Kinder

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP’s Kinder Morgan Cochin LLC unit has agreed with NOVA Chemicals Corp. to develop a 210-mile, 10-inch diameter products pipeline from the Utica Shale to Michigan, where it would feed Kinder’s Cochin Pipeline.

Two weeks after Bluegrass Pipeline LLC launched an open season to test support in a pipeline to carry natural gas liquids (NGL) from Appalachia to Gulf Coast markets, another team officially joined the horse race on Monday.

FERC Friday issued a favorable draft environmental review of Kinder Morgan’s international Sierrita Pipeline project, which would deliver natural gas to southwestern markets in the United States and high-growth power generation markets in northern Mexico.

Shares of Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) closed up more than 4% Wednesday following a pre-market conference call during which CEO Rich Kinder went through a point-by-point explanation of how the company and its Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) account for spending to maintain pipelines and other assets.

Shares/units of Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) were dinged Wednesday by a 26-year-old financial analyst in a report that blasted the company for allegedly short-changing maintenance spending in order to support shares/units. Management said such criticisms were raised and put to bed 10 years ago and that it is “one of the most transparent companies in America.”

Units of Kinder Morgan’s El Paso Pipeline Partners LP business said that during recent open seasons, plenty of customers stepped up for incremental long-term transportation capacity from the Marcellus Shale region to serve markets in Georgia, South Carolina and northern Florida.

While the U.S. State Department stopped short of endorsing the U.S.-to-Mexico Sierrita Lateral Pipeline being proposed by Sierrita Gas Pipeline LLC, it said it has “no objections” to a presidential permit being issued for the project.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and MarkWest Utica EMG LLC (MarkWest Utica) are putting up a $2 billion y-grade natural gas liquids (NGL) processing and transportation combo project that competes with the Bluegrass Pipeline, which has been proposed by Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP and Williams.

Inergy LP’s Tres Palacios 20-mile header pipeline extension is now in service, allowing shippers to transport up to 300 MMcf/d of natural gas from the tailgate of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP’s Houston Central gas processing plant in Colorado County, TX, to the Tres Palacios gas storage facility. The 24-inch diameter extension also enables delivery of gas from the Houston Central plant to any of the 10 interstate and intrastate pipelines interconnected with the Tres Palacios header system. “Beyond providing Eagle Ford Shale producers with significant new market options, we believe our new Houston Central interconnection will increase liquidity at the Tres Palacios hub point for marketers to access supply,” said Bruce Page, Tres Palacios vice president for commercial operations and business development. The Houston Central plant provides 700 MMcf/d of processing capacity and 22,000 b/d of fractionation capacity and is being expanded to process an additional 400-800 MMcf/d of rich gas from the Eagle Ford Shale.