Volume drives Blueknight up

BY ROD WALTON World Staff Writer
Friday, May 11, 2012
5/11/12 at 4:58 AM

Higher crude oil pipeline and trucking volumes pushed Blueknight Energy Partners LP's profit to $12 million for the first quarter, the Oklahoma City-based terminal and transport partnership announced Thursday.

Blueknight's total revenues were $44.6 million, compared with $41.5 million in the same quarter last year. The company's bottom line was positively impacted by saving about $6 million in interest expenses compared to last year and by a $4.5 million gain on the sale of excess crude oil from the company's Longview system in East Texas.

"We had a solid quarter," President and Chief Operating Officer J. Michael Cockrell said in a statement. "Demand for our services continues to be strong."

The company recently announced construction on the 65-mile Arbuckle Pipeline as part of a long-term deal with XTO Energy Inc., an ExxonMobil Corp. company. The $37 million project will move crude oil from the Woodford Shale area to Blueknight's storage terminal at Cushing.

Blueknight, which had been based in Tulsa since its origin as SemGroup Energy Partners LP in 2007, announced earlier this month that its corporate headquarters has moved to Oklahoma City. The Tulsa regional office handles accounting, financial services, human resources and information technology functions.

All in all, Chief Financial Officer Alex Stallings pointed out, Blueknight benefited from growing transportation demand, particularly in west Texas, in the first quarter.

"Our Eagle North and East Texas pipelines systems realized more than a 25 percent increase in volumes quarter over quarter," he said. "Likewise, our trucking and producer services revenues increased due to strong West Texas trucking demand and seasonal demand for our producer services, as well as increased billing rates in our trucking and producer field services segment."

Blueknight Energy Partners LP Earnings

	2012 1Q	2011 1Q	Percent change
Revenues	$44.6M	$41.5M	7.5%
Net income	$12M	$2.6M	355.9%
Net per unit (loss)	$0.20	($0.39)	N/A%

Rod Walton 918-581-8457
rod.walton@tulsaworld.com