Enterprise Products Earnings Reach $0.75 per Unit as Cash Flow Grows 27%
Key Facts
Enterprise Products Partners reported results on October 29 for the third quarter ended September 30, posting earnings of $0.75 per diluted unit, with net income attributable to common unitholders up 21%. Earnings per unit topped the Zacks consensus estimate of $0.74. Revenue was $17.948 billion, compared with $12.023 billion in the same period of 2025. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization also rose 16% to $2.8 billion. The results reflected growth in processing, transportation and marketing, alongside the company’s expansion of infrastructure tied to Permian supplies.
Distributable cash flow from operations rose 27% to $2.3 billion, covering declared distributions for the quarter 1.9 times. The partnership retained $1.1 billion of this cash flow, strengthening resources available to fund its projects alongside distributions. The declared quarterly cash distribution is $0.56 per unit and is scheduled to be paid on November 13. The company announced the distribution on October 8. These figures put unitholder income at the center of the report, alongside revenue and earnings growth.
In the Permian Basin, management said it continued to see strong growth in natural gas and natural gas liquids production, driven by rising gas-to-oil ratios in production. It added that these supplies feed the company’s integrated system serving domestic and international markets. Permian processing plants recorded record inlet volumes of 4.6 billion cubic feet per day, up 12% from a year earlier. Across the company, gas processing plant inlet volumes rose to a record 8.5 billion cubic feet per day, up 6%. These volumes reflect an expansion in gas flows through processing facilities alongside production growth in the basin.
Equivalent pipeline volumes set a record at 14.8 million barrels per day, up 7% year over year. Marine terminal volumes also rose 28% to 2.5 million barrels per day. On margins, gross operating margin increased 15% to $2.7 billion. The company said its natural gas liquids marketing operating margin rose $75 million, supported mainly by higher average sales margins and strategies tied to export and gas processing assets. In the Delaware Basin, gas processing facilities’ margin increased $31 million, as fee-based processing volumes rose by 359 million cubic feet per day.
The company spent $1.1 billion on capital investments during the quarter, including $0.9 billion on growth projects and $185 million to maintain assets. It expects growth project spending to range from $2.9 billion to $3.4 billion in 2026, after deducting $600 million in asset sale proceeds. The partnership currently has $6.3 billion in growth projects under construction, targeting commercial start-up between now and 2028. This capital program provides context for current record volumes, adding new processing and loading capacity to the company’s network. The projects’ start-up timing is an important element of the announced expansion plan.
Two projects are scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2026: the fourth expansion of the marine liquefied petroleum gas terminal on the Houston Ship Channel, and the new Athena natural gas processing plant in the Midland Basin. The liquefied petroleum gas terminal expansion will add about 300,000 barrels per day of loading capacity, raising it to 1.1 million barrels per day. Athena will have capacity to process 300 million cubic feet of gas per day and extract up to 40,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids. Management said the expansion and processing plant are among the projects scheduled for completion that quarter. EPD shares closed at $39.05 on October 29, after closing at $37.00 on October 26.