MPLX Adjusted EBITDA Growth Accelerates as Gas Segment Rebounds
MPLX posted adjusted EBITDA of $1.775 billion in the second quarter, up 5% from a year earlier and a sharper gain than the first quarter's $28 million increase.
MPLX (MPLX) reported second-quarter adjusted EBITDA attributable to the partnership of $1.775 billion, up 5% from $1.690 billion a year earlier, an acceleration from the first quarter's increase to $1.729 billion from $1.757 billion a year prior. Net income attributable to the partnership rose to $1.077 billion from $1.048 billion a year earlier, reversing a first-quarter decline to $912 million from $1.126 billion.
The pipeline operator's growth was driven by a turnaround in its Natural Gas and NGL Services segment, where EBITDA rose 11% to $614 million from $552 million a year earlier, after that segment's EBITDA had fallen $42 million from a year earlier in the first quarter. The rebound tracked with volume gains: operated gathering throughput climbed 5% year over year to 6,859 million cubic feet a day, versus flat volumes in the first quarter, and C2+ NGLs fractionated rose 7% to 680 thousand barrels a day after a 4% decline in the prior quarter. Divested Rockies gathering and processing operations no longer appear in the company's disclosed operating statistics, a shift first reflected in first-quarter reporting.
Growth in the Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment continued to decelerate. Segment EBITDA rose 2%, or $23 million, from a year earlier, following 1% growth in the first quarter and a 5% gain in the fourth quarter of 2024 that had been aided by a one-time $37 million benefit from a FERC tariff ruling. Total pipeline throughput fell 4% from a year earlier to 5,876 thousand barrels a day, marking a fourth straight quarter of year-over-year declines after a similar 4% drop in the first quarter, to 5,702 thousand barrels a day.
MPLX raised its 2025 growth capital spending outlook by $500 million to $2.9 billion, up from the $2.4 billion plan set out alongside fourth-quarter 2024 results, to accelerate its Gulf Coast fractionation project.
The partnership's distribution per common unit rose 12.5% from a year earlier to $1.0765, unchanged from the first quarter's level and in line with guidance for 12.5% distribution growth in both 2025 and 2026. Distribution coverage narrowed to 1.3x from 1.5x a year earlier, matching the first quarter's ratio and extending a decline from full-year 2024 coverage of 1.4x, down from 1.5x in 2023.
Common unit repurchases held at $50 million for the second straight quarter, half the pace of $100 million a quarter set in the first half of 2024. MPLX's leverage ratio, measured as consolidated debt to trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA, held flat at 3.7x for a third straight quarter, up from 3.1x a year earlier and moving closer to the company's stated 4.0x comfort range.
The widening leverage ratio and narrowing distribution coverage came even as adjusted EBITDA growth improved sequentially, a combination that reflects the partnership's increased capital spending commitments alongside its distribution growth targets.