At first glance, you might think that Phillips 66’s newly announced, $2.2 billion plan to acquire the EPIC NGL pipeline system, two fractionators near Corpus Christi and other NGL-related assets in Texas is just another logical step in the expansion of P66’s “well-to-market” NGL strategy — and you’d be right. But the story is actually much more interesting, involving a long list of well-known midstream players and a long-running, still-evolving effort to dilute the Mont Belvieu NGL hub’s dominance. In today’s RBN blog, we spill the tea.
Visualize the infrastructure behind U.S. NGL movement.
The U.S. NGLs Map provides a comprehensive view of the transport, processing, and export networks moving NGLs across the U.S.
We admit it. We have a soft spot for NGLs, which you could argue are the quirkiest, hardest-to-fathom hydrocarbons on God’s green earth. We also get a real kick out of developing a deep, inside-baseball understanding of the multi-layered complexities of energy markets — not just what’s produced where, how it’s processed and transported to market and what it sells for, but the stories behind the headlines and the reasons why things happen as they do.
The headline is this: P66 announced January 6 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to buy EPIC Y-Grade GP LLC and EPIC Y-Grade LP, two entities that own a set of significant NGL-related assets between the Permian and Texas’s Gulf Coast, for a total of $2.2 billion. The deal, which is subject to various regulatory approvals and expected to close later this year, is the latest in a series of P66 acquisitions that enhance the midstreamer/refiner’s ability to offer the full gamut of NGL-related services — everything from gas gathering and processing to NGL pipelines, storage, fractionators and export facilities.
Most recently, we blogged about P66’s $550 million acquisition of Pinnacle Midstream (from Energy Spectrum Capital, a Dallas-based private equity firm) and its gas gathering and processing assets in the Midland Basin and, before that, about an increase in P66’s ownership interest in DCP Midstream (to an 86.8% stake) via deals it reached in 2022-23.
Figure 1. Selected Phillips 66/DCP Midstream Assets and Pinnacle Midstream Assets. Source: RBN
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About the song
“Let’s Work Together” was written by Wilbert Harrison and appears as the sixth song on side one of Canned Heat’s fifth studio album, Future Blues. Harrison originally wrote the song as “Let’s Stick Together,” with the same melody and different lyrics. He released a single of it on Fury Records in 1962. In 1969 he re-worked the song with new lyrics, now titled, “Let’s Work Together.” Recorded in October 1969 at Juggy Sound Studio in Los Angeles, and featuring Harrison on vocals, guitar, harmonica, and percussion, the song was released as a single on Sue Records in December 1969 and went to #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. Due to the success of Harrison’s version, Canned Heat waited until August 1970 to release their version as a single. It went to #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. Personnel on the record were: Bob Hite (vocals), Alan Wilson (slide guitar), Harvey Mandel (rhythm guitar), Larry Taylor (bass), and Fito de la Parra (drums).
Future Blues was recorded in May and June 1970 at Village Recorders in Los Angeles with Skip Taylor and Canned Heat producing. It was the only Canned Heat studio album with Harvey Mandel on lead guitar, who had replaced original guitarist Henry Vestine, who left the band shortly before their appearance at Woodstock. Mandel and bassist Larry Taylor left the band to join John Mayall’s group shortly before Future Blues was released. Singer, harpist, and slide guitarist Alan Wilson committed suicide in September 1970 before the album’s release. Singer Hite and drummer de la Parra had to replace three band members to continue touring and performing as Canned Heat before the album’s release. The album was released in December 1970 and went to #59 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Three singles were released from the LP.
Canned Heat is an American blues-rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by blues aficionados Bob Hite and Alan Wilson. They took their name from a 1928 Tommy Johnson song titled “Canned Heat Blues.” Discovered by the Los Angeles management team of John Hartmann and Skip Taylor, they released their debut album, Canned Heat, on Liberty Records in July 1967. They have released 17 studio albums, 11 live albums, 20 compilation albums, three collaborative albums, and 19 singles. Fifty-one members have passed through the band since its formation. Canned Heat continues to tour under the leadership of longtime drummer Fito de la Parra, along with Dale Spalding, Rick Reed and Jimmy Vivino. Alan Wilson died in September 1970 at the age of 27, Bob Hite died in April 1981 at the age of 38, Henry Vestine died in October 1997 at the age of 52, and Larry Taylor died in August 2019 at the age of 77.
