What History Teaches Investors About BreitBurn Energy Partners LPs Future

BreitBurn Energy Partners LP CFO Jim Jackson recently presented at an energy conference. With the upheaval in the oil market he wanted to address the concerns analysts and investors have of his company's ability to weather the current storm. One of his key messages was to take a closer look at the company's history in a time of crisis to see how it performs. This message gives us a lot of insight into how the company should perform this time around.

Where we stand todayBefore Jackson got to his history lesson he wanted everyone to know where the company stands as it enters the current crisis. The key thing he wanted everyone to keep in mind is that heading into the slump in oil prices BreitBurn Energy Partners is pretty well hedged, which will largely insulate it from the move in oil prices. We see this on the following slide where 71% of next year's production is hedged.

Source: BreitBurn Energy Partners LP Investor Presentation

These hedges are vitally important as it keeps the company's cash flow relatively stable. We see this in the next slide as the hedges help to mitigate the volatility of commodity prices on the company's cash flow.

Source: BreitBurn Energy Partners LP Investor Presentation

As that slide shows the company's adjusted EBITDA, which is a proxy for cash flow, has been largely stable aside from trending upwards as the company acquires additional oil and gas assets. Jackson pointed this out by saying:

Basically, what he is saying is that for every 12% move in oil prices BreitBurn's exposure is limited to only 3%-4% due to its hedges. Further, that's the full exposure if commodity prices drop suddenly and stay at that level for a full year. It also assumes that its costs don't drop along the way, which as Jackson pointed out isn't likely as its cost structure falls when commodity prices remain in a prolonged slump. In fact, during the financial crisis its operating costs dropped 20%, which helped to mitigate some of the drop in commodity prices.

Stepping back into historyJackson then went on to remind investors of how the company weathered the storm of the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. As that second chart above noted the company's adjusted EBITDA was largely stable during the financial crisis. Its adjusted EBITDA went from a peak of $62 to a trough of $47 million, which was a 24% hit. This is despite the fact that oil prices plunged by more than 70% over that same timeframe.

WTI Crude Oil Spot Price data by YCharts

Meanwhile, the company also had a lot of levers to pull in order to stay afloat during the market's darkest days. Jackson pointed out that BreitBurn slashed its capex budget from $130 million to $19 million to conserve capital. It monetized and rehedged its hedge portfolio a couple of times used that cash to reduce debt. The company even halted its distribution for a quarter and restarted it at a lower rate to reflect these new hedges.

Those were dark days for the company, and the whole world for that matter, but BreitBurn Energy Partners emerged out the crisis intact. Since those days it has become an even stronger company as it is now the second largest upstream MLP in America. So, the odds are pretty good that the company will emerge out of the current crisis intact and will likely thrive again once the crisis is over.

Investor takeawayBreitBurn Energy Partners is built to handle commodity price shocks. That's why the company hedges so much of its oil and gas production. Those hedges act as a drag during good times, but are a life raft during tough times. The company's history proves this and that same history suggests that when all the dust has settled BreitBurn Energy Partners will thrive when the energy market returns to some state of normalcy.

The article What History Teaches Investors About BreitBurn Energy Partners LPs Future originally appeared on Fool.com.

Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends BreitBurn Energy Partners. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.