The project involved converting a 208-km section of the pipeline that KMP acquired in December, 2003, from crude oil to gas service, and constructing a 8-km lateral to serve a municipal power plant that is being expanded. The pipeline adds 170 million cuft/d of incremental gas capacity to the growing Austin market, and is supported by long- term contracts with local utilities.
The company has also completed and placed in service a $20-million, 93-km long gas pipeline to serve its retail customers between Montrose and Ouray, Colorado. The project will provide many communities along the route with gas distribution service for the first time, and about 3,000 new Western Slope customers are expected as a result of the new pipeline over the next five years.
“These new pipelines are part of Kinder Morgan’s plans to invest approximately $650 million this year on expansion projects that will create more energy infrastructure in the United States and generate additional cash flow,” said Chairman and CEO Richard D. Kinder. The company is one of the largest energy-transportation and -storage companies in America, operating more than 56,000km of natural gas and products pipelines and almost 100 terminals.