Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) has agreed the acquisition of pipeline operator, Sunoco.
A Sunoco retail station Image: Elvert Barnes |
The $5.3bn deal will see ETP, a natural gas pipeline company, take over the whole of the Sunoco group, including its Logistic Partners and branded retails operations.
The merger will create one of the country's largest energy partnerships to include transportation, storage and logistics of crude and other hydrocarbons.
Sunoco's activities, which currently include soon-to-be-divested refining operations, include trans-national pipelines which carry oil from the Great Lakes and America's North East to refineries on the Gulf Coast. ETP has been prompted to diversify as natural gas operations have seen a decline in activity after a drop in prices. The Sunoco deal will reduce ETP's total dependence on gas transfer to around 70%.
ETP has been acquisition-hungry over the past two years, with purchases totalling some $7bn excluding the latest agreement with Philadelphia-based Sunoco. As well as altering the balance of logistics business for ETP, Sunoco will also bring nearly 5,000 branded retail outlets across the US and provide its new owner with access to new geographical areas of the US.