For those who are not familiar with Kinder Morgan, Kinder Morgan is a large North American energy company that specializes in the harvesting and transportation of natural gas and petroleum based products. They are a massive company that has many subsidiaries that saw around $14 billion dollars in revenue last year. Serving the United States and Canada Kinder Morgans pipelines run throughout North America, making them the fourth largest energy company in North America. In this article we are going to go over 5 things you probably didn’t know about this massive energy company.
5. They are have the largest natural gas pipeline network in North America
With over 82,000 miles of pipeline transporting natural gas, crude oil, and petroleum products across the continent, Kinder Morgan is the leader of pipeline transportation and energy storage. Kinder Morgan’s pipeline network is so massive, that it one were to lay all of their pipes in a straight line, it would circle the Earth more than 3 times.
4. They have a combined enterprise value of $110 Billion dollars
Kinder Morgan has many subsidiaries that operate in a variety of fields relating to the transportation of oil and natural gas. Being the massive company that they are, it is no surprise that they have such a large combined value. Kinder Morgan employs over 11,000 people and these employees are working everyday to ensure that Kinder Morgan is profitable and maintains its value.
3. They have been responsible for a large amount of oil spills and disasters
Kinder Morgan has been criticized many times by governments and environmental groups for having low quality control when it comes to their pipelines. Kinder Morgan is known for the spill in 2004 that dumped over 120,00 million gallons of diesel fuel into the Suisun Marsh in California. The damage was immense and caused by pipe corrosion. Kinder Morgan was fined $5.3 million dollars for this accident. They were also responsible for the massive explosion of a pipeline compressor station in Crockett, Texas that cause over $7.5 million dollars in property damage. These are only but some of the oil spills and accidents that are attributed to Kinder Morgan
2. They have had many pipeline safety violations
Over the years, Kinder Morgan has been charged by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for not maintaining their pipelines properly, or building pipelines too close to schools and hospitals. Many critics attribute their oil spills to some of the safety violations that the PHMSA have cited Kinder Morgan for including: failing to inspect pipelines, failure to monitor pipes’ corrosion levels, failing to test pipeline safety devices, and failing to maintain proper firefighting equipment. It was these citations that probably lead to the explosion in Texas and the spill in California mentioned above.
1. Their CEO makes $1 dollar a year
According to Kinder Morgan’s website, their CEO Richard D. Kinder has a salary that only earns him $1 dollar per year, and he does not receive any bonuses or stock options. Kinder Morgan also exclaims that they do not spend any money on corporate jets, private trips, paid vacations, and sport tickets for their high ranking employees. Despite that Richard D. Kinder still has an estimated net work of $10 Billion dollars, so it is not quite clear where he receives his money from.
Photo by Alan Staats
