Second Segment of Rockies Express Pipeline Begins Service
HOUSTON, Feb. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The second segment of the first leg of the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) project — a 192-mile, 42-inch diameter pipeline from the Wamsutter Hub in Wyoming to the Cheyenne Hub in Colorado — began service today. The first segment of the project — 136 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline from the Meeker Hub in Colorado to the Wamsutter Hub — began interim service in February 2006. Capacity on this 328 miles of REX is currently 500,000 dekatherms per day (dth/day). The capacity will increase up to 750,000 dth/day when the Enterprise Gas Processing, LLC plant at Meeker goes into service later this year.
“We are pleased to complete the first leg of REX, which was about six weeks behind schedule due to inclement weather in the Rocky Mountains,” said Scott Parker, president of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners Natural Gas Pipelines. “We expect to receive the FERC certificate for REX-West this spring and commence construction shortly thereafter.”
* REX-West will consist of 713 miles of 42-inch diameter pipeline from Weld County, Colo., to Audrain County, Mo., and has a targeted in- service date of December 2007. * REX-East, a 622-mile segment from eastern Missouri to the Clarington Hub in Ohio is expected to be in interim service as early as Jan. 1, 2009, and fully completed by June 2009. These projected dates are subject to regulatory approvals.
The 1,663-mile REX pipeline will be one of the largest natural gas pipelines ever constructed in North America and will transport natural gas from the prolific producing basins in Wyoming and Colorado to the upper Midwest and eastern United States. The approximately $4.4 billion project will have the capability to transport 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. Binding firm commitments from creditworthy shippers have been secured for virtually all of the capacity on the pipeline.
KMP operates REX and owns 51 percent of the equity in the project, which will become 50 percent when construction of the entire project is completed. Sempra Pipelines & Storage, a unit of Sempra Energy , has a 25 percent ownership interest in the project. ConocoPhillips owns a 24 percent interest in the project with an additional 1 percent interest to be acquired after the pipeline construction is completed.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded pipeline limited partnerships in America. KMP owns or operates more than 27,000 miles of pipelines and approximately 150 terminals. Its pipelines transport more than 2 million barrels/day of gasoline and other petroleum products and up to 9 billion cubic feet/day of natural gas and its terminals handle over 80 million tons of coal and other bulk materials annually and have a liquids storage capacity of about 70 million barrels for petroleum products and chemicals. KMP is also the leading provider of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery projects in the United States.
The general partner of KMP is owned by Kinder Morgan, Inc., one of the largest energy transportation, storage and distribution companies in North America. Combined, the two companies have an enterprise value of more than $35 billion.
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 2005 revenues of $11.7 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 38,400 employees, $165 billion of assets and $184 billion of revenues as of December 31, 2006. For more information, go to http://www.concocophillips.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.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.; Sempra Energy; ConocoPhillips
CONTACT: Larry Pierce, Media Relations, +1-713-369-9407, or Mindy Mills,Investor Relations, +1-713-369-9490, both of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners,L.P.; or Jennifer Andrews, Media Relations, +1-877-866-2066, or KarenSedgwick, Investor Relations, +1-877-736-7727, both of Sempra Energy; orCharlie Rowton, Media Relations, +1-281-293-2701, or Gary Russell, InvestorRelations, +1-212-207-1996, both of ConocoPhillips
Web site: http://www.sec.gov//Web site: http://www.kindermorgan.com/http://www.sempra.com/http://www.conocophillips.com/
