Kinder Morgan enjoys boost from gas business in Q1

US midstream company Kinder Morgan said April 21 that much of its gain in net income during the first quarter came from its natural gas pipeline division.

Kinder reported net income at $1.41bn, compared with a year-ago loss of $306mn. Revenue improved to $5.21bn in the three months ending March 31, from $3.11bn reported in the first quarter of 2020.

CEO Steve Kean attributed most of the gain in net income to the strong performance of its natural gas pipeline division during the February winter storm in Texas that led to sweeping regional power outages and idled large parts of the energy sector along the US Gulf Coast.

“Our storage assets performed exceptionally well, allowing us to deliver gas into the market throughout the storm,” he said.

Natural gas drawn from storage, along with the gas the company purchased ahead of and during the storm, enabled the company to keep deliveries moving to its regional customers, he added.

All told, however, Kinder reported that total natural gas transport volumes during the first quarter were 3% lower than the same period last year, due in large part to production declines from the reservoirs feeding its Colorado interstate pipeline system and lower Permian supplies during the February storm.

Those declines were offset somewhat by higher deliveries of LNG and supples to its customers in Mexico. Kinder Morgan in January put its 692-km Permian Highway pipeline into service, which will carry as much as 2.1bn ft³/day from the Waha hub to various interconnections along the Gulf Coast, including tie-ins to Mexico.