Tulsa-Magellan Midstream Partners L.P.’s ammonia pipeline had an operating loss of $7.6 million on sales of $671,000 for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2010, compared to the year-ago loss of $3.4 million on sales of $4 million. Actual tons shipped dropped to only 20,000 st from the year-ago 125,000 st. Both revenues and expenses were negatively impacted by integrity testing performed on the pipeline during the third quarter. The majority of the planned testing for 2010 has been completed and volumes and expenses are expected to return to more historical levels in the fourth quarter. Additional testing is planned for next year, but to a much lesser extent, and is not expected to substantially impact transportation volumes. The ammonia pipeline had a nine-month margin loss of $5.9 million on sales of $9.5 million, up from the year-ago loss of $1.2 million on sales of $12.5 million. Nine-month ammonia volumes were 298,000 st, down from the year-ago 420,000 st. Company-wide, Magellan reported third-quarter net income of $56.6 million ($.51 per share) on sales of $406.2 million, up from the year-ago $54.2 million ($.43 per share) and $239.8 million. Nine-month net income was $223.6 million ($2.06 per share) on sales of $1.16 billion, up from the year-ago income of $144.5 million ($1.11 per share) on sales of $660.9 million.
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