Oct. 8, 2009 (Business Wire) -- Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP) has received authorization from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to increase the maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) on specific requested segments of three major natural gas pipelines that it operates from .72 to .8 design. This authorization enables the Kinder Morgan Louisiana, Midcontinent Express and Rockies Express pipelines to serve their full current contracted capacity levels.
The Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline, a 133-mile line that transports natural gas to multiple pipeline interconnects from the Cheniere Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas terminal in Louisiana, will increase to the .8 design MAOP on the entire pipeline. The pipeline has 3.2 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day of capacity that has been fully subscribed for 20 years by Chevron and TOTAL.
The 500-mile Midcontinent Express Pipeline (MEP) originates in southeast Oklahoma, crosses northeast Texas, northern Louisiana, central Mississippi and ends in Alabama. MEP will increase to the .8 design MAOP on approximately 267 miles of Zone 1 from Paris, Texas, to Delhi, La. This will boost firm deliverable capacity to 1.4 Bcf per day on that portion of the pipeline. MEP’s Zone 2 extends from Delhi to Transcontinental Pipe Line’s Station 85 in Butler, Ala., and has a current capacity of nearly 1.0 Bcf per day. The pipeline’s capacity, including expansions that have been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is fully subscribed with long-term binding commitments from creditworthy shippers. MEP is a joint venture of KMP and Energy Transfer Partners, L.P.
The Rockies Express Pipeline (REX), which transports natural gas from the Rockies to Ohio, is now authorized to transport natural gas at the .8 design MAOP from the Cheyenne Hub in Colorado to the Lebanon Hub in Ohio. This will boost firm deliverable capacity on the pipeline to 1.8 Bcf per day upon implementation of the .8 design. Nearly all of the capacity on the pipeline has been subscribed with long-term binding commitments from creditworthy customers. Construction is being completed on the final 195 miles of the 1679-mile REX pipeline, which will terminate in Clarington, Ohio. That final leg of the pipeline is expected to be in service by Nov. 1, at which time REX plans to request authorization to operate this portion of the pipeline at the .8 design MAOP. REX is a joint venture of KMP, Sempra Pipelines and Storage and ConocoPhillips.
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 approximately $25 billion. The general partner of KMP is owned by Kinder Morgan, Inc., a private company, www.kindermorgan.com.
This news release includes forward-looking statements. Although Kinder Morgan believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that such assumptions will materialize. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements herein are enumerated in Kinder Morgan’s Forms 10-K and 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
