Eagle Ford Gathering LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Kinder Morgan
Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP) and Copano Energy, L.L.C. (NASDAQ:
CPNO), today announced a long-term agreement with Williams Partners L.P.
(NYSE: WPZ) to process Eagle Ford Shale production at Williams Partners'
Markham processing plant located in Matagorda County, Texas. Eagle Ford
Gathering will construct a 7-mile, 20-inch lateral to connect its
previously announced crossover pipeline project to the Markham plant and
install approximately 3,400 horsepower of compression at a cost of
approximately $27 million. The agreement will initially provide Eagle
Ford Gathering with 100 million cubic feet per day of processing
capacity at the Markham plant, with an option to increase its capacity
to up to 200 million cubic feet per day.
Duane Kokinda, president of Kinder Morgan's Intrastate Pipeline Group,
said, "We are pleased to enter into this significant new agreement with
Williams Partners to increase the joint venture's gas processing
capabilities. The new agreement augments the previously announced
agreement with Formosa Hydrocarbons Company, resulting in up to 375
million cubic feet per day of total processing capacity through the
crossover project. We expect to break ground on the crossover pipeline
in July and to place it in service in the fourth quarter of 2011. In
addition, the joint venture has 375,000 MMbtu per day of processing
capacity at Copano's Houston Central plant through Kinder Morgan's
Laredo-to-Katy pipeline."
"The joint venture's 117-mile, 30- and 24-inch system through McMullen,
La Salle, Dimmit and Webb Counties is nearing completion," said Jim
Wade, President and Chief Operating Officer of Copano Energy's Texas
segment. "We expect the system to be placed into service in September
and begin processing joint venture gas at Copano's Houston Central
complex. We are pleased with the new, long-term relationship with
Williams Partners, which represents continued progress in executing our
overall Eagle Ford Shale strategy. The joint venture's combined capacity
commitments, along with Copano's recently announced expansion of the
Houston Central complex, will provide South Texas producers access to
processing and fractionation capacity of up to 1.4 billion cubic feet of
gas per day and over 100,000 barrels per day of NGL fractionation and
product market."
Through Eagle Ford Gathering, Kinder Morgan and Copano expect to invest
approximately $300 million in midstream infrastructure to provide
gathering, transportation, processing and fractionation services to
Eagle Ford Shale producers.
About Kinder Morgan Energy Partners
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP) is a leading pipeline
transportation and energy storage company in North America. KMP owns an
interest in or operates more than 28,000 miles of pipelines and 180
terminals. Its pipelines transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, CO2
and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and
chemicals and handle such products as ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and
steel. KMP is also the leading provider of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery
projects in North America. One of the largest publicly traded pipeline
limited partnerships in America, KMP has an enterprise value of over $33
billion. The general partner of KMP is owned by Kinder Morgan, Inc.
(NYSE: KMI). Combined, KMI and KMP have an enterprise value of
approximately $55 billion. For more information please visit http://www.kindermorgan.com/.
About Copano Energy, L.L.C.
Houston-based Copano Energy, L.L.C. (NASDAQ: CPNO) is a midstream
natural gas company with operations in Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and
Louisiana. Its assets include approximately 6,400 miles of active
natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines, 250 miles of NGL
pipelines and ten natural gas processing plants, with over one Bcf per
day of combined processing capacity and 22,000 barrels per day of
fractionation capacity. For more information please visit http://www.copanoenergy.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release includes forward-looking statements. Although
Kinder Morgan and Copano Energy believe that their expectations are
based on reasonable assumptions, they can give no assurance that such
assumptions will materialize or that the proposed transactions will be
consummated. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements in this release
include: the impact of inflation on project costs and the availability
of required resources; the effects on the project schedule, project
costs, or both, of numerous regulatory, environmental, political, legal
and operational uncertainties; the impact on volumes and resulting cash
flow of technological, economic and other uncertainties inherent in
estimating future production and producers' ability to drill and
successfully complete and attach new natural gas supplies, and the
availability of downstream transportation systems and other facilities
for natural gas and NGLs. These and other risks and uncertainties are
described in the risk factors sections of Kinder Morgan's and Copano
Energy's Forms 10-K and 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
