HOUSTON, June 29, 2009 – Rockies Express Pipeline LLC., today announced that service began today on the portion of the Rockies Express-East (REX-East) pipeline from Audrain County, Mo., to the Lebanon Hub in Warren County, Ohio, with capacity up to 1.6 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas per day. This section of REX-East includes interconnects to NGPL, Ameren, Trunkline, Midwestern Gas Transmission, Panhandle Eastern, Texas Eastern, Dominion Transmission and Columbia Gas, with future interconnects to Texas Gas, ANR, Citizens and Vectren. The remainder of the 639-mile, 42-inch-diameter REX-East pipeline eastward to Clarington, Ohio, is expected to be in service by Nov. 1, 2009.
“We are delighted that the majority of REX-East is now in service, providing our shippers access to new markets,” said Steve Kean, president of Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipelines group. “We now look forward to bringing the final leg of the REX project to Clarington, Ohio, into service by Nov. 1.”
When completed, the entire 1,679-mile REX pipeline will have a capacity of approximately 1.8 Bcf per day, virtually all of which has been contracted under long-term firm commitments from creditworthy shippers.
Rockies Express Pipeline LLC is a joint venture of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP), Sempra Pipelines and Storage, a unit of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), and is one of the largest natural gas pipelines to be constructed in North America. KMP is overseeing construction of the project and operates the pipeline.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company in North America. KMP owns an interest in or operates more than 26,000 miles of pipelines and 170 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 over $20 billion. The general partner of KMP is owned by Knight Inc. (formerly Kinder Morgan, Inc.), a private company.
Sempra Pipelines & Storage develops, builds and operates natural gas pipelines and storage facilities in Latin America and the United States. It also manages natural gas and electricity distribution in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Peru. Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy-services holding company with 2008 revenues of nearly $11 billion. The Sempra Energy companies’ 13,600 employees serve more than 29 million consumers worldwide.
ConocoPhillips is an international, integrated energy company with interests around the world. Headquartered in Houston, the company has more than 30,000 employees and $143 billion of assets. For more information, go to 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, www.sec.gov and on the company’s Web site, 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.