Politics and a tightening NGL market led to a mixed second quarter for Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), one of the largest midstream companies in the U.S.

The company’s adjusted earnings per share of $0.66 beat the market consensus by 1 cent. Revenues came in $11.36 billion, missing the street estimate by $2.82 billion. The earnings fell off from the same period in 2024, even though EPD set five records for volumes moved or processed.

“Seasonally, the second quarter is always tough,” said Enterprise Co-CEO James Teague during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on July 28. “But this time, we also faced macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges.”

The NGL market in 2025 has been complicated. Enterprise saw its ethane exports to China blocked by U.S. regulations several times during the trade dispute. The company was largely unscathed during the dispute, thanks to its exposure to other markets such as Vietnam, Thailand and Mexico, said Michael Hanley, EPD senior vice president for hydrocarbon marketing.

The U.S. and China de-escalated the dispute in May with the U.S. agreeing to maintain its 30% tariffs on Chinese goods until Aug. 12.

The trade difficulties did not cause a significant loss, but the company had a hard time navigating the shifting policies, and Hanley said a long-term disruption could cause problems. Enterprise has already lost one potential non-Chinese customer, he said.

“We’ve been clear about the risk of weaponizing U.S. energy exports,” Teague said. “These kinds of actions rarely hurt the intended target and often backfire, hurting our own industry more.”

Besides the government, EPD also dealt with an NGL market that is becoming crowded with more players, the CEO said.

The company’s LPG earnings fell along with commodity prices. During the second quarter, Enterprise shipped 5 MMbbl/d more LPG than during the same time last year, but saw its operating margin decrease by $37 million, or 46%. The narrow margin was tied to the terminal spot price dropping by an average of 60% compared to 2024.

EPD had to recontract a 10-year legacy agreement for its product, thanks to the drop-off in prices.

“Although increased throughput across our Houston Ship Channel Pipeline System helped mitigate the decline, it doesn’t change the fact that this market is fundamentally shifting,” Teague said.

Enterprise recorded better results in its crude oil and natural gas sectors.

In the crude segment, EPD’s gross operating margin of $403 million beat estimates by $16 million, said AJ O’Donnell, an analyst for TPH & Co., in a review of EPD’s earnings. The company broke pipeline volume records by moving 2.6 MMbbl/d of crude.

Natural gas also performed better than expected. The natural gas gross operating margin of $417 million beat estimates by $74 million, O’Donnell said.

Enterprise executives were positive about production out of the Permian Basin for the remainder of the year and 2026. Many analysts have discussed the potential for the Permian reducing production by the end of the decade.

The company expects the basin to continue producing more gas, and Enterprise’s processing and pipeline infrastructure is positioned to handle the changing landscape.

EPD brought 600 MMcf/d of new Permian natural gas processing online during the quarter.

“We’re not in a ‘sky is falling’ scenario,” said Anthony C. Chovanec, Enterprise executive vice president of fundamentals and commodity risk assessment. “The Permian producer is extremely profitable, especially when you look at what’s happened to natural gas basis out there.”