Kinder Morgan Energy Partners Invests Approximately $41 Million to Expand Louisiana Terminal Assets
HOUSTON, July 10 // -- Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:KMP) today announced an expansion project and an acquisition that will provide additional infrastructure to help meet the growing need for terminal services along the Gulf Coast. The combined investment of approximately $41 million includes the construction of a terminal that will include liquid storage, transfer and packaging facilities at the Rubicon Plant site in Geismar, La., and the purchase of a liquids terminal from Royal Vopak in Westwego, La., that has a storage capacity of about 750,000 barrels.
"These strategically located terminals complement our existing facilities in the area and will provide additional service opportunities for our customers," said KMP Terminals President Jeff Armstrong. "The acquisition and the expansion, upon completion, are expected to be immediately accretive to distributable cash flow at KMP."
The 173-acre Vopak Terminal Westwego facility KMP acquired has 19 tanks, rail service with 10 railcar spots, a two-bay truck rack and offers dock services to accommodate a variety of barges and vessels. In addition, vegetable oil, biodiesel, ethanol and other liquid products can be stored at the facility. The acquisition is supported by long-term customer commitments.
"We are excited about our partnership with Kinder Morgan at the Westwego site," said Ray Bitzer, president of Peter Cremer North America L.P -- the primary lessee of the terminal. "The facility has a tremendous amount of potential and complements Cremer's expanding global position. We look forward to the expanded opportunities that this site and our relationship with Kinder Morgan bring to us and our customers."
The new terminal being built at the Rubicon Plant site will be capable of handling inbound and outbound material via pipeline, rail, truck and barge/vessel. In addition, the terminal will offer rail siding for up to 24 cars with expansion capabilities to build tank car loading racks for future transload services. Construction began in March 2007 and is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2008.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:KMP) is a leading energy transportation and storage company in North America. KMP owns an interest in or operates more than 26,000 miles of pipelines and 150 terminals. Its pipelines transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, CO2 and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals and handle bulk materials like coal and petroleum coke. 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 approximately $20 billion.
This news release includes forward-looking statements. Although Kinder Morgan believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that such assumptions will materialize. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements herein are enumerated in Kinder Morgan's Forms 10-K and 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Source: Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.
CONTACT: Emily Mir Thompson, Media Relations, +1-713-369-8060
Web site: http://www.kindermorgan.com/
