Eagle Ford production slowing: Kinder Morgan

OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2016. Production in the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas is down 28pc from its peak, Kinder Morgan chief executive Steve Kean told analysts on the company's first quarter earnings call today.

The Houston-based midstream company, which operates natural gas, crude, and condensate lines in the region, lowered its overall 2016 earnings guidance down by 3pc because of overall lower throughputs on its system given declines in crude, natural gas and NGL prices.

"While Eagle Ford volumes declined overall, and we are projecting declines on our assets going forward, we have seen volumes grow on our KMCC (Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate) pipeline," Kean said. The 300,000 b/d line, which carries Eagle Ford liquids to the Gulf coast, is starting to see volumes slow. "We think we've just started to see some flattening on that pipeline, but what we've done on this pipe is essentially grow our market share."

Kinder Morgan reported overall NGL transport volumes on its system totaled 9.4mn bl, down 3.5pc from the same period in 2015. Crude and condensate transported volumes were up 67.3pc from year-ago levels to 30.9mn bl, primarily because of the KMCC throughput.