Standard&Poor's said today the announcement of a ruptured crude oil pipeline (operated by BP in the U.S. Gulf offshore Louisiana) will not materially affect LOOP LLC's (A/Stable/A-1) ratings or outlook. The pipeline transports crude oil to the Alliance and Murphy Oil Corp. refineries onshore. The shut pipeline is marginal to LOOP's operations because LOOP's revenues are supported by severally guaranteed throughput and deficiency agreements (independent of throughput through the affected line) with its five owners, all of which are large, investment-grade oil companies. Although the temporary suspension of throughput from LOOP will reduce revenues in the short term, a significant portion of the lost revenue should be recaptured upon restart. In addition, LOOP does not own the pipeline
