Rockies Express Pipeline Completes Successful Open Season for Northeast Expansion Project
HOUSTON, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ — Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) today announced it has completed a successful non-binding open season for the Northeast Express project, a 375-mile extension of REX that would extend the pipeline’s route from Clarington, Ohio, and add capacity to receive volumes from Lebanon, Ohio, to the endpoint in Princeton, N.J. REX officials reported that market interest during the open season exceeded the pipeline’s initial design estimate of 1.5 million dekatherms per day. Interested parties included natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, local distribution companies and power generators.
REX plans to begin negotiating binding agreements with these potential customers. Subject to receipt of sufficient binding commitments and regulatory approvals, the pipeline extension could go into service in late 2010. The proposed expansion capitalizes on the efficient design of the REX pipeline and will have a low-cost fuel rate delivering gas to the Northeast.
REX is a $4.4 billion joint venture of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. , Sempra Pipelines and Storage, a unit of Sempra Energy and ConocoPhillips , and is one of the largest natural gas pipelines to be constructed in North America. When completed, the 1,678-mile pipeline will have a capacity of approximately 1.8 billion cubic feet per day. Binding firm commitments from creditworthy shippers have been secured for virtually all of the capacity on the pipeline. KMP is overseeing construction of the project and will operate the pipeline.
The first 328-mile segment of REX, which runs from the Meeker Hub in Rio Blanco County, Colo., to the Wamsutter Hub in Sweetwater County, Wyo., to the Cheyenne Hub in Weld County, Colo., is in service and has a current capacity of 500,000 dekatherms per day. The next segment, REX-West, is a 713 mile, 42-inch diameter pipeline that will extend from the Cheyenne Hub to an interconnection with Panhandle Eastern Pipeline located in Audrain County, Mo. It is anticipated that interim service on REX-West will be available in late December, with full service by February 2008. Subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, it is anticipated that interim service on REX-East will begin as early as Dec. 30, 2008, and the pipeline will be fully operational by June 2009.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company in North America. KMP owns an interest in or operates more than 24,000 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. The general partner of KMP is owned by Knight Inc. (formerly Kinder Morgan, Inc.), a private company.
Sempra Pipelines & Storage acquires, builds and operates natural gas pipelines and storage facilities in Mexico and the United States. Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy-services holding company with 2006 revenues of nearly $12 billion. The Sempra Energy companies’ 14,000 employees serve more than 29 million consumers in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America and Asia.
ConocoPhillips is an integrated petroleum company with interests around the world. Headquartered in Houston, the company had approximately 32,500 employees, $173 billion of assets, and $180 billion of revenues as of September 30, 2007. For more information, go to http://www.conocophillips.com/.
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.
This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When Sempra Energy uses words like “believes,”"expects,”"anticipates,”"intends,”"plans,”"estimates,”"may,”"would,”"should” or similar expressions, or when Sempra Energy discusses its strategy or plans, the company is making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon various assumptions involving judgments with respect to the future and other risks, including, among others: local, regional, national and international economic, competitive, political, legislative and regulatory conditions and developments; actions by the California Public Utilities Commission, the California State Legislature, the California Department of Water Resources, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other regulatory bodies in the United States and other countries; capital markets conditions, inflation rates, interest rates and exchange rates; energy and trading markets, including the timing and extent of changes in commodity prices; the availability of natural gas; weather conditions and conservation efforts; war and terrorist attacks; business, regulatory, environmental, and legal decisions and requirements; the status of deregulation of retail natural gas and electricity delivery; the timing and success of business development efforts; the resolution of litigation; and other uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of the company. These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the company’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that are available through the EDGAR system without charge at its Web site, http://www.sec.gov/ and on the company’s Web site, http://www.sempra.com/.
Sempra Pipelines & Storage is not the same company as the utilities, SDG&E or SoCalGas, and Sempra Pipelines & Storage is not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE “SAFE HARBOR” PROVISIONS OF THE
PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that contain projections about our revenues, income, earnings and other financial items, our plans and objectives for the future, future economic performance, or other projections or estimates about our assumptions relating to these types of statements. These statements usually relate to future events and anticipated revenues, earnings, business strategies, competitive position or other aspects of our operations or operating results. In many cases you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “anticipate,”"estimate,”"believe,”"continue,”"could,”"intend,”"may,”"plan,”"potential,”"predict,”"should,”"will,”"expect,”"objective,”"projection,”"forecast,”"goal,”"guidance,”"outlook,”"effort,”"target” and other similar words. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations, estimates and projections about ConocoPhillips and the petroleum industry in general on the date this statement was released. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in such forward-looking statements. Economic, business, competitive and regulatory factors that may affect ConocoPhillips’ business are generally as set forth in ConocoPhillips’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). ConocoPhillips is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Rockies Express Pipeline LLC
CONTACT: Joe Hollier, Media Relations, +1-713-369-9176, or Mindy Mills,Investor Relations, +1-713-369-9490, both of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners,L.P.; or Art Larson, Media Relations, 1-877-866-2066, or Glen Donovan,Investor Relations, 1-877-736-7727, both of Sempra Energy; or Bill Graham,Media Relations, +1-281-293-1978, or Gary Russell, Investor Relations,+1-212-207-1996, both of ConocoPhillips
Web site: http://www.kindermorgan.com/http://www.sempra.com/http://www.conocophillips.com/