Kinder Morgan Inc. Gets the Green Light to Keep Growing

Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) received some good news this week after it obtained approval to build a major pipeline from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast. That green light will enable the company to start working on another new project at a time when it faces considerable uncertainty on its ability to build the largest expansion in its backlog, the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion in Canada. With this latest project approval, the pipeline company's growth prospects continue to come into better focus.

This week, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Kinder Morgan's Utica Marcellus Texas project, which is a 964-mile pipeline that will transport 400,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids (NGLs) from major shale plays in the Northeast to market centers in Texas. The $412 million project should enter service by the end of next year if everything goes according to plan. For the most part, the project will use existing infrastructure on Kinder Morgan's Tennessee Gas pipeline system by converting portions of that system from northward flowing gas service to southbound NGL transportation. The company, though, will build 200 miles of new pipeline to connect it to a major NGL storage hub in Texas.

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Source: Fool.com