Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) late Thursday announced three more expansions to its growing terminals business, with a $36 million investment to purchase two terminal facilities located along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, as well as a long-term contract to build additional storage capacity at KMP’s liquids terminal in New York Harbor.

KMP, the master limited partnership of Kinder Morgan Inc. of Houston, has been on an acquisition hunt in recent months, said CEO Richard D. Kinder.

“These initiatives demonstrate our ongoing strategy of targeting stable, fee-based assets that offer attractive growth potential and add value for our investors,” Kinder said. “The two acquisitions are expected to be accretive to cash available for distribution to KMP unitholders, as is the expansion project upon completion.”

KMP recently completed its purchase of a former ICOM marine petrochemical and pipeline terminal in St. Gabriel, LA, which it bought from the Canadian National Railroad. The facility features 400,000 bbl of storage capacity and a related pipeline network. Separately, KMP also acquired the Lanham River Terminal near Owensboro, KY, which is one of the largest U.S. storage and handling points for bulk aluminum. The terminal also handles other bulk materials.

The long-term storage agreement will require construction of an additional 300,000 bbl of storage at its Perth Amboy, NJ terminal. As part of the project, KMP will build three 100,000-bbl tanks, increasing petroleum capacity at the facility by more than 20%. The need for additional storage is being driven by increased demand for clean-fuel storage capacity in New York Harbor, KMP said.

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. Allrights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republishedor redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without priorwritten consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.