Kinder

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) has contracted with Methanex Corp. to support the construction of methanol storage capacity near its Geismar Liquids Terminal (GLT) in Geismar, LA, and will embark on a $58 million expansion of its chemical storage. KMP said it will invest about $58 million to build, own and operate the storage tanks and related infrastructure, including improvements to its existing dock at GLT. The assets will provide marine, rail and truck access in support of a 1 million tonne per year methanol production plant being relocated by Methanex from Chile. The terminal infrastructure is expected to be in service during the second half of 2014, coinciding with the anticipated startup of the relocated plant. Separately, KMP has also acquired Quality Carriers Inc.’s 26-acre terminal located in Chester, SC. The 19-tank facility currently provides storage for a single customer of 35,000 bbl and receives product by rail and distributes by truck.

El Paso Natural Gas, a Kinder Morgan pipeline, has asked FERC for authorization to place the remaining portions of the expansion of its Willcox Lateral into service. The pipeline will make more natural gas available for delivery to power plants in northern Mexico.

KW Express LLC a partnership of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) and Watco Companies LLC, has entered into a long-term agreement with Mercuria Energy Trading Co. Inc. to construct a 210,000 b/d crude-by-rail project at the Greens Port Industrial Park on the Houston Ship Channel. The project will allow Mercuria Energy Trading Inc. to source crude from various locations, including Cushing, OK, West Texas, the Bakken Shale area and Western Canada for delivery by rail into the Houston Ship Channel for distribution to various refiners via pipeline and barges. The facility will have the capability to unload and load up to three unit trains per day of crude oil and condensate as well as provide for up to 100,000 b/d of barge loading capacity. KW Express will own 85% of the project and, together with Watco, operate the project once completed. Mercuria will own the remaining 15% interes

Over the next three years capital expenditures (capex) in the Eagle Ford Shale could top the projected spending for the Kashagan project in Kazakhstan, now the world’s most expensive standalone energy project, according to an analysis by Wood Mackenzie.

Kinder Morgan’s El Paso Natural Gas Co. LLC (EPNG) is holding a binding open season for a proposed new pipeline that would extend from its South Mainline System near Tucson, AZ, to the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, AZ.

Friday morning Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline lifted a critical day 1 operational flow order (OFO) that had been in effect for balancing parties downstream of its Station 249 in zones 5 and 6 (see Daily GPI, Aug. 31).

Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline late Wednesday declared a critical day 1 operational flow order (OFO) effective 9 a.m. Thursday due to a force majeure event at its Compressor Station 249 in Carlisle, NY.

Kinder Morgan Inc. Wednesday morning declared a force majeure on a portion of its Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL) natural gas pipeline in North Texas while media reports said “a massive orange haze” from a fire filled the area sky in the Texas Panhandle.

Kinder Morgan Inc. and El Paso Corp. have received all regulatory approvals required to close their merger, which is scheduled for May 24. The deadline for El Paso shareholders and equity award holders to elect the form of consideration they wish to receive in the merger is 5 p.m. EDT May 23. The deal was announced last fall (see Daily GPI, Oct. 18, 2011) and received antitrust clearance with a condition that some assets be divested (see Daily GPI, April 20; March 19).