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Western Midstream Partners, LP connects producers’ wells to facilities that prepare oil and gas for onward delivery. It removes contaminants from natural gas and separates liquids so the remaining gas meets pipeline specifications. It also gathers and transports crude oil, and collects water produced alongside oil and gas for treatment, reuse or disposal. Most of its business is concentrated in West Texas, New Mexico and the DJ Basin in Colorado.
Producers pay mainly service fees tied to the volumes handled, making fees the largest source of revenue rather than commodity sales. Some contracts require minimum-volume payments or payments based on the cost of providing service. These arrangements cushion volume changes, but the business still depends on producers drilling and supplying new production as existing wells decline.
Occidental is its largest customer, supplies the production behind most revenue and owns its general partner. Occidental is not obligated to maintain dedicated production volumes, so its drilling decisions matter directly to Western Midstream. Water disposal also depends on permitted injection wells; regulatory responses to seismic activity can restrict disposal or shut wells.
The risk section is the longest, dullest part of the filing. This keeps only what can really hurt you: where it hits, how hard, when it plays out.
Every company claims an edge. Each one is checked against hard numbers like margins and returns: which hold, and which line gives way first.
Western Midstream depends heavily on Occidental Petroleum, which pays it to gather and process oil and gas and handle production water, and owns its general partner. In 2025, excluding equity investments, Occidental-owned or controlled production accounted for 60% of Western Midstream’s total revenues and other; watch Occidental’s drilling and development plans for changes in service volumes.
Kinetik competes with Western Midstream for Delaware Basin producers paying to gather and process gas and handle crude oil and production water, so drilling activity feeds both businesses. Kinetik’s gas-processing volumes and pricing terms offer a view of demand and competition for those producers.
Targa Resources competes with Western Midstream for Permian producers’ business: both gather and process natural gas and move the liquids separated from it—NGLs—to market.
NGL Energy Partners competes with Western Midstream for producers paying to gather, recycle and dispose of water from wells in the Delaware and DJ basins. Its Water Solutions revenue, charged per barrel received, and new contracts committing producers’ water volumes show the business being secured by this rival.
Summit Midstream and Western Midstream both collect and process gas for DJ Basin producers, and both depend on oil-driven production activity in the Rockies and Permian. Watch Summit’s Rockies and Permian throughput: producers’ oil-price-driven drilling decisions affect the volumes that generate its service fees.
Enterprise Products Partners offers producers an alternative to Western Midstream for gathering and processing oil and gas and transporting gas, NGLs and crude oil to market. Its connected NGL pipelines, storage and export terminals give those producers access to domestic and international buyers.
Energy Transfer competes with Western Midstream for producers’ gas-gathering and processing business and also transports gas, NGLs and crude oil. The terms on which it retains or wins gas supplies help show the competition Western Midstream faces for service volumes.
ONEOK gives producers in the Permian and Rocky Mountain regions another choice for gas gathering, processing and oil-and-gas transportation alongside Western Midstream. Watch its new processing and pipeline capacity: ONEOK says infrastructure projects can redirect supply volumes in these regions.
MPLX competes with Western Midstream to gather and process natural gas for Permian producers, but its substantial refinery-related transportation and storage business makes it a less direct comparison.
Williams competes with Western Midstream for producers paying to move gas from wells, remove contaminants and extract natural gas liquids. Its gathered and treated gas volumes are the useful comparison, since Williams generally charges fees based on those volumes rather than simply tracking gas prices.
Plains All American competes with Western Midstream to gather and transport Permian producers’ crude oil, so both are exposed to regional oil volumes. It also receives oil from Western Midstream’s Springfield system and stabilized condensate from Brasada in the Eagle Ford, making it a downstream connection as well as a rival.
Kinder Morgan offers producers competing gas-gathering, processing and transportation services in Texas and the Rocky Mountains alongside Western Midstream. There is also a physical link: in 2025, Western Midstream’s Chipeta completed connections to receive gas from Kinder Morgan’s Altamont Green River Pipeline.
Western Midstream Partners, LP earningsThis company
Western Midstream’s report will show whether gas, oil and produced-water volumes in West Texas/New Mexico and the DJ Basin are bringing in enough service revenue to cover operating costs and capital spending.
Read throughput alongside fee-based service revenue, then compare both with operating and maintenance costs and capital spending. Rising volumes and fee revenue without costs growing faster would show the systems are turning customer production into cash available for distributions; flat or falling volumes, or faster-rising costs and spending, would show that cash generation is being squeezed. The question is whether growth reaches cash flow.
Kinetik Holdings Inc. earningsKNTK
Kinetik’s report will show the gas volumes and pricing terms Delaware Basin producers bring to a rival’s gathering and processing systems, offering a read on demand and competition facing Western Midstream.
Read Kinetik’s gas-processing volumes alongside its pricing terms. Rising volumes with firm terms would show Delaware Basin producers still use and pay for these services, but would not prove Western Midstream is gaining share; weaker volumes or terms could reflect lost business for Kinetik or softer local drilling and production. The report helps distinguish a sturdy service market from a weakening one, while Western Midstream’s own volumes determine whether its business is following suit.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation earningsOXY
Occidental’s report will show whether this major Western Midstream customer is sustaining production and development in connected areas, which feeds the oil, gas and produced water Western Midstream handles.
Focus on Occidental’s production and development plans in areas connected to Western Midstream’s systems, and compare them with Western Midstream’s own throughput. Sustained or rising production would support demand for gathering, processing and produced-water services, but does not guarantee that all those volumes use Western Midstream; a pullback would put customer volumes at risk. In 2025, Occidental-linked production accounted for 60% of Western Midstream’s total revenues and other and 91% of its crude-oil and NGL throughput, making Occidental’s activity a key test of support for those systems.
