Kinder Morgan to Expand Terminal Capacity on Houston Ship Channel

HOUSTON, May 13 (Reuters) – Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP will build nine new storage tanks at its Galena Park terminal along the Houston Ship Channel and construct a new barge dock at its terminal in Pasadena east of Houston, the company said on Monday.

The projects come as crude and condensate output from the Eagle Ford shale oil play in Texas is booming and in turn prompting infrastructure to catch up and to move it to markets.

Kinder Morgan said it would invest $106 million to buy about 20 acres of land adjacent to the Pasadena terminal to support a future crude and condensate terminal that can handle 10 tanks with 150,000 barrels of capacity each. That project would be connected to the Explorer Pipeline, the company said.

The nine new tanks at the Galena Park terminal will have a storage capacity of 1.2 million barrels.

The new barge dock will enhance existing infrastructure at Kinder Morgan’s Pasadena terminal, the company said, with capacity to handle up to 50 barges each month.

Last month Kinder Morgan Chief Executive Rich Kinder said a lot of producers want to move crude and condensate output from the Eagle Ford shale oil play in Texas to the Houston Ship Channel.

(c) 2013 Thomson Reuters, Click For Restrictions

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