• natural gas midstream and intrastate transportation and storage through La Grange Acquisition, L.P., which we refer to as ETC OLP; and

• interstate natural gas transportation and storage through ET Interstate and Panhandle. ET Interstate is the parent company of Transwestern, ETC FEP, ETC Tiger, CrossCountry and ET Rover Pipeline LLC. Panhandle is the parent company of the Trunkline and Sea Robin transmission systems. ETP owns a 50% interest in MEP.

• Liquids operations, including NGL transportation, storage and fractionation services primarily through Lone Star.

• Product and crude oil operations, including the following:

• product and crude oil transportation, terminalling services and acquisition and marketing activities through Sunoco Logistics; and

• retail marketing of gasoline and middle distillates through Sunoco, Inc.

Recent Developments
Lake Charles LNG
In December 2015, ETP announced that the Lake Charles LNG Project has received approval from the FERC to site, construct and operate a natural gas liquefaction and export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana. On February 15, 2016, Royal Dutch Shell plc completed its acquisition of BG Group plc. Final investment decisions from Royal Dutch Shell plc and LCL are expected to be made in 2016, with construction to start immediately following an affirmative investment decision and first LNG export anticipated about four years later. Sunoco LLC to Sunoco LP
In April 2015, Sunoco LP acquired a 31.58% equity interest in Sunoco, LLC from Retail Holdings for $816 million. Sunoco, LLC distributes approximately 5.3 billion gallons per year of motor fuel to customers in the east, midwest and southwest regions of the United States. Sunoco LP paid $775 million in cash and issued $41 million of Sunoco LP common units to Retail Holdings, based on the five-day volume weighted average price of Sunoco LP's common units as of March 20, 2015.
Susser to Sunoco LP
In July 2015, in exchange for the contribution of 100% of Susser from ETP to Sunoco LP, Sunoco LP paid $970 million in cash and issued to ETP subsidiaries 22 million Sunoco LP Class B units valued at $970 million. The Sunoco Class B units did not receive second quarter 2015 cash distributions from Sunoco LP and converted on a one-for-one basis into Sunoco LP common units on the day immediately following the record date for Sunoco LP's second quarter 2015 distribution. In addition, (i) a Susser subsidiary exchanged its 79,308 Sunoco LP common units for 79,308 Sunoco LP Class A units, (ii) 10.9 million Sunoco LP subordinated units owned by Susser subsidiaries were converted into 10.9 million Sunoco LP Class A units and (iii) Sunoco LP issued 79,308 Sunoco LP common units and 10.9 million Sunoco LP subordinated units to subsidiaries of ETP. The Sunoco LP Class A units owned by the Susser subsidiaries were contributed to Sunoco LP as part of the transaction. Sunoco LP subsequently contributed its interests in Susser to one of its subsidiaries.

Sunoco LP to ETE
Effective July 1, 2015, ETE acquired 100% of the membership interests of Sunoco GP, the general partner of Sunoco LP, and all of the IDRs of Sunoco LP from ETP, and in exchange, ETP repurchased from ETE 21 million ETP common units owned by ETE (the "Sunoco LP Exchange"). In connection with ETP's 2014 acquisition of Susser, ETE agreed to provide ETP a $35 million annual IDR subsidy for 10 years, which terminated upon the closing of ETE's acquisition of Sunoco GP. In connection with the exchange and repurchase, ETE will provide ETP a $35 million annual IDR subsidy for two years beginning with the quarter ended September 30, 2015. In connection with this transaction, the Partnership deconsolidated Sunoco LP, including goodwill of $1.81 billion and intangible assets of $982 million related to Sunoco LP. The Partnership continues to hold 37.8 million Sunoco LP common units accounted for under the equity method. The results of Sunoco LP's operations have not been presented as discontinued operations and Sunoco LP's assets and liabilities have not been presented as held for sale in the Partnership's consolidated financial statements. Sunoco, Inc. to Sunoco LP
In November 2015, ETP and Sunoco LP announced ETP's contribution to Sunoco LP of the remaining 68.42% interest in Sunoco, LLC and 100% interest in the legacy Sunoco, Inc. retail business for $2.23 billion. Sunoco LP will pay ETP $2.03 billion in cash, subject to certain working capital adjustments, and will issue to ETP 5.7 million Sunoco LP common units. The transaction will be effective January 1, 2016, and is expected to close in March 2016. Regency Merger
On April 30, 2015, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Partnership merged with Regency, with Regency surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Partnership (the "Regency Merger"). Each Regency common unit and Class F unit was converted into the right to receive 0.4124 Partnership common units. ETP issued 172.2 million ETP common units to Regency unitholders, including 15.5 million units issued to Partnership subsidiaries. The 1.9 million outstanding Regency series A preferred units were converted into corresponding new Partnership Series A Preferred Units on a one-for-one basis.
In connection with the Regency Merger, ETE agreed to reduce the incentive distributions it receives from the Partnership by a total of $320 million over a five-year period. The IDR subsidy was $80 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 and will total $60 million per year for the following four years. Bakken Pipeline Transactions
In March 2015, ETE transferred 30.8 million ETP common units, ETE's 45% interest in the Bakken Pipeline project, and $879 million in cash to the Partnership in exchange for 30.8 million newly issued Class H Units of ETP that, when combined with the 50.2 million previously issued Class H Units, generally entitle ETE to receive 90.05% of the cash distributions and other economic attributes of the general partner interest and IDRs of Sunoco Logistics. In connection with this transaction, the Partnership also issued to ETE 100 Class I Units that provide distributions to ETE to offset IDR subsidies previously provided to ETP. These IDR subsidies, including the impact from distributions on Class I Units, were reduced by $55 million in 2015 and $30 million in 2016.
In October 2015, Sunoco Logistics completed the previously announced acquisition of a 40% membership interest (the "Bakken Membership Interest") in Bakken Holdings Company LLC ("Bakken Holdco"). Bakken Holdco, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, owns a 75% membership interest in each of Dakota Access, LLC and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company, LLC, which together intend to develop the Bakken Pipeline system to deliver crude oil from the Bakken/Three Forks production area in North Dakota to the Gulf Coast. ETP transferred the Bakken Membership Interest to Sunoco Logistics in exchange for approximately 9.4 million Class B Units representing limited partner interests in Sunoco Logistics and the payment by Sunoco Logistics to ETP of $382 million of cash, which represented reimbursement for its proportionate share of the total cash contributions made in the Bakken Pipeline project as of the date of closing of the exchange transaction.
General
Our primary objective is to increase the level of our distributable cash flow to our Unitholders over time by pursuing a business strategy that is currently focused on growing our businesses through, among other things, pursuing certain construction and expansion opportunities relating to our existing infrastructure and acquiring certain strategic operations and businesses or assets as demonstrated by our recent acquisitions and organic growth projects. The actual amounts of cash that we will have available for distribution will primarily depend on the amount of cash we generate from our operations.
During the past several years, we have been successful in completing several transactions that have significantly increased our distributable cash flow. We have also made, and are continuing to make, significant investments in internal growth projects, primarily the construction of pipelines, gathering systems and natural gas treating and processing plants, which we believe will

provide additional distributable cash flow to our Partnership for years to come. Lastly, we have established and executed on cost control measures to drive cost savings across our operations to generate additional distributable cash flow. Our principal operations as of December 31, 2015 included the following segments:
• Intrastate transportation and storage - Revenue is principally generated from fees charged to customers to reserve firm capacity on or move gas through our pipelines on an interruptible basis. Our interruptible or short-term business is generally impacted by basis differentials between delivery points on our system and the price of natural gas. The basis differentials that primarily impact our interruptible business are primarily among receipt points between West Texas to East Texas or segments thereof. When narrow or flat spreads exist, our open capacity may be underutilized and go unsold. Conversely, when basis differentials widen, our interruptible volumes and fees generally increase. The fee structure normally consists of a monetary fee and fuel retention. Excess fuel retained after consumption, if any, is typically sold at market prices. In addition to transport fees, we generate revenue from purchasing natural gas and transporting it across our system. The natural gas is then sold to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution companies, industrial end-users and other marketing companies. The HPL System purchases natural gas at the wellhead for transport and selling. Other pipelines with access to West Texas supply, such as Oasis and ET Fuel, may also purchase gas at the wellhead and other supply sources for transport across our system to be sold at market on the east side of our system. This activity allows our intrastate transportation and storage segment to capture the current basis differentials between delivery points on our system or to capture basis differentials that were previously locked in through hedges. Firm capacity long-term contracts are typically not subject to price differentials between shipping locations.

We also generate fee-based revenue from our natural gas storage facilities by contracting with third parties for their use of our storage capacity. From time to time, we inject and hold natural gas in our Bammel storage facility to take advantage of contango markets, a term used to describe a pricing environment when the price of natural gas is higher in the future than the current spot price. We use financial derivatives to hedge the natural gas held in connection with these arbitrage opportunities. Our earnings from natural gas storage we purchase, store and sell are subject to the current market prices (spot price in relation to forward price) at the time the storage gas is hedged. At the inception of the hedge, we lock in a margin by purchasing gas in the spot market and entering into a financial derivative to lock in the forward sale price. If we designate the related financial derivative as a fair value hedge for accounting purposes, we value the hedged natural gas inventory at current spot market prices whereas the financial derivative is valued using forward natural gas prices. As a result of fair value hedge accounting, we have elected to exclude the spot forward premium from the measurement of effectiveness and changes in the spread between forward natural gas prices and spot market prices result in unrealized gains or losses until the underlying physical gas is withdrawn and the related financial derivatives are settled. Once the gas is withdrawn and the designated derivatives are settled, the previously unrealized gains or losses associated with these positions are realized. If the spread narrows between spot and forward prices, we will record unrealized gains or lower unrealized losses. If the spread widens prior to withdrawal of the gas, we will record unrealized losses or lower unrealized gains.
As noted above, any excess retained fuel is sold at market prices. To mitigate commodity price exposure, we may use financial derivatives to hedge prices on a portion of natural gas volumes retained. For certain contracts that qualify for hedge accounting, we designate them as cash flow hedges of the forecasted sale of gas. The change in value, to the extent the contracts are effective, remains in accumulated other comprehensive income until the forecasted transaction occurs. When the forecasted transaction occurs, any gain or loss associated with the derivative is recorded in cost of products sold in the consolidated statement of operations.
In addition, we use financial derivatives to lock in price differentials between market hubs connected to our assets on a portion of our intrastate transportation system's unreserved capacity. Gains and losses on these financial derivatives are dependent on price differentials at market locations, primarily points in West Texas and East Texas. We account for these derivatives using mark-to-market accounting, and the change in the value of these derivatives is recorded in earnings. During the fourth quarter of 2011, we began using derivatives for trading purposes.
• Interstate transportation and storage - The majority of our interstate transportation and storage revenues are generated through firm reservation charges that are based on the amount of firm capacity reserved for our firm shippers regardless of usage. Tiger, FEP, Transwestern, Panhandle, MEP and Gulf States shippers have made long-term commitments to pay reservation charges for the firm capacity reserved for their use. In addition to reservation revenues, additional revenue sources include interruptible transportation charges as well as usage rates and overrun rates paid by firm shippers based on their actual capacity usage.

• Midstream - Revenue is principally dependent upon the volumes of natural gas gathered, compressed, treated, processed, purchased and sold through our pipelines as well as the level of natural gas and NGL prices.

In addition to fee-based contracts for gathering, treating and processing, we also have percent-of-proceeds and keep-whole contracts, which are subject to market pricing. For percent-of-proceeds contracts, we retain a portion of the natural gas and

NGLs processed, or a portion of the proceeds of the sales of those commodities, as a fee. When natural gas and NGL prices increase, the value of the portion we retain as a fee increases. Conversely, when prices of natural gas and NGLs decrease, so does the value of the portion we retain as a fee. For wellhead (keep-whole) contracts, we retain the difference between the price of NGLs and the cost of the gas to process the NGLs. In periods of high NGL prices relative to natural gas, our margins increase. During periods of low NGL prices relative to natural gas, our margins decrease or could become negative. Our processing contracts and wellhead purchases in rich natural gas areas provide that we earn and take title to specified volumes of NGLs, which we also refer to as equity NGLs. Equity NGLs in our midstream segment are derived from performing a service in a percent-of-proceeds contract or produced under a keep-whole arrangement. In addition to NGL price risk, our processing activity is also subject to price risk from natural gas because, in order to process the gas, in some cases we must purchase it. Therefore, lower gas prices generally result in higher processing margins.
• Liquids transportation and services - Liquids transportation revenue is principally generated from fees charged to customers under dedicated contracts or take-or-pay contracts. Under a dedicated contract, the customer agrees to deliver the total output from particular processing plants that are connected to the NGL pipeline. Take-or-pay contracts have minimum throughput commitments requiring the customer to pay regardless of whether a fixed volume is transported. Transportation fees are market-based, negotiated with customers and competitive with regional regulated pipelines.

NGL storage revenues are derived from base storage fees and throughput fees. Base storage fees are based on the volume of capacity reserved, regardless of the capacity actually used. Throughput fees are charged for providing ancillary services, including receipt and delivery, custody transfer, rail/truck loading and unloading fees. Storage contracts may be for dedicated storage or fungible storage. Dedicated storage enables a customer to reserve an entire storage cavern, which allows the customer to inject and withdraw proprietary and often unique products. Fungible storage allows a customer to store specified quantities of NGL products that are commingled in a storage cavern with other customers' products of the same type and grade. NGL storage contracts may be entered into on a firm or interruptible basis. Under a firm basis contract, the customer obtains the right to store products in the storage caverns throughout the term of the contract; whereas, under an interruptible basis contract, the customer receives only limited assurance regarding the availability of capacity in the storage caverns.
This segment also includes revenues earned from processing and fractionating refinery off-gas. Under these contracts we receive an O-grade stream from cryogenic processing plants located at refineries and fractionate the products into their pure components. We deliver purity products to customers through pipelines and across a truck rack located at the fractionation complex. In addition to revenues for fractionating the O-grade stream, we have percentage-of-proceeds and income sharing contracts, which are subject to market pricing of olefins and NGLs. For percentage-of-proceeds contracts, we retain a portion of the purity NGLs and olefins processed, or a portion of the proceeds from the sales of those commodities, as a fee. When NGLs and olefin prices increase, the value of the portion we retain as a fee increases. Conversely, when NGLs and olefin prices decrease, so does the value of the portion we retain as a fee. Under our income sharing contracts, we pay the producer the equivalent energy value for their liquids, similar to a traditional keep-whole processing agreement, and then share in the residual income created by the difference between NGLs and olefin prices as compared to natural gas prices. As NGLs and olefins prices increase in relation to natural gas prices, the value of the percent we retain as a fee increases. Conversely, when NGLs and olefins prices decrease as compared to natural gas prices, so does the value of the percent we retain as a fee.
• Investment in Sunoco Logistics - Revenues are generated by charging tariffs for transporting crude oil, NGLs and refined products through Sunoco Logistics' pipelines as well as by charging fees for terminalling services for crude oil, NGLs and refined products at its facilities. Revenues are also generated by acquiring and marketing crude oil, NGLs and refined products. Generally, crude oil, NGLs and refined products purchases are entered into in contemplation of or simultaneously with corresponding sale transactions involving physical deliveries, which enables us to secure a profit on the transaction at the time of purchase.

• Retail marketing - Revenue is principally generated from the sale of gasoline and middle distillates and the operation of convenience stores in 14 states, primarily on the east coast and in the southern regions of the United States. These stores complement sales of fuel products with a broad mix of merchandise such as groceries, fast foods, beverages and tobacco products.

Trends and Outlook
We continue to evaluate and execute strategies to enhance unitholder value through growth, as well as the integration and optimization of our diversified asset portfolio. We intend to continue our goal of maintaining a distribution coverage ratio of 1.05x, thereby promoting a prudent balance between distribution rate increases and enhanced financial flexibility and strength while maintaining our investment grade ratings. While we anticipate significant earnings growth in 2017 from the completion of our fully-contracted project backlog, we are currently experiencing the impacts of recent declines in commodity prices, as well as challenging conditions in the capital markets.

The current constraints in the capital markets affect our ability to obtain funding through new borrowings or the issuance of Common Units. In addition, we expect that, to the extent we arrange new financing, we will incur increased costs. In light of the current market conditions, we have taken steps to preserve our liquidity position, including, but not limited to, reducing discretionary capital expenditures, maintaining our cash distribution rate and continuing to manage operating and administrative costs to improve profitability. With the expected closing of the previously announced dropdown of the remaining interest in Sunoco, LLC and the legacy Sunoco retail business to Sunoco LP in late February, the outstanding balance of ETP's $3.75 billion revolver will be close to zero. As a result, ETP does not expect the need to access the fixed income market in 2016. In addition, with our reduction in discretionary capital expenditures and with other related asset sales, we do not anticipate the need for ETP common equity issuances in 2016.
Current market conditions also indicate that many of our customers may encounter increased credit risk in the near term. In particular, our transportation and midstream revenues are derived significantly from companies that engage in exploration and production activities. Many of our customers have been negatively impacted by the recent declines in commodity prices, as well as current conditions in the capital markets. We continue to evaluate the financial condition of existing counterparties, monitor agency credit ratings, and implement credit practices that limit exposure according to the risk profiles of our counterparties.
With respect to commodity prices, crude oil and NGL prices have declined sharply and are at decade-long lows, and we expect prices to remain challenged for the foreseeable future due to general oversupply. The addition of several ethane crackers and export projects (Marcus Hook and Nederland) currently under construction should help to volumetrically balance this market by 2018. Other factors such as reduced wet gas extraction will also help to balance this market and positively impact prices. Natural gas pricing is expected to remain within a range similar to recent history as increased supply continues to outpace demand. New demand has occurred in several areas such as exports to Mexico and Canada, LNG exports, nuclear power plant de-commissioning, as well as continued coal to gas switching for power generation, will help pricing; however, supply is continuing to increase. Exports to Mexico are expected to exceed 2 Bcf/d by the end of 2016, compared to zero in 2014.
We believe that we are well-positioned to benefit from changes in natural gas and NGL supply and demand fundamentals. While we continue to increase our presence in domestic producing basins, we have also recently focused on projects that will position the Partnership as a leader in the export of hydrocarbons. In particular, we currently are undertaking projects involving natural gas exports, including the Rover pipeline project (to Canada), the Trans-Pecos and Comanche Trail pipelines (to Mexico), and waterborne NGL exports, as well as our participation in the Lake Charles LNG liquefaction project. We are also developing the Bakken pipeline project to transport crude supply from the Bakken/Three Forks production area.
We also continue to seek asset optimization opportunities through strategic transactions among us and our subsidiaries and/or affiliates, and we expect to continue to evaluate and execute on such opportunities. As we have in the past, we will evaluate growth projects and acquisitions as such opportunities may be identified in the future, and we intend to continue to maintain sufficient liquidity to allow us to fund such potential growth projects and acquisitions. Results of Operations
We report Segment Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of segment performance. We define Segment Adjusted EBITDA as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, depletion, amortization and other non-cash items, such as non-cash compensation expense, gains and losses on disposals of assets, the allowance for equity funds used during construction, unrealized gains and losses on commodity risk management activities, non-cash impairment charges, loss on extinguishment of debt, gain on deconsolidation and other non-operating income or expense items. Unrealized gains and losses on commodity risk management activities include unrealized gains and losses on commodity derivatives and inventory fair value adjustments (excluding lower of cost or market adjustments). Segment Adjusted EBITDA reflects amounts for unconsolidated affiliates based on the Partnership's proportionate ownership.
When presented on a consolidated basis, Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure. Although we include Segment Adjusted EBITDA in this report, we have not included an analysis of the consolidated measure, Adjusted EBITDA. We have included a total of Segment Adjusted EBITDA for all segments, which is reconciled to the GAAP measure of net income in the consolidated results sections that follow. In accordance with GAAP, we have accounted for the Regency Merger as a reorganization of entities under common control. Accordingly, ETP's consolidated financial statements reflect the retrospective consolidation of Regency into ETP beginning May 26, 2010 (the date ETE obtained control of Regency).

Year Ended December 31, 2015 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2014

Consolidated Results
                                                   Years Ended December 31,
                                                     2015             2014           Change
Segment Adjusted EBITDA:
Intrastate transportation and storage           $       543       $       559     $       (16 )
Interstate transportation and storage                 1,155             1,212             (57 )
Midstream                                             1,250             1,318             (68 )
Liquids transportation and services                     731               591             140
Investment in Sunoco Logistics                        1,153               971             182
. . .