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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Our investors should consider the following risks that could affect us and our business. Although we have tried to identify key factors, our investors need to be aware that other risks may prove to be important in the future. New risks may emerge at any time, and we cannot predict such risks or estimate the extent to which they may affect our financial performance. Investors should consider carefully the following discussion of risks and the other information included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report, including “Forward-Looking Statements,” which are included in Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

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RISK FACTORS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected adversely, and could further affect adversely, our results of operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to global and regional economic disruption, volatility in the financial markets and a weakened commodity price environment. The outbreak and government measures taken in response, including extended quarantines, closures and reduced operations of businesses had a significant adverse impact, both direct and indirect, on our business and the economy.

Uncertainty remains regarding the duration of global impacts due to COVID-19. This uncertainty, and the occurrence of these events and measures taken in response, could further affect adversely our results of operations by, among other things, reducing demand for the services we provide, impacting our supply chains and the availability and efficiency of our workforce, creating operational challenges and impacting our ability to access capital markets. The degree to which the pandemic further impacts our business and results of operations will depend on future developments beyond our control, including the success of vaccination efforts and the effectiveness of such vaccines against future mutations of the COVID-19 virus, how quickly and to what extent economic and operating conditions resume to pre-COVID-19 levels, and the severity and duration of reduced global and regional economic activity resulting from the pandemic.

If the level of drilling in the regions in which we operate declines substantially near our assets, our volumes and revenues could decline.

Our gathering and transportation pipeline systems are dependent upon production from natural gas and crude oil wells, which naturally declines over time. As a result, our cash flows associated with these wells will also decline over time. In order to maintain or increase throughput levels on our gathering and transportation pipeline systems and the asset utilization rates at our processing and fractionation facilities, we must continually obtain new supplies. Our ability to maintain or expand our businesses depends largely on the level of drilling and production by third parties in the regions in which we operate. Our natural gas and NGL supply volumes may be impacted if producers curtail or redirect drilling and production activities. Drilling and production are impacted by factors beyond our control, including:

•demand and prices for natural gas, NGLs and crude oil;

•producers’ access to capital;

•producers’ finding and development costs of reserves;

•producers’ desire and ability to obtain necessary permits, drilling rights and surface access in a timely manner and on reasonable terms;

•crude oil and associated natural gas field characteristics and production performance; and

•capacity constraints and/or shut downs on the pipelines that transport crude oil, natural gas and NGLs from producing areas and our facilities.

Commodity prices have experienced significant volatility. Drilling and production activity levels may vary across our geographic areas; however, a prolonged period of low commodity prices may reduce drilling and production activities across all areas. If we are not able to obtain new supplies to replace the natural decline in volumes from existing wells or because of competition, throughput on our gathering and transportation pipeline systems and the utilization rates of our processing and fractionation facilities would decline, which could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows, and our ability to pay cash dividends.

Our operating results may be affected adversely by unfavorable economic and market conditions.

In addition to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, an adverse change in economic conditions worldwide or in the economic regions in which we operate could negatively affect the crude oil and natural gas markets, as well as in the specific segments in which we operate, resulting in reduced demand and increased price competition for our services and products. Our operating results in one or more geographic regions may also be affected by uncertain or changing economic conditions within that region. Volatility in commodity prices may have an impact on many of our suppliers and customers, which, in turn, could have a negative impact on their ability to meet their obligations to us. Periods of severe volatility in equity and credit markets may disrupt our access to such markets, make it difficult to obtain financing necessary to expand facilities or acquire assets, increase financing costs and result in the imposition of restrictive financial covenants. If adverse global or regional economic and market conditions remain uncertain or persist, spread or deteriorate further, we may experience material impacts on our business, results of operations, financial position, cash flows and liquidity.

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The volatility of natural gas, crude oil and NGL prices could affect adversely our earnings and cash flows.

Lower commodity prices could reduce crude oil, natural gas and NGL production which could decrease the demand for our services. Additionally, a significant portion of our revenues are derived from the sale of commodities that are received in conjunction with natural gas gathering and processing services, the transportation and storage of natural gas, and from the purchase and sale of NGLs and NGL products. As commodity prices decline, we could be paid less for our commodities thereby reducing our cash flows. Historically, commodity prices have been volatile and can change quickly. For example, in March 2020, unsuccessful negotiations between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia regarding crude oil production cuts resulted in a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. As a result, the global supply of crude oil significantly exceeded demand and led to a collapse in crude oil prices. It is likely that commodity prices will continue to be volatile in the future.

The prices we receive for our commodities are subject to wide fluctuations in response to a variety of factors beyond our control, including, but not limited to, the following:

•overall domestic and global economic conditions;

•relatively minor changes in the supply of, and demand for, domestic and foreign energy;

•market uncertainty;

•geopolitical conditions impacting supply and demand for natural gas, NGLs and crude oil;

•production decisions by other countries, such as the failure of countries to abide by recent agreements to reduce production volumes;

•the availability and cost of third-party transportation, natural gas processing and fractionation capacity;

•the level of consumer product demand and storage inventory levels;

•ethane rejection;

•weather conditions;

•domestic and foreign governmental regulations and taxes;

•the price and availability of alternative fuels;

•speculation in the commodity futures markets;

•the effects of imports and exports on the price of natural gas, crude oil, NGL and liquefied natural gas;

•the effect of worldwide energy-conservation measures;

•the impact of new supplies, new pipelines, processing and fractionation facilities on location price differentials; and

•technology and improved efficiency impacting supply and demand for natural gas, NGLs and crude oil.

These external factors and the volatile nature of the energy markets make it difficult to reliably estimate future prices of commodities and the impact commodity price fluctuations have on our customers and their need for our services, which could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Increasing attention to ESG matters, including climate change, may impact our business.

There are increasing expectations that companies across all industries address ESG matters, including climate change. Changes in regulatory policies, public sentiment or widespread adoption of technologies that aim to address climate change through reducing GHG emissions may result in a reduction in the demand for hydrocarbon products, restrictions on their use or increased use of renewable energy. These changes could reduce the demand for our services, impacting our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

In addition, increasing attention to climate change has resulted in an increased likelihood of governmental regulations, investigations, shareholder activism and private litigation, which could increase our costs or otherwise affect adversely our business. For example, there are plans to propose new climate change disclosure requirements this year. While we do not know what form those requirements may take, we may face increased costs associated with complying with any new climate disclosure requirements.

Certain investors are increasingly focused on ESG matters, including climate change. Further, organizations that provide information to investors on corporate governance and related matters have also increased their focus on ESG matters and have developed ratings processes for evaluating companies on various ESG initiatives. Unfavorable ESG ratings may lead to increased negative investor sentiment toward us. Due to climate change concerns, some investors may choose to either not invest, or to reduce their investment, in companies that gather, process, fractionate, transport, store or market products derived from hydrocarbons. If this negative investor sentiment increases, we may see reduced demand for our securities, which could impact our liquidity or the value of our securities. Additionally, certain large institutional lenders have begun to announce their own policies to meet publicly announced climate commitments, which often involve commitments to shift lending activities in

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the energy sector to meet GHG emissions goals. As a result, certain institutional lenders may impose additional requirements on us, or decide not to lend to us, based on ESG concerns, which could adversely affect our access to capital on reasonable terms or at all and, as a result, our financial condition. To the extent financial markets view climate change and emissions of GHGs as a financial risk, this could also negatively affect our ability to access capital or cause us to receive less favorable terms and conditions in future financings.

In September 2021, we announced a 30% absolute GHG reduction target, or 2.2 million metric tons, of our combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030, compared with 2019 base-year levels. To the extent that the potential pathways we have identified to achieve this emissions reduction target are not available to us, or to the extent we otherwise are unable to make progress toward other ESG-related targets we may establish, we may face additional costs to meet these targets, or we may fail to meet them entirely, which could negatively impact our business and reputation.

We may be subject to physical and financial risks associated with climate change.

The threat of global climate change may create physical and financial risks to our business. Some of our customers’ energy needs vary with weather conditions, primarily temperature. For residential customers, heating and cooling represent their largest energy use. To the extent weather conditions may be affected by climate change, customers’ energy use could increase or decrease depending on the duration and magnitude of any changes. Increased energy use due to weather changes may require us to invest in more pipelines and other infrastructure to serve increased demand. A decrease in energy use due to weather changes may affect our financial condition, through decreased revenues. Extreme weather conditions in general require more system backup, adding to costs, and can contribute to increased system stresses, including service interruptions. Weather conditions outside of our operating territory could also have an impact on our revenues. Severe weather impacts our operating territories primarily through hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornados, freezing temperatures and snow or ice storms. To the extent the severity or frequency of extreme weather events increases, this could increase our cost of providing services, including the cost of insurance, and decrease the availability of certain insurance coverages. We may not be able to pass on the higher costs to our customers or recover all costs related to mitigating these physical risks.

Our operations are subject to operational hazards and unforeseen interruptions, which could affect adversely our business and for which we may not be adequately insured.

Our operations are subject to all the risks and hazards typically associated with the operation of natural gas and NGL gathering, transportation and distribution pipelines, storage facilities and processing and fractionation facilities, which include, but are not limited to, leaks, pipeline ruptures, the breakdown or failure of equipment or processes and the performance of facilities below expected levels of capacity and efficiency. Other operational hazards and unforeseen interruptions include adverse weather conditions, infectious disease including a pandemic, cybersecurity attacks, geopolitical reactions, accidents, explosions, fires, the collision of equipment with our pipeline facilities (for example, this may occur if a third party were to perform excavation or construction work near our facilities) and catastrophic events such as tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and other similar events beyond our control. Extreme cold weather can result in supply reductions from producer wellhead freeze-offs, as well as power curtailments or outages, any of which can negatively impact our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows. Further, the United States government warned that energy assets, specifically the nation’s pipeline infrastructure, may be targets of terrorist attacks. An act of terrorism could target our facilities, those of our suppliers or customers or those of other pipelines. A casualty occurrence may result in injury or loss of life, extensive property damage or environmental damage. Liabilities incurred and interruptions to the operations of our pipeline or other facilities caused by such an event could reduce our revenues and increase expenses, thereby impairing our ability to meet our obligations.

As a result of market conditions, premiums and deductibles for certain insurance policies can increase substantially, and, in some instances, certain insurance may become unavailable or available only for reduced amounts of coverage. Consequently, we may not be able to renew existing insurance policies or purchase other desirable insurance on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Insurance proceeds may not be adequate to cover all liabilities or expenses incurred or revenues lost, and we are not fully insured against all risks inherent to our business. If we were to incur a significant liability for which we were not fully insured, it could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows. Further, the proceeds of any such insurance may not be paid in a timely manner.

Continued development of supply sources outside of our operating regions could impact demand for our services.

Production areas outside of our operating regions may compete with natural gas and NGL supply originating in production areas connected to our systems, which may cause natural gas and NGLs in supply areas connected to our systems to be diverted to markets other than our traditional market areas and may affect capacity utilization adversely on our pipeline systems and our ability to renew or replace existing contracts. In our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment, the development of

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reserves could move drilling rigs from our current service areas to other areas, which may reduce demand for our services. In our Natural Gas Pipelines segment, the displacement of natural gas originating in supply areas connected to our pipeline systems by supply sources that are closer to the end-use markets could reduce demand for our services. Either of these possibilities could result in lower revenues, which could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

We do not hedge fully against commodity price risk or interest rate risk, including commodity price changes, seasonal price differentials, product price differentials or location price differentials. This could result in decreased revenues, increased costs and lower margins, affecting adversely our results of operations.

Certain of our businesses are exposed to market risk and the impact of market fluctuations in natural gas, NGLs and crude oil prices. Market risk refers to the risk of loss of future cash flows and earnings arising from adverse changes in commodity prices. Our primary commodity price exposures arise from:

•the value of the commodities sold under fee with POP contracts of which we retain a portion of the sales proceeds;

•the price differentials between the individual NGL products with respect to our NGL transportation and fractionation agreements;

•the location price differentials in the price of natural gas and NGLs;

•the seasonal price differentials in natural gas and NGLs related to our storage operations;

•the price risk related to electric costs to operate our facilities; and

•the fuel costs and the value of the retained fuel in-kind in our natural gas pipelines and storage operations.

To manage the risk from market price fluctuations in natural gas, NGLs, crude oil and electricity prices, we may use derivative instruments such as swaps, futures, forwards and options. However, we do not hedge fully against commodity price changes, and we therefore retain some exposure to market risk. Further, hedging instruments that are used to reduce our exposure to interest-rate fluctuations could expose us to risk of financial loss where we may contract for fixed-rate swap instruments to hedge variable-rate instruments and the fixed rate exceeds the variable rate. Finally, hedging arrangements for forecasted sales and purchases are used to reduce our exposure to commodity price fluctuations and may limit the benefit we would otherwise receive if market prices for natural gas, crude oil and NGLs differ from the stated price in the hedge instrument for these commodities.

A breach of information security, including a cybersecurity attack, or failure of one or more key information technology or operational systems, or those of third parties, may affect adversely our operations, financial results or reputation.

Our businesses are dependent upon our operational systems to process a large amount of data and complex transactions. The various uses of these information technology systems, networks and services include, but are not limited to:

•controlling our plants and pipelines with industrial control systems including Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition;

•collecting and storing customer, employee, investor and other stakeholder information and data;

•processing transactions;

•summarizing and reporting results of operations;

•hosting, processing and sharing confidential and proprietary research, business plans and financial information;

•complying with regulatory, legal, financial or tax requirements;

•providing data security; and

•other processes necessary to manage our business.

If any of our systems are damaged, fail to function properly or otherwise become unavailable, we may incur substantial costs to repair or replace them and may experience loss or corruption of critical data and interruptions or delays in our ability to perform critical functions, which could affect adversely our business and results of operations. Our financial results could also be affected adversely if an individual causes our operational systems to fail, either as a result of inadvertent error or by deliberately tampering with or manipulating our operational systems. In addition, dependence upon automated systems may further increase the risk that operational system flaws, employee tampering or manipulation of those systems will result in losses that are difficult to detect.

Due to increased technology advances and an increase in remote work arrangements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have become more reliant on technology to help increase efficiency in our businesses. We use software to help manage and operate our businesses, and this may subject us to increased risks. According to experts, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a rise in the number and sophistication of cyberattacks on companies’ network and information systems by both state-sponsored and criminal organizations, and as a result, the risks associated with such an event continue to

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increase. A significant failure, compromise, breach or interruption in our systems, or those of our vendors, could result in a disruption of our operations, physical or environmental damages, customer dissatisfaction, damage to our reputation and a loss of customers or revenues. If any such failure, interruption or similar event results in the improper disclosure of information maintained in our information systems and networks or those of our vendors, including personnel, customer and vendor information, we could also be subject to liability under relevant contractual obligations and laws and regulations protecting personal data and privacy. Efforts by us and our vendors to develop, implement and maintain security measures may not be successful in anticipating, detecting or preventing these events from occurring, and any network and information systems-related events could require us to expend significant resources to identify, assess and remedy such events. Cybersecurity, physical security and the continued development and enhancement of our controls, processes and practices designed to protect our enterprise, information systems and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access and to identify and appropriately report cyberattacks, remain a priority for us. Although we believe that we have robust information security procedures and other safeguards in place, including sufficient insurance, as cyberthreats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to continue to enhance our information security measures and/or to investigate and remediate information security vulnerabilities.

Cyberattacks against us or others in our industry could result in additional regulations or contractual obligations. Current efforts by the federal government, such as the Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity executive order, and the TSA security directives issued in May and July 2021, have utilized significant internal and external resources, and any potential future statutes, regulations or orders could lead to further increased regulatory compliance costs, insurance coverage costs or capital expenditures. We cannot predict the potential impact to our business resulting from additional regulations.

Growing our business by constructing new pipelines and facilities or making modifications to our existing facilities subjects us to construction risk and supply risks, should adequate natural gas or NGL supply be unavailable upon completion of the facilities.

To expand our business, we regularly construct new and modify or expand existing pipelines and gathering, processing, storage and fractionation facilities. The construction and modification of these facilities may involve the following risks:

•projects may require significant capital expenditures, which may exceed our estimates, and involve numerous regulatory, environmental, political, legal and weather-related uncertainties;

•projects may increase demand for labor, materials and rights of way, which may, in turn, affect our costs and schedule;

•we may be unable to obtain new rights of way to connect new natural gas or NGL supplies to our existing gathering or transportation pipelines;

•if we undertake these projects, we may not be able to complete them on schedule or at the budgeted cost;

•our revenues may not increase immediately upon the expenditure of funds on a particular project. For instance, if we build a new pipeline, the construction will occur over an extended period of time, and we will not receive any material increases in revenues until after completion of the project;

•we may construct facilities to capture anticipated future growth in production in a region in which anticipated production growth does not materialize;

•opposition from environmental and social groups, landowners, tribal groups, local groups and other advocates could result in organized protests, attempts to block or sabotage our construction activities or operations, intervention in regulatory or administrative proceedings involving our assets, or lawsuits or other actions designed to prevent, disrupt or delay the construction or operation of our assets; and

•we may be required to rely on third parties downstream of our facilities to have available capacity for our delivered natural gas or NGLs, which may not yet be operational.

As a result, new facilities may not be able to attract enough natural gas or NGLs to achieve our expected investment return, which could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Estimates of hydrocarbon reserves may be inaccurate, which could result in lower than anticipated volumes.

We may not be able to accurately estimate hydrocarbon reserves and production volumes expected to be delivered to us for a variety of reasons, including the unavailability of sufficiently detailed information and unanticipated changes in producers’ expected drilling schedules. Accordingly, we may not have accurate estimates of total reserves committed to our assets, the anticipated life of such reserves or the expected volumes to be produced from those reserves. In such event, if we are unable to secure additional sources, then the volumes that we gather, process, fractionate and transport in the future could be less than anticipated. A decline in such volumes could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

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We do not own all of the land on which our pipelines and facilities are located, and we lease certain facilities and equipment, which could disrupt our operations.

We do not own all of the land on which certain of our pipelines and facilities are located, and we are, therefore, subject to the risk of increased costs to maintain necessary land use. We obtain the rights to construct and operate certain of our pipelines and related facilities on land owned by third parties and governmental agencies for a specific period of time. Our loss of these rights, through our inability to renew right-of-way contracts on acceptable terms or increased costs to renew such rights, could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Measurement adjustments on our pipeline system may be impacted materially by changes in estimation, type of commodity and other factors.

Natural gas and NGL measurement adjustments occur as part of the normal operating conditions associated with our assets. The quantification and resolution of measurement adjustments are complicated by several factors including: (i) the significant quantities (i.e., thousands) of measurement equipment that we use across our natural gas and NGL systems, primarily around our gathering and processing assets; (ii) varying qualities of natural gas in the streams gathered and processed through our systems and the mixed nature of NGLs gathered and fractionated; and (iii) variances in measurement that are inherent in metering technologies and standards. Each of these factors may contribute to measurement adjustments that may occur on our systems, which could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

In the competition for supply, we may have significant levels of excess capacity on our natural gas and NGL pipelines, processing, fractionation and storage assets.

Our natural gas and NGL pipelines, processing, fractionation and storage assets compete with other pipelines, processing, fractionation and storage assets for natural gas and NGL supply delivered to the markets we serve. As a result of competition, we may have significant levels of uncontracted or discounted capacity on our assets, which could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Many of our assets have been in service for several decades.

Many of our pipeline and storage assets are designed as long-lived assets. Over time the age of these assets could result in increased maintenance or remediation expenditures and an increased risk of product releases and associated costs and liabilities. Any significant increase in these expenditures, costs or liabilities could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows, as well as our ability to pay cash dividends.

Our operating cash flows are derived partially from cash distributions we receive from our unconsolidated affiliates.

Our operating cash flows are derived partially from cash distributions we receive from our unconsolidated affiliates, as discussed in Note M of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report. The amount of cash that our unconsolidated affiliates can distribute principally depends upon the amount of cash flows these affiliates generate from their respective operations, which may fluctuate from quarter to quarter. We do not have any direct control over the cash distribution policies of our unconsolidated affiliates. This lack of control may contribute to us not having sufficient available cash each quarter to continue paying dividends at the current levels.

Additionally, the amount of cash that we have available for cash dividends depends primarily upon our cash flows, including working capital borrowings, and is not solely a function of profitability, which will be affected by noncash items such as depreciation, amortization and provisions for asset impairments. As a result, we may be able to pay cash dividends during periods when we record losses and may not be able to pay cash dividends during periods when we record net income.

We may be unable to cause our joint ventures to take or not to take certain actions unless some or all of our joint-venture participants agree.

We participate in several joint ventures. Due to the nature of some of these arrangements, each participant in these joint ventures has made substantial investments in the joint venture and, accordingly, has required that the relevant charter documents contain certain features designed to provide each participant with the opportunity to participate in the management of the joint venture and to protect its investment, as well as any other assets that may be substantially dependent on or otherwise affected by the activities of that joint venture. These participation and protective features customarily include a corporate governance structure that requires at least a majority-in-interest vote to authorize many basic activities and requires a greater voting interest (sometimes up to 100%) to authorize more significant activities. Examples of these more significant activities

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are large expenditures or contractual commitments, the construction or acquisition of assets, borrowing money or otherwise raising capital, transactions with affiliates of a joint-venture participant, litigation and transactions not in the ordinary course of business, among others. Thus, without the concurrence of joint-venture participants with enough voting interests, we may be unable to cause any of our joint ventures to take or not to take certain actions, even though those actions may be in the best interest of us or the particular joint venture.

Moreover, subject to contractual restrictions, any joint-venture owner generally may sell, transfer or otherwise modify its ownership interest in a joint venture, whether in a transaction involving third parties or the other joint-venture owners. Any such transaction could result in us being required to partner with different or additional parties who may have business interests different from ours.

We do not operate all of our joint-venture assets nor do we employ directly all of the persons responsible for providing administrative, operating and management services. This reliance on others to operate joint-venture assets and to provide other services could affect adversely our business and results of operations.

We rely on others to provide administrative, operating and management services for certain of our joint-venture assets. We have a limited ability to control the operations and the associated costs of such operations. The success of these operations depends on a number of factors that are outside our control, including the competence and financial resources of the operator or an outsourced service provider. We may have to contract elsewhere for outsourced services, which may cost more than we are currently paying. In addition, we may not be able to obtain the same level or kind of service or retain or receive the services in a timely manner, which may impact our ability to perform under our contracts and affect adversely our business and results of operations.

RISK FACTORS RELATED TO REGULATION

Increased regulation of exploration and production activities, including hydraulic fracturing, well setbacks and disposal of wastewater, could result in reductions or delays in drilling and completing new crude oil and natural gas wells.

The crude oil and natural gas industry is relying increasingly on supplies from nonconventional sources, such as shale and tight sands. Natural gas extracted from these sources frequently requires hydraulic fracturing, which involves the pressurized injection of water, sand and chemicals into a geologic formation to stimulate crude oil and natural gas production. Legislation or regulations placing restrictions on exploration and production activities, including hydraulic fracturing and disposal of wastewater, could result in operational delays, increased operating costs and additional regulatory burdens on exploration and production operators. Any of these factors could reduce their production of unprocessed natural gas and, in turn, affect adversely our revenues and results of operations by decreasing the volumes of natural gas and NGLs gathered, treated, processed, fractionated and transported on our or our joint ventures’ assets.

Our business is subject to regulatory oversight and potential penalties.

The energy industry historically has been subject to heavy state and federal regulation that extends to many aspects of our businesses and operations, including:

•change to federal, state and local taxation;

•regulatory approval and review of certain of our rates, operating terms and conditions of service;

•the types of services we may offer our counterparties;

•construction and operation of new facilities;

•the integrity, safety and security of facilities and operations;

•acquisition, extension or abandonment of services or facilities;

•reporting and information posting requirements;

•maintenance of accounts and records; and

•relationships with affiliate companies involved in all aspects of the natural gas and energy businesses.

Compliance with these requirements can be costly and burdensome. Future changes to laws, regulations and policies in these areas may impair our ability to compete for business or to recover costs and may increase the cost and burden of our operations. We cannot guarantee that state or federal regulators will not challenge our safety practices or will authorize any projects or acquisitions that we may propose in the future. Moreover, there can be no guarantee that, if granted, any such authorizations will be made in a timely manner or will be free from potentially burdensome conditions.

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Under the Natural Gas Act, which is applicable to our interstate natural gas pipelines, and the Interstate Commerce Act, which is applicable to our NGL pipelines, our interstate transportation rates are regulated by the FERC and many changes to our pipeline tariffs must be approved in a regulatory proceeding. Additionally, shippers, the FERC and/or state regulatory agencies may investigate our tariff rates which could result in, among other things, being ordered to reduce rates or make refunds to shippers.

Failure to comply with all applicable state or federal statutes, rules and regulations and orders could bring substantial penalties and fines.

We may face significant costs to comply with the regulation of GHG emissions.

GHG emissions originate primarily from combustion engine exhaust, heater exhaust and fugitive methane gas emissions. International, federal, regional and/or state legislative and/or regulatory initiatives may attempt to control or limit GHG emissions, including initiatives directed at issues associated with climate change. Various federal and state legislative proposals have been introduced to regulate the emission of GHGs, particularly carbon dioxide and methane, and the United States Supreme Court has ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant subject to regulation by the EPA. In addition, there have been international efforts seeking legally binding reductions in emissions of GHGs.

We believe it is likely that future governmental legislation and/or regulation on the federal, state or regional level may require us either to limit GHG emissions associated with our operations, pay additional taxes or to purchase allowances for certain emissions. These legislative and/or regulatory initiatives could make some of our activities uneconomic to maintain or operate. However, we cannot predict precisely what form these future regulations will take, the stringency of the regulations, when they will become effective or the impact on our capital expenditures, competitive position and results of operations. In addition to activities on the federal level, state and regional initiatives could also lead to the regulation of GHG emissions sooner than or independent of federal regulation. These regulations could be more stringent than any federal legislation that may be adopted. Further, we may not be able to pass on the higher costs to our customers or recover all costs related to complying with GHG regulatory requirements. Our future results of operations, financial position or cash flows could be affected adversely if such costs are not recovered or otherwise passed on to our customers.

Our operations are subject to federal and state laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment, which may expose us to significant costs and liabilities. Increased litigation challenging oil and gas development and changes to laws, regulations and policies could impact adversely our business.

The risk of incurring substantial environmental costs and liabilities is inherent in our business. Our operations are subject to extensive federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the discharge of materials into, or otherwise relating to the protection of, the environment. Examples of these laws include:

•the Clean Air Act and analogous state laws that impose obligations related to air emissions;

•the Clean Water Act and analogous state laws that regulate discharge of wastewater from our facilities into state and federal waters;

•the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and analogous state laws that regulate the cleanup of hazardous substances that may have been released at properties currently or previously owned or operated by us or locations to which we have sent waste for disposal; and

•the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and analogous state laws that impose requirements for the handling and discharge of solid and hazardous waste from our facilities.

Recently, the EPA has proposed updating the New Source Performance Standards Subpart OOOO regulations to further reduce methane emissions, which includes increased monitoring frequency and more stringent repair requirements for new and modified oil and gas facilities. In addition, the EPA is proposing new nationwide emission guidelines for states to limit methane emissions from existing facilities. We cannot predict the potential impact to our business resulting from these additional regulations and guidelines.

Various federal and state governmental authorities, including the EPA, have the power to enforce compliance with these laws and regulations and the permits issued under them. Violators are subject to administrative, civil and criminal penalties, including civil fines, injunctions or both. Joint and several, strict liability may be incurred without regard to fault under the CERCLA, RCRA and analogous state laws for the remediation of contaminated areas.

There is an inherent risk of incurring environmental costs and liabilities in our business due to our handling of the products we gather, transport, process and store, air emissions related to our operations, past industry operations and waste disposal

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practices, some of which may be material. Private parties, including the owners of properties through which our pipeline systems pass, may have the right to pursue legal actions to enforce compliance as well as to seek damages for noncompliance with environmental laws and regulations or for personal injury or property damage arising from our operations. Some sites we operate are located near current or former third-party hydrocarbon storage and processing operations, and there is a risk that contamination has migrated from those sites to ours. In addition, increasingly strict laws, regulations and enforcement policies could increase significantly our compliance costs and the cost of any remediation that may become necessary, some of which may be material. Additional information is included under Item 1, Business, under “Regulatory, Environmental and Safety Matters” and in Note N of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.

Increased litigation challenging oil and gas development, changes to laws, regulations and policies, as well as changes in regulators’ interpretation or application of such laws, regulations and policies could impact our business. These actions could, among other things, impact our customers’ activities, our existing permits and our ability to obtain permits for new development projects, which could affect adversely our business, financial position, or results of operations.

Our insurance may not cover all environmental risks and has limits on coverage in the event an environmental claim is made against us. Our business may be affected adversely by increased costs due to stricter pollution-control requirements or liabilities resulting from noncompliance with required operating or other regulatory permits. New or revised environmental regulations might also affect adversely our products and activities, and federal and state agencies could impose additional safety requirements, all of which could affect adversely our profitability.

RISK FACTORS RELATED TO FINANCING OUR BUSINESS

Changes in interest rates could affect adversely our business.

We use both fixed and variable rate debt, and we are exposed to market risk due to the floating interest rates on our short-term borrowings. Our results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be affected adversely by significant fluctuations in interest rates from current levels.

In July 2017, the head of the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority announced the desire to phase out the use of LIBOR by the end of 2021. However, in March 2021, the administrator of LIBOR, the ICE Benchmark Administration, announced all U.S. dollar LIBOR tenors will continue to be published through June 2023, with the exception of one-week and two-month tenors, which ceased at the end of 2021. The U.S. Federal Reserve concurrently issued a statement advising banks to stop new LIBOR issuances by the end of 2021. It is impossible to predict whether and to what extent banks will continue to provide LIBOR submissions to the administrator of LIBOR or whether any additional reforms to LIBOR may be enacted in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. Actions by the British Bankers Association, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority or other regulators or law enforcement agencies as a result of these or future events, may result in changes to the manner in which LIBOR is determined. In addition, any further changes or reforms to the determination or supervision of LIBOR may result in a sudden or prolonged increase or decrease in reported LIBOR.

At this time, no consensus exists as to what rate or rates will become accepted alternatives to LIBOR, although on July 29, 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, a U.S.-based steering committee composed of large US financial institutions convened by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, formally recommended SOFR Term rates. Given the inherent differences between LIBOR and SOFR, or any other alternative benchmark rate that is established, there are many uncertainties regarding a transition from LIBOR, including how this will impact the cost of our variable rate debt and certain derivative financial instruments, or whether the COVID-19 pandemic will have further effect on LIBOR transition plans. In addition, although financial institutions are increasingly utilizing SOFR in credit facilities, it is unknown whether SOFR or any other alternative reference rate will attain market acceptance as a replacement for LIBOR.

Our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement includes provisions that grant the administrative agent discretion to establish a replacement rate for LIBOR, if necessary, which could increase our short-term borrowing costs for amounts issued under this facility.

Any reduction in our credit ratings could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Our long-term debt has been assigned an investment-grade credit rating of “Baa3” by Moody’s and “BBB” by both S&P and Fitch. Our commercial paper program has been assigned an investment-grade credit rating of Prime-3, A-2 and F-2 by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch, respectively. We cannot provide assurance that any of our current ratings will remain in effect for any given period of time or that a rating will not be lowered or withdrawn entirely by these credit rating agencies. If these agencies were to downgrade our long-term debt or our commercial paper rating, particularly below investment grade, our

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borrowing costs could increase, which would affect adversely our financial results, and our potential pool of investors and funding sources could decrease. Ratings from these agencies are not recommendations to buy, sell or hold our securities. Each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating.

Our indebtedness and guarantee obligations could impair our financial condition and our ability to fulfill our obligations.

As of December 31, 2021, we had total indebtedness of $13.6 billion. Our indebtedness and guarantee obligations could have significant consequences. For example, they could:

•make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to senior notes and other indebtedness due to the increased debt-service obligations, which could, in turn, result in an event of default on such other indebtedness or the senior notes;

•impair our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or general business purposes;

•diminish our ability to withstand a downturn in our business or the economy;

•require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations to debt-service payments, reducing the availability of cash for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, dividends or general corporate purposes;

•limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate; and

•place us at a competitive disadvantage compared with our competitors that have proportionately less debt and fewer guarantee obligations.

We are not prohibited under the indentures governing the senior notes from incurring additional indebtedness, but our debt agreements do subject us to certain operational limitations summarized in the next paragraph. If we incur significant additional indebtedness, it could worsen the negative consequences mentioned above and could affect adversely our ability to repay our other indebtedness.

Our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement contains provisions that restrict our ability to finance future operations or capital needs or to expand or pursue our business activities. For example, our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement contains provisions that, among other things, limit our ability to make loans or investments, make material changes to the nature of our business, merge, consolidate or engage in asset sales, grant liens or make negative pledges. It also requires us to maintain certain financial ratios, which limit the amount of additional indebtedness we can incur, as described in the “Liquidity and Capital Resources” section of Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, in this Annual Report. These restrictions could result in higher costs of borrowing and impair our ability to generate additional cash. Future financing agreements we may enter into may contain similar or more restrictive covenants.

If we are unable to meet our debt-service obligations or comply with financial covenants, we could be forced to restructure or refinance our indebtedness, seek additional equity capital or sell assets. We may be unable to obtain financing or sell assets on satisfactory terms, or at all.

An event of default may require us to offer to repurchase certain of our and ONEOK Partners’ senior notes or may impair our ability to access capital.

The indentures governing certain of our and ONEOK Partners’ senior notes include an event of default upon the acceleration of other indebtedness of $15 million or more for certain of our senior notes or $100 million or more for certain of our and ONEOK Partners’ senior notes. Such events of default would entitle the trustee or the holders of 25% in aggregate principal amount of our and ONEOK Partners’ outstanding senior notes to declare those senior notes immediately due and payable in full. We may not have sufficient cash on hand to repurchase and repay any accelerated senior notes, which may cause us to borrow money under our credit facility or seek alternative financing sources to finance the repurchases and repayment. We could also face difficulties accessing capital or our borrowing costs could increase, impacting our ability to obtain financing for acquisitions or capital expenditures, to refinance indebtedness and to fulfill our debt obligations.

The right to receive payments on our outstanding debt securities and subsidiary guarantees is unsecured and will be effectively subordinated to any future secured indebtedness as well as to any existing and future indebtedness of our subsidiaries that do not guarantee the senior notes.

Although ONEOK Partners and the Intermediate Partnership have guaranteed our debt securities, the guarantees are subject to release under certain circumstances, and we have subsidiaries that are not guarantors. In those cases, the debt securities effectively are subordinated to the claims of all creditors, including trade creditors and tort claimants, of our subsidiaries that

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are not guarantors. In the event of the insolvency, bankruptcy, liquidation, reorganization, dissolution or winding up of the business of a subsidiary that is not a guarantor, creditors of that subsidiary would generally have the right to be paid in full before any distribution is made to us or the holders of the debt securities.

A court may use fraudulent conveyance considerations to avoid or subordinate the cross guarantees of our and ONEOK Partners’ indebtedness.

ONEOK, ONEOK Partners and the Intermediate Partnership have cross guarantees in place for our and ONEOK Partners’ indebtedness. A court may use fraudulent conveyance laws to subordinate or avoid the cross guarantees of certain of our and ONEOK Partners’ indebtedness. It is also possible that under certain circumstances, a court could avoid or subordinate the guarantor’s guarantee of our and ONEOK Partners’ indebtedness in favor of the guarantor’s other debts or liabilities to the extent that the court determined either of the following were true at the time the guarantor issued the guarantee:

•the guarantor incurred the guarantee with the intent to hinder, delay or defraud any of its present or future creditors or the guarantor contemplated insolvency with a design to favor one or more creditors to the total or partial exclusion of others; or

•the guarantor did not receive fair consideration or reasonable equivalent value for issuing the guarantee and, at the time it issued the guarantee, the guarantor:

– was insolvent or rendered insolvent by reason of the issuance of the guarantee;

– was engaged or about to engage in a business or transaction for which its remaining assets constituted unreasonably small capital; or

– intended to incur, or believed that it would incur, debts beyond its ability to pay such debts as they matured.

The measure of insolvency for purposes of the foregoing will vary depending upon the law of the relevant jurisdiction. Generally, however, an entity would be considered insolvent for purposes of the foregoing if:

•the sum of its debts, including contingent liabilities, were greater than the fair saleable value of all of its assets at a fair valuation;

•the present fair saleable value of its assets was less than the amount that would be required to pay its probable liability on its existing debts, including contingent liabilities, as they become absolute and mature; or

•it could not pay its debts as they become due.

Among other things, a legal challenge of the cross guarantees of our and ONEOK Partners’ indebtedness on fraudulent conveyance grounds may focus on the benefits, if any, realized by the guarantor as a result of our and ONEOK Partners’ issuance of such debt. To the extent the guarantor’s guarantee of our and ONEOK Partners’ indebtedness is avoided as a result of fraudulent conveyance or held unenforceable for any other reason, the holders of such debt would cease to have any claim in respect of the guarantee.

GENERAL RISK FACTORS

Holders of our common stock may receive dividends that vary from anticipated amounts, or no dividends at all.

We may not have sufficient cash each quarter to pay dividends or maintain current or expected levels of dividends. The actual amount of cash we pay in the form of dividends may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and will depend on various factors, some of which are beyond our control, including our working capital needs, our ability to borrow, the restrictions contained in our indentures and credit facility, our debt service requirements and the cost of acquisitions, if any. A failure either to pay dividends or to pay dividends at expected levels could result in a loss of investor confidence, reputational damage and a decrease in the value of our stock price.

We are exposed to the credit risk of our customers or counterparties, and our credit-risk management may not be adequate to protect against such risk.

We are subject to the risk of loss resulting from nonpayment and/or nonperformance by our customers and counterparties. Our customers or counterparties may experience rapid deterioration of their financial condition as a result of changing market conditions, commodity prices or financial difficulties that could impact their creditworthiness or ability to pay us for our services. We assess the creditworthiness of our customers and counterparties and obtain collateral or contractual terms as we deem appropriate. We cannot, however, predict to what extent our business may be impacted by deteriorating market or financial conditions, including possible declines in our customers’ and counterparties’ creditworthiness. Our customers and counterparties may not perform or adhere to our existing or future contractual arrangements. To the extent our customers and counterparties are in financial distress or commence bankruptcy proceedings, contracts with them may be subject to

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renegotiation or rejection under applicable provisions of the United States Bankruptcy Code. If our risk-management policies and procedures fail to assess adequately the creditworthiness of existing or future customers and counterparties, any material nonpayment or nonperformance by our customers and counterparties due to inability or unwillingness to perform or adhere to contractual arrangements could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position, cash flows and ability to pay cash dividends to our shareholders.

We are connected to market areas located in the Mid-Continent, Rocky Mountain, Permian Basin, Midwest markets, including Chicago, Illinois, and Gulf Coast regions of the U.S. Our counterparties are primarily major integrated and independent exploration and production, pipeline, marketing and petrochemical companies and natural gas and electric utilities. Therefore, our counterparties may be similarly affected by changes in economic, regulatory or other factors that may affect our overall credit risk.

A shortage of skilled labor may make it difficult for us to maintain labor productivity and competitive costs.

Our operations require skilled and experienced workers with proficiency in multiple tasks. In recent years, a shortage of workers trained in various skills associated with the midstream energy business has, at times, caused us to conduct certain operations without full staff, thus hiring outside resources, which may decrease productivity and increase costs. This shortage of trained workers is the result of experienced workers reaching retirement age and increased competition for workers in certain areas, combined with the challenges of attracting new, qualified workers to the midstream energy industry. This shortage of skilled labor could continue over an extended period. If the shortage of experienced labor continues or worsens, it could affect adversely our labor productivity and costs and our ability to expand operations in the event there is an increase in the demand for our services and products, which could affect adversely our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Our employees or directors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.

As with all companies, we are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Our Board of Directors has adopted a code of business conduct and ethics that applies to our directors, officers (including our principal executive and financial officers, principal accounting officer, controllers and other persons performing similar functions) and all other employees. We require all directors, officers and employees to adhere to our code of business conduct and ethics in addressing the legal and ethical issues encountered in conducting their work for our company. Our code of business conduct and ethics requires, among other things, that our directors, officers and employees avoid conflicts of interest, comply with all applicable laws and other legal requirements, conduct business in an honest and ethical manner and otherwise act with integrity and in our company’s best interest. All directors, officers and employees are required to report any conduct that they believe to be an actual or apparent violation of our code of business conduct and ethics. However, it is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could affect adversely our reputation, business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

An impairment of goodwill, long-lived assets, including intangible assets, and equity-method investments could reduce our earnings.

Goodwill is recorded when the purchase price of a business exceeds the fair market value of the tangible and separately measurable intangible net assets. GAAP requires us to test goodwill for impairment on an annual basis or when events or circumstances occur indicating that goodwill might be impaired. Long-lived assets, including intangible assets with finite useful lives, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. For the investments we account for under the equity method, the impairment test considers whether the fair value of the equity investment as a whole, not the underlying net assets, has declined and whether that decline is other than temporary. For example, if a low commodity price environment persisted for a prolonged period, it could result in lower volumes delivered to our systems and impairments of our assets or equity-method investments. If we determine that an impairment is indicated, we would be required to take an immediate noncash charge to earnings with a correlative effect on equity and balance sheet leverage as measured by consolidated debt to total capitalization.

For further discussion of impairments of goodwill, long-lived assets and equity-method investments, see Notes A, E, D and M, respectively, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.

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Acquisitions that appear to be accretive may nevertheless reduce our cash from operations on a per-share basis.

Any acquisition involves potential risks that may include, among other things:

•inaccurate assumptions about volumes, revenues and costs, including potential synergies;

•an inability to integrate successfully the businesses we acquire;

•decrease in our liquidity as a result of our using a significant portion of our available cash or borrowing capacity to finance the acquisition;

•a significant increase in our interest expense and/or financial leverage if we incur additional debt to finance the acquisition;

•the assumption of unknown liabilities for which we are not indemnified, our indemnity is inadequate or our insurance policies may exclude from coverage;

•an inability to hire, train or retain qualified personnel to manage and operate the acquired business and assets;

•limitations on rights to indemnity from the seller;

•inaccurate assumptions about the overall costs of equity or debt;

•the diversion of management’s and employees’ attention from other business concerns;

•unforeseen difficulties operating in new product areas or new geographic areas;

•increased regulatory burdens;

•customer or key employee losses at an acquired business; and

•increased regulatory requirements.

If we consummate any future acquisitions, our capitalization and results of operations may change significantly, and investors will not have the opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial and other relevant information that we will consider in determining the application of our resources to future acquisitions.

The cost of providing pension and postretirement health care benefits to eligible employees and qualified retirees is subject to changes in pension fund values and changing demographics and may increase.

We have a defined benefit pension plan for certain employees and former employees, which closed to new participants in 2005, and postretirement welfare plans that provide postretirement medical and life insurance benefits to certain employees hired prior to 2017 who retire with at least five years of full-time service. The cost of providing these benefits to eligible current and former employees is subject to changes in the market value of our pension and postretirement benefit plan assets, changing demographics, including longer life expectancy of plan participants and their beneficiaries and changes in health care costs. For further discussion of our defined benefit pension plan and postretirement welfare plans, see Note K of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.

Any sustained declines in equity markets and reductions in bond yields may affect adversely the value of our pension and postretirement benefit plan assets. In these circumstances, additional cash contributions to our pension plans may be required, which could affect adversely our business, financial condition and liquidity.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to report accurately our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, current and potential holders of our equity and debt securities could lose confidence in our financial reporting.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports, prevent fraud and operate successfully as a public company. We cannot be certain that our efforts to maintain our internal controls will be successful, that we will be able to maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future or that we will be able to continue to comply with our obligations under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls, or difficulties encountered in implementing or improving our internal controls, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our equity, our access to capital markets and the cost of capital.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Not applicable.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

A description of our properties is included in Item 1, Business.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Information about our legal proceedings is included in Note N of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock is listed on the NYSE under the trading symbol “OKE.” The corporate name ONEOK is used in newspaper stock listings.

At February 22, 2022, there were 13,198 holders of record of our 446,213,285 outstanding shares of common stock.

For information regarding our Employee Stock Award Program and other equity compensation plans, see Note J of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements and “Equity Compensation Plan Information” included in Part III, Item 12, Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters, in this Annual Report.

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PERFORMANCE GRAPH

The following performance graph compares the performance of our common stock with the S&P 500 Index, the Alerian Midstream Energy Select Index and a ONEOK Peer Group during the period beginning on December 31, 2016, and ending on December 31, 2021.

Value of a $100 Investment, Assuming Reinvestment of Distributions/Dividends,

at December 31, 2016, and at the End of Every Year Through December 31, 2021.

Cumulative Total Return

Years Ended December 31,

(a) - The ONEOK Peer Group is composed of the following companies: DCP Midstream, LP; Energy Transfer LP; EnLink Midstream, LLC; Enterprise Products Partners L.P.; Kinder Morgan, Inc.; Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P.; MPLX LP; NuStar Energy L.P.; Plains All American Pipeline, L.P.; Targa Resources Corp.; and The Williams Companies, Inc.

(b) - The Alerian Midstream Energy Select Index measures the composite performance of approximately 33 North American energy infrastructure companies who are engaged in midstream activities involving energy commodities.

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with Part I, Item 1, Business, our audited Consolidated Financial Statements and the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Please refer to the “Financial Results and Operating Information” and “Liquidity and Capital Resources” sections of Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in this Annual Report for additional information.

Market Conditions - We experienced earnings growth from increased volumes in 2021, compared with 2020, due primarily to increased producer activity and rising gas-to-oil ratios in the Rocky Mountain region, production curtailments in 2020, increased ethane production in the Rocky Mountain region and higher commodity prices in both our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing and Natural Gas Liquids segments, highlighting both the resiliency of our integrated assets and the economic recovery from the pandemic.

Ethane Production - Price differentials between ethane and natural gas can cause natural gas processors to extract ethane or leave it in the natural gas stream, known as ethane rejection. As a result of these ethane economics, ethane volumes on our system can fluctuate period to period. Ethane volumes under long-term contracts delivered to our NGL system increased approximately 55 MBbl/d to an average of 430 MBbl/d in 2021, compared with 375 MBbl/d in 2020, due primarily to changes in ethane extraction economics. We estimate that there are more than 225 MBbl/d of discretionary ethane, consisting of more than 125 MBbl/d in the Rocky Mountain region and approximately 100 MBbl/d in the Mid-Continent region, that can be recovered and transported on our system. Ethane recovery opportunities will fluctuate based on regional natural gas pricing and ethane economics.

Growth Projects - We operate an integrated, reliable and diversified network of NGL and natural gas gathering, processing, fractionation, storage and transportation assets connecting supply in the Rocky Mountain, Mid-Continent and Permian regions with key market centers. Our publicly announced capital-growth projects are outlined in the table below:

Project Scope ApproximateCosts (a) Completion

Natural Gas Gathering and Processing (In millions)

Supported by acreage dedications with long-term primarily fee-based contracts

Supported by acreage dedications with primarily fee-based contracts

Natural Gas Liquids

Increased capacity to 500 MBbl/d

(a) - Excludes capitalized interest/AFUDC.

(b) - In November 2021, we announced that we restarted construction of the Demicks Lake III natural gas processing plant. Upon announcement, the expected cost to complete was approximately $140 million.

(c) - In November 2021, we announced that we restarted construction of the MB-5 NGL fractionator. Upon announcement, the expected cost to complete was approximately $250 million.

Debt Repayments - In November 2021, we redeemed the remaining $536.1 million of our $700 million, 4.25% senior notes due February 2022 at 100% of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest, with cash on hand and short-term borrowings.

In June 2021, we repaid the remaining $11.7 million of Guardian Pipeline’s senior notes due December 2022 with cash on hand.

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In 2021, we repurchased in the open market outstanding principal of certain of our senior notes in the amount of $55.2 million for an aggregate repurchase price of $54.6 million with cash on hand.

Dividends - During 2021, we paid common stock dividends totaling $3.74 per share, which is consistent with the prior year. In February 2022, we paid a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.935 per share ($3.74 per share on an annualized basis), which is consistent with the same quarter in the prior year.

FINANCIAL RESULTS AND OPERATING INFORMATION

How We Evaluate Our Operations

Management uses a variety of financial and operating metrics to analyze our performance. Our consolidated financial metrics include: (1) operating income; (2) net income; (3) diluted EPS; and (4) adjusted EBITDA. We evaluate segment operating results using adjusted EBITDA and our operating metrics, which include various volume and rate statistics that are relevant for the respective segment. These operating metrics allow investors to analyze the various components of segment financial results in terms of volumes and rate/price. Management uses these metrics to analyze historical segment financial results and as the key inputs for forecasting and budgeting segment financial results. For additional information on our operating metrics, see the respective segment subsections of this “Financial Results and Operating Information” section.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures - Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure of our financial performance. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income adjusted for interest expense, depreciation and amortization, noncash impairment charges, income taxes, allowance for equity funds used during construction, noncash compensation expense and certain other noncash items. We believe this non-GAAP financial measure is useful to investors because it and similar measures are used by many companies in our industry as a measurement of financial performance and is commonly employed by financial analysts and others to evaluate our financial performance and to compare financial performance among companies in our industry. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered an alternative to net income, EPS or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with GAAP. Additionally, this calculation may not be comparable with similarly titled measures of other companies.

Consolidated Operations

Selected Financial Results - The following table sets forth certain selected consolidated financial results for the periods indicated:

(Millions of dollars, except per share amounts)

Revenues

(Gain) loss on sale of assets (1.4) (1.3) 2.6 0.1 3.9

Impairment of equity investments $ — $ (37.7) $ — (37.7) 37.7

See reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA in the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section.

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Changes in commodity prices and sales volumes affect both revenues and cost of sales and fuel in our Consolidated Statements of Income, and, therefore, the impact is largely offset between these line items.

2021 vs. 2020 - Operating income increased $1.2 billion primarily as a result of the following:

•an increase of $607.2 million due to noncash impairment charges in our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing and Natural Gas Liquids segments in 2020;

•Natural Gas Liquids - increases of $421.4 million in exchange services related primarily to higher volumes in the Rocky Mountain region, the Mid-Continent region and Permian Basin and wider commodity price differentials, and $98.3 million in optimization and marketing. These increases were offset partially by a decrease of $46.2 million from the impact of Winter Storm Uri in exchange services;

•Natural Gas Gathering and Processing - increases of $143.5 million due primarily to lower realized prices in 2020 impacting our fee with POP contracts and $115.8 million from higher volumes due primarily to increased production and rising gas-to-oil ratios in the Rocky Mountain region in 2021 and production curtailments in 2020; and

•Natural Gas Pipelines - an increase of $109.1 million due to primarily to increased natural gas sales; offset by

•an increase of $180.9 million in consolidated operating costs due primarily to higher employee costs related to short-term incentives, property taxes, outside services and the impact of a loss on the mark-to-market of our share-based deferred compensation plan in 2021 compared with a benefit in 2020; and

•an increase of $43.0 million in depreciation expense due to capital projects placed in service.

Net income and diluted EPS increased due primarily to the items discussed above and noncash impairment charges related to equity investments in our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing and Natural Gas Liquids segments in the prior year. These increases were offset partially by higher income taxes, higher interest expense related to lower capitalized interest and lower equity AFUDC due to completed projects, lower equity in net earnings from investments and a gain in 2020 on extinguishment of debt related to open market repurchases.

Capital expenditures decreased due primarily to our completed and paused capital-growth projects.

Additional information regarding our financial results and operating information is provided in the discussions for each of our segments.

Selected Financial Results and Operating Information for the Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 - The consolidated and segment financial results and operating information for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared with the year ended December 31, 2019, are included in Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is available via the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and our website at www.oneok.com.

Natural Gas Gathering and Processing

Growth Projects - Our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment has invested in growth projects in NGL-rich areas in the Williston Basin. See “Growth Projects” in the “Recent Developments” section for discussion of our capital-growth projects.

For a discussion of our capital expenditure financing, see “Capital Expenditures” in the “Liquidity and Capital Resources” section.

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Selected Financial Results and Operating Information - The following tables set forth certain selected financial results and operating information for our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment for the periods indicated:

(Millions of dollars)

Equity in net earnings (loss) from investments 3.8 (1.1) (6.3) 4.9 5.2

See reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA in the “Non-GAAP Measures” section.

Changes in commodity prices and sales volumes affect both revenue and cost of sales and fuel, and, therefore, the impact is largely offset between these line items.

2021 vs. 2020 - Adjusted EBITDA increased $239.1 million, primarily as a result of the following:

•an increase of $143.5 million due primarily to lower realized prices, net of hedging, in 2020 impacting our fee with POP contracts; and

•anincrease of $115.8 million from higher volumes due primarily to increased production and rising gas-to-oil ratios in the Rocky Mountain region in 2021 and production curtailments in 2020, offset partially by natural production declines in the Mid-Continent region; and

•an increase of $7.3 million from a gain on the partial sale of an equity investment; offset by

•an increase of $31.4 million in operating costs due primarily to higher employee costs related to short-term incentives.

Capital expenditures decreased due primarily to completed capital-growth projects in 2020.

Years Ended December 31,

Average fee rate ($/MMBtu) $ 1.04 $ 0.89 $ 0.92

(a) - Includes volumes for consolidated entities only.

(b) - Includes volumes at company-owned and third-party facilities.

2021 vs. 2020 - Our natural gas gathered and natural gas processed volumes increased due primarily to increased producer activity and rising gas-to-oil ratios in the Rocky Mountain region and the impact of curtailed production in 2020, offset partially by natural production declines in the Mid-Continent region.

Our average fee rate increased due primarily to production curtailments in the second quarter 2020 on producer contracts with higher fees and lower POP components in the Rocky Mountain region. As these curtailed volumes have returned to our system and producer activity has continued to increase, the Rocky Mountain region’s contribution to our average fee rate increased in 2021.

Commodity Price Risk - See discussion regarding our commodity price risk under “Commodity Price Risk” in Item 7A, Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

Impairments - The year ended December 31, 2020, includes $382.2 million of noncash impairment charges related primarily to certain long-lived asset groups in the Powder River Basin, western Oklahoma and Kansas that were not recoverable, a

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$153.4 million noncash impairment charge related to goodwill and a $30.5 million noncash impairment charge related to our 10.2% investment in Venice Energy Services Company.

Natural Gas Liquids

Growth Projects - Our Natural Gas Liquids segment invests in projects to transport, fractionate, store and deliver to market centers NGL supply from shale and other resource development areas. Our growth strategy is focused around connecting diversified supply basins from the Rocky Mountain region through the Mid-Continent region and the Permian Basin with NGL product demand from the petrochemical and refining industries and NGL export demand in the Gulf Coast. See “Growth Projects” in the “Recent Developments” section for discussion of our capital-growth projects.

In 2021, we connected one third-party natural gas processing plant in the Permian Basin and one third-party natural gas processing plant in the Rocky Mountain region to our NGL system. In addition, one affiliate natural gas processing plant in the Rocky Mountain region connected to our system was expanded.

For a discussion of our capital expenditure financing, see “Capital Expenditures” in the “Liquidity and Capital Resources” section.

Selected Financial Results and Operating Information -The following tables set forth certain selected financial results and operating information for our Natural Gas Liquids segment for the periods indicated:

(Millions of dollars)

See reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA in the “Non-GAAP Measures” section.

Changes in commodity prices and sales volumes affect both revenues and cost of sales and fuel, and, therefore, the impact is largely offset between these line items.

2021 vs. 2020 - Adjusted EBITDA increased $346.4 million primarily as a result of the following:

•an increase of $421.4 million in exchange services (excluding the impact of Winter Storm Uri discussed below) due primarily to:

◦$261.6 million in higher volumes primarily in the Rocky Mountain region, Mid-Continent region and Permian Basin, offset partially by lower volumes in the Barnett Shale,

◦$98.9 million related to wider commodity price differentials,

◦$63.8 million in lower transportation costs in the Rocky Mountain region, and

◦$12.9 million related to recognition of proceeds previously considered a gain contingency; and

•an increase of $98.3 million in optimization and marketing due primarily to wider location and commodity price differentials, increased activities during Winter Storm Uri and higher optimization volumes; offset by

•the negative impact of Winter Storm Uri of $46.2 million in exchange services due primarily to decreased volumes across our operations and higher electricity costs;

•an increase of $103.0 million in operating costs due primarily to increased property taxes associated with our completed capital-growth projects, higher employee costs related to short-term incentives and higher outside services; and

•a decrease of $18.9 million from lower equity in net earnings from investments due primarily to lower volumes on Overland Pass Pipeline.

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Capital expenditures decreased due primarily to completed and paused capital-growth projects in 2020.

Years Ended December 31,

(a) - Represents physical raw feed volumes on which we charge a fee for transportation and/or fractionation services.

2021 vs. 2020 - Volumes increased due primarily to increased production primarily in the Rocky Mountain region, Mid-Continent region and Permian Basin, increased ethane production in the Rocky Mountain region, and the impact of curtailed production across our system in 2020, offset partially by the impact of Winter Storm Uri in 2021 and lower volumes in the Barnett Shale.

Impairments - The year ended December 31, 2020, includes $71.6 million of noncash impairment charges related primarily to certain inactive assets and a $7.2 million noncash impairment charge related to our 50% investment in Chisholm Pipeline Company.

Natural Gas Pipelines

Selected Financial Results and Operating Information -The following tables set forth certain selected financial results and operating information for our Natural Gas Pipelines segment for the periods indicated:

(Millions of dollars)

See reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA in the “Non-GAAP Measures” section.

2021 vs. 2020 - Adjusted EBITDA increased $90.4 million primarily as a result of the following:

•an increase of $109.1 million due primarily to higher average natural gas prices on 5.2 Bcf of natural gas sales in the first quarter 2021 of volumes previously held in inventory, compared with 1.2 Bcf in the first quarter 2020; and

•an increase of $8.9 million from storage services due primarily to higher storage rates; and

•an increase of $4.7 million in transportation services due primarily to higher park-and-loan revenue and higher interruptible transportation revenue in the first quarter 2021, offset partially by a favorable $13.5 million contract settlement in April 2020; offset by

•an increase of $24.9 million in operating costs due primarily to higher employee costs related primarily to short-term incentives, higher outside services and supplies expenses; and

•a decrease of $6.6 million from lower equity in net earnings from investments due primarily to decreased firm transportation revenues on Northern Border Pipeline.

Capital expenditures increased in 2021 due primarily to capital-growth projects.

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Years Ended December 31,

Natural gas transportation capacity contracted (MDth/d) 7,395 7,461 7,618

Transportation capacity contracted 95 % 96 % 98 %

(a) - Includes volumes for consolidated entities only.

Roadrunner, in which we have a 50% ownership interest, has contracted all of its westbound capacity through 2041.

Northern Border Pipeline, in which we have a 50% ownership interest, has contracted substantially all of its long-haul transportation capacity through the fourth quarter 2022.

In February 2021, our subsidiary, Midwestern Gas Transmission Company (Midwestern), filed a proposed change in rates pursuant to Section 4 of the Natural Gas Act with the FERC. In February 2022, Midwestern filed a Stipulation and Offer of Settlement with the FERC for approval. Pending approval by the FERC, the proposed settlement is not expected to impact materially our results of operations.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

The following table sets forth a reconciliation of net income, the nearest comparable GAAP financial performance measure, to adjusted EBITDA for the periods indicated:

Years Ended December 31,

Reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA (Thousands of dollars)

Add:

Reconciliation of segment adjusted EBITDA to adjusted EBITDA

Segment adjusted EBITDA:

(a) - Year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, includes a loss of $7.4 million and a benefit of $11.2 million, respectively, related to the mark-to-market of our share-based deferred compensation plan.

(b) - Year ended December 31, 2020, includes corporate net gains of $22.3 million on extinguishment of debt related to open market repurchases.

CONTINGENCIES

See Note N of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for a discussion of regulatory and environmental matters.

Other Legal Proceedings - We are a party to various legal proceedings that have arisen in the normal course of our operations. While the results of these proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty, we believe the reasonably possible losses from such proceedings, individually and in the aggregate, are not material. Additionally, we believe the probable final outcome of such proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, financial position or cash flows.

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LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

General - Our primary sources of cash inflows are operating cash flows, proceeds from our commercial paper program and our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement, debt issuances and the issuance of common stock for our liquidity and capital resources requirements.

We expect our sources of cash inflows to provide sufficient resources to finance our operations, quarterly cash dividends, capital expenditures and maturities of long-term debt. We believe we have sufficient liquidity due to our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement, which expires in June 2024 and access to $1.0 billion available through our “at-the-market” equity program. As of the date of this report, no shares have been sold through our “at-the-market” equity program.

We may manage interest-rate risk through the use of fixed-rate debt, floating-rate debt and interest-rate swaps. For additional information on our interest-rate swaps, see Note C of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.

Guarantees and Cash Management - In 2020, the SEC amended Rule 3-10 of Regulation S-X and created Rule 13-01 to simplify disclosure requirements related to certain registered securities. We and ONEOK Partners are issuers of certain public debt securities. We guarantee certain indebtedness of ONEOK Partners, and ONEOK Partners and the Intermediate Partnership guarantee certain of our indebtedness. The guarantees in place for our and ONEOK Partners’ indebtedness are full, irrevocable, unconditional and absolute joint and several guarantees to the holders of each series of outstanding securities. Liabilities under the guarantees rank equally in right of payment with all existing and future senior unsecured indebtedness. As ONEOK Partners and the Intermediate Partnership are consolidated subsidiaries of ONEOK, separate financial statements for the guarantors are not required, as long as the alternative disclosure required by Rule 13-01 is provided, which includes narrative disclosure and summarized financial information. The Intermediate Partnership holds all of ONEOK Partners’ interests and equity in its subsidiaries, which are non-guarantors, and substantially all the assets and operations reside with non-guarantor operating subsidiaries. Therefore, as allowed under Rule 13-01, we have excluded the summarized financial information for each issuer and guarantor as the combined financial information of the subsidiary issuer and parent guarantor, excluding our ownership of all the interests in ONEOK Partners, reflect no material assets, liabilities or results of operations, apart from the guaranteed indebtedness. For additional information on our and ONEOK Partners’ indebtedness, see Note F of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.

We use a centralized cash management program that concentrates the cash assets of our non-guarantor operating subsidiaries in joint accounts for the purposes of providing financial flexibility and lowering the cost of borrowing, transaction costs and bank fees. Our centralized cash management program provides that funds in excess of the daily needs of our operating subsidiaries are concentrated, consolidated or otherwise made available for use by other entities within our consolidated group. Our operating subsidiaries participate in this program to the extent they are permitted pursuant to FERC regulations or their operating agreements. Under the cash management program, depending on whether a participating subsidiary has short-term cash surpluses or cash requirements, we provide cash to the subsidiary or the subsidiary provides cash to us.

Short-term Liquidity - Our principal sources of short-term liquidity consist of cash generated from operating activities, distributions received from our equity-method investments, proceeds from our commercial paper program and our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement. As of December 31, 2021, we are in compliance with all covenants of our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement.

At December 31, 2021, we had no borrowings under our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement and $146.4 million of cash and cash equivalents.

We had a working capital (defined as current assets less current liabilities) deficit of $810.2 million and a working capital surplus of $525.2 million as of December 31, 2021, and December 31, 2020, respectively. Although working capital is influenced by several factors, including, among other things: (i) the timing of (a) debt and equity issuances, (b) scheduled debt payments, (c) the funding of capital expenditures, and (d) accounts receivable and payable; and (ii) the volume and cost of inventory and commodity imbalances; our working capital deficit at December 31, 2021, was driven primarily by current maturities of long-term debt and our working capital surplus at December 31, 2020, was driven primarily by cash on hand. We may have working capital deficits in future periods as we continue to repay long-term debt. We do not expect this working capital deficit to have an adverse impact to our cash flows or operations.

For additional information on our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement, see Note F of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.

Long-term Financing - In addition to our principal sources of short-term liquidity discussed above, we expect to fund our longer-term financing requirements by issuing long-term notes. Other options to obtain financing include, but are not limited

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to, issuing common stock, loans from financial institutions, issuance of convertible debt securities or preferred equity securities, asset securitization and the sale and lease-back of facilities.

In June 2021, we repaid the remaining $11.7 million of Guardian Pipeline’s senior notes due December 2022 with cash on hand.

In 2021, we repurchased in the open market outstanding principal of certain of our senior notes in the amount of $55.2 million for an aggregate repurchase price of $54.6 million with cash on hand.

Material Commitments - We have material cash commitments related to our capital expenditures, senior notes and corresponding interest payments, which we expect to fund through our sources of cash inflows discussed above. Our senior notes and interest payments are discussed in Note F of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report. We also have cash commitments related to transportation, storage and other commercial contracts, as well as our financial and physical derivative obligations, which we expect to fund with cash from operations.

Capital Expenditures- We classify expenditures that are expected to generate additional revenue, return on investment or significant operating or environmental efficiencies as growth capital expenditures. Maintenance capital expenditures are those capital expenditures required to maintain our existing assets and operations and do not generate additional revenues. Maintenance capital expenditures are made to replace partially or fully depreciated assets, to maintain the existing operating capacity of our assets and to extend their useful lives. Our capital expenditures are financed typically through operating cash flows and short- and long-term debt.

The following table sets forth our growth and maintenance capital expenditures, excluding AFUDC, for the periods indicated:

(Millions of dollars)

Total capital expenditures decreased in 2021, compared with 2020, due primarily to our completed capital-growth projects in the prior year. We expect our 2022 capital expenditures to increase relative to 2021 due to our publicly announced capital-growth projects. See discussion of our announced capital-growth projects in the “Recent Developments” section.

We expect total capital expenditures, excluding AFUDC and capitalized interest, of $900-$1,050 million in 2022.

Credit Ratings - Our long-term debt credit ratings as of February 22, 2022, are shown in the table below:

Rating Agency Long-Term Rating Short-Term Rating Outlook

Moody’s Baa3 Prime-3 Stable

S&P BBB A-2 Stable

Fitch BBB F2 Stable

Our credit ratings, which are investment grade, may be affected by a material change in our financial ratios or a material event affecting our business and industry. The most common criteria for assessment of our credit ratings are the debt-to-EBITDA ratio, interest coverage, business risk profile and liquidity. If our credit ratings were downgraded, our cost to borrow funds under our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement could increase and a potential loss of access to the commercial paper market could occur. In the event that we are unable to borrow funds under our commercial paper program and there has not been a material adverse change in our business, we would continue to have access to our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement, which expires in 2024. An adverse credit rating change alone is not a default under our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement.

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In the normal course of business, our counterparties provide us with secured and unsecured credit. In the event of a downgrade in our credit ratings or a significant change in our counterparties’ evaluation of our creditworthiness, we could be required to provide additional collateral in the form of cash, letters of credit or other negotiable instruments as a condition of continuing to conduct business with such counterparties. We may be required to fund margin requirements with our counterparties with cash, letters of credit or other negotiable instruments.

Dividends - Holders of our common stock share equally in any common stock dividends declared by our Board of Directors, subject to the rights of the holders of outstanding preferred stock. In 2021, we paid common stock dividends of $3.74 per share, which is consistent with prior year. In February 2022, we paid a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.935 per share ($3.74 per share on an annualized basis), which is consistent with the same quarter in the prior year.

Our Series E Preferred Stock pays quarterly dividends on each share of Series E Preferred Stock, when, as and if declared by our Board of Directors, at a rate of 5.5% per year. In 2021, we paid dividends of $1.1 million for the Series E Preferred Stock. In February 2022, we paid quarterly dividends totaling $0.3 million for the Series E Preferred Stock.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, our cash flows from operations exceeded dividends paid by $878.8 million. We expect our cash flows from operations to continue to sufficiently fund our cash dividends. To the extent operating cash flows are not sufficient to fund our dividends, we may utilize cash on hand from other sources of short- and long-term liquidity to fund a portion of our dividends.

CASH FLOW ANALYSIS

We use the indirect method to prepare our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. Under this method, we reconcile net income to cash flows provided by operating activities by adjusting net income for those items that affect net income but do not result in actual cash receipts or payments during the period and for operating cash items that do not impact net income. These reconciling items can include depreciation and amortization, impairment charges, allowance for equity funds used during construction, gain or loss on sale of assets, deferred income taxes, net undistributed earnings from equity-method investments, share-based compensation expense, other amounts and changes in our assets and liabilities not classified as investing or financing activities.

The following table sets forth the changes in cash flows by operating, investing and financing activities for the periods indicated:

Years Ended December 31,

(Millions of dollars)

Total cash provided by (used in):

Change in cash and cash equivalents (378.1) 503.5 9.0

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 524.5 21.0 12.0

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 146.4 $ 524.5 $ 21.0

Operating Cash Flows - Operating cash flows are affected by earnings from our business activities and changes in our operating assets and liabilities. Changes in commodity prices and demand for our services or products, whether because of general economic conditions, changes in supply, changes in demand for the end products that are made with our products or increased competition from other service providers, could affect our earnings and operating cash flows. Our operating cash flows can also be impacted by changes in our NGLs and natural gas inventory balances, which are driven primarily by commodity prices, supply, demand and the operation of our assets.

2021 vs. 2020 - Cash flows from operating activities, before changes in operating assets and liabilities, increased $628.5 million due primarily to higher net income resulting from higher exchange services in our Natural Gas Liquids segment, higher realized prices and increased volumes in our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment and natural gas sales in our Natural Gas Pipelines segment, as discussed in “Financial Results and Operating Information.”

The changes in operating assets and liabilities decreased operating cash flows $141.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared with a decrease of $160.5 million for the same period in 2020. The change is due primarily to changes in accounts payable resulting from the timing of payments to vendors, suppliers and other third parties and changes in commodity

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prices, which vary from period to period; changes in risk-management assets and liabilities, which include a loss in 2020 on the settlement of $750 million of our forward interest-rate swaps related to our March 2020 issuances of senior unsecured notes and changes in the fair value of risk-management assets and liabilities, which vary from period to period and with changes in commodity prices and interest rates; and changes in other assets and liabilities; offset partially by changes in accounts receivable resulting from the timing of receipt of cash from customers and NGLs and natural gas in storage, both of which vary from period to period and with changes in commodity prices.

Investing Cash Flows

2021 vs. 2020 - Cash used in investing activities decreased $1.6 billion due primarily to reduced capital expenditures related to our completed capital-growth projects.

Financing Cash Flows

2021 vs. 2020 - Cash from financing activities decreased $3.1 billion due primarily to the issuances of $3.25 billion in long-term debt and issuance of common stock in 2020, offset partially by repayments of long-term debt of $0.6 billion in 2021 compared with repayments of $1.5 billion in 2020.

Cash Flow Analysis for the Year Ended December 31, 2020 vs. 2019 - The cash flow analysis for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared with the year ended December 31, 2019, is included in Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is available via the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and our website at www.oneok.com.

IMPACT OF NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

Information about the impact of new accounting standards is included in Note Aof the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES

The preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements and related disclosures in accordance with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions with respect to values or conditions that cannot be known with certainty that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the Consolidated Financial Statements. These estimates and assumptions also affect the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Although we believe these estimates and assumptions are reasonable, actual results could differ from our estimates.

The following is a summary of our most critical accounting policies and estimates, which are defined as those estimates and policies most important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results of operations and requiring management’s most difficult, subjective or complex judgment, particularly because of the need to make estimates concerning the impact of inherently uncertain matters. We have discussed the development and selection of our estimates and critical accounting policies with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors. See Note A of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for the description of our accounting policies and additional information about our critical accounting policies and estimates.

Derivatives and Risk-management Activities - We utilize derivatives to reduce our market-risk exposure to commodity price and interest-rate fluctuations and to achieve more predictable cash flows. Our commodity price risk includes basis risk, which is the difference in price between various locations where commodities are purchased and sold. We record all derivative instruments at fair value, except for normal purchases and normal sales transactions that are expected to result in physical delivery. Many of the contracts in our derivative portfolio are executed in liquid markets where price transparency exists.

Our commodity derivatives are generally valued using quoted prices published by an exchange. Our fair value measurements classified as Level 3 are composed predominantly of exchange-cleared and over-the-counter derivatives to hedge NGL price risk at certain market locations. These measurements are based on inputs that may include one or more unobservable inputs, including internally developed commodity price curves, that incorporate market data from broker quotes and third-party pricing services. We believe any measurement uncertainty at December 31, 2021, is immaterial as our Level 3 fair value measurements are based on unadjusted pricing information from broker quotes and third-party pricing services.

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The accounting for changes in the fair value of a derivative instrument depends on whether it qualifies and has been designated as part of a hedging relationship. When possible, we implement effective hedging strategies using derivative financial instruments that qualify as hedges for accounting purposes. We have not used derivative instruments for trading purposes. For a derivative designated as a cash flow hedge, the gain or loss from a change in fair value of the derivative instrument is deferred in accumulated other comprehensive loss until the forecasted transaction affects earnings, at which time the fair value of the derivative instrument is reclassified into earnings.

We assess hedging relationships at the inception of the hedge and on an ongoing basis to determine whether the hedging relationship is, and is expected to remain, highly effective. We do not believe that changes in our fair value estimates of our derivative instruments have a material impact on our results of operations, as the majority of our derivatives are accounted for as effective cash flow hedges. However, if a derivative instrument is ineligible for cash flow hedge accounting or if we fail to appropriately designate it as a cash flow hedge, changes in fair value of the derivative instrument would be recorded in earnings. Additionally, if a cash flow hedge ceases to qualify for hedge accounting treatment because it is no longer probable that the forecasted transaction will occur, the change in fair value of the derivative instrument would be recognized in earnings. For more information on commodity price sensitivity and a discussion of the market risk of pricing changes, see Item 7A, Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

See Notes A, B and C of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional discussion of fair value measurements and derivatives and risk-management activities.

Impairment of Goodwill and Long-Lived Assets, Including Intangible Assets - We assess our goodwill for impairment at least annually as of July 1, unless events or changes in circumstances indicate an impairment may have occurred before that time. As part of our goodwill impairment test, we may first assess qualitative factors (including macroeconomic conditions, industry and market considerations, cost factors and overall financial performance) to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of each of our reporting units is less than its carrying amount. If further testing is necessary or a quantitative test is elected, we perform a Step 1 analysis for goodwill impairment.

In a Step 1 analysis, an assessment is made by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount, including goodwill. If the carrying value of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value, an impairment loss is recognized in an amount equal to that excess, limited to the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit.

Our impairment tests require the use of assumptions and estimates, such as industry economic factors and the profitability of future business strategies. To estimate the fair value of these assets and investments, we use two generally accepted valuation approaches, an income approach and a market approach. Under the income approach, our discounted cash flow analysis includes the following inputs that are not readily available: a discount rate reflective of industry cost of capital, our estimated contract rates, volumes, operating margins, operating and maintenance costs and capital expenditures. Under the market approach, our inputs include EBITDA multiples, which are estimated from recent peer acquisition transactions, and forecasted EBITDA, which incorporates inputs similar to those used under the income approach. If actual results are not consistent with our assumptions and estimates or our assumptions and estimates change due to new information, we may be exposed to future impairment charges.

See Notes A, D, E and M of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional discussion of goodwill, long-lived assets and investments in unconsolidated affiliates.

Depreciation Methods and Estimated Useful Lives of Property, Plant and Equipment - Our property, plant and equipment are depreciated using the straight-line method that incorporates management assumptions regarding useful economic lives and residual values. As we place additional assets in service, our estimates related to depreciation expense have become more significant and changes in estimated useful lives of our assets could have a material effect on our results of operations. At the time we place our assets in service, we believe such assumptions are reasonable; however, circumstances may develop that would cause us to change these assumptions, which would change our depreciation expense prospectively. Examples of such circumstances include changes in (i) competition, (ii) laws and regulations that limit the estimated economic life of an asset, (iii) technology that render an asset obsolete, (iv) expected salvage values and (v) forecasts of the remaining economic life for the resource basins where our assets are located, if any. For the fiscal years presented in this Form 10-K, no changes were made to the determinations of useful lives that would have a material effect on the timing of depreciation expense in future periods.

See Note D of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for additional discussion of property, plant and equipment.

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some of the statements contained and incorporated in this Annual Report are forward-looking statements as defined under federal securities laws. The forward-looking statements relate to our anticipated financial performance (including projected operating income, net income, capital expenditures, cash flows and projected levels of dividends), liquidity, management’s plans and objectives for our future capital-growth projects and other future operations (including plans to construct additional natural gas and NGL pipelines, processing and fractionation facilities and related cost estimates), our business prospects, the outcome of regulatory and legal proceedings, market conditions and other matters. We make these forward-looking statements in reliance on the safe harbor protections provided under federal securities legislation and other applicable laws. The following discussion is intended to identify important factors that could cause future outcomes to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements include the items identified in the preceding paragraph, the information concerning possible or assumed future results of our operations and other statements contained or incorporated in this Annual Report identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “goal,” “target,” “guidance,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “outlook,” “plan,” “potential,” “project,” “scheduled,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and other words and terms of similar meaning.

One should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Those factors may affect our operations, markets, products, services and prices. In addition to any assumptions and other factors referred to specifically in connection with the forward-looking statements, factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in any forward-looking statement include, among others, the following:

•the length, severity and reemergence of a pandemic or other health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures that international, federal, state and local governments, agencies, law enforcement and/or health authorities implement to address it, which may (as with COVID-19) precipitate or exacerbate one or more of the factors herein, reduce the demand for natural gas, NGLs and crude oil and significantly disrupt or prevent us and our customers and counterparties from operating in the ordinary course for an extended period and increase the cost of operating our business;

•operational challenges relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus, including logistical challenges, protecting the health and well-being of our employees, remote work arrangements, performance of contracts and supply chain disruption;

•the impact on drilling and production by factors beyond our control, including the demand for natural gas and crude oil; producers’ desire and ability to drill and obtain necessary permits; regulatory compliance; reserve performance; and capacity constraints and/or shut downs on the pipelines that transport crude oil, natural gas and NGLs from producing areas and our facilities;

•risks associated with adequate supply to our gathering, processing, fractionation and pipeline facilities, including production declines that outpace new drilling, the shutting-in of production by producers, actions taken by federal, state or local governments to require producers to prorate or to cut their production levels as a way to address any excess market supply situations or extended periods of ethane rejection;

•demand for our services and products in the proximity of our facilities;

•economic climate and growth in the geographic areas in which we operate;

•the risk of a slowdown in growth or decline in the United States or international economies, including liquidity risks in United States or foreign credit markets;

•performance of contractual obligations by our customers, service providers, contractors and shippers;

•the effects of changes in governmental policies and regulatory actions, including changes with respect to income and other taxes, pipeline safety, environmental compliance, cybersecurity, climate change initiatives, emissions credits, carbon offsets, carbon pricing, production limits and authorized rates of recovery of natural gas and natural gas transportation costs;

•changes in demand for the use of natural gas, NGLs and crude oil because of the development of new technologies or other market conditions caused by concerns about climate change;

•the transition to a lower-carbon economy, including the timing and extent of the transition, as well as the expected role of different energy sources in such a transition;

•the pace of technological advancements and industry innovation, including those focused on reducing GHG emissions and advancing other climate-related initiatives, and our ability to take advantage of those innovations and developments;

•the effectiveness of our risk-management strategies, including mitigating cyber- and climate-related risks;

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•our ability to identify and execute opportunities, and the economic viability of those opportunities, including those relating to renewable natural gas, carbon capture, use and storage, other renewable energy sources such as solar and wind and alternative low carbon fuel sources such as hydrogen;

•the ability of our existing assets and our ability to apply and continue to develop our expertise to support the growth of, and transition to, various renewable and alternative energy opportunities, including through the positioning and optimization of our assets;

•our ability to efficiently reduce the carbon intensity of our operations (both Scope 1 and 2 emissions), including through the use of lower carbon power alternatives, management practices and system optimizations;

•the necessity to direct our focus on maintaining and enhancing our existing assets instead of efforts to reduce our GHG emissions;

•the effects of weather and other natural phenomena, including climate change, on our operations, demand for our services and energy prices;

•acts of nature, sabotage, terrorism or other similar acts that cause damage to our facilities or our suppliers’, customers’ or shippers’ facilities;

•the possibility of future terrorist attacks or the possibility or occurrence of an outbreak of, or changes in, hostilities or changes in the political conditions throughout the world;

•the risk of increased costs for insurance premiums, security or other items as a consequence of terrorist attacks;

•the timing and extent of changes in energy commodity prices, including changes due to production decisions by other countries, such as the failure of countries to abide by agreements to reduce production volumes;

•competition from other United States and foreign energy suppliers and transporters, as well as alternative forms of energy, including, but not limited to, solar power, wind power, geothermal energy and biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel;

•the ability to market pipeline capacity on favorable terms, including the effects of:

– future demand for and prices of natural gas, NGLs and crude oil;

– competitive conditions in the overall energy market;

– availability of supplies of United States natural gas and crude oil; and

– availability of additional storage capacity;

•the efficiency of our plants in processing natural gas and extracting and fractionating NGLs;

•the composition and quality of the natural gas and NGLs we gather and process in our plants and transport on our pipelines;

•risks of marketing, trading and hedging activities, including the risks of changes in energy prices or the financial condition of our counterparties;

•our ability to control operating costs and make cost-saving changes;

•the risk inherent in the use of information systems in our respective businesses and those of our counterparties and service providers, including cyber-attacks, which, according to experts, have increased in volume and sophistication since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic; implementation of new software and hardware; and the impact on the timeliness of information for financial reporting;

•the timely receipt of approval by applicable governmental entities for construction and operation of our pipeline and other projects and required regulatory clearances;

•the ability to recover operating costs and amounts equivalent to income taxes, costs of property, plant and equipment and regulatory assets in our state and FERC-regulated rates;

•the results of governmental actions, administrative proceedings and litigation, regulatory actions, executive orders, rule changes and receipt of expected clearances involving any local, state or federal regulatory body, including the FERC, the National Transportation Safety Board, Homeland Security, the PHMSA, the EPA and the CFTC;

•the mechanical integrity of facilities and pipelines operated;

•the capital-intensive nature of our businesses;

•the impact of unforeseen changes in interest rates, debt and equity markets, inflation rates, economic recession and other external factors over which we have no control, including the effect on pension and postretirement expense and funding resulting from changes in equity and bond market returns;

•actions by rating agencies concerning our credit;

•our indebtedness and guarantee obligations could make us vulnerable to general adverse economic and industry conditions, limit our ability to borrow additional funds and/or place us at competitive disadvantages compared with our competitors that have less debt or have other adverse consequences;

•our ability to access capital at competitive rates or on terms acceptable to us;

•our ability to acquire all necessary permits, consents or other approvals in a timely manner, to promptly obtain all necessary materials and supplies required for construction, and to construct gathering, processing, storage, fractionation and transportation facilities without labor or contractor problems;

•our ability to control construction costs and completion schedules of our pipelines and other projects;

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•difficulties or delays experienced by trucks, railroads or pipelines in delivering products to or from our terminals or pipelines;

•the uncertainty of estimates, including accruals and costs of environmental remediation;

•the impact of uncontracted capacity in our assets being greater or less than expected;

•the impact of potential impairment charges;

•the profitability of assets or businesses acquired or constructed by us;

•risks associated with pending or possible acquisitions and dispositions, including our ability to finance or integrate any such acquisitions and any regulatory delay or conditions imposed by regulatory bodies in connection with any such acquisitions and dispositions;

•the risk that material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting could emerge or that minor problems could become significant;

•the impact and outcome of pending and future litigation;

•the impact of recently issued and future accounting updates and other changes in accounting policies; and

•the risk factors listed in the reports we have filed and may file with the SEC, which are incorporated by reference.

These factors are not necessarily all of the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any of our forward-looking statements. Other factors could also affect adversely our future results. These and other risks are described in greater detail in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, in this Annual Report and in our other filings that we make with the SEC, which are available via the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and our website at www.oneok.com. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Any such forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and other than as required under securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or change in circumstances, expectations or otherwise.

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

Our exposure to market risk discussed below includes forward-looking statements and represents an estimate of possible changes in future earnings that could occur assuming hypothetical future movements in interest rates or commodity prices. Our views on market risk are not necessarily indicative of actual results that may occur and do not represent the maximum possible gains and losses that may occur since actual gains and losses will differ from those estimated based on actual fluctuations in interest rates or commodity prices and the timing of transactions.

We are exposed to market risk due to commodity price and interest-rate volatility. Market risk is the risk of loss arising from adverse changes in market rates and prices. We may use financial instruments, including forward sales, swaps, options and futures, to manage the risks of certain identifiable or anticipated transactions and achieve more predictable cash flows. Our risk-management function follows policies and procedures established by our Risk Oversight and Strategy Committee to monitor our natural gas, condensate and NGL marketing activities and interest rates to ensure our hedging activities mitigate market risks and comply with approved thresholds or limits. We do not use financial instruments for trading purposes.

We utilize a sensitivity analysis model to assess the risk associated with our derivative portfolio. The sensitivity analysis measures the potential change in fair value of our derivative instruments based upon a hypothetical 10% movement in the underlying commodity prices or interest rates. In addition to these variables, the fair value of our derivative portfolio is influenced by fluctuations in the notional amounts of the instruments and the discount rates used to determine the present values. Because we enter into these derivative instruments for the purpose of mitigating the risks that accompany certain of our business activities, as described below, the change in the market value of our derivative portfolio would typically be offset largely by a corresponding gain or loss on the hedged item.

See Note Aof the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for discussion on our accounting policies for our derivative instruments and the impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements.

COMMODITY PRICE RISK

As part of our hedging strategy, we use commodity derivative financial instruments and physical-forward contracts described in Note C of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report to reduce the impact of near-term price fluctuations of natural gas, NGLs and condensate.

Although our businesses are primarily fee-based, in our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment, we are exposed to commodity price risk as a result of retaining a portion of the commodity sales proceeds associated with our fee with POP contracts. Under certain fee with POP contracts, our contractual fees and POP percentage may increase or decrease if

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production volumes, delivery pressures or commodity prices change relative to specified thresholds. In certain commodity price environments, our contractual fees on these fee with POP contracts may decrease, which would impact the average fee rate in our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment. We are exposed to basis risk between the various production and market locations where we buy and sell commodities.

The following table presents the effect a hypothetical 10% change in the underlying commodity prices would have on the estimated fair value of our commodity derivative instruments as of the dates indicated:

(Millions of dollars)

Crude oil and NGLs $ 40.6 $ 20.0

Total change in estimated fair value of commodity contracts $ 52.1 $ 30.6

Our sensitivity analysis represents an estimate of the reasonably possible gains and losses that would be recognized on our commodity derivative contracts assuming hypothetical movements in future market prices and is not necessarily indicative of actual results that may occur. Actual gains and losses may differ from estimates due to actual fluctuations in market prices, as well as changes in our commodity derivative portfolio during the year.

The following tables set forth hedging information for our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment’s forecasted equity volumes for the periods indicated:

VolumesHedged Average Price PercentageHedged

NGLs - excluding ethane (MBbl/d) - Conway/Mont Belvieu 11.7 $ 0.96 / gallon 69%

Condensate (MBbl/d) - WTI-NYMEX 1.6 $ 63.10 / Bbl 72%

Natural gas (BBtu/d) - NYMEX and basis 109.5 $ 3.27 / MMBtu 75%

VolumesHedged Average Price PercentageHedged

NGLs - excluding ethane (MBbl/d) - Conway/Mont Belvieu 0.9 $ 1.11 / gallon 5%

Condensate (MBbl/d) - WTI-NYMEX 0.2 $ 74.95 / Bbl 7%

Natural gas (BBtu/d) - NYMEX and basis 17.3 $ 5.06 / MMBtu 11%

Our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment’s commodity price sensitivity is estimated as a hypothetical change in the price of NGLs, crude oil and natural gas at December 31, 2021. Condensate sales are typically based on the price of crude oil. Assuming normal operating conditions, we estimate the following for our forecasted equity volumes:

•a $0.01 per gallon change in the composite price of NGLs, excluding ethane, would change adjusted EBITDA for the years ending December 31, 2022 and 2023, by $2.6 million and $2.7 million, respectively;

•a $1.00 per barrel change in the price of crude oil would change adjusted EBITDA for the years ending December 31, 2022 and 2023, by $0.8 million and $0.9 million, respectively; and

•a $0.10 per MMBtu change in the price of residue natural gas would change adjusted EBITDA for the years ending December 31, 2022 and 2023, by $5.3 million and $5.5 million, respectively.

These estimates do not include any effects of hedging or effects on demand for our services or natural gas processing plant operations that might be caused by, or arise in conjunction with, commodity price fluctuations. For example, a change in the gross processing spread may cause a change in the amount of ethane extracted from the natural gas stream, impacting gathering and processing financial results for certain contracts.

INTEREST-RATE RISK

We are exposed to interest-rate risk through borrowings under our $2.5 Billion Credit Agreement, commercial paper program and long-term debt issuances. Future increases in commercial paper rates or bond rates could expose us to increased interest costs on future borrowings. We may manage interest-rate risk through the use of fixed-rate debt, floating-rate debt and interest-

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rate swaps. Interest-rate swaps are agreements to exchange interest payments at some future point based on specified notional amounts.

At December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had forward-starting interest-rate swaps with notional amounts totaling $1.1 billion to hedge the variability of interest payments on a portion of our forecasted debt issuances. All of our interest-rate swaps are designated as cash flow hedges. At December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had derivative liabilities of $145.5 million and $203.4 million, respectively, related to these interest-rate swaps.

The following table presents the effect of a 10% hypothetical change in interest rates on the estimated fair value of our interest-rate derivative instruments as of the dates indicated:

(Millions of dollars)

Forward-starting interest-rate swaps $ 19.6 $ 12.9

Our sensitivity analysis represents an estimate of the reasonably possible gains and losses that would be recognized on our interest-rate derivative contracts assuming hypothetical movements in future interest rates and is not necessarily indicative of actual results that may occur. Actual gains and losses may differ from estimates due to actual fluctuations in interest rates, as well as changes in our interest-rate derivative portfolio during the year.

See Note C of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report for more information on our hedging activities.

COUNTERPARTY CREDIT RISK

We assess the creditworthiness of our counterparties on an ongoing basis and require security, including prepayments and other forms of collateral, when appropriate. Certain of our counterparties may be impacted by a relatively low commodity price environment and could experience financial problems, which could result in nonpayment and/or nonperformance, which could impact adversely our results of operations.

Natural Gas Gathering and Processing - Our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment derives services revenue primarily from major and independent crude oil and natural gas producers, which include both large integrated and independent exploration and production companies. In this segment, our downstream commodity sales customers are primarily utilities, large industrial companies, marketing companies and our NGL affiliate. We are not typically exposed to material credit risk with producers under fee with POP contracts as we sell the commodities and remit a portion of the sales proceeds back to the producer less our contractual fees. In 2021 and 2020, approximately 90% of the downstream commodity sales in our Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment were made to customers rated investment-grade by S&P, approved through comparable internal counterparty analysis, or were secured by letters of credit or other collateral.

Natural Gas Liquids - Our Natural Gas Liquids segment’s counterparties are primarily NGL and natural gas gathering and processing companies; major and independent crude oil and natural gas production companies; utilities; large industrial companies; natural gasoline distributors; propane distributors; municipalities; and petrochemical, refining and marketing companies. We charge fees to NGL and natural gas gathering and processing counterparties and NGL pipeline transportation customers. We are not typically exposed to material credit risk on the majority of our exchange services fees, as we purchase NGLs from our gathering and processing counterparties and deduct our fee from the amounts we remit. We also earn sales revenue on the downstream sales of NGL products. In 2021 and 2020, approximately 70% and 75%, respectively, of this segment’s commodity sales were made to customers rated investment-grade by S&P, approved through comparable internal counterparty analysis, or were secured by letters of credit or other collateral. In addition, the majority of our Natural Gas Liquids segment’s pipeline tariffs provide us the ability to require security from shippers.

Natural Gas Pipelines - Our Natural Gas Pipelines segment’s customers are primarily local natural gas distribution companies, electric-generation facilities, large industrial companies, municipalities, producers, processors and marketing companies. In 2021 and 2020, approximately 85% of our revenues in this segment were from customers rated investment-grade by S&P, approved through comparable internal counterparty analysis, or were secured by letters of credit or other collateral. In addition, the majority of our Natural Gas Pipelines segment’s pipeline tariffs provide us the ability to require security from shippers.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To theBoard of Directors and Shareholders of ONEOK, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of ONEOK, Inc.and its subsidiaries(the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the related consolidated statements of income, of comprehensive income, of changes in equity and of cash flowsfor each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”).We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework(2013)issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidatedfinancial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of itsoperations and itscash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework(2013)issued by the COSO.

Basis for Opinions

The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidatedfinancial statements and on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidatedfinancial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidatedfinancial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidatedfinancial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

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Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matterarising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidatedfinancial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Valuation of Level 3 Commodity Derivative Assets and Liabilities

As described in Notes A and B to the consolidated financial statements, the Company’s level 3 commodity contracts derivative assets and liabilities total $9.3 million and $123.6 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2021. As disclosed by management, commodity price risk includes basis risk, which is the difference in price between various locations where commodities are purchased and sold. Management records all derivative instruments at fair value, with the exception of normal purchases and normal sales transactions that are expected to result in physical delivery. Many of the contracts in its derivative portfolio are executed in liquid markets where price transparency exists. Fair value measurements classified as Level 3 are composed predominantly of exchange-cleared and over-the-counter derivatives to hedge NGL price risk. These measurements are based on inputs that may include one or more unobservable inputs, including internally developed commodity price curves, that incorporate market data from broker quotes and third-party pricing services. The commodity derivatives are generally valued using forward quotes provided by third-party pricing services that are validated with other market data.

OKE US Equity

OKE · 10-K · period ended 2021-12-31

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

OKE US Equity☆

OKE · 10-K · period ended 2021-12-31

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

OKE US Equity