 1,000 gallons that are leased or
available for lease to customers. HOLP’s customer storage tanks are pledged as collateral to secure the
obligations of HOLP to its banks and the holders of its notes.
We utilize a variety of trademarks and trade names in our propane operations that we own or have secured the
right to use, including “Heritage Propane,” “Titan Propane” and “Relationships Matter.” These trademarks and
trade names have been registered or are pending registration before the United States Patent and Trademark
Office or the various jurisdictions in which the trademarks or trade names are used. We believe that our strategy
of retaining the names of the companies we have acquired has maintained the local identification of these
companies and has been important to the continued success of these businesses. Some of our most significant
trade names include Balgas, Bi-State Propane, Blue Flame Gas of Charleston, Blue Flame Gas of Mt. Pleasant,
Blue Flame Gas, Carolane Propane Gas, Gas Service Company, EnergyNorth Propane, Gibson Propane, Guilford
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