Richard Kinder to hand over CEO reins in June

OREANDA-NEWS. Kinder Morgan chief executive Richard Kinder will step down from his post this summer, turning leadership of the US midstream giant over amid a swelling products business and ongoing expansion plans.

Chief operating officer Steve Kean will become chief executive June 1 in a long-planned succession, Kinder said. But the 70-year-old chief executive planned to remain active in the company as executive chairman. The direction of the company would not change, he said.

"My name is on the door and I don't plan on going anywhere," Kinder said on an earnings call. "As we say in Texas, I plan to die with my boots on."

Kinder acquired a network of pipelines from now-bankrupt Enron and transformed them into a US logistics empire, acquiring El Paso along the way. He owns about 11pc of Kinder Morgan and works for a salary of \$1 a year.

Refined product volumes across the Kinder Morgan system were higher by 5.3pc for the fourth quarter of 2014 and by 4pc for the year, excluding the Parkway pipeline, which began service in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Volumes across the 864-mile SFPP product pipeline system connecting northern California to southern California and Nevada increased by more than 4pc in the fourth quarter. An improving economy and both states and higher demand driven by lower prices helped increase volumes, Kean said.

Total throughputs on the 3,100-mile Plantation Pipeline, connecting Louisiana to northern Virginia, increased by more than 8pc to roughly 662,000 b/d in the fourth quarter.

Kinder Morgan continued to develop projects increasing product export capacity in the Houston Ship Channel to 41mn bl and to increase the its available docks to 11 from eight.

The last three of nine new storage tanks associated with a 1.2mn bl expansion at Galena Park and Pasadena will be completed in the first quarter. The company will finish the dock by the end of the year.

Kinder Morgan expected to start up its 100,000 b/d condensate splitter in the Houston Ship Channel in March, a nearly one year delay for the project. The company in July expected to start operations in November. Condensate volumes across the Kinder Morgan system increased to 100,000 b/d in 2014, compared to 35,000 b/d in the prior year.

Kinder Morgan reported a \$566mn profit for the quarter, down from \$704mn a year earlier. A \$235mn charge on oil and gas properties reduced profits.