Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America

NGPL traces its history to the Continental Construction Corporation, which changed its name to the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America in December 1931.{{cite news|title=Charters Filed at State House|work=Wilmington Morning News|date=December 11, 1931|page=13|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=Permit Given for Natural Gas Line|work=Moline Dispatch|date=February 12, 1932|page=20}} Continental Construction was incorporated about May 1, 1930, in Delaware and in Texas{{cite news|title=Charters|work=The Austin American|date=May 2, 1930|page=12}} for the purpose of constructing a 24-inch natural gas pipline between the Amarillo, Texas, oil fields and Chicago, Illinois.{{cite news|title=Worthington Pump Operations Heavier|work=The Buffalo News|date=July 14, 1930|page=26|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=Gas Line Near Windhorst|work=The Spearville News|date=July 24, 1930|page=4}} The major incorporators included Standard Oil of New Jersey and Cities Service Corporation,{{cite news|title=Background of the Market|work=Minneapolis Star Tribune|date=September 19, 1930|page=24|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=Millions Are Being Spent to Pipe Gas Past Kansas City and Sell It Below Our Rates|work=Kansas City Star|date=November 30, 1930|page=C2}} with minority investments from the Insull utility interests, Phillips Petroleum, Skelly Oil, and others. Work began in Kansas and Nebraska in June,{{cite news|title=Gage County Board Proceeding|work=Beatrice Daily Sun|date=June 9, 1930|page=3|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=Special Session, May 24, 1930|work=The Linn-Palmer Record|date=June 13, 1930|page=6|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=Bell's Claim for an Increase Denied|work=The Lincoln Journal-Star|date=June 17, 1930|page=1}} Iowa in July,{{cite news|title=Appraise Land for Gas Pipe Location|work=Quad-City Times|date=July 28, 1930|page=4}} and Indiana in September.{{cite news|title=Natural Gas to Be Furnished|work=The Tipton Daily Tribune|date=August 16, 1930|page=1}} The first hundred miles of pipe began to be laid in September 1930.{{cite news|title=Contracts Are Awarded for 113-Mile Pipeline|work=The Dayton Herald|date=September 16, 1930|page=19}} The pipeline was completed on August 29, 1931, and gas began moving on September 1.{{cite news|title=E. Texas to Chicago Pipe Line Completed|work=The San Francisco Examiner|date=August 30, 1931|page=B3}} It was the first 1,000-mile pipeline built in the United States,{{cite book|author=Federal Power Commission|title=National Gas Survey. Volume 1|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|date=1975|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mb3VAAAAMAAJ|page=31}} and the first high-pressure, thin-walled, electrically-welded, cross-country pipeline.{{cite book|last=Waples|first=David A.|title=The Natural Gas Industry in Appalachia: A History From the First Discovery to the Tapping of the Marcellus Shale|location=Jefferson, N.C.|publisher=McFarland & Company|date=2012|isbn=9780786470006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EedYrOtmmEkC|pages=157–158}}

On December 16, 1948, Peoples Gas, the supplier of municipal natural gas in and around the city of Chicago, agreed to pay $32.6 million to acquire all the outstanding stock of NGPL.{{cite news|title=Peoples Gas May Buy All of Pipe Line|work=Chicago Tribune|date=December 14, 1948|page=35|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=Peoples Gas Owner of Panhandle Line|work=Amarillo Daily News|date=December 15, 1948|page=5|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=Peoples Gas Net Income Dips in 1948|work=Chicago Tribune|date=February 25, 1949|page=45}} Peoples Gas changed its name to Peoples Energy in November 1979.{{cite news|title=Peoples Gas Plans Name Change|work=Chicago Tribune|date=November 20, 1979|page=50}}

In October 1981, Peoples Energy spun off NGPL and five other natural gas pipeline subsidiaries into a new publicly traded holding company named MidCon.{{cite news|title=Peoples Energy Eyes Split|work=Chicago Tribune|date=August 4, 1981|page=C2|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|title=State, Groups Seek a Full Review of Peoples Spinoff Plan|work=Chicago Tribune|date=September 9, 1981|page=C12|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|last1=Millenson|first1=Michael L.|last2=Atlas|first2=Terry|title=Shareholders OK Spinoff at Peoples|work=Chicago Tribune|date=September 10, 1981|page=B1|postscript=none}}; {{cite news|last=Atlas|first=Terry|title=Judge OKs Peoples Energy Reorganization|work=Chicago Tribune|date=October 24, 1981|page=B6}}

MidCon was subsequently purchased by Occidental Petroleum in January 1986 for $3 billion.{{cite news|title=Occidental, Midcon Okay merger|work=Corpus Christi Times|date=January 2, 1986|page=E5}}

KN Energy (formerly Kansas Nebraska Energy) purchased Midcon for $4 billion in 1997. When the deal closed in January 1998, KN Energy became the owner of the second-largest natural gas pipeline system in the United States.{{cite news|title=KN Energy Buys MidCon|work=Omaha World-Herald|date=January 31, 1998|page=52}}

In July 1999, KN Energy agreed to buy natural gas pipeline operator Kinder Morgan, Inc. for $506 million in stock. Richard Kinder, formerly president of Enron Corp., formed Kinder Morgan in late 1996 as a vehicle to take control of the Enron Liquids Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of the Enron Corporation. That deal was worth $40 million. Enron Liquids Pipeline was renamed Kinder Morgan Energy Partners.{{cite news|title=Enron Selling Pipeline Partnership to Kinder Morgan|work=The New York Times|date=February 19, 1997|access-date=March 10, 2023|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/19/business/enron-selling-pipeline-partnership-to-kinder-morgan.html}} Kinder was elected to KN Energy's board of directors in 1998.{{cite news|title=Jilted KN Energy to Buy Pipeline Firm|work=Omaha World-Herald|date=July 9, 1999|page=18}}

Richard Kinder was named the president and chief executive officer of the merged company, which retained the Kinder Morgan name. The combined company owned 30,000 miles of pipeline (25,000 miles by Kinder Morgan and 5,000 miles by Kinder Morgan-owned Kinder Morgan Energy Partners).{{cite news|title=KN, Kinder Shareholders Approve Merger|work=Omaha World-Herald|date=September 29, 1999|page=34}}

By 2001, NGPL accounted for approximately 56 percent of Kinder Morgan's entire income.{{cite report|author=Kinder Morgan, Inc.|chapter=Items 1 and 2. Business and Properties|title=Annual Report Pursuant to Section 12 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Form 10-K|publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|date=March 29, 2022|access-date=March 10, 2023|chapter-url=https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/k/NYSE_KMI_2001.pdf|page=5}}

Seven years later, Kinder Morgan sold most of its ownership in NGPL. In February 2009, it sold an 80 percent interest in the pipeline firm to Myria Holdings,{{cite news|title=Pipelines Try to Dispel Charges of Over-Recovering Cost of Service|work=Natural Gas Intelligence|date=February 8, 2010|access-date=March 9, 2023|url=https://www.naturalgasintel.com/pipelines-try-to-dispel-charges-of-over-recovering-cost-of-service/}} an investment holding company formed by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners, the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board, and the Dutch pension fund PGGM.{{cite news|last=Gourntis|first=Kalliope|title=Brookfield, Kinder Morgan Up Stake In NGPL|work=Infrastructure Investor|date=December 2, 2015|access-date=March 9, 2023|url=https://www.infrastructureinvestor.com/brookfield-kinder-morgan-up-stake-in-ngpl/}}

By 2014, NGPL was "financially distressed", and warned creditors that it might miss interest payments on bonds. Kinder Morgan sought to divest itself of its remaining stake in NGPL in 2014, but in December 2015 the company announced it would increase its stake in NGPL to 50 percent, up from 30 percent. Brookfield Instrastructure Partners, which owned 27 percent of NGPL, agreed to increase its interest to 50 percent as well.

Kinder Morgan and Brookfield each sold 12.5 percent of their stake in NGPL in February 2021 to ArcLight Capital Partners (owners of Gulf Oil LP) for $830 million.{{cite news|title=Kinder Morgan and Brookfield to sell 25% stake in NGPL|work=Reuters|date=February 22, 2021|access-date=March 9, 2023|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-natural-gas-pipeline-stake-kinder-mor/kinder-morgan-and-brookfield-to-sell-25-stake-in-ngpl-idUSKBN2AM2JG}} At the time of the sale, NGPL had about 9,100 miles of natural gas pipeline.

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• {{official website|https://www.kindermorgan.com/Operations/Natural-Gas/Index}}

Category:Natural gas companies of the United States

Category:Natural gas pipeline companies

Category:Natural gas pipelines in the United States

Category:Energy infrastructure in Texas

Category:Kinder Morgan

Category:Natural gas pipelines in Texas

Category:Natural gas pipelines in Illinois

Category:Natural gas pipelines in New Mexico