On Monday, Houston-Texas-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. announced it will invest approximately $107 million to expand its Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate pipeline system (KMCC) deeper into the Eagle Ford Shale play in Karnes County, Texas. The expansion, supported by a long-term contract with ConocoPhillips, will extend the 178-mile pipeline 31 miles from the KMCC DeWitt Station in DeWitt County, Texas, to ConocoPhillips' Central Delivery Facility near Helena in Karnes County. Kinder Morgan will also build receipt tanks and a truck unloading facility adjacent to ConocoPhillips' Helena Central Delivery Facility. Kinder Morgan expects to begin construction on the project in July of this year.
"We're pleased we can expand our KMCC pipeline to provide additional flexibility to our customers seeking to move Karnes County crude and condensate to Houston-area markets," said KMP Products Pipelines President Ron McClain. "This expansion further assists our commitment to deliver up to 300,000 barrels per day of crude and condensate from the Eagle Ford Shale." The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to cash distributable to KMP unitholders upon the project's completion in the third quarter of 2014.