Sunoco LP (SUN) Q1 2019 Earnings Call Transcript
Karl Fails -- Chief Commercial Officer
Yes. I'd say in the wholesale fuels business, you have different kind of profile of contracts. So I'd say we have -- we've made progress in that. And sometimes you have contracts that are maybe shorter duration.
But you have experience where you might have the same customer for 10, 15 years but that's not necessarily under a 10-year contract. It might be under shorter contracts that renew. We're very comfortable with our ability to sell the diesel based on the demand in that market.
Sharon Lui -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst
Okay. Great. And then also for your non-motor fuel gross profit this quarter. Just wondering, I guess, what the drivers for that segment and whether the $50 million is a good run rate going forward.
Thomas Miller -- Chief Financial Officer
That includes our terminal business merchandise, would probably be the 2 largest items in the -- in that. If you look at -- in credit cards, I guess, is the other one that takes a fair amount of that. The -- if you were to look at the quarters over the last, say, 4 quarters, yes, $50 million is not far off. It's a good number. It'll move around.
Sharon Lui -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst
Great, thank you.
Operator
Our next question here is from Spiro Dounis from Credit Suisse.
Spiro Dounis -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Yeah, good morning guys. Just a question on M&A in your core business. Joe, you mentioned the pipeline being pretty full again. Just good to hear. And I know it's hard to predict and we're early in the year.
But as you think about it relative to 2018, do you have a sense for 2019 M&A activity so far? Is it outpacing '18? And when you look at valuations, is there any pressure one way or the other yet?
Joseph Kim -- Chief Executive Officer
Spiro, as far as -- I'll kind of breakdown the 2 areas. As far as the fuel distribution side, we're seeing similar type of opportunities that we saw in '18. It's really the filter that we're putting it through. It's just a stronger filter. Tom mentioned that our current plan is that we're not going to issue an equity. So we have to be very diligent in determining and picking from the -- pick-of-the-litter type of approach. And that's where I think the valuations that we're seeing is very similar to 2018.
Our filter has just become tighter as we're starting to uncover more organic opportunities in the fuel distribution. It's really a buy or build, right? And as we look to more traditional midstream, we just have more options than we did when we first -- right after the 7-Eleven transaction. So the market's still -- we're seeing similar values. The only difference is that we have more opportunities to choose from, and we're being far more selective.
Spiro Dounis -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Got it. Appreciate that. Second one, just around the opportunities like the one with Energy Transfer. Are those opportunities mainly with ET? Or are you actually actively talking to third parties about getting more involved in similar pipeline projects?
Joseph Kim -- Chief Executive Officer
I think the size and scope of ET, there's a lot for us to talk about on that side. But I think that is, by far, our best option and it's the most obvious option. But at the same time, if there's any other opportunities that ET wasn't involved in, we'd definitely look.
Spiro Dounis -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Got it. Last clean-up one for me, just on maintenance CapEx. I think it's tracking well below the guidance right now. Just curious what's driving that and if we should maybe more or less expect that to rerate higher over the next 3 quarters.
Thomas Miller -- Chief Financial Officer
Yes. We started off last year at $3 million for the first quarter, and we're $4 million this quarter. That's just the function of the weather to start the year, and we do expect to trend up over the year. And we gave the $45 million guidance, and we're sticking with that.
Spiro Dounis -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Perfect. Thanks guys. Appreciate it.
Operator
(Operator Instructions) The next question here is from Vikram Bagri from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Vikram Bagri -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Good morning everyone. I wanted to follow up on the diesel fuel pipeline that you announced. The release mentioned initial capacity of 30,000 barrels a day. How much can this pipeline be expanded by? And is the pipeline -- scope of the project, I recognize, has not been finalized. But could you temper the size of the pipeline to enhance returns?
Karl Fails -- Chief Commercial Officer
Yes. This is Karl. I mean I guess we're not going to give a lot of detail right now, but it has a little bit of upside capability as the project is -- as we said, we anticipate it to be in service by the end of the year, and so there's obviously still a construction activity going on.
And since this is a kind of a reuse of an idle pipeline, there's still some work being done to test how big that can be. So I'd say there's some moderate upside to that and if -- more to come in the future.
Vikram Bagri -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Great. And as a follow-up, you mentioned it's a reuse of the pipeline and it's a project you're doing with the parent. Are there any more projects that you can do of this -- kind of similar to this project? Given that these returns are slightly inferior to your base business even though you're using an old pipeline and infrastructure, are there more projects like that?
Karl Fails -- Chief Commercial Officer
Yes. Vikram, I'll build on what Joe said earlier. As you think about -- one of the things we bring to the table and why we like this project is it's a midstream project, but it's really a platform for us to grow our fuel distribution business as well. So one of the things we bring to the table is we are in the refined products market across the country, and we're constantly looking for opportunities where additional logistics, whether it's pipes or terminals or docks or things of that nature, could help our business.
So we don't have anything to announce today, but I'd say that's a constant process of looking at and trying to identify opportunities. And as Joe mentioned, the most obvious would be with Energy Transfer. But if there are other opportunities, we'd look at those as well.
Operator
Our next question here is from Dennis Coleman from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Dennis Coleman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Yes. Most of mine have been asked, but just to come back to the diesel line for -- it's a little bit of a detailed question. But the open season is nonbinding. I guess is there anything we should read into that versus binding? And given the short time frame that this thing is set to come online, I guess I'm just trying to understand why it would be nonbinding.
Karl Fails -- Chief Commercial Officer
Yes. I'd say, Dennis, the open season for the pipeline is separate from our JV agreement with Energy Transfer. So the pipeline open season has already occurred, and like I said, we're an anchor ship around the pipe.
The nonbinding piece that we've announced is this joint venture agreement, and it's just -- that's the stage in which we're at right now. And we're comfortable enough with that, that we're announcing it, and we're planning in the short order to finalize that agreement and close on the JV.
Dennis Coleman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Okay. So the nonbinding bit is between you and Energy Transfer.
Karl Fails -- Chief Commercial Officer
That's correct.
Dennis Coleman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
I got it. Okay. And then -- so maybe you said this, but I just want to make sure. There's pipe there, capacity could maybe be expanded. But is the $50 million spend -- does Energy Transfer match that? Or is that the total spend? I guess they're donating or contributing the pipes so there must be some value attributed to that. And then is it incremental pipe? Is it racks? Is it -- what is the $50 million spend for?
Karl Fails -- Chief Commercial Officer
Yes. I'd say we wanted to size our approximate investment in the pipeline in that $50 million range. I think some of the details of our arrangement with Energy Transfer, we're still finalizing. I'd say there's -- the spend is for both capital on the pipe renovations as well as the building of a new terminal in Midland and then some working capital on our end. And then there are additional commercial agreements that we have with Energy Transfer to equalize everything.
Dennis Coleman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Okay. Okay. That's helpful. And then just, again, a little bit more detail. But CapEx, $22 million for growth versus the $90 million target seems pretty ratable across the 4 quarters. Should we think about that cadence of spend for the rest of the year?
Karl Fails -- Chief Commercial Officer
Yes. This is Karl. Yes. I think that's right. I mean quarter-to-quarter, we'll always have a little bit of variation. But we -- as Joe mentioned earlier, we've really ramped up our organic growth prospects, and we've also -- I think we've talked about our ability to improve some of our assets. And so that combination, that's in the range.
Dennis Coleman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Okay, That's it from me. Thank you.
Operator
This concludes the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Grischow for any closing comments.
This concludes the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Grischow for any closing comments.
Scott Grischow -- -- Vice President of invite of Investor Relations and Treasury
Thanks for joining us on the call today, everyone. As always, if you have any follow-up questions, feel free to reach out to me. We'll talk to you soon. Have a great day.
Operator
This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you again for your participation.
Duration: 24 minutes
Call participants:
Scott Grischow -- -- Vice President of invite of Investor Relations and Treasury
Thomas Miller -- Chief Financial Officer
Joseph Kim -- Chief Executive Officer
Karl Fails -- Chief Commercial Officer
Theresa Chen -- Barclays -- Analyst
Sharon Lui -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst
Spiro Dounis -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Vikram Bagri -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Dennis Coleman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
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