Cheniere Energy Partners LP Reports Operating Results (10-Q)

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Nov 06, 2009
Cheniere Energy Partners LP (CQP, Financial) filed Quarterly Report for the period ended 2009-09-30.

CHENIERE ENERGY PARTNERS L.P. is a Delaware limited partnership recently formed by Cheniere Energy Inc. through its wholly owned subsidiary Sabine Pass LNG L.P. CEP will develop own and operate the Sabine Pass LNG receiving terminal currently under construction in western Cameron Parish Louisiana on the Sabine Pass Channel. CEP's primary business objectives are to complete construction of the Sabine Pass LNG receiving terminal and thereafter to generate stable cash flows sufficient to pay the initial quarterly distribution to the unitholders and over time to increase their quarterly cash distribution. Cheniere Energy Partners Lp has a market cap of $293.3 million; its shares were traded at around $11.1 with a P/E ratio of 111 and P/S ratio of 9.1. The dividend yield of Cheniere Energy Partners Lp stocks is 15.3%.

Highlight of Business Operations:

As of September 30, 2009, we had $121.6 million of cash and cash equivalents and $137.3 million of restricted cash and cash equivalents. Of this amount, $121.4 million of cash and cash equivalents was held in our subsidiary, Sabine Pass LNG. The restricted cash and cash equivalents of $137.3 million was held by Sabine Pass LNG to pay interest on the Senior Notes.

In November 2006, Sabine Pass LNG issued an aggregate principal amount of $2,032.0 million of Senior Secured Notes consisting of $550.0 million of 7¼% Senior Secured Notes due 2013 (the “2013 Notes”) and $1,482.0 million of 7½% Senior Secured Notes due 2016 (the “2016 Notes” and collectively with the 2013 Notes, the “Senior Notes”). In September 2008, Sabine Pass LNG completed an additional $183.5 million, before discount, of 2016 Notes whose terms were identical to the previously outstanding 2016 Notes. Under the indenture governing the Senior Notes (the “Sabine Pass Indenture”), a portion of the proceeds from the Senior Notes was required to be used for scheduled interest payments and to fund the cost to complete construction of the Sabine Pass LNG receiving terminal. Due to these restrictions imposed by the Sabine Pass Indenture, the proceeds are not presented as cash and cash equivalents. Therefore, when proceeds from the Senior Notes are used, they are presented as a source of cash and cash equivalents. In the nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008, the $298.7 million and $357.5 million, respectively, of restricted cash and cash equivalents were primarily used to pay for scheduled interest payments and construction activities at the Sabine Pass LNG receiving terminal. In addition, $222.5 million of restricted cash was used by Sabine Pass LNG in the nine-month period ended September 30, 2009, to fund distributions to us.

Capital expenditures for the Sabine Pass LNG receiving terminal were $97.3 million and $333.8 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008, respectively. Our capital expenditures decreased in the nine months ended September 30, 2009 compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2008 as a result of the achievement of commercial operability of the initial 2.6 Bcf/d of sendout capacity and 10.1 Bcf of storage capacity in September 2008.

Sabine Pass LNG has issued an aggregate principal amount of $2,215.5 million of Senior Notes consisting of $550.0 million of 7¼% Senior Secured Notes due 2013 and $1,665.5 million of 7½% Senior Secured Notes due 2016. Interest on the Senior Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on May 30 and November 30 of each year. The Senior Notes are secured on a first-priority basis by a security interest in all of Sabine Pass LNG s equity interests and substantially all of its operating assets. Under the Sabine Pass Indenture governing the Senior Notes, except for permitted tax distributions, Sabine Pass LNG may not make distributions until certain conditions are satisfied: there must be on deposit in an interest payment account an amount equal to one-sixth of the semi-annual interest payment multiplied by the number of elapsed months since the last semi-annual interest payment, and there must be on deposit in a permanent debt service reserve fund an amount equal to one semi-annual interest payment of approximately $82.4 million. Distributions are permitted only after satisfying the foregoing funding requirements, a fixed charge coverage ratio test of 2:1 and other conditions specified in the Sabine Pass Indenture. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2009, Sabine Pass LNG made distributions of $73.2 million and $222.5 million, respectively, to us after satisfying all the applicable conditions in the Sabine Pass Indenture.

In March 2007, we entered into a $12.0 million unsecured revolving credit note with Cheniere LNG Financial Services, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cheniere, to be paid upon demand but no sooner than January 1, 2010, or the date on which we have sufficient available cash. The purpose of this note was to provide funds for the payment of certain public company and other expenses that could not be funded by the Senior Notes. Interest on borrowings under this note was at a fixed rate of 7½% with unpaid interest compounded semi-annually. In January 2009, we repaid the $2.5 million outstanding balance on our $12.0 million unsecured revolving credit note.

During the three-month periods ended September 30, 2009 and 2008, we paid an aggregate of $4.6 million and $1.3 million, respectively, under the foregoing service agreements from restricted cash and cash equivalents. During the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2009 and 2008, we paid an aggregate of $13.9 million and $3.9 million, respectively, under the foregoing service agreements from restricted cash and cash equivalents.

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