Kinder Morgan, Inc. is one of the largest energy infrastructure

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

in North America. The company specializes in owning and controlling oil and gas pipelines and terminals. Kinder Morgan owns an interest in or operates approximately of pipelines and 143 terminals. The company's pipelines transport natural gas,

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats. The roots of bi ...

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

, refined petroleum products,

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

, and more. Kinder Morgan also stores or handles a variety of products and materials at their terminals such as gasoline, jet fuel, ethanol, coal, petroleum coke, and steel. The company has approximately of

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

pipelines and is the largest natural gas pipeline operator in the United States, moving about 40 percent of the natural gas consumed in the country. The company previously had built a major presence in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with the Trans Mountain pipeline, but that infrastructure is now publicly owned and operated. The company's division traditionally provides

() for

enhanced oil recovery Enhanced oil recovery (abbreviated EOR), also called tertiary recovery, is the extraction of crude oil from an oil field that cannot be extracted after primary and secondary recovery methods have been completely exhausted. Whereas primary and se ...

projects in North America, but also increasingly for

carbon sequestration Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. It plays a crucial role in Climate change mitigation, limiting climate change by reducing the amount of Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, carbon dioxide in the atmosphe ...

efforts.Sergio Chapa.
Kinder Morgan Seeks to Expand CO2 Business in Clean Energy Push
. ''

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

'', March 29, 2021. Accessed April 27, 2021

History

Beginnings

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) was founded in 1997 when a group of investors acquired the general partner of a small, publicly traded pipeline limited partnership (Enron Liquids Pipeline, L.P.) later renamed Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. Its cofounder Rich Kinder had been the president of

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

. After Kinder was denied an expected promotion to replace

Kenneth Lay Kenneth Lee Lay (April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006) was an American businessman and political donor who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron. He was heavily involved in Enron scandal, Enron's accounting scandal that unr ...

as chief executive officer, he departed the company, purchasing its interest in ELP for $40 million. Later that year, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners acquired Santa Fe Pacific Pipeline Partners. In 1999, Kinder Morgan conducted a reverse merger with KN Energy, a utility and pipeline company. Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL), which serves the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

market, was acquired through this deal. KN Energy became Kinder Morgan's second publicly traded company, Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI). In 2001, Kinder Morgan's third publicly traded company, Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (KMR) was formed to facilitate institutional ownership of KMP equity.

Leveraged buyout

On August 28, 2006, Kinder Morgan announced that it would be taken private in a management-led

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

totaling approximately $22 billion. Outside participants in the transaction include Fayez Sarofim, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Highstar Capital (then owned by

AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. As of 2023, AIG employed 25,200 people. The company operates through three core ...

). In 2007, Kinder Morgan sold KN Energy to

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

Co. and Alinda Capital Partners, which renamed the company SourceGas. KMI began trading again on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

on February 11, 2011, following the largest private-equity backed IPO offering in US history.

Subsequent events

In October 2011, Kinder Morgan Inc. agreed to buy El Paso Corp. for $21.1 billion and gave the combined company of gas lines, eclipsing Enterprise Products Partners LP as the biggest US pipeline operator. The transaction was paid for with shares of Kinder Morgan, Kinder Morgan warrants, and a cash portion of $11.5 billion through

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

borrowing. On August 10, 2014, Kinder announced it was moving to full ownership of its partially owned subsidiaries Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Kinder Morgan Management, and El Paso Pipeline Partners in a deal worth $71 billion. The transaction closed on November 26, 2014. Prior to November 26, 2014, the Kinder Morgan group publicly traded companies included Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (NYSE: KMR) and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB); a merger transaction combined all under Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), on November 26, 2014.

American Petroleum Tankers

On December 23, 2013, Kinder Morgan announced that, through its Kinder Morgan Energy partner subsidiary, it would acquire the US oil tanker operator American Petroleum Tankers and its affiliated company SCT (State Class Tankers) from the US private equity investment firms

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...

and

Cerberus Capital Management Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is an American global alternative investment firm with assets across credit, private equity, and real estate strategies.Leaders Magazine"Providing Economic Opportunity: An Interview with The Honorable Dan Qua ...

. APT operates a fleet of five US-flagged MR 50,000 tons—330,000 barrels—oil tankers and has four other similar tankers on order from the

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

shipbuilding company NASSCO in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. This acquisition appears to be the first case whereby a pipeline operator will also be able to offer marine transportation. This acquisition would facilitate the export of US natural resources to overseas markets, and Kinder Morgan had lined up several LNG export customers by July 2014.

Winter Storm Uri

During the

2021 Texas power crisis In February 2021, the state of Texas suffered a major Energy crisis, power crisis, which came about during three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States on February 2021 North American ice storm, February 10–11, February 13� ...

, Kinder Morgan posted a nearly $1 billion one-time net profit after the company voluntarily cut back on its own power (saving $116 million) and sold natural gas to electric utility companies at high prevailing prices (gaining $880 million).Gerson Freitas Jr
Kinder Morgan Posts Blowout Profit on Texas Winter Storm
''

'', April 21, 2021. Accessed May 1, 2021. An analyst at

Mizuho Securities is a Japanese investment banking and securities firm. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group. History The current Mizuho Securities is established by a merger between Shinko Securities and the former Mizuho Securities. The f ...

said Kinder Morgan "was not really on anyone’s list of potential winners from Winter Storm Uri. Shame on us or not seeing it" Most of the extra gas Kinder Morgan sold went to electric utility companies whose usual non-Kinder suppliers had shut down or blacked out as the catastrophe intensified. Possible long-term ramifications of the storm may be that utilities pay more to guarantee uninterrupted gas deliveries from Kinder Morgan instead.

Companies

* Plantation Pipeline (2000) (with

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

) * Calnev Pipeline (2001) (liquids) *Central Florida Pipeline (2001) (liquids) *Midcontinent Express Pipeline (KM owned 50% by 2007) (gas transmission) *Fayetteville Express Pipeline LLC (co-owned with Energy Transfer Partners 2008) (gas transmission) *Kinder Morgan Altamont LLC (GG) *Kinder Morgan Cochin LLC (liquids) *Kinder Morgan Company, Houston, Texas *Kinder Morgan, Inc., Houston, Texas *Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (co-owned with Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P.) (gas transmission) *Kinder Morgan Terminals, Houston, Texas (liquids) *Kinder Morgan Terminals, Houston, Texas (Bulk) *Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline LLC (KMLP),

Crowley, Louisiana Crowley (Local pronunciation: ) is a city in, and the parish seat of, Acadia Parish, Louisiana, Acadia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 United States census, Crowley had a population of 11,710. Crowley is the principal city of ...

(gas transmission) *Kinder Morgan North Texas Pipeline (gas transmission) *Kinder Morgan Wink Pipeline (liquids) El Paso Corporation was purchased in 2012 with subsidiaries: * Tennessee Gas Pipeline (gas transmission) (2012) * Southern Natural Gas Company (gas transmission) (2012) * Colorado Interstate Gas Co (liquids and gas transmission) (2012) *Ruby Pipeline (2012) *Wyoming Interstate Co (2012) * El Paso Natural Gas Co (gas transmission) (2012) *Mojave Pipeline Co (gas transmission) (2012) * Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC (50% by 2014) (gas transmission)

Pipelines

Kinder Morgan owns or operates approximately of pipelines transporting primarily

, and petroleum products. In Canada, Kinder Morgan operated (before being bought out by

's government) the Trans Mountain oil pipeline which links

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

with

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, as well as the Cochin pipeline between

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

and the

American Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern c ...

Trans Mountain Pipeline

In 2013, Kinder Morgan filed its application to the Canadian National Energy Board (NEB) for building a second pipeline roughly parallel to the existing Trans Mountain, for transporting diluted bitumen between

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, and

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

. The new pipeline would nearly triple the transportation capacity from 300,000 to 850,000 barrels per day, for an estimated investment of $6.8 billion. This expansion would enable the export of larger volumes of Alberta's

bituminous sands Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous ...

oil to the U.S. and to Asian countries. The expansion project had support from the energy industry but opposition from

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

among environmentalists and others. Protests started in 2014 and were continuing in the spring of 2018. The

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

controlled Canadian government then purchased TransMountain from Kinder Morgan for C$4.5 billion to make it a government-run

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

project in an effort to save the pipeline from environmental and political opposition.

Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline

This high-pressure 30-inch (762 mm) gas transmission pipeline, proposed in 2014, was slated to pass from

Wright Wright is an occupational surname originating in England and Scotland. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a ...

, New York to Dracut,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, to help alleviate

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

’s high natural gas and electricity costs caused, in their estimation, by severely limited natural gas transportation capacity currently serving that region. But in 2016, Kinder Morgan suspended its effort to build the 412-mile (663 km) NED pipeline, citing economic difficulties and lack of distribution commitments for the gas.

Palmetto Pipeline

Likewise, Kinder Morgan's proposed Palmetto Pipeline, designed to go from the Gulf Coast to the

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

markets, was nixed. Its path would have taken it through 201 miles (323 km) of eastern and coastal Georgia, and drew opposition from local residents and environmental groups. The company suspended work on the project after the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...

passed a temporary moratorium on the use of eminent domain for pipeline construction, and commissioned a study to review the project. The company filed an appeal.

Connecticut Expansion Project

Kinder Morgan proposed a long 36-inch (914 mm) diameter high-pressure natural gas storage loop which would include a pipeline spur through Sandisfield, Massachusetts, crossing the Otis State Forest and using water from Spectacle Pond. The company invoked the U.S. Natural Gas Act to have the needed land condemned so they could seize it by eminent domain. However, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts challenged Kinder Morgan in court, arguing that the state constitution's Article 97, which protects designated conservation land, forbids construction of a pipeline through protected lands.

Permian Highway Pipeline

In late summer 2019, Kinder Morgan, EagleClaw Midstream and Altus Midstream Processing launched construction on the Permian Highway Pipeline, a 430-mile pipeline that will carry up to 2.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Waha Hub in Pecos County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, to the Gulf Coast. The pipeline would create 2,500 construction jobs and 18 permanent jobs, raise $42 million in additional yearly tax revenues for state and local authorities, and was planned to enter operation in 2021.

Controversies

Safety violations

In 2009, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) cited Kinder Morgan for violating safety standards regarding the distance between a natural gas pipeline and a "high consequence area" such as a school or hospital; the pipeline was too close for safe operation in case of a leak. In 2011, PHMSA cited Kinder Morgan for failing to maintain update maps showing pipeline locations, test pipeline safety devices, maintain firefighting equipment, inspect its pipelines as required, and adequately monitor pipes’ corrosion levels. Also in 2011, the U.S. Department of Transportation cited Kinder Morgan for violations including the company's failure to have and follow written startup and shutdown procedures, and failing to have or use other measures to detect abnormal operating conditions, and proposed a fine of $425,000. The 2013 ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' article "Is Kinder Morgan Scrimping on its Pipelines?" noted that one investment analyst claimed the company was deferring maintenance spending in order to return more cash to its investors. PHMSA's incident reports for Kinder Morgan's onshore gas transmission pipelines show that faulty infrastructure causes 45% of the significant leaks. Failure of the pipe, cracked welds, and faulty pipeline equipment together account for 28% of pipeline leaks, and corrosion of the pipe causes 17%.

Accidents

In Texas from 2003 to 2016, Kinder Morgan experienced at least 48 "significant incidents" resulting in fatalities or hospitalization, fires, explosions, or spills. Throughout the U.S. from 2003 to 2016, Kinder Morgan and its subsidiaries' pipelines (of all kinds) were responsible for more than 400 incidents in 24 states, incurring more than 110 federal enforcement actions. Kinder Morgan's natural gas transmission pipeline accidents caused $224 million in property damage. In July 2007, a Kinder Morgan pipeline got ripped open by an excavator, spilling more than 250,000 liters of oil into a Burnaby neighborhood and 70,000 liters into nearby Burrard Inlet. The crude oil utterly carpeted cars, houses, roads, and lawns. About 250 people had to be evacuated and the spill cost $15 million to clean. A pipeline rupture on August 15, 2021, near Coolidge, Arizona left two dead and one severely burned.

References

External links

* {{Carlyle Group Energy companies of the United States Oil companies of the United States Natural gas companies of the United States Natural gas pipeline companies Petroleum in Texas Companies based in Houston American companies established in 1997 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1997 1997 establishments in Texas 2011 initial public offerings