Tallgrass Energy Announces Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2017 Results and 2018 Guidance

Record 2017 Net Income of $434.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA of
$678.0 million

Exceptional Distribution Coverage of 1.47 times resulting in $195.6
million of Retained Cash

Conservative Financial Leverage of 3.0 times Debt to Adjusted EBITDA

LEAWOOD, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: TEP) ("TEP") and Tallgrass Energy
GP, LP (NYSE: TEGP) ("TEGP"), collectively referred to as Tallgrass
Energy, today reported financial and operating results for the fourth
quarter of 2017.

"Tallgrass Energy delivered another outstanding year in 2017, meeting
the high-end of the Adjusted EBITDA, DCF and distribution coverage
guidance we provided in February of 2017 while growing distributions in
excess of 18 and 32 percent at TEP and TEGP respectively. In addition,
we maintained a conservative and flexible balance sheet at TEP," said
Tallgrass Energy President and CEO David G. Dehaemers Jr. "We steadily
grew TEP through continued drop-down transactions, organic projects and
third-party acquisitions. We believe Tallgrass is well positioned for
another strong year in 2018 due to our stable cash flows and the
attractive growth project opportunities we see ahead."

Fourth Quarter Distributions

Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP

As previously announced, the board of directors of TEP's general partner
declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.965 per common unit for the
fourth quarter of 2017. This quarterly distribution represents $3.86 on
an annualized basis, a sequential increase of 2.1 percent from the third
quarter 2017 distribution and an increase of 18.4 percent from the
fourth quarter 2016 distribution. The quarterly distribution will be
paid on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, to unitholders of record as of the
close of business on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018.

Tallgrass Energy GP, LP

Also, as previously announced, the board of directors of TEGP's general
partner declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.3675 per Class A
share for the fourth quarter of 2017. This quarterly distribution
represents $1.47 per Class A share on an annualized basis, a sequential
increase of 3.5 percent from the third quarter 2017 distribution and an
increase of 32.4 percent from the fourth quarter 2016 distribution. The
quarterly distribution will be paid on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, to
Class A shareholders of record as of the close of business on Wednesday,
Jan. 31, 2018.

Tallgrass Energy Financial Outlook and Guidance

Tallgrass Energy expects its Adjusted EBITDA to be $755 – $835 million
and maintenance capital expenditures of $20 – $30 million for the year
ending Dec. 31, 2018. Additionally, management expects distribution
growth of 7 – 10 percent for TEP and 37 – 40 percent for TEGP if they
were to each remain standalone entities for all of 2018.

Tallgrass Energy Adjusted EBITDA includes the Adjusted EBITDA for the
assets owned by TEP as of Dec. 31, 2017, the additional 2 percent of
Pony Express (acquired by TEP effective Feb. 1) and the distributions
attributable to the additional 25.01 percent membership interest in REX
(acquired by Tallgrass Equity on Feb. 7). Tallgrass Energy Adjusted
EBITDA does not include our estimate of approximately $15 – $25 million
of shipper deficiency payments that would be included in Distributable
Cash Flow. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure. For additional detail
see "Non-GAAP Measures" below. For reconciliations of
Tallgrass Energy Adjusted EBITDA for prior years, please refer to the
"Webcasts & Presentations" section of the TEP investor relations site at www.tallgrassenergy.com.

Conference Call

Please join Tallgrass Energy for a conference call and webcast to
discuss fourth quarter 2017 results at 3:30 p.m. Central Time on
Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018. Interested parties may listen via a link posted
on the Investor Relations section of our website and the replay will be
available on our website for at least seven days following the live call.

Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP Alternative
Reconciliations

Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash Flow, as defined in "TEP's
Non-GAAP Measures" below, may be impacted by the timing of cash
payments received as a result of shipper deficiency payments received or
utilized during the period or incremental barrels shipped during the
period. As such, we have also provided alternative reconciliations of
Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash Flow that illustrate the impact
of these items. These alternative reconciliations are also non-GAAP
Measures. Management believes this information provides investors useful
information regarding the impact of these items on our current results
as well as the potential impact on future results.

Supplemental Information

TEP acquired a 25 percent interest in Rockies Express Pipeline LLC
("REX") effective May 6, 2016, and an additional 24.99 percent interest
in REX effective March 31, 2017. TEP's consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, as
shown above, includes TEP's membership interest in REX. The table below
is a reconciliation of REX's Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash Flow
for the three and 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2017 and 2016, presented to
provide additional information on REX's financial results. REX’s
Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash Flow are non-GAAP measures. For
additional detail see "Non-GAAP Measures" below.

Tallgrass Energy GP, LP Summary Financial
Information

Information on distributions to Tallgrass Equity, LLC ("Tallgrass
Equity"), TEGP and TEGP's Class A shareholders is shown below (in
thousands, except coverage and per share data):

Tallgrass Energy GP, LP Deferred Tax Asset
Adjustment

TEGP is a limited partnership that has previously elected to be treated
as a corporation for federal income tax purposes. As a result of the
Dec. 22, 2017, passage of the legislation originally introduced as the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, TEGP re-assessed the valuation of its deferred
tax asset as of Dec. 31, 2017. TEGP recorded in the fourth quarter of
2017 a non-cash deferred income tax expense of $183.5 million. $172.9
million of this deferred tax expense is the remeasurement of the
deferred tax asset as a result of the reduced federal income tax rate
from 35 percent to 21 percent effective on Jan. 1, 2018. After the
remeasurement and as of Dec. 31, 2017, TEGP has a deferred tax asset of
$313.0 million which is the expected tax benefit of available future
deductions that offset future taxable income. It is currently expected
that no cash taxes will be paid by TEGP for a period estimated to exceed
10 years.

Annual Report

TEP and TEGP will file their 2017 Annual Reports on Form 10-K with the
Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on Feb. 13, 2018. A copy of
the reports will be available for viewing through a link on the
Tallgrass Energy website at www.tallgrassenergy.com
or on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

TEP unitholders and TEGP shareholders may request a hard copy of the
applicable Annual Report on Form 10-K (including complete audited
financial statements) free of charge. Requests should be communicated in
writing to either Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP for TEP unitholders or
Tallgrass Energy GP, LP for TEGP shareholders; Attention: Investor
Relations, 4200 W. 115th Street, Suite 350, Leawood, KS 66211.

Non-GAAP Measures

Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash Flow are non-GAAP supplemental
financial measures that TEP management and external users of our
consolidated financial statements and financial statements of our
subsidiaries and unconsolidated investments, such as industry analysts,
investors, lenders and rating agencies, may use to assess:

• our operating performance as compared to other publicly traded
partnerships in the midstream energy industry, without regard to
historical cost basis or, in the case of Adjusted EBITDA, financing
methods;

• the ability of our assets to generate sufficient cash flow to make
distributions to our unitholders;

• our ability to incur and service debt and fund capital expenditures;
and

• the viability of acquisitions and other capital expenditure projects
and the returns on investment of various expansion and growth
opportunities.

We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable
Cash Flow provides useful information to investors in assessing our
financial condition and results of operations. Adjusted EBITDA and
Distributable Cash Flow should not be considered alternatives to net
income, operating income, net cash provided by operating activities or
any other measure of financial performance or liquidity presented in
accordance with GAAP, nor should Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash
Flow be considered alternatives to available cash, operating surplus,
distributions of available cash from operating surplus or other
definitions in our partnership agreement. Adjusted EBITDA and
Distributable Cash Flow have important limitations as analytical tools
because they exclude some but not all items that affect net income and
net cash provided by operating activities. Additionally, because
Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash Flow may be defined differently
by other companies in our industry, our definition of Adjusted EBITDA
and Distributable Cash Flow may not be comparable to similarly titled
measures of other companies, thereby diminishing their utility.

We generally define Adjusted EBITDA as net income excluding the impact
of interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, non-cash
income or loss related to derivative instruments, non-cash long-term
compensation expense, impairment losses, gains or losses on asset or
business disposals or acquisitions, gains or losses on the repurchase,
redemption or early retirement of debt, and earnings from unconsolidated
investments, but including the impact of distributions from
unconsolidated investments. We also use Distributable Cash Flow, which
we generally define as Adjusted EBITDA, plus deficiency payments
received from or utilized by our customers, less cash interest costs,
maintenance capital expenditures, distributions to noncontrolling
interests in excess of earnings allocated to noncontrolling interests,
and certain cash reserves permitted by our partnership agreement. For a
reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to their most directly
comparable GAAP financial measures, please see "Summary Financial
Information" above.

TEP is unable to project net cash provided by operating activities or
net income attributable to partners to provide the related
reconciliation of projected Adjusted EBITDA to the most comparable
financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP, because the
impact of changes in operating assets and liabilities and the volume and
timing of deficiency payments received and utilized from our customers
are out of our control and cannot be reasonably predicted. TEP provides
a range for the forecasts of Adjusted EBITDA to allow for the
variability in the timing of cash receipts and disbursements, customer
utilization of our assets, and maintenance capital spending and the
impact on the related reconciling items, many of which interplay with
each other. The timing of maintenance capital expenditures is volatile
as it depends on weather, regulatory approvals, contractor availability,
system performance and various other items. Therefore, the
reconciliation of projected Adjusted EBITDA to projected net cash
provided by operating activities and net income attributable to partners
is not available without unreasonable effort.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking
Statements

Disclosures in this press release contain “forward-looking statements.”
All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in
this press release that address activities, events or developments that
management expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the
future are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality
of the foregoing, forward-looking statements contained in this press
release specifically include the belief that TEP will have a strong year
in 2018 due to stable cash flows and attractive growth project
opportunities, the Tallgrass Energy Financial Outlook and Guidance and
that TEGP will not pay cash taxes for a period estimated to exceed 10
years. Forward looking statements may also include the expectations of
plans, strategies, objectives and growth and anticipated financial and
operational performance of TEP, TEGP and their subsidiaries, including:
the ability to pursue expansions and other opportunities for incremental
volumes; natural gas and crude oil production growth in TEP's operating
areas; expected future benefits of acquisitions or expansion projects;
timing of anticipated spending on planned expenses and maintenance
capital projects; and distribution rate and growth, including
variability of quarterly distribution coverage. These statements are
based on certain assumptions made by TEP and TEGP based on management’s
experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions,
anticipated future developments and other factors believed to be
appropriate. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions,
risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of TEP and
TEGP, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those
implied or expressed by the forward-looking statements. These include
risks relating to TEP and TEGP’s financial performance and results,
availability of sufficient cash flow to pay distributions and execute
their business plans, the demand for natural gas storage, processing and
transportation services and for crude oil transportation services,
operating hazards, the effects of government regulation, tax position
and other risks incidental to transporting, storing and processing
natural gas or transporting crude oil and other important factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected,
including those set forth in reports filed by TEP and TEGP with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contacts

Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP
Investor and Financial Inquiries
Nate
Lien, 913-928-6012
investor.relations@tallgrassenergylp.com
or
Media
and Trade Inquiries
Phyllis Hammond, 303-763-3568
phyllis.hammond@tallgrassenergylp.com

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