on May 6reported first-quarter income from continuing operations of $135.0 million, or$1.01 per unit, compared to $112.0 million, or 88 cents per unit, in theyear-ago quarter.

The S&PCapital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate for the first quarter was $1.03.

First-quarternet income attributable to Buckeye Partners amounted to $131.1 million, or$1.01 per unit, compared to $111.6 million, or 87 cents per unit, in the sameperiod the year before.

Totalrevenue for the first quarter slipped to $780.6 million from $1.09 billion inthe prior-year period.

AdjustedEBITDA from continuing operations for the first quarter was $244.6 million,compared to $212.9 million in the same period a year ago, while distributablecash flow from continuing operations was $178.9 million, compared to $155.7million in the year-ago quarter.

"OurGlobal Marine Terminals segment's performance was substantially improved ascompared to last year. Its results were driven primarily by cash flows from thegrowth capital investments at Buckeye Texas Partners coupled with strong demandfor storage services across its legacy assets. We also are pleased to reportpositive contributions year over year in our merchant services segment,"said Clark Smith, chairman, president and CEO of Buckeye Partners.

The firstquarter's coverage ratio from continuing operations was 1.14x with $157.2million in distributions, compared to 1.06x with $147.0 million indistributions in the prior-year period. The partnership increased itsfirst-quarter cash distribution by 4.3% year over year to $1.20 per unit,payable May 23 to unit holders of record May 16.

"As aresult of our strong financial position, we expect to grow our quarterlydistribution at a rate of $0.0125 per LP unit through the remainder of 2016,creating long-term value for our unitholders," Smith said.