Profile: ONEOK Partners LP (OKS.N)

ONEOK Partners, L.P. (Partnership) is engaged in gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas in the United States. In addition, the Company owns natural gas liquids (NGL) systems, connecting NGL supply in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions with key market centers. The Company operates in three segments: Natural Gas Gathering and Processing; Natural Gas Pipelines, and Natural Gas Liquids. On June 30, 2011, the Company acquired ONEOK Bushton Processing Inc. (OBPI).

Natural Gas Gathering and Processing

The Company’s Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment’s operations provide non-discretionary services to producers, which include gathering and processing of natural gas produced from crude oil and natural gas wells. It gathers and processes natural gas in the Mid-Continent region, which includes the NGL- Cana-Woodford Shale and Granite Wash formations, the Mississippian Lime formation of Oklahoma and Kansas, and the Hugoton and Central Kansas Uplift Basins of Kansas. It also gathers and/or processes natural gas in two producing basins in the Rocky Mountain region: the Williston Basin, which spans portions of Montana and North Dakota and includes the oil-producing, Bakken Shale and Three Forks formations, and the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. The natural gas it gathers in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming is coal-bed methane, or dry, natural gas. Dry, natural gas is gathered, compressed and delivered into a downstream pipeline or marketed for a fee.

In the Mid-Continent region and the Williston Basin, unprocessed natural gas is compressed and transported through pipelines to processing facilities where volumes are aggregated, treated and processed to remove water vapor, solids and other contaminants, and to extract NGLs in order to provide marketable natural gas, referred to as residue gas. The residue gas, which consists of methane, is compressed and delivered to natural gas pipelines for transportation to end users. Its natural gas and NGLs are sold to affiliates and a range of customer base.

The Company’s natural gas processing operations utilize field gas processing plants to extract NGLs and remove water vapor and other contaminants from the unprocessed natural gas stream. Field gas processing plants process natural gas gathered from multiple producing wells.

Natural Gas Pipelines

The Company’s Natural Gas Pipelines segment owns and operates regulated natural gas transmission pipelines, natural gas storage facilities and natural gas gathering systems for non-processed gas. It also provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage service. Its interstate natural gas pipeline assets transport natural gas through pipelines in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. Its interstate pipeline companies include Midwestern Gas Transmission Company (Midwestern Gas Transmission), Viking Gas Transmission Company (Viking Gas Transmission), Guardian Pipeline, L.L.C. (Guardian Pipeline) and OkTex Pipeline Company, L.L.C. (OkTex Pipeline). Midwestern Gas Transmission, which is a bi-directional system, which interconnects with Tennessee Gas Transmission Company’s pipeline near Portland, Tennessee, and with interstate pipelines at the Chicago hub near Joliet, Illinois. Viking Gas Transmission, which transports natural gas from an interconnection with TransCanada’s pipeline near Emerson, Manitoba, to serve local natural gas distribution companies in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, and terminates at a connection with ANR Pipeline Company near Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Guardian Pipeline, which interconnects with several pipelines at the Chicago hub near Joliet, Illinois, and with local natural gas distribution companies in Wisconsin. OkTex Pipeline, which has interconnects in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. Its intrastate natural gas pipeline assets in Oklahoma have access to natural gas producing areas, including the Cana-Woodford Shale, Granite Wash and Mississippian Lime, and transport natural gas throughout the state. It also has access to the natural gas producing area in south central Kansas. In Texas, its intrastate natural gas pipelines are connected to natural gas producing areas in the Texas Panhandle, including the Granite Wash, and the Permian Basin, and transport natural gas throughout the western portion of the state, including the Waha Hub.

The Company owns underground natural gas storage facilities in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, which are connected to its intrastate natural gas pipeline assets. Its Natural Gas Pipelines segment’s revenues are derived from fee-based services provided to its customers. Its revenues are generated from the types of fee-based contracts, which include Firm Service and Interruptible Service.

Natural Gas Liquids

The Company’s natural gas liquids assets provide non-discretionary services to producers, which consist of facilities that gather, fractionate and treat NGLs and store NGL products in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. It owns or has an ownership interest in natural gas liquids gathering and distribution pipelines in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado, and terminal and storage facilities in Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. It also owns natural gas liquids distribution and refined petroleum products pipelines in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, which connects its Mid-Continent assets with Midwest markets, including Chicago, Illinois. It owns and operates truck and rail-loading and unloading facilities, which interconnect with its fractionation and pipeline assets.

Natural gas produced at the wellhead contains a mixture of NGL components, such as ethane, propane, iso-butane, normal butane and natural gasoline. It also purchases NGLs and condensate from third parties, as well as from its Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment. Revenues for its Natural Gas Liquids segment are derived from fee-based services provided to its customers. Its sources of revenue are categorized as exchange services, optimization and marketing, pipeline transportation, isomerization and storage. Its exchange services business collects fees to gather, fractionate and treat unfractionated NGLs, thereby converting them into marketable NGL products, which are stored and shipped to a market center or customer-designated location.

The Company transports NGL products between the Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast in order to capture the location price differentials between the two market centers. Its pipeline transportation business transports raw NGLs, finished NGL products and refined petroleum products. Its storage business collects fees to store NGLs at its Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast facilities.