Kinder Morgan

Energy Services | Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan 1Q16: Despite “Strong Headwinds,” Doing OK
April 21, 2016April 21, 2016

Yesterday Kinder Morgan provided a first quarter 2016 and rest-of-2016 update. It contained this earth-shattering news: “We reduced our growth capital backlog from $18.2 billion at the end of the fourth quarter 2015 to $14.1 billion at the end of the first quarter 2016. The reduction in our backlog was driven primarily by the removal of the Northeast Energy Direct (NED) Market project due to insufficient contractual commitments from customers in the New England market, and the removal of the Palmetto Pipeline project following unfavorable action by the Georgia legislature regarding eminent domain authority and permitting for petroleum pipelines.” See our lead story today about Kinder’s decision to mothball the NED project. As part of the update, Kinder brings us up to speed on the pipeline (and other infrastructure) projects currently being built, including several in the northeast U.S. that will impact takeaway capacity for Marcellus and Utica Shale gas…
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Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Litigation | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

UTOPIA Pipeline Sues Holdout OH Landowners Using Eminent Domain
April 19, 2016April 19, 2016

UTOPIA Pipeline map – click for larger version

Just yesterday MDN was commenting that it seems like Ohio antis aren’t all that bothered by Kinder Morgan’s UTOPIA ethane pipeline (see Why is UTOPIA Pipeline Less “Controversial” than NEXUS in Ohio?). Perhaps we spoke to soon! UTOPIA has gotten a lot more controversial since they just filed a flurry of lawsuits against holdout landowners, using eminent domain statutes. The real eye-popper we learn when reading about the eminent domain proceedings is just how much Kinder Morgan was offering for easements to property owners. Of course what you’re offered all depends on how many feet of land the pipeline will cross. Some landowners were offered up to $63,300 for an easement. In some cases, the offers were “more than 10 times the appraised value of the easement.” It’s certainly in a landowner’s best interest to settle before being forced to settle (for far less) via eminent domain. Here’s how it’s going for several landowners who object to the pipeline…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide OH

Why is UTOPIA Pipeline Less “Controversial” than NEXUS in Ohio?
April 18, 2016April 18, 2016

UTOPIA Pipeline map – click for larger version

For some reason antis in Ohio seem to have more of a problem with Spectra Energy’s proposed NEXUS natural gas pipeline than with Kinder Morgan’s UTOPIA ethane pipeline–at least that’s what the Toledo Blade claims. The NEXUS is a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada (see Spectra Energy Files Formal FERC Application for NEXUS Pipeline). It is a critically needed pipeline to move Utica and Marcellus Shale gas from an over-saturated market in the northeast to markets in the Midwest and Canada. UTOPIA is a 12-inch ethane pipeline will run 240 miles and will only be built in Ohio before it connects to another pipeline that goes to Canada–therefore the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) won’t be involved in permitting UTOPIA. As we’ve previously noted, it seems like there’s been very little opposition to UTOPIA (see UTOPIA Ethane Pipeline Faces Virtually No Opposition in OH). It also seems the antis believe the NEXUS is more of a threat than UTOPIA–even though pipelines are THE safest form of transportation in the country, bar none…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Mass. Landowners Say Patriotic Duty to Oppose NED Pipeline
April 14, 2016April 14, 2016

MDN is strongly in favor of property rights. “You don’t tell me I can’t allow drilling a shale well or a pipeline–and I don’t tell you that you must allow it.” That’s always been our guiding philosophy. It pains us when pipeline companies use eminent domain to force landowners to allow a pipeline to be built. Having said that, it’s a pipeline! It’s underground. Farmers can plant crops over top of it after it’s in the ground. After a few years, you’re hard pressed to even tell where the pipeline is buried! We say if there’s widespread opposition to pipelines in a given community, don’t bother building it there. However, if there’s a handful of holdout landowners (often driven by global warming insanity), eminent domain may be justified. Life is complex. These issues are complex. Again, forcefully using eminent domain against any landowner–even the stupid anti-drilling ones–pains us. We don’t like it. But eminent domain is part of our laws, created to benefit wider society. We spotted an article about some Massachusetts landowners who equate opposing Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct pipeline with being patriotic, like the patriots from the original Boston Harbor Tea Party revolt. We had to laugh…
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CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island, Georgia LNG Export Plant Progresses
April 6, 2016April 6, 2016

Last July Kinder Morgan bought out joint venture partner Shell’s portion of a proposed LNG (liquefied natural gas) project on the coast of Georgia (see KM Buys Shell’s Share in Elba LNG Export Plant, Marcellus Exports?). What does the Georgia Elba LNG plant have to do with Marcellus/Utica? Maybe nothing, but we suspect something. Kinder’s arch rival Williams owns the mighty Transco pipeline that connects, via the Elba Express pipeline, to the LNG facility. Currently Elba Island imports LNG. However, Williams has been on a mission to send Marcellus gas south–including to Georgia (see Marcellus Gas Heading to Georgia via Transco Pipeline). We don’t think it’s much of a stretch that Marcellus Shale gas, via the Transco, will be at least some of, if not the primary, source for gas exported from the Elba facility. The Elba facility is progressing. Yesterday Kinder announced “a contract for the engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and startup of Kinder Morgan’s natural gas liquefaction project at Elba Island, near Savannah, Georgia.” The contract was awarded to IHI E&C…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation

FERC Approves Pipeline to Move More Marcellus/Utica Gas to Chicago
March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

In October 2014 Kinder Morgan ran an open season with an eye on expanding the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL) system in the Chicago area (see Kinder Morgan Plans Chicago Pipeline Expansion for Marcellus/Utica). The expanded NGPL system, called the Chicago Market Expansion Project, will bring new volumes of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas, heading west on the reversed Rockies Express Pipeline, to over 100 interconnects with Chicago-area local distribution companies, direct-connect power plants, industrial end users, interstate pipelines, and NGPL’s storage and highly liquid pooling points. Kinder originally thought they would beef up capacity by an extra 450,000 dekatherms per day. Somewhere along the way the project was scaled back to 238,000 Dth/d. The good news is that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has just approved the project, which is on track to be completed by the end of this year. The expansion provides an important new market for Marcellus/Utica gas…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation

FERC Approves TGP Connecticut Expansion Pipeline Project
March 16, 2016March 16, 2016

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last Friday approved Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s (TGP) Connecticut Expansion project. The project includes building 13.42 miles of new pipeline loops in three states: Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. When completed, the new looping will serve an additional 72,100 dekatherms of (mostly) Marcellus Shale gas to three utility companies in Connecticut. The $86 million project is in no way connected to TGP’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project. Below are the details for the project, along with a project map…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Pipeline Opposition in Lebanon, PA Fading Away to Nothing
March 15, 2016March 15, 2016

Here’s what MDN notices about pipeline supporters and detractors. Not that long ago MDN editor Jim Willis attended a meeting in Afton, NY supporting the delayed Constitution Pipeline (see Cuomo Needs to “Snap on a Pair” and Approve the Constitution Pipe). Reports say there were over 300 people jammed into that meeting. Then we read about two anti-pipeline groups in Lebanon County, PA holding a meeting to oppose two different pipelines coming through their area–and they can barely scrape together 50 people. What does that tell you about opposition to pipelines? It’s nearly non-existent, except for a few loud mouths that are endlessly interviewed by mainstream media…
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Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

UTOPIA Ethane Pipeline Faces Virtually No Opposition in OH
February 16, 2016February 16, 2016

This is not a story you often hear these days: A natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline slated to be built in Ohio is facing virtually no opposition. Last month we updated you on Kinder Morgan’s UTOPIA (Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access) ethane pipeline (see Kinder Morgan Ready to Move Forward with UTOPIA East Pipeline). The 12-inch ethane pipeline will run 240 miles and will only be built in Ohio–therefore the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) won’t be involved in permitting the project. The pipeline will connect to another pipeline (in Ohio) and that pipeline will carry ethane all the way to Ontario to a cracker plant. Perhaps lack of FERC involvement is the secret to limited opposition? Who knows! Construction won’t begin on the project until 2017 and UTOPIA won’t be online until early 2018. But before that can happen, Kinder Morgan has to secure easements from approximately 900 landowners in Ohio. A full one-third of the deals are ALREADY DONE. Some 98% of landowners granted permission for Kinder Morgan to survey their property. Seems to us like a textbook case of how to build a pipeline! Now if Kinder could only duplicate that success with their Northeast Energy Direct pipeline running through New England (sigh). Here’s an update on UTOPIA’s rapid progress…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Lawyer Tells NH Landowners ‘7 in 10 Chance’ Pipeline is Coming
February 9, 2016February 9, 2016

A lawyer meeting with a group of New Hampshire landowners in New Ipswich, NH last night gave them a dose of cold, hard reality. He told them, “There’s a seven out of 10 chance this pipeline is going to come” through their town, referring to Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct pipeline. He told those present they can fight it, they can not negotiate with Kinder Morgan, and if they do so, it’s to their own peril. His solution? Band together as a group and negotiate good terms and conditions for the pipeline. Have a say in the matter. In other words, don’t be jerks–be reasonable and understand whether you want it or not, it’s coming. And if you negotiate now, you’ll get a better deal than if behave like petulant children…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Did Deerfield, MA Just Threaten Citizens Who Want Pipeline?
February 5, 2016February 5, 2016

Deerfield, MA seems to be inhabited (infested?) with radical anti-fossil fuelers who get the creepy crawlies when they think about a pipeline being buried in the ground–even though miles of pipelines are already in the ground under their feet right now and have been for decades. The Deerfield town health board, in the past, has claimed “unlimited power” to stop Kinder Morgan’s proposed Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline (see MA Town Health Board Claims “Unlimited Power” to Stop TGP). The town tried to get Kinder Morgan to sue them over the pipeline (see Deerfield, MA Hoping Kinder Morgan Sues Them over Pipeline “Ban”). When that didn’t work, Deerfield tried to sue the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see Mass. Town Sues FERC to Stop Pipeline Claiming Gas is for Export). When that didn’t work, the town filed a second lawsuit against the federal government (see Deerfield’s 2nd Bite at the Litigation Apple Against NED Pipeline). Now the town is claiming its police force will stop surveyors from entering a property–even if those surveyors have permission from the state–if the landowner doesn’t want them there. Deerfield is on very thin ice and about to fall through. But what if a resident wants to allow a surveyor and wants the pipeline? “Deerfield residents who choose to grant Kinder Morgan access to their private property do so at their own risk, according to the town.” Is that a not-so-veiled threat, from the town against it’s own citizens?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

MA Town Plans to Raise Taxes to Oppose 1 Mile of NED Pipeline
January 22, 2016January 22, 2016

Part of the Kinder Morgan expansion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline in New England, called Northeast Energy Direct (NED) is due to go through the Town of Warwick, MA. Warwick sits on the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border. Town leaders are opposed to the pipeline running through their town. In order to fight it, the town has opened a voluntary fund that residents can contribute to, to help with legal fees. Apparently the town “fathers” (and “mothers”) don’t have much hope anyone is going to contribute, because they want to allocate money from the town–and raise residents’ taxes in order to do it. Some Warwich residents aren’t thrilled with the prospect, since they’re already taxed up to the eyeballs. Here’s the kicker: Only about one mile of pipeline will traverse the Town of Warwick. They want to soak taxpayers to oppose a project that’s one mile of pipeline. Really? Are they really that radicalized against fossil fuels?…
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Bradford County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Pike County | Pipelines | Tioga County (PA)

Kinder Morgan 4Q15: Cutting Dividend, PA Pipeline Progress
January 21, 2016January 21, 2016

Yesterday Kinder Morgan, the largest midstream company in the U.S., released their fourth quarter 2015 update. The update starts with the news that KM is lowering the cash dividend in order to avoid chasing new loans. KM says by cutting the dividend they will be able to self-fund new projects, which ultimately benefits everyone, including shareholders. The update also chronicles progress made on three Pennsylvania pipelines: the Susquehanna West Project (Tioga and Bradford counties, the Orion Project (Pike County), and the Triad Expansion Project (Lackawanna County). Below is the full update from KM…
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Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH

Kinder Morgan Ready to Move Forward with UTOPIA East Pipeline
January 19, 2016January 19, 2016

In April 2015 MDN told you that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will not be involved with approving or overseeing construction for Kinder Morgan’s UTOPIA (Utica To Ontario Pipeline Access) ethane pipeline (see FERC Will Not Oversee UTOPIA NGL Pipeline Project in Ohio). Why not? Because UTOPIA, a 12-inch ethane pipeline running 240 miles will only be built in Ohio–it won’t cross state lines. It will, however, connect to another pipeline that crosses Michigan and enters Canada where the ethane (and some propane) will feed a NOVA Chemical cracker plant in Windsor, Ontario. Because it’s all within Ohio, the lead agency for approval and oversight for UTOPIA will be the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with an assist from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Kinder is saying they are ready to move forward with the UTOPIA project and will file for the necessary permits from state and federal authorities “within the next few months”…
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Shortages Begin: Tangible Result of No Pipelines in New England
January 8, 2016January 8, 2016

In December 2014 the Massachusetts-based utility Berkshire Gas Company announced the amount of natural gas they could purchase from the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) was at full capacity. There’s no additional gas supplies to buy–unless TGP builds their Northeast Energy Direct (NED) expansion project. So Berkshire was forced to tell new customers for natural gas in portions of Franklin County they won’t be able to tap into Berkshire’s line (see Guts: No New Pipeline in MA? Then No New Natgas for Utility Customers). In September, the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Utilities (DPU) approved long-term contracts for three utilities, including Berkshire Gas, to buy natural gas supplies from TGP’s NED pipeline when/if it gets built (see Mass. Approves Plan for Utilities to Buy Gas from New Pipeline). Anti-drilling nutters promptly sued to stop that plan (see Anti Group Sues to Stop Mass. Utilities from Buying Natural Gas). It’s now a year after Berkshire’s first announcement that some communities in Franklin County won’t get new natgas service. Berkshire has had to expand the prohibition area. They’re now turning down new businesses in neighboring Hampshire County, which is causing a stir. We’re not sure why antis don’t get it. No new gas, no new service. It’s pretty simple. Below is the story of a jilted Texas Roadhouse, who says they wouldn’t have purchased land and built had they known they couldn’t get natgas service. Translation: more businesses will stay away, or perhaps even leave, because they can’t get natgas due to the shortage…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

NH New State Motto: “Live as Slaves then Die” – Plans to Nix Pipe
January 7, 2016January 7, 2016

The official motto for the State of New Hampshire used to be “Live Free or Die.” Sometime over the past 200+ years it changed. These days the new motto in New Hampshire is, “Live as Slaves then Die.” How else do you explain why NH leaders (Republicans!) have introduced a blizzard of bills that would essentially outlaw a simple natural gas pipeline from being added to the ground–in a state where thousands of miles of pipelines are already buried in the ground? Why are they all of a sudden allergic to the safest form of transportation in existence? The only explanation we can find is, they want to be slaves to Big Green and forsake modern conveniences like electricity and automobiles…
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