Construction of the approximately 500-mile Midcontinent Express Pipeline (MEP) is complete and natural gas transportation service commenced Saturday, Aug. 1, on the pipeline from Delhi, La., to Transcontinental Pipe Line’s Station 85 in Butler, Ala. Interim service had begun on the pipeline from Bennington, Okla., to Delhi in April. MEP is a joint venture of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:KMP) and Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (NYSE:ETP).

“We are delighted that the final leg of the Midcontinent Express Pipeline is in service,” said Steve Kean, president of Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipelines group. Kinder Morgan constructed and will operate the pipeline.

“The completion of this final segment of MEP affords shippers and producers in the Barnett Shale, Bossier Sands and other producing regions access to markets in the eastern United States,” said Lee Hanse, senior vice president of Energy Transfer’s Interstate Pipeline group.

MEP has multiple receipt and delivery points along the pipeline system, which originates in southeast Oklahoma, crosses northeast Texas, northern Louisiana and central Mississippi and ends in Alabama. Capacity is currently up to 1.25 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day in Zone 1, which interconnects with the Columbia Gulf Transmission system in Delhi and up to 0.84 Bcf per day in Zone 2, which interconnects with the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line system in Butler. An expansion of the pipeline is expected to be completed in 2010, which will further increase MEP’s capacity to approximately 1.8 Bcf per day in Zone 1 and 1.2 Bcf per day in Zone 2. The pipeline’s capacity, including the expansion capacity, is fully subscribed with long-term binding commitments from creditworthy shippers.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:KMP) is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company in North America. KMP owns an interest in or operates more than 28,000 miles of pipelines and 170 terminals. Its pipelines transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, CO₂ and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals and handle bulk materials like coal and petroleum coke. KMP is also the leading provider of CO₂ for enhanced oil recovery projects in North America. One of the largest publicly traded pipeline limited partnerships in America, KMP has an enterprise value of over $20 billion. The general partner of KMP is owned by Kinder Morgan, Inc., a private company.

Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (NYSE:ETP) is a publicly traded partnership owning and operating a diversified portfolio of energy assets.